thanks for joining us, i'm jc hayward. we begin with breaking news from arlington. police from several agencies are investigating a suspicious package on memorial drive. part of that road and other streets near arlington cemetery are closed. metro alert say that trains are passing by the arlington cemetery station without

stopping because of police activity. shuttle bus service is available from the rosalind station. and in the last 90 minutes, representative gabrielle giffords bid farewell to her colleagues on capitol hill. giffords announced she would resign this week to focus on her recovery. the arizona democrat was shot in the head last january while meeting with constituents. she stood next to fellow congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz as her friends shared giffords' thoughts. it has been the greatest proposals privilege of her life -- the greatest professional privilege of her life to it represent them. her public service has meant a great deal to her and that this is only a pause in that public service and that she will return one day. [ applause ] >> the arizona democrat's husband, retired astronaut mark kelly and her mother attended

the farewell ceremony. giffords returned to washington to hear president obama deliver the state of the union address last night. well, president obama is expected to arrive in cedar rapids, iowa in just a few minutes. that will be the first of the president's three stops today to tout proposals from his state of the union speech. most of last night's address focused on the economy, including a proposal for higher taxes for the rich. >> you can call this class warfare all you want. but asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes, most americans would call that common sense. >> no feature of the obama presidency has been sadder than its conextent efforts to -- constant efforts to divide us. >> indiana governor mitch daniels delivered the official republican response. after his stop in iowa, president obama will fly to phoenix, arizona and then he's on to las vegas tonight.

9 news now reporter gary nurrenberg got some reaction from area lawmakers. reporter: we talked about regulations and mortgages. you need to remember it was overregulation that caused the housing problem, the community reinvestment act which required, fined banks if they didn't make irresponsible to people who they knew they couldn't pay it back, the people knew they couldn't pay it back. >> this is the last chance and i think it was the implicit message, if you don't work with me, most of these things i'm going to do on my own and that's what i'm going to do. if you can do them with me, the american people are far better off. >> our coverage continues at wusa.com. you can read the complete text of the president's address and the republican response and also take a look at a fact check that was done by our partners at usa today. this morning president obama got a chance to make one of those pleasant phone calls. the president called john buchanan to tell him that his

daughter is safe. u.s. special forces staged an overnight rescue mission in somalia. jessica buchanan and a danish man were kidnapped in october and held hostage for three months. the same seal team that killed osama bin laden rescued the hostages. they had been working in somalia with a danish aid organization. buchanan is on her way home to the united states. and today marks one year since the start of the revolution in egypt. at the points of thousands of egyptians -- tens of thousands egyptians gathered in cairo to mark the anniversary. it took 18 days of protests for egyptians to oust their president, and the country's new parliament opened its first session on monday. this morning thousands lined up to pay their respects to joe paterno. the viewing for penn state's former football coach started yesterday and resumed for four

hours this morning. the views has just ended, so that paterno's family can prepare for a private burial service this afternoon. students, alumni and fans are also flocking to stores in state college in order to buy momentos of their coach. >> in remembrance of him, it's out of respect, he did so much for us and now that he's not around, it's just great to represent why we're so proud to be here and who he is as a leader. after this afternoon's private burial, a public memorial service for joe paterno will be held tomorrow. it's at the bryce jordan center on penn state's campus. virginia state police say it will take another couple of hours in order to clean up the situation in springfield. a dump truck struck an overhead sign on the inner loop of the beltway near the exit to i-395. the sign is damaged and there are pieces of it hanging down near the roadway. the left lanes are closed, but

traffic is still squeezing through on the right side of the inner loop. at this hour first lady michelle obama is wrapping up an event in alexandria, virginia. the first lady and agricultural secretary tom vilsack visited park long elementary school along with celebrity chef rachael ray. they spoke with parents about the usda's new nutrition standards for school lunches. most school meals will now feature less sodium, more whole grains and more fruits and vegetables. the pizza is staying on the menu. it will be made, however, with healthier ingredients. a groundbreaking crime- fighting app for the university of maryland campus goes live today. it is called m urgency. students will be able to send video and other information directly to police. dispatchers will use gps in order to determine the

student's location. still ahead, actress demi moore seeks professional help after months in the spotlight over her divorce. plus parents sue one local school system over its redistricting plans. we'll be back.

the federal reserve is expected to leave interest rates near historic lows when it wraps up its two-day meeting this afternoon. for the first time fed members will also offer their individual views on the economy and interest rates. it is an effort by the board to be more transparent with investors. house republicans got a promise from the director of the national park service to enforce no camping laws at mcpherson square. that's where occupy d.c. protesters have been staying overnight for almost four months. the federal law says demonstrations are allowed with a permit, but not sleeping at the site. the director jonathan jarvis admitted his officers have been looking the other way and that upsets some members of the house oversight committee.

