Transcripts For WUSA Wusa 9 News At 5am 20130213 : vimarsana

Far. Yes, it is a quiet wednesday morning. Thats a good thing. No problems to report. For all of you Early Morning risers who are already getting your cup of coffee and heading out the door, not too bad. Things look good on 95. Thats unusual. On the northbound side in virginia coming up from dale city to woodbridge and into springfield. In fact, lets go live over to the northbound side of 95. Look at that. Its a little heavier than it was about 30 minutes ago but still looking good. No delays. Lets go back to the maps, this time heading over to the north side. Coming in from rockville, aspen hill, wheaton, even burtonsville 95 coming in, this is actually okay now. Its cleared there. Was overnight construction at route 198 in laurel. I dont think youre going to find anything wrong there. Lets go back over to a live picture. This time route 108 at dr. Bird road in olney. Its nice and quiet. Back you to, andrea and mike. Thank you, monika. Today president obama is going to hit the road. Its time to sell his plan to the American People after his state of the Union Address last night. Hes going to make stops in several states trying to emphasize the key points from his address. The president mostly focused on americas economy. He called on congress to help create more jobs and to balance the budget through both cuts and tax hikes. Broadbased Economic Growth requires a balanced approach to deficit reduction. With spending cuts and revenue and with everybody doing their fair share. Thats the approach i offer tonight. Theres no realistic tax increase that could lower our defer sits by almost deficits by almost 4 trillion. Thats why i hope the president will abandon his obsession with raising taxes and instead work with us to achieve real growth in our economy. President obama also outlined plans to bring home 34,000 troops from afghanistan within a year and said congress owes the congress a bill on gun control. Wusa9 reporter Delia Goncalves is on capitol hill with more reaction to last nights speech. Good morning. Reporter good morning, andrea, mike. Like one republican congressman told us, last night was a night of speeches. Today members of congress roll up their sleeves and get to work but still many are at odds on how to get that work done. Last night during the president s state of the Union Address of his second term, he focused on the economy, raising the minimum wage to 9, gun control, comprehensive health care and a tax reform plan, but it was of course a looming march for sequestration deadline that had many talking. I saw no reaching across the aisle to deal with the issues that are at hand. I didnt see a plan to deal with the sequester. I didnt see a plan to increase private sector jobs. I heard a lot of new plans that are going to cost a lot of money with no plans on how to pay for them. I think the president was open about lets Work Together, take each others ideas. Many of these proposals are bipartisan proposals. So lets Work Together as our forefathers wanted us to do. I thought his message was the right message for this country, that our economy is strong, our country is strong. We dont need selfinflicted wounds. Lets move forward and answer questions for the country. Reporter as you can expect, republicans had criticism. The democrats thought the speech was wonderful. However, republicans werent the only ones who were tough on obamas speech last night. Well have more on the democrats disappointment coming up at 5 30. Andrea, mike, back to you. Delia goncalves with that update live from capitol hill. This morning the university of maryland is talking about a memorial that was held last night for two students killed early yesterday in a murder suicide. Police say 23yard dayvon green set several fires at his home in college park. He then shot his two house mates, one of them, 22yearold stephen rane died. Green then shot himself. They believe he had been suffering from a mental illness. In addition to the handgun they believe he used, they also found a rifle, a machete and baseball bat. Dozens of students at the university of virginia are now on antibiotics. The goal is preventing more cases of meningitis there. A uva student is now recovering from a case of bacterial meningitis and the student is treating about four dozen classmates who had direct contact with that affected infected student. It can kill. Thats why theyre so concerned. Early symptoms include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light. Its 5 05. Time for the latest your money report of the morning. Were in a good place, jessica doyle, so far. Were close to an alltime high for the Dow Jones Industrial average. Thats not a bad place to sit this morning. Its back above 14,000 following mixed reports yesterday. The dow is within 1 of its all time record. Checking the numbers the dow rose 47 points in trading yesterday. The nasdaq in the meantime dipped by 5 and the s p 500 was up by about two in points. One thing investors will watch for today is how consumers are holding up financially. Paychecks of course took a hit at the start of the year when that payroll tax holiday expired reducing pay by 2 . We are going to see today that theyre still shopping when the january retail sales are released before the bell. Wall street is expecting a slowdown in sales, consumer spending, that accounts for roughly twothirds of all Economic Activity in the country. Ahead of valentines day, kind of a touchy subject for you. Have you ever dated the boss . Turns out a lot of people have. Our partners at Career Builder report that 39 of workers say theyve dated a coworker at least once over the course of their career. In that group, 16 admitted to dating the boss. I know this will shock you. Women more likely than men to date the boss. No. Yes. 30 of people who dated at work got married to that person in the long run. I dated up the food chain. We were in the same business. Worked together for a little while. What do you have for us in the next halfhour . We are staying focused on your sweety and daily deals. I have three lastminute valentines day deals if you just havent thought about it yet. We have you covered and are saving you money. Taking notes. The week long search for a fired Los Angeles Police officer on a shooting spree may be all over this morning. That story is coming up. In a little bit lighter news, time to break out the hangover cures. Thats because bourbon street is clearing out. Its cleared. Its cleared. Ahead in sports after that horrible start, the capitals may have figured out the winning way. [ harry umlaut ] hey you know what, i speak european. [ sally umlaut ] european isnt a language. I think they speak all kinds over there. Nah. Its basically one language with a few variations. My cousin has a passport. Uhhuh. Take this fascinating muller yogurt. Frut up. Means fruit up. As in creamy yogurt down below. And a delectable, aromatic layer of blended fruity, moussey, uppiness on top. Frut up. As the europeans say. In their language. Wow. You really are bilingual. Yeah, i dated a comma in high school. [ male announcer ] muller. The european for yummy. 