member do anything. >> thomas has agreed to meet with council chairman, kwame brown. the campaign is fighting off its own investigation. >> council member thomas. >> the council took out the long awaited ethics bill. some say the measure falls short. councilman tommy wells tried to ban contributions from businesses that have city contracts. >> continues to allow outside influences by corporations to influence elections. >> bundling their campaign contributions and again failed in a third effort to prohibit council members from collecting members. the ethics bill does quote some loopholes and allows an elected official to be expelled immediately. currently, that official must be sentenced first. >> we have been very serious about ethics reform and i think the bill reflects that. and it is just really important that we move forward. >> councilman harry thomas

voted for the ethics bill. made no comments before or after casting the vote. >> harry thomas plans to continue working. now the mayor is asking council members to delay the final vote until after the first of the year. that may not happen. of course, the mayor, also waiting the outcome of his own federal probe and some of the practices during and after his campaign. >> why delay the vote? >> well, he says he is for the bill, as everybody is. there are major problems. a lot of changes were made. 70 pages worth of changes and everybody wants to make sure they dot every i and cross every t. >> all right. bruce, thank you. it's more than seven years behind bars for former prince georges county executive, bruce johnson. it's not as much as he could have received because he's talking to federal investigators. the details of the sentencing and then the reactions to it. scott. >> he was facing 14 years when

he went in. the final sentence, seven years and three months. $100,000 fine and also three years of sup vised probation after that once he gets out of prison, he will be nearly 70 years old. johnson's attorneys played up his age and his health as they begged for leniency today. johnson now walking with a cane they say because he is showing signs of parkinson's disease. prosecutors said it was alcoholism. the judge rejected the medical claim calling johnson's crimes of accepting bribes severe, saying quote, you were elected to do good, not line your pockets. johnson was caught on tape doing just that, accepting a cash bribe in this november 2010 meeting. >> i don't know who they are. >> and threne was the raid on his house. council member elect at the time trying to stash cash with feds at the door. >> what do you want me to do? >> put it in your panties and walk out of the house.

>> i think today justice was served. >> hundreds turned out for the sentencing, many of them johnson supporters. >> it is disgusting what generally happens to african americans versus nonafrican americans. >> you think he was treated harshly? >> court johnson apologized, quote, in my wildest dreams i could not imagine being in a place like this, he said. i worked hard for the people of county and achieved so much. prosecutor rod rosenstein painted a different picture. >> people would assume it is fiction, but unfortunately it is reality. >> announce today they had seized a 1953 vintage mercedes from johnson yesterday as part of the punishment. he reports to prison in january. his wife, lesli, she will be sentenced at the end of the week. live in the satellite center,

9news now. >> tonight, randy babbitt is out as chief of the faa saying within the last hour, he will resign from the post. babbitt's decision comes three days after he was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. late saturday night, fairfax county police pulled him over after an officer saw him driving on the wrong side on the street. he did not want to allow anything to cast a shadow. >> new at 6:00, a billion dollar deal to bring hot lanes with minimal cost to the state. governor bob mcdonnell announced it that they are dealing. that company would pay for 50% of the cost and make money back by collecting tolls. the deal will create 29 miles of hot lanes to fairfax. just like the hot lanes on the beltway, car poolers will be allowed to use the lanes for

free, others would pay a poll. construction could start next year. tonight, two u.s. senators are doing tweaking, trying to get their colleagues to support their bipartisan plan to extend that payroll tax cut. now the cut has been letting you take home cash with every paycheck, but it is all set to expire by the end of the month. republican susan collins and claire mccaskill say congress can pay for an extension of the tax cut by taxing millionaires a bit more. a will the of democrats like that plan. several republicans say no way. but speaking to a crowd in kansas today, president obama said, just get it done. >> if we don't do that, 160 million american, including most of people here will see their taxes go up. >> and the white house is now using that fancy countdown clock, reminding congress that the time to make the deal is running out. prosecutors at the group, our d.c. say they are occupying or

protesting with the group, they are occupying the capital, demanding meetings with key lawmakers. delia goncalves is live outside the capital. have they managed to get any of those meetings? >> no, they did not get any meetings. this is the second time the group has come up to the capital demanding the meeting, though they will be back. this particular group that we followed wanted to meet with senate minority leader. they were only offered meetings with his legislative staffers. that wasn't good enough for this group. they wanted to meet with the senator himself. so dozens of the protesters staged an all day sit in. inside and outside the senator's office. about 100 protesters in all from as far away as miami and massachusetts helped take over 99 legislative offices today. they say their goal to get lawmakers to listen even if they didn't have a face to face meeting. >> we really want jobs and

