. thanks for joining us. i'm mike hydeck. jc hayward is off today. a tragic fire tops our news at noon from baltimore. investigators are sifting through the burned out rubble of a house where five people were killed this morning. four of them were children. scoot broom is live in east baltimore. -- scott broom is live in east baltimore. he has more on the investigation as it goes

forward. >> reporter: the house behind me was the rock, the home base for an unusually large extended family. and it was the matriarch of that family and four of her grandchildren who died here overnight last night in a fire that broke out at about 2:00 this morning. that matriarch was 55-year-old nancy ruell according to family members. the four grandchildren were ages 4 to 7. they're all gone. the bodies were found huddled together in a single room on the second floor in the back of the house. there was a rescue attempt by firefighters before dawn that was beyond heroic and ended up with two firefighters injured. one of them fell three levels through flames when the second floor collapsed from under him. he landed on top of another firefighter who was down in the basement. boat were rescued by cool -- both were rescued by colleagues and are in stable condition with burns. the cause of the fire here unknown at this time, but it was clearly extremely intense

with flames raging out every window on all levels. when firefighters first went inside to try to rescue all these people, there were accounts of a man believed to be nancy's husband who jumped from a window. also a 19-year-old who escaped by jumping from the second floor. there's an count of an infant that was also dropped and rescued from the second floor. one of the survivors, the elder gentleman, has also been hospitalized. the family is large. they have as many as 19 children and many, many grandchildren. this house was sort of as i said the home base for the family, an open door policy by the grandmother here to take in grandchildren whenever and wherever it was needed. so a lot of children in the house last night. again five people dead, a grandmother and four children. two firefighters injured. and the fire is still under investigation here in baltimore. reporting live in east baltimore, scott broom, 9news now. >> so sad. thank you.

breaking news from ohio. firefighters in lake county are battling a large fire at an industrial plant in painsville town -- in paynesville township. there is no word on any evacuations in the area or whether or not anyone has been injured in the fire. according to the website, the plant manufacturer's solid fuels which are used in natural consumer and industrial wax products as well as alternative solid and liquid fuels for boilers and steel mills. this is breaking and we'll bring you more as soon as we get it. district police are asking $25,000 to find the killer of a man in northeast d.c. investigators say 21-year-old gregory darnell troxler was shot yesterday in northeast d.c. no word yet on a motive or suspect in the shooting. the national zoo says liver failure and underdeveloped lungs is what caused the death of their 6 day old panda cub

recently. the announcement was made at a news conference this morning. kristin fisher was there and joins us live with more on that report. >> reporter: sad as it is, this is something that's relative common among newborn panda cubs. think of it like this. the liver needs oxygen but when you have underdeveloped lungs, it mes that the liver can't get enough of that oxygen which leads to liver failure and that's what happened here. here is the zoo's chief veterinarian to explain in a bit more detail. >> our current thinking is that since the lungs were not fully developed, they did not bring in as much oxygen and not much oxygen got to the liver which killed the liver cells and out matily caused the death of the cub. >> reporter: dr. suzan murray headlined the highly anticipated announcement two weeks after the six-day old pab today cub -- panda cub was found dead. at the same time mama panda was sitting behind us eating treats. it's good sign she's moving on

but her appetite is only about 80% of what she normally eats. her vet says her late is still about 20 pounds underweight. >> she's down on her bamboo consumption but she's doing great. >> reporter: her chances of producing a healthy cub are not so great. it's raising questions about the future of mei mei xiang and her mate tian tian. no decision has been made but discussions with their chinese counterparts are set for later this fall and it could end with these giant pandas going home. >> decisions about our pandas are made cooperatively between our institution and our chinese colleagues. i have full faith that whatever decision is made is in the best interest of our pandas. so i'm not too concerned at the moment. >> reporter: that is a -- there are a lot of factors that will go into determining the future of these two giant pan dids at the national -- pandas at the national zoo but the bottom line both zoo officials and

their chinese counterparts said they're going to do the best for these two bears. vice president joe biden and republican paul ryan are preparing for their one and only debate. it is tonight. the democrats are hoping joe biden can make up for the president's poor performance in the first debate. mitt romney's example is going -- camp is going to try to keep his momentum going after his solid showing in debate one. randall pinkston has more from kentucky. >> reporter: paul ryan is in kentucky getting ready for his face-to-face meeting with vice president joe biden. leading up to the debate, mitt romney's running mate has been trying to raise expectations for the current vice president. >> joe bide southbound one of the most experienced debaters with have in modern politics but the achilles he has is obama's record. >> reporter: the city of danville has rolled out the welcome mat for the candidates. >> it's one thing to study politics and government in the classroom and it's another thing to see it and have a front row seat. >> reporter: vice president joe biden has been staying out of