5 09 on this wednesday morning. Its chilly and quiet out there. So grab a jacket and then youre going to need something later today to keep you dry if youre going to be outside because we have rain on the way. Were talking about temperatures this morning mostly in the 30s. Theyll rise to the mid, even upper 40s in a few spots with rain developing. Looks like a wet ride home and just a touch of snow moving in for tonight. Ill elaborate more on that in just a few minutes. Heres monika telling you about the morning commute. Its not bad at all. Heres what it looks like at college park, route 1 in prince georges county. Along the eastern stretch between college park and the wilson bridge, no issues to report right now. Back to you guys. 5 10 now. Heres whats new this morning. The hunt for that fired Los Angeles Police officer Christopher Dorner is not officially over this morning. Thats because police are waiting for test results on a body that was recovered from a burned out resort cabin. Authorities believe that is where dorner retreated after a firefight that killed a Police Officer which would be the fourth death blamed on dorner. The Senate Armed Services committee has approved chuck hagels nomination to be defense secretary in a party line vote. The former republican nebraska senator faces fierce opposition from fellow g. O. P. Members who challenged his past statements on israel, iran, iraq and nuclear weapons. If confirmed hagel would replace leon panetta. The party ended in new orleans just over four hours ago at the stroke of midnight central time. They had to get off bourbon street and mardi gras was over. Police and cleaning crew moved in and they really know how to sweep that street cleanly and quickly. Even with the rain. Looks like all he need some rain gear for this area as well today. Were trading in that for some more sun, but colder temperatures in the sevenday forecast. Howard has the details when good morning. Welcome back to wusa9. This is a live picture from vatican city in rome. Pope benedict xvi is talking to the faithful in his first public appearance since announcing his resignation. We understand he received a lengthy standing ovation when he came before this packed audience hall today. Hes shock he shocked obviously the catholic world when he said he was going to step down. This is the first time its happened in over 600 years. We learned earlier this morning he had a pacemaker since he became pope in 2005. He cited health as one of the reasons why hes stepping down. The Catholic Community is still reeling and theyre trying to get more information as they move forward. He will step down february 28. After that a conclave ever the cardinals will be of the cardinals will be called together to select the next pope. They have to have one in place by east gler which is amaze easter. Which is amazing. Well keep you updated. Hes speaking in latin. We dont have translation on this so we wont keep this up much longer but again people have noticed that he has been very frail in his physical appearance. He looks a little hollowed cheeked there. He was one of the oldest at the time when he was elected pope. Howard is here with a good start to the wednesday, but a wet finish. Its going to be a slow ride home, slower than normal i would say with the rain expected and the rain that will be here during the afternoon. This morning, though, it will be dry. So that shouldnt hamper you at all. Here is a look at our day planner on this wednesday morning. I know you were hoping it was friday. Its only wednesday with temperatures climbing into the low to mid40s later this morning. Mid40s with highs with the wet ride home. Winds east, northeast at 5, 8 miles an hour. So not too windy today either and we are going to see a touch of snow in spots tonight. This afternoon well see it in the mountains. Its all coming from this guy out in missouri thats throwing moisture our way through the tennessee valley. This initial batch of rain is missing us to the south. Thats where we have temperatures well in the 40s with the cloud comp. Richmond 48 already. Lower 20s across i80. Pittsburgh 24. Cumberland 28. Locally were chilly. Certainly cold in germantown at 27 with 33 for lawrm and Waldorf Laurel and waldorf at 36. 33 at andrews and fairfax this morning 34. But its quiet. It is dry. Weather wont be a problem. Visibilities looking good out there with a temperature of 36. And a windchill of only 32 so we can handle that. Your humidity this morning 67 . Storm system is coming out of the Central Plains there. Dropped some snow in texas and oklahoma yesterday. This morning its coming through arkansas and missouri with a little bit of snow. As it hits that colder air, the cold is just marginal. We had more if we had more cold, we would be more excited about snow potentials but its just not there. Theres colder air up to the north but around here the clouds are going to move in. Well head toward lunch time with showers south of us. Fredricksburg, maybe strawsburg and the valley and a little bit of snow in the mountains. Well head through the afternoon with snow in the high country, east and West Virginia, west of hien 81 near the border. As we get into the late afternoon, early evening, here we are at 6 00 p. M. Wet ride home. 81 west looks like a little bit of snow. Could be several inches of snow in the mountains today. Tonight at 8 30 still raining in d. C. But leesburg to frederick starting to switch over. Theyll only see two, three, four hours worth of snow. A trace to perhaps an inch. Thats really the way its looking here for most of us. Afternoon rain mix tonight, 46. Yellow alert for the rain and slow ride home. 51 tomorrow, rather pleasant. Friday looks good too. Colder this weekend. A few flurries. Sunday will be the cold, cold day. Highs only in the lower 30s. Monika samtani, happy wednesday out there. Thats right. Happy wednesday. Things are looking good im happy to say. The beltway is looking good. Light all over town. All of your major thoroughfares are incident free heading to the beltway, including 66, the dulles toll road. Everything right through here in annandale, up here in the tysons area as well. Lets take a live look on the inbound side of i66 coming in from centreville on our camera. I was checking out all the cameras. Things look good coming in from manassas to this point and really all the way into fairfax and inside the beltway to the roosevelt bridge. Lets take a look at maps again, this time 270, southbound side. All lanes are open gaithersburg, rockville, bethesda on 270. Great seneca highway, 355 pretty much the same. Well take a live look outside, this time over to the beltway at university boulevard. On the outer loop no delays yet leaving the 95 interchange. Back to you, mike and andrea. Thanks, monika. One of the nationals top pitchers react to recent reports linking him to performance enhancing drugs. Plus, a battle within the commonwealth as virginia takes on Virginia Tech. Highlights coming up in sports. Lets take another look at our question of the morning on facebook this morning. According to careerbuilder. Com, 15 of americans admit to calling out sick from work for one of these reasons. Is it a, a perfectly warm, sunny day, b, stubbing your toe, or c, going out on a date . One person wrote, goalie, boss, i was getting ready for work and stubbed my toe. Sorry, wont be in today. Have a great day. Log on to our Facebook Page and let us know what welcome back. Your weather first. We have clouds rolling in with temperatures mainly in the 30s with 40s down