plane crash and just getting out of the hospital? thomas proven went straight back to the gentleman who helped him. proven busted up his nose and cut his face but the two people in the plane he collided with died and bruce leshan has the latest over the memorial day crash in fauquier county. >> it was in a perfect glider fashion. >> reporter: jim flanagan still shaken by the plane that landed in his cow pasture. >> he hit on the southeast side of it. if we could kick a field goal it's right through the uprights and he left the wings as you can see the white residue. >> reporter: he's shaken as well at what the surviving pilot told him. >> he told me he had hit someone in midair. >> reporter: in part because the pilot of the piper told them that he hit something but how and why these two aircraft ended up being actually the same place -- exactly the same

place at exactly the same time. that is at the center of this investigation. and investigators are going to be looking at these holes in the piper, this distinctive square hole here with red paint around it as well as the jagged tear right here. investigators are also going to be looking at sight lines clearly these two pilots didn't see each other. and both this piper and the beachcraft have wings that are placed down below the cockpit. >> once we ascertain the angle to which they came together then we will start to look at what would be the field of view from the pilots' perspective. >> reporter: the pilot of the beech craft never had a chance. investigators say the tail break off on im-- broke off on impact and here it is in jim's cow pasture. without the tail there's no way you can fly the aircraft.

what is amazing is that the piper pilot could land with this piece of tail. attached to his aircraft. in summer duck, virginia, bruce leshan. >> one of the pilots was an ntsb investigator and the other one worked for the faa. culpeper police officer daniel harmon wright is in jail tonight. he remains there charged with the murder of a woman back in february. a special grand jury handed down the indictment late yesterday. harmon wright is accused of shooting and killing 54-year- old patricia cook. she was sitting in her jeep in a church school parking lot february 9th. cook and harmon wright ended up in some sort of confrontation. he claims that she caught his arm in the window and was dragging him when he shot her six times but the special prosecutor in this case says that is not how it went down. >> the terms trapped and dragged were used. these were not descriptors that i would have used. >> and he's being held there. he can't get -- he can't free

himself. >> harmon right is currently on leave without pay. his mother's also charged in the case with forgery for altering his personnel records at the police department. the controversy continues over the designs of the president dwight d. eisenhower memorial. earlier this month famed architect frank gearry received his design. but today the family released a statement saying they certainly appreciate the changes but still don't support the design. the everyone is the metal tappestries. the family calls them impractical and unnecessary. now they are asking for more time to break the impasse over that design. a new study just released shows that simple supplements can help save infants from deadly infections. anita brikman is here to explain compactible what the researchers found out in tonight's health alert. >> reporter: derek, doctors

have shown zinc can save babies' lives. a study released within the last hour in the journal lance et shows adding zinc given to infants made it 40% less likely the drugs would fail and they'd need more treatment. today we asked an infectious disease specialist at children's national medical center about what this could mean to children around the globe. >> the infections are very serious. they're actually probably 25% to 30% of children in the countries die of these infections and it's a very large proportion of children that are affected by this and therefore the impact of this study is obvious. >> reporter: the doctor says zinc also helped fight life- threatening diarrhea. you can give it in a syrup or tablet form depending only the age of the -- on the age of the child. >> we like it when the medical news is good. the city is preparing for

thousands of people tomorrow at the funeral for go go legend chuck brown. mayor gray says flags to half s bruce johnson reports plans are in the works to make this funeral unlike any the city's ever seen before. ♪ >> reporter: which i have cliff jones of --ly jones of soul world entertainment. he's preparing to salute go go legend chuck brown tomorrow. ♪ >> i've managed and developed groups such as raheem divine; puffy. >> reporter: more than 10,000 people stood in line for the viewing yesterday at the howard theater. and one government source today predicted up to 15,000 could turn out for chuck brown's funeral at the convention center. >> you had louis armstrong, he

transcends jazz. you have bob marley who develops a genre and transcends that. now you have chuck brown who develops is genera and transcends that. >> reporter: wayne bruce is music director for tomorrow, paying homage to chuck brown will be a host of local stars like sugar bear, donny simpson. the chuck brown bands will also perform. >> his depth should change some lives, should change some people's mindsets when it comes totemsic business. >> reporter: tomorrow for chuck brown's funeral tell me this town has never seen the type of musical sendoff that we're going to see tomorrow. add to that the fact that much of the world still doesn't know much about go-go music and tomorrow could be one for the history books. >> gospel, jazz, blues, go-go. and especially go-go will send chuck off. in a manner that's fitting of a king. >> reporter: doors open at 10:00. the funeral is set to begin two hours later after 14,500 people have entered the doors, the

doors will be closed. bruce johnson, 9news now. >> today, d.c.'s congressional delegate holmes norton introduced a resolution in the house to create a chuck brown day this year. it would be set on the birthday, august 22nd and honor the contributions to music in d.c. and of course the whole country and the world. once again the memorial service starts at noon tomorrow. washington convention center. be prepared for some traffic delays, several streets in that neighborhood will be shut down during the service. if you can't make it down there we'll broadcast it live on the air and on the website. wusa9.com. still do come -- to come, he was a high school football star convicted of a rape he never committed. now, ten years later, he just might get a shot in the big leagues. we'll tell you about it. >> but first, she was an honor student sent to jail for missing too much school? now she's getting a lot of support, her name is diane strand. we'll have her story. when it comes to gardening, we're, well, inexperienced.

