. this is 9news now. morning 100 residents proved tonight that losing power can be energizing to say the least. they were testifying at a public service commission meeting in rockville focused on pepco's performance during the summer's major power outages. gary nurenberg is there now and he's got the language we can put on tv anyhow. gary. >> reporter: derek, there was a lot of anger here tonight.

anger at pepco for how long it took to restore power. anger at pepco for how it treated customers that lost power. and anger at the public service commission for granting pepco a rate increase. it was a public service commission that held the meeting. why do this. >> the only way we get to hear about the customer's experience is from you all directly. >> reporter: how is this for starters. witness number one. >> my comments are directed to the butcher of montgomery county. pepco is a joke. >> reporter: no joking. as close as it got to laughter was the description of growing up in post world london. >> my wife grew up in the former soviet union. they had power. >> reporter: his bottom line on the power. >> it's badly designed, badly built, it's badly overseen, badly regulated and it's not working. >> reporter: they heard about burying the power lines. >> we had neighborhoods of over

1,000 residential units that were out from friday night until the following friday afternoon, and this is all underground. >> reporter: pepco was heavily criticized but so too was the board. >> you are buying their promises. you are giving into their lies. you do not question them. but you give in. constantly. i don't understand it. >> instead of fining pepco for below acceptable levels of service, you have rewarded them year after year after year for failing to maintain the power infrastructure in our communities that are to serve us. >> reporter: the overwhelming sentiment. >> fix it soon but not on the backs of our rate payers. >> reporter: well, that was an applause line, they hold hearings in baltimore and september to hear pepco's side of it. as derek said, there are more than 100 angry persons here tonight, and those are the ones that got in before they locked the doors a couple of hours ago. i just left the hearing a few minutes ago, and for those that

still managed to get in, the hearing is still going on. >> wow. intense. our wusa9.com facebook page was having a little fun at the company's expense. they said i would rather power my home with blank than use pepco. johnny writes my 77-year-old mother on a treadmill with a walker. laurie writes i would rather run my home with two mules. eric says 15 mice in the basement. you can join in the conversation any time you like. log on to our facebook page, facebook.com/wusa9. good news if you would like a casino at the national harbor with table games like black jock. tonight the governor of -- blackjack. tonight the governor talked about a special session coming

this week. the law would offer other casinos in the state incentives for opening the casino. if the casino sign off on it, so will the lawmakers that represent them. and there is new information tonight with a prince george's county police officer. he is being called a hero from rescuing a 6-year-old girl from a man who kidnapped her and then assaulted her. police say it was the second kidnapping by the same suspect in just last month. >> reporter: it was right around 1 1:30 monday afternoon when prince george's county police officer revis said a frantic father rushed over to him at a store in maryland while the father was shopping and while the officer was working security. >> he couldn't locate his daughter. >> reporter: the father gave him a picture of the girl from his cell phone and after first looking all around the store, he then began a search of the neighborhood. >> i saw small silhouettes.

>> reporter: a few minutes later and a few blocks away, he found the little girl in the middle of a park holding hands with her alleged abductor who police say had also sexually assaulted the girl. >> and she seemed very desperate. and the only thing coming out of her mouth was i want my daddy. i want my daddy. >> reporter: according to the police, the suspect, 25-year-old, was also responsible for a kidnapping on july 9th at the same value city store. in that case, he abducted an 8-year-old girl and tried to sexually assault her. police say in both cases he lured the girls out of the store promising to show them something. >> yesterday he lured a girl out of the store by offering that he had a toy outside. >> reporter: tonight charles omuffa is in custody charged with kidnapping, a first degree sex offense and child abuse. he confessed to both incidents. >> very calm, very quiet. doesn't like to speak too much because he was very low toned. it kind of appeared to me that

