neighborhood, no sign that he could have been intimidating enough to push a man to murder, but ellsworth colbert's lawyer says that is the real story here. >> anybody who is telling you that this case has anything to do with dog poop doesn't know what they're talking about. this is much more complicated than dog poop. >> reporter: neighbors have a different version suggesting colbert was furious after macho left dog waste in colbert's tidy front yard. a witness says colbert fronted macho's owner in his driveway up the street and then when robert wright walked up with the dog, the witness says colbert stabbed him. >> it's outrageous. it's really, you know, the world is coming to a bad thing. >> reporter: colbert is a volunteer for kevin chavous jr.'s city council campaign. >> i want to express my deepette condolences to the family of the victim -- my deepest condolences to the family of the victim and alleged criminal. >> reporter: someone has left

flowers next to robert wright's front door, but ellsworth colbert has his defenders, too. >> mr. colbert is a very nice giving person. i have never known him to do anything wrong. i've known him since the 7th grade and he's a very nice guy and he loves his community. >> reporter: this is far from the first time that ellsworth colbert has been accused of assault. he has a long history of what the prosecutor called assaultive behaviors in montgomery, prince george's and d.c. at d.c. superior court bruce leshan, 9 news now. we began the very first full week of march with a little taste of winter, snow in parts of our area, this video from this morning in thornburg, virginia, not quite enough to stick on the roads, though there's a little bit out there. it's more than some of us have seen all season lock of long. top is here with us to talk about how much snow actually fell today. did any fall at national airport? >> a trace, a trace. a trace at dulles.

thornburg is just south of fredericksburg and they had 2 to 3 inches, but i'll tell you, what in southwestern virginia they had as much as 9 inches of snow in a place called buchanan. let's start with radar right now. most of the snow showers are done now. in the wake of this clipper, which is what it was, a very vigorous clipper that pass toad far south to give us snow in the metro area -- passed too far south to give us snow in the metro area. all the snow showers are in the northern neck pushing south and east getting out of here, a couple snow showers left in west virginia. they will die out before midnight, too. the deal is, it's cold, 40 downtown, 36 gaithersburg, 39 manassas, a little breeze out there. so it feels like 30 downtown and in the 20s in the northern burbs, 27 in gaithersburg, 25 leesburg and feels like 32 also in manassas. for tonight clear and colder, two blanket night lows 22 to 32, winds northwesterly at 10. we'll come back and tell you if

temperatures recover tomorrow and we'll talk about what happens getting into the latter part of week. spring may make a comeback. turning to campaign 2012 and the race for the white house. tomorrow is a huge day for the four republicans in hunt for the nomination. they call it super tuesday. they got primaries and caucuses up for grabs. 1/3 of the total delegates needed to clinch the gop nomination. a key prize in all this, ohio. polls there show the two front runners mitt romney and rick santorum, are basically in a dead heat. >> if you think this campaign against president obama is going to be about the economy and jobs and government being too big, then i'm the guy you need to nominate. >> i come to the people of ohio as a candidate who shouldn't be here, shouldn't be here if you looked at any political expert and you look at the money that's been spent. >> newt gingrich making his super tuesday push in georgia and tennessee.

ron paul campaigned in idaho looking for half of his very first win in the caucuses there. joining me now to talk about more of what might happen tomorrow, democratic strategist dick camber and political newspaper editor john gizzy, 10 states in the mix tomorrow, all eyes on two, tennessee and ohio. there either the wheels come off for rick santorum or he gains super momentum. which is more likely? >> neither. i think that mitt romney will' learn on top in ohio because party -- will emerge on top in ohio because party organization is strong and he's been getting good marks for his appearances. so has mr. santorum, but in tennessee i think santorum will gain. remember newt gingrich's campaign chairman in this state switched from gingrich to santorum. so i say romney comes out with delegates. santorum hangs in there and gingrich as they say in the movies to be continued. >> all right. let's talk about the democrats who are having great time watching this all unfold as

