hello, i'm j.c. hayward. we begin with breaking news from prince george's county. police right now are investigating the death of a pedestrian in the parking lot of a school. this accident happened at samuel chase elementary school

in the 5900 block of fisher road in temple hills. the victim is a woman, she was hit and trapped underneath the vehicle. we don't have any information about the vehicle right now but we'll get that to you as soon as we find it out. we do want to let you know classes were not in session at the time of this accident because prince george's county are closed today for teacher's professional day. and today is the 39th anniversary of the roe v. wade supreme court decision which legalized abortion in this country. and there are a full slate of march for life events including a pair session at verizon center and a march from the national mall to the united states supreme court. >> reporter: j.c., this march should be getting underway any minute now.

it is going to be starting in front of the smithsonian castle. you can see hundreds of people are making their way over there. when they get there, like said, any minute now, they should be waiting to hear from house speaker john boehner. he will be delivering the opening remarks. from there, they're going to make their way up to the u.s. supreme court. now, remember, march for life marked the anniversary of the rx oe v. wade decision which legalized abortion. this is the 39th march for life. it has become an annual pilgrimage. they have come here from all over the country. we caught up with a few of them a few moments ago. >> we want to see roe versus wade reversed. >> i have six kids of my life. i value life above everything else. there are no other matters that -- issues that matter. have life first so we can have liberty and pursuit of happiness. >> reporter: of course, this is only one side of the abortion

debate. while this march is for the pro- lifers, there will be some pro- choice supporters along the march routes. especially since it is so close to the occupy d.c. encampment at freedom plaza. the march will start right here on the national mall in front of the smithsonian castle any minute now. it will end around 1:30 in front of the u.s. supreme court. so, remember, until then, there are going to be a lot of street closures around capitol hill. but even so, after this event is over, a lot of the streets around constitution and independence, around 6th and 7th streets will be staying closed until 6:00 p.m. tonight. this will affect the evening commute. j.c.? >> all right, kristin fisher reporting live from the mall. thank you very much. well, if you were out early this morning, you had to deal with some icy roads maybe. but right now, we are dealing with dense fog in the metropolitan area. let's get right to howard. he has our forecast.

hello, howard. >> welcome back. >> thank you very much. we do have fog in spots. we still have a little bit of freezing potential until 1:00 now, freezing rain advisory still going on for loudoun, washington, frederick and carroll counties, no longer in effect here in the metro. and temperatures as you can see are above freezing. not by a lot but we don't need a lot. however in leesburg, frederick, hagerstown, still under the advisory. their temperatures are at or slightly above freezing. luray is 42. as the warmth moves over us, it is bringing in some rain with the pockets of a little bit of freezing rain. this isn't heavy but it doesn't take much to cause slick areas. the roads are treated. maybe the back roads or neighborhood roads, this is where you might be run running into the slick spots. this is weakening some out of west virginia into the shenandoah valley. and now toward the metro. over the next few hours, we'll have the showers on and off here and it does look like we'll slowly try to get warmer. this may be a little

optimistic. temperatures may actually struggle to get into the lower 40s. 42 by 3:00. still showers around. then slowly drying out this evening. 45 by 6:00. 46 by 9:00. we may hit our high around midnight. better days tuesday and wednesday. i'll have that coming up in about ten minutes. j.c.? >> all right, thank you very much, howard. we should find out later today how penn state will honor the legendary former coach joe paterno. paterno died over the weekend from complications from lung cancer. we should also hear from his family later today about funeral arrangements. scott broom is joining us live now from university park pennsylvania with more on what is happening there. scott? >> reporter: well, we're outside beaver stadium right now. this is where the joe paterno statue is. it is cold, wet and miserable and still the faithful and the curious are coming. take a look behind me. you can see the statue of joe

paterno here outside beaver stadium. it has now become a shrine where grief has been focused most openly in the wake of the coach's death. last night, thousands also gathered on campus spontaneously to memorialize paterno. that's where many players past and present shared memories of the legendary coach. also, last night, the stadium lit all night long with an image of paterno on the jumbotrons projected to hundreds of thousands of empty seats. joe's son, jay, tweeted about seeing the glow of the stadium on the horizon saying i will never lose joe's light in my life. also on campus today, lots of students are wearing white in honor of joe paterno, a penn state tradition called white- out. the governor here in pennsylvania has ordered flags at half staff. quite a display for a man who only two months ago was vilified for not doing enough to stop the sex abuse scandal that ended his career here at penn state. meanwhile, j.c., as you reported, the biggest question remains exactly how will this

