arrests, traffic summons and parking citations patrol officers are expected to issue every month. so you think at the end of month the they pick up their enforcement? >> yes, i do. >> reporter: to meet the quota? >> yes and certain specific times as well, but die think they do at end of -- i do think they do at the end of the month. >> reporter: the memo says there is not nor has ever been a quota for traffic enforcement but it also says consistently failing to attain these goals could result in disciplinary action. it says it's not a quote. what does it look like to you? >> it looks like a quota to me. they got to fulfill their quota or they'll get in trouble. >> reporter: greg bryce from d.c. is here today contesting a $40 parking ticket. you think it's wrong? >> i know it's wrong. it is wrong that they are forced to make a quota to get their ticket any kind of way of. >> reporter: you think that's why you got your ticket? >> i think. so i think the guy had to fill his book and that was it. >> reporter: while it's understandable a police

department can need to set productivity standards it can go too far says lon anderson with aaa. >> there's a difference between making sure you have productive officers and setting quotes that can really damage the credibility of law enforcement in an area when people begin to wonder did i get that ticket because i'm a bad a driver or is it because it's the end of month the and that officer hadn't made their quota? that's a problem. >> that was our peggy fox reporting. we got another story that might get your blood boiling. can you imagine this? you looked at your bank account and you see this $5,366 withdrawn to pay your water bill? you know it's an full mistake but then they tell you it's going to take more than a month to get you your money back. our bruce leshan is working this story and i guess everybody would be mad in this situation. >> i think a lot of people's blood would boil and you can't fight city hall, but apparently you can fight the water company. it looks like our call may have made a difference for this bethesda woman. wssc tonight is promising to

hand deliver her a $5,000 check after misreading her meter and withdrawing all that cash from her bank account. >> $5,366, that's a lot of money. >> reporter: single mother of four ann mcintyre neely planning from now on to keep a much closer eye on her water bill. >> they need to put that money back into my account right away. >> reporter: she had failed to check her statement for the three winter months. she's on automatic bill pay, but then she noticed her bank account had evaporated. >> it really upset me. they just said it was a misread meter and this happens. >> reporter: even more than the missing thousands, the response by call takers infuriated her. >> when do i get my money back? >> oh, four to six weeks. they said the larger amount they owe me, the longer time it would take. they owed me $50, i could get it back right away. >> reporter: the wssc insists these kind of mistakes are

extremely rare that, they only mess up about one/4 of 1% of meter readings and usually customers catch the mistake when they check their bill. >> i had trusted the system and would trust that they would charge me the correct amounts. >> reporter: these days even mcintyre neely's pets are suspicious of her $1,000 water and she cannot figure out why the water company wouldn't have a system to catch it when her average consumption went from 70 gallons a day to 4,120 gallons a day. her average bill from 60 or $70 to -- >> $5,366. imagine if i were living closer on edge, that would be huge. >> reporter: but again the great news here is that instead of it taking four to six weeks for her to get her money back, looks like she's going to get it in a $5,000 check hand delivered from the wssc

tomorrow. >> that's the kind of service we like, bruce. >> yeah. good to make a difference for somebody. >> happy ending. back to you. a gunman opened fire in front of a jewish school in france killing four people today including three young children. then that gunman took off on a scooter. as manuel gallegos, police linked the shooting to the lives of three soldiers being lost. >> reporter: grief as news spread of the shooting. all the children from this school are like my children this woman said. police say a gunman on a motorbike opened fire just before classes started at the school in the southwest city of taluse. a rabbi, his two young sons were killed. he shot at everybody near him, children and adults. the children were chased inside the school. the gun used in the attack is

the same one used to kill three soldiers in two separate incidents in the same area last week investigators say. in both those shootings the gunman escaped on a scooter. french president nicolas sarkozy rushed to the school and promised to find the killer. authorities are trying to determine if this latest shooting is a terrorist attack. so farther motive is unknown, but one of israel's top diplomats in france says it's clear the shooter singled out the jewish community. >> the jewish school was the target. this is something that cannot be understood, how can you aim at children from a close range and kill them as innocent civilians? >> reporter: it's reported the soldiers in last week's attacks were of arab descent. security is now tighter at jewish and muslim buildings around the city. >> at half a million people france has the largest jewish community in western europe and also has the largest muslim population in western europe,

