mother. >> maria is the grandmother of eight-year-old brian hernandez chavez who was killed on sunday afternoon. his mother was severely injured when police say a drunk driver jumped a curb and barreled into them. they were walking to land mark mall along duke streak past the overpass. >> i can't believe he's gone. he was like a little brother to me. >> brian's uncle, martin lopez watched his nephew after school. >> he likes sponge bob and soccer mostly. >> the family's grief is drenched in anger at 22-year- old victor aldona who had a blood alcohol contest of .15. he is charged with dui manslaughter, dui maiming and dui wreckless driving. >> his friend does not have a drinking problem. >> you don't see him drink? you don't see victor drinking? >> no. >> the police say he was very

drunk. mucho drunk. >> he has been working for the last few months at the nearby kfc. >> when he's here, he works hard. >> the fatal incident happened a half mile from where both the victims and the suspect live. they live in the same apartment complex. brian's grandmother says he knows victor. >> and she wants him punished severely for taking his grandson's life. >> he was here on saturday. she took care of him on saturday and there's a candle where he was sitting. >> peggy fox, 9news now. >> brian's mother is still in the hospital. she has two broken legs, a broken pelvis and other injuries. she doesn't remember anything after being hit and they have been told not to talk about what happened to her son until she perhaps gets stronger. lesli. >> life in prison, plus 200 years. that's the potential penalty for a man accused in a brutal

series of home invasions and sexual assaults. kevin ray has confessed and bruce leshan says you are not going to believe his explanation. >> growning and on crutches from injuries suffered during his arrest, kevin ray faced a judge who had just heard a prosecutor detail that explanation. he allegedly told detectives he was out alone invading homes and raping women in montgomery and prince georges counties last week because his partner had been killed earlier while the two of them were holding up drug dealers in the district. >> the defendant has prior convictions from manslaughter, armed robbery, and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. >> prosecutors say his latest spree spread terror across two counties. he pointed a gun at a woman and threatened to kill her and her baby if she failed to hand over her money and her credit cards. in bethesda, he forced a 14-

year-old boy to tie up his own mother. sexually assaulted the housekeeper, and forced her to shower because he knew his dna was in the sex offender registry. in temple hills, he allegedly again threatened to kill a baby. bound six people with zip ties and raped a young mother. >> there were threats to kill not only the women that were the primary victims, but to kill their children. >> police say they are still looking for a second man who was on the scene in bethesda, but they say he played only a minor role. they also say that they have a confidential informant who identified ray from this surveillance photo. but they are not identifying him because he fears retribution. at rockville district court, 9news now. >> ordered him held without bond. the civil trial of a former frederick county sheriff deputy is underway in baltimore.

the trial is over the november 2007 death of gray. his parents claim former deputy, rudy torres, use the exceptionive force when he fired a stunt gun. they are seeking $145 million for what they say was a wrongful death. the state medical examiner could not determine a cause of death. new at 6:00, a grand jury has formally charged a man with trying to assassinate president barack obama. he is oscar hernandez of idaho. he was arrested just days after he allegedly fired up to a dozen shots at the white house on november 11. during a december hearing, the judge ordered him held without bond and he is in custody. >> tonight congress is back in session for the first time in a month and some of the highlights look a lot like they did at the end of last year. addressing the debt ceiling. whether or not to extend tax cuts. today, some protesters wanted to push their own agenda to the top of the list. >> i'm lindsey mastis on

capitol hill. members of the occupy movement from across the country came here today to be a part of occupy congress. >> occupy boston. >> people from across the country came here to make a point about congress. >> all of them have bought into the appropriate scheme. this wall street revolving doors. there's not a single representative that is not taking corporate money. it doesn't matter if you're republican or republican, if you're in congress, taking the corporate money and part of the system that is corrupted our democracy. >> they are occupying the line, but the capital police are keeping the sidewalk off limits. a few protesters taunted police and even crossed through. some of their efforts resulted in arrests. protesters are spending the rest of their evening marching to the white house and the supreme court. on capitol hill, i'm lindsey mastis, 9news now. >> congress heads back to work with approval ratings at a

historic low. a poll of a thousand adults finds just 13% of those asked approve of the job lawmakers are doing on capitol hill. for comparison, 48% approve of how president obama is doing his job. we are getting our first glimpses of the damage of the cruise ship. you can see the side of the ship sitting on the rocks in these under water photos. sandra endo has the latest on the crash that killed 11 people and left another 23 missing. >> new tapes released by italian officials shed new light on captain francesco schettino's actions, his ship carrying roughfully 4,000 passengers hit rocks and began sinking. at one point, schettino admitted he was not on board the ship to help with rescue efforts soon after the crash. italian coast guard officials ordered him to get become on. >> you go on board. it is an order. you cannot make any other

