. >> i'm scott broom on the campaign trail in montgomery county. coming up, the surprising democratic dog fight in a brand- new congressional district here in maryland. i'll tell you why the candidates are at each other's throats. ♪ [ male announcer ] for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering. >>> one week from today, voters in maryland and d.c. will be heading off to the polls in the primary. and one of the gop candidates focussen on focusing. he stopped by the state house, visited a jewelry store and had lunch. and while he was over at the state capital, he took some time out to blast martin o'malley for his plan to impose sales taxes on the purchase of gasol

that college student has been in the country since he was 8 years old and scott broom was in rockville where people were rallying for his cause. >> reporter: i'm scott broom in rockville where a young college student facing deportation received a hero's welcome this afternoon after being released from detention. 19-year-old jorge steven acuna and his family just released from a maximum security holding facility on maryland's eastern shore pending deportation proceedings late yesterday. and they've come home to a hero's welcome. friends from montgomery college hastily started an online campaign last week to get him and his family freed. >> you're brought to this country by your parents and all you're willing to do here is get an education, have a dream, set some goals up. >> reporter: but not everyone here is a supporter. >> if you come here illegally and you don't do the right thing, i don't care if you get great grades. it's good for you, but it's the law. we deport people. >> these are the kind of people we want in our country, not to deport them because they can impact our society i

. >> reporter: i'm scott broom in northeast washington where coming up i'll have the surprising story behind how a crime fighting truck driver ended up smashing into this safeway to stop a fleeing suspect. >>> a truck and an suv smash into a northeast d.c. grocery store today after a man took action to help out a police officer on foot in hot pursuit of a suspected thief. now the sequence of events unfolded like a scene straight out of a hollywood action flick. it happened at east river park safeway off benning road. scott broom has spoken to several eye witnesses and they paint a pretty dramatic picture. >> reporter: what happened out here this morning was crazy and it was dangerous and it started right at this door with a suspected shoplifter running outside with a police officer who happened to be in the store in hot pursuit. there was a dodge durango truck parked here. the suspect jumps in the car. the police officer is trying to smash the windows out. while all that's happening the driver of this ryder rental truck sees it. he thinks the police officer is in trouble. he takes his

scott broom, 9news now. >>> and we're having beautiful weather. >> yeah, we are.ou know one thing would be worst if we had rain. i mean we've only had an inch of rain this month as opposed to 3 which we normally should have. it's been a little dry or else they'd really be growing like weeds. >> i'm telling you they're all in my front yard, i really do. >> the neighbors have been talking jc. weather-wise a nice day out there but tonight we could have some problems especially north and west of town. a look at the freeze warnings, they're not even close to the metro area but i point them out because anybody watching us and we got some viewers there in adams county, pennsylvania. you have a freeze watch currently and alleghany county and points west, freeze warnings have been posted. you notice it around pittsburgh and eastern ohio as well and it's not out of the question that later today, national weather service, i tell you these areas going to get cold too. maybe a frost advisory posted later on especially up to the pennsylvania border and some of our areas west of

reporting live in new carrollton, scott broom, 9 news now. >> i love it. a big kudos to mrs.hanks for showing us that because i wouldn't think there would be that big of a difference irritate. >> $800, that's a whole lot of bread for putting the pedal to the metal. >> yup. i think his wife has been talking to mine. here's the deal. we've got kind of a stable environment which is good, so no severe weather here, but tell you, what out in kentucky and indiana, ohio, even west virginia, virginia, severe weather again. i believe we have some life shots still of henryville in indiana 40 miles north of louisville. they got hit pretty hard. we have unconfirmed reports of three fatalities now. we know it hit the high school, but the kids apparently had taken shelter and were okay, no reports of injuries in the high school. you can see parts of the houses in the neighborhood just flattened. some home left, some half of homes left, very typical of tornado damage. they're very small usually, anywhere from 100 yards wide to make 1/2-mile wide. so you can find places that survivor and the

