talkers. a priest accused of molesting 200 deaf boys. the spotlight turning on pope benedict and we'll explain the allegations of a cover-up. plus did president bush wipe his hand on clinton in haiti. we'll take a look and let you decide. and the national cherry blossom festival is kicking off tomorrow and holly is live with everything you need to know to get around and later a special performance for us. and wet conditions out there this morning. >> yes. tucker barnes has a look at the rest of the day. and the weekend. >> rain continues to fall across the area but the rain is not the real story. it's the cold air moving in from the north and west and the very windy conditions we expect throughout the day. let's get right to it. i'll show you the radar and it is still raining out there at this moment. particularly across the 95 corridor through wash and fredericksberg, we're all getting rain. but the back edge is off to the north and west. see where the rain is changing to white, that is snow across northwest sections of maryland and i think the rain will be out of here by late morning. so an umbrella or rain jacket needed this morning but then you'll need your winter coat later today as the winds pick up and the cool temperatures north and west. 49 in town. 47 at dulles. 45 at bwi marshall. we were in the mid-50s earlier this morning so temperatures have fallen a good 8-10 degrees across the region and will continue to tumble asthe winds are pusng in the colder air. here is a look at winds, current sustained winds of 15 in washington. 20 in dover and 18 in hagerstown. gusting out of the north and northwest throughout the day to about 25 miles er hour. here is a quick look at the forecast. early showers and late-day sun and cold. the 54 was mentioned. mid-40s out there but it will feel like 30s and 20s with the wind out there into the nigtime hours. i'll have more details on the weekend forecast coming up in a few minutes. well some of the top stories we're following. an update to a deadly crash in capitol heights. a car carrying five people smashed. a pole on addison road in capitol heights just after midnight. one of the people died and two others are in critical condition. the accident is not said to be connected to the la pearl ballroom on central avenue. investigators thought there was a shooting there. one of the suspects shot off a round while driving by. a gun was found at the accident scene. the wizards are the other top story this morning. the owner of the washington capitals hockey team is poised to take control of the basketball franchise. >> and gilbert arenas goes in front of judge today for violating d.c. gun laws. for more on these stories, sherry ly is live at the d.c. superior court courthouse. >> reporter: good morning. when gilbert arenas is sentenced here today at d.c. superior court, the wizard star faces two options: jail time or probation and community, which one will depend on the judge. he pled guilty to a felony for carrying a pistol without a license. he brought four guns to the verizon center after a confrontation with javaris crittendon. in a letter to the judge this week, the defense said his use of the again -- guns that day was intended to play a prank to invoke a reaction from crittendon. they ask for community service but some say both would do him good. >> he should work with the kids and talk to them about guns because there are a lot of young kids out nowadays that have guns that they shouldn't have. we have 12-year-olds getting shot and everything. so he should ally talk to a lot of young kids these days. >> and if he gets jail time, what would that do, do you think? >> that would also send a message to the kids that you can't go out and do these kind of things and not get punished for them. >> porter: now he's already been suspended by the nba for the remainder of the season. whether he remains with the wizards could be up to a new owner. multiple sources are saying that washington capitals owner ted leonis has come to an agreement with the estate of abe poll in tobuy the team. they have agreed the team is worth $550 million which included the verizon center. it's been the sticking point in the month longs negotiations. if it is finalized he would own three professional franchises in the city, those in the nba, wnba and nhl. now he already owns 44% of the team so he would not be paying the full price tag. the sale is expected to be finalized within weeks and will need the approval of nba owners. in the meantime, the team's biggest star, gilbert arenas, is trying to put all of this behind him, as far as the gun charges. he could get up to five years in prison under the law, but no one is expecting that to happen. if he gets community sevice, though, he could walk right out of here today. live at the d.c. superior court, sherry ly, fox 5 news. back to you. >> sherry, thank you. also new this morning, possibly more tax troubles for councilman marion