man whose life was changed forever. his sister was 18 and a freshman when she was killed. news of yesterday's shooting hit pretty hard. >> because ream ma died on april 16th, her brother works to stop gun violence, was passing out fliers at another school when he got the word. >> it was saddening and scary because the gunman is still on the loose. the school is on lockdown. you're hoping everybody is safe. you don't know how many casualties there are going to be. it reminded me of april 16th for me, for my family driving down to tech and not being able to take ahold of my sister, reema. i thought about that. i thought about the parents, the thousands of parents and siblings trying to reach their loved ones at virginia tech and knowing what they were going through when they're calling to see are you all right, are you ok? are you safe? so, i thought about all of that. >> he was pleased to see the

quick notification system kick in. it didn't happen on april 16th. pleased to see the lockdown. >> do not leave this room until you're told, do you understand? >> yes, sir. >> alerting students and locking down the campus are two amazing things that need to continue to happen in the future. >> april 16th changed the way you're leading your life. >> yes. definitely. it changed the course of my life and the course of many other lives. i am now working full time as an advocate for gun violence prevention and it is definitely something that i never saw myself doing but you know, after you experience it, a lot like this and especially a tragic loss that was preventable, in my opinion, the loss of my sister got me to see all of these different things in our society that we are not doing to try to prevent gun

violence. i want to work to try to do that. >> reporter: would your sister be proud of you? >> yes, i think she would. i would not be doing this if i didn't think she would be proud of me. i think that she would be encouraging me and she would be proud of what i'm doing and i think she is. >> reporter: gary nurenberg, 9news now. a virginia state trooper is recovering after he was shot yesterday afternoon along interstate 95 just ten miles south of fredericksburg. >> trooper michael hamer was responding to a pedestrian walking on the side of the highway. he put him in his patrol car. a struggle ensued and it ended with both of them being shot. virginia state police would not say if the suspect had a gun or he tried grab the trooper's gun. trooper hamer is expected to recover from his wounds. the suspect suffered life- threatening injuries and at this point, his condition is not known. former prince george's county council member leslie johnson is scheduled to be

sentenced today. >> in june, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit witness and evidence tampering in connection with jack johnson's corruption case. their client will request probation. prosecutors say probation would violate the terms of her plea agreement. the sentencing guidelines call for an 18-month prison term. an english teacher at glen burnie high school is accused of engaging in sexual relationships with three underaged girls. police began investigating 29- year-old jeffrey sears after a member of the school staff overheard a girl talking to a friend about their alleged relationship. investigators say sears' cell phone contained at least three nude photos of the girl and hundreds of texts between the two of them. sears is also the school boy's basketball coach. prince george's county police need your help. they're trying to find a 12- year-old boy right here who is

missing. rico edward singleton was last seen at walker mill middle school around 4:00 yesterday afternoon. police say he may have not come home because he was worried about a discipline incident at the school. he's 4'9", weighs about 85 pounds, african-american. he was last seen wearing a black and royal blue sweater, khaki pants and black tennis shoes. if you have seen him, please call prince george's county police. the air force is facing new criticism about the way it handled the remains of troops. >> body part of troops have been lost on two occasions at its mortuary in dover delaware. officials also say the cremated portions of some remains were sent to a landfill. yesterday, representative rush holt of new jersey and the air force has been stonewalling he says. the families in not giving them the information they need about the practices at the mortuary. >> coming up on 4:35, president obama says he'll put his hawaiian vacation on hold until

congress approves an extension of payroll tax cuts and long- term jobless benefits. both measures are set to expire at the end of this month and the president is scheduled to leave for hawaii december 17th. >> the president's decision to delay his vacation came hours after the senate blocked a democratic plan to extend that tax cut. they also blocked a republican proposal. in the house, republicans have a plan which would tie the tax cut to approving construction of an oil pipeline from canada to texas. president beam obama does not support that. if no deal is reached, more than 150 million americans will lose out on the tax break. >> three occupy d.c. demonstrators are on a hunger strike in support of d.c. residents. they're focused on getting full d.c. voting rights in congress. all three say they'll keep on fasting until that happens. the protestors are part of the group which has been camped out in mcpherson square for months. their fast is not considered an official occupy d.c. event. former senator and new