congress to wake up. >> so you think these movements will do something? >> they already have. and they will continue to do it or the entire system will be replaced. >> there are officially three movements happening here in the district. freedom plaza, mcpherson square. this is the group that happens to be a few blocks down on the mall. they have a few tents set up. they have permits and will rally until friday. derek. >> delia, we thank you. coming up tonight at 9news now at 7:00, the trees, the caroling, all science of the season. why one teacher is changing the words of a popular holiday tune. all right derek. coming up in this half hour, a major step in phase two of the dulles metro rail project. what fairfax county decided about its part of the deal ahead. topper. >> well, keep the umbrella handy. we're looking at rain and some of us will be heavy tomorrow.

most of the heavy activity to the south of us. we'll tell you how much is going to fall and what that means for both commutes and if that rain changes to snow. >> but first, he spent almost three decades behind bars, now thomas is free and clear. the court ruling that exonerated him is up next.

the washington, d.c. veteran's affairs medical center and wusa9 salute all who serve at home and abroad this holiday season. >> hi, this is clarmont barnes giving a shout out to my wife. happy holidays, love you guys. tonight, a virginia man who spent 27 years in prison finally has his good name back.

in the 1980s, thomas was convicted of raping three women in the richmond area. in 2009, dna evidence cleared him of one crime and he was released under strict parole in march of this year. today the virginia court of appeals exonerated haynesworth for two of the other attacks. the state considers him innocent and he will no longer be on patrol. >> stafford county sheriff deputies are asking for your help in getting a sexual predator off the streets. he grabbed a woman. he had a gun, forced her into woods and tried to rape her. the woman managed to fight him off. deputies released a sketch of this man. he has scars along his cheek, possibly acne scars. if you recognize that face, call the sheriff right away. >> up next on 9news now, that skeleton santa ripped down from the courthouse lawn may be coming back. what leesburg leaders decided about the display on the other

side.

mel wood and wusa9 salute all who serve at home and abroad this holiday season. >> i want to say hi to all my friends and family back in d.c. have a good holiday. see you when i get back. in tonight's consumer alert, if you or a loved one is enrolled in medicare, time is almost up to pick your plan for next year. the deadline to select a medical and predescription drug plan was moved from december 31 to tomorrow at midnight. right now, we hear people are having some trouble getting on to the website to make those choices, but keep on trying. the website to use is www.medicare.gov or you can call 1-800-633-4227. get ready for more possibly offensive displays on the

loudoun county courthouse lawn this holiday. already we have seen the community outraged at a skeleton santa on a cross. the board of supervie cores supervisors could have put an end to all of this but chose not to. >> if they were to ban the displays at this point, that would include the nativity scene. when the displays start coming up, we will see that nativity scene along with two displays from the church of the flying spaghetti monster. yes, you heard that right. and the possible return of the crucified santa skeleton. >> this grandmother was so offended by the crucified santa skeleton she took it down. the owner removed it, but he is planning to bring it back. >> it was predictable. it was easy to see coming. the ku klux klan put up crosses under this, and i shutter to think we might get to that

point. g ban all the public displays, including the nativity scene. they were out voted. >> the attack is a year round pursuit now of antireligious who like to stay on constant warfare. >> it always seems like it's here in leesburg that these things happen. they have the same problem. didn't have that problem last year. >> this is the third year for holiday display disputes in loudoun county, but board chairman scott york hopes this year will be the last. >> yes, we just go ahead and remove the ordinance for public displays. as a community, we can come together with the government sponsoring what is tasteful on the courthouse. >> so you can see this christmas tree already on the lawn. it was donated by the rotary club, not included in the public displays, but the chairman wants to get rid of those and have the county

manage displays and have them be representative of the various religions. we'll se if he can get that through when the new board takes office. he would like to take it up next month. reporting live in leesburg, peggy fox, 9news now. >> it would be less contention. >> the final step for building phase two is now complete. the fairfax county board of supervisors approved its portion of funding an agreement for today. and fairfax now joins loudoun county, the airport authority, and the u.s. department of transportation to help pay for this project. phase two will run to dulles airport. it's expected to be done by 2017. >> big changes, rain, maybe some snow tomorrow. >> yeah, here's the deal. new information come in in the last hour. it is going to move out faster. i think the storm will be gone by 3:00 a.m. thursday morning, no problem. just cold. bad news is if you're going to

