. hello. i'm jc hayward. thanks for being with us. the islamic man accused of killing seven people in france is dead. we explain how the 32-hour standoff ended in a barrage of

gunfire. >> reporter: french commandos stood down after a deadly 32- hour stand i have in toulouse. the siege ended with gunfire and explosions at the apartment of the suspected killer mohamed her a. he was hiding in the -- merah. he was hiding in the bathroom when police stormed his home. he had several guns and opened fire on police. officers shot back hitting him in the head as he threw himself out the window. police negotiators say in hours before his beth, merah admitted killing a teacher and three students and murdering three french soldiers earlier this month. detectives say merah filmed the killings and was proud of them. merah, seen in this amateur video, claimed to have links to al qaeda. he called the attacks payback for the killing of palestinian children and the french military's involvement in afghanistan. president nicholas sarkozy says

an investigation is under way to see if merah had any accomplices. merah said he traveled to afghanistan and pakistan for terrorist training. officers wanted to take him alive but the extremist promised he would die fighting. >> several police officers were injured in that gunfight. we have just learned that a pregnant woman who was stabbed early this morning in southeast washington has lost her baby. the woman was eight months pregnant and the incident happened on 9th street southeast near southern avenue. investigators are still looking for a suspect. authorities say a juvenile has been taken into custody in connection with a triple stabbing that occurred in northeast washington. and another suspect may be on the loose. three women were stabbed last night at rhode island avenue and 4th street northeast. at least one of the victims is

a minor and one victim is listed in serious condition. the u.s. justice department has started a civil rights investigation into the trayvon martin shooting. this is the young florida teenager who was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch captain. police have not charged george zimmerman with the boy's death because of florida's self- defense law. and that case is gaining national attention. a rally has been planned at freedom plaza in the washington area at 2:00 on saturday. the event is the latest in a series of movements across the country to bring attention to this teenager's death. tomorrow is the best time to see the cherry blossoms because that's when experts say they will be at their best. what about the weather, though? will the weather be ideal to check out these beautiful blossoms? let's go to howard and get details from his forecast.

howard? >> yc, either today or tomorrow afternoon -- jc, either today or tomorrow get out there because they're in that peak period. the weekend, it's going to get rather ugly around here with rain. we had all that fog this morning. annapolis still a mile but everyone else has done much better. we're starting to burn off the low level moisture here. satellite and radar, and you can see we had a couple of showers earlier. the last couple of frames you start to see the clouds and the fog burning off from the south. in southern st. mary's county, we've got sunshine now. skies are brightening in huntingtown and to the west. this low level moisture i think in the next couple of hours is going to mix out. we'll see a lot more sunshine by 2:00. do want to point your attention out west. big storm spinning in oklahoma. a lot of rain coming up through mississippi, alabama, western tennessee. that storm system heads our way and looks like it could give us a decent amount of rain, maybe one, two, three inches over the weekend around here both saturday and sunday.

that's why i say this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon check out the blossoms. today by 3:00 low 70s. mid-70s here for the high. some areas south and southwest where the sun comes out a little earlier, you're going to see highs between 75 and 80. i'll be back in a few minutes. we'll have the whole weekend outlook of course with the seven-day forecast as well. back to you. >> thank you, howard. well, university boulevard in the four corners area of silver spring is open after power lines fell on to the street. authorities are not exactly sure what caused those wires to fall. the down lines however shut down university boulevard in both directions near the beltway. officers were called in to help with traffic during the morning commute, but the wires have now been fixed. we're growing to turn our attention now to the republican race for president. g.o.p. front-runner mitt romney was in washington this morning for a fund-raiser, but he had some

unwelcomed guests. delia goncalves explains what they were protesting and why they were holding the childhood toy etch a sketch. >> we want everybody to remember in november that he has a record as governor of massachusetts and that he has a record of frankly antichoice rhetoric that he's made a cornerstone of his primary election campaign. >> reporter: the pro-choice activist holding their etch a sketch's are reacting to a statement from a romney adviser comparing the campaign to a childhood toy saying, quote, you can shake it up and start all over again. romney is on damage control. >> the issues i'm running on will be exactly the same. >> we don't want to go back wrmds. >> reporter: but these voters say sticking to his antichoice policy is exactly what they're afraid of. in northwest, delia goncalves, 9news now. >> mitt romney now goes to

louisiana. that state will hold its primary on saturday. the d.c. government is no longer reserving 10% of parking meters for handicapped drivers. city officials say for the next 90 days, anyone can use the discounted red top meters which allow twice the time for parking. handicapped drivers will now go back to being able to park anywhere at any meter for free with a handicapped placard on display. >> parking as so many of you realize is at a premium. our goal is to create alternative parking. >> the d.c. city council will revisit the handicapped parking issue in about 90 days. coming up next on 9news now at noon, find out why a lack of street smarts could be costing pedestrians who live in prince george's county.

