supposed to do. when she was threatened, she went to authorities, but when the person threatening her got out of jail, nobody told her that he was free. >> she was terrified. she was terrified. >> reporter: joanne kenny said her daughter had been trying to get away from her estranged husband philip gilberti for four years. heather mcguire had filed several protective orders against him and this past weekend gilberti was arrested not once, but twice for violating that order. >> she was so happy sunday morning. she was like i feel free, mom. >> reporter: heather thought after years of abuse she was finally safe, but just one day later judge barry hamilton let him go free. >> the judge who made the ruling in this case, he's a good judge. unfortunately it's come to my attention that apparently the computers in the courtroom were down. some of the criminal history of this guy was not available to the judge. >> reporter: 9 news now can't independently confirm that computer glitch, but if it

happened, it likely means that the judge missed gilberti's long and violent criminal history. >> no one as fares a know notified her that he was -- as far as i know notified her that he was let out again out of jail. >> reporter: tuesday less than two hours after gilberti had gone before the judge in court he broke into the home where heather was staying, beat her, kidnapped her, shot her and killed her. >> i hope that her death is not in vain because she wanted to help others and this shouldn't have happened. repeat offenders should not be released like that and allowed to abuse their victims again or kill them. >> heather had six children. they've lost both their mother and father this week on the same day. if you would like to help them go, to our website www.wusa9.com for information about the heather mcguire memorial fund. just an awful sad story, lesli.

>> it really is and it's hard to see the way forward, but we certainly hope that something will help to change things for someone else. thanks, kristin. the subject of domestic violence is quickly becoming something that people are talking about on capitol hill. funding for the violence against women act is set to run out this year and now the democrats are pushing to extend it. derek mcginty has more on the debate. >> the violence against women act first passed back in 1994 and congress has since reauthorized it twice in 2000 and then again in 2005 and the funding authorization runs out again this year. a proposal to extend it once again is currently in the u.s. senate. so far, though, the issue has not come up for debate and today women senators from both sides of the aisle took to the floor to demand action now. >> we've got to remember our communities and our families and i think if you're beaten and abused, you should be able

to turn to your government to either be rescued and put you on the path and also to have those very important programs. >> it is an important commitment to victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse that they're not alone. this is a promise that resources and expertise are available. >> now here's where it gets interesting. this bill actually started off with bipartisan support. in fact, five republicans cosponsored the bill, but no gop senator voted for it when the judiciary committee approved it last month. turns out leaders from both parties agree the funding for the law ought to be rye authorized, but the rep -- reauthorized, but the republicans have issues with two parts of the bill. one, it would help victims who are illegal immigrants gain legal status and the other which would extend protections to same sex couples. the gop stance could be put to the test very soon. senate majority leader harry reid wants a vote by the end of the month. >> if you'd like a list of

resources where domestic violence victims can turn to help, log onto our website. it's wusa9.com. the president of afghanistan is calling on nato forces to speed up their troop withdrawal. hamid karzai wants nato to pull troops back to their main bases leaving all villages and the countryside. he wants afghan forces to take the lead for security over the next year, one year ahead of schedule. all of this follows sunday's shooting rampage in an afghan village. a u.s. soldier allegedly killed 16 civilians including nine children. many afghan leaders are demanding that soldier be tried in afghanistan. that appears unlikely. the soldier has already been flown out of afghanistan to kuwait. >> the united states is indeed going to not only prosecute this individual, but ensure that he's held accountable. >> defense secretary leon panetta says the soldier accused of those deadly

shootings could face the death penalty if he's convicted. saturday 21,000 people wake up and take part in the suntrust rock and roll marathon and half marathon and we are proud to provide some live coverage of the race, but you don't have to wait until the race. we've got coverage today. the events kick off with the health and fitness expo at the d.c. armory. that's where our anita brikman is tonight. hi, there. >> reporter: hey, it's getting more packed by the moment down here. there's tons of people walking around checking out the fitness gear. there's music, games. there's also great foods that runners like to have ahead of a big race like pasta samplers and have you heard of energy goo? they're serving that up tonight as little appetizers. again everybody is getting excited for the race over the

next couple days. i have a runner here that goes by the nickname the penguin. >> i didn't start running till i was in my early 40s, weighed a lot more than i do now and i smoked for years and i looked like a penguin. i kind of became the voice of the back of the pack. >> reporter: but anybody can do it and it does help your health. >> absolutely because the thing is this used to be final exam, the races and people got a lot of tension, but the first rock and roll marathon in 1998, all of a sudden there was no reason to hurry. if you're having fun, why rush? the back of the pack keeps getting further back and more fun. >> reporter: again anybody can do this if they train correctly. you talk about that as well. >> you need to prepare. you don't want to just show up. of course, the race is sold out, but because the race is now open to everybody, if you prepare, take your time, do their training, you can come out and have good time with

