Morning. One involved a police officer, believe it or not, a single vehicle accident as well at that on the northbound side of 295 on the ramp to the 11th street bridge. I just got off the phone with police there. And they say that the vehicle is still there. Its in the right lane. Theyre just waiting on a tow truck and its been there since 3 06 this morning. Then another single vehicle accident. Its not the same car. Its just the same icon on the northbound side of the bw parkway ramp to eastbound route 50 right here. That one involves a car that hit the guardrail. He was trying to get away from a traffic stop and didnt make it. So that ramp is blocked. Lets go over to a live picture right now and show you what it looks like here. On the inbound side of 66. Howard said most of the snow came down to the north and west of town but didnt stick to the road. The grassy areas are white and wet but no problems to report here at the Fairfax County parkway. Another look at our maps, this time to the other side. No problems on the gw parkway. Well take a look at the American Legion bridge. Back to you guys. Just about 5 02 now. Its that all important day of the year for couples everywhere, especially guys because they have work to do. And many people women do, too. Were not just takers, are we, ladies . Okay. Valentines day is what were talking about. Get your gifts if you havent. But they wont be rushing as much as the people with wusa9 reporter delia goncalves. Shes at potomac floral wholesale where the valentines work day starts really early and is probably going to go really late today. Good morning, delia. Reporter absolutely. Good morning, andrea and mike. Mike, youre not the only one procrastinating. There are a couple of shop owners who are here today filling in lastminute orders. So shop owners themselves are procrastinators. Were here with jacob, the owner of this fabulous warehouse celebrating 15 years. So theres a huge flower show in march. Youre celebrating that huge anniversary. Right. Every third sunday we do a flower show. We bring in designers. We do a design competition. We cater the place. We have a band here. This year its going to be extra special because it is our 15thyear anniversary. St. Patricks day. So were going to have an irish band, green beer and its going to be fun. Youre big on holidays. Reporter so today valentines day, lets take a look at what we have going on here. Obviously a lot of commotion i guess, a lot of busyness and a lot of activity. Tell me what folks are doing here now. Were basically pulling the orders and packing them and then its going to dispatch area. Some of it as you can see came in here early with high heels and getting their lastminute valentines flowers. Its going to be a combination of both. Youre doing a lot of fed ex shipments now. This packaging that the ladies are doing here that our camera is focusing on, really important to preserve the flowers whether theyre being shipped. Correct. Fed ex is usually the afternoon but these are going on our delivery trucks. Yes, in the summer witnesses warmer, they need to make sure everything is ice packed the. We do the opposite, we put warm packs in. We snuggle them with all kinds of warming material because it is too cold right now. A little tlc for our flowers. Exactly. Reporter tlc for the flowers and tlc for our value time. I talked to jay to our value time. I talked to jacob and he said hes going to give some tulips to his wife this year. Dy ruin the surprise . Shes asleep. Reporter okay. Well be back with jacob and be back here in half an hour. Well keep the secret. We wont even tell her what color the tulips are going to be. Thanks, delia. 5 04 now. Red is not only the color of roses for this valentines day. It could also be the color of cabs in d. C. Very soon. After an online vote, a special panel has recommended red as the uniform color for taxis in the city. However, d. C. Mayor vincent gray has expressed concerns the color choice could make cabs look more like emergency vehicles. The d. C. Taxicab commission has the final say on it. I love the cabs. An autopsy will be done to determine how an elderly alexandria man died. Police are only calling the 90 yearold mans death suspicious. A Family Member called for help last night after finding the person dead in his home on holly street. Officers remained at the scene overnight gathering evidence inside the home. Investigators will most likely wait for word from the medical examiner before deciding whether this is a murder case. They are asking anyone with information, though, to give them a call. Raise the gas tax or get rid of it . That seems to be the debate. Virginia lawmakers are trying to make something out of two different transportation bills. The house of delegates has gone with governor mcdonnells proposal. The state senate has passed a bill to raise the gas tax instead of eliminating it. The local lawmakers who will work on a compromise are democratic senator janet howl and republican delegate david albo, both of Fairfax County. Time for the latest your money report of the morning. Lets talk the numbers with jessica doyle. Good morning. Good morning. We stand back below 14,000. We keep flirting with the psychological milestone. We inch above it. Then we pull back a little bit. Were seeing that again. Still were not too