failing to pay taxes for the sentences to run concurrently. >> i commend the u.s. attorney for a thorough investigation, a swift conclusion, and i think what is a just conclusion. >> reporter: his colleagues on the d.c. council were prepared for the prison sentence that will put the once popular ward 5 representative in prison for over three years. >> the whole council needs to take the ethics issue far more seriously. again, this is only one chapter of a book that is still being written. >> reporter: the judge, john bates took into account the irony that thomas would then convert more than $350,000 earmarked for such programs to his personal use. the fbi seized a luxury suv and a motorcycle as a part of the lewd that thomas collected from the stolen funds. months ago in this very same spot after harry thomas jr. pleaded guilty to stealing federal funds and not paying his taxes, i asked him what his father would say about all of

this, a former d.c. councilman. today he cited that question and for the first time he gave us an answer, saying that his father would say stand up, accept what you have done, be responsible for your actions. >> reporter: the u.s. attorney, ronald machen. >> we were certainly sending amessage that this city will not tolerate the unethical issues. if you violate the public trust, there will be consequences. >> reporter: the mother of harris thomas jr. said that he lectured her son about the shame he brought to the people and the family he served, quoting the words, saying that there is something good in the worst of us and something bad in the best of us. >> that was bruce johnson reporting. now as of tonight, harry thomas jr. is still a free man and he will probably be that way for some weeks. he'll be notified by the bureau of prisons when and where to report and that will probably be to a minimum security facility.

and to hear more about his sentencing -- and here to hear more about his sentencing, he could have gotten more months, but he got 48. >> yes, that's pretty stiff. i think that the judge tried to balance his good deeds as a part of his job, but also his really good deeds with kids in thecommunity coming from an iconic family from ward 5. >> we heard from the u.s. attorney who basically wanted to send a message that he thought that the judge sent a message too, throwing the book at him? >> i hate to agree with the u.s. attorney's office, but i think so. i think the judge was sending a message that if you're a public official, if you steal or do wrong, you'll spend time in jail. and three years is a pretty significant time. maybe the first time a public elected official locally has gone to jail period, let alone for three years. >> you know, with all the corruption, investigations going on involving d.c. officials that perhaps the judge was sending a message

about that as well? >> yes, it will reverberate with the chairman's investigation as well as the mayor's investigation and the other subject that are targets of those investigations. they are putting that in the mix with regards to whether or not they are going to fight or at some point in time there will be plea bargainings. >> i'm curious about this. when a judge comes into his chamber, hasn't he already done the research and pretty much made up his mind what he's going to do. do the pleas and the thoughts of a mother and these sorts of things really make any difference? >> i certainly hope so. the federal judges have lifetime appointments. harry thomas and his team submitted about 95 letters of support, i think, maybe 75. but the bottom line that the judge had a real good idea of what he was going to do and why he was going to do it. but up until the time he issues the sentence, anything could happen. and i think that the passionate pleas we have heard from his mother and from thomas were impressive, but not impressive enough. >> obviously not. it had is taking a toll -- this is taking a toll on us.

you have watched the city and how other people talk about this city. what do you think about that? >> it's not as bad as when marion had his personal problems, but it does have a cloud over the city. something we need to address. one of the things i think the u.s. attorney should do is be as efficient and effective in moving these cases forward because we do suffer politically, socially, and business wise. so the faster he gets his investigations done and we get resolution, the more our elected leaders can really lead and get to their core mission which is politics, legislation, and moving the city forward. >> our own bruce johnson tried to ask the prosecutor about that, but he had no comment. thank you as always for your insight, which is appreciated. we'll talk to you again soon. >> thank you. a collection of letters, documents from osama bin laden is now available for anybody who has a computer and can go online. by all accounts, bin laden was planning terror right up to the very end. he wanted to take out a plane carrying president obama,

