welcome to 9 news now at noon. i'm j.c. hayward.

dc fire investigators are sifting through the burned out mansion belonging to activist and former dc board of education president peggy cooper. the home is located on chain bridge road in northwest washington. our digital correspondent, armando trull , reports live from the scene. armando? >> reporter: well, j.c., this area is in the highest spot in washington, d.c. and for years, residents have complained of low water pressure. low water pressure in the sinks, faucets, showerrens and water hoses. in addition one fire hydrant in the neighborhood was not in working condition last night. when those factors combined it became, for firefighters, a daunting task to fight a two- alarm blaze. more than a dozen hours after the blaze began, firefighters were still dealing with hot spots as well as the faulty hydrants and low water pressure they say hampered their ability to put out the blaze. firefighters did the best they

could under the circumstances but it will be a significant loss. >> hard to think you have to watch it burn for two hours before the pressure can handle the fire. >> reporter: dc firefighters responded quickly top this fire last night. but when they tried to hook up to a hydrant a few feet away they were unable to do so and had to hook up the hoses thousands of feet away down two different hills. >> they were using fire hydrants in front of my house and past the house and a lot of the hoses seem to be empty a good part of the time, laying flat. >> reporter: the two-alarm fire began at 8:00 last night. by midnight it had consumed a million dollar home and the valuable art collection. >> we are terrified. we stood outside of the home for several hours. the 3-year-old you just met said i'm scared and i don't want our house to melt. >> how safe do you feel at our home. >> at this point i'm a little concerned and i don't know what the solution is. sounds like they have to bring in a new water main. >> reporter: with thousands of feet of water hoses snaking

through the neighborhood, some residents needed a helping hand to get to work and others weren't so lucky. now, some of the latest information, they have opened low borrow road so traffic is coming in during part of the neighborhood and collected some water hoses. pete a spokesperson with the fire and ems has the latest. >> the fire is under investigation. we have had crews throughout the night. moments ago they were able to stop putting water on it. so the fire is extinguished but we have a lot of work to document as you mentioned we were extremely challenged last night because of the large volume of fire when we got here and the issues with pressure. we are working with our partners, wasa, the water utility and trying to sort that out. we have a pretty aggressive campaign with checking the hydrants and working with wasa on gallons per minute and flow and that sort of thing. we are sorting through that. but again that did cause some problem and we did have to

really struggle with that during last night's fire. >> if there wasn't a water issue issue, do you think you could have contained the fire before it burned to the ground. >> we come to work thinking we can handle any situation that comes our way and that's our thought. if we had plenty of resource and we struggle with that. we haven't determined the cause of the fire yet but as we know it was a devastating loss not only to this home but to the community and to us and so we will try to sort through that and determine what the cause of the fire was and also look at ways we could have done a better job. >> how safe can people feel if a fire were to happen today or tomorrow the same thing wouldn't happen. >> the simplest thing to do is prevent the fire from starting in the first place. but the best thing a family can do is make sure you have a working smoke alarm. a lot of homes in this area have alarm systems. make sure you have an escape plan and should be noted this building didn't have a

sprinkler system. if you are fortunate enough to live in a building with residential sprinklers, certainly fire is usually extinguished or controlled in a mcable condition when we get here. this fire was not manageable when we arrived on the scene. it was in advanced stages and pretty big. that's the latest. armando trull live, back to you. we will look inside of this home. these are pictures courtesy of the -- well, that wasn't. that was the president. but there's the fire that just out of control last night. peggy cooper had an incredible amount of valuable art work destroyed in the fire. she is a well-known member of the washington community and a patron of the arts. she's one of the founders of the duke ellington school of the arts in northwest washington and at one time was an employee of channel 9. our heart goes out to peggy cooper.

our coverage of the story will continue on our website, wusa9.com. you can see raw vie of the fire and what may have contributed to it getting out of hand. go to our website at wusa9.com. services will be held today for three victims of the helicopter crash. the helicopter crashed last thursday night near hagerstown, maryland. four people were returning from a charity event where they gave helicopter rides to people in order to raise money for troubled youth. services for kim felix will be held this afternoon at 2:00 in damascus and at 6:00 p.m. family and friends will attend the visitation for instructor george tutor in manchester, maryland. at 7 p.m.

