after twelve noon. later today, the showers will become more widespread. i think the evening commute will be slowed down a little bit by rain. >> we always know if you get just a little bit of rain, that is all it takes. >> it makes it an adventure during the rush hour. at least, we are not dealing with anything but rain. rain is up into southern portions of new york state so that gives you an idea of how warm it is up and down the eastern seaboard. you can see the light showers, sprinkles off to the north and east. the worst of it here for the next several hours. but by late morning, early affect, we've got more rain out into ohio and kentucky. it will give us a rainy afternoon. at least showers this afternoon. 42 at reagan national. your humidity, 73%. wind are out of the south and east at three miles per hour. the pressure will start to fall as the front approaches. clouds, showers back in the forecast. still mild temperatures, highs about 50 later on today. at least it won't be terribly cold. >> time to check in with julie wright. >> good morning. an ongoing investigation right now continues to block a portion of route 3. we will show you where in just a second. this is northbound i-59 coming in out of newington. no problems to report out of virginia in the express lanes and main line. for those traveling through annapolis this morning, overnight crash or early morning wreck i should say involving an suv and tractor- trailer closes the southbound stretch of route 3 here after why would chapel road. there is an ongoing investigation. southbound 3 will remain closed until further notice this. puts it between 97 and 50 at this time. southbound lanes are closed. if you are coming northbound from 50 headed back up towards annapolis, you will find your lanes here are open. that's a check of your fox 5 on-timetraffic. -timetraffic. >> thank you. new this morning, an agreement in the payroll tax cut debate. it means you will continue to take home a little extra money in each paycheck. congressional negotiator reached the agreement late last night. in t. includes a 10-month extension in the 2% cut in the social security tax. that is where the boost to your paycheck comes from. the bill also renews unemployment benefits. however, under the agreement, new federal workers will have to contribute more to their pension plans actually final vote on this could come sometime tomorrow. an alexandria paramedic who died in the line of duty is being laid to rest today. >> the funeral procession is expected to create some traffic delays later in the afternoon. fox 5's stacy cohan is live in alexandria with the story. >> reporter: we are live outside the firehouse where joshua weissman worked. there are about 5,000 people that are expected to attend this funeral. therefore, it is going to create major traffic tie-ups. let me get to some road closures for you. if you are in the alexandria area, you need to know about this. they are from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. we are talking major roadways, king street, seminary road, van dorn, braddock road. we have a full list with all the details on our web site, myfoxdc.com. if you are in this area, i urge you to check that out. joshua weissman was the 33-year- old paramedic killed last week along 395. there was a visitation outside funeral home. there was a seven-hour long visitation with line wrapping around building with people would wanted to pay their respects to this paramedic. he lost his life responding to a car fire and apparently he had made an effort to jump from one area of the overpass to another and fell through a gap, fell 30 feet for a creek bed below. if you want to come back here live, we can show you this memorial here thats that been constructed outside the fire department. there is an ambulance draped in black. they have flowers, a firefighter's uniform and helmet. all of the 265 members of the alexandria fire department are on leave today through tomorrow. surrounding jurisdictions will be responding. also, this is important for you have children in schools. t.cl williams high school and douglas macarthur elementary school are being dismissed at 12:30:00 p.m. due to the activity surrounding this funeral. all other schools will have early dismissal at 1:20 p.m. with 5,000 people and this lasting all day, it will have a big impact in this area. back to you. >> thank you. a look now at the morning's other stop stories. two families who lost loved ones in the 2009 crash on metro's red line are rejecting a settle machine. metro admitted liability in the deadly accident and is settling lawsuits with seven of nine families. towanda brown lost her 23-year- old daughter nick can i king who had two young sons. on monday, metro admitted legal responsibility for the accident in court but it is not enough for this grieving mother. >> i thought it was very disrespectful and such a low ball figure for two young kids that have lost the most significant person in their lives. >> the trial is set for march but since metro has admitted liability, it is not expected to last long. now to the latest developments out of charlottesville where a former uva la crosse players on trial for murder. a defense witness countered claims yesterday that yeardley love died as a result of a batter is at the hands of george huguely. a medical expert testified that love suffocated while lying face down on a pillow in her bedroom. prosecutors who rested their case claim love died as i aresult of blunt force trauma. a highly contagious sickness is sweeping through a local college campus. at least 58 students at george washington university are sick with norovirus, a stomach