was cold and drizzly we'll take it. >> hopefully it will help our hitters. >> strasburg got a nice outing last night and needs to do it again today. the look at the day planner with a sunny day today. breezy and cool once again. as temperatures will be holding into the 60-degree range. maybe low 60s in a few spots. right now we're down to 43 with clear skies. sunrise at 6:35. setting at 7:41. as we look at the satellite and radar, a bunch of little showers all over the place yesterday. snow pellets and graupel mixed in as well. temperatures only got into 250s for highs. and with this northerly flower cleared out tonight and still have the cool air on top of us and slowly moderate. right now we're in the 30s in fact down to harrisonburg stampton, 29, 42 for martinsburg and it's 38 in frederick and gaithersburg. leesburg 39 and any freeze warnings are really shenandoah valley and western maryland. though not to problem for us

right now. la plata down to 37 and cambridge 45. today with sunshine and a breeze out of the northwest which could gust to 30 miles an hour at times we'll see highs from 59 in gaithersburg to about 62 in manassas. monika samtani it is 5:00 a.m. it's 5:00 a.m. and that means mostly all of the construction has been cleared up. you're good if go. look at the beltway all green looking great on the north side of town as well between college park and bethesda. 95 no issues out of baltimore. route 29's great and wheaton aspen hill the major corridors down to the beltway are fine. in fact a live look at new hampshire avenue where traffic is smooth. both lops of the beltway here and this is the entire northern stretch of the beltway. back to the maps this time to 270 out of frederick, no problems here. i-70 is looking great as well. damascus, clarksburg, at the american legion bridge across the river here grattage tysons corner. coming up in my next report, we will take a look at 66.

back to you guys. all right, thanks monika. coming up now, a huge development in the trayvon martin shooting case down in florida. george zimmerman is in jail this morning. he's awaiting his first court appearance. yesterday, the special prosecutor in the case announced she was charging the 28-year-old with second degree murder. george zimmerman shot and killed an unarmed teenager in late february in the neighborhood watch captain had claimed that martin attacked him and he had fired in self- defense. in the district police and firefighters arrived at the scene of a suspected meth lab last night. officers executed a search warrant on summit place in northwest d.c.. the seven story apartment building is called park east. police asked firefighters to come along as a precaution since materials are highly flammable. officers arrested one man at the scene and investigators are waiting for test results on the materials they seized. all right, just about 5:03.

it is time now for the latest your money report. >> and jessica doyle is here with today's headlines and an improved outlook for wall street yesterday. >> that's right we have our coffee, we're ready to go. we've got some good news. nice rally on wall street yesterday. >> cheers to the rally. >> we're happy about that and overseas trading today as well the markets are enjoying is decent bounceback after the worst selloff for u.s. stocks of the year. we know that. now the reason why we got a surprise profit from aluminum proser alcoa -- that gave investors hope the earnings season may not be as bad as some expected. checking the numbers -- u.s. safety regulators expanded an investigation into 23 complaints of fires in jeep wrangler suvs. the national highway traffic safety administration hasn't figured out what caused the fires but it's asking car maker chrysler for information on wranglers from the 2007 through

2012 model years. now this is expanded from an investigation into the 2010 model. they say four people have been hurt by reports fires including three who had minor burns and one whose injuries were not complained and two houses were also reported damaged. the next time you drive over a pothole or notice graffiti on a wall. pull over in the district. pick up your smart phone and report it. mayor gray has announced the launch of a new d.c. 311 smart phone app that can be used to report quality of life problems including graffiti, potholes, trash, street light outages, just a whole new spin on pothole patrol. >> with smart phones you can take a picture of it and write down the location and send the whole thing. >> the key is the thing that stuck in my head, be sure you're not driving when doing this. >> pull over. thanks jess. what do you have for us next? >> something you guys are familiar are. we are testing products this morning, something you both got involved in.

>> a team effort yeah. thanks jess. one of the most notorious criminals in modern u.s. history won't be getting out of prison anytime soon. that story is coming up. >> plus, firefighters in virginia are looking to the skies for some rain. as they try to battle wildfires in the mountains. >> and ahead in sports, injuries leave the capitals short in goal as they start the playoffs tonight in boston. we'll be right back. 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.

