this is in the 4800 block of cannes avenue. crews say the fire appeared to start in the basement of one home and extended up through the rest of the house. as you can see, some really significant damage for that townhouse. most of the fire is out as of now, no report of injuries. only on 9 tonight a cautionary tale about the importance of doing a national background check before hiring anyone. >> a local church learned the hard way when it discovered 10 days ago it had a registered child sex offender on the staff. andrea mccarren uncovered this story. she's here to tell us more about it. >> matthews memorial baptist church is a beautiful historic church in southeast washington. it has a congregation of 1,900 its leadership tried to do everything right when it screened a new employee. >> we were shocked. i mean we're still in shock. >> reporter: that shock and sense of betrayal is over 33-

year-old gary mabry of baltimore, a talented charismatic pipe organist hired by this church six months ago. no one suspected he was a registered child sex offender. >> it's heartwrenching to see him for who he is in this picture. how could we miss that? >> reporter: the church did a criminal background check before hiring mabriy, but it didn't turn up this 1999 conviction in d.c. for which he pleaded guilty to child sex abuse. in 2001 he pleaded guilty again to child sex abuse this, time in maryland. records reveal mabry served six years in prison and the court strongly recommended that he receive treatment for sexual deviant conduct. >> what we say around here, we trust god, not people.

because people of faith do lie. >> reporter: the criminal history only came to light after mabry violated church policy 10 days ago by getting together with a 16-year-old girl outside of church. he was abruptly fired. >> he was let go because he picked her up from school and on our staff you don't do that. >> reporter: police were called, but since the girl is 16 the legal age of consent in d.c. and maryland, officers said there was no need for further investigation. the church learned a tough lesson and from now on will only conduct national background checks on potential employees. >> again, mabry has not been charged with crime. he is under state supervision, but he has no special conditions placed on him by the court which would restrict his activities or places of employment including his ability to work with children.

the church was willing to speak with us to help make others aware of the national sex offender registry coordinated by the u.s. department of justice. for a link to that go to our website, www.wusa9.com. derek, back to you. >> as you said, a tough lesson. with less than four weeks until election day vice president joe biden and republican congressman paul ryan are getting their one and only shot at a vice presidential debate. our colleague anita brikman is anchoring our coverage from usa today headquarters in mclean, virginia. good to see you. >> reporter: i'm here in the  usa today newsroom which will be our home base for tonight's coverage of the one and only 2012 vice presidential debate. this is where usa today's reporters will be live blogging and fact checking what both vice president biden and congressman ryan have to say when they face off tonight. in less than four hours these

two skilled politicians will square off looking to give their running mates abuse in this very close presidential campaign. susan mcguiness has the latest -- a boost in this very close presidential campaign. susan mcguiness has the latest from kentucky. vice president joe biden touched down in kentucky eager to square off with republican challenger paul ryan. ready for the debate? >> look forward to it. >> reporter: congressman ryan says he's looking forward to getting out the republican ticket's message. >> i'm excited because we have a chance yet again to offer this country a very clear choice. >> reporter: for ryan tonight is an opportunity to build on mitt romney's strong performance in the first presidential debate. the pressure is on vice president biden to stop that momentum. the two candidates will meet here at center college in nville, kentucky, the town of about 16,000 happy to play host to the millions who will be

watching on television. >> i expect it to be a home run for biden. >> i anticipate paul ryan's going to clean up tonight. >> reporter: danville resident scott bonham will be in the audience. he voted for president obama in 2008. this year he's not making up his mind until after the debates. >> am i better off four years later? i'm not sure. i'm sure we hear that a lot, but i'd say at this point i'm open. >> reporter: recent polls show likely voters expect paul ryan to have the upper hand tonight, but this supporter believes it will be closer. >> i think it will end up being dre. they're both very qualified, good -- a dre. they're both very qualified -- a draw. they're both very qualified, good speakers as well. >> reporter: and we're told the vice president is spending time with his family at a private residence tonight in the hours before the debate and that paul ryan is spending me with his family studying his debate binders and exercising before the debate. in danville, kentucky, susan