he knew he was doing something wrong but didn't know how to verbally express it. >> reporter: the father of the 6-year-old who was allegedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted yesterday said in a statement that his daughter is still her energetic self though she mentioned to him that something did happen to her. the father also urged all parents never to lose sight of their children in public. derek. >> all right. tough advice but well said. what has filled michael wade with so much hatred that he killed innocent strangers. even his step mom is at a loss for answers. we're now hearing from the woman that helped to raise page. she cannot believe the young man who joined the army is the same person who became a white supremacist and murdered people at a temple in wisconsin. she last saw him in 1999. >> he was gentle and kind and loving and he was a happy person

and a happy child. and what happened god only knows, because i don't. >> funeral services for the 6 victims are planned for friday. well, tonight hundreds of local neighbors gathered to remember the lives lost and kurt brooks has more from rockville and reminds us just what being an american is really about. ♪ singing . >> reporter: close to a thousand of people got together here in rockville tonight. though it was the shooting in oak creek, wisconsin that sparked the vigil, the candles, words and prayer sought light to something else. >> i like the fact that it was integrated and a lot of people from the outside were here and it gives me hope that america is on its way to kind of becoming more unified with its minorities. >> it gives me a lot of respect. i like it. >> reporter: six here in

rockville wanted to remind america that, well, frankly there are a lot more american than many might first believe. >> we believe in one god and equality and justice for all. and what really distinguished our religion is equality and also the fact that women and men are completely equal. there is -- the religion says women are purely equal. but there is no differentiating factors. and that was very revolutionary at the time it came out. >> reporter: revolution, liberty and justice. sounds pretty american. in rockville, kurt brooks, 9news. >> and tonight, people in 15,000 communities all across the country and beyond are taking to the streets on this the 29th annual national night out. events were planned all over our area, including this one. you see it there. the idea, heightened crime awareness and tighten up the ties between the police and the

community. prince george's county executive says those ties are part of the reason the crime rate is going down. >> homicides in prince george's county are down 40%. so we're very pleased with that. and the fact that we're bringing crime down to historic lows in the county. but it's a combination of working with communities like suitland and with the police department and all of our public safety agents. >> more than 37 million people are expected to take part in similar events all over the world. well, part of our area was under a tornado warning today. topper shutt joins us now and this was just the weirdiest tornado warning i've seen. >> it was a little strange. we spouted a water spout. in fact, this is a picture of a water spout. it's still above ground. we have one more picture. these are all on our website and facebook page and i tweeted this

out about 7:35 this evening. here is the water spout again over the river. pretty well defined. no doubt about that. no injuries and no damages. let me show you radar. radar is quiet right now. i want to show you where. here we are around the metro area. we zoom in. this is down around maryland. the trouble is there is four counties that come together, and that's why places like prince george's county, parts of prince george's county, parts of charles, parts of st. mary is under a warning at one time. but, again, no big deal. just a water spout. we'll come back and talk about the potential for bigger storms later on in the week and we'll have your 9 alert codes and guess who is making landfall shortly. ernesto. we'll talk about that. the arizona man accused in the deadly tucson shooting that injured gabbie giffords will spend the rest of his life behind bars. they said he was competent to stand trial and then accepted his 19 guilty pleas.

reaction from the courthouse. >> reporter: he pled guilty on thursday to the charges. a thinner, expression list laugh ner repeated i plead guilty 19 times each for one count. >> he will spend the remainder of his natural life in prison with no possibility of parole. >> reporter: a federal judge ruled that months of psych tropic medication and counseling made him competent to stand trial and enter his pleas. for some survivors in the courtroom, it was little comfort. >> i'm glad he knows what he did. it doesn't change the fact. >> reporter: the plea deal spares him from the death penalty. it also spares the survivors and the victim's families from the pain of a lengthy trial. >> i grabbed him from the throat and i said don't move or i'll

choke you. >> reporter: the retired officer grabbed him and he said he's glad it's over. >> i want him locked up so he's being punished for what he did so he can never do something like that again. >> reporter: gabbie giffords was not in the courtroom. she and her husband say they're satisfied with the plea deal and hope it will help them and the community recover and move forward. he is set to be sentenced on november 15th. >> now, his parents were inside that courtroom. and after the hearing, they cried and hugged each other. >> i couldn't imagine why anybody would want to see him dead. >> they don't bother nobody. they don't bother nobody. >> well, tonight investigators are also trying to find out what is behind those two suspicious deaths in arlington. a maintenance man found the bodies in an apartment. detectives are not yet calling the deaths homicide, but they do say they are suspicious. well, still ahead on 9 news, a city that is getting a

reputation as hollywood of the east. we have an answer that may surprise you. also ahead, we're going to bring you out sherlock homes and make you the hit of the office water cooler. help us get the high salaries by an agency rocked by scandals over how they're spending your tax dlorz. stay with us.

