his rehab will focus on strengthening the quads which should help stabilize the knee. we know how much he loves to run. dr. james andrews released this statement robert griffin iii had successful knee surgery early this morning. he had a direct repair of his lcl and a redo of his previous acl reconstruction. we expect a full recovery and it is everybody's hope and belief that due to robert's high motivation he will be ready for the 2013 season. now, if that timetable of six to eight months holds true, griffin could join his team in training camp and possibly start the season but, of course, only time will tell. more on griffin's surgery a little later in sports. i'm anita brikman at medstar national rehabilitation hospital in d.c. where the talk is all about rgiii, his recovery from the knee surgery today and specifically what kind of rehabilitation he can expect. joining me now is gina brown, a sports medicine specialist, physical therapist. when does rehab start for

rgiii? >> tomorrow. he will come back, and he will probably go to the training room with a physical therapist, and their goals will be to basically work on decreasing the pain and the swelling that's in that joint. >> it hurts a lot in the beginning. >> it definitely hurts. they will be using ice therapy and electrical stimulation to decrease the pain. also another form of electrical stimulation to work on recovering the function of that quadriceps muscle. >> what's going to happen there? what is he going to have to do? >> he is going to have to make sure he can fire that quad muscle by pushing that knee down into the table, to make sure that can work. then after that he will to have do something as simple as learning how to lift his leg up again. sew will have to lift his leg up, just like. so sounds simple at the time, but it's hard after surgery. then finally the other things that they will work on, increasing his range of motion for his knee. so they will use a strap or a

towel or something like so and they will do something that we call a heel slide where they will basically be bending that knee back to work on improving that range of motion. >> reporter: as his incisions heal, what's next when that phase is done and he's back on his feet? >> it's possible they might have him work a little in the pool, to basically walk a little bit and decrease some of the weight berg. >> all of this is progress over months. >> this phase is the first couple weeks, then he will begin some much harder progressive strengthening in the next two or three months. >> hopefully be back on the field next season. >> that's the goal. >> gina brown, thanks for joining us. guys, back to you in the studio. >> thank you anita. doing something is certainly better than nothing. that was the sentiment from vice president joe biden today regarding gun violence. he met with the victims of gun violence and some gun safety

groups in the first of a series of meetings. the goal, reach some sort of agreement in the wake of the mass shootings last month in connecticut. >> every once in awhile there's something that awanes the conscious of the company, and that tragic shooting did it in a way like nothing i've zion my career. >> 20 children died in connecticut, 12 people died five months earlier in a theater in colorado. and gun control is expected to be on the maryland general assembly acknowledge general dan. matt jablow has more. >> reporter: derek, in case there was any doubt remaining, top lawmakers here at the maryland ate house made it perfectly clear that bang assault weapons will be at the very top of this year's legislative agenda. during his remarks opening the

433rd session of the maryland general assembly, house speaker michael bush referred to the legislature as a laboratory for democracy. >> something that this chamber is all about. >> reporter: in the coming weeks, lawmakers in that laboratory will concoct legislation addressing one of the nation's hottest political topics. gun control. >> a lot of people were sickened and enraged at what took place at newtown and said somebody has to do something about it, and those people are those elected to office. >> reporter: the tragedy at sandy hook elementary revived the debate on gun control and the merits of adding stricter gun control laws. >> would you care to say this will be a priority? >> sure, it will be one of many priorities. >> reporter: governor martin o'malley said intends to submit a bill early on in the legislative session that would ban the sale of assault rifles and high-capacity magazines and further limit the availability

of guns to the mentally ill. >> there's no responsibility more fundamental to governing than public safety. >> reading the political tea leaveso mall lee said he believes the majority of law makeers will support the legislation. >> i think there's always a desire to save more lives. >> speaker bush agreed. >> do you think there's an appetite in the state house for more gun control at this point? >> i think there's an appetite, yes. >> reporter: while montgomery county delegate ben kramer said he is looking forward to seeing the specifics of the governor's bill. >> do you think maryland needs a ban on assault weapons? >> i think that it could be useful in the right context, and if it's properly done, certainly it's well worth considering. >> reporter: governor o'malley told me today that he plans to release specific details of his gun control legislation sometime in the next 10 days or. so. >> as always, the devil is in those details. matt, thank you. virginia also opened its general assembly session today,

