thank you for joining us. jc is off today. some occupy protestors are camping out at two sites in d.c. since early october. now nearly four months later national park service police say today is the day they will start to prevent those protestors from sleeping in freedom plaza and mcpherson

square. our reporter is live at mcpherson square with the latest. what do you know? >> reporter: let's let you take a look at what's going on right now. hundreds of occupy d.c. protester have massed around the statue and have put up a huge manner. it says, 99% dream of love. there is a tense atmosphere here in the park. protesters don't know exactly what will happen. the noon deadline has expired and park police will move in any moment and enforcing national park service regulations and those include no camping no sleeps and no equipment that can be construed as camping here. nothing yet no u.s. park police. just a lot of people and as you can see that sign, it's a tent of dream. let's look at what was happening earlier today. >> i -- >> a handful of u.s. park police officers conducted a

sweep of the entire mcpherson square a few hours before the noon deadline. earlier this morning protestors began to load some. their possessions on a truck to haul it away. >> we were loading up people's personal belongings they don't want stolen by the police because apparently it's perfectly to sleep anywhere else in the city except for in a campus against the status quo. >> a lot of activity at the encampment full of occupiers as full as others who support their cause. >> i was here at the very beginning. i did the first prayer vigil before there were any cameras or anything else out here. just as a protection for the people because i believe that justice is for all of god's people. it doesn't matter human rights is for everybody. >> and right now you are looking again at a live scene protestors have created a tent. it's over the stat you of general mcpherson. they underneath that tent. they call it the tent of dreams and it's not just occupiers and those who supportism as you can see, mcpherson square beginning to fill up with a lot of people

who are in their noontime lunch break. the only people that are not here at this point are u.s. park police. so we are not sure exactly when they will be begin to enforce those national park service regulations. that's what's happening here at mcpherson square. we will check back in with you if something brews up there. thank you so much. and this morning prince george's county police released more information about the death of lynnwood linney harris. his body was pulled out of a well on saturday in port washington. an autopsy revealed the activist from alsx sx -- alexandria died from a gunshot after he disappeared. he was last seen leaving the charles houston recreation center in oldtown. an anonymous tip last thursday led investigators to the well. police released surveillance pictures of someone using harris' credit card and an atm in prince george's county just hours after he disappeared. harris was president of operation hope ofr a community

based nonprofit. d.c. police want to hear from the people who called 911 following a deadly crash yesterday morning. officers were investigating reports of gunfire on otis street northwest. they spotted a suspect vehicle which was a burgundy mini van and chased it. a few miles later the chase reached taylor street. >> when the suspect vehicle crested the hill he began to lose control. he hit a tree. >> but the mini van didn't stop after striking the tree. all three people inside were thrown out. two young men died and a 17- year-old suffered life- threatening injuries. the van didn't stop until after it rolled over the front of a police cruiser. the two officers inside were taken to the hospital and are recovering. the police say speed did play a role in that crash. and investigation is underway into the cause of an early morning hour fire in crofton, maryland. anne arundel county firefighters had to shut down northbound route 3 near queens mitchell road. that entire home was up in

flames by the time the firefighters arrived. they did not find anyone inside the home. for the second time in less than a week metro crews are trying to repair a cracked rail just in time for the afternoon rush-hour. this time the crack is at the rosalynn station where the orange and blue lines split in virginia. right now metro is single tracking the trains in the area. the delays are less than 20 minutes. last week's red line crack was discovered at 7:00 a.m. and it disrupted entire morning rush. one of the biggest prizes in campaign 2012 is up for grabs tomorrow. it's the florida primary and all 50 convention delegates. newt gingrich and mitt romney spent the weekend campaigning in the sunshine state. while romney leads comfortably according to polls, gingrich insists the race is within his reach and the two are on the attack against each other headed into the balloting. >> the clearer we are about a pro abortion, progun control, pro tax increase massachusetts

moderate, the less likely it is that he will win the majority anyway. >> his record was one of failed leadership. we don't need someone who can speak well perhaps or who can say the things we agree with but does not have the experience of being an effective leader. >> another candidate rick santorum has resumed campaigning after canceling his weekend appearances to be with his three-year-old daughter. she is improving after being hospitalized with pneumonia. santorum is now in the mid west, ron paul is skipping florida entirely. and paul is focusing on place where he has a better shot at winning. there could be a showdown over same-sex marriage this week in maryland. protestors are already making their views heard with a state senate committee scheduled to take up the bill tomorrow. governor martin o'malley is campaigning for the bill. the governor spoke to the national gay and lesbian conference yesterday in baltimore. he urged activists on both sides thot to use hurtful words in the debate. >> this occasionally happens. we must also have the humility