leaving vice president joe biden in charge. and it also appears that bin laden was worried about losing the trust among other radical muslims. >> you can see him struggling for control, struggling for relevance. >> the military says the most compelling legislations is his frustration at failing to maintain the roll over the crumbling network. maryland state senator has been reprimanded. they cited him for failing to report income that he received from a washington lobbying firm from 2001 to 2003. he lost the democratic primary in maryland's sixth congressional district to john delaney. she used dry wall to barricade her three young daughters inside a room and now christina moore will spend the next year and a half behind bars. this happened back in bristol in march of 2011. the oldest daughter used a

mattress to climb over the dry wall and run for help and a neighbor found moore and 35- year-old john robey in the house passed out. they were struggling with drug addictions. an infant is recovery at the hospital after the family dog attacked the baby, nearly biting the baby's ear off. this one happened earlier in the week in culpepper county. >> reporter: i'm surae chinn at the nova fairfax hospital where a baby boy just three weeks old is recovering after being bitten more than 30 times by the family dog. culpepper county detectives say the mother was at home on culvin -- colvin road. she was sleeping next to the infant when the family dog attacked the infant. >> it detached the ear and the baby had severe bites to the buttocks area. >> reporter: the mother was very tired and may have been a heavy sleeper when the dog bit

the baby more than 30 times. >> i know it is probably eating them up inside, you know, what did i do wrong? >> reporter: the father came home and had to pry the family dog off the child and then shocked the dog. the detective is a dog training expert. she says never to leave pets, no matter what breed it is, alone with the baby. and to know that dogs and cats are unpredictable. i'm surae chinn, 9news now. new information right now about facebook's initial public offering. when the trading gets going on may 18, the shares are expected to sell between $25 to $28 a piece. and that price would value facebook at $85 to $95 billion. that's just shy of the $100 billion evaluation that some observers had expected. when it comes to crime, this is no nickel and diming. they made a huge heist. prescription drugs worth more than $80 million. >> as far as we know, this brazen crime was the biggest

theft in connecticut's history and in the history of the pharmaceutical industry country wide. investigators say that two years ago, two brothers bought tools from the home depot, caught a hole from the roof of the warehouse and loaded a semi with the prescription drugs. they drove down to florida hoping to sell the stuff, everything from prosac to pills to fight cancer. but the undercover agents intercepted the drugs and today's arrest is a part of the crackdown of the so-called cargo theft in which thieves targeted ware houses. all told that 22 people are now in custody. imagine seeing price unique sound recordings from our country's history up to sale for the highest bidder on ebay. national archive supervisor stole as many as 6,000 such recordings, everything from the eyewitness account of the disasters to the bob hope uso tour and then sold them online. well today a judge sentenced him for his crimes. he got 18 months behind bars.

he ended up violating his own advice about the importance of archive employees protecting the records of the government. and he ended up making about $100,000 on the scam. a radio historian triggered the investigation when he saw a record that he had donated to the archives listed for sale on ebay. well, does maryland need a gaming commission? governor martin o'malley may just establish one to study gambling in the state. that commission would take a look at the possibility of adding table games and even more casino locations, an effort to legalize table games stalled this year. the governor is installing a session this summer that would focus on gambling. the chinese activist that took refuge of the chinese embassy now wants out of china. one day after he accepted a deal that reunited him with his family, the activist now says he feared for his life. they about came to be surprised. he never mentioned that he wanted to come to the country.

>> and he talked with his wife. twice. and then made that decision on his own. to come out of the embassy. >> the secretary of state is already in beijing for the high- level trade talks. chen wants to leave the country with clinton on saturday. they are not sure whether or not they will reopen those negotiations with the chinese government. it's been a pretty warm day out there for everybody. topper is live outside on the terrace. top, the nats are playing tonight, so any rain in that forecast? >> no, we're in good shape, at least downtown and inside the beltway. but like yesterday, derek, we have a couple big thunderstorms to the north and west. let me show you doppler radar. we have a severe thunderstorm warning in berkeley, west virginia until 7:45. these are sort of the same area where the storms were in yesterday. it's a pretty big storm, actually a pretty small storm, a power packed storm. this is definitely hail, you see this right in here, this purple color, that's big-time

