this is 9 news now. hello. welcome to 9 news now at noon. i'm j.c. hayward. we have a developing story we are working on it involves the case of shaquita bell.

searchers are looking in maryland. they are boyfriend admitted to killing her 13 years ago but her body has never been found. this morning police say they found an article of clothing in the search area, and search dogs have picked up on a scent. we have a crew on the scene. we will keep you updated. convicted killer jose pallero will have the rest of his life to think of his wave 60 crime. less than an hour ago, a judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole for the murder of francis haverstein. for nearly a year he broke in to homes in montgomery county. he hog tied his victims, and then the robbed them. a judge also sentenced pelera to four life sentences on the burglary charges. a charles county judge reportedly admits to letting the air out of a car tire. the car was parked in a

restricted zone. the "washington post" reports that circuit court judge said that he did not think it was a big deal. he reportedly left several notes on the car informing the driver of the no parking rule. well, that did not work. so the judge let the air out of one of the tires. the car belongs to jean washington and she works at the courthouse and the thought the sign was for visitors only. now he would like to get some answers from the judge. >> usually when someone has disrupted someone else's property they are usually given a fine. i'd like to know what is going to happen in this case. >> reporter: the la plata police chief is investigating and he is not sure if there will be any charges. montgomery county says that its retention center has turned over 325 suspected illegal aliens to federal authorities so far this year.

the department of correction and rehabilitation director say that's a nearly a 20% increase over last year. immigration and customs enforcement officials say more agents are being assigned to work with maryland jails as part of a nationwide push to capture illegal immigrants. well, when it comes to crime in montgomery county, the silver spring district is a hot spot. we have first quarter numbers released for robberies, burglaries and car thefts combined in montgomery county. and you can see that nearly 400 in silver spring occurred compared to 138 in the bethesda district. 136 in rockville and 128 in germantown. however, these numbers are down compared to the same time last year. the union that represents

metro workers says a bus driver being investigated for using a cell phone on the job was calling metro's central control center because her work-issued radio did not work. the union says that the driver never moved the bus while she was on the phone. the driver has been on leave since she was photographed using the phone last month. the white house hopes that it can rally president obama supporters to help put to rest some of the concerns being voiced loudly at town hall meetings that are being held across the nation. lawmakers are getting an earful about health care reform, coast to coast. and the president is looking to retake the offensive. he tries to clear up the plans to reform the system. joel brown reports. >> reporter: the opposition to president obama's health care reform efforts is getting louder and louder. >> say no to socialism. >> reporter: voters are voicing their opinions, sometimes angrily at town hall meetings

across the nation. >> you listen to us. >> reporter: opponents are concerned that health care reform plans could lead to a complete government takeover of the industry an mean lower quality care at a higher price. lawmakers are fighting to set the record straight. >> we are not moving to socialism. >> reporter: the white house and its allies are trying to get the president's views heard above the shouting. aides sent an e-mail to the president's backers and the first step in a multimillion- dollar ad campaign will air today to lay out the case for reform. president obama will take on the critics tomorrow and saturday when he hits the road for town hall meetings in two conservative areas of the country, montana and colorado. it won't be easy. poll numbers show 34% of americans say the loud disruptions at town hall meetings in recent days have made them sympathetic to the

protesters concerns. >> supports insist there is a lot of misinformation of what might be ebb include ned plan and they argue leaving the system as it is just won't work. joel brown, cbs news, the white house. >> barack obama will hold a health care reform town hall meeting tomorrow in belgrade, montana and then another one over the weekend in grand junction, colorado. u.s. marines are on the move in southern afghanistan staging an offensive in a taliban held area. the marines had to rescue families who were trapped in a compound near a village where they were fighting. they treated the wounded and moved the families to a safe area. the marines, alternate troops and afghan army forces are trying to reverse the taliban resurgence in southern afghanistan and make it safe for the civilians. an iphone owner in france

says his iphone exploded while he was using it. this is the second report of such an incident in france. the man says he suffered an eye injury when his phone popped and the glass face plate shattered. there's no word from apple about this report. football goes in to high- tech in the name of good health. several pro and college teams, including virginia tech, are having players swallow vitamin sized pills that contain a battery, thermometer and radio transmitter. the core temp capsule was developed by nasa for astronauts and now coaches are using it to monitor players. if a players core temperature is too high he can be pulled from practice, hydrated and allowed to cool down and that reduces the risk of a player suffering a heat stroke. we will come back in just a moment. stay with us. we will talk about a missing

dog. that story just ahead. plus, just what does a dollar bill buy these days? well, a lot. we will show you when 9 news now noon returns. ñ/dh it's what doct most for headaches.

