hello. welcome to 9 news now at noon. i'm j.c. hayward. we have a developing story. there are delays on metro's orange line because of an incident on the track at the

west falls church metro station. sky 9 is over that station right now providing us with this live picture. we have been told that one person was injured on the track and possibly struck. again, you should expect delays on the orange line while rescue officials take care of the situation and while they investigate exactly what happened. there's another developing story that we want to tell you about. this one involving a woman who disappeared 13 years ago. her name is shah cheetah bell and she was murdered by her boyfriend. however, her body was never found. today authorities are searching a wooded area near fort washington, maryland. we have been told so far nothing has been found but we will have more information throughout the day on our website at wusa9.com and tonight on 9 news out in at 5:00. now the it willest on health care reform. democrats are sending reinforcements to the front

lines in the fight with reform opponents. they have set up a war room on captiol hill and the white house has launched a website to counter critics. drew levinson reports from coast to coast, the battle is heating up. >> hey, hey, hey. >> reporter: rowdy crowds are drowning out the health care redate across the country. >> there is a mood in america of anger. with so many people unemployed and with so much bickering in washington. >> reporter: democratic lawmakers are trying to wrestle back control from local constituents using town halls to vent frustration. >> you and your cronies in the government do this kind of stuff all the time. >> reporter: signs say obama lies, grandma dies and portray the president as hitler. >> the president is now supporting genocide against the american people. >> it is an outrageous falsehood that there is anything like what you are talking about. >> reporter: dozens of town hall meetings are being held

across the country today. one scheduled for here in new jersey had to be moved to a larger location to accommodate the overflow crowd. democrats have also set up a war room on captiol hill to help lawmakers handle questions from unhappy crowds. president obama is working the front lines, too with upcoming town halls out west. it san all-out assault. >> from what all the scare tactics out there what is truly scary and riskcy if if we do nothing. >> a new link on the white house website seeks to dispel myths about reform. cbs news, new jersey. >> maryland senator ben cardin will host a health care reform town hall meeting at hagerstown community college in an hour. it will be the second one he has hosted this week. senator cardin was jeered by protesters who tried to disrupt

a similar event he tried to host this week in towson. we have a crew in town and we will have the latest at 5:00. montgomery county's sheriff raymond knight is cutting off deputies ' request for tuition assistance for outside training until an internal probe can run its course. the tuition assistance program is under investigation. the sheriff says his office has denied five recent applications for training in martial arts and shooting. city attorneys are asking a federal appeals court to reconsider a decision that check points in a troubled washington neighborhood were unconstitutional. police in dc stopped cars last summer in the trinidad neighborhood. they refused to let in motorists who did not prove they lived in the area or revealed their destination. well, nearly seven out of eight state workers in maryland have already taken a furlough,

and more could be coming. administration official says meetings have been held to discuss possible furloughs in order to help cut costs. last time employees took least two furlough days and any one that was a state employee making $40,000 a year or more well, on on tional two orthree for uryoce grory gollar. y,xt time you fe wasa you feway, you ce that tinoprcethat items hathsome ve the "washington post" reports that safeannounce announce pric esr ices y todatodaon staples rd ppli sucoes. ff eean odt gides foma coa ffee giant foods made a ck in 2006ck bain 2006 and even whole foods has cut prices okey items with coupon usage up 4%. well, saving money on groceries is one way that americans are cutting costs and refinancing a mortgage is

another. but those who do not qualify for federal mortgage help are kind of stuck in a tough spot. they want to keep their home, but they are close to losing everything. as one local homeowner learned, getting through the modified maze is a frustrating task. lesli foster has the story. >> i go to do photo shoots in the morning. , go to the regular 9:00 to 5:00 job and after that we work on our real estate business. this is actually for the front and back deck plans for the foundation. >> reporter: dan is doing everything he can to keep his house. working three jobs, getting little sleep and nowhere on his loan modification. in april he got this e-mail. >> countrywide had denied us. >> reporter: he has been trying since december of 2008 to get help with no luck. >> i essentially have to screw up my great credit and not give the mortgage company about 8 u

to $10,000 which doesn't make sense to me. >> reporter: this maryland homeowner is in b@the same predicament, stuck in the middle of a mortgage mess. 51% of his income goes to his house payment. >> in july, it was denied again. >> reporter: industry experts say lenders are reluctant to modify some loans because it hurts their bottom line. >> if they write down one loan, they may have to write down others and that affects their finances. >> reporter: kiplinger magazine editor janice bodnar says if you are turned down be as proactive as you can. >> you have to be your own advocate and if you talk to one person at your lending office and they tell you no ask to talk to their superior. >> reporter: he has an advocate and is still getting nowhere. >> my other option is to walk away from the property and i don't think it does the real estate and the economy any good. >> reporter: he plans to keep pushing for answers even if it means more work. >> the mortgage companies tell

