training initiatives and programs to help the unemployed get to work. ohio is considered a key swing state in the upcoming general election like it is just about every time. mr. obama talked about a plan on oil. he also wants congress to put more money aside for oversight of oil markets. the g.o.p. leaders say his proposed legislation is a political ploy during an election year. gas prices have come down slightly the past two weeks. there's still averaging $3.92 a gallon nationwide, though. the president is threatening to veto some legislation to extend money for highway construction projects through september. the reason? he's upset about a section of the bill that was added by house republicans calling for the construction of that keystone oil pipeline. it would run from canada to texas. the president has already rejected that proposal once before. the presumptive g.o.p. presidential nominee mitt romney is gaining more support from inside his party. speaker of the house john boehner is now supporting the massachusetts governor. speaker boehner says romney has economic policies which will get americans back to work. mitch mcconnell is also endorsing romney saying the republican party is behind him all the way. looks like there's no end in sight at this point in the budget battle in virginia. the state senate will be back at the bargaining table. yesterday the senate killed a two-year $85 billion spending package which was negotiated during this month's special session. the senate democrats killed it in a dispute over funding for metro's dulles rail project. speaking of metro, pulling dozens of buses out of service now. the move comes after sky 9 captured the aftermath of a fire on an orient 6 bus on route 5 in lanham, maryland yesterday. it was being operated by a mechanic at the time. there were no injuries. the fire broke out on another bus last week in fairfax. metro says all 94orion buses in the fleet are off the streets while they investigate the problem. here's a look at some other things making news now. a person of interest is being held in the abduction of a 3 day old boy and the fatal shooting of his mother. police in houston found the boy safe just hours after the mother was shot outside a pediatric center where she had taken her son for a post- delivery checkup [ inaudible ] he also said he would do it all over again. one of the judges in the trial was dismissed after writing on facebook that brevirk deserves the death penalty for killing 77 people in a bombing and shooting spree. at least two of the wildfires in virginia last week are classified as arsons of the investigators say someone intentionally started the wildfires in page and franklin counties. the page county fire burn more tan 4,000 acres before it was contained. a $2,000 reward is being offered in both cases. wildfires in virginia burned more than 35,000 acres this month alone. take a look at this. the left hand side of your screen, nasa captured images after solar flair monday afternoon. it shot out on the east side of the sun. you can see it on the left side of the screen. the red glowing looped material is plasma. it's a hot gas made up of electrically charged hydrogen and helium. it occurs when it becomes unstable and then bursts outward like this and releases the plasma. >> amazing. >> it's beautiful. here's something else that was amazing. yesterday many of you watched the shunt discovery fly over -- shuttle discovery fly over the d.c. area on its way to dulles international airport. the flight was the ceremonial end to one of the most traveled shuttles in nasa's former shuttle program. >> the end of that program has left the united states at a fork in the road when it comes to the future of space exploration. gary nurenberg has more. >> reporter: with a goodbye to the shuttle program. >> we have no manualed space program. that's it. i don't like to see us in that position. >> reporter: a position that led to this startling suggestion to a child tuesday from a shuttle veteran. >> any advice for ethan? an aspiring astronaut? >> study russian. >> reporter: because for an american to get to space to the international space station. >> we're now dependent on the russians. we have no way of getting into space. >> reporter: but surprisingly to some, even without an active human element, the future of the american space program? >> it's still basically quite healthy and quite active and strong. >> reporter: lots of robotics, for example. more incentives now for private industry to build space ships. >> but really we have had private business building most of the space all along. >> reporter: but now to do what? >> where are we going today? the answer really is we don't know. >> reporter: art herman of the coalition to save manned space exploration. >> we need a little bit of leadership that simply says here's where we're going. here's when we want to get there. >> reporter: manned space flight comes down to? >> money basically. it's expenses and congress and nasa seem to have different views on human space flight at the moment. >> reporter: even as congress moves toward severe budget cutbacks, space supporters look at the faces of those big crowds