don't do it for me, don't do it for the democratic party, do it for the american people. >> this time tomorrow a landmark vote will most likely be in the

books and history will be made. tonight, democrats make some important changes in their final push for health care reform. >> good saturday, everyone. i'm craig melvin. democratic leaders have decided to give up on a plan that would have avoided a direct vote by lawmakers, that controversial demon pass proposal. also, lawmakers will vote tomorrow on some new compromises to the bill before actually deciding whether to pass it. the compromise plan would reduce the deficit by some $20 billio more than the plan passed by the senate. it would also lessen and delay a tax on high-end insurance plans. despite the changes, though, the health care reform bill, it's still a tough sell to republicans. >> i want to make sure that we are doing everything that we can do to make sure that this bill never, ever, ever becomes law. >> don't do it for me, don't do it for the democratic party, do it for the american people. they're the ones who are looking for action right now.

>> democrats are still divided over whether the white house should issue an executive order reassuring abortion opponents that procedures would not be funded under the proposed health care plan. meetings on that issue are being held into the night. tonight, a montgomery county family is pleading for someone to return their stolen puppy. someon snatched it today right from the arms of its 13-year-old owner, what's just as disturbing here, the ages of the suspects. darcy spencer's at police headquarters tonight with this story. hey, darcy. >> reporter: well, hi, craig. police are saying that one of the suspects in this case may be as young as 10 years old. now, the victim tells me tonight, he has no idea why this happened. >> i'm sad and kind of mad. >> reporter: we are disguising his face because he's the victim of a crime. this 13-year-old boy says two other teens ripped his pit bull puppy named yedi from his arms and punched him in the face. >> i was walking my dog and they

were following us and they like tonight told me to put my dog down and they punched me because i refused and they just took it away. >> reporter: it happened just after 2:00 in the afternoon in ridge heights drive when two boys ages 10 to 16 years old grabbed the 8-week-old puppy and ran. why do you think these kids did this. >> i really don't know because there is really no reason to take a dog. >> reporter: neighbors are concerned. >> i don't think that it makes yofeel real safe in the neighborhood i have three boys. >> and two dogs. >> and two dogs. i don't want them to feel like they're in any danger in in neighborhood that's why we moved here. >> i have a niece and -- and mom goes to the park too. so i'm really worried about what's happening on this neighborhood. >> reporter: police are investigating the crime as a robbery. >> what we know that the individuals who are alleged -- who have taken the dog are teenagers, young people. maybe they consider it a prank,

but we don't consider it such and this family is heartsickened. really wants their dog back. >> reporter: he got his gift from his dad and just wants him back. the victim tells me tonight that he did not recogni the boys who took his dog. anyone with information about where this dog may be is asked to call montgomery county poli, that 13-year-old would surely appreciate it. back tour, craig. >> darcy, if they've got the suspect's ages it sounds like they've gotome pretty strong leads here, no? >> reporter: it's possible but it's funny some of the kids in neighborhood did not recognize these kids. they're not from that particular neighborhood so they're wondering basically where they came from so at this point i'm not sure if police really know who they were. >> all right. darcy pencer. thank you. a man's body was found i the anacostia river tonight. found the body on water street not far from the sousa bridge. bo from the gonzaga high

school rowing team first spotted the body around 4:00 this afternoon. so far police do not know a whole lot about the man. he was not carrying any i.d. >> the body was fully clothed. the clothing was dark. i don't want to go into too much detail in that. there is not apparent signs of trauma to the body from what we can tell. police sayhey don't suspect foul play at this point but they also haven't been able to tie him to any reports of missing people in the area. they hope more evidence helps identify him. police say a teenager who was beatened to death in fairfax county was likely the victim of gang violence. 16-year-old christian perez of lauteron was found dead last night in the wood lawn area. investigators say he may have been beaten with the bat. police believe is gang related and are working several active lead. a couple snapped an underwater photo of what looked like human remains now, arubian authorities plan to resume their search for missing u.s. teenager

natalee holloway. the picture shows an image that looks like a human skull. but authorities say it is too early at this point to tell if the remains are that of the missing teenager, natalee holloway disappeared on a high school trip back in 2005. tonight people along the minnesota/north dakota border hope that the flooding from the red river will not be as bad as first expected. colder weather has slowed the rise of flood waters. the river is not expected to crest until tomorrow. from the r, from the ground as well, the barricades made from thousands of sandbags seem to be doing their job that the point. forecasters are projecting the river to crest at just under 36 feet. still ahead here tonight, passengers stranded when a ferry breaks down in the middle of the potomac and also a proposal to keep restaurants from adding tips to our bills without our permission. we'll tell you all about that. and a local man trying to beat out thousands to win the

marathon on his home turf. and the high-wire stunt that just was not meant to be. justin, what you got buddy? >> oh, the forecast looking great tomorrow so if you missed the nice weather today you'll get your chance tomorrow but changes -- talking about cooler temperatures and some rain. hey, dan, what's the latest in sports? >> justin, you would never believe it. cinderella running around at the ncaa tournament. she is everywhere. the terps getting ready for a very familiar foe. plus, alex ovechkin returns from his expensive vacation to propel the caps to victory. i love economics study group.

