this year. the transition in afghanistan is moving forward and our troops are finally coming hope. today nearly 40,000 american troops are on the ground in iraq but by the end of the year president obama promises that number will be just about zero. daniel is live at the white house now with more on today's huge announcement. war over. danielle? >> well, derek, president obama says the u.s. and iraq can now finally have a normal relationship. and iraq can truly begin its transition. >> president obama is declaring an end to the war in iraq. >> our troops in iraq will definitely be home for the holidays. >> from the white house briefing room, the president said all u.s. forces will be on their way home by the end of this year. his announcement came after a secure video conference with iraqi prime minister nory al- maliki. the two leaders congratulated each other and promised to move forward as allies.

>> with our diplomats and civilian advisers in the lead, will help iraqi strengthen institutions that are just, representative and accountable. >> the white house spent months negotiating with iraqi leaders to keep several thousand troops there as training force. in the end, officials wouldn't agree to give them immunity from prosecution in iraqi courts. that was a deal breaker for the obama administering. nearly 40,000 u.s. troops in iraq right now will come home or be redeployed only a small group of marines will stay on to secure the u.s. embassy in baghdad. top administration advisers are confident iraq is ready to stand on its own. >> iraq is emerging as a secure stable and self-reliant country. >> to date, more than 4,000, 400 service members have died fighting in iraq. more than 30,000 others have been injured. the war has cost the u.s. more than $800 billion.

>> and there are some concerns that pulling troops from the country will undo all of the gains against insurgence. live at the white house, danielle nottingham, now back to you. and regardless of the politics families will have a very nice christmas. we appreciate it. the greater washington area has certainly paid a high price in iraq over the last nine years. we are talking about 200 families who have sacrificed a loved one on iraqi soil. spoke with people today for a measure of local reaction. >> reporter: they use the term blood and treasure when they talk about the costs of war and here in washington today it was the blood that most people were thinking about after the president's announcement. there have been a lot of funerals like this one in our region in the last nine years. >> i don't think we will should be fighting wars in other country. >> and today at arlington national cemetery the visitors were in a reflective mood. >> you look at the names and sobering to see that you hate

to see how many more people are added to that and like to see it general. >> i had a brother who was in iraq for 16 months before he was brought back over and thank god he was safe. >> i am pleased. i'm ecstatic but i'm shocked. i didn't expect that. >> people want their brothers, fathers, sons coming home. it's about time. we have been there for almost ten years now? >> the cost so far in iraq and the greater washington region and surrounding states, five killed from washington, 77 dead from maryland, and 134 lives claimed on iraqi soil from virginia. of course a lot of americans and people from our region are still in iraq. everyone hopeful that they there are no additional casualties before everyone is out by the end of the year. in washington, scott broom, 9 news now. today u.s. officials confirmed an american predator drone took part in the air strike that stopped the convoy carrying moammar gadhafi in libya.

and today nato agreed to wind down its operations in that country by october 31. a final decision about whether to end all operations in that theater will be made next week. it's time to update you on our breaking news from a little earlier. the not guilty verdict in the trial of a former montgomery county teacher. we are live outside the montgomery county courthouse to tell us more. >> reporter: it took just an hour and a half for this jury to come to a decision not guilty on all seven counts of second-degree assault. the jurors telling me that they did in fact have a reasonable doubt and could not convict this former teacher. >> justice was served today. >> a victorious surson burke smiles. the former first grade teacher found not guilty of choking four of her students at green castle elementary school in silver springs. the children testified in court about the traumatic assault that left many with nightmares and cost burke her job. >> do you think the children

lied? >> i don't know if they did or didn't. and quite frankly at this point that's not a big concern of mine. my client and i are obviously concerned that they suffered through this but that was not our choice. >> prosecutors say burke continued to touch the children even after being warned twice by her principal not to. but the defense says the school staffers who testified burke was untruthful, never witnessed any of these alleged assaults. though the attorney has not ruling out the possibility that something wept wrong in that classroom. >> as far as mrs. burke is concerned, she did all of the right things. she is a human being like everybody else. and people make mistakes. >> and when i went on to ask burke's attorney if she will now fight for her job back. he said, quote, she has no interest in returning to

montgomery county schools. at that statement burke smiled. we can tell you she is out in out of the woods yet. she has a second trial coming up facing two felony counts of child abuse. >> more to come. thank you for that. prince george's county police say they are looking for a teenager who they say sexually assaulted a ten-year- old girl yesterday afternoon. that attack was interrupted by 21-year-old jonathan lambert. he was walking by some woods near the 3100 block of scottish avenue. >> as i got to be about right here, i startd hearing screaming decrease a little -- i noticed it was a little girl saying stop, get off me. i don't want to do. this i told you. don't touch me. >> lambert says he saw both the little girl and the man who was assaulting her partial leer unclothed when he screamed stop and then that suspect ran off. police describe the suspect as a black teen between 14 and 16

years old. about 5'5" wearing jeans and a grey hood. four years after shawn taylor was murdered, the four men accused of killing the redskins safety have a trial date. taylor was shot during a robbery attempt at his florida home. a judge ruled today that trial will begin january 30. after years of debate, the most comprehensive study of cell phones and cancer. we will have the latest results coming up. topper? >> a little below average in terms of the temperatures but not too bad. we will show you the almanac. got up to 62 downtown. low is 47. average is 67 and 48. record 85. lows is 30s. there are frost advisories and we will talk about that and full weekend forecast coming up. up next a major employer plans to eliminate hundreds of jobs. we will tell you where.