mcguiness. >> they've been doing a lot of prepping. vice president biden will get the first question tonight and will give his closing statement first. paul ryan will have the last word with his closing statement. we want to remind you tonight that at 9 p.m. usa today reporters will be live blogging about what the candidates are saying as it happens and you can see that on our website www.wusa9.com. we're also going to be streaming the debate live on our site. turn your tv to channel 9 to watch the debate which starts at 9 p.m. and log onto www.wusa9.com. then join me and derek at 11:00 as we fact check what the candidates say with the usa today team. we will be your no political bull zone all night tonight. there are some very important did lines coming up if you plan on voting in the november election. you got to know about these. you have just a few more days to register to vote. in virginia you have until monday, october 15th. tuesday, october 16th is the deadline in maryland and in

d.c. the mail-in registration deadline has already passed. however, you can register in person at the election board's headquarters, but you only have until friday, october 19th to, do so. for more information, more details on voter registration, head to our website www.wusa9.com. look under our tab campaign 2012. derek, for now from the usa today newsroom newsroom, back to you. >> i'm over here. by the way, hundreds of university of maryland students rallied today in hopes of convincing state voters to be the first in the country to approve same sex marriage. bruce leshan is live in college park with a look at what they have in mind there. bruce? a lot of balloons. >> reporter: hey, derek. how you doing? queer the turtle is the rallying cry at university of

maryland. the rally just wrapped up minutes ago, hundreds of students here. they say that this college campus according to a group called queer pride is among the top five in the entire country to support, provide a gay friendly environment and so they're hoping to harness that pride to convince folks to vote for this question that's on the ballot. they know that young people are overwhelmingly in support of same sex marriage. that is what polls have shown, but people over 65 are less so and so these young people on these campuses are hoping to convince their parents, their friends, their relatives to vote for question 6. >> we need your help. too many people might just skip the questions. some people might not really understand the importance of this. there's going to be a lot of negative ads that are going to

be on the television set. we need your help if we're going to win on november 6th. >> reporter: there's another controversy going on at galludet university, a question of a chief diversity officer there being put on administrative leave because she signed the petition that would have brought same sex marriage to the ballot. we're going to have that story coming up at 6:00. back to you. >> thank you, bruce. well, the national zoo says liver failure and underdeveloped lungs caused the death of their 6-day-old panda cub. the announcement was made this morning at a press conference and our kristin fisher was there. >> reporter: sad as it is, this is something that's relatively common among newborn panda cubs. the liver needs oxygen and when you have underdeveloped lungs, it means 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

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 enough oxygen got to the liver which killed the liver cells and ultimately caused the death of the cub. >> reporter: dr. suzanne murray headlined the highly anticipated announcement two weeks after the panda cub was found dead in its den. at the same time mama panda mei xiang was sitting below us in her habitat snacking on trees. it's a good sign she's moving on, but mei xiang's appetite is only about 80% of what she normally eats. her vets say she's still about 20 pounds underweight. >> she's a little bit down on her bamboo consumption, but she is a really resilient bear. 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 xiang and her mate tian tian. will they stay in washington or go back to china?

zoo officials say no decision has been made, but discussions are set for later this fall and it could end with these giant pandas going home. >> decisions about our pandas are made so cooperative between our institution and our chinese colleagues i have full faith whatever decision is made is in the best interest of our pandas. yeah, i'm not too concerned. >> reporter: there are a lot of factors that go into determining the future of these two giant pandas here at national zoo. the population of the bears in china, the conservation efforts there, the bottom line, zoo officials say it will all boil down to whatever is best for these two giant pandas. at national zoo i'm kristin fisher, 9 news now. >> thank you. the current agreement with china lasts through december 5th, 2015, and it stipulates the zoo will conduct research in the areas of breeding and panda cub behavior. still ahead unimaginable tragedy strikes a maryland family when fire breaks out overnight in their home. >> coldest air of the season rolls into the metro area

tomorrow. we'll let you know where the freeze watches are and look ahead to the weekend. >> the big vice presidential debate is tonight and knees guys are the reigning national champion debate -- these guys are the reigning national champion debaters. they will weigh in on what the candidates need to do to win voters. i'm peggy fox with this story coming up.