far from the all time high, about 180 points shy. Text stocks could get a boost after cisco reported quarterly profits and sales that beat wall street estimates. The dow stands this morning at 13,982. Just below the 14,000 level. The nasdaq rose by 10 points. The s p 500 was up by about 1 point. A lot of folks are frustrated about the round of massive federal budget cuts that could automatically trigger march 1. Frustrated is a small way of saying this. That includes outgoing defense secretary leon panetta. Hes been highly critical of congress inability to reach a deal which he says will severely impact the u. S. Military not to mention possibly furloughing tens of thousands. Yesterday panetta even let the b word slip out. We cant just sit here and we cant just sit here and complain. We cant just sit here and blame others. We cant just sit here and point fingers at each other. We cant just sit here and try to get sound bites. We cant just sit here and try to make points, political points. The man nominated to be the next treasury secretary is urging congress to avoid sequestration as well. Jack lew took a stand during confirmation hearings yesterday. In the Senate President obamas former chief of staff says the 58 billion in cuts that could be 85 billion in cuts that could be coming would impose selfinflicted wounds to the economy and put too many jobs at risk. Hes expected to win Senate Confirmation later this month. Its amazing that so many politicians, so many top Agency Bosses are out there saying dont do this. Congress is out there saying we dont want to do this and yet were about to do it. My goodness. What are we doing in the next 30 minutes . Its a change thats coming. Were going to hear about it today that could raise the cost of your next Airline Ticket. Big change. Thanks, jess. A local sheriff is facing questions about that standoff with an accused killer at a california resort. Well have more on that story coming up. Rescuers are hoping that their luck holds out as they try to get people out of the path of the massive mud slides. And in sports, workouts have begun and nationals fans are counting down to opening day. 46 days away. Well temperatures in spots have gotten below freezing. We do have black ice out there. Want to tell you its going to be a good day once we get past the early morning. Temperatures climbing with sunshine in the upper 40s and low 50s. Enjoy it. Monika . Icy roadways and weve been on the phone with maryland state police. They tell us that these are the areas right now most affected and there are accidents at each of those spots, including a dump truck involved. I270 south ramp to i370 east. Ill have more on that coming up in my next report. Back to you guys. At 5 11, heres a look at whats new. The San Bernardino county sheriffs says his deputies did not intentionally burn down a resort cabin. Fugitive Christopher Dorner is believed to have died in that cabin. Might row tech the pyrotechic tear gas they used was to force him out, not cause a fire. Massive mud slides in argentina are covering a six mile area so far. Theyve covered parts of the major highway burying at least 35 vehicles. Rescuers were able to get all the people tabbed in trapped in those vehicles out in time. The postmaster general is pleading with congress not to block a move to eliminate saturday delivery. He testified before lawmakers wednesday. He says the plan announced last week would save the Postal Service an estimated 2 billion a year. So you want to enjoy today and tomorrow. Because some much colder air is arriving just in time for the weekend. Howard has details after the break in good morning. Welcome back to wusa9. Were closer to the weekend by a day but what does that mean for us as far as weather . Its going to get colder. I have to caution you right now. When you head out the door, youve got to be aware of some black ice. We have the wet streets last night. Skies have cleared. Temperatures in many areas outside the beltway have dropped to just below freezing and monika is going to be in, in a moment telling you about all the accidents were starting to hear because of ice on some of the area roads. That will be a problem for the next couple of hours although its going to be a better day once we get past the early morning. Heres a look at your day planner. We have sunrise 7 00 straight up and lots of sunshine. By 9 00 in d. C. Up to 39. Lunch time 46. Youll need a light jacket with the winds even going to not be too bad. Northwest 5 miles an hour or so we get into the low 50s for highs. For the drive home sunny and 49. So a much better drive home today than yesterday. With the clearing and the moisture around, weve had some fog. Even up in fort meade they reported threequarters of a mile visibility up into caroll county, southeast pennsylvania. Some visibilities near zero. Fredricksburg back toward lake anna, orange, those areas we have visibilities less than a mile. Temperatures as i said critical now. Its 35 at Reagan National but charlottesville 32. You notice the 20s up in pennsylvania, near 40 in norfolk but locally now weve got the problems. Millersville, bowie 31. Its 30 in alexandria. 32 fairfax. Milder in Loudoun County. A few more clouds there. Nokesville, dumfries right at 30. This is why weve got those areas where the black ice is forming. Lets show you outside right now here in d. C. Looks pretty good. A little bit of haze on the horizon. 