howard bernstein. >> she's still the same. >> she's not changed in years. >> thank you. >> as beautiful as ever. >> the weather. >> another gorgeous day ahead. this morning it's a little cool. i busted out one of my lightest jackets. we're going to be in the 70s to near 80 once again this afternoon. so that jacket is not going to see a lot of wear today. here's a look at the day planner for ow this wednesday morning. >> how -- for you on this wednesday morning. >> how about socks? you wear socks? howard likes to run down his wardrobe every morning. >> mike is the sockless one. mike hates socks. 70 degrees at noon. 5:00 77. we're looking at highs again 75 to 80. average high is 55. here we go. a little line of showers last night. brief showers came through. they're off shore now. there's nothing coming toward us. temperatures down to 46 in

manassas, culpeper, orange. leesburg at 60 right now. gaithersburg is 61 and over to andrews 63. sunny, gorgeous, winds turn to the southwest later on this afternoon. look at these highs. mid-70s to even 80 or so in a couple of spots south and west of d.c. incredible. i guess i could call it incredible if you want to call traffic incredible. things are not bad at all. the temperature is great and traffic moving well all around town including on 66 coming in from manassas so centreville. your lanes are open all the way into fairfax and the beltway. you're going to be just fine this morning. we'll take a live look closer to route 123 and all lanes are open. nothing to worry about. all the cruk has picked up as -- all the construction has picked up as well. back over to the maps this time northbound on i-95 coming up from dale city to woodbridge across the occoquan river right into springfield you're fine. we'll take a live look there right now where traffic is moving well at the franconia springfield parkway up to the beltway and on to 395 and the

14th street bridge. all lanes are open. coming up in my next report, we'll go into maryland at 5:10. this morning police are sorting out a horrific murder and manhunt that played out in montgomery county. >> it ended with the suspect's death more than 12 hours after a woman's body was dumped out on a busy street in kensington yesterday. delia goncalves is at scene which is along connecticut avenue. she has the latest on the investigation. delia, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. it's a horrific story and it all started here at the intersection of connecticut and knowles when dozens of witnesses who were here just after 9:30 in the morning saw an unimaginable crime unfold before their very eyes. the suspect, 51-year-old philip gilberti, he is the man police say terrorized and killed his estranged wife. surveillance video at intersection captured the chaotic scene just after 9:30. the two were traveling in a van together. heather mcguire tried to get

out of the car when gilberti pulled her back in, shot her in the head and shoved her body into the street as he sped from the scene. police worked well into the night searching for the suspect and found him just before 11:00 p.m. in rockville. >> we attempted to make contact with the suspect. receiving no response, we were then able to make visual contact with the suspect who appeared to be laying in a hallway. tactical units entered the home, found mr. gilberti deceased of an apparent gunshot wound. we believe the gunshot wound was self-inflicted. >> reporter: we tell you we poured through court records and they indicate that the estranged couple were married in 2009, going through a divorce. they were actually scheduled to appear in court the morning of the murder. coming up in my next live report in a half-hour, i'll tell you what friends and family members of the suspect were doing and how they were

reacting during the whole tragic scene yesterday. back to you. >> thank you, delia goncalves reporting live from kensington, maryland. 5:04 now. d.c. police are looking for a carjacker who stole an suv with a baby inside. the carjacking was yesterday morning on suitland road in southeast d.c. the mother put her 5-month-old in the car, went back inside to get her son. that's when the carjacker jumped in and drove off. officers found the suv about 30 minutes later, less than a mile away on rail street. the baby was still inside and was not hurt. an arsonist who seriously injured several d.c. firefighters is now headed to prison. 26-year-old maurice dews pleaded guilty yesterday to setting several fires in the d.c. metro area. a judge then issued dews a 25- year prison sentence. half a dozen firefighters were injured battling one of those fires last april. one of them burned over 30% of his body and spent months in the hospital. in campaign 2012, rick santorum has two more republican primary wins this

