that's when we'll have the opportunity to develop some of these spot showers. it will be very light to moderate rain coming on through so it's not going to do too much to wash us out but should give us a little bit of a prep to the soil as folks start to think ahead about their gardens. highs should make it into about the middle range 50s. we're projecting almost 57 degrees for reagan national. tomorrow at least we are drier. we'll still have a bit of a breeze, up to 20 mile per hour winds tomorrow as well. but temperatures slowly rebound as we head toward the end of the week. you know, if you're planning to head on the beltway or any of the major thoroughfares, the good news is all of your overnight construction has been cleared up so you are good to go. if you're planning to head on the north side of town, the beltway is looking great. college park right into bethesda, no problems on i-95 out of baltimore, route 29 is great. aspen hill, wheaton, all of those corridors are incident free. let's take a live look at the beltway at georgia avenue. as you can see traffic is moving well both loops of the beltway north side of town. let's go back over to the maps

this time heading to the west side. looking great on the dulles toll road out of sterling all the way to the beltway. no problems 066. we'll take a live look there as well. inside all lanes are open. no problems in virginia as well which is where we'll go in my next report coming up at 5:09. the special prosecutor in the trayvon martin case says she will make a major announcement this week. >> the teenager's parents are coming to d.c. again for an event at the washington convention center. 9news now reporter delia goncalves is there live right now. she has the story about what they're doing here. good morning, delia. >> reporter: good morning. trayvon martin's parents will be a little later this afternoon. this is not the first visit to d.c. but they are guests of al sharpton. it's been six weeks since the unarmed 17-year-old was shot and killed by george zimmerman.

the special prosecutor in the case now actually received a phone call from george zimmerman despite his defense attorney's advice that he stay quiet. zimmerman also reached out to a tv host. of course we've all seen his website where he's now asking for donations for his legal fund and basically for living expenses, a website he did himself. his latest behavior has prompted his legal team now to drop him as a client. >> we've had contact every day until this point. he's gone on his own. >> we heard today george contacted the prosecutor's office directly, one of the things every defense attorney tells his client is don't talk to the prosecutors or the cops. frankly, don't talk to anybody until we get control of the situation and do it through

counsel. we were a bit astonished. >> they should be in close contact and have communication. it does bother us that they don't know where he is. >> that's trayvon martin's mother speaking on cnn in regards to what his attorneys have to say. they know he's left florida but not sure where in the united states he is. the mother and dad says that is very concerning at this point. the case prompting numerous workshops and hearings around the country, several here in the washington, d.c. area. coming up at 5:30, we're going to talk about a local hearing that happened last night and what local advocates and one local lawmaker is planning to do about the case. we'll see you at 5:30. >> delia goncalves reporting live from the washington convention center. prince george's county prosecutors have now charged a gun owner in connection with a 6-year-old child's death.

29-year-old raymond allen brown hid his loaded gun inside a spiderman backpack and left it on the floor. the backpack's owner, a 6-year- old, found the gun monday afternoon and fatally shot himself. the boy lived with his great grandmother in clinton. raymond brown also lives there. brown is now jailed on charges of reckless endangerment and allowing a firearm access to a minor. a former d.c. teacher is now on the f.b.i.'s ten most wanted list. 30-year-old eric toth taught third great in northwest washington. he's been on the run since 2008 when investigators say they found a school camera containing child pornography in his possession. he's also accused of producing child porn in maryland. he was last known to be living in arizona. the f.b.i. is offering a $1,000 reward. we may never know their names but we do know at least a little more about the people who bought the real megamillions lottery ticket in maryland.