jersey governor jon corzine told lawmakers on capitol hill he doesn't know what happened to more than a billion dollars of investor money which went missing from the now defunct mf global. >> corzine who was cfo of the company said he inherited a company doomed by his predecessor's bad decisions. he did take responsibility for the risky bets on european debt which pushed mf global into bankruptcy. legal experts say corzine could be held responsible for misrepresenting to investors the risks the firm had taken. the wife of former penn state assistant football coach jerry sandusky is coming to his defense. dottie released a statement saying the allegations against her husband of sexually abusing young boys are not true. he was released on bail yesterday after being arrested on new child sex abuse charges. time is coming up on 4:37. at 4:42, the net worth of the average american suffered another loss. just as the average american

company saw record profits. one local airport is about to undergo a $100 million face- lift. >> we're back with your weather first in two minutes. you're watching 9news now. these sweet honey clustery things have fiber?

fiber one. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? uh, try the number one! i've never heard of that. [ wife ] it's great. it's a sweet honey cereal, you'll love it. yeah, this is pretty good. are you guys alright? yeah. [ male announcer ] half a days worth of fiber. not that anyone has to know. fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. good morning at 4:39.

we're off to a very chilly start in and around the metro area. clear skies, plenty of sunshine. temperatures, 30 inside the beltway. day planner stays cold for the start. with the sunshine in the afternoon, we could see a few clouds move in by later on this afternoon. not expecting highs to reach much more than 50 degrees. monika? >> if you're planning to head into virginia, northbound side of i-395, no problems to report between the beltway and the 14th street bridge, southbound after route 606 in thornburg. police activity now moves. coming up, we'll take a look into maryland at 4:47. mike, back to you. sounds good, monika. time for the first "your money" report. jessica is off. we'll give you the headlines. all eyes once again -- this sounds like a broken record, are on europe as leaders hold a summit trying to tackle the region's debt crisis. the future of the euro and the stability of the global financial system are at stake and countries will likely be asked to hand over fiscal decisions like how much they

spend, how much money they borrow all to authorities. on wall street, stocks sank despite claims that unemployment benefits fell to a low. they remain focused on europe's troubles. dow lost 199 points. nasdaq fell 53. s&p 500 was off 26 and change. american's household net worth fell 4% last summer. the biggest quarterly loss. stock portfolios, pension funds and homes all lost value. at the same time, figures from the federal reserve show corporations increased the amount of cash they have on hand to record levels now. mortgage rates are nearing historic lows for a sixth straight week. freddie mac says the rate on a 30-year fixed dipped to 3.99% from 4% the previous week. but the super low rates are providing a gift to the struggling housing market. rates have been below 5% all except for two weeks of 2011. however, this year could be the worst year for home sales in 14

years. a stronger, more straightforward warning about the blood clot risks associated with certain birth control is needed. >> the recommendation was made yesterday by an fda panel. >> we'll have that story and weather first when we return in less than two minutes. [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices...

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it is friday, the 9th of december. howard is off but olga breeze is in. you're bringing cold weather with you. >> bringing shine but still bringing the cold, unfortunately. >> bring your ice scraper, you'll need it. >> full moon this morning. >> great conditions outside though. skyward. but i don't know. you'll need a couple of layers as you step on out. we're looking at a bus stop forecast that is very, very

chilly. bundle the kids up as they're heading out this morning. we're talking about mainly clear skies at the moment. our temperatures, our winds have been very light. it has allowed temperatures to drop down. most of us are sitting in the 30s. we're not going to get too much improvement until the sun cranks in. in all today, the focus is looking pretty good. with all of the sunshine and our winds mainly about 5 miles per hour this morning, we'll start to warm things up significantly. it will take awhile to get there though. 8:00, 9:00 hour, still in the 30s. we're closer to the middle range 40s. it will be quite nice later on this afternoon with plenty of sunshine by 4:00 hour, we're still looking at close to 50 degrees for the high today. it will be fairly clear and calm overnight tonight which means yes, another cold one as well. so, we're going to stay in this very cool winter time pattern for the next several days. in fact, i'm tracking cooler temperatures coming our way along the weekend.