you to call them first, we are here to help. they really aren't. they are not at all. >> reporter: lesli foster tells us if you are stuck f in e th middle keeg.puinsh geinh uc tinwithtohe federal r reach out wintmefor he lpach out lo adtecavo uncorslo to advocate ontoon your behalf. don't accept no. do what you can in order to save your home. pit bulls are back in the news. first a pit bull puppy was thrown in a dumpster and left to die after losing a fight. another pair of pit bulls, mauled their owner to death. t heere a problem wi breed or their owners? we decided to pay a visit to a breeder to see if their bad reputation is nature or natural. james hash has the story. >> reporter: meet odon and his 3-month-old pups. they are pit bulls and often

maligned breed with a reputation of being malicious, a reputation their owners say is undeserved. >> they are fun and loving and eager to please you. if they are raise correctly they turn out to be loving, protective and goofy. >> reporter: wendy and derek should know. the stafford couple owns and breeds pit bulls and say the dog's loyalty to people is sometimes abused. >> they are very eager to please. so when you ask them to do something they want to do it for you. if you ask them to fight they will want to do it for you. >> reporter: therein lies a problem, not a dog problem but a dog owner problem. >> many my eyes it is totally a people problem. >> reporter: so owners like chris lock try to reach out whenever they can as ambassadors for their pets. >> you never see the positive stories. you never see the therapy dogs that are pit bulls you never see our dogs or the good people that want to give pit bulls a good rap for the good dogs they

are. you have to keep doing the right thing and spreading the word that her they are not bad dogs. they just have a bad rap. >> that was james hash reporting. it is a shocking story of deception. women who were promised the american dream were forced to do some unthinkable things. when we come back, find out how police broke up a sex slavery ring. plus, it is one of the biggest jewel heists in history and it was caught on video. we will have the pictures and the story when w at noon continues. (male anuncer) if you've had a hearatta caused by a completely blocked artery, another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack caused by a clot, one that could be fatal.

but plavix helps save lives. plavix, taken with other heart medicines goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots. ask your doctor about plavix, protection that helps save lives. (female announcer) if you have stomach ulcer or other condition that causes bleeding, you should not use plavix. when taking plavix alone or with some other medicines including aspirin, the risk of bleeding may increase so tell your doctor before planning surgery. and always talk to your doctor before taking aspirin or other medicines with plavix, especially if you've had a stroke. if you develop fever or, unexplained weakness or confusion, tell your doctor promptly as these may be signs of a rare but potentially life-threatening condition called ttp, which has been reported rarely, sometimes in less than two weeks after starting therapy. other rare but serious side effects may occur.

an offensive is underway in afghanistan against the taliban. marines backed by hair yet jets stormed to the town this morning. the town is held by the taliban. associated press journalists traveling with the first wave said that the marines were met with small arms mortar and rocket-propelled grenade fire. the fighting is still underway. it is part of an effort to provide security ahead of next week's presidential election. alternate supreme commandeer is predicting eventual victory in afghanistan over the taliban and al-qaeda. well, back in this country, the american dream turned in to a might mary for dozens of illegal immigrants. some as young as 17. authorities say that they were forced to work as prostitutes

at three long island bars. and some were sex slaves. most of the young women were from central america, lured to new york. one bar, customers said customer said he was alarmed at how silent the girls were. he said they never talked. >> we know they are very pretty. we know that, but they are quiet. they keep their mouth shut a lot. >> reporter: three people who managed the bars in question have been charged with sex trafficking and forced labor. they are being held without bond and they are facing life in prison. it is a crime story that reads like something out of a movie script. two well-dressed men, walk in to a swanky london jewelry store, pull out handguns and make off with tens of millions of dollars. police say the real life robbery maybe the biggest jewelry haul in british history. cbs news correspondent, charlie d'agata reports from london.

>> reporter: amateur video captures them fleeing a london video store. they drag out a female employee and she gets away unharmed. they fire a warning shot, causing panic. minutes later the well-dressed men with english accent walk to the door of graff diamonds. they showed a gun and pulled off what is believed to be the largest jewelry heist in british history. the pair got away with $66 million worth of high end rings, bracelets and necklaces. pieces worn by celebrities like paris hilton. >> the robbers escape almost fell apart as they sped away from the london shopping district. they crashed in to a taxi on a nearby street i but had two more getaway cars waiting along the route. police kept details of the heist secret for a week and then released this closed circuit television video to

expose the robbers. >> if anyone knows who these men are from looking at the pictures we'd love to hear from you and also if you know where the jewelry has gone. >> reporter: authorities caught the last robbers who hit the same shop six years ago, stealing $38 million worth of jewels but police say this time it is likely the thieves have already fled the country. charlie d'agata, cbs news, london. the robbers got away with more than $60 million in jewels, but it was dwarfed by a jewel heist in paris last year. robbers then took more than $100 million in jewelry. you know the flip flops that we see women wearing in the summer? they may be comfortable but can cause health problems. we'll tell you why. hi there. from the weather terrace, we are picking tomatoes in our garden and some peppers. what's growing in yours.