the maryland lottery made their $218 million check out to the three amigos. that's because they want to remain anonymous. we do know they are teachers and a third is a school staff worker. they pooled their money together, bought $60 and after taxes they get $35 million each. we're told they do not plan to quit their jobs any time soon. it is 5:05. time for the latest your money report of the morning. >> jessica is here with a look at the headlines. wall street, ouch. >> people don't want to put their money in stocks right now. >> maybe it is a good idea because we are so down. maybe there is a buying opportunity there. the stock market did have its worst day of the year yesterday. investors are continuing to worry about the health of the global economy. stocks, though, have really been on a terror. the market had enjoyed its first quarter in decades but over the last week they have

the biggest pullback of 2012. checks the numbers if we must, the dow stands this morning at 12,715. tumbled more than 213 points in trade yesterday. nasdaq was off by 55. the s&p 500 was down by 23 points. virginia is still enjoying a pretty decent job market. in the latest data available, the unemployment rate was 6.1% statewide in february compared to 8.7% nationwide. arlington county had the lowest rate at 3.9% followed by 4.3% in loudoun and fairfax counties. on the flip side martinsville had the highest unemployment rate for a city in virginia. the virginia employment commission says its unemployment rate was 16.7% the arts industry appears to be recovering from the great recession. the national arts index shows attendance at art events started rebounding in 2010 for the first time in seven years.

about a third of adults attended a performing arts event. if you go to places like san francisco, new york and arlington, more than 45% of adults attended a museum. pretty cool stuff and it's cheap. >> for sure. >> people from across -- the international countries come here and are amazed at the fabulous museums that are free. what do you have for us in the next half-hour? >> taxes are right around the corner. let's say you can't pay the bill this year. i have some advice the i.r.s. is not going to give you. >> good deal. thanks, jess. the entire compresident clinton shop of campaign -- complexion of campaign 2012 has changed. >> after a dismal start to the season for ski resorts out west, the spring looks more like winter than winter did. we'll be right back.

welcome back. i'm meteorologist olga breese in for howard bernstein this morning. most of us are sitting in the upper 30s, lower 40s. day planner does have some sunshine. we will see the clouds begin to increase midday and get the opportunity for some showers late in the afternoon. highs today only in the lower to mid-50s. we're going to get a live look of the northbound side of i-95. things looking great if dale city all the way past the occoquan river to here in springfield where you just see a bit of volume forming now to 495. in my next report, a closer look at virginia roads at 5:17. back to you. making news now at 5:09, mitt romney's way to the

republican presidential nomination is pretty clear this morning. his closest rival rick santorum suspended his campaign monday. santorum vowed to keep fighting for conservative causes. the next primary april 24, including santorum's home state of pennsylvania. this morning north korea announced it's injecting fuel into a long-range rocket. the rocket will be test fired within the next week. the west calls it a thinly disguised long range ballistic missile test. after a rough start to the winter season, the ski resorts around lake tahoe are putting away the snow machines because mother nature is cranking up the natural stuff. the dry -- [ stand by for captions ] maryland's governor has harsh words for law makers over their budget impasse. >> at 5:22, redskins officials

talk to another top quarterback not named rgiii. who could that be?

we have breaking news from indonesia. a tsunami warning has been issued after an earthquake there. the initial measurements put it

at 8.9 magnitude. it centers in the ocean off the aceh province. it happened in 2004 causing a major tsunami. we're going to get information on our forecast. we're looking for april showers and we have more like march weather today. summer weather on the weekend. >> we've got some march temperatures. it's very cold this morning. the good thing is no one is below freezing. so although we're hovering in some of those pretty low to mid- 30s, we haven't -- [indiscernible] we will keep the sunshine through midday. later no this afternoon we'll build in more opportunity to bring in those showers. these are going to be the hit or miss variety, local like the summertime pattern where it's all about the timing and the location. but by the time we get to the afternoon, the possibility of seeing the showers across the general metro area will be

fairly great, about 30%, 40%. as we get in toward the evening hours, i think our temperatures should peek right around the upper 50s to near 60 degrees, but the winds are going to be brisk as well. 17 mile per hour sustained winds. these are coming from the north and north west. that's also a factor keeping our temperatures on the chilly side. our michael & son camera, we are looking into the 40s right notice. it's feeling a couple degrees cool arer because of that slight windchill that we have but with the clear skies, we will see a little bit more of a dip as we get toward sunrise. forecast for today is looking pretty good. lots of sunshine. satellite and radar is fairly calm. i think we hold off on our rain chances and future cast agrees not until about the 1:00 or 2:00 hour when we start to see some of the moisture slide down from the north. it will be fairly brief. it's going to move through quickly. within a couple of hours we'll be in the clear.

