most conservative justices hinted that the law could stand even if parts of it fail. antonin scalia had a tough question for the opponents' lead lawyer. >> you're telling us that the whole statute will fall because the cornhusker kickback is bad. that can't be right of. >> reporter: the cornhusker kickback was -- right. >> reporter: the cornhusker kickback was brake for nebraska residents designed to win the vote of their -- a break for nebraska residents designed to win the vote of their senator. it was suggested if the individual mandate goes, so should the whole law. >> my approach would say if you take the heart of the statute, the statute is gone. >> the individual mandate looks doomed to me and the whole law is in some trouble. >> reporter: swing vote justice anthony kennedy suggested picking and choosing between sections of the law would dump billions of dollars in additional risk on the insurance companies. >> that it seems to me can be

argued at least to be a more extreme exercise of judicial power than striking the whole. >> reporter: the court's liberals went the other way suggesting it would be far more intrusive for the court to throw out the whole law than to leave in place parts that have nothing to do with the individual mandate. >> why in a democracy structured like ours where each branch does different things, why we should involve the court in making the legislative judgment. >> reporter: the court had to actually ask a d.c. lawyer to argue the case that even if it strikes the individual mandate, the whole rest of the law can stand, but it now seems much more likely that the court will either strike the individual mandate and popular parts of the law like the requirement that insurance companies insure people even if they are sick or that the supreme court will overturn the entire thing.

anita. >> historic three days indeed. bruce leshan, thank you. >> now that all three days of arguments are done, what do supporters and opponents think is going to happen next to the law? joining us, terry jeffrey of cnsnews.com and igor volsky of thinkprogress.org. gentlemen, we're glad to have you with us. you want the healthcare law to go away, terry, but suppose it's ruled only the individual mandate goes, the rest of the law stays. is that a big win for you? >> yeah it, is because yesterday as justice kennedy said in the oral arguments, if the mandate sticks it fundamentally changes the relationship between the federal government and the united states. never before in the history of our country has the federal government ordered people to purchase goods or services as a condition of living in the united states. we don't want that to happen. >> igor, if the individual mandate goes away, does the rest of the law even survive? >> we have a big problem if the

mandate goes away. you have all the insurance regulations that force insurers to accept all people even if they have preexisting conditions, charge everybody reasonable rates. you have those going away, you make it difficult for people with preexisting conditions to find affordable coverage and those regulations are at risk. of course, you have many other provisions of the law that don't really affect the heart of that matter and those i think can stay. >> it is interesting to note polls show people don't like the mandate, but they do like those other things. if those go away, too aren't they going to be upset? >> they might be, but i think even the solicitor general made the argument the other day in the court that key elements of the law, for example, the fact that insurance companies have to guarantee people coverage, there are a lot of mandates of what needs to be covered, those things are paid for only if you force everybody to buy health insurance under the terms of the federal government. so there are things on the periphery that are maybe unrelated, but the heart of this law really is relate to the individual mandate. >> if the individual mandate goes, you win. you figure you lose.

what about the medicaid issue that's been expanded to cover a lot more people, if that goes away, what happens to you? >> that's a big problem if that goes away because then you have a lot of programs going away, a lot of programs that states now accept federal funding for are now jeopardized. it's really a radical theory, the fact that federal government can't have states run these programs. so i think it's really a bigger constitutional problem if that part goes away, but i think to the mandate quickly, i don't think i lose. i think a lot of people lose who are already benefiting from this lurk 26-year-olds on their parents ' plan -- this law, 26- year-olds on their parents' plans and children. that's going to create a real problem because this law, parts are already in effect. does it go away? do these people lose all the benefits? >> that goes to my next question. what do you replace it with if the law goes away? >> here's a problem with american healthcare. there's a basic rule of

economics, anything you subsidize gets more expensive. since 1965 when medicare and medicaid have been put in place and insurance has grown, more and more we've been subsidizing healthcare. we don't have a free market in healthcare. most americans believe in some way we want to provide healthcare to needy people. the more the government gets involved, the more we're heading towards a precipice where you have total insolvency in the healthcare market. we need to move further back towards the free market system. >> more free market would mean less people get covered. >> i don't think the free market was designed to pay for the behavior of other people or in this case the decision not to buy coverage. when they become sick and go to the emergency room and pass on costs to other taxpayers and premium pairs. that's not a free market system -- premium payers. that's not a free market system. >> we appreciate both of you and, of course, the supreme court will have the real final word. . >> we had storms roll through parts of our area earlier this afternoon. topper, are we in the clear? >> if you're in gaithersburg