president obama's numbers are going up and head to head now he's beating mitt romney. >> correct. from my standpoint i want this to go on forever. this is like a reality show. i have no idea from week to week who's going to win. i want to give those republicans the microphone. i think it's great. >> conservative columnist george will wrote over the weekend whether it's santorum or romney, they're both probably going to lose. either one of them is going to lose, so the republicans should count on model the house and gaining control of the senate instead. what do you think? >> to quote casey stengel, never make predictions, especially about the future. one does not know what the economic situation will be like down the line and as for a long race, i would say with respect to vic, tell that to a fellow named barack obama. his contest took i believe until may or even early june and look where he is now. >> that's a great republican thing except it wasn't the kind of a race between hillary and president obama. the difference is the passions. the difference is of the

animosity that is there -- is the animosity that is there with these four republicans. regardless if romney wins tomorrow and i think he will, 2/3 of the republicans are still voting against him. >> there is an interesting point here accident one with strategists quoted in the paper -- here, one with strategists quoted in the paper and he says it's corrosion sieve the way this campaign has been going for the rep -- corrosive the way this campaign is going for the republicans. >> i've worked in a lot of campaigns. there's been a lot of corrosive races over the years, but at a time when one party thinks they can take the white house from another, they've committee, i would just say with respect to vic, read some of the contemporaneous accounts of what other people said about roosevelt. >> very quickly do you run the risk of underestimating mitt romney because here's a guy who every time he's absolutely had

to win has won '. >> well, john said it it correctly. we don't know what the next six -- said it correctly, we don't know what the next six months hold, but any of the four are weak candidates. >> i don't want to make predictions especially about the future, so we have to let that about. thank you, gentlemen. coming up two vehicles crash into a grocery store. it looks like a scene out of hollywood. we'll tell you what happened in real life. but first an unusual funeral of sorts, the victim? virginia's public education. cause of death, in the eyes of these supporters the general assembly. we'll talk about the murder weapon when we come back. people! look at you!

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some virginia public schoolteachers say they are tired and are feeling depressed over what they call the disrespect from the general assembly and over the weekend they held a mock funeral for the commonwealth public education system. they called it a wake for public education. the teachers are protesting education funding cuts, high stakes testing and the proposed state budget. the event was designed to attract attention to the dwindling public education funding. >> why would someone want to come to virginia where we don't have bargaining right to start with to teach -- rights to start with to teach when you have no stability? >> the cumulative effect of the attacks on public education is not just in virginia, but nationwide is rising to the level that public education is actually seriously in peril.

>> the mock funeral comes as the general assembly continues to battle over the state budget. virginia ranks 41st in the nation when it comes to class size and virginia teacher salaries are $7,000 less than the national average. a movie ticket nowadays not so bad, but couple that with the price of snacks, you could be spending a pretty penny to see the latest blockbuster down at the theater. joshua thompson in michigan got fed up at the cost of movie munchies and has filed a lawsuit against his local amc theaters accusing them of violating the consumer protection act by charging grossly excessive prices for the snacks. thompson said he tried to bring in his own snacks, but theaters aren't having that. what do you think? does the theater have the right to charge whatever they want for snacks? they have a captive audience or should you be able to bring your own, sneak in some mcdonald's, maybe some candy or are they just trying to make a profit? after all, they don't get much

revenue from ticket sales. that goes to the studios. they depend on concessions to make cash. mailbag at wusa9.com. after today's winter weather are we in for a bit of a warm-up? topper shutt will have your full 9 news now forecast. but first. >> reporter: i'm scott broom in northeast washington where coming up i'll have the surprising story behind how a crime fighting truck driver ended up smashing into this safeway to stop a fleeing suspect.

