some sunshine at times but also a spotty shower or thundershower with a 5:00 p.m. temperature of 74 degrees. we've had some heavy showers and storms this morning across parts of west virginia coming out of eastern ohio, southwestern pennsylvania. but this is tracking more to our south and west. parts of the shenandoah valley, the mountains of west virginia, you're getting into a little bit of the rain. once the showers get on this side of the continent, at least closer up north not having much luck. south of charlottesville that's where you'll run into that. keep that in mind if you travel that way. your temperatures in the 50s in most spots. not too much in the way of fog. off to the east easton 45. we've had fog in cambridge, half-mile visibility and 49. right now going up into the 70s with a chance of a shower or storm later on. here's monika santami 6:00 a.m. with a look at your time saver traffic. not a bad way to start a monday morning i should say. things are looking great all around town. the beltway is incident free. if you're planning to head on the inbound side of i-66 you

have your normal, slow traffic right through manassas. in centreville you're okay. we'll take a live look right here on our traffic land cameras. it's just the volume but no big delays to report through centreville as you head for vienna and the beltway. back over to the maps and this time we'll head to the other side of town all the way north. no problems to report on 95 in from baltimore, the bw parkway or route 29. we'll take a live look outside. here's route 29 at franklin. again all the northern corridors look pretty much like this heading for the beltway. coming up in my next report, we'll go to the south side of town at 6:12. >> thank you, monika. a new government antismoking campaign debuts this week called tips if former smokers. >> these tv ads are really graphic and they're meant to be that way. they're supposed to shock people into kicking the habit of smoking or even not starting at all. 9news now reporter delia goncalves is here. she has some of the clips. they're pretty hard to stomach. we want to warn you. >> reporter: they are, mike. you said it. this is the whole point to

shock people. the idea, doctors say is for smokers to realize that this could be their future. >> [ indiscernible ] >> reporter: they are tough to watch as we said. the ads feature men and women from around the country, some with trach on the mys, others severe amputation and some are even paralyzed. the director for the centers for disease control say that many smokers just believe they continue smoking, they'll shorten the years of their life. these alds prove you can live but you will be sick and the quality of your life will be severely affected by smoking. the cdc hopes to convince 50,000 smokers to quit by shocking them with these unprecedented ads. >> advertising works. hard hitting ads work. showing the reality of people's lives and what smoking does to your ability to live out life as you want to live it, that's the most moving them to get a

smoker to quit. >> reporter: not everyone says so. some doctors argue with the director of the cdc saying that these ads just don't go far enough. they alone will not let smokers and convince smokers to quit. there needs to be another effort to really tax cigarettes and make it much harder for smokers to get a hold of these cigarettes in the first place. coming up in my next live report, we'll hear from a former smoker featured in the ad and also hear from a current smoker and reaction from the tobacco industry. you want to hear what they have to say coming up in a half- hour. back to you. >> delia, thank you for that update. two former metro workers are expected to plead guilty today to charges they stole hundreds of thousands of dollars. horace mcdade and john haley were arrested in january. prosecutors say they took coins from metro fare machines and they would routinely take $500 in coins to convenience stores and buy lottery tickets. well, it was a working weekend for mitt romney and rick santorum. and for romney it was time well

spent. the former massachusetts governor picked up 20 more delegates. romney will carry more momentum into this week's primary contest because of that and he celebrated another win last night after easily capturing all of puerto rico's 20 delegates. he spoke with supporters in illinois. in the polls he's locked in a tight battle with rick santorum. mitt romney's wife ann is calling on republicans to end this fight for the nomination. >> it's time for us to get behind one candidate and get the job done so we can move on to the next job which is bringing us one step closer to defeating barack obama. >> the republican national chairman said yesterday he believes the party will have a nominee within one or two months before the convention which is coming up in tampa in august. there's more violence in syria. 13 people were shot to death by armed terrorist in northern syria. reports say women and children are among the dead. this after a series of bombings saturday in damascus that killed 27 people.