hail. and that's occurring on the west side of i-81 in between martinsburg and this area here. we'll zoom in a little more. we guarantee you that they are getting hail in some of these areas right here. this is right at 320, 322 rather and this is our county route 30. this is big time, i mean big time hail on state route 45 right here. just on the west side of county 81. the storm itself will move off to the south and the east and we'll keep you posted on where it is headed to see how far it could make it. right now it will end up kind of dissipating before it makes it to the immediate metro area. we'll keep you posted and talk about the widespread activity tomorrow. derek? >> all right, dissipating. that's a good -- good thing. thank you, top. what they are doing to spice up the old menu at mcdonald's. plus, mitt romney picks up a key endorsement from somebody who wanted to beat him out. we'll have the latest polling number in the battle

between romney and the current president. toothpaste is not formulated for cleaning dentures, the abrasives in the toothpaste actually create those micro fine scratches in the denture, and that's where bacteria can grow and thrive. these are the very bacteria that can cause bad breath.

dentists do recommend that you soak your denture in polident. polident doesn't scratch the denture surface, and it kills 99.9% of bacteria that are responsible for causing bad breath. by using polident and soaking your denture every day you can feel confident your dentures fresh and clean.

breaking news. right now we have reports of two women shot at a church in maryland. sky 9 is out over the scene for us so you can see that police are still there. quite a presence, as a matter of fact. we've got crews on the way. we'll have a full report on 9news now at 11:00. once again, reports of a double shooting at a church in maryland. more information as it becomes available. in had campaign 2012 news,

gop -- in campaign 2012 news, gop mitt romney picked up a key support today. michele bachmann threw her support behind the presumptive nominee. >> we must select mitt romney as the next president of the united states. >> bachmann who dropped out of the race back in january remains a favorite among the social conservatisms and romney needs their support. president obama kicks off the support of the reelection campaign this weekend in the key swing states of ohio. a new voter poll shows that president obama and mitt romney in a virtual tie in ohio with the president ahead by two points. that's within the margin of error. down in florida, romney is ahead by a point and also too close to call. but the president has opened up an eight-point lead in pennsylvania. variety may sure be the spice of life, but at mcdonald's, it is also good business. the fast food giant is expected to increase the number of their

limited time offers on the menu such as the cherry berry chiller, the chicken mcbites or the rib sandwich. they show that loyal customers do want variety so that changing menu also brings in new business. and i like that too. let's talk weather. it wasn't too cold out there, but there were some storms. you've got to wonder where they were. plus, apparently he was not a master of the force. he was arrested. how could this be? we'll tell you after the break. -dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal.

is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are those great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh. a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪

i'm meteorologist topper shutt. we're looking at the severe thunderstorms where they were yesterday. and they are few and far in between. we'll zoom in to a couple of these, going across the border up to pennsylvania. these are heavy thunderstorms. i'm not surprised that there will be a big issue here. this has hail to it. and this one is kind of straddling the border here, north of clear springs, which has a little hail in it as well, indicated by the little purple color. we'll be moving further south. this is what we have showed you about 10 minutes ago with the tremendous amount of hail. it is south of martinsburg, although it's raining pretty hard here in martinsburg and straddling i-81. it's traveling down i-81. if you know anyone traveling down there, tell them to pull over a little while. we'll zoom back out and put it into motion where these storms will go over the next hour. they will continue to move off to the south and the east side.

