all day. 44 in la plata. 40 up in martinsburg. sot radar, plenty of rain still to our south. notice the pockets of yellow. that is moderate rain that will cross over 66 right now. and this is the heavy activity that went through southern sections of st. mary's county that knocked out power lines. but i tell you what, if you're going out 66, big-time rains through fairfax and out toward manassas. but the good news, flood watch is canceled and no worries about freezing tonight. so mostly cloudy, breezy and chilly. rain goes to showers around midnight. lows 38 to 44. >> this work along with hundreds of thousands of jobs are currently in jeopardy because of politics in washington. >> president obama warning shipyard workers in new port news today about what could happen if those budget cuts come this friday. the cuts were expected to decimate the defense budget to

the tune of $46 billion. it's a story line we have become all too familiar with. the president blames republican house lawmakers, their leader puts it on the white house. >> where's the president's plan to avoid the sequester? have you seen one? i haven't seen one. however, he wants to raise taxes again. >> now the president says he wants to see a mix of new tax revenue and targeted spending cuts. republicans agreed to raise taxes in the fiscal cliff deal last month and they say that is enough. >> a new poll shows only 25% of americans are paying attention to this latest budget battle. but we caught up with workers from the national treasury employee's union and judging by what they told us, those federal workers are following the story very closely. >> it's like a car payment and a utility bill. it's like a week's worth of mortgage. a lot of employees do not have a very large reserve.

it's going to be a 10% pay cut. i have to lose a day. i'm going to lose a day up until the end of october. financially. you know, that is an electric bill. >> personally, my plan is to take a home equity line out on my house to pay for my children's college tuition. i had an employee who is a lower grade employee ask me if i would take her furlough day and i told her i would because she can't afford her car payment and her rent. >> there is concern, but no apparent panic among the federal workers who talked with bruce johnson. in fact, a large group of employees for the smithsonian just learned they will not be furloughed during the cuts. >> the mandatory federal budget cuts come on march 1. >> are they talking about furloughs? no information whatsoever? >> no. just that it may happen, that's it. >> many of the workers outside offices in southwest could be

looking at furloughs for weeks to come after that. >> your guess is as good as mine. >> the union representing the most federal workers say some furloughed employees could lose up to 20% of their pay before the fiscal year ends september 30. >> you were hoping everything gets resolved? >> government contractors, they are also concerned. >> we don't have something to build. that's a problem. i'm sure it can be far reacher. >> she loved this airplane. >> meanwhile at the air and space museum which shows off to 8 million visitors a year, smithsonian employees here and elsewhere got some good news today. >> there's going to be an impact. we were told that while there are some 6,000 smithsonian employees, most of them here in the washington area, there will be no furloughs, no closings. the smithsonian smoke spokesperson says there will be a hiring freeze, and reduce business travel if $40 million in sequester cuts are made. >> some of them think it's a

good thing because it's going to start reducing the budget deficit. >> visitors of air and space weighed in on the standoff between democrats and republicans that is leading to the major cuts. >> some people are concerned about defense. national security, other people are concerned about jobs that will be cut and how that will affect family. >> and the uncertainty is the city's hospitality industry, including cab drivers and hotel workers. if government flows and contractors stop traveling, i lose money, said one hotel doorman. of course i'm worried. bruce johnson, wusa9. >> the pentagon said almost 800,000 of its workers could lose up to 20% of their pay through those furloughs. >> as you just heard, the threat of government furloughs has federal workers on edge and that's why wusa9 started a petition. we are asking, should the congress face penalties if federal workers are furloughed due to sequestration? if you want to weigh in, here's what you do, you'll find the

petition on our home page at wusa9.com. ben bernanke is urging lawmakers to do something about these automatic budget cuts. bernanke warned that sequestration will slow down the sluggish u.s. economy even further. bernanke said despite some positive economic improvements, the job market is weak. >> lengthy periods of unemployment and under employment can erode skills and the labor force or prevent young people from gaining skills and experience in the first place. developments significantly reduce their earnings in the longer term. >> until the job market improves significantly, the fed plans to keep the easy money policy going. >> chuck hagel will be the country's next secretary of defense. the senate voted a short time ago to confirm the former nebraska senator. suggesting hagel was too critical of israel.

