for a little lesson on long odds. i want to welcome you to laurel asphalt here in prince george's county. what's this? >> this is stone. this is no. 57 stone. >> reporter: that's manager husain rashad. four of those makes about an inch? let's go do some math. i calculated how many stones would make a pile 176 million stones high. the solution? an astounding 40,000 tons of gravel. >> this is about 6 to 7,000 tons. >> reporter: i need a 40,000- ton pile. you got one? >> the only pile that would come close would be at my big dust pile and that's probably 35, 40,000 tons. >> reporter: yup, that's about a half acre of gravel piled four stories high. so your chances of winning this lottery are like finding a stone this big in a pile of gravel bigger than this! >> i got one rock right here. can you find this in that pile over there?

>> that's like a million to none. >> reporter: no. that's more like 176 million-1. >> chances are slim to none. >> you bought a ticket, didn't you? >> yes, i did. >> trying to scare me out of buy doing many more tickets. >> reporter: i know you -- buying too many more tickets of. >> reporter: i know you bought a ticket. >> yes. i bought about 30 bucks worth of tickets. >> reporter: even after all of that yes, in fact, i did buy a ticket because you do have to play to win even if your chances are 176 million-1. the drawing is at 11:00 eastern tonight in atlanta, georgia. good luck. scott broom, 9 news now. virginia tech will not have to pay that $55,000 fine over its response to the deadly 2007 shootings at the school. virginia tech had been given the fine because the department of education said the school violated the cleary act, the law requiring schools

to give timely warnings on campus threats, but today a judge overturned that decision. if you call up our newsroom, sound suspicious, mention a bomb threat at a local high school and give a name like tony toledo, you know we're going to call the cops. we got such a phone call today and we called the police and fairfax county police arrested 19-year-old marcoed 3 over burke for allegedly making a -- marco toledo of burke for allegedly making a bomb threat this morning. the threat kept the school closed. nothing was ever found. students were stuck on buses three hours and their parents not happy at all. >> annandale high school has failed. they knew about this. they failed the parents and students. they knew about this since 4:00 this morning. the kids should not have even gotten on the bus this morning. >> the school system apologized for the delays in notifying parents about today's bomb threat. in as little as one month from now a half dozen companies just might be growing marijuana

legally right here in d.c. the health department today named six winning bidders for marijuana cultivation applications and six different addresses, all of them in northeast. five are clustered in a few blocks of each other. the sixth is on the other side of the anacostia and as bruce leshan found out, not everybody is so happy about this. >> reporter: many of the pot cultivation centers are in industrial areas, but not the one here on ebard street by the car wash and it is right next- door to a home and across the street from a youth center. on queens chapel road the potential pot growing operation is next-door to a waste transfer station and down the street from a gentlemen's club. but even in this industrial area some business owners are suspicious. >> if the government approve it, i don't have nothing to say for it. hopefully it's a benefit for the people. i hope it's not going to create more drug or more high people on the street. >> reporter: and the director

of a youth center on ebard street is even more angry. >> opening a marijuana clinic right across the street from my community center for kids. where is the fabric of our community going? >> so this is a big year for the medical marijuana industry. >> reporter: on rhode island avenue media crowded the grand opening of the first dope cultivation supply store in d.c. and even the chamber of commerce is welcoming we grow which bills itself as the wal- mart of hydroponics. >> and a business opening here employing city residents and bringing tax revenue to the city is great thing. we're going to support that. >> reporter: we grow hopes to supply d.c.'s licensed pot growing operations. >> essentially we want to create the outside environment indoors of. >> reporter: but there is nothing to prevent it from selling this stuff to anyone. it has everything but the marijuana plants and seeds. tomatoes and cucumber plants stand in for dope. tv talk show host montel

williams is a co-owner of the cultivation center destined for queens chapel road. he may very soon be able to get a prescription for medical marijuana here in d.c. to help him ease the pain of his multiple sclerosis. in northeast bruce leshan, 9 news now. the virginia general assembly will wrap up its first full week of that special session without having approved the state budget. senate and house budget negotiators worked to reach a deal by today but the lawmakers decided to take brake until monday. one senator said the major -- a break until monday. one senator said the major sticking point was funding for the metrorail. rainy and chilly today to wrap up the week. top, any chance it will improve over the weekend? >> yeah, it's going to be an okay weekend. in fact, it's proved a lot right now. we have a lot -- improved a lot right now. we have a lot of sunshine. 52 downtown, 46 in

gaithersburg, 52 frederick and leesburg, 55 manassas, still 60 in fredericksburg. they had a little more sunshine than we did. satellite and radar combined, sprinkles and clouds rolled through and just some showers in the panhandle of maryland. for tonight skies will return mostly cloudy later, milder, showers still possible, lows 45 to 50, winds southeast at 10. we'll come back and talk about the weekend, not a washout and tell you which day will be better than the other significantly. now a consumer alert for anybody who has got a visa or mastercard. tonight both companies confirm they are investigating a possible security breach and one that could affect 10 million card holders about. visa and mastercard say -- holders. visa and mastercard say it's not their system that was compromised, but breach was at a company that acts as a middle man for banks and merchants. banks are alerting them this