and frederick, you are in the clear, still showers down to the south. there is a severe thunderstorm watch in effect until 9:00. it does cover essentially the i- 81 corridor around winchester and points west into the panhandle of west virginia like grant county, hardy county until 9:00. my hunch is that will trend quickly as most of the storms are south of that watch area. live doppler 9000, yeah, if you're in frederick, you're fine. the shaven is back out. hagerstown -- the sun is back out. hagerstown and leesburg is fine. i-76 and 50 is sort of the dividing line now with showers south of those areas. down to the south and west are more showers and the heaviest in southern maryland producing heavy rain. you see the yellows down toward leonardtown, it's going to produce some pretty good rain in the next hour or so moving east 43 miles per hour. some of the affected areas in the next little bit, well, woodbury beach at 5:12, indian town at 5:13, bull run at 5:17

and bushwood at 5:18. right now it is not severe, but if you are in leonardtown, st. mary's city, get ready for some heavy rains. we'll come back and talk about when cooler air moves in. we have breaking news in southeast washington where d.c. police are on the scene of a deadly shooting involving one of their own officers. this happened around 2:30 in the 800 block of 51st street while police were responding to a drug complaint. police chief cathy lanier says when officers approached a group of people, one of them pulled out a gun and fired at the officers. there was a brief chase, an exchange of gunfire. the officers were not hurt, but the suspect was taken to the hospital where he has died from his injuries. rallies continue for trayvon martin, the teenager killed last month by a neighborhood watch volunteer in florida. as randall pinkston reports, the latest show of support now has a u.s. congressman facing reprimand. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. rush. >> reporter: the u.s. house of representatives was the scene

of the latest trayvon martin protest. >> just because someone wears a hoodie does not make them a hoodlum. >> reporter: illinois congressman bobby rush wore a hoodie speaking out against racial profiling. rush was told to stop because hats are not allowed. he was escorted off the floor of congress and rep handed. >> members need to re-- reprimanded. >> members need to remove their hoods or leave the floor of. >> reporter: trayvon martin was wearing a hooded sweat shirt the night he was shot by george zimmerman the neighborhood watch man. >> i think justice needs to be spoken up for. that's why i'm here of. >> reporter: zimmerman has gone into hiding since the shooting. he remains free, but now we're learning sanford police nearly arrested him. zimmerman told police he fired his weapon in self-defense after martin attacked him.

lead investigator chris serino wanted to file manslaughter charges but was told there was not enough evidence. the case is now in the hands of a special prosecutor. investigators are reinterviewing the witnesses and examining 911 calls. authorities want to know who was yelling for help before the gunshot. >> what is your name? >> reporter: the investigation could take weeks. but demonstrators say they want justice now. randall pinkston, cbs news, sanford, florida. >> just yesterday trayvon martin's parents spoke on capitol hill at a democratic sponsored panel on racial profiling. tonight they'll appear at an event honoring their son at art and soul restaurant on new jersey avenue northwest. there are some serious concerns tonight that phase 2 of the dulles rail project is in serious jeopardy and now there is a new effort to convince the loudoun county board of supervisors to scuttle the project altogether by opting out of it. peggy fox is working this story

and joins us live from dulles airport with more this. would be some turn of events, peggy. >> reporter: yes. they're trying to keep the board from scuttling this project, day, and it of economist from george mason steven fuller says opting out of the dulles rail project to dulles and into loudoun county would be devastating to the local economy. look at his numbers he has from his new study. he says by 2020 without rail the gross county product in loudoun is 76.5 billion, with rail 80.7 billion. it's even a bigger difference by 2030. without rail 77.3 billion, 132.8 billion with rail. steven fuller says opting out of rail will stagnate loudoun county's future economy. construction of the silver line to dulles airport might just stop right here in reston with phase 1 if loudoun county's board opts out of phase 2.

