with al-qaeda and wanted to target an attack in new york. working with under cover agents, he assembled a 1,000 pound bomb inside a van when he drove to the federal reserve building in hahn in manhattan. he was arrested after trying to detonate the bomb. he is facing charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. he could face life in prison. cbs news, new york. >> continue to follow the story when we have the latest on 9news at 11:00. >> 35,000, that's how many people are out of work in the district and mayor gray says the businesses can help reduce that number if they can get a fair share of the billions spent around here on construction projects now underway. bruce johnson reports, part of the problem in the past has been corruption. >> the district nearly $1 billion city center development is going up in downtown. >> there will be mixed income

housing, retail. >> the mayor chose the site to announce the small local businesses are now getting a big piece of the action. >> we believe by the time this is finished, experienced $195 million in opportunities on this project. >> so why make a big deal out of who works on this job? for starter, the unemployment rate is 9%. roughly 35,000 people who live in d.c. don't have jobs. that doesn't include the people who stopped looking for work. >> currently, we have over 72 employees. i think with the four hires we did this week. >> running a small glass insulation company until he sparter inned partnered with a firm to install windows at city center. >> with this project, other projects in d.c. that we have been doing through the program. we roam from 0 to $50 million a year in revenues. >> announced some reforms aimed at rooting out agreement,

whereby small companies are illegal fronts for major firms trying to siphon off contracts. >> there's an inadequate level of resources being devoted to this agency, which would lead, if there were where we are now, does not leave me with the comfort that we are able to do the level of compliance and enforcement that i think is called for. that's one of the reasons why we are planning to invest more resources. >> we have to talk about debarring companies, doing any business with us. >> councilman plans hearings and vows to toughen legislation to penalize or ban majority firms. bruce johnson, 9news. >> the gray administration is increasing the budget and adding staff to that compliance and enforcement office. d.c. officials cannot recall if any companies ever been penalized for cheating on small business deals. four more people have died from fungal meningitis. that brings the death toll to

19. 250 people, including maryland and virginia, have gotten sick. the outbreak has been tied to steroid shots for back pain and most of the victims do have that rare form of fungal meningitis. a special pharmacist in massachusetts made the steroid and federal investigators are investigating. less than 24 hours after the candidates squared off in a meeted debate, they are out on the campaign trail today. here's a live picture from virginia where mitt romney will be speaking sometime soon and president obama is in ohio. both crucial swing states in the upcoming election. president obama is now reenergized and republican challenger, mitt romney, certainly isn't backing down. daniel nottingham with the latest from the white house. >> in a key battleground state -- >> hello, iowa. >> president obama continued his debate with mitt romney. >> his tax plan doesn't add

up. his jobs plan doesn't create jobs. his deficit reduction plan adds to the deficit. >> in chesapeake, virginia, governor mitt romney offered his own recap of highlights. >> i love these debates. these things are great. and i think it is interesting that the president still doesn't have an agenda for a second term. >> with less than three weeks until election day, the president and his republican challenger are running out of time to sway undecided voters. both are focusing on women. the president is running with governor romney's debate comments about recruiting women for his massachusetts administration. >> we got to tell you, we don't have to collect binders to find qualified, talented, driven young women ready to learn and teach in these fields right now. >> romney is focusing on how women have faired under the president's leadership. >> why is it that there are 3.6 million more women in poverty today than when the

president took office? this president has failed america's women. >> cbs news asked a group of 500 uncommitted voters who won the second debate. they gave a slight edge to the president. danielle nottingham, cbs news, the white house. >> and the vice presidential candidates were also fighting for votes in battleground states today. paul ryan campaigning in ohio and vice president joe biden had stops in colorado and nevada. get ready for the million puppet march. more than a thousand puppeteers plan to march on the national mall next month. they'll be out on november 3, just three days before we all go to vote. that rally planned in response to mitt romney's comments during the first debate, calling for the elimination of government money, which airs the popular show, sesame street. tonight, a wild fire continues to burn in santa barbara and now it is threatening 100 homes and 50- acres have been destroyed. investigators still don't know what caused it, but some suggested power lines are down in that area and that could

have been the spark. and lots of people in new england talking about yesterday's earthquake. it was a 4.6 magnitude quake and centered three miles from maine. you have to watch this teen's reaction. she is posting a video on youtube, chatting away when she starts to feel things rocking. now watch her first. kind of stops talking. cameras shakes, then she starts looking around like what the heck was that? pretty soon after that, she was logging off. well the sun was out today. the warmer weather seems to be headed our way. let's check in with topper shutt to see how tonight is going to come along. >> she stopped twirling her hair a little bit. all right, we are looking at a cold front. let's start with temperatures. right now, very comfortable. high was 69. we are still in the 50s and 60s. a great evening. 63 downtown. some 50s showing up. gaithersburg and frederick 57.