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the flowers and vegetables. guaranteed. we were so bad at this before. particularly you. [ laughs ] everyone grows with miracle-gro. now, an update on a high school honors student and some controversial jail time she had to serve. friends and strangers have now donated more than $70,000 do a 17-year-old diane t ran. you see the texas 11th grader was jailed for one day for contempt of court after she ignored a judge's warning that she was missing too much school. now tran admits she missed 18

days but she says she's often too tired for class because she works two jobs to support her family. a legal analyst says it could mean some trouble for her down the road. >> when you apply to college or to go grad school. you state on there have you ever been convicted of anything. i mean anything folks. and -- being in contempt of a judge contempt of court is something that requires a lot of explaining. >> now tran does work full-time at a dry cleaners and part-time for a wedding planner and she's been supporting her brother and sister ever since her parents were separated and then mom moved away. the donations she's gotten so far certainly will help with that. as for that court conviction a houston council member plans to ask the judge to wipe tran's record clean. so should young diane have the record wiped clean? i mean she is an honors student and claims to have a legitimate reason for missing so much school. however she's violated a court order and she broke the law and this consequences to that. we'd love to know what you

think there ought to be in my mail bag. the address is -- a young man named zach walls doesn't need any more merit badges. after all he's an eagle scout but he's on a mission that some say has a lot of merit. zach's asking the boy scouts to drop their policy blocking gay and lesbian scout leaders and today, he delivered petitions signed by more than 275,000 supporters. zach was raised by a lesbian couple. >> obviously the federal government has a policy through the defense of marriage act that discriminates against people like my own importants and you know millions of other lbgt americans. however i'm unwilling to discard the entire organization because of one single policy. >> now a spokesman for the boy scouts say the group has no plans to change its policy. the storms are all done. the because of the weather is back with you -- beautiful weather is back but for the weekend? topper looks ahead to that in

the forecast. that's just a min or two down the road. >> but first a 6-year-old from virginia making history at the national spelling bee. dit she get any further today? we'll tell you how she did in a minute.

dirigible. d. i. r. i. g. i. b. l. e. dirigible. [ applause ]

>> check her out. little lori anne madison 6 years ode out of woodbridge, virginia. correctly spelling her word in the second round of the national spelling bee. turns out she is the youngest to ever compete in the scrips national bee and as anny hong reports lori anne is a bit of a star. [ applause ] >> reporter: lori anne madison may be the smallest at the scripps national spelling babouches the biggest buzz this yeared -- but she's the biggest buzz this year as the youngest ever to qualify for the contest. >> dirigible. >> may i have the definition please? >> it means stirrable. >> reporter: in wednesday morning's preliminaries the 6- year-old from woodbridge, virginia bravely took the stage. and you can see she had no problems with her word. spelling it with confidence. >> dirigible. d. i. l. i. g. i. b. l. e.

dirigible. [ applause ] >> reporter: as you can imagine, lori anne wasn't available today for media interviews. you have to remember she is only 6 years old and she is overwhelmed. regardless she has become a little celebrity around here. >> i've seen a lot of people just going to her and getting her autograph. >> i know that when i was 6 years old i could not spell those words and i'm really proud of her. >> reporter: lori anne is homeschooled and recently won the prince william county bee with the word vaquero which means cowboy. >> v. a. q. u. e. r. o.. vaquero. >> reporter: while nobody is expecting her to win at the national spelling bee, her fellow contestants are still rooting her on. >> she's just not afraid it. she's just really -- brave and to show like that she can spell and that she's proud of it. >> reporter: at the national

harbor, anny hong, 9news now. >> in rounds number three she had to spell a word which means the crop of a bird or insect and she missed it by just one letter and she didn't qualify for the semifinals but still a great day for her. turns out brian banks will get his shot at the nfl after all and could come here in washington, d.c.. the former football star tells espn he will workout with the seattle seahawks next week and then also heard from three other teams about workoutings including the redskins. now we told you about banks' story last week. he was the top recruit headed to usc but all derailed when he was quilted of -- convicted of a rape in 2002. he was exonerated last week after his accuser recanted and we're going to hope he gets the shot. >> that would be only fire. >> let's talk about the weather sir. great outside today after a little funky yesterday. >> much quieter than yesterday. the cold front derek is still to the west but it's going to go through dry and it will