in d.c. tuesday and think taxpayers want this. >> why did they turn out to see it? because that represents the hopes and the dreams of our country and a positive future for our children and grandchildren. >> reporter: but bottom line right now? >> if we are trying to figure out exactly what we want to do in space and how we want to do it. >> reporter: and with what resources to do it with? at a time when government spending is under a microscope, budget cutters are looking closely at nasa. the united states is still number one in space, but other countries with direction and commitment are rapidly catching up. gary nurenberg, 9news now. >> discovery's trip from kennedy space center to smithsonian's udvar-hazy center at dulles cost taxpayers $11 million. here's a little bit of history of discovery. construction started in august of 1979. it took its first flight august 30, 1984. final landing march 9, 2011. during its lifetime the shuttle spent 365 days and 22 hours in space. it docked with the soviet space station mir once and the international space station three times and traveled over 148 million miles. >> people were so excited it flew right over our building. we were here on the set showing it to you. we never got a chance to see it. >> they were running back and forth to the roof of the building. >> what an exciting moment. the time is 4:37. at 4:41, the expansion of the number of luxury vehicles. and the chesapeake bay isn't doing so well. we'll tell you at 4:49. >> we're back in two minutes with your weather first. you're watching 9news now. 4:40 on this wednesday morning. you'll need the rain gear for a change. it's been a dry month and we desperately need some rain. we're going to get some showers today. some could be some hefty ones, especially down south. temperatures are really not going to move. highs upper 50s. maybe a few spots in the low 60s. about 60 here in d.c. i'm looking ahead toward the weekend. even more rain headed our way. right now here's monika. well, if you're planning to head southbound i-270 looks like overnight construction has been cleared up in clarksburg. you're good to go. all lanes are open down to the point where the lanes divide. in my next report more on maryland roads at 4:47. 4:41. time for the first your money segment of the morning. >> jessica doyle is here with the headlines. a little bounce back yesterday. >> a big bounce back. would be nice to get another one just like yesterday. we'll see if we can do a do over. we had a better than expected earnings report. the imf expects the global economy to grow slightly more than expected this year. checking the numbers, the dow stands at 13,115, surged 194 points. that was its best day in a month. nasdaq had its biggest gain of the year, up 54 points and the s&p 500 was up by 21 points. all three major averages up more than 1.5%. >> voaks wag gone audi is buying the italian motorcycle maker for more than a billion. it will extend the long- standing rivalry with bmw which also makes luxury motorcycles. >> attention gamers. master chief will emerge from his slumber this fall. if you know what that means, you're probably excited about this. microsoft is saying the next installment of its popular halo series is scheduled for release november 6 on xbox. the halo franchise is big business for microsoft. it sold more than 40 million games and spawned novels and toys. like this whole genre out there of gamers who just love this thing. >> it's more than a genre. i learned this week. cool schools coming up this week has to do with kids making their own video games. it's more profitable by far than the movie industry. by far. >> yeah. the gaming industry has really been taking a dip recently so this is a big deal that a new franchise -- a new installment of this franchise is coming out. >> it's all greek to me. we need to get on board. >> thanks, jess. we've got weather and traffic coming up next. howard says rain is on the way. >> we'll be back. welcome back to 9news now. 4:45. mike is not in a great mood today. oh, boy. [ indiscernible ] weather wise, is it cold? allergies? both? probably both for me. we'll move on from that. is the tree pollen getting to you? >> it's killing me. >> it's driving mike nuts. it came in yesterday. this is probably why mike is in such a great mood. very high in the tree pollen. maybe the grass is getting under your skin. >> that's what it is. my voice is getting scratchy. >> not as scratchy as mine. high category. that will be another contest we go through. weeds and mold are low. always a competition with me and hydeck. weeds and mold are low. here's your bus stop forecast. cloudy skies out there. some spotty showers off to our west and south. temps running in the 50s. looks like you're going to need the rain gear today. i'm pretty happy about this. the other day i thought it was going to stay south. now the showers will be with us on and off most of the day. temperatures will barely move. we have the rain threat this morning, this afternoon, even this evening. northeast winds 5 to 10. highs around 60 degrees. you can see the moisture coming in, especially in southern virginia. there's some thunderstorms there as well down through raleigh, up toward lynchburg headed toward maybe richmond this morning. around here we're just going to have to see the northward extent of that over the next few hours. here's a look at live doppler 9000hd. light sprinkles to the west and north. coming out of maybe lovettsville here headed toward point of rocks and also down to clarksburg maybe a light sprinkle. woodstock, though, a little more than a light sprinkle. a shower over there. further down in the valley as well we're looking at a couple of showers as well coming up i- 81 headed toward orange and culpeper. oh, my, this voice is just giving me headaches the last couple of days. here we go in the temps. 