. no regard for innocent citizens. >> the elaborate plot was backed by iran and was to be carried out by members of an elite iranian security force. disrupted by a confidential dea informant in mexico. posing as an international drug cartel. >> it reads like the pages of a hollywood script. the impact would have been very real and lives would have been lost. >> defendant manssor arbabsiar made a down payment on the assassination with funds from the government of iran. the other defendant, gholam sha shakuri has been charged.

>> the saudi statement makes no mention of the government of iran, which the u.s. blames for the planned assassination. outside the saudi embassy, andrea mccarren, 9news now. here are the other top stories we are serving up tonight. loose lips, councilman marion barry here to talk about his comments regarding the city contract. plus, mass arrest. the occupy protesters now waiting the u.s. capital. and the virginia governor's invitation to president obama and they are not getting together for conversation. we are just learning of a first at dulles airport. customs agents say somebody tried to smuggle cocaine into this country hiding it inside bed post knobs. this happened on a last week's flight from al salvador. they cut a notch in the bed post and found half a pound of coke worth $17,000. we are learning more about the woman accused of stabbing another woman outside a target store in mitchellville and her

past is pretty sorted. a similar accident back in 2005. and in that case, she served 16 months after chasing several women inside the montgomery county nordstroms and stabbing two of them. police tell us the victim in today's case is in stable condition. women at the suitland metro station are breathing a lot easier tonight after they made an arrest in connection with the two recent sex assaults near that station. the two attacks both happened early in the morning. the two female victims were both headed to the metro when they were robbed at gunpoint and then sexually assaulted. the suspect, 30-year-old phillip flemming is now being held without bond. >> friends of a gaithersburg man who died mysteriously in rockville earlier this month say they want to make sure no foul play was involved. 37-year-old benoit had taped an unreleased episode of who wants to be a millionaire just in the weeks before he died. he was a quiz show whiz who was

also a highly regarded phd biochemist. metro investigators say the circumstances point toward an accident, but friends say there's just too much about this case that doesn't make sense. why was his body found on the track at 3:00 a.m. in rockville far short of his destination in shady grove. his cell phone turned up later in a rail car. antiwall street protesters are settling into d.c. tonight for a long campaign. and bruce leshan reports, they are working out the details on a park service permit that will let them stay in freedom plaza for as long as four months. >> protesters are convinced that their numbers and their energy will only continue to grow and that washington will see these kinds of protests until the nation starts changing quote, for the better. >> step back. step back, please. >> hundreds of stop the

machine occupy washington protesters shouted and tried. >> the people united will never be defeated. >> i pay more taxes than exxon mobile does. >> capital police ordered them out. >> you want me to talk to you, step around the corner with me. >> officers had plenty of ties. they arrested the handful who refused to move. >> we are trying to bring a message here directly to our senators at loud volume that they aren't answering when we send e-mail s from a thousand miles away. we have 2/3 of the country that want the wars ended, they don't care. >> it's generally a well rehearsed stance. the organizers say the difference this time, is that they will not leave until they see a change. >> want to stay and break up, you're more than welcome to do

that. it is not -- >> the protesters right now holding their evening general assembly, or decision making session. one big question, how do they keep up their numbers and their energy and how do they keep getting media attention? if they are going to be here for the next four months. on freedom plaza, bruce leshan, 9news now. >> new at 7:00, the governor of virginia is asking president obama, please come on town, pay us a visit here in the commonwealth. this isn't just for dinner or a chat. remember that earthquake in august? last week the obama administration turned down virginia's request for federal help for those that own damaged homes and businesses. the governor is appealing that decision and in the meantime, he is asking the president to pay a visit to the tiny town at the center of the quake, mineral virginia so he can see the damage for himself. >> all right, top, good to

the men talked about experiencing complete darkness, no sense of time. they were starving and facing death. since then, they have been touring the world and sharing their amazing story. coming up, an update on the tree house and the two little

boys fighting to keep the tree house their dad built for them. stay with us. we want to hear what you think. send your e-mails to mcginty's mail bag. the address, mailbag@wusa9.com. 9 justice of 9news now will be right back.

>> the washington post editorial board has been all over this story, blasting the city, calling this situation a cautionary tale for any firm thinking it will get a fair shake if the seeks city business, end quote.

council member marion barry was quoted assaying, a white company in maryland shouldn't expect to do business here. the post called that statement contempt i believe. councilman, what did you mean by that? >> first of all, d.c. has a budge vet over $9 billion. we want to keep as much money in the district of columbia as we can, as our employment rate in the region so the idea is we also have a program for a local, small, disadvantaged businesses. and that's the law. cbi had this contract for some time, and adrian fenty decided to take it and break it up, give wards 1 and 2 to her, and give wards 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 to a maryland-based company. during that period of time that

company has not hired one d.c. resident. he has 60 employees, zero residents from the district of columbia, has not paid any personal property tax, has not paid any income taxes, has not paid any business taxes here. so more importantly, though, if you take that money and keep circulating it, denise -- >> so, so -- >> wait a minute. the district of columbia paid personal property taxes, paid income taxes in the district of columbia, pays property tax in the district of columbia, her business is located here. so when you add it all up, i could get that contract, too. he doesn't pay any taxes. >> but let's talk about a couple of things. >> wait a second. >> we've only got a little bit of time. does it mat tear color, the race of the people who run these companies? >> no. maryland will keep every penny it came in maryland. it so happens this company was

white. any company, if there's cop prabble work in the district of columbia, we're going give it to the district of columbia. >> so if it were a white company, and they were paying tax, you would be fine with that. >> yes. fine. keep the money in the district of columbia. >> but the fact is there are ways for the company to get the business even if it's not quite as experienced. the lore -- the lorenz company won that contract. >> i think adrian fenty might have been playing favoritism with someone. vince gray looked at this company's record, of not hiring one d.c. resident in the two years it had the contract. it decided not to exercise the option, which is his prerogative. >> but on the other but on the