and the strength to apologize and to seek forgiveness. >> i truly believe that this bill is not going to succeed. i don't think it will come to the house floor. >> anne arundel county delegate says his constituents are outraged over maryland's first lady katie o'malley called opponents of same-sex marriage cowards. if the bill passes maryland will be the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage. a deadline is looming for workers in virginia who lost their jobs because of the august 23 earthquake. people in five counties and the city of fredericksburg can file for disaster unemployment assistance through this week. it's intended for unemployed workers who live or work in the disaster area and are not covered by state unemployment insurance. you can file your applications at the virginia employment commission offices. and for the first time since that earthquake, high school and middle school students in luisa county will attend classes on a normal

schedule starting this wednesday. ten days ago we showed you the progress crews were making installing those mobile classrooms. school officials have not decided yet whether to build a new high school or repair the existing building but the elementary school will be replaced. still ahead on 9 news now at noon, we pay tribute to a organize that -- organization that has fought homelessness for two decades. >> the help cleans house at the screen actor's guild awards.

now let's take a look at some of the winners from last night's screen actors guild award. it was a clean sweep for the help. the film about black maids raising white children in the early 1960s won three of the four major film categories. the help won for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture. the movie went up against the artist, bridesmaids, descendants and midnight in paris. and the star of the help viola davis won outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role. beat out glen close in albert knob. meryl streep in the iron lady and michelle williams in the acclaimed my week with marilyn.

davis said -- a small role in the help. and octavia spencer rounded out the night of major wins for the movie. she won outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role. she beat out her castmate who was nominated for the same award and three other actresses. spencer says this role meant a lot to her. >> i have to say that it was really a privilege to work on a film that gave a voice to so many women who made it possible for me to be standing here tonight. >> spencer says it was an honor to be in a category with so many beautiful and talented women. betty white, still white hot. the 90-year-old actress won outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series. she plays one of the four leading roles in the tvland series hot in cleveland. and white praised her costars during her acceptance speech. >> if nomination, i was thrilled, of course, but the

nonlination belongs to four of us. and please, please know that i'm dealing them right in with this. i'm not going to let them keep this. but i will let them see it. oh, i remember you, sweetheart. love her. white beat out two actresses from the comedy modern family. coming up we will take a closer look at how the occupy eviction could affect protest movements in d.c. coming up. in today's year essential, we feature a organization that has helped area homeless families for nearly a quarter of a century. leslie, this is one of those nice crisp january days. we will take you to break with a look at those temps but still in the upper 30s and low 40s and looking at those, let me tell you we will finish out the month tomorrow and wednesday feeling more like spring. that full seven-day forecast when we return.

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occupy d.c. disrupgs at another case of corruption in the drirkt. those are just some of the headlines making news in the city and with me now is long time d.c. activist, terry lynch. your office is right around the corner from some of these protuses -- protests. you have been down there several times. who wins in this showdown with the occupy d.c. protestors and the national park service? >> i think it's really a lose- lose situation. the question is who loses big. actually think the park service

loses bigger. occupy, they want their message to be just about tents and getting evicted. they have a bigger message but that's getting lost in this reduction and that's about to occur. the national park service is also comes out looking badly, ie, are they against free speech? why did they not enforce the no camping rule from the get-go? they are responding to the oversight committee criticisms last week about why aren't they enforcing the rules. they will have to. national park service has come under criticism for not managing the parks well. for being understaffed and not having enough security. both sides really don't look well from this result. >> is this sort of the beginning of the end in some way of this large scale protest that we have in the city? >> the beginning of a long scale reduced presence is what's going to happen. d.c. has a long history of free speech, people camping out in front of the white house for years. i think continue to see people

maintaining some around the clock presence in these parks and will continue there for a long time. a significantly reduced fashion. >> let's shift gears and talk about corruption. it was a report today in "washington post" more questions about potential fraud, potential misuse of public funds that were supposed to be used to house the city's at risk population. what is this about and what happened? >> it's tragic. it's lack of oversight of how the city spent its housing money. by going through the report we will see one of the results from frankly millions of dollars supposedly to be provide affordable housing for people coming out of youth homes and instead it's completely clouded in terms of funds lost, funds mismanaged. housing not delivered or housing that may get foreclosed on. and d.c. suffering right now. what happened -- >> sounds like this already under-served at risk population is even more at risk because of

this. >> exactly. the funds that were intended weren't delivered the way they were. it's like with unfortunate henry thomas situation we had funds that were supposed to go for youth sports. instead went to something completely different. here where did the money intended to go for providing affordable housing go? contractors and loans and liens and nobody knows. get into accounting and the city needs to change its womennage. -- image. we need the ethical oversight and until we clear these clouds the city is in a rough spot. >> i would love to talk with you longer but we were running out of time. real quick, any updates on the northwest robbery situation? >> i believe the police have detained a couple of men and one woman who had been had suspicious behavior. had a gun in their car. nobody been arrested yet but it behooves everyone to pay attention. when they go home at night or careful about listening to your ipads or ipods just pay attention when you go home in