syria's leaders say the uprising is being led by terrorist groups carrying out a foreign conspiracy. the security crackdown has prevented the opposition from holding rallies to mark the anniversary of the protests against syrian president assad. the u.s. army staff sergeant suspected of killing 16 afghan villagers meets with his attorney later today. the family of robert bales says they are stunned but standing behind the man they know as a devoted husband, father and dedicated member of the armed services. the statement was released by bales' defense team. he's being held at fort leavenworth, kansas. the team says it's too early to determine what factors may have played into this incident. >> nobody goes and kills women and children because they have financial stresses. i think there's an effort to try to paint him as someone that rather than having a serious injury and maybe shouldn't have been there to begin with, have some other

factors. >> court records describe several brushes with the law for bales, including a 2008 hit and run accident and a 2002 arrest for assault on a girlfriend. that case was dismissed after he underwent counseling for anger management. our time 16:06. jessica doyle is back with another your money and a march madness report. >> she's talking -- employers are like, whatever, do your brackets. >> it's interesting. we know the drill every single year. employees will sneak a peek at the action to keep up with their brackets. >> live from your desk. >> they check out the action online on their computers at work. they check out a bracket on their sportphone of course. this has been a challenge from employers for a long time now. almost one in five employees surveyed by our partners at career builders say they spend more than an hour of their work day checking scores. most of them on the sneak. of course all that drama on the court will be shared and debated on social media which turns out to be another

workplace distraction. >> a lot of companies put restrictions on their network and the sites that you can go to or tell their employees they can't do that. well, in today's day and time, what happens is it just makes liars out of your employees. >> so many workers of smartphones in their pockets don't need the company computer to check out what's going on during march madness. so rather than fight technology, a few employers are seizing this time as an opportunity to boost workplace morale. they are hosting barbecues and they've even set up big screen tvs. but of course not every company is there just yet. watching the games at work does come at a cost besides productivity losses. in a survey of it professionals, four of ten specialists say the online traffic will affect their computer systems shutting down networks of more than a third of the affected companies. and the boss may not exactly approve of your viewing habits. if you plan to watch, cheer or

trash talk your way to the final four, even if it's on your own device, just be aware of your company's policies. the boss may be watching remotely via the network. >> make sure you know who easy' rooting for if they -- >> office politics. >> absolutely. our time 16:08. the -- is 6:08. the top brass at d.c.'s only public university think some d.c. officials are undermining their efforts. it's yet another warm one. spring? yeah. maybe summer. we'll be right back.

it's a little bit cool this morning but not too bad with temps in the 50s. a couple areas of fog. the midday sunshine but also the threat for the afternoon shower or storm with temperatures once again well above average into the 70s. in virginia on the northbound side of i-95 traffic is moving well leaving lorton. it's bunching up in springfield. an accident in fort belvoir southbound backlick road near route 1 involving an overturned vehicle. i'll have more on that coming up in my next report at 6:17. officials at the district's only public university are complaining now. they believe some people on the d.c. council, itself ones who vote on the udc budget are actually undermining the

school's efforts to recruit some of the best students. >> they point to chairman kwame brown but brown defends taking busloads of college bound students on recruiting trips out of town. bruce johnson reports on why udc is not on the lits of stops. -- list of stops. >> reporter: last weekend four busloads of d.c. high school students went on a college scouting trip. most returned with applications to attend college in the fall out of state. >> some students needs to get out of the district of columbia. they actually do we should do everything we can to help them. >> reporter: d.c. council chairman kwame brown is chief sponsor of the out of town college recruitment trips. he's been doing this for the past several years. officials at the university of the district of columbia, they're not impressed. their school is not on the list of stops. >> we've been trying for a couple of years now to really sort of adjust the attitude of how the city views its state university. we've made some tremendous progress over the last couple of years. >> reporter: udc officials are further miffed by the fact that

