to bail out. al ingram towed dozens of cars. this is bad. >> bad. >> reporter: a lot of unhappy people. >> oh, yeah. >> i hit a pothole on gw coming home last night. >> reporter: jackie husain had double bad luck destroying a tire in the outbound lanes tuesday night. >> i got my car back this morning with a new tire. >> reporter: and then getting mired in the mess pulling a branch from under her car in the morning. >> i got stuck on the grass in the mud and i had to wait for another tow truck. >> reporter: aaa estimates driving on rotten roads costs the average d.c. motorist more than $1,000 a year in extra repairs and operating costs. that is a total of 1.9 billion a year for maryland drivers, 425 million for d.c. drivers and 1.8 billion for virginia. dan bostle is worried he needs

a new rim. >> it's a couple hundred dollars to get one from mazda. >> i feel sorry for those folks there. coming up at 6:00 bruce johnson shows us some nasty potholes in the district. so if you want a pothole for our pothole patrol team to get fixed, go to www.wusa9.com and give us the location. please include a cross street or block number. sky9 flew over this sinkhole on garden city drive in new carrollton a short time ago. the state highway administration closes the ramp from garden city drive to u.s. 50. traffic detours will be in place until repairs can be made. these detours will impact metro riders using the new carrollton metro station. breaking news out of ferguson, missouri, ferguson police chief thomas jackson resigned in the wake of a report by the justice department that concluded ferguson's police force exhibited racial bias.

that review was conducted after the controversial shooting of michael brown by former police officer darren wilson. ferguson's city manager stepped down just yesterday. last week two police officers resigned and the city's top court clerk was fired in connection with racist e-mails from. seven marines and four soldiers are missing and presumed dead after their helicopter crashed during a training exercise off the florida pan handle near eklund air force base. debris has been found in the water. a search continues for remains. that blackhawk helicopter went down last night while a dense fog advisory was in effect. >> there were two helicopters that were on the mission. one of them started to take off and then realized i guess that the weather was a condition and turned around and came back. >> marines were stationed at camp lejeune in north carolina. the air crew was from an army national guard unit in hammond, louisiana. the pentagon is withholding the victims' names in order to

notify relatives. a prince george's county police officer is remembered today. officer brennan rabain died in a car accident over the weekend. >> reporter: it's all hands on deck here at officer rabain's viewing. it was put to me, anyone that can be here will be here, obviously family, friends, hundreds of prince george's county police officers and police officers from other districts current and retired. we've seen prince george's county firefighters, state and county representatives. prince george's county police tell me during today's four hour viewing they expect more than 1,000 people to come by and pay respects. certainly a difficult time for them all. >> seriously there's no words to describe. this officer rabain is my classmate, my squad mate. he's my brother. i actually had a brother and

losing brennan was like losing my brother. and i really can't describe it. >> reporter: of course, officer rabain's death was a shock to everyone. the 26-year-old was killed in a weekend car while he was off duty. according to his girl friend who was a passenger in the car, he was pursuing an out of control vehicle that he said was going to kill someone. ultimately the 26-year-old crashed his car into a fence and was killed. that investigation is still ongoing as driver in that vehicle has yet to be found. live in prince george's county i'm mola lenghi for wusa9. >> despite the tragedy prince george's county police and council members had to tackle a tough subject related to officer rabain's death. >> the young officer was well within policy when he had his girl friend in the car and decided to conduct that traffic stop, but now the county is wondering if that's the right policy.

few sue was there when the -- surae chinn was there when the county council took up this issue today. >> reporter: this is where officer rabain lost his life and people have left flowers, teddy bears and notes on the wooden fence. the prince george's county public safety committee brought up the policy that's been in place for 40 years. officers are expected to take action on or off duty, but the question becomes should civilians and citizens be allowed inside take-home vehicles? >> i understand this is a really difficult time for the department. >> reporter: it is with heavy hearts prince george's county council member bring up the policy of take-home car and allowing civilians to ride in them in light of the death of officer brennan rabain. >> i was not even aware police officers could have civilians in patrol cars. i was surprised by that. >> that is a policy on the police department. i made it clear to the chief and i said this to the fop i