35 reporting skars at national and calm winds and humidity high at 89 . Want to show you these temperatures across the country. Here we are in the middle of february and while its cold, theres a real owe on owe all the arctic airway up in canada. We have an active Northern Branch of the jet stream which will bring some of the cold air toward us, especially as we head into the weekend. Just want to point out a disturbance coming through wisconsin with rain and snow. Behind it we get another piece of energy in bismarck and another piece of energy in montana. Ultimately that will push a cold front our way. Friday night as the front comes through, well get some rain showers tomorrow afternoon. Then tomorrow night we may get a period of snow showers which actually could put down some minor accumulations. Your forecast were going to get up to 51 today, a real pleasant day. Watch out for the isolated icy spots this morning. Tomorrow 56. Ahead of the showers in the afternoon and evening. Some snow showers tomorrow night, 36. Only 39 on saturday. A blustery day. But sunday is the really cold day. Highs on sunday in the lower 30s. By monday back into the 40s and then more rain tuesday with a high around 50. Were talking about icy roads. With more on that, here comes monika. I was just on the phone with Montgomery County police. They tell us with the black ice, theres a lot of slipping and sliding going on. You definitely want to keep your speed limits down because there are several accidents all over town. Im going to give you a few examples. Heres a list in Montgomery County, including norback norbeck and avery road. Before connecticut avenue, westbound 495, car hit the wall on the left shoulder. Now the two left lanes are blocked. So as you come around westbound on 495 after georgia avenue, you want to scoot over to the right to get by all that activity. Again, keep your distance from the car in front of you. Another expasm of an accident, lets example of an accident, lets go to our next traffic camera. Ramp to eastbound 370, i believe that involves a dump truck. Everything from Montgomery County police they say roads are getting icy. Well go over to virginia on the northbound side of 395. This looks fine. No issues to report in landmark heading up to the 14th street bridge. Back to you guys. It may be the offseason but today is a big day for redskins fans. Plus, the wizards try to end their road trip with the winning streak intact. Highlights coming up in sports. It 16 19. Heres it is 6 19. Heres another look at our question of the day. 66 of americans had this when they were children. Is it a, a teddy bear, b, an imaginary friend, or c, a video game . Barbara goddard on our facebook page, our friend, she wrote a. I didnt need an imaginary friend. I had Four Brothers and Three Sisters so she thinks its a teddy bear. Log on to the wusa9 fan page and le [ harry umlaut ] here we go. [ sally umlaut ] what . The five stages of muller. Ah yes. Stage one suspicion. Its a yogurt, how good can it be . Stage two revision. Actually, this aint bad. Stage three surprise look at this cool cornery thing i love this stuff stage four desolation. Its gone stage five anticipation i guess i could always have another. Have you been through the five stages of muller yet . Yeah, just now. [ male announcer ] muller. The european for yummy. Welcome back. 5 22 this wednesday morning. Monika will be back in a few minutes. Getting lots of reports of slick spots because of the wet roads and temperatures this morning like manassas below freezing. The next hour or to could be slick. By the time we get to 9 00. We should all be comfortably before freezing in the upper 30s. Sunshine today. Highs today upper 40s to low 50s. Enjoy. Heres kristen berset. Good morning, everybody. The nba allstar break begins on friday and it could coming at a bad time for the wizards. They seem to have found some kind of groove on the court. They won four straight heading into last nights game. They were in detroit visiting the pistons before their final break. John wall didnt shoot much but assisted plenty. Wiz take a fourpoint lead but really couldnt hold on to it. Nice Ball Movement by the pistons. Detroit holds on to snap washingtons fourgame win streak 9685. Later today, the Washington Redskins usher in a new era down in richmond. This afternoon theyll hold a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of their new 1 million summer training facility. Well be there and well bring you the story later tonight. And switching gears, the nationals workout was a light one for the most part. By afternoon when our cameras arrived, most guys were pretty much gone. Much more activity in the coming days. A few guys we were able to catch up say they hear all the world series talk and that they like it. Theres a different perception of us outside the clubhouse. One thing thats been amazing, weve been consistent inside. We know what we can do and we know what we can do to be successful,. Its something im looking forward to and were creating something special. Opening day is 46 days away. Wall be able to see their opener against the marlins right here on wusa9 on april 1. Well have more coverage live from viera tonight at 5 00 and 6 00. Until then, im