in rockville andrea mccarren, 9 news now. >> if you live in montgomery county and still are cleaning up downed trees and limbs, the county will help take care of the mess. it's holding a special one time debris pickups next wednesday. place any tree debris along one of the county's 217 snowplow routes. make sure they don't block the sidewalks or driveways or roads. so far montgomery county has checked more than 4,800 tons of debris since that storm. >>> still to come the smithsonian folklife festival plans a tribute to the late d.c. go go legend chuck brown. >> but first prince william county takes action against the people holly acres mobile home park. we'll be right back. >>> back with the 9 news now update, lots of people lost their power recently, but some families in woodbridge, virginia just lost their homes. prince william county county has now evicted eight families living at holly acres mobile home park. the county declared the homes unfit to live in last fall since tropical storm low. ever since then the owner has been fighting over the efforts to rebuild. churches and othe

andrea mccarren is live with these new federal standards. andrea. >> after that terrible red line tragedy in 2009 that left nine people dead, 76 injured, the maryland delegation really led the way in pushing for reserious bodily reform and pushing for national safety standards. >> we see ourselves as safety officers. we're going to continue this work. we passed the legislation. >> hard to believe that until now, there was not a single federal safety regulation for metro trains or any other passenger train nationwide. >> since 1964, we have had a gaping loophole in transit safety oversight. >> there was an absence. this is the nation's transit system. our nation depends upon the metro here. >> among the safety measures, now under consideration, a minimum standard for a train car's ability to withstand a crash. data recorders or black boxes on each metro train, work rules, including hour of service limits so metro conductors can get enough sleep between shifts. >> this is the best advance in transportation system safety in years. >> legislators

andrea mccarren has more on that in a letter that is making news. >> after the violent weather came a storm of criticism. >> exhausted and frustrated. >> and now, leaders of maryland's big seven jurisdictions, including montgomery and prince georges counties, are demanding change. they want improved disclosure of outage locations. the prevention of future outages, including a study of the locations best suited for underground lines and a look at staffing levels during an emergency. >> a lot of damage to the system. there's a lot of poles and wires to put back up. >> utility executives were grilled on wtop radio today. many customers just learning what we reported yesterday. that maryland utilities can charge customers for revenue lost during the outages because they couldn't supply electricity. >> that's a shared cost across all customers. >> i thought i was paying for something that i received, not something i did not receive. >> they were getting paid when regular citizens are losing out. >> pepco president was on the phone. >> it does apply for the first 24 hours and then beyond th

andrea mccarren is in silver spring with more on the communications question. andrea. >> derek, you know, after friday night's storm, so many of us down loaded pepco's app to find out when power would be restored. but residents say in many cases, the app as well as pepco's robo calls provided incorrect information. >> this is ridiculous. >> laura hills was told on saturday she was on a priority list, because of recent back surgery. her neighborhood is still without power. >> you hear different things. it's going to be the end of the week, it's going to be sunday. you know, it's real frustrating. especially when the heat is like this and you have little kids. >> hills thought priority would be given to dangerous situations like this. reported daily to pepco. a spruce tree dangling precariously from a power line right next to a transformer. >> i see this tree hanging off the wire and my children come back and forth here and pepco knows it's there and they aren't doing anything about it. >> some resorted to posting signs for pepco workers. >> communication is power

andrea mccarren, 9 news now. >> one good thing about our most recent round of storms, it helped break our string of days with temperatures above the 95- degree mark, many in the hundreds. topper is on the terrace with more on the forecast. >> it is really nice now. the frontal system is to our south. we're getting a fantastic evening, fredericksburg northward. let's talk about the radar. a couple showers fredericksburg south. what you see around town, don't worry about that. fredericksburg south showers and that's it for now. keep you posted. temperatures, man, 86 downtown, 82 manassas and andrews, 84 leesburg. i'm just not buying that 90 in frederick. tonight mostly cloudy, comfortable, run the risk of a shower, a thunderstorm possible south and blows 66 to 72. we'll come back and tell you how long we can start a new streak with the 80s after ending the streak with the triple digits. >>> visitors from out of town won't be riding to the top of the washington monument any time soon. we're told replayers might keep the landmark closed until -- repairs might keep the landmark closed unti