illness that has flu-like symptoms. the university has issued a campus advisory telling students to wash their hands and disinfect common areas. maryland lawmaker will consider a bill to legalize gay marriage today. advocates on both sides scrambled to rally a small number of wavering delegates. lawmakers are expected to vote by tomorrow. governor martin o'malley response ired on the bill. if it passes, maryland would join d.c. and seven seven other states in allowing same-sex marriage. making head heinz this morning, the kennedy name could soon return to congress. >> also ahead, we'll have new details this morning on funeral plans for whitney houston. how her family is responding to outrage from fans over the decision to keep the ceremony private. we are back in a moment. ♪ [ kareem ] i was fascinated by balsa wood airplanes since i was a kid. [ mike ] i always wondered how did an airplane get in the air. at ge aviation, we build jet engines. we lift people up off the ground to 35 thousand feet. these engines are built by hand with very precise assembly techniques. [ mike ] it's gonna fly people around the world. safely and better than it's ever done before. it would be a real treat to hear this monster fire up. [ jaronda ] i think a lot of people, when they look at a jet engine, they see a big hunk of metal. but when i look at it, i see seth, mark, tom, and people like that who work on engines every day. [ tom ] i would love to see this thing fly. [ kareem ] it's a dream, honestly. there it is. oh, wow. that's so cool! yeah, that was awesome! [ cheering ] [ tom ] i wanna see that again. ♪ iran says it is ready for nuclear talk. the top nuclear nova scotiaish sent a letter to european officials asking for a resumption of talks with world powers. it does not offer any new concessions and is likely to be viewed with skepticism in european capitals and at the white house. another kennedy entering politics. joe kennedy ii. plans to announce today he is running for congress in massachusetts. that is for the seat being vacate by representative barn tbri frank. joe kennedy iii is the grandson of rfk and grandson of joe kennedy ii. he has never run for office. he is already leading in the polls and has received endorsements from two unions. whitney houston nans will have a chance to view the pop star's funeral after all. the singer's family has decided to share the private ceremony with her fans by streaming it live on the internet. it is a compromise after fans voiced their kiss appointment about being shut out of the memorial service which will take place on saturday. tmz is respecting that bobby brown may not be invited to the funeral. houston's family reportedly still has bad feelings over the couple's divorce back in 2007. coming up next, a campaign trail update. a look at how president obama would fare against the gop contenders if the election was held right now. first, we'll check in with tucker barnes for your full forecast and find out more about the chances of a winter storm this weekend. fox 5 morning news back in a moment. it was a messy situation on the roads up in baltimore. at this hour, things appear to be finally be back to normal for drivers. a semi truck carrying ink flipped over late last night on i-95. ink spilled all over the highway and leaked from the overpass onto 895 below. what a mess. both roads were shut down for some time but all lanes are now reopened. >> it was a mess. not a mess at least right now here in washington, d.c. as you take a look at the u.s. capitol dome. 42degrees outside at 6:15. tucker barnes, not a mess right now but things could change quickly. >> particularly later this afternoon. we'll get some showers in here. i think the evening commute will probably be a little bit slow by the rain showers moving through. when all is said and done, this won't be be a terrible day. it will be cloudy. morning will feature an ominous sky with a couple light sprinkles or showers. some showers this afternoon with temperatures about 50. that is another good news. >> love the 50s. >> doesn't feel hike winter so who can complain. >> not bad. maybe this weekend, we'll get a taste of winter. we'll talk about that in just a second. the rain showers very light. you can see on the sentinel radar, picking up just one or two showers in the immediate washington area. we're getting more rain now. there is wash out to the west, out towards winchester and martinsburg, you might be seeing light showers. the theme is clouds today, mild temperatures with rain particularly developing during the afternoon hours as this frontal system moves in from the west. there you go. you can see the main event still lagging out into ohio and kentucky. that will arrive in the norm of a cold front later today. eventually, the front will get through here later tonight and the dry air will get to filter in behind. it we'll dry out and tomorrow looks beautiful. sunshine, temperatures for our friday, right back into the 50s. so good-looking forecast to start our weekend. 49 in gaithersburg. 