>> as professional and political ties so the case has gone to anne arundel county where prosecutors are dropping the charges because speier is part-time and not full-time at montgomery high. >> has to be a full-time employee of the school or a teacher, principal, administrator, something along those lines. but he falls into a loophole in the statute. there's no crime in which he can be charged. >> a meeting is set for tomorrow. they made clear in a written statement it's not likely speier will get his full or part-time positions back. now that the criminal matter has been resolved, schools will conduct its own investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior with a student by mr. speier. the statement goes on to conclude mc, ps, does not use the same standards as police in its investigation. now scott speier is a full-time employee with the montgomery county school system. he works full-time at the

middle school here. now that's in addition to his part-time job here at richard montgomery high school. he's on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the now school investigation. coming up at 6:00, where is that bill that would apply to the alleged conduct that took place here? we'll tell you about that. >> thank you, bruce johnson. u.s. leaders are offering con condolences for a shooting spree. including women and children. now they are anticipating a retaliatory strike from the taliban. danielle nottingham has at latest from the white house. >> reporter: tensions are on the rise in afghanistan and the white house is promising to take action. on the streets, afghan military forces are on guard. the taliban is vowing revenge for sunday's deadly attack. eyewitnesses say an american soldier went on a shooting spree in two villages.

killing 16 people, including nine children and three women. villagers say the soldier burned the bodies. i cannot speak, this local man says, before wiping away tears. secretary of state, hillary clinton, offered her condolences to the victim's families. >> a full investigation is underway. a suspect is in custody and we will hold anyone found responsible fully accountable. >> reporter: the pentagon is not releasing the soldier's name, but cbs news learned he is an army staff sergeant from washington state. president obama calls the shooting tragic and shocking. this is the third incident in several months that stirred antiamerican feelings. in february, u.s. soldiers accidentally burned copies of the koran. that sparked deadly riots. six american soldiers were killed in retaliation. and a video surfaced in january

for u.s. marines marines urinating on corpses. the u.s. strategy remains to turn the country security over to afghan forces in 2014. a spokesperson for the pentagon characterized the shooting as an isolated incident and says the alleged shooter most likely acted alone. at the white house, danielle nottingham, now back to you, anita. >> cbs news learned the soldier was on his first tour in afghanistan, but has served several times in iraq. tonight, campus threat averted. police are thanking tipsters from as far away as montana for alerting them to a university of maryland student making some deadly online threats. that maryland sophomore is arrested and threatened to commit mass murder in the heart of the college park campus. >> the attack had plotted was

supposed to happen right this afternoon. scott broom is at the university tonight. he has new details on the threat and how the police found out. scott. >> reporter: well, internet threats. was it serious or wasn't it? i'll tell you, police thought it was serious. they had three individuals, strangers to each other scattered across the country who were so disturbed by what they were reading on the internet in these chat rooms overnight on saturday night that all three of them on their own called university police overnight which set this chain of events in motion. it was alexander song, a software mechanical who was busy until 4:00 a.m. sunday, making disturbing posts online. about committing mass murder at the university of maryland. >> it's scary to hear that. >> reporter: he was active, a new sharing site and omegal, an

online community where strangers are linked to strangers unanimously for spontaneous conversation. song saying quote, i will be on a shooting rampage on campus tomorrow. hopefully i kill enough people to make it national news. and stay away from the mall at 1:30. >> it was a serious threat. >> reporter: as he briefed the media today, university police chief, david mitchell, described one monitored conversation. >> one of the recipients of the dialogue. went on to say essentially, if you are joking, you better speak up. because you're scaring me and i'm going to alert some authorities. mr. song wrote back, laughing out loud, lol, go ahead. you don't even know what campus i'm talking about. >> reporter: police had a computer ip address. it was song, a student, as he drove on campus to approach his dorm at oakland hall at 10:00 a.m. he was arrested at his car. >> he was emotionally distraught to the point of shaking and crying.