morning. and at this hour the votes are still being counted in hawaii. right now mitt romney is leading in hawaii with more than 34% of the vote while santorum has about 30%. santorum's wins both came in the deep south n. alabama he won with almost 35% of the vote. newt gingrich placed second with just over 29%, only a few tenths of a point ahead of romney. and in neighboring miss missantorum got 33% of the vote. it is 5:05. time for the latest your money report. >> jessica doyle is here with today's headlines. a big day on wall street yesterday. >> you're wearing the color of the day, green. we'd take another one today just like yesterday. the dow closing above 13,000, highest level since late 2007. not to be outdone, the nasdaq had its first close above 3,000

since december 2000 helping out we had a better than expected report on february retail sales and jpmorgan chase among other things it's raising its stock dividend. checking the numbers, the dow searched -- surged 218 points, 13,177. nasdaq was up by 56. s&p 500 was up by about 25 points. we just told but wal-mart helping you to digitize your dvd collection. now we're going to tell you how it works. all you have to do is create a free voodoo account, bring a dvd from either fox, paramount, sony, universal and warner bros. to wal-mart photo counter and you're going to receive an access code to watch that movie through your smartphones, your tablets, laptops, other mobile devies. this is what its -- devices. that is what it's going to cost you. two bucks for a standard high def movie. hyatt will be the first major brand it offer in room

internet tv systems. according to our partners at "u.s.a. today," guests will be able to log on to facebook, stream movies from their netflix account and use their ipad, laptop and other devices to operate the tv. hyatt hopes to have the service ready within a year. everything is coming to everywhere nowadays. >> all connected. >> i'll need a quiet app on my phone. >> it's hard to turn the off button on. >> what do you have in the next half-hour? >> saving money while you pay down your debt. there's pros and cons to one really good way to do so. today the senate votes on a big overhaul to our highways. that story is coming up. plus, police release some horrible looking video of a hit and run crash where the victim mile an miraculously only suffered minor injuries. ahead in sports, we'll have the results from the first two play-in games from march

madness.

5:09 on this wednesday morning. another mild morning out there. a couple of spots have actually dipped into the 40s but most of us seeing 50s, even some low 60s now. we're going well up in the 70s

once again. in fact, yesterday we hit 81. we could be near that today and again tomorrow. here's a look at this day planner for your wednesday. by 9:00 expecting temperatures around 60. a beautiful lunch hour. about 70 degrees. northwesterly winds 5, 7, 8 miles an hour. 5:00 p.m. 77 after topping out right about 79. seven-day forecast in just a few. right now monika with time saver traffic. we're taking a live look at the beltway in prince george's county where there are no problems to report near here at route 50 or between 95 actually and this point down to the wilson bridge. all lanes are open. coming up in my next report, another look around the area at 5:17. 5:10 now of the here's what's making news. some scary video of a hit-and- run crash in richmond over the bk. amazingly -- over the weekend. amazingly the person who was hit only suffered minor injuries. witnesses say the driver did stop briefly but then left the scene. police are still looking for the driver of that car.

today the senate is expected to pass a bipartisan overhaul of highway and transit programs. the measure gives states more flexibility in how they spend federal transportation dollars. lawmakers face a march 31 deadline to pass a bill or temporarily suspend the program. the leaders of the pack crossed the finish line in the sled dog race in alaska. this is the winner, a 25-year- old would finished in nine days, four hours. he beat his father and grandfather who were also in the race and he's the youngest champion in history. an american contractor found him trying to survive on the streets of afghanistan. now an injured dog has just arrived at his new home in northern virginia. that story is coming up at 5:57. at 5:23, how about some new high profile receivers to round out the roster. the redskins did some of that yesterday. next at 5:14, howard has dared to put an 80 in the seven-

day forecast. we'll be back.