welcome back to 9new i'm anita brikman live in the usa today newsroom where we'll be covering tonight's one and only vice presidential debate. it gets underway in a few hours. so what does each of these pretty fiery candidates have to do to sway voters their way? our peggy fox asked the reigning national debate champs to weigh in on that. >> a complete life cycle construction of a nuclear plant with almost no carbon emissions. >> reporter: these two students are debating the pros

and cons of nuclear energy. >> i think fukushima demonstres nuclear is not a risk we can take lightly. >> that was an industrial explosion and those occur no matter what kind of energy we're producing. >> reporter: the juniors at georgetown university know a little something about debating. they won the national debate tournament last spring and they have some advice for joe biden and paul ryan. >> they need a cohesiveness, a consistency of message between the presidential candidates and the vice presidential candidates. >> reporter: markoff says biden needs to focus on not messing up. >> he needs to not let paul ryan make jokes at his expense or sort of catch him off guard. if joe biden stays on his game, if he just performs as a solid day, he will come out the favorite i think of the. >> reporter: ryan, a budget expert, can't focus only on numbers. >> that's not something that's really going to connect so well on the national stage. so he needs to translate that technical expertise into the relatability that biden has been so well known for.

>> reporter: after last week's lackluster performance by the president these expert debaters say we're sure to see more aggression and strong body language on both sides tonight, but what they say will also matter. >> people are still listening and the media will go nuts if something is said that is untrue or that tries to cover up the issues and they're going to be very careful about that throughout the debate on both sides of. >> reporter: peggy fox, 9 news now. >> so these two students won the national debate tournament bringing georgetown a win for the first time in 20 years. i'm sure they'll be watching along with us. topper? absolutely. we're looking at a nice end to the week and nole cold front tomorrow morning that. will -- another cold front tomorrow morning. that will usher in some of the coldest air of the season. let's start with fall colors. out to the west the autumn

glory festival has already begun running through sunday in oakland, maryland. they're around peak capacity. west of i-81 you're looking at essentially almost peak, you know, essentially peak. maybe another week if you want to go to sky live drive. there's still plenty of good color and there's some color in the immediate metro area, not much as you go into southern maryland and the northern neck and the eastern shore. live look outside, it is our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son. it's clear as a bell, at lease for the time being, 61, dew point 34, very low humidity. this is the time of year where you turn off your dehumidifiers and try to add moisture back into your house because the heat is on and the air is much drier. winds out of the south at 6, pressure steady, 30.22 inches of mercury. temperatures a bit below average. we should still be around 70 this time of day, 59 gaithersburg, 59 bowie, 64 college park, 59 in vienna, 57

reston, 60 in sterling, 59 out toward ashburn. coldest air on the way, chilly tonight. need your shades tomorrow. chilly for high school football. freeze watch already posted north and west tomorrow night. that's montgomery county north and west and loudoun county north and west. if you have sensitive plants, bring them in or cover them tomorrow night, but remember to uncover them because that will kill them, too, if you go off to work friday afternoon and have them still covered. a few clouds come in late chilly, 38 to 40. he winds diminish after midnight. by morning returning mostly sunny and breezy, chilly start, winds now northwest 10 to 15. so the front goes through very early and by afternoon partly cloudy, a bit breezy and cool but nice, high temperatures around 65 and winds out of the north at 10 to 15. next three days green, green and green and why not? cool but nice tomorrow, 65,

