you said 1990. that's one of the record high -- that's when one of the record highs were set. here's a look at the day planner. temperatures starting out a little on the cold side. 40s in spots. mainly 50s and 60s with 70s by lunch time. 80 at 5:00 with highs mid- to late afternoon. 80 to even 85, places like culpeper, out toward manassas, fretd ricksburg -- fredricksburg could be in that 80-degree range. a few thunderstorms have popped in ohio moving to the east, southeast. temperatures in the upper 50s at reagan national. but manassas and mar advertiseburg and cumberland in the mid-40s. fredricksburg is 55. still 61 at pax river naval air station. the records to beat we're talking about were 81 in 1990 at national. bwi and martinsburg all in the low 80s as well. here's a quick look at the numbers. 70s right on the bay. the rest of us should do 80.

really incredible. out every day taking walks. if you're out this morning, i think you're going to be absolutely fine. head out to work early so you can get out early as well. on the northbound side of i-95 looking great out of dale city into woodbridge across the occoquan river into springfield. we'll go there live on the northbound side of i-95. again nice and light right through this area heading up to 395 which is where we'll go now up into the hirl shirlington area. it's nice and light to the 14th street bridge. no problems to report right now. we'll go back over to the maps and this time to the west side of town. 66 looks great ought of manassas. no problems on the toll road, leesburg, tysons area. we'll take a live look at the american legion bridge, a good indication of the entire western stretch of the beltway between 270 and springfield. coming up in my next report, we'll go to the north side of town at 5:10. >> thank you. as howard mentioned, we could be in for record high temperatures today. >> 85. it could feel like summer when

we actually get -- we're still five days away even from spring. delia goncalves has our story as she basks in the warm pt of dupont -- warmth of dupont circle. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, mike. 58 degrees at dupont circle. this, no coat is a first for me this season. i've been pretty lucky. we all know i just started this shift in january and i'm thankful that we had a mild winter. i don't know about you, mark. he's been on for years. i'm thankful we had a mild one. it was an easy entry for me. we can see some flowers on the streets. over there. take a look at some beautiful flowers blossoming. it's going to be a beautiful day. step outside. open some windows and get a beautiful start to the day. our sudden burst of warm weather minutes quintessential signs of spring in d.c., the

cherry blossoms will make an earlier than expected appearance. we'll begin seeing peak blossoms beginning this sunday. all across the country the seasons have seemed to shift in some way. it seems bringing warmer weather and a mild winter which is good news for many city crews who have normally been blowing out their budget on snow removal. >> it's not only a blessing for the city but the neighborhoods, heat bills alone. everybody should be thankful for what happened out here this winter. >> reporter: but the warm weather could spell trouble for wine lovers in the area. sorry to be the bearer of bad news. coming up in my next live report, i'll tell you how you can find out how the heat could affect the harvest of many vineyards in our area. i'll have more on that. plus, sorry, folks, there is a downside to this early heat burst that we're seeing if it

stays as warm as it is, we could see some bad signs when it comes to the cherry blossoms. so unfortunately i'll have that side of the story coming up at 5:30. but hey it is beautiful. it is warm. i've already seen folks out here with shorts on and hopefully we'll get some more activity coming out in the next half-hour. grab some folks to talk about this beautiful day that they're expecting and what they plan on doing. they may be calling in sick to work maybe. i don't know. >> howard arranged this weather just because he knew you were coming to this show. >> reporter: oh, thank you. >> but then there will be the blistering heat when you're doing the story, just 103 at 6:00 a.m. >> thanks, delia. it is 5:04 now. virginia tech has been found negligent of its actions on april 16,2007. that was the morning when seung- hui cho killed 32 people and then himself. it's the worst mass shooting in

modern history. most families in this case agreed to a $11 million settlement but the parents of julia pryde of new jersey and erin peterson of chantilly went to court. they said the school should have warned students after the first shooting. the parents spoke about their children. >> 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 and accountability and we weren't just going to go away. we came here and this is what happened. >> the jury awarded $4 million to each family. the award is capped at a maximum $100,000 under virginia law. a georgetown man charged with murdering his wife will spend at least another month at a mental health hospital. a judge granted doctors at st. elizabeth's more time to evaluated albrecht muth to see