welcome back to 9news now. our time is 5:14 on this wednesday morning. halfway through the week and boy, you'll need sunscreen, sun shades, maybe a hat. it's great. one of the ladies, a facebook friend of mine, last week when it was warm the kids wanted to wear shorts. she was no, no. come okay let them go. this morning she's like, i'm

letting them go in shorts. why not. temperatures are going to be well up in the 70s today. tomorrow we'll have a few more spots actually getting into the low 80s. then as we head toward friday, a few more showers but still 70s are going to be with us for at least another week when the average highs should be in the mid-50s. here's a look at the bus stop forecast. very little in the way of complaints coming in with temperatures now in the 40s in a few areas. mostly 50s and still some low 60s. yesterday i said don't plant your gardens or the tender stuff. we could still have frost and freezes but some of the vegetables, the hearty ones, they're fine to go in now. today lots of sunshine. a good day to be outside playing around, gardening or bicycling or whatever. 67 by 11:00. lots of long outside lunches today. 72 by 1:00. this afternoon we'll be in the mid- to upper 70s, even near 80 in a few areas with southwest to northwesterly winds.

or northwest to southwesterly winds, excuse me, at 5, 8, 10 miles an hour. tonight we're back in the upper 40s to mid-50s. yesterday evening we had just a couple of showers that popped up. there they go out this atlantic now. a line of showers and storms. overhead clear skies. temperatures into the 60s in gaithersburg right now 63. it's 51 in fredricksburg. hagerstown is 58. culpeper up to warrenton and manassas, even cathlet, just spoke to charlie, upper 40s there. as we look outside on our michael & son weather camera under clear skies, visibility is final. the flag blowing just a little bit atop the capitol with clear skies. a south wind at 6 reported at reagan national and the dew point is still up there right at the 50 degree mark. a little moisture in the air but nothing to squeeze it out. heavy rain and snow in california. yesterday two feet, two feet of snow in the mountains. outside of seattle and northwestern washington and yet

more storms trying to come on shore in the west. in the east high pressure dominates our wet sorry we'll have a slight chance -- weather so we'll have a slight chance of a storm looks like our next best chance of rain or showers will come on friday and temperatures will still be in the low to mid-70s for highs. so today 79, a warm, sunny day, gorgeous. tonight back in the 50s. some upper 40s in the suburbs. tomorrow upper 70s to low 80s with an isolated afternoon shower or thunderstorm. then friday a few more showers or a couple rumbles of thunder, mid-70s. as we head toward the weekend, a slight chance of a shower saturday afternoon. we have 74 for the high. during the race on saturday morning i think most temps in the 60s. so a little warm for marathoners. sunday 76 and 70s monday and tuesday. monika santami, over to you. thank you so much, howard. good morning, everybody. things are looking great outside i'm happy to say. all this weather is putting a smile on my face. things are looking great if you're planning to head over on

the bw parkway and route 50 through sheverly into the northeast area. no problems to report over any of the potomac an anacostia crossings as well. further north in college park, this is what it looks like coming around from route 1 over to 9 a 5 into silver spring -- 95 into silver spring. volumes are still light. southern maryland, route 5, 301, looking great. no problems to report out of brandywine, accokeek into oxon hill. the beltway is incident free leaving route 4. pennsylvania avenue over to the wilson bridge. we'll take a look in alexandria at route 1 at the beltway. this is fine as well. that stretch in alexandria between springfield and the wilson bridge. coming up in my next report, we'll go into maryland at 5:24. march madness officially under way after two play-in games last night. >> speaking of drama, the caps go to a shootout in game they needed badly in order to make the playoffs. another look at the question of the day before we head to break. every year 14,000 people get injured while using one of

these things at work. is it a, a door, b, a stapler, or c, the coffee pot? >> one person wrote, i've never been injured by any of those things but if i had to pick, i'd say b, because people are dumb and like to grab a hold of hot things. log on to the facebook fan page and leave your response instead. we'll have the answer in our 6:00 hour.