university, which severed its ties and fired joe paterno, how will that very same university memorialize him? we're told there are major plans in the works but the university is staying quiet. everybody awaiting paterno's family to take the lead. announce their funeral arrangements which have not been announced and at that point, the university and many thousands of others will begin to take their queues as to how to continue to move forward with their grief for joe paterno. reporting live at state college, pennsylvania, scott broom, 9news now. thank you very much, scott. the republican race for the presidency is now moving to florida where mitt romney is taking aim at newt gingrich. the former speaker pulled off a win in south carolina on saturday. and of course, romney wants to stop that from happening in florida. randall pinkston has more. >> reporter: mitt romney is fighting in florida to knock down newt gingrich after the former speaker pulled off a big

win in south carolina. >> people should know if there is going to be an october surprise. in the case of the speaker, he's got some records which could represent an october surprise. we could see an october surprise today from newt gingrich. >> the former massachusetts governor once held a double digit lead in florida polls. now at least one shows gingrich leads the pack. he believes voters like what they're hearing from him. >> i have flaws. i have weaknesses, i've had a long career. the fact is what you see really is what you get and i'm prepared to stand toe to toe with barack obama and debate him successfully this fall. that's the key to beating him. >> reporter: to win florida, gingrich needs money, lots to counter romney's media blitz. romney has been running tv ads in florida for weeks. gingrich hasn't. the former speaker's aides say he raised about $9 million in the final months of 2011. romney raised $24 million in the same timeframe and despite romney and gingrich treating this like a two-man race, two

other candidates say they're still in the nomination fight. rick santorum kicks off his florida campaign today after his third-place finish in south carolina. ron paul is focusing on nevada and other states holding caucuses in the months ahead. randall pinkston, cbs news, the white house. despite his decision to skip campaigning in florida, ron paul plans to attend tonight's debate. mitt romney is also answering the challenge from his rivals to release his tax information. his staff will post his 2010 tax return and also an estimate for his 2011 return online tomorrow. congresswoman gabrielle giffords will resign from office in the next few days. the arizona democrat survived an assassination attempt last year. she released. >> tube video yesterday thanking people for their support. >> i have more work to do on my

recovery. so, to do what is best for arizona, i will step down this week. >> the congresswoman says that she will attend the state of the union address tomorrow and she is also attending a meet and greet in tucson that was planned this time last year and of course, it ended in the shooting that left six people dead. there will be a special election to replace congresswoman giffords in april. the president's state of the union address again is tomorrow night. of course, you can watch it right here on channel 9 and also go to wusa9.com. it begins at 9:00 p.m. we'll also bring the republican response from indiana governor mitch daniels. the european union has banned oil imports from iran and a move aimed at putting pressure on the regime to abandon its

nuclear program. foreign ministers adopted the embargo at a meeting in brussels. the united states, britain and france sent six warships into the sensitive international waters over the weekend. a senior iranian official warned iran would lose -- would close the entry point to the gulf if new sanctions blocked its oil imports. a civil protection official says that the cruise ship that tipped over off the coast of italy is stable and is not at risk for sinking deeper. divers are searching for more missing people as engineers begin removing millions of gallons of fuel from the concordia. 13 people were killed in that january 13th accident. 19 people are still missing. still to come on 9news now at noon, in today's hero central report, i shed the spotlight on a local charity that has been a lifeline for

scores of families throughout the metropolitan washington area. plus, find out why there is concern that another deadly earthquake could hit japan soon. of we're going to have the ambassador with us.

today, i'm delighted to be one on one with the japanese ambassador. i want to tell you the researches in tokyo say there is 70% chance that another major earthquake will hit japan in the next four years. the residents of japan are moving forward. there are big plans for a special centennial celebration for the new year. i'm delighted to welcome the japanese ambassador. his excellency. so nice to have you. always a delight. >> thank you very much for having me right after the earthquake, i lost much. i really was very much appreciative of what you have given me a chance to explain to the viewers what was happening

in japan. >> hearts go out to the residents of japan. how are they doing now? it has been almost a year? >> we're recovering. it was such a big devastation. it would take some time. but the recovery is taking very rapidly. but without americans helping us, that was not possible. so, we are so much grateful. i am giving out this wristband saying gratitude. >> oh. >> thank you to my american friends and i'm going to give it to you. >> this is lovely. >> this is gratitude, friend and bond. i would like to give 100 of them to the viewers. >> wonderful. >> you know what? i will put it on my web site, jchayward.com. i'll put a link to your web site. people who are interested. these are lovely bracelets to