have a concern about that policy. >> reporter: the officer was taking his girl friend home when he was about to take action. >> his last words that we know of now was that he thought this person was going to kill somebody. >> reporter: in the same moment officer rabain lost control, drove through a fence and died when part of the fence pierced his car's windshield. >> i would look at it as this being a heroic action. he died giving his life trying to save citizens of the community. >> reporter: the public safety director says he's worried about the safety of family members and other civilians in the car. >> that lady that was in that car could also be dead and that's what i'm concerned about. >> there's so much discretion and gray in what we do. >> reporter: it's a lifestyle officers say family and friends come to understand whether inside or outside of a police car. major sammy patel says he was with his children at the store when a fight broke out. >> that day i said i'm going to be the best witness i can be because i have my two little kid with me, but at the same

time if -- kids with me, but at the same time if something were to be life threatening, i have to do something. i know that. >> reporter: the policy will be under review the next two months including an executive review panel. we'll keep you posted. a sad ending to a heroic effort, firefighters in montgomery county jumped into icy waters to try and rescue a dog and sadly were not able to pull him out. stephanie ramirez joins us live from gaithersburg. >> reporter: even though the sun is out we're starting to see more what winter left behind. it's still something we all need to be concerned about. thankfully it wasn't a person or child here, but neighbors spotted those dogs, tried to help, were forced to wait and watch. >> it was very sad. you felt so helpless. you wanted to go out there on the ice, but you just couldn't. >> reporter: hoping emergency crews would be able to find the animal, these two watched patiently after a dog fell through the thin ice covering

this pond behind meadow green way in gaithersburg a little before 11:00 this morning. the man was snapping photo over the fog from the pond when from their back window the couple saw two dogs ran onto the ice. he ran to call them off. >> we have seen the owners walking them and stuff. >> we went over to the house and checked to see if the owners were home and they weren't, but you could see where the gate was open. >> reporter: susan hoffman says the smaller white dog eventually got off of the ice, but the bigger dark colored one fell through at least twice before making it to this island. on its last try to get back -- >> he was just exhausted. it was only two minutes tops, tried to get out and then laid his head on the ice and went under. >> reporter: the water here is anywhere from 6 to 8 feet deep according to a firefighter on scene, a sad reminder how dangerous these waterways still are even as we start to see warmer temperatures. >> absolutely. we don't want any people, any kids anywhere they're on the

water now. this ice is not strong enough to hold you and it should not be considered strong enough to hold any of your pets or animals. >> very sad. i know people say it's just a dog, but it's still someone's pet. >> reporter: the animal control officer out here told us there very well may be charge against the owners. police are encouraging everyone to still be cautious. pond and waterways in the area -- cautious of poppeds and waterways in -- ponds and waterways in the area. tonight the virginia tech community mourns the loss of a 21-year-old student, cameron smook of glen allen, virginia. he fell overboard last week during a caribbean cruise. the coastguard searched for three days but found no sign of him. smook was scheduled to graduate this spring with a degree in mining engineering. his family thanked the community for all the prayers and support. a laurel man is facing several charges connected to

yesterday's big tanker truck accident on i-95. 23-year-old 23-year-old christopher rhodes is charged with reckless driving and unsafe lane change. the driver of the tanker lost control while trying to avoid the accident and about 400 gallons of biodiesel fuel fell onto the ground. traffic in laurel was blocked up to five hours. we're just getting started on wusa9 news at 5:00. parking ticket confusion, wusa9 gets results for drivers who thought they were legally parked but ended up with pricey tickets. debra alfarone has their story at 5:30. >> we'll clear out tonight, temperatures in the 60s, later tonight 9:00 walking the dog still mild, 57 downtown, 50 in gaithersburg and leesburg. if you go to the caps game tonight, by the time you leave, we'll still be in the 50s. we'll come back and talk about our next yellow alert. >> plus what some parents are

saying about a plan to start school after labor day. >> reporter: a school bus driver on the baltimore beltway caught headed to montgomery county allegedly drunk behind the wheel with open containers of alcohol. i'm scott broom. coming up what school districts may or may not know about

