amtrak right-of-way. yes, a road ungated, unprotected where i could drive a vehicle directly onto the railroad tracks. the question is, if amtrak and the rail system is so secure why do you have things like this? >> reporter: in the wake of the homeland security advisory amtrak says it remains at a heightened state of vigilance. >> everything is a target for these people. so what am i supposed to do? hide in a shell? you know. we are americans. we don't do that. >> reporter: i'm brett haber in college park. gary williams spent 22 years building a program with his unique recipe of brilliance, intensity, loyalty and a little dash of madness. he literally took maryland basketball from ruins to greatness and so today they gathered to on honor their leader as the coach stepped away after two decades of his alma mater. gary addressed the crowd and got emotional at times. >> i would just like to thank

-- first of all -- [ applause ] >> better hold that, that might not be the last time that happens. >> reporter: the athletic director kevin anderson would not address the replacement of gary williams. some names are surfacing. bethesda native, mike bray, the head coach at notre dame. i'm bruce leshan in northwest dc. more of those letters filled with white powder frightening but apparently harmless found at six different schools across dc today. law enforcement sources tell me this may be the same guy that is mentioned in a reward poster that went out in 2008. the similar kind of letters went out to the governors of north carolina and conneticut. $100,000 reward, weapons of mass destruction simulated, and there may be hundreds and

hundreds of these letters that have gone out to schools, to hospitals, to federal agency heads. >> they want to insight fear and targeting schools is a very good way of doing that. >> perhaps thinking in some strangway that he is warning authorities to step up their guard. >> he can think he is doing society a favor in his abused mind. >> it could be. >> maryland officials are not taking any chances in the wake of those suspicious envelopes in dc schools. the director is warning residents be on the lookout for anything unusual. the letters are just an attempt to instil fear and disrupt people's daily lives and he says preparing people to react will help reduce the fear. guard up after the fear of osama bin laden. al-qaida confirmed the terrorist leader is dead today. that threatens future attacks against this country. meantime today president obama traveling to fort

campbell, kentucky, to meet with some of the troops involved in last sunday's deadly raid. he told them job well done and he awarded them the presidential unit citation. that's the highest honor that can go to a military unit. another member of our military serving in iraq is clinging to the last things he will ever get from his sister. that's because captain hugh murray's sister jayna was murdered just four days after sending him a package. our lesli foster spoke with him via skype. >> she touched so many people's lives. >> reporter: the typical siblings. he played the older protective role. losing his only sister was the biggest jolt of his life. then two months later something arrived in the mail. >> it was really a strange feeling and i think i described it just like traveling back in

time. >> reporter: a couple weekends before police say her life ended at the hands of her coworker jayna and her friend had put together a care package to send to him in iraq. the friend told hugh about the package so it wasn't totally unexpected. >> she just told me she didn't know if jayna had time to mail it but that she wanted me to know -- >> reporter: to know how much his little sister loved him. and this week he was finally able to track down that sacred parcel that contained his sister's final words. >> i received the package in the same location that i also received the news she had been killed. >> can you show me what she sent? >> reporter: hugh told me today his sister sent him this card. inside she quote. >> i love hearing about everything that you're encountering. it will be even better once you're back telling the stories and showing pictures in person. take care, be safe. love you and miss you. >> reporter: what was it like for you to get that package?

>> when you read the note inside and you're holding the package, she is not aware of what is in front of her. what's going to happen in a week. so that's really hard for me to kind of get my mind around. >> reporter: and she also sent him this hat. a parting gift of lasting love that this brother will treasure for a lifetime. >> and just kind of confirmed that she was thinking about me and that she really cared and -- not that i had any question about that. >> reporter: lesli foster, 9news now. >> hugh says he hopes to keep jayna name alive in a foundation he started in her name that one day will share scholarships with people that are interested in things she was interested in. traffic in our area is no joke. and now dc wants to help you shorten up your commute. launching a pilot program called live near your work that could get you $12,000. all you have to do is move

within 2 miles of your job, half a mile of a metro station or a quarter mile of a high quality bus corridor to qualify. right now though the program only has $200,000 to work with. so what do you think? is this a good idea. would $12,000 motivate you to move closer to work or to the subway? if you weren't already planning to do that. or, is most of that money really going to end up in the pockets of folks who are going to make that kind of move anyhow. share your thoughts with mailbag@wusa9.com. mcginty's mail bag. speaking of the traffic. it is friday night. monika samtani with the time saver traffic and yellow light. >> i've got the yellow light because we have an accident and wet road conditions in some parts of our area as well. southbound i-95. accident on the southbound side. although it is on the left shoulder you've got lots of heavy traffic getting by. it has been like that all afternoon. now look at 270 on the northbound side. again, wet road conditions causing this delay. it is a good 20-minute ride as

you head from gaithersburg right into clarksburg. nothing stopped in the roadway. just the rain coming down. and now we will take you over to the vw parkway on the northbound side. under the speed limit these yellow cars indicating that basically right now from riverdale as you head into laurel. now we have a commuter alert for you heading into the weekend. paving starting sunday night in the rossland section of arlington. get ready for a rough ride along wilson boulevard between route 110 north and oak street and along north arlington ridge road between 19th street north and wilson boulevard. that work is slated to run from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. derek, back to you. >> thank you for the heads up. let's talk about the weather. great outside today. showers moving in now. the question, what about the rest of our weekend? topper on the terrace checking the forecast. topper? fin >> we do have showers right now. even some thunderstorms. doppler radar. pretty good storm. very heavy rain.

