langston 21. he pleaded guilty friday. now both men face up to three years in prison after admitting their organization got four separate grants from the d.c. council and then kicked back 306,000 of that to then d.c. councilman harry thomas for his personal use. did your client benefit in any way from this scheme? >> again, what we have something to say, i'll make all the information available that is available to me. reporter: at the beginning of the new year harry thomas, jr. resigned from the ward 5 council seat, then pleaded guilty to two felonies of stealing from youth programs. our sources say prosecutors still have cases against two people who are on harry thomas, jr.'s staff. their actions are detailed in court documents and there's somebody else who headed up one of those nonprofits, all three have lawyers. dorothy brizill, civic actor and founder of d.c. watch. >> we try to tell the kids to do the right thing, not lie, not steal and to go to school

and here their role models are being indicted. reporter: harry thomas, jr. will be sentenced in may. bruce johnson, 9 news now. >> marshall banks who is also a professor at howard university has no comment following his guilty plea last week. their attorney is telling associates privately that neither he nor garvin stole money, but they did knowingly help harry thomas, jr. obtain city funds. the state needs to close a $1.1 billion deficit. so martin o'malley has got a 15 point $3 billion budget that will generate $300 million in new revenue. where does that come from? more than half of it comes from $182 million in cap income tax deductions and a phaseout of exemptions. >> a family of four making $150,000 would pay $191 more or see $191 less in their state

refund check as make matter. i don't like asking for this. i -- practical matter. don't like asking for this. >> the government said about 80% of taxpayers in maryland won't see any change. our scott broom went through a lot of specifics in our 5 p.m. hour. his full report is on www.wusa9.com. on capitol hill house republicans pushed through a symbolic vote against an increase in the nation's debt limit. they supported a resolution rejecting president obama's request to raise the legal cap on borrowing by $1.2 trillion, but today's vote will no way block the rise involving authorities. police are trying to find two women targeting the elderly and using children as the bait. now one of their victims is speaking out and hopes it will lead to an arrest. surae chinn has more. >> i just hope they get call reporter: her life was threatened and she's scared but is speaking out because she

doesn't want anyone else to go through what happened to her last week. the ole lower woman was approached by a woman -- elderly woman was approached by a woman and three small children. the suspect woman said she needed help cashing a check. >> obviously the children were used to gain the victim's confidence. reporter: a second woman led the children away while the elderly woman drove the first suspect a mile to the bank of america on new hampshire and university boulevard. that's when police say the suspect implied she had a gun and threatened to shoot her if she didn't withdraw thousands of dollars from her bank account. >> i'm still scared. i keep looking around thinking that they're going to be watching me. reporter: clear surveillance video shows the suspect followed the victim into the bank as she withdraws part of her life savings. this grandmother has a message for others who may be lured in when small children are involved. >> you just get somebody else to help them or you walk off but don't try to help them.

you mean well, but it doesn't pay off. you try to help somebody and then they turn around and mistreat you. i don't think that's fair to us old folks. we're not stupid. we're not dumb. we just try to help people, but we have to be more cautious. reporter: in langley park, surae chinn, fox 5 news. a young stafford woman pleaded guilty to murdering her own mother. she's 18-year-old ashley nicole dye. she was 17 when the murder took place last july. prosecutors say ashley got into an argument with her mother brenda dye and shot her. according to court evidence, there was friction between mother and daughter over ashley's boyfriend. ashley dye will be sentenced in april. new at 6:00 a radical proposal tossed out during a conversation about extending the metro out to dulles. board member robert clark brown suggested scrap being the plans for a station at the airport in favor of a people mover system between the route 28 station and the dulles airport.

that idea was met with skepticism even as the metropolitan washington authority tries to lower the cost of the $2.8 billion project. 21 people are still missing tonight after friday's deadly cruise ship accident off the italian coast. rescueser are hoping for prance a miracle or two but they don't think they'll find any more survivors. they had to stop their operations today. the rough seas were shifting the costa concordia along the rocks that it originally ran into. crews are looking to offload 500,000 gallons of fuel from that ship. a win for environmentalists today as president obama reject an application to expand the keystone pipeline between canada and texas. supporters say that 1,700-mile project would help reduce u.s. dependence on foreign oil. the president argues his decision was based more on what he called the arbitrary deadline set by congress last year as part of the budget deal than the merits of the project

itself. today an immigration rally took center stage at steps of the federal courthouse in baltimore. reporter: i'm kristin fisher outside i.c.e. headquarters in baltimore where today dozens of people showed up to support a 59-year-old grandmother who is about to be deported. these protesters are fighting for the release of a 59-year- old grandmother of father who was first arrested last june for driving without a license, josefina rodriguez-vega. last week she was taken to an immigration detention facility in ocean city. >> she is a grandma and has significantly deem ties to her community. reporter: elizabeth gila with a casa day maryland says this directly contradicts a policy with homeland security that talks about deporting criminals, not 59-year-old grandmothers. >> we want to focus our limited resources on deporting serious criminals of. reporter: the fact is josefina

has been living here illegally for the last six years. still her family is asking i.c.e. to reconsider. in baltimore kristin fisher, 9 news now. >> so far i.c.e. declinedded our requests for comment, but a -- declined our requests for comment, but a spokeswoman says they'll issue a statement shortly about the case. 9 news now learned a metropolitan police sergeant was arrested early this morning for allegedly assaulting a bartender. jorell washington faces charges tonight and that alleged incident happened at bear in martin luther king -- a bar on martin luther king avenue in southeast. we'll bring you more tonight at 11:00. tonight on 9 news now at 7:00, no lunch for you, one school system eliminating school lunches trying to save money, but parents don't blame administrators. instead some are pointing the fingers at themselves. we'll tell you why at 7:00.