we thought our cable internet was fast. but, our uploads are half the speed of our downloads so our internet is really half-fast. so half-fast. someone did a half-fast job posting our vacation pics. when i post my slow jams, i'm a little half fast totally half fast stop living with half fast internet. only verizon fios comes with speedmatch - uploads as fast as downloads. and the fastest wi-fi available from any provider. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v

scary moments tonight as a driver of a pickup attempted to drive the wrong way on route 50 in prince george's county. our photojournalist kurt brooks caught the driver of a ford ranger with d.c. registration driving the wrong way down a ramp from columbia park road to eastbound route 50 on his dashboard camera around 7:30 last night. that driver pulled into traffic and slowly turned his truck around before finally returning

up the ramp. no accidents or injuries were reported and the driver left the area before police arrived. we were asking questions tonight in the wake of the disturbing arrest of a school bus driver who was allegedly drunk behind the wheel headed to pick up kids at a private montgomery county school. scott broom joins us now. police have released new 911 tapes of the incident. >> reporter: yeah. those tapes are brand new and on them you'll hear if it hadn't of been for motorists on the baltimore beltway spotting this allegedly drunk school bus driver headed to montgomery county weaving and swerving, police might not have caught up to her. behind the wheel of a school bus a convicted felon named pamela willy allegedly drunk who police said had open bottles of alcohol on board and was on her way to pick up kids for a field trip from an unnamed private school in montgomery county just after

noon on february 27th when she was pulled over. motorists on baltimore's beltway helped state police catch up. >> i have a caller on the line that says there's a bus driving erratic. >> going across the road in and out of lanes, looks like it's going to cause an accident. >> are you guys escorting a school bus? >> they're pulling it over. >> reporter: willy has been hit with 22 charges. her background includes assault and drug convictions, but what about the private bus contractor who hired her? the company is called mr. tim's bus rides, a charter service school groups according to its website. wusa9 learned today maryland state department of education does not maintain statewide oversight of school transportation contractors like mr. tim's. instead it's up to each individual school district or private school to do background checks when it hires a private contractor for events like field trips and the information appears limited. for instance, u.s. department

of transportation records do not alert schools to the alleged february drunk driving incident. federal records indicate mr. tim's bus rides is d.o.t. registered current on its insurance and therefore ready to carry kids. so you got to ask yourself how might a school system or private school get to the bottom of issues like this and know ahead of time? a couple important notes, school officials in prince george's county and montgomery county public schools say they have not done business with this contractor. the owner of tim's bus rides, tim foster, says he is or was aware of his drivers' criminal background, but he believes in second chances. he says hiring pamela willy was a huge mistake and she has been fired. reporting live outside baltimore, scott broom, wusa9. >> the bus company operator is refusing to name the montgomery county private school the allegedly drunk bus driver was headed to.

always watching always tracking, wusa9's first alert weather. >> with temps like this in the 60s and then you go to the 40s and all these changes you can see why the roads are just a mess everywhere. >> i think i said not that i'm a genius a month ago we're going to have a great pothole season -- >> oh, no, you're a genius topper. >> we're going to see dips in temperatures the next couple days. right now let's start with a live look outside, our live michael and son weather cam, temperatures despite the cloud hung in longer than we thought, still -- clouds hung in longer than we thought, still 66 degrees. check out current temperatures, 66 in d.c., still 65 in hagerstown and martinsburg and 64 in cumberland. that's pretty nice, even 60 in baltimore and annapolis just went from about 55 to 60. think it's warmer today than

this time yesterday? you are correct. 22 degrees warmer in cumberland, 18 degrees warmer in d.c. just a little cooler tonight, nothing crazy. bus stop temperatures 34 to 46, still need a light jacket. grab your shades for tomorrow and then grab your umbrella friday. you will not need it friday morning. you'll more than likely need it on your way home friday evening and certainly friday night on the town. 10:00 tonight on the futurecast clearing skies, clouds lingering a little into southern maryland. you'll clear out before midnight, 54 downtown, upper 40s in the suburbs. by morning we get down into the 30s, but notice everybody still above freezing, only 36 in martinsburg and hagerstown, 40 downtown, so a chilly start no doubt and by midmorning we're still around 40, 39 in manassas and also la plata, 42, though, in d.c. then by 1:00 we're right in the 50s which is about where we