just crossing over from clarksburg now headed to the leightonsville area. hail possible crossing and approaching 70 crossing over 97. for us temperature wise not bad. upper 60s. high was 71. that's about average. 67 downtown. little cooler to the north in fredericks because of the clouds and showers. so for tonight shower or thunderstorm possible early and then just partly cloudy cloud and cool. mid-40s to mid-50s the lows. when we come back we will talk about mom's day. >> you are the man, topper. stopping the violence. introducing you to a group of girls looking to restore hope. but first the economy. a look at a promising sign and a turn around. that's up next.

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today marks one year since the so-called flash crash on wall street. that was the day the dow dropped nearly 1000 points in just 20 minutes and that sent the world financial markets into a bit of a panic. turned out the problem was one trader whose transaction just overwhelmed the market's servers. back in 2007 the economy was booming. stock market set a record high unemployment about half what it is now but c. e. c.e.o.s were

not making as much as they are now. about 24% higher last year. the average pay package for the head of a company in the s&p 500, $9 million in 2010. bonuses, stock options and other perks as well. that analysis comes out the same day as the latest unemployment numbers. last month employers added 244,000 new jobs. and that was the biggest jump in the private sector in five years. >> i think things are getting a little better. it is going to take awhile. we have a lot of people still out there. but we are going at least in the right direction. >> overall the unemployment rate actually inched a little higher last month to 9%. however, economists say they think that's because more people entered the job market after seeing more positions beginning to open up. still to come. lots of brunches hinging on topper's sunday forecast. we will see what he has to say about that. but first the teenager accused

of leading that wild fight inside the national zoo is in court. we will tell you what happened. that's up next. wo

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bars without bond. when we bring you stories about kids shooting each other in school or fighting at the zoo it is hard not to wonder about our future. but in tonight's friday's hero's report meet a couple of ladies and an organization that may give you a new sense of hope. >> reporter: they are both 13 years old and both now claiming to be better people because of an after school program for teenage girls known as girls inc. >> when i see something wrong happening then i can be the bigger person and step up and say that's not funny or cool to do this or that. >> do you think you would have done that before? >> no. i would have just stood there and laughed at it. >> i was actually more the bully myself back in middle school. but now i'm going to see if i can try and break that habit. now i think i can really help

people out now. >> reporter: they have only been here for a few days for the girls inc. spring break program. >> i didn't expect this much out of it. >> when a girl comes we help her understand who she is in her neighborhood, in her family, in her school community, who she might like to be five years from now, ten years from now. >> reporter: how do they do it? the executive director points to a combination of mentoring, education, empowerment and, oh, yeah, no boys. >> sometimes single gender programming can really provide a strengthening and a bonding. >> we don't have to worry about another gender doing ignorant things like they do. >> boys you're talking about? >> yes. >> boys. >> i can just come here, relax, have fun, hang with my girls. >> she told you to say this?

>> no. >> you know those boys are nothing but trouble. if you would like to sign up -- find out how to sign up your daughter for this program go to our website wusa9.com. for a link to girls inc. part of the mississippi river is closed to commercial traffic tonight as it swells to record levels. in memphis going door-to-door urging thousands of people to get the heck out. river expected to crest at 14 feet above flood stage sometime this weekend. people throughout the mississippi delta facing the same decision as the flooding moves downstream. that river seeing its worst flooding since the 1920s. flood walls down at the washington harbor in georgetown and some of the restaurants that were flooded two weeks ago are serving customers outside. some going forward with mother's day brunches on sunday. more on that possibility coming up tonight at 11 p.m. the national weather

service confirms tonight eight tornadoes hit the state of maryland last week. one of them caught on tape in prince george's right outside of andrews air force base. the others touched down in montgomery county and st. mary's, calvert, baltimore and carroll counties. >> i remember that day. it was wild and windy. >> wild. seven tornadoes in virginia. that's kind of crazy, right? >> it was. >> hawaii. winter weather advisory. >> what? in the mountains of the big island. >> wow. >> for snow and freezing rain. >> do they ever get that? >> they can. >> obviously they can because they are. >> not usually in may. in other months. but elevation. that's the key. >> that is the key. >> what are we looking at, sir? >> i think you will like sunday. kind of cleaning up a little bit. >> let's start with the radar because we do have a couple of showers on the radar. couple thunderstorms too. some rather intense. marching across loudoun county, across the river into montgomery county.