tonight, a viewing will be held for the pilot jeff nordaas in columbia, maryland. he will be buried tomorrow. arrangements have not been announced for the fourth victim. president obama hopes that a private round of beers at the white house will put a racially charged controversy to rest. the president is hosting the black harvard professor who was arrested by cambridge police in his home and he's also invited the officer who arrested dr. gates. the president stepped in the debate last week and he now hopes to settle that controversy. joel brown has a report now from the white house. >> reporter: president obama hopes a round of drinks will turn a political misstep in to a teachable moment. tonight he's bringing harvard professor henry lewis gates, junior and police sergeant crowley to the white house for a talk about race relations

over beer. >> the president will drink bud light. professor gaits said he liked red stripe and i believe sergeant crowley mentioned that he likes blue moon. >> reporter: gates accused crowley of racism after he arrested the professor in his home. the sergeant was responding to a report of a possible break in. he says the professor was belligerent and disorderly. >> president obama pushed the story in to a national spotlight after he said in his noose conference last week that the police acted stupidly. two days later he tried to smooth things over. >> my sense is you have got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way it should have been resolved. >> reporter: but the debate raged on and even included the woman who called 911 to report the break in. >> people called me racist. >> reporter: on a day when the temperature is supposed to go above 90 degrees. the professor, policeman and the president will be happy to have a cold beer.

the hard part will be reaching agreement on anything else. joel brown, cbs news, the white house. the road to the super bowl is beginning today for the washington redskins because today is the team's first practice session. our sara walsh is at redskins park and has d more information hello, sara. >> hi, j.c., practice one is in the books and with no injuries they are a step ahead of where they were last season. nothing but optimism and excitement rained out here and as expected thousands of fans were braving the heat to get the first glimpse of the burgundy and gold 2009 edition. that included campbell who's trying to prove after a tumultuous off season he is rite man to lead the team. >> there's no reason to just sit around and put pressure on yourself but my goal is to enjoy the game and have fun

this year and whatever happens, happens. but my mind set is let it all hang out. >> we had a lot of fans in nashville. but wasn't up close i guess. they are on the op site side an of course we didn't have as much media. i think we had three three cameras in nashville. so a little different here. >> reporter: the only bummer today, first orakpo remains unsigned. jim zorn is waiting patiently. we will have more redskins coverage at 5:00 and 6:00. brett haber and brian mitchell will be live. we have continuous coverage on my blog at wusa9.com and you can follow me on twitter. for now we are live at redskins park. session one, in the books. back to you. >> thank you, sara walsh reporting live. still to come, details of the child custody agreement between michael jackson's mother and his ex-wife. we'll be right back. (announcer) fa sleep is your body's strongest ally.

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and helps you fall asleep in a non-habit forming way. because the better you sleep, the better you feel. michael jackson mother an his former wife have reached an agreement over custody of the children. manuel gallegus reports that the children will live with catherine jackson but debbie rowe will be able to see them. >> reporter: michael jackson will get his wish, his 79-year- old mother catherine will raise his three children. >> there's no situation better for these three children than

for them to be raided and reared in the loving caf re o mrs. catherine jackson. >> reporter: cbs news learned that catherine jackson has reached a deal with debbie rowe, heading off 0 a custody battle. roe will get visitation with her children, prince and paris michael but no cash. >> we will go to the courts and this will not be about money. it is an agreement in the best interest of the children. >> jackson's attorney says joe jackson will not have a role in raising the children. even though the parents are still married they live in separate states. michael jackson spoke out about his father's abusive behavior but mrs. jackson's attorney says she will make sure the kids grow up in a safe and loving environment. >> mrs. jackson is doing fine. she is still grieving bushes a strong woman. trying to stay as long as she can for her grandchildren, all of them, especially michael's children, who are going through a major ordeal right now. >> reporter: the custody agreement is expected to be

finalized in los angeles superior court on monday but the battle over michael jackson's estated estimated from 200 million to $2 billion is just beginning. cbs news, los angeles. coming up next, howard and our forecast. yeah, pet line thursday. i have sapphire. a sweet one. we will tell you an her and the heat and a chance of storms over the next seven days. we have a break and look at the allergy update and with some rain yesterday the mold spores they are in the moderate category. e fofocacacomingp.

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welcome back. a decent day going out there, especially after yesterday's strong thunderstorms in spots. today we may see a thunderstorm or two, especially west as we go throughout the latter part of the afternoon but the next few hours are quiet. upper 80s. tomorrow, scattered showers and storms. some of which maybe around in the morning, 87. by saturday we are breaking out again and drying out. temperatures upper 80s. so partly sunny, very warm, isolated thunderstorms later this afternoon. i can't imagine much before

3:00, 4:00. 86 to 90 with northwesterly winds and southwesterly five to ten miles an hour. tonight, mostly cloudy a few showers and thunderstorm or two possible overnight. 67 to 74 and then tomorrow, mostly cloudy and mainly afternoon showers and storms. but i would not be surprised if we had a few around during the morning hours. highs in the mid to upper 80s. at this hour with sunshine out there, we have temperatures from 79 in hagerstown and martinsburg and cumberland to 81 manassas and dc. 81 also in southern maryland and 892 baltimore. leesburg, they are doing construction out there. the thermometer has been unfavorable location to take their temperatures until i tell you really with a big grain of salt. the heat is making it feel like 83 and dew point 64 and it was 70 this morning. not bad out there with a relative humidity at 57%. look across the country, a couple of things to point out. a big storm here.