should be. you walk to lunch tomorrow, probably a light jacket, 53 downtown, 51 in leesburg and gaithersburg and by tomorrow evening mid-50s now which is where we should be climatologically, 56 d.c., manassas, 55 in culpeper, 53 in hagerstown and 54 in tread rick. tomorrow night at 10:00 temps -- frederick. tomorrow night at 10:00 temps fall a bit. low 40s downtown but 39 in gaithersburg, 34 in frederick and 36 in leesburg by continue continue-- by 10 p.m. tomorrow night. for tonight breezy, chilly, 34 to 44, winds northwesterly 10 to 15. by morning mostly sunny, chilly to start, 34 to 52 and by afternoon a pretty nice day, mostly sunny, cooler, but seasonable. that's right on the money, high temperatures around 55, winds northeast at 10. oakland will be 50 tomorrow, 54

in cumberland, 53 in winchester, 57 in culpeper, mid- 50s in warrenton and manassas and leesburg, mclean about 55, 54, 55 downtown, 50 for annapolis. the day planner, 40 to start, clear, 42 at 9:00, 48 at 11:00 and 53 with sunshine at 1 p.m. next three days we're okay tomorrow, seasonable, had to issue another yellow alert for friday, afternoon rain, 51, may have to do the same on saturday, but good news, 63 with light rain and showers on saturday. you want to plan your outdoor activities, bike rides on the canal perhaps on sunday, 56 with sunshine, then upper 50s monday, mid-tuesday and wednesday also with sunshine. today in annapolis, maryland, controller peter franchot is making his case to start school after labor day. franchot claims the later start will help the economy and will

not affect student performance. some state educators claim that's exactly what will happen. the possibility of starting school after labor day in maryland got a lot of parents sounding off on social media today. >> here's more on what some moms and dads are saying. >> lots of comments on this one today. the majority of parents are all for a little more time at the end of the summer. latonya said start after labor day, shorten spring breaks and focus more on academics and not state testing and scores. linda is a school bus driver who said i want to start after labor day, take away spring break, give them off good friday and easter monday like it used to be, but phillip said school should start two weeks before labor day, otherwise our kids are behind when it comes time to take national tests. then there's another, i'd love

to see school be nine weeks on and three weeks off year-round. kids would retain more information instead of losing it over the summer and it would get rid of the what do i do with these kids for three months? obviously we want to know what you think. join the conversation on our wusa9 facebook page. lesli and jan, what do you think about this one? >> i love it. >> i think that's why parents are concerned because they're thinking now i've got to fill yet another week or two. i grew someplace where you could not go to school before labor day. so that is unusual for me. >> i was just the opposite. i went to school where you go to school several weeks before labor day, but this is good because we got out in may, so our summer was ready. >> these poor kids will be in school till just about time to go back to school. directv advertises discount deals, but the ftc wants you to know why those savings don't

really add up. >> reporter: i'm kristen berset outside madison square garden, home of the big east

in tonight's consumer alert stocks continued to slide

another day. the dow lost 28 points. the nasdaq fell nearly 10. the federal trade commission says directv used deceptive advertising about a discounted satellite service. the company misled customers about the cost of satellite tv services and cancellation fees as high as $480. the agency is seeking a court order that permanently bars directv from engaging in what it calls an illegal practice. new developments on that fraternity caught on camera singing a racist song. >> plus more fallout in the hillary clinton e-mail scandal. >> reporter: we found one northwest d.c. street where the parking signs are so confusing that people are

more than a dozen people who thought they parked legally along the 1200 block of kenyon avenue in northwest d.c. monday found an expensive surprise waiting for them, $100 tickets and it may have something to do with d.c. street sweeping being pushed forward. debra alfarone is not only getting answers for our viewers, she's getting action. >> $100, that's a lot! >> reporter: edward l. cunningham of columbia heights parked his car right here on the north side of kenyon street in northwest d.c. monday. >> 4:15 i got a $100 ticket for rush hour, must have been about 15, 20 cars parked here thinking they were doing the

