good afternoon, i'm andrea roane in for j.c. hayward. first pitch is just about an hour away from the washington nationals' home opener. 9news now now sports anchor dave owens is live at nationals right now now and dave we've

been talking about it. a lot of buzz about the first place nationals, how often do we get to say that. >> reporter: not that offer. it is an absolute majestic time out here. let me show you all the color and pageantry that you would want from an opening day. it is here at n ats park. you talk about the buzz and excitement. why is that? quite frankly the nats haven't been that good since they returned to washington, d.c. from montreal. just one nonlosing season since 2005 but that all changed last year with this youth movement and that youth movement has begun to materialize. let's take a look at the video i tell you what this year they've gotten a great start. 4-2. tied for first place with the mets and what has people buzzing around the town is the core of this team and i'm talking about ryan zimmerman and stephen strasburg. that has everybody excited walking around and talking to

folks around the clubhouse today. there's an eagerness about this particular opening day. >> you get all jittery and excited and you know it's like you got -- it's like when you're a kid you got a brand new glove and i can't wait to use it. >> i think everyone is excited. i think everyone in this locker room from the players' side of things is really excited about what we have as far as our talent and what we're going to be capable of doing and hopefully we can you know do that early on so the fans can get excited about it. >> reporter: i tell you what guys fans are excited certainly now and they certainly have high expectations and i tell you chief operating officer says season ticket sales are up quote significantly over last year. that's great news from the business side of things, he said numbers are approaching the 2008 season the team's first year near at nats park. >> it feels great. i they they're going to have a fabulous season. >> reporter: what do you think man? >> i think they're a good team. i think playoffs are something that we're really going to be

looking at. >> reporter: i have one simple question for you, is this the year the nats breakthrough and make it into the playoffs? >> absolutely, people need to start watching. >> reporter: you're seeing more of the scenes here at nats park with first pitch. this place is expected andrea sellout this afternoon. that is significant because there were only two sellouts last year mostly when philadelphia came to down. of course coming up later on at 5:00 derek mcginty excuse me, kristen berset will be out here. we got a whole cast of characters our full all day coverage is opening day here at nats park. for now though we are live, back to you in the studio. >> and dave we're going to take care of philadelphia when they come to town. >> reporter: absolutely. >> we know that's going to be a sellout on the n ats side. thanks dave. a prince george's county police officer opened fire on a suspect early this morning. right now we're still trying to figure out exactly what happened. this all started about 3:00 a.m. when officers were called to the 3100 block of good hope avenue in temple hills,

maryland. the initial call was for breaking and entering. but when investigators arrived on the scene they realized they were dealing with some sort of domestic disturbance. there was an altercation between an officer and a suspect forcing the officer to shoot. but we're told the suspect wasn't hit. the officer is currently on paid administrative leave while the investigation continues. the neighborhood watch volunteer accused of gunning down an unarmed florida teenager will be in court early this afternoon. after weeks of protests across the nation, george zimmerman was arrested wednesday in the shooting death of trayvon martin. randall pinkston has the latest from sanford, florida. >> reporter: george zimmerman is now locked up at the jail in sanford charged with the murder of trayvon martin. this mug shot is our first look at the 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer since the night of the shooting more than six weeks ago. his new lawyer hopes the judge will release his client on bail. >> i hope to get him out. i need him out for my purposes

to help my in preparing his defense. >> reporter: zip man claims he shot and claimed trayvon martin in self-defense after getting into a fight with the unarmed black teenager. martin's family is relieved he is finally charged with second degree murder. >> we just want people to know that if you shoot someone that is unarmed that you should be arrested. >> now, we have to turn our attention to trying to get him to stay where he's at. >> reporter: protestors took to the streets in sanford and in cities across the nation for weeks. but the special prosecutor insists they did not influence her decision. >> we prosecute based on the facts of any given case. as well as the laws of the state of florida. ♪ >> reporter: local residents celebrated at the sanford church where rallies for martin began. >> we got victory and hey, it looks like it's justice after all. >> reporter: zimmerman's attorney said hi client acted

within the stand your ground law. you can use deadly force in a fight. randall pinkston, cbs news, sanford, florida. >> zimmerman faces life in prison if found guilty. two women abducted and assaulted in alexandria, virginia. this afternoon the man police say attacked them is behind bars. 23-year-old james click who has no permanent address was arrested yesterday. he's charged with two counts of abduction and two counts of felonious assault. on tuesday night the two women were looking torrents an apartment when they were pulled into a vacant building. they were both physically assaulted but both escaped the building. jury selection in john edwards' criminal trial is underway this afternoon. the former democratic presidential candidate and u.s. senator is charged with violating campaign finance laws by using money to hide his pregnant mistress. edwards faces 30 years in prison if convicted. will a truce between syrian

government forces and rebels actually hold up? we'll get to that story in a little while. here it is. with the delicate situation the white house is keeping a close eye on right now. the unbroggered deal calls for forces loyal to bashar al- assad's a seem to stop their attacks -- regime to stop their attacks on opposition fighters. satellite images appear to show north korea's preparations for a rocket launch which could happen as soon as today. the communist nation says it simply is sending a satellite into space but western nations say this is really a ballistic missile test which violates a united nations' ban. a d.c. apartment building is safe this afternoon after police raided a covert meth lab inside. investigators searched a unit inside the building at 1825 summit place in adams morgan. detectives say they found chemicals inside that are commonly used to make meth.