about 5 million people. the u.s. soldier arrested for the killing of 16 afghan civilians met with his attorneys the first time today. staff sergeant robert bales is being held in a military prison at ft. leavenworth in kansas. he's expected to be formally charged later this week, but the case probably won't go to trial for months. bales joined the military after the 9/11 terror attacks and did four tours in middle east. his lawyer said he was injured twice losing part of his foot in one incident and suffering a concussion in another. tonight d.c. police are looking for a man they say was trying to kidnap an 11-year-old girl. it happened at 62nd and banks place in northeast around 9:00 this morning. they say that man tried to pull the girl into a park. she wasn't hurt, but the suspect was last seen wearing glasses, a tank top and bedroom slippers. two fired metro workers accused of stealing at least $445,000 in cash from farecard

machines pleaded guilty today. horace mcdade used to be a metro revenue technician. john haile was a metro cop. the two were arrested in january and police startinged investigating after haile showed up frequent -- started investigating after haile showed up frequently at a convenience store to buy lottery tickets with $500 bags of coins. surveillance video caught both men hiding bags of coins near an overpass. >> thanks to our warm temperatures the cherry blossoms have already reached their peak. beautiful shot at those blossom as long the tidal basin all around with the washington monument in the backdrop and the japanese lantern where tomorrow's opening ceremony of the centennial blossom festival will begin. our delia goncalves stopped by the tidal basin earlier today where visitors and locals are scrambling to enjoy the sights before mother nature gets the best of the blossoms of. >> reporter: it just doesn't get prettier than this. >> it's unbelievable. every time it's even better.

it gets more and more magnificent. i love it. >> reporter: taking in the cherry blossoms in full bloom, a sure sign of spring in d.c. and the sights are simply picture perfect. whether the blossoms are the star of the show or a background performer as mom and dad show off 6-month-old eleanor cherry blossoms are sure to please any photographer. >> i hold the camera about five years and every year i come here for the cherry blossoms, but this year it's wonderful because the cherry blossoms come earlier of. >> reporter: even locals who see the cherry blossoms year after year say they never get old. >> never. i could see them every day. we've been coming for 17 years. that's how long we've lived here and they're wonderful. >> reporter: but mother nature couldn't rain on this parade -- could rain on this parade. if expected showers come our way, they could wash the blossoms all away. >> we've waited so long for the cherry blossoms to come out and

then to have them disappear quickly, it's really sad. >> reporter: at least you can say it's good while it lasted. at the tidal basin delia goncalves, 9 news now. >> we need it to last a while longer for sure. the cherry blossom festival kicks off tomorrow and lasts until april 27th and this year marks 100 years the city of tokyo gifted the district with those 3,000 beautiful cherry blossom trees. >> we'll take a live look outside right now. talk about a nice evening across most of the d.c. metro area, but topper says there's still a chance of some storms out there tonight. topper? >> yeah. if you're up in hagerstown and frederick you've been kind of fighting showers and storms the past couple hours. rest of us clouds but still mild. let's start with the cherry blossoms. the festival runs through april 27th. the peak will be through the 23rd, but remember they can stay on the trees for up to 14 to 17 days. their main enemy is wind and right now we don't have a lot of wind in the forecast for the rest of the week, so that is

indeed good news. check out the temperatures, 73 downtown, 72 in gaithersburg, 77 in manassas and 76 in fredericksburg. even oakland and cumberland are in the upper 60s at this hour. so for tonight partly to mostly cloudy and mild, a shower or thunderstorm still possible, lows only 50 to 56, winds out of the southeast at 5 to 10. we'll come back, talk about the prospect of more morning fog on tuesday and also take you all the way through the week with the prospect of cooler air by the weekend. well, quarterback peyton manning has perhaps made the greatest biggest call of his career. tonight it appears the highest profile nfl free agent in years is headed off to denver to play for the broncos. kristen berset is here with the latest. >> that's right, derek. as of yesterday peyton manning had narrowed his choices down to tennessee, san francisco and denver. he worked out for all three of those teams this past week, but in the end manning has decided