the mountains, significant snow there. and in terms of temperatures. let's start with the satellite picture. this is twill a three pronged storm. one storm is north of us up and pennsylvania and another storm in the tennessee valley. another storm behind that. as the waves move along this frontal boundary, that will create the heavy rain for tomorrow and again, as the cold air gets in here, it looks like the precipitation will be pulling out. that's in the immediate metro area. right now we have light activity north of town and some heavier activity south of town. here's live doppler 9,000. southern maryland, st. mary's county, light rain once you get past clarksburg as you go up 270. but nothing heavy really at this hour. it won't be heavy until tomorrow. heavy rain for wednesday, no doubt about that. rain and mile tonight. wednesday's commute, both will be wet. 1 to 2 inches of rain for the entire metro area. temperatures fall all day on

wednesday. all right, let's take you through the future cast. a little bit of light rain, showers tonight. it's all light. look what happens by morning. look at the yellows and the oranges to southern maryland. we're looking at very heavy rain. i would tack on extra time to your morning commute and to your evening commute. this is at 6:00 in the morning. we'll put that back into motion. everything rolled through, but still raining and heavy activity back to the west of us. around i-81. we see the cold air move in. this is going to turn to snow west of the divide by early tomorrow afternoon. look at the area of heavy rain this time tomorrow. it's going to be a mess as the storm system begins to wind up. we see the snow, the rain turns to snow briefly. maybe even down to rockville and then it's gone. this is at 1:30 in the morning on thursday. this might be a little fast, but you getted idea. the storm is moving faster and faster and faster. so for tonight, cloudy, breezy and mild with rain and showers. and winds out of the south,

southwest at about 10 to 15. all right, the next seven days. once we get through tomorrow night, we're in good shape. temperatures fall tomorrow. thursday morning clouds and chilly. temperatures in the mid 40s. a few clouds late. temperatures back up near 50á. a cold weekend, but brisk. low 40s on saturday. mid 40s on sunday and back around 50 with sunshine monday and tuesday. change over time could be as early as 10:00 p.m. in hagerstown and 11:00 11:00 p.m. in frederick. >> those redskins drug suspensions became public today. >> more on sunday, but today the nfl made it official. two redskins suspended. what does this mean going forward? plus, more bad news for terrapins football as more players jump ship. those stories and more coming up next in sports.

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from redskins park. all right, this saturday the 112th army navy football game for the first year it's being played in the nation's capital. the night before, friday, december 9. tune into wusa right here for a special we call for those who serve count down to the gridiron battles. we'll take a look at the legacy of this rivalry this friday. what is wrong with the washington capitals? to firing of bruce and hiring of hunter was supposed to bring some kind of spark and maybe get them a few more w's. instead, all they are getting is mounting frustration. the defense and penalty kills continue to be awful. last night against florida, for example, the caps found themselves down 5-1 just a few minutes into the second period. three of those goals came off power plays. the caps did mount a comeback in the third to lose 5-4. for the players, that wasn't good enough. >> we have to have the third

period effort in the first period and run for 60 minutes. what we're doing right now is not acceptable. to play hockey for 20 minutes and not execute for the other 40. we're not here to try. we're here to win. >> all right, more proof today not everyone was on board with randy. three red shirt freshman have been asked for and transferred. this makes six players to have chosen a transfer this season. the terps finished 2-10. basketball season on this week's list? thomas edison versus t.c. williams. all boys game for the girls and osbourne also girls. >> get a will the of exciting action coming up at the end of the week. >> that's it for us now on 9news now at 6:00. the cbs evening news is next. >> derek is back at 7:00. you can always find us at

wusa9.com. good night.

>> pelley: tonight, inside syria. clarissa ward travels to meet syrian army defectors who refuse to fire on their own people. >> reporter: we left at night and were blindfolded in the backseat as the car twisted along back roads outside of damascus. >> pelley: the battle for iowa. our new poll tonight finds newt gingrich opening a wide lead. dean reynolds is there. in the investigation of a possible death by hazing, florida a&m defends itself but anna werner speaks to the victim's parents. and the final days. jim axelrod is with american soldiers as they get ready to leave iraq