i need you to get out there and vote for me. >> reporter: romney will spend today fund raising in new york as he builds his war chest for what could be a very long primary battle. cbs news, washington. president obama's reelection bid received a big endorsement yesterday. the afl-cio said it will begin a nationwide door-to-door effort for the president and other democratic candidates. union leaders say the goal of the campaign is to counter the flood of outside money conservative groups are pouring into the campaigns. they have up to 400,000 union members. they'll use phone banks and knock on doors. president obama says the person responsible for a shooting spree which left 15 people dead in afghanistan will be held fully accountable. there are now reports the soldier whose name still has not been released didn't just turn himself in but a search party cleat with helicopters was sent looking for him when

it was discovered he was missing. he was reportedly found crawling through an orchard as if he were trying to sneak back on to base. a senior military official says there is also some indication alcohol was involved. officials say the suspect will remain in custody. he could face the death penalty. today the senate is expected to approve $109 billion package to help overhaul the highway and transit programs across the country. it will give states more flexibility on how they spend the federal money. it will also speed up the pace of road construction by shortening the environmental reviews. british prime minister david cameron is in the united states for an official state visit. afghanistan and the upcoming nato and g8 meetings are among the things he'll be discussing with president owe bam madam president the president will host -- obama. the president will host a state dinner tonight. a man police say shot his estranged wife in the head and pushed her out of a minivan is

dead. philip joseph colberto shot himself late last night. he was wanted in the shooting death of his ex-wife. he shot her in the head and dumped her body near the intersection of connecticut and knowles avenue in kensington. he was found 12 hours later. police set up a barricade around the home. they went inside after hearing a gunshot. >> we were able to see the suspect laying in a hallway in the house so the tactical units entered the house and determined that the subject was deceased from an apparent gunshot wound and there was a rifle laying next to him. we believe it was a self- inflicted gunshot wound. >> court records show he had recently begun divorce -- his ex-wife had just recently begun

divorce proceedings. aggravated involuntary manslaughter, just one of the charges victor eldana is facing for a drunk driving crash that killed an 8-year-old boy. he had been drinking for five hours before he ran off the road near landmark mall in january. 8-year-old brian hernandez chavez was killed in this. his mother suffered a broken pelvis and two broken legs. the man accused of setting a fire was seriously injured -- who seriously injured several d.c. firefighters will spent 25 years behind bars. maurice dues had pleaded guilty. sources tell 9news federal investigators have subpoenaed a handsful of -- handful of d.c. council members as part of an investigation into an alleged

campaign corruption. they're suspected to subpoena even more. investigators are searching for information on business dealings and campaign contributions from businessman jeff thompson. the f.b.i. and i.r.s. raided topson's home and offices earlier this month. over the year thompson has donated to most current council members, including vincent orange. orange responded to published reports about those donations by producing records of 26 money orders which went to his campaigns from thompson contact. >> there may be ten and the serial numbers are all running the same sequence. however, the name may have been from georgia. so that would raise suspicion. >> reporter: you're talking about fraud here? >> i'm not going to make that determination. >> members who received campaign contributions from thompson say they're reexamining their records. maryland legislators may

consider delaying talks on a gas tax increase. senate president mike miller said it might be better to hold a special session to give gas prices a chance to drop first. miller also says he wonders if lawmakers will have an appetite to discuss the increase as they debate on other taxes in the state budget. governor martin o'malley is scheduled to testify today about his proposal to increase the tax on gas purchases by 6%. here's some other things making news now. the judge in the penn state sex abuse scandal has rejected a request from jerry sandusky's lawyer. the request included when and where the alleged crimes took place but the judge said the prosecutors don't have aniation dl details. sandusky's attorney says he'll go to court next week to ask that all child sex abuse charges against his client be dismissed. sandusky is accused of abusing ten boys over 1 years, a claim -- over 15 years, a claim he

has denied. the parents of two virginia tech shooting victims are demanding a full account on what happened that day. they claim virginia tech officials should have issued an earlier warning about the danger on campus. school administrators insist they acted properly based on the information they had at the time. 32 people were killed in the shooting rampage on the blacksburg campus. time right now 4:36. coming up at 4:40, good news about our local economy. that's coming up in your money. at 4:49, a group of veterans running in this weekend's rock 'n' roll u.s.a. marathon are running to raise awareness for their fellow service men and women returning from war. we are headed close to 80 degrees. we're back with your weather first in two minutes.

