endorsement of his once bitter rival. >> i'm asked sometimes, is mitt romney conservative enough? compared to barack obama, this is a choice between mitt romney and the most radical president in history. >> highlighting his nastiest comments about romney. >> can't be honest with the american people. why should we expect him to level about anything? >> just a few miles away, romney never mentioned a word about gingrich. hoping to close a double digit gender gap with the president, he steps supporters into the cramped warehouse of a woman owned business. >> do people ask me what would you do to get the economy going? i say look at what the president has done. and do the opposite. >> the democratic national committee brought a handful of protesters out to the romney event. key to romney's case to the american people that he is a

job creator. that he knows how to create jobs. the dnc is trying to undercut that message. they say that it's really just the opposite, that romney's tenure proves that he is a job destroyer, a vulture capitalist and using newt gingrich's own words to make that case to the american people. derek. >> bruce leshan, we thank you. there's a new poll out showing that romney trails president obama in virginia. even if we were to pick governor bob mcdonnell. it was released by public policy polling and says 51% of virginiaen voters would choose the president. 43% would vote for the hypothetical ticket. that poll -- >> michael gardner is headed to prison for 32 years. the falls church community activist and businessman was found guilty this afternoon on

three counts of molesting three girls during a sleep over last summer. our peggy fox joins us live in the courtroom with a difficult case and a tough sentence. >> reporter: that's right. that jury recommending 22 years behind bars. earlier today, finding him guilty of sexually abusing two girls. they were at a slumber party at his house for his daughter's birthday party. the jury believed them. they found the evidence very convincing. the testimony from the little girls and also dna evidence very convincing from the girls who were at the slumber party. a short time ago, we spoke to some of the families involved and here's what one of the fathers had to say. >> there's some soul searching that needs to happen all around. and certainly healing and the verdict will help with the healing and we're going to press forward and the focus should be on these brave young citizens and how justice was served >> reporter: it was heart wrenching watching these three

girls get up on the stand during this trial and testify about these very intimate things that happened to them during the night. now the jury found gardner guilty of only what happened at the slumber party. the sleep over the night before concerning one girl, they could not agree on a sentence there. that was declared a mistrial and they plan to retry that. we'll have more on that later when we find out more about it. but that little girl didn't come forward until after the other girls came forward and police started interviewing all of the girls who were at the slumber party. her clothes were never tested for dna. the dna evidence was very strong from those two girls at the slumber party. their testimony was very strong and basically the jury believed them. these parents are happy that it's over. they are happy they got a verdict and they seem to be a fairly relieved and comfortable

with 22 years behind bars. i'm peggy fox reporting live, back to you. the state of virginia is now asking a judge to overturn the jury's verdict in a wrongful death suit against virginia tech. back in march, a jury ruled in favor of the families of two students who were killed in the 2007 mass shootings at the school. the jurors concluded virginia tech officials waited too long to alert the entire campus. but state attorneys have now filed a motion asking the judge to rule for the state. they argue that the evidence presented in trial did not support what the jury decided. the date is set for the trial of the driver of a bus that crashed in virginia killing four passengers, injuring dozens more. chung is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter. he was driving a sky express bus last may. court records show he admitted to police he fell asleep at the wheel. the bus swerved and turned over off i-95. about 30 miles north of

richmond. new at 6:00, the fate of metro's new silver line and whether or not it will get out to dulles airport. transportation secretary, ray lahood called on a meeting to save the silver line project. opposition to the metro project puts the silver line extension at risk. suray chin live where that meeting is scheduled to take place. suray. >> reporter: well derek, actually the meeting just ended. it ended about an hour ago and the major, major sticking point here is the metropolitan washington airport authority wanting you to use incentives to bring in labor unions. you know the stakes are high when the transportation secretary gets involves in america's metro rail. transportation secretary, ray lahood walks out of the meeting and say there will be metro rails. >> this project is going to move forward. i have every confidence of that.

>> called on virginia governor, bob mcdonnell, area transportation officials, fairfax and loudoun county officials to meet. phase one from west falls church to reston is expected to be up and running by 2014. but plans beyond that have come to a halt. >> we don't want to see the silver line extended from falls church just to reston. we want to be able to get to the airport. >> but loudoun county with a newly elected board is holding out on phase two, getting metro to dulles airport and further into loudoun county. board members say incentives to bring in labor unions, drive up cost, and bring competition down. loudoun county board of supervisor. >> the pla stays in. it's dead in loudoun county. >> all sides seemed encouraged. >> the one sticking point, i think, can be worked out and i think it will be worked out pretty quickly and we'll