a truck and an suv smash into a northeast d.c. grocery store today after a man took action to help out a police officer on foot in hot pursuit of a suspected thief. now the sequence of events unfolded like a scene straight out of a hollywood action flick. it happened at east river park safeway off benning road. scott broom has spoken to several eye witnesses and they paint a pretty dramatic picture. >> reporter: what happened out here this morning was crazy and it was dangerous and it started right at this door with a suspected shoplifter running outside with a police officer who happened to be in the store in hot pursuit. there was a dodge durango truck parked here. the suspect jumps in the car. the police officer is trying to smash the windows out. while all that's happening the driver of this ryder rental truck sees it. he thinks the police officer is

in trouble. he takes his ryder truck and smashes it into the durango right here, pushes the durango up onto the sidewalk. the ryder truck ends up smashing into this pole right here. so the truck's jammed against the pole and the durango manages to squeeze through this spot scraping against the building, nearly hits a lady on the sidewalk. the truck is so badly damaged he only makes it about another 100 yards into the farther end of the parking lot here and that's where police catch up to him and he's locked up. >> almost hit the old lady right here. >> reporter: charmaine washington is a security guard inside the safeway who started the pursuit. >> the ryder truck i guess was trying to pin the car against the wall because he seen what the police was doing. >> reporter: it also so happens the driver of the ryder truck was on business for, get this, an armored car company and by coincidence there was also an armored car from another company parked down there. the driver thought an armored car had just been robbed.

that's why he took such dramatic action even though in the end the suspect was just a shoplifter with a black bagful of meat. in northeast washington scott broom, 9 news now. >> the man arrested, his name is alfred jerome reeves jr. of d.c. he's got a record including convictions for robbery and carjacking. now he's charged with theft, unauthorized use of a vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident. a 15-month-old indiana girl who clung to life for two days after being tossed by a tornado that killed her parents and two siblings has now been buried alongside her family. angel babcock died sunday in kentucky after suffering severe head injuries when that tornado struck her family's home in indiana and swept her out in the field. 45 people in five states have now died as a result of the storms that spawned tornadoes all over the midwest and south friday. meteorologists say some of those twisters hit so fast they did not even have a chance to issue a tornado warning. >> reporter: i'm anny hong at the national weather service in

sterling and this weather radio is the best way to keep you and your family safe in case of a tornado. we wanted to find out how other communities would be warned during severe weather. with new upgrades to its radar in sterling, virginia, meteorologists will be able to better analyze the returns like rain, snow and severe thunderstorms that could form into tornadoes. >> this radar will allow the meteorologist to go in and see where there are areas of high winds or rotation. >> reporter: once the national weather service issues a tornado warning emergency managers with the affected counties are contacted and within minutes alerts go out. office of emergency management officials at montgomery, loudoun, fairfax and arlington counties all have systems set up to send out text alerts to cell phones and e-mails, but that's only if you sign up through their websites. >> we also rely on social media. all of our text messages are hooked into twitter and facebook. >> wow, anny hong reporting

there telling us just how tough it can be to predict when those tornadoes will come. top, we sat here and watched you go on for quite some time when we're threatened by tornadoes. >> i will say some of the tornadoes they did have a little advance warning because of the dual pole system. it's a new modernization and that helped meteorologists, but some of them just popped up literally on top of them. >> can that happen? >> it's rare. it's really not that strong of tornado, but we are looking at kind of a wild march, snow today and talking about 60s in two days. let's start with a live look outside, temperatures on the chilly side. we got to 46 today at least downtown, but right now temps down to 40, dew point continuing to fall, 16, pressure continuing to rise at 30. this dew point is kind of a good indication just how cold we could get overnight. either way it's going to be cold. temperatures in the 30s primarily, 37 bethesda and rockville, 37 great falls, 34