>> if you want to change the rules, that's fine, just let me tell my constituents who want to visit d.c. this summer that they can come to any park they want to and they can bring their tent as long as they say they're protesting. >> while jarvis did say park service police will begin to enforce the no-camping laws, he did not say when or how. however, this morning our crews spotted park service officers walking through mcpherson square and taking notes. jarvis also told reporters that the occupy protesters would not be evicted unless there is a major health concern or another emergency. we do have a health alert for virginia parents now about their children's vaccinations. a state health committee has approved a bill to end required vaccinations for girls against the human papillomavirus. hpv is sexually transmitted and it can lead to cervical cancer.

republicans say the current lawu2nd2nd periods parental discretion and it encourages casual premarital sex. the house could take up the bill on friday. a neighborhood in leesburg is suing the louden county school board over a redistricting plan. that plan will transfer more than 50 children from a school they can see from their homes to a school that is miles away. the children now attend tabert elementary pt the redistricting would send them to douglas elementary school which is under construction. the lawsuit says the school board did not consider proximity or community and it ignored better options for student population and diversity. >> another board member said she voted for it because it made the most sense and no communities were split up. well, that was false. >> there were nonpublic hearings done here, we did some

hearings in leesburg. we put our notices in english and spanish ahead of time, they were we'll attended. all plans were posted on the website. so this was a fair boundary process. >> the school system's public information officer says in order for the board to reconsider the decision, it would have to redo the entire procedure, including holding another four months of public hearings. a massive broadway hit is returning to washington for a very short second run. we're going to talk with one of the actors in just a moment. plus actress demi moore seeks help after having her personal life in the spotlight for months. stay with us. it's a gorgeous afternoon out here, bright sunshine and temperatures not as warm as yesterday, still good. we got light winds so it feels pretty good. we got that 46 at reagan national, up to 48 in culpepper, 43 in annapolis and 43 up in hagerstown.

rain headed this way before the week is out when 9 news now returns.

entertainment media outlets are report being that demi moore has checked into a facility seeking treatment for exhaustion. but cbs correspondent lee cohen reports that the actress may be facing more serious shus. reporter: there have been a string f red carpet appearances of late. demi moore has hardly been in hiding. but the public phase of the actress that seems to never age has been changing of late.

>> her appearance has been rather alarming over the past few months. she's lost a significant amount of weight and she's been very upset about her marriage to ashton kutcher. it's something that affected her. reporter: she split from the star of cbs' "two and a half men" last november after allegations of cheating on kutcher's part. late monday, a spokesperson for moore said it had all finally taken a toll. because of the stresses in her life right now, a statement read, demi has chosen to seek professional asissance to seek treatment for exhaustion as well as her overall health. >> demi moore definitely has an image of being a very healthy individual. she's always walking around, carrying juices, she's always very slim. but actually this proves how difficult the past few months have been for her. reporter: adding to the public worry? celebrity website tmz reports the actress had been rushed to

a los angeles hospital monday night and underwent treatment for substance abuse. despite her private struggles, she has a lot to be publicly proud of. >> we have gotten ours exposed here. >> reporter: she got a nod for best screen play and her performance critically acclaimed. for cbs this morning, i'm lee cohen in hollywood. >> so far no major trouble has been reported from a solar storm hitting earth. a huge flare erupted on the surface of the sun. over the past few days, it has sent streams of radiation bouncing across the earth's magnetic field. there have been concerns that the radiation would disrupt things like satellite communications, but it is believed the radiation spikes have now passed their peak. >> this was category 3 on a one to five scale that's space

weather. the national weather service is the space weather decision out of boulder, colorado. they've rerouted planes from flying over the poles, so passengers and crew wouldn't be exposed to radiation. there were northern lights in places like finland and canada, maybe down into the u.s. we didn't get any reports around here that i'm aware of. so far it hasn't been that bad, thankfully. we'll have to watch it. biggest solar storm since 2003 to affect the earth. really gorgeous around here, nice afternoon. temperatures running in the 40s right now and it's going to make a run in some spots toward that 50-degree mark before the day is out. we're watching temperatures in the mid-40s here in the next couple of hours. 47 by 3:00. i was going 46 this morning, i'm thinking 48 is a more likely number. by 5:00, partly cloudy, 45 and then the clouds thicken up after dark. we're going to see the moisture coming in from the west. clouds, 44. the winds, by the way, very