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were never fans of the retail chain are now fans. before you shop, make sure you know what a dollar really buys. lesli foster reports. >> reporter: this broom is a dollar. the batteries a buck, too. so are the dinner plates. it is easy to lapse in to a bargain hunting frenzy in a dollar store. >> you can save big on some things but we found dollar stores don't consistently offer the best deals. >> reporter: shop with care. when don mays stopped by a local dollar store he found many items that are unsafe at any price, like these balloon whistle party favors, which consumer reports calls an absolutely perfect choking hazard and potential harmful bubbles in what looks like a baby bottle. this skateboard looks like a fun toy kids would want to play with. the problem, this dollar store deal is actually a lighter. >> we found dozens of safety problems on the store shelves and this isn't the first time. we have been reporting on these

safety problems from dollar stores for many years. >> reporter: when safety is not an issue how do dollar save store savings stack up. they sent mystery shoppers to compare 11 house hold items to similar ones sold at drug and discount stores. >> some cost less like aluminum foil, three cents a square foot instead of eight cents. >> candles were more expensive at dollar stores. so consider safety and savings. you won't find yourself penny wise and a dollar foolish. >> dollar stores have some of the best deals on party supplies like napkins, plates and wrapping paper but you may only find a limited selection versus a bigger assortment if you go to target, cvs or wal- mart. for more consumer information, news that you can use, go to our website at wusa9.com. and then click on living smart.

how about a story with a happy ending? take a look at this picture of peanut the chihhu a. and his owner, laur enphillips the 5-year-old dog disappeared from on ocean fines maryland home on august 5th. a family was out. they were crabbing and they spotted him bobbing in a canal so they rescued him. well, he spent 36 hours swimming trying to get to dry land, but guess what he is finally home. there were fireworks in the skies this week. we'll explain what was happening. is there something bigger out there we need to look for right now? kim has some answers. >> the forecast is definitely coming up. it is thursday and pet line nine. we have kittens for you. we will explain how you can adopt if you are interested.

it is all miming upup next. good afternoon.

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a chance to see the perseid meteor shower yes yesterday morning because of the cloud cover but 9 news to the rescue. we have video of the meteors as they crashed in to our atmosphere. now, this shower happens every summer when the earth's orbit crosses the path of debris from the comet swift tuttle. now, speaking of things flying through space, nasa is trying to keep tabs on asteroids that could really pack a punch. our james hash shows us why scientists are so eager to know where those asteroids are. >> reporter: the annual perseid meteor shower s illuniharmless ad ilmis admilustration of cosmic paths crossing but a othuratst that our earth shares space with other objects, some of them quite large d annasa looking for them. >> take a look on oke rt of the sky, take tan image an30tod 45 s tomi5 nunutes later th temeco back to that ctmeseof sky and

take another image. and then they take those images and compare them. the stars will not have moved in that image but an asteroid, that is enough time for an asteroid closer to the earth to have moved in that image. that's how you detect it. >> reporter: while nasa searches the find appears to be going well, finding the smaller ones remain to be the problem. even an asteroid the of n olriof lincoln memorial s hathe hatential to devastate a city the size of dc. >> a crater is caused by an je ct of 50-meters. ob rof ping another one, at t stasle not yet. which is why johnson says it is 0 important that nasa keep looking. >> the earlier we find these objects the more time we will have to deal with them. and the check if we continue our robust detection program we will find these objects decades if not centuries before they are an impact threat. >> reporter: james hash, 9 news

now and wusa9.com. >> j.c., the perseids are flying. >> how are you doing? >> i'm doing well, thank you. i am excited. i love pet line nine thursday. we have that after the seven day. a little warm outside and here's a check on the weather forecast as we head through the afternoon and in to the evening. yes, we are looking at 86 degrees for the high. a couple of thunderstorms. most will be east of dc. overnight we will ease back to the lower 70s come 7 tomorrow morning, partly sunny. don't forget, you can check out the pepco power cast at pepco.com. here at wusa9.com we have interactive radar. that's the newest feature in the weather area and at my blog, always going is the live web cast where you can interact and chat with me. winds from the north at 12. humidity 54%. not that bad out there. the redskins are playing the ravens tonight, pre-season football. partly cloudy. kickoff is 7:30. we might have an early storm in this area. mainly east of the area.

