names on those money orders to make them seem like separate legal donations. it is part of a federal investigation. bruce johnson first broke the story and follows it up now. >> d.c. mayor, vincent gray, denied any knowledge of wrong doing in the successful campaign last year, which he soundly defeated incumbent, adrian fenty. >> nobody would want to campaign by these kinds of issues. >> the probe that grown much larger than the original allegations from sulaimon brown, chough says he was paid with money orders and promised a job during the campaign. sources say prosecutors have identified two to 300 money orders with forged signatures that were bought with illegal cash payments to the gray campaign. >> you didn't know anything about it? >> i did not. >> okay, when you hear about this, what does that say? >> i think it goes back to the question object whether rules were broken or not and i would never, you know, condone anybody breaking the rules. the rules should have been followed. >> the fbi and irs raided the

home as part of their probe. >> i was very surprised. >> thompson donated $90,000 to the mayor's campaign in the city paper. prosecutors want to know if they were illegal payments to mayor gray's campaign and the campaigns of d.c. council members. >> to some people, this is part of the federal investigation. >> it may well be. if it's campaign finance, first of all, i have acknowledged all along the way that he was somebody who raised money for my campaign. >> d.c. council will consider again reforming campaign finance laws to prohibit all corporate donations, contributions from people with city government contracts. mayor gray said he has not decided if he'll support them. >> that's why there have been no indictments, no arrests, but our sources tell us at least two, and possibly more, key subjects have been offered deals by federal prosecutors. one turned down his plea offer. the other has accepted.

this is bruce johnson reporting from northwest washington for 9news now. >> and bruce reported earlier that howard brooks has agreed to cooperate with this federal investigation. derek. >> anita, late this afternoon, virginia governor signed into law that controversial bill requiring a woman to undergo an ultrasound before she can get an abortion. an earlier proposal prompted a national outcry. the amended measure requires women to have an adomal ultrasound. that law takes effect in july. >> mitt romney is working to capitalize on his wins in six of the ten super tuesday states. but despite picking up 211 delegates. the attention today has been on the lack of a knockout punch for the front runner. in fact, in ohio, 6 in 10 people asked in exit polling said they were completely sold on the candidate they voted for, and as randall pinkston

reports, the battle for the nomination is no closer to ending. >> lesli, mitt romney has reason to celebrate after winning more states and more delegates than any of his opponents in yesterday's super tuesday contest. but political analysts point to some weaknesses saying that romney barely won ohio and had a very poor showing in the south, suggesting that he cannot yet claim support from conservative republicans. mitt romney's campaign insists tuesday's victories mean he will be the last man standing at the end of the republican primary. >> we are doing counting. we are counting up the delegates and it looks good and counting down the days until november and that looks even better. >> romney won six of the ten super tuesday contests. but rick santorum is challenging his strength. santorum finished a close second in ohio and won three states outright. >> we have an opportunity here in this election to elect someone with a clear, different vision. >> santorum's team says the

former senator would be in a much stronger position with all the conservative voters behind him if newt gingrich quit the race. the former speaker says, no deal. >> we are staying in this race, i believe that it's going to be impossible for a moderate to win the general election. >> campaigning in alabama, gingrich pushed his plan to lower gasoline prices. on the road in north carolina, president obama called those phony election year promises. >> there are no quick fixes to this problem. but you think they are working. >> using the drawn out gop primary as a time to build the team that can return the president to the white house for a second term. >> new polls show president obama's approval rating is going up slightly. while the republican presidential primary contest has been a turnoff for many voters. at the white house, randall pinkston, back to you, lesli.

>> here's where we stand today. there are 2286 delegates up for grabs in the republican primary. a candidate needs 1144 to win the no , nomination. right now, mitt romney has 215. his closest competitor, rick santorum, has 176. and john huntsman has 2 delegates from the new hampshire primary back in january. >> the county council member accused of driving more than double the speed limit on the beltway broke her silence this afternoon. that's after karen toles first got off with just a warning. here's scott broom. >> well, council member toles is not answering questions, she just read from a written statement. she admitted no guilt and said she was sorry. >> i now respectfully ask in the interest of all concerned that you reserve judgment and allow the legal process to run its course. >> give her her right to due process. >> and there she went again

this afternoon surrounded by an entourage and refusing to answer followup questions. >> she's a public official. >> it's been a familiar strategy for toles who dodged our cameras for going on a week now over this incident. question one, does toles think that she got special treatment from police because of her position? she has still not answered. toles was stopped february 22 and charged with an unsafe lane change after police spotted her on the beltway allegedly driving aggressively. the officer clocked 105 miles per hour in the chase to catch her. but toles only got a warning for the speeding. this week, police revised the charge to reckless driving. after a police executive review of the matter. in previous written statements, toles has said that she'll voluntarily stop driving her county issued car until she's completed a safety course. in largo, scott broom, 9news now. >> now we take you to a