to take his talents to the mile high city. manning is the nfl's only four time mvp, has more than 50,000 yards passing and 400 touchdowns and once the colts released him in march manning became one of the most sought after free agents this year. he spent a lot of time chatting with hall of fame and former bronco qb john elway who was obviously very persuasive in his decision to go to denver. as for his contract, manning is expected to sign a deal similar to the one he had in indianapolis, somewhere around five years and $90 million. as for what manning's decision means for tim tebow, he's likely gone. it was pretty obvious elway wasn't completely sold on tebow just yet. they're going to shop him around. some of his projected landing spots are all in florida, jacksonville, his hometown, tampa bay and miami he'll probably be shipped off before training camp even starts. back to you in the studio. >> let's just tell dan snyder no man, no, no tebow. >> well, yeah, you're right.

>> thank you. >> in d.c. anything can happen with the redskins. coming up the groundbreaking procedure vets are using as a last effort to try to save the life of a heroic dog. >> plus a local police officer and cancer patient gets the surprise of his life when he returns home from the hospital. >> reporter: illinois republican voters are getting last minute appeals from gop white house hopefuls. i'm randall pinkston. i'll have that story.

it's a head to head battle in illinois between mitt romney and rick santorum. >> the main two republican presidential hopefuls spent the day trading barbs over each other's economic plans. randall pinkston reports from the white house. >> reporter: mitt romney took the podium in chicago focused on a fall match-up with president obama. >> this election is going to be about principle, our economic freedom will be on the ballot. >> reporter: first romney faces rick santorum in tuesday's illinois primary. romney is fresh from a win in puerto rico and new poll numbers show he is leading santorum by seven point in

illinois, but -- points in illinois, but he's not taking any chances. the former governor is quick to point out why he is the better choice for the republican party. >> i'm running in president for part because i have the experience and the vision to get us out of this mess. >> reporter: romney is linking santorum to president obama calling both men economic lightweights. santorum is pushing back. >> you hear him talk about oh, i created jobs in the private sector, but he didn't do anything in massachusetts to create an environment for jobs. why? because he exploded the size and scale of government. >> reporter: santorum is brushing aside new calls for him to step aside. romney's campaign insists there's no way santorum can pick up enough delegates to lock in the nomination, but the former senator plans to take his fight all the way to the gop convention. >> if we happen to win illinois, that would be the 11th state i've won in this election. >> reporter: illinois is essentially a two-man race between santorum and romney. ron paul and newt gingrich chose to skip campaigning there

keeping their focus on contests in the weeks to come. randall pinkston, cbs news, the white house. >> that illinois poll that puts romney in the lead shows gingrich is supporting the state with just 13%. ron paul is at 8%. the virginia town hit hardest by last august's earthquake will be settling in for a free concert featuring alan jackson, country music star. the town won the right to hold the show in an online contest. mineral will receive more than 31,000 votes in the competition. kansas city came in second that. jackson concert is set for may 20th and ill be with held in the parking lot behind the mineral library 36789. expect some bigger crowds than -- library. expect some bigger crowds than usual at the national cathedral next center. the central tower damaged in the august earthquake will reopen for one day only. visitors will be able to make the tower climb to see spectacular views of washington. cathedral officials say the

tower is structurally safe for visitors. what a shot and a beautiful day. >> look at this. oh, we're getting spoiled. >> we really jump for joy in april for this. >> i want to thank my boys for getting all that mulch put out there this weekend. >> really? did you do some odd jobs? >> tough enough to get them to do ours. >> we've been looking at great pictures of cherry blossoms. this was sent into us by a long time d.c. resident. this is a spectacular picture. check that out. that is within the last 24 hours. they are peak and again, wind is their main enemy, okay? i don't have a lot of wind in the forecast. so i want to thank kevin for send this in, lieutenant colonel, nice job. okay, let's have a live look outside now. this is brought to you by michael and son, our live weather cam. you can see all the foliage beginning to green up. we are well ahead of schedule in terms of getting some of the canopy on the trees

