tomorrow and montgomery and howard county added to the watch. i think you will see significant snow especially in upper montgomery county. satellite picture, cold air funneling in. here comes the precipitation. it is running in here pretty quickly. think we are going to see a wet finish to some high school football games unfortunately. 49 downtown. 48 manassas. 48 leesburg. but the real important temperature is upstairs and that is falling quickly as well. we will come back with the hour-by-hour. >> topper, we will be waiting for that. the storm rolling so early in the season it could be especially painful for some of us. bruce leshan is live in hagerstown which could be particularly hard hit. bruce, why? >> reporter: yes, the police and fire radios have been blaring warnings all afternoon. as much as 8 inches of heavy, wet snow all across this area.

and one of the big concerns even much closer in is the trees. a lot of the leaves are still on them and these leaves can cut that heavy, wet snow, breaking branches even whole trees driving them right down into power lines. the rain now as the cold air is coming in changing over to snow. >> reporter: this is the same storm that already roared through denver knocking down trees and cutting off power to thousands of homes. >> all i regret is i can't get anything done. >> reporter: this is the time of year when we are supposed to be clearing leaves not snow. >> the snow storm in october is not what it is supposed to do. so that's going to probably cause a few issues. >> reporter: this arborist saying heavy wet snow will collect on the autumn leaves still attached to branches and cause all kinds of trouble. snapping branches, even whole trees right into power lines.

pepco and dominion power both say they are keeping a wary eye out. we love our tree canopies but in a storm it can be a curse. the arborist says it is way too late to prune yourself out of this. >> the minute before something is going to happen you get thousands of calls you can't get to. >> reporter: but he is hoping our trees may have escaped the snow built up nightmare for days. >> the leaves are ready to come off. >> reporter: back now live. a whole lot of the snowplow crews are struggling to get ready to clear the roads. a lot of the private contractors, they have been working construction over the summer so they have to race to get their blades mounted on their trucks, fill up with salt. a lot of the old timers say they can't remember a snow this

early in october in a long, long time. decades, actually. so we are going to get their forecast coming up at 6 p.m. back to you. >> more of a trick than a treat, that's for sure, bruce. thank you. we do have some remarkable breaking news that has nothing to do with the weather coming out of hanover county, virginia, tonight. remember that missing autistic boy that wandered away from his family. tonight that boy has been found alive in pretty good shape. this is a live picture from sky9 of the area where the boy was discovered five days after he had last been seen. our own scott broom is in the newsroom. a lot of folks calling this one a miracle. >> reporter: the sheriff clearly thinks it is a miracle. 8-year-old robert wood jr. was found about 2 p.m. this afternoon by a searcher scouring a creek bed next to the martin marietta quarry. about a mile from where he went

missing. the child was in a fetal position and in serious medical condition but alert. here are a few of the thoughts the sheriff shared with us. >> robert wood jr. has been found and reunited with his family. it appeared to be a creek bed next to the quarry property and he was found down in somewhat of a gully. we searched that area before. it has been a challenge dealing with a child with special needs who is lost. i think you have all been made aware of those challenges. i can't tell you that he was there. i don't think we walked past him. we are just thankful that he was located. no one on the team ever gave up and i have to say that there was some times that you just had to reach down and find that faith that you were going to find him and there is a god.

he listens to prayer. and prayers were answered. >> that's the sheriff choking back emotion. remember robert wood jr. is autistic so it will be hard to get answers what happened. hard to believe he survived for five days, but that does appear to be what happened. he is in the hospital reunited with his family this evening. >> my goodness. what about all the volunteers? one of those volunteers found him? >> reporter: the sheriff described it as a civilian searcher, not one of the 6000 volunteers. but again, the sheriff extremely thankful. 6000 volunteers turned out since sunday. the sheriff called it a truly regional event and thanked the entire region for stepping up. >> we were all excited. i let out a little cheer on my car on the way in here when i heard the news. scott, we appreciate it. thank you. the testimony in the brittany norwood trial that so many people have been waiting