chris ten berset im kristen berset. Have a great day. Guys, have you waited till the last minute for valentines day . Well take you inside the nerve center where all the roses come together. The latest megaairline merger. Is it love . Its 5 25. Lots of problems on the roadways with black ice. Heres monika. Thats right. Especially to the north and west of town where the roads are wet and cold. Its called a flash freeze. For example, on the beltway here, outer loop, look at the slow traffic from georgia to connecticut. An accident there blocks the two left lanes. Ill be back with more details coming up in about three good morning. Welcome back to wusa9. Im andrea roane. Happy valentines day. Im mike hydeck. Were glad youre with us. Came is in your coffee what is in your coffee . I got the chocolate. [ multiple voices ] i had a lovely hand made card for me this morning. A dangerous phenomenon going on right now. We have freezing conditions. We call it a flash freeze. We had rain and snow yesterday. Mainly the roads were wet. We cleared out. It allowed skies to open up and the heat radiates away and surfaces are at or below freezing. Roads are changing from wet to freezing so thats causing all sorts of accidents. Once we get past the next hour or two, it will be a lot better. Sunrise at 7 00 a. M. And well see a lot of it. Your day planner temperatures will be climbing today into the 40s quickly by midmorning. Low 50s for highs. Real pleasant afternoon there. Winds will become over to the south and southwest only at about 5 miles an hour. The rain and snow quickly exited and with the skies opening up, that allows radiational cooling to occur. And unfortunately were falling below freezing. We have a little fog in spots north of us, up toward columbia, fort meade, york, even down south. But the temperatures are the real concern this morning. Even in spots that are just above freezing, the road surfaces can fall below freezing and get you that real quick freezeover. Lets go to monika samtani. She has a lot to tell you this morning. As howard just said, annual hour ago we said the roads were just wet and suddenly the conditions are changing. If youre grabbing your cup of coffee and heading out the door, you want to be aware we have several accidents around town, especially in Montgomery County. A long list now forming. Also on the inbound side of the Memorial Bridge by the way, we just got word there are icy conditions there and some accidents as well on the inbound side of the Memorial Bridge. Lets go to a live picture on our chart camera. This is what it looks like on the outer loop of the beltway westbound 495 in Silver Spring. The accident is before connecticut avenue. A car hit the wall there on the left side. Two left lanes are blocked causing this delay and also on the southbound side of i270, lets take a live look. Its okay here at route 109. Its just slowing down. Then theres an accident on the flyover ramps at i370 involving a dump truck as well. Be aware of that. Keep your distance and give yourself a little extra time. Regarding the roadways, one note. Frederick and caroll counties in maryland, twohour delay. They probably want to avoid icy spots. Frederick and carol caroll counties, twohour delay. An autopsy will be done to determine how an elderly man in alexandria died. Police are only calling the 90yearold mans death suspicious. A Family Member called for help after finding him dead in his home on holly street. Officers we mained at the scene overnight collecting evidence inside the home. Investigators will most likely wait for word from the medical examiner before deciding whether this is a murder case. However, police are asking anyone with information to give them a call. The funeral for 7monthold little girl who died while her 14yearold brother was taken care of her, the funeral takes place tonight. Visitation was last night. Last thursday night her mom left for work for an overnight shift. When she got home the following morning, the baby was dead. Her 14yearold brother told investigators he hit the little girl and put his hand over her mouth and nose so he could stop her from crying. Hes being charged as an adult in the case. The man convicted in Chandra Levys murder case is expected back in a d. C. Courtroom this morning. Ingmar guandique was brought back to the district last week from a federal prison in alabama. In 2010 he was found guilty of killing the government internal. Levy disappeared in may 2001. Her remains were found a year later in rock creek park. Cbs news has reported there are new questions about a prosecution witness in the case. However, the judge has refused to oapt hearings to the media. To open the hearings to the media. Tonight there will be one of three public hearings. The plan would include Additional Resources to run eight trains at peak times and next years budget funds the silver line operations. Tonights meeting starts at 5 30 at mariellen Henderson School in falls church. Its walking distance from the West Falls Church metro station. Are you waking up to a pretty card and gift this morning or are you expecting to get a special present later in the day . Procrastinators, its time to get busy. There are some floral shops that are waiting till the last minute to get their supplies too. Delia goncalves is live at potomac floral wholesale