barry. according to the washington post the irs says barry owes $15,000 in unpaid taxes for 2005 through 2008. the paper says the irs as issued a lien to try to collect the money. it appears unrelated his earlier troubles with a failure to pay his taxes. president barack obama has a new plan to help homeowners ow. it would shrink some homeowners and as an expansion of the $75 billionffort. it would reduce the amount that troubled borrowers owe on their home and expect the plan to be announced today. and some workers will temporarily lose their unemployment benefits. a stop gap bill has been offered and it eects people out of work for more than six months. congress has finally finished its work on health care reform and the final bill will soon be on the way to the president. doug luzader has more this morning on the last-minute drama. >> reporter: this was the last piece of the puzzle and the president is expected to sign it into law setime next week. in the meantime, the political aftermath is just beginning. >> the motion is adopted. >> reporter: it was another celebration for democrats last night. this finally came to an end with a late-night vote on a series of fixes to the main health care plan that the president signed into law earlier this week. >> it will complete the process of passing a bill that has been in the making for literally a century. >> reporter: well the last year probably felt like a century for the president who hit the road to sell the plan, appearing before an approving audience in iowa. he almost taunted republicans to oppose him. >> they're actually going to run on a platform of repeal in november. you've been hearing that. and my attitude is go for it. >> reporter: republicans are happy to oblige. a new poll shows 40% of voter as prove of the president's reform. republicans think they have a winning issue with a message that democrats went too far. >> leaving us a sloppy mess that the majority of the american people believe should be repealed and replaced. and mark my word, we will be back to this bill over and over again in the months -- in the next six months. >> reporter: and the public outcry continues. now members of congress from both sides of the aisle say they have gotten threatening messages from people both for and against this health care plan. in washington, doug luzader, fox news. now together the two bills crack down on insurance industry abuses and aim to reduce federal deficits. it is estimated $143 billion over a decade. most americans would be required to buy insurance for the first time and face penalties if they prefuse. and now to the allegations of a cover-up and inaction over the catholic church's mishandling of abusive priests. in cases of wisconsin and germany reveal close ties to pope benedict. the case involved more than 200 deaf boys. arthur bud sinski is in the center of the storm. he claims he was first molested by father lawrence murphy when he was 12 years old. por than 200 other boys who attended the saint john's school for the deaf just outside of milwaukee had said the same thing. >> it started when he was 12 years old. he reported to many people, milwaukee police, saint francis police, and no one helped him. and no one helped him and his classmates and friends. >> reporter: according to records, back in 1996, two wisconsin bishops urged the vet can office -- vatican office, led by the now pep, to conduct a church trial against murphy but the vatican ordered it halted saying the alleged acts happened to long ago. >> it didn't happen until 1996. talking about a six old man. what kind of justice can we give these poor people molested by this monster of a priest. what can we do. >> reporter: the allegation follow recent lawsuits filed claiming the archdiocese of milwaukee failed to take action against the priest. >> it showed documentary and evidentiary wise all roads and ultimate responsibility for the scandal and the cover-up leading to rome. >> well the vatican has issued a strong defense of the handling of the murray case and saying there was no cover-up and they learned about the abuse 21 years after murphy left the school. and they said this is just a move to strike pope benedict at any cost. that's a quote. and a plane goes down in anne arundel county. you can see it under the water. the pilot survived. hear from the people who came to his rescue, coming up next on fox 5 morning news. then it's going to be a cool weekend. good time to head to the movies. bring some extra cash if you do go. more on increase in new ticket prices. and now holly is live at cherry blossom festival. >> reporter: it's soggy today but it will be dry tomorrow and that's when the official celebrati begins. it is two weeks of nonstop fun. coming up, we'll talk about a new traffic pattern you need to know about if you're coming down and talk about the true importance of the blossoms to city. it's all live next on fox 5 morning news. you see that