but still, we have 63 out to the west of us and leesburg and 57 in manassas. and everyone 56 up in martinsburg. satellite picture, radar combined, some clouds earlier, high and mid level clouds. we have more clouds to the west. these will roll in tonight, not going to rain or anything, but high, mid level clouds. partly to mostly cloudy, breezy and mild. 46 to 54. it's a big deal. winds south, southeast 10 to 15. we'll come back and talk about why we declared tomorrow a yellow alert day and talk about the threat of storms and when they might roll in. thank you, top. still ahead, a 20-year-old jug of barbecue sauce sells for $10,000 on ebay? you'll never guess why. find out what is so special about this sauce, even though you wouldn't want to think about eating it. an update for the trial of two prince georges county cops accused of beating up a student. wait until you hear what happened in court today.

a judge has thrown out the most serious charge leveled against the pair of prince georges county cops accused of beating a student at university of maryland. now, off the book, the first degree assault charge. the judge said just not enough evidence for it. but still facing those officers, charges of second- degree assault and misconduct in office. the case all stems from an incident caught on tape back in 2010 when baker and james harrison arrested a maryland student who had been celebrating the big basketball win over duke. flava flav in trouble. he was arrested in vegas. he is charged with assault and battery. he got physical with his fiance's teenage son and threatened him with a knife. now he has posted a $23,000 bond and is expected in court tomorrow. still ahead, topper is back for what kind of weather we can expect tonight and the rest of the week. and they spent days lost in

glacier national park. up next, we hear from those two virginia men who live to tell their story.

after four long days, stranded in the wilderness, two hikers are safe at home tonight. surae chinn caught up with jason this afternoon. >> they only had enough food for their two-day hike. they got lost on their second day, so what they did was ration their energy bars.

they took a quarter of the bar for each person per day. >> there was so much snow. there was no trail to be seen. >> 32-year-old jason from richmond and neil from herndon set out in the back country of glacier national park. they were half way up the mountain when something terrible went wrong. pecket fell 30 yards down the steep terrain. >> when he fell, i was okay after he stopped sliding down the hill. >> worse still, their map blew away. they were lost in whiteout conditions. >> couldn't tell whether we should be going down or up because the map would have pulled us up. >> they decided the safest thing was to hunker down. the experienced hikers used their instincts. >> we did have an s.o.s. sign out of burnt logs on the hillside. >> they were stranded for four days, rationing energy bars. 50 rescuers scoured the area on the ground and in the air. >> once we knew that people were actually looking, we felt better, but it was a little

discouraging to have them fly over your head and not see you. so after we knew that they were looking, it was a matter of how long can we wait it out? >> the hikers never thought they wouldn't make it out alive. at least not for very long. >> fleeting thoughts at the time, you know, you don't think about that at all. >> it was their families who feared the worst. >> we were laying there thinking about what are our wives thinking? what are our families thinking? we can't do anything to change what they are thinking because there's no way to communicate with them. >> their families are relieved, they are back home again safe and sound. as for climbing up mountains, they say their wives won't be having any of that for quite a while. by the way, they lost 15-pounds in their four-day ordeal. in herndon, surae chinn, 9news now. >> back home safe. >> let's talk about what weather awaits them. >> it was a beautiful day and tomorrow will be a nice day. we are staying a yellow alert because the thunderstorms late in the day and about this time

tomorrow night, about 24 hours from now. let's start with a live look outside. it is the michael and son weather cam. again, high 69, which is exactly average for this time of year. down to 63. dew points coming up a little bit. upper 40s. winds out of the southeast at 7 and the pressure has not budged all afternoon or evening. 29.93 inches of mercury. temperature wise, it is really comfortable. 60 in bethesda. 64 in rockville. some 50s. 55 in gaithersburg. 62 in fairfax and 61 down toward burke. 63 in college park and upper os as you head towards bowie. showers and storms on the way. mild and dry tonight. the morning commute tomorrow fine, dry, in fact, you'll need your shades. the evening commute will be mainly dry. most of the showers hold off until evening and thursday night is going to be wet. we're looking at showers and thunderstorms and rain overnight on thursday. so, this is 9:00 in the

morning. lots of sunshine. you hardly see any clouds with this. we'll put this back into motion. some clouds come through, now a quarter to 3:00 in the afternoon. a fair amount of sunshine. the bulk of the day. we turn our attention to the west and see showers and thunderstorms by this time tomorrow and that spells some scattered showers, this is all light green or shades of green, which is light activity. you get far enough west of cumberland, you see yellows and that's what we are concerned about tomorrow night. the best chance of storms will be late tomorrow evening and early tomorrow night. partly to mostly cloudy tonight, breezy and mild. not bad. 46 to 54. and then by morning, we're okay. partly sunny, breezy, mild. maybe a light jacket for the kids. little ones anyway. 40s and 50s. winds southeast 10 to 15. by afternoon, partly sunny, breezy and mild. maybe a light shower. no thunderstorms in the afternoon. highs around 70 and winds southeast at 10 to 20. so if you get home at a

