he begins to ransack the home. one of the phone calls gets through to a family member who is bound, they were able to answer the phone, but the woman goes, don't call here again, we're in trouble. hangs up, the suspect seizes all of the family member's phones and continues to ransack the house. one of those family members came to a neighbor nearby and said we think there's trouble. the neighbor walks up to the home while those five family members are bound with a guy holding a gun on the woman. he knocks on the door. the woman opens the door holding her child. the neighbor says is everything okay here? she says yes, everything is fine. the neighbor who knows her can tell that there's something wrong. at that point, she begins to make a motion like this toward the door. the neighbor looks up and sees a suspect through the crack of the door and knows that there's something wrong. he says i'm going to go call police. at that point, the suspect shows himself, brandishes the gun and says if anyone calls the police, i'm going to call

your daughter. the neighbor backs away, goes back to his home nearby and calls the police. he does that, another family member comes and as he is calling the police, the neighbor has the police on the phone, he goes back to the window and sees her car, a 2008 white honda civic racing up the street. at that point, the woman comes racing to the home of her friend, the neighbor, he puts her on the phone with police and that's how police are notified as to what happened here. this is similar to two home invasions in the bethesda and wheaten area. one of them in bethesda. one of those two break ins in bethesda and wheaten. a maid was also sexually assaulted and a vehicle was stolen. prince georges county police think the suspect here may well be the suspect in montgomery county case. here's what they said earlier this evening. >> we're currently working with the montgomery county police department. there are similarities that we are looking into to see if this

is related to those cases as well. the time of day, the fact that property was taken, how the incident occurred, the time of day. those factors, there appear to be similarities. >> when last seen, the suspect was wearing the victim's car with maryland tag 6ae9788. 6ae9788. the suspect in all of these described as a black male and skinny. police are looking for that car. if you see it or know anything about the crimes, they would like to hear from you. police are canvassing heavily here. there are signs of optimism among the officers that we have seen. so far the case remains unsolved. details still coming in. we'll have more at 11:00. >> what a harrowing story. thank you. police in washington, d.c. are looking for two men accused of sexually assaulting a woman in northwest. this happened wednesday night

in a building near the intersection of 5th and h streets. those men approached a woman about a massage and forced her into a room and sexually assaulted her. police released these photos of the suspects. both men are described as around 50 years old. if you have information on them, recognize those photos, call the cops. >> trimming down big government. that's what president obama wants to do. and today he asked congress to let him do it. he says it will save $3 billion. but those savings would come by eliminating 2,000 federal jobs. sandra endo breaks down the proposed changes. >> president obama points to a tangled messy flowchart friday to illustrate the maze of federal agencies. >> the government we have is not the government that we need. >> calling on congress to give him the power to streamline the bureaucracy. he is proposing to make government leaner by consolidating multiple federal agencies. >> let me be clear.

i will only use this authority for reforms that result in more efficiency, better service, and a leaner government. >> for example, the president says he would combine the six departments and agencies focused on business and trade into one. with one website and one phone number. >> with this authority, we could help businesses grow, save businesses time, save taxpayer dollars. >> emphasizing his commitment to the economy, the president announced he is elevating the small business administration to a cabinet level agency. lawmakers say they are waiting to get the details of the president's plan. a spokesperson for senator mitch mcconnell responded in a statement, after presiding over one of the largest expansions of government in history, it is interesting to see the president finally acknowledge that washington is out of control. it's been decades since the

president had this authority. the last time was in the 80s. in washington, i'm sandra endo. >> what will this mean for federal workers? he's been looking at this all day long and the president's plan would cut some jobs, not very many. i imagine most federal workers want to know, is my job on the list? >> the administration is saying the organization results in loss of 1 to 2,000 jobs. but also to be no reduction, no layoffs. and the jobs would come primarily in administer support, where you have human resources. >> the fact is, this may feel like it came in out of nowhere, but you point out, is this in the president's state of the union more than a year ago. >> almost exactly this time last year, derek, the president says we need to streamline government. we have agencies and duplicate overlapping programs.

they don't mesh together, they need to be combined, consolidated, whatever. they put together a task force that came up with recommendations. then we heard nothing. really until today when they brought him out of the freezer and here we are. >> when you talk about 1 to 2,000 workers, this doesn't sound all that ambitious to me. is this just political to your mind? >> in an election year, everything including something as the government organization has to be political. definitely political overtones even if there is a good sound to it. >> sean, are you hearing anything from the federal government worker unions? are they concerned? >> absolutely. a lot of people are wondering what this is going to mean for their -- the people they represent. they will concerned despite what the administration is saying that all the job cuts will be handled. there may be layoffs down the line. >> congress is about to get on board with this or the same partisan back fighting we have seen with every administration? >> the senator is giving you