50s to about 60 in baltimore and washington. out to the west in the mid-50s. oakland in the 40s this morning. a definite change in air masses. yesterday we managed to squeak to 77 degrees. this morning under our michael & son weather camera, all is quiet on wisconsin avenue. cloudy skies, 60 degrees. the air is dry, though. dew points 37. with a north wind at 12, yeah, there's a nippy nip in the air, a briskness if you will. got a storm in the northern plains. another storm coming into the northwest. it's this guy down in the gulf coast coming through the southeast bringing some of the showers and storms into atlanta, coming out of birmingham headed up toward asheville this morning. this is what it's providing, the moisture us for and the cloud cover and those showers that are coming out of the western carolines and -- carolinas and southwestern virginia headed toward the washington metro. the models i think are underplaying the showers that are coming in our direction. i think this will be a little farther east than what it's showing at 9:00. i think the rain is going to be pretty much over us here with some showers around. any thunder will be confined well to the south. the showers on and off through the day. you see it's not everywhere but that threat exists with that green area spotchy around here. tomorrow we turn nicer for a couple of days before another system brings us a much bigger rain event later saturday through monday. 60 today. showers at times. tonight down to about 50 or so. 70 tomorrow, nice thursday. pretty nice friday. we'll be in the mid if not upper 70s. by saturday afternoon showers and storms will be possible, 74. sunday 68 with shower and storms. the low 60s with scattered showers still around on monday. it is now 4:49. good morning, monika. >> good morning, howard. we're in that time frame for the morning rush hour where pretty much all the overnight construction is cleared up and volume is still very light. if this is your time to get up and go, i think you're going to be okay. on the inner inner loop of the beltway near kenilworth avenue, that construction should be cleared up. no problems to route 50. fine through cheverly. no problems into the northeast corridor. we'll take a live look at the north side of the beltway. here we are northbound and southbound leaving 32, no problems as you head down to the beltway and over into college park or silver spring. let's take another look at the maps, this time on the west side of town. no problems to report on the gw parkway heading inside the beltway. here on the dulles toll road westbound on the toll way, that construction should be cleared up. should be good to go both directions near the beltway and 66 coming in from manassas. a quick live look at the american legion bridge. again no problems. all lanes are open between bethesda and tysons corner. coming up in my next report at 4:55, we'll take a look at 66. but first, a commuter alert for drivers in the tysons corner area due to construction of metro's silver line. three right lanes at route 7 and the ramp from eastbound route 7 to eastbound route 267 will close each night through friday from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. they will also close april 22 through the 24th during the same hours. and then the three left lanes will close april 25 through 27 and april 29 through the 30th. back to you. >> thanks, monika. the chesapeake bay is not doing so well according to a study from the university of maryland center for environmental science. the latest report gives the report card of the health of the chesapeake bay a d plus. that's the second lowest since the reports with first issued in 1986. the center says a heavy spring and fall rain last year washed pollute assistants and said -- pollutants and sediments into the bay and a hot summer led to lower oxygen levels. the snakehead also known as the frankenfish, these are nonnative fish that have become so troublesome for a second year in a year the maryland department of natural resources is sponsoring a snakehead fishing contest. fishermen can post their catches online and three lucky anglers chosen in a random drawing will win prizes including a $200 gift card from a fishing supply store. two manmade earthquakes struck san diego yesterday. they were part of a test aimed at finding ways to help buildings survive. engineers built a five-story structure using new earthquake resistant technology and put the whole thing on what's called a shake