reporting live downtown, scott broom, 9news now. >>> scott broom, thank you. a bit of a testy exchange today. rick santorum lashed out last night when a "new york times" reporter asked him to explain his latest attack on mitt romney. >> said mitt romney is the worst republican in the country, is that true? >> what speech did you listen to? >> right here. >> stop lying. quit distorting our words. if i see it, it's bull. come on, man. >> okay. santorum did try to clarify, saying romney couldn't take on president obama when it comes to healthcare. >>> pope benedict xvi is in cuba tonight. he got to the city of santiago this afternoon after paying a visit to mexico and he'll hold a mass there tonight. he's trying to attract roman catholic followers in a country until recently was officially atheists. the pope is in havana tomorrow and plans to celebrate mass in the revolution plaza on wednesday. guys, how is it out there? >> it's nice. it's a little cooler. i got the wusa9 weather app and it's saying there's a freeze warning tonight. >> here's what is weird about

and scott broom is working this story with smokers and nonsmokers alike. >> reporter: smoking in the car with kids. i spent two hours outside this big convenience store in beltsville, maryland today talking to people about it, and not a one of them said it was a good idea. >> smoking in the car with kids is not good at all. >> kids should not be around smoke whether it's in a car or outside. >> reporter: so why has it been so difficult to pass law against it in maryland's legislature? in maryland's legislature, proposed bans on smoking with dipdz car has been shot down eight times since 2007. and this year another fight is brewing over a bill that would ban smoking with kids under eight. eight years old. with republican senator ed rail lee ready to lead the opposition. >> this is another intrusion of government on private lives. >> reporter: baltimore county senator bobby zurkin is on the other side. >> this is about the effect on somebody who has no choice. >> the science on this is a slam dunk. a harvard study found that inside a car with a smoker contaminants are hazardous even fo

scott broom has more. >> reporter: she's on the phone. he is on the phone and both are in the middle of the street. here comes ronna epting texting as she crosses the street. you just crossed the street looking at your iphone. >> yes. but i looked to the right. >> reporter: aren't you afraid of getting hit? >> i looked to the right really quickly. >> i'm listening to a book and playing a game of. >> reporter: you know, there's some folks in washington who think it should be illegal to cross the street while you're distracted. what do you think? >> good luck passing that. >> reporter: one thing is for sure, washington has a pedestrian safety problem. more people get hit by cars in this city than in new york or san francisco or los angeles or anywhere. so is it the distracted drivers or is it the distracted walkers? last year 11 pedestrians and two bicyclists were killed in washington, about 700 per year injured. the council for court excellence report calls on lawmakers to beef up safety laws to make walking and cycling while distracted ju

we asked scott broom to determine why. >> reporter: smoking in the car with kids. spent two hours outside this big convenience store in beltsville, maryland talking to people about it, and not a one of them said it was a good idea. >> smoking in the car with kids is not good at all. >> kids should not be around smoking whether it's in a car or outside. >> reporter: so why has it been so difficult to pass a law against it in maryland's legislature? in maryland's legislature, proposed bans on smoking with kids in the car has been shot down eight times since 2007. and this year another fight is brewing over a bill that would ban smoking with kids under eight. eight years old. with republican senator ed rylie ready to lead the opposition. >> this is another intrusion of government on private lives. >> reporter: baltimore county's senator is on the other side. >> this is about the effect on somebody who has no choice. >> reporter: the science on this is a slam dunk. a harvard study found that inside a car with a smoker contaminants are hazardous even for the general pub

but as scott broom tells us, her remarks were brief and she refused to answer any questions. >> council member toles still is not answering questions, she just read from a written statement. she admitted to guilt and she was sorry. >> i now respectfully ask in the interest of all concerned that you reserve judgment and allow the legal process to run its course. >> give her her right to due process. >> and there she went again this afternoon surrounded by an entourage and refusing to answer followup questions. >> she's not taking any space. >> she's a public official. >> it's been a familiar strategy for tolls who dodged our cameras for going on a week now over this incident. question one, does tolls think that she got special treatment from police because of her position? she is still not answered. toles was stopped february 22 and charged with an unsafe lane change after police spotted her on the beltway allegedly driving aggressively. the officer clocked 105 miles per hour in the chase to catch her. but toles only got a warning for the speeding. this week, police revised the charge to