cooler but still nice saturday, 62 and beautiful on sunday. we're talking about temperatures back in the upper 70s. next seven days we have the ravens playing at home, redskins at hope, just excellent. now we get -- home, just excellent. now we get into next week, showers possible monday, but still warm, temperatures in the 70s and, in fact, low 70s tuesday, some showers wednesday, better chance of showers thursday, but, my friends, we hold in the 70s then. it's thursday. this is kind of cool. stink bugs are come back in your house. this was sent to us by robert skinner from culpeper. there's the spider and stink bug off to the left and i did some research. they will eat stink bugs. chickens and spiders will eat stink bugs and we think eventually other things will figure out to eat them, but that was a great picture. >> because they are a nonnative species. >> they have no natural predators except my wife and the vacuum cleaner. go to our website www.wusa9.com, click on the

weather tab and upload your picture. please include your name, location and description. >> wife with a vacuum. >> look out. coming up next kellogg's recalled some popular cereals over an ingredient that none of us should eat.

in tonight's consumer alert we've got a recall roundup of the three cs, cereal, chicken wyngs and chargers. it is not a good thing if you can use a magnet to eat your mini wheats. so that's why kellogg's is recalling select packages of those frosted and original unfrosted mini wheats bite size cereals because they might contain fragments of metal mesh. the boxes are marked with the letters kb, ap or fk before the use by date of the you want to check those for sure. >> tysons foods is recalling more than 67,000 pounds of honey barbecue flavored boneless chicken wyngs. you didn't think it was possible, but it is possible to have boneless chicken wyngs. the packages are being called that because of misbranding and unde-- called back because of misbranding and undisclosed

allergants and then wall chargers that can heat, smoke and possibly cause burns or fire for the user there. have been 13 reports of malfunctioning, no injuries. you can find all this information on our website www.wusa9.com. some american airline pilots walking the picket lines today at reagan national. these pilots belong to the allied pilots association which represents the airline's 10,000 pilots. american airlines has been in bankruptcy since november. the demonstrators are fighting to keep their previous labor deal in place while both sides continue ongoing contract talks. at issue, pilots' working conditions, pay and retirement security. coming up is a body found in a colorado park that of a missing 10-year-old girl? we'll have the late les we come back. >> also ahead a fireball flies out the front door of an

industrial plant that burst into flames. >> reporter: i'm scott broom live in baltimore, coming up the story behind an incredible mass tragedy more than five people die in a house fire here. when i come back, we'll have the story of the family that lost so many members.

sky 9 out over baltimore where fire officials are dealing with a shocking mass tragedy. five people including four

little kids all dead when a fire raced through their small row house. it had nine people in. >> breaks your heart just to talk about it. two firefighters were hurt trying to pull off a heroic rescue. scott broom is live on dinwood avenue in northeast baltimore with the details of just an awful story. >> reporter: it is. the house behind me here was the rock of stability for an unusually large extended family. it was the elders of that family, the grandparents, that lived in the house here. they had an open door policy for all the kids and the many grandchildren they had to be here, which is why there were so many people in the house last night. the loss here is overwhelming. >> i hope nobody else has to go through this. >> near all gone. >> reporter: among the four -- they're all gone. >> reporter: among the four children who died, 2-year-old kaniah scott and 4-year-old brother darrell, all the victims perishing in one bedroom along with their

grandmother, 55-year-old nancy orrell last heard screaming for help. >> they said she was asking for help and when she turned back around, the fire was just on her. >> it's terrible. >> it hurt right here. it hurt. >> they literally had no chance. >> reporter: baltimore's fire spokesman said heroics were occurring all around. a floor collapsed under one firefighter trying to get to the kids. he fell through flames into the basement onto another firefighter. both were hurt. this 19-year-old survivor shondae is the mother of two kids who survived. she handed an infant out a window to another relative and jumping herself. her father will left from the top floor and is hospitalized with burns and broken bones. in the aftermath the large extended family gathered at a nearby school to be consoled by baltimore's mayor. the family includes 19 brothers and sisters who considered the house hope base and nancy