to hear. the two people working in the apple store next to the lululemon store testified how they heard noises but failed to act on them. we are joined now with details from andrea mccarren from rockville. >> reporter: not only the testimony shocking, so was their apparent lack of remorse that no one called 911. for an extraordinary 9 minutes on the night jayna murray was murdered two apple store managers testified they heard loud noises coming from the lululemon store right next door. one of the managers said "we heard some screaming, some yelling, something heavy being dragged, some kind of grunting, high pitched squealing." she further testified someone said don't do this, talk to me. and later i heard somebody say stop, stop, oh god. the apple store manager was

closing for night and grabbed a senior manager and asked him to listen to. riso testified he heard a female voice say "talk to me. what's going on? why won't you tell me? " later he heard a different sound. it was more like panting when you can't breathe. trying to catch your breath and talk. the managers asked security to investigate but neither security guard left the building. neither called 911. while rios was on the stand a prosecutor asked, so both security guards were fired the next day? one had headphones on, one was wearing headphones he testified. but then when the defense objected the judge instructed the jury to disregard all of that. joining me now is our legal analyst who was was in the courtroom with me listening to this incredible testimony. what did you make of it, jim? >> shocking. next door jayna murray was being slaughtered begging god for help not a call to 911.

i think they listened for 9 minutes. would she be alive today if all they did was dial three numbers? what does that tell us about society? >> i kept thinking, jim, that maybe two families would be spared had someone picked up the phone, called 911, someone gone next door. so i guess the good samaritan law doesn't apply to this situation? >> they didn't know what was going on. they didn't see it. it was wasn't in front of them. but just dial three numbers. it tonight take much. jayna could be alive and brittany norwood wouldn't be facing murder charges if the police got their earlier. that's my view. >> our legal analyst, thank you so much. coming up at 6 p.m. we now know what brittany norwood was doing in the hours leading up to the murder. that in itself is a shocking story. jim and i will be back coming up tonight at 6 p.m. live from rockville, andrea mccarren, wusa 9 news. >> another breath taking day. thank you for that, andrea. andrea has been updating the latest from the courtroom

throughout the day on facebook and twitter. you can follow here and all of the developments in the lululemon murder trial by going to our website wusa9.com. it was a murder that shocked a quiet community of frederick, maryland, and it happened just days after the lululemon murder. now police have arrested the man they say shot and killed a mother of three as she was beginning her morning shift at burger king. he is 21-year-old jose reus voralla. convicted felon, illegal immigrant and former coworker. delia gonclaves has more on this story. >> reporter: a spokesperson from burger king tells me tonight the restaurant is cooperating with this investigation, but that person offered no comment after i discovered the restaurant itself is under fire for hiring this illegal immigrant. >> it doesn't get any worse than this. >> reporter: did he convince his former assistant manager to let him inside that fateful

early morning in march and within minutes shoot the 32- year-old mother in the back office before taking off with cash? haunting questions still linger in the murder case. but what we now know is this man, 21-year-old jose vorella, is charged with robbing the restaurant and murdering his former coworker. >> it took them a long time to find him. >> reporter: seven months to be exact. investigators say it was a complicated one with several agencies including immigration and the secret service. >> it would reveal a need to investigate four, five different avenues. >> folks worked extremely hard. >> reporter: we know when detectives were questioning the employees he admitted entering the country illegally. he was deported in june of

2009. but within six months police say he made his way back to his family here in frederick only to change the life of another family forever. >> i think it is absolutely outrageous. he needs to be deported or go to jail as long as he is caught and found guilty. >> reporter: members of the victim's family released a statement expressing their gratitude for the arrest. the custody is in custody of the u.s. marshals and will be sentenced on november 3rd. we are told after that he will come to frederick, answer to these charges most likely held without bond. anita? >> delia, thank you. the gaithersburg man suspected in the disappearance of robyn gardner will stay in custody in aruba for another 30 days. that's the ruling this afternoon from a magistrate in the case of gary giordano. authorities used search dogs yet again to look for the body of the 35-year-old frederick woman but they came away empty

handed. gary giordano claims robyn gardner never made it back to shore after snorkeling in august on their vacation. students joining the occupy d.c. protestors. people connected to the school are marching from the campus on georgia avenue down to join the other protestors. a local organizer says today's demonstration is to bring the black community into the occupy movement. d.c. fire and ems received a rather unusual call this morning. they were dispatched to the tidal basin to rescue a deer. a buck was swept away in the potomac river and was in danger of grounding. clues got a lasoo around the deer and got to safety near the jefferson memorial. the engineer evacuated a south pole research station after she had a stroke she is recovering well.