i'll give you more details on that in a couple of minutes. here are the weather headlines. the sunshine, going to be cranking in here soon for us. that will help us out. very cool start. things should be fairly nice this afternoon. we're calling today pleasant by december standards, not too warm for us. we'll start to see a few of the clouds pass by late afternoon. i think things will be nice into the evening but as we get closer to midnight, we'll see some mostly cloudy skies. as we go into saturday, we're shifting our winds out of the north. that means a cooler start to our saturday. as we get into sunday, we'll see improvement. here's how we look on satellite and radar so far. mainly clear skies for the metro area. few clouds pass through early on this morning but right now, we're looking pretty good as we go in toward the afternoon, as i mention before, a little bit more of the clouds on the increase. not expecting any precipitation. here's where the coolest air is right now. 20s outside the beltway. 28 for leesburg. 27 for manassas looking close

to freezing at andrews air force base. we'll get more sunshine later on today. mid-atlantic states are looking pretty good but across some of the upper midwest, some snowy conditions in michigan and in toward wisconsin. not coming our way. we'll keep things dry for the beginning of our seven-day forecast. so, here's how we are looking at the current time. we're definitely seeing a future cast. fairly quiet. mainly clear skies for most of the metro. a few clouds into the afternoon but not too bad. overnight tonight, another clear one. many of us will get back down into the 20s for the overnight lows. that means that although we're starting out cool this morning, even cooler for tomorrow and there are lows tonight back down near the freezing mark for most of the metro area. i think most of us will see a pretty good start to the saturday morning. we're talking about a great forecast for today. colder tomorrow. only into the lower 40s with the north winds. by sunday for the redskins game looking pretty good as temperatures get back toward

that 50 degree mark toward next week. monika? >> thanks so much, olga. good morning, everybody. the good news is it is friday morning. the bad news is you still have to get to work but there is no big deals to worry about if you're traveling on the beltway and even on the northside right now. pretty much all of the overnight construction has been cleared up between college park, silver spring and bethesda. let's take a live look at the beltway at university boulevard. looking good as you travel through silver spring. route 50, again no problems to report if you're coming in from the east all the way over to the beltway and north into college park. we'll go further south on the beltway at route 4 pennsylvania avenue. again, this is fine as well. no problems to report as you travel past andrews air force base into oxon hill and the wilson bridge and route five, route 301 are incident-free from southern maryland heading up to the beltway. coming up, we'll go into virginia at 4:55. >> bwi marshall airport is getting a makeover.

$100 million makeover to be exact. maryland state board of public works approved funds to renovate the oldest part of the airport. >> money comes from a gate lease revenue along with other fees and rent paid out to the terminal. when they're complete, the renovations will create space for more security stations and new concessions in concourse c. it will allow passengers to move between courses a, b, and c without having to go back through the security lines. >> the makers of certain birth control pills could be forced to issue stronger warning labels. a food and drug administration panel recommended the change after a nine hour meeting thursday. >> the meeting and recommendation were the result of recent studies which show the pill posed slightly higher risk of blood clots than the older version to the drug. bigad shaban has more. >> reporter: richard and diane ammans daughter ate right and exercised regularly. two years ago she had a heart attack at 35 and died. >> the medical examiner told me that it was probably caused by