george mason economist steven fuller says that would be a huge mistake. >> you can't go back and say i wish i had done it. let's do it now. once you don't do this, it's an opportunity that may be lost forever. >> reporter: the reston chamber of commerce put on a show of force today promoting all the benefits of continuing the project. loudoun chair scott york is trying to muster the votes on his board. >> if we want to continue to grow in loudoun county in our eastern end of the community with businesses wanting to locate there, we have to put the infrastructure in place. we can't just invite people to the dinner table and not put the food on the table. >> reporter: if loudoun opts out of rail, it could mean loudoun's future looks about like it is today, with and the fields either remaining as they are or turning into houses instead of new businesses that would have brought thousands of new jobs and a robust commercial tax base. opponents of the project say the $3 billion cost for phase 2

is too high. the rail requiredship is too low and tolls on the toll -- ridership is too low and tolls on the toll roads are too high and they hate the p.a., project labor agreement that gives a bonus to contractors that use labor unions. >> we need to deal with ways to get the tolls down and look at alternative funding sources. those are all things that we're running out of time to deal with. >> reporter: now that was pat heerity, springfield supervisor in fairfax can. he has made some votes against the -- fairfax county. he has made some votes against the project, but the board overall has been moving the project forward. loudoun county has an extension until july 4th to vote. look at naysayers, eugene delgado and ken reed have serious concerns about it. the whole nine-member board will vote july 4th. we tried to reach all of them today and for the rest of them

we got mostly undecided. however, scott york, the chairman, wants to get a yes from this board. peggy fox, reporting live from dulles airport, back to you. >> thank you, peggy. only on 9 one of our news crews captures good samaritans in action. they were traveling on i-66 near bull run before 2:00 this afternoon. a car on the other side of the median spun out of control and rolled over several times. andrea mccarren, you were there. >> i was and so often we have bad news to report, but luckily this is a story with a happy ending. a shattered windshield, an suv flipped onto hits side and a stunned driver in her purple shirt suspended from her seatbelt. >> all i heard was like three booms thinking it was an 18 wheeler. >> within seconds a dozen bystanders race to the wreckage to help led by a man wearing

blue scrubs. the good samaritans worked together. delicately pulling out the driver through her windshield. >> you all right? >> come over here and sit on the guard ray. >> reporter: remarkably the woman walked away -- guardrail. >> remark my the woman was able to walk away from her battered vehicle. >> if she was on a backroad, she might have been in there seriously injured and died, but just glad she's okay. >> okay in part because for a few brief minutes a group of strangers banded together to help before rescue groups could take over. no wonder yet on what caused the crash, but that driver walked away with really what happened to be just very minor cuts on her hands. we've all covered stories where no one stops to help and it was really nice to witness something where so many people stopped in just a split second to jump in. >> we all hope we would do the

same thing in that split second. >> we didn't get any names so much if you know those folks who stopped to help, particularly the guy in the blue scrubs who led the pack, tell them everyone said thank you. coming up charges filed again the pilot whose meltdown caused a little chaos on board a jetblue flight. >> reporter: i'm scott broom, coming up the latest effect of our incredibly warm late winter and spring it. is weeds growing like crazy and when i come back, i'll tell you what you can do about it. >> but up next why the wildfire that's already burned thousands of acres outside denver is still at zero percent containment, zero as in zero.

a deadly wildfire in colorado continues to burn out of control. firefighter are fighting the flames for the second straight day. winds have been light, but the fire that burned more than 40,500 acres is still considered 0% contained. the u.s. forest service is now in charge of this operation and more firefighters are arriving there to fight this 7 square mile blaze. >> they've been coming in from all over the country, arizona,

new mexico, south dakota, utah, lots of firefighters, local firefighters from across the state. >> two people have already been killed and an elite search and rescue team has been brought in to find a woman missing since the fire started. at least 28 homes have been destroyed, another 900 evacuated. look at that sight. the red cross set up a shelter at a nearby high school. now this fire started out as a control burn last week. clearly that control was lost. >> here we obviously had a remarkable winter, spring, we like that, but we have a downside. >> weeds. in a lot of places they are literally taking over before the rest of mother nature has a chance to catch up. now we've asked scott broom to find out what you can do about it. >> reporter: well, spring has sprung here in the d.c. area at least a month early and that means the battle against weeds is at full pitch.