south. Well see clouds thickening up. By lunch time south and west of us, dont be surprised if rain breaks out with temperatures in the mid40s. In the mountains were looking at snow moving up i81 and points west through the day with showers increasing around here. Looks like a wet commute home. Highs in the mid40s. Good morning, everybody. The Washington Capitals hadnt been able to find much momentum yet this season. They havent won on the road and havent won backtoback games all season. But coming up, their biggest win yet. They had something to work with last night. A rematch, this time the capitals visiting the panthers and this time the caps down two goals in the 3rd so they turn up the heat. A score off the deflection and less than three minutes later, Alex Ovechkin once again off the faceoff. Scores just like that. Were all tied up. In overtime it didnt take them long. Just 32 seconds in. Troy bauer gets a nice pass. Gets his own rebound. Three gales in just five and a half minutes. Caps win backtoback games for the first time this season. On the hardwood last night, virginia hosting Virginia Tech and the nations leader scorer eric green. Cavaliers held green to just one point in the first half. He ended the night with 22. Once again theres only so much green could do. The hokies allowed joe harris to score a career high 26 points. Virginia steam rolls Virginia Tech 7355. Gonzalez spoke out for the first time denying using perform many en performance enhancing drugs. The only explanation he gave is his father was once a patient at the clinic. Well bring you live reports starting at 5 00 p. M. Have a great day. Its called the reinvolving door syndrome and its costing americans millions of dollars in repeated hospital visits. How can you avoid that coming up. More reaction from local lawmakers to president obamas state of the Union Address. At 5 25, lets go to monika with whats happening on the roadways. Theres construction work in sterling right now. Alternate lane closures on the eastbound side of route 7 near sterling boulevard. Im happy to say, look at 395. Looking great. No problems to the 14th street bridge right now. Well be back with more news, weather and wednesday is here. Were glad youre waking up with us. 5 28. Good morning, monika. Mr. Bernstein says were going to get soggy later this afternoon. Will be a little snow in the mountains and very little snow if any here in washington, especially points south. If you want to read mr on why the snow is not going to materialize, i posted a grog at web blog at wusa9. Com. Ill tell but it right now regardless. We have a day planner for you that starts dry so no problems with the morning commute weather wise. This afternoon, though, give yourself extra time as well have wet roads out there. Temperatures topping out in the mid40s. Thats just way too warm. Even when we transition a little snow tonight with the wet roads, the warm surfaces, its going to be stuff to stick unless it starts coming down. I dont see that happening. The moisture to the south in the form of rain straddling the virginianorth carolina border. We have the clouds trying to roll in. Some spots with breaks. Thats allowed for chilly temps. 25 in westminster. 32 leesburg. 28 hagerstown. Weve got upper 30s and low 40s in our southern suburbs. We stay at 36. A little bit of wintry weather can be expected this afternoon across the mountains. 2 to 4 inches not out of the question here. Tonight philadelphia, atlantic city, even long island looking at 1 to 3 inches, maybe a little more than that in a couple of spots. Lets go to Early Morning<\/a> risers who are already getting your cup of coffee and heading out the door, not too bad. Things look good on 95. Thats unusual. On the northbound side in virginia coming up from dale city to woodbridge and into springfield. In fact, lets go live over to the northbound side of 95. Look at that. Its a little heavier than it was about 30 minutes ago but still looking good. No delays. Lets go back to the maps, this time heading over to the north side. Coming in from rockville, aspen hill, wheaton, even burtonsville 95 coming in, this is actually okay now. Its cleared there. Was overnight construction at route 198 in laurel. I dont think youre going to find anything wrong there. Lets go back over to a live picture. This time route 108 at dr. Bird road in olney. Its nice and quiet. Back you to, andrea and mike. Thank you, monika. Today president obama is going to hit the road. Its time to sell his plan to the American People<\/a> after his state of the Union Address<\/a> last night. Hes going to make stops in several states trying to emphasize the key points from his address. The president mostly focused on americas economy. He called on congress to help create more jobs and to balance the budget through both cuts and tax hikes. Broadbased Economic Growth<\/a> requires a balanced approach to deficit reduction. With spending cuts and revenue and with everybody doing their fair share. Thats the approach i offer tonight. Theres no realistic tax increase that could lower our defer sits by almost deficits by almost 4 trillion. Thats why i hope the president will abandon his obsession with raising taxes and instead work with us to achieve real growth in our economy. President obama also outlined plans to bring home 34,000 troops from afghanistan within a year and said congress owes the congress a bill on gun control. Wusa9 reporter Delia Goncalves<\/a> is on capitol hill with more reaction to last nights speech. Good morning. Reporter good morning, andrea, mike. Like one republican congressman told us, last night was a night of speeches. Today members of congress roll up their sleeves and get to work but still many are at odds on how to get that work done. Last night during the president s state of the Union Address<\/a> of his second term, he focused on the economy, raising the minimum wage to 9, gun control, comprehensive health care and a tax reform plan, but it was of course a looming march for sequestration deadline that had many talking. I saw no reaching across the aisle to deal with the issues that are at hand. I didnt see a plan to deal with the sequester. I didnt see a plan to increase private sector jobs. I heard a lot of new plans that are going to cost a lot of money with no plans on how to pay for them. I think the president was open about lets Work Together<\/a>, take each others ideas. Many of these proposals are bipartisan proposals. So lets Work Together<\/a> as our forefathers wanted us to do. I thought his message was the right message for this country, that our economy is strong, our country is strong. We dont need selfinflicted wounds. Lets move forward and answer questions for the country. Reporter as you can expect, republicans had criticism. The democrats thought the speech was wonderful. However, republicans werent the only ones who were tough on obamas speech last night. Well have more on the democrats disappointment coming up at 5 30. Andrea, mike, back to you. Delia goncalves with that update live from capitol hill. This morning the university of maryland is talking about a memorial that was held last night for two students killed early yesterday in a murder suicide. Police say 23yard dayvon green set several fires at his home in college park. He then shot his two house mates, one of them, 22yearold stephen rane