pittsburgh has gone hollywood. that's right. the city built on blood, sweat and steal is becoming the tinsell town of the east. they have filmed many movies there. there is a pay back for pittsburgh since 2009. film making has pumped millions of bucks into the economy. 9 wants to know it's sort the out over 13,000 payroll records and identified $30 million worth of unreported gsa bonuses and 8 million in unexplained overtime. well, now is your chance to play

private detective or perhaps investigative reporter. we've taken all of those records which are public information and created an online data base and tonight we're opening it up to you. whether you want to know a neighbor's salary or an official's bonus, now all you have to do is search it just like russ ptacek did to break the story. >> we have more than 13,000 gsa payroll records online right now. you can find it at wusa9.com. scroll down to the check it out category. then click the gsa data base. you can search by worker name, position and other categories, including duty city. let's say you want to search a gsa office location. you can scroll through cities worldwide and click yours. here in washington, we show 130 pages of responses which you can sort by total paycheck, bonuses, called a ward amount, annual lee pay, two types of overtime, staff position or name. it sorts lowest to highest. so to find the extreme highs, click to the very last page

where in washington alone we find 23 gsa workers making over time starting at around $40,000 a year going to nearly $112,000 in overtime. and that's one overtime category alone. or you can leave all of the fields blank and click search. that brings up all 13,710 records we obtained through the freedom of information act sorted in alphabetical order. you can sort again. this time let's look for total pay. we want highest. so click on the end of file arrow taking you directly to page 549. the highest numbers start at the bottom of the page with this general supply officer earning $279,351. next highest, over 277 grand. everyone on the page making more than $200,000 a year. let's sort by bonus award. the data base shows the highest bonus 79,000 capping off this

official's quarter million dollar salary and goes on 549 pages identifying more than 2500 gsa workers with a bonus category of at least $5,000. we want to push this gsa investigation to the next level. tell us what you find in the gsa data base. e-mail me at tips at wusa9.com. i'm investigator report tif russ ptacek, 9news now. >> and we will be reporting back what you find as we also continue to comb through those gsa records. and you can track the latest on the scandal by following russ ptacek on twitter or facebook. new documents show that somebody in the white house told officials with the gsa not to arrest law breaking occupy protestors sometime last year. this according to the washington examiner. many of those protests were happening on federal ground giving the gsa jurisdiction. the obama administration has disagreed with having anything

to do. tonight the entertainment world is mourning the loss of marvin hamlet. he passed away at the age of 68. his body of work is outstanding. in addition to conducting the national symphony orchestra here in dc for 11 years, he wrote the theme to a chorus line and barbara streisand's hit" the way we were". mars, the red planet in living color. nasa's curiosity has sent back the color photo and it's a bit of a landscape shot where the curiosity landed late on sunday night. you have to know, it was taken with the dusk cover still on. so there will be better high resolution images coming our way later on. meanwhile engineers are trying to make sure all of the stuff on curiosity is working right before they send it out rolling across the planet surface. topper. >> we had hurricane ernesto about to make landfall.

you can see the heavier bands of rain already ashore. so when we say landfall, that means when the eye crosses the land. but plenty of the storm is already pounding the yucatan with winds up to 90 miles per hour and rainfall looking at 5 to maybe 10 inches of rain. so here it is now. again, 85 miles per hour. wind gusts to 105. it crosses the yucatan, goes back into the gulf of mexico, then makes the second landfall of a category one and heads towards mexico city. some flooding is likely there as we get into thursday and friday. again, go to our website and download our hurricane tracker. it is free. all right. here is our live look outside brought to you by michael and son. still 80 outside. high temperature was 90. it's the 40th time we hit 90. winds out of the south, southeast at 5. that's not exactly refreshing either. so if you need your shades again tomorrow. there will be some sunshine. a bit high on wednesday. nothing kradz ee, though. and then isolated thunderstorms -- crazy, though.