hagel succeeds leon panetta who is stepping down. it may be the most important criminal procedure case in decades and the supreme court seems split right down the middle. the question, when and where is it appropriate for police to swab your cheek for dna? the high court heard oral arguments today. police should have sought a warrant before taking alonzo king's dna and running it through a dna. the dna sample was just like taking fingerprints. others ask, where will it end? will you have to give up your dna to get a driver's license? >> montgomery county police are warning tonight about an intimidating phone scam that has been used to con dozens of people out of thousands of dollars. one of those people targeted gives scott broom a firsthand account of how these folks used fear and intimidation to victimize. >> but your son hit my

brother's bmw in a gas station. >> early morning call to his cell phone was so intimidating, this man doesn't want to be identified. the story he heard on the other end was shocking. >> your son tried to call the police and my brother grabbed him and took him to an apartment. >> the threat sounded very real. >> he wanted $800 to fix his bmw. he wants $800 now or i don't know what he's going to do. starting to figure out it was a scam because my son doesn't even own a car. >> and that's when this victim hung up and called in police. notably investigators say the scammers use a technique called spoofing, which causes a local 301 area code to display when in fact the calls are coming from outside the u.s. victims are told to wire money to locations in florida and puerto rico. >> he is trying to be completely and totally in charge. don't hang up this phone, get in your car, go to the western

union. >> these calls start with the scammer fishing for information and asking questions. in this case, it was, do you have a son? and when the victim said yes, the scammer was off to the races. scott broom, wusa9. all right, so if this happens to you, don't give out your personal information. don't send any money, just call police. is new jersey governor, chris cristie, being snubbed by his own republican party? he has not received an invite to this year's cpac, the political conference. cpac draws a whose who. cristie was a featured speaker last year, but some conservatives see him as just too cozy with the democrats. when sandy crushed new jersey' coast. cristie praised president obama's quick response days before the november election. here is cristie on october 31. >> i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and for the people of our state. >> in january, cristie accused

gop leaders in congress of stalling relief funds for his state and after the school shooting in newtown, he called the national rifle association reprehensible for running an attack ad against the president. coming up in your only local news at 7:00, we are going in-depth. first of all, sequestration. new information on how it might impact the d.c. region and the news is not so good. also, gun control. we're going to go one on one with a pastor who says god expects you to protect your loved ones, even if that means using deadly force. a lot to talk about at 7:00. still ahead, snowplows in ditches, jackknifed buses and tens of thousands of people in the dark tonight. we'll head out to the midwest where a massive snowstorm is making life pretty miserable. and after the break, men infull trait a field that was once a girls club and apparently, they are making more money doing it. you'll want to hear more about this.

orange line service is back to normal tonight. single tracking between east falls church and west falls church led to massive delays this morning. furious riders took to twitter to express their outrage. the delays apparently are a result of damaged signal equipment, which metro believes occurred during testing overnight on the silver line.

>> it's a field dominated by women, but according to a new census bureau, male nurses make more money than their female coworkers. the average male nurse earns $61,000 annually. compare to the $51,000 a year women take home. one reason is that men are more likely to work full-time than women. plus, there are more men in the higher earning areas of nursing, such as anesthetists. while women work in doctor's offices and schools. men make up 10% of the nursing field. still ahead, the unsinkable ship gets ready to take to the waters once again. plus, we'll take a look at that massive winter storm that is dumping snow all over the middle of the country.

it was called the unthinkable ship. it didn't hold true for the titanic. today, an australian businessman -- it's a full scale recreation of the original. titanic 2 is expected to make its main voyage to new york in 2016. the same fateful route the

original ship traveled in 1912. >> it's rainy and sloppy, it is not fun to be out on the roads. but it is nothing compared to what the nation's midsection is suffering through blizzards have left thousands without power. three people have died and randall pinkston brings us the story. >> snow is falling fast in the midwest, making for a messy evening commute. >> it's getting nasty out here. >> there was a bus that was jackknifed. >> northern arkansas, iowa, and illinois are next in line for the blizzard that already buried the texas panhandle, oklahoma, kansas, and missouri. this storm is the second in a week and forecasters say the snow is heavy with moisture making it more difficult to clear. at least eight snowplows in missouri wound up in ditches. this dash cam caught thunder and lightning in kansas city. officials blame the storm for

three deaths. over 100,000 homes and businesses are without electricity and many roads and schools are closed. few flights are getting out of airports in the region. chicago's o'hare has canceled more than 150 flights ahead of the storm. it's expected to dump up to half a foot there. residents of oklahoma and the texas panhandle are now digging out. 19 inches of snow buried amarillo, texas, its third largest snowstorm on record. the mountains outside denver got over 2 feet. but there is a bright side. every 10 inches of snow equal one inch of rain and this drought stricken region desperately needs water. randall pinkston, cbs news, new york. >> the storm is pushing warm weather to the southern states, but that could spawn tornadoes. don't want those. >> and spring storms have everything. they have the heavy snows, heavy rains, and severe weather. >> thunder snow. they had reports of thunder snow in wichita. >> that's awesome.