storms are big across dallas. even a tornado warning for a while. it cleared the big d now approaching louisiana, arkansas. you can see a little spin there. that will be moving to the east and as it gets closer to us tomorrow it will help enhance the shower and thunderstorm chances. when you get more upper level energy you will get more widespread activity. it is fairly quiet here. you notice to the west, showers and storms trying to move to the east northeast. we may see some of that activity later this afternoon but looks like the bulk of it should be west of i-81 until maybe after dark when we see it move in here. the adonis model one of the models we use here. through 5:00, notice we are seeing some thunderstorm activity. and then during the evening hours a couple may approach us. overnight a possibility of a few storms and tomorrow morning scattered showers and storms and through midday and the afternoon they will be some around, some could be local

heavy rain maker and have lightning and gusty winds. keep in mind tomorrow will be more active than today. here's our seven-day forecast. 89 today with a chance of a thunderstorm. scattered showers and storms tomorrow. some could be in the morning. more likely in the afternoon. as we go are you them weekend looking good on saturday as we may see something early. otherwise decent and sunday a chance of storms in the 80s and then closer to 90 degrees as we get in to next week with a chance of isolated afternoon storm. it is pet line nine and with me is sara barnette from the lost dogs and cats rescue. hey, and you have sapphire. what a beautiful dog. tough luck story, too, huh. >> she was from a fire that happened in march. >> it is okay, girl. >> at a hunt club in leesburg and she recovered nicely. she is a 3-year-old fox hound and she has done great. she is wonderful with other dog and healing up well. >> she has a couple of sores and are you going to wait until they heel to get her adopted.

>> it is really surface. the healing has gone great. >> here you go, girl. >> any concerns because she seems like a gentle dog, anyone with kids or other animals. >> great with kids and dog and would not place her with cats but other than that no restrictions really. >> how many animals were caught in the fire. >> they had 70 or 80 hounds i believe. the rescue took in six. two have been adopted and four are available for adoption. >> she's a great dog. do her a favor. she has had a enough enough life. >> or go to our website at wusa9.com. go to our pet section and all of the information is there. again, wusa9.com. sapphire, you are a sweetie. we will be back with j.c. and more 9 news now at noon right after this. having the right tools is crucial

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i'm nick jonas and never slowing down is my simple win. if u haven't made plans for the weekend you may want to go to the kennedy center. there's a great musical that has been performing for some time. we are talking about "the color purple "and my critic, michael, has been to see it and he thinks it's what -- >> i think it is well worth seeing. we only have two weeks left in the run so i thought we should mention because a lot of people have been on vacation and away but some seats are still available at the kennedy center and don't often get to see a original broadway star in a production and you can here with color purple. >> we are talking about fantasia. >> she makes the musical come

alive. she is only 25 years old but packs an emotional wallop in her singing and this show needs the music to provide the emotional intensity because the novel is so rich and complex, when you boil it down to a musical and throw in music and dance there is not much time to do character development. she ages from young girl to older woman and plays an african-american woman and fine finds her voice and place this the world. and it is thrilling. >> some people think the color purple maybe heavy. i don't want to see it. but it is a little different. >> the director has lightened it since it is on broadway. it is african dance. it is lyrical, graceful, a completely different kind of energy and you don't walk out feeling as if you have been depressed. the color purple at the ken center. go see it. i have some guests. they are running out of time and they want to give me something and i want it.

>> from the nova united senior women basketball association and they meet every friday at the james lee community center. you have to be 50 to play with them. they are something else and guess what i have my own shirt with them. they are wonderful. i'm going to tell you. i have jeannie winston, helen and jackie. >> thank you for coming. >> this is all of our members. see how many there are of us and we are all behind you 100%, j.c. >> you have big fun playing basketball, don't you. >> we are going to the olympics on the second. we qualify for the senior olympics. >> we will be one of 12,000 senior athletes competing in 25 different sports. >> you see over 50 having a good time. very athletic. don't have to be ready for the nba to play on the team just have a desire to have fun. >> age dunn mean a thing. >> certainly doesn't. and it is the right size, too.

>> we'd like to have a wonderful rally for you when we come back. >> you are going to win. i know you are going to win. >> going for the gold. >> we are talking an the know ya united senior women's basketball association every friday james lee community center in falls church. you have to be 50 and older and just come out and have fun and visit the girls. thanks for joining us. come back at 5:00. bye-bye. the distance from the field to your table just got shorter.

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