died. Green then shot himself. They believe he had been suffering from a mental illness. In addition to the handgun they believe he used, they also found a rifle, a machete and baseball bat. Dozens of students at the university of virginia are now on antibiotics. The goal is preventing more cases of meningitis there. A uva student is now recovering from a case of bacterial meningitis and the student is treating about four dozen classmates who had direct contact with that affected infected student. It can kill. Thats why theyre so concerned. Early symptoms include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light. Its 5 05. Time for the latest your money report of the morning. Were in a good place, jessica doyle, so far. Were close to an alltime high for the Dow Jones Industrial<\/a> average. Thats not a bad place to sit this morning. Its back above 14,000 following mixed reports yesterday. The dow is within 1 of its all time record. Checking the numbers the dow rose 47 points in trading yesterday. The nasdaq in the meantime dipped by 5 and the s p 500 was up by about two in points. One thing investors will watch for today is how consumers are holding up financially. Paychecks of course took a hit at the start of the year when that payroll tax holiday expired reducing pay by 2 . We are going to see today that theyre still shopping when the january retail sales are released before the bell. Wall street is expecting a slowdown in sales, consumer spending, that accounts for roughly twothirds of all Economic Activity<\/a> in the country. Ahead of valentines day, kind of a touchy subject for you. Have you ever dated the boss . Turns out a lot of people have. Our partners at Career Builder<\/a> report that 39 of workers say theyve dated a coworker at least once over the course of their career. In that group, 16 admitted to dating the boss. I know this will shock you. Women more likely than men to date the boss. No. Yes. 30 of people who dated at work got married to that person in the long run. I dated up the food chain. We were in the same business. Worked together for a little while. What do you have for us in the next halfhour . We are staying focused on your sweety and daily deals. I have three lastminute valentines day deals if you just havent thought about it yet. We have you covered and are saving you money. Taking notes. The week long search for a fired Los Angeles Police<\/a> officer on a shooting spree may be all over this morning. That story is coming up. In a little bit lighter news, time to break out the hangover cures. Thats because bourbon street is clearing out. Its cleared. Its cleared. Ahead in sports after that horrible start, the capitals may have figured out the winning way. [ harry umlaut ] hey you know what, i speak european. [ sally umlaut ] european isnt a language. I think they speak all kinds over there. Nah. Its basically one language with a few variations. My cousin has a passport. Uhhuh. Take this fascinating muller yogurt. Frut up. Means fruit up. As in creamy yogurt down below. And a delectable, aromatic layer of blended fruity, moussey, uppiness on top. Frut up. As the europeans say. In their language. Wow. You really are bilingual. Yeah, i dated a comma in high school. [ male announcer ] muller. The european for yummy. 5 09 on this wednesday morning. Its chilly and quiet out there. So grab a jacket and then youre going to need something later today to keep you dry if youre going to be outside because we have rain on the way. Were talking about temperatures this morning mostly in the 30s. Theyll rise to the mid, even upper 40s in a few spots with rain developing. Looks like a wet ride home and just a touch of snow moving in for tonight. Ill elaborate more on that in just a few minutes. Heres monika telling you about the morning commute. Its not bad at all. Heres what it looks like at college park, route 1 in prince georges county. Along the eastern stretch between college park and the wilson bridge, no issues to report right now. Back to you guys. 5 10 now. Heres whats new this morning. The hunt for that fired Los Angeles Police<\/a> officer Christopher Dorner<\/a> is not officially over this morning. Thats because police are waiting for test results on a body that was recovered from a burned out resort cabin. Authorities believe that is where dorner retreated after a firefight that killed a Police Officer<\/a> which would be the fourth death blamed on dorner. The Senate Armed Services<\/a> committee has approved chuck hagels nomination to be defense secretary in a party line vote. The former republican nebraska senator faces fierce opposition from fellow g. O. P. Members who challenged his past statements on israel, iran, iraq and nuclear weapons. If confirmed hagel would replace leon panetta. The party ended in new orleans just over four hours ago at the stroke of midnight central time. They had to get off bourbon street and mardi gras was over. Police and cleaning crew moved in and they really know how to sweep that street cleanly and quickly. Even with the rain. Looks like all he need some rain gear for this area as well today. Were trading in that for some more sun, but colder temperatures in the sevenday forecast. Howard has the details when good morning. Welcome back to wusa9. This is a live picture from vatican city in rome. Pope benedict xvi is talking to the faithful in his first public appearance since announcing his resignation. We understand he received a lengthy standing ovation when he came before this packed audience hall today. Hes shock he shocked obviously the catholic world when he said he was going to step down. This is the first time its happened in over 600 years. We learned earlier this morning he had a pacemaker since he became pope in 2005. He cited health as one of the reasons why hes stepping down. The Catholic Community<\/a> is still reeling and theyre trying to get more information as they move forward. He will step down february 28. After that a conclave ever the cardinals will be of the cardinals will be called together to select the next pope. They have to have one in place by east gler which is amaze easter. Which is amazing. Well keep you updated. Hes speaking in latin. We dont have translation on this so we wont keep this up much longer but again people have noticed that he has been very frail in his physical appearance. He looks a little hollowed cheeked there. He was one of the oldest at the time when he was elected pope. Howard is here with a good start to the wednesday, but a wet finish. Its going to be a slow ride home, slower than normal i would say with the rain expected and the rain that will be here during the afternoon. This morning, though, it will be dry. So that shouldnt hamper you at all. Here is a look at our day planner on this wednesday morning. I know you were hoping it was friday. Its only wednesday with temperatures climbing into the low to mid40s later this morning. Mid40s with highs with the wet ride home. Winds east, northeast at 5, 8 miles an hour. So not too windy today either and we are going to see a touch of snow in spots tonight. This afternoon well see it in the mountains. Its all coming from this guy out in missouri thats throwing moisture our way through the tennessee valley. This initial batch of rain is missing us to the south. Thats where we have temperatures well in the 40s with the cloud comp. Richmond 48 already. Lower 20s across i80. Pittsburgh 24. Cumberland 28. Locally were chilly. Certainly cold in germantown at 27 with 33 for lawrm and Waldorf Laurel<\/a> and waldorf at 36. 