shooter, a 38-year-old staff sergeant was pofd out of afghan -- moved out of afghanistan wednesday to a detention center in kuwait. nearly five years after the virginia tech massacre, the families of two of the victims won their wrongful death lawsuit against the university. >> as matt jablow tells us, the family says it proves the school's response to the shooting was inadequate. school administrators continue to insist otherwise. >> the sum of $4 million with interest. >> reporter: it was a release of emotions several years in the making after an eight-day trial and three hours of deliberations. a jury awarded the families of two slained virginia tech students $4 million a piece. the wrongful death lawsuit was brought against virginia tech by the families of erin peterson, a chantilly resident who was a freshman at the time of the shootings. >> she couldn't speak anymore so we had to do it.

>> reporter: and julia pride, a 23-year-old graduate student from new jersey. >> certainly was the end of a long process for us. most of the families of the massacre's 30 other victims agreed to a $30 million settlement reached in 2008. lawyers in this case successfully argued that peterson and pryde who were killed in norris hall might still be alive today if virginia tech police warned the campus of the initial shootings in a virginia tech dormitory. >> stress, truth, she spoke for other people. >> reporter: the peterson and pryde families talked about their lost loved ones and about the painful road that led to their victory in court. >> she always put herself in a position to speak for people who were too weak to speak for themselves. >> we wanted to get a little more truth, a little more accountability and we weren't going to go away. >> reporter: despite the verdict, virginia tech continued to insist that neither campus police nor

school administrators were negligent the day of the shooting. a university spokesman said, quote, the heinous crimes committed by seung-hui cho were an unprecedented act of violence that no one could have foreseen. matt jablow, 9news now. >> immediately after the verdict, the state of virginia filed a motion to reduce that $8 million award. legally wrongful death lawsuits against the state are capped at $100,000 per case in virginia. that can be changed if the governor waived the cap. the district's office of campaign finance has launched what it calls a random and routine audit of council member vincent orange's 2011 campaign. this as orange deals with questions about campaign contributions linked to d.c. businessman jeff thompson. thompson has contracts with city hall worth hundreds of millions of dollars. he's also a major campaign donor to most current d.c. council members. the f.b.i. and the i.r.s. recently raided one of

thompson's homes and his office. a hondzful of d.c. council -- handful of d.c. council members have received subpoenas. 4:33. the former security chief at the upper big branch mine in west virginia is now appealing his convings. he was one of the -- conviction. he was one of the men in charge when the explosion killed 29 people. he was convicted of lying to investigators and trying to destroy security documents after the explosion. his attorney says the judge wrongly denied requests for certain jury instructions and a new trial and accused prosecutors of misconduct in the case. last month stover was sentenced to three years in prison. the explosion at the big branch mine was the worst coal mine disaster in four decades. a bill which would ban anyone from smoking in cars with kids under 8 years old inside is headed to the maryland house of delegates.

lawmakers chose the age of 8 because it's the cutoff for children to ride in car seats and they believe that would allow officers to quickly determine for the driver is breaking the law. the measure now heads to the house of delegates. also tomorrow maryland lawmakers will debate building a las vegas style casino in prince george's county. county executive rushern baker is one of the biggest supporters of the move to locate the casino at national harbor. some lawmakers are concerned the gambling parlor would threaten business at the nearby raceway. a georgetown man charged with murdering his wife may be faking mental illness. that's according to doctors at d.c.'s st. elizabeth's mental hospital. doctors want more time to evaluate him. albrecht muth is accused of killing his 91-year-old wife. a judge ruled he's temporarily

mentally incompetent for trial. a federal judge recently tossed out michael hash's murder conviction. he will be out on bond while a special prosecutor decides whether to retry him. he was convicted of killing a woman in 1996. he was 15 years old at the time. it is 4:35. here's a look at some other things making news now. a texas man is in jail after a shootout with police outside a courthouse. police say he killed an elderly woman and injured three others, including his ex-wife and 20- year-old daughter who were witnesses against him in a sexual assault case. police say after granger shot his daughter, he ran over her with his truck. then took hostages inside a

business. former illinois governor rod blagojevich is expected to report to prison. he'll serve a 14-year sentence in colorado on federal corruption charges. he signed autographs outside a chicago home wednesday. he told reporters he expects his conviction will be overturned. time now 4:36. could the washington region fall into another recession? we have the answer to that question in your money at 4:40. an appliance we all love and many of us could not live without may be one of the most underutilized in your home. we'll explain at 4:51. how does 85 sound? it's possible. we're back with your weather first in about two minutes.