thpublic eye in recent days reportedly fueling up on gatorade and animal crackers. chris van hollen stood in for paul ryan in the mock debate. >> the big challenge for someone like joe biden who is so glib and so good at listening to people is delivering a message inside of a structured format. >> reporter: biden will be trying to stop the republican ticket's momentum coming out of the first presidential debate. a new cbs news poll from three key battleground states suggests romney is getting a boost from his performance. in wisconsin president obama's six-point lead has been cut in half. in virginia the president's lead this rang to five points. -- shrank to five points and romney now leads in colorado. >> there are some very important deadlines coming up. if you plan on voting in the

upcoming november election. you just have a few more days to register to vote if you're not already. in virginia you have until monday, october 15. tuesday, october 16 is the deadline in maryland. and in d.c. the mail-in registration deadline has already passed but you can register in person at the elections board headquarters. you have only until friday, october 19 to do it that way. for more information, just go to our website wusa9.com and look under campaign 2012. plans to turn the reston golf course into a massive residential community are on hold now. northwestern mutual life insurance owns the course and planned on putting homes on the site. the zoning board said no to that request initially after some pretty vocal opposition to the plan. northwestern representatives say they need more time to prepare before they file their appeal on that ruling. >> one on. there's a drive. >> all right. do or die. ross detwiler will be on the mound for the washington

nationals in an attempt to keep their playoff series alive against the st. louis cardinals. the nats are down 2-1 after being crushed yesterday 8-0. a washington loss today and the best of five series is over. still, though, the nats say it's no time to panic. they're counting on detwiler. >> detwiler certainly has the stuff. we look forward to tomorrow. >> i'm a hundred percent confident. very no worries whatsoever. -- i have no worries whatsoever. he's been great for us all year long. i think he's due. >> great stuff. first pitch at nats park scheduled for 4:07 this afternoon. still ahead on 9news, a new united nations reveals the global reach of cell phones. the united nations report, details on that coming up. plus, the colorado theater massacre. we're expecting to learn a lot more today about the gunman. those stories and more just ahead. keep it right here.

welcome back to the news at noon. turning to colorado where we expect to learn a lot more about james holmes, the suspect in this summer's movie massacre. prosecutors are going to now reveal evidence in the case that we haven't seen before coming out for the first time. prosecutors are also expected to file 14 additional counts of attempted murder against holmes. he's accused of opening fire in that theater near denver and killing 12 people and wounding dozens more. after the hearing, the judge is going to determine if there's enough evidence for the case to proceed. there's a new report out that says people in the world have nearly as many cell phones as there are people on the planet. the united nations telecom agency report there is were about six billion cell phone subscribers by the end of 2011. china alone accounted for one

billion cell phones. another report finds about one in every three people around the globe are also internet users but there is a strong disparity between the rich and the develops countries in that survey. coming up on 9news, howard has the forecast. howard? >> turning out to be a beautiful afternoon but i've got a threat of frost and a warm-up in the seven-day forecast. i'll let you know when all that is going to happen when 9news now returns.

are you in the mood for

some pottery? do you like arpts and -- arts and crafts? you can get all of that at the sugarloaf crafts festival. you can do your shopping for the holidays now. it starts this weekend in gaithersburg. with me is alan from ground dog blues pottery. he's been doing this show and the one associated with it for two decades. it's a special place now, right, alan? >> that's right. >> why have you been doing it for so many years? >> i've been doing this for almost 40 years. we travel around the country doing various craft shows. sugarloaf is a great market for us. >> you have different kinds of pottery. this is an operation with you and your wife. tell us about these little guys here. >> my wife does the sculptures. they're done in stone ware clay. they start on the potter's wheel with this form and sculpted from there. they're all hand done. i'll dot functional work which is casseroles, dinnerware, that kind of thing. >> this is one of the better shows now. this is a show you've done for

20 years for good reason. it help as cause so to speak. >> that's correct, yes. >> is this going to be -- which show have you done for 20 years? >> the one in november. we've been with sugarloaf for 20 years and demonstrate at all their shows. there are many demonstrations. for us it's a great opportunity for us to show what we can do but we've been doing the november show for 20 years. >> what are you making there? >> this is just going to be a vase. basically the whole idea of this is to keep everything centered and even. it's a trick that you pick up with experience. >> with plenty of experience. quick thing, if somebody wants to come and order. they see some of your things and would love eight of these, they can place a order? >> special orpds are definitely -- orders are definitely welcome. >> i appreciate the vase. we'll show you the finished product and we'll link their website to our website wusa9.com. right now it's weather time.