other vend this thing -- let's cover this. this is about -- the post alleges it's about political connections that it had a friend, and council member harry thomas, and perhaps that it was reason the maryland company was pushed out and cbi would get the contract. >> adrian fenty did, not mayor gray. adrian fenty divided this up, gave to the cbi one and two, and gave it to lorenz, 3 through eight. the post loves adrian fenty. they ought to be on his case. >> do you think this is all about the post's favoritism, rather than this contract? >> the post liked the fact that vincent gray beat he me. everybody knows that. no secret in town. the editorial board ought to be fair about this. the mayor knows very well that it is our policy to do as much

business with the company in the district of columbia that qualifies. we have a certification. >> i have to stop you there. our time subpoena. >> we want more d.c. businesses to get work and jobs. >> i appreciate your time. thank you so much. we move on. take a look it -- take a look at that. it's one very nice treehouse. the man who built it says he's gotten support from all over the country after he was ordered to tart down. he says he's had an outpouring of support. >> went into the office this morning. i'm normally there by 5:56789 i didn't even get out of the house and the phone was ringing. i had several voice mail messages already. i probably had 240 or 250 e- mail messages waiting for me when i actually got in around logged in this morning. >> i guess most of those messages favor keeping the treehouse. but the board says that treehouse violates zoning. there were two complaints, but more than 100 neighbors did

sign a petition to keep that treehouse right where it is. let's get to meteorologist topper shutt. he's got a look at the weather which is rapidly deteriorating. >> i'm inside. we had a great streak, and it's now going to come to an end. i want to talk about the moon halo. this was sent into us by a facebook follower from nokesville, virginia. you see this ring? it's a full hunter's moon. these are just high clouds. you see with it the sun as well. it generally mean, from folklore, within 24 hours we get precipitation. it's pretty close to true because we have some showers in parts of the metro area right now, especially to the south. the real heavy activity is not going to roll in until after midnight but it does appear it's going to be a wet commute going and probably coming hope from work. 67 right now in bethesda, 70 inly collins park, 70 in beltsville. to the west, upper 60s.

even 68 out towards leesburg. so the outside story, dust off the umbrella. rain and showers developing. morning commute wet. afternoon and evening commutes possibly wet, especially north of town, and showers kind of linger into thursday. the real heavy activity is tomorrow, but we don't quite dry out until late friday. by midnight tonight, we have clouds across the metro area. all the showers off to the west. back in the mountains. we'll stop at about 7:00. we're looking at a wet commute. in fact this is yellow. this is moderate rain between andrews and down 95 towards fredericksburg. we're looking at probably one to two inches. we'll stop it around lunchtime. we've got some oranges coming in. that's heavy rain right in the metro area, gaithersburg, rocksville, reston. we'll put this back into motion. 24 hours from now still we have showers in the area. most of the heavy activity now working its way north and east of town, but not exactly drying out any time fast. by thursday we think showers may redevelop by afternoon.

tonight cloudy, breezy, and cool. rain and showers developing, 56 to 62 for a low. tomorrow morning, rain and showers, and not a good commute tomorrow. 50s and 60s. winds also easterly 10 to 20, and then by afternoon, more rain and showers, cooler than today, high temperature 65 to about 70. next seven days, we're going to keep the chance for showers inon thursday and again on friday to some extent, although not many showers on friday. the good news, it will be milder on thursday, mid-70s. around 70 on friday. very nice weekend, a little cooler as we get into saturday with temperatures in the upper 60s and very nice on sunday with temperatures in the mid- 70s as we host the eagles, or the fleagles. >> we'll be back. jana murray's parents open up like never before about returning to the sight of their daughter's murder and the fight

to forgive. losing jana, part two, tonight at 11:00. state farm. this is jessica. hey, jessica, jerry neumann with a policy question. jerry, how are you doing? fine, i just got a little fender bender. oh, jerry, i'm so sorry. i would love to help but remember, you dropped us last month. yeah, you know it's funny. it only took 15 minutes to sign up for that new auto insurance company

but it's taken a lot longer to hear back. is your car up a pole again? [ crying ] i miss you, jessica! jerry, are you crying? no, i just, i bit my tongue. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. state farm.

major problems at metro right now. massive overcrowding at the rosslyn station. we've got a crew on the scene. bruce leshan is there right now. >> reporter: derek, just got here. the situation getting, getting back to normal. metro says it has a couple of trains coming in that should ease the overcrowding. here autos the problem. somebody apparently jumped on the tracks up from here in clairton, and it came right in the middle of rush hour, so the trains backed up. there were apparently hundreds and hundreds of people down on the platforms stuck on the

platforms. the escalators were shut down at some point. we aren't sure why. a lot of people were trying to climb up and out of the escalators. a lot of them elderly. and the fire department had to be called in. people were overheated, overstressed, but now, again, the situation is getting back to normal. it's amazing how quickly things can go bad. >> bruce leshan, thank you for. that more on that at 11:00. topper and i will be back here then along with anita brikman. we'll see you then. bye-bye.

now "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment news magazine in the world. cher in tears watching chaz dance. at the same studio where she sh ♪ i got you babe >> this has got to be a night to remember. >> it was a great night. >> what cher said when the cameras were not on her. beatle paul and his bride. and plus, her high school yearbook photo. and a special report. paul's wife and the investigation to her family's alleged ties to the new jersey mob. >> and ashton and demi. the new photos. are they staying together or splitting? >> i love you. >> thank you.