where they are trying to put together the arrangements tout sweet. Reporter i hope the next floral shop were shipping to doesnt get upset because im going to pack their flowers for them. Hopefully ill do a good job. Gloria has been here for 15 years. Shes a pro and will help me out how to wrap these flowers. These are beautiful yellow roses that are heading out, 25 of them heading out. Lets take a look at how we pack these up. Give us a little tutorial on how its done and talk us through. Tell us what the process is like. The process is pretty simple. Theyll get it, wrap it, place it in the box, make sure its tied down, wrap it up. Put it in the box, strap it down. Theyll get the other one, face it the other way so they wont smash together. The heavier roses go in one box . One box. Just so theyll be safe and wont get damaged. Theyll be nice and packed, safely packed for the customer. Reporter were wearing gloves. Not to i guess to really bruce the flowers. To protect yourself from the sprays that they put on it. Just to be safe so nobody will get sick or anything. Better to be safe than sorry. Reporter this is pretty much good to go. What else do we need to do here . Just put more paper . Shell put paper in the middle, strap it so it will be secure so it wont go to the right or to the left, damage the head of the rose. Reporter i hope i didnt damage anything. You didnt. Reporter this shipment is heading out to the Baltimore Area to pikesville. As we mentioned, they deliver all the way as far as charlottesville, pennsylvania, richmond. So very busy warehouse. They started out tiny with just five employees. Now they have more than a hundred. So celebrating 15 years. Well be here packing more flowers. Thank you, gloria, thank you, lee quo. Well send leo. Well send it back to you. Time for another your money report. Jessica is back with a value times day coupling between airlines. Ill tell you, flyers are probably not going to get too excited to get this wedding invitation because they could be paying more money. The c. E. O. S of American Airlines and u. S. Airways will announce the latest airline megamerger. This move could very well raise the price you pay for an Airline Ticket in the future. Currently the third and fourth biggest u. S. Carriers, this merger will create the Worlds Largest airline. The combined carrier will keep americans new look and its old name. This is just the latest merger in the air. United and continental joined forces back in 2010 and delta absorbed northwest in 2008. American if it had not done some sort of a merger would have been inferior to its biggest competitors in terms of its network. American will have a monopoly on virtually every route that they fly. The deal has been in the works since august. Thats when creditors forced american to consider a merger rather than remain independent. American has been restructuring under bankruptcy protection since late 2011. Its a dog eat dog world out there on wall street. Traders could get some tips from an expert. The top dog at the Westminster Dog Show banana joe is going to help ring the opening bell at the new york stock exchange. Maybe theyll put some treats on the bell to get him to put his paws up there. Probably wont be as much fun for joe as yesterdays celebration. He had a steak on a silver platter. That looks delicious. Got pretty excited about that. Cute little guy. Hes going for it. An affenpinscher. Never heard of it till this years dog show. Looks like hes having a little if filet mignon. We dont want to damage those beautiful teeth. Sending him off to retirement and a life of leisure. Thank you. That dog show winner is not quite as small as a rat. Coming up, why some scientists believe we may all need to thank a ratlike creature for our very existence. Welcome back. 5 40 on this thursday morning. We have some areas at or below freezing. We have the wetness from last night from the rain and snow. Slick spots have been developing. Monika will have more in a moment. Take it easy this morning. Maybe wait a while before you head out. Frederick and caroll counties are waiting two hours to go to school due to the slick spots up there in maryland. Our day planner, well be all right once we get up to about 8 00 or so. Temperatures will climb to the mild 40s by lunch time. Mid40s by lunch time. Highs in the 50s but colder air coming for the weekend. Right now monika with timesaver traffic. Black ice causing problems all over town, including Montgomery County. Here on the outer loop leaving Silver Spring heading toward connecticut avenue, the accident on the left side. Also an accident in fairfax with the salt truck just caused route 7 at colvin run with an icy patch there. Penn line 505 on marc trains 20 to 25 minutes late. Back to you. Thank you, monika. Daily deals time. Because businesses want you to feel the love on this valentines day, theyre offering a bunch of freeb business. Were going to freebies. Were going to start with coffee. Offers. Com reports that starbucks has a buy one, get one free deal today on its featured drink. Vanilla spice lattes, mochas and hot chocolate. Caribou coffee, buy one get one free beverages. You can get one for you and get one for your sweety for free. Not a bad idea. And dennys is offering a free cup of joe from 6 00 a. M. To 2 00 p. M. So you can try out their