every one of these students given up to $10,000 to attend any state school elsewhere as part of a tuition assistance program approved every year by the congress only for d.c. public and private high school graduates. >> some people would call it a bribe. i would call it really unfair. i would say that all things being equal, the university of the district of columbia will and can and does compete. >> this has nothing to do with the university of the district of columbia. more so to do with what students want to do. >> reporter: you fully support what this president is doing with this school? >> i fully support the university of the district of columbia. >> reporter: facts are the udc has a lot of work to improve its image beginning with a less than 15% graduation rate. the graduation rate is 49% for d.c. students attending college out of state using the tuition assistance program. that's 10% below the national addation rate. -- graduation rate. >> chairman brown says he

supports udc but would not support the udc president. coming up on 6:14. weather time now, cherry blossoms, daffodils, grass sprouting up. >> allergies. >> yeah. all of it. spring has sprung a couple weeks early the way things are going. the peak bloom time going to be tomorrow through the end ever the week now. -- of the week now. you were thinking to have people come the last week in march, usually a safe bet, usually. not this year. it's here. it's now and it's happening with temperatures running about 10 degrees above average for the month. this could be the warmest march on record the way things are going. the records go back to 1871. here's your bus stop forecast. this morning it's cool. we're down in the 50s. mostly cloudy skies. the fog kind of over toward annapolis and the eastern shore. not too much fog out there this morning. your sunrise at 7:12. anybody watching us in the mountains of west virginia, you could have a couple of showers in the next one to two hours. we'll see sunshine mixing with the clouds, especially the middle of the day as

temperatures by 1:00 will be in the upper 60s to near 70. we're going into the mid-70s this afternoon with a couple of showers, maybe a thunderstorm. i don't think everybody is going to see it but the threat at least will be almost area wide, maybe 30% as we get into the afternoon with the southeasterly winds at 5 to 10 miles per hour. looking at the radar with the lightning, there was a lot of lightning up earlier. now most of the lightning is in central west virginia. you've got to get south of charlottesville, down 81. some of the showers have gone into garrett county. as they cross the divide, get toward cumberland and romney, they are weakening. i don't think we'll see all that much. as far as the fog, a little bit in cumberland, a mile and a half. annapolis they were three- quarters a few minutes ago. now a mile and a quarter. conditions improving in cambridge, up to four miles. spotty thorn. temps cooler in the north and east. bwi is at 48. 52 andrews. 56 centreville and sterling

this morning. gaithersburg 54. here in washington under mostly cloudy skies, looking at our michael & son weather camera, good visibility. 57 degrees. the humidity high at 87%. we have a little drizzle reported in warrenton. big time warm-up. look at temperatures the middle of the country. they're warm. 60s, even 70 in dallas with winter raging across the west, though. some of the mountains outside of southern california over toward i think big bear had about 2 feet of snow. even up around flagstaff 19 inches of snow. and for us the warmth continues. today 75. spotty shower or thunderstorm possible this afternoon. we're back in the 50s tonight and with the southeasterly winds 5 to 10 today, tonight, tomorrow, the threat for the late night, early morning fog and low clouds will be with us. tomorrow, wednesday, not that much difference. temperatures generally in the low to mid-70s for highs. by thursday a little warmer. i think lower shower chances so near 80. friday upper 70s. the weekend a little unsettled, especially on sunday. looks like we could have more showers and storms with highs

holding in the 60s. average high 57 degrees today. it's been an incredible winter which ends tonight at 1:14. monika, over to you. >> if you're planning to head southbound on i-270, here's a live look from sky 9 at montrose road. overall delays route 85 as you head down to route 121 in clarksburg and a bit bunched up in germantown. here at montrose it looks great down to the point where the lanes divide. let's go over to our maps. i want to let you know there is one accident if you can look closely right here at this triangle northbound 295 right after the 11th street bridge of the one lane is blocked slowing things down just a bit coming in from virginia on the northbound side of i-95, you've got the slow traffic at the prince william parkway at 26 miles an hour. here's an accident as well on the southbound side of backlick road right near route 1 involving an overturned vehicle in fort belvoir. let's take a look outside. if you're planning to head on to the northbound side of 395, here's what it looks like at duke street. it's just bunching up a little beyond that closer to seminary