reasonable hour, i think you will get home before the showers roll in. zone forecast, 58 in oakland with showers developing a little earlier. probably early afternoon. 66 in cumberland. upper 60s hagerstown. low 70s for culpeper. 70 for warrenton, leesburg, manassas. 70 or 71 for fairfax. downtown, looking at 71. low 70s into charles county, st. mary's county, and 70, rockville and frederick. and because of those southeast winds, there's a small craft advisory for the bay and title potomac. the bulk of the day, nice, 71. 72 on friday. still nice. got to go green, you know, a couple showers possible, but the bulk of the day is fine. cooler on saturday, maryland's homecoming looks great. temperatures in the mid 60s. next seven days, temperatures go up. in fact, we get into monday, temperatures go back up into the 70s. talking mid 70s on monday,

upper 70s on tuesday. maybe some showers next wednesday, but temperatures are hanging in there in the low 70s. so sometimes october can be pretty sweet. >> for a little while. lots of folks have tattoos and no big deal, but what if your boss ordered you to cover yours up? that is exactly what they are doing at scotland yard. britain's officers are being told, disclose all your tattoos to your manager or you may be fired. visible tattoos on your hands, neck, or face damaged quote, professional image of the department. ian has been a police officer for 25 years and while he doesn't have any tattoos, he says it shouldn't matter if others on the floor do. >> people tend to call the police when they need something, when they are quite often in a crisis. perhaps the last thing on their mind is whether or not the officers got a tattoo on their forearm or not. >> but like it or not, scotland yards says the new policy is permanently etched in the rule book.

like a tattoo. and would you pay $10,000 for a gallon of barbecue sauce that is twenty years old? somebody did on ebay. this north dakota man used to own a mcdonald's franchise and he kept this sauce that was part of a michael jordan promotion. a warning for the buyer, don't eat it. >> i wouldn't want to open it up and invite my friends over and say we're going to celebrate and have some ribs with some 20-year-old barbecue sauce. that probably wouldn't make me popular with my friends or relatives. >> especially 12 hours later. this bottle of barbecue is the last of its kind. if you are wondering, that winning bidder is from chicago, which is michael jordan country. we want to hear what you think. send your e-mails to mcginty's mail bag. the address is mailbag@wusa9.com. 9news now will be right back.

in our mail bag tonight, our facebook page earning more than 1,000 comments regarding the simple question of who won last night's debate. ron says in an e-mail, that debates, as they are, are a disgrace. here are two men who want to lead our country at one of the most pivotal times in our nation. who is telling the truth? the problem is primarily the format. it needs a drastic overhaul. isn't it about time our leaders demonstrate the same qualities and leadership skills that we expect from our men and women who will one day lead our country? okay, yeah, ron, except for the fact these two debates have been great tv and that matters, because many, many millions of americans are watching and weighing in and learning more. if you want polite power point presentations, go to your

candidate's website. you want to see him defend what he believes? put him on a stage with his opponent and let him have at it. i love every crazy, rude minute of it. then there was this, now he has been dropped by nike and he stepped down as head of the live strong anticancer organization all because of these on going doping allegations. harold says lance is getting a raw deal. where is the evidence? it's a shame that in this country, a person can be tried and convicted in the press and on the hears of convicted people. i would like to see the direct evidence that in fact, lance took performance enhancing drugs. shame on nike for dropping lance without such proof. they have just fed into the frenzy. harold, i think there are two central questions at work. the first, did lance armstrong use performance enhancing drugs? i'm thinking the evidence he did is a lot more overwelming than apparently you believe it is. but the number two question is, is the process of prosecuting the case against him fair?

and there, well there i think there's room to argue. maybe you can do it right here in mcginty's mail bag. the address is mailbag@wusa9.com. please don't forget to include your name and where you are writing us from. that is our report. i'll be back at 11:00 along with anita brikman. don't forget, log on any time you like to wusa9.com. we'll see you a bit later.

"entertainment tonight," the worldwide leader in entertainment news. did this pro dancer come between russell crowe and his wife? >> did you have an affair with danielle? >> his new "e.t." interview revealing the communication he just had with crowe. plus the new shots of russell working in new york. then -- katy perry and john mayer are back on. the new video. and demi at 50. >> how is she coping with ashton dating 29-year-old? hollywood women sound off as mitt's debate comment goes viral. >> brought us whole binders full of women. >> the jokes. the tweets. the fallout today. then -- ♪ >> susan boyle painfully shy after her "dancing with the stars" duet with donny osmond.