over the statue of general mcpherson. >> the purpose of this is to ensure if they rye to arrest one of us, they'll have to arrest all of us or none of us. we believe they are going to enforce this selectively, pick us out bit by bit. take the most vulnerable first and a strategic attempt to prevent that from happening. >> the national park service is not saying when they intend to start enforcing the ban on camping here at mcpherson square and freedom plaza. the speculation is, whenever it happens, tonight, tomorrow, in a few weeks or in a few months, it will happen in the middle of the night. we shall see. derek. >> a lot of us waiting and watching. thank you for that one. now we have learned that an alexandria man who disappeared months ago was shot to death before the killer dumped his body down a well. that victim's name is lenny harris. he was a long time community activist and disappeared from an alexandria recreation center in september.

within hour, cameras captured someone, but it wasn't until last week that an unanimous caller tipped off the police that they would find harris' body at the bottom of a well. that body was recovered over the weekend. >> you have any sense of what the motive might have been here? >> we don't. we really, really don't know. >> police do say they are not sure if harris had been targeted or if he was just a victim of a chance encounter with whoever killed him. >> district of columbia may be in the best fiscal shape of any major city in the whole country. mayor vince gray announced the district has a $240 million surplus from the fiscal year 2011. but bruce johnson tells us that money does not appear to be going back to you, the taxpayer. >> many areas the city is on a roll, 16,000 new residents, office space in high demand, the federal government with all its workers and billions of dollars to spend. >> remember estimates were

made, economy was in a very bad shape. >> cfo revealed today the district ended the last fiscal year where $240 million more than he had projected. mayor gray wants to keep the surplus. >> it isn't as if the surplus represents money that we will get every year going forward. >> the mayor sites the hiring and spending freeze, underspending by agencies as reason, but others point to higher fees and fines. a tax increase on businesses and high end income earners. >> it is very tough to do business in our city. it is very expensive. >> two of the most influential council members say the taxes and fees should be reevaluated. >> i did not support raising the income tax from 8.5 to 8.9. people are tired of being nicked and dimed to death. bruce johnson, 9news now. >> fraud and wrong doing in a

district program designed to provide housing for at risk youth. jim graham who initiated the probe said millions of dollars were spent with little or no accountability. that report shows a will the of questionable funding. went to a group of the peace-a- holics. it had never bought or repaired a building before. the head of the agency released a response and said he is asking the inspector general and d.c. attorney general to investigate the matter further. and councilman graham joins us live. basically housing says we're going to look into this. how does that make you feel? >> we have already looked into it and the real loser here are the at risk youth that would have benefited from having this housing. the winners are those who were at the trough, you know, out to make a buck and made a lot of bucks. >> the way the washington post describes this is they get this

money and everybody lines up knowing they don't know what they're doing and gets a piece of the action. >> it would appear there's a whole bunch of money. $2million that we're not sure where it went. and then there's about another million dollars, which is poorly spent. and so you know, these are the types of problems we were dealing with. the fact that we cannot account for dollars and a lot of money that is very troubling. >> one final question on this before we move on. is this criminal activity or income? >> i referred this to the united states attorney. and the u.s. attorney will make a decision whether or not there's criminal action. the fact of the matter is, those who won in this were not the ones who should have won because we could really use this. >> we just heard a story about the district government having a $240 million surplus. this after the d.c. council raised taxes, and cut a lot of programs. are you now looking at changing

some of that? >> i think jo to keep in mind, we did raise taxes on the highest -- we restored the tax rate on the highest income brackets. but we also cut the safety net in the district of columbia. we have this grandparent subsidy. small amount of money, but critically needed for grandparents to take care of their grandchildren. we cut that. we made a lot of cuts in the safety net. our home lesser vises are not -- >> the mayor wants to put the money in a rainy day fund. >> i say that there are those most vulnerable in our society and need additional help. if you say to somebody that we're going to cut your monthly paycheck by 20%, when you have nothing, you know, there's real impact there. >> jim graham, we appreciate your time tonight. thank you for talking with us. the average price of a gallon of maryland is $3.51 and a new

proposal would tack on another 21 cents. o'malley announced he supports applying the state's 6% sales tax to gasoline. right now, gas purchases are exempt from gas tax. o'malley's idea would leave 23 1/2 cent gas tax in place and it would be phased in by 2% a year. now that is a change that would have increased the flat gas tax by 15 cents a gallon. but o'malley said today on wtop adding a sales tax would be the best way to do it. >> rather than have this fee, that fee, the other fee, and death by a thousand fees, i would rather be straight up with people and say none of us likes this, but the cost to us of doing nothing is greater and to nothing in action, i believe is irresponsible. >> a state transportation commission estimates a 6% sales tax on gasoline would bring in