if he's competent to stand trial. he's accused of killing his 91- year-old wife last summer. he was transferred to a hospital last month after a doctor testified he was delusional. d.c. council members phil mendelson -- [ inaudible ] -- have confirmed they received subpoenas. 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. orange is also facing questions about donations he received from thompson. thompson has contracts with city hall worth hundreds of millions of dollars. the f.b.i. and i.r.s. recently raided thompson's home and office. it is 5:06. it's time for the latest your money report this morning. >> jessica doyle is here with today's headlines. fingers crossed it will another green day. >> investors seem to be ath worn out after the big runup we

saw recently. stocks didn't do all that much yesterday following the best day of the year for the markets earlier this week. global markets have been pretty flat in trading so far today. but we do have some new economic data that could inspire more buying later today. checking the numbers, the dow stands at 13,194. it added 16 points in trading yesterday. it is up 8% so far this year. the nasdaq inched up by about a point. it is up 17% since january. definitely the outperformer here. the s&p 500 dipped about a point and a half. metro's bigwigs are taking home some pretty hefty paychecks. the system's top 16 executives took home $3.1 million in salaries in 2011. "the washington post" reports that metro's general manager richard sarles made $350,000 in salary. that's more than his counterpart in new york. this is at the same time that metro is deciding how to close a $116 million budget deficit with actions like an across-the-

board fare hike for bus, rails and parking. beware of car dealer ads. the promise to pay off the loan on your trade-in. the federal trade commission has targeted five car dealers in four states. the dealers allegedly deceived consumers by promising to pay off their loans no matter what was owed on the car, but the ftc says the balance was simply rolled right into the new car loan. so you've got to watch the bottom line before you sign those financing pieces of paper. >> i have a friend who just did that. i want to bring the story to him and tell him. check it out. >> what do you have for us in the next half-hour? >> we're going to talk about whether or not the local economy is headed into a recession. there are some bad signs out there, good signs. we're going to take a look at both of them. >> thanks, jessica. the final two teams punch their tickets to the ncaa tournament. highlights ahead in sports. plus, we will hear from georgetown as they leave for tomorrow's first round

tournament matchup. coming up, more from last night's official dinner at the white house, the biggest ever hosted by president obama. we'll be back.

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welcome back. we'll be in the 70s by lunch time. a drive home temperature of about 80. monika, over you to. here's the beltway in college park on the outer loop. that's the top side of your screen. traffic moving well over to the 95 interchange in silver spring. no problems on 95 out of baltimore or the bw parkway. coming up in my next report, we'll take a look into virginia at 5:18. here is what's making news now at 5:11 this morning. this morning u.s. defense secretary leon panetta is going to meet with afghan president karzai. he is trying to relieve tensions after a weekend massacre of 16 civilians which is being blamed on an american soldier. that soldier has been transferred to a military base in kuwait now. the defendant in an

aggravated sexual assault case is the gunman who opened fire at a texas courthouse yesterday. bartholomew granger is accused of killing one person and injuring three, including his own 20 yearldz daughter. she was -- 20-year-old daughter. she was one of the witnesses scheduled to testify at his trial. the president and first lady held an official dinner last night. david cameron and his wife and 360-person guest list included a number of entertainers, business executives and some of president obama's biggest fund- raisers and charlie rose from cbs this morning was there. >> our invitation keeps getting lost in the mail. she's battling an incurable form of cancer but one northern virginia boy is not letting his disease stop him from helping hundreds of other children. meet this remarkable young hero coming up at 5:57. at 5:24, it's a good thing it's spring training because

stephen strasburg didn't look so hot. howard has more on how long this fantastic weather will last. we'll be right back.

good morning. welcome back to 9news now. we could be one -- we could beat one of those record breaking numbers we've been talking about all week long. >> lots of records being broken. >> 300. >> up in chicago, wisconsin. >> how high will we get?