'temperature-wise we're well into schedule on that, too 73 downtown, winds out of south at 9, pressure 31.41 inches of mercury. the dew point is 56. that is really not going to make it get much colder than that. another spring-like night. we'll look at the radar now, some showers and a few thunderstorms north of town and this is where they've been kind of all day. i think they'll mostly stay north of town. it looks like one area just went through frederick and is pushing off into carroll county, some lighter activity back into hagerstown. i'm going to keep the chance of a shower or storm in all night. it's a different story last night and other parts of the country like oklahoma where they had this tornado caught on tape. tell you. what this is in greer county. in eastern oklahoma tomorrow they're under a slight risk of severe weather. they may have more tornadoes tomorrow and remember, the thunderstorm has to rotate a little bit and that drop the down the rotating column of

air. if it touches the ground, it becomes a tornado. tomorrow in virginia is tornado awareness day. there will be a drill at 9:45 in the morning. in columbus, ohio, look at this lightning strike. whoa, see it on the right side of your screen? remember lightning is five times hotter than the surface of the sun. that was an incredible strike caught on tape. that was really one of the better lightning strikes i've seen. remember, you her thunder. you need to go in -- hear thunder. you need to go indoors. 73 bethesda, 75 arlington, 72 gaithersburg, everybody essentially in the 70s. the exception, well, actually annapolis is 71 now. they were in the 60s earlier. i think they'll hold in the 60s tomorrow because of an easterly wind component. mild to warm all week, shower possible tonight, mainly dry evening commute in the metro area, some fog again tomorrow morning and some showers also for the morning commute, especially north of town. don't think anything heavy will roll through, but some showers

are possible. by 8:00 tonight maybe a couple showers gaithersburg to d.c. back to lees burke, but they're green, which means light. a -- leesburg, but they're green, which means light. we could see the rumble of thunder overnight. lighter activity in the morning, but if you're coming in from 270, you might see a shower or coming up from charles county or prince george's county county, you could see a light shower. again you may have some morning fog also tomorrow. by 1:30 in the afternoon going out to lunch, you might want your umbrella, a couple showers around and by 6:00 a couple showers around. so unsettled even as we get into wednesday morning, but the good news is it's going to stay mild to warm. i think that's a pretty good tradeoff. partly to mostly cloudy tonight and mild, shower or thunderstorm possible, lows 50 to 56, winds southeast at 5 to 10. we get into tomorrow morning, some fog possible and then a shower or thunderstorm possible, too 50s and 60s and by afternoon still mild. we'll say partly sunny, may

take a while to get some sun going, shower or thunderstorm possible, highs between 70 and 75. our average high is still in the upper 50s. that's a good deal. next seven days, spring officially arrives tomorrow at 1:14 a.m., the vernal equinox. we're looking at temperatures remaining mild, 72 wednesday, 76 thursday, upper 70s by friday and on saturday and the weekend a little cooler, a little unsettled, temperatures going back into the 60s. coming up a sexy swimsuit model under arrest accused of leading a double life of crime. >> but up next from java to juice bar, you'll hear how one chain is branching out from its coffee roots.

a recall starts off our consumer alert tonight. subaru is recalling 275,000 of certain forrester vehicles. the car company says the rear seatbelts in certain 2009 through 2012 models failed to meet a federal safety standard. the belt does not permit the proper installation of a child restraint seat. the recall will begin on or before april 13th. starbucks has opened its first ever juice bar in

bellevue, washington. the java specialty company acquired the evolution fresh juice business about four months ago and they're ready to drink juices will soon be available in grocery stores. it is payday for apple stockholders, the company flushed with nearly $100 billion in cash announced it will use some of it to pay out a quarterly stock dividend of $2.65 a share. now it also plans to buy back $10 billion worth of shares. the last time apple felt a little generous with its shareholders was back in 1995. all those sales have been brisk for apple's new ipad it. appears the company will make a little less money off the device. one tech expert took the tablet part and found that the components are more expensive than those in the ipad 2. apple did not increase the price on the latest version which starts at $499. when you think government corruption, perhaps the states of new jersey and chicago comes

to mind. how about virginia? a new report gives the commonwealth an f in its state integrity and that is no. 47 out of 50 states. virginia got failing grades in categories like public access to information, political financing, lobby disclosure, ethics enforcement and the state budget process. now maryland, don't get the big head. you weren't much better. you got a d minus. that's good for 40th place and not one state got an a. a swimsuit model accused of dealing a double life dealing methamphetamine. simone farroy, prosecutors saying she was head of a global drug ring. she was extradited in sydney. the model is 37 years old and claims she's innocent and said she was only fleeing from authorities because of her romantic relationships with underworld figures and that someone was trying to murder her. coming up the maryland

police department embarks on its first of a kind hi-tech operation. >> before that friends fix up a local police officer's home while he gets life saving cancer treatment in the hospital. see what happens when he returns. >> and up next. the cure vets are using for a heroic dog, all of that ahead on 9 news now. ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪

is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are those great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh.