5:06. coming up, you'll need the jackets this morning but not as biting a cold today. we're going to make it into the upper 50 s and low 60s and then a really nice warmup as we head toward the weekend. you'll be able to have the shorts and for several days coming up but today chilly. we've got 30s and 40s this morning. 47 by 9:00. winds still brisk out of the northwest 10 to 20 gusting 25 to even 30 be mid 50s at noon and a 5:00 p.m. temperature that should be about our high for the day of around 61 degrees. i'll have that warmer seven day forecast in a few minutes. right now here's monika samtani with timesaver traffic. howard on the northbound side of i-95 things look great. leaving dale city up into springfield. no problems to report as you head on to 395 in the 14th street bridge. we're looking great here in shirlington as well. coming up in my next report, we'll take a closer look at virginia roads. back to you guys. making news now at 5:07. convicted killer charles manson will not get out of prison anytime soon. california prison officials have denied the serial killer's

parole request for a 12th time. and the 77-year-old manson could be forced the wait 10 more years before he can apply again. manson masterminded the 1969 murders of actress sharon tate and six others. another earthquake shook mexico city yesterday. that's the third in the last month. the 6.5 tremor was centered in the mountains in a sparsely populated area. the buildings in the city swayed but no reports of any damage or injuries. crews are fighting five wildfires in the virginia mountains. the biggest one remains in alleghany and craig counties. that's where three different blazes have burned almost 8,000 acres in the washington and jefferson national park. even some baseball insiders are expecting a big improvement for the nationals and so far so good right? after week one, washington 4-2. they took two out of three from the clubs and two out of three

from the mets and tied for first place in their division. >> they play their first 2012 regular season game home. joining us now is the head groundskeeper, he is up early at the park with us this morning. john, thank you for being with us. are you excited about the start of the season at home as we are? >> yeah, absolutely. this is -- this is always an exciting day for us down here at nats park. opening day across the league. always exciting. glad to have the nats back in town. glad for baseball to be back in season and we're just excited to get underway. >> well, preseason -- you know, you have had teams there already. but what's different about opening day? what are you doing this early in the morning to get the park ready? >> well, we got the tarp on the field right now. so it's going to be generally when we have the tarp on it's always an earlier call in. just a lot of activity in the morning getting ready for opening day. a lot of things going on in and a lot of things in motion. so we have an early call in for today. early batting practice and with

it being opening day we want to make sure we got everybody in line and get going and make sure that tomorrow -- come our end we're getting everything done. >> john i have a chance to go to the nats park to see the sox play when they came for the last preseason game. and the field looks magnificent. is it difficult with the wide temperature ranges? next day we're expecting frost. is it difficult to make that field look as good as it does? >> well, absolutely the temperatures have been kind of a change -- a challenge for us here the last -- i'd say the last week or so. it doesn't does make it a little bit more challenging for us to manage the field. the temperatures have been kind of a drastic change especially the nighttime temperatures which have been affecting us. i would definitely -- the temperatures we have had here in march were above average. and definitely spiked us ahead a little bit but certainly the last week it's been more of a challenge. >> now some parks and i'm not sure if this is an issue in

baseball stadiums or parks but some of the nfl parks have heated -- piping underneath them. is that the case in nats park? >> it is not the case here no, we've got no heating system herement just a natural self- acting field owl here. we've got no heating coil, no heat pipes. we -- work strictly just natural here. >> when will you take the tarp off? how soon before the game starts? >> not soon enough. it's the last thing i wanted to do going into opening day. we had a small chance of showers last night and didn't want to take a chance with opening day and the early batting practice time. we got crew coming in at 7:00 and hopefully at 7:00 we'll have that thing folded up and rolled away. >> very good. john i think you're okay as far as showers are concerned according to howard you should have great day and we wish you the best of luck. >> go nats. thanks john. >> all right. thank you so much. >> you're welcome.