road. we'll also take a look live in the downtown area. if you're planning to head over to pennsylvania avenue, no problems to report here on pennsylvania avenue near the willard hotel. wag up in my next report, i'll update you on area roadways at 6:25. >> all right, monika. here's another look at our question of the day. one in five men say they can't go on vacation without packing this. is it a, hair dryer action b, foot powder or c, video games. >> a regular facebook contributor terry, i wonder if he's related to the company mohan. take my hair dryer. nothing worse than your hair looking bad while on vacation. ♪ it's the way you bring out the sun. ♪

sunny d! ♪ it's the way you make it all fun. ♪ know who makes the day sunny? my mom and sunny d! i love the taste. mom loves the vitamin c. and now it has 40% fewer calories than most regular soda brands!

sunny d! ♪ make today a sunny day! find out more at sunnyd.com welcome back. 6:21 here this monday morning. howard with your weather first. you may need a light jacket. we're down in the 50s. showers in far western maryland. it will have a tough time making it here early.

not too much in the way of fog. keep the rain gear handy because this afternoon we may get that spotty shower or thunderstorm to return. averages are up in the 50s. we're there now. we'll be 56 by noon with spotty showers or storms possible this afternoon. highs in the middle 70s. over to kristen with a look at your monday morning sports. good morning, everybody. if you look on the bright side, the georgetown hoyas made it further in the ncaa tournament than they have in the last three years. any consolation for you hoya fans? i didn't think so. every team has one goal in mind and that's to win the national championship. the hoyas' journey yesterday came to a screeching halt. jt3 and gang searching for the first sweet 16 appearance since 2007. nc state erasing the loy yas lead. -- loy yas' lead -- hoyas lead.

37-27 at the break. thompson had 17 in the second half, 23 in the game. nc state's lead down to 4 with a minute to go. off the miss. jason clark pushes the ball up. he's the desperation 3 for the tie. nc state upsets the hoyas advancing to the sweet 16 for the first time in 7 years. >> whenever you get -- i'll never get to put this uniform o. i'll never get to lace up these shoes or put on these shorts. it's the last time ever. it's tough to know this is the last time i'll get to suit up and get on the court with these guys. to the ladies. the terps taking on fresno. the lady hoyas advance with a 61-56 win over fresno state. alex ovechkin and crew trying to bounce back after losing in winnipeg by the caps find themselves in a 4-1 hole

in the second period. in the end chicago beat the caps 5-2. the wizards in the middle of a six-game road trip in memphis. john wall a big game. he makes the go ahead layup but the very next play rudy gay gets the lead back with a monster jam. wizards drop this one 97-92. that's going to do it for your morning sports. the lady terps are in action today in louisville. i'm kristen berset. have a great day. time saver traffic. there is an accident i want to tell but in fort belvoir southbound on backlick road near route 1 involving an overturned vehicle. police are blocking the right lane. coming up in my next report, i'll update ow that and other virginia -- you on that and other virginia roads at 6:34. you're watching 9news now. stay with us.

we're back at 6:28 a. live look at the capitol dome. it's 57 degrees. we're already warmer than our high minimum low here, whatever. i'm not doing weather anymore. now you understand why. thank you for starting your monday with us. i'm andrea roane. i'm mike hydeck. we're going to have howardest plain the whole thing.