44 at quantico. these temperatures generally on the mild side. off to the north and west, they are getting a few degrees above it. everything that falls in the immediate area will fall in the form of liquid later this afternoon. futurecast, we'll put it in motion. you can seat showers redeveloping later this afternoon at 3:00. that looks like prime time here as that system continues to move on through. at 5:00, we've got lingering showers. likely still some showers around for the evening commute. we'll quiet things down and as mentioned, sunshine back in the forecast for tomorrow. then, we've got for focus off to the south and west. this developing area of low pressure across the northern gulf of mexico for the weekend. this is saturday morning at 1:00 a.m. likely to do one ever these tracks right up through the carolinas and off the eastern seaboard off the mid-atlantic by sunday afternoon. this could bring us a wintry mix around here during the day on sunday. still got to fine tune the forecast but the big change from yesterday from 24 hours ago, this storm looked like it is more likely to happen now as we're get something consensus with our computer models. we will get a storm developing. it like it will track close enough to the washington area that we will see some of the impact from it. will it be rain or snow in still got to determine that one. stay tuned. forecast for today, cloudy skies, showers likely. 51 your daytime high. early showers, clearing overnight. 38degrees your overnight hoe so we're not worried about refreezing out there during the overnight hours tonight apted tomorrow morning. tomorrow look beautiful, 53. not bad saturday, 52. we'll cloud up late in the day on saturday. late saturday, early sunday, looks like we could start to feel the storm from it. let's do some traffic. here she is, julie dressed in purple. that is the theme of the day. >> purple? >> i got purple too. >> i guess we both got the memo then. >> yeah. >> all right. on the roads this morning, we've had our hands full. we have accident activity involving an suv and a tractor- trailer. that is what closes the southbound stretch of route 3 at why would chapel road. it will be chosed for some time. this is a fatal crash which remains under investigation so the southbound lanes of route 3 after why would chapel remain closed at this time. traveling northbound from 50 headed back up towards annapolis and up towards i-97, with your lanes are open. also a stretch of slow traffic as you approach 424 in davidsonville. for you guys traveling westbound coming in from annapolis leaving i-97 headed over towards 424, you are in for a slow go there as well. silver hill road before you reach the suitland parkway, ongoing utility work is tying up the right side of the highway. no problems to report at the wilson bridge. live shot of 66 coming inbound headed towards 123, heavy slow and steady, that's how she rolls headed for the beltway. hl that's a check of your fox 5 on-timetraffic. ic. the latest now from the campaign trail actually new poll shows president obama would beat any of the republicans currently in the race. the "new york times" and cbs news poll finds the president's re-election chances improving in head to head match-ups. he beats mitt romney 48% to 42%. rick santorum, 49 to 41%. it shows the president trouncing newt gingrich 54 to 36%. but even more concerning for republicans, the new poll finds that independents favor obama 46 to 37% over mitt romney. presidential hopeful rick santorum has released his tax returns. they cover from 2007 to 2010 and show a steady rise in personal wealth. santorum made $660,000 in 2007. he spiked in twoip with $1.1 million. then he made more than $900,000 in 2010. he paid an average tax rate of about 27%. santorum made the money working as a corporate consultant and media commentator after losing a bid for re-election to the senate in 2006. president obama dedicated his this black history month to african-american women and today at the white house, a group of dedicated mayor williams will take center stage. later this hour, find out more about the mission of mocha moms. >> such a great honor for them. coming up next, we'll go live to fox business network in new york for more on what was behind yesterday's stock slide. back in a moment. ♪ [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, northrop grumman. welcome back. stocks took a tumble general motors is set to announce a record profit. lauren simonetti with fox business network is live in new york with this morning's business beat. >> good morning. >> news out of the greece though making the markets tremble once again. talk a little bit about that and what we have in store for the day. >> yeah, it was the worst decline of the clear for stocks yesterday. the dow industrials down by 97 points. we haven't seen that since the end of december. we had the nasdaq lower by 16 points and the s&p 500 down by seven so a day of red followed by futures this morning that are definitely in the negative column. there was a three and a half hour conference call among european officials last night to figure out what to do with greece before it defaults by the end of next month. up fortunately no, solution still and that is weighing on world markets this morning. >> meanwhile, things looking up for general motors. quite a big up from a couple of years ago when they weren't doing very well. maybe not for its employees though. >> i know. gm is set to report its profits for all of last year today. we are expecting an increase of 75% from 2010 to $8 billion made. great numbers, good job for gm but that big number kind of masks all problems that gm still is facing such as a big slowdown in europe and also very high pension costs here in the u.s. because of that, gm is making changes to its pensions. it is freezing pay for 26,000 workers it will give them an extra week of vacation time instead. and changes like this are making people question whether gm is really on the recovery we thought it was. >> exactly. lauren simonetti in new york. thank you so much. we'll check in with you tomorrow. >> okay. being a michelle millman is a rewarding job but one that doesn't come with a lot of recognition. today at the white house, one group dedicated to helping mothers find support through