>> probably the low 80s, maybe 85 south and west of d.c. today. the records are about 81. we're going -- we're at 81 at ray gang national. -- reagan national. the humidity sup. it feels more like -- humidity is up. it feels more like may or june. temperatures are on the cool side. lots of news the 50s and even a few low 60s still at this hour which is really remarkable for this time of year. at the pace we're going and looking at the forecast, this may end up being the warmest march in recorded history in washington. that shouldn't be a surprise to anybody the way things are going with 40s to 60s out there at the bus stop this morning. we're going to warm up nicely today into the low 70s by noon. we'll be around 8 on at 4:00 if not the low 80s. high today record high 81. i think we're going to make it. 72 by 8:00 p.m. still a very, very nice evening if you have plans to be out

there. it's 50 in win chester. not on the map here but frederick was down to 45. that was one of our chillier spots. cumberland 46. easton is at 54 degrees. we've got generally clear skies, maybe a few patchy clouds out there. 58 at reagan national. winds are calm so very comfortable this morning. you see delia outside a little earlier. loving life. i've been outside when temperatures have been down in the teens and the winds are blowing. yeah, she's having a good time with the weather. look at this. we've got all this storminess out in the western u.s. still more rain, more mountain snows. the key here is the storms come into the west and it's bringing the jet stream down to the west. it's like a seasaw. when eight down in the west, it's up in the east. when it's up in the west, all the warm gets pushed toward us. this line of showers and storms in ohio moving to the east, southeast. we've got to watch that. that's a little more active than our guidance was indicating.

that may give us a few more clouds but for the most part just a stray storm expected this afternoon and some very, very warm temperatures. tomorrow though a better chance of showers and storms around here. so today 83. that would be a record. 81 is the record set back in 1990. 82 at dulles and bwi. tonight we'll be down in the 50s. tomorrow upper 70s, even near 80 if we get enough sunshine but a better chance of showers and storms. saturday morning 60s for the race but 74 for the high with a slight chance of a shower on st. patrick's day. on sunday nice, 72. still comfortable temperatures into next week in the 70s. spring officially begins tuesday morning at 1:14. and we could have a couple of showers and storms with a high of 76. it is now 5:18. monika santami is coming by with no notes. i think that's a pretty good thing. she's smiling. i think people are headed to work a little early but they're traveling above the speed limit as you can see inside the beltway here at duke street.

look at that, howard. the good news is that it's incident free. on the northbound side of i-95 let's take a live look at you traffic up from the prince william parkway to the occoquan river. you're going to be okay. nice and light heading up towards springfield and the beltway. we'll go a little further north on 395 at the 14th street bridge. all these people headed across the river are doing well this morning. back to the maps and this time out to 66. it's getting a little slow out of manassas into centreville but all lanes are open. we'll take a live look at american legion bridge on the west side of town. it's running smoothly between bethesda and tysons corner on the beltway. coming up in my next report we'll go over to the beltway on the north side of town at 5:25. 5:19, georgetown has one more day before it's big dance begins with belmont. >> but a couple of teams had to play their way into march madness last night. highlights coming up in sports. the question of the day now, here it s. the average

woman has 40 of these. is it a, pairs of jeans, b, 40 pairs of shoes, or c, 40 items in her purse? >> this was one of the responses posted on our wusa9 facebook fan page. joyce wilcox wrote, i don't even have ten of any of those items but someone on the news yesterday said most women had at least 40 pairs of shoes. >> would love to hear what you think the answer is. our facebook fan page is where you can answer. we'll have the answer to the question in the 6:00 hour. achoo! nasal allergy symptoms

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5:22. it's a little cool in spots this morning. we've got some 40s on the board but generally clear skies and another warm day ahead. by 9:00 look at this, 61 in town. 50s in places like winchester. 60 degrees in cambridge as well. 59 over at andrews. we'll go to lunch time. a gorgeous lunch. low to mid-70s out there. winds even fairly comfortable. then this afternoon we watch for the possibility of an isolated shower or storm to pop up. highs in the low 80s. >> thank you, howard. is your bracket filled out yet? the full slate of 16 ncaa games gets under way at noon today. >> last night there were two more slots available in the field of 64. lamar coached by bobby knight's son took on vermont in one play- in game. this one not too dramatic. vermont took an early lead and wins.

they'll play north carolina tomorrow. in the second game south florida jumped all over california. usf had a 15-3 lead in the first half. after falling behind by 26 points, california made a comeback but it just wasn't enough. they lose 65-54. south florida will play temple tomorrow. here's kristen berset with the rest of your morning's sports. good morning, everybody. the expectations for georgetown this year weren't very high with the roster stocked mostly of freshmen and sophomores but the hoyas defied critics finishing fifth in the conference and are going dancing for the sixth time in the last eight years. they're a number three seed. they'll face belmont on friday. they loaded their gear and themselves into a bus yesterday to begin their journey to columbus. despite the hoyas' numerous appearances in the ncaa tournament, they haven't had much success getting upset in the first round the last two years. so emotions were running high as the team left d.c.