okay, still ahead, with some rugged -- wildfires in rugged areas. some rain really could help. howard knows if there's a chance of it anytime soon in his seven day forecast. that's coming up next at about 5:15. >> at 5:51 a local expert is here to tell us about a new form of high-tech breast cancer screening. >> in sports at 5:23. one of the very first games of the nhl playoffs goes to overtime. we have the highlights coming up next. stay with us.

we are following breaking news out of prince george's county. police there are on the scene of an officer-involved shooting. that happened just after 3:00 a.m. in the 3100 block of good hope avenue in temple hills. we don't have a lot of information but we do know to officer involved is unharmed. we have a live crew on the way to the scene and bring you information as soon as it becomes available to us. weather time now, boy we took a leap backward yesterday with temperatures. i had to put a hooded sweatshirt on yesterday at tbaal. >> even some graupel and snow bells coming down. so cold in the upper levels of the atmosphere that once we got the sun to come up that just sort of like boiling a pot of water. all the little bubbles popped up and you looked at the radar yesterday and we had blotches of green everywhere. little showers with the little snow pellets as well but today much quieter. the bus stop forecast this morning it is clear and chilly.

little breezy in spots so definitely jacket needed this morning. with temperatures down in the 30s and 40s and our sunrise at 6:35. sets at 7:43 and we should have a great deal of sunshine today. maybe see a few clouds from time to time. but at noon, 56 and this afternoon, looking for a high 60ish. give or take a couple of degrees but the winds are still going to be breezy out of the northwest 10 to 20 and could gust 25, maybe 30. to the nationals first pitch with the reds today. 1:10. upper 50s to around 60 with a northwest wind at 15. a jacket or light sweater and yes, sunscreen as well. temperatures this morning in the 30s in gaithersburg, winchester luray. hagerstown all in the 30s. it's 42 down at pax river and here in washington, we've got 43 degrees but with the breeze this morning, windchills are down in the low 30s to 38 here in the nation's capital. looking outside on the michael & son weather camera, good visibility and flag still flying pretty stiff here at the capitol. and northwest wind at 9 right

now. and the dew point 31. so the air still relatively dry and we need some rain and unfortunately we're not going to really have a chance for that in any big way until maybe sometime the middle of next week. some rain is spinning offshore of new england and across parts of eastern new england but other than the isolated pop-up shower to our north and east, i think it's going to be a quiet day. and mostly sunny day and a breezy one as well. tonight we're going to clear out once again. for friday clear, sunny day milder though. mid 60s maybe upper 60s as we head into saturday, storm systems will pass to our north. so winds will be south and southwesterly that means our temperatures will be in the 70s low to maybe mid 70s saturday and i think we're cracking 80 or better perhaps low 80s on sunday. looking at the forecast, today, about 61 for the high. breezy still with those winds. they can gust 25, maybe 30. tonight we're down in the upper 40s in town with some low 40s north and west. milder tomorrow in the mid 60s.

saturday, better yet low 70s to maybe 75. here's the rest of the seven day forecast. sunday 82. monday 84. still 80 on tuesday with a late storm possible and the next best chance of rain will be wednesday with highs near 70. it is 5:17. how's that for some springtime weather for you monika? loving it thank you howard. and you know what i think you're going to love this too. we're starting out nice and quiet this morning. in virginia on the northbound side of i-95, here's what it looks like out of lorton, newington and springfield. you see all the green and that means just heading out the door you will get to work on time. we'll take a live look at the northbound side of i-95 here at the springfield parkway. the main and hov lanes running smoothly still to the beltway whether you're going to annandale or 395. let's go back to the maps and this time we'll go a little bit further north and into the downtown area using 395 past the pentagon to the 14th street bridge. you're fine. we'll take a last live look in georgetown. right at the intersection of m and wisconsin, you don't see this very often. only early in the morning. coming up in my next report, we'll go over to maryland at

5:25. andrea and mike? thank you monika. the capitals are leaning on their third string goalie as they start the postseason. >> and the nationals' young ace tumbles the mets. highlighting coming up in sports. >> but we want to take another look at our question of day at 5:19 -- >> our facebook friend susie kelly wrote -- >> log on to the wusa9 facebook fan page and leave your response. we'll reveal the answer during the 6:00 hour.

