j.c. hayward. thanks for joining us. the g.o.p. presidential candidates are making their final pitches on the eve of the country's first primary. they are racing all over new hampshire, trying to win undecided voters before tomorrow's critical selections. manuel gallegus is on the campaign trail. he has the latest information. [ applause ] >> reporter: mitt romney got a standing ovation from business leaders in nashua. on the final full day of campaigning before the new hampshire primary, the former massachusetts governor virtually ignored his opponents and slammed president obama. >> i don't know how we would survive four more years of barack obama. it scares me to think of the debt we would have in place. >> reporter: his supporters are buying the message. >> mitt romney is the guy that will turn the economy around. that's my main concern. >> reporter: time is running out for romney's rival to knock him down here in new hampshire. romney has a solid lead having spent much of the past two years campaigning here. >> i have such --

j.c. hayward reporting there.ou could like to see the other organizations we profile, just visit jchayward.com. we have more hero central reports there. >> thank you for watching 9news now at 6:00 a.m. good morning, i'm andrea roane. >> i'm mike hydeck. here's monika samtani. how are you? >> i'm great. how are you? >> howard is off this week but anny hong is here with our weather first. good morning. >> good morning, guys. we're looking at a wet start to your tuesday morning. definitely need your umbrellas, even the rain boots. no need to layer up like crazy. because we're fairly mild out there. live doppler 9000 hd, showing us around the beltway, just

j.c. hayward was the featured guest today. hopefully we get to see a shot of j.c. very good.he was there in rockville. >> grateful of the opportunity to honor the work of the service, dr. martin luther king, jr. his spirit lives. >> the public was invited to attend the free event that made possible the mayor of rockville and human rights commission. again, j.c. there at that celebration. >> windy out there. not a bad day. >> it is, but a warm wind. that's a good thing. it will keep us from any trouble overnight in terms of sleet or anything like that. that's good, but 40 to 41, that's not bad. we're going in the right direction. looking at a very weak system rolling in tonight. good news is, it should be out of here by noon, 1:00 tomorrow. let's start with our live weather cam. there's a shot of the capital. very nice, very nice evening. it is a little breezy, but not bad. 39 officially. dew point continues to rise. that's a good sign. temperatures in the mid 20s for the dew point now and the wind out of the south at about 11. and pressure 30.33 now beginning to fall a little

j.c. hayward. well, it is the day that the republican presidential candidates have been working toward for months. tonight, iowa voters will cast the first ballot of the 2012 election. danielle nottingham reports from des moines. [ applause ] >> reporter: mitt romney rallied supporters in des moines hours before the caucuses begin. >> ly go to work to get americans back to work. >> polls show he has a slight lead in the race but he's facing stiff competition from rick santorum and ron paul. enthusiastic crowds greeted paul monday as he stuck to his message of smaller government. >> what we're talking about are real cuts and the shrinking of the size of the federal government. >> reporter: rick santorum's momentum has been building for days. if iowa's evangelicals turn out in big numbers, he could pull off a win. >> trust what you have seen, what you have heard, trust the interactions you've had with the candidates. >> reporter: after months on the campaign trail, more than a dozen debates and milli

j.c. hayward. another guilty plea today stemming from the corruption scandal that brought down former d.c. councilmember harry thomas, jr. the 55-year-old james garvin admitted his role in helping to funnel more than $300,000 in city funds to the ward 5 democrat. garvin is a golf pro at langeston golf course. he's the third person charged in the corruption scheme. garvin faces up to three years in prison and he will be sentenced at a later date. >>> the special election to fill the ward 5 seat is going to be held may 15th. the district's board of elections met yesterday to certify the vacancy and to set the date. it will be an open election to candidates of any party. the winner will serve out the remainder of the term which goes to 2014. >>> well, people looking for information from online encyclopedia wikipedia are out of luck today because one of the internet's most visited sites has gone dark for 24 hours to protest proposed anti- piracy legislation before congress. the stop online piracy act i