?u at 6:00 tonighter northrup grummen says it plans to eliminate 800 jobs in maryland and most of them will come in the form of buyouts or layoffs. majority are at jobs at facilities in linthicum, sietsville, and in annapolis. tonight seven in ten americans asked say they believe the country is heading in the wrong direction when it comes to the economy. and 43% describe the nation's economy as very poor. now this poll of 1,000 adults by the associated press found that 40% of americans believe unemployment will rise in the next year. but at least not in one part of this country. >> the world's series is giving st. louis an economic boost so much so that the city is canceling mandatory furloughs for all its employees. >> look at. this city employees were supposed to be furloughed to save $2.8 million in the budget but the first two games alone of the series brought in an unexpected $2 million. so if this series goes a

full seven games and maybe that's motivation for the cards to keep it going, st. louis could make another $900,000 or so. >> wow. still to come on 9 news now. >> i'm megy fox in dumbfries at the acts food pantry which has been inundated with donations after having to close this week. i will tell you when they will re-open. >> the president announced today that all u.s. troops will be coming home from iraq by christmas. but many will be coming home with invisible wounds and we will show you one promising therapy that could help them. that's tonight on the "cbs evening news."

back with a health alert about your phone and your health. tonight the results are in from the largest study ever so far on any possible connection between cell phones and cancer, especially brain cancer. a danish study of more than 350,000 people found there is no difference in cancer rates between people who used the cell phones for more than ten

years and those who didn't. results echo conclusion of another large study last year. >> they didn't find an excess risk of tumors in the head or centraler ins have system tumors which is reiassuring. >> two agencies the fda and federal communications commission have lack -- >> and we want to take a moment to recognize national mammography day. this is october, breast cancer awareness month. here is a reminder to get yourself screened that applies to all women over age 40. you can learn more about breast cancer prevention at wusatv9.com. click on buddy check nine. and here at 9 news we try to do what we can to make a difference. and as lindsay explains this weekend. you got a chance to join us. >> more than 100 volunteers are coming here to the elementary school on saturday morning. they will be painting the hallways, classrooms, working

on murals, organizing the library and outside they will work on landscaping. the kids here are so excited. it's all part of make a difference day and this is something that happens every year and if you would like to participate all you have to do is go to our website, wusatv9.com to find out how you can make a difference in your neighborhood. >> now if you have been with us all week you know about the plight of a dumpfry food pantry it's called acts and had to close its doors earl crr this week. >> and they had no food on the shefs. supplies were low and we are proud that the ginnett foundation was able to re-open the doors. peggy fox went to the facility for an update and people came tout who help. >> the food pantry has gone from the problem of bare shelves to now having so much food that they don't have enough space to store it. but that's a good problem to have and they know how to solve it. >> it is a wonderful life. it's like the movie.

>> tractor-trailer from minnesota arrived with boxes of shredded potatoes, driver found the pantry on his iphone. >> one of my customers decided not to take it because the boxes are crushed. they said throw them away. and that's a lot of food you don't want to throw away this food. give it to people that are a little needy. >> joe had no clue that the acts food pantry had to shut down on monday because it ran out of food. but the community turned that decision around by delivering more than 12,000 pound of food and more than $16,000 in donations. >> i have a personal check here for $500 donated to acts. just got it in about two minutes ago. >> what do you think about that? >> that's awesome. >> outpouring of support have allowed pantry re-open earlier than planned. next tuesday at 1:00 it will be back in business. >> it will be wonderful to see families leaving with groceries instead of leaving in tears because we don't have food to give them. >> pantry needs volunteers to come in this saturday and

sunday to help pack bags of essential food item to give to the needy families on tuesday. if you like to help we have information on our website, wusatv9.com. in dumbfries, i'm peggy fox. and join thus weekend for a special on martin luther king, jr.,. a monumental life, we will take a look at the highlights of the new memorial on the national mall. that's tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. right here on wusa9. >> our three for three my friend. >> we are. weekend rolling in. >> i want to bring back bad memories remember the first weekend of october. it poured. things will turn around. now temps will not be as warm as last weekend and still in fine fall weekend and speaking of fall it's time to really take a drive out to skyline drive. the colors are peak around i-81 and toward laray. wruns you get passed frederick