andrea mccarren, 9 news now. >> meanwhile pepco asked the maryland public service commission to delay its vote on whether to allow the utility to raise rates next year. the psc was expected to announce its decision on the 4% hike by friday, but last week pepco filed a request to push back that decision so it could focus on restoring power to customers. so far we haven't heard if the public service commission will grant that request. >>> d.c. council member mary cheh tells news she will be introducing a bill tomorrow that would force pepco to start installing some of its lines underground. >> we would place an assessment on pepco which inevitably will probably pass onto the rate pair, but still an assessment on pep -- rate payer, but still an assessment on pepco, create a fund out which of we could begin to identify these areas and begin to underground the wires. >> don't expect any quick action on cheh's bill. tomorrow is the council's last legislative session before the summer recess. >>> arlington national cemetery has also been hit hard in the recent storms. today clean-up crews go

andrea mccarren is standing in rockville with more on that long wait. >> reporter: the tiltons drove around their powerless neighborhood delivering ice and water to those without either. >> being good to people. it feels good. >> reporter: those random acts of kindness have helped sustain the final 1% of pepco customers waiting to have their power restored. >> we expect that it takes time, but this is ridiculous. un, this is a week now. -- you know, this is a week now. this is unforgivable. >> i did laundry at a friend's house all day saturday. today was enough. i just was done today and have been very emotional the whole day. >> last night i went from my bedroom upstairs which is way too hot to like the couch downstairs to like air mattresses in the basement. >> reporter: even in this quince orchard knolls neighborhood of underground power lines and no visible damage 49 homes remained hot and dark until this afternoon. >> i just wish pepco would be honest with us, tell us the truth. >> reporter: the joy of electricity quickly gave way to dread that another powerful storm may be just

gardner's sister spoke with andrea mccarren for the first time. >> robyn gardner's family is convinced she is still alive and wants the fbi and arue aruban authorities to continue their investigation. >> we want to keep hope out there and waiting for her when she comes home. >> that's the sister of 35- year-old robyn gardner. mising in aruba. >> had you heard the name before? >> never. >> danielle colton wouldn't comment any further on the man who reported robyn missing. nor would she address her efforts to claim a $3.5 million life insurance policy purchased before last summer's trip. >> sometimes you go to public places and you see a woman out there, a beautiful young woman with long blond hair and it brings up all the memories of robyn. >> robyn's sister is haunted by the disappearance and hopes to travel to aruba some day and try to make sense of the unthinkable. >> i would really love to go there. i would like to see the terrain there, get a sense of everything. i would like to see the restaurant that she was last seen at. i would like to see the hotel she stayed at. >> for now, t

andrea mccarren is in colorado and has learned that mother is pregnant. even though she is paralyzed, her unborn child is fine. the residents in aurora are having a hard time coping. here's andrea with more. >> reporter: the mother of the 6-year-old girl killed in the theater massacre is reportedly pregnant. and although she was shot in the abdomen and paralyzed, the baby is all right. a memorial is steps away from the place where all innocence was lost, the unthinkablimthe h a patchwork of flowers, stuffed animals and candles. >> it's a way to share our love and bring the community together. >> reporter: the swell of emotion comes as new information about the suspect emerges. 9news has learned that james holmes was awarded a prestigious grant from the national institutes of health. it gave the graduate student a $26,000 stipend and paid his tuition for the highly competitive program in neuroscience. andrea mccarren, 9news now. >>> in maine an erie situation that has something about copycat shooters. police pulled over a guy for speeding. inside the car th

in aurora, colorado, andrea mccarren, 9 news now. >> on the heels of that shooting, here's a frightening out of the state of maine. police pull over a guy for speeding and find a car full of guns and ammo, as well as press clippings about the colorado tragedy. the man allegedly tells police he brought one of those loaded guns to a showing of batman saturday night in sacco, maine. >> in the car he had the assault rifle and the tactical shotgun in the back seat of the mustang, and these handguns. >> reporter: police found even more guns back at the man's home. he allegedly told them before he was pulled over sunday morning, he was on his way to shoot someone he used to work for. that man is in custody tonight. he is 49-year-old of maine. >>> unprecedented, that's pretty much the only way to describe the sanctions that the ncaa handed down to penn state today, for their failure to act in the jerry sandusky sex abuse scandal. this could have lasting effects for years. they put the school on five years probation, fined it $60 million. they also must vacate all of the football wins it got sinc

andrea mccarren is in colorado helping out the sister station down there, kusa. thanks for joining us right now. the fbi is down there in force. help us understand what are they doing? >> reporter: a lot of agents and specialists in explosives were brought in here from quantico. and what's happened this afternoon after the successful detonation by the bomb squad, a lot of the materials that will be considered evidence will be brought back to virginia, back to the quantico base for analysis. >> you've got a sense of what's going on there in colorado. tell us more about the victims. what do you hear? >> reporter: first of all, we now know of the 12 victims, we know of 3 young men who all put themselves in harm's way to save the lives of the young women that they were with. >> there's no doubt back here that people are convinced this could have happened anywhere. it could have happened right here in the washington area. but people are trying to get on with their lives. i think from the press conference we heard coming out of colorado today, that's what officials the