33 at andrews and fairfax this morning 34. But its quiet. It is dry. Weather wont be a problem. Visibilities looking good out there with a temperature of 36. And a windchill of only 32 so we can handle that. Your humidity this morning 67 . Storm system is coming out of the Central Plains<\/a> there. Dropped some snow in texas and oklahoma yesterday. This morning its coming through arkansas and missouri with a little bit of snow. As it hits that colder air, the cold is just marginal. We had more if we had more cold, we would be more excited about snow potentials but its just not there. Theres colder air up to the north but around here the clouds are going to move in. Well head toward lunch time with showers south of us. Fredricksburg, maybe strawsburg and the valley and a little bit of snow in the mountains. Well head through the afternoon with snow in the high country, east and West Virginia<\/a>, west of hien 81 near the border. As we get into the late afternoon, early evening, here we are at 6 00 p. M. Wet ride home. 81 west looks like a little bit of snow. Could be several inches of snow in the mountains today. Tonight at 8 30 still raining in d. C. But leesburg to frederick starting to switch over. Theyll only see two, three, four hours worth of snow. A trace to perhaps an inch. Thats really the way its looking here for most of us. Afternoon rain mix tonight, 46. Yellow alert for the rain and slow ride home. 51 tomorrow, rather pleasant. Friday looks good too. Colder this weekend. A few flurries. Sunday will be the cold, cold day. Highs only in the lower 30s. Monika samtani, happy wednesday out there. Thats right. Happy wednesday. Things are looking good im happy to say. The beltway is looking good. Light all over town. All of your major thoroughfares are incident free heading to the beltway, including 66, the dulles toll road. Everything right through here in annandale, up here in the tysons area as well. Lets take a live look on the inbound side of i66 coming in from centreville on our camera. I was checking out all the cameras. Things look good coming in from manassas to this point and really all the way into fairfax and inside the beltway to the roosevelt bridge. Lets take a look at maps again, this time 270, southbound side. All lanes are open gaithersburg, rockville, bethesda on 270. Great seneca highway, 355 pretty much the same. Well take a live look outside, this time over to the beltway at university boulevard. On the outer loop no delays yet leaving the 95 interchange. Back to you, mike and andrea. Thanks, monika. One of the nationals top pitchers react to recent reports linking him to performance enhancing drugs. Plus, a battle within the commonwealth as virginia takes on Virginia Tech<\/a>. Highlights coming up in sports. Lets take another look at our question of the morning on facebook this morning. According to careerbuilder. Com, 15 of americans admit to calling out sick from work for one of these reasons. Is it a, a perfectly warm, sunny day, b, stubbing your toe, or c, going out on a date . One person wrote, goalie, boss, i was getting ready for work and stubbed my toe. Sorry, wont be in today. Have a great day. Log on to our Facebook Page<\/a> and let us know what welcome back. Your weather first. We have clouds rolling in with temperatures mainly in the 30s with 40s down south. Well see clouds thickening up. By lunch time south and west of us, dont be surprised if rain breaks out with temperatures in the mid40s. In the mountains were looking at snow moving up i81 and points west through the day with showers increasing around here. Looks like a wet commute home. Highs in the mid40s. Good morning, everybody. The Washington Capitals<\/a> hadnt been able to find much momentum yet this season. They havent won on the road and havent won backtoback games all season. But coming up, their biggest win yet. They had something to work with last night. A rematch, this time the capitals visiting the panthers and this time the caps down two goals in the 3rd so they turn up the heat. A score off the deflection and less than three minutes later, Alex Ovechkin<\/a> once again off the faceoff. Scores just like that. Were all tied up. In overtime it didnt take them long. Just 32 seconds in. Troy bauer gets a nice pass. Gets his own rebound. Three gales in just five and a half minutes. Caps win backtoback games for the first time this season. On the hardwood last night, virginia hosting Virginia Tech<\/a> and the nations leader scorer eric green. Cavaliers held green to just one point in the first half. He ended the night with 22. Once again theres only so much green could do. The hokies allowed joe harris to score a career high 26 points. Virginia steam rolls Virginia Tech<\/a> 7355. Gonzalez spoke out for the first time denying using perform many en performance enhancing drugs. The only explanation he gave is his father was once a patient at the clinic. Well bring you live reports starting at 5 00 p. M. Have a great day. Its called the reinvolving door syndrome and its costing americans millions of dollars in repeated hospital visits. How can you avoid that coming up. More reaction from local lawmakers to president obamas state of the Union Address<\/a>. At 5 25, lets go to monika with whats happening on the roadways. Theres construction work in sterling right now. Alternate lane closures on the eastbound side of route 7 near sterling boulevard. Im happy to say, look at 395. Looking great. No problems to the 14th street bridge right now. Well be back with more news, weather and wednesday is here. Were glad youre waking up with us. 5 28. Good morning, monika. Mr. Bernstein says were going to get soggy later this afternoon. Will be a little snow in the mountains and very little snow if any here in washington, especially points south. If you want to read mr on why the snow is not going to materialize, i posted a grog at web blog at wusa9. Com. Ill tell but it right now regardless. We have a day planner for you that starts dry so no problems with the morning commute weather wise. This afternoon, though, give yourself extra time as well have wet roads out there. Temperatures topping out in the mid40s. Thats just way too warm. Even when we transition a little snow tonight with the wet roads, the warm surfaces, its going to be stuff to stick unless it starts coming down. I dont see that happening. The moisture to the south in the form of rain straddling the virginianorth carolina border. We have the clouds trying to roll in. Some spots with breaks. Thats allowed for chilly temps. 25 in westminster. 32 leesburg. 28 hagerstown. Weve got upper 30s and low 40s in our southern suburbs. We stay at 36. A little bit of wintry weather can be expected this afternoon across the mountains. 