scott broom has more on what they think one student had planned. >> this chain of events started overnight saturday night when university police got calls from three separate people. one as far away as montana. so disturbed by what they were reading online, they wanted police in maryland to know about it. >> it was alexander song, a software mechanical engineering major who had been busy. a new sharing site and an online community where strangers are linked to strangers unanimously for spontaneous conversation. song saying i will be on a rampage. hopefully i kill enough people to make national news. stay away from the mall at 1:30. as he drove on campus at 10:00 a.m., he was arrested at his car. >> there were postings that led us to believe, using his words, that he is stressed out. >> no weapons found. song was involuntarily committed for psychiatric care. >> out of character for him. >> students who know alexander song are surprised. >> he has close friends and stuff. it wasn't like he was antisocial. he was a nice guy. >> on the university mall today, police offered a reassuring presenc

we sent our scott broom outside to look for ways a gardener can cope. >> reporter: spring has sprung in the d.c. area at least a month early and that means the battle against weeds is at full pitch. that's earl brown of columbia fighting the only way i knows how. >> they actually grow fast -- he knows how. >> they actually grow faster than the grass, the weeds. >> this one is called hairy bittercress. >> reporter: at university of maryland extension cooperative home and garden center it's like an experiment gone out of control. >> any time you get spring three weeks early it's a shock. a few days early we're happy. >> reporter: in the case of dandelions you can eat them. >> the main weed people are concerned about is crabgrass. there's still time to put down a preventer. >> you can put it on as long as there are blooms on the forsithia. >> you need to raise your mower deck up 3 inches, come back and overseed your lawn to thick continue up and that will help keep some of those weed problems down. >> in my 77 years i've never known any weather like this before. >> reporter: and here's

in largo, scott broom, 9news now. >> now we take you to a terrible traffic accident. it involved at least three vehicles, including one car. as you can see, ended up on its side in somebody's front yard. there's a report that three people this that car got out and ran away. >> on to our next story now. five local college students were just studying, playing video games, and chatting, when two men started making demands. >> i'm kristin fisher about a block away from gmu's campus where two masked men barged into the home of five sophomores with guns drawn. >> get on the ground. i'm going to kill you, stuff like that. stuff nobody wants to hear. >> at first, they thought it was a joke. >> when the gun was pointed at your face, they mean business. >> they took $3,000 worth of laptops and cell phones. >> they turned away from the group,. >> fairfax county police were on the scene less than five minutes later. they brought in a canine unit and a helicopter. but the suspects still got away. now police are trying to determine if they had been here before. they are both of col

. >> reporter: i'm scott broom in rockville where a young college student facing deportation received a hero's welcome this afternoon after being released from detention. 19-year-old jorge steven acuna and his family just released from a maximum security holding facility on maryland's eastern shore pending deportation proceedings late yesterday. >> fighting for justice! >> reporter: and they've come home to a hero's welcome. friends from montgomery college where acuna is carrying a 3.5 gpa hastily started an online campaign last week to get him and his family freed. >> you're brought here to this country by your parents and all you're willing to do here is get an education, have a dream, set some goals up. >> reporter: but not everyone here is a supporter. >> if you come here illegally and you don't do the right things, i don't care if you get great grades. it's good for you, but it's the law. we deport people. >> these are the kind of people we want in our country, not to deport them because they can impact society in a positive way. >> reporter: scott broom, 9 news now. >> the montg

scott broom, 9 news now. >> why just one, scott? why not 10? 20? >> reporter: i can only afford to lose a buck. >> okay. thanks. >> good luck with that buck. >>> coming our way tonight on 9 news now at 7:00 he is on the presidential primary ballot in maryland, but who is fred carger? we'll talk with the little known republican who happens to also be the only openly gay candidate in the race. this will be interesting. >>> but first on 9 news now at 6:00 the dog and soldier coming home from afghanistan gets greeted with a hero's welcome. >> we have some breaks in the clouds now. we'll show you the almanac. easterly winds kept temps down, 54 and 43 goes in the books. it can get warm. we know that, record high 87, record low 21. we'll come back and talk about our frontal system that will roll through over the weekend and tell you what it means for your weekend plans. >> plus their voices are united in song, but they're a long way from a prestigeous competition. we'll tell you why that is. stay with us here on 9 news now. >>> a prestigeous choir competi