proceed ahead. >> now virginiaens right to work state and the legislature has actually recently voted on a bill prohibiting these types of labor agreements. so they may not have any choice to eliminate all of this. while the loudoun county board chair says he welcomes the transportation secretary getting involved. we may not be here today. and he also says that they have to vote by july 4 for the funding of $200 million of their share of the project. back to you, derek. >> thank you. maryland will hold a special session to settle it budget battles. governor martin o'malley agreed today to reconvene the general assembly may 14. lawmakers will try to balance out the doom's day budget that would take $500 million in state spending. nobody wants that. miller says he expects the general assembly to settle within a couple of days. >> a trip to the food truck

will cost you more. the d.c. council passed a bill that will require them to pay a 10% sales tax. the change would only affect vendors that would collect more than $375 in sales tax each quarter. those who don't will only pay a flat $1500 annual fee to the city. that bill now heads it major vincent gray to be signed into law. >> coming up at 7:00, the hallowed halls of the supreme court are getting a makeover. find out why work starts monday. that's tonight at 7:00. >> see you then, derek. coming up in this half hour, cap fans ready to rock the red as their chase for the stanley cup returns to verison center. topper. >> we have severe thunderstorms in effect. washington county and frederick county and jefferson county and loudoun county under a severe thunderstorm warning until 6:45. these are the storms we have been following all afternoon. pushing off to the south and east headed toward fairfax. headed toward parts of the d.c.

area. we'll let you know when they'll roll through. but first, get ready to ditch your ride. a new survey puts d.c. in the top ten worst cities to own a car. we'll talk about that.

we are back with a traffic alert for anyone heading into the district from virginia. starting at 8:00 tonight, the d.c. department of transportation will close the right northbound lane of the 14th street bridge. that is heading into the city. d dot is warning you about delays from the nationals and caps playing in town tonight. that lane will reopen by 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. sitting in gridlock, a will the of us have done that each day. may have you wanting to ditch your car. a new survey says there's a reason for it. according to d.c. ranks as the ninth worst place to own a car. the ranking is because the roads are so confusing. san francisco, new york, and miami top the list.

anita. >> coming up next, a local fire department warns of a disturbing trend. more fire set by young people and learning about it online. -dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal.

is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are those great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh.

a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪

a 24-year-old man is charged with first-degree arson in the fire that injured two firefighters and damaged nearly three dozen apartments in chevy chase. he reportedly confessed to the crime. investigators say he actually lived at the apartment complex and is a relative of a tenant. more than 100 people are still out of their homes at that complex. >> earlier this week, the howard county fire marshal's office said half of the fires they put out are set by young people. these teens are sharing the dangerous acts online. we asked anny hong to investigate. >> in reality, it's not safe.

it's not tested. it's just kids teaching other kids how to do things that are wrong. >> youtube has teens setting themselves on fire, like this guy dressed in a banana costume who ends up in the emergency room on a stretcher with burns. here's the guy dousing himself with lighter fluid and running through train tracks that have been set on fire. and there's even detailed instructions on how to light a hand on fire with dish soap and deoderant. >> juveniles experiment with fires and make bottle bombs. >> teens are using household items like aluminum foil. fire officials say the teens may be curious and bored or trying to get attention because they are unhappy. learned firsthand the importance of keeping flammable items away from children. >> one night i was taking a bath and i left my lighter out

in my room. my grandson decided he wanted to come in and play with the lighter. try to set something on fire. >> no one was injured during that fire, but everything in her room was destroyed. she was displaced from her home for a month and it's still under construction. >> my grandson could have been burned, we could have been hurt. >> only seven years old, went through howard county fire center's program, which teaches juveniles about the consequences of playing with fire. including the safety, legal, and financial ramifications. i'm anny hong, 9news now. >> howard county kicks off its arkansas arson awareness week. drugfreeamerica.org. nearly one in ten teenage smokers, one in ten teenagers

smoke pot at least 20 or more times a month. the organization says that is double what the results showed just four years ago. mothers from across the nation gathered at the national press club to launch a new campaign seeking to end the disastrous war on drugs. >> moms from across the nation are united in speaking out against the silent, but deadly war that caused so many casualties. wasted precious resources and taken away basic human liberties. we are demanding an end to the war on drugs. >> the group says too many families have lost loved ones to violence and incarceration stemming from the criminalization of drugs and the group wants to end that and move from arrest and jail time to therapeutic strategies. >> how about an ice cream flavor you'll have to sign a waiver to try it. it's one of several new menus at a place called the ice cream

store. that new spicey ice cream is called the ghost pepper. if you know your chili peppers, the ghost pepper is one of the hottest peppers known to mankind. i don't know, top. i like ice cream, but i don't know if i like hot ice cream. >> it is weird. kind of counterintuitive. we have severe weather. we talked about this. storms could be hefty and they have become hefty. let's look at doppler 9,000. we are looking at severe thunderstorm warnings for washington county, for frederick county, for jefferson county and also for loudoun county until 6:45. now this is the storm that we are looking at and these are two good storms. they are moving off to the south and east between 18 do 22 miles an hour. so, we're looking at this storm is going to roll through middletown and frederick and myersville and this storm, this has hail in it. just to the south of sharpesburg and hail also in this part of the storm and this is going to move off toward lovetsville and into north western montgomery county.

