♪ what did we learn on the show tonight, craig? ♪ [meow] [laughter]

for the first time, america hears george zimmerman's side. we'll show you his apology to trayvon's parents and look at what's next. plus, topper is tracking storms, including a nor easter headed our way. >> this sentence sends a message that the lives of our three children are meaningless. >> three young people were

killed by a drunk driver. why the judges cut the sentence in half today. >> this is 9news now. >> white hot anger. that's the only way to describe parents reaction after a drunk driver convicted of killing their children had his sentence reduced by half. >> spoke with some of those parents who were not shy on unloading on the parents. >> a three-judge panel looked over that original 20 year sentence. kevin coffee and his attorneys argued it was too stiff of a penalty and they won it. that victory wasn't celebrated by everyone. >> by slashing that sentence and, that's what generates the culture of recklessness. that's what propagates and perpetuates this feeling of

entitlement. >> his son was killed in the wreck that kevin coffee admitted causing. coffee was behind the wheel when he crashed into a tree in montgomery county. three of his friends while coffee fled the scene on foot. the families are left infuriated, not only with the lessoning of the sentence, but the treatment they got from the judge who read the decision. >> when i heard what he had said, it's exactly what he's done. he has put the stamp of approval on the kevin coffees of the world, who come along without a care or thought in the world and take lives. >> he said in court today, that coffee should be incarcerated, but his life should not be destroyed. his family is sending the wrong message. >> i think they would reduce it five years, but i didn't think they would reduce it over half. >> the judicial system is an absolute joke. the rest of the country should look at this and say wow, we

don't want ours to be like that. >> haley was also killed in the wreck. today's decision gives them no closure. >> i was absolutely floored. i could not believe what i was hearing. >> clearly the family is very upset and just so you know how angry they are, judge mccann likes drunk drivers. >> wow, they really singled him out of the panel, is that right? >> because he's the one that read the decision to them. they have a bone to pick with him. >> all right, kent, thank you. 53-year-old rickie vincent has been arrested in the april 15 shooting inside a rite aid store. police say vincent shot albert in the back during a hold up. the victim's mother says he's now paralyzed from the waist down. officials charged in the cases official charges, that is, are pending and vincent could be

charged with intent to kill. >> man charged with murdering trayvon martin was granted bond today. george zimmerman in fact could be out of jail sometime this weekend, but as gary is here to explain, that was not the biggest surprise today. gary. >> for the first time since the con from controversial shooting, we got to hear from george zimmerman himself. >> it came as a surprise. >> my client wants to make a statement to the court. >> in shackles, george zimmerman made his way to the witness stand. >> i wanted to say i am sorry for the loss of your son. i did not know how old he was. i thought he was a little bit younger than i am and i did not know if he was armed or not. >> prosecutors implied that is pr. >> that's really for the family and media happens to be, correct mr. zimmerman? >> and argued he should not get bail. >> he will be a danger on the community and based on the crime, he should be kept on no

bond or the bond should be $1 million. >> an investigator about his report on the shooting. >> do you know who started the fight? >> do i know? no. >> do you have any evidence that reports may have started the fight? >> no. >> zimmerman's story that he was attacked by martin doesn't hold up. >> did he not describe to the police that mr. martin had him on the ground and kept bashing his head on the concrete over and over and physically beating him? >> he has said that, yes. >> isn't it true there's evidence that indicate it's not true? >> yes. >> wouldn't you agree a lot of his statement can be contradicted by the evidence, witnesses, or based on what he said himself? >> yes. >> zimmerman's lawyer surrendered zimmerman's passport and wanted what he wanted from the judge. >> martin's family left the court angry at the result and rejecting zimmerman's i'm sorry. he's not out yet, concerned for

his safety, they are making arrangements for him to be held out of state. could be out in the next day or two. anita. >> gary, thank you. three more secret service agents resigned today in the mist of a prostitution scandal. a white house official says president obama is being briefed on the investigation today. as many as 12 secret service employees are already on leave as the government investigates. what happened at a hotel in columbia last week before the president arrived for a summit? >> that secret service agent dallied with prostitutes while out of the country has gone from bizarre to scandal to career ending in a matter of days. derek is shocked that we are so shocked. >> anita, i don't believe we're all that taken aback by this. everybody is saying all the right things. this is terrible. we thought these guys were better than that. how could they compromise the president's security, all that is good, but wait just a second. isn't this the same country we're being caught naked on film used to be humiliating?