worrell a matriach who took in ground children no matter what, which is why so -- grandchildren no matter what, which is why so many met with tragedy. fire investigators have been here throughout the day today and frankly do not know what caused this fire. they think it may have started in the basement, but don't have a cause nailed down. it was a terrible night in baltimore for the fire department last night. in addition to this tragedy and the two injured firefighters here, two more firefighters were injured in a similar house fire in another part of the city. one of them is also hospitalized tonight. in that case no one was inside the house to rescue. reporting live in north east baltimore, scott broom, 9 news now. >> there are no words, scott. thanks. the worst fears of the parents of a missing 10-year- old colorado girl may have indeed been realized. police are trying to confirm whether a body found near an abandoned mine shack close to where jessica ridgeway went

missing is indeed of that the missing girl. the 5th grader was kidnapped on her way to school last friday morning. up till now police said the only real clues they have are the discovery of her backpack and a water bottle. there is more sad news from the scene of a deadly parking garage collapse in miami. a worker rescued after being stuck 13 hours in the concrete rubble at miami-dade community college has died. now that takes the toll to three. another worker is still missing, but investigators do not expect to find him alive. and the work continues to find the cause of the fire at an ohio industrial plant that sent thick black smoke and flames shooting into the air. the fire broke out at hardy industrial technologies in paynesville township this morning. continues inside were so dangerous all the crews were ordered out of the building, but there are no reports of any serious injuries.

vice president joe biden and republican congressman paul ryan will share the stage tonight at kentucky center college for their one and only debate. both campaigns are looking for a strong performance from the no. 2 on the ticket. we here at 9 news are committed to so thing out what is true and what is not in tonight's debate. to help us with that i'm joined by usa today politics editor paul singer. your team will be fact checking tonight, but let's start with the idea of truth and lies. >> neither one of these guys is dumb enough to tell an out and out lie. >> okay. >> what they do is shade the truth or tell the version of the truth they want you to hear. it's sort of the i voted for it before i voted against it. that's true. the question is when did you vote and what did your opponent do? there's all kinds of ways to shade the truth so that it casts the image you want to cast without actually lying. >> is biden going to go after ryan's record to try to put the ticket in a more conservative light? >> that's a good example. biden will be able to say yes,

but where is your medicare cuts, mr. ryan? you accused us of cutting things, but so did you in your budget. where are you on abortion as opposed to where mr. romney is on abortion and what did you vote on in congress? those are things where you can get to larger versions of what is fact and what is not. >> but neither one of these guys, their real opponent or target is not the man across from them tonight. >> right. the whole idea is to go to the top of the ticket and not accuse the other one of being wrong, but to accuse mr. obama and mr. romney of being wrong on the issues and particularly in biden's case to make the point that the democrats argue that ryan and romney disagree on some issues and that's what they really want to highlight. >> obviously there's some big differences between these two men. political affiliation as side, there's also the issue of age. >> right. this is interesting how this will cut. mr. ryan is a young man, vigorous 42-year-old.

mr. biden is about 70 and you don't want to look like you're beating up on an old man, but you also don't want to look like you are condescending to the young man. it's a difficult balance for both. biden had to deal with the same thing with sarah palin four years ago trying to look respectful even though she was much younger, same deal here. >> you would think going into this vice president biden would have an advantage with foreign policy, but recent events have kind of toppled that a bit. >> that's right. biden spent years on the senate foreign polices committee and you think he would go with his line we killed osama bin laden and saved gm, but they have this real problem in libya, what happened with our embassy, was security somehow underfunded and is there something the administration is not telling us? that's going to be a challenge for him to get past that. >> that will likely be in our arena tonight. >> i suspect it will be. >> paul, thank you so much. we want to remind you beginning tonight at 9 p.m. usa today reporters will be live blocking about what the