that's earl brown of columbia fighting the only way he knows how. >> they actually grow faster than the grass, the weeds. >> this is the one a lot of people have been seeing called hairy bitter cress. >> reporter: at the university of maryland's cooperative home and garden it's like an experiment gone out of control. >> any time you get spring three weeks early it's a shock. a few days early, we're happy, but it almost feels like we're on a different planet this year. >> reporter: in the case of dandelions you can eat them. >> the main weed people are concerned about is crabgrass and there's still time to put down a crabgrass preventer. >> you can put it on as long as there are blooms on the for cynthia. >> a lot of times people have weed problems in their lawn because they mow too low. raise that deck up to 3 inches, come back and overseed your lawn to thicken it up and that will help keep some of those weed problems down.

>> in my 77 years i've never known any weather like this before. >> reporter: here's a last word of advice from the experts. you try to fertilize your lawn right now, you're not helping nick at all. you missed that boat -- anything at all. you missed that boat in the fall. if you do it, you just make the weeds grow like crazy and it's bad for the environment, too. >> speaking of that environment, maryland has banned phosphorous from fertilizer to prevent runoff into rivers and help people out like scott broom who may eat the flowers and get sick. >> he didn't eat that dandelion. >> he ate that. i don't think he spit it out. >> i think he grubbed. >> we have a frontal system rolling through, mostly showers south of us, thus we're on the terrace now. here's a live look outside. this is brought to you by michael and son and temperaturewise still very nice. in fact, this cold front will usher in anything crazy cold, still 70 downtown, dew point 52 and pressure falling 29.73 inches of mercury and with the front still to our north and

west winds are southwest at 7. they will not kick and become northwesterly until the front goes through. here's a look at the wide area of radar. you can see showers and norms essentially stretching really from west -- thunderstorms essentially stretching really west to east from i-66 through central sections of west virginia back into kentucky and by far and away the heaviest storms are in kentucky and west virginia at this hour. now we're looking at live doppler 9000. you can access this on our website www.wusa9.com. we'll zoom into a couple areas, one southwest of town and really everything will be south of town the next couple hours. if you're driving down 95, you'll go through heavy rain around lorton and woodbridge and heavy activity on the east side of 95 going into southern maryland. in fact, we'll zoom into charles county and also st. mary's county. this is a pretty heavy storm. we showed you this earlier hollywood back to leonardtown, no hail involved, but we're seeing rainfall about 3/4-inch per hour moving southeastward toward lexington park and cross

235 and cross solomon in the next half hour. we'll wind out and show you where everything goes in the next hour. you'll see everything move essentially south and southeast this. loses some of its punch. it will roll through southern maryland. you have two batches of showers. the second batch will not be particularly strong is the good news. all right. temperatures still nice, even after the storms have gone through back up to 70 in rockville, 72 gaithersburg, 66 reston, still 72 college park and 69 in beltsville. here's the deal. drying out quickly, thunderstorms ending by 8:00. breezy and cooler tomorrow but still seasonable, nice on friday and yes, a little unsettled this weekend. by 5:00, 5:15 tonight we see showers and thunderstorms south of town, put this into motion. they are gone by 8:00, clouds lingering in southern maryland, but the storms are gone. then we clear out nicely. that will set the stage for a very nice thursday and friday. for tonight showers and thunderstorms ending early, partly cloudy, breezy and mild,

low temps around 50 and wind northwesterly at 10 to 20. that will be after midnight. next seven days looks like this. we're looking at temperatures in the low 60s tomorrow, low 60s on friday. yes, showers and storms on saturday, lower temps, mid-60s, gorgeous on sunday. look at this, mid-70s, 80 on monday, wow. can you say golfable? i can and then upper 60s on tuesday with some storms and then cooler next wednesday, back in the 50s. in fact, there's a shot of cool air late next week and then the week after. so don't plant flowers. >> even though it's tempting. >> just go out and weed. that's what i've been doing and there's plenty of that to do. still ahead the mega millions jackpot reaches a world record breaking half a billion dollars. wow. >> oh, wow. >> but up next an investigation reveals medical devices implanted in pipe don't always get the clinical testing -- people don't always get the clinical testing that patients expect. wedlock about it.