the forecast ready to go. i will let you know if we get any rain. you are watching 9 news now. good afternoon. ♪ ( slurping ) ♪ ( child giggling ) ( both slurping ) ( laughs ) ( giggles )

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be a summertime flop according to a new study. the problem is that flip flops can expose your feet to potentially dangerous germs. during four days of testing, microbiologists found a layer of bacteria, including staph the staph can cause a blood infection if you get a cut on your foot. so you have to be careful if you are going to wear flip flops or sandals. sandals are this same. >> let's get off of this topic because we have produce on the set. first of all, ron williams running the cameras brought in eggplants and peppers. this one is called a ghost buster. isn't that great? and then the weather terrace has some funky tomatoes that have funny shapes out there and we are looking right here and here's our little pepper. so i hope your garden is going

well. >> that's great. >> visit my blog. i have a link where you can send me your pictures and we'll share them on the air. there's the ghost buster. that thing is awesome and we have the italian tomato and the regular eggplant and here's my clicker. there. >> it is great to see you. cloudy skies. that will help us from getting in to the 90s. love that. let's check out the allergy update. just in to my in box. let me tell you the latest. we have trees low for the pollen. grass low, mold still in the moderate category. there you have it. we are looking for rain and may get a couple of showers today but the clouds are helping us out. middle 80s for the high instead of the 90s. tomorrow 88 and partly cloudy. 88 right now humidity is 62%. rain showers are starting to fall apart here. not too many hitting the ground. we will hope we will get a

couple as we head in to the afternoon. as we look at the numbers, definitely better than yesterday. yes, we have 80s on the map but a lot of 70s still well at this noon hour. 79 annapolis. 81 patuxent river. over my shoulder in to leesburg, 82. 77 winchester and that's the number in allegheny county, maryland, home to cumberland and beautiful baltimore street where it is closed to traffic. you can look there and don't worry about a car getting you. as you look at the country, the numbers are adding up to summertime heat from texas to minneapolis. but boston is getting by with 74 today and down in miami 91. we have a frontal system that is starting to wash out across the area. this time of the year the jet stream is north in canada an not a lot of searing winds to push the storm and fronts through. what happens is they make it to about here and then they stall and die. so we become a graveyard for fronts, if you don't mind. and we will keep an eyes a this

one washes our and parkway trios to produce a few showers today but nothing too heavy. you folks toward ocean city watching us on satellite have the best chance of thunderstorms, heavy stuff. so we will work on those middle 80s. here's the seven day for you. heading to the weekend, a couple of scattered storms again along the stalled front. in the 90s by next week. we will also be right back. yes, we want you to stay with us on this next segment about your iefrinnds retiremt.en wendfrir 'll be right back.

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wellness wednesday. our guest is from the asbury methodist village and we want to talk about purposeful living. what i have noticed when you talk about retire living in our minds we always think of, well, the elderly, but i'm finding that younger people are moving to retirement living communities. why is that? >> it has become more than just a place to come for care and services. people are looking for opportunities to be fully engaged in both social and physical and health and all of those other areas so they are making the move and looking for those types of services and opportunities. >> retire living is more than having just a home, it is the whole environment that is there. there are so many options. many retirement places you can plant, you can civic in the choir. you can learn how to play piano, take photography.

but they are just offering so much more for people. >> when talking to people who are considering the move to asbury or any retirement community, very often after 9:00 in the morning they are the only persons in the neighborhood and that neighborhood a one point was a strong social network. so that's changed and they are looking for ways to reconnect. looking for opportunities to maybe put down some of the burdens they may have in terms of maintaining the home and maintaining space they are not using an get in to an environment where they can be more active or play a more active vital part. >> there are tips you give people if you want to live a more purposeful life. what should you go. >> surround yourself with growing, evolving people and second thing is you want to set goals, regardless of how old you are. have goals, something you are working for and third is you want to be present. don't want to be tied toe this past or in the future but be in

the moment and giving get the most out of everything life has to offer. >> good advice for all of us. thank you for being with us. retirement living, think about it. something you may want to consider very soon. thank you for being with us. come back and join us at 5:00. bye-bye. just as we promise 100% fresh produce... and rancher's reserve beef, guaranteed tender 100% of the time. at safeway, we now promise something new. something big. a commitment... to thousands of new everyday low prices. so you can get what you want. when you want it. at the price you need. today... and tomorrow. that's our promise. that's ingredients for life. safeway.