a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪

after the attacks on 9/11 search and rescue dogs help find victims in new york city, shanksville, pennsylvania, and at the pentagon. one of the last 9/11 search and rescue dogs still alive called annapolis home and as kristin fisher reports today, she got a groundbreaking new treatment to help her live out her life pain free. >> reporter: the plaque lab from annapolis, she spent -- the black lab from annapolis, speck spent the last 10 years as a search -- she spent the last 10 years as a search and rescue dog. >> they credit them with finding 70% of the human remains. so that helped a whole lot of those families actually get closure. >> reporter: heather roach is red's owner and handler. >> the last few months, she'd like to be a couch potato, but she can't even get on the couch anymore. it would be nice with her arthritis if she could do those kind of things that she misses of. >> reporter: today she brought red to the burke animal clinic for a free stem cell treatment,

compliments of med vet america. >> this is a small something we can give back as a clinic to them, sort of saying thanks for what you guys have done for us. we're just taking fat from the side of red and then we'll spin it down, process it, extract the stem cells from there. >> reporter: red will get her first injection in two hours after she wakes up from surgery. >> it's going to be a long day. >> we've done about 28 dogs and of those dogs we've had about 75 to 80% of them have done very well. >> reporter: the doctor's own dog bradley is living proof. he got the same stem cell treatment one year ago. >> hopefully in about two to three months they'll be more comfortable moving around wanting to play more. >> i have a lot of hope it will help red. >> let's hope. so two other 9/11 search and rescue dogs have also gotten the stem cell therapy and have resumed their normal dog lives in retirement. >> good story. thanks. a local police officer and volunteer firefighter recently

underwent surgery for colon cancer at the washington hospital center. >> after he was released pete felt a surprise waiting for him at home. kurt brooks brings us his story. >> pete is an awesome guy. he means the world to all of us and he gives back a lot to everybody. >> reporter: pete feldon is a lucky man. >> does things for me all the time and he's wonderful. >> reporter: many would say eyes not so lucky. while on -- he's not so lucky. while on a trip out west last thanksgiving with his family he was diagnosed with colon cancer. he had surgery last week. his mother-in-law got biz. >> i we wanted it all redone for -- busy. >> we wanted it all redone for him when he got home from the hospital so he would have a nice place to be. >> reporter: she contacted almost a dozen of pete's friends who got busy fixing up his basement. five days later peter arrived home a little early and very surprised. >> i've had your family room

done for you. >> damn. who did this all? >> me. >> you did this? >> me and paul and will and brett. >> my friends really kicked butt on this. i don't know how -- i don't think there's words to express it. people i haven't seen or heard from for years. >> i'm so excited it's unbelievable, the generosity of the community and the family and just how much we're loved and supported through all this because it has been a difficult road. >> reporter: it may have been luck that allowed gail and pete's friends to pull off this surprise, but there was no luck involved when it comes to the gift. that is love and the chances of that happening were 100%. in frederick kurt brooks, 9 news now. >> what great story. pete has another surgery scheduled in a few weeks followed by several months of some followup treatment, but his doctors are confident he's going to make a full recovery. we're pulling for you. in colorado hundreds of people back inside their homes

tonight after being forced to evacuate because of a wildfire. firefighters, though have, now contained most of the blaze around the town of oakley. that's in the -- eckley. that's in the northeastern part of the state. three firefighters were injured and at least two homes were destroyed. that fire sent up a huge ball of smoke yesterday afternoon. a missing hot air balloonist has been found dead in fitzgerald, georgia. the pilot was taking five skydivers into the air friday night during a festival when a thunderstorm hit. the 63-year-old pilot told the skydivers to jump out of the balloon. they made it down safely, but the pilot was not so lucky. one of the skydivers said the pilot saved their lives. catholic university trustees are on a mission this week. the trustees teamed up with the organization so others might eat as part of a service event today. the organization provides food, clothing and healthcare to the needy. the trustees event coincides with the school's 125th anniversary and the university