and temperatures between 78 and easing back to 73. there's the 79 in baltimore. we're at 81 as i mentioned. leesburg 82. today will be a comfortable day. in the middle 80s where we should be and we are not looking a any 90s to threaten the weather. we are going to keep an eye on showers and storms, though, especially if you have plans today heading out to ocean city. be mindful of that. even right on the chesapeake we may have a few thunderstorms that pop up. but most of the western suburbs and around the district we should be dry. checking our the -- checking out the next three days middle 80s toward 90 on saturday. these are garden variety that will be popping up from the heat of the day and a stalled frontal boundary near us. if you are catching a flight out of town, some weather for you. denver looking at 90. the hot spot dallas 97. atlanta 89. we will focus on the mid- atlantic and the northeast. we are in the same boat with this stalled frontal boundary

from boston to south carolina. again, eastern suburbs seem to be the target this afternoon and as you make your plans for the next seven, i found not a washout of a weekend, except i'm finding temperatures building right through the weekend. so upper 80s, will be turning in to 90s. next week we will have the bermuda high backing in. what that means to you and me is more 90s sticking around as we head to the weekend and a couple more thunderstorms possible by wednesday. i'm outside with dana. >> hi. >> reporter: tell us where you are from and about the cute kitties. >> i'm from the animal welfare league of arlington and these guys were found as strays when they were four or five weeks old and we have an active fostering program. they have been in fostering. they are ready for adoption, nine or ten weeks old. >> do we adopt kittens in pairs. >> really do.

they can keep each other company and they don't get lonely when you are not at home and right now unfortunately we have 60 cats and kittens in our shelters. so there are many kittens available. >> there is a need for adopting them. >> we want to encourage people to spay and neuter your pets. that would go a long way and keep the numbers down. anything we need to know. they have their claws do we need to train them early to scratch on the scratching post. >> they have been spayed and they are microchippedded. >> if they get lost we will find them. >> we require that you keep them indoors. >> my cats are all indoors. i had a 14-year-old cat which wouldn't happen if you let your car outdoors. >> that's how they ended up as strays because a mother cat had to have her kittens outdoors. it is awful. >> we will see how to adopt

these kitties at wusa9.com. this little guy want to get back to his sister. come and visit us. a quick break and we will be right asback. good afternoon. (male anuncer) if you've had a hearatta

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(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. this is a time when we tell you, listen, if you haven't made plans for the weekend we have great ideas. i'm joined today by my friend michael toscano our theater

critic and he says you should head to arlington to the american century theater because there is a play out there that is really unusual. tell me about it. it is unusual in several aspects. it is called sea scape and by one of the greatest playwrights. it is not often that a play can win a pulitzer prize as this one did yet no one has ever seen it. that's what the american century theater does. they take great play and stage them. >> we remember him from whose afraid of ginger wolf. -- of virginia wolf. >> it is similar to that. it starts when you have a middle age couple facing retirement and having problems with communication. they meet another couple and the two learn about each over but then it veers off in to a different direction because it takes place on a beach where the first couple is. they meet a second couple.

they are bright green sea lizards. >> you are kidding. >> so it is really realism in a sense that the relationship issues that they discuss are very real, but then they go off and there's comedy and satire and a little bit of absurdism thrown in there but compelling drama. >> did you like it? >> i enjoyed it very much. the director has the actors play it pretty straight. the people are real people and the lizard people act like lizard people. and under it all is playfulness and sometimes you can see what you are like through the eyes of somebody else even if they are lizards. >> sea scape at in arlington until august 22nd. so you have time to go this weekend and see what you think about it. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. thanks for joining us for 9 news now at noon. come back and join us at 5:00. have a great day. see you tomorrow. 3f?f?f?fb@b@