>> a lot of emotions. we try to put them to the side and not think about it too much. but when we step on that court, it definitely plays a part and the intensity level goes up that much higher. it's the last time i'll be playing college basketball. i try not to think about it and try to focus on the game. >> the hoyas play at 3:00 this friday in columbus. that game will be broadcast on tru tv. you can go to wusa9.com to find out where to tune in. down in kissimmee, stephen strasburg getting the start against atlanta yesterday, not his greatest outing of the spring. he'd already given up three runs before giving up this homer to jason hayward. the nats go on to lose 6-5. that's a quick look at sports this morning. have a great thursday. could the d.c. area be a prime candidate for a double dip recession? that story is coming up.

thanks to our very warm weather, the forecast for the peak of the cherry blossoms has been changed. here's monika. here's a look at beltway. north side of town near new hampshire avenue, outer loop still running well leaving 95 over into silver spring. no problems on 270 out of frederick. we'll look at that coming up next at 5:30. you're watching 9news now. we'll be right back.

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good morning. welcome back to 9news now on this march 15. i'm andrea roane. wow. take a look at the sky. half moon up. last night if you looked in the sky-- >> venus and juniper have been doing the dance in the western sky. juniper last night was a little

lower than venus. they're getting a little farther apart. mike hydeck here. monika santami there. and there's howard. we've got some warm weather once again today. nobody is complaining really. but when the bugs show up, you may not be too happy. >> don't complain today. the bugs aren't here yet. >> the weeds are going crazy in my lawn. weather wise we do have more warm weather. maybe record setting. records are in the low 80s. we'll get to that in a moment. by noon we should be in the low 70s. topping out between 80 and 85. the 85s would be fredricksburg, culpeper, maybe that fan sas as well. this morning -- maybe manassas as well. we have a couple of storms that have popped in ohio. frederick down to 44. manassas 45. we're sitting at 58. the records to beat are 81 in

washington. 82 dulles. 82 baltimore. all of these were set on that very warm day back in 1990. let's go to monika santami. it's 5:30. time saver traffic. we've got good news all around. the beltway is running smoothly all over town. no problems to report. all the construction from overnight was picked up a while ago. if you're just heading out the door, i think you're going to be fine out of frederick on 270 and i-70 down into clarksburg. we'll take a live look at route 21 so you may have a few brake lights around 80. it's nice and light on the southbound side heading down to the point where the lanes divide. it's incident free. no problems on route 55 or the great seneca highway. back to the maps. jb parkway leaving the beltway -- gw parkway leaving the beltway looking great. no problems on the dulles toll road or 66 inside the beltway. and a live look at the roosevelt bridge inbound on i- 66. all the potomac and anacostia crossings are incident free. we'll take a look at 95 in

virginia at 5:40. the woman killed and then dumped in the street tuesday had a protective order against her murderer. >> heather mcguire's estranged husband philip joseph gilberti was arrested twice for violating a protective order including just last weekend. both times he was let out of jail and the last time it appears the judge who set his bond didn't know about his background. >> the judge who made the ruling in this case is a good judge. unfortunately it's come to my attention that the computers in the courtroom were down. the criminal history of this guy was not available to the judge. >> gilberti's criminal history including arrests and assault, drugs and steroids, a seven- year prison sentence in nevada for trying to kill another girlfriend. the couple's children were put in protective custody after tuesday' murder-suicide. paints are disputing a

proposed settlement to a case brought by the justice department against the commonwealth. it would lead to the closings of four virginia training centers. they house adults with profound intellectual disabilities. one of those centers is on braddock road in fairfax. parents say the children need the centers because they're too severely disabled to thrive in a group home setting. will a las vegas style casino be coming to prince george's county? rushern baker hopes so. he's backing a plan to put one at national harbor. he's expected to testify in front of state lawmakers at a hearing tomorrow. some lawmakers are concerned a new parlor with threaten business at a nearby raceway. well, giant slots parlor at anne arundel mills is starting to take shape. the first 100 slot machines have arrived in hanover, maryland. plans call for the casino to eventually have more than 4700 slot machines and electronic game machines. cat seen know there is