an idea of what we are doing with that. right now, definitely a skeptical adage on the part of republicans. also, concern from even democratic members of congress who are worried that agencies that are under their jurisdiction may now, you know, banish and lose that. >> tom riley with the federal times, thank you, sir, appreciate it. >> for voters in virginia, we'll have two republican presidential candidates to choose from come the march primary. today a federal judge rejected a lawsuit that would have added rick perry, newt gingrich, and john huntsman to the ballot. those four gop candidates sued after they couldn't get enough signatures together to qualify for the primary. they argued the practice was unconstitutional, but the judge ruled that the candidates should have challenged the state rules a lot earlier. now, only mitt romney and ron paul will be on the march 6 ballot. >> virginia democrats will not seek an injunction to keep republicans from taking power in the state senate. democrat donald told the washington post that the party

would instead wait for a ruling on their lawsuit over the issue. senate democrats asked for an injunction back in december, but a judge ruled that one could not be issued until bill bowling made one of those tie breaking votes. he did that when the session started on wednesday. it appears that etched in stone on the mlk memorial will be corrected. that according to the washington post, interior secretary has ordered the change. now that quote on the monument reads, i was a drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness. folks say, that's taken out of context and makes king seem arrogant. the phrase comes from a speech that king delivered in which he said yes, if you want to say that i was a drum major, say that i was a drum major for justice. say that i was a drum major for peace. i was a drum major for righteousness. it's a bit different. >> a school day turns into a rock concert as the first lady and the cast of a hit tv show pay them a visit.

but first, tragedy struck twice in d.c. 30 years ago today. a flight crashed in the potomac and the metro derailed. we'll take a look back. next.

30 years ago today, three people died and 25 others were hurt when a metro train derailed between the federal triangle. the orange line train had 1200 people on board. they were all headed home for the everyoning rush. it was the first deadly

accident in the history of the transit agency. that crash, however, was over shadowed by another tragic event that day. the crash of air florida flight 90. 78 people died in that accident when the 737 bound for fort lauderdale crashed into the 14th street bridge and fell into the icy potomac. four victims were on the bridge crushed by the plane. the investigation blamed the accident on deicing and pilot error. >> and that disaster forced safety changes that likely saved countless lives since then. better communication protocalls, airlines have better chemicals to fight the ice on the plane's wings and strict timetables and regulations which mandate how long an airliner can wait on the taxiway before it is required to return for another round of deicing. still, all the safety measures in the world cannot make for foolproof air travel. >> do you think this could happen? >> unfortunately, i think that

because there's humans in the mix, we all have a chance to fail. >> hopefully that chance to fail is a lot smaller because of a lessons learned from that disaster now 30 years ago. a bitterly cold end to the week. is there any hope for a warmup over the weekend? topper will tell us if that's in the future. his full forecast in a few minutes. but first, a maryland soldier killed in action honored for the last time. that story is up next.

a woodsborrow, maryland soldier killed in afghanistan was layed to rest today. he was 24-year-old army specialist, ronald willdrick and died last month. he was buried with full military honors and leaves behind two young daughters. >> screaming dancing? hollywood stars is a big shift in subject matter here, but the most unusual school day. they got to meet the first lady and the cast of a hit tv show known as icarly. why the white house and nickelodeon are teaming up for a good cause. >> it's 10:00 a.m., but the auditorium feels more like a rock concert than an event for the first lady. >> these students have been screaming and dancing in this auditorium for over an hour. how are you excited to see michelle obama and the cast of

i carly? >> when they finally took the stage -- >> they were really loud. >> that was loud. >> the cast of i carly is here to debut a special episode featuring michelle obama. she did the episode to bring awareness about how tough it is to have kids in the military. and one of the highest concentrations of military families in the country. >> it was rough. it was really rough. >> 8th grader has two parents in the military. >> we moved around a lot. had to go to a couple of different schools. >> it's not easy changing schools every two years and keeping your brains up and knowing your dad is away serving in another part of the world, right? >> to get support from the first lady, an encouragement from the stars of her favorite tv show. >> it was the best experience ever. it was just amazing. >> in alexandria, kristin fisher, 9news now. >> neither topper nor i know

about icarly, maybe that means we're old. the icarly episode will be on this monday on nickelodeon. : parents are upset about a school discipline policy that calls for putting misbehaving children in the so-called quiet room. it's a room about 6 feet by 4 feet that used to be storage space. students from farm hill elementary are sometimes placed in there until they calm down a bit from a tantrum. some parents complain that only makes things worse for the kid. at a meeting last night, it was standing room only. >> you don't know what my daughter has to go through. >> you don't know what my son has to go through. >> what has changed this school from going the most admired to ashamed to say that our children come here. >> two state agencies launched investigations into the quiet room. make sure the children are not having their rights violated or injured. people in the midwest got a break on the snow shovel today