later on tonight it should be quite nice as we have clear skies and cool temperatures. then on our thursday forecast, not too much to talk about there. clear skies for tomorrow and friday is looking pretty good as well. we'll slowly shift our winds out of the south and southwest. that's going to lead to a warm- up as we head in toward the weekend. highs today 55 degrees for gaithersburg. we'll stay a little cool toward north frederick, only 54. only 44 way out in oakland. further down toward the south, though, we'll get closer to the 60-degree mark as you head down toward that virginia-north carolina border. it will be breezy at times into the afternoon. winds about 15, 25 miles per hour today. we'll do 10 to 15 mile per hour winds tomorrow but at least conditions will be dry for the nats home opener. getting into friday, that's when the wind shift really takes in. southerly winds will start to move on through for friday. get our forecast up to 63 degrees. but saturday and sunday it looks like our first great

weekend of the spring. middle range to lower 70s for saturday. sunday looks like we could see temperatures as high as 80 degrees. monika? there are no big issues to report thankfully if you're heading around town this morning. the beltway looks great and if you're planning to head over to the west side of town, here's what it looks like on 66 out of manassas into centreville and fairfax. all lanes are open 066. pretty -- open on 66. pretty much the same way on the dulles toll road, annandale and dale city. no problems to report if you're planning to head through silver spring. a tiny bit of volume forming on the outer loop toward silver spring but still good to go. i would say the entire stretch between 95 and 270. back over to the maps. this time to the south side, northbound 95 leaving dale city into woodbridge and springfield you're fine. we'll take a live look a little further south in triangle. this is where you begin to see the volume early on in the morning. it breaks loose again as you

travel toward dale city. we'll take a live look a little further north as you travel here northbound 395 at duke street still looking great to the 14th street bridge. no issues the length of 395. in my next report, we'll go into maryland at 5:24. back to you. >> thank you, monika. the journey through breast cancer can have huge ups and downs. yesterday one phone call made our jc hayward reconsider her approach to treatment. >> benign, oh, great. oh, my gosh. >> price god. praise -- praise god. praise god. >> the second one was denine so it wasn't cancerous. -- benign so it wasn't cancerous. i needed this. >> after getting the news that a second nod jowl found -- noddual found in her breast was not cancerous, she decided to go with the less aggressive surgery. this afternoon she'll undergo a

lumpectomy to remove the cancerous tissue. she expects to be in the hospital for a day. she could even be released tonight and she says she'll be back on the air on monday. we look forward to seeing her there. you can learn more about the fight against breast cancer any time on our website wusa9.com. just look for our buddy check site under the futures tab. if you'd like, you can send messages to jc and read her updates at jchayward.com. scoot redskins get -- could the redskins get a little luck in this draft? the story coming up in sports. go crazy, wizards fans. the team is on just its second winning streak of the year, something to cheer about. let's take another look at the question of the day. 439 million of these were unused in the united states last year. is it a, frequent flyer miles, b, vacation days or c, gift cards. >> karen wrote on our facebook fan page, i think a lot of people skipped their vacation

days in these tough economic times. leave your response on our facebook page. we'll have the answer in our 6:00 hour. we'll be right back.

it is 5:22. i'm meteorologist olga breese in for howard bernstein this morning. clear skies, cool temperatures. most of us sitting in the upper 30s to lower 40s. we'll hit the middle 40s by the 9:00 hour sunshine sticks as we head through midday but clouds move in this afternoon. late day showers and thunderstorms possible. it will be breezy. temperatures will hold in the

middle and upper 50s. the nationals outperform a division rival. >> all right. robert griffin iii is not the only top quarterback that the redskins are meeting with this week. kristin berset has your morning sports. n.f.l. teams are allowed to meet with up to 30 potential draft picks before the big event april 26. the redskins are taking advantage of that. robert griffin iii spent the last two days meeting with the skins and then it was an draw luck's term -- andrew luck's turn. he reportedly met with redskins officials in tysons corner. the redskins just make sure they got all their bases covered before the draft. wizards back home hosting the magic. kevin serafins have a big night. the wiz are the team of ten-day contracts. here's one of those guys. james singleton with a big alley-oop.