-- howard explain the whole thing. over to you. >> 57 is the average high. we're at our average high already. well abup in the 70s once again. no problem, andrea. it's comfortable out here this morning. just a little bit cool and not that much in the way of patchy fog. skies are partly to mostly cloudy. looking at the day planner, we'll get into at least partly sunny skies. by lunch time you want to take the walk around the tidal basin, we should be in the mid- 60s. upper 60s in a few spots. we're going into the mid-70s this afternoon with spotty showers and thunderstorms. i think rain chances running about 30%. this morning the rain, the thunder has been out in west virginia approaching southwestern virginia. parts of western maryland seeing light showers as well as this area of rain is weakening as it moves south and east. here's a closer look at it. look at all the lightning and thunder that was there. this is all moving again toward the lower shenandoah valley down toward roanoke. 57 in town. baltimore is 48. there's been fog on the eastern shore. easton down to 46 the cool

spot. just about everybody is in the low to mid-50s. a quick look at visibilities before we go. a couple of miles in cambridge. to and a half in frederick. nothing terrible fog wise as well going into the 70s later on. let's go inside now. just turned 6:30. here's monika santami. how is it looking, monika? i've got a couple of accidents to tell you all about. otherwise things haven't been too bad, at least not on the beltway. things are moving well all around town. first of all want to tell you about this accident, an overturned vehicle on the southbound side of backlick road near route 1. crews are on the scene there blocking one lane. keep that in mind. 95 itself you've got that normal slow traffic out of dale city off and on into woodbridge and off and on lorton up into springfield. we'll take a live look there as you head northbound on 95. that's slowing down in spring field. this is pennsylvania avenue in downtown at the willard hotel. that's doing fine. all the downtown corridors are incident free this morning. we'll go back over to the maps. this time head south on i-270. overall you have your delays as

you can see coming out of frederick as you head down toward route 80 at about 32 miles an hour. then suddenly it breaks loose slowing in germantown off and on toward montrose road and the point where the lanes divide. in maryland here's what it looks like at route 121 in clarks burke. things look fine here. we'll go to the beltway north side of town. outer loop beginning to slow down as you leave 95 in silver spring. we'll update you on the accident in virginia at 6:45. back to you. >> thank you, monika. the cbs early show is about 30 minutes away. >> charlie rose joins us live now from new york with a list of what they're looking at this morning. charlie, we want a little behind-the-scenes dirt at your time at the white house last week. how was that? >> what a party it was. you got to meet a the love interesting people. got to see the president and the prime minister. boy, i hope they invite me back. it was a good time. >> we envy you. >> why don't we have our own

state dinner. we'll do that. good morning. we've got a lot ahead on cbs this morning. presidential candidate rick santorum will be with us. we'll ask him about the chances of a brokered convention and how he plans to win the nomination. plus, living in the age of anxiety. the impact zanax is having on society and how its popularity comes with a price. and then we'll take you to england for kate middleton's first public speech as the cuch chess of cape -- as the duchess of cambridge. all that and all that matters when we see you at 7:00. >> one other question. are your brackets busted as well? >> i'm dead. duke made me not only dead in the brackets but also sad. i was hoping for carolina as the president is hoping for carolina. that looks tough now because of injury so it looks like kentucky. if you put kentucky there, i suspect you're in a good place. >> they're tough. thanks, charlie. >> cbs this morning in into b30 minutes. a new government

antismoking campaign debuts this week. it's called tips from former smokers. >> these tv ads are geographerric. they are made that way on purpose and meant to shock people to kick the smoking habit or getting teens not to start at all. delia goncalves is joining us live from our satellite center with some of the clips. >> reporter: that's right. these ads are tough to watch. the ads are part of a three- month campaign by the centers for disease control. it costs the term government $54 million -- the federal government $54 million. but compare that to the $27 million for one day of advertising by the tobacco companies promoting cigarettes. take a look at the ads. >> [ indiscernible ] >> reporter: the television and newspaper ads beginning today feature former smokers whose lives have been ravaged because of their habits. this is the centers for the disease control's largest and most graphic campaign and the first national advertising effort. last year the food and drug