we will hear from her personally coming up. a cold rain to start. bad news for high school football. we will show you the doppler radar. this is going to be a big storm. lots of moisture and dynamics. we will come back and talk about the critical issues. we know when the 19-mile long icc, when it is going to be open for drivers. that's right after the break.

sky9 with a bird's eye view of the intercounty connector. the complete highway will be almost 19 miles long running between i-370 in gaithersburg to i-95 in laurel. the first segment of the toll road opened back in february. few drivers have opted not to use that segment so far. topping tonight's health alert. aspirin. a new study shows it is good at helping prevent colon cancer in people with very strong family histories of the disease. researchers in england looked at 860 people like that. some took aspirin daily, the others placebo. those that took two aspirins reduced their risk of colon cancer by more than 60%.

she gained instant worldwide attention after being evacuated a south pole research station following a stroke. tonight renee-nicole douceur is recovering well at john hopkins hospital in baltimore and this morning she told us she expects to be discharged tomorrow. >> i'm feeling fine. physically i feel pretty good. just i have a hill vision deficit. >> reporter: it has been a long journey for the 58-year-old renee-nicole douceur who back in august suffered a stroke while stationed at the south pole. >> i was basically preparing for an emergency air drop that was to fly over south pole station. all of a sudden i noticed that half the computer screen -- i mean it was just like an instantaneous thing. i was working on paperwork and looked at my computer screen and said something is wrong here. >> reporter: at first she thought she was just tired but hen her vision didn't come back fully she saw a doctor at the camp. they determined she probably had a stroke on the right side

of her brain. because of harsh weather conditions she realized it would be weeks before she could get out into a hospital. that's when she started her own rehabilitation. >> rest. tried to stay calm. >> reporter: her team of doctors at john hopkins hospital included a neurosurgeon. they are happy with their progress and don't feel the delay in treatment will hinder her recovery too much. >> in general it is better to get treatment early. there have been some issues about the high altitude and we don't have signs to tell us that effect but it may have a negative effect. but overall i think she will make a full recovery which is important. >> go back to work. not back there, maybe. >> she will spend more time at hopkins as an out patient to continue her rehabilitation from that stroke. >> one, zero, and liftoff of the delta ii with the mpp satellite blazing the way at

new technology. after a five-year delay a weather satellite is orbiting earth. it was aboard a rocket that plasted off this morning. a dual purpose. to improve weather forecasts and to monitor climate change. it was supposed to launch in 2006 but it had some problems that delayed the launch for five years. which kind of brings us to the forecast here. what is up with that four- letter word? >> that's mpp. it keeps track of ocean temperatures and vertical temperatures in the atmosphere. pretty sophisticated satellite. wish we had it last week and it could help us with the forecast. do you have some place to go? i was going to finish my thought there. but we are going to go right to the snow potential. are you ready? this is october. yes, it can snow in october. talked about that yesterday. a trace to an inch essentially

east of i-95. now you get west of i-95. silver spring, rockville, gaithersburg, 1 to 3 inches, 3 to 6 inches west of that. and the bull's eye. 6 inches or no from hagerstown right along the maryland, pa border up into york, pennsylvania. that will be a tremendous problem. why? because leaves still on the trees. we saw what happened in denver monday and it is going to be the same scenario here. so get ready for power outages. here is some snowfall we have had in october. our biggest one 2 inches back in 1925. we have got a chance believe it or not of breaking that. the one october 10th, 1979, was 10 inches in upper montgomery county. could be our biggest october snow. critical time saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. power outages. get ready for them. leaves on the trees. thunder snow is likely. that gives how dynamic this system is. that's going to lower