4:38 on this wednesday morning. 70 by noon. 3:00 76. we're looking at highs today between 75 and 80. rain chances also in the seven- day forecast. that's coming up in about five minutes. over to monika with time saver traffic. 270 looks great coming down from frederick to the point where the lanes divide at shady grove road. you can see traffic volumes are very light. there is construction on the inner loop at route 123 along the left side of the roadway. in my next report, another look at maryland roads at 4:37. it is time for the first your money segment of the morning. >> jessica is here with green arrows a plenty. >> that's right. wall street closed higher for the fifth day in a row and did so in fine style. all the key averages gained more than 1.5%. the dow closed above 13,000 to its highest level since late

2007. nasdaq probably the king on the day. first close above 3,000 since december 2000. that's right. helping out a better than expected report on february retail sales and jpmorgan chase raised its stock dividend. the dow surging 218 points to 13,177. nasdaq climbed by 56 points. s&p 500 up by about 25. four major u.s. banks all failed the federal reservessage stress test. they're designed to show if banks have enough money to survive another serious economic downturn. 15 of the 19 banks did pass. here's a big takeaway here. jpmorgan chase, wells forgo, those are the types of banks that did well. the fed is growing more upbeat about the job market and growing economy too. at the conclusion of its policy meeting, the central bank said the unemployment rate should keep falling and said strains in the global financial markets have eased but could still pose

a threat. ben bernanke pledged to keep interest rates at record lows till at least 2014. the unemployment rate in virginia, maryland and the district all fell in january. according to the latest report from the labor department, virginia's unemployment rate dropped to 5.8%, maryland to 6.5% and d.c. fell to 9.9%. high gas prices aren't just hurting your budget. higher fuel costs are also chipping away at profits for some of the nation's biggest airlines. southwest is warning it won't turn a profit this quarter because of higher fuel prices. jet fuel has risen every year since 2008 now the biggest expense for most u.s. airlines and the biggest expense for consumers when they buy a ticket on those airlines. >> see you in a bit. researchers say they have found a new medical use for text messaging. >> we'll have more on that story. plus your weather first in two

minutes. we'll be back. we believe keeping kids healthy can start with healthy hands. with the lysol no-touch hand soap system healthy hands can be automatic. for healthy tips and more, visit lysol.com/missionforhealth.

we are all anxious to hear what howard has in store for us today after yesterday getting above 80 degrees. >> we'll get close to it again today. tomorrow i think we'll be in the low 80s in many areas. the record tomorrow 181. today it's 8 -- is 81. today it's 89. not going to happen. >> did you put your air conditioner on yesterday? >> in the car. >> at the house? >> just opened some windows and enjoyed some ceiling fans. that was g. i don't like the wind noise. i don't like opening the windows unless we're going slow. just my thing. what can i say. weather wise, bus stop forecast, we all have our

little independent sink crazies -- independent id idiosyncrasies. we have temperatures in the 40s in some spots and other areas in the low 60s. a big range. sunrise 7:20 this morning. it sets about 7:15 this afternoon. here's a look at the day planner. by 8:00 upper 50s so very comfortable morning out there. light jacket at most. by noon 70. winds northwest at 6. we'll turn to the southwest 5, 8, 10 miles an hour as we have highs today between 75 and 80. the cool spots will be near the bay and maybe the mountains. everybody else well up into the 70s. good 20, 25 degrees above average. a couple of showers popped yesterday evening. isolated stuff. expected it. they were there this morning. we're left with generally clear skies and as we said, some areas in the 40s like culpeper at 48 degrees.