administration approved nine graphic images to be displayed on cigarette packages but last month a federal judge blocked the requirement that tobacco companies put those images on their packages saying it was unconstitutional. now the cdc and former smokers featured in these ads hope the psas will have a major impact. >> even when i was having my heart attacks, i still smoked a cigarette. like during the heart attack, yes. >> the pictures and all the disgusting graphics just turns me off. i change the channel immediately. i know it's coming. philip morris, the nation's largest tobacco company released a statement saying we agree smoking is addictive and causes serious disease. for those who want to avoid the health effects of smoking, the best thing to do is to quit. however, according to the centers for disease control, 20% of american adults do smoke and that hasn't changed since

2003. that's why they're pushing for these graphic alds for the next three months. back to -- ads for the next three months. back to you. >> all right, delia. 6:35. jessica doyle is here with another your money report. >> investors are making more money for you to watch. >> we've been talking the last few days about multiyear highs for the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500. last week they all hit those highs but that's not the full story here. there's more good news. if you're an investor who likes stocks that pay dividends, you are cashing in, too. our partners at "u.s.a. today" report the companies are on pace to pay a record $263 billion in dividends to shareholders over the next year. and those record dividend payments are coming, even though stock prices are still more than 10% below the records from october 2007. part of the reason why, corporate america is sitting on a record of more than $1 trillion in cash. investors are demanding a piece of that action. even today apple is rumored to

be announcing a dividend. a judge has approved a settlement to give owners of honda civic hybrids up to $200 in cash. this he could also get a thousand dollar credit towards the purchase of a new honda. at issue claims that the car's fuel economy was inflated. the judge did reject arguments that a win in small claims court entitled them to a large award. aaa says the national average price for regular gasoline reached $3.83 per gallon friday. that's up 7 cents in the last week. prices are 31 cents higher than a month ago, 28 cents higher than a year ago and within 28 cents of the all-time high. analysts expect the upward trend to continue through mid may maybe hitting $4.25 nationally. here in the d.c. region the average for a gallon of regular is above $3.92, up 27 cents in the past month. speaking of springtime pests, howard bernstein has a doozy. >> we've been dealing with some of the warmest temperatures for

the first half of march. we've had a very warm winter as well. one of the top ten warm winters in d.c. history. with me is entomologist dr. mike, the bug doctor. you've been getting started pretty early this year with your work. >> we have, absolutely. the insects are going nuts. these are my little prognosticators, my weather men. they're mason bees. >> how do you use them as weather men? >> every year they'll emerge on the first day of true spring. march 21. this year these guys came out on the 10th so according to my weather men beep, we're about 10 to almost 14 days ahead of schedule in terms of spring. >> when you think about how the cherry blossoms are coming out earlier, that makes sense. another concern, i've seen mosquitoes. the stink bugs must be loving this. >> they're on the march. normally we wouldn't see the stink bugs begin to roll till late march, early april.

i'm getting a lot of phone calls. in my own house i went to a trickle to a couple of week to now a dozen a day. >> how bad is the season going to ?b. >> we don't really know. we know it's going to be earlier. for pests that have multiple generations like stink bugs and spider mights and mosquitoes, this could be an incredibly bad year. if it continues warm like this, all the guys that can develop very rapidly with multiple generations, we could be in trouble. >> last saturday in april, you can see him, the bugs, the tarantulas and a lot of cool things over at the college park campus for maryland day. mike, thanks for coming in good have a stinky day, howard. >> thanks a lot. same to you. >> what a greeting. 6:38 now. so you like the 70s? how about 80. it's in the seven-day forecast. monika is also looking at the traffic when we come back. we're celebrating chocolate week. find out what are the hallmarks

after quality chocolate and where to get it for not a lot of money. we'll be right back. ♪

there's another way to minimize litter box odor: purina tidy cats. tidy cats premium line of litters now works harder to help neutralize odors in multiple-cat homes. and our improved formula also helps eliminate dust. so it's easier than ever to keep your house smelling just the way you want it. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home.