it is 5:21 this thursday morning, chilly out there. breezy too in spots, it's going to be another breezy day although probably not as brisk as yesterday. right now mid 30s to low 40s. in charlie in fauquier county. he needs some rain. but not going to happen today. 43 winchester with 48 in annapolis on the bay. into the afternoon with sunshine and highs in the upper 50s even the low 60s in the warm spots. mike and andrea back to you. thank you howard. the nationals take a series from the mets. >> . the capitals start the playoffs kristen berset has the morning sports. >> reporter: good morning

everyone. the capitals will start third string goalie braiden holtby tonight. now michal neuvirth didn't skate or practice yesterday but he has joined the team in boston. as the caps prepare for the bruins there's a different attitude headed into this postseason. you usually the capitals are pinned as the ones to beat. and they haven't gotten very far. this time around they're embracing that underdog role and are just ready to get this thing started tonight. playoffs did get underway last night. flyers and penguins in the battle of pennsylvania. what a game one. the flyers came back from a 3-0 deficit to force overtime. and jake very check plays hero as the flyers win game one 4-3. stephen strasburg and his second start of the season looking good yesterday against the mets. he threw over 100 pitches for the first time in his career. six shutout innings gaving up just two hits and striking out nine batters. the mets' pitching on the other

hand -- not as good. they started deteriorating as the game went on and the nats took advantage. a wild pitch here a couple of bases loaded walks there. nats had 10 walks yesterday. they beat new york 4-0. >> it feels great. i mean going home 4-2. playing every game close and we were -- we were in every ball game. we definitely could have won every ball game. so i look forward to the home opener. that's a quick look at sports this morning. we'll have full coverage of the nats' home opener as well as the caps and bruins game one tonight. have a great thursday. we have something special in addition to daily deals today. >> mike and i and some other staffers played guinea pigs testing out popular new products and we'll show you the results coming up. 5:24789 here's monika. >> if you're going out of white oak looking great on route 29 southbound heading to the beltway. and all the major corridors out of the north look great as well. i'll have more on that coming up in my next report. you're watching 9news no

good morning and welcome back to 9news now. happy thursday. happy opening day. >> yeah! the nationals getting started against the reds today. first pitch i think around noontime? >> 1:10. cent, i'm mike hydeck. mr. howard bernstein is back after a little time off and also pink eye action. >> good times. >> good times. yeah. >> doesn't sound good. >> he's fine now. he's made it through. >> i love andrea's -- >> actually my wife is smart. she segregated my stuff. there were dishes out for me and paper towels and don't touch anything. >> i love you honey but -- stay away. >> you're on your own. weather-wise, though we've got a good day. it's going to be much better than last year's opening day when it was cold and drizzly. today sunny and breezy and temperatures up to the 60- degree mark. maybe even the low 60s we'll take that. in fact your day planner

sunshine this morning. this afternoon into the evening hours. 61 degrees there at 5:00. that will be the high for the day. we're 43 right now. sun's up at 6:35 and setting at 7:43. looking at it from yesterday afternoon, all these little pop- up showers there with the cold air aloft. it's like boiling a pot of water. even adds some reports of snow showers and snow pellets actually as that cold air was able to be dragged down briefly during the heavier showers. you can see how we've cleared out nicely overnight but it's chilly. we're down in the 30s and low 40s here manassas and andrews you're at 41. tappahannock airport 48. while cambridge is 45 and up north, there are you are youer 30s. our high temperatures today we'll have sunshine and a little breezy though. highs upper 50s to low 60s. let's go to monika right now with a look at timesaver traffic. really no complaints at all if you're planning to head around town this morning: using the major thoroughfares and on the north side of town as well.