table. the building was made to resemble a hospital, a building which weighs 700 tons swayed only six inches under a simulated quake with a magnitude of 8.8. >> if we can make it cost effective, we might be able to apply this technology to more, newer buildings and even retrofit some of the older buildings. >> two hours later earthquake test number two and still no real damage. that's good news. a new blood test may be able to diagnose depression in teenagers. researchers at northwestern university developed a test which identifies genetic biomarkers linked to depression. in a small study, 28 teenagers took the test accurately identified patients who were suffering from depression. scientists will conduct some larger trials to confirm those findings. being happy is good for the heart. doctors at harvard found people who are optimistic and satisfied with life are less likely to suffer heart attack or stroke. in fact, the most optimistic people had a 50% reduced risk. previous research has shown stress and depression can increase the risk of heart problems. brain scans may be able to predict who will become overweight. researchers at dartmouth used brain imaging to analyze the brain activity of patients as they looked at pictures of food. those who had the most activity in part of the brain known as the reward center were more likely to gain weight six months later. brain scans? how about this? if you're trying to lose weight, watch out for the people around you. >> not me. the academy of nutrition says the things closest to you to keep you slimming down including your kids. parents tend to eat off their kids' plates trying to convince them to eat so they don't waste food and dieticians say cutting their portions will let them help you wrap up leftovers and rid the no food left behind mentality. >> exactly. your co-workers provide pitfalls with baked goods -- monika -- and going out to lunch. try suggesting healthier snacks in restaurants. friends make it easy to splurge on your favorite meal. at the restaurant eat like you would at home or take some home, which is a good one because if you like what you have, you can have it a little later too. >> chris' bags of candy left all over the newsroom. >> we all contribute. but just a little. >> it helps. it is 4:54. time for the question of the morning. new research suggests that drinking this will make you 40% smarter. mike, is it a, r coffee, -- b, coffee, c, -- is it a, coffee, b, beer, or c, grape juice. we'll reveal the answer in our 6:00 hour want do you think? welcome back. 4:56. your weather first on this wednesday morning. keep the rain gear handy. we're going to have showers around today. on and off all day the way it looks. temperatures barely going to move. look for a high near 60. a couple of nice days before even more rain by the weekend. i'll have those details coming up during 9news now at 5:00. right now here's monika with time saver traffic. here is 66 on the inbound side in centreville. no problems to report as you head for fairfax and the beltway and inside the beltway to the roosevelt bridge. all lanes are now open. coming up in my next report, a closer look at virginia roads at 5:01. angelina jolie get as promotion. >> and some shocking revelations from actress and a former miss america vanessa williams. teresa garcia has those stories and more in this look at entertainment. >> reporter: angelina jolie got a promotion. the united nations refugee agency has bumped her up from goodwill ambassador to special envoy. the post is usually reserved for career diplomats or retired politicians, but the u.n. says jolie is able to bring significant attention to refugee causes. vanessa williams revealed dark childhood secrets in a new tell all memoir n. her book "you have no idea" williams says a female friend of the family molested her when she was ten years old. williams describes her difficult teenage years, including an abortion she had in high school and the nude photo scandal that cost her the miss america crown. stars turned out for vanity fair's party to kick off the 11th annual tribeca film festival. robert deniro revived the festival as a way to revive downtown new york after 9/11. >> it's pretty exciting. i can't believe we're still doing it. >> reporter: the festival kicks off today with the five-year engagement and runs through april 29. shakespeare in the park veterans kevin cline and meryl streep are teaming up to play a pair of star crossed lovers. it will be a one-night only stage greeting in new york central's park set for june 18. that's your eye on entertainment. teresa garcia, cbs news, los angeles. good morning. thank you for watching 9news now at 5:00 a.m. happy wednesday. i'm andrea roane. we're almost there. >> we're getting there. i'm mike hydeck. i've got more coffee. i sort of snapped out of it now. here's monika santami. >> howard is back and maybe some rain is back. >> we're going to have some showers around today. that's a good thing. we really need the rain. drought conditions on the eastern shore. abnormally dry almost everywhere else with only .16 of an inch the entire month. we have a chance of seeing a substantial rain system as we head