scheduled to open for business in june. at 5:34, time for another your money report. >> jessica is talking about a possible concern over a recession in our region. >> that's right. we talked to this gentleman a lot, steven fuller, the expert on the local economy from george mason. he has growing concerns that we might be headed for a mini recession. the washington examiner reports that steven fuller from george mason says the local economy could slow to the level of a recession if the federal government does severely slash spending next year. unless lawmakers stop them, massive spending cuts will be triggered in 2013. fuller sets the cuts would crater the national economy with the local economy among the hardest hit. the upside here, he doesn't really think those cuts will happen. the region's growth rate used to be the highest in the country. we're already slowing. we're now just barely above the average. banks are ramping up foreclosures again to deal with the backlog. foreclosures rose in 26 states

where courts supervised the foreclosure process. in the 24 states where the courts do not play a role, foreclosures were down. you can now follow term reserve chairman ben bernanke on twitter. the fed will post messages about his press releases, speeches, testimony and reports to congress even its weekly balance sheet. it's part of the fed's efforts to improve public understanding of its policies and how it functions. i just followed ben bernanke on twitter. it's pretty exciting stuff. by the way, you can follow me on twitter. hit me up. don't tell your boss we said so but today a great day to play hooky. >> if you can't do that, walkout side, eat lunch outside

if you can. delia goncalves is live at dupont circle with more on the effects of this very warm weather. a lot of flip-flops are going to be out today. >> reporter: charles isn't wearing flip-flops, though. mike hydeck just mentioned lots of folks are wearing flip- flops. you don't have yours on. you're still a little bundled but what do you think about the weather? >> it's great. i'm going to enjoy it. it's kind of strange but i'm just going tone joy today. >> reporter: just go with it. how of your allergies? mine are killing me. >> i don't have any allergies that's why i'm going to enjoy this while it's lasting. >> reporter: i will be heavily medicated while you enjoy your nice weather. it was nice to meet you. thanks for stopping. >> thank you, delia. you have a great day. >> reporter: you have a great day, too. this puts the smile on everyone's faces. when i moved to d.c. if 1999, someone warned me about potomac fefer. they said when you come on d.c. you stay because you fall in love and you never leave. i have to say the spring is my favorite season in d.c. when i

think the city is just absolutely beautiful and you can see the trees are flowering and i think this is when the city is at its peak and when it's at its most beautiful. however, there is a down side and i just mentioned it to charles. my allergies are killing me. i'm sure there are lots of folks out there who can sympathize. another down side, the national park service says if the heat continues, it means a shorter cherry blossom season though the peak has been moved up to this sunday. also a little bit of bad news. virginia vineyards may be in trouble. the warm temperatures have jump started the budding season there nearly by one month. one day of frost after today could kill the crop which means less local wine for you. >> the idea would be to have a long, constant cold weather. if we have a bud break early and don't have a frost, i'll be

happy because hopefully my fruit comes out early and i flower early and eventually harvesting earliering. >> coming up in my next report, i'll tell you how the warm weather is affecting the bottom line of families and some store owners. still that side of the story coming up in my next live report. back to you. >> always half full for smrks half empty for others. jessica is going to rejoin us in a few minutes. she ha today's daily deals. the circus clowns performing at the verizon center and make a special visit to some d.c. area children. we'll be back.

good morning. 5:40. it's a mild start to the day. some areas have dipped into the 40s but another warm late spring, early summer like day ahead. here's a look at the day planner. you can expect sunshine, patchy clouds at times. maybe just a stray thunderstorm in spots this afternoon. by 3:00 we'll be 80 degrees

with highs between 80 and 85. still the upper 70s at 6:00 p.m. seven disai forecast looking ahead -- seven-day forecast looking ahead towards the weekend next. here's a live look at the northbound side of i-95. first of all you have delays from the prince william parkway up to the occoquan river and it's bunching up here in springfield. it's normal for 5:40 in the morning. after this morning's rush hour, it will be best to avoid telegraph road at the beltway if you can. several of the interchanges will be closed from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and if needed they will also be closed tomorrow from 9:00 to noon. more overnight work is scheduled this weekend weather permitting. detour signs will be posted. this is all part of the ongoing wilson bridge project. coming up in my next report, we'll take a look at 66 at 5:50. back to you. >> thank you so much. i've been combing through the day's daily deals, e-mails and retailer websites to find you some deep discounts and here are some of the favorites.