good morning. welcome back. it's 6:42 and 57 degrees. you're watching nine fine now. here's the beltway -- 9news now. here's the beltway. things looking great. on the northbound side of i-95 coming out of virginia into dale city and woodbridge, a little more in springfield as you head for 395. the accident southbound on backlick road right here at route 1 was just cleared out of the road. you're doing well as you travel through the fort belvoir area with the lanes open. we'll go to a live look on the northbound side of 395. here's what it looks like at duke street. you can see bunching up right here. duke to seminary and you're okay at the 14th street bridge. back over to the map and bw parkway. it's slowing down through cheverly. in new carrollton, no problems on the east side of the beltway throughout prince george's county. coming up in my next report, we'll go to 270 at 6:58.

we're back with howard at 6:44. are you having a stinky day? >> not at all. i love mike. the danger there is without the hard winter, a lot of bugs as he was saying have survived well and thrived early this season. >> the plague upon us. >> i noticed the ants were doing well around the perimeter of my house also. andrea is making face. you don't like the bucks. >> i don't like -- like the bugs. >> i don't like the bugs. weather wise your bus stop forecast, they are going to be getting some clouds out there this morning, some breaks as well. that traffic camera looked nice with temperatures in the 50s. patchy fog. maybe more like isolated fog with temperatures this morning in the 50s. your sunrise at 7:12. that monika santami, always a happy person. love that. day planner, cherry blossoms just about in full bloom. by noon a mix of sun and

clouds, mid-60s. south to southeast winds at 5 to 10 miles an hour. this afternoon 75 at 4:00 p.m. can't rule out the spotty shower or thunderstorm this afternoon. i think most of us and most of the time it will be dry but just keep in mind that a little bit of instability could pop up a shower here and there and by 8:00 we're still in the upper 60s. southeast winds 5 to 10. those temperatures still running close to 20 degrees above average. average high now 57. showers and thunderstorms this morning in west virginia. trying to get into virginia. we're seeing it south of harrisonburg. actually north of harrisonburg. maybe a few sprinkles up towards parts of the shenandoah valley. new market might be seeing it. but heavier showers getting into garrett county and having a real tough time getting east of 219. 57 in winchester now. off to the east we have mid-40s in easton. upper 40s in southern maryland and baltimore. where it's a little bit cooler, that's where we've been seeing some fog this morning. visibilities now not all that bad. two and a half in frederick. three in annapolis.

spotty areas of fog on the eastern shore but really nothing too bad. look at this pretty shot. stop and look at your tvs if you're just listening to me. gorgeous morning out there in washington on our michael & son weather camera with 57 degrees and a south wind at 6 miles an hour. our dew points are in the lower 50s. we're watching these showers and storms this morning trying to come southeast, having a tough time, though, making it toward us. so i think most of this stays well west of d.c. early. however, as we go through the day on the future cast, you're going to see that spotty shower pop up here in areas as we get in toward noon. isolated showers. even this afternoon. the isolated shower, maybe a rumble of thunder at 5:45. this stuff will have a tough time holding together after midnight, although can't rule out some isolated showers tonight into tomorrow morning. then tomorrow like today partly sunny with the spotty showers again in the afternoon. temperatures well up in the 70s. here's a look at the forecast. today a mix of sun and clouds later on. isolated shower or storm

possible, 75. back in the 50s tonight with the late night clouds and fog. tomorrow 74. and wednesday 76. this pattern is not going to change much with the late night clouds and patchy fog and isolated mainly afternoon showers and thunderstorms. thursday, though, warmer, 80. friday nice, 78. then a little bit unsented by the weekend, -- unsented by the weekend, -- unsettled by the weekend with a few more showers and storm. mike hydeck, i'm so jealous of you. we're celebrateing chocolate. ?cht stand by -- [ stand by for captions ]