. 4:38. we're in the 40s and 50s most areas but what another warm spring day we have. we'll be in the low 70s by noon. topping out in the low 80s. just a stray chance we'll see a storm in spots later. better chance of showers on friday. your full forecast coming up in about five minutes. right now over to monika with a look at time saver traffic. we're going to take a live look at 270 southbound where there are no problems in from frederick. route 355 and great seneca highway both incident free as well. a closer look at maryland roads at 4:47. it is time for the first your money segment of the morning. >> jessica doyle is here with today's headlines. is it six for six? six days in the road? >> for the dow and nasdaq. s&p was a little bit lower yesterday. we're hoping for inspiration from today's batch of economic reports that are due out.

global markets today pretty flat so far as well. checking the numbers from here at home, the dow stands at 13,194, rose about 16 points in trading yesterday. it's up 8% so far for the year. the nasdaq inched up about a point but it is up 17% since january. the s&p 500 dipped about a point and a half. the expert on the region's local economy has growing concerns the washington area could be headed for a mini recession. the washington examiner reports that george mason's steven fuller says the local economy could dip into recessionary territory if the federal government does severely slash spending next year. the growth rate used to be the highest in the country. now we're just barely following the national average. would you rather be overweight or in debt? good question. a survey from yahoo health and readers' digest finds 78% of the people asked would chose to

be 10 pounds overweight as opposed to 10 extra thousand dollars of debt. authors of the study interviewed more than 2000 people age 18 to 64 and you can see the report in the april edition of readers' digest and online at yahoo health. that's a big deal. >> what a choice. >> what if you're already overweight and in debt. the study doesn't have much on that. thank you. the rock 'n' roll marathon is just days away. coming up we're going to introduce you to a cancer survivor would is running to help others beat the disease. >> we'll have more on that story and your weather first when 9news now returns in two minutes. 3q

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. welcome to 9news now. it was a warm evening everywhere you went. there were outdoor eating establishments filled with people. a lovely night. >> i think we're going to be picking up most of this weekend. if i could find a teenager to do it, that would be good. >> don't you have a son? >> he's not a teenager yet. >> he could swing mulch. weather wise the allergy counts are way up. it's not the most desirable part of the job, i'll tell you that. allergy updates, tree pollen is high at 224. grass and mold came in low yesterday. weed pollen was absent so it's been a little ahead of schedule like everything else this winter.

our bus stop forecast -- that's right, spring not here officially until next week. the bus stop forecast, clear and pleasant. some areas in the mid-40s but as the sun rises after 7:19, you'll start to see some temps rise to the mid-60s over the next couple of hours. well on the way toward the low, possibly middle 80s in spots later today. 73 by noon. winds variable. 80 degrees at 4:00. i think the high in washington could get to 82, 83 and that would be a record for the date. still 72 at 8:00. the records to beat today are 81 at national. 82 both at baltimore and dulles and 83 up in martinsburg. all of this was set back in 1990. we've got temperatures now mostly in the 50s across the board. we're in the lower 60s at pax river naval air station. york, pennsylvania down to 40. some areas locally that are in the 40s. loudoun county we see leesburg at 46. reston and fort belvoir at 49 degrees. andrews is 56. baden is 59 right now.

