. thanks so much for joining us. i'm mike hydeck in today for jc hayward. it is super tuesday. ten states are casting ballots to pick who they want to challenge president obama coming up in november. the two g.o.p. front runners made their push

in ohio today. that state is considered the biggest prize today. voters are deciding who they want to challenge the president in november. a tight race for ohio. newt gingrich is hoping to win big in georgia which he helped represent in congress for two decades. and one of the super tuesday states right here in virginia. that contest not quite as lively as the others. delia goncalves explains. >> reporter: it's been an awfully quiet super tuesday here in northern virginia and that today is the story. >> because i'm exercising my right to vote. >> reporter: just a scattering of voters cast their ballots at the falls church community center. while some are enthusiastic, voter turnout across the state is expected to be low. >> when you can't vote for the candidate you really want to vote for, it's going to be difficult to get out to the polls. >> reporter: only two candidates appear on the ballot. mitt romney and ron paul. that's because the other candidates failed to gather the required 10,000 signatures, 400 from each of the 11 districts.

many of them filed suit but failed in their bid to get on the ballot. >> the people decide how many. if you should get these votes, i don't think it should depend on how much money you pay advertisers. >> reporter: there are also no write-ins. an emergency legislation to allow write-ins failed. it's a matter of money. the paper ballots needed for write-ins require two scanners. one for the republican and one for the democratic races. >> which cost thousands of dollars and fairfax county alone has 230 precincts. over the whole state it would cost so much money. >> reporter: regardless of voter turnout, volunteers here will be manning the polls till 7:00 tonight. there are 49 delegates at stake here in virginia. in falls church, delia goncalves, 9news now. >> write-ins were last on the virginia ballot back in the 1970's. however, the general assembly is going to reconsider write-in legislation coming up next year. while republicans are focused on super tuesday, the president is going to hold his first live news conference of

the year. we'll bring it to you live scheduled to start at 1:00 this afternoon. we'll have coverage on wusa9.com and you can get reaction on 9news now beginning at 5:00 this afternoon. d.c. mayor vincent gray lance to take his -- plans to take his bid for statehood to the democratic and republican conventions this summer. he's reportedly encouraged by republican rumblings to ease oversight in the district when it comes to the budget. a federal judge says maryland resident shoes not have to prove why they need to carry a gun outside of their homes. he found the state's handgun rule is unconstitutional yesterday saying it violates the second amendment. the case revolved around a retired navy veteran in baltimore county. his permit renewal was denied in 2007 because he couldn't prove he was being threatened outside of his home. gun rights activists will appeal that rule. nor ingmar-- more gawn

obtain mow bay retainees released transferred to other countries and are either confirmed or suspected of returning to the battlefield. the report also indicates 14 out of 167 are dead and 54 are in custody. most of those releases occurred during the bush administration. right now there are 171 prisoners at guantanamo bay. a house homeland security panel is holding a hear drag on why -- holding a hear drag on why a suspect in an alleged bomb plot against the u.s. capitol has been living illegally in the united states for 12 years. amine el khalifi was arrested last month and the criminal case against him is renewing the debate over the government's failure to track millions of foreign visitors who overextend their stay. a growing number of people are trying to flee syria now as the fighting intensifies there. thousands of refugees have crossed into lebanon in the past few days and the fighting

between the rebels and the government forces is leaving many caught in the middle. >> reporter: these families are among hundreds trying to escape the violence in syria. the exodus starts at night when it's less dangerous and mainly quiet. but some can't control their emotions. this woman asks why are we homeless? because we asked for freedom? activists call it a humanitarian catastrophe in the making. nearly 10,000 syrians have fled to lobby non. 11,000 to turkey -- lebanon, 11,000 to turkey. the red cross is being blocked from bringing humanitarian aid. the president assad is facing growing international pressure to end the conflict. now china is trying to intervene, sending an envoy to broker a cease-fire. president obama says he still believes diplomacy can end the violence despite calls from senator john mccain to take military action. >> assad needs to know that he

will not win. >> reporter: but many have stopped waiting for outside help. this woman says troops took her husband and slaughtered them like sheep. too terrified to try to escape, they are simply struggling to stay alive. >> the fighting is also getting more intense in the city. five government soldiers were killed there. the deanwood metro station on the orange line is the most dangerous. a report that the station in northeast had 67 crimes classified as part one or serious crimes. that list includes assaults, burglaries, rapes and car thefts. number two on the most dangerous list, anacostia on the green line. that's followed by l 'enfant plaza, suitland and college park. when it comes to the most safe places, five stations had no reports of any crimes.