a little similar path to what they did yesterday. they will move into jefferson county of west virginia. weakening up a little bit as they move into loudoun county and fredericks county. this will be moving through hagerstown. get ready for big storms up here around clear springs and also around martinsburg. and the rest of us here, it's quiet. it is very nice outside. in fact, here is a live weather cam. you can see the sun is brought to you here by michael and son and temperatures, 78. high was 81 today. the winds are out of the south at 8. that's one reason why it is warmer. we don't have the easterly component to the wind here. and right now we're looking at upper 70s downtown and arlington and bethesda. 80 in great falls. 81 still out in leesburg and manassas and college park as well. so now a little unsettled, but it will be okay. isolated thunderstorms tonight. yeah. warmer on friday with a much better chance for thunderstorms here. now, these storms, they could make it into the immediate metro area. we'll keep you posted on that. a few showers on saturday, but right now we're thinking mainly

south of town here and just a slight chance for the isolated shower on sunday. so quite frankly the weekend is looking up. for tonight, partly cloudy and warm. isolated thunderstorms possible. and some could be heavy with the lower temperatures in the 60s. winds are out of the south at 10. and most of those storms are here in the highland area. partly cloudy and warm. grab your shades. then by the afternoon, we could see, you know, much more active doppler radar tomorrow. partly cloudy and warmer. some thunderstorms are possible. high temperatures, about 85. and now the next seven days, well, we've got a drop in here for saturday and sunday and monday, but i've got to tell you it looks pretty good. we're looking at temperatures around 80 on saturday, mid-70s on sunday and monday. and then a much better chance for some more widespread activity here on tuesday and wednesday. so you know all in all the weekend is getting better. >> you know, we had actually rain on saturday and you pulled it back. >> yes, i pulled it back. >> that's the kind of move we would like to see happen. let's talk about the man whose name is listed here.

he was arrested in roseville, california over the weekend. no, no, no, not the legendary jeti, he's not real, but an actual person who has the same name. except this guy, he used the force for evil, allegedly involved in a hit-and-run accident last month. back in 1999, this particular man legally changed his name to win a radio contest. you don't think that changing your name is a good strategy for that sort of thing? well, as they would say, i find your lack of faith disturbing. yeah, i remember that. [ laughter ] send your e-mails to mailbag@wusa9.com. 9news now will be right back.

in the mail bag tonight, spirit airlines. reported about increasing their carry-on bag from $45 to $100 which starts in november. keep in mind that we are talking about carry-on bags, not the checked bags. now, they say that there is something very disspiritting about all of this. that's a crock when you could

hardly get a pretzel these days. it's getting all too expensive to fly with hidden charges. i'll be thinking about any possible vacation trips with that airline. big daddy from arlington doesn't think so much of folks who are willing to take that deal. you have to be one dumb person to fly with them. hopefully they will change their minds or go out of business. hopefully their employees will influence their management to cancel that deal. i certainly don't want the employees to be unemployed due to their greedy owners. >> you know what, i'm on your mind, but spirit airlines is the epitome of the fliers to charge for the carry on, which is a dubious distinction to be sure, but still their idea is if you fly super cheap, then be prepared to play a little bit more for anything more than just a seat you're sitting in. even for stuff most of us would consider to be the basics. when i fly spirit -- would i fly spirit? likely as a last resort, but

will enough of you be enticed by a chance to pick and choose what to pay for to keep them in business, then use the ultimate journalistic cliche. only time will tell. unless of course you tell me first in an e-mail. the address is mailbag@wusa9.com. well, that's our report. i'll be right back here at 11:00 along with anita brikman and topper. plus tonight, don't forget to log on any time to wusa9.com. we'll see you a bit later. bye.

now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world. tv's tanorexic mom on the defensive today. new video. >> there is somebody out there that doesn't like me, because they're jealous, they're fat and they're ugly. now, is hollywood to blame? we examine the influence stars over women obsessed with tanning. you don't put a 5-year-old in a tanning bed. you douse them from head to toe with tanning spray. have we learned nothing from "toddlers & tiaras"? whitney houston. the devils in the diva. the "vanity fair" expose on her final days. who's the mysterious con artist shadowing her every move? the oscars of fashion. inside new york city's met gala. the stars, the styles, the world's biggest designers.