right thing. everybody got a ticket. >> reporter: if you look at the signs, the green one below seems to suggest monday is fine to park. we asked amc commissioner patrick flynn who runs the block to meet us and explain. >> street sweeping was delayed, but not everyone got the message that they started enforcing the tickets because it was delayed. >> reporter: seems this year street sweeping was pushed forward two weeks to march 16th. because of that flynn is helping parkers get monday's ticket thrown out and because of wusa9, that now includes cunningham's ticket. >> a commissioner that cares means the world living in the neighborhood. >> it needs to be studied and clarified because it's ridiculous. >> they make the sign so complicated. it says no parking monday except tuesday. >> reporter: this sign says no parking 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. between march 1st and march 31st except holidays but this added on is except monday. so let me get this straight, no

parking tuesday except monday. what do you think? judy cutler says on facebook why bother? who could figure that out? diana lynn on twitter says park somewhere else. social intensity says it means take metro and markey mark says that's d.c. for you. >> it's confusing honestly. i've lived in this city many years and i still get confused by the signs. >> reporter: we spoke to ddot because we wanted to find out. after looking at a picture of the sign i snapped and sent to them they say the green sign has to be replaced. they're sending a technician out to evaluate it and we will keep you posted. >> love when we get results. glenn ivey is throwing his hat in the political ring running for donna edward's soon to be vacant seat. she will run for the senate hoping to replace barbara

mikulski. ivey may be running for national office but tells wusa9 that he wants this campaign to focus on local issues. >> part of what a member of congress does is in congress. the other part is in the home district. one of the things i'd like to try and do and we did this when i was state's attorney was to pull together programs with stakeholders sort of beyond the traditional role of at that point as a prosecutor. >> this is ivey's second attempt to represent maryland's 4th district. in 2012 he dropped out of the race because he lacked necessary funding. ivey said he doesn't think that will be a problem this time around. andre brown is accused of sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl on the grounds of high point high school in beltsville. cops arrested brown last year. brave neighbors came to her aid, but a woman rescued from a fire in southern maryland yesterday has died. dressed only in his gym

clothes, tommy broken braved the flames in owings, maryland -- breen braved the flames in owings, maryland, to pull the woman from the house. she did not survive. she died this morning at medstar washington hospital center. victory today for opponents of a costco gas station at westfield wheaton mall. they argued the high volume gas pumps would be too close to their homes, community swimming pool and a school for children with special needs. in a unanimous decision the montgomery county board of appeals agreed and the board members pointed out there are 25 other places within a very close radius of the mall. there's more fallout tonight in the hillary clinton e-mail scandal. today the associated press announced it filed a lawsuit against the state department to force the release of e-mail correspondence and government documents from clinton's tenure as secretary of state. republicans are concerned that

she deleted 30,000 e-mails from that private account. the state department is reviewing another 30,000 e- mails as well. >> she was the sole arbiter of what's a public record and private record and you don't get to grade your own papers in our society, which is why i think we need a neutral detached arbiter. >> yesterday clinton did acknowledge that she should have used two different e-mails while in that position. new information about the latest isis execution video. a french official claims the isis militants shown here are french citizens. one of the terrorists appears to be a young teenager who then shoots the palestinian lostage in the head. isis claims the victim was an israeli spy, a claim israeli officials deny. a former university of oklahoma fraternity member apologized for his role in a racist song captured on video, as have the parents of a second student. one student said the sigma alpha epsilon fraternity taught

him the lyrics. jericka duncan reports from normand, oklahoma, where the sae frat house is now empty. >> reporter: these students at the university of oklahoma used harmony to fight the hate. their rallying cry, not on our campus. >> not on our campus! not on our campus! [ singing ] >> reporter: their mission? to counter a song whose lyrics included racial slurs boasting that there would never be an african american member. >> as i was walking on campus yesterday, all i could look at were all these trees on campus and how someone wants to hang me from them. >> reporter: one of the students seen in the video, 19- year-old parker rice, apologized in a statement and said his actions were likely fueled by alcohol and that the song was taught to us. the parents of student levi

petit spoke out for their son and said he made a horrible mistake and will live with the consequences forever. >> do i accept the apology? no. >> reporter: will james, ii joined sae in 2001. he said he was the second black member and believed progress was being made. now what do you think? >> i don't know that we've made too many strides against rayism. i think it's just covert. >> reporter: sae headquarters says it is now investigating racist incidents at other campuses. university officials here conducting their own investigation say as of now it does not appear that song originated here. >> parker rice said in a statement that he withdrew from the university following the incident. the parents of levi petitt did not address his status with the university. they're trying to protect an abused child, so why is someone asking this group of bikers to leave the community?