some of their cards may ab affected. honda -- may be affected. honda is recalling 2002 through 2004 crvs and 2003 pilot models. the problem is in the wiring for the headlight switch. that could cause the low beams to fail. honda will notify the owners of which cars are affected next month. drivers may want to avoid the outer loop of the beltway in northern virginia tonight. at 9:30vdot will close the road in two spots to work on those express lanes. the first exit 49, i-66, the second just 5 miles down the outer loop at braddock road. that's exit 54. crews will have detours marked. the roads will reopen in both areas at 5 a.m. coming up a big endorsement for mitt romney just a few days before the next set of primaries. >> but first the controversy continues over pink slime as yet another school system pulls the beef from the lunch line.

that story is up next.

more fallout over the finely textured beef filler no. as pink slime. prince william county public schools say they'll stop serving the beef next fall and they join fairfax county, montgomery county and d.c. public schools in pulling from the product. the usda said ammonia treated beef is safe to seat eat, but it is allowing -- safe to eat, but it is allowing schools to opt out of using it.

tossed out over a tweet? that happened to a student at garrett high school in indiana. austin harold was expelled after tweeting a floor letter expletive. he claims it was sent -- a four letter expletive. he claims it was sent from his own computer on his own time, but it was done while i was on campus. the principal admits all tweets are tracked by a student once they log in. so that means it could have tracked tweets austin did send from home. the senior is headed to an alternative school just so he can graduate. the kid claims he sent it on his own time from his own computer and even if he didn't, it's t is his twitter account and good lord -- it is his twitter account and good lord, it's just one four letter curse word to get kicked out for that? what about freedom of expression? what about your thoughts on that? the address is mailbag at wusa9.com. >> rain this weekend still to

come. >> but first i is running for the -- he is running for the republican nomination, but isn't on the ballot. he's here in a minute.

a big endorsement today in the race for the republican presidential nomination. mitt romney takes the stage in wisconsin, the site of one of tuesday's primaries and right next to him, one of that state's best known lawmakers, congressman paul ryan.

he's the conservative known for fighting big government. he says romney is the right man for the party. >> in this man we have a person of conviction. we have a man with the right kind of experience. >> ryan is just the latest republican leader to pack romney. other gop hopefuls -- back romney of other gop hopefuls will face a challenge in beating him out in wisconsin. the former massachusetts governor has a five-point lead over mitt romney and close to a 30-point lead over newt gingrich and ron paul. joining me now, a candidate most of you have probably never heard of but is on the republican ballot in maryland. fred car gger welcome and i guess i should ask you the main question why do you want to be president? >> i used to work for ronald reagan. i'm a little disappointed for president obama. i'm running on that optimism and ability to get along like reagan did in 1982. >> first you are an openly gay candidate and make no secret about that and you're a moderate of all things in a

year when the right wing is running your party. why aren't you a democrat i guess is the question? >> i'm an old-fashioned republican. the republican party used to be inclusive of everyone. so i'm appealing to the moderate sensible voters in maryland to vote for fred carger on tuesday because i want to bring back that reagan spirit that, ability to get along. i was a maxed out donor to hillary clinton four years ago. >> should your sexual orientation even be an issue in a race like this and do you agree with your party on issues like gay marriage? >> well, there's a split now in the republican party over gay marriage. president obama still hasn't quite evolved there, but we have laura bush and mrs. mccain and dick cheney supports gay marriage. my campaign is historic. i'm the first openly gay candidate to run for president of either party, so that's important and i think it should be a republican because the republican party of abraham lipping on and theodore roosevelt -- lincoln and theodore roosevelt was very

progressive on the issue. >> that party is long gone. the needle has not moved in terms of the polling in republicans and gay marriage. 28% support and however many great majority are against it. don't you feel a little bit left out? >> i'm trying to change some hearts and minds. i was speaking yesterday to a class. i think younger people are a little more open to a candidate like myself who are not quite driving them out of the party like rick santorum may want to or even mitt romney. i want to before i in an inclusive republican party that reflects what -- bring in an inclusive republican party that reflects what america should be in 20 years. >> where are you on the issue of large government? do you think the government should be a lot smaller and what do we cut to do it? >> i think we need to balance the budget first and foremost. it's out of control. it's a trillion and a half dollars of year we're losing into this deficit. i've advocated rolling budget cuts in every department of government. we need to get out of afghanistan and if we can bring

back this climate of entrepreneurial spirit. >> what about the healthcare reform bill? the supreme court is new considering it. it's pretty much a standard line i will appeal obamacare. would you be saying that? >> i like what romney did in massachusetts. i think it should be left to the states. i don't think the federal government should be in the healthcare business. each state did it with the help of the federal government financially, i think we'd have a much better healthcare system in this country. >> we're glad you're out there. thank you so much for joining us. voters in maryland will cast their vote in the primary on tuesday and the voters in the district don't have to wait till then, however to, vote. early voting in d.c. runs through tomorrow. we've got full information on polling locations and hours as well as sample ballot info on www.wusa9.com. just click on campaign 2012. for president obama is a day and a night full of