and hagerstown we are talking about peak. a lot of good color and the immediate metro area. plenty of color in montgomery county and downtown and points to the west and south and there are some colors you get down into southern maryland. we are still about a week and a half and two weeks away for peak color downtown. temperatures, everyone is in the 50s now. at least in the immediate metro area. 58 downtown. 52 in gaitersburg. 55 in manassas. 56 toward andrews. hagerstown settling in the upper 40s and look at oakland. 37 degrees. okay. here is the deal. three in a row. crisp for high school football. figure on temps in the 50s and if you are well outside the city, the games will end and temperatures in the upper 40s. a chilly start for saturday. cool but nice on saturday. okay, it's a little below average but still 60, 62 is sunshine and is a nice day and milder on sunday. for tonight, partly cloudy. chilly again. grab a sweatshirt. lows in the 40s and winds calm down northwesterly at 10.

we are talking about temperatures even inside the beltway in the upper and mid- 40s tonight and go far enough north and west and east low 40s. 41 in gaitersburg. 43 in bowie. even down into charles county waldorf 45. 43 in fairfax and herndon. and only 40 tonight in leesburg and points down to the south. and into middleburg and manassas. you get around charlesville there is frost advisories tonight. tomorrow morning mostly sunny and chilly. grab sunglasses and temperatures in the 40s and 50s and winds still light out of the northwest at about ten. by afternoon mostly sunny and cool but perfectly nice. highs around 60s and winds again northwesterly and only about ten miles per hour. not a breezy or windy day. we will keep oakland in the 40s but more sunshine tomorrow. 54 in cumberland. we are looking at upper 50s for hagerstown, martinburg and winchester. culpepper in the low 60s.

warrenton and manassas and leesburg will struggle to get to 60. 61 in gaitersburg and low 60s no southern maryland and over by the bay and there is not enough wind to prompt a small craft advisory for the bay or potomac. break it down, 40 tomorrow morning and sunshine to start. 55 to 65 by noon. and 58 by 5:00 is a nice day. next three days. little bit milder on sunday. we are back up into the mid-60s on sunday and almost 70 with sunshine on monday. next seven days, don't look now we are back in the 70s before we crash again. mid-70s on tuesday. gorgeous and then 70 on wednesday. shower or thunderstorm possible. showers may linger into thursday and then it will be cool again upper 50s on friday. hope to see everybody out at the mall tomorrow for the walk for project speaks. >> no excuses with this kind of weather. >> now, how do the redskins

stop cam. >> prayer. maybe didn't get his flu shot and maybe won't show up for the game. >> exactly. he is big. strong, nimble intelligent. maybe he is a cyborg. cam newton is also thirsty for a win. what do the skins think of carolina's super man and what can brown do. hopefully pull off something they never done before. i will explain next that's your sports. çñ

welcome back, 6'6". not your average measurables for a quarterback. but cam newton not your average quarterback. consider this. carolina's rookie sensation is bigger than both rocky mcintosh and fletcher and he can scoot as well. good looks to get him on the deck and you thought mike vick was tough. as he a canon for a arm and run second most yards than any qb. smack down challenge for the sixth ranked defense in football. bring your hardhat. you will need it. >> he has made a lot of plays. he has made a whole lot of plays. the biggest problem he poses isn't so much the scrambling. it's just his ability to keep the play alive. >> he is playing at a high level. he is exceptionally talented.

he has all of the measurables and all of the intangibles. we won't take him lightly. >> why aren't they winning? bad defense. 31 in football. how good this is guy? the numbers on him, 422 passing yards and his first game is nfl record for rookies. peyton manning was the first to knock back-to-back 400-yard games against green bay. only trailed, brady, rogers brees and romo in terms of passing yards per game. redskins will need all of the abled body defenders to find. but the safety still hampered by an injure knee and injured it against the eagles. game time decision. on sunday. play 80 games so relatively speaking six ain't much but the first six and you won them all, you start to get a little sizzle about yourself. consider the caps in crackle mode. only team undefeated in the eastern conference -- conference. as if they needed better news. alex ovechkin heating up. he met with the thailand twice.

two goals, nylon twice with two goals. not a surprise he got hot against philly undefeated caps versus undefeated red wing tomorrow. >> terps at florida state saturday and they are reeling. they lost four of their last five games. here is good news they start cj brown who was the first acc player in a decade to run and pass for more than 150-yards in a game. here is the bad news. they are in tallahassee and they never won in tallahassee. time to vote. you voted for our game ever the wiek. 54,000 of you voted by the way. our game of the week tonight thomas jefferson and george marshall. there say hello to jefferson senior ryan fang. we will have highlights tonight at 11:00. finally this is former great nfl running back jerome bettis at a celebrity golf tournament. just hit the little ball up to the hole there. that's what those guys do when they get old. >> they have fun doing it.

>> sympathizing over here. >> what he did? he hit the big ball first, the earth. >> that's what happens. >> that's it for us. >> good night. happy weekend. everybody.