j.c. hayward. we begin with breaking news from prince george's county. police right now are investigating the death of a pedestrian in the parking lot of a school. this accident happened at samuel chase elementary school in the 5900 block of fisher road in temple hills. the victim is a woman, she was hit and trapped underneath the vehicle. we don't have any information about the vehicle right now but we'll get that to you as soon as we find it out. we do want to let you know classes were not in session at the time of this accident because prince george's county are closed today for teacher's professional day. >>> and today is the 39th anniversary of the roe v. wade supreme court decision which legalized abortion in this country. and there are a full slate of march for life events including a pair session at verizon center and a march from the national mall to the united states supreme court. >> reporter: j.c., this march should be getting underway any minute now. it is going to be starting in front of the smithsonian castle. you can see hundreds of peopl

j.c. hayward. in less than two hours, the judge will decide the fate of brittany norwood, she's the woman convicted of killing jayna murray at lululemon store nearly a year ago. delia goncalves is outside the rockville courtroom and she's going to tell us what we can expect. >> reporter: no doubt brittany norwood will be sentenced to life behind bars. but the judge today will decide if she should be granted parole. norwood's father had pleaded to the court writing the judge asking for mercy saying his daughter deserves a chance of parole after 25 years. prosecutors say her victim, jayna murray, never had a chance, lured back to the store by norwoodment she was brutally attacked. stabs 331 times alive for each of the blows. her plea for mercy ignored by the murderers say they. in fact several people in the apple store next door heard unusual noises that night but never acted on them. brood proceed who pretended obama a -- brittany norwood who pretended to be a victim herself was later arrested. whet

j.c. hayward. >>> at this hour montgomery county police are looking for two armed bandits after an early morning home invasion. the siege happened on barden road near cedar lane, and that's where we'll kind our dealia gonzalez with more information. reporter: police say it was around 7:00 this morning, the housekeeper inside heard a knock at the door. when she went to answer the door, two masked gunmen forced their way in. >> how can it be possible in this area? we just never have any kind of issues like this. reporter: neighbors are simply stunned, an armed home invasion in their quiet bethesda community. >> they tied up three people inside the house, rummaged through the house, took various property. we're not sure what was taken at this point. reporter: the 9200 block of barden as families were getting ready for work and school, members of this family were praying for their lives. what did they use to tie those folks up, do you know? >> items around the house, i'd rather not go into it at this point. reporter: an ambulance takes the housekeeper to the hospital for minor injuries. a mom and te

j.c. hayward. mitt romney is the ots on favorite to win today's new hampshire primary. but will it be a landslide? and how will the rest of the g.o.p. presidential group do? manuel gallegus has the latest from manchester, new hampshire. >>> voters arrived early and keep filing into this manchester elementary school. >> glad it is finally here. seemed like it took a lot longer than i expected. >> how do you feel about your vote? >> pretty good. pretty good. it is still early though, you know. always room for change. >> reporter: front-runner mitt romney was out early shaking hands to lock in a win. >> we worked very hard. we started thought campaign, organized the effectiveness. >> reporter: newt gingrich plans to drop by polling sites all day. while he doesn't expect to win, he says the surprise will be that romney won't do as well as predicted. even though mitt romney has a commanding lead, the state has a large block of independent voters who will likely decide whether this is a landslide, a tight race or an upset. ron paul and jon huntsman hope many independents will

j.c. hayward. it appears members of occupy d.c. may have overstayed their welcome. theky mayor -- d.c. mayor gray wants the park service to evict the protestors citing health and safety concerns. delia goncalves tells us the occupiers are staying put no matter what happens. >> we will stay here. we have to stay here. >> reporter: he calls himself bear and says mcpherson square encampment is making an important statement. fighting what they call corruption on k street. moving, he says is out of the question. >> i think it would dismantle what we are doing here, yes. not -- the movement per se. >> reporter: but d.c. mayor vince gray calls the camp unsafe and unsanitary citing a major rat infestation even the threat of fire and carbon monoxide poisoning. the mayor would like to relocate the occupiers to freedom plaza. a permanent encampment city leaders say is more organized and more sanitary. >> we've been told is that when d.c. police and park police come together to move us out. we are really or worried about that day happening. >> reporter: the national park service has made many acco