visibility to about 500 feet in some of the heavier snow bands tomorrow afternoon. so if you're driving roads won't be a huge problem but visibility will be a huge problem. it is simply going to snow faster than it can melt. you're going to see snow tomorrow falling with a temperature about 32 degrees because the atmosphere above is below 32. notice we get the donut effect with live doppler 9000. temps mainly in the 40s and that means it is filling in very quickly. also signs of a good, well organized storm. satellite picture, radar combined. we will zoom in. again this is the same storm that brought snow to denver and texas panhandle and swung to the south. now it will swing into new england and off the coast. very powerful storm. probably beach erosion at our shore. rain and snow breaking out already in west virginia. we are showing some rain above us on doppler but not reaching the ground yet. it is actually evaporateing. that's a small problem. if you're going to the football

game tonight, bundle up. already in the 40s. primaryly just a cold rain for us overnight but rain to snow west of i-95 tomorrow. changeover time late morning, early afternoon. and even down south. it will end in snow by tomorrow evening. so tonight, cloudy, breezy and cold. rain before midnight. 35 to 40. winds north easterly at 10 to 15. by morning, cold with rain but rain changes to snow, d.c. north and west in the late morning. 34 to 40. temps keep going down. winds north easterly at 15 to 25 and gusty. by afternoon window and cold. rain south and east late in the day. we have got lightning because we are talking about thunder snow. temps going down yet again. 33 to 40. winds north-northwest at 15 to 25 and gusty. next seven days. so tomorrow severe weather alert day. rain to snow. sunday still looking nice. just chilly. marathon on sunday. should not be a problem at all. temps near 50. and then warming up just a

little bit. mid-50s for hallowe'en. but dry for the trick-or- treaters. then back into the 60s wednesday and thursday and more showers on friday. >> more regular november showers on friday. >> we thought that denver wouldn't happen here. >> no. >> wasn't it supposed to be just showers as of two days ago? >> this is always going to be a heavy rain. with rain monday, tuesday, wednesday. then added snow yesterday. we talk about snow going south. >> more snow. >> still ahead, a royal daughter no longer going to the back of the queue when it comes to the procession of the thrown. how you pay what you get. we will explain when we come back.

the next time you buy a piece of fish or order it at a restaurant here's some food for thought. you may not be getting what you paid for. recently one consumer advocacy group conducted their own investigation by testing hundreds of samples of seafood they purchased and what they found, let's just say it netted some very fishy results.

>> reporter: americans spent more than $80 billion on seafood last year. 5 billion more than the previous year. consumer reports investigated to find out if the fish you buy is what it claims to be or simply a mystery. >> our secret shoppers bought 190 samples of 14 different kind of fish. red snapper, salmon, sole and others. they went to more than 50 retail stores and restaurants in new york, new jersey and conneticut. >> reporter: packing pieces of each sample sending them to an outside lab. dna was taken from each sample to determine each type of fish. only 4 of the 14 types of fish bought were always identified correctly. the biggest discrepancy lemon sole. of the 10 samples not one of them turned out to be the lemon sole. the red snapper purchases also proved problematic. only ten of the 22 samples were actually the fish. >> fish passes through so many hands from the time it is caught to the time it is sold, that it is hard to tell where

the mislabeling occurs or whether it is intentional. that makes the process very difficult to police. >> reporter: consumer reports' findings are in line with other recent studies that show some 20 to 25% of seafood around the world is mislabeled. but until seafood can be more closely monitored there really is no way to be sure you get what you pay for. >> certainly a tough thing if you have certain fish allergies for sure. current legislation in the senate would strengthen cooperation between the different federal agencies that oversea seafood safety including the f.d.a. we have got more on this investigation on our website. wusa9.com. >> if it wasn't snapper, what was it? >> exactly. >> prince william and kate have a daughter. it will be an historic birth. >> coming up why males will not take priority when it comes to the british thrown. a former teacher at this elementary school is sentenced

today for child pornography. coming up i will tell you how long he will be behind bars. 9news now is brought to you by...

this news just into the newsroom. d.c. police are asking for your help to identify a young boy who was hit by a car in the 1100 block of eastern avenue.