that's awesome stuff. >> we don't have any of that. we have no thunder snow or thunder rain. we have pretty good areas of steady and heavy rain pushing through the metro area. let's start with a live look outside. it is our live michael and son weather cam. it is dark outside. here we go. 44 was the high so far. now it's up to 45. temperatures are going to be steadier rising all night. we have winds easterly at 20. restriction on the bay bridge because of winds. a warning until 11:00. our winds even downtown are gusting in the 30-mile per hour range. we're looking at a tough commute home. not as bad as the midwest, but a tough commute home. we have snow from detroit back through chicago up to madison and back into iowa. and that's what is left of the big storm. secondary storm is developing and that quite frankly is giving us our rain. our rains extend south. they go through richmond. all of this has to move northward before we are clear

of our rain fall. you see the yellows, this is heavy rain towards leesburg. that's nothing to sneeze at, just to the east. and we're looking at patches of heavy rain around tyson's and downtown, not far from the mall and some showers also to the east of town in prince journals georges county. the flood watch has been canceled and i don't want you to let your guard down. 41 rockville. 41 in bethesda. 43 now in springfield. 43 in college park and 43 in waldorf. so, windy and wet commute home. not a pretty sight. rain ends around midnight and tapers to showers. good news, we stay well above freezing tonight and a touch of spring on wednesday. that's going to be pretty nice. tonight, mostly cloudy, breezy, chilly. rain ends as showers. lows 38 to 44. wins southwest 10 to 15. tomorrow morning, returning partly sunny, 30s and 40s. and by afternoon, pretty good shape.

partly sunny, breezy, milder. highs 55 to 60 and winds southwest at 10 to 15. next three days, going to keep everything as a green alert. 57 tomorrow. 49 on thursday. maybe a rain or snow shower, not going to alter your plans and breezy and colder on friday. 46, march comes in not like a lamb, not like a lion, we talked about this, like a junkyard dog. maybe a flurry saturday night, only 40 on sunday. and we're looking at upper 30s to near 40 on monday. we bounce back to the upper 40s with sunshine next tuesday. we'll be back

now, here's dave owens at the cadillac sports desk. >> in case you wonder whether people are still rocking the red, here's your answer. >> hey, this is a big run here tonight, folks, and it's about alex ovechkin and alex simmons. you remember him, the other alex who seems endless. he made jaw dropping plays here, but he was also lethargic at times and seemed to disappear. the caps let him go, now he's on the other side of the ice and some current caps say, alex

simon, good riddens. >> some didn't know if he was going to come to the rink. so it's tough to play alongside guys like those because you don't know what you're going to get. >> you see the guys you know and the first time for me, it was really difficult and especially when you had some good success there. >> all right, from that alex to the other alex. alex ovechkin. you know, the russian rocket has been the lightning rod of this franchise for so many years, but lately, his productivity has fallen off. that was until this weekend when he gave folks a glimpse of what he could do. this weekend, he really turned it on and it was certainly a sight to see. his first patrick and over two years. he is not the 50 goal scorer he used to be, but his teammates say the alex ovechkin we have is good enough. >> the more threats you have,

the more it spreads at their defensive abilities. ovi will play against the top defensemen. if you have those other threats on different lines and able to spread it out and have that secondary scoring -- >> let's move on to other sports of the day. nats lost it, but that's not the story. bryce harper continues to rake 3 for 3 today, including an rbi double. that makes 6 for 8. drove in a pair of runs. adam and jason worth will make their spring training debuts tomorrow. the redskins are saying they may take legal action against the league for the $36 million cap penalty the league imposed. now mark and mike jones are of the washington post said the action could delay the start of free agency. all right guys, that's the world of sports back here at the verison center. they are still saying, let's go caps, one more time.

>> let's go caps. yeah. >> let's go caps. let's go caps. >> let's hope the caps get going here tonight against carolina. first place versus last place. we'll have a full wrap up at 11:00. back to you guys in the studio. >> no lack of enthusiasm. the ice is on the inside, not on the outside. >> lesli is rocking the red tonight. >> i am rocking the red. >> there you go. go caps. >> next three days, really, light at the end of the tunnel. tomorrow is going it be nice. upper 50s near 60. partly sunny. then temperatures will go down. thursday rain or snow shower and back in the upper 40s and friday, first of march, breezy, colder, temperatures in the mid 40s. about what you would expect. colder over the weekend. >> okay. >> push the transition up a month. >> that's it for us, cbs evening news is next. good night, everyone.

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