things are looking great. here's the beltway and we're soming into 95 and the vw parkway out of baltimore. even route 50 looks fine out of annapolis. all lanes are open. a live look planning to head to the beltway at georgia avenue. still pretty light actually on the outer loop leaving the 95 interchange into silver spring. it will get heavy shortly though. this time to southern maryland to the maps we're looking fine on route 4, route 5, route 301. no problems on route 210 out of accokeek and we'll take a live look at the beltway near route 4 pennsylvania avenue. and this is a good indication of the entire stretch of the beltway in prince george's county. taking a look next time around over on the west side of town at 5:38. thank you monika. today george zimmerman will make his first appearance in a florida courtroom. >> police took the 28-year-old neighborhood watch captain into custody last night. this was six weeks after zimmerman shot and killed unarmed trayvon martin. he now is facing second degree murder charges. zimmerman claims self-defense

in the case. the 17-year-old's family says this now is a step toward justice. >> i wanted an arrest. and we got it. and i say thank you. thank you lord, thank you jesus. [ applause ] >> i sak not to prejudge george zimmerman and please do not prejudge the criminal justice systemmen it's going to work. >> zimmerman's defense lawyer's expressing concerns about whether or not his client can get a fair trial. the defense plans to argue that zimmerman acted legally under florida's stand your ground law which allows people to use deadly force to protect themselves. alexandria police arrested a 23-year-old james savage click on assault and abduction charges. two women were attacked tuesday night on mill road. the women were answering an ad for a rental apartment when they pulled into a vacant building. the two fought their attacker and escaped and they were treated for nonlife-threatening injuries. overnight prince george's county police announced the arrest of two suspects accused of robbing an m and t bank in

largo. the suspects 40-year-old reginald anthony lasley and 34- year-old dylan nathaniel tucker. police say the two held up an m and t bank yesterday morning and officers caught up with the suspects. but they say one tried to hang himself out of the window and an officer cut him off -- he cut him free and the suspect was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. the second suspect is now in jail. at 5:32 it's time for another your money report. >> and jessica doyle is here, she's got some help from a lot of us this morning for her report and we are excited to see how it turned out. >> i love this story, so you go to the drugstore and you probably there and you see a dazzling array of new products on the shelves. but are they worst your money? we put some new products to the test. better homes and gardens recently sent the 9news now newsroom a number of consumer products. it named best new products for 2012.

beautbeauty editor rebecca george. >> they surveyed over 66,000 consumers from coast to coast to really find out the products they love and would buy again. >> we like to make up our own minds and we put some products to our own tests. come get a product guys. enter several producers, and our morning anchor team. [ laughter ] >> i'm andrea roane. you know what i do here. >> she chose the dove go sleeveless antessers pant. >> this promises i can go sleeveless in five days, anything that will get me tout door faster i want to try it. >> also being tested the gillette fusion irritation defense. >> this product promises to take care of razor burn. >> digital executive producer took the gillette odor shield antiperspirant. 5:00 a.m. producer grabbed the 3d white two hour express white strips. >> i'm jessica and i'm somewhat

challenge and i am trying the shampoo for fine hair. from pan teen. now to the results. i used the fine shampoo for a couple of days and definitely seeing a lot of volume but it is a little dry. to the crest 3d white strips. >> i felt i saw some improvement. not quite as much as perhaps from professional or longer uses. >> the gillette odor shield. >> the final verdict for me is that it was good. i smelled good. i didn't sweat through my shirt. so i liked it. i would buy it. >> the gillette fusion moisturizer. >> i probably wouldn't change from from i normal -- what i normally use. this gillette has some perfume in it. and i don't enjoy it. also there's no spf any sunscreen in it. >> andrea put us all to shame taking it to a whole new level. here's a before picture that andrea took of her own armpit. after she started using the to

have go sleeveless antiperspirant, that's right. this is anchor armpit. and five days later using the product and not shaving, no real hair growth. the proof is in the picture. andrea's take? >> sleeveless in five days two thumbs up. >> really. >> i would buy it. i think the results are -- good. >> andrea roane hats off. hats off to you. and then a fabulous looking armpit you have there. >> i was going to say she was proud. we put her makeup on and she goes look! >> she's been flashing everybody in the newsroom. >> a week after and i still haven't shaved yet and still got the same -- >> i am buying that product. i think that was the standout. thanks jess. >> thank you guys. >> you're welcome. i thought everybody would do something before and after so i -- my husband didn't know what the heck i was doing. shooting your armpit? >> that must have been a sight too. can i get it? and showing nothing else but the armpit. >> that's why we love you.