clearly in need of psychiatric assistance. >> reporter: song's family home has been searched, his laptop seized, no weapons found. song was involuntarily committed for psychiatric care. students who know alexander song are surprised. >> he has close friends and stuff. it wasn't like he was antisocial. he was a nice guy. >> there were postings that led us to believe that he is very stressed out. it wasn't exactly definitive, except he was feeling stressed out. >> reporter: on the university mall today at 1:30, police offered a reassuring presence and students viewed the threats as the real thing. >> i think it's a significant threat and i don't want him here. i don't want someone here that is going to threaten the campus like that. >> reporter: so for the moment, alexander song is in involuntary commitment for psychiatric treatment. of course, it's expected he

will get out of that. he'll face a misdemeanor criminal charge of disturbing campus activities. he has been suspended from the university. it will be up to administrators here to determine in the long- term whether or not song will be allowed back here at the university of maryland. it's clear most students don't want him here. reporting live at the university of maryland, scott broom, 9news now. >> scott, thank you for that. tonight, the veterinarian and mother who caused her child's death by leaving him in her minivan for seven hours will face no jail time. that was the decision today from a prince william county judge. peggy fox was in the courtroom to say it was emotional is really an understatement. >> karen murphy cried continually. her body shaking in court today, lesli. she pleaded guilty to two counts of child neglect and that is bumped down from felony to misdemeanor because that way she will not lose her

veterinarian license. stand next to me, lesli. so it bumped down to the misdemeanor, so she won't lose her veterinarian license and then the judge agreed to sentence her to 24 months all suspended and she walked out a free woman. >> karen murphy sobbed loudly after leaving the courtroom. her husband ushered her out the back door of the courthouse. she'll be on probation for three years and must do 400 hours of community service. but she will face no jail time in the death of her two-year- old child. >> you think she should have received jail time? >> absolutely. without question. to me, should have been a no doubter. >> i think it's terrible. i can understand how she would be upset and everything, but that's terrible. >> murphy had been indicted on felony murder and child neglect charges after leaving her toddler in her minivan all day. she forgotten to drop him off at daycare and went straight to

her job as a vet at the caring hands animal hospital. at the end of the day, not finding the child there. at home, they made the horrific discovery, finding the child dead, strapped in his car seat. >> this is the parking lot where karen murphy left her son in the car for seven hours while she went to work at the caring hands animal hospital. a particular concern to the commonwealth's attorney, she done the same thing five months earlier. >> i couldn't see that the felony would serve justice. she wouldn't be able to practice medicine anymore. we wouldn't be able to use her at the animal shelter. >> friends and clients are relieved she will spend no jail time. >> it's a tragedy. it's devastating. i feel much better about the justice system. >> this family has known the murphy family for years. >> there were several supporters sitting with her

husband in court today, including kevin kelly. he was the manassas father you might remember who did the same thing and left his youngest of 13 children, francine, in a hot van. he received one day for seven years each. and i ask the prosecutor why karen murphy, that he was comfortable not having her serve jail time and he said because she admitted total guilt. took 100% responsibility and he didn't feel that it was the same for kevin kelly. >> it's a lifetime sentence whether she's in jail or not. peggy, thank you. back to the studio. we have new information on a story you first saw on 9. a priest who has been at the center of controversy now on administrative leave. the father got into some scrutiny for denying communion to a less lesbian. he is accused of engaging in

intimidating behavior toward staff. the father is a priest of the archdiocese of moscow. he has been serving in the washington archdiocese since march 2011. the archdiocese released this statement, given the grave nature of these allegations and in light of the confusion in the parish and the concerns expressed by pa parishes, he is permitted until all matters can be appropriately resolved with the hope he might return to the priestly ministry. d.c. police are looking for what they call two persons of interest tonight after a shooting at a crowded ihop in columbia heights. the gun shots rang out yesterday evening at the restaurant just after several customers got into an argument. one man was shot and seriously wounded. he's expected to survive and tonight, police want to question a man and a woman about that shooting. the two were last seen walking eastbound along irving street. now, take a good look at this video. police say this man and woman

were caught on camera burglarizing the jubilee housing complex and this is back on february 26. now investigators say the suspect stole laptop computers from computer lab. the man snuck the computers out wearing the woman's jacket and her backpack. still ahead, what your child posts on social media can keep them out of college or even cost them a job. top. >> this is more like april than march, but we'll take it. you know what? showers, even a few thunderstorms are on the way. i'll let you know when you can grab your umbrella. >> but up next, the redskins dealt a serious blow in the effort to surround rg3 with some big name free agents. can't we get a break?