suspect in the theater shooting james holmes made his first appearance in court today and our andrea mccarren is in aurora, colorado, on this story. i understand we have new information just in this evening. >> reporter: yeah, derek. it has been a very interesting day and this new information comes from the university of colorado, denver where james holmes, the suspect, was grade wait student. student-- was grade wait student. two ups -- a graduate student. two ups pack ages arrived at the has been today leading to evacuations of the two buildings. the two packages were deemed safe, but it's been an interesting day as the university examines its potential role in the suspect gathering all this material allegedly to set the booby traps at his apartment as well as to carry out that horrific massacre. also the university today addressed questions about a possible accomplice. there has been discussion about a classmate, one of james holmes' rare friends, that may have assisted, but as of today the university is saying he is the sole suspect. he did not get any assistance. we also learned more inf

andrea mccarren is in aurora, colorado with more on the 24-year-old's background. >> reporter: tonight on this very sad scene, we have new disturbing information about the suspect james holmes. last spring, mass murder suspect james holmes took a graduate course entitled the biological bases of psychiatric and neurological disorders. at the same time, it appears his own life was unraveling. the university of colorado confirmed holmes was in the process of withdrawing from his neuro science doctoral program reportedly because of his poor academic performance. >> neighbors report to us that he lived alone and he kept to himself. >> reporter: according to police, in the early hours of friday morning, the 24-year-old unleeched an unspeakable furry, firing guns he had purchased legally at two outdoor supply stores. >> my understanding is that all the weapons that he possessed, he possessed legally and all the clips that he possessed, he possessed legally. and all the ammunition that he possessed, he possessed legally. >> reporter: tonight, investigators confirm holmes purchased multiple mag

in aurora, colorado, andrea mccarren, 9 news now. >> of course, you'll want to stay here for the latestelopments on the shooting and go to wusa9.com any time, 24/7, for new information. >>> tomorrow morning, monday, the ncaa will hit penn state university with what cbs is calling tonight unprecedent sanctions following the jerry sandusky child sex abuse scandal. we're there tonight with exclusive details. >> reporter: the bronze statue of joe paterno that once stood outside the football stadium is gone. it was jackhammered from its foundation and hauled into storage on the eve of the university's judgment day. cbs news learned penn state football program will be spared the so-called death pebilitiy, meaning -- penalty meaning it will not be suspended a year or more but will include probation, loss of football scholarships, bans on bowl season bowl games and a hefty fine. >> penn state will wish they had the death penalty. that's how severe and punitive i'm told they're going to be. >> reporter: the penalties are being handed down after a report found that the late head football coach an

in aurora, colorado, andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> and both president obama and republican candidatet romney cancelled all of their campaign event following the tragedy in denver and they pulled all of their ads in colorado as well. they told americans keep the victims in their thoughts and prayers. >> we will take every step possible to ensure the safety of all of our people. we're going to stand by our neighbors in colorado during this extraordinarily difficult time. >> our hearts break for the victim and their families. we pray that the wounded will recover and that those who are grieving will know the nearness of god. >> the president has also issued a proclamation honoring the victim and he's ordered all u.s. flags to be flown at half staff from now until sunset next wednesday. >>> we don't know when or where our time on earth will end. that is a blog posted recently by one of the people killed today posted by jessica gwahi, written after she cheated death a month ago. she instinctively left a shopping mall food court moments before a gunman opened fire there. she did not escape

i'm andrea mccarren. i'll tell you what it says coming up. >>> up next, we are just hours away from the release of the highly anticipated report in the penn state sex abuse scandal. stay with us, we'll be right back. >>> the highly anticipated report into the jerry sandusky sexual abuse scandal at penn state university will be released tomorrow morning. they paid for the probe, which was led by former fbi director. lui free. he had the school and former head football coach, joe paterno handle the molestation accusations against sandusky. he was convicted last month of sexually abusing ten boys. the board of trustees held a meeting last night in anticipation of the report's release. >>> in the wake of the band hazing scandal that started when a drum major died. drum major's parents announced they are suing the university. the suit comes more than six months after robert champon, jr., was beaten to death after a band performance in orlando. authorities ruled champion's death a homicide. 11 people, mostly fe