you're welcome. >> she's daring. thanks jess. 5:35 now. after all the product testing jessica will be back of course with today's daily deals. >> i'm keeping my articles down now. -- arms down now. still ahead expect plenty of legal wrangling as the case against john edwards goes to trial today. we'll be back. i bathed it in miracles. director: [ sighs ] cut! sorry to interrupt. when's the show? well, if we don't find an audience, all we'll ever do is rehearse. maybe you should try every door direct mail. just select the zip codes where you want your message to be seen, print it yourself, or we'll help you find a local partner and you find the customers that matter most. brilliant. clifton, show us overjoyed. no, too much. jennessa. ah! a round of applause. [ applause ] [ male announcer ] go online to reach every home, every address, every time

with every door direct mail.

we continue to follow breaking news out of prince george's county. police there are on the scene of an officer-involved shooting. that happened just after 3:00 a.m. in the 3100 block of good hope avenue in temple hills. now we still don't have a lot of information but we do know the officer involved is unharmed. and we have a live crew there at the scene, delia goncalves is there live with the latest. delia? >> reporter: andrea you know you did mention it that's the good news in the story. the police officers and the -- police officer and the male suspect involved are both expected to be okay. no one was struck when the officer fired his gun.

just after 3:00 this morning. take a look. you know we're here in the 3100 block of good hope avenue in temple hills. all we know right now is that police were called to a doe mystic disturbance inside this apartment complex just after 3:00. when the officer confronted the suspect inside the parking lot, we're unsure exactly what led to the confrontation. and what led to the officer firing his gun. but we do know the officer fired his weapon no one was struck. we are unclear -- it is unclear if the suspect at this point was armed. what we doe no that man is in custody. and will face charges. police are still here on the scene digging up some more information and we will stay on the scene as well and try to give you the very latest. just some basic research that i did on the way here to the breaking news scene. this appeared to be the fourth police involved shooting in prince george's county so far this year. there was a deadly police involved shooting just on monday in landover. the good news here though, this

officer and the suspect will be okay. we'll stay on the scene and bring you the very latest in our next report. back to you mike. weather time now, howard bernstein standing by with the look at what we can expect as we head through the morning. good morning howard. >> good morning, brisk out here this morning without the jacket on and i wish i had some gloves. 30s north and west. day planner for thursday we are expecting sunny day and temperatures will be climbing into the #s here by noon with a high upper 50s to low 60s. really should be a pretty nice day with first pitch at 1:10. right now monika with timesaver traffic. here's a live lack at the american legion bridge on the west side of town. no problems to report between 270 and tysons corner. and all the corridors in from the west look great as well. i'll have more on that coming up in my next report. jessica back to you. thank you monika. we've been combing through the day's daily deals emails and retailer websites to find you some deep discounts. and here are some of my

favorites. food and an everyday price. this deal can be found on living social. spend 2r5 dollars and get -- $25 and get $50 to spends on food and drink at dinner at sal western. this is the restaurant in the mandarin oriental hotel serving southern classics with regional ingredients. how about $69 for $150 worst of house cleaning? you will find this deal on google offers with elite cleaning services. larger packages are also available. and amazon's deal of the day appeals the handymen or women. $155 will get you a two drill set from bosch. normal price here $567. a 73% discount. and you're getting free shipping. if you have an offer you've seen or if you're a local merchant with a deal for our viewers, i'd love to hear from you on facebook. andrea and mike?

thank you very much. we want to take another look at our day of the question, it is -- >> one of the facebook friends named rob wrote -- >> log on to the wusa9 facebook fan page and leave your response. we'll reveal the answer in about an hour. how about time to celebrate birthdays today? let's see who's doing that --

happy birthday if it's your day too.