usher in fantastic air tonight and tomorrow and we have to locate the umbrellas again for friday. this is from tysons from mclean, you're actually looking eastward with the beltway and all the construction and things are moving along pretty well. this is brought to you by the michael & son weather camera. down to 80. the dew point is pretty low in the low 60s and i think when the front goes through the dew points will fall into the 50s. very very nice. pressure steady. and the winds are still out of the south at 7 so the front is still to the west and it will roll through tonight and then wind turn northwest. okay this is what's left of tropical storm beryl. kind of extra tropical now pushing on out to sea and this is the cold front still west of us. still generating a few showers in west virginia i think mostly showers will pass to the south. i can't rule out a sprinkle in the mountains but i think in the metro area the front will move through dry. temperatures 79ageton. 77 bethesda. very nice outside. 79 great falls. 81 in stirling, upper 7 #s out to leesburg and still 81

manassas and still 82 college park and also over in beltsville. we had a cold front pushing through, clearing and cooler tonight. mostly sunny and pleasant tomorrow. now friday some heavy storms are possible. and beryl moving offshore kind of unusual to have two named storms before the first of june which is the beginning of the hurricane season. by the way go on the website and do it now. you can download the hurricane tracking it's free on the home page and also on the forecast page. clear and breezy and cooler tonight and open the windows. give the ac a rest. 58 to 68. winds will become northwest 10 to 15 when the storm goes through. 60s and 70s thursday morning and winds out of the northwest about 10 and in the afternoon, beautiful. mostly sunny, you need the sunglasses and high temperatures low 80s. low humidity. and winds manageable out of the northwest at 10. all right, so we'll break it down. 58 to 8:00 to start. kind of a cool start okay but by noon mild 75 to 80 and then by evening pleasant and 73 to

83 with full sun and a tough day to beat. next three days we'll look back finally on thursday by friday because more storms possible on friday. and they come in pretty quickly and temperatures will struggle to get to 80 and again the potential for big storms friday afternoon. pleasant again on saturday and temperatures fall a little bit into the upper 70s. next seven days, temps fall again on sunday. back in the mid 70s a shower possible. not a washout though on sunday. and then showers possible monday, better chance for showers tuesday and next wednesday. little cooler derek and temperatures in the lowens o -- 70s on tuesday and wednesday which is ten degrees below average but that makes up for the ten degrees above average for the memorial day weekend. >> i guess you can look at that way. to the weird news file because what do you have when you cross a hot tub with a boat? oddly enough tonight we do not have to guess at the answer. to seattle. washington where a local marine carpenter created the answer to the question.

he says she lived on an old wooden boat but he was cold one night and figured i can make a dinghy into the hot tub and there you see it. it is the hot tub boat. this is a lot harder than it looked because you know -- looks because you know the water is heavy. but now they have it right and he is hoping inquiries and now getting on the web from all over the world will turn into some big bucks. maybe it will. or maybe it goes the way of the tree house kitchen and the swimming pool jet ski two other ideas that just didn't work out. [ laughter ]

well, in our mail bag tonight. viewers expressing passionate differences of opinion on the wusa9 facebook page. for example on the story of that culpeper, virginia cop now facing murder charges for shooting cook to death as she tried to drive away from some kind of confrontation. dawn mccoy said the officer should not have been indicted. if an officer is calling to investigate something and you are the subject that they are coming to investigate, then you have no right to drive away. she could have been a murderer, she could have been on pcp. she could have been drunk. she should not have driven

away. okay okay we get that but jt says -- >> and then there was this, on the continuing political scuffle over gay marriage in the state of maryland -- and tristan johnson is one of many of you on the page who wrote -- >> but brian guy says -- >> that's what all you democrats fight for all the time. no prayer in school, no in god

we trust. leave our sacrament alone. yeah, except this isn't really about church is it? it's about the government which to my mind ought to treat all taxpayers and legal adult relationships the same. churches can do what they want. our address is mail bag@wusa9.com, you can write what you want. well that's our report. i'll be right back here tonight at 11:00 along with anita and topper, we will see you then. log on anytime to wusa9.com. have a great evening, bye bye. [ captions by: caption colorado, llc 800-775-7838 email: comments@captioncolorado.com ]

now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world. jessica simpson. the first photos of her baby girl maxwell. three weeks old. chubby cheeks and the big money that jessica was paid for the shots, plus news on when she'll say i do. neil patrick harris at home with his 19-month-old twins. >> yeah, i didn't love the first nine months. i didn't feel like i was bonding with them. then -- kathie lee today, asking martin short how his wife is doing, two years after she died. >> you and nancy have one of the greatest marriages. how many years for you guys? ♪ i dreamed a dream of time gone by ♪ "e.t.'s" "les miserables" exclusive. hugh jackman, russell crowe. anne hathaway singing and getting her hair chopped off.