welcome to 9 news now. president obama declared american samoa a disaster after it was hit by four tsunamis. a powerful earthquake sent walls of water 2 a fight high over the lie-lying island. drew levinson has more. >> reporter: the deadly surinameny leveled entire seaside villages in samoa and american samoa. >> everything is completely wiped out. >> reporter: giant waves up to 20 feet high slammed the islands on tuesday. many living there were swept out to sea. the death toll is about 100 and with many still missing it is expected to rise. muddy debris is quartered for miles. >> trees, cars, boats all of that floating past my window. >> a earthquake struck between samoa and american samoa. a string of islands between hawaii and australia. alerts -- alarms went off alerting residents to seek

higher ground but many could not escape. >> the winds totally wiped out the bridge. >> it is so bad that president obama has declared a major disaster for american samoa, a u.s. territory with 65,000 residents. water has cut off some areas, making it difficult for rescuers to get in and search for survivors. drew levinson, cbs news. another powerful under water earthquake today. it triggered a tsunami alert and sent residents out of their homes. it could be felt miles away. the u.s. geological survey said the quake had a magnitude of 7.6. the afghan immigrant at the center of an alleged terror plot in the u.s. is due back in court in december. najibullah zazi pleaded not guilty to allegations yesterday that he was planning a terrorist attack possibly on the new york city transit

system. his attorney spoke to harry smith this morning on the "early show." >> let's, for the sake of argument, say that he did go to pakistan, he did go to a training camp. he did purchase those products, well, if the government charges him with a conspiracy, all of those facts still do not provide enough evidence to convict him of the conspiracy. >> reporter: two other men involved in the investigation have been charged with lying to the government but are free on bond. president obama has just announced a $5 billion stimulus grant to the national institutes of health. the commander in chief left the campus in bethesda minutes ago where he praised federal employees who he says saved countless lives. >> the work you do is not easy. it takes a great deal of patience and persist tense, but it holds incredible promise for the health of our people and the future of our nation and our world. >> reporter: the president said the money from the $787 billion

economic stimulus bill represents the single largest boost to biomedical research. firstly did is in denmark this afternoon. she arrived there today to help to lobby the international olympic committee on behalf of the city of chicago. president obama will arrive in cope hagueen on friday to spear head the presentation to the ioc, rio de janeiro, tokyo and madrid are also in the running to host the games. advocates for the sligo creek golf course can breathe easier. it will remain open. in a 7-2 vote the council couldn't voted to keep it open until june 30th of next year. it was scheduled to close tomorrow but the council decided to spend the money to keep it open until the end of the fiscal year. a task force will be established to consider ways to make the course self sustaining. investigators are combing

through the rubble of a burned out house in annandale, vas virginia. they are trying to determine whether there are any victims in the house whose first floor collapsed in to the basement. aelectron seen owe has been following the story since it broke this morning. >> reporter: this home did not with stand the blaze early this morning. a neighbor called the fire department when he noticed the flames shoot up from the roof. another resident says the home was unoccupied. the fairfax county emergency spokesperson says the house is believed to be vacant but does not rule out the possibility someone was left behind. the search process for casualties can be very dangerous. >> structure right now there's no first floor at all. it does have a basement it to. obviously that's where the gas- fed fire originated from. again, we will try to get in the home as quick as we can under safe conditions. >> reporter: the gas-fed fire did not threaten any homes in

the neighborhood. fire crews will keep working to put out hot spots and then dig in the ground to continue the search. the search will take some time. alex trevino, 9 news now and wusa9.com. new development now stemming from the murder investigation in bowie, maryland. the "washington post" reports that police want to know whether 39-year-old tyrone richardson was killed by someone at his house or party. police believe robbery was the motive. there was a candle light vigil last night. neighbors came out to honor richardson and show the neighborhood is safe. a university of maryland medical school researcher is dead. she overdosed on a heroin