has made a commitment to perform 125,000 hours of service by founders day, april 10th. [ band playing ] spectacular sights and sounds at sunrise at sydney, australia today. from bones and trumpets on top of the -- from bones on top of the harbor bridge -- and trombones on top of the harbor bridge. it was officially open to traffic in 1932. the bridge joined the harbor's northern and southern shores for the first time. officially she is the duchess of cambridge, but to the millions of fans she's simply kate, catherine middleton, wife of prince william opened a new building for a children's hospice in england and made her first public speech as a royal. >> i'm only sorry that william can't be here today.

he would love it here. >> the duchess later planted a commemorative tree at that hospice. still ahead in tonight's hero central report, a look at the amazing work one local group is doing to help women and children survive domestic violence. >> but up next a horrible accident at maryland's lift ski resort all caught on video. >> don't forget we're always on at www.wusa9.com. stay with us. we'll be back.

caught on tape a crash at a cardboard box derby in maryland. seven people were actually hurt when their cardboard sled just seemed to lose control before it slammed into a pole of a snow making machine. this is up in wisk ski resort in garrett county. two children and five adults went to the hospital. luckily their injuries are not life threatening. an elderly driver plowed into a daycare center yesterday in northeast washington. if the accident had not happened at noon on sunday that, building could have been full of kids. the man was trying to parallel park when he apparently hit the gas by mistake. nobody was hurt. again that daycare was empty. st. patrick's day celebrations turned violent over the weekend in london, ontario. around 1,000 people rioted, set fires and threw things at

officers. this video shows one man toss a wooden plank at a group takedown of a fence. a television news van was set on fire. the rioters caused around $100,000 worth of damage. 11 people have been arrested, so far most of them college students. baltimore's news stations have some new competition. >> yeah, it is a daily newscast, but it is coming from police headquarters and it's called bpd tv. baltimore police say it's the first of its kind in the nation. however, the officers say the transition to this new sort of police work has not been as easy as they thought it would be. >> it's absolutely terrifying to be on the other side. we're going to talk about significant arrests and talk about robberies, acts of violence that may have occurred in your community, suspect descriptions from the night before. >> yeah, yeah, looks easier unanimous it is, isn't it? that's what i'm -- than it is, isn't it? that's what i'm telling you. this newscast streams live monday through friday 12:30 p.m. every episode is archived

online. baltimore police say it's part of their multi-media strategy to reach citizens. it already includes twitter, facebook and text alerts. well, friends, the road to the final four has come to an end for the georgetown hoyas. coming up our expert sized up the ncaa tournament sweet 16. >> up next how the right foods help protect the body from cancer, plus the key nutrient many patients are missing when they start treatment.

a canadian study may have uncovered one reason antibiotic resistance is climbing in children throughout the world. the researchers say they don't

abdicate withholding antibiotics from children who need them. just try to use them sparingly. battling cancer, tough enough. it's even harder if your body isn't in peak nutritional shape. recently i spoke with a dietician who specializes in helping cancer patients change their diets to help win that fight. >> come in for cancer treatment, but get a lifestyle overall. >> registered dietician danielle shope is with cancer treatment centers of america. she says many of their patients walk in unaware that their intake of key nutrients is lacking. >> the biggest problem we see is preexisting malnutrition when they come in and that's something most people don't think about. >> for example, blood work shows many patients are vitamin d deficient and need supplements. overall good nutrition is essential to give the body fuel to repair itself after toxic grueling treatments like surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. >> we really want to focus on what is going to have this