out towards leesburg. we're looking at 36 in manassas and down south fort belvoir checks in at 39 degrees. factor in the wind, there is a breeze. it will subside after midnight, but it's still driving temperatures down, 30 in downtown feels like 24 and feels like 12 for our friends in oakland across the divide. for tonight and the next few days colder and then warmer. so colder tonight, chilly tomorrow, milder wednesday and then warmer thursday. both those days will be pretty nice. for tonight clear and cold, a two blanket night, lows 22 to 32, winds northwesterly at 10. kind of unusual, we've not had very many nights, in fact, only 20 nights for december, january and february we got below freezing downtown. we might make it tonight, maybe 28 or 29 downtown, 26 college park, mid-20s out towards bowie and reston, 24 sterling and out towards leesburg and middleburg

probably 22 or 23 degrees tonight for the low. tomorrow morning mostly sunny, a cold start. you'll need a coat, temps in the 20s and 30s. thankfully winds light northwesterly at 10 and by afternoon mostly sunny, still chilly, temperatures 46 to 50. so a little bit below average. our average high is in the low 50s, but notice the winds. they turn south, southwest at 10. that is a harbinger of milder air that will roll in here wednesday and thursday. we'll break it down to start. 24 to 34 at 6:00, clear, sunshine at noon, temps in the 40s and 47 to 52 by evening with pretty much full sunshine. the next three days it gets milder quickly, 61 wednesday with sunshine, 67 thursday under partly cloudy skies. it will become a little windy on wednesday and thursday but with temps back in the 60s who cares? next seven days, a little cooler friday, 56, a weak frontal system pushing through, maybe a little light rain or showers late friday, but then exits quickly. we're in good shape over the weekend. sunshine on saturday and

sunday, mid-50s on saturday and back in the low 60s on sunday, got the little clock spinning ahead because when you go to bed saturday night, you need to turn your clocks ahead one hour. >> there you go. we'll have the mailbag right after the break. stick around. >> the address mailbag at wusa9.com. fox 5 news will be right back.

in the mailbag tonight reaction to a story from friday on some organizations running tours in the city of milwaukee featuring the old hunting rounds of convicted serial killer and eater jeffrey daumer. shawn says he actually grew up in milwaukee and i could not resist commenting on this. i have to say that this tour should be stopped. how would residents of this area feel about a d.c. sniper tour? i don't think many people would like it. you know what, shawn, you got a point. i don't think we'd like that, though honestly i'm kind of surprised somebody has tried it already. however, somebody calling themselves westipod out of maryland feels as you do. i cannot believe people are allowing tours through the area where this sick man brought

much heartache to so many. of all the things to be interested in, why this? these tours are disrespectful in my opinion. i cannot imagine losing a loved one in such an inhumane way and someone possibly profiting from it. however, our good friend deb in arlington has a different and perhaps surprising take on this. at first i thought it was a tasteless idea to want to go to jeffrey daumer's chomping grounds, but then my wise mom pointed out i'd been to the tower of london which was a gruesome scene back in the day. when we thought about it, places hike the bass steel -- like the bastille, salem are all on the tourist list. so while it's not on my travel buffet, i think it's probably of interest to some folks. i doubt doubt there are people who want to see such a thing. the question is it appropriate to have a tour based on a gruesome situation in a community bearing the scars left behind? i think the words too soon may be the best answer to that question. however, it is never too soon or even too late to write

mcginty's mailbag. i love hearing from you any time. the address is mailbag at wusa9.com. that is our report for the evening. i'll be right back here at 11:00. don't forget. you can sign on any time you want to wusa9.com. have a great evening. we'll see you a bit later. bye bye.

now, "entertainment tonight," the most-watched entertainment news magazine in the world. whitney houston's daughter, bobbi kristina breaks her silence to oprah. the new interview with whitney's family. plus kirstie alley goes off on hollywood's dr. feel goods. >> when i was doing cocaine and a drug addict, no one was telling me, this is good for you. now doctors tell you, it is good for you. >> her outrage over whitney's death. >> new bombshell. from the desperate housewives trial "today," and the women from "the bachelor" tell all. >> the new "dancing" stars in full costume, showing off their first moves. plus -- ♪ >> staff sergeant angie johnson from the air wolves to youtube, to the battleground on "the voic