wizards beat orlando making it two in a row. look at the confetti. just the second win streak this season for the wiz. nationals taking on the mets last night. ross detwiler with a good game. eeon desmond leading the game off with a slam out to left field. jason wirth picking up speed after getting just one hit till now. nats win handing the mets their first loss of the season. but the day didn't start with good news. mike morse suffered an injure after his return. he's out indefinitely. that's going to do it for your morning sports. i'm kristen berset. have a great day. new evidence surfaces about a possible quota system for local police officers. what do you do if you don't have the money to pay your income taxes? we have some advice for you. beginning to slow down hien

270 leading to 80. more on maryland roads coming up in my next report at 5:29. you're watching 9news now. stay with us. . make plans now to join joel and victoria osteen in our nation's capital on saturday, april 28th, for america's night of hope 2012. god is going to take you places that you've never even dreamed of. it's so uplifting in every way, shape, or form. it's probably one of the most inspiring moments that i've had in a long time.

he's a god of the future. he's not a god of the past. in philippians, it says "i can do all things through christ who strengthens me." we are so excited about america's night of hope right here in washington, d.c. at national's park. it's going to be a great evening of music and inspiration. we're looking forward to seeing you. it's going to be beautiful here in april. come spend the weekend with us. bring your friends. bring your family. you won't want to miss it. america's night of hope at national's park in washington, d.c., saturday, april 28th. visit joelosteen.com for ticketing and more information. . . . . . thanks. i'll take the usual. got it. if you're open to choosing your own batter, mix-ins and toppings, come in today and build a stack you'll be proud of. only at denny's.

good morning. all choked over being halfway through the week. welcome back to 9news now. i'm andrea roane. i'm mike hydeck. thanks a lot for joining us. monika santami is here. >> that would be a happy choked up. >> no tears. olga breese is in for howard today. she says it is going to, chilly compare -- to be chilly comparatively speaking. >> it is. we've been spoiled throughout march and parts of april. but we get a taste of what we missed out earlier this year. the forecast today is on the chilly side mainly because of our north and our northwest winds but we're definitely going to at least hold on to some of that sunshine for part of the day. i always look for the silver

lining. the day planner will bring in the cloud cover midday to late afternoon. we'll own develop a few of these showers moving on through. temperatures with the north winds won't get too far. we're in the lower 40s now at reagan national. we'll only make it to the middle range and push those upper 50s by later on in the afternoon but it will definitely be a struggle. hit or miss showers later on today. very, very breezy so we still have the high fire danger and again highs right around 57 degrees late in the day and then we'll back it off tonight back down into the 30s and 40s. bundle up if you're stepping outside. will you need the jacket at the bus stop. highs again in the middle to upper 50s but the short-term forecast shows plenty of improvement. next three days we're on an upward trend. 60 tomorrow. we'll be dry. back to you. good morning, olga. things are looking all right outside. no problems to report if you're planning to head around the beltway and we're going to take you first of all to the north side of town. things are still moving smoothly. college park into silver

spring. you might see it bunching up right around georgia avenue but that's about it at this point. we'll take you over to the north side of town live. here's great seneca highway at clopper road fl everything is great. back over to the maps this time all the way down to southern maryland. route 5, route 4, route 301 everything is fine. brandywine, accokeek, route 210 into oxon hill and the wilson bridge. we'll go live now route 4, pennsylvania avenue at the beltway, leaving andrews airs base heading for the wilson bridge into alexandria. 495 doing well. the entire stretch in prince george's county. coming up in my next report, we'll go over to fairfax county at 5:39. for the first time in morning, mitt romney wakes up with no large obstacles in his path to the republican presidential nomination. >> romney's closest competitor former pennsylvania senator rick santorum suspended his campaign yesterday, just two weeks before his home state primary in pennsylvania. santorum had been losing ground in the polls and had canceled

several campaign events. one of the reasons was to compare for his daughter who has a rare and unusually fatal chromosome disorder. >> he'll remain a leader in our party. he has earned that by virtue of his effort. >> while ron paul and newt gingrich are still in the race, the republican nomination, they trail badly when it comes to delegates. president obama campaigned in florida yesterday. he is promoting the so-called buffett rule. that means more taxes on the wealthy if it passes. the senate takes up that legislation coming up next week. the special prosecutor in the trayvon martin case is promising a major announcement by week's end. meanwhile the teenager's parents are back in washington today as they try to keep americans focused on their campaign to get justice for their son. 9news now reporter delia goncalves is live at the washington convention center with the story that has sparked a lot of conversations in homes, schools, and in political offices. good morning, delia. >> reporter: good morning.