lawyers for former penn state assistant coach, jerry san sandusky, appeared at a pretrial hearing today. before sandusky's child sexual abuse case comes to trial. the defense wants specific information about where and when the alleged crimes

occurred and the names of people who were present or nearby at the time. sandusky was not at today's hearing. he denies the allegations and is on home detention. sandusky's trial is set for mid may. it was a failure of leadership that got coach paterno fired. penn state's board of trustees issued the report. they say paterno was fired because he failed to followup. it also says paterno was fired by phone because his home was surrounded by media at the time. paterno died of lung cancer back in january. today, the judge hearing a wrongful death lawsuit refused to throw out that case. the lawsuit was brought by two parents in the 2007 massacre. before beginning its case, the defense argued that the parents had not proven theirs. but the judge didn't buy that, said the case will go forward to the jury. the parents are demanding the

school account for its actions. the day the massacre unfolded, the trial is in its second week. the defendant in the rutgers spy case will not take the stand in his own defense. the lawyer informed the judge of the decision today as the defense rested. robbie faces charges of hate crimes. the 20-year-old former rutgers student is accused of using a web cam to spy on his roommate in bed with another man. that roommate, tyler clemente committed suicide. the redskins dominated the sports headlines over the weekend, making the big move up to trade all those draft choices to draft robert griffin iii. better news was that they had plenty of room so they could get free agents to help him out. now that second piece of news may or may not be the case. >> not the news they want the

day before free agency opens. the league will be penalizing the redskins $36 million in cap space, which means they have less to spend in free agency. it stems back to 2010, because cba had expired. the league warned teams not to front load a lot of money on contracts. paying off big bonuses that wouldn't affect them in the long run, but the redskins didn't listen. specific players haven't been named, it has been linked to albert haynesworth. the gift that just keeps on giving. he was due $21 million in bonus. hall was due $15 million, but the redskins decided to pay them the entire bonus so it wouldn't affect cap space in the future. the league warned teams several times. we're hearing about six times not to do that, but it doesn't appear that there was any written rule in place. the dallas cowboys have been docked $10 million for their contract with miles austin.

the raiders and saints got in trouble, but they are not being docked any money. that $46 million that the league is taking is going to be divyed up, so they get $1.6 million to use. >> that's over two years? >> yeah. the redskins can figure out how to break that up. >> it's a big blow for them, because they were really expected to be big players in free agency. get those offensive weapons to surround robert griffin iii. here's a list of some of the free agents they were expected to be. you had vincent jackson, pier in indianapolis, and now with all that money gone, it's going to be hard chance for them to get all the free agents. >> we'll have to hope rg3 can block and tackle. back to you. >> he is fierce out there on the field. maybe he can do a bunch of things. tap dance, too? >> going to have to. not much wind here. >> it's so nice.

the kids were so excited. they are like, short weather. >> here's the deal. it's sort of like april. you get in mid 70s is like early may. i mean, that's how far ahead we are. let's take a live look outside. clouds have moved in. there are a few showers off to the west. but still 71 despite the cloud cover. winds out of the south, southwest at 17. that's a warm wind. that's in part why we are so warm. and the dew point is high at 45 degrees. all right, here's a look at the radar. we see some showers primarily cumberland westward. we'll have a dry commute home and what's going to roll through is not going to be heavy either. temperatures, 69 bethesda. 68 in gaithersburg. 72 in great falls. 72 in manassas. low 70s have it. 73 in college park. 71 in beltsville. 71 in laurel. temperatures, you know, our

average high is about 55. so a warm week. a few showers tonight. thunderstorm possible tomorrow. a better chance of showers and thunderstorms tuesday night and just beautiful on wednesday. wow. a spectacular day on wednesday. here's a look at our future cast. 8:00 tonight, maybe the showers get to frederick and leesburg. most folks home by then. put this into motion, a couple showers move through. nothing very organized, nothing very heavy. this is 2:00 in the morning, a couple showers towards baltimore and down toward charles county. we get a little better chance of a shower rolling through early in the morning. they should be gone by most of the commute. except maybe for southern maryland and then we clear out very nicely by afternoon. no problems walking to lunch and maybe a couple showers again tomorrow afternoon. again, maybe a thunderstorm actually tomorrow afternoon. so, nothing really organized coming our way, but a little unsettled. we talked about this last week. the tradeoff is the temperatures. mostly cloudy, breezy and mild with a few showers.