candidates are saying. you -- blogging about what the candidates are saying. you can see that on our website www.wusa9.com. we'll be streaming the debate live there as well. turn on your tv to chap 9 and watch the debate -- channel 9 and watch the debate at 9 p.m. this is a multi-platform experience. then join derek and me at 11:00 as we fact check what the candidates did say with the usa today political team. we will be your no political bull zone all night tonight. that's all for now from the usa today newsroom, but we will be here throughout the evening. coming up reading and writing and bears, oh, my. they almost interrupt the classes at an elementary school. you'll want to see this story. >> a mom bringing her kid to school. let's take you out to the poll count accident everything low across the board -- pollen count, everything low across the board. we'll come back and tell you when we might actually see a frost or freeze. >> up next a vending machine

that eats your money can be frustrating, but one woman may have taken her frustration a little too far. >> did she torch that thing? >> she did something to it. we're always on www.wusa9.com. stay with us. we'll show you that vending machine again.

caught on tape, a woman takes out her frustrations on a vending machine. haven't we all felt this way? this is surveillance video from the wiggly pigly in north carolina. the woman kicks the vending machine, then lights a newspaper on fire, grabs a drink from another machine and gets the heck out of dodge. minutes later that's the machine bursting into flames. the woman told the cops she was made because the machine ate her money. >> what an idiot. i mean you could have received your money back in five or six hours. >> i was guilty and i done it. i don't need a lawyer to lie for me because i'm going to tell you i done it. >> at least she's honest. the woman is being held on $10,000 bond and two felony charges. who knew you could get that for setting a machine on fire. it can be hard to keep your kids focused in class. >> but even the best students would be distracted by this.

here's mama and her cubs walking right by the 4th grade classroom. an elementary school outside of seattle, a teacher captured this video on his cell phone just after the school was put on lockdown. >> i was telling the kids oh, it's just a low level lockdown drill, nothing to worry about, keep on writing and as i'm talking i open the door and there were the bears right there in front of me running by. >> they were excited, but nobody was scared, yeah. it was safe. it was -- you know, we got back going. we still learn go ahead today. >> because they were watching from the inside. fish and wildlife officers showed up with the dogs but never did find the bears. bears are fairly common in that area because the school is near a creek which is full of salmon right now. >> all you got to do is get ahold of goldilocks. a mom captured this next video, two youth football teams fighting after game this weekend in sacramento. the video was posted on youtube

and shows mostly just yelling and pushing, but 50 seconds in one coach bull rushes the other coach and knocks him down. one woman trying to calm things down gets caught up in the melee. that's a little nasty. >> we got to do better than that. still ahead tonight the nats fight to stay in the playoffs. they are in a must win situation. >> first anita is back with a health alert about trying to protect your kids when they're playing sports at school.

welcome back. i'm anita brikman. even though i'm on location tonight ahead of the vice presidential debate i want to keep you updated on an important health issue, that is, the safety of our young athletes. at the start of this fall sport season we told you about new rules for football players when it came to practices to get them acclimated so they could do so without injury in montgomery county. in tonight's health alert we are in virginia where fairfax county officials added medical expertise to the sidelines at the games. it was during the first game for the freshmen football squad at fairfax high school that a player from the opposing team broke his arm, a pretty serious

injury, but he was in good hands. that's because the county has two certified athletic trainers at each high school in case an injury occurs. >> they're there to provide comprehensive athletic healthcare for the entire athletic population. >> as statistics point to a rise in avoidable deaths and injuries among high school athletes because of heat exhaustion, concussion, even cardiac arrest more schools are looking at adding athletic trainers to their rosters. the trainers are taught to look for possible problems in young players before the serious symptoms show up and schools like fairfax provide special training for their a.t.s and coaches so they're ready for anything. >> so there's an emergency action plan coaches have for every facility that they're at, where they practice and as well as where they compete. >> reporter: athletic trainers are also the medical expert as way from home. >> we do our best to contact the parent immediately upon any acute injury to make sure they know what's coming home. >> the fairfax county model costs several million dollars a