22,000 of your closest friends. >> reporter: i love it because i've been at the back of the pack, so i salute that as well. again we'll have our coverage on wusa9 live saturday morning 8:00 to 11 a.m. with mike hydek and andrea roane bringing you the rock and roll marathon. back to you guys. >> kneel have a great time with lots of pa -- they'll have a great time with lots of great folks. is the weather going to cooperate? >> it's going to be dry and mainly in the 60s when you run. >> would it have been a little warm if folks tried to run earlier today? >> a little bit. we broke some records. we might as well. we write the record book, right? 82 at national, breaking the old record high of 81 and 84 at dulles breaking the old record of 82, both records set in 1990. that was the week we had four consecutive records in the 80s and when the cherry blossoms actually blossomed on this day back in 1990. we've had three consecutive 80- degree plus days. right now 75 downtown, 81 in

manassas, 72 in gaithersburg and 70 in leesburg, some clouds and showers out there. that's why they're cooler and 72 in frederick. still 83 in fredericksburg. tonight partly to mostly cloudy and warm shower or thunderstorm possible, lows 55 to 60 and wind will be light. we'll come back and track some of those storms and take you through the weekend. coming up the rock and roll marathon is ready to kick off, but another d.c. race was canceled months before it's supposed to start. we'll tell you why the d.c. triathlon will not go forward this year. >> but first gas prices raise a sixth day as president obama heads to maryland to defend his energy policy. we'll tell you what he had to say about the price at the pump up next. >> 9 news now is brought to you in part by the big screen store.

here we go again. prices at the pump are up again for the sixth straight day.

aaa says the national average for a gallon of regular is 3.82 up a penny from yesterday. the increase is a little bigger in our area, average in the d.c. metro now $3.90 which is two cents more than yesterday and 31 cents more than a year ago. republicans have had a field day blaming president obama for those gas prices. apparently the president has had enough. today he blasted away at his republican critics. it happened during a speech on energy at prince george's county community college. president obama likened his republican naysayers to those who predicted christopher columbus would sail right off the edge of planet, a group not able to look ahead. >> they make jokes about biofuels. they were against raising fuel standards. i guess they like gas guzzlers. they think that's good for our future. we're trying to move toward the future. they want to be stuck in the past.

>> president obama says he supports an all of the above energy policy, oil and gas, wind power, solar power, fuel efficiency. he says the united states is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years. coming up homes, costly homes, where the d.c. area ranks when it comes to renting a place to live.

breaking news out of d.c., the council chairman kwame brown has now received a federal grand jury subpoena for records related to contributions by a prominent political donor jeffrey thompson. as we've reported throughout the week, other council members have been subpoenaed as well. the subpoenas seek records of all campaign donations by thompson, his businesses and associates. thompson has a contract with city hall worth hundreds of millions of dollars. federal authorities searched his office and home earlier

this month. if you're looking for a cheap place to rent, you are out of luck in this area. according to a new study by the national low income housing coalition, maryland, d.c. and virginia are among the top most expensive states for rent. the district was second behind only hawaii with an average rent of 1,500 for a two bedroom spot. maryland was fifth with rent at almost $1,300 virginia came in ninth with rent just over $1,050. marylanders are one step closer to paying more in taxes. the state senate passed a slew of budget bills that could affect almost everyone in the free state. first senators approved a $35 billion budget for next year of then they pass an income tax increase to help pay for a $1.1 billion deficit in that plan. that increase would cost middle class families an extra 65 to

$200 a year and it would add a top bracket rate for couples with an income over half a million. the senate also approved a bill that would increase the cigarette tax and add sales tax to online purchases. the measures now head to the house of delegates. the d.c. triathlon is canceled for this year. the race was scheduled for june 17th, but the national park service denied a permit for the event because a number of the events around the national mall and the memorial, there's just too many going on around that time. so the 2,000 people who signed up can transfer their registration fees to other area races or they can request a refund. all things are a go for this saturday's suntrust rock and roll marathon and half marathon and the events kick off today with the health and fitness expo at the d.c. armory. that's where we find our anita brikman. hi there. >> reporter: hey, lesli, good to see you again. this evening it's a gorgeous evening out there, a gorgeous

thursday night. the expo is packed. there's all kinds of things people can try out looking at the alignment of their feet, since it's a rock and roll marathon they can pose as rock stars and there's plenty of fitness gear to buy. since i'm a runner, i thought why stick to basic black? it's time to mix things up. so i found some compression socks. i think i'm going to buy in the hot pink. these help if you have shin splints or anything else. if you can see me running the crescent trail in this getup and, of course, since it is st. patty's day we have a lot of green including a tutu. believe it or not lots of ladies run these events in a tutu. so i thought why not go bright green? our own wusa9 morning team will bring you live coverage of the race this saturday morning from 8:00 to 11 a.m. you can watch it live with us with andrea roane and mike