light this afternoon, three miles an hour, calm and then by 9:00 42 and cloudy. looks like rain showers will be moving in overnight. clear skies have been with us most of the day. we're seeing a little bit of cloudiness over our southwest which may come across the district over the next hour or so. so we'll call it partly sunny this afternoon, but i don't think the thick stuff will get here until maybe after dark. right now we've got 40 up north in hagerstown, 46 in fredricksburg, easton 45. also 45 in winchester. temps running in the 40s everywhere. lovettsville is 44. down south springfield already 49 degrees with andrews at 45, colombia 46. same with college park. well, college park 45, and here in d.c. we're sitting at 46 degrees. a lot of sunshine showing up as we look downtown from the michael and son weather camera. traffic flowing nicely there and a good looking day. 46, light northeast winds at six so it feels like 43 and

that barometer slowly starting to fall. this suicide bomb is coming. a big -- this storm is coming, a big one down in texas. one big watch now. there was one earlier, that's been expired. you see how you get this bow shape? when you see that on the radar, that means there's a lot of wind with this and any of these storms have the threat of spinning up a tornado. tornado season starting a little early. the moisture is extending into the ohio valley. this is going to be moving toward us. as we get into the nighttime hours, the clouds will thicken toward 5:00. we may still have a little sun before the sunset. clouds come in, showers possible to our far west before midnight. tomorrow morning there could be showers around for the morning rush and on and off showers through the day. maybe not so bad at noon, but another batch of showers rolls through here. tomorrow night, look at this, this heavier batch of showers and rain will move through. here we are at midnight friday morning until about 6:00 a.m. or so where we have the rain early, especially south and

east but starts to clear by mid to late morning. we'll salvage a decent friday after maybe some showers. 48 today, clouds increase late. tonight we're dropping into the mid- to upper 30s. tomorrow 40s with the showers and the steadier heavier rains overnight thursday night and early into friday morning. friday mild as the sun comes out, maybe my voice will be back by then. sunday we turn colder. snow showers or flurries possible, high sunday and monday in the 30s. stick around, 9 news now returns after this short break.

i'm so excited to be one on one today with melanie marshall, an incredible actress that is going to be performing at the warner theater this weekend in that broadway spectacular musical "fela." it is so nice to have you. thank you for being here. if you have not made plans for the weekend, you want to rush to the warner theater and get tickets because it is exilarating, it's galvanizing, it's exciting, it's energetic, it's fabulous. >> thank you very much. >> and you play the mother. >> i do, yes. >> and that's a wonderful role. >> it's a beautiful role. she's a very strict, stern, feminist, no-nonsense woman who is -- well, i play -- she's dead in the show because we take up the play after her death, so this is fela's last

concert in the shrine in liberia. but his mother is always the voice of reason. you only see me four times on stage, but i am the voice of reason circling around, that little voice on his shoulder, in his head, always letting him know that mother is there listening and watching him at all times. >> and his mother played such a role in his life. now, many people know about fela and the united states because they know his music, his music was well known. what some people did not know is the fact that he was an activist in his country. >> oh, yes. >> very much so and that's what this story does, it tells how he was so committed and passionate about human rights. >> yes. also his mother, his mother was very much that same political activist in her day, and so everything that he wanted to do, everything that he needed to do for the nigerian people came from her and she was the

one always saying to him, you know, if you're going to be doing this, your people need to see and hear you here. it's not going around the world and doing all of your concerts and everything, but make sure your people hear, realize and know that the message that you're giving is a true one coming from you. you must be here to give that message. >> he died when? >> he died in 1997. >> and before he died the country, of course, nigeria was going through such turmoil and that's what this sorry is about. >> i have toel you i saw "fela" on broadway and at the shakespeare theater. i have toll you that fela has some girls that have bodies that will stop a clock and they can shake it. they shake that boom-boom. as soon as i got home, i got in front of the mirror and i tried to do it. >> i'm sure you could. >> no. i almost threw my back out. i had to go lay down and rest. it is fabulous.

the girls i love and i love fela. >> the whole cast is great. >> it is. you are spectacular. thank you for being with me. thank you very much. i know you're going to go on to do even greater things because fela is just traveling all over. thank you for being here. thank you for being with us. come back and visit us at 5:00. have a wonderful day.

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