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whites ferry is out of service. a cable broke today stranding passenger in the middle of the potomac. it happened this afternoon on the maryland side of the river. the passengers were stuck on the boat until another boat pulled it closer to shore. the ferry will remain out of service until that cable can be fixed. a celebration of marriage, times ten, in northwest d.c. today. these couples were all part of the first grp, same-sex wedding in the district. the ceremony hapned at the

andrew melon auditorium on constitution avenue. at one point organizers were hoping to break a world record with about 400 couples today and again only ten took part. still the day was very significant for those who waited a long time to make their relationships official. ever go out to eat with a group, gets the check, notice the 20% gratuity's been added but service wasn't all that group? well it happened to a maryland lawmaker and now she wants to change the law. delegate cheryl quinn thinks that automatic tips provide some from good service when the tip is guaranteed so she's sponsoring a bi. the restaurant association of maryland is against that bill. they say they want the restaurants to be able to set their own tipping policy. when we come back tonight the high-altitude stunt that did not go as planned, and folk, hope that you enjoyed the sunshine while it was out, becae changes are acom

brace yourselves, fellows. ah this will one make you flint. the steepest section of the mountain cable and had to quit. trying to set a record. they intended to walk 59 feet of that wire. that wire's 1,600 feet high. the first guy as you just saw there fell onto the wire, that guy. he hurt his leg, he quit. the second guy that fellow, he gave up after his shoes got

covered in oil. and it became dangerously slippe slippery. more than 12,000 runners hit the streets of d.c. this morning for the suntrust nional marathon. 26.2-mile course kicked off at rfk stadium and wound its way past several monuments on this first day of spring. serious competitors out there and folks who did it for the fun of it. streets were lined with thousands of fan, who runners said, made those miles much more bearable. hometown hero michael wardian, it was his fourth time. arlington native finished in -- >> when someone comes on your home field you don't want them to walk away with the w and i feel like i have to protect this house. >> protect this house. both take hope $to,000 checks.

big congrates to both of them. and what a fantastic day to run. justin drabick, how about it man? will we see more of that sunshine tomorrow or is this it. >> one more day. making up for last weekend so certainly that's good news. one more day to enjoy it before we're talking about the cooldown and some rain showers but right now, still looking nice outside. there's a live shot out towards the city. a lot of activity going on right now. and why not? it's such a perfect night outside. very comfortable. temperatures still on the mild side. now, today the official high was 74. at national airport. that's 17 degrees above the average. if you're wondering what today's record high it was, well, not quite there. but we did reach 83 degrees set back in 1945. but, hey, mid 70s, sure, why not? we'll take it. now elsewhere around the region, our highs generally, again, everyone mid to even some upper 70s, even far to the south across madison, culpeper counties, upper 70s there, 77. 74 in the district and event to north, frederick coming in at 77

degrees for the official high. one cool spot was out towards the bay, putuckson river only 68 degrees because of a bay breeze kicked in. chilly bay waters, only in the 40s, kept the air temperatures down but out towards the blue ridge, front royal high temperature today 76 degrees and then to the east of us over on the eastern shore, salisbury mid 70s there as well. so just everybody enjoyinthis nice weather. right now 60 currently at national airport. and fairfax. and loudon counties still looking at the low 60s. cool spot over in the frederick area and over down toward the virginia piedmont but again looking at the cool nights but warm afternoons one more day. here we go, lots of warmth across the entire east coast. you can see the departures from the past 24 hours, we're up 12 degrees in raleigh. two degrees here in the district so a lot of warmth confined to the east coast. that's all compliments of clear skies. a few high to midlevel clouds. but not impacting our

temperatures a lot. starting to get its act together across the west of arkansas. it's a slow move so it will take its good old time to get in here. pumping in the southerly winds and that's keeping our temperatures above average. so future cast shows morning sun tomorrow. clouds are starting to build in. it looks like after midnight and through the day on monday we'll see those showers in here. clear skies tonight. mild. tomorrow, afternoon increasing clouds. 71 to 76 degrees. tomorrow evening, again, that's when we see most of the clouds but it looks like the rain gets in here after midnight sunday, through the day on monday. 60s, we're back down to the 50s on tuesday. and then early next -- or middle of next week we'll start to see the sunshine returning back into the mid 60s so we're talking about those changes coming up. >> all right, justin, thank you, sir. do appreciate that. coming up into sports, folk, the terps prepare for a run at the sweet 16. also, in case you missed it, northern iowa playing the role of bracket buster. the biggest upset of the

tournament.