terrible traffic accident. it involved at least three vehicles, including one car. as you can see, ended up on its side in somebody's front yard. there's a report that three people this that car got out and ran away. >> on to our next story now. five local college students were just studying, playing video games, and chatting, when two men started making demands. >> i'm kristin fisher about a block away from gmu's campus where two masked men barged into the home of five sophomores with guns drawn. >> get on the ground. i'm going to kill you, stuff like that. stuff nobody wants to hear. >> at first, they thought it was a joke. >> when the gun was pointed at your face, they mean business. >> they took $3,000 worth of laptops and cell phones. >> they turned away from the

group,. >> fairfax county police were on the scene less than five minutes later. they brought in a canine unit and a helicopter. but the suspects still got away. now police are trying to determine if they had been here before. they are both of college age, around 20, and police had already been called here back in november after a fight broke out on this front porch. >> you don't figure something like this as retaliation, but it's an extreme measure. >> in fairfax, kristin fisher, 9news now. >> coming up on 9news now at 7:00, the wizards host the lakers tonight. lots of folks can come to see the lakers play, but ronnie has been on both teams. we'll hear how he is reaching out to the community now to provoke health and heart awareness. >> we'll see you then. still to come in this half hour. he's free to go wherever he chooses, but where will peyton manning land? the latest on the former colts quarterback's future. topper. >> the winds are still

blowing, but it's a warm wind. here's the almanac. temperatures climb into the upper 60s today. average is 53 and 35. we'll come back and talk about a cold front. tell you when it's going to roll through, when you're going to need your umbrella and jackets. >> and up next, maryland took a roll of the dice by gambling on casino revenue. we'll tell you whether it's paying off up next.

maryland's casinos had their best month in history in february. the hollywood casino generated 11.5 million last month. its highest total since it opened a year and a half ago. by comparison. the casino at ocean downs generated more than $3.5 million. lesli. all right, still ahead, you may be loving this early taste of spring, but will you change your tune when those summer

pests come to town a little early?

you may not realize it, but right now, we are in the mist of one of the largest storms in five years. check out this picture from nasa of a solar flair. it is part of a solar storm that started last night and it is expected to last until later tonight. forecasters at the national oceananic say the storm could disrupt gps and airplane flights back here on earth. after hype and anticipation, apple took the wraps off its latest generation computer tablet. we were at today's announcement in san francisco. >> this new version has a sharper, higher resolution screen. 3.1million pixels worth. it weighs just under 1.5- pounds, comes in black and white and has a faster

processer than the ipad 2. operates on the powerful 4g network. like the older ipad, the price starts at $499. unveiling the new product, ceo tim cook stuck closely to the trademark style of apple founder, steve jobs, who died last year. pacing the stage in a casual button down, he talked about the tablet resolution. >> we think the ipad is the poster child of the post pc world. >> as with all apple announcements, this one drew a giant crowd of media from around the world. apple created the tablet market, but the competition is scrambling to catch up. introducing 100 different tablets in the past year. the new ipad goes on sale march 16. you can bet apple fans will be waiting at the door. cbs news, san francisco. >> i'm out here on the weather terrace, how many nights have you seen us out here without coats on this winter?

our 9news weather team said this has been the third warmest winter on record. but as we head into spring, anny hong tells us there's some bad that comes with the good. >> the last time we've had a warmer metrological winter is back in the late 1800s. what this means is as we head into spring and summer, it could be a lot more buggier. creepy, crawly critters are coming if they are not already here. pest control experts warn get ready for what could be a pest filled spring and even summer. >> your soil is still new and warm and everything emerges from the soil. >> paul with paramount pest control say ants are showing up earlier along and cockroaches. and in fact, in his 16 years in the pest control business, this past winter was his busiest ever. but not all of this bug news is bad news. experts add homeowners should

focus on prevention, like hiring a pest control company to conduct quarterly treatment. it's much cheaper than dealing with the damage pests can leave behind. in falls church, virginia, anny hong, 9news now. >> actually make that score 2, a clouded leopard gave birth yesterday. right now, they only weigh about a half a pound each. look at those little ones. zoo employees will raise them until they can get around on their own and the cubs will move into a den that will allow the public see them romp around. >> two tremors in virginia. the 1.6 and 1.7 quakes hit between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m. no reports of damage or injuries tonight. there have been dozens of aftershocks in the region since the initial 5.8 quake back on august 23. is it unusual to keep them going? >> this long, i would think a