phyto chemical antioxidant properties. there are compounds found in plant-based foods, your fruits and vegetables, whole grains plant-based foods preis our folk us when we're talking about overall prevention and cancer care -- folk us when we're talking about overall prevention and cancer care. >> including an emphasis on beans and legumes, healthy oil and less red and processed meats but even healthy diets can't take care of all the side effect cancer treatments cause. the integrated approach means there are several specialists hoping patients cope with all of that as well. >> a physician to deal with the medications to deal with the nausea and we have natural doctors whop dieticians. we focus on the foods -- who are dieticians. we focus on the foods. things like ginger ale, things that are anti-nauseous. >> again, the best nutritional way to ward off cancer is with

a colorful plant-based diet. fill your plate. we have links to recommend and recipes created by their nutritionists on the health page of our website www.wusa9.com. >> we decided we're staying out here. coe on out. it's that nice. >> it's -- come on out. that it's nice. >> we know it's not going to last. there's no humidity, no wind, no bugs, good stuff. >> as nice as it is here, we'll show you flagstaff, arizona. >> i like it. looks nice to me. >> snowing to beat the band. >> oh, man. >> yeah, pretty good snows. the mountains had over a foot and it even snowed in the hills around l.a. saturday night. caused some problems as you might imagine, some tractor trailers off the road completely from the snowbanks, quite a mess for a late winter snow. it is still late winter. however, the vernal equinox is tomorrow. what that means, the sun is directly overhead of the

equator. so essentially equal day and night in both hemispheres. we go to spring and our friends in southern hemisphere go to fall. it officially arrives tomorrow morning at 1:14 a.m. and if is a wives tale you can set an egg on its end at any time, doesn't have to be during the equinox either the vernal or autumnal. you can do it any time during the year. right now to our live weather cam by michael and son, temperatures still low 70s, yeah, a lot of clouds, but we're dry in the immediate metro area, pressure steady 30.41 inches of mercury, dew point 56, another warm night. showers and storms north of town. this is live doppler. this storm is kind of hanging around hagerstown around i-81. i think we're in pretty good shape tonight for the evening commute. i'm going to keep the chance of a shower or thunderstorm in all night. 74 rockville, 73 in bethesda, 75 in reston, great falls 76, 74 college park and 73 in beltsville. so mild to warm all week.

that's the good news. shower possible tonight, although the evening commute mainly dry around the metro area. some fog is possible again tomorrow morning and some showers possible also during the morning commute primarily late in the morning. so we'll have to trade warm air for the chance for showers. i think that's a fair trade quite frankly. later on tonight 8:30, 9:00, maybe some showers gaithersburg to leesburg, essentially light, a little yellow in hagerstown. it's been kind of stormy up there afternoon and evening. early morning hours, more showers through fairfax back into manassas, prince william and fauquier county. get into the early morning hours around 8:00, we have showers around, the roads may be wet but nothing heavy falling heading to work. by 2:00 more showers south of town, north of gaithersburg. you kind of get the deal it's going to be showers here and there hit or miss for the next 24 to 48 hours, but with temperatures in the 70s who cares really? for tonight partly to mostly cloudy, mild, shower or storm possible, lows only 50 to 56.

next seven days it stays warm until the weekend, gets a little bit cooler. maybe a shower wednesday, low 70s, then back in the mid- to upper 70s thursday and friday. as it gets warmer, our chances for thunderstorms increase a bit and over the weekend some showers and storms possible on saturday near 70. kind of cool sunday. we're back in the low to mid- 60s and then sunshine on monday with highs back in the mid-60s. so spring officially arrives at 1:14 this morning. have any plans, derek? >> i do indeed, but i'm not telling you. thank you, top. well, the sweet 16 is all set, but if you were watching over the weekend, you know none of our local teams survived the weekend madness. kristen berset is here now to break down some of the surprising upsets and why there are still a lot of surprising matches still out there. >> march madness lived up to its name this weekend. joining me now in studio to break down everything that went on, we've got nicole auerbach

from usa today and frank hammerhan. georgetown couldn't get past nc state in the 3rd round. what happened? >> crowd rubble, execution down stretch. the hoyas -- crowd trouble, execution down stretch. the hoyas -- foul trouble, execution down stretch. the hoyas had some problems. they just couldn't get it done. too bad because i felt they were a better team than nc state. >> just so heartbreaking to see them afterwards. they're obviously so upset. nicole, you had georgetown going to the final four, kind of that crazy pick, but from what you saw yesterday what was their problem? >> i agree. i think it was the early foul trouble for henry sims sort of changed the whole pastes game. you're taking him out of most of the 1st -- pace of the game. you're taking him out of the 1st half and it messed with the team's rhythm and he doesn't score until there's what, 50 seconds left in the game?