andrea. absolutely lots of discussion, lots of outrage you can even say. protests happening around the country. trayvon martin's parents will be here in washington, d.c. for the second time so far. they'll be at the convention center a little later today. g.e.s of al sharpton's national action network. they will continue to talk about their son and this case that has gripped a nation and the whole world in fact. since the deadly shooting of 17- year-old trayvon martin, george zimmerman has essentially gone into hiding and apparently his defense attorneys don't even know where he is. a special prosecutors in the case says she will have an announcement within 72 hours, although she will not elaborate on what that will be. she did not convene a grand jury and will decide whether or not charges will be filed in this case on her own. meanwhile here at home, delegate eleanor holmes norton held a community discussion on the case and on racial

profiling. >> to focus on eliminating the branding of african-american men and boys on sight as criminals or in other negative ways. i will introduce a bill designed to help local jurisdictions develop local racial profiling laws and programs. >> reporter: delegate eleanor holmes norton says she'll introduce the legislation when congress is back in session on monday. meanwhile, a little more on the case. zimmerman's attorneys say they haven't spoken to him since sunday. all their calls are going to voice mails. he hasn't even responded to any e-mails. we'll tell you what that means for the future of this case coming up at 6:00. back to you. >> delia, thank you for that update. an investigation is under way into the cause of an overnight fire in a vacant building in northeast washington. d.c. police had to shut down both sides of new york avenue at montana and west virginia

avenues. the building that caught fire was nearby on bladensburg road. firefighters got to the scene just before 1:30 this morning. all the roads in the area were reopened a couple of hours later. no one was hurt. 9 news now has uncovered more memos that seem to give the appearance of a ticket writing quota system for arlington county police officers. one required officers who were working overtime shifts to catch people speeding and write five tickets per hour. last month 9news uncovered an internal memo that appeared to detail a quota system for speeding tickets, arrests and dui charges. chief douglas scott called the first memo a mistake. scott says he never saw any of these other memos but he'll make sure nothing resembles a quota goes out again. the d.c. board of elections is launching an investigation against activist james o'keefe. it comes after o'keefe released undercover video showing a man claiming to be u.s. attorney general eric holder at a polling place. he was obviously not the

attorney general but was not required to show any identification. the election board says any evidence of criminal activity from last week's primary will be referred to law enforcement. it's 5:35. it's your money time. >> jessica doyle is back and she has tax advice less than a week to go. we get a little extra time in d.c., right? >> a little extra time. it's the 17th this year. a lot of folks don't have the money to pay the tax bill this time of year because the economy has been so rotten. the tax man does come and if you can't pay your tax bill, know that you're not alone and you have options. >> reporter: you have less than a week to file your taxes and send uncle sam what you owe. if you don't pay, expect to get hit with lots of penalties and fees. but tax masters linda says there are some things you can do to mitigate the damage, such as pay your state taxes before your federal. >> it's always better to pay the state taxes first because

the penalties are even higher. >> reporter: for example, maryland could charge you 23% of what you owe. >> let's say you owe $1,000 to maryland and you file your return. they're going to want you to write a check for $1,230. >> reporter: the i.r.s. is offering a helping hand to those who have fallen on hard times this year. it's suffering a new program called fresh start which includes penalty relief. >> if you were out of work for 30 consecutive days any time during 2011 or 2012 up till april 17, you're allowed to go on a six-month extension to pay your taxes. >> reporter: if you can pay the i.r.s. a little bit, then you should because that will help you avoid steep failure to pay penalties and interest. you may also consider negotiating an installment plan or as a last resort ask for an offer and compromise. it will sharply cut the total amount of money that you owe. last thought here. if you're thinking about paying your taxes on a credit card, run the numbers first.

first you're going to pay a fee of about 2.5% for using plastic. then of course the interest charges from the credit card company up to 20% a year. if you pay the i.r.s. what you can now, even if it's a little bit, you're looking at penalties and interest of 6%. so 6% compared to 23%, a huge difference. >> thafers, jess. great -- thanks, jess. great advice. metro's silver line clears another hurdle in its funding process. stay with us.