and just hours before the governor delivers his state of the commonwealth address, state lawmakers were already take aim at his plan to abandon the gas tax. >> i'm peggy fox in richmond where the start of this year's general assembly has democrats blasting the governor's transportation plan. they say it would put an even larger tax burden on northern virginia. >> the house of delegates is now in session. >> reporter: plan won't be an easy sale to repub cap, either. governor mcdonnell wants to eliminate the state's gas tax and raise the state's sales tax, part of the new revenue plus part of the general fund would go to transportation. republican tim hugo of fairfax backs the plan. >> it is a creative solution. we fund it on 17.5 cents a gallon. if the goes to 54.5 there's no money for roads in virginia. >> reporter: democrats say eliminating the gas tax and raising taxes on all other

virginians makes no sense. >> northern virginians current pay about 30% of the transportation funds. the governor's package takes that up 50%. >> reporter: also, they say, cars may use less gas but the combustion engine is not going away in our lifetime. in richmond, peggy fox, 9news. >> as we inch closer to the official start of president obama's second term we learned another member of his cabinet plans to step down. secretary of labor hilda solis says she plans to return to california. her departure means that as of right now just attorney general eric holder, health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius, and one other member plan to statement. coming up, details on a property tax hike that's about the hit one of the area's most congested corridor. and a machete wielding mama

catches a crook red handed. still to come, changing the face of one of the most popular board games in the country. top. >> a cold front pushing through today but another day above average, and every day we get above average we're in good shape. 50 was the high official at national, 34 was the low. another night above freezing. .01 of an inch fell today. we're really behind, though, in rainfall. we'll come back and talk about if this cold front is going to cool us off. but first, a ferry misses the mark and crashes into its pier. we'll have the latest on injuries coming up next.

we're back now with a reminder that you can have the latest news and weather at the touch of your ipad. 11 people were seriously injured when a ferry crashed into a pier in new york city this morning. about 330 people were on board the seastreak wall street when it pulled in from new jersey. a team from the national transportation safety board is already in new york to help determine what went wrong. the widow of that lottery winner apparently poisoned in chicago said she had nothing to do with his death. police are not saying if she is a suspect but they did search her home, and they did speak with her for more than four

hours about her husband's death. the medical examiner ruled that the man died of cyanide poisoning one day avenue collected $425,000 in lottery winnings last summer. the insurance company aig has decided, nah, we won't join that shareholder lawsuit against the federal government. of course, it's the same government that used billions of your money to bail out that company. the lawsuit claims terms of the bailout were unclear. aig's board has chosen not to get involved. what's your favorite piece when you play no knop plea? is it the iron, the thimble, or that little dog? hasbro is holding a con toast eliminate some of the icons.

voting starts tuesday on facebook and will stay open until february 6th. choose one bridge and paralyze area traffic for hours. still ahead tonight, we'll tell you some ideas to avoid the gridlock after last night's horrifying commute. [ male announcer ] now at your neighborhood subway: the big hot pastrami melt.

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new information about more problems for the boeing 787 dreamliner plane. airport officials in japan had to cancel a flight to tokyo because of brake issues with one of the jetliners. so let's see, that makes three incidents in three days with one of those planes. yesterday another 787 leaked some fuel. the day before, a third caught fire on the ground in boston. one person's bad day can cause a ripple effect and enrage commuters. that's what happened last night on the key bridge. police did manage to get the person who threatened to jump off the bridge to come down, but as surae chinn reports, by then drivers were already stuck in traffic for hours. >> this is a notorious choke point. >> but add on closing a bridge -- >> it was actually pretty crazy. >> reporter: and you've got a major disruption. constantine dixon ended up

getting off the metro bus and walking home. >> it goes to show that horrific things can paralyze the whole city for hours and hours. >> reporter: eduardo rirkz ncon left his store to direct traffic because he didn't see anyone doing it initially. >> it was so bad, people were standing there for like an hour. >> reporter: it was a three- hour ordeal at the peak of rush hour. police finally talked the man off the bridge but the damage was done. >> it doesn't take long for traffic to get backed up. >> reporter: d-dot and law enforcement helped by changing the light signals. they divert traffic, once they can get here, but that leaves choke points on other major highways. in the end, d-dot says there's no easy fix. some motorists wonder how to prevent these types of nightmares. a decade ago a tobacco farmer held a standoff driving his

tractor on the mall. >> i'm not sure there's any way to prevent the aftermath. >> reporter: d-dot practices mock drills and fine-tunes its evacuation methods. >> as soon as i hear anything, i just try to go a different way. >> reporter: it's important to know that alternative route ahead of time. >> nothing you can do but keep your patience. >> we contacted metro police. they say their first priority is to save lives. they didn't use any lethal force. police say they used twitter to let you know. a follow-up tonight on those brushfires along i 270 yesterday. we checked with fire and rescue this afternoon. they say right now they just don't know how those fires started but investigators do suspect those small fires along the spur were arson. this next story may make you yell, release the cracken.