friends will be in the spotlight. we'll have more on that. , he lost husband life in the line of duty and today an entire city will pause to honor paramedic joshua weissman. we are back in a moment with more on that. ñ i trained in medical school. at the time, there was very little business training. ♪ so hurry up, let's go, don't want to miss... ♪ i had my own practice, so i went looking for the knowledge to be successful running my own business. the courses were challenging. we had excellent instructors, and it was fun at the same time. i'm dr. william reha. i earned my mba from strayer university. an agreement in the payroll tax cut debate means you will continue to take home a little extra money with your paycheck. now, congressional northishs reached the agreement late last night. it includes a 10-month extension on the 2% cut in the social security payroll tax which is where that boost to your paycheck comes from. the bill also renews unemployment benefits. however, under the agreement, new federal workers will have to contribute more to their pension plans. the final vote could come tomorrow. we'll keep an eye on that. also keeping an eye on the sky this morning with the rain expected to come down later on today and still a little bit this morning too though, right? >> one or two showers this morning. the clouds moved in overnight. it will be a cloudy start for your day. most of the rain will hold off until the noon hour. i think between about noon and 6:00 today will be prime time t won't be powering rain, university kind of showery identify good portion of the afternoon. >> not really cold so no drama as far as freezing on the roads. >> exactly. temperatures above freezing so wear not concerned with anything other than liquid falling this morning. let's take a look and see what we can find on our radar. currently, not much activity in the immediate washington area. out to the west, we've got additional bands of rain moving in to places like winchester and front royal. they are approaching from the west. overnight, we had one or two bands of showers move through the immediate washington area and they are now north and east of baltimore. they are up into baltimore. quieter for a few hours and rain showers return for the afternoon. 43 at reagan national and dulles. bwi marshall, 40 degrees. we are not concerned with anything other than rainfall for the day. it will be steady at times later this afternoon with highs on the mild side. 51 in washington. 53 in fredericksburg. coming up in a couple of minutes, great ask the weather guy question. it is weather-related and we'll strike to take a look at the possibility of a weekend storm system too. >> everybody very interested in that. let's check in with julie wright to see how the roads are looking. >> we have lanes open now along route 3 at wild chapel. the accident investigate has cleared. you will find your lanes are open right now if you are continuing your trip along northbound i-95. accident activity in the hov lanes back in newing to be. off the road to the shoulder but the main line is congested from dale city headed up that point. it break free then. southbound 270 on the brake leaving gaithersburg this morning as you work your way past 124. more stop and go slow traffic montrose road to the split. that's a check of your fox 5 on-timetraffic. etraffic. juror speaking of traffic, expect some traffic delays in parts of alexandria today. paramedic joshua weissman will be laid to rest. >> they will be roll -- there will be rolling closures late in the afternoon today. stacy cohan has the story. >> reporter: you are talking about 5,000 people that are planning on attending this funeral. they are coming from all over country and therefore there are going to be some road closures that affect you if you are traveling in the alexandria area. we have them listed for you. here are the road closures. they include several major arteries that are closed between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. they include quaker lane, seminary road, van dorn, braddock road and king street. for a detailed list, please go to myfoxdc.com and take a good look at that if you are going to be in this area. back to the real soree. joshua weissman, he was killed last week just 33 years old. he was responding for an accident along 395 when he was killed. now, mourners came for a seven hour long visitation yesterday. that was held at the everly wheatley funeral home. about 5,000 are expected to attend as i mentioned and one of the people that is out there and spoke with high regard about this young man was his brother. >> josh excelled in a career that reflected person who he was, strong and fearless under pressure but rooted in compassion and kindness. these characteristics define not only him but so many others who dedicate their lives to helping when the circumstances are most dire. >> reporter: this is a live look outside the firehouse where joshua weissman worked. there is a memorial that has been there including a uniform and some black draping. there is also flowers outside. just moments ago, we saw fairfax county fire trucks pull into this and that is because all 265 members of the alexandria fire department are on leave through friday. so surrounding jurisdiction just like fairfax at this station will be working in their stead so that they can all attend this funeral. one last note, there are some schools affected by this. there was a decision made because of the large volume of traffic to close schools early. t.c.williams high school and douglas macarthur elementary school are both being dismissed at 12:35 p.m. all other elementary schools way be dismissed at 1:20 p.m. the funeral will be held at bethel hebrew in alexandria. back to you. >> thank you. now to some of the other stop stories we are following. the latest in the uva murder trial. a defense witness countered claims yesterday that yeardley love died as a result of a battering at the hands of george huguely. a medical expert testified that love suffocated while lying face down on a pillow in her bedroom. prosecutors who rested her case claimed love died as a result of blunt force trauma. a sickness is sweeping through the george washington university campus. 