5:21. another great day to be outside as we have temperatures a little cool in spots but it's going to feel like may or june out there. lunch time 70 degrees. it will be beautiful. lots of sunshine. even on the eastern shore we're in the upper 60s. as we get into the afternoon, mid, even upper 70s to near 80 in a couple of spots for highs. andrea and mike? >> thank you, howard. today president obama and british prime minister david cameron will make the rounds here in washington. >> last night the world leaders were in ohio for the start of march madness. they watched mississippi valley state take on western kentucky. it looked like it was going to be an easy win for state. that is, until the last five minutes. western kentucky made a furious run. 59-68 comeback win. not to be outdone in the

second game featured last night, an evener comeback . / na dominated but here comes byu. the cougars win 78-72. here's kristen berset with the rest of your morning sports. good morning, everybody. the redskins blockbuster trade with the rams to get the second pick in the draft became official yesterday but they're purposing of draft picks to get him meant the redskins needed to do some serious business in free agency. they were busy making sure they have the talented targets to throw to. plus 90 minutes after free agency opened, they signed pierre garson to a deal. despite earlier reports the redskins have not signed eddie royal, reports say talks fell

through after other teams showed interest. the caps in a must win situation visiting the islanders. the caps rallied back if a three-goal deficit. alex vow stretch kinnocks -- alex ovechkin knocks his own rebound in to tie it at 4. capitals with a big win 5-4 over the islanders. they're one point behind florida. wizards continued their road trip in dallas. things started off well and then the mavs came. the mavericks beat the wiz 107- 98. that's going to do it for your morning sports. it's kristen berset. have a great day. ricken santorum gains more momentum in his push to become the republican presidential nominee. that story is coming up. this fantastic weather means you want to get out and see those cherry blossoms but you better hurry up. a nice quiet ride on canal

road and fox hall here at the intersection. things are looking great as you head into georgetown. coming up in my next report, we'll talk about area roadways at 5:29. you're watching 9news now. stay with us. people! look at you!

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good morning. welcome back to 9news now on this wednesday morning. grab another cup of coffee. i'm mike hydeck. i have at least two more to go. >> we're just starting. >> we're starting with howard at 56 degrees and going up. >> we may be near 80 like yesterday and into the low 80s tomorrow. >> that's silly. that's a lot. >> things are growing and blooming all over the place. the tree pollen came in yesterday in the high category. the grass, weeds and mold spores were low in case you're feeling it. >> a little something. >> a little something.

weather wise we've got a good start to the day as we're in the 50s here and your day planner, nothing but sunshine today. we'll head our way. tomorrow maybe an isolated shower or storm in the afternoon. by noon 70 degrees. another gorgeous lunch hour across the region. by 5:00 77 with highs between 75 and 80. winds northwest to southwest at 5 to 10 miles an hour. we are looking at the showers from last night. had some isolated ones. they're all off shore now. you see behind us there's nothing that's coming toward us. it's gotten a little chilly in spots like manassas and culpeper. andrews 63. martinsburg 64. gaithersburg is 60. 55 down in southern maryland and also in cambridge and this afternoon i'll step out of the way and you can enjoy beautiful temperatures in the upper 70s to even 80 in manassas. let's get to monika santami. it's now 5:29. things still going well on the roads? they are. i just took a look at all the roadways around town.