it's 54 in easton. still 60s on the board. 60s at this hour in march. unheard of. baltimore, pax river at 62. hagerstown is 60. locally one of the warmer spots great falls, lovettsville at 64. haymarket was 51. manassas dipped into the 40s. college park 51. but up the road in crofton 63. columbia 58. rockville right now, the warm spot, 65. outside we've got clear skies, good visibility on our michael and sun weather camera and 59 with a light southwesterly wind. got a little bit of the urban heat island, potomac river. look at all the warmth. minneapolis is 54 at this hour. jet stream is taking this dip in the west and coming way up into canada. as long as that ridge in the east persists, our

enseasonnable -- unseasonable warm weather is going to continue. out on the west coast they're getting hammered with rain and snow. some of the mountains around seattle and washington state did have up to 24 inches of snow from this. you can see the heavier rains today, this morning anyway in san francisco and northern california. meanwhile much of the country under high pressure. warm high pressure. that's why it's a relatively quiet looking satellite and radar map this morning. so look at the future cast. yeah, nothing is coming toward us. 5:00 today lots of sunshine. tonight generally clear. we'll dip back into the 50s. maybe a few upper 40s. as we get into the day on thursday, we'll be okay through lunch time. then in the afternoon isolated showers not out of the question popping up with the daytime warmth into the low 80s. a better chance we'll see showers area wide as we get into friday. here we are at friday morning. look what happens friday afternoon. some showers here. going to be popping. we want to get these out of here because we have that race,

the marathon, half marathon saturday morning downtown that we'll be broadcasting here on wusa. so we need dry weather for that. 79 today. tonight we're dipping into the upper 40s in the cold spots. upper 50s in town. tomorrow 78 to 83. could be an isolated storm or two. friday more clouds and a better chance of showers. still rather warm, in the mid- 70s. still 20 degrees above average. saturday got our suntrust rock 'n' roll u.s.a. marathon and half marathon. could be a shower but i think it's going to hold off till saturday afternoon. not too bad for st. patrick's day. still in the mid- to upper 70s sunday, monday and tuesday. the luck of the irish will take it for a few more days. it is now 4:48. here comes monika santami with a look at time saver traffic. i'm happy to say there's green all around here as well. no problems to report on the beltway. most of your construction spots have been cleared up for the day. that's good news for you. if you're planning to head over to the beltway, things are looking great between college

park and bethesda. we'll take a live look just near new hampshire avenue. if you're coming around from 95, this is what it's going to look like for you all the way into silver spring and past that into bethesda and the american legion bridge. back over to the map, this time from the north on 270 and i-70 out of frederick all the way down through clarksburg. no problems here as you travel down to rockville. we'll take a live look as well on 270. here's what it looks like at route 121. a few people out early this morning but no delays down to the point where the lanes divide. coming up in my next report, we'll take look at virginia at 4:55. >> thanks. health professionals say they have found a potentially life saving use for cell phones. >> they say text messages can be used to remind millions of h.i.v. patients to take their medicine. many h.i.v. patients don't regularly take their meds because of the strong side effects which can lower their effectiveness and sometimes lead to death. losing billiony fat allows blood vessels to work better. in a six-month study,

researchers at johns hopkins found more belly fat people used, the better their arteries were able to expand when needed. being overweight increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, especially the fat in the belly and the waist. scientists in london found parents speaking to fellow parents in small groups were able to improve relationships and interactions with their children. many parents reported less stress and better behaved children. this week we are counting down to saturday's suntrust rom roll u.s.a. marathon and we're looking at some of the 21,000 runners who will be taking part in the race. >> several veterans are running to help returning vets cope with post-traumatic stress disorder or ptsd. they hope to make military homecomings less painful. >> reporter: matt orr is one of the lucky ones, a navy chopper pilot who hasn't suffered the

emotional combat scars so many service men carry home from war. but he's seen too many others suffer battle front post- traumatic stress. >> post of the people i know that have issues don't talk about it. they kind of suffer alone. you find out about it later after something's happened to drive them to seek help. >> reporter: that's why matt and his wife krissy are running this rock 'n' roll marathon raising money for not alone, a group helping service men and women and their families overcome ptsd. >> my husband and cousin came back from war and suffered with it. i don't know if he knew about it at the time. we weren't that familiar with it. >> reporter: fellow navy pilot greg and his wife joining the not alone team grateful this tour of duty keeps them home with their family and hoping the money they raise helps their struggling friends and colleagues. >> i don't know how you put your finger on it. that's the hard part. guys come back and get greeted at the airport.