substitute. police say the 29-year-old died after injecting herself on sunday. police say she and her boyfriend had been buying drugs on-line from suppliers overseas. there will be a meeting in washington today on distracted drivers. researchers, automakers, safety advocate and lawmakers will discuss ways to keep people focused on the road rather than their cell phones or other mobile devices. the obama administration may seek a federal law against using mobile devices while driving. maryland will join other states tomorrow by banning texting while driving. >> in our community, and in others, increased traffic and speeding have increased the risk of accidents, including

those involving pedestrians. >> reporter: montgomery county leaders are deciding whether to change their method of caking traffic laws. those measures include speed cameras. well, beginning tomorrow, you can ride amtrak from northern virginia to new york and boston. amtrak begins new service from lynchburg with local stops in culpeper, manassas, burke center and alexandria. there was a ceremony today at the burke center station celebrating the new stop. first time voters have less than one week to register in virginia. the deadline to update voter registration is october 5th. valid for the gubernatorial election and -- ballots will be cast november 3rd. a new government report is lending more support to the theory the recession is ending. the story when we return. he's a real trooper. we will have the story of an abused animal that made an amazing recovery. stay with 9 news now.

john travolta said -- travolta testified that the paramedic who is now on trial for extortion demanded $25 million from the actor. the actor testified in the second week of the trial. a paramedic about and attorney. he says the medic threatened to use a document to imply the death of my son was intentional and i was culpable in some way. they have pleaded innocent. there's encouraging news on the economic front. the commerce department finds the economy have rank at a pace of 0.07%. it is better than predicted and suggests the recession is fending. many economists predict it will grow again in the third quarter. michael vick says his daughter wants a dog but for now that is a gift the most

famous dog abuser cannot deliver. in the meantime we have a story about a pit bull left for dead has made an amazing recovery. her stamina endless. her strength unbelievable. you aring looking at trooper a pit bull who was pulled from a dumpster in a sealed blastic bag. >> her wounds have just about completely healed. she is excited and acting like a normal dog. >> they keep her on a tight leash because they can't predict how she will act. she was used as a bait in a dog fighting weak it. >> will take a weaker dog that is not a good fighter and force other dog to attack it. >> i they lot of these dogs don't see veterinarians. >> that is one sport one celebrity talks about all the time. michael vick told a crowd how he was exposed toe the practice at the age of.

>> i didn't think of anyone but myself. i didn't think about the animal. i was in it for my amusement and that is wrong. >> i was involved in one animal fighting raid that netted $300,000 in cash. so it is big money. >> reporter: it is a crime that has completely changed michael vick's life. >> hopefully the judge will grant me the opportunity to have a dog in the future and i would take care of it to the best of my ability. i know my daughter wants one. >> that was brittany morehouse reporting. the next phase for trooper is critical. while vets have been able to treat her physical scars it is not clear if what the animal has gone through can ever be healed. a mission to the international is underway and one crew member found time to clown around. we will explain. time for the lunch break. take it outside.

no rain over the district. coming up i amtraking showers. anything going on october 10th and 11th join our green team at the dc convention center. we will be there and we want to see you. go to wusa9.com for all of the information. we'll be right back.

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a new crew is on its way to the international space station. and a new space tourist is on board. the founder of circumstance due sew lay paid more than $35 million for the trip and brought, get this, clown noses for everyone on board. the american astronaut jeffrey williams and russian cosmonauts are on the rocket that lifted off from kazakhstan. they are scheduled to reach the international space station on friday and down here on earth, kim, the weather is not too bad. little chilly out there. >> no rain drops yet but they are on the way.