on that list arlington cemetery, clarendon, eisenhower avenue, and farragut square. another meeting will be tonight on metro's fare hikes. the open house starts at 6:00. the hearing starts at 7:00. the final meeting on these proposed rate increases tomorrow night in hyattsville. still to come on the news at noon, talk about a commuter nightmare. check this out. black ice turns an ohio road into a rink. dozens of broken up cars and the whole thing is caught on tape. look out. but first, find out why doctors say screenings for certain cancers in men could go a long way to preventing the disease.

british researchers say more evidence is needed on the safety and effectiveness of knee replacements. researchers at university of oxford are calling for better, long-term monitoring of patients so surgeons and patients have more information to make better decisions. they say there is a lack of evidence on the safety or cost

effectiveness of many implants. little reliable data on comparing the implants and surgical techniques. more than 160,000 total replace -- knee replacements were performed in 2008. new colorectal careening guidelines are being released. it calls for doctors conducting a risk assessment. patients at average risk start screenings at age 50. high risk should start at 40 or ten years younger than the youngest relative diagnosed with colon cancer. howard is here with the forecast. >> outside on the weather terrace. don't have the jacket on now even though it's in the lower 40s. a nice warm-up is headed this way. the cold has done one good thing for us. the numbers are down. the tree pollen is moderate at 16 and mold low at 329. we'll be back with a full

forecast looking ahead to the weekend when 9news now returns.

we've been combing through the day's daily e-mails and retailer websites to find you deep discounts. here are some of our favorites. we're appealing to tech geeks with this one. amazon.com has an ipod and iphone speaker dock and video

projector. basically it turns your iphone, ipad, laptop or apple tv into a home theater. normally $599. right now $189.99. s that is a 68% -- that is a 68% savings. how about a day on the water? kgb deals has an offer with capital river cruises two adult tickets $14, a 50% savings. you can take in the sights of d.c. during a 45-minute potomac river cruise. and a cheap way to get from d.c. to new york on a luxury bus. tripper bus has a $13 deal with groupon. it's good for one way or you can buy two for round thip, a 48% -- trip, a 48% savings. if you're a local merchant for a deal with -- with a deal for our viewers, i'd love to hear from you on facebook. i'm jessica doyle, 9news now. new information about the cleanup of ground water near maryland's fort detrick. the national research council is calling for more analysis of

the health risks near that site. the group found fault with a 2009 study by the department of health and human services. that study concluded that exposure to ground water contaminated by the chemicals at fort detrick was unlikely to have any harmful health effects. well, here's something to think about as you get ready to sit down and have some lunch. the group center for science in the public interest says carcinogens in coke and pepsi. the group says the problem with the caramel coloring is the issue. they say it's what gives regular and diet cokes that distinctive color. the group says the sodas have high levels of something called 4mi which causes cancer in animals. >> there's 310 million americans and we're saying that about 1r,000 of us -- 15,000 of us will develop a cancer because of the caramel coloring. >> the american beverage association questions the science in this study. they released a statement saying in part, quote, this is

nothing more than cspi's scare tactics and their claims are outrageous. cspi fraudulently claims to be operating in the interest of the american public health but clearly this is to scare people. the oreo turns a century old. it started on march 6, 1912, in a manhattan biscuit factory. to celebrate, the kraft, the company that owns oreo is issuing a limited edition of the cookie. we know the identity of last month's $336 million jackpot winner. she's 81-year-old luis white of rhode island. she holds the sole winning ticket for the february 11 drawing. she bought it at a newport stop 'n' shop. >> i want to say that i am very happy and i'm very proud and

this will make my family very happy. we are truly blessed. thank you. >> wow. she plans to set up a charity fund to help people in need. the jackpot is the sixth largest in u.s. history. the lump sum payment a cool $210 million. pretty good. one after another drivers along a road in columbus, ohio slip and crash into guardrails and ditches and each other. news cameras were there and caught a lot of these accidents on tape. thankfully none of them were serious. however, it kept tow truck drivers busy and the nerves of dozens of drivers very afraid. >> he hit me in the rear end at the bridge, butt me in the rear end, somebody did. then caused me to spin out. >> wow. i mean, the video sun believable. aside from a few bumps and bruises, no one was seriously hurt except for the vehicles. >> people wondering why those

guys didn't do anything. it wouldn't have been safe for the camera men to put cones up or anything. >> today is super tuesday. ohio is a super tuesday state. wonder fits' warmed up a -- if it's warmed up a little bit so people can get there. >> milder air is moving in. still on the crisp side out there. >> wait for thursday. >> we're headed into the 60s tomorrow and 70 'ish come thursday. there will abprice with that in the form of -- be a price with that in the form of breezy conditions but we'll take t. here's a look at the day planner this afternoon. patches of high and mid-level clouds expected to come across as temperatures climb into the mid-40s next hour. we'll make a run to the up ir40s -- upper 40s. it might get to 50 in a few spots. then this evening we'll drop into the mid-40s by 7:00 and upper 30s to around 40 by 9:00 p.m. won't be as cold as it was this morning but we're still looking at lows in the 20s and 30s overnight. got down to 19 in martinsburg.