but now, it makes you a reality tv star, a place where some of our most critically acclaimed television has more sex than late night cable ever did and politicians have been scandalized but somehow, we never imagine that the guys who protect them could have similar weaknesses? i am not making excuses for their bad behavior and the harsh punishment is deserved. but let's be real. secret service agents brought prostitutes to their hotel room, but shocked, shock has left the building. anita. birds struck vice president joe biden's plane. now nobody was hurt. the vice president left santa barbara this morning as scheduled, but on a different plane. a passenger on thursday's delta flight that hit a flock of birds in new york city shot

this video. you can actually see birds fly by his window. you see feathers in the engine machinery. we don't know if those birds are the ones that caused the emergency landing. the pilot turned the plane around at jfk airport shortly after takeoff because the right engine wasn't working. passengers were put on another flight. today, president obama welcomed to the white house from the wounded warrior project, soldier ride. the annual cycling event helps wounded service members restore their physical and emotional well being and raises awareness. >> so all the writers here today, we are proud of you, your country is proud of you and now i'm going to see how you guys do, taking some laps around the south lawn. but you have to do it on the horn. i don't want anybody cheating. >> this is year number six for this event and this is the fourth year that the cyclists have made a stop at the white house. a commuter alert for folks looking to ride metro this

weekend. an hour ago, crews started closing the takoma, and brooklyn stations and they'll stay closed until the system opens on monday morning. it's all part of the continuing efforts to rebuild and refurbish the red line. check out what was left of the school bus after it caught fire along the baltimore washington parkway today. this happened at annapolis road in landover. now there weren't any kids on the bus at the time and the driver also got out okay. we're told the smoke could be seen for miles away. new information tonight about that massive tanker fire in ohio yesterday. if you didn't see the pictures, stop and take a look now. it started at an oil company as workers loaded fuel into the truck. once it spread to nearby buildings, it took firefighters from 50 50 50 departments to get it under control. here's a reminder, be sure to ground yourself on something.

a hero's homecoming for a volunteer firefighter in prince georges county. the 7th and final firefighter injured in a river dale house fire last february is out of the hospital. he was released today. and 9news now was there at the med star washington hospital as kevin o'tool thanked the staff who nursed him back to help. he suffered burns to half his body. he has undergone ten surgeries. >> when they rolled me in that night, i made a commitment to, this isn't going to take me. i am going to fight my way through this and get back to who i was. every day is a good day from now on. >> now that fire was an arson, but the person who started it has yet to be caught and remains an active investigation. at least now, all seven firefighters injured that day are home safe. >> that's good news. topper has been saying we need rain and it looks like we're going to get it this weekend. is that all that's in the forecast? >> we have thunderstorms in the forecast. we have it all.

76 today for the high. we'll be in the upper 70s tomorrow. let's start with radar. we have a good line of showers and thunderstorms. this is problem number one of the weekend. we have a cold front that will go through tomorrow and we have a nor'easter that has to move up the coast on sunday. so this activity, i think will stay at bay throughout most of the day. some of the showers could get into the mountains as we get into the noon hour. if you are trying to go to nats game, it should be dry. dry and mild saturday morning, early tee time, we told you that yesterday, perfect. storms time frame, 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and staying wet saturday night. now we'll come back and put some numbers and we'll let you know if the bulls eye is going to be over the drought area as well. >> thank you, top. still ahead tonight on 9news now. remember these? vinyl records are not only still around, but people will be lining up to buy them tomorrow, we'll tell you why.