the evenings coming and going. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> now out to you, howard. thank you. it's really been a fine day out there. a little cool but not bad. considering the winter we have been having we aren't doing too badly. temperatures right now so far for the month averaging 40.3. and by comparison 36.0 with the average we are running over four degrees above average which is a lot for 29 out of the first 31 days of the month. 45 by 3:00. there are spots down south and southwest of town but make a run closer to 50. i think 46, 47, somewhere in that range is where we will stop today and by 5:44. this evening still clear skies and maybe a few high clouds especially north of town and by 9:00 the upper 30s. but with winds staying up, i think we will be in the low to mid-30s for lows tonight and then we are going to really take off with temps tomorrow. another system out to the west. this one will pass north of us. right now there are snow showers across parts of ohio

and are rain showers back in indiana. this is moving east more so than south to some of those clouds may blow up. mid-20s and low 20s overnight in culpepper and orange and we had a little bit of snow last night and with some of the readings in the mid- to upper 20s some isolated spots this morning. we got down to 34 here in washington and the naval air station in annapolis and 31 for andrews and laplata. and right now look at the temperatures. still mid-30s far north in hagerstown. fredericksburg, 46 already. it's 41 in easton across the bay and washington -- we have a lot of sunshine. look that the from our weather camera. a beautiful looking mid-day shot of the capitol dome. temperature 42 with mostly sunny cloudy skies. the air is really dry. the dew point is 15 so the humidity down to 32% and the windchill making it feel like in the upper 30s. there is that system we are watching coming through the mid west. the next one behind it is

coming into the northwest. things are moving quickly west to east across the country. and that is bottling the cold air up in alaska. temperatures are in the 40 and 50-degree below zero range in many areas of the interior of alaska. as long as the cold stays up we won't see much wintry weather and this week doesn't look like it. the first week of february may not be like it but there is trying. trying to come down perhaps by the ninth, tenth, 12th of the month. it's due east and maybe a few of those clouds blow off north especially as we head into the evening hours tonight. tomorrow, start with sunshine. the mild air works back. when i say mild, i mean highs tomorrow likely in the low 60s by afternoon. and ahead of the next weather maker and this one will get here sometime late wednesday ahead of it still rather mild wednesday morning and into wednesday afternoon. i think wednesday could be in the mid-60s and those showers, they may get here before the day is out but it looks like a

better chance after wednesday into thursday. today 46. maybe 47, 48. tonight we were in the 30s. tomorrow 63. should be a decent a sunshine again tomorrow. a few more clouds wednesday. late shower. 65. average high is 44. by thursday, groundhog day, 56. a couple of showers and clearing friday and the weekend looks unsettled. i think a few rain showers now with temperatures in the 40s so we will watch the weekend carefully and it's still a little undecided and don't go anywhere. we will be back in just a moment.

24 years ago a group of community activists were concern about the growing number of homeless families. they started a program to help people transition to self- sufficiency. the dwelling place in today's hero central. why do i do this? we have been given so much and we want to pass it along the blessing to somebody else. >> how does it make you feel? >> tired. no, it's a good thing. it's a good thing. >> glad to help.

>> volunteers from cedar brook community church in carolina,burg, maryland, are putting this apartment in tip- top shape. >> nice and sparkly. >> for a family who used to be homeless. >> families, the needs are so much more complex and families are living right on the edge of poverty or being evicted. and it's a continuing problem. it's not going away. and they need a lot. they need more than just a place to live. >> the dwelling place provides a fully furnished apartment when a family moves in. they get knick-knacks and pictures on the wall. lamps, floral arrangements. and guess what. when the family moves out they are able to take everything with them. >> the dwelling place defines success. when a family returns to independent living. >> you do? >> the first hand the excitement of a new home. >> it was great. they held me out -- a house

blessing. i had everything i needed. dishes, furniture, blankets. everything i ever had, everything. >> put in toilet paper. cleaned everything. >> very good. >> come to my house. >> the dwelling place is so much more than transitional housing. and life skills program. it's true community and the sense of one hand reaching out to help another. >> it feels good to help. not really why i do it. i just want to live like jesus lived and shine his light on the community. reason i do this. >> 9 news now. >> the dwelling place serves between 35 and 40 families each year. if you like to see this story again or share it with your friends go to jc hayward.com and click on hero central. >> i appreciate those people who are so willing to give of themselves for others.

>> pay it forward. >> easy to take things for granted. >> it sure is. that is it for us. 9news now show at noon is done. i will be back at 5:00. you can check us out 24 hours a day on the web at wusatv9.com. have a fantastic day. >> bye-bye.