2 to 4 inches not out of the question here. Tonight philadelphia, atlantic city, even long island looking at 1 to 3 inches, maybe a little more than that in a couple of spots. Lets go to Monika Samtani<\/a> with your latest timesaver traffic. I always think about february as a time where were bundling up and dealing with bad Road Conditions<\/a> and snow and ice and well, we dont have that today. Or tomorrow. Things look good if youre planning to head outside im happy to say. The bw parkway and route 50 clear. Good Road Conditions<\/a>. No issues to report into the northeast corridor right now. New york avenue at 16th street though, watch out for some police activity. There may have been a pedestrian struck there. Were just checking in on that situation. In the meantime lets take a live look outside. Heres what it looks like on the beltway in landover. Looking good. No problems near route 50 heading down south toward the wilson bridge. Youre going to be just fine this morning. One more look at the maps. This time were heading over to virginia on the south side of town. No problems in springfield. A live look in alexandria. The beltway at eisenhower avenue on our traffic camera. Back to you guys. Monika, thank you. President obama will use Campaign Style<\/a> toxics to promote the ideas he laid out at last nights state of the union. Hell be on the road making three stops in three states. Much of his address to congress is focused on domestic issues, especially the economy. One of the items on his agenda, reducing Health Care Costs<\/a> by making changes to medicare. Well bring down cooses by changing the way our government pays for medicare because our medical bills shouldnt be based on the number of tests ordered or days spent in the hospital. They should be based on the quality of care that our seniors receive. Republicans have offered a detailed and credible plan that helps save medicare without hurting todays retirees. Instead of playing politics with medicare, when is the president going to offer his detailed plan. Tonight would have been a good time to do it. That was the republican response from florida senator marco rubio. Other lawmakers weighed in as well. Delia goncalves is live on capitol hill with more on that. Delia, good morning. Good morning, mike. While many republicans, including senator marco rubio himself has recently worked on some bipartisan proposals, including immigration that we recently heard from, it is still clear, emily last especially last night, that there is still a huge divide here on capitol hill. The president spoke last night and while Many Democrats<\/a> thought his ambitious plans on the economy, health care, gun control and tax cuts were right on target, some were looking for a more defined blueprint on how to avoid the sequestration cuts march 1. I didnt hear any specifics. He acknowledged it which was good. He thanked our men and women that serve this nation, but we have to get down to the specifics. Were on a tight time frame now. We need to understand how do we get there. How do we make sure we put those things on the table. He did not fill in a lot of details. And maybe thats the better part of wisdom given how few days we have. I might have liked to have heard a little more specificity frankly. Reporter d. C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes<\/a> norton also a democrat had a little criticism herself. She said she was deeply disappointed that there was no mention last night of d. C. Voting rights. She said she thought when the president put the d. C. License plate on his vehicle, that was a sign that he was supporting d. C. Voting rights. However, no mention of it last night. She was very disappointed of course. The license plate says taxation without representation. Well have much more from her and some other democrats coming up at 6 00. Back to you. Thanks, delia. Well see you then. An investigation assured way into what caused a deadly late night fire in charles county, maryland. Crews got to the road about 10 30. They were able to put the flames out in about 30 minutes but one of the people who lived in the home was not able to make it out. Its believed to be an elderly woman. One firefighter was taken to the hospital and treated for minor burns. The cause is still under investigation. Prince georges county police need your help. Theyre trying to find a missing women and her 1year old daughter. They sent out a photo of 25 yearold Stefanie Hamrick<\/a> and her little girl. They were last seen walking near a bus stop on greenbelt road last thursday. They were last seen about 5 30 p. M. If youve seen them or you know where they are, please call police. A new report reaches some surprising findings about Breast Cancer<\/a>. Researchers concluded that identifying and eliminating the environmental causes is the greatest opportunity to prevent the disease. The Breast Cancer<\/a> fund released the report earlier this morning. The experiments who contributed to the report found only about 10 of current federal Breast Cancer<\/a> funding goes towards prevention efforts. Theyre recommending a National Prevention<\/a> strategy intensifying the study of chemical and physical factors and planning strategically across federal, state and nongovernmental organizations. Its called the revolving door syndrome, and its hitting americans in their wallets. An alarming rate of patients are being readmitted to the hospital just days or weeks after being released. Ann wise is wise is a Senior Program<\/a> officer. Shes here to tell us how to avoid repeat visits to the hospital. Thank you for being here with us. We were talking about the state of the union and reducing Health Care Costs<\/a>. This is one of the reasons why Health Care Costs<\/a> do go up, going back and forth into the hospital. One estimate is that medicare spends 17 billion a year on return trips to the hospital that could be avoided. About one in every five medicare patients who leave the hospital is going to end up back there within a month. This is a big problem. Its a problem not only for patients health. Obviously nobody should be back in the hospital if they can avoid being there. Its also very burdensome and discouraging for families and caregivers and as you said its expensive. What youre saying about the patients and their Family Member<\/a>s, some patients feel theyre being rushed out of the hospital to make room, to get a bed for another patient. How much does that contribute to this revolving door . We do hear from patients and families that they feel that the discharge process rushes them through, that they dont always get the right instructions but its just as important to understand that this is a community problem. No one, no matter how ready they are to go home from the hospital is going to make a good transition if they dont is support and cooperation from the doctors offices, pharmacists, nurses, other community organizations. What are the key tips . Give us three tips. I get out of the hospital. Im given some sort of instructions. I know ive got to follow them. Thats one thing ive got to do. Theres three things you need to do. One, learn to ask questions when youre leaving the hospital and when youre back home. If you dont understand the answers, dont be afraid to ask again. When you get the answers, say them back. Make sure you understand what youve been told. Second as you say, leave with a written plan, a plan that covers your medications. You know what to take and how to take it. Go over that plan with a Family Member<\/a> or a neighbor so they can help you. Also your plans should cover return doctor visits. Followup visits, whether with your own primary care doctor or specialist. If you have trouble making the appointments or keeping them, ask the hospital to help you. Finally, the