50 to 55 tonight. winds southwest 10 to 15. by morning, an early shower and becoming partly cloudy. breezy and mild. temperatures in the 50s and 60s and then been afternoon, shower or thunderstorm possible, but still a nice day. partly cloudy and warm. nice temperatures around 75 degrees. all right, next seven days. it stays warm right on through the week and in fact, right on through the weekend. but gorgeous on wednesday, but we have more showers and thunderstorms possible on thursday and friday. a couple showers on saturday. not a washout. we have the marathon, should be okay. temperatures still warm. low 70s. st. patrick's day, and upper 60s on sunday with a shower and back in the mid 70s on monday. those temperatures are anything close to what's going to happen, the cherry blossoms have to peek before the 24th. they just have to. >> okay. 70s almost every day this week. good stuff. >> thanks a lot, top. coming up, if you are hoping to get your hands on the new version of the ipad, be

prepared to wait a few weeks. she is 68 years old and raised $230,000 for charity by tackling marathons. this courageous woman's story is up next.

come saturday, 21,000 runners will be hitting the streets of d.c. for the marathon and half marathon. some of the racers are running for a purpose. i met up with one local woman in bethesda as she preps for her 19th half marathon. >> alice participated in her first marathon at age 57 as a race walker. now, 11 years later, she is still going strong and as you can see, has become a runner, too. >> run, race, walk. >> what does that mean? >> i hit my watch. i run for two minutes. it beeps at me. i race walk for a minute. it beeps at me. i run for two minutes and continue that for the entire race. >> for alice, crossing that finish line is more than just a personal accomplishment. she pushes herself for her honored teammates. >> a good friend and

colleague, young woman just as a mother of a two-year-old little girl was diagnosed with leukemia. >> the more than 1 million others suffering from blood cancers. >> i'm a researcher, but i can't discover drugs for cancer. i can donate, but i can also use my legs. as long as my legs work, i can raise money. >> that's what she has tirelessly done. alice joined team in training, which helps people train for distance runs, even triathlons. also raced money through events like the rock and roll marathon for the leukemia and lymphoma society. alice's friend won her battle, but one of debbie's friends did not. >> alice, you have to keep walking because some still don't make it. >> to date, alice finished 11 events with team in training and raised almost $230,000 and she's not done yet. >> that's a drop in the bucket

when you see what is needed for research and patient support. >> you have to be proud of that drop, alice. her goal is to reach $250,000 by her 70th birthday. she has two years to go. i have no doubt she'll make it. join us here saturday morning for our live coverage of the rock and roll marathon from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. derek. 9 wants you to know of long- term implications of under age drinkers. >> how pictures could keep them out of college or cost them a job. also ahead, a car owner's need for speed gets him in trouble as he's in trouble for flaunting his ride. look at that video. i'm kristin fisher outside fairfax county police headquarters where we have information about the explosive device found last week. i'll have the latest on the investigation coming up.

only on 9, we have new details about the explosive device found last week inside a vacant home in alexandria. fairfax county police say if it had gone off, it would have caused serious injury. >> the device was inside a town home and it was found by a cleaning crew. they are the ones that called police. kristin fisher has just gotten her hands on the warrant and joins us live outside fairfax

police headquarters. kristen. >> what we learned in this search warrant is that the explosive device had some similarities to the types of bonds used by terrorists overseas. now we're not saying there's any connection, but the similarities are worth noting. what i've done is made this very rough model of what that device looked like. it was about this size, 12 by 8 inches and inside were 12 red devices likely all explosive material and they were connected by a fuse. now surrounding all of those likely explosive materials were these large amounts of screws, nails, nuts and bolts. and all that stuff could have acted as shrapnel. if the device detonated, it would have resulted in serious injury or death in any person in proximity to the device. the device was found inside a home that is up for sale. both the realtor and neighbors

say the owner is from afghanistan and lived there for years. it's the owner's son that lived there most recently. the realtor says as far as she knows, the home has been vacant ever since. when she sent a cleaning crew over last week, they found all of this stuff, in addition to the explosive device that was taken. police seized five cpu's or central processing units. those are the brains of the computer. they also took various records and documents and they also got their hands on one unknown object. i have absolutely no idea what that is. it's all that the search warrant mentioned of that unknown device. police declined to comment specifically about what was found in this search warrant today. they say that this is a very active and we'll continue to be an open investigation. back to you. >> talk about a mystery. kristin fisher, thank you for those details. derek. anita, is getting caught