a blood clot or inflammation. >> the ammons family blames her birth control. anny was taking a new generation of pills with the hormone. studies show the pills like yaz and yasmin may put women at hire risk for dangerous blood clots. now an advisory panel for the food and drug administration is recommending the pills be sold with stronger warning labels. >> the pill can change how thick the blood is and can increase the chance of clotting. that's all pills. specifically, this yaz or yaz- like pill increase the clot a little bit more. >> but bayer, the maker of two of the most popular pills found no increased blood clot risk. doctors say women on the pill for more than six months without problems can likely keep taking them but many ob/gyns aren't prescribing them for first time use. >> i can't see a reason for having birth control pills on the market that are more likely

to kill women. >> reporter: the ammons feel new warning labels don't go far enough. >> we would not be honoring our lovely daughter if we did not get out there and try to say something about this to try to get this removed from the mark. >> they want to make sure what happened to their daughter doesn't happen to anyone else. bigad shaban, cbs news, los angeles. the fda does not have to follow the panel's recommendations but it usually does. >> women who have been treated for breast cancer may want to watch how many starchy food they eat. scientists at the university of california found breast cancer survivors who ate more foods containing starch were at a greater risk of having the disease returned. the study also found carbohydrates in general could raise the chance of recurrence. researchers say dietary guidelines for breast cancer patients should be re-examined. medicine designed to lower blood pressure may also help prevent a stroke. about 50 million u.s. adults have hypertension and their

blood pressure is elevated but it is not considered high. there is a new study that finds prehypertension patients who take blood pressure pills also lower their risk of a stroke by 22%. experts say more research is needed before doctors can start recommending that medication to prevent a stroke. >> we may be one step closer to having a pill that can boost memory. doctors at baylor college of medicine say a molecule called pkr is the key. when the brain molecule was blocked in mice, they developed super memory and were able to learn a task in one training session. normal mice needed days to figure it out. >> wow. that's going to be a big thing. that could help in alzheimer's. time for the question of the morning. >> the sale of this jumped 74% in the weeks leading up to christmas. is it a, jewelry. b, gift cards or c, lingerie? >> see how she said that. french. log on to the

facebook.com/wusa9 page and we want to hear what you think. we'll reveal the answer in our 6:00 a.m. hour. we'll be right back.

>> it is clear and cold this morning. a very chilly start. we have temperatures inside the beltway near 30 degrees. outside the beltway, we hit the 20s already. our day planner does feature lots of sunshine as we head through the midmorning, temperatures will slowly rise out of the 30s and into the

40s by the noontime hour. but not expecting to get much higher than 50 degrees for most locations later on this afternoon. we'll pull in a few more clouds later on today and then even though the evening hours, we'll see the little wind shift and make for a very, very chilly night tonight. details on your seven-day forecast coming up ahead. monika is here with a check of traffic. >> we'll take a look at 95 near the prince william parkway, all lanes are open northbound heading to springfield and southbound after thornburg. overnight police activity cleared after route 606. coming up, another look into virginia at 5:01. back to you, mike. >> it is fun to tell the stories every year because they seem to keep happening. a salvation army worker received a sparkling surprise donation in kansas. someone put a diamond into one of the red kettles outside wall mart in shawnee. a salvation army business manager were counting up the cash when they came across a balled up piece of paper. >> so, you can see where there

is writing on it. at first, i thought it was trash. i started opening it up. i saw the different colored paper on the inside. >> that's when i saw the diamond on the inside. >> the salvation army is hoping to find someone to appraise it for free. >> save the profits there. >> oscar winner charlize theron is back on the dark screen in the young adult. >> she played a self-obsessed woman trying to relive her glory days. manuel gallegus has more. >> i'm matt. my locker was next to yours. >> charlize theron is the stuck up girl from high school who's come back to her hometown to stir things up. >> i've got baggage, too. >> i would take all of this to yourself. i would find a therapist. >> the oscar winner says she couldn't pass up the role in the movie "young adult." >> i saw great potential in

trying to find the person underneath all of these kind of hideous, human characteristics. >> she plays mavis, a teen literature writer trying to win back her high school boyfriend played by