had some hail up near 97. also lightening with these storms. then another trailing storm that will roll into southern frederick county as well in the next 20 minutes or so. that's the big picture. we will kind of zoom in now on doppler. we will start with the storms that are now exiting montgomery county and also exiting frederick county and moving across 70. but this is hail. just across 97. georgia avenue way past sunshine. that is indeed hail. still some pretty good rains back. now, go back to the south and west because there is a trailing storm. this is a pretty good storm right here that also is moving off to the northeast. we will put this into motion. where is it going to go in the next hour? it weakens a little bit and just kind of rolls into poolsville, over towards gaithersburg and alny around 108. in the next hour that will happen. temperatures cooling a little bit especially up to the north.

leightonsville 61. 69 in rockville. 67 arlington and downtown. a few showers this weekend but really not a washout. not that bad. some early showers or thunderstorm tonight. saturday morning great for gardening. a few showers for mom. more south though actually and mild all weekend. here is a look at our futurecast. put this into motion. by tonight just a few leftover clouds. that's it. by tomorrow morning pretty much pure sunshine. a great start. much like today. it was beautiful in the morning. then we go through the day. getting to 3 p.m. hour. clouds come back. if you're going to go out to the gold cup tomorrow, you're going to see some showers probably before the races are over. certainly by 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. by 8:30 p.m. most of the showers cover most of the metro area tomorrow evening. good news is sunday, most of the showers sinking to the south of us as we go through the morning. so the day will get better as we go through mother's day which is kind of nice. for tonight, a shower or thunderstorm possible. then partly cloudy and cool. mid-40s to mid-50s.

okay, next seven days. a shower still possible on mom's day. then starts warming up. partly cloudy on monday. 74. 76 on tuesday. then we are back in the 80s it looks like. mid-80s on wednesday and thursday. just isolated storms. scattered thunderstorms chance on friday highs in the mid-70s. >> you are the man, topper. >> thank you, sir. >> we like that. see you back here if a minute. >> we want to hear what you think. sends your e-mails to mcginty's mail bag at mailbag@wusa9.com. 9news now will be right back.

i'm bill loverless. sunday on "platts energy week" former shell oil president john hoff meister gives us his latest predictions of gasoline prices for this year and next. that's this sunday morning at 8, only on wusa 9.

in the mail bag tonight. my bad. yesterday i said the groundhog was from new hampshire. the groundhog is from pennsylvania. then this, yesterday's report from one organization that says the toll charges on the dulles toll road need to go up and go up a lot in the next several years to pay for the subway slowly making its way to dulles. joyce from arlington says that is a terrible idea. we have a road built exclusively for traffic to dulles airport. use buses to get people back and forth from metro stations to the airport. the subway should end at

tyson's corner. why build more subway at tremendous costs when we can't even maintain what we already have? you know those are all good points. i'll only say that personally i am a lot more likely to ride the subway to the airport than i am the bus. it is faster and it will never be stuck in traffic. and then there was this on the recent tumble in the price of crude oil which somehow has not yet translated to what we are all paying down at the pump. germantown. what gives? the price is down $5 a barrel at least according to the news so why is the price of gasoline still going up? why is the price not going down? it sure rose fast enough. where are those that are supposed to be looking flew this? do they have blinders on? the price of crude dipped $9 a barrel yesterday. biggest one day drop in many years. still they tell us it may take several days for that drop to work its way all the way down to us. the reasons are kind of complicated but they are

explained quite well at wusa9.com. drop me a line anytime. the address is mailbag@wusa9.com. that is our report. i'll be right back here tonight at 11 p.m. along with anita brikman and tonight we are working on the a local college student caught on tape and a video raising some serious questions about how the police did their job. more on that tonight at 11 p.m. don't forget, log on anytime to wusa9.com. we will see you a bit later. have a great evening. bye-bye. captions by: caption colorado, llc 800-775-7838 email: comments@captioncolo rado.com my diet? well yesterday i had an apple turnover.

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try it today. now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment news magazine in the world. elizabeth taylor's ex. whatever happened to larry fortensky? her seventh and final husband's first interview on losing the love of his life. >> i talked to elizabeth. she seemed to be okay. i knew she was a fighter. >> the hunky construction worker missing teeth, his weight, and the truth about the money. and then, sir paul mccartney engaged. what we know about the soon to be bride. the royal wedding one week later. >> the beautiful bride. that gorgeous gown. >> just a very exciting moment. >> the sights, the sounds. we look back at our royal wedding coverage. >> oh, there is the kiss. the crowd is going crazy. >> mary hart, jane seymour, nancy o'dell.