>> you have several different kinds. what's different about chocolate. >> what's different about fine chocolate is where the cocoa beans come from from around the world. fine chocolate has four, five basic ingredients. it has cocoa butter, solids, a little bit of sugar and vanilla. if it's a milk chocolate, it has a little bit of powder as well. these are cocoa pods. this is where the cocoa beans come from. and so they take -- they'll tat beans and roast them and crack them open and grind them down. you get the cocoa paste. so during that process, what you end up with at the end is some nice, beautiful pieces of chocolate and the flavor comes directly from -- the flavor that you experience from the

chocolate comes from the cocoa bean itself, not from any added ingreed yefntses. no artificial fats. fine chocolate is always going to be just a little more expensive than your candy bar chocolate because they add all the other ingredients into it. >> where does this cocoa bean come from? >> great question. this particular one is cocoa beans from chuao which is an island off the coast of venezuela. >> i'll see what it tastes like. >> you'll get earthy notes to it, a little bit of acidity and bitterness. >> i feel like we're doing wine. >> the language is very similar between wine and tasting fine chocolate. >> how much time, larry? 30 seconds. okay. >> the other one i'd like you to try this is from a very rare cocoa bean, a wild grown cocoa. it's made by this brewing chocolate maker in massachusetts. she's about 23, 24 years old. this cocoa comes from brazil. >> that is an entirely

different taste. wow. >> a little banana, jas midge, dried plum. >> we're starting to run out of time. where is your store so people can sample. >> 1904 18th street northwest in washington, d.c. you can also visit online for more information. >> we'll link it to wusa9's web page so don't worry about that. back to you. question of the daytime. the question was, one in five men say they can't go on vacation without packing this. is it a, the hair dryer, b, foot powder or c, video games. here's a look at a response posted on the wusa9 facebook fan page by verne carter. he says neither a or c, hair dryer or video games is sad for a manual. verne, that -- man. verne, that may be true but even with all the hire dryers in hoe -- hair dryers in hotels these days, a is the answer. we've been combing through the daily deals and e-mails to find you deep discounts.

here are of some your favorites. we've got easter around the corner. here's the day to make it extra sweep. google offers is showing a deal, spend $10 to get $20 of chocolate, truffles and more at lindt.com. the offer is not valid in stores. time for spinning cleaning. who wants to do that? standard cleaning services wants to do the work now. you'll find the offer on kgb deals. three hours of cleaning for a studio or one bedroom apartment 50 bucks priced normally $125. among the other options, you can pay $89 and get five hours of cleaning for a home or town home. normally a service that would cost you $200. finally, here's one for you shutter bugs. maybe you're going to the cherry blossoms later. a 32 gig compact flash card from transcend. it will cost you $51.99 on amazon, a savings of 42%. if you have an offer you've

seen or you're a local merchant with a deal for our viewers, i'd love to hear from you on facebook. a check of the news before you go is up next. [ female announcer ] discover dove's

new nutri-oil serum with precious argan oil.

a nourishing serum that boosts smoothness and shine, all without weighing hair down. dove anti-frizz serum. welcome back. 6:556789 partly to mostly cloudy of the temps in the 50s. we'll be in the 60s by noon. highs in the mid-70s with spotty showers and thunderstorms. >> at 6:55, here's one last look at today's news before you go. the lawyer for an army sergeant suspected of killing 16 afghan civilians plans to meet with his client face to face today. robert bales is being held at

fort eleven worth, kansas. he's not yet been charged. one more check of weather and traffic when we come back.

we're going to take a live look from sky 9 from i-66. just a bit of slow traffic there. here downtown everything looking great. >> happy birthday, neil. >> happy birthday, to you love. we'll see you tomorrow morning starting at 4:25. have a great day.