new brew. How about some sweets for this week. Free desserts. Boston market and corner baker are offering a free dessert with entree today. Ruby tuesday will give you a dessert for free if you make a reservation online for today. And chilis will give you a free app for dessert when you become a facebook fan. If you have a deal for our viewers, i would love get it . Love . Would love to hear from you. A lot of love for this person. You probably remember her as selma from good times. Shes in our studio to talk about her latest project in our area coming up. Still ahead, we have some very healthy reasons for you to enjoy that valentines day box of chocolates. It is the 14th of february. Lets see whos celebrating a birthday today. A special happy birthday to our producer oji gleaton. Happy birthday fits your birthday welcome back. Your weather fir we. Had snow north and west of town. It did not stick to the roads. Some areas out in Loudoun County also had close to an inch. An isolated 2inch report came out of areas toward caroll county and baltimore county. Thats where they got the most. It was a wet snow. The problem is now temperatures have fallen cold enough that we have ice developing in a few hours. It will warm up nicely. 9 00 39. Noon 46. Were going to top off at about 51 and a good ride home today. Sunny and 49. Touch of fog also has developed. Weve seen it toward columbia and fort meade. Getting a little bit better in new york now. Fredricksburg down to one half mile. With the temperature down there of 30 degrees, yes, were going to have to worry about some black ice down there as well. Charlottesville 32. In the 20s in pennsylvania. Nothing terribly cold. Dont need to be terribly cold to get icy conditions to form. This is what were dealing with with 30 in alexandria. Even waldorf at 31. Weve got 31 in bethesda. 32 germantown. Theres one sensor in rockville saying 33. Were bouncing between 30, 32 in many areas. Even west fairfax is 32. Manassas is 30. Thats why you really got to take it easy for the next couple of hours. Frederick and caroll counties are going two hours late today due to the icy concerns this morning. As we look outside, its a good looking morning. Haze in the air but clear skies. Calm winds and 35 degrees. The humidity is up. The barometer is rising. As the storm system pulls away, behind it nothing real terrible coming our way. International falls is down to 12 degrees. We will see some cold return, especially as we head into the weekend. This northwesterly jet stream, the flow from the northwest bringing in the disturbances with a little bit of snow and rain here and there. This first one through wisconsin is going to pass to our north but a subsequent one behind it is going to get us tomorrow afternoon, tomorrow night. Got a threat when a cold front comes through that well see showers in the afternoon and maybe snow showers tomorrow night. Today, though, looks nice and sunny. A good ride home. Theres that disturbance i was talking about passing well to our north. Looking at the forecast, its going to be a good afternoon. Just some icy spots you have to watch out for this morning. 51 degrees. Later pleasant. Tonight down in the low to mid 30s. Tomorrow mid50s with late showers. The drive home tomorrow, we may have to go with the yellow alert. Could be a wet one. Then snow showers tomorrow night into saturday morning. Much colder over the weekend. Saturday 39 with some flurries and snow showers. Sunday a few more flurries, only 32 but it will warm up quickly to 50 by tuesday. A chance of rain returns by then. Weve been talking about the icy spots. It has not been good for commuters. Heres monika with more. The list of accidents is growing. In fact, theres too many to mention. What that tells you is that with the black ice problems, you want to keep your speed limit down and take your time out there. Keep your distance from the car in front of you. All the red behind me already. Eight not even 6 00 its not even 6 00 in the morning. On the outer loop of the beltway an accident. This is what youre dealing with right downing through Silver Spring, westbound on 495 to the accident before connecticut avenue. Now only one left lane is blocked. There were two lanes blocked. It was a car that slid off the road into the wall and caused these problems. Lets go to 270. I looked at all the cameras heading southbound to this accident right near route 124. You can see it here along the right side of the road. Delays begin at least route 109 on the southbound side of 270. One continuous long lineup to this accident. That one also involved icy conditions and a car that went off the road. Another live look, this time 66 on the inbound side. Another accident reported here at route 234. Another one as well inbound on the Memorial Bridge. So lots to deal with this morning, guys. Back to you. Thank you, monika. Were following whats new this morning at 5 50. The crippled cruise ship named triumph is expected to arrive in alabama this afternoon, nearly 900foot long vessel is being towed after becoming disabled sunday in the gulf of mexico. Carnival cruise lines is promising to fully refund passengers and give them future cruise credits equal to what they paid this time around. President obama heads out again this morning. Hes trying to promote the programs he outlined in his