scott broom is following up with investigators today. >> reporter: the infant's body was found in the trunk of a car off this trailer car in rural calvert county. according to investigators the residents here called 911 right away after discovering the remans after what has been described as a stillborn or newborn infant. in the trunk of a car that was parked here at about 6:40 last night. according to one neighbor, the car had been parked here in the same spot and did not appear to have been driven for many weeks. today calvert county sheriff mike evans said the residents here made the discovery while quote cleaning out the car. >> upon arrival by law enforcement it was discovered that still or newborn baby was located in the trunk of the car that was being cleaned. detectives are waiting for preliminary autopsy report. >> reporter: investigators say until they know a cause of death, and how long the body may have been in the car they have no idea whether this is a homicide case or not. there have been no arrests. the couple who live here have elementary aged children but they are no

. >> reporter: i'm scott broom at prince george's county police where the case of a county council member accused of driving 105 miles an hour on the beltway and getting off with just a warning will be reviewed. ma'am, is 105 miles an hour warning appropriate? prince george's county council member karen toles out in public today but not taking questions. ma'am, you're not going to speak to us about this? could you at least tell us what happened on the roadway? >> reporter: you got a slam on the wrist? >> she should have got charged. >> in car camera speed did indicate 105 miles an hour. toles was spotted at noon february 22nd on the beltway at branch avenue making an unsafe lane change at high speed police say, but she got off with way, for the speed because the officer chasing her did not have radar or a calibrated speedometer to match what his in car camera logged during the chase. >> preliminarily we don't believe this police officer afforded anyone any special treatment and, in fact, we do know that he issued a $90 citation to the council member for her unsafe lane change. the review

scott broom, thank you. we appreciate it. >> on a sad note tonight a well- known fredericksburg, virginia radio personality is being mourned. brian stobell was struck and killed while walking a dog yesterday. he had retired from wfls radio after spending 40 years in the radio business. investigators say the tuck driver that hit him did stop to call 911. >>> more emotional testimony in the wrongful death lawsuit failed by the parents of two murdered virginia tech students. school spokesman larry hinker took the stand and was asked about mistakes in a time line written from his e-mail address. he broke down in tears when talking about the shooting rampage in april of 2007. on that day a lone gunman killed 32 people on campus. the parents of two victims, one from chantilly, are demanding a full accounting of that day. >> peyton manning is on the move, but where he will end up is anybody's guess after being released by the colts the former nfl mvp and super bowl winning quarterback is now trying to decide where

also -- >> i'm scott broom in beltsville, maryland, coming up smoking in the car with kids. is it something that should be made illegal or not? when i come back i'll have some of your answers to that question. >>> all the single ladies -- single women in the district are happier with their dating lives than women in any other city. that's according to "glamour" magazine and match.com. more than 86% of d.c. ladies are happy here. the report says that's because of people moving here and away. there's always some new men to date. number two spot philadelphia, boston had the least happy women when it comes to dating. atlanta, not so good either. >> do we believe this jess? >> no. >> uh-huh. >>> it's a breezy friday around here. much cooler too. we were in the 70s yesterday. we dipped into the 40s this morning: low 50s by noon. still kind of breezy this afternoon. with a high in the mid maybe upper 50s. even chillier on saturday. your full weekend forecast in just a few minutes. >>> and we're going to take a look at 270 on the southbound side. it's slow. overall. nothing all the

. >>> i'm scott broom on the campaign trail in montgomery county. coming up, the surprising democratic dog fight in a brand- new congressional district here in maryland. i'll tell you why the candidates are at each other's throats. >> the candidate, newt gingrich, campaigns in maryland one night after he began charging supporters for the privilege of taking a picture with him. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ >>> some breaking news now just coming into our 9news now newsroom. there is a major brush fire and you're looking at video right now on the new jersey turnpike. at least right off the turnpike. right near gnu newark. a great deal is on fire, from what we know, traffic is getting by. there's a major brush fire going right now off the new jersey turnpike in gnu newark, new jersey. >>> the forme