things are looking great. a couple little delays forming out of manassas and 270 out of frederick but those are your usual spots. no big deals to report. we're taking a look at 270 out of gaithersburg into rockville, bethesda and over to the beltway. we'll take a live look right now at the legion bridge on the west side of town. if you're leaving 270 heading southbound towards tysons corner, i think you'll get to work on time. as you traffic out of baltimore, bw parkway, looks great. we'll take a look at route 29 here at stewart lane. if you're coming out of burtonsville, all lanes are open and traffic is moving well. coming up in my next report we'll go to virginia at 5:39. in the last hour we've learned that mitt romney has won the presidential paw causes in hawaii-- >> presidential caucus in hawaii. >> but it's rick santorum that

was victorious in alabama and mississippi [ inaudible ] >> one of the things tonight proved is that the elite media's effort to convince the nation that mitt romney is inevitable just collapsed. >> newt gingrich came in second in both southern contests. he says he's not dropping out of the presidential race. today mitt romney plans to make a fund raising swing through new york. a gruesome case in montgomery county yesterday and this morning police are trying to figure out what led to yesterday's murder and eventual suicide of the suspect. that suspect philip gilberti was found dead inside a rockville home late last night. 12 hours earlier investigators say he dumped a woman's body out of a car on to the road in kensington. delia goncalves is live where that crime took place. she has more on the investigation. good morning. >> reporter: good morning.

it's even tough to hear you say that. it is a horrific crime and the folks here who work in the area won't forget what they saw. heather lynne mcguire was killed here in kensington just after 9:30 a.m. court records indicate she and the suspect who were traveling together in that van were scheduled to appear in court that very morning. police say that 51-year-old philip gilbirti, a 6'2", former boxer was traving down connecticut avenue yesterday with his estranged wife. when she tried escaping the car, he pulled her in, shot her in the head and sped off leaving her to die in the middle of the street. police searched into the night tracking the suspect who had communicated with friends and family throughout the day. >> he's a powerful guy. he acts before he thinks. i guess that's his downfall. >> i had spoken with several

quain assistances and -- acquaintances and had made threats regarding a number of individual, including members of his own family. and so we had folks, police officers ensuring their safety all the while we were searching for this man. >> reporter: a tip led police officers eventually to an apartment in rockville, a friend's apartment and gilberti eventually shot and cildz himself police say as they surrounded that building -- and killed himself police say as they surrounded that building and tried to move in. we'll have much more on a very disturbing and violent history between the suspect and the victim in this case. for now back to you. >> delia goncalves live in kensington. thanks, delia. sources tell 9news federal investigators have subpoenaed a handful of d.c. council members and will likely subpoena even more as part of an investigation into alleged campaign corruption. the feds are after information on business dealings and campaign contributions from

businessman jeff thompson. the f.b.i. and the i.r.s. raided thompson's home and his offices earlier this month. councilman vincent orange responded to published reports about thompson's donations by producing records of 26 money orders that went to campaigns from thompson contact. members who received contributions from topson say they are re-- thompson say they are reexamining their records. a loudoun county couple is expected to go to trial facing misdemeanor charges over their children's tardiness to school. last year one at this time was tardy 68 times and absent 15 days. the couple could be fined $3,000. they say this isn't a criminal matter. school officials though say excessive tardiness disrupts other students. governor martin o'malley is

scheduled to test testify about his -- to testify about his proposal of upping the gas tax. the senate president mike miller says it might be better to hold a special session to give gas prices a chance to drop before any taxes are considered. miller also wonders if lawmakers actually have an appetite to discuss an increase when they have to debate over taxes in the state budget. 5:35. time for another your money report. >> jessica is back. when it comes to paying credit card debt, she has some advice. >> that's right. who wouldn't want to lower your credit card debt, right? it's the holy grail. we all want to do that. transferring a balance to a card with a lower interest rate is one option for you, but you're definitely going to want to read the fine print. here's some pros and cons. >> reporter: transferring a credit card balance to a card with lower interest or zero interest can be one option to help make a bigger dent in debt. but balance transfer offers are usually for a temporary period. so read the terms carefully and know the go-to rate when an