year. many school districts across the country are looking at their own ways to protect their young athletes. last year concussions accounted for nearly 15% of all high school sports injuries. these concussion rates doubled in the past decade and as you know, we've talked about in the past it is repeat concussions that can really end up causing long term injury to young brains. so it's something that coaches, doctors and parents need to take very seriously. >> we see that on the younger side and on the provided see now, of course. thanks. thousands -- pro side now, of course, thanks for that. for three weekends through october 20th survivors and supporters of breast cancer will get together and walk to provide much needed aid for patients. the lieu keep a and lymphoma society brought together more than 7,000 walkers who raised

over $2 million last year. >> for somebody who is in the middle of the fight or just passed their fight, it shows them they're not alone and how many people are surviving. the white balloons, there are more and more survivors every day. it's just illustrated with the beautiful colors at dusk. >> it really is moving. you can sign up online at lightthenight.org. this saturday's walk starts at 7:00 in freedom plaza. topper will see you there. i had the chance to help emcee the one in rockville. the weather was beautiful. how will it be this weekend? >> it's going to be nice, cool but dry. we'll try to get there before 7:00. there will be a band there and good stuff going on. let's start with a love look outside. it is clear for the time being and it's our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son. temperatures are still a bit below average. our average high is 71. we're 61, not going to complain. you'll need a jacket tonight. dew points in the 30s, very dry

air, winds out of the south at 6 and pressure steady 30.22 inches of mercury. currently it is 58, a lot of 50s, actually, 58 in laytonsville, 59 gaithersburg, 60 in great falls, 58 vienna and fairfax, 59 in arlington, one of the warmer readings, 63 college park, 59 out toward bowie. so coldest air of the season on the way, chilly tonight. you'll need your shades friday, chilly for high school football, dress for the 40s and a freeze watch in effect north and west of town friday night. we'll show you that in a second. for tonight clear early, a few clouds coming in late, cold front approaching by dawn tomorrow. still chilly, upper 30s to upper 40s, winds southwest 5 to 10. by morning front goes through early, move to lose dry. skies return mostly sunny, breezy, chilly, winds northwesterly 10 to 15 behind

the front. by noon partly cloudy, breezy and cool, nice way to finish the week, high temps around 65 and winds turning north at 10 to 15. we are looking at a freeze watch montgomery county north and loudoun county north and west. this is for friday night. if you have some cold weather sensitive plants, bring them in or cover them. if you planted mums or pansies, they're fine. zone forecast, 50 in oakland, 58 cumberland, should be around 60 hagerstown, martinsburg, winchester, mid-60s in culpeper. warrenton, manassas, leesburg low 60s, 63 or 4 in fairfax, 65 downtown, 63 frederick, mid-60s by the water. there is a small craft advisory in effect most of friday for the bay and tidal potomac. next three days green and why not? cool but nice friday, 65, cooler still but nice on saturday, 62 and beautiful on sunday, temperatures in the

upper 70s under partly cloudy skies. next seven days, by the way, i have a nat flow going here because i believe there will be a fifth game, 77 on sunday, 74 monday, a couple showers, blow 70s tuesday, more showers -- low 70s tuesday, more showers wednesday and thursday and temperatures still in the mid- 70s. all in all that's a pretty good looking seven-day. breaking news, a d.c. city council member found to have prone the code of conduct when he served on the washington d.c. metro board. >> surae chinn just walked out of a news conference on jim graham's role in a development deal. tell us more. >> reporter: the press conference ended moments ago. and they did announce an independent finding concerning the council member and former board member. it's an independent investigation of a quid pro quo. i want to tell you what it's about. the former board member and current d.c. council member jim

graham is accused of a conflict of interest saying he considered supporting banneker ventures, a developer, to obtain a d.c. lottery while he's on d.c. council. if it would pull out of the ramada project on seventh and florida avenue northwest. an independent renowned law firm interviewed board members. this was months of the investigation of talking with board members and employees. they also received is ups and people were put under -- received subpoenas and people were put under oath and found a major code violation in the ramada itself. so the take-away here as board members were talking in this press conference, they said they want to move forward. they are on a path of reform. they would not go into clear details of any possible criminal activity, but they say they want to be transparent. this finding is now made public today and it has been given to

the media and now it is also being given to law enforcement. they would not go into any other detail, but they say the finding is clear of a violation of code of ethics and that is what they will move forward in terms of ramada and what they will do to be more transparent. back to you. >> surae chinn, thank you. still ahead tonight preparing for the only debate there will be between the vice presidential candidates. >> reporter: a galludet university official placed on administrative leave for signing a petition, a petition to let voters decide on same sex marriage in maryland. it's now a huge national controversy. i'm bruce lochan, the story coming up. -- leshan, the story coming up.