we'll talk about it.

a doctor prescribes a treatment you believe has been thoroughly tested, right? not always the case. the consumer reports investigation has found metal devices like defibrillators, metal joint replacements and even surgical mesh used to treat women may not have been tested at all. >> hundreds of thousands of women have had mesh slings inserted to support internal organs as they age like the uterus and bladder. again these products were never clinically tested before being marketed. >> they were used in other ways, so they allowed it to be used this way. the fda's own database shows thousands of complaints about the mesh including debilitating infections. consumer reports says it is still on the market and not even classified as high risk. the nonprofit also advocates the fda create a national registry to track implanted medical devices and to alert patients if there is a problem. currently no such tracking in the u.s. exists. still ahead tonight the actions taken against the

airline passenger whose erratic behavior caused panic on the flight jetblue. >> also just like in the dr. seuss story, the lorax is gone, stolen from the yard of this widow. >> reporter: i'm kristin fisher outside the supreme court where dozens of people spent days to get into these healthcare hearings, but many of those people were paid to wait in line. i'll take you inside the world of professional line standing coming up.

waiting in line, we all hate it and there's no way around it at the dmv or airport security, but on capitol hill there are professionals who will wait in line for you if you're willing to pay top dollar. >> this is pray put in the spotlight over the -- a practice put in the spotlight over the last few days down at the u.s. supreme court and kristin fisher is live outside the high court. professional live standers, i thought the economy was on the rebound. >> reporter: i know, only in washington. now you know that anybody who wanted one of these precious public spectator tickets to get into these supreme court healthcare hearings, they had to wait in line overnight unless they were willing to enlist the services of one of d.c.'s professional line standing companies. now this practice is not new, been around for 20 years, but many people have never even heard of them. >> d.c. is kind of a crazy town. >> reporter: mark gross weaves his way through crowds like a pro. he got his start as a bike

courier, but 20 years ago i started linestanding.com. >> our clients are industry associations, lawyers, lobbyists, anybody who's concerned about what's going on on capitol hill. >> reporter: to reserve one of these professional line sitters just go to their website. type in your name, the time of the hearing you want to attend and its location, on capitol hill. for an extra fee you can even guarantee first in line. >> our clients need to get into those hearings and they're willing to send us hours, sometimes even a day in advance. >> reporter: try three days in advance for these healthcare hearings. mark says they use 30 line standers working in shifts to hold about 15 spots. the cost? thirty-six dollars an hour with a two-hour minute, but mark is not the only game in town. a competing company, washington express, charges 40 bucks an hour, 50 bucks for supreme court hearings. >> we used to have line standing wars between competing

companies where, you know it, got to the point where almost fisticuff would break out. >> reporter: but now these companies have bigger enemies like people in line who aren't professionals and the weather. >> we don't charge any hardship fee, but it's rough out there. >> reporter: it's a business born from necessity and it's a business only in washington. >> this line standing business to my knowledge only exists in washington d.c. and nowhere else. >> reporter: now if you're interested in becoming a professional line stander, the going rate, 10 to 15 bucks an hour. i also asked mark if perhaps i could enlist his services for a concert. he said no way. they tried it once at a simon and cigar garfunkle concert and it did not work out.

>> they're gangsters, can't force them. thanks. cbs news reports the jet blue pilot who passengers say suffered a complete meltdown in midair is now charged with interfering with his own flight. the crew and passengers jumped into action when the captain started acting in a bizarre manner. we have the latest from loss ago. >> reporter: jetblue suspended the pilot -- from los angeles. >> reporter: jetblue suspended the pilot who had a mental breakdown running up the aisle ranting about a bomb screaming they're going to take us down. the 49-year-old captain became irate after his co-pilot tricked him into leaving the cockpit so he could long him out. >> he's banging on the door -- lock him out. >> he's banging on the door yelling bring it to idle, we're all going to die. >> reporter: when a flight attendant couldn't calm the pilot passengers took action including former law