no, it's not the mythical creature from the movie, but this is the real life video of a giant scwi.d researches caught that nine-foot beast on camera last summer during an exhibition in the pacific ocean. scientists say it's hard to study the squid because of its harsh environment, but the discovery channel will air a program on their findings later this month. looks like that would be right up your ?ee. yeah, and very clear video. i like that. >> very clear. that's like a monster scwirksd like you want to get out of the way. >> a little creepy, but that's good. okay, 50 today so above average. nothing crazy, but above average. but kind of troubling, because we've had so few days below freezing at national and downtown. could we have a false spring? here's a picture sent to us by mike. it's a crocus coming up, or snowdrops, if you prefer. this is a month or two ahead of schedule. it is not going to be a

disaster if it turns cold again and snows. these guys can handle it. but the sign here is if other plants sort of start doing the same thing and it does get dhoocialtiond cab causes some damage. so hopefully we will get the thing turned around to a more normal pattern. we've got to have winter at some point in time. it will also help the flu, by the way. winds will become northwesterly 10 to 15 after the cold front goes through. mid foirnts rockville but low 40s in bethesda, 45 in burke. 48 in arlington, 45 in college park, and 49 at an droossments temperatures are still above average and really quite pleasant. still nice for january. to keep things in perspective, just chilly tonight, cooler tomorrow but dry. will you need your sunglasses tomorrow. pretty much full sun in the morning. mild with showers on friday but not a washout. so tonight clearing, breezy, just chill. >> reporter: yes 32 to 40, winds northwest at 10 to 15.

by morning, mostly sunny and chilly. you still need a coast. 30s and 40s. winds northwest at 10. the kids will need a coat. by afternoon, looking at partly cloudy skies, cooler, a little bit cooler, but still, highs will be flirting with 50. winds out of the north- northeast at 10. so all things considered, that's another nice january day. the next three days, looking at mild on friday with some showers, 5 1. spring-like. there's the winter on saturday, partly cloudy and 64. can you say canal bike ride or golf? showers on sunday. temperatures still mild. tells in the upper 60s. then showers on monday, sick. those two days will not be washouts. better chance for consistent and widespread rain, maybe even a thunderstorm tuesday into wednesday. still, even wednesday only 49 for a high. still mild. >> i just told him he might as well just round up that 68 to 70 to make us feel better.

>> what stinks is i'm going to denver this weekend for the ravens game where it's going to be 20 degrees, and i'm missing a beautiful weekend. >> you are, but football is on the brain. >> robert griffin iii is out, resting, but how is the rookie really feeling? word from him coming up. plus, another positive step towards ending the nhl lockout for g. sports is next.

we expected the worst but hoped for the best. ahead of today's surgery the extent of damage to robert griffin iii's knee wasn't fully known. dr. andrews discovered damage not only to the lcl but to his already once repaired acl. the good news is they weren't complete tears. the other good news is the recovery time. six to eight months, better than the 12 months we originally expected. both dr. andrews and griffin expect the rookie to be back on the field in 20 136789 griffin made that clear this morning despite the injury and the impending surgery he's been in remarkably good spimplets he tweeted, thank you for your prayers and support. i love god, my family, the team, the fans and i love this game. sigh guys next season. the other big news locally, the

capitals one step closer to official being back on the ice. the nhl board of governors unanimously approved the collective bargaining agreement today. thanks to the handshake agreement caps players have been able to return to their practice few. they can use the facility but until the players association rat fies the cba, no official team activities can be held. that's expected to come by saturday. today commissioner gary bettman says the league has work to do to make it up to you all, the fans. >> we know that no words of apology or explanation will soften the disappointment. the national hockey league has a responsibility attorney back your trust and support whether you watch one game or every game. and that effort begins today. >> is here's a sign it's for real. preparations underway at verizon center for the return of hockey. the ice is down, they built the ice surface, put on all the logos and markings.

the regular season expected to start january 19th. a surprising move today in major league baseball. voters in charge of selecting the newest hall of fame class sent a strong message. not one player will be inducted this year. guys like barry bonds and roger clemens, two players involved in the steroid era of baseball were shut out. it's 28th time this has ever happened, the first since 1996. still time to vote in our latest game of the week poll. some great games for you to choose from. wilson at theodore roosevelt. we'll announce the winner. >> that hockey game is going to be the same weekend going into inauguration. it is going to be a crazy weekend. >> and we are going to be crazy busy. >> yes, we are. derek will sigh at 7:00. have a great night.

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