never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. 60 miles in 3 days is-- is huge. if my mom can fight and beat breast cancer, i can walk 60 miles. you just put one foot in front of the other, and you know that you're walking for such a great cause that you just keep going. (man) that you have all these people coming together for one common goal. (woman) the goal is to bring an end to breast cancer. (woman) the fund-raising was the easiest part. people were very giving. complete strangers wanting to help. if i can do this, you definitely can do this. (woman) i'll never stop walking, not till we find a cure. (woman) and it has to end, but it starts with us. i knew someday i was gonna do this walk. it is the most rewarding experience

i have ever had in my entire life. we can do this. you can do this. we can all do this together. (man) register today for the... and receive $25 off your registration fee. because everyone deserves a lifetime. welcome back, everyone. generally clear skies this morning. the breeze not too bad. we're about 5, 10 mile per hour winds right now but things will change later on this afternoon. our day planner features a lot of sunshine. we'll make it into the middle range and push the 60s later this afternoon. highs today only near 60.

no incidents to report on the inbound side of 66. just volume forming. the pace improves leaving route 50 toward 123 in fairfax. speaking of which, fairfax county's board of supervisors has signed off on phase two of metro's silver line. phase two will go from wiehle avenue in reston, past dulles airport into loudoun county. the total cost is estimated at $2.7 billion. fairfax county would pay almost $500 million of that. phase two still needs final approval if loudoun county or the rail could be shortened. metro riders might soon be able to buy an unlimited 28-day rail pass. "the washington post" reports the transit system's board of directors will consider the plan tomorrow. the pass would cost $230 and would be available only on smartrip cards. metro announced monday that its 2013 budget deficit will be $16 million less than expected. coming up in my next

report, we'll take another look at virginia roads at 5:48. i've been combing through the daily deals to find you deep discounts. here's some of my favorites this morning. get breakfast on the cheap. groupon has this deal with moe's southwest grill. pay $1 and get $5 worth of food, an 80% discount. know this. limit one voucher per table. gilt city washington is giving you 50% off of a new album. you can download the new am bum underwater sunshine for $4.99. through april 30, baskin robbins will donate one meal to feed america for each ice happy blast sold. to make it even more affordable, the new mini will be available for just 99 cents every wednesday in april at all participating baskin robbins locations. if you have an offer you've seen or a local merchant with a

deal for our viewers, i'd love to hear from you on facebook. maryland's governor has some harsh words for lawmakers who fail to pass a budget. that story is coming up. >> plus, wildfires in western parts of virginia are now causing some major troubles for drivers. >> birthday time up for. let's see who's celebrating today. ethel kennedy is 84. joel gray is 80. he hosts the british version of top year.

are made with sweet cherries and the crisp, clean taste of our cranberries. i cannot tell a lie. 'tis tasty. okay, george washington, did you take my truck out last night? 'tis tasty.

good morning. welcome back to nine nine now.

5:45 on this wednesday morning. another chilly start to the day. we're supposed to be getting closer to may and warm temperatures. what's going on? >> we have the wind flow coming in from the north and can't get it to budge, at least not for stand -- not for today and tomorrow. for now, though, the morning is again very, very chilly. i thought about gloves this morning. that might have been overkill but it will improve. the morning temperatures, if the kids are just stepping on out, 30s and 40s so they need their jackets and their hands will be in their pockets. then after sunrise we'll get some daytime heating cranking in. not too much with the north winds. midday temperatures will only make it into the lower range 50s. then we'll peak in the upper 50s later this afternoon. right now we're looking pretty clear at the capitol dome. a nice view. temperatures again on the chilly side although it's 41 at