offer expires. >> that's the interest rate you'll have to pay on any balance that you have left. you need to be sure that you read all of the fine print because there also might be a balance transfer fee. and this is usually around 3% or so. >> reporter: the best balance transfer offers, those with zero interest, are made to those with better credit. those with less than stellar credit can probably still snag an offer but the window of low interest will likely be shorter giving you less time to pay down that debt. >> if you do manage to get a balance transfer, decide how much you're going to pay per month or if you've got 12 months on your intro rates, divide your debt by 12 months and that's your payment every month so that you can get out of debt. >> reporter: also crucial to the process, don't add any extra purchases to the balance transfer card. the point is to get out of credit card debt, not burden yourself with new purchases. >> that really important thing to keep in mind, that transfer balance is costing you on

average 3% to 4% of the transfer apartments so you want to make sure you crunch these numbers so that they work for you. because you don't want to add up more debt in the process of reducing your debt. >> you're transferring, a fee is 300, 400 bucks and you're attacking on -- do the math. >> just -- attacking -- and you're tacking it on -- do the math. >> just be careful. the cherry blossoms are peaking sooner. more on that coming up. plus, a tiny bat used to educate students about animals will soon be back in area classrooms after a delicate surgery.

5:39. another gorgeous day ahead. our average high is 55. we're already 56. we're going to be well up in the 70s, even near 80 later o. the day planner, you have outdoor plans, no problems whatsoever. don't forget the sunscreen, though. by noon 70 degrees.

3:00 76. we're headed between 75 and 80 across the region. looks like it could be even warmer tomorrow. your full seven-day forecast in five minutes. inside to monika with a look at time saver traffic. a pretty good morning so far. >> it really has. if you're planning to head inbound i-66, here's what it looks like in centreville. it's a little slow in man fan sas -- manassas at the car rest area but nice as you can see here. in my next report we'll talk more about virginia roads at 5:48. we've been combing through the day's daily deals, e-mails and retailer websites to find you deep discounts. here are some of my favorites. raise a cup of coffee. here's a deal for k cups for the at home brewingmental. it can be found at green mountain coffee.com. save 20%. a bag of k-cups will cost you $13.19. that's down from $16.49. so we live in a digital world. that's why you need to have a

thumb drive handy and best buy's deal of the day is a mouthful. the san disk cruzer switch 32 gig usb flash drive. it's $19.99 normally $69.99. you're saving 71%. if you need glasses, pay $30. get $200 to use towards eye glass lenses and frames at a visual affair in northwest washington and arlington. that's an 85% savings. if you have an offer you've seen, i'd love to hear from you on facebook. >> thanks, jessica. thanks to our unusually warm weather, the national park service is changing the cherry blossom forecast. they now predict the peak bloom at the tidal basin will be between march 24 and march 28. peak bloom is when 70% of the blossoms are open. this year's national cherry blossom festival starts next

tuesday and runs for five weeks. a tiny bat is making a successful recovery from surgery to remove one of its eyes. veterinarians performed the procedure at the hope center in vienna, virginia after the bat doved a severe eye infection. jorge the bat weighs less than an ounce and his eye is just 3 millimeters wide. since he was found last year with a permanently damaged wing, he's become part of bat world's nova program to educate the public about that. a 244-year-old tradition is about to end. we'll have that story coming up. we'll chat with one of the sponsors of this weekend's suntrust rock 'n' roll marathon. let's see who's celebrating a birthday.

if it's your birthday, happy birthday. we'll be right back.

. good morning. it is 5:46. howard is here with our weather first. we have something happening overseas. >> about 40 minutes ago had an earthquake, a strong one just off japan. this is north of where the big one was about a year ago. remember last year's big earthquake was near sundai. -- near sendai. they have regional tsunami advisories and expect maybe half a meter. not a big one but, you know, anything is still bad. this happened 5:08 our time. so not quite 40 minutes ago.