drinking underage youthful indediscretion or more damaging? georgegeorgene is going to set the record straight for you. >> it's rampant. it's happening all the time. and it has to stop. >> alcohol and drug use may be rampant among teenagers, common sense is not. especially when it comes to social media. >> don't put anything on there you don't want everybody to know about, including family, grandparents, employers, colleges. >> as an experiment, we logged on to facebook and plugged in local high schools. within minutes, we found photos like these. teenagers partying with alcohol visible or in many cases, the bright plastic cups often use to disguise it. >> do not allow anything to be taken that you don't want everybody in the world to see. no matter how many blocks you have on your own facebook, only my friends can see this.

reel, you may make a friend mad and your friend may cut and paste something that you did and post it on his wall that he opens to the world. >> georgene is the teen court coordinator. >> the colleges that accepted you. >> admissions offices will hire students to troll the facebook and troll internet. after kids have been accepted to see, are there pictures of them standing there with their college sweatshirt? that's not projecting a good image. they can withdrawal your acceptance if they want to. >> employers are looking at social media, too. >> we have been in excise existence. they want to know everything you have done. >> so is the military. >> i've had to write many letters for young men and women saying they had this charge, they cleared it up. so your past does follow you as a juvenile and that's one of themies that the kids think. well, that's not always true.

>> she urges parents to find out if their teens are drinking or doing drugs. it's not the end of the world, she says, but it could be if parents don't get their children help. andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> in a program unique, all owners have to meet a clinical social worker, get an evaluation, and that's regardless of the offense. lesli. >> you'll have to wait a while longer to get your hands on that newest ipad. according to tech experts, demand for the tablet pc is so high that apple has had to push the shipping date back by three days and in some cases, as much as three weeks. for people who did place a preorder, they can expect to receive their ipad by march 19. the soup best known for being mm mm good plans to remove one key ingredient. packaging digest says they plan to phase out pba and use alternatives.

pba has been debated for years now over concerns that the chemical can disrupt our hormones. it is widely used in metal packaging to preserve food. complaints filed by ford torr ruse taurus. 14 people complained of a sticking throttle. now looking at the 2005 and 2006 taurus as well as five other model years. in all, 360,000 of these vehicles that could potentially have a problem. there have been no reports of crashes or injuries. >> still ahead in tonight's hero central. we'll tell you about a team of workers that come to people's homes and make repairs free. but first, think this is just any ordinary police chase? wait until you see the driver and how he jumped out of that van. don't forget, we are always on at wusa9.com. stay with us, we'll be back.

caught on tape, a naked man leading the cops on a chase. not too shy about it. this is dash cam video from kingsland, georgia, it happened last wednesday. you see police chasing that van

there. watch closely. the driver who is clothingly challenged suddenly jumps out of the van and make as run for it just as it goes into the river. he gets up, but officers catch up with him. there he goes. officers catch up with him, put him under arrest. this got started when officers spotted the man who was wanted for aggravated battery against his grandparents. he was sleeping in a van in a hotel parking lot. he did run into three cars while he did this chase thing, including two police cruisers as he tried to get away. there he goes again. >> all kinds of issues. >> keep that blur in place. >> that's right. think posting videos can't get you in trouble? a ferrari owner posted this video to give the beauty of being behind the world of one of the world's fastest cars. he was going 77 miles per hour in a 25-mile an hour zone.

big mistake. the 50-year-old was arrested and now faces possible jail time just because of youtube. >> oh man. now to the story of two boys who made one big mistake. >> yeah. police say two preteens trying to smoke cigarettes all to blame for destroying a 700-year- old national treasurer in eastern sylvacia. flames tore through it. the mid evil monument had been renovated and houses several exhibits, maybe not anymore. the investigators believe the boys sparked a grass fire trying to light cigarettes and you know how it turned out after that. let the madness begin. coming up, our experts help you fill out your brackets as we get set for this week's start of the ncaa tournament. turn left.