enforcement officials who happened to be traveling to a security conference in las vegas. >> the four of us jumped up and grabbed him and pulled him from the cockpit door and he started ranting about iraq, iran. they're going to take us down. >> we had no other option but to physically restrain this individual on the ground until the plane was safely landed. >> reporter: the crew brought an off-duty pilot on board into the cockpit to help with an emergency landing. >> flight emergency at this time. >> reporter: the jetblue flight from new york to las vegas landed safely in texas and the pilot was taken into custody. in a tv interview the jetblue president said he's known osmond for years and nothing in the pilot's record would indicate he'd be a risk on a flight. bigad shaban, cbs news. >> the passengers on the flight were interviewed in texas before boarding another plane to las vegas to their destination a few hours later. big crowds expected tomorrow in the national geographic museum opening of a

special exhibit about the titanic. the show co insides with the 100th -- coincides with the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship. the show features the work of director james cameron who organized 33 dives to the site of the titanic and the exhibit runs through july 8th. friday night's mega millions jackpot now worth a world record $500 million. that is a half a billion with a b. it shatters the previous top lottery jackpot of 390 million. weeks have passed since anybody has matched all six winning numbers. mega millions is played in 40 states these days. police in san diego are looking for the grinch who stole the lorax. a 2-foot tall bronze statue of the dr. seuss character was taken from the home of the author's 90-year-old widow. it sat under the shadow of a

100-year-old tree that served as an inspiration for another dr. seuss story, horton hears a who. a ground keeper was one of the first to notice the 300-pound sculpture was missing. the statue was created by dr. seuss' stipulate daughter and there are only two of them in -- stepdaughter and there are only two of them in the whole world. >> we're always on on www.wusa9.com. stay with us. we'll be right back.

caught on tape a driver on a rampage in a stolen school bus and it all ends in a hail of gunfire. new mexico state police released this dashcam video of the chase two weeks ago on an albuquerque interstate. police say the driver stole the school bus from the lot and took off, officers from three jurisdictions picking up the chase. they spike the bus' tires, ram the bus over and over and finally the bus kind of spins out, hits a retaining wall and comes to a stop. officers move in. that's when the bullets start flying. the suspect was hit. now he's out of the hospital and in jail. >> wow, that was crazy. >> yes, it was. a greyhound bus made an

unexpected stop tuesday in california after flames started shooting out of the back. >> imagine being on that bus. the driver says another driver saw the fire when they were at a light and pounded on the window to say hey, check this out. some of the passengers said they smelled something odd and asked the driver to pull over. they were traveling from sacramento and were only a block away from the stockton station. nobody was hurt. the driver says it looks like a mechanical failure caused the fire on the bus. still ahead tonight the one, but two presidential candidates in our area tonight. we'll talk about why. >> reporter: pope benedict meets with my dell castro on his last day in -- fidel castro on his last day in cuba. that story coming up.

pope benedict xvi wraps up his trip to latin america today and as we'll hear the report, he celebrated mass in havana before meeting with fidel castro, the former president. >> reporter: pope benedict xvi sat down with fidel castro in what was a highly anticipated meeting. the former cuban president has not been in good health since stepping down in 2006.

earlier the pope celebrated mass for hundreds of thousands in havana's revolution square. the holy father didn't shy away from politics denouncing fanaticism and pushing cuba to allow its people greater religious freedom. he also made reference to the u.s. economic embargo against cuba and how 11 american presidents and the castro family have been unable to make peace. the pope's mass in havana was his biggest event in cuba capping off a three-day visit to the country. some who attended say they were told to show up, but others say it was a momentous occasion. >> a big blessing for cuba. >> it's very cool he's actually here in havana for the second time a pope visited ever. i'm excited. >> reporter: the vatican hopes the pope's message will have a lasting effect on cubans and bring more followers to the catholic church. and amnesty international