that story coming up at 6:00. >> trending now a crime on camera shows how dangerous live tv can be. >> plus is this golf course gator for real? >> that's big. >> we have some sunshine now poking through the clouds. we also had a pollen reading today, getting a lot of reports on facebook and twitter. you're sneezing. it's in the moderate range for trees and mold spores. it's going to get worse for trees and remember, trees affect more people than grasses and weeds. we'll come back, talk about our yellow alert progressive insurance here and i'm a box who thrives on the unexpected. ha-ha!

shall we dine? [ chuckle ] you wouldn't expect an insurance company to show you their rates and their competitors' rates but that's precisely what we do. going up! nope, coming down. and if you switch to progressive today you could save an average of over 500 bucks. stop it. so at the number below. or is it above? dismount! oh, and he sticks the landing!

taking a look at some trending stories right now, caught on camera, bandits rob a reporter getting ready for a live shot in johannesburg, south africa. >> oh, my gosh. >> he's trying to do a story about a presidential visit. the reporter first doesn't pay any attention to them, but then the daily mail reports those muggers claimed to have a gun and the bad guys got away with phones and a laptop. >> it was all caught on camera. >> i've been in some crazy situations in live shots but nothing close to that. >> typically people are running away from the camera. >> or they're trying to get on or say something crazy, but

that is different. a picture of a giant gator on a golf course is getting a lot of clicks on facebook. >> the folks spotted the alligators on golf courses and thought it would be in florida, but look at this monster approaching the green in inglewood. some say it seems too big to be real, but managers at the club insist the big guy is the real deal. i have seen them that big before. they're huge. they will eat your dog. you have to be careful, especially if you have a little one like mine, little scrappy. will pharrell has a treat planned for baseball fans in arizona tomorrow. >> the comedian plans to play all nine positions in the cactus league spring training game. this is video from pharrell's 2010 minor league baseball stunt. the comic started a beer spraying brawl on the diamond. tomorrow he plans to take a helicopter from game to game to pull off the stunt. whatever it is, it will be

hilarious because he is crazy funny. does your boss really care if you're happy at work or not? after the break a new trend in companies across the country. >> reporter: i'm kristen berset in new york city. the big east tournament begins tonight and the george

we thought our cable internet was fast. but, our uploads are half the speed of our downloads so our internet is really half-fast. so half-fast. someone did a half-fast job posting our vacation pics. when i post my slow jams, i'm a little half fast totally half fast stop living with half fast internet. only verizon fios comes with speedmatch - uploads as fast as downloads. and the fastest wi-fi available from any provider. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v okay, i need a better pizza. one made with only real cheese. and dough that rises naturally. with no chemical leaveners.

a pizza my family will love. (announcer) freschetta naturally rising crust pizza. no other pizza tastes like freschetta because no other pizza is made like freschetta. and try great tasting gluten free freschetta. ask for it at your local store.

most of us would rather not read our bills, but one local woman would welcome the opportunity. marie smith is blind and after two months of getting a tone deaf response from verizon she reached out to our wusa9 call for action for help. each month marie smith's friend charles stops by to read and organize her mail. >> your january bill says you owe them $192.46. >> when he read that thing to me, i almost had a heart attack. >> verizon apparently tried for some time to notify marie about the changes coming to her account and even sent a suspension notice, but they sent those notices on paper.