58 students where v. now gotten sick with the norovirus. the university has issue ad campus advisory telling students to wash their hands and also disinfect surfaces before using them. the school is also scrubbing common areas like student centers and libraries. maryland's house of delegates will consider a bill to legalize gay marriage today. advocates on both sides scrambled yesterday to lobby a small number of wavering delegates. the legislation was laid over until today and lawmaker are expected to vote by tomorrow. governor martin o'malley sponsored the bill. if it passes, maryland would join d.c. and seven other states in allowing same-sex marriage. time right now for a look at sports headlines. >> fess who is here. dave ross is here for your sports breakfast. >> yes, you know, i like it stay up late and watch those wizards on the west coast. i know you do too. >> oh, yeah. >> they were look for the third straight win on the road but this do that, themed have to win in l.a. against the clippers who have the best nickname in sports right now, lob city. but i digress. you got to talk about blake griffin. my goodness, can the young man get up. every time i flipped over, he was doing that. the wizards are better. they are 578 under richlandy whitman. head won two in a row. they are 5-8 under randy whitman. the phillies are not thrilled about what the nats are doing. it is called take pack the park. initiative goes something like this. starting last friday, if you wanted to buy sickle game tickets for the phillies series in washington in early may, you had to use a credit card linked to the address in either the district, moreland arrest vince. if you livedout side the dmv, you had to wait until march 8th when anybody could buy sickle game tickets. the question is is what the nats are doing legal? goos that i presale that you see typically with a left teams. maybe not in this setting geographically but we saw someone on fox up in philadelphia, they had a legal analyst went on and they said what they're doing is actually legal. it is not about the phillies fans. it is about our fans coming together to support a great team. more on the jeremy lin show that played once again to rave reviews at madison square garden. we will careful deeper. i know you can't get enough jeremy lin. >> it is exciting to watch. >> every time the guy played the garden, when he played in toronto, they sold that place out. going crazy around the world right now. >> it is great to have something for people to like get back into the nba. >> i just wish he played for the wizards. >> then that would be a different story. i don't know if it would be the same. >> being i mother is a full- time job and then some. >> today, one group dedicated to enhandgun moms find support through friends is getting a special honor at the white house. coming up next, find out what mocha moms is all about. >> winter weather in the forecast this weekend. now is a great time to get that new fox 5 weather app on the a.m. store and the android market as well. you can also go to myfoxdc.com and scan our qr code to link you to our weather app. just search d.c. weather. homicide of young g people in america has an impact on all of us. how cacan we save these young people's lives? as a police chief i have an opportunity to affect what happens in a major city. i learned early on if you want to make a difference you have to have the right education. university of phoenix opened the door. my name is james craig, i'm committed to making a difference and i am a phoenix. welcome back. >> good morning. >> i'm feeling better. >> i can tell. like a company hours pass and your cold medicine kicks in. >> once i get over the shock of getting up at 2:30 in the morning. we've got one or two light showers out there this morning for your morning commute. generally good news for your morning commute. afternoon commute, it will be wet, no doubt about it as the rain will become steadier later today. one or two showers north and east of the city. a little band of very light showers and then more to redevelop here to the west of the city. out near sterling, we'll get a light shower in winchester, martinsburg and a lot of this is no the ground to be honest with you. the main event as it were still well out to the west. got at national map. want to show you this is what we get to look forward to later today. a better and better chance of showers developing during the course of the afternoon. i think as mentioned, prime time for the rain will be between about noon today and 6:00 tonight. eventually, we'll dry things out during the overnight hours and friday looks fan taft you can right now. with temperatures in the 50s and sunshine. want to point out this little feature here. see this in los angeles? that little twist in the atmosphere that that area of low pressure will do one of these, ride right along the border with mexico and re- emerge right here in the northern gulf by saturday morning. you are asking, why do i care? the reason is this area of low pressure will develop into a fairly significant winter storm as it redevelops here this weekend and then slide up towards the washington area by late saturday and early sunday. still a lot of questions with that developing storm. where will it track? how intense will it be? will we have enough cold air in place to make it a snow event across the washington area. haven't determined all those answers yet. but the bottom line is we have we have the potential for a winter storm. i think the chances are better today that that storm will track close enough. 