they will be few and far between. focus on the positive. the thursday is looking great. >> don't need our clown noses. >> clowns scare me more than this forecast. a thick cloud deck roll rules today. our temperatures have been held back because of that. 66 will be our high. and there's those west winds rather busy at 14 miles an hour. all right. this is our look from the satellite and radar loop. a couple of showers in the northwest flow. zoom out here toward one of our favorite areas all of a sudden toward hardy and hampshire counties, west virginia. in particular yellow spring where i was over the weekend getting a sprinkle and this is moving toward frederick county, virginia and winchester area. nothing heavy. as for the numbers, 66 inside the beltway. up in to washington county, maryland, hagerstown 65.

over to baltimore that's the name number. annapolis, too. and across the chesapeake, easton, hi there, 64 for you this afternoon. heading to the next couple of days we won't see the temperatures move too much beyond our 66 with a few sprinkles around. tomorrow better. maybe not super warm but the sun will be back and we'll keep some sun with increasing clouds on friday. with that is a warm a up around 76 degrees. i think you will like that. talk about what is going on. the atmosphere is slow around quebec, speaking of cirque du soliel. an enormous high pressure system. it has energy that is around it. it is trying to squeeze out rain showers as it comes through. this will take the afternoon to pass. tomorrow we will be in a northwesterly chilly flow, but we don't have more spokes coming at us bringing us rain- producing showers. heading north along 81, 15 and

95 later this evening if that is in your plans you will have a few showers but nothing heavy, just a chilly fall afternoon as you start to transition. here's the time line. by 4:00, plenty of clouds and a couple of sprinkles here and there. nothing too heavy. tonight, some cloudy sky and break up. i want to step out of the way. 7:00 tomorrow morning if you are watching us on a wide screen tv you will see a red circle here. that introduces the freezing line. we will have pockets of frost to the mountains of west virginia. this is west of the shenandoah valley. heading to thursday we will build some sunshine in here and keep it nice for you and temperatures on the rebound by friday. so are you ready for the seven day? there's your seven day. 68 tomorrow. 76 on friday. unfortunately we will have time some rain for the terps on saturday, 72. if we are lucky we will get them out of the way and clear

for the redskins. next week not bad monday, tuesday, wednesday combination. 69 and 74. that's the seven-day forecast. here's angie. else w this is wellness wednesday and susan, a certified business and life coach is here to talk about retiring and the job market. she wants to shoot down some common myths out there. first one mature workers are less productive. is this true? >> no. they are actually very productive and make wonderful employees because they are dependable, relionel and they have experience. the chance of them switching to another job is rare. they are usually there to stay. they are loyal. it is actually -- they have lower absenteeism which that could be very costly an employer so that is a big advantage. >> that's the next quirk you hear people make snide comments

that hiring a mature worker or retiree brings no benefits to an employer. >> it is a myth. the fact is that mature workers bring a lot of dependable and they are wonderful because they have a commitment to quality. they are great with customer service skills an the maturity that comes with that. >> and what about the maturity doesn't matter. >> although employers don't voice that we know they are thinking it inside. so i think a mature worker, if they can show just medication rabble results and tangible contributions, that will shift the conversation away from age because it will show they are valuable workers. >> as someone who's out there who has gone in to refirement but thinking of coming back to work, we know that experience is one of the perks that someone has been in the work

force for a long time brings to the table. so they have to prove themselves again? is that the mind set? that they need to go in thinking they need to prove themselves. >> they bring a great deal of service to the table which is very valuable and end up benefiting the office and bring up team morale which is important. >> reporter: one thing we faulked about earlier is we shouldn't stick to one genere, what you know. >> it slims your chances to be targeted in on the market you may have been in it. it is too narrow. use your strengths and your skills because they are transferable and they can go to a lot of vocations. >> we are watching how social media is becoming really big and how the trends aren't being followed by those who are staying retirement pages. how important is it to get

network savvy? >> one of the most important things anyone can do is network. build the relationships. practice your interviewing skills. interviewing today is very different than a few years ago. so it is important to build those relationships, practice. make sure you are current on your technology. >> thanks for joining us. thanks for joining us, too. have a great day, everyone.

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