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we know drinking full sugar sodas can make you heavy, but in tonight's health alert, there's a new study that confirms it can hurt your heart. 60-year-old morris mcwilliams knew it was time to see his doctor. he was diagnosed with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. his doctors told him to change his diet. especially what he drinks. >> fruit drinks, sodas, combinations of both. >> a new study finds that drinking just one 12-ounce sugar sweetened beverage every day increases the risk of heart disease by almost 20%. >> wow. that's -- i was a heart attack waiting to happen. >> researcherred followed more than 42,000 men between the ages of 40 and 75. for twenty years, they kept careful records of their food intake. >> increases inflammation and

inflammation might be the culprit in what leads to heart disease. have you been exercising? >> morris lost more than 30- pounds in four months by eliminating sugary drinks and eating less. >> i'm able to eat and enjoy foods that i'm eating. >> his doctor says all he has to do is add regular exercise to that new lifestyle and it will improve his health even more. >> doctors say you don't have to cut out all sugary drinks and sodas. even up to a couple weeks, that's okay, as far as not increasing heart disease. but artificially sweetened, those don't work against heart health, but moderation is the key. lesli. break out the cookies, the girl scouts are celebrating a big birthday. today marks 100 years since the organization began. jordan started it in georgia in 1912 with 18 girls.

well, there are now 2.3 million of them active across the nation. all right topper, out to that beautiful terrace for some beautiful weather. >> it is great girl scout cookie eating weather. >> truffles are my thing. >> thin mints. >> everybody has a favorite. >> here's the deal. these are like april, almost may-like temperatures. >> they're going to stick around. >> we'll have a live look outside. the clouds are here. it's dry. but wow, temperatures are still great. this is our live weather cam. 71 still. winds out of the south, southwest at 17. it's a warm wind. we're not going to complain. we've had gusts over 30 miles per hour today. the pressure stands at 30.18 inches of mercury. here's the radar. there are a few showers back into cumberland and into petersburg and han handle of maryland. but falling apart and nothing

really heavy headed our way for the next few hours. 70 in bethesda. 70 in arlington. average high is 55. we have to keep that in mind. 27 in great falls. 72234 72 in manassas. so here's the deal. a warm week. a few showers tonight. a thunderstorm possible tomorrow. and actually, a better chance of showers and thunderstorms tomorrow night. just beautiful on wednesday. just a fantastic day. all right, here's a look at our future cast. 8:30 tonight, maybe some showers into frederick and leesburg. notice they are just shades of green. light activity. put it into motion by 2:00, 3:00 in the morning. maybe a few showers hagerstown towards winchester. but everything is light. put that into motion, a few more showers roll through southern maryland before the rush hour, you may have wet roads in southern maryland. but for the most part, a dry commute and a pretty easy commute. by afternoon, sunshine, a few showers return to the mountains

and a few showers and maybe a thunderstorm possible tomorrow evening as we get warmer air in here. a little more instability. that's really the key in terms of a chance for a thunderstorm tomorrow. tonight, we'll say mostly cloudy, breezy and mild. a few showers. after the commute though. low temperatures, 50 to 55. by morning, returning partly cloudy, breezy, and mild. grab your sunglasses. temperatures in the 50s and 60s. winds southwest 10 to 15. by afternoon, partly cloudy. warm shower or thunderstorm possible. but not a washout. high temperatures around 75 and winds out of the southwest at 10. pretty manageable. next seven days. indeed it stays warm. 74 on wednesday. just spectacular. 76 on thursday. maybe a shower or thunderstorm. a better chance on friday because of that temperatures dip into the upper 60s. we have st. patrick's day, the marathon. 72, maybe a shower. nothing really that important or that strong heading our way

in terms of a weather system. maybe a shower on sunday, temperatures in the upper 60s. back in the mid 70s on monday. again, this would be really more reminiscent of late april to an early may seven-day. >> by may, it will be 120. >> well, it is that time of year again. excitement running high. productivity at work going way down. college hoops, we know what's going on. they are all over the country. they are going to the ncaa tournament. the local teams, at a big dance. thanks guys. the brackets are set. several local teams going dancing. joining me in studio, the online reporter for u.s.a. today. nicole, thanks so much for coming in this afternoon. georgetown got the three seed in the midwest. facing a familiar team, belmont, that they played in 2007. but these -- many of us may not know much about belmont. is this a team the hoyas have

to worry about? >> they are one of the teams that people are nervous about. you might see upset picks. i think that they are a really solid team offensively and defensively. they are my dark horse to maybe make the final four. >> final four for the hoyas. you've been covering them, you did a cover story on them earlier this year, what makes you pick them? what is so special? >> there are a lot of different elements that make them dangerous and you beat syracuse at syracuse and syracuse is above everyone else. i think they could hang with anyone and potentially beat everyone. i have them taking out kansas. thomas robinson candidate, but you know, they are one of the teams that can hang with anyone and beat anyone. >> this team didn't get a lot of praise at the beginning of the season because they have so many freshman and sophomores. they are taking on the brewens.