43 right now in washington. 42 for you from fredericksburg. here is your forecast for today. clouds, showers likely. there are your wind out of the south at about 10 to 15 miles per hour. a few showers linking early tonight the. we'll clear out tonight. your wind will pick up out of the forth and west at five to 10. there is your five-day forecast. tomorrow look fantastic. 53 your daytime high with plenty of sunshine. saturday starts off promising. partly sunny. we cloud up late in the day and by saturday night late, overnight into early sunday, things get more interesting an again, a lot depends on the eventual track of that storm. but looking more likely that we will get something. will it be rain, snow or a combination, still got a left question marks. a holiday on monday so a good day for sledding. >> they have an extended weekend and if that happens, that could be good. >> don't oversell it. >> i'll see you at work sunday morning, tony. >> you know what this means? it is time for ask the weather guys! >> do we not have thunder anymore? i don't know where the thunder has gone. >> we'll make our own thunder. >> boom, boom! there you go. >> this is the segment where tucker and i put our big heads together to answer your most pressing questions. thank you's question come from michelle in rockville. she writes, my cowork is an amateur meteorologist. so am i. i got him a fitzroy storm glass. it appears to be indicating snowy weather which is conveniently enough in the forecast. so my question is do these things really work and if so, how? i have to admit i asked tucker what is this. >> do we have a picture of one? >> we'll show a picture of one. i'll give you just a very brief history on a storm glass. back in the late 1850s, there were a series of terrible storms that caused a lot of deaths in the british isles to the sailors and the mariners in the british isle system. british came up with a forecasting device called a fitzroy storm glass. he was most famous for his voyage with charles darwin on the hms beagle. >> he was a scientist himself. >> he was a scientist as well. this is a glass enclosed forecasting device that has a number of different ingredients and chemicals in it including distilled water, he go knowledge, and lots of other ingredients. by looking at what happens to that glass, can you determine the weather. >> over a period of time, it forms crystals. they form, they dissipate, they form, they dissipate depending on theoretically what the weather is going to be. over the years, i mean back when they first came out and now remember, it is the 1806s, people thought this is great f a clear crystal formed, they thought it would rain. there has been debate over the year as to whether or not they are effective or not. some people say they are mainly affected by the heat, not so much other atmospheric conditions. generally speaking, they do have a -- an accuracy rate. but it is only about 50%. >> that is kuhn of low. >> pretty low. >> we found a -- that is kind of low. >> pretty low. we found a great study wray group got together and did a series of 12 tests and looked very carefully at that and their accuracy rate was between about 40 and 60%. one of the problem is how do you determine whether or not it has rained outside. does it have to be measurable rain, just a sprinkle. so scientifically, it is hard to prove whether or not it work well or not but i think there are some indications that this might be something to it. >> there is something to it but i wouldn't rely on it. >> society temperature outside affects this thing to the point you can determine -- >> temperature, humidity, pressure. >> that is what some people say. >> you can't really. >> back in the 106s, it was something. they didn't have a whole lot of weather instruments. they had a barometer and a thermometer. >> at 50%, that puts it in the range of some other local tv stations. >> for an amateur meteorologist, it is cool and it is something to talk about and something to look at. i think it is kind of fun. >> do you have one? >> i don't have one but i think they're neat. >> thank you, michelle. great question. i love these when i learn something. if you have a question that you want answered, go to myfoxdc.com and click on the weather tab. >> one of my favorite songs ever. >> you love this. >> the drums were going over here. >> also by puff daddy. >> i forget the song now. >> come with me. >> let's get to julie wright with the latest on traffic. >> we are not looking so bad out on the roads right now. 66 eastbound, you got slow traffic coming in from 50 fair oak to 123. slow traffic at the beltway northbound i-95 congested as you work your way northbound leaving dale city headed up past lorton. there was accident activity in the hov lanes in lakeshore don. main line remains congested as you continue north of lorton headed in towards newington. 