over to you. great weather today. for anything going on this weekend like the crafts fair, weather will be dry. sunday will be warmer. today, though, it was a chilly start and it's cool out there. it's really pleasant with the bright sunshine. by 3:00 61 degrees. this afternoon probably top out about 63. still 61 at 5:00. winds which are northwesterly this morning, they're coming out of the southwest 5, 7, 8 miles an hour. so really very comfortable. for this time of year a very nice day. by 9:00 we're going to be down in the lower 50s in fact. looks like we'll be in the 40s tonight with skies going partly cloudy. maybe upper 30s north and west. first pitch 4:07 for the big game at nats park. cardinals in town. got to take this one. 61 degrees first pitch. we'll be dropping into the upper 50s probably by the 7th, 8th inning. if you are going to the game, grab a jacket. it's going to be cool out there. we generally have clear skies all over the place. some showers, mainly rain. these are lake effect rain showers there. some other rain in the great lakes and some showers down in

arkansas, but high pressure is just really close to us now so that's why we're dealing with a very nice air mass. temps, they've come up from the upper 30s and 40s overnight. down to 49 to 57 now. still 54 in martinsburg. oakland which is 43 in garrett county, they were 30 this morning so their growing season is double. we have readings in the mid- 50s. la plata 55. easton and cambridge a very pleasant 57. outside on our michael & son weather camera, a beautiful shot of the capitol dome. not a cloud in sight this thursday afternoon with 57 degrees. north winds at 8. it has really dried out. humidity only 37% this afternoon. so the nice, cool, dry air mass. so it's going to be like that for much of the afternoon. even into tonight we'll be clear to partly cloudy. these clouds may be one of the few things that keeps us from getting colder. acts like a blanket. the winds will stay up a little bit tonight. southwest at 5. that'sy think most lows will stay above the 40-degree mark. tomorrow by noon, we're sunny.

a patch of clouds in the morning. the afternoon looks final. we get into friday night, though. friday night is going to be one of the colder nights we've seen all season with clear skies, light winds. here we're saturday at 6:00 a.m. i would not be surprised to see quite a bit of patchy frost outside the beltway as we start saturday morning before we begin a little bit after warming trend come sunday. today 63. tonight we're down in the 40s, maybe some upper 30s. breezy tomorrow, 66. by saturday we're looking at 62 degrees. saturday the cool day. sunday we're going to warm up, though. 75. so the skins, the ravens, they're at home on sunday. weather is looking good for that. monday still mild with 75 with a chance of a shower later in the day as another front sweeps through and still pleasant 70 degrees on tuesday. it is thursday at noon. that means it's petline 9 time. this is christie curtis from the animal adoption center in charles town. >> 340. >> as you're heading away from charles town toward berryville.

i got my dog from there a few years ago. this is gs -- this is mugs the pug. >> he's a beautiful dog. he's a year and a few months old and is super friendly. >> he is super friendly. he loves the little treats. he has a curly tail. you said this is a pure bred? >> yes. >> how do you get such a great dog? it's heartbreaking. >> sometimes families for whatever reason can't take care of the animal. they contact us at briggs and whenever we have an opening, we're available, we take him in. his family couldn't take care of him anymore and didn't have the time for him that he so deserved. >> at least they took the steps to help mugs get to the next place where he's going to have a great life. hello, mugs. what a guy we've got. how can people contact you? >> they can go to our website. it's baacs.org or call us or come to your website and link

to us. >> wusa9.com. just go to the petline section. the information is there. mugs, you're a fannistic dog. -- fantastic dog. we're going into the kitchen when 9news now returns. good boy.

welcome back. we're celebrating one of mexico's greatest traditions. it's called the day of the dead but it is indeed a celebration. we're going to learn something and show you what it's all about. joining me know is chef omar rodriguez. your restaurant is on 7th street in northwest. >> that's right. >> tell me about the day of the dead. what is it about? it's really a celebration, not a time to mourn. >> exactly. it's a celebration every year, november 1 and 2nd. mexicans around the country, around mexico celebrate. the whole idea behind it is you're actually celebrating the people that have passed o. it's

not a mourning. it's a big festival. there's parades. people actually go to the cemetery. they bring food, beverage. they'll read up ins. they'll tell them everything -- read newspapers. they'll tell them everything that's going on with the family. >> it's a time to reconnect. this looks like a porcupine. >> yes. >> these are examples of art you have throughout the table, too. >> the different creatures that are actually on the table are hand carved, hand painted in various villages. >> these are some of the dishes you'll be preparing for the festival as we moved toward it. what do we have here? >> that's correct. for our day of the dead, we're celebrating pre-columbian society. so this is actually a grouper that's been marinated in a special seasoning from the yucatan. and it has pico degalo. you have sweet potato with a

peanut mole and on top is shredded sweet potato we fry off crispy. >> in addition to having a conversation and the newspaper and the food, you actually bring alcohol and create a little altar sort of? >> in the cemeteries you'll see these altars. they'll have different ingredients. you'll have take tequila and some food. it's always that favorite dish of the person that passed on. >> they don't necessarily consume it all. they leave it there as sort of an offering or gift. >> it's a gift. the idea is that that person that has passed on will come and snack on it. >> we have a little less than a minute. this out in front is the finished product. >> this is -- it's a big tom mali they bauery in the ground and steam. we technically can't do that so we're making a smaller version of it. >> we have about 30 seconds. >> we put it down. fill it up. >> that's rabbit meat.

>> this is rabbit. traditionally it's actually a chicken. but chicken is something that wasn't actually from pre- columbia so it -- prechina colombia -- pre-colombia. >> we have about ten seconds. that's it for the news at noon. have a great day, everybody. see you back here tomorrow.