evaluation. you have declared abandoning ship. now i'm in charge. you get on board. is it clear? >> the recording shows schettino initially told italian officials the ship suffered a technical glitch. when asked how many passengers were still on board the cruise liner, he under estimated the count and couldn't give a  precise answer. experts say the captain failed at his job by abandoning ship. >> complete dereliction of duty. it was his responsibility to stay aboard. he should have been there the whole time. >> the captain is under arrest and could face manslaughter charges. in washington, i'm sandra endo. coming your way tonight on 9news now at 7:00, a proposal by a northern virginia lawmaker would cut the car's state tax by hundreds and millions of dollar, but how he plans to pay for it has republicans doa. we'll see you then.

still ahead in this half hour, two months after the university of maryland announced it needed to cut eight athletic programs, efforts to save them are in full force. top. >> it's rather windy to breezy, but it's a warm breeze. temperatures in the 50s. we'll show you temperatures and it doesn't feel like january. 57 in manassas and leesburg. and 54 up in frederick and 46 in oakland. we'll come back and talk about the chance for showers through the evening and just how cold it's going to get behind the cold front. and up next, half a year after a tattered flag flew at the park happened again.

you saw the story first on 9 and we received another e- mail telling us a tattered flag was flying at a georgetown park. not just any park, but the francis scott key park. a memorial for the man who wrote the star spangled banner.

the national park service replaced the first flag back in july after we brought it to their attention. today they replaced that flag again, which had become frayed due to the wind. a spokesman says the staff of rock creek park deeply regret the condition of the flag flying. we will recommit our efforts to regularly monitor the flag. lottery action on our wusa9 facebook page about a controversial homework assignment. a sixth grader was asked to pretend that he was a slave in the southern united states and write a journal about his life. his mother said her son hid from the assignment or hid the assignment from her because he was embarrassed by it and he didn't want to do it. once she found out, jessica gibson says she contacted the school, but she didn't get the kind of solution he wanted and the debate over this issue was heated on our facebook page. quote, i would be upset about this also. this would strike a nerve with black people. while jonathan youngson write,

i think it's a good idea. puts children in that mind set. the understanding about the struggles of others. and dana oliver sums it up. those who don't learn from history are bound to repeat it. you can join the conversation on our facebook page. still to come, a national radio host with quite a reputation takes aim at a member of the d.c. council. find out why rush limbo is calling out. but first, a preview of tonight's cbs evening news. >> 66 years after his act of bravery went unrewarded. finally receives the metal he deserves. we'll have that story tonight on the cbs evening news.

parents and students at the university of maryland have been desperate to save varsity programs that have been cut because of budget problems. now parents and coaches from the swimming and dive team

believe they have come up with a solution. surae chin joins us live from college park to tell us more about this plan. tell us how they plan to save the team. >> they are having a business plan that is put together. i want to tell you, i'm standing in front of the rec center and this is where most of the team, they practice, they swim, and they compete. and parents are very passionate about saving them and keeping them afloat. now these parents also just met with the university. the group made up of seven parents call themselves the umd save the swim and dive team and they are feeling hopeful tonight. they don't have quite the $11.5 million needed by june 30. but they say they have the commitment and at least a million dollars in pledges and a business plan and several million more from private donors and corporations. >> we are very confident in our ability not only what we have already done in ten short weeks in terms of raising a

million dollars, 50 key prospects, but putting together a legitimate business plan that we are fully confident we can execute over time. >> choosing the school i never, ever thought about this might happen or obviously i think it would have helped change my decision. but it is so shocking to everyone. no one saw it coming. >> and by the way, the woman you just heard is a student and a junior on the swim team. she is an acc record holder for the butterfly stroke. these parents will be meeting in annapolis with legislators. they come up with some great ideas talking about possibly sponsoring the pool. they want to keep this program going for at least four years and so far, they are liking what they are saying and hearing from the athletic director. they feel like they have a commitment from the athletic director, ken anderson. back to you. >> thank you.