. >> and i'm scott broom at dupont circle. you have heard of distracted driving, but what about distracted walking? when i come back, i'll have a surprise proposal about safety on d.c. streets. >>> both victims have been identified in yesterday's deadly crash in silver spring. 26-year-old olin sorenson and his passion 23-year-old sylvia wright died in the accident in the 9300 block of piney branch road. investigators say sorenson was driving east when his car suddenly crossed the center of the roadway and slammed into a tow truck. that tow truck driver is expected to be okay. the cause of the crash is still under investigation. >>> you've heard of distracted driving, of course, but what about distracted walking? now an influential group of business and law leaders in d.c. are cracking down. >> they say pedestrians and cyclists venture into traffic while texting gaming or phoning and they ought to get written up because so many are getting injured. scott broom live in dupont circle to take the temperature on this ticketing idea

now we've asked scott broom to find out what you can do about it. >> reporter: well, spring has sprung here in the d.c. area at least a month early and that means the battle against weeds is at full pitch. that's earl brown of columbia fighting the only way he knows how. >> they actually grow faster than the grass, the weeds. >> this is the one a lot of people have been seeing called hairy bitter cress. >> reporter: at the university of maryland's cooperative home and garden it's like an experiment gone out of control. >> any time you get spring three weeks early it's a shock. a few days early, we're happy, but it almost feels like we're on a different planet this year. >> reporter: in the case of dandelions you can eat them. >> the main weed people are concerned about is crabgrass and there's still time to put down a crabgrass preventer. >> you can put it on as long as there are blooms on the for cynthia. >> a lot of times people have weed problems in their lawn because they mow too low. raise that deck up to 3 inches, come back and overseed your lawn to thicken it up and that will he

in northeast washington scott broom, 9 news now. >> did you catch all that? arrested is alfred jerome reeves jr. of washington who apparently has a record including convictions for robbery and carjacking. he's now charged with theft, unauthorized use of a vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident. >>> as the clean upcontinues in the midwest after that string of deadly tornadoes, the national weather service is reviewing its decision on tornado warnings. in fact, the ones that hit harveyville kansas formed so quickly meteorologists there didn't even have time to issue a tornado warning. our own meteorologist anny hong joins us now with more information why tornadoes are so hard to forecast and how local counties will alert you if there is a tornado warning out there. you got your radar, your satellites. it's still tough. >> they sure are, derek. in fact, in the case of what are reiville, kansas, where an ef2 hit -- harveyville kansas where an ef2 hit, radar did not show the rotation until the tornado was directly over the town. we do get our share of severe

in oxon hill scott broom, 9 news now. >> that would be historic.arly primary voting is already underway. the polls will be open in maryland next tuesday april 3rd from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. >>> a statue of local jazz legend duke ellington now stands in the heart of d.c.'s historic shaw neighborhood. the 20-foot stainless steel and granite sculpture was installed today in ellington plaza next to the soon to be reopened howard theater titled encore. the statue is the work of d.c. native zachary oxman and it shows duke sitting on a monumental treble clef while playing a piano. >>> a monster snake goes on display at the smithsonian, a life size replica called a titan boa is the centerpiece that opens friday at the national museum of natural science. when it was alive more than 60 million years ago, it weighed 2,500 pounds, 48 feet long. the exhibit will be here through january 6th when it begins a tour of museums across the nation. >>> hundreds of high school students from our area are competing in the regional first robotics competition. this happens this