one person sat in handcuffs as the hazardous materials were taken from the building. well, we have a happy update to report this afternoon. on our colleague, our own j.c. hayward. she's resting at home resting from breast cancer recovery she had wednesday. she's feeling no pain and raring to come back to work in fact they had to stop her from getting dressed and being here with us this afternoon. as you know the news was excellent after her lumpectomy. doctors removed the breast tumor and tissue around the site of the benign tumor which doctors had removed monday. the breast surgeon told jack the margins -- jc the margins were good and the node was good and they found no surprised about where the benign mass had been. all excellent news thanks to her detecting the cancer early. of course she will have several weeks of radiation after she's

ready for that. and j.c. hayward you're watching so expect a big welcome when you return to work on monday. and you can send j. c. your best wishes at jchayward.com. still to come, we'll introduce to you an adorable cocker spaniel in this week's pet line 9. >> and right after the break -- details on tonight's star- studded gala planned for the grand reopening of the historic howard theater.

amazon is cutting prices on ebooks as one of its major rivals faces a government lawsuit. amazon will reportedly slash some popular books to less than $10 apiece down from $14.99. this announcement comes after the justice department says it's suing apple and five major publishers for alleged price fixing. we should learn more today about the new streetcar plan for the district. transportation officials will meet at a high school this evening to update us. the initial two mile line will run along the 8th street northeast corridor. tonight we should learn about the plan to connect the 37-mile network to union station. and we've been telling you about it. now tonight is the night. it's a star-studded gala for the grand reopening of the historic howard theater in the district shaw neighborhood. the howard opened in 1910 but was forced to close in 18 1970 at -- 1970 at the riots and

decrease in i ten dance but in 2009 howard theater restoration incorporated raised necessary funds to rescue the building from ruin. celebrities expected to be on hand include bill cosby, aretha franklin and wanda sykes also the evening's emcee. after the break, deep discounts on getting your home cleaned as well as a great bite the eat. details in this afternoon's daily deal segment. howard? >> andrea, watering the plants out here, we've been kind of dry some areas seeing expanding drought conditions and we'll talk about that and of course the seven day forecast. we go to break though with a look at the allergy update and you see the tree pollen once again is in the high category. everything else is low. we'll be inside that and pet line 9 coming up when 9news now at noon returns.

we have breaking news right now out of new york city where people are being evacuated from two world financial center. that's in lower manhattan near the world trade center memorial site. police are investigating a suspicious package that was spotted during a routine screening. we'll bring you more information on this as it comes into the newsroom. we've been combing through the day's daily deals emails and retailer websites to find you some deep discounts. here are some of my favorites. we're going to start with -- fancy food at an everyday price. spend $25 and get $50 to spend on dinner at sou'wester, food and drink. this is a restaurant in the mandarin oriental hotel,

overlooking the sw waterfront. it serves southern classics with regional ingredients. this deal can be found on livingsocial. how about $69 for $150 of house cleaning? you'll find this deal on google offers with elite cleaning services. the offer is good for a studio or one bedroom apartment. larger packages are also available. amazon's deal of the day appeals to handymen or handywomen. $155 will get you a two-drill set from bosch. normal price is $567, a 73% discount. and you get free shipping! if you have an offer you've seen or if you're a local merchant with a deal for our viewers, i would love to hear from you on facebook. i'm jessica doyle, 9news now. >> i'm here with howard and of course we saw daphenes' live shot -- dave owens' live shot how beautiful it looks at n ats park. but for the rest of us we're

still going to enjoy the same beautiful day. >> it's a little brisk, just a little brisk and breezy and the pollen is high if you were looking at it before that tree pollen. you know we need some rain. it will clear the air out and we also need it for the growers for the gardens for the garmenters i mean. it has been awfully dry this year and i want to start and just take a look at the drought monitor: go online and look up u.s. drought monitor and you can see these individual states for yourself and just put it all together on a map. not just abnormally dry but you will see the orange area at the west side of the bay now. that's moderate drought conditions as of april 10th just a couple of days ago. then the eastern shore as you go there, this brown area, that's severe drought. that's about a third out of five almost you can have and it goes through extreme and historic and things are really dry. running about 4 inches plus below average since the beginning of the year. now this afternoon i know we need rain and we're not going to see any rain until sometime next week. beautiful little breezy. northwest winds at 17. temperatures getting into the