>> reporter: president obama fast tracks part of the oil pipeline. i'm tara merger. why critics say it's all politics.

i'm always excited to be one on one with my county

executive isiah leggett. the question is scoot years of painful -- is could the years of painful cuts finally be coming to an end in the county. they released the new budget and that's what we're going to talk about. everyone isn't as excited about this new budget. there are some controversial issues. however, the good news is that this budget was lower than maybe the budget you had five years ago. so that's a good thing. let's talk about that tax cut that's going to cause a little bit of a problem for you. >> well, what we're doing is simply extending the current tax we have on energy costs so we're not phasing it out. people assumed we would do so. i indicated i was not planning to do so and we'll continue the tax. that's probably the most controversial item. but the budget is at 4.569 budget, it's the first budget where we've actually had an increase in spending. over the last five years we reduced about $2.5 billion from the budget and had a zero

percent growth over five years of the so after five years i decided we've had a huge level of painful cuts. so we're making additions and the police, fire and rescue and libraries, but beyond that, there's very little addition to this budget at all. >> let's talk about the police. you're going to be hadding more to the police -- you're going to be adding more to the police budget. how will it affect the average citizen? >> you'll see more officers on the street. we'll be adding an additional 140 officers over three years. we'll increase fire and rescue and about 15 positions in libraries. we had about a 30% reduction in libraries over the last few years. we need to restore a little bit of that to get us back to the level i think is appropriate for our county of our size. >> in terms of personal taxes, property taxes, how is this budget going to affect a resident in montgomery county? >> you would actually see virtually no increase in your property tax. it's a flat tax this year.

you may see $4 in a year. that's about it. so we looked at, tried to get us right back to no increase in the property tax. it is actually below the charter limit. $4 is probably the maximum the average taxpayer will see. the only real significant tax that you would see an increase or two is the fuel energy tax. the reason for that is we made so many painful cuts and reductions over the last few years that we're now seeing the benefit of those things. so we're now trying to spare the departments of very major reductions we've had over the last few years. >> we'll see what happens to it. good luck you to, county executive isiah leggett. always a pleasure and honor to you have on our newscast. >> thank you. howard is going to be up in just a moment and have more details about his forecast. stay with us.

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you pay $150. you get $700 to put towards one of three packages of vintage ivy events. if you have seen an offer or you're a local merchant for our viewers, i'd love to hear from you on facebook. i'm jessica doyle, 9news now. president obama responded to critics who are linking his policies to the higher gasoline prices. the president went to oklahoma and he discussed plans to speed up construction of a new oil pipeline. tara mergener explains. >> reporter: president obama headed for the oil fields of oklahoma to take on his critics. >> under my administration, america is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years. >> reporter: speaking at the future site of part of the keystone pipeline, the president announced he's ordering the government to fast track the project and build an oil pipeline linking oklahoma

to refineries along the gulf coast and texas. >> we can't get enough oil to our refineries fast enough. if we coorks then we would be able to -- if we could, then we would be able to increase our oil supplies at a time whether they're needed as much as possible. >> reporter: the white house is facing a public growing more frustrated with the rising price of gas. the republicans hope to capitalize on that linking the president to the price at the pump. the g.o.p. presidential candidates say president obama's push for the pipeline project is all politics. >> apparently the slipping poll numbers have convinced him to announce the lower half of that pipeline. if we can get his poll numbers a little lower, we may get the other side too. >> reporter: the keystone pipeline project was designed to return from western canada to the refineries in texas. the president delayed approving the whole project but hopes fast tracking this part of it will show voters he's serious about lowering the cost of energy. tara mergener for cbs news, the white house. the president's remarks are

part of a two-day three-state trip designed to push his energy policies. how street smart are you when it comes to crossing a very busy intersection? well, every year pedestrians are struck and killed because they don't follow the rules. so prince george's county police have launched a new program to remind pedestrians how to safely cross a street. >> we're noticing a high volume of pedestrian traffic that aren't open, pedestrian laws such as crossing a crosswalk or they're crossing into traffic. >> next week prince george's county authorities will announce how and when they will begin citing pedestrians for improperly crossing a street and the fines will range between $75 and $500. even though it was damaged in last year's earthquake, the