still to come, several popular websites took on a different look today. we'll tell you why coming up. >> much colder, 20 degrees colder now than at this time yesterday, but the numbers are kind of deceiving, 58 goes in the books as the high because it was 58 at midnight. 37 is the low so far but it was a midnight low. we'll probably have a low of 28 or 30 before it's all said and done. records, 69 and 6 below. we'll come back and talk about a cold front on the way and what that means for our forecast tomorrow night. up next millions of dollars in fines for the american red cross. we'll tell you what federal inspectors found at blood collection centers all across the country.

the fda is ordering the american red cross to pay a hefty fine, $9.6 million. federal inspectors say they

found hundreds of blood safety violations at nearly half the red cross collection centers in the country. violations included ineffective donor screening and not adding donors with infected blood to the national list of deferred donors. the fda says the violations were serious but did not compromise the nation's blood supply. it also says it has taken steps to address those problems. two disturbing pieces of video are getting a lot of play on the internet tonight. we want to warn you if you've got children in the room, you may want them to turn away a few moments. the first comes from our colleagues at army times. we've only chosen to show you some fills instead of the entire thing. the animal rights group peta is asking the army to look into this video posted on youtube. it appears to show a group of soldiers beating a sheep to death with a baseball bat. so far the army is not commenting. in chicago police arrested seven teens including a 15-year- old girl in the beating and robbery of a 17-year-old high

school student. this whole thing went viral after it was videotaped and posted on youtube. it happened sunday afternoon in the alley on the city's south side. one of the teens was charged as an adult. the teen being beaten has some cuts and bruises but is otherwise okay. still ahead millions of americans are considered underwater on their mortgages and now there is help on the horizon. we'll be back.

divers perform an underwater dragon dance yesterday at a water park in china to celebrate the approaching spring festival. according to chinese mythology the seas are ruled by dragon kings that live in crystal palaces under water. the water park hopes the performance brings people good look and good health in the new year. almost 30% of homeowners across the country are underwater on their mortgages and this morning at 5:30 when our jessica doyle mentioned a new program design toad help some of them, our phones lit -- designed to help some of them,

our phones lit up with questions. the latest version of the home affordable refinance program took effect yesterday. in the past you could not refinance if you owed more than 125% of your home's value, but now there's no limit. here's the deal, though. your mortgage has to be backed by fannie or freddie to qualify. you have to be on time with payments and finalize your closing date before june of 2009. jessica will tell you more tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. about the program. veterans from along the west coast were hire in d.c. today to try to find the same thing, a job. dozens of federal agencies and more than 20 private companies were there to help them find work. terrell brown introduces to us one iraq veteran ready to find his next assignment. reporter: iraq war veteran brian harley is fighting to find a new job. >> in a lot of ways it's kind of shame anyone has to, let alone a veteran. reporter: since he left the

marines in 2005 he's been unemployed. >> i have three degrees in professional cooking and baking, homeland security management and marketing management. reporter: after all of that you still are having a hard time finding a job? >> yes. reporter: according to the v.a. more than 13% of those who served in iraq and afghanistan are currently unemployed. the obama administration is taking steps to get service members working again offering tax credits to employers who hire veterans and hosting job fairs like this one. about 6,500 jobs are up for grabs here. veterans who don't find a match are offered one on one career counseling and help building their resumes. the v.a. has a new website designed to get veterans to explain their experience in a way that impresses civilian managers. harley says his resume is the biggest challenge. >> the little side skills i have, i can't translate over because it wasn't my primary focus. reporter: harrell would like to find a job doing something he's passionate -- harley would like to find a job doing

something he's passionate about, helping other veterans and the v.a. are planning to hold job fairs like this one from coast to coast in the months ahead. terrell brown, cbs news, washington. geography doesn't put d.c. between hollywood and silicon valley, but two measures making their way through capitol hill puts washington squarely in the middle. several high profile websites like wikipedia and google took steps to protest sopa and pipa today, the stop online piracy act and the protect ip act aimed at stopping illegal downloading of copyrighted material, movies, music and books. >> the websites are hurting american jobs, stealing american jobs, harming american consumers and have no business being on the internet. >> if you think of facebook, twitter, google and ebay, et cetera, people put things, users put things, on to company sites and companies can't control that. well, they could by censorship