in carol county, maryland, andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> that vigil begins at 7:30 p.m. at 4:37 in frederick. gardner's mother is coming here from florida and she'll be among those pleading for anyone with information to step forward. >> a maryland state delegate is promising tougher rules and stiffer penalties for pepco. the utilities just filed a report bragging about its response to the big storm. and bruce leshan is here with details. bruce. >> derek, here is the report, 69 pages of pepco arguing that its response was fast and effective. the public service commission will look this over. it will hold hearings, but one state delegate says the verdict is already clear. >> it is comical that pepco claims they couldn't have been ready for this storm. they sat in front of my committee 18 months ago saying they would be ready for anything. obviously they weren't. >> delegate tom of montgomery county said the pepco report is chocked full of pretty pictures and excuses, but sorely lacking in solutions and accountability. >> everyone knows that we have a huge problem. we have

and as andrea mccarren explains, the agency has to deal with another problem today. >> it was scary. >> rattled passengers left dupont circle this morning after being offloaded from two trains that were abruptly taken out of service. >> it smelled like burnt rubber. as we get on, it's a packed train. they take us off the train and the platform pulls up and it's a wall of people. they say please slowly evacuate the station, which makes people feel panicked. >> it comes on a troubled weekend for the rail system. >> it was a long ride. it was terrible. >> on saturday afternoon, and again early sunday morning, a computer software glitch brought 44 trains across the system to a stop. >> took me at least three hours to make it home. >> there is concern on our part. that's why we are working around the clock, 24/7. that's why we are taking the necessary steps to increase our staffing. >> it is still investigating the computer failure that left controllers without the ability to see moving trains on a map and unable to control switches remotely to route trains. >> and metro says that compute

andrea mccarren is live in rockville with more storm horror stories. we haven't used those up yet? >> reporter: no, we haven't, derek. we are on the rockville silver spring line where pepco crews have come and gone without restoring power. in fact, workers told the residents they might be back later tonight. now for everyone who thought that underground lines that we've talked so much about, that they might be the silver bullet, you'll want to consider the north potomac neighborhood of convince orchard knolls -- of quince orchard knolls. there the lines are underground and there is no visible sign of damage, yet their pavers not restored until a couple -- power was not restored until a couple of hours ago. >> today was enough. i just was done today and have been very emotional the whole day, crying and happy and we keep hearing a crew has been here but then a crew is not here and then the wrong crew is here. >> reporter: after seven agonizing days the power returned to this neighborhood, confidence in pepco did not. >> i explained to them i'm diabetic. i've had to get dry ice three

andrea mccarren hit the streets again to hear your power struggle stories and joins us now live at old georgetown road. >> reporter: just like scott has seen, you drive across the area and we are still seeing a lot of massive trees like this one bringing power lines down with them and in neighbors where utility trucks arrive to the very first time -- for the very first time today they were sure a welcome sight. five days after the storm utility trucks and tree trimming crews descended on the wingate neighborhood of bess da where residents' patience had run -- bethesda where residents' patience had run thin. >> it was very frustrating to me they would leave a situation potentially life endangering. >> reporter: the developmentally challenged teen was flung to the ground on his back. >> i was just so glad he wasn't hitting it at a higher rate, because i'm afraid he would have been decapitated and that was what i told pepco on the phone was, this kind of wire over a side walk could easily lead to someone suffering something much worse. >> but still fivo's neck is terribly scarred, bike br

sources tell 9news now andrea mccarren that they have uncovered an arsenal of 25 weapons inside a crofton home. sources say the suspect who is now in custody was facing termination at work and may have been planning a mass attack against his employer. sources tell cbs news correspondent bob orr that the man told a former co-worker he was going to shoot the boss and shoot up the workplace. well, police went to his home and allegedly found loads of weapons including semiautomatic rifles, handguns, and ammunition. bob orr says police do not think the man is connected to any group. and police are not releasing any information about the suspect. there is a news conference that is scheduled for 1:00 this afternoon. we will have much more information on this story on our website, wusa9.com. and on 9news now beginning at 5:00 p.m. >>> place your bets. maryland governor mar ten o'malley is call -- martin o'malley is calling lawmakers back to annapolis. 9news now's scott broom was at the state house for the morning's announcement and on the phone now with more information. what can you tell us scot