that's in northeast d.c. it happened around 10:30 a.m. this morning. now right now he is listed in serious condition and described as a black child about 4'6" tall weighing in at 85 pounds. now, he was wearing these clothes when he was hit. red t-shirt with lion's head design and the word detroit printed on it. blue jeans. black nike sneakers. take a look at this grey button jacket with the a over the left breast well. if you know who this boy may be call the metropolitan police department. new information tonight about a former alexandria elementary school teacher. justin coleman will be going to prison for a very long time for producing child pornography. peggy, you were there for the sentencing phase. >> reporter: this is a teacher with a secret life. he had a stack of pornography. 1000 videos of child pornography. some of the pictures depicted

his former students. the faces of them. today the judge gave him the maximum 30-year sentence. he told coleman that he has harmed the image of teachers everywhere and he said you represent the worst. >> cruel, disgusting. >> reporter: the u.s. attorney saying 36-year-old justin coleman was a predator who victimized girls for years around the globe. a tip to immigration customs enforcement led to coleman's arrest for sexually abusing two young girls. >> he sexually abused them and made a video recording of that sexual abuse for his own gratification. he admitted he took thousands of images of little girls that he knew, that he taught and super imposed their heads onto images of violent sexual abuse of young girls. >> reporter: coleman admitted taking 44 videos in his classroom. a parent of a boy who was in coleman's classroom last year came to court to watch the

sentencing. he didn't want to be on camera but agreed to talk. >> how worried were you when you heard this was your child's teacher? >> very scared. i didn't know if it involved my son or not. i feel bad for the parents and the kids it did involve. >> reporter: coleman's attorney pleaded with the judge to give him the minimum 15-year sentence saying it was severe enough and provided the opportunity for rehabilitation but the judge strongly disagreed calling coleman a bad seed and said "you must be separated from us and we must be protected from you." coleman's mother sobbed as the judge imposed the 30-year sentence. that parent of one of coleman's students thought the sentence was justified. what do you think of the 30- year sentence? >> i think he got what he deserved. it is the maximum. so he deserved the maximum. we put our trust in coleman, in all teachers and we expect the same kind of thing to happen. >> reporter: justin coleman read a statement in court apologizing to all of those that he hurt and he said he was drowning in a sea of shame and

guilt but it did not sway the judge. the judge literally threw the book at him and gave him the 30 years, the maximum. historic changes coming to british royalty. daughters will now inherit the throne if they are born first. if will and kate have a daughter she could some day become the queen. here is the report. >> the order of succession will be determined simply by the order of birth and we agree to introduce this for all the descendants for the prince of wales. we have agreed to scrap the rule that says that no one that matters a roman catholic marries has to be roman catholic. it is wrong they should be denied the chance to marry a catholic if they wish to do so.

>> did you follow all of that? no comment from the queen herself. the change will take place with prince charles' sons. last august hurricane irene damaged hundreds of homes. as kristin fisher reports action one family down in luesby is making the best of it just in time for hallowe'en. >> reporter: this is all that is left of the tree that crashed during hurricane irene. >> my wife and daughter were anykitchen at the time. scared them a little bit. >> immediately after i was upset thinking my gosh, what are we going to do? >> reporter: the repairs will take months. partially destroyed home fixed just in time for hallowe'en. >> i just happened to mention to my mom wouldn't it be fun to do some kind of haunted house. >> yes. yes, i want to do this. >> and she just went crazy with it. >> reporter: we are going to enter through the garage which

is sort of like a dungeon type thing. you are welcomed by the grim reaper. then the zombie baby nursery. >> reporter: today their two kids are getting their first look. >> amazing. i don't think i could have done any better myself. >> i think it is awesome. terrifying. it might maybe cause some people to wet their pants. >> reporter: they aren't just trying to scare their own kids. on hallowe'en night the whole family is going to dress up and open up this haunted house to trick-or-treaters. >> my goal is just to scare everyone that comes here. >> i hope we have a long line. >> reporter: kristin fisher, 9news now. >> love the baby zombie nursery. that picture will stay in my mind for a while. the haunted house will be open

to everybody on the hallowe'en. their address is on our website wusa9.com. a bit of a drive but might be worth it. >> might be. how live science is coming alive at a local middle school. but up next, a gold rush of sorts early this morning at a local gas station. and don't forget we are always on at wusa9.com. stay with us. we will be right back.