ann taylor is running a special. 40% off any single full price item online. you use the shopping code ann40 at checkout. you're going to find this on amazon.com's deal of the day. the website is giving you 60% off vary samp chi's -- versace men's and women's watches. a woman's diamond watch will cost you $770 but that is down from almost $2,000. finally one week we can all afford. $10 off any two items at outback steak house. you can get printable coupons e- mailed directly you to. if you've seen an offer or you're a local merchant with a deal, just contact me on facebook. >> thank you very much. some great deals for us. today the ringling brothers barnum & bailey starts its run

at the verizon center. >> yesterday they visited easter seals child development center on 13th street in northwest washington. the center cares for children up to age 5 with a range of physical and mental disabilities. >> the former -- the former governor convicted in a national political scandal heads to prison today. that story coming up. two young surfers are likely -- are lucky to walk away from shark attacks in florida. 5:43. let's see who's celebrating a birthday today. [ male announcer ] for some reason

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hello. welcome back to 9news now. 5:47. it's going to be another warm day, a beautiful day if you want to do things outdoors. >> we're about 60 degrees. >> we're going into the low 80s this afternoon. incredible. >> we're not complaining. we're just explaining a fact. >> enjoy it while we've got it. looks like it may be around another week or so or longer. >> could we go back to cold to justify winter clothes. >> maybe early april we get back closer to normal but that means 50s and 60s which is not too bad. this morning we're looking pretty good. do want to talk about the allergy update. delia mentioned it earlier. we get these every day just

before noon. they came in on a high category for the tree pollen. grass and mold low. weed spores were absent. i put the numbers there. if you wondered about the numbers, they're relative per each individual item. even though 224 is a lot less than 2988. in the tree category, 224 is considered high. in the mold category 2988 is considered low. it's all relative. your bus stop forecast this morning, not bad. mainly clear. we have a couple of patchy clouds out there with temperatures in the 40s in the cool spots. some areas will be in the low to mid-60s by the time the bus shows up. sunrise happening at 7:19. today we'll see a good deal of sunshine with light winds this morning. 70 degrees by 11:00. low 70s for lunch time into the 75-degree range. 76 by 1:00. this afternoon there's your 80 by 3:00. some areas especially south and west of town could make a run toward 85 today. i think we'll get to 82, 83 and still be about 80 at 5:00 p.m.

these will be records. 81 is the record we're going for for today at national. 82 dulles and bwi. in the 50s in arlington. 56 college park and columbia have dipped to 49 degrees. 43 in frederick, maryland. that's the coldest spot i'm finding. leesburg and manassas in the 40s. here's a live look outside on our michael & son weather camera. good visibility, 58 degrees. just patchy clouds out there. we'll call it partly cloudy. no winds to speak of. so very comfortable this morning. i think another day if you leave the jackets at home you'll be fine. you can see all the warmth. it's 70 at this hour in dallas. and this warm weather is going to be with us for maybe another week. maybe not as warm as today but still 70s across the board for another five, six days when the average highs are in the mid- 50s. the showers you see them up into ohio sneaking into southern or western west virginia, i think they're going to be not much of a factor.

we may get a few clouds off of that. a stray shower or thunderstorm possible this afternoon. a better chance tomorrow. so today 83. that would be a record. tonight in the 50s. tomorrow upper 70s with a better chance of showers and storms. for saturday i think we're just in the 60s in the morning. should be just okay for the runners. almost warm for the rock 'n' roll u.s.a. marathon and a slight chance of an afternoon shower and 70s stay with us right through at least next wednesday. we just generally got the slow traffic but no big deals to report i'm happy to say on this beautiful morning. no problems as you travel on the northbound side of i-95 in virginia. again it's just slowing down about 36 miles an hour here at the prince william parkway as you head for the occoquan river and then a bit slow beyond that. we're going to take a live look into springfield on the northbound side of i-95. again the usual slow spot is always right here trying to exit to the beltway or continuing north to 395. we'll go there right now over to duke street. it's going to slow down just a bit past this point as you head