spot in the water, look closely in the middle of the screen, that's a small plane in a maryland river. he slid into the water minutes aftetaking off. bob barnard has more from the soggy scene. >> reporter: before the professionals got there, the dive teams and water rescue specialist, adam carper and jody kara saulo hopped into the dingy and raced on to the south river. they were told a small plane had just crashed. >> they were directing us over to it. once we got into the water you couldn't see the plane. it had already sunk and we noticed the guy, just his head was sticking out of the water fm like a distance. so we rode over to him and made sure he was the only one there and that he wasn't injured and we ended up pulling him up on the boat. >> reporter: this is the rescues pilot, richard drier. he's 76 and alive and doing well enough that he refused medical temperature. >> i'm doing fine. >> glad you made it out, sir. >> reporter: maryland state police investigators say drier had just taken off from nearby lee airport southwest of annapolis when he experienced some sort of engine trouble. >> at first i thought it was somebody just horsing around and flying low intentionally. and then i saw that the engine was sputtering and i heard it sputtering. >> reporter: the plane came to rest west of the route 2 bridge over the river. >> if he went 30 more feet to the left or right, he would have ate a concrete wall. god bless him. >> reporter: maryland investigators say he had trouble tracking down his wife to let her know what happened. >> he didn't say a whole lot. he just let us know that he was the only one on the plane and he was all right. >> reporter: bob barnard, fox 5 news. state troopers drove the pilot home. crews will work to remove the plane from the water as early as today. the pilot was headed to bay bridge airport. investigators will try to figure out exactly why the plane went >> we are happy he's here to tell the story. >> yes. the national cherry blossom festival begins tomorrow. officials are expecting a million visitors for the 16-day festival. >> now there are some changes this year. if you drive the affic pattern around the tidal basin is different. for that and the festivities, let's head back out to holly morris. >> reporter: hi, guys. here is the thing, we know the cherry blossoms are beautiful and everybody wants to come see them but you need to have a plan when you come out here because a million plus people are coming and it will be enjoyable for you and everyone else if you know where you are going and what you are doing and how best to get to here so you can enjoy the beauty of the blossoms. so the person you need to get the best information from, not me, but bill line from the national park service. he's the man in the know. thank you for coming out in this weather. >> glad to be hour. >> park service endures all. >> with all of the snow and everything, yes. >> reporter: speaking of the snow. let's start with that. how are the trees doing? >> excellent. the cherry tree crew, the arborist crew of 10 people have made three full passes, al trees, 357 trees have been looking at and in inspected three times now and that means they're trimming them, pruning them and fertilizing them as necessary so whatever damage was done by the snow back in february, you're not going to see any of. that luckily the trees are such that the branches didn't capture any of the snow. evergreen and magnolia trees were damaged. there were a few trees, maybe as do than we had to remove. but that's typical on any yearly base. >> reporter: each year you might seesomething about that. and let's talk about the traffic pattern. >> absolutely. as we're going to do for the third year in a row. ohio drive which hugs the banks of the potomac, everyone is used to going southbound toward the parking lots and on to hains point. starting tomorrow morning, on saturday 27th through the festival on the 12th, all of the lanes from ohio drive, which is inlet bridge, which is close to the jefferson memorial, all lanes are northbound. so for example if you're at the intersection of independence, 23rd and ohio drive, near the south side of the lincoln memorial, there will be a big sign and park police officers preventing you from doing that, go eastbound on independence through main and come down to thtidal basin that way. there is an equal number of cherry trees on the tidal -- basin -- >> reporter: on hains point. >> if i misspoke. >> reporter: you said equal number of trees there as tidal basin. i have your back. and the other great thing people could do is take metro and don't worry about the traffic pattern. >> we always say to take metro. and on the weekends we say bring your bikes. we are working with the washington area bicycle association, waba, and there will be free bicycle valets. >> reporter: and there was a new visitor information study talking about the economic impact of the blossoms and what