sky9 was over drivers. [ no audio ]

on monday dr. phil has a story you haven't heard from that house of horrors where four disabled adults in philadelphia were kept changed in a basement. >> we have exclusive interviews with this ringleader's son and brother and these are two people -- this is completely exclusive. no one has talked to them before. and they are going to tell us what they know about this. it is absolutely shocking. >> so don't miss dr. phil's look at the house of horrors here on monday on wusa9. the statute of liberty is now 125 years old. >> coming up we will take you to today's celebrations up in the big apple. if you're headed out you definitely need a jacket and you're going to need an umbrell eventually. 49 downtown. in the mid-40s in gaithersburg

and frederick. already 34 in oakland. we have an updated snowfall accumulation map. i know it is october. we will have it for you. up next in tonight's cool schools we will show you where kids are learning about live by creating their own eco system. 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.

math and science coming together at this week's cool school. >> really, that's just the beginning about what is so cool about this school. >> mike hydek is there. check this out. >> reporter: in the hallway of school. pretty creative way to learn lessons from the land. life science really is alive at linear middle school in fairfax, virginia, where students and teachers transform a court yard into a living eco

system. at first this seventh grader allison scott wondered why anyone would want to plant yarrow which attracts insects. >> you need insects because insects are the whole reason we have plants pretty much. >> reporter: students also learn how to test water. they are also building a dry river bed to move groundwater and create a path through the garden. you'll even see phases of the butterfly on benches. the decorative stones thanks to the art students. and what's really cool, the learning doesn't stop at the garden door. >> this is how it is affecting chesapeake bay. fish. the molecules. >> reporter: and whether it is waiting on water or moving

mulch earth science at lanier elementary, their work means -- >> we want it to be a healthy environment. >> a bunch of kids who don't mind getting their hands dirty. the city of fairfax helped out with the grants and manpower to get that whole eco system going. >> students, parents, teachers all volunteered their time to get it going and then the whole community as you can see benefited. if you've got a cool school e- mail mike at coolschoolss schools@ wusa9.com. >> i don't know if i should bring out the bestie out or not. let's start with the latest snowfall accumulations. now, i just adjusted these a little bit. we have had new information in the weather office in the last hour. not much has changed. still looks like perhaps our

biggest october snow on record. here is the deal. if you're east of i-95. a trace to an inch. i think even in southern maryland you'll see the rain go to snow before it ends. west of 95, d.c. to gaithersburg 1 to 3 inches. you get up into frederick, we are talking 6 inches. 6 inches plus from frederick northward through hagerstown. i-81 could be a little stripe here. 6 inches plus too. this is a big time storm and really in terms of the intensity something you would expect in january but we are not going to see that. tree damage potential. so expect power outages. a lot of foliage left on the trees. you don't want snow in october. yes, it can snow in october. our biggest snow back on the 30th in 1925 we had about 2 inches and we also had .3 inches in 1979 on the 10th. our biggest october snow is

possible. critical times now. 11 a.m. tomorrow until 7 p.m. expect power outages. leaves are just on the trees. thunder snow is likely. that's something you don't see very often. let alone in october. that's going to lower visibility to about 500 feet. and it will simply snow faster than it can melt. probably won't make it below freezing as we get into tomorrow afternoon. notice the donut effect. the weather kind of starting to envelope the metro area and we will see rain before the high school game is over tonight. same storm that dumped in denver on monday. coastal storm. moving northward as we go through the day on saturday. that will change the rain to snow especially late morning and early afternoon west of i- 95. so, yes, snow in october. little bit of rain the second half of high school football tonight. just a cold rain overnight. rain to snow west of i-95.

snow even south and east of town. we have declared tomorrow a severe weather alert day because of the snow. 39 for a high. chilly on sunday. pretty good shape for the marathon. temperatures near 50. then in the 50s for hallowe'en and dry and then a little bit milder. 56 on tuesday. then a couple days. maybe around 60 on wednesday. thursday as well. more showers on friday. 52. just run of the mill showers. >> so you say. >> they will be run of the mill showers. >> all right. >> no question. >> still ahead on 9news now. >> the statute of liberty turns 125. coming up, we will show you how lady liberty is now welcoming some of the country's newest americans. and the weather does create a big question mark for tens of thousands planning to run this weekend's marine corps marathon. we will take a look at the plan for their marathoners.