we'll be monitoring that situation us for. let's talk about our weather, the bus stop forecast. it is a beauty out there. very comfortable. temps in the 50s, even low 60s. the cool spots are in the 40s with sunrise 7:20 this morning. it is going to be a gorgeous day. plenty of sunshine. temperatures at 8:00 still in the upper 50s. we'll be 70ish by noon. a great lunch hour. winds northwesterly turn southwesterly this afternoon. that will push temperatures in the upper 70s to even near 80 in a couple of spots. culpeper and those areas that are a little warmer than us could get to 81 or so. yesterday we did get all the way to 81 degrees, not a record but tomorrow's record is only 81 at national and 82 at dulles and bwi. thursday could see some record warmth. this morning there's your 40s in manassas with 60s in loudoun county from leesburg up to lovettsville up route 15 and over toward montgomery county. mid-50s in gait usberg. look at -- gaithersburg. look at rock ville still 53.

arlington still holding on to 64 this morning with 60s and 50s scattered about. what a difference. andrews 163. not that far away. upper marlboro 11 degrees cooler at 52 degrees. outside we've got great advice ibilities, clear skies, -- visibility, clear skies, 56 degrees with a south wind at 6. not much of a chill this morning and the dew point at 50. the air has gotten to feel much more like may than march with temperatures in the 60s all the way up to kansas city. minneapolis is in the 50s. the jet stream is well to the north, farther north than it normally is this time of year. that's why we're so warm here. out west it's coming on shore. california, oregon, washington state with lots of rain, lots of snow in the mountains. saw some totals in the last 24 hours. two feet, 24 inches at some of the ski areas in washington state. meanwhile in the eastern u.s. high pressure dominates right now. we're going to be nice and quiet today. fairly quiet tomorrow. looks like by friday, though, things are going to break down

a little bit. today upper 70s to near 80. incredible. tonight 50. some upper 40s again. tomorrow a warm day. upper 70s to low 80s. this could be a record tying or record setting warm t. slight chance of an afternoon shower or storm with a better chance of showers on friday. temperatures in the mid-70s. saturday slight chance of a shower. hopefully we'll be dry for the sun trust rock 'n' roll u.s.a. marathon. we'll have that right here from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m. on wusa. temperatures for the race should be in the 60s. sunday through tuesday sunny and still in the 70s. >> sounds great. if you're planning to head outside, doesn't sound too bad either. no problems to report. a bit of slow traffic on all the major thoroughfares but no big accidents to report right now. i'm going to start this time with 270 out of frederick. you're doing fine. no problems out of mount airy or damascus. you're going about 36 miles an hour here at route 80. again you're used to that this time of the morning heading southbound on 270.

i'm going to show what you it looks like live near i-70, east of 270 out of fred rig again. you're doing -- fred rig again. you're doing -- frederick again. you're doing fine. back over to the maps and this time all the way down south in virginia on the northbound side of i-95. you can see it's slowing down just a bit here out of dale city into woodbridge. once you're at at occoquan river, you're still doing well. the northbound side of 95 it bunches up. further north on 395 near edsall road this is still doing well up to duke street and the 14 rght street bridge. in my next report, we'll look into maryland again at 6:00. back to you. >> thank you, monika. making news now at 5:50, today lawyers in the virginia tech wrongful death lawsuit trial expected to argue over instructions to the jury. the defense rested yesterday and the parents of two of the paper 2007 massacre victims said virginia tech officials should have warned students earlier. school officials insist they

acted properly. people in coastal areas of the upper northwest got a winter surprise a week before spring begins. a pocket of cold air meant laces in oregon which -- places in oregon which usually get rain got snow instead. it's the end of an era for the encyclopedia britannia. the company will stop printing its flabship inencyclopedia. it will still be available in digital versions. it debuted in 1768 in scotland. we are very excited here at wusa to be a sponsor and broadcast team for the suntrust rock 'n' roll marathon this saturday, march 17. we have a lot of partners enjoying this, too. this morning i'm joined by jonathan rondo, the chief program officer for a nonprofit organization. what is it and what does it do?