reports opposition groups were not allowed to attend the mass today and the cuban government did detain some of those groups' members. >> i can't believe the wind has wiped out those blossoms. >> are they all gone? skeletons down there on the mall? >> snow blossoms. 56 or 55 yesterday was the high, 72 today. >> we'll have video, too of that snow you were just talking about. >> i'll pretend it is snow since we didn't have any over the winter. we're looking at a nice evening now, most of the showers south of us. we'll start with a nice weather and cam brought to you michael and son, no weeds in that lawn. back up to 70 downtown, dew point 55, mild night. winds are still south, southwest at 9. front is actually back to the northwest of us. we had what we call a trough of low pressure that triggered all the showers and storms. front will move through dry, but until it does so we'll have south, southwest winds. when the front moves through, it will go northwest. here's a look at radar. we're widening out, big

thunderstorm through the southern 1/2 of west virginia and southern kentucky. they're beginning to trim the watch for our friend as long the i-81 corps -- friends along the i-81 corridor. one more shower in manassas back toward warrenton drifting south and east headed toward woodbridge. if you're headed down 95, going to be a wet go. if you're headed into southern maryland, nothing heavy but some showers around la plata headed toward leonardtown and also st. mary's city. that should be out of here the next hour, hour and a half. temperatures very nice, 72 bethesda, 69 arlington, 70 in great falls, 66 in reston, cooler out there with the shower, 70 in gaithersburg and 73 in college park. so we'll dry out very quickly. here's the deal. thunderstorms end by 8:00, breezy and cooler tomorrow, but still seasonable. we were going to lose 10 degrees. that's okay. we were 72 today, 62 tomorrow is okay. nice on friday and unsettled on

saturday, kind of a nice way of saying showers and thunderstorms on saturday. here's our futurecast. later on tonight about quarter to 6:00 we're seeing mostly showers south of town. we'll put this into motion, boom. they go south very quickly. clouds may linger in the southern sections for a while, but we clear out by midnight and the winds pick up. it will be a nice evening. tonight showers and thunderstorms ending early, partly cloudy, breezy and mild, lows around 50 despite those northwest winds at 10 to 20. tomorrow morning mostly sunny, breezy, mild, still need a light jacket, 50s to around 60, winds northwest 10 to 20. that can make 50s feel a little cool. by afternoon mostly sunny, breezy and cooler but seasonable, high temperatures between 60 and 65 and winds northwesterly at 10 to 15. we'll break it down, 48 to 52 to start, 57 to 62 by noon, that's mild, and then breezy but 59 to 64 by evening, really a pretty nice day. next seven days look like this. we're okay on friday, saturday

showers and thunderstorms, mid- 60s, gorgeous on sunday. we're back in the 70s, mid-70s on sunday. we're 80 on monday and some more thunderstorms possible on tuesday and then temps take a tumble back in the upper 50s by next wednesday. >> 80s and back to 58. it's like whoa. >> we can handle it, though. >> thanks, top. the seattle mariners and oakland athletics open the major league baseball season with game today in tokyo. seattle won. yesterday players from both teams visited children in northern japan in one of the areas hardest hit by the tsunami. during a brief ceremony the major leaguers handed over a check for half a million dollars. that money will be used in part to help repair a city ballpark. the capitals are on the outside looking in after losing last night to buffalo big. >> yeah, but had their playoff hopes been completely shattered? kristen berset is here with more on that, plus the latest on the manning redskins rumors? >> thanks guys, we have a lot to get to, but first the

capitals, a big game last night against buffalo. they lose 5-1 after saying all week how important the game was. joining me to talk caps, grant paulson from 106.7 the fan and danny reye also from the fan. i was listening to the radio last night and it was just a 2nd period and you called it a debacle. what went wrong with them? >> i think everyone is searching for the answer. it was the biggest game of their season, all the players and coaching staff announcing that before last night's drop of the puck and they didn't show up. 5-1 at home, raucous crowd, embarrassing, a disastrous effort. your best player who led you over the last week with nine goals in the last seven games alex ovechkin turns the puck over the, leads tie shorthanded goal -- over, leads to a shorthanded goal and from that point the game was over. >> the crowd was excited having