campaign fundraisers in new england, one of them at this gathering at the university of vermont in burlington. the president was in full campaign mode accusing republicans of promoting a government hands off vision of america where "you're on your own." >> top, we're looking forward to the weekend, but will we be looking forward to the weather, my friend? >> i think. so it's not going to be a chamber of commerce weekend, but you'll have enough time in between showers to get lots of stuff done, especially on sunday. here's a live look outside. there's the sun. we have some breaks in the clouds now, live weather cam brought to you by michael and son, winds southeast at 9, pressure falling a bit works 9.95 inches of mercury. here's -- bit, 29.95. of mercury. here's the radar. -- inches of mercury. here's the radar. the showers roll not far from winchester and into loudoun

county later tonight. we'll keep in the chance of a shower tonight. our best chance for widespread activity is saturday morning. temperatures 48 bethesda, 51 arlington, 53 springfield, 49 rockville, 49 college park. it's pretty uniform and they've nunned up a little in the past couple hours -- nudged up a little in the past couple of hours. so more bark than bite for these clouds. cloudy tonight, maybe a shower, mostly cloudy tomorrow morning, a better chance for showers and perhaps a thunderstorm saturday morning. i still think most of the little league games will be played. golf and yard work is possible tomorrow, no doubt and some sun will actually creep into the forecast late tomorrow. so saturday will be improving. mostly cloudy, milder tonight. we'll keep the chance of a shower in, 45 to 50, winds out of the southeast at 10. now lows tonight downtown right around 50, but some mid-40s in gaithersburg and rockville, maybe 47 in reston and fairfax. 50 downtown, but 40 ate college

park and also -- 48 college park and bowie. tomorrow morning best chance of a shower or thunderstorm. not everyone will see the activity, temps in the 40s and 50s, kind of scattered, winds southwest at 10. by afternoon sun returns, at least becoming partly sunny and cool. a shower is still possible, highs between 60 and 65, northeast winds 10 to 15, keep temps down a bit. let's break it down. 46 to 52 to start, maybe a sprinkle, cool by noon, maybe a shower, 57 to 62 and then really pretty nice by evening, clouds on the way out, 59 to about 64. next three days, no doubt the better of the two days will be sunday, milder, temperatures in the upper 60s, slight chance of a shower sunday evening. then very nice monday, sunshine, temperatures go back to the upper 60s. next seven days gets warmer even on tuesday, mid-70s with sunshine, around 70 on wednesday with showers and thunderstorms and pretty nice in wake of that front, not that

cool, upper 60s thursday and low 60s on friday and i think we can probably handle that cold front. what do you think? >> that is not a cold front. that is a cooler front. >> exactly. >> we'll be right back. >> we want to hear what you think. send your e-mails to mcginty's mailbag, the address mailbag at wusa9.com. 9 news now will be right back.

in the mailbag tonight the trayvon martin case continuing to dominate the conversation, but pepper from silver spring maryland says sure would be nice if we had a few more answers to some of these questions before everybody jumps to any more conclusions. for example, exactly what was trayvon martin doing that looked suspicious? who appointed george zimmerman captain of the neighborhood watch and was he given any training about what his job was? why was he armed? most neighborhood watch people are not. you know what? i could add a few to that list. who threw the first punch, if any punches were thrown? who was that yelling for help in the taped phone call we've

all heard by now? the list goes on and on, on to this question from dein charles county. so why did -- dee in charles county? so why did spike lee feel he needed to tweet an address of george zimmerman? this is just another step taken where it shouldn't be by someone not involved in this incident. that is a very good point and we should note that spike has now apologiesed for tweeting the wrong address and therefore -- apologized for tweeting the wrong address and therefore causing some problems for some innocent residents and finally this from ron in maryland. when i win the mega millions tonight, i want to invite the entire wusa9 evening news team to a 10-day cruise at my expense, of course. after all, you all deserve it for your excellent broadcasting. really? however, i must point out that i have as much chance of winning as many mcginty has of growing hair overnight. so hold your excitement for now. thank you so much.

i'm going with the idea that it is the thought that counts. if you actually win, we've got your promise on tape. by the way, you can get your own version of broadcast immortality. send us an e-mail at mcginty's mailbag at wusa9.com. you can log on any time you look at wusa9.com. we'll see you a bit later have. a great evening. bye bye.

now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world. are george and stacy on the rocks? is demi about to tell all to oprah? the truth behind the new rumors. plus, the latest on paula deen's health. her new interview about her diabetes controversy and does she really eat that krispy kreme cheeseburger? then jennifer lopez's on-camera breakdown consoled by ex marc anthony. the world's hottest new boy band. one direction. meet harry, liam, louis, naill and zayn, the story behind their huge success. did nicki minaj show too much on last night's "american idol"? >> i was kind of guarding myself. plus, jack wagner's sweaty samba.