the nats are battling for their baseball leaves tonight. >> they are playing the nationals in game four of the national league division series and if they don't win, that's a wrap. dave owens is outside nationals park with more. >> reporter: much better game than yesterday that got out of hand in a hurry. of course, 8-0 in game three. today it's much better. let's look at the scoreboard now as we get in game in progress tied 1-1 moving to the bottom of the 6th. that is great news because ross detwiler who got the start in the game, there was concern about him especially after his last outing against st. louis, didn't go well. he gave up seven runs, three

earned on september 30th. let's break this game down a little. i'm going to bring in scott kiersten from 106.7 the fan. before we get into the game today, you've been with this team before the game. what was the mood as they went into this do or die situation? >> very relaxed, i think a lot more relaxed than they have been so far in the playoffs. they know they have to win today. there's no tomorrow if they don't. they were very chilled, smiling, laughing, taking it as another game. >> reporter: some people say they've been a little bit too relaxed, but how has it correlated to the field today? we're looking at a pretty good one. >> reporter: ross detwiler lasted six innings today, gave up one run. it wasn't earned. it was off an error on ian desmond. he played terrific, had a couple ks, a lot of ground balls and pop-ups, but they only scored one run. now they go to the bullpen. you might see jordan zimmerman later which could be interesting. >> reporter: you'll see a loft

mixing and matching coming down the street -- lot of mixing and matching coming down the street. >> bryce harper, 1-17 in the series, danny espinosa 1-11, so it's ugly, but adam laroche has two hits in the series, both bombs, nailed another one today. ryan zimmerman is the other hit for the nationals. >> reporter: this crowd is waiting for something to happen. you can tell they're on the edge of their seats here. >> reporter: ohs and ahs of 40,000 plus at nats park, scott, always a pleasure. hopefully we'll be talking to you later about a nats win as they extend this thing. i'll tell you what. the winner of this game will now take on san francisco because san francisco beat cincinnati today. so somewhat of a surprise in that other national league game. >> game one will be sunday. let's hope it's the nationals. >> reporter: again one more time, 1-1. we are in the bottom

of the 6th inning, ross detwiler doing a heck of a job for the washington nationals. let me send it back to you now in the studio. this is 9 news now. we begin with breaking news out of silver spring where a 4- year-old child took an 80-foot plunge out of a window. it happened at a high rise apartment building along piney branch road near university boulevard. our ken molestina is there live with more. earlier we reported that this boy might have been home alone. do we know anything more about that? >> reporter: well, that's exactly what investigators are trying to get to the bottom of. that has not been confirmed. there's a lot of speculation. what we do know is it was one deep plunge this 4-year-old child took. i want to show you that eight- story window he fell from. if you look at your screen in a second you can make out the window. it has a screen sort of cracked and sticking out. that's the window the child fell from 80 feet up into the

air. the child fell directly down on top of a bush that was on the ground. we believe that bush broke his fall. several limbs are broken and as a result, maybe that is what helped keep this child alive. however, he was taken to the hospital in critical condition. we'll show you video taken earlier from the area by sky 9. police reported to the scene at 3:15 when they got here, that child was laying on top of the bushes underneath that eight- story window he fell from rushed to a trauma center nearby. we understand he still remains in critical condition, but investigators are still on the scene trying to figure out exactly what may have caused this child to fall. we do believe the window was close to his bed. maybe there's some kind of correlation there, but right now montgomery county investigators are upstairs. we aren't sure if the family is on scene. they may have