you know that okay, i'm in north western montgomery county, i could get a big storm here in the next hour or so. so, it certainly has some heavy rain. there's no doubt about that. we're looking at rain fall rates 1 to 2 inches per hour and this is a storm we'll concentrate on. moving to the southeast at 18 miles per hour and here are some of the areas it might impact or it will impact. pleasant valley at 6:30. pine hill estates at 6:37. so if you're down in this area, you have time to actually go out and put your umbrella down, if you put your umbrella up and if you hear thunder, you can be struck by lightning. you need to get away from these storms as well. the warnings continue until 6:45. we will keep you posted. we are looking at hail with that one storm, that's pretty much a given. the rest of the metro area, it's pretty quiet. nothing going on in the immediate metro area, so most of us will have a quiet commute

home. in fact, let's look at the radar with the lightning and you can see the frontal boundary bisecting the metro area. that's as dangerous as anything else, but this one will have hail in it as it moves into portions of loudoun county and eventually into north western montgomery county. it's moving down the river. all right, our live look outside brought to you by michael and son. downtown no problems, just cooler. temperatures 67. winds out of the east, southeast at 9. that's what is keeping us cool. 68 in college park. 70 in reston. you get south of manassas and temperatures are in the low 80s. so warm, but unsettled. some thunderstorms will be heavy. warm again tomorrow with more showers and storms. warmer on friday with yes, more showers and thunderstorms. for tonight, mostly cloudy and warm. thunderstorms possible. some heavy. low temperatures 58 to about 64. now the next seven days. more storms on friday, but warmer. 85. more storms on saturday, 82. and maybe a left over shower on sunday. wouldn't change your tee times,

but a slight chance. upper 70s monday and more storms on tuesday and wednesday. so again, severe thunderstorm warnings for loudoun county, for frederick county, washington county, and jefferson county until 6:45. we'll keep you posted. of course it's on the web at wusa9.com. >> lots of activity on that weather board. thank you. i could say it's another big game, but they are all big games for the caps. >> reporter: every game is extremely important. but of course, tonight big game, can they take control of this series against the rangers? we'll hear from the capitals coming up. plus, a former nfl star is found dead. now his colleagues are speaking out. that's next when sports returns live.

now, 9sports with kristen berset. the best sports in town. >> we are live at the verison center. the series is playing out a lot like their first series did against boston. lose game one on the road, come back with a big game two win, but here's where we hope the story changes. the caps were dominant at home through the regular season, but they struggled here in the playoffs. if the caps can use that momentum and then again saturday, that puts them up three games to one before heading back to madison square

garden. >> it's going to be tough. they are a great team and all of a sudden they want to win tonight, too. it's going to be great. you want a fast start so you can get momentum in your favor. >> now besides the caps, there's lots of nfl news today, we'll start with a sad announcement. junior seau was found dead in his california home today. seau's girlfriend apparently found him unconscious from a gun shot wound to the chest. seau led the san diego chargers to a super bowl in '94, then went on to play for miami and new england before retiring in 2009. the players association released a statement saying seau's determination and passion for the game will always be remembered in the hearts and minds of fans. the nfl player family joins the seau family to mourn a brother lost too soon. >> and more penalties handed down in the new orleans saints

bounty gait. jonathan vilma is out without pay for the entire 2012 season. anthony, scott, and will smith are also suspended for several games. all right, time now to reveal our latest high school game of the week poll. you have one more day to vote. some of your choices, langly at madison, go to d.c..highschoolsports.net to vote. and the nationals, despite being on a five-game skid, get some good news today. stephen strasburg has been voted national league pitcher of the month for april. in five starts, strasburg went 5-0. an nl best 34 strikeouts. giving up just six walks. of course, they're in action tonight against the diamondbacks. caps, rangers, puck drops at 7:30. we'll be back here at 11:00. i'm kristen berset. back to you guy in the studio. >> thank you. topper, more tonight at 7:00? >> the cbs evening news is

next. have a great night.