rush limeremarks he made about politicians who push their own ideology. >> she is the woman behind the d.c. plastic bag tax. which requires washington, d.c. stores to charge a nickel for every plastic bag that a customer uses. >> he later said the bag tax is typical liberal agenda politics. for the record, supported the bag tax, but she did not introduce the legislation that later became law. have some facts when you lay things down. if you say weather and seattle, you think about rain. but tonight, the city is bracing for a foot of snow. wow. the area has been getting some steady snow since the weekend, but the biggest part of the storm is expected to hit tomorrow and that has the mayor urging residents to stay off the road since the city owns

pretty few snowplows and most drivers have almost no experience in the winter weather. i know you would love to have some of that here. >> i would. the only thing we have in common is washington. that's about it. they have a bunch of snow in the mountains, but normally you're looking at rain. even portland. all right, we're looking at the flip side of the coin. it's cold there, things balance out in weather, so now we're on the warm side. temperatures got in the upper 50s. let's start with the weather cam. a beautiful shot of the capital. you can see the flags whipping in the breeze. it is still a very warm breeze. winds are still generally out of the south, southwest. and consequently, temperatures are in the upper 50s. 58 downtown. 44 is the dew point. winds southwest at 17. and humidity is 60%. so we are looking at a very mild evening and most of the showers now ducking south of us. a couple sprinkles towards beltsville and bowie.

for the most part, we'll zoom in as you go down 95 south. these showers are light. they died out once they crossed 95. light showers on the east side of 95. headed for the northern neck and headed into extreme southern maryland and maybe grazing southern charles county. that's about it. after that, they are going to roll off to the south and east pretty quickly. temperatures, well, still in the upper 50s. 58 in rockville. 57 in latensville. 58 in arlington. to the west, we're talking upper 50s in reston and great falls. to the east, 57 in beltsville and 57 in andrews. and even out to the far west in leesburg, it's still 57. it is not cold. the cold front itself is way west of the mountains. rumble of thunder possible. maybe a shower possible before 9:00. that's about it. then breezy and cold tonight. you'll need your sunglasses tomorrow and then somewhere between cold and chilly through the remainder of the week. for tonight, a shower possible

before 9:00. breezy and cold. lows in the 30s. lows will become northwesterly at 10 to 15 after the front goes through. it will be well after midnight. even though the front is coming through, temperatures aren't going to make it near freezing. 36 tonight for a low in gaithersburg. 36 in reston. 38 downtown. 37 in bowie. now tomorrow morning, plenty of sunshine, breezy and cold. dress for the windchills. windchills in the 20s. temperatures in the 30s. by afternoon, mostly sunny and colder, but that's an average day for us in january. high temperatures around 40. we have been spoiled. all right, next seven days. looks like this. thursday clouds come back. a weak clipper goes to our north. clouds, maybe a sprinkle or flurry. most of the snow will be in the mountains and colder on friday a. chilly rain develops on saturday and then we are mild again in the 50s sunday, monday, and tuesday with more rain on tuesday. >> all right my friend, let's talk about the one winning team in washington. we spent so much time talking about the others. >> let's talk about the caps.

some real winning hockey. you follow the caps, there's always reason to be excited. tonight, there's reason to be extra excited. how do the wizards avoid loser talk and loser thought and they make a big decision considering a pitching prospect of the future. sports coming up next.

work is going to improve customer reliability.

and now, 9sports with dave owen. the best sports in town. >> caps at home tonight. that's good news. how good is that news? very. there's 15 teams in the eastern conference. no one is better at home than big red. when a season in which we have seen a coaching change and expectations lowered. at least the capitals can hang their lid on that. they will prove it to the islanders. it's night and day when you talk about the caps at home and on the road. mike says no problem. we're going to fix that. >> i think we have done a great job of maximizing the points at home. because we haven't gotten them on the road. we have to make them up somewhere. just finish off a great week. a great home stand and worry about playing on the road. >> baseball news, and it's good. the nats reached a contract deal today. made a great comeback last year winning 8 games.

he was the team's best pitcher. there are still two to be signed. they have to get moore signed. there's a lot of numbers. you knew that, right? only one team shoots worse. only two teams score less. they are near the top of the league in one category. top, do you know? technical fouls. there you go. storm clouds hovering around 6 and f. that's not good. did you read that in my proctor? maybe. did you know the wizards are getting beat by 12 points per night. you have to wonder if losing is becoming something they expect. how do you avoid that thinking? >> can't hang our head down. we can't let our body language show on the court. our body language is where we play. we have to keep playing hard, play through the mistakes. it's a good process. but you have to be patient. >> georgetown and maryland in action tonight.

number 12 hoyas on the road. i call this a gimme game. if georgetown wins, i'll do the sports cast in a wig. maryland at florida state, that's a tougher test. maryland coming off an 11 point win over georgia tech this weekend. time to reveal this week's high school game of the week poll. boys basketball. edison at yorktown is one of the better ones. washington lee at mount vernon. the winning game is featured friday night. serena williams who says she is not in great shape. but playing passionate today. straight set winner into the second round. blond wig tonight. >> okay, we better find one if it doesn't work out so well. let's hope it does work out. the cbs evening news is next. derek will see you at 7:00. have a great night.