last important thing to do is to understand your own health, to know what to do if youre not feeling well and what you should do if you start to have any kind of repeat problems. Again its important to have a buddy there with you, maybe taking notes because if you are an ill patient, you might not be clear on understanding everything. Absolutely. And how significantly could this bring down costs if we dont have these return visits . Well, we do have estimates that medicare spending were spending 17 billion a year around the country on these return trips that could be avoided. So thats a great place to start and an opportunity to improve care for patients. But it will take a partnership between hospitals and communities to do it. Anne weiss, thank you very much for being with us. Jessica will join us after the break to unveil todays daily deals and still ahead, well reveal this years winner of the Westminster Kennel Club<\/a> dog show. Well be right back. This is my friend diane. Shes played by the rules her whole life. But then the rules flew right out the window. Having just lost her husband, she stepped up and adopted her three grandkids, while working full time and caring for her brother, eddie, with cerebral palsy. I get the three children up. I walk andrew at eight i drop olivia off at eight thirty. Spend a few minutes at emilios school. I stop at the grocery store, and then i might do some laundry that has to be done. And then i have about five minutes. The baby sitter comes in and then i go to work. Im not back home again until 11 30 at night. Hard as she works, its still a struggle to keep up with the bills and stay warm at night. When we asked the Biggest Oil Companies<\/a> to help families in need, only citgo, the people of venezuela, and president hugo chavez responded. Thanks to them, Citizens Energy<\/a> is able to deliver millions of gallons of fuel to families just like dianes. Im joe kennedy. If you need help staying warm this winter, call me at 1877joe4oil. Because no one should be left out in the cold welcome back. 36 degrees here in washington. A few spots in the upper 20s but the bigger concern today is going to be rain for your afternoon. Heres a look at the forecast. Were starting out dry with lots of 30s. Rain will develop a little bit earlier in the afternoon. Highs in the mid to upper 40s. A touch of snow possible tonight. More on that coming up in a few minutes. Right now inside to monika with timesaver traffic. Were taking a look at new york avenue here at bladensburg road just up ahead, westbound new york avenue at 16th street northeast. A pedestrian struck, two right lanes are blocked. We dont know the condition of the pedestrian but we do know that the driver did stay on the scene. So watch out for that activity. Back to you, jess. Thank you, monika. Ive been combing through the days daily deals, retailer websites and emails to find you deep discounts and we have romantic ideas for you. You have to act fast because they all expire tomorrow. Women start with flowers. Ftd is offering up to 30 off long stem mixed roses now only 19. 99. You have to use offers. Com to get the deal. The next one is delicious. Its with cherry berries. You can get 15 off a dozen gourmet dipped valentines strawberries now 38. 23. This deal you also get through offers. Com. Finally a deal with harry and david. You have to use the coupon code cupid in order to get 20 off 39 valentines day gifts. If you have a deal for our viewers, i would love to hear from you on facebook. Thank you, jess. Join us on our Facebook Page<\/a> to take a guess at our question of the morning. It is according tobuilder. Com, 5 of americans 15 of americans admit to calling out sick from work because of this. Is it a, a perfect warm, sunny day, b, a stubbed toe or c, a date . One Facebook User<\/a> wrote a. Its been such a long time without sunshine and a good weekend weather to enjoy it. Still ahead, the. Touched on the looming sequestration debate in his state of the union last night. The navy has already postpone add Major Carrier<\/a> group deployment because of it. Well have more on how the automatic budget cults will affect the military budget cuts will affect the military. Birthday time. Happy birthday if its your day, too. Well be right back. Hello and welcome back. Our time is 5 46. Nbd, no big deal howard says. The rain will be a problem this afternoon. That will slow your commute. If you have outdoor plans, get them done by lunch time because the afternoon is looking soggy. As i show you the day planner, youll see what im talking about. Temperatures are going to be climbing only into the 40s today. Lets go to the weather computer. There we go. Temperatures today starting in the 30s. Well be in the low to mid40s by lunch time with the rain developing southwest to northeast as we go through the early afternoon. So we may squeak by the lunch hour here in the district without the rain but fredricksburg, culpeper, out toward the Shenandoah Valley<\/a> rain. And in the mountains well have snow. Tonight could get a little bit of snow. The system coming out of missouri, northern arkansas. You see snow with it there. But a lot of rain, a little bit after wintery mix toward paducah. Rain to the south slowly lifting in our direction. Really southern virginia seeing the clouds and the rain. Thats why temperatures in fredricksburg are 40. Richmond is 48 right now. 20 degrees colder in gaithersburg. 31 in martinsburg. Cumberland 28. These areas out west, thats where were looking at 2 to 4 inches of snow from this. Around here well just get perhaps a trace i think in d. C. Proper with maybe an inch in far northern and western suburbs. 36, good visibility, mainly clear still. Feeling like 32 with that light northeast wind at 5 miles an hour. The barometer is dropping. If youre sensitive to pressure changes, youre going to feel it today with low pressure moving in toward us. Arctic air really not to be found anywhere close to the u. S. Right now. Thats one of the problems, snow lovers, that we dont have an abundance of cold air to work with. We have marginal cold air. With elevations to the west, as this upper storm approaches, we are going to see it produce some snow but at the lower elevations its too warm. So im calling todays low rain and snow. You notice a tornado watch in areas of southeastern georgia in the warm environment from the storm system coming in our direction. Let me show you the futurecast. The clouds will be thickening up this morning. By lunch time some snow in the West Virginia<\/a> mountains, straddling the virginia boarder west of i81, west of charlottesville. Well have showers off to the south overspreading the region during the early afternoon. Theyll pick up in intensity and coverage here late afternoon, early evening. So this is why the commute home doesnt look so good. And i81 west, were looking at potential for a little bit of snow falling during the day and the evening hours. By 9 00, were still raining in d. C. Potentially snow in frederick and leesburg, maybe northern Fauquier County<\/a> and just two, threehour period we could see snow. That may leave a little coating but temps in the 40s today. The ground is going to be too warm for really much stickage. Even the low tonight doesnt get below freezing. Some mix tonight, no big deal. Tomorrow 51, pleasant. Friday a few more clouds