lower 60s. by 5:00 we're at 59 degrees. then this enevery evening going to be out -- evening going to be out you will need a jacket. 58 degrees at 7:00 and by 9:00 down to 6:00. we're going to the low 40s in town tonight with 30s north and west. you can look at the satellite and radar, a little spin right here, that's a weak area of low pressure. pulling away behind it the northerly flow and look at the clouds in the mountains here in pennsylvania that are forming here. some of the fair weather clouds will drift down today thanks to the winds gusting now to 24 at reagan national. 22 in martinsburg. gusting to 18 in frederick. so there's definitely a breeze out there. i think the max will be in the 25 range. and temperatures which are in the 50s. mid to even upper 50s near 60 in fredericksburg. out to the west it's 50 cumberland. look at garrett county and oakland only 26. not feeling like spring at all while leesburg and annapolis today at 54 at noon. here's a look at the michael & son weather camera and the fair weather cumulus are dotting the

sky right now with 57 officially right now at reagan national. humidity at 40%. and really dry air mass. out west boy things are cooking once again. rain, snow, storms keep coming there. this storm by saturday may be responsible for severe weather outbreaks in oklahoma city up toward wichita, kansas that i- 35 corridor. but between now and then, high pressure near us it will move in. it's really not much weather headed our way except for some clear skies and a chilly night tonight. and then a nice warmup especially with the weekend heading to that. out to the west though out in cumberland these warnings tonight but much warmer days are coming especially by sunday, monday and tuesday. looking at the forecast we've got temperatures today low 60s little breezy. tonight 40s in town with the 40s north and west. winds go light enough and patchy frost can't be ruled out. mid if not moneyer 60s tomorrow. -- upper 60s tomorrow. to saturday in the low 70s and sunday i think we're if the low 80s -- in the low 80s and then

monday the warmest day. mid 80s possibly even upper 80s south and west. and then next week still mild but by late tuesday into wednesday, finally a chance of showers returns. it is thursday at noon rather so pet line 9. this is freddy and angela robinson from the cocker spaniel rescue and i love cockers. they got such a great demeanor. >> we really try and cocker spaniels especially freddy, he has such a nice calm personality it's hard to believe he was found as a stray. he's housebroken. he walks is nicely on a leash: -- walks so nicely on the leech. he loves his tennis ball and he -- he really enjoys snuggling up with you on the couch. if he's invited up. if you've not invited him on the furniture he doesn't get up on it. so well behaved it's hard to believe. >> he's got a hearing issue. >> he does. he did come in severely any

protected and he's ondy -- neglected and he's deaf but the medication keeps him from having pain with the ears because of the infection. >> this is because he was neglected. >> absolutely and we can tell that from coat. we have him on hypoallergenic food and he loves it and we've already seen improvements on the coat and i think the only reason he hasn't been snagged yet or adopted is because he's deaf. >> but he does know some commands with hands motions and that won't be a problem. you have a show coming up if you want to meet freddy yourself in person. >> he's going to be at the petsmart in springfield and we have a show this saturday as well at the columbia at petsmart. >> this saturday. >> 11:00 to 1:00. >> if you go to the website. you can go to the events link and get to that from wusa9.com. >> just -- yeah, and the phone number? >> our phone number is (703)533- 2373. leave a voice mail. if you missed that, don't sweat it. go to wusa9.com and go to the pet line section all the

information is there. >> stick around, 9news now at noon returns in just a moment.

a new museum in washington has lined up some huge star power to try to make a big splash. we're talking about the national women's history museum. with me now is joan wages, she's the museum's president and ceo. joan, thank you for being here with us. and congratulations on the museum. >> thank you. >> and i'll ask you the question that is always asked of a group that singled out in

a museum or effort. why do we need a national women's history museum? >> great question. and there's an answer. if you look at the textbooks today, only one out of ten figures is of a woman. if you look at our national parks, less than 8% of the statues are about women leaders. and if you look -- if you go to our nation's capital building, there are 217 statues and only 13 are of women. so women have been left out of the telling of our nation's story so we need a museum so that people can come to it and learn about all of these amazing women from our history and come out inspired and -- and -- >> empowered. >> and empowered. and -- feeling that they have a greater respect for what women have done. >> exactly. now people are going to say where is this museum? you know where the city of monuments and museums but

there's not a brick and mortar museum just yet. >> we are online at mwhm.org, we have 22 online exhibits that aspects about women's history over 300 biographies about women from history. and lesson plans for educators for teachers and so we are getting a lot of information out even before we have that permanent site. >> we haveless than 30 seconds, where will this brick and mortar building be when it becomes reality? >> we wanted it as close or on the national mall that we can get it. >> have you identified site? you have some big name celebrities helping you raise money because that's what you need. >> we're seeing low pay for that privately. that's what we need. >> that's pretty good. any target date? >> well, we want to have it open by august 26th, 2020. 100 years to the day women got the vote. >> that would be exciting. we wish you the best of luck and for people who'd like to me more about it. go to the website or your

website which is -- >> mwhm.org. >> all right, some great things there and joan, a pleasure to have you here with us. >> thank you so much. >> that's it for 9news now at noon. we'll be back at 5:00 but you can check us out 24 hours a day on the web at wusa9.com. have a great thursday. bye bye. [ captions by: caption colorado, llc 800-775-7838 email: comments@captioncolorado.com ]