reagan national airport, it's feeling more like 26 degrees with those west, northwest winds below 10 miles per hour. we'll crank our winds up ath later on today. closer to 15, 20, even 25 mile per hour winds are possible at times late in the afternoon. the forecast for today is going to stay clear for the first half. morning temperatures will drop down just a few more degrees prior to sunrise. already sitting at 38 degrees. satellite and radar is keeping us clear for at least a few showers, but most of that moisture off toward the north and east, north and west is pushing on through. it's going to arrive here i would say later on in the afternoon after that 1:00 hour. here's how the future cast predicts it. by 2:00 we'll start to see some moisture in the northern portions of maryland, the panhandle of west virginia. all of that is going to slide down into our metro area. we'll continue with some showers maybe through portions of your drive time home. these will be hit or miss. then we'll clear out quite

quickly prior to 9:00, 10:00 tonight. the pavement should be dry and clear and quiet overnight. tomorrow morning another cold one because of the north winds have not yet shifted but as we get into thursday, midday and late afternoon, i think it's going to be a great day to spend out at the ballpark if you have tickets to that nats home opener. highs today 57 for reagan national. 58 for manassas president these are the warmer spots. most generally you can count on about the middle range 50s by late afternoon. then the next three days will improve. 60 degrees for tomorrow with partly sunny skies. we'll be mostly sunny by friday. that's going to help us get into the lower range to middle 60s and the seven-day forecast brings us back to the 70s. saturday, sunday beautiful, near 80 by sunday afternoon. even a warm day headed into next workweek. monika? well, olga, looks like we now have some troubles on the northbound side of i-95. it's nothing serious but it caused some pretty major backups. there's an accident on the northbound side of 95 just past

lorton. first of all your delays triangle into dumfries. then a live look trying to leave lorton. look at all the slow traffic. the accident actually sitting on the shoulder. all lanes are open but it's attracting all this attention. plus, we're heading into the height of the rush hour as well. keep that in mind for your travel plans. northbound i-95 lorton into springfield. we'll go further north on to 395. this is looking great still leaving duke street to the 14th street bridge. really no big delays to talk about yet. we'll go back over to the maps this time to the inbound side of 66 and the dulles toll road. both incident free. you just have the slow traffic out of manassas and center vial here. toll road, no complaints yet to the beltway. the beltway looks great on the west side of town. we'll go live to the american legion bridge. both loops of the beltway. all lanes are open between bethesda and tysons. an update on the situation on 95 at 6:00. making news now coming up on 5:50, speaking of the u.s. naval academy in annapolis last night, secretary of state

hillary clinton blamed russia's inaction for keeping syrian president bashar assad in power. syrian troops fired at a refugee camp across the border in turkey tuesday. today the foreign ministers of the g8 will discuss syria at a meeting here in washington. a passenger jet made an emergency landing at a canadian military base last night. it had just taken off from vancouver and was headed for seoul when a bomb threat was phoned into the airline's los angeles office. two u.s. fighter jets escorted the plane till it landed safely. police have had to shut down parts of interstate 64 near the west virginia state line because of wildfires. crews have been battling fires in both washington and jefferson national forest but windy conditions are hurting their efforts. flames have scorched more than a thousand acres. maryland governor martin o'malley is not saying at this point whether or not he will call a special session of the general assembly. if there is no special session,

the state's doomsday budget will kick in july 1. >> that budget would mean millions of dollars in cuts to all kinds of state funded programs, but right now the governor seems pretty irate with the inaction of lawmakers in annapolis. >> reporter: the general assembly hands over a budget full of cuts to education and public safety. >> which is really a shame. >> reporter: a plan to bump the budget with an income tax hike never got the vote. the speaker of the house points to the senate for letting the clock run out. >> i learned one thing when i played sports. if you don't have the ball, you can't score a touchdown. if you don't have the revenue package, you can't make a vote on it. >> reporter: the senate president believes there wasn't a strong enough will to raise revenues in the house. >> the reason we passed a doomsday budget was to give people false heart courage to pass taxes. that's the reason to put the doomsday budget up there. if you don't have the nerve or the guts or the gumption to pay

a tax, that's what's going to happen. >> reporter: the budget is also expected to motivate lawmakers to come back and work out a better solution than the proposal that was supposed to be approved last night, but the governor believes the general assembly missed the mark. >> we had ability and i think that the people of our state had the will but other leaders weren't able to come to the consensus necessary to protect education. >> reporter: the budget takes effect july 1. >> unfortunately we're taking a step back. in virginia governor bob mcdonnell has wrapped up his review of bills passed by this year's general assembly. he ended up vetoing some and amending dozens of others, most notably the voter id bill. he altered it to allow electoral boards more discretion in counting ballots. the general assembly will reconvene on april 18 to act on the vetoes and amendments. 5:52. let's take another look at the question of date this morning.