but nice at 54. The weekend turns colder. Flurries saturday and sunday and sunday a rather brink day. Highs only brisk day. Highs only in the low 30s. Monika samtani, weve got nice, dry weather this morning. We have nice, dry weather but a couple of problems. First of all a car on fire alabama avenue southeast north of the suitland parkway. So be aware of that. That information just came in. Fire equipment is just arriving on the scene there on alabama avenue north of the suitland parkway. Also in northeast d. C. , as you come inbound on route 50, you want to be aware on new york avenue at 16th street, there is a pedestrian struck situation there. Two right lanes blocked. You want to stay to the left to get by. Well take a live look outside and show you what it looks like and give you good news. No problems to report as you travel on the northbound side of 95 in virginia. Looks like this. Youre used to this at around 5 30 in the morning. No issues as you head on to 395. Back to the maps, this time over to the west side of town. Gw parkway looks good coming off the beltway. A live look at the American Legion<\/a> bridge. Traffic moving well here as well. Now i toss it to my colleague Delia Goncalves<\/a> on capitol hill. Good morning. Reporter good morning, monika. It is the day after the president s first state of the Union Address<\/a> of his second term. What did our local lawmakers think . Ill have reaction coming up live from capitol hill. Jess, over to you. Thank you, delia. One topic president obama mentioned briefly in the state of the union was sequestration. The sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts would jeopardize our military readiness. Theyd devastate priorities like education and energy and medical research. They would certainly slow our recovery and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs. Thats why democrats, republicans, business leaders, and economists have already said that these cuts known here in washington as the sequester are a really bad idea. But unless Congress Acts<\/a> in the next two weeks, what the president called a really bad idea is about to become reality. Joining me now is anthony wallness, the legislative director for the association of the United States<\/a> navy. Anthony, im going to ask you right off the bat. Youve been meeting on capitol hill. What do you think is going to happen with the sequester . Its a bad thing as the president noted. Its something that we are facing thats going to be a difficult fix in the future. We never really saw this as getting to this point but sequestration really is asking a business to really look at its budget and prepare itself not knowing where its going, asking a multibillion Dollar Department<\/a> of defense to plan without a budget and thats causing the situation that were in right now. You think the sequester is going to happen . Unfortunately im leaning towards yes at this point. Lets talk about the budget. The navy is operating under a reduced budget. Looking at another 4 billion in cuts if the sequester happens. Does that make us unsafe . Is this unsafe . It certainly tampers our readiness, especially looking at the announcement last week by the navy of the u. S. S. Truman delaying its deployment to the persian gulf. We already have one Aircraft Carrier<\/a> out there, but now were asking it to delay its relief, mostly because of the fact we dont have the money and theres so much budget uncertainty to relieve it. Were asking our sailors to be deployed enlonger in the persian even longer in the persian gulf causing our sailors to be very stressed and up prepared for whatever mission. Thats a security cost and Family Impact<\/a> cost. Correct. Were asking sailors to stay away from their families longer. This causes a lot of fatigue on the Aircraft Carrier<\/a>s. Without the proper relief, theyll be asked to do a lot more than they were originally asked to. Lets talk about a topic that doesnt come up as much when you talk about the sequester. South america, this is also going to impact our drug operations. Theyre stopping drugs coming into the United States<\/a>. How is that . Thats right. A memo went out a couple of weeks ago asking that operations in south america get stopped because of budget funding cuts. It hampers a lot of the kind of things that were going to be doing as far as counterdrug missions in south america. We dont know what the impact will be but having a less Navy Presence<\/a> in the area hampers the counterdrug efforts in that area. Hopefully we will not see a rush of drugs into the until as result of this. Last question. What would you like for see happen . We have two weeks. We have this Freight Train<\/a> that seems to be barreling down the track. What would you like to see happen in this short window of time . A lot of the associations involved in this discussion with would like to see some bipartisan negotiation happen. Weve had proposals by chairman of the Senate Armed Services<\/a> committee carl levin eliminating loopholes to raise revenues to offset the cuts. Weve had proposals by the Ranking Member<\/a> senator James Inhoffe<\/a> from oklahoma. Hes been asking to look at granting reprogramming for the pentagon to be able to manage the sequester. Well see what happens. Thanks so much for coming in and sharing your thoughts with us. Thank you very much. Its a pleasure. Coming up in our next hour, well talk about the new Political Drama<\/a> series called house of cards and why its so groundbreaking. Plus, the lucky seven but only one could be crowned the annual Westminster Kennel Club<\/a> dog show best in 5 58. Still clear skies but clouds moving in. Well see rain developing in the afternoon with snow in the mountains. It looks like a wet commute home. Well get a touch of snow tonight. Its really not going to amount to much in the metro. Highs in the mid40s. Thank you, howard. 5 58. Came down to magnificent seven in Madison Square<\/a> garden. The seven Group Winners<\/a> competed for top winners at the annual Westminster Kennel Club<\/a> dog show. This year for the first time a reserve best in show winner was selected. We presume thats in case the champion is unable to fulfill his duties. That runnerup spot went to the old english sheep dog. Then it was time for the big announcement. The best in show winner for the 137th Westminster Kennel Club<\/a> dog show, the affenpinscher. Little banana joe. He took the top prize. Our producer concern certain. Joe has been living [indiscernible] joe has been living in the states for competition but at the grand old age of 5 hes retiring and will return to holland. People are crazy for that show. They love it. Its an adorable little dog. I love it when our dogs sit up and watch the tv when they hear the dogs from the kennel show on. They watch it when we return it on. Theyre sitting up like this watching the tv. Two of the dogs in the final seven are from d. C. Well talk about those coming up in the next 15 minutes. Were honored to have you watching us at wusa9 at 6 00 a. M. Good morning. Im andrea roane. I happy wednesday","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia601906.us.archive.org\/12\/items\/WUSA_20130213_100000_wusa_9_News_at_5am\/WUSA_20130213_100000_wusa_9_News_at_5am.thumbs\/WUSA_20130213_100000_wusa_9_News_at_5am_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240619T12:35:10+00:00"}