and then isolated thunderstorms. and then hot on thursday with storms and some of those could be strong. still appears our best chance for big storms and widespread activity will be on friday. so overnight we're going to see a partly cloudy and muggy. 68-74. most of us holds in the 70s tonight. winds very light. by wednesday, partly cloudy and very warm. silver lining, air quality moderate. that's very good for this time of year. by afternoon partly cloudy and almost hot. isolated storms. some could be heavy. high temps around 90 and winds out of the south at about 10. next three days, we're going to keep it code yellow for tomorrow and thursday and friday. we have storms tomorrow 91. some storms on thursday and getting hot. 93. and then on friday with a cold front approaching 89 but a much better chance of showers and thunderstorms. next seven days, here is the deal. we had to add showers and storms to saturday. didn't have that this time last night. the front is not going to go

through quickly so it appears some showers and storms possible. i wouldn't cancel the tee time just yet. temperatures in the upper 80s and then we're looking at temperatures around 90 with an isolated storm next tuesday. kristin is back with highlights from the o's and the nats. extra innings. cool stuff. stay tuned.

now 9 sports with kristen berset, the best sports in town. >> the nationals have a chance with week to distance themselves from the rest of the pack. all they need to do is get past the team that is holding the worst record in baseball. but needless to say, that has not been easy. getting the start tonight in the second game of this series. a rough beginning for him. dettweiler gives up a two-run shot. next inning the nats respond. danny espinoza with his own two run hit to tie things up. there were lots of 0s on the board. this went to extras and right now it's tied 2-2 in the 11th. orioles got off to a start against the seattle. zack britain gave up five runs in the first two innings but the birds fought back as well. down 3 in the 7th.

jj hardy erases that with this shot to left. game tied up at 7. this one went to extras as well. it's still tied 7-7 in the 12th inning. all right. they've had months off and endured almost two weeks of hot, sticky, two a day practices. we saw the fatigue and frustration play out saturday at redskins park when several players started jarring with each other. they get to let it out on someone other than their teammates. the redskins kick off their season thursday night in buffalo, new york. the starters will only play a couple of drives, but they're anxious to see if all of the hard work will pay off. >> there is a lot to be proven in practice, but when you get a good player, when you get guys that you want to have playing for your team, it's in a game situation. that's when you want guys to perform. >> now you get a chance to see how they do under pressure, and that's part of the evaluation of these pre-season games. try to find your best 53

players. >> and the baltimore ravens held their final practice in their indoor facility today pumping in music trying to simulate the georgia dome where they'll be thursday night. so what is the ravens's expectations for thursday? joe flaco responds with a pretty simple answer. >> i haven't figured out how long i'm playing yet, so we'll see. but hopefully my expectations will be we get the ball. whether it's to open the game or once they turn the ball over on downs or whatever happens and we go down to score touchdowns and that will be a good day. >> so insightful. >> very much. >> they want the ball. >> for a touchdown. >> okay. that worked. two good games. >> we're on at 7:00 thursday, aren't we? >> i believe so. >> hopefully they'll still be playing when we're done.

everybody wants to know about our friend -- what's his name? the swimmer. >> michael phelps. >> who is the girlfriend. >> now you know. >> that's why they're googling her. >> that's our broadcast. we'll see you tomorrow. i got the chance to start my own business. i know what it's like to hire people and to make ends meet. from those experiences, i had the chance of running the olympics. the games were in real trouble. there'd been way too much spending.

and in massachusetts i found a budget that was badly out of balance. our legislature was 85% democrat. and every one of the four years i was governor, we balanced the budget. i want to use those experiences to help americans have a better future. we believe in our future. we believe in ourselves. we believe the greatest days of america are ahead. i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.