state of the union. After touring North Carolina yesterday, he was at a manufacturing plant. Today the president is going to head to decatur, georgia to visit some prekindergartners. He called for universal preschool for all american children. Have you ever called someone a rat . Well, that might be more accurate than you think. Its about all of us. Sign tises have zeroed in on a rat size animal they believe is the common ancestor of dogs, cats, elephants, whales, and humans. The furry creature lived 66 million years ago running under feet of dinosaurs and eating mostly insects. Are your valentines day gaifts lined up or will you gifts lined up or will you be getting them later today . Chocolate is considered the staple. One pound in chocolate called the molecule of lover can act like an aphrodisiac and enhance move. Chocolate also contains some great antioxidants. Reporter artfully chocolate in alexandria is full of treats that makes someone feel special. Thats where i met up with registered dietician Betsy Ramirez who says chocolate has substantial research has shown flavonols have the greatest benefit on lowering Blood Pressure and increasing levels of good cholesterol. The study that i cited earlier, they were using milk chocolate and they saw significant reductions in stroke risk. Reporter whats the best chocolate choice . She says inside the roasted bean is raw chocolate. These are chocolate covered. This is going to have your highest flavonol content because its less processed. Reporter she also likes chocolate bars adorned with berries and other healthy exotic ingredients but you dont need a lot. In fact too much counteracts the benefits. These are semisweetness. You could pop about three of those and that would equal one tablespoon of cocoa which would be a good recommendation of chocolate. Reporter were talking small amounts but often. Right. Every day even. She has more ideas from betsy on incorporating natural cocoa into your diet on the health page on our website wusa9. Com. Helping kids manage autism can be a huge challenge for parents and with more and more children getting diagnosed every year, the challenge continues to grow. Thats right. A group of students at Thomas Jefferson high school for science and technology is working on a project they believe can help. Its a bracelet theyre developing they think can provide a missing link for kids. It will help them recognize emotionless expresentations that can be difficult for kids with autism. Theyll know what the person theyre talking to is feeling. Theyll know if the person is happy or sad and they can react accordingly. Coming up at 6 15 in our cool schools report, meet the students who are working on this project. Find out why m. I. T. Is interested in their work. Well you know that song. She played thelma on good times. Now shes part of the play behind the pulpit. Shes up super early to talk about the latest role. Thank you for being with us. On facebook we have people already saying happy valentines day to you. Thank you. You heard mike. All the men in the studio. Happy valentines day. They all had a crush ow. Do you hear that, 34 years since the show went off the air. Isnt that a blessing . Thank god for that. Of course i hear it and im so happy. You were called sweet, sexy, savvy, quick witnessed, witted and smart. You were a role model for a lot of young africanamerican women. Was that a burden . It was a blessing. I had a voice. What do you mean that you had a voice . In other words, she said jj has a voice. Michael has a voice and i want my daughter to have a voice. She forced me to have a voice. What was your voice . My voice you were the it girl. Well, she wanted me to be smart. She wanted me to be intelligent. She wanted me to be the progressive woman. And living in the ghetto in that chicago apartment complex, that you were more than just where you grew up. That was the whole thing for every one of the children in that family. Absolutely. Because i myself was born and raised in the projects so i knew that character. My real father always told me what is around you doesnt z not have to be in you. I brought that spirit with me when i went to good times. I didnt believe just because i was in the ghetto that i couldnt do these things. I believed i could. You did a lot. Author, painter, dancer, julliard graduate and now here you are in our area and the play is called behind the pulpit. Tell us about this role. I play the first lady. And my husband thats the pastors wife. Thats the pastor. He does not pay too much attention to his family. And not all pastors do this but my husband does. The story is that because hes neglecting the family and paying so much attention to the church, he loses one of his children. Lets put it that way. A crisis in the family. Where are you playing here in the area . Its a church. It should be on the screen. I cant im near sighted so i cant see. It is at reid temple at 11400 glenn dale boulevard in maryland. Its at 3 00 and 8 00 p. M. Have a wonderful time. I know youve been getting great reviews. Bernadette stenis from good times. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. Dont leave. I want to take a picture. See what i said, they love you. Good morning. Thanks for waking up with us, 6 00 a. M. Im mike hydeck. Monika samtani is right here. Mr. Bernstein is right here