439 million of these were unused last year in the united states. was it a, frequent flier miles, b, vacation days or c, gift cards. >> anthony lawrence wrote on our facebook fan page, c, gift cards, a no brainer. leave your response. we'd love to hear fru. we'll have the answer in -- hear from you. we'll have the answer in the next half-hour. >> a transgender woman will now have a chance to represent her country in the miss universe beauty pageant. jess, over to you. >> thank you, mike. free tax prep advice in the home stretch. i'll tell you how and when you can get it. that is coming up at 6:06. you are watching 9news now.

make plans now to join joel and victoria osteen in our nation's capital on saturday, april 28th, for america's night of hope 2012. god is going to take you places that you've never even dreamed of. it's so uplifting in every way, shape, or form. it's probably one of the most inspiring moments that i've had in a long time. he's a god of the future. he's not a god of the past. in philippians, it says "i can do all things through christ who strengthens me." we are so excited about america's night of hope right here in washington, d.c. at national's park. it's going to be a great evening of music and inspiration. we're looking forward to seeing you. it's going to be beautiful here in april. come spend the weekend with us. bring your friends. bring your family. you won't want to miss it. america's night of hope at national's park in washington, d.c., saturday, april 28th.

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welcome back at 5:55 this morning. i'm meteorologist olga breese in for howard bernstein. clear skies and wind abouts 10 miles per hour. -- winds about 10 miles per hour. on the chilly side. temperatures in the 30s to lower 40s. by 9:00 we'll keep on going with sunshine through midday. the cloud cover starts to filter on through. by late afternoon we are mostly cloudy. chance of a late day shower or moving on through the area mainly around 5:00, 6:00 in the evening. that's going to hold our daytime highs in the upper 50s. for most of us, though, we will

see the sprinkles begin to move on through. the forecast overall should stay on the cooler side for today and tomorrow with the breezes moving through. then an improvement as we head toward the weekend. >> thank you, olga. there's a chance at least one of the contestants in the next miss universe pageant will be a transgender woman. >> she's not guaranteed a spot but now one canadian will be allowed to compete for the chance to represent her country in the beauty pageant. matt jablow has the details. >> i had always dreamed of being in the miles an hour universe competition. >> reporter: now jenna talackova can pursue that dream once again. today the miss universe organization announced that the 23-year-old who had a sex change operation four years ago will be allowed to compete in this year's miss universe pageant. about a week ago the vancouver resident was told she would not be allowed to represent canada in the miss universe pageant because she was not a quote

naturally born woman. d.c. resident jerry hughes is also not a naturally born woman. >> technically i would call myself a transsexual woman. >> reporter: an employee with  the d.c.-based organization called transgender health empowerment, hughes calls the decision to allow transgender women in the miss universe pageant a major step forward. >> discrimination is always wrong, always. and so to not allow a transgender woman to compete with other women would be wrong. >> reporter: people we spoke with in northwest washington agreed. >> i think it's a wonderful thing. i think there's too much discrimination based on gender and sexuality in this country. it's a natural thing that we're working toward equality and people are dragging their feet. i think it's a wonderful step. >> if you're someone who has gone to great lengths to take hormones and have your body changed from male to female,

female to male, if you look good in a boo keen any, luau owe bikini, you look good in a bikini. >> reporter: she first has to be crowned miss canada to compete in the miss universe pageant. grz good morning. -- good morning. thank you for watching 9news now. it's 6:00 a.m. i'm andrea roane. i'm mike hydeck. monika santami is here. olga breese is in for howard. she says we have a little chill in the air. >> it's cold. >> it's quite a rude awakening if you're warm and toasty under the blankets. then you step out the door, you'll notice a stark difference. we had clear skies, calm winds overnight. starting to pick up a bit of a breeze right now. about 5, 10 mile per hour winds. most of us in the upper 30s, lower 40s at this hour. we'll hit the middle 40s by 9:00. we'll keep the sunshine thro