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to cinnamon toast crunch to lucky charms, get more whole grain than any other ingredient... without question. just look for the white check. hello and good morning, welcome back to 9news now, 5:46 this thursday morning. howard is back and the forecast is still about the same as when you left except not as windy. >> yes, still breezy for sure we could have gusts 25, maybe 30 today. but temperatures hey the trend is going up. the temps will be warming. winds will be coming down the next few days so it's going to be a great weekend around here. >> looking forward to it. >> we can use some rain. i want to show you rain deficits that we're running here for 2012. this is from january 1st. and the white numbers are the deficits, the green is the actual amount of rain. and we've had anywhere from you know 5 to almost 7 inches of rain but we're running more than 4 inches in the hole here at dulles, at national up in baltimore. a little bit better in

martinsburg, 3.33 inches below normal but this is some pretty dry stuff and this is not the time of year you want a deficit. the warm march was obviously very dry. the sixth driest and warmest on record. here's the bus stop forecast, it's dry this morning and chilly. temperatures in the 30s and 40s. sunrise 6:35. not quite a last quartzer moon out there this morning but pretty bright nonetheless and we'll have a bright day today. sunshine and 47 at 9:00. by 11:00 54 and knot west winds at 10 to 20 and gust 25, maybe 30 at times the another breezy day -- to another breezy day. a 1:00 temperature in the upper 50s, by 5:00 p.m. 61 degrees and that's going to be about the high for the day. some areas may be 63 or so. as far as the first pitch at 1:10. a northwest wind at 15 and i'm advising you to bring a jacket or sweatshirt and oh, yeah the sunscreen as well. you got a pretty good sunburn if you're in the sun for the afternoon especially this time of year. it's getting stronger and

stronger. mid 30s up north. to the east baden at 41 and college park as well. fairfax at 38-degrees and kind of chilly there. along with haymarket, leesburg, bladensville all at 31 and if washington the morning we have clear skies and you'll notice the flags here by the capitol. still standing pretty tall. winds at national reported at 9 miles per hour out of the northwest. the flags aloft a little bit and wind speeds a little stronger. clear skies and dew points in the low 30s. lots of action on the west coast. this has done this for a few weeks, they're nice and wet, that's pretty typical with the jet stream dipping in the west and rising in the east although this storm offshore brought in some colder air for us and yesterday we had a few rain and even snow showers or snow pellets graupel as it's called hit the area. as far as the forecast is concerned though, we definitely have a warming trend moving in. today we're tot low 60s and

breezy. tonight we'll be in the upper 40s in town and low 40s north and west. 66 as we head toward friday. saturday 73 degrees. it's going to be a gorgeous weekend. but uplook at the seven day, check this out. sunday, monday and tuesday 80 or better and maybe a shower or storm by late tuesday with the next best chance of showers on wednesday with highs in the upper 60s. but a great opening day forecast. 5:49. monika samtani's in now with timesaver traffic. i'm happy to say this thursday morning's been looking great and it's been incident- free. the only issue if you're sitting in it is the heavy traffic on the inbound side of i-66 it's going to be out of manassas once you're in centerville and beyond it's still looking pretty good. in fact let's take a live look at 6 # on the inbound side and again as i said slow in manassas with the lanes open. back to the maps this time on the northbound side of i-ed 95 and again a bit of slow traffic now forming here ecloses the occoquan river and still looks pretty good in springfield. we'll go there live right now

on the northbound side and again just bunching up a bit to exit to the beltway or continue north to 395. we'll go there now on the northbound side over near washington boulevard i believe. yep, if you're planning to head northbound here, it's still looking like the pace is good to the 14th street bridge. coming up in my next report, we'll focus on maryland at 6:00. back to you mike. thanks monika. here's what's making news now. satellite images appear to show north korea's preparations for the a rocket launch which could happen as soon as todayen the nation says it's simply sending a satellite into space but the western nations say this is really a ballistic missile test which violates the united nations ban. federal authorities are joining the investigation of a church arson in maryland. vandals hit pleasantside baptist church before spray painting racialtures and breaking security -- slurs and breaking security lights. jury selection in john edwards' criminal trial is expected to get underway today. the former democratic

presidential candidate is charged with violating campaign finance laws by using money to hide his pregnant mistress. edwards is phasing 30 years in prison if convicted. we have a happy buddy check update on our own j.c. hayward. she's recovering from breast cancer surgery. i was at the hospital with jc yesterday afternoon. she says you know it's serious when you see her without her hair. when she underwent a lumpectomy. doctors removed the breast tumor, node and tissue around the site where a benign tumor was removed. mondays the doctor told jc the margin look good and no surprises around the benign mass. when she woke up from the anesthesia, first thing she asked for lipstick. you can send j. c. your get well messages on her website. jchayward.com. she expects to be back on the air on 9news now at noon on monday. early detection made the difference in her prognosis. now a food and drug administration panel has just