a home game. danny, does this squash any playoff hopes? >> not over fishily. florida could get out of their own -- officially. florida could get out of their own way and the capitals still have some kind of opportunity here. you put 45 shots on net last night. that's not nothing. you run into a hot goaltender. the problem was it's been a jekyll and hyde team all year. you put yourself in that position where you have to beat a hot team. now they need every point. >> i want to switch gears while i've got you guys, news trickling out mike shanahan did meet with peyton manning prior to him signing with the broncos. grant, when this news came out, were you surprised because we had heard payton knocked the redskins off the list early. >> i was surprised it took five hours and took place at his estate in denver. we've known all along the redskins had interest in him. they should have he can elite

quarterback. they also did the best thing for this organization by trading up to get a young quarterback who will be around for a while. >> i think that's the key to this whole thing is they prioritized. they said the known one most importantening is qb of the future identified and -- no. 1 most important thing is qb of the future identified on this roster. it would be nice to have our cake and eat it, too but the most important thing to do is set ourselves up for the long term. before i let you go, the mlb regular season kicked off today in tokyo. some teams have a lot of spring games left. what can we hope for this season with the nats? >> i think this is a team that's going to go over .500 for the first time in washington d.c. i'm looking at 87, 88 wins as a high up side proposition for this club and i think with a new wildcard added in the national league and the playoff field being 10 teams deep the nationals will be post seven relevant in september. they've got one of the deepest -- postseason relevant in september.

they've got one of the deepest pitching staffs. >> i'm not that same way. looks like makes morse will start on the dl. a lot of -- mike morse will start on the d.l. i've worried about they've never seated before at this kind of a level. they -- competed before at this kind of a level. they may be game or two shy of that second wildcard spot. >> thanks so much, guys. we'll send it back over to you. still ahead tonight some states aren't waiting for the supreme court's decision on healthcare reform. we'll tell you how they're getting ready to handle the law as it stands now. >> also she is barely the size of a business card, but she's already making a pretty big impact. meet the pint sized pup a little later on. >> and the pink is giving way to green along the tidal basin, how you can still enjoy the cherry blossoms once the blooms are gone. that's next.

japanese folk dances were on the agenda today at the cherry blossom festival. these contemporary versions of the ancient dances have been part of the festival since 2003. very spirited. thousands of tourists are still planning to visit our nation's capital for the cherry blossom festival. >> yeah, even though the glory of the blossoms has kind of

faded away with the warm weather, wind and rain. >> that wind really did a number on it. as jessica doyle shows us, a new art exhibit is being expected to be a major attraction of. >> reporter: the incredibly colorful art exhibit colorful realm opening friday is a tourist draw. this is literally a once in a lifetime opportunity for art lovers. these 250-year-old scroll paintings from japanese master ito jake chew jakuchu are coming together for the first time ever. the imperial house has the scrolls to honor the cherry blossom centennial. negotiations picked up steam after the japanese tsunami tragedy of march 11 last year. >> it was not long before a desire was expressed to look forward to this great exhibit. >> to give us a golden

opportunity to thank the american people for their tremendous generosity and friendship given to the japanese people at the time of disaster of tsunami one year ago. >> reporter: tourists from japan are expected to come to washington to see this one month display. >> this are some tour plans and i hear a lot of people are coming over to see this from japan. >> reporter: and the art exhibit could bring in new revenue for the city, a 2007 study by the cultural alliance of greater washington showing that tourists spent four times more when visiting cultural events than local visitors. jessica doyle, 9 news now. >> it's tough to estimate just how much money that collection of scroll paintings is worth. jessica says she asked the question several times and met with the same answer, priceless. in fact, staffers at the national gallery were not even allowed to tell her how much the art had been insured for.

>> this is 9 news now. i don't think there's ever been a suit where over half the states have sued the federal government over the constitutionality of a statute. >> paul clement arguing the state's case on the third and final day of hearings at the u.s. supreme court on the healthcare reform law. the case actually heard two separate cases today. >> this morning the question if the court rules if the individual mandate is unconstitutional, does that wipe out the entire law? then this afternoon does expanding medicaid put an undue financial burden on the states by forcing them to spend more? our bruce leshan is live on the steps of the high court with more on what happened today. bruce? >> reporter: yeah, anita, it has been a rough three days for obamacare and today the court's conservative majority seemed to be taking very seriously the opponents' argument that if the individual mandate is unconstitutional, then the entire healthcare reform bill has to