>> i always said are you aware you're sending a paper bill to a blind customer? >> well, they are now. you'll find out how verizon responds when our wusa9 call for action team gets involved. if we'll have the full story coming up on -- involved. we'll have the full story coming up on your show. >> we've been talking about. now she's getting some results. >> you'll see at 11:00. look at these massive flames after a tanker exploded on an interstate near dearborn, michigan. the driver is recovering from only minor injuries. investigators are trying to determine what caused the tanker to explode. police responded to lil wayne's miami beach home today after a report of four people shot. the report was made on a nonemergency line. so far there's no evidence anyone was shot or if the rapper was even inside the home at the time. a georgia police chief who accidentally shot his wife while she slept is stepping down. he said he was careless when he

went to bed with a load gun two months ago after taking sleeping pills. his wife is now paralyzed from the waist down. are you happy at work? does your boss listen to you? she's are some of the questions asked -- these are some of the questions asked in these pulse surveys popping up across the country in companies. what are they? brian webb explains. >> reporter: quirky is a new york business that turns inventor's ideas into products. to find it out what's working and what's not, the company gives employees a weekly survey. at first employer anna buckbower was skeptical. >> just seems like it's going to be an extra task, but i think as we continue to do it, it proves to be a good exercise. >> reporter: typical questions range from what challenges are you facing to who deserves recognition this week and more companies are talking to their workers this way. the society of human resource management says some 80% of firms have used a survey to

gauge how employees feel. >> most organizations recognize that to retain employees that have high skills that they need to create a work environment that those employees will want to stay. >> reporter: leaders at quirky say the pulse survey helped clear up confusion during a recent corporate reconstructing. >> we want to know what's on people's minds so we can address them, get in front of issues before they become a crisis. >> reporter: the survey can also find future leaders. some employees recognized by their fellow co-workers were promoted. the only station with weather alert days, wusa9 first alert weather. >> a little slow to clear today, but still very nice in term. temperatures. everyone made it -- terms of temperatures. everyone made it back into the 60s. dew points in the low 40s, relative humidity 42%. we'll stay in the 40s downtown, a little coolin the burbs, 30s. temperatures now still 62 in chevy chase and arlington, 63

in fairfax, 62 in dumfries. over by the water it's 60 in annapolis and 59 for our friend in north beach. just a little cooler tonight, still above freezing. bus stop temperatures 34 to 46, not bad, but the kids still need a light jacket. grab your shade thursday and grab your umbrella friday. you won't need it in the morning, but you'll want it in the afternoon. futurecast 10:00 tonight 54 downtown. that may be a tad high, but it's still mild, upper 40s in the suburbs. you leave the verizon center tonight from the caps game, sure to be in the 50s. by 6 a.m. back in the 30s in the suburbs but above freezing, 36 leesburg, 38 manassas, 37 in la plata, still 40 downtown. by midmorning, 9:00 generally low 40s, clear skies, pretty much pure sun tomorrow. by 1:00 you could walk to lunch. a light jacket not a bad idea,

51 in gaithersburg, leesburg, 52 manassas, 53 downtown. this time tomorrow evening mid- 50s, still clear skies. that's average for this time of year. average high is 55. for tonight clear to partly cloudy, a little breezy, lows 34 to 44, just chilly, low temperatures about average, winds northwest 10 to 15. by morning sunshine, chilly start, 34 to 52. by afternoon plenty of sunshine, cooler yes, but seasonable, highs around 55. the day planner, 40 at 7:00, 42 at 9:00, upper 40s by 11:00 and low 50s with sunshine by 1 p.m. friday yellow alert again, a little sun in the morning, rain and showers develop late day, probably in time for the evening commute and certainly if you're on the town friday night, 51, cooler. back in the low 60s with light rain and showers saturday, may have a yellow alert saturday as

well. next season days, sunday, upper 50s monday, mid-50s tuesday and wednesday with sunshine holding. now wusa9 game on sports with kristen berset brought to you by xfinity. >> reporter: hey, we're live in new york city on top of the cbs broadcast house, what a view behind me. the big east has come to the big apple. this year in the ncaa tournament a handful of teams are expected to play in the big dance from the big east and georgetown is one of them. i caught up with the team during their last minute preparations. among the hustle and bustle of new york city terminal 23 sits tucked away in the shadows of madison square garden. it's a former '60s nightclub turned into a basketball facility. today it's the home of the georgetown hoyas. john thompson, ii, and his team

get in one -- iii, and his team get in one final practice. >> i think we have the proper mindset. we had a very, very good hard intense practice. i think our guys are ready. >> we have a lot of confidence with each other. we want to come in and play georgetown basketball and play hard whoever we play against. >> reporter: the hoyas rebounded this season to get invited back to the ncaa tournament after sitting out last year, but before they could think about their opponent, the hoyas have a more pressing task. do well in the big east tournament and that will help them on collection sunday. >> we want to try to continue to win and build our resume. >> this tournament is special. there's nothing like the big east tournament other than the final four and so i think this group understands we've done a pretty good job in year not looking too far in advance.