extra. introduce the measure after wednesday's state of the state address. >> an update on the investigation into a brake system failure on a metro train. the washington examiner now reports metro determined premature wear caused a friction ring near lafonte plaza. they are now replacing part of the brake system. officials are looking into what caused another friction ring to fall off january 6 and that report is expected out sometime next month. >> after a gorgeous weekend, we had what topper would call a correction today, but the temperatures are only going to last a minute, right top? >> yeah, even the correction was still above average, which is par for the course. let's start with temperatures. it's cool if you're headed out. grab a jacket. in the 30s in the suburbs. 39 in leesburg and 37 in frederick and 39 in hagerstown. even cumberland is 41 and

oakland 36. now for tonight, clear skies, breezy and cold. 1 or 2 blanket night. these winds increasing out of the southwest at 10 to 15. that will keep temperatures up. otherwise everyone would be in the 20s tonight. we'll come back, derek, we'll talk about april weather rolling in. when it's going to roll in and how can it's going to last. >> thank you, top. coming up, republicans making the final pitch to candidates. we'll preview tomorrow's primary. but first, what's in a name? the change made to the barns of rose hill to end that lawsuit. we'll have that for you.

with the deletion of three little letters, so ends the battle of the barn. you probably already know wolf track operates the barns at wolf trap. another cultural center was calling itself the barns of rose hill. thought the names were too similar, so they were suing. now, the rose hill folks have agreed to drop the name the and wolf trap agreed to drop its lawsuit. a michigan student was once honored on his high school's wall of fame for his perfect behavior. now he's doing school work from home after being suspended by his charter school because of the length of his hair. the 17-year-old is a leukemia survivor and he decided to grow out his hair so he could donate it to an organization called

locks of love after he found out a sister of a family friend was also battling cancer. despite that, he has no plans to cut off that hair. so folks, is the school out of line for suspending j.t.? he is growing that hair for charity. or does the school have to enforce the policy for everyone to keep other students from coming up with reasons to skirt the rules? weigh in. the address is mailbag@wusa9.com. we'll feature your comments tomorrow on mcginty's mail bag. our weather roller coaster keeps going up and down. giving way to spring-like days to come. top tells how warm it might get. that's coming up. but first, zach johnson gets a temporary reprieve. that's up next.

zach johnson is getting two more weeks of freedom. the prince georges executive was start to set serving his seven year sentence for bribery and extortion. but the washington post reports a judge pushed that date back to february 18. the judge issued that extension because the federal bureau of prisons is not yet completed its evaluation and placement plans. the republican presidential candidates making their final push before tomorrow's big florida primary. the top two candidates, mitt romney and newt gingrich spent today. 50 delegates are up for grabs in the sunshine state.

that means it's an important win for whoever gets it. and as re may marsh reports, it appears to be romney to lose. >> surging in the polls just one day before floridians head to the voting booth. >> what a great morning in jacksonville. >> a university survey released monday gives the former massachusetts governor a 14 point lead over newt gingrich. the former house speaker is still confident over his prospects beyond florida. arguing romney's too moderate to be president obama in november. >> every time we nominate a moderate, we lose. so 1996, we nominate a moderate, bill clinton wins the election. 2008, we nominate a moderate, barack obama wins. >> in a state hit hard by the housing crisis, romney continues to attack gingrich for his involvement with mortgage giant, freddie mac. >> a huge bubble erupted. people got hurt by it. and the idea that someone running for president was

getting paid by freddie mac at the time that was going on. $1.6billion. that urged people. >> the barrage of attack ads that the romney campaign has been running in florida is dishonest. and romney mobbed the campaign promise to build a colony on the moon. >> idea as the moon of the 51st state is not what would come to my mind. >> the other candidates have set their sights on states further down the road. rick santorum is holding events in missouri and minnesota, while ron paul takes his campaign to colorado tuesday. in washington, i'm renee march marsh. >> president ronald reagan's son, michael, joined him on the campaign trail. well the fight over when virginia schools return from summer break is not over. at least not quite yet.

the house of delegates approved a bill that would allow schools to start before labor day. as of now, public schools have to start after the holiday so they can accommodate the tourist accommodations. l bill heads to the house where it's expected to pass. an identical version died in a virginia senate committee last week. >> all right, no trouble in maryland. they start before labor day. >> if you wanted to enjoy some holiday entertainment or whatever, this would be the time to do it weather wise. >> it would, if you want to play golf in january and say hey, i played golf in january, book a tee time tomorrow. may be harder than you think to do, actually. here's a live look at our weather cam. brought to you by michael and son. very nice night. i mean, it is chilly, but not cold. temperatures in the 30s in the suburbs. low 40s downtown. 43 at national. dew point is 20. winds out of the south at 7. they will begin to increase and as they do, they'll bring up warmer air and more moisture. that will keep us from falling into the 20s across the board.