that's not usually how they win. i think that was huge and scott wood, nc state, he made a bunch of big baskets. >> nc state moves on to sweet 16. we've got 13 seeded ohio moving on. so a couple of the cinderella stories still kind inform there. are those maybe some -- kind of in there. are these maybe some dark horses? >> ohio interest a great story, the lowest seed since 2006 and in '06 it was george mason. they've got an uphill battle. north carolina, we don't know the status of their point guard kendall marshall. if he doesn't go, i still don't think that's enough to upset unc. i'm interested in kentucky/indiana. is kentucky as good as we saw? >> they've been looking good, though. >> they look like a b league team. they're the favorite. >> nicole, with the sweet 16 set, everybody's brackets are busted this weekend. who do you have going to the final four? >> they're not very of interest picks now with all the upsets.

kentucky, michigan state, kansas and syracuse. i think we've seen a lot from them dealing with the loss of brad mellow. so that's the final four i think. >> who do you have? >> i still have my final four alive and well in my bracket. i only got 50% right. baylor, north carolina, florida, ohio state and the buckeyes the national champs. there's no rhyme or reason. >> i like it even better you got florida in the final four. i had missouri beating florida and they got knocked out. my brackets completely busted this weekend. thanks so much, guys, for coming in today. the sweet 16 continues this thursday. we'll send it back to you guys. >> busted, my bracket's atomiesed. coming up at 6:00 we're talking campaign corruption, bruce johnson with a followup

report only on 9. >> we're learning more about the accused shooter in the afghanistan massacre. his lawyer is reporting a very emotional first meeting between the two. >> plus hero central, victims of domestic violence find a safe haven. we'll talk about bethany house next.

issue of domestic violence is in sharp focus again after a man shot and killed his estranged wife in kensing son,

maryland last week. today's hero central features jc hayward's visit to bethany house, a place where endangered women and their children can go for help. >> reporter: every day in the united states three women are killed by an intimate partner. every 12 days a child dies from abuse. and every three hours a family enters a domestic violence shelter. >> i had stitches in my head, stitches in my eye. my fingers were broken. my ankles had been sprained. my ribs were broken. i was internally -- i had a lot of internal damage that i didn't know about. >> reporter: we'll call her jane. after repeated beatings she came here, received support and started rebuilding her life. >> i felt safe. i realized that there are people out there that there was nothing wrong with me and they actually understood why i stayed. they helped me understood why i

stayed. they helped me find all the services that i was going to need to get my life back of. >> reporter: bethany house of northern virginia provides emergency shelter and support services to victims of domestic violence. >> we very much want to work with our families to break the cycle of violence now. we don't want to be a respite and allow them to go back. we want to encourage them and work with them to meet their goals so they can break that cycle now for themselves and their children. >> reporter: bethany house of northern virginia celebrating more than 30 years. they truly believe that domestic violence is a crime and it has devastating effects on children. they believe that victims should be supportive and treated with compassion, courtesy and respect. >> and do everything we can to let them know that they're amazing, beautiful, wonderful human beings. the abuse that happened was not their fault. it's not a normal healthy situation. you don't want that for the family the. you don't want that for your children. >> reporter: during the year food, clothing and personal

care items are distributed. the program's vision is to heal, restore and empower families. i'm jc hayward, 9 news now. >> what can you do? the bethany house needs cleaning supplies, toilet paper, diapers, basic hygiene stuff. there's more information how to give to them at jchayward.com. . >> this is 9 news now. the lawyer calls it one of the most emotional meetings of his life as he meets with the american soldier accused in the afghanistan massacre. that attorney, john henry brown, admits this will be a challenging case. he met today with staff sergeant robert bales at the federal pantry in ft. leavenworth, kansas. theresa garcia has the latest developments. >> reporter: staff sergeant robert bales met with his attorney john henry brown for the first time behind the walls of ft. leavenworth. brown is just now hearing his client's side of the story. >> you couldn't imagine a more difficult case i don't think,