>> plus, the space shuttle enterprise hits a new snag in its move out of d.c. that story coming up as well on 9news now

welcome back. we're teaming up with the university of maryland to give somebody a new ipad. just log on to facebook and like the wusa9 page for your chance to win. you can also get a university of maryland survival kit filled with all kinds of free and cool stuff from the school. we're going to announce the ipad winner in mid may. the bill that would make maryland the first state in the country to make it illegal for your boss to ask for your password is in the governor's hands tonight. a spokesperson says martin o'malley was reviewing the measure. it will apply to those interviewing for jobs and their potential employees. at least nine other states are considering similar measures. the fbi wants you to run a sweep of your computer to make sure it's clean. that's because hackers have been running an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world. the fbi set up a safety net months ago. that program is going away in

early july. hundreds and thousands of us could lose internet connections. learn how to check and clean your computer by logging on to wusa9.com and click on the consumer section. way before the days of computers, ipads, mp3 players, we had these. record albums and tomorrow, folks will be lining up to get their hands on rare releases on vinyl. that is because tomorrow is national record store day. i thought they were extinct, too, but no. recording artists will pay their respects to local record stores by releasing old and new songs on vinyl. record stores will be selling more than 300 new releases from artists ranging from katy perry to aretha franklin. one of the owners expects a lin around the block. >> why is vinyl so good? >> the sound of it, the feel, the artwork. inserts that come inside, posters, special things. a lot of times it will come with the mp3 down load so you

can have the cd, it's convenient, but you have the vinyl at home when you are trying to chill. you can't down load vinyl. >> you can't download vinyl. give independent music retailers a chance with come competing with the online record sales. personally, i love my vinyl. anita. >> earth day is this sunday, derek, and today preschool students at chesterbrook academy released thousands of lady bugs into the air. they are dressed like them, too. they set them free in nine locations to improve the health of local plant life. a police officer in ohio stopped traffic to help a family of ducks cross a busy road. you can see, it was a little blurry. the officer's dash board camera caught the entire scene. the mother duck took coaxing, but the family made it safely across. >> that's always nice. a bit of a setback in the

shuttle shuffle out at dulles airport. the space shuttle enterprise will not be leaving our area on monday as we had thought. that's when the shuttle was supposed to leave for its new home in new york, but nasa had to delay that departure because bad weather is coming and supposed to be in new york and here in d.c. blame topper if you want. however, the uss intrepid is ready. that meant the planes that hadn't been in the air for years had to take to the skies once again, but this time with the help of a crane. no word yet on when nasa will be rescheduling the departure. we should ask topper about that, too. >> it was a coastal storm. >> it's really hammered new england. they'll get 4 to 5 inches of rain. >> over the 24, 36 hour period. we are going to get significant rain. i think the heaviest rain will be east of 95 and appears the bulls eye will be right over where the drought area is in the dell morva.

let's take a live look outside at the live weather cam. temperatures still very mild. 63. looking at winds out of the south, southeast at 6. 29.85 inches of mercury. indicating that a storm is indeed on the way. satellite picture radar combined. inbetween nashville and memphis through coastal sections of texas and louisiana and this is what will roll through our area tomorrow. i think we'll buy a pretty good first half of the day in the immediate metro area. you're going out in the mountains, probably right around lunchtime. i think in town, inside the beltway, probably 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, we have some time to do some things tomorrow before the rain rolls in. now here's the deal. i'm kind of preferring this model right now. other models are showing much less rain. some are showing more rain. this is a good in the middle,