seal our friendship and our love for one another. and i know -- i want to get into the fact that we are celebrating 100 years that your country gave us the beautiful cherry blossoms that are down on the mall. 100 years. my goodness. our relationship is very special between the two countries. >> it is. we are very happy that we'll be able to celebrate this 100 years centennial and it was the idea of mrs. taft, the first lady then. a lot of people to realize it and finally, it was the city of tokyo who donated this and the mayor was so much appreciative. he came here right after the war and the congress honored him for this gift. >> well, before we leave, i must say that this report today that there is a 70% chance

there could be more devastation, another earthquake certainly is sad news for you and the residents of tokyo. >> very frankly. we have to be very attentive to these researchers' reports. at the same time, they are various reports so we have to prepare ourselves but that doesn't mean that we are not trying to recover. we will always try to be as attentive as possible of all of the reports. i think there are many researchers made and we have to be careful following that. >> i hope they're wrong. mr. ambassador, thank you for being with us. go to jchayward.com and you can find out how you can get this lovely bracelet that seals our relationship and our love and of course, they're celebrating their new year which is the year of the dragon and lots of celebrations in the washington area. thank you for being here with

us. we're going to take a break and we'll be back in just a moment. stay with us.

32 years ago on dr. martin luther king's birthday, the largest nonprofit food bank in the washington area opened its doors. washingtonian magazine has named the capital area food bank on its list of best charities. we're featuring them today on hero central. >> i don't say celebrating.

i say commemorating. >> these are tough times. one in two americans are either low income or poor. 50% of the children that live in the district of columbia don't get an adequate diet. one in four children in prince george's county don't get a decent diet. >> liz brantley is known as the mother of the food bank. her cofounder, reverend clark loganstein is the executive director of the interfaith conference of metropolitan washington. >> we thought that the food bank was on board to end hunger. and instead, the need has just grown and grown and grown and grown. >> the food bank distributes 30 million pounds of food annually to youth programs, nursing homes, shelters and churches. more than 700 agencies are supplied food by the bank.

>> we have a core of people here in our own community. they help to save us over a million dollars a year. in terms of our expenses. so, it is the sorting of food and it is putting everything together. to make it happen. >> the cap tal area food bank just couldn't operate without the help of its volunteers. they sort food, they teach classes, they provide a variety of necessary tasks. at least 20,000 volunteers a year come here. and the volunteers that are here today are 20 students from the university of illinois. >> i decided i wanted to take a trip to help people who needed help. so, that was my main goal and to hang out with some cool people. >> in june, the capital area food bank will move to a new building. three times as large, just a quarter mile away. organizers say they will be able to do an even better job in the new location. and the new location is going to be 123,000 square

feet. if you would like to see the story again or share it with some of your friends, go to jchayward.com and select hero central. let's go to howard and get another look at the forecast. >> j.c., cool and damp this afternoon. some fog in spots. some drizzle. some showers. temperatures slowly struggling into the lower 40s. even this, i'm afraid may be optimistic. we may be only 40 here or low 40s at best this afternoon. we'll give it a run. get up to 45 or 46 this evening. the highs will be set before midnight. winds will turn to the south and southwest at 5 to 10 miles per hour. looks like the next several hours, the best chance to see showers, we've got the line of showers coming out of west virginia in toward western virginia, western maryland just about toward the metro. if you look at it on live doppler 9000 hd, a few showers on the eastern shore but really between i-95 and i-81 is where we've got the showers. you'll notice the little purple up north, the threat for the

lit precipitation at this hour. you still have the freezing rain advisory north until 1:00. west side of town, montgomery county, fairfax county, this is where we're seeing the showers. more showers as you head out toward the shenandoah valley and some heavier showers up approaching the hagerstown area. temperatures are still chilly. 36 in town. up to 42 luray. 40 in southern maryland. hagerstown now up to 36. they're getting away from the freezing precip. visibilities go way down. zero at dulles. quarter mile martinsburg and gaithersburg. about a half-mile at reagan national. fog will be a problem for the next few hours. looking at the michael & son weather camera, you can see the capital and the clouds and the fog out there. the current temperature of 36 degrees. look for showers around for the afternoon. as we head into the evening hours, things will slowly dry out but still cloudy. we'll be lucky to get to 46. not moving much tonight. 35 to 42. tomorrow, milder, 54. as we head toward wednesday,

52. thursday, another chance of a shower or two. 49. a better chance on friday for rain. 50. then colder this weekend. talking maybe something wintry by sunday. we'll be right back with more 9news now at noon right after this.

thanks for being with us. come back and visit us at 5:00 p.m.