recommended approval for new breast screening technology. it's called u-system somsv automated breast ultrasound. she joins us now to talk about why this technology will help patients especially those with dense breasts. doctor, thank you for being here. you're excited about this and you call it a game changer. >> this is a game changer andrea. we used to be that mammography or screening were breast cancer was a -- for breast cancer was a one size fates all and mammography is very important. we know many women are saved because of it but in women with dense breasts almost the perfect storm. their mammograms, their breast tissue is light, breast cancers are white and it can be very hard to dump rate the cancer from the normal breast tissue and a third of women with breast cancer and dense breasts have normal mammograms. with i need another toll and this is exactly that tool. it's using ultrasound which

increases the contrast between a breast cancer and dense breast tissue. and in the study there was 25% additional cancer detection in women with dense breasts who had screening ultra sounds. >> you have ultra sounds in your arsenal, what make this is different? >> that's a great question. it takes about a half hour to do the entire exam. so it's not something that we can integrate into the screenings environment but now we have a quick easy efficient way with less callbacks, less false positives to be able to find the otherwise hidden cancers, so we know the cancers are smaller in screening and are curable cancers but clinically significant cancers. so this gives us the opportunity to find them, treat theme and cure women. very exciting. >> two things you mentioned about false positives and the callbacks and we've been doing stories about that and faulty mammography for allowing this

to happen. the anxiety in women and then the cost of the callbacks and the false positives. this can make that much of a difference. >> it certainly does make that much of a difference in that it finds more cancers. there will be more callbacks, you can't find more cancers without looking for more cancers. when you look you also find like j.c. hayward had one malignant cancer and one benign mass. but importantly we're finding these small important curable breast cancers that would ultimately be detected larger, bigger, node positive, he has curable. >> still waiting for approval but if this is approved a woman comes to you for screening and you know she has dense breasts. do you start with this? or do you start with standard mammography? >> mammography is the standard. we start with mammography. this is for women who have a

normal mammogram and dense breast tissue. the 3d automated breast ultrasound. it's painless and it uses no radiation and you have an extra level of assurance that cancer is not in your breasts. >> any woman can have this or you adjust to it for those with dense breasts? >> it is only for women with dense breasts. mammography is aened withful very effect -- wonderful very effective tool for everyone but it's sufficient in women who have nonden breasts. it's a -- dense breasts. if the cancers don't hide there's no white breast tissue but in the situation where the cancers hide because of the lack of contrast with the cancer and breast tissue we now have a tool to find these additional cancers. so it will only be for women with dense breasts and you can't tell if you have dense breasts by feeling, looking, it's only something that you can tell from a mammogram. something that your readiness needs to help you. >> thank you for telling us about what she calls a game changer.

we'll be streaming the interview to the buddy check 9 page shortly. for the latest news log on to wusa9.com, look for buddy check 9 under the features tab. mike? coming up we're going back to the ballpark for a preview of the nationals' 2012 home opener. >> students get a little sticky and signsy at the same time. jess? >> thanks mike. good news at the gas pump. i'm watching your money at 6:09. that's coming up? 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. visit joelosteen.com for ticketing and more information. . . .

good morning and thank you for watching 9news now at 6:00 a.m. everywhere in the studio. i'm andrea roane. >> have you awe wake yet? -- are you awake yet? enjoy the studios. >> glad you're here, here's monika samtani with traffic momentarily and howard is back with a little time off. >> good on the out of the -- glad to be out of the house again. >> i'm sure other people are glad too. >> they were going like the camera oh. no. >> they did their thing and said hey dad, all right, see you later have fun. anyway, welcome to thursday. it's going to be a good day. sun's going to be out and breeze still going to be up though but temperatures are trending into the low 60s as opposed to yesterday's 50s and we are in for quite a treat this weekend. by noon we're in the 50s. 5:00 61 and some highs upper 50s to low 60s today. not bad at al