j.c. hayward. we have just learned that minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann is ending her bid to win the republican presidential nomination. that's according to one of her campaign advisers. bachmann came in last in the iowa caucuses. we have also just learned that texas governor rick perry is continuing his bid for president. he said in a tweet here we come, south carolina! randall pink ston has more how on how this affects the field of candidates. >> reporter: michele bachmann is dropping out of the presidential race. >> the people of iowa spoke with a very clear voice and so i have decided to stand aside. >> reporter: the minnesota congresswoman came in sixth in the iowa caucus getting just under 5% of the vote. texas governor rick perry announced he's going back to texas to figure out his next step after finishing fifth last night. >> on to new hampshire, let ate get the job done. an upbeat mitt romney is looking forward to new hampshire, happy with his razor- thin victory in iowa. >> to c

j.c. hayward. source tell 9news now that federal prosecutors and the legal team for d.c. council member harry thomas jr. have scheduled a final meeting and their plea bargaining talks. final agreement could come at any time. our bruce johnson first broke the story tuesday night at 11:00. he's here with me now. we've been on the phone all day. what else have you learned? >> j.c., the talks could be taking place right now. before the day is out, prosecutors want be the councilman's signature on a plea agreement and sources say they want harry thomas jr. standing before a judge possibly as early as tomorrow. sources say much of the deal was already in place. councilman harry thomas has agreed to resign from the seat once held by his father, representing the residents of the heavy democratic voting ward five. he has agreed to admit to tax fraud but prosecutors want much more. the one harry thomas to admit he stole all or part of $300,000 that had been meant for youth baseball programs. you'll recall the fbi and i.r.s. raided the councilman's home in northeast d.c. late last y

j.c. hayward. former d.c. council member harry thomas jr. is in court where he is expected to enter a guilty plea for stealing more than $350,000 in government funds and filing false tax returns. we now go to delia gonsalves, she's been following the saga. she's at u.s. district court with more information. delia? >> reporter: j.c., good afternoon. you know, it is pretty amazing, despite the several crews we have covering each of the three doors here at federal court, harry thomas jr. still managed to slip through without being noticed. he is inside. he has been inside for about 45 minutes by now. he is just moments away from receiving his judgment. we know that harry thomas jr. is charged with taking more than $350,000 in government funds, using it to allegedly buy fancy suv and a motorcycle. he's also charged with filing false tax returns for three years in a row. apparently wasting very little time after his 2006 election to office, only getting more bold by not reporting more than $270,000 in 2008. thomas is accused of using that much fr

j.c. hayward, 9news now. >> and the dwelling place serves between 35 and 40 families every year and if you'd see this story again, go to j.c. hayward.com. click on hero central. >>> this is 9news now. >> from the steps of the capital to the heart of wall street. occupy protesters have been speaking out for months and this weekend, more confrontations between police and those protesters in oakland, chicago, and atlanta, the message they are not giving up their fight. now tonight, the national park service is cracking down on those living in two parks here in d.c. >> and our armando trull is monitoring the situation for us in mcpherson square. what's going on behind you? >> actually, it's absolutely nothing going on behind me. take a look. ri

j.c. hayward, 9news now. >> if you would like to help feed hungry children, they welcome donations.e looking for cans of fruit, macaroni and cheese, kid friendly cans of soup and pudding cups. for a complete list of food items that go into the weekend backpacks, visit jchayward.com. >> thank you for watching 9news now at 6:00 a.m. >> i'm andrea roane. >> i'm mike hydeck. >> 29 degrees out there. here's monika samtani. she has an interesting report regarding all of the traffic we're expecting this morning. >> not only in virginia but now in silver spring. >> right now, howard bernstein is here with our weather first and you need to bundle up. that's all i'm going to say. >> got some snow

j.c. hayward has more on this amazing legacy of service in today's hero central. >>> i don't say celebratingcommemorating. >> these are tough times. one in two americans are either low income or poor. 50% of the children that live in the district of columbia don't get an adequate diet. one in four children in prince george's county don't get a decent diet. >> lynn brantley is known as the mother of the food bank. her cofounder, rerend clark loganstein is the executive director of the interfaith conference of metropolitan washington. >> we thought that the food bank was on board to end hunger. and instead, the need has just grown and grown and grown and grown. the food bank distributes 30 million pounds of food annually to youth programs, nursing homes, shelters and churches. more than 700 agencies are supplied food by the bank. >> we have a corps of people here in our own community. they help to save us over a million dollars a year. in terms of our expenses. so, it is the sorting of food and it is putting everything together. to make it happen. >> reporter: the capital area food bank couldn