what's the one best thing about vacation on the gulf? the great outdoors in mississippi. our seafood in louisiana. our beaches in florida. alabama beauty. choosing between them might be tough. but everyone agrees, the gulf is vacation at it's best. and we've gone all out to make this year the best ever. so come on down to mississippi. louisiana. florida. alabama. the gulf is the world's goodtime headquarters, and we're 100% open for business.

all right, guys. i'm holding, of course, the old pig skin. you know what coaches tell their players, grab it, hold onto it and hand it to the officials after you score. someone won't give it up. neil owens remembers the date well. >> december 12th. >> reporter: the night his rockets ended a 28-game losing streak. >> i actually cried on my coach's shoulder. >> reporter: but not necessarily because of the football game. it was the entire day itself. 11 a.m. the senior gets the call. there was an accident at home. >> your house caught on fire and your little brother was in it. >> reporter: he was rushed to hospital in d.c. in critical condition but holding on. >> it was just really tough to

see him. >> reporter: big brother eddy's game was that night. the day before eddy promised he would play and the rockets would win and for the first time in three years the rockets sored. afterwards just like every team they came here to give out the game ball only this game ball wasn't going to anyone in pads. this special pig skin was headed over to children's hospital where paul was just coming too. >> i started to cry. it was probably the first time i ever felt what it feels like to hold the game ball. >> reporter: which he has never put down since. he is the official ball boy now as well as a cheerleader. part of the family and the bond between two brothers never

tighter. >> that's good stuff. has been a good luck charm as well. the rockets have won three more games since he became the official ball boy. they will try to keep it going tonight at rockville. guys, back to you. >> go, rockets, go. the temperature is rising at an assisted living facility in pennsylvania. >> that's right, some of the residents taking matters into their own hands to raise some dough. >> they are taking some pretty drastic measures to buy a new bus with wheelchair access. >> i had no thoughts of doing it and then we were all sitting around. everybody said, oh, well, why not. >> reporter: in one way she sounds like she is 20 not 84. >> i still don't know how my family is going to accept this. >> reporter: in addition to the pictures you also get poetry. >> when i think about romance, the last thing on my mind is

something coming at me with a bow and arrow. >> reporter: the cost is over $58,000. the ringleader is 82 years young.. violet montgomery. >> reporter: some of the reactions have been amazing. >> he looked at it and he said that it looked better. celebrate life with humor and that's exactly what we have done. >> reporter: one of their goals now is to appear on the david letterman show and with their enthusiasm i certainly wouldn't rule it out. >> we have never had so much fun. >> that is great. he says the residents are on their second printing of 1000 calendars in less than a week. they go on letterman, it will happen. >> good for them. speaking of staying young or perhaps growing older the statute of liberty turns 125 today. but she doesn't look a day over

20. >> and to mark the occasion 125 immigrants from 46 countries were sworn in as u.s. citizens. here is the story. >> reporter: willing to give his life for the u.s. before he even became a citizen. >> so help me god. >> congratulations. [ applause ] >> reporter: but today this navy reservist from nigeria and other immigrants took the oath of citizenship standing at the base of the statute of liberty. the statute itself arrive in the u.s. in pieces. welcoming 12 million immigrants to america as they made their way through the immigration station on nearby alice island. >> i have two sets of grandparents and all four of

them came over from there. i wonder how they were feeling when they saw this view? it is very emotional for me. >> reporter: today's anniversary marks a milestone for the statute's future. the tours inside lady liberty are safer and more accessible. they will be updating elevators and stairwells so the statute will be closed for tours through the end of next year. it will remain open for the nearly 4 million tourists that visit each year. living the american dream with his wife and two kids. cbs news, new york. >> that birthday party ends tonight with a 12-minute fireworks display. have a great weekend, everyone. 9news now at 6 p.m. starts right now. this is 9news now. okay, we are not even