little unusual. they must be getting jumpy down there. seriously. it's not good. i'm going to show you that picture of the solar flair. it's bigger than the one we had in january and it actually will affect our atmosphere within the next 24 hours. as we mentioned, it can affect the satellite communications and add some awesome colors to the northern lights and bring them further south. the waves with this flair, get this, travel at a million miles an hour. that's just incredible. this was sent to us from nasa. joe, thank you very much. it's a great picture. because the satellite is overhead, we can't tell. in january's picture, we were able to see how high it was, spiking away from the surface of the sun. trust me, it is a massive solar flair. just tweeted about that. all right, here's a look at our live weather cam. temperatures still 64 downtown. winds still southwest at 15. pressure 30.39 inches of

mercury and rising just a little bit. let's talk about temperatures. still in the 60s. 63 in bethesda. 62 in reston. even leesburg and manassas still in the low 60s. 65 in college park. 6 # in beltsville and 62 down in andrews. winds are still gusting to 33 at national. and 22-mile per hour wind gusts in leesburg. the arrow pointing to the direction the winds are blowing. that's the direction of the wind from the south. it's going to be a warm wind tonight and warmer wind tomorrow. it will get cooler on friday. breezy and milder. you'll need your umbrella thursday night. that's the bad news. breezy and cooler on friday behind the system. tomorrow morning, some clouds roll in. we stay dry for the morning commute, walk to lunch, no real problems there. the evening commute, about this time tomorrow we're okay, some showers up in hagerstown and the showers come blasting through late at night. primarily light, some of the

heavier activity denoted in yellow and the northern neck. they get out of here in the predawn hours on friday and high pressure builds back in and we'll be in good shape. for tonight, breezy and milder, barely a one blanket night. a 45 to 50. winds out of the southwest at 10 to 20. you want to go outside and look at the sky. look east. after 9:00, you'll be able to see mars and the moon and virgo. it's a cool sight, the big dipper and little dipper are off to the east. look at partly cloudy skies and light jacket. 40s and 50s and by afternoon, some increasing clouds, but windy and warmer, high temperatures 65 to 70. all right, next seven days. looks like this, cooler on friday. upper 50s and then kind of chilly on saturday. we lose an hour over the weekend, but back to 60 on sunday. we'll keep the weekend dry. brisk on saturday. milder on sunday. >> all right topper, but colts won't be the same.

>> they won't be the same. what a crazy day. this is what we do the job for. peyton manning no longer an indianapolis colt. hear his emotional good-bye. plus, what's the next step in his career? we'll break it all down coming up next.

now, 9 sports with kristen berset. the best sports in town. >> 14 years at a super bowl later, the indianapolis colts and peyton manning are parting ways. team owner made the official announcement during a very emotional press conference this afternoon. saying there will never be another peyton manning and number 18 will never be worn on the field again. manning for ever changed the face of football in indianapolis and is deeply embedded in the community. but after several long emotional talks, they both decided this is the best decision. >> certainly been emotional and it weighed real heavy on the heart. >> over the last decade and a half, we have been so blessed to have him and you know, the good times we've had together, the laughs we shared together. >> what's next for payton?

a handful of suiters expressed their interest in the four-time mvp. despite the fact he's coming off neck surgery. manning can sign immediately with another team and doesn't have to wait until free agent si opens next tuesday. i highly doubt this will happen in the next few days. this is uncharted territory. he played his entire career with just one team and he did make it clear today, though, that he has no plans to retire. >> i don't want to retire. and no, i don't feel like i have anything to prove. nobody loves their job more than i do. nobody loves playing quarterback more than i do. and i still want to play. >> here's a look at how manning's career numbers stack up to those produced just last season by his top four suiters. you can see why they are willing to fight for him. out of the redskins cardinals, dolphins and jets, manning stats surpassed these teems in just about every category.

switching gears, hoyas in their big east tournament opener. big run to end the first half. henry sims gets the generous roll. 20 points for sims. then the second half, more hoyas, sims in the giving mood with the sweet dish to auto porter. nice. he had 20 as well. hoyas win 64-52. desmond signing autographs before today's game. down 2 in the 9th. carlos hit the game tieing two- run homer and got to love spring training. the game ends in a 3-3 tie. washington wizards looking to end a losing streak against the los angeles lakers. kobe and company beat the wiz the last ten straight meetings. that should be an exciting game tonight, but crazy day in sports. >> and emotional. >> very emotional. >> that's it for us, the cbs evening news is up next. >> that's right, and derek is back with our area's only local newscast at 7:00 and don't forget our morning team starts bright and early, 4:25 a.m.

>> all right, have a great night.