in washington under clear skies, it's a good looking morning on our michael & son weather camera. 56 degrees under partly cloudy skies really. it's mainly clear out there. south winds at 5 miles an hour and a dew point still close to the 50-degree mark. across the eastern u.s., fairly quiet although you've noticed some showers and storms popping in ohio this morning. this stuff is going to move to the southeast and likely fall apart before it ever gets close to us. we'll watch it because we could get a few of the clouds from that well off to the south and west of town. looks like we're going to stay generally sunny around here, not just for the morning but for the afternoon, although in the afternoon notice some stray showers, isolated thunder could pop up here with the daytime heating. there's going to be a better chance tomorrow that we get some showers around. a little bit of an easterly push so some low clouds may start to come in overnight toward tomorrow morning. during the day on friday, maybe not too much going on in the morning. in the afternoon i think more stuff is going to pop, especially to our west and the

south. we'll watch for the threat of some showers and stores. by midnight think are sinking south of us. that means saturday morning we've got the big marathon right here on wusa. weather should be pretty good for that. temperatures generally in the 60s. today 83. that would be a record high. stray thunderstorm possible. better chance for a few showers and storms tomorrow still in the upper 70s. saturday partly sunny. can't rule out a stray shower, 74. as we look toward the future sunday 72. monday 76. an isolated shower. could be a couple of showers and storms tuesday. the first day of spring. astronomically speaking. wednesday still nice. look at the temps staying in the 70s. average high should be in the mid-50s. if you're planning to head around town, it was just construction that we were dealing with but pretty much cleared up now. here's what it looks like northbound on 95 coming up through springfield and on the inner loop at the springfield interchange, that construction has been cleared up as well. i've been checking any cameras so you're good to go there. no problems to report on the

beltway all around. that construction right here in springfield was cleared up, as i said. no problems on 295 heading for the 11th street bridge where there's been construction this week. we'll go over to the north side of town. the beltway is clear between college park and bethesda. let's take a live look outside. here's what it looks like at 270 on falls road coming down from frederick to the point where the lanes divide. it's incident free. i think it's a good ride that entire stretch of roadway. let's go back to the maps this time to southern maryland. route 5, 305, through brandywine no problems. we'll take a live look at the beltway at route 4, pennsylvania avenue right near andrews base running smoothly to the wilson bridge. in my next report we'll look at 66 at 4:55. a government task force has released some new guidelines when it comes to cervical cancer screening. >> it recommends healthy women between the ages of 21 to 65 only need to have a pap test every three years. the guidelines also say women

30 and older can extend screenings to once every five years if they undergo the hpv test at the same time as the pap. doctors say overscreening is leading to unnecessary procedures which can increase pregnancy complications. the recommendations were released by the u.s. preventive services task force, the american cancer society and other health groups have released similar recommendations. the number of americans dying from inflammation of the stomach and intestines has more than doubled in the past decade. the number of people dying from gastroenteritis has jumped from 7,000 per year to more than 17,000 a year. doctors say a contagious bacteria known as c-dif spreads in hospitals and is the most common culprit. we're just two days away from the 2012 sun trust rock 'n' roll u.s.a. marathon. while many people run looking for their best time, others are trying to raise awareness and money for particular causes. >> one cancer survivor is going

to hit the pavement on saturday so they can help others beat the disease. >> reporter: it's one of the greatest sensations in the world. feeling healthy and alive. brian lee once feared he may never fear this good again. the day he learned he had leukemia. >> i was miserable every day. some days i didn't feel like eating, getting up to go for a walk. i'm going to be walking the marathon one day before my four- year diagnosis. i'll be kicking cancer one more time, kicking its butt one more time. >> reporter: brian's friends are joining him in that race to beat blood cancer. the leukemia and lymphoma is running hundreds of miles. leukemia killed this woman's 14- year-old brother and she hasn't missed a marathon sense. >> the best part is i keep to

keep my brother's spirit alive. i'm not a runner but the reason i'm able to do that is because i'm surrounded by all these people doing it for the same reason. >> reporter: what's a rock 'n' roll marathon without rock 'n' roll. one of brian's best friends jacqueline is helping provide a running sound track and sideline support. at first his leukemia diagnosis stunned her. >> you never really think about it at all. then one day you get a phone call. yeah, wait. this is life. life can make all sorts of turns. but he's still here. >> reporter: still here because of money they're raising and a bone marrow transplant. he's running to make sure other patients can feel healthy and alive again. >> the money goes directly into providing new treatments and hopefully eventually finding a cure. now it's my turn to give back to the leukemia society and help them continue their