they get a pat on the back. the regular american doesn't really know what they're seeing over there in iraq or afghanistan. >> we've gone through together about five deployments. i've seen a lot of sadness and a lot of heartbreak for families. it's so hard for everybody to know the sacrifices that are made not only by the men and women on the front lines but the families at home. >> we've got to go this way first. >> reporter: something as simple as play becomes an or deal for vets with ptsd. when each couple runs this time, they insist nothing will stop their race to raise cash and our awareness that not alone is helping several thousand veterans. >> it also provides confidentiality that maybe they don't want the statement being out that they're having problems. they get the best of both worlds. they get to be helped and not have it be public knowledge.

>> wusa is the home of the rock 'n' roll u.s.a. marathon. both myself and mike will host our live coverage of the race saturday morning from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. so please tune in and watch if you're not out there running in the race. >> every single year more and more people sign up which means more money going to charity so that's a great thing. time for the question of the morning. >> each year 14,000 people get injured while using this at work. is it a door? or is it b, a stapler or c, a coffee pot? >> chances are a coffee pot because i spend so much time with it. log on to our facebook fan page and leave your response. we'd love to hear what you think and we'll have the answer in the 6:00 hour. we'll be right back.

your weather first. it's mild out there. 50s, 60s. a couple spots in the 40s. it's going to be another beautiful spring day around here. 67 by 11:00. we'll look at highs between 75 and 80. got some rain on that seven-day forecast, though. i'll have that for you coming up during 9news now at 5:00 a.m. right now monika santami has a look at your time saver traffic. 395 northbound at the 14th street bridge, this is a good indication of all the potomac and anacostia river crossings heading into the district. coming up in my next report, a closer look at virginia roads at 5:01. back to you. the unusually warm weather we're enjoying is appropriating the national park service to change its cherry blossom forecast. the park service now predicts peak blossom on the tidal bay -- peak bloom rather from march

24 to march 28. peak bloom is when 70% of the blossoms are open but the blooming starts several days before that and can last as long as two weeks. this year's national cherry blossom festival runs for a whole month and kicks off in just one week. wal-mart wants to take your movies digital. the retail giant is teaming up with major hollywood studios to convert your dvds and blu-ray disks to digital versions so you can access them on your smartphone. wal-mart will start offering the service next month at a cost of $2 and $5 per disk. it is the end of an era for the encyclopedia encyclopedia britannica. the company will stop publishing it. it will be the first time in 244 years that britannica will not be available in book form. encyclopedia will still be available in digital versions. they first published in 1768 in

scotland. mr. clooney goes to washington. >> and movie premiers on the left and right coast. we have more in today's look at entertainment. >> reporter: george clooney is testifying about the oil dispute between sudan and south sudan and the obstacles eight groups faced trying to help people there. clooney made a trip to the dangerous border region last week. >> reporter: stars of the new independent film owe detachment" turned out for its premier. >> i love to learn about things or explore the complexity of human issues, socially relevant issues. i love to share that with people. the beauty of the cinematic experience of being in that

darkened room alone with the characters. >> reporter: it opens friday in new york and in other u.s. cities late they are month. here in hollywood a popular 1980tv drama is making a comeback. this time as a comedy on the big screen. "21 jump street" premiered at the chinese theater. it's about undercover cops and back to high school to bust a drug ring. johnny depp who starred in the original tv series makes a cameo. it opens nationwide on friday. that's your eye on entertainment entertainment. >> 21 jump street and johnny depp. i'll never forget that. good morning. thank you for watching. holly robinson was there. i think she'll be in the movie too. good morning. i'm andrea roane. thanks for watching. i'm mike hydeck. have they changed since then or what. monika santami does traf