look at all the 21s on the map. from winchester to culpeper. garrett county got down to 16. we got down to 29 officially at reagan national while it was 32 southern maryland over to cambridge. right now we're into the upper 30s and low 40s. although culpeper all the way to 45 along with fredericksburg. 39 on the bay in annapolis. easton is 41. out to the west cumberland still at 37 degrees. so this is one of the chillier days we've been seeing for a while. we had some nice temps headed this way. here's a look at our michael & son weather camera. that sun shining brightly on the u.s. capitol dome. 42 degrees. feeling like 38. we're finally seeing the barometer come down a couple of hours ago. it was at 30.72. it's now at 30.67. this is a big rise from yesterday. if you're sensitive to pressure changes, i know it's been a painful 24 hours or so what we're going to watch across the country is a nice warm-up, all thanks to this storm system on the west coast, the

northwestern u.s. coming down northern california. this is changing everything bringing rain and snow to the mountains but what it's also doing the jet stream is dipping out west and it's like a seasaw across the midwest. we'll see it go up into canada. that's going to open up the gate so to speak for the warm air to return in our direction. and we're really going to feel nice and mild tomorrow and especially thursday. so high pressure with us now. kind after chilly high. that's -- of a chilly high. that's why we're struggling to get up in the upper 40s. with the high pressure sliding away, the wind is going to turn around to the south. that's going to bring those warmer readings toward us. tomorrow we're still looking at a decent amount of sunshine, clear skies to start the day. decent amount of sunshine during the day on wednesday. look for high temperatures mid 60s tomorrow. and then out ahead of this cold front, we see the showers lining up here. we're going to stay in the southwesterly winds on thursday. that will help push temperatures up to around 70 or so. then those showers come in and cool us down friday into the

50s. so today about 49 or so. it's going to be brisk out there. sunshine smrks high and mid- level -- some high and mid- level clouds. tomorrow mid-60s tomorrow. breezy to windy on thursday with a high around 70. showers on friday. maybe only in the morning, 56. then cool saturday, nice sunday. don't forget the clock. if you like cake, we'll learn something about decorating. stick around. we have a neat thing to show you when 9news now returns.

welcome back to the news at noon. don't you love the smell of cake and maybe sugary frosting? that's what we have here this afternoon. i was going to say morning. i'm used to doing the morning show. we're getting a jump on st. patrick's day. joining us in the kitchen is sabrina campbell. occasionally cake is the name of your place. if you're a person who normally celebrates st. patrick's day and have a good time, maybe you think of having a beer, some green beer, some corn beef and cabbage. but if you're like me and married into an irish family, you understand it really can come to a whole new left. that's why we're celebrating with a little bit of cake. you can do a seven-course meal on st. patrick's day if you're in an irish family. tell us about your cake. >> we have a bailey's cake. i'm using a tip 21, a star tip.

i'm using regular butter cream. >> it's the silver thing. >> yes, on the end of the squeezy thing, absolutely. it's also called a star tip. you can manipulate it in a nice swirl and you get these rosettes looking icing patches. when you cover the entire cake with it, it starts to look really beautiful. what you can also do, this is nondistant -- fondant similar to play dough. this is your rolling pin. you're going to roll that. >> mold it on the top somehow? >> yes. you're going to use cookie cutters. you can use any cookie cutter you have at home to create simple shapes. here we have shamrocks

obviously for st. patrick's day. >> is this too thick or keep going thinner than this? >> actually you're looking pretty good. take your shamrock, cut it out. i just keep doing these rosettes on the top. >> we have a minute left. >> we can do this. i'll keep doing these. you can make smtle ones, too. -- some little ones, too. go around the side. >> i do get to taste this. >> when you say bailey's, is there real bailey's or a flavor something. >> i use a flavoring so that it's safe for kids but you can actually put real bailey's in your own butter cream at home if you want a little bit of a zing. >> we're wrapping this up. she has a brand new store on king street not far from the water if you want to check it out in alexandria. i'm going to taste the bailey's cake. we have about 30 seconds. is that right, larry? still a little bit of time. i'm going to taste it anyway. if we would like a recipe for

this bailey's cake inspired for st. patrick's day, where can we get it? >> on your website. >> wusa9.com. >> i will have a link to it on my facebook. >> it's absolutely delicious. congratulations on your new store that's going to open in a couple of weeks. that's it for the news at noon. i'm going to keep eating this cake before the rest of the newsroom comes in here and takes it all. have a great day, everybody.