. >> reporter: i'm scott broom in prince george's county where we have new details tonight about yetnother alleged speeding incident involving county council member karen toles. when i come back, you'll see what happened when we tried to get her to talk about it again today. >>> back to breaking news in annapolis where maryland governor martin o'malley just signed the same sex marriage bill. >> we carried that live and now we go to matt jablow who joins us from the statehouse with more reaction. >> reporter: at 5:14 this afternoon governor martin o'malley made history by signing into law a bill making maryland the eighth state in the country plus the district of columbia to legalize same sex marriage. did he so with hundreds of same sex marriage supporters in attendance. two of those are with me now, robin ziger and stacy williams who live in silver spring but got married just about two years ago in d.c., correct, ladies? >> correct. >> reporter: tell me what this day was like for you. >> unbelievable. i've been in this movement for a long, long time, political activist and it's a ve

scott broom is at the university tonight. he has new details on the threat and how the police found out. scott. >> reporter: well, internet threats. was it serious or wasn't it? i'll tell you, police thought it was serious. they had three individuals, strangers to each other scattered across the country who were so disturbed by what they were reading on the internet in these chat rooms overnight on saturday night that all three of them on their own called university police overnight which set this chain of events in motion. it was alexander song, a software mechanical who was busy until 4:00 a.m. sunday, making disturbing posts online. about committing mass murder at the university of maryland. >> it's scary to hear that. >> reporter: he was active, a new sharing site and omegal, an online community where strangers are linked to strangers unanimously for spontaneous conversation. song saying quote, i will be on a shooting rampage on campus tomorrow. hopefully i kill enough people to make it national news. and stay away from th

. >> this is all unfolding in lusby, maryland, that's where we find scott broom who is talking to members of the affected family. scott. >> well, it's so unnerving to people here because it's bizarre, and it has been so deadly. so far, the common denominator is the house behind me where all the family members have been. two of them died just yesterday from this illness and a hazmat team has been here to figure out what happened. at mid afternoon, calvert county's hazardous materials team suited up two members on four res pir respirators to enter the house and identify the mystery microbe that killed three since thursday. the two latest deaths happened yesterday according to relatives. they are the 58-year-old son and 51-year-old daughter of 81- year-old ruth blake. the first to die of the same illness in this house last week. another adult daughter remains hospitalized in washington. all were caring for mrs. blake as she became critically ill with a pneumonia-like illness. the county's health officer issued an alert. >> i think this is highly unusual. and that's why it is clearly newswort

father marcel guarnizo who is now suspended has broken his silence on the controversy and scott broom center with more on the emotional fallout. >> father guarnizo published his story on the website cns news. it touched off thousands of comments on both sides on the internet and online, but the people most affected by this and the people with the strongest reactions are the people who say their family was victimized by the priest. >> the foundation of his statement is a lie. >> larry johnson, stunned he says to be victimized not once but twice by father marcel guarnizo. >> this has ripped open the wound. >> the wound? grief over the funeral of johnson's devout mother last month, a funeral turned global controversy when guarnizo refused to give communion to johnson's sister because she's lesbian and then left the altar during the service he claims to recover from a migraine make. in the priest's statement guarnizo said he did the only thing a faithful catholic priest could do and said, "what happened i believe contains a warning to the church." he accuses johnson of forcing the issue o

scott broom reports from montgomery county school headquarters where speier and his lawyers say they intend to fight for his job. >> scott speier appeared here before school officials in rockville only a day after prosecutors dropped charges against him because they say there's a flaw in the law. not because they believe he's innocent of having sex with a 16-year-old former student. prosecutors have called the flaw in the law ridiculous. but for speier, it's open the door today to an appeal for his job back. appearing with the support of his brother and saying nothing to reporters. preferring to let his lawyer do the talking. >> why does he want his job back? >> because it's been his life. teaching and coaching has been his career. and he's had a wonderful career. he is such a devoted teacher. that anything too devoted and maybe that's part of the reason we have the problem we do here. >> reporter: speier was accused of having sex with a 16- year-old former student, but prosecutors hands were tied because they said, she's old enough to consent to sex and speier's volunteer status as a