if you will. by 11:00 on sunday, .6 downtown. look at the bulls eye. an inch in cambridge. almost 2 inches in georgetown. heaviest will be east of i-95. that will not change. anny will be here all weekend in case flood watches are issued. early games should be okay if your kids are in leagues, they should be fine tomorrow morning. pups at the park. go to our website, wusa9.com and click on my blog. you can bring pups to the park tomorrow. the nats game should be fine. a slight chance for showers late in the game. wet saturday night, nothing heavy and no storms, but wet saturday night and rain and just like march on sunday. we're talking about temperatures struggling to get up to the upper 50áz. overnight tonight, mild, we stay dry. low temperatures 54 to 60 and winds out of the south at 10. tomorrow morning, partly sunny and mild. maybe a late shower or storm west of town. temperatures in the 50s and 60s and by afternoon, especially 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, partly sunny

and warm. high 74 to 78. last warm day for a while. a long while. here's the next seven days. rain on sunday and windy. temperatures holding in the mid to upper 50s. more showers on monday, mid 50s. more showers on sunday. storms possible wednesday and thursday and more showers on friday. so we have an icon on every day. >> it's going to be jacket weather for the kids. >> making up for all that sunny time. a great day for baseball between two of the biggest rivals at one of the oldest parks. >> fenway park turning 100 years old today. the red sox celebrating by bringing back some past stars. but then, the celebration was a bit cut short because they lost to the yankees 6-2. >> however, even though daniel sanders were rooting for different teams, they walk ed

away very happy. a couple from our area started the day with a surprise. >> what's special about this day? >> 100 year anniversary and one more thing. >> no way. >> will you marry me? >> oh my gosh. get the ring out. >> you're kidding. will you marry me? >> yes. >> she said yes. my favorite, he has it wrapped up so he wouldn't lose it. it took him a moment. >> he looked like he had it in a twist bag. >> yeah, different team, different sports fans. perfect union. >> wow. wow. how about that? >> very nice. >> marriage and everything. >> you and i want to talk about sports. >> i definitely want to talk about that. >> test taking and what does

it really mean? the infamous test and its results coming up and in baseball, the nats patrol does it again. you cannot beat them if you can't score on th

and now, 9sports with dave owen. the best sports in town. >> best start since 1981. a nice surprise, but maybe it shouldn't be good pitching equals a lot of wins and currently, there's one team with a better e.r.a. than washington. these guys have been fantastic. fifth starter. he's not even one, two, three, and four. and this guy is throwing smoke. he gave up zero runs. not a will the of support until rick. by the power vested in me, i pronounce you gone. nats win 11-4. stephen strasburg pitching tomorrow, by the way. each year at the combine, the

nfl is a test the players call the wonder. a 50 question exam that measures the ability to solve problems. you only get 12 minutes to answer as many as you can. andrew luck, 37. does it mean luck is smarter, but just took the test better. the average is 21. is there a correlation between score and success? not really. dan scored 16. donovan mcnabb, 14. how hard is it? well, stay tuned, we're going to have something for you. acc semifinals lacrosse. this is duke's tommy patterson. might be a good idea to guard him, don't you think? that's whoo happens when you don't guard him. maryland loses 6-5. maryland women and virginia men won in their tournaments today. over 13,000 of you voted for the high school game of the week. thomas jefferson, lacrosse. let's check out the rebels first. this is corey brown from moon cam.

he's a rebel. a rebel run, rebel yell, what can brown do for you? thomas jefferson coming back, though. thomas jefferson knew five languages. the colonials win. finally, i'm glad you got your pencils here. back to the wonder lick test. we have some questions. >> wonder lick has nothing to do with lollipops, right? >> we have easy questions. here's number one. what is the 9th month of the year. >> september. >> what is that? >> that's the bell. that means your good. that's the easy one. here's a hard one. you ready? a boy is 17 years old. his sister is twice as old. when the boy is 23 years old, what will be the age of the sister? >> she'll be 40. >> anita? >> i'm still adding. >> is that right? >> yes. >> last one before we go to

break. what does four pads cost? >> 84 cents? >> yes. >> you could be a quarterback. >> we're out of here. >> those are pretty easy. >> there's a reason