pipe organ at the national city christian church still sounds good. [ organ music ] >> church held an organ recital last night in order to raise money for repairs. the earth quake in august damaged the church sanctuary and the pipe organ. repairs are expected to cost about $150,000. >> above the pulpit part of the ceiling collapsed and then each of the four capitals on the pillars in the front of the sanctuary were also crushed and the fallen plaster damaged portions of the pipe organ. we lost about 500 organ pipes. >> last night's recital was a tribute to bach to commemorate

his birthday. a lot of people have been affected by the early onset, the warm weather of the spring season, the flowers coming up and a lot of allergens in the area. yesterday we had some showers around. that has cleansed the air a little bit. so the numbers may be a little deceivingly low but this is what they are. they just came in. in washington today, the tree pollen is low. the grass pollen is low and the mold spores are low, but they're bound to go up here with some of the warm t we're having and sun-- warmth we're having and the sunshine returning. looking at our day planner, a good looking day to get outside and enjoy it once we get into the afternoon because the clouds are burning up, the fog is leaving and temperatures into the low 70s. this is national airport. there are areas south of town, southwest of town that are seeing sunshine already. they may be five degrees warmer than downtown where we're looking for a high of maybe 75 or so. south winds at 10 miles an hour. some areas could be near 08 before the day is -- near 80

before the day is out. a very nice evening and by 9:00 we're at 70 with partly cloudy skies. once again we could see late night, early morning fog. warmer today than yesterday. a stray thunderstorm possible today or tomorrow. it does look like it will be a very warm friday. highs up into the low 80s. average high is 58. so still way above average. in fact, we're running about 11, 12 degrees above average for the month n. is on pace to be the warmest month in washington record history. this goes back to 1871 and a wet weekend ahead. could see several inches of rain. look at the satellite and radar. you can follow the clouds that are starting to really dry up here in southern maryland. you get east of the blue ridge, you have the clouds west. the sunshine here in the then shenandoah valley with temperatures in the low 70s. it's 72 in fredericksburg. but with the clouds, we're stuck at 64 degrees. as we look outside on our michael & son weather camera, got the clouds up there. the sun is trying to peek through. we've had a couple of peeks.

64 degrees. a little muggy with that dew point at 60 right now. so a lot of moisture in the air, especially along the gulf coast. thanks so this storm in texas, continuing to suck up the moisture from the gulf. the band of heavy rains now in the mississippi, alabama border. this storm that was moving east, the rain will move east and will arrive here starting friday night, overnight into saturday and sunday. both days look like we have a decent shot for showers and storms. potentially some locally heavy rainfall. we're looking at our future cast. relatively quiet. some late night, early morning fog redevelops but that will burn off. tomorrow afternoon we're looking at temperatures up into the low 80s with a threat for a stray thunderstorm. better chance over the weekend. story about the timing. 75 today in town. some areas upper 70s to near 80. tonight 55 to 60 with a little bit more cloudiness, some late night fog. tomorrow morning we get the clouds around but we'll get back to sunshine, 81. so a warm day tomorrow. cooler saturday, around 70 with showers and storms. on sunday we're looking wet

again. temperatures in the low 60s. i think most of this will be gone by the time we get ready to leave the house monday morning. monday we return back into the sunshine. we're going to hold in the 60s. cooler on tuesday and then wednesday back to 70. it is thursday at noon so pet line thursday. this is mariellen whitehouse. you're down in haymarket, virginia? >> that is correct. >> easter is coming up so i assume that's why you're here talking about rabbits for children. >> they're not pets for children. should never give any pet as a gift for a child. just doesn't work. or as a gift to anyone. but the bunnies, this is a special time of year. too many people think about this them and -- about them and think they're good pets for children. they're not. this girl was turned into the humane society because somebody had been abusive to her. there was a dog barking continuously trying to get to her and kill her. somebody in the house decided to spray her in the face with insecticide. >> she's good now. >> she's coming along good.

she's really -- she has no emotional scars. we had her spade spayed. >> how old is she now? >> between 3 and 4. we just had her spayed. they found cancer which is normal when they get that age but they've gotten it all out and she's fine and she should have a nice long, healthy life. she just need as good home where somebody will love her. >> how long do they live? >> 8 to 12 is the general and a lot of them go up to 15 years of age. >> how do we contact you? >> you can call me. >> go to our website wusa9.com. go to the pet line section and all the information for bunny lou and our other shelters that we feature are right there. 9 news now at noon will return right after this.

don't forget to go to jchayward.com, enter the contest. you could go to the circus for free. come back and visit us at 5:00. have a great day. bye-bye. bye.