on the road tonight? >> yeah,e have a lot to talk about. of course we'll go get on basketball but first we have to start with the capitals because vacation is over. alex ovechkin returned from his two-game suspension tonight. and o.v. does what o.v. does scores goals. 45th goal of the year, now that moves him back into the league lead and it also helps the caps.

don't forget about jose theodore who continues to look very good between the pipes. he had 33 saves down at tampa. bruce boudreau said o.v. would not miss a beat and he didn't, but o.v. did get plenty of help as always. steckel to eric fehr. eric fehr centers it and check it out perfectly placed centering pass to tomas fleischmann. caps go up. 2 is 1st goal for flash. later in the first we're tied at one. nilas backstrom, great pass off the boards to alex ovechkin. you can imagine being the goalie on anthero niittymaki. he must had been quivering in his boats. third period still 2-1. brooks lichtwith the puck. holds onto it. shoots. stops but alexander semin is there to put in the rebound.

goal number 33 on the year for semin. capitals win it, 2-1. next up the penguins on wednesday. things went about as well as possibly could be expected for maryland in their first-round matchup against houston. maryland wins by 12. they had balance scoring and they got a yeoman's effort from their freshman, big man jordan williams. now the focus solely on their next opponent. it's the terps and michigan state tomorrow afternoon. the winner advances to the sweet 16 in st. louis. the terps would love to see more from the -- of the sfram their big man jordan williams the freshman, big was great. 21 points and 17 rebounds in the first round. seniors who combined for 56 points. now maryland focused on michigan state. a team they know very well. >> we know their system and they know our system. i mean all i have to say, it's going to be a great game. two great coaches and it's going

to be you know one of those games that you can't really make that many mistakes. you have to execute your offense and you have to play good defense. >> sometimes you hope you play a team that won't be ready for you. won't play hard. whatever. that's not the case in this situation. they're coming after you. hopefully we can get after them and that's why we've had great games when we've played each other. >> gy williams and the terps playing at 2:30 tomorrow against michigan state out in spokane, washington. did you get a chance to watch any of these games today. >> i did i got a chance to see the kansas game. >> the upsets keep rolling. great basketball. earlier this evening. the panthers of northern iowa knock over the top seed. becomes the first missouri valley tournament to champ to advance to the sweet 16 since indiana state in 1979. the biggest difference, the sycamores were led by a man named bird. the panthers by a kid named fer oc minish.

both phenomenal shooters. northern iowa will play the winner of the maryland and michigan state game. you know the terps watched this one. jayhawks locked the lead one minute and two seconds into the game and they never got it back. who would have thunk it? northern iowa up by six. ali farokhmanesh. man, 50 seconds to play. kansas down by three. this is sherron collins. a tough shot in the line. pulls kansas in one. the closest game. it was 3-2. would northern iowa hang on? well, they barely beat the full-court press. farokhmanesh. no rebounders, no problem. this guy is fearless. gives northern iowa a four-point lead with 35 seconds to go. they run out the clock. the bench is going crazy. what an upset. the panthers win it 69-67 over the number one overall seed,

kansas jayhawks. villanova fighting for their tournament lives against st. mary's. second half, nova down by three. on the break, malik wayne to antonio pena up and in, that's a three-point play. wildcats tide at 51. had trailed st. mary's most of the game. 1:23 left, tied at 65. mickey mcconnell the crossover is filthy. the deep three, good. mcconnell finished with 14. st. mary's just having fun in this one. under a minute to go. the gales still up by three. villanova workings the ball to reggie redding. get that junk out of here. omar samham to block the shot. omar was a beat. they pulled off the upset. going to the sweet 16 for the second time in 59 years. by the way in the women's bracket georgetown easily beats marist

64-42. >> anyone who's bracket is still intact clearly used the enie meanie minie

good evening, i'm larry king -- are these glasses getting bigger or is my face shrinking? you decide. [ laughter ]