hydek. we're just talking about an amazing event, rock and roll bands all along the course, cheerleaders, excitement and again a lot of fun on a beautiful weekend here throughout washington d.c. lesli, back to you. >> go back and hold up that tutu because you're not getting out of this so well. >> reporter: what do you think? >> we need proof if you run with that thing on. we need pictures. we need some proof. >> reporter: you think i'm going to need to take a picture? >> i do and post it. we want to see this of. >> reporter: challenge has been posted, okay. see what i can do, guys. back to you. >> great running weather for this weekend. >> it will be. probably as we've mentioned earlier, people probably train for colder weather, but it's been warm now a couple weeks. temps will probably be in the 60s when you run. we set the record today. let's start with a live look outside. we have some clouds, leftover showers off to the west, but they're weakening as they move north and eastward. this is a live weather cam

brought to you by michael and son. after a high of 82 the temperature is down to 75, brrr, winds easterly at 11, dew point 52 and humidity 44% pressure prizing. here's a look at the radar, massive storms northern neck and extreme southern maryland. that's where most of the action has been. you can see the lightning over the past hour, especially in the storms that moved off the northern neck into across the bay and now across the delmarva. a live look at doppler. the good news is these two batches of showers weakened considerably in the last 30 minutes. we'll take one more look at these storms. this storm will roll through sandy point. this will stay south of st. mary's city. this storm will move across toward deal island going into the next hour. back up north these storms have weakened, still rain out 50 toward aldie and chantilly, still rain from rockville northward through gaithersburg

up through clarkbsurg but nothing heavy. here's the deal. look at the temps. where we haven't had any showers, it's still 83 in springfield. it's 70 in gaithersburg, 77 in college park and still 83 out toward reston. so we're looking at not as warm but still nice. we'll cool off from the 80s into the 70s for a while. we can handle it. some showers and thunderstorms possible tonight. you'll need your umbrella tomorrow. we're going to lose a few degrees tomorrow and friday night we'll be warm. friday night will be like a summer's night really. next seven days, we'll hold in the 70s. it will be a little cooler over the weekend. yes, i have a drop saturday and sunday. the race will be dry, may see a shower south of town early saturday afternoon, but for the most part that's a nice stretch of weather. spring officially arrives tuesday, but it sprung about eight years ago, temperatures in the upper 70s by next thursday. my peonies have popped up. i've never seen this in march. >> you've got madness in the weather and march madness is

here. it's officially here, georgetown getting ready to play their first game tomorrow night. as they start preparations it's hard to overlook their rash of early exits recently. dave owens will join us live from ohio. >> plus alex ovechkin gets shaken up during practice, the latest on his condition next in sports.

now 9 sports with kristen berset, the best sports in town. >> the georgetown hoyas looking to end their streak of early exits in the ncaa tournament. they haven't got past the second round since 2007 when they made it to the final four. they tip off at 3:10 friday in columbus, ohio. dave owens joins us now live from nationwide a reason withate a closer look at what the -- arena with a closer look at what the hoyas can expect of. >> reporter: a quick history lesson will tell us georgetown shunt rest easy coming into this game. three seeds have within upset in the first round of the ncaa tournament 16 times. georgetown hopes to avoid that fate, of course, but tell you. what news flash, the team they may tomorrow, belmont, they can

ball. they scored a fourth most points in the country and arrive riding a 14 game winning streak, 27 wins, atlantic sun championship, translated, hey, georgetown, don't sleep on these bruins. >> they're a winning team. from our defensive perspective they can put the ball in the basket. what they, do they're very good at transition. >> we are taking this very serious. we're all getting our rest and when we practice, it's time to work, pay attention to every detail. >> reporter: you talked about some of those early losses. georgetown lost last season as a sixth seed to the no. 11 seed vcu. we're going to talk about that tonight because it's been a hot top nick columbus later on. for now live -- topic in columbus later on. for now live back to you in the studio. >> we'll see you later this evening. the georgetown hoyas play at 3:00 this friday in columbus. that game will be broadcast on true tv. you can go to www.wusa9.com to find out where to tune in.

the wizards making headlines. march madness and nfl free agency made up most of the news this week, but the wizards doing a good job trying to steal that spotlight in. a three-game trade the wizards shipped javale mcgee and ronnie tour adjust to the nuggets and nick young is headed to the clippers. in return the wizards get nene. the wizards also got brian cook and a second round draft pick. this is not a good sight. that is alex ovechkin face down on the ice during practice this morning. ovie and mike knuble collide during drills, stayed down about two minutes, sat on the bench with his head down before going back into the locker room. dale hunter said ovechkin is okay and will suit up tomorrow night against winnipeg. also the redskins making moves. they signed safety brandon meriweather today. >> that's it for us. more march madness coming up

tonight. have a great night.