do you think that inexperience could hurt them at all throughout the tournament? >> i think a lot of inexperience gets talked about. when you are at this point, you play add whole season and i think that the coach -- you know, they have a whole season under their belt and when the team went to china, more experience for these freshman and sophomores and so many under classmen. i think everyone is new to it. and i think, you know, henderson talked about it and a couple other guys talked about how being in that locker room, they don't want to -- i think they are going to come out very focused. >> you mentioned vcu, a lot of eyes will be on them, but no doubt they deserved a spot in the tournament this year. they won the caa. but they are in the south region. being considered one of the toughest. can they make a run like they

did last year? >> it would be more difficult. last year was difficult, too. the playing game. but you're right, people know who they are now. they pay more attention. they have a tough schedule. their first matchup is wichita state. it's going to be a great game. i'm really disappointed that they are playing each other off the bat because they are fun teams to watch. which only means that one gets eliminated right away. in order to get to the final four, you'd have to beat kentucky. so that's really tough. >> it's a very tough road for them and i think we talked earlier. you have kentucky. it's hard to go against the number one overall. nicole, thanks so much for coming in today. we'll send it over to you guys. >> thanks a lot, ladies. a push to ban smoking when there are kids in the car comes to the maryland senate. plus, is this offer the deal of the century or dud? we'll have fun with this after the break.

but first, rebuilding together to help neighbors needs. find out how. that's next in hero central.

how would you like it if a team of skilled workers came to your home and made all the repairs you needed for free? sign us up. that is exactly what rebuilding together does. j.c. hayward introduces us to the program in today's hero central reports. >> rebuilding together of washington, d.c. makes free repairs for low income

homeowners. especially veterans, the elderly, disabled, and families with children. they also renovate community facilities that serve their target population. >> what we do is perform free repairs at community facilities all around the city. many of them focus on services to the homeless community, like the one we're working on today. where homeless families are served. they have a place to wash their clothes, so we got them a new washer and dryer. they have a place to fix their meal. >> today, volunteers from the washington nationals are working at shirley's place. a homeless hospitality center that offers showers, food, and a comforting environment. >> this is something we look forward to at the nationals every year. we do this once a year out in the community and we really get a lot of personal satisfaction out of doing this project. >> skilled workers are building shelves, installing cabinets, and even adding a play area for children.

walls are being painted and shirley's place will have a fresh new look. >> i'm really glad they are doing a lot of restoration, even though it's a beautiful place in the beginning. i'm really excited about the children's area and i'm sure my daughter is going to be really excited, too. >> comes here every day. soon, she hopes to have a place of her own. >> you or your organization can actually sponsor a home repair project. just assemble of group of volunteers and rebuilding together of washington, d.c. will work with you. they will match you up with a needy homeowner and they will guide you step by step. i can assure you, it will be a meaningful volunteer experience. >> thank you notes of saying thank you, i can now stay in my home. there's no place like home. it doesn't matter how humble the home is. this is where people want to stay. they don't want to be removed. they want it stay in their house. what we do allows people to

stay. >> i'm j.c. hayward, 9news now. >> this year rebuilding together d.c. celebrates its 29th anniversary. to learn more about sponsoring a project, go to jchayward.com for details on how you can sign up. this is 9news now. >> tonight, a former coach and teacher is asking for his old job back. that's because prosecutors say a glitch in the law forced them to drop sex charges against scott dwayne speier. bruce johnson has been following this new information all day. he joins us live from rockville with reaction with this breaking news. >> reporter: we have very, very late breaking news. we're outside of richard montgomery high and i just got off the phone with scott speier, the 47-year-old part- time basketball cross country coach here. he tells me, quote, i have never done anything inappropriate with any student or athlete that i have coached. now, the xu