satellite picture, radar combined. a weak system to the north of us. a little bit of lake effect snow and that's it. a few high clouds, but as far as we're concerned, primarily clear skies tonight, breezes pick up and that will keep temperatures up and boost temperatures tomorrow. 41 right now in bethesda. 41 in rockville. up 270, 37 in gaithersburg. 37 also in reston. 42 in springfield. low 40s in college park and in the 30s in beltsville. columbia also 35. so here's the deal. more like april tomorrow, breezy and just cold tonight. although i should have put quotation around that. it's relatively cold. not compared to what january should be. breezy and warm tomorrow. showers and warm on wednesday. at least it will be warm when we have showers. and on thursday, morning rain and a little bit cooler. a temperature correction on

thursday. for tonight, clear skies, breezy cold, a one to two blanket night. winds out of the southwest at 10 to 20. they will increase after midnight. downtown, we think you'll hold above freezing, but in the suburbs, around 30 in gaithersburg. 32 in reston and fairfax. around freezing in college park and bowie. out to the west, 30 in sterling and 29 in leesburg and manassas and toward middleberg. tomorrow morning, mostly sunny and breezy. you'll need a jacket in the morning. grab your shades, too. by afternoon, it warms up very rapidly. mostly sunny, breezy, warmer. more like april. highs between 60 and 65 and winds out of the southwest at 10 to 20 will drive in warmer air. all right, let's break it down. 30s to start. chilly in the morning. 55 to 60 by noon. and then 58 to 63 under mostly sunny skies by evening. next three days, good news is, it stays warm on wednesday, but locate the umbrella.

showers develop, temperatures in the low 60s. showers and rain ending on thursday. cooler. nothing crazy. high temperatures on thursday will be near 50. now the next seven days, it stays either side of 50 on friday and saturday. we're looking at clouds coming in sunday. rain sunday night. who cares. rain into monday morning and then cooler on monday, but nothing arctic. temperatures in the mid 40s. looking at some information back in the weather office. maybe by the 8th or 9th of february, we see arctic air. >> arctic as in 20s? >> yeah. we'll see. >> we knew it had to come. >> let's get to the weird news that doesn't involve weather. folks are finding the face of jesus in a grease spot or potato. well now they found the likeness of a guy that was down to earth. terms and conditions bay where they are selling dried glue that looks like homer simpson. as in the dad from the

simpsons. and yeah, it's easy to believe this grease spot is worthless. apparently it's not worthless. the current bidding is $237,000. >> oh come on. >> and they have two days of bids to go until the auction closes. it belongs to christopher herbert. he put st on as a joke, but hey, he is smelling now, because homer is like homer at the donut counter. >> we want to hear what you think. send r yes mails to mcginty's mail bag. the address, mailbag@wusa9.com. 9news now will be right back. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began.

a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ in the mail bag tonight, the possibility of a crackdown on the occupy d.c. protesters drawing applause from most everybody who took the time to put their thoughts in an e-mail or up on our facebook page. j.t. says simply, good riddens. i'm a democrat, been sympathetic to their cause, but that message has been lost. go away. i take the bus downtown every day and walk to my office near

mcpherson and grow disgusted with the sight and smells of the once beautiful park. grow up. you have worn out your welcome. and bonnie frederick writes this, they are out of control. time they think of the taxpayers, how much is it costing the taxpayers for all this? maybe it's time the 1% take care of business and clean them out of the park. it's our park, too. and listen to christopher. everyone has the right to protest, but when you take it so far, you make yourself look bad and no one will take you seriously anymore. i think happen of them just showed up because it was the in thing to do. i hope they all go home and occupy a shower. folks personally, i tend to agree with all of you. is the first amendment only for nice, organized groups who only stick around as long as it's comfortedable? i know, the city has been bending over backwards, but whenever the government is about to tell a group of

nonviolence citizens to shut up and go home, that aught to be the last resort and the situation better be truly intolerable. we don't just tolerate your e- mails, we love them. keep them coming. mail jogbag@wusa9.com is the e- mail. we'll see you tonight at 11:00. log on any time to wusa9.com. bye bye.

>> woman: don't forget the yard work! >> o.k. >> announcer: with citibank's popmoney, dan can easily send money by email right from his citibank account. >> nice job, ben. >> announcer: well played, dan. well played. citibank popmoney. easier banking.

standard at citibank. now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment news magazine in the world. >> demi moore's 911 call. what was edited out? >> she overdosed on -- >> she's convulsing. >> new information on why portions of the call weren't released. >> plus it's tough to go through a break-up and have the whole world know about it. >> is ashton helping his ex? >> she used to visit the show. obviously, it's a little awkward. >> the event demi was supposed to attend with jennifer aniston. >> we go through tough times in our life it. she will work through it. >> then -- >> prediabetic. >> "e.t." breaks news on the health scare that forced alec baldwin to lose 30 pounds. >> my doctor told me your sugar numbers are terrible. brad and angelina. sofia, giuliana, stacy and george.