>> reporter: the hoyas did so well this year the two seed in the big east. they have a bye today. they play tomorrow night at 7:00 and take to the winner of creighton and depaul, both teams the hoyas have swept this season. coming up later in sports more from the hoyas' preparations in the big apple, plus a look at the other local teams. american eagles are in the final tonight with a shot at an automatic bid. >> looking good, love the big dance there. they are a sign of season that many of us could do without, coming up how we could help you get that pothole you've been swerving to avoid fixed. >> also ahead. >> reporter: the folkest of the boston marathon bombing trial -- focus of the boston marathon bombing trial returns. >> we want to know what's on your mind. tweet us

prosecutors showed a boston jury evidence that they say the defendant left at the scene of 2013 marathon bombings. >> we have more on the testimony of the officer killed during that speech. >> reporter: with the family of slain police officer sean collier looking on, the chief of mit police told jurors about the last time he saw 27-year-

old officer alive. i told him to be safe, the chief said. hours later collier was gunned down. prosecutors argue tsarnaev murdered the officer in an attempt to get a 2nd gun after they were publicly identified as the prime suspects in the marathon bombing. the morning session was dominated by technical testimony about cell phone usage on the part of the defendant and his brother on the day of the bombing up through his arrest. jurors did get a look at some of the evidence left on the street. prosecutors say the defendant dzhokhar tsarnaev and his brother set off bombs near the finish line. the evidence included a shredded backpack and remnants from a pressure cooker that contained one of the bombs, bbs, nails and shards of metal from the scene. video of the moments before the explosion show the brother arriving with backpacks. after the explosion they're seen running away without them. kris van cleave, cbs news, boston.

this accused child predator was using an app that teenagers love but makes it difficult for law enforcement to track. i'm peggy fox. coming up i'll tell parents what they need to know to keep their children safe. >> reporter: this is bruce johnson in the u street corridor in northwest. everyone has a pothole story today. the city got nearly 1,000 complaints. coming up i'll introduce you to a guy making a lot of money off your pothole misery. more than 1,000 people are paying respects to a failen police officer killed while doing his job off duty. but first the state department official recently charged with soliciting sex from a minor was using an app this makes it difficult for law enforcement to catch criminals, but it's an app that's extremely popular with children and child predators. thanks for joining us tonight. i'm lesli foster. >> i'm derek mcginty. peggy fox has been looking into this and joins us live from the newsroom with what she's found out. >> the app is called kik,

hugely popular with teen-agers and preteens, but there are things about the kik app and others like it that are also attractive to child predators. one is that they allow users to take and use pictures that are not stored on the phone's camera roll. if images are not stored, that makes it tough for law enforcement to document. police say 44-year-old daniel rosen was making arrangements to meet and have sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl. they said as he chatted on a popular app after receiving what he thought was proof she was, in fact, 14 he said good. let's get naked and he made more offers, very explicit that we can't report. >> it's almost like running radar. we just put ourselves somewhere where the kids and predators are and make ourselves available. >> lieutenant james bacon runs the child predator unit at fairfax county police where detectives pose as children online mostly on apps.

>> it's frightening to hear the way the conversations go. it's frightening to hear the other end of phone and what's being said to who they think is a 12 or 14-year-old little girl or boy. >> the most popular app for child predators bacon says is kik. it allows users to sign up without having to give proof of your identity and even lets you make up a phone number. >> that's part of the allure of some of these websites to the predator because they can make up the persona of a little kid or anybody that they want to been and the companies in certain -- want to be and the companies in certain cases don't verify anything. >> bacon says parents need to know what is on their children's phones and have a password. >> the parents need to have it. otherwise that app needs to go away. >> look at the history of your child's computer and iphones. if you see