this means to the city but the surrounding area, the whole greater washington area. >> absolutely. we at the park service commissioned four professors from george mason university to do the study. it says that the $3 billion pumped into the local economy from t visitors that come on to the national mall on an annual basis, $2 billion of that goes directly into the district of columbia. the remaining $1 million into the larger metropolitan area. we extrapolated out the 16 days of the cherry blossom festival and we're estimated by $126 million is pumped into the local washington, d.c. economy ecause of the cherry blossom festival alone. >> reporter: so you know what, that's why we're out here, enduring this weather and promoting this festival, right? >> right. >> reporter: mother nature can't get us down. your favorite thing about the blossoms? >> just the solemnity of it. the calmness of it. we live in a fast paced world. just come down here and enjoy it. >> reporter: thank you very much. we have a link to the cherry blossom website so you can find everything you need to know and how you can be a part of it. we are going to have one last preview in about 30 minutes or so of why yet again you need to come out here and endure today but dry tomorrow. back to you guys. >> holly, thank you so much. enjoying your coverage this morning. a warning for parents today. 200,000 baby gates being recalled. we have what you need to know up next after the break. and as if they don't cost enough. movie theater ticket prices are going up, like today. details when we come back. and it's time now for today's trivia question. that music lets you know we're talking about cherry blossom related topic. lady bird johnson received a gift of cherry blossoms in 1965 but which other lady was key from bringing the trees to d.c. and planted the first two on the bank of the tidal basin? the answer is coming up later. stay with us. they've been discovered to be life enhancing. proven to have nourishing powers. and now you can get important nutrients found in these special fruits in your water. fruit2o essentials water. with nutrients equal to two servings of fruit. vitamins, minerals... and even a gram of fiber in crystal clear water. six delicious flavors, each enriched with nutrients like its fruits. fruit2o essentials water. 9:25 and we're back now with a consumer alert. especially for parents. a safety recall on baby gates. evenflow recalling 200,000 wooden baby gates to be placed at the top of the stairs. the company has received 142 reports of slats breaking d -- and detaching. children were hurt. they were sold at toys are us and kmart and other nationwide changes for about $40. there is more information on myfoxdc.com under web links. checking stories making headline this is morning, it's a sea of white in miami's little havana. gloriaest evan led a support group called the ladies in white. they are cuban mothers and wiv of a crackdown in 2003. a fire broke out in the courthouse over the alleged john edwards sex tape. everyone made it out safely. tape was safe after being moved to another location. he admitted he fathered a trial with rielle hunter. she sued to get the tape back. a judge ruled that a former aid must hand over the tape to the court. a trip to the movies could cost you more. major movie chains are expected to raise ticket prices starting today. prices for regular movies will jump only slightly but 3-d film tickets will rise as much as $5. >> my question is, did it seem like movie theaters were hurting? why would they make this change? is their cost more or something? >> but here is the thing, it's not wise because movie viewership has gone up, it's one of the cheaper alternatives and you're going to raise the price? not good timing. a video clip captured in haiti is getting a lot of today. did president bush wipe his hand on president clinton after a round of handshaking. you can decide for yourself up next on fox 5 morning news. and we'll answer this week's ask allison question. it's involved the snow from the winter and how it's impacting the environment now. hi. i'm jim perdue. in case of everyday emergencies... guys, go get changed! ...or soccer practice, it's important to be prepared for dinner. that's why i've prepared myerdue perfect portions fresh chicken breasts. they're individually wrapped, so you can cook what you need and store what you don't. we're not playing helicopter now. ready when you are, they're trimmed of fat and consistently sized to cook in just 10 minutes. life's not perfect. that's why there's perdue perfect portions. [ male announcer ] perdue perfect portions. ready when you are. it's 9:30. we're following breaking news out of northwest washington right now. two and possibly more shootings around the neighborhood just west of the coolidge and tacoma rec centers. we understand one man was shot, found in the 500 block of somerset place. another man was shot and found one bl