reporting live in oxon hill scott broom, 9 news now despite the odds. >> you know, scott, somebody somewhere has got to win. might as well be you. >> reporter: that's exactly right. got to play to win. i'm in. >> all right. a neat. >>> if you have a visa or mast -- anita. >>> if you have a visa or mastercard, listen closely. we learned what is being described as a massive data breach of both debit and credit cards. card holders are warned to watch statement for signs of fraud. >> reporter: boast mastercard and visa confirmed they're investigating a -- both mastercard and visa confirmed they're investigating a possible security breach that may have put account information of thousands of card holders at risk. >> maybe if it was a few hundred people, i would blow it off for the day, but now i'm like actually wanting to learn more about it and see if my account might be at risk. >> reporter: the breach was at a company that acts as a middle man between banks and merchants handling payments for both credit and debit cards. the wall street journal identified the company as global payments based i

scott broom, 9news now. >> good morning and thank you for watching 9news now at 6:00 a.m.opefully you don't have too much of a problem with your lawn. i'm andrea roane. >> pollen's not going to be -- >> no, it's not going to be -- >> i'm mike hydeck, thank you for joining us this morning. monika is off today. beverly farmer is going to have traffic in just a moment. >> but right now the problem is tree pollen not so much grass pollen. here's howard with more on the forecast. >> although that's coming up the moderate category yesterday. grass is coming in frees are bad. weeds and mulch also

in lusby, scott broom, 9news now. >> prince georges georges county police issued another ticket. after she was stopped two weeks ago for going more than 100 miles an hour on the beltway. at that time, only given a ticket by making lane change. perhaps given some preferential treatment. today, the police chief released the findings of an internal investigation, which shows the officer acted properly given the circumstances. >> the only way you can actually charge for speeding, you either have to pace an individual and to do that, you have to have a certified calibrated speddometer. he didn't have the probable cause to charge for speed. >> that carries a $500 fine and put six points on her license. >>> montgomery's county council just unanimously passed a bill this afternoon to install traffic cameras on school buses. joining just a handful of jurisdictions around the nation, going high-tech to help protect the kids. bruce leshan has that story. >> they already have stop signs and flashing lights, but people blow past school buses anyway. so, what is it going to take them to stop?

we sent our scott broom out to do the gas test today. all right, scotty, where are you? >> reporter: okay. i'm in new carrollton beside the beltway and today i took a nice little trip over to the eastern shore down to cambridge, maryland. it's about 176 miles round trip. on the way down i drove just like grandma, 55 miles per hour on cruise control. on the way back i drove let's say a little more like the jerk my wife is more familiar with. >> i think you drive too aggressively. >> reporter: that's the beautiful mrs. broom and the dog who takes her side always. >> if you drove slower and less aggressively, you would get better mileage. >> reporter: okay, honey. let's see how it goes. i started today at this 7- eleven in new carrollton, regular gas 3.69 a gallon pumped into my trusty 9 news now honda crv. >> the way gas is going up every day it almost gets to the point you need a loan. >> when i drive the limit, the gas does last a little bit longer. >> reporter: you sound like my wife. off i went down u.s. 50 and over the bay bridge for a day on the eastern shore. now to

a neighbor tells our scott broom the car had been parked in the same spot for a while and did not appear to be driven for many weeks. >> it was discovered that a still or newborn baby was located in the trunk of the vehicle that was being cleaned. the body is currently at the medical examiner's office and detectives are waiting for a preliminary autopsy report. >> the mother of the infants that three other children that are in protective custody. she is not facing charges. the results of the report may not be available until next month. >>> fairfax county schools are backing down tonight in a fight over freedom of religion. they have agreed to give a senior at thomas jefferson high school her volunteer credits and reinstate her. the school adviser had said that the 17-year-old could not be counted as a community service credit. >>> there's no honor that your community service at a church doesn't count. >> student will be credited with the service hours and she'll have her full membership reinstated. >> the lawyers from the alliance defense fund are still pushing for the fairfax schools t