for seminary road but all lanes are open in the main and hov lanes here. the west side of town 66 slowing down from manassas into centreville. you're okay a as you travel -- okay as you travel through fairfax. we'll go inside the beltway 066. here's what it looks like live at the roosevelt bridge. a good indication of all the potomac and an cost a river crossing -- anacostia and river crossings. defense secretary leon panetta is meeting with afghan president karzai today. >> the trip was previously scheduled but has dramatically been refocused after the weekend attack which left 16 afghani civilians dead. the accused soldier has been moved out of the country now. >> reporter: secretary of defense leon panetta is in kabul to meet with afghan president karzai. the meeting comes less than a week after an american soldier is accused of going on a

shooting spre in kandahar province -- spree in kandahar province killing 16 civilians. he arrived yesterday and met with coalition forces and afghan leaders. the trip was scheduled before sunday's shooting, but that incident and recent burning of qurans at a u.s. base and the killings of sex americans in re- - of six americans in retaliation was part of the discussion. president owe bam pa says the plan is still to hand over security in afghanistan to local troops by the end of 2014. >> the forces are making real progress. dismantling al qaeda, breaking the taliban's momentum and training afghan forces so that they can take the lead. >> reporter: but afghans have protested recent events and are calling on nato forces to leave now. secretary panetta is using his two-day visit to afghanistan to mend relationships. >> we have to learn the lesson from each of those incidents so

that we do everything possible to make sure that they don't happen again. >> reporter: the united states has assured afghans those responsible for sunday's shoot shooting will be held accountable. the suspected shooter, a 38- year-old staff sergeant was moved out of afghanistan wednesday to a detention center in kuwait. making news now at 5:53, pennsylvania's governor has signed one of the country's toughest voter identification bills into law. the bill requires voters to show a driver's license or other government issued i.d. pennsylvania is the 16th state to pass the voter irchlts d. law -- voter i.d. law. former illinois governor rod blagojevich is expected to report to prison today. he'll start a 14-year sentence in colorado on federal corruption charges, including trying to auction off an appointment to president obama's vacated senate seat.

rod blagojevich told reporters he expects his conviction to be overturned. two people are recovering after they were both bitten by sharks off shore in florida. one was bitten in the ankle, the other in the calf. people reopened beach after a brief investigation. this morning we found a local hero for you who's just ten years old. >> when we come back, we'll tell you more about trevor blake and how he is helping fellow peed pediatric cancer patients. today is use it or lose it, the last day you can spend all the money in your flex spending account. i'll tell you what you can and cannot buy. that's coming up 569:07 -- up at 6:07.

just turned 5:57. we're looking at clear to partly cloudy skies this morning. 50s out there. some low 60s but even a few spots like frederick down to the low to mid-40s early. by 9:00 we're back in the 50s. we'll be 61 here and 60 in cambridge. lunch time looks fantastic. upper 60s north. low 70s south at noon. so the lunch hour 70 to 75. this afternoon by 3:00, look at this. we're in the low 80s in spots. we'll have highs 80 to 85 and just a stray storm. a boy in woodbridge, virginia was diagnosed with brain cancer at age 5. >> trevor blake has neuroblastoma, a rare and

incurable cancer but trevor has made it to age 10 and is about to become the 10% who survived the disease for at least five years. he's not just fighting for himself. his nonprofit called trevor's treasures teamed up with the annual hoops fest. they deliver toys to other child cancer patients. >> my papa would come up with a bin full of toys. every time i was done with chemo, wee always give me two toys. that's how i figured out trevor's treasures. >> to see him doing what he's doing and fighting the way he's fighting but yet something so positive has come out of probably the worst thing that we could ever have ever imagined. something so positive has come out of that all because of him. he looks at me one day and said mom, when i get out of this hospital, because he was in for

a very long time in the beginning, he said when i get out i want to come back and bring toys to all these kids that are up here. >> trevor has even bigger plans for this summer. in addition to the hospitals from northern virginia to philadelphia where he already delivers toys, trevor and his family are planning an rv trip to take toys to a handful of other hospitals around the country. if you'd like to learn more about trevor's treasures, just go on to their website. it's trevorstreasures.org and we're bringing a live on our website wusa9.com. >> what an amazing boy. >> amazing. good parents to guide a child to do something like that. thank you for watching 9news now at 6:00 a.m. good morning. i'm andrea roane. we're glad you're here. i'm mike hydeck. prepare for a warm day because it's here. here's monika santami. she'll there traffic in a moment. >> howard has the warm forecast. he has weather first. >> comfortable now. we go into th