for the first time the winter. they were digging out -- break out those snow shovels. they had to dig out from yesterday's snowstorm. not anything huge, just most of the snow areas saw was 9 inches or so. chicago got 5. storm could drop close to a foot in new england. here in washington, d.c. though, nobody really saw any snow, at least not in the suburbs. however, way out in western maryland past the divide as top would say, this what it looked like. this was garrett county where a few inches of snow dropped in there overnight. let it stay out there and not here. >> it's not over yet. >> no snow all night and most of tomorrow. >> is that where the ski resorts are? >> yeah, drop down into the valley, timberline is there and further south is snow shoe. everybody gets snow. >> good news for them. >> if you're going to go skiing, bring those masks, because the windchills are going to be well below zero. let's look outside live and this is our live weather cam. beautiful shot of the white

house. temperatures finally in the 30 s now downtown. 38 officially. winds calming down westerly at 7. dew point in the mid teens. so pretty dry air mass and the pressure beginning to recover. temperatures in the suburbs, low 30s in some cases. 28 already in gaithersburg. 33 in great falls. and 32 also towards sterling. 30 in leesburg and to the south, we have mid 30s in springfield. 34 in beltsville. so temperatures are cold enough. factor in that breeze, there's a little bit of a breeze. it feels like it's 18 in gaithersburg. 20s in leesburg and manassas. if you're going to g out, you can dress for the 20s. if you're out late tonight, i would dress for the teens. all right, here's the deal. cold through sunday. winds will diminish tonight. windchills late tonight will be in the teens. cold saturday.

cold sunday. milder though for martin luther king day with sunshine. i think we might make it into the 40s on monday. all right tonight, partly cloudy, breezy, cold. a two or three blanket night. lows in the 20s. winds westerly. a far cry from where they were earlier today. by morning, mostly sunny, breezy and cold. teens and 20s to start. temperatures 20s and 30s to start and winds north, northwest at 10 to 15. by afternoon, partly cloudy and cold. a passing flurry still possible. high 35 to 39 and winds manageable, but out of the northwest at 10. all right, talk about the zone forecast. oakland tomorrow, maybe 16. maybe 16 for a high. 28 in cumberland. low 30s in hagerstown. mid 30s in martinsburg. maybe upper 30s in culpeper. 35 in manassas and warrenton. downtown, mid to upper 30s. maybe 37. 36 in gaithersburg. upper 30s into southern maryland. upper 30s to near 40 for annapolis and a small craft advisory remains in effect for the bay and title potomac for

tomorrow. 34, very nice on monday. sunshine and 46. rain rolling in on tuesday, not a big system and a little bit milder. temperatures go back into the low 50s. it will turn cold behind that system, but nothing really develops. we have temperatures going back in the low to mid 30s on wednesday. back in the low 40s on thursday. maybe a flurry on friday. highs low 30s. >> we had a break from the winter thing. we have to get back to it. we'll be back. we want to hear what you think. send your e-mails to mcginty's mail bag. the address, mailbag@wusa9.com. 9news now will be right back.

in the mail bag tonight, reaction to a story we ran yesterday regarding a homeless man in new york city named john jones who has been finding discarded fare cards that have value and selling them. the city says that is illegal and joey says the city may well be in the right. i think that you should be allowed to give those cards away, but not sell them because that's like scalping tickets and not right and taking advantage of people. but the guy is just trying to make ends meet. actually, i think he is pretty smart. he did not steal anything, but making use of other people's trash. the metro station should thank this man. not only is he cleaning up

their station, but advertising for them as well. i can't believe people are throwing away metro cards. i would encourage this homeless guy to do what he is doing, maybe metro should hire him. interestingly the new york mta is not saying much except it is illegal for anyone but them to sell the fare cards used or no. they also estimate $52 million goes unused every year, which if it's not sold by jones is free money for the subway. you do the math on that one. and finally this on the u.s. marines relieving themselveses on the corpses of their enemies. dean from maryland is more worried about the effect on our soldiers. by no means do i feel they should be more than scolded. people we, the united states of america sent our kids to kill. i have no problem with anything any of our troops do to the dead bodies of our enemies at the most, these marines should

be instructed to never do that again and call it good. well yeah, except it wouldn't be good. i understand how you feel about the troops, but keep in mind, an incident is a recruiting tool for the enemy. you said you'd like to see defeated. the address is mailbag@wusa9.com. that is our report. i'll be back tonight at 11:00. log on to wusa9.com any time. we'll see you a bit later. bye bye.

now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world. heather locklear in intensive care. is she out of control? >> did she overdose on a mixture of prescription pills and alcohol? >> the call to 911. her breakup with jack wagner. her disheveled appearance in public. what these new photos may reveal. then, khloe kardashian and her anger over her father's will. george and stacy. brad. charlize. the countdown to the golden globes. are the stars ready for ricky? >> i'll keep my head down. >> bring it on, ricky. plus -- >> i'm nancy o'dell at the beverly hilton where we're breaking it all down by the numbers. >> 9,000 glasses of champagne. and our top ten best dressed