and that's what we want to avoid. >> what makes unauthorized streaming of any copyrighted material punishable up to five years in prison and it also makes internet service providers immune to prosecution if they turn people in. >> we have got to do some serious bundling. >> we do, we do. >> bundling. >> it's 20, 25 degrees colder than it was this time yesterday. >> yes. >> so it's a temperature correction as we like to say. we're looking at temperatures kind of in the average range for the next several days. our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son, nice job of the capitol. the winds are still brisk. the flags are still flapping in the breeze, so to speak, and this time it's not a warm wind like it was last night. now it's a northwest wind at 16. down to 36, the low so far today, dew point 13, relative humidity 39%, which means your indoor relative humidity is

probably 10%. as you walk along the carpet today, you can shock your brother or sister. i always did when i was little. i was just a happy little younger brother, wasn't i? 32 in bees this that and rockville, 28 in garrett -- in bethesda and rockville, 28 in gaithersburg. winds will die down shortly and we're looking even to the east 34 college park, beltsville 31 already in laurel. here's the deal. chilly through the weekend, not cold, but just chilly, much colder tonight, fading sunshine tomorrow as a cold front approaches. friday bright but brisk and locate the umbrella for saturday. it looks like kind of a chill lane. tonight clear, cold. we'll say a two blanch night, low temps in the 20s and winds will be light after midnight. we get into lows downtown. we're looking at upper 20s, maybe in the 27, 28-degree range, 27 arlington and springfield, but back to the west 23 reston, 24 tonight in

fairfax, 22 in gaithersburg tonight for a low and 24 college park and bowie. tomorrow morning partly cloudy and cold, bundle up. lay the clothes out now for the kids at the bus stop, 20s and 30s. notice the winds turned southwest at 10 because of a cold front, increase going cloudiness, breezy and chilly, maybe an evening flurry north of town, high temperatures in the low 40s and winds continue southwest at 10 to 15, increase in the afternoon. 20s to start on the day planner, 27 to 32 and then 39 to 44, just chilly tomorrow. we might eke out a flurry north of town especially tomorrow night. friday returning mostly sunny, 41 and kind of a chilly rain saturday, temperatures in the low to mid-40s, about 43. next seven days, sunday got to keep some light rain in here, a little change from yesterday's seven-day, temps around 40 and then monday a morning show, but we're back in the low 50s,

maybe a morning shower tuesday, in the mid-40ors and next wednesday looks golfable -- mid- 40s and next wednesday looks golfable, sunny and 50. kristen berset is at the verizon center to take in all the action of. reporter: i think we'll see this a lot this season, lots of people coming to see the big names. tonight is kevin durant. is he back in town. the wizards and the fans weigh in on the hometown boy next live from the verizon center.

i'm anita brikman with a health alert. a study tracked 300 people with chronic back pain. some did yoga three months. others tried more traditional pain control. the yoga group reported less disability as their core and lower back muscles got stronger. >> this health alert is sponsored by cancer treatment centers of america, care that never quits. to learn more visit cancercenter.com.

now 9 sports with kristen berset, the best sports in town. reporter: welcome back. we are live at the verizon center. fans are coming in gearing up to see the wizards take on oklahoma city. it's the first versus the worst. oklahoma city has the best record in the league and, well, the wizards, we all know where they stand at 1-12, but everybody here tonight to see hometown boy kevin durant. now durant is a graduate of montrose christian, was picked second overall in the 2007 draft, played 14 games this season averaging 26 points a game. he's won the nba scoring title the last two years and is on his way to a third. the wizards are well aware of the tentie brings to the -- of the talent he brings to the floor. >> i'd say if i had to pick an mvp, i'd pick kevin. >> he does a lot of things to help him team win ballgames.

i watched him from houston texas when he was a longhorn, followed his career while he was in college. reporter: we can probably expect a pretty decent crowd tonight. i've already seen a lot of oklahoma city jerseys. i talked with some youngsters yesterday coming to the game. they didn't really care to see the wizards. they just wanted to see kevin durant. here's what some of the other fans already waiting here had to say about tonight's game. >> he's coming back home and i expect the crowd to show up. >> seeing kevin and russell westbrook will be really awesome, see how john wall stacks up with them. reporter: are you guys wizards fans usually? >> not really at all. i just wanted to see the thunder honestly. reporter: they're pretty honest. switching gears to the nfl, the ravens prepping today for their afc championship game against the patriots sunday. they were up at owings mills for a full day knowing any time you play the patriots the no. 1 priority is stopping tom brady and the pats offense. >> tom, you're talking about

arguably probably one of the best quarterbacks of all time. so you have your hands full from day one before you step on the field with him. reporter: remember you can watch the ravens/patriots match up right here on wusa9. kickoff is scheduled for 3:00. the nationals getting some national recognition. they will appear on espn sunday night baseball twice this season, primetime for them, their first time since opening day of 2008 when the nats first opened. time for our high school game of the week positive. here are some choices, boys basketball edison at yorktown, georgetown day at st. andrews, girls northwest at gaithersburg. log onto d.c.highschoolsports.net. i'm kristen berset. send it back to you guys in the studio. >> should be an exciting night on the hashedwood. that's it for us. the cbs evening news is next.

derek will see you at 7:00. have great night and bundle up!