359 traffic slows duke street to seminary road. outer loop. beltway below speed 95 college park headed around towards silver spring. time for a look at today's my fox half off deal. $10 will get a i one-year subscription for nova dog magazine. that is a $20 value. the award winning magazine dedicated to dog lovers in the metro area. go to myfoxdc.com and look for my fox half off. mocha moms is dedicated to helping mothers find support and today, the organization will visit the white house as president obama hon ours african-american women this black history month. we have two women with the mocha moms. they are here with us before they rush off to the white house. good morning to you both. >> good morning. >> thank you for coming in. >> give us an idea. how did this all come about. it is such a great honor for you. your organization started back in 1997 and to come to this. how did this all come to be into. >> mocha mamas was start in 199en by four mothers of color in moreland who wanted to collect with mothers of color. it started first as a newsletter and blossomed into this wonderful organization. we now have chapters in 29 states. we a community of more than 10,000 now. he with just started a partnership with the epa last year and it is blossoming into a wonderful partnership. we've been learning a lot of wonderful things from the epa administrator and the epa suggested to the white house that, hey, why don't you invite mocha moms to come and visit during black history month. so we are thrilled and honored and totally excited. >> what i great honor. give us an idea, what are some of the topics that you will be talking about this, ask youing at the white house. i understand that you will be part of a panel. >> we will chat with lisa p. jackson chatting with something he doesn't talk about that often. she does a lot of talk about policy but not much about herself as a mom. our moms with will have lots of questions about her and how she balances her work and family life. i think our moms are interested in number of key issues. education is very big us for. many moms feel as though the educational system has failed their children some some respects so there will be a lot of questions about education, motherhood, work-life balance. some of our moms are looking to go back to work. so they want to make sure there is a flexible workplace out there for them. those are some of the things they are hoping to discuss. >> and what does this mean for you to be part of this honor today at the white house? how will you be participating in this as well. i see you are also very adept at social media as well for the organization. >> i am. i lynne cheney handle the social media for the organization. this has been an extremely eye opening and enlightening experience especially because most of our moms are stay at home moms. but some have returned to the work force. some are business owners as well. and so to be part of this discussion on how they can really bring kind of their life full circle, transitioning some of them from being stay at home moms also into the work force, this is really a fantastic opportunity for all of us. we'll have over 500 mamas cross the country flying in to be part of this event. so there will be the briefing today, the summit briefing and we'll have a twitter party after that. we'll be tweeting live from the white house. >> what is your twitter handle real quick. >> at mocha moms. >> you are going back too i understand and having a fuel tour. >> we are coming back tomorrow, 350 moms and their familiar 11 news are coming back for a tour. they have moved mountains to get here. >> thank you for coming in. we do appreciate it. preciate i congratulation and good luck. i know you are so excite to be going there. >> thank you so much. we are. >> thank you. still ahead on fox 5 morning news, buzz lightyear, mickey mouse and more of physician disany's favorite characters are coming together for one big -- and more of disney's favorite character are coming forth to one big show. find out what makes this year's event extra special. we'll be back. ♪ ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. good morning everybody i am annie yu. what an honor i have donald and goofy with me this morning we are going to have a magical journey we are live at the verizon center, disney on ice 100 years of magic is in town. the show is here on monday. throughout the morning we will hang out with your favorite disney characterses, you don't want to go any where, this show promises to be bigger and better than last year with all your disney characterses. >> thank you. >> we want to say good morning to chrisy she is our facebook fanover the day this is a photo of her and her husband alex, he is in the army and stationed at the dc armoury today he is getting promoted from first lieutenant to captain congratulations alex and congratulations chrissy thanks for watching and being a fan of the day you want to be tomorrow's fan of the day search fox 5 morning newpost a comment underneath the photo. >> good for him. >> that does it for the 6:00 a.m. hour. >> time to head over to allison and tony. >> coming up fox 5 morning news a compromise on capital hill. >> we have an agreement and moving forward. >> lawmakers extend a deal on the payroll tax cuts a live report straight ahead. >> remembering a paramedic killed in the line of duty. he will be laid to rest today with thousands expected to attend officials are taking extra measures to accommodate what that means for your afternoon commute. medical alert on a college campus, a local campus, a stomach virus invaded george washington university, sickening dozens of students, fox 5 morning news at 7 starts right now. good morning there is a live lookout side, got some clouds out there, this morning. generally not a bad start to the day this is thursday february 16th, 2012 good morning i am tony perkins. >> i am allison seymour glad you are with us as we start this thursday morning let's get