. >> at the university of maryland, scott broom, 9news now. >>> prosecutors say they are reluctantly dropping the charges against a part-time teacher accused of having sex with a student. dropping the charges because of a legal technicality. last month, 47-year-old scott speier was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old. the prosecutors say the case is no more and that legal technicality, well, it is all about speier being a part-time employee at the school. >> has to be a full-time employee of the school. teacher, principal, add min spray tore, something along those lines. but as a part-time employee, he falls into a loophole. there's no crime with which he can be charged. >> schools will conduct their own investigation into whether speier engaged in inappropriate behavior with that 16-year-old and speier remains on leave. speier tells us he has never done anything inappropriate with any student or any athlete he coached. >> only only 9, we are learning more about the explosive device found inside an alexandria home last week. obtained the search warrant that details what police

in oxon hill, scott broom, 9 news now. >> now the early primary voting is already underway and the polls will be open in maryland next tuesday, april 3rd from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. >>> it is an addition problem a lot of students are slowly falling in love with this year, though the same probably could not be said a few months ago. less snow equals less school. at least nine of the snowest u.s. cities received less than 60% of their average snowfall this year and that has left an unusually high number of leftover emergency weather days. so many schools are letting students out of school early this year, not so much around here, though. only fair fact county says it's considering the move. the board will meet next month to decide the issue. >> top, speaking of no snow, we got a little cooler weather coming our way. >> we do. put jacobs on just to kind of get folkston -- a jacket on just to let folks know it's going to cool down a bit. there are freeze warnings in effect once you cross the border into pennsylvania, adams county and also cumberland, petersburg and oakland and into the valley, don

scott broom, 9 news now. >>> virginia tech will not have to pay that $55,000 fine over its response to the deadly 2007 shootings at the school. virginia tech had been given the fine because the department of education said the school violated the cleary act, the law requiring schools to give timely warnings on campus threats, but today a judge overturned that decision. >>> if you call up our newsroom, sound suspicious, mention a bomb threat at a local high school and give a name like tony toledo, you know we're going to call the cops. we got such a phone call today and we called the police and fairfax county police arrested 19-year-old marcoed 3 over burke for allegedly making a -- marco toledo of burke for allegedly making a bomb threat this morning. the threat kept the school closed. nothing was ever found. students were stuck on buses three hours and their parents not happy at all. >> annandale high school has failed. they knew about this. they failed the parents and students. they knew about this since 4:00 this morning. the kids should not have even gotten on the bus this morning.

that includes oxon hill where our scott broom is where folks are not just buying one ticket, but insteadg down $10, $20, even 100 bucks on this game and the remote possibility of winning much more. >> reporter: at $1 a ticket everyone knows this is the ultimate long shot, 176 million- 1.

scott broom with the rest of that story. >> reporter: this chain of events started overnight saturdayiversity police here got calls from three separate people. one as far away as nt

. >> that was scott broom reporting.ar distracting-walking legislation has failed in are the places. >>> well, wall street gets a passing grade today. all the markets posted gains. the dow is up 7. s&p is up 6. and the nasdaq is up 23. let's go to new york right now. alexis christoforous has tonight's cbs money watch update. >> stocks extended last week's big gains, led by a rally and tech companies. shares of apple rose about 2% after announcing plans to reward stock holders with dividends, for the first time since 1995. apple has been demanding cash as demands for the iphone and ipad keep growing. they are paying out a dividend of $2.65 a share since july. it will also buy back up to $10 billion over its stock over the next three years. apple's stock is up about 40% so far this year, making it the most valuable in the country. the world's largest delivery company just got bigger. ups is buying its european rival, tnt express. it will expand its presence in europe, asia, and latin america. ups says about 26% of its reve

reporting live in rockville scott broom, 9 news now. >>> march madness kicks off in earnest tomorrow with 16 games on the ncaa basketball tournament schedule and tonight the georgetown hoyas are on their way to chum bus for their first round game -- columbus for their first round game against belmont. kristen berset is here to tell us more about the sendoff. >> the hoyas haven't had much success in the tournament. in the last two years they were knocked out in the first round by a lower seeded team. friday they hope to change that streak when they face 14th ranked belmont. these two teams have history. they faced off in the first round in 2007, georgetown easily beating the bruins on their way to the final four. now that the game is so close, the hoyas are anxious to take the courts. >> this is a very good exciting feeling, you know. this will be played for our season. so i think everybody is going to focus. we're ready to get to columbus. >> it's tournament time now. we are excited to get to ohio. >> this time of year going to the ncaa tournament, if it gets old, it's time for a new