it provides jobs and opportunities to people with disabilities in the greater d.c. area. we're committed to helping people live, work and play where and how they choose. >> this is your first joining the team here at suntrust. you decided to do this why? >> so that way people can participate in running butle give to our organization like -- but also give to our organization. the community has been generous to us. this is a way for people -- another way for people to leverage that. >> you'll accept cash, checks. >> if you're interested in the marathon, we still have slots. if you go to our website, you can sign up. you can also on our website donate your car or cash to our organization. all that money goes back to our programs and services. >> the marathon sold out pretty quickly. ever single year this marathon has been going in d.c., it has expanded exponentially. so the spots are hard to come by. if you'd like to make a donation to a worthy cause and

still get a spot to run in with the 20,000-plus runners, melwood is a way to do it. >> absolutely. we have about 300 spots available. >> that's great. the website? >> melwood.org. >> among ways you can donate? >> cash, check and your car. >> how do you go ahead and donate a car? if you have an older car you'd like to donate, you just call melwood? >> you call or go to our website and donate right online. >> fantastic. thank you for joining us. we'll see you out there this saturday and we hope to see you on the race course or on tv. we'll have live coverage from 8:00 to 11:00. andrea and i are your hosts. >> thank you. we have more on rick santorum's big wins in the south coming up. plus, a dog that survived the a ravages of war in afghanistan is now home with a new best friend in northern virginia.

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it is 5:56. a beautiful morning out there. a little cool in a few spots in the 40s. most of us 50s to low 60s. as we head toward 9:00 we'll still hold on to the nice temperatures. then we're off to the races.

we'll be pushing 07 by lunch time. -- 70 by lunch time. still 60s north and west. 77 by 3:00 in fredericksburg. we won't be far behind at 76 with highs between 75 and 80. a gorgeous day ahead. an adorable puppy from afghanistan has a new home this morning in alexandria, virginia. as matt jablow tells us, it was a long journey in more ways than one. >> reporter: eight-month-old polly spent most of the day curled up in a ball sleeping. if you had the day he had, you probably would sleep as women. a few months ago a u.s. security contractor found polly wandering the streets of kabul, afghanistan with his collar digging painfully into his neck. >> was not able to be picked up and just homeless. it was winter there, snowing and starving to death. >> reporter: enter emily jeter, an alexandria resident and a friend of the security contractor who started raising

the $1200 she would need to adopt polly and bring him to alexandria. by the way, despite the name, polly is a male. >> we all thought polly was a girl at first. >> reporter: yesterday after first being flown to new york, polly arrived at reagan national where emily emily jeter gave him a hero's welcome. >> hello. look at you. >> it was awesome. we were so excited. >> reporter: polly is by no means the only stray dog in afghanistan. stray animals have become a big problem in that country. since the war broke out there 11 years ago. >> stray animals, stray dogs, stray cats, they're a low form on the thought of people over there. >> reporter: emily says she's been amazed by how quickly polly has adjusted to his new life and by how sweet he is, considering all he's gone through. >> polly is just an animal that has angels around him. >> reporter: indeed it's not every dog that can make a smooth transition from eastern afghanistan to northern

virginia. emily jeter says she considers herself very lucky to have such a wonderful new best friend. >> it just gives you back that you're able to help a little creature that has no chance. >> reporter: in alexandria, matt jablow, 9news now. we start 9 news now at 6:00 a.m. with breaking news this morning. an earthquake in japan just a year after a major disaster there. this is a live look at the website of the u.s. geological survey. it reports the quake is a magnitude 6.8. the epicenter is japan's northern island not far from the areas which were hit last year. tsunami about a foot and a half is expected. this is not expected to pose any danger to the united states. thank you for starting your day with us. i'm andrea roane. i'm mike hydeck. monika santami will be back momentarily with traffic. right now howard bernstein has our weather first. it's going to be a nice, warm day. >> it is going to be a nice