mission. >> don't forget wusa is your home for the rock 'n' roll marathon this year. andrea and i will anchor live coverage from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. this saturday morning. it's a great time so make sure you join us. we all know we have to clean our homes but let's be real. cleaning is not something most of us enjoy doing. >> did you know that your dishwasher can make cleaning easier. we're not just talking about the dishes. there are five things aside from dirty dishes you can put in the dishwasher. baseball hats. when you run your clothes through the washer, they lose their shape. when placed on top of a rack in a dishwasher, they come out stink free and perfectly in shape. >> kitchen sponges, put them in with your dishes to get another week or two of use. >> toys, all of your children's toys can be run through the dishwasher to kill all the germs and back cheer ya. >> and -- bacteria. >> and toothbrushes are

breeding grounds for bacteria and viruses, a run through the dishwasher can assure the best care possible. sports equipment can be sterilized and made odor free all in the dishwasher. how about that. 4:53. time for the question of the morning. >> the average woman has 40 of these, andrea. is it a, pairs of jeans, b, pair of shoes no way, it's much higher than that, and c, items in her purse? >> log on to the wusa9 face fook fan page and -- facebook fan piej and leave your -- page and leave your response. we'll reveal the answer in our 6:00 hour.

welcome back. 4:55 on this thursday morning.

your weather first. mild this morning. some areas in the 40s. you might need a light jacket for a few minutes but by lunch time, another gorgeous day. take the two-mile run around the tidal basin with cherry blossoms. temps in the 70s. we may be near 80 before the day is out. some records are going to fall. monika santami, how are the roads looking? not bad at all. here's what it looks like coming out of manassas. you have a bit of volume in centreville and then it's good all the way to fairfax and the beltway. more on virginia roads coming up once again at 5:01. back to you. if you follow howard's advice and take that two-mile run around the tidal basin, you'll see the flowers in bloom because all the warm air has led to a second new prediction about when the cherry blossoms will bloom. the national park service says the trees will start to bloom sunday. that's right, this coming sunday. that's two days before the national cherry blossom festival begins. park peak bloom is predicted between march ten and 23rd, the earliest bloom on record is march 15. that was in 1990.

the first slot machines for maryland's newest casino are at anne arundel mills mall. the new live casino is expected to be one of the largest gaming retail and entertainment destinations in the country. it will include 4700 slot machines and table games and new restaurants. they include the new venture by chef bobby flay, bobby's burger palace. tomorrow 21 jump street makes the jump from television to the big screen. >> the updated '80s series has a much different tone. we have a sneak peek. >> reporter: 21 jump street is back. >> you will be going undercover as high school students. >> reporter: jone that hill and chany tatum star as two bumbling cops who join the secret jump street unit to root out a high school drug dealer.

>> one of these programs involves the use of young, immature seeming officers. i think you are perfect. >> reporter: they have a chance to redo their high school years with all the wisdom they gained since graduating but they find out a lot has changed since they were teenagers. >> it's about a disconnect between kids these days. even though we're just in our 20s or whatever, that we would be disconnected from kids in high school now. things change so quickly. you get out of touch so quickly. >> reporter: chanham tatum was a big fan of the series that launched the career of johnny depp but this version which hill co-wrote isn't a drama. it's an action comedy. >> when did i get stabbed? that's awesome. >> it's bad boys meet john hughs. >> reporter: several of the cast members of the original 21 jump street make cameos in the film. >> at first i was like, wait a

second. they're destroying a brand but jonah and chany are such a combination. >> reporter: fans need to catch carefully for the cameo of johnny depp or else you'll miss them. thank you for watching 9 news now at 5:00 a.m. break out the shorts and sandals again today. it's going to be a beautiful fun. i'm andrea roane. i'm mike hydeck. it's hot. there were a lot of pedicures being done yesterday. >> here is monika santami. her feet are beautiful. here's howard bernstein. his are too. >> thank you, mike. >> no, no, i'm kidding. weather wise we have a nice day. let's move on, please. we have another nice spring like, late spring, early summer like day. we're going into the 80s. 81 yesterday but today the difference is the records are lower. we talked about the earliest