andrea mccarren is live from northwest with their story. >> reporter: i got to tell you pepco customers are as fired up as the temperatures today, especially when they learned their power would not be restored until friday night, july 6th, at 11 p.m. and the utility does not plan to hold another restoration update for us until wednesday evening. >> i'm trying to keep my language very clean because i have nothing but utter contempt for pepco. >> reporter: pepco customers did not mince their words when they learned their answer to the question of the hour, when is our power going to be restored? >> friday night by 11 p.m., so in other words, seven full days. >> it just seems really sad that in 2012 the nation's capital it takes a week to recover from a bad storm. >> reporter: there is extraordinary anger on the part of your customers. we pressed pepco officials and asked tough questions, many from our viewers or via your tweets and facebook posts. how do you deal with this potentially catastrophic public relations issue right now that profits are ahead of service for pepco? >> we didn't b

andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> we should note that prescott worked as a subcontractor for several years now. he most recently lived in crofton, he lived in katonsville, where neighbors say he was into computers. >> he was quiet. he didn't look like he would do anything or think of anything. >> working on computers. he liked computers, am i right? he did his own thing on the computers. very, very quiet. never had a problem out of him. >> now he tried to talk with a man prescott allegedly threatened, but he did not want to talk to us. >>> today's bust in maryland comes one week to the day after the colorado theater shooting that killed 12 and injured dozens and dozens more. now we're learning more ant the accused gunman, james holmes. a court motion filed by his lawyer says holmes was under the treatment of a psychiatrist at the university of colorado in denver. that is the same place he had been studying as a grad student. holmes lawyers filed the motion to find out who leaked the information about the notebook that holmes sent to that psychiatrist. contained descriptions of an attack to

in northwest washington, andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> we're told that crews from all over the country are pouring into the washington area to help pepco get the power back on. workers from oklahoma, florida, georgia, missouri, canada, and parts of the northeast all in town to help with those efforts. one thing a lot of our viewers want to know tonight, where are the pepco crews. ken molestina live in landover, maryland with some answers. >> reporter: yeah, bruce, many people that you talk to out here, they will tell you that they have yet to see a pepco crew on their streets. we did see a couple of them out there today. i will tell you something, they are slowly but surely starting to make their presence. here is what is making a big presence. take a look at this. the trucks from across the country, crews who have come to help us all arriving. this is the cavalry, the first group that has showed up here to help us out with this problem. they're expected to go to their hotel rooms, get some rest, and start the work tomorrow morning. it's been more than 48 hours since the storms devasta

andrea mccarren has more details on the on going probe. >> he was stopped before he could do any harmtt allegedly made repeated threats against his supervisor in two separate phone conversations. >> he said,

andrea mccarren is here with more on how the police say they may have prevented another attack like thene we saw last week in colorado. andrea. >> thankfully they did. neil prescott is described by police as an angry employee and the process of being fired from his job at an office. he was not arrested, but committed for an emergency mental evaluation at the anne arundel medical center. >> 28-year-old neil edwin prescott of crofton allegedly made repeated threats against his supervisor in two separate phone conversations. >> i'm a joker and i'm going to load my guns

andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> their patience is wearing thin and you can understand why. thank you. derek. >> lesli, the overwelming majority of the damage to this electrical system was done by falling trees and now one maryland state senator is the first in line calling for putting more of those power lines under the ground. tonight, 9 wants to know where the electric companies stand on this growing issue and scott broom is in college park with that. scott. >> well let's start in this state senator's district and get introduced to him. he has been a fierce critic of pepco just like a lot of politicians over the years. he points out this undergrounding issue has not been studied in maryland for nearly ten years. he also points out, if you happen to believe in climate change, just like he does, a lot has changed since then. >> we have known for years that climate change leads to more frequent, more severe, unpredictable, extreme weather. we may have noticed that here in washington. >> now demanding that the state's public service commission reopen with a new analysis. >> w

andrea mccarren, back to you. >> many headlines on the power issue today as you said. >>> the clean-upo continues at arlington national cemetery which lost several old trees during the storm. this morning cemetery staff got help from hundreds of landscapers from around the country. our kristin fisher has more on the project. >> this is some small way of saying thank you for people that gave their lives so that i could run my business. >> reporter: don derby runs a lawn care company in ohio, but today he's come all the way to arlington national cemetery to help keep these sacred grounds green. he's joined by nearly 400 members of the professional land scare network who are donating materials, manpower and equipment. >> we get to come here and do what we do best for the folks that gave their all and gave us our way of life. >> reporter: this clean-up really came at the perfect time. arlington national cemetery lost 30 huge trees in that big storm 10 days ago. you can see many of them still need to be cleaned up. >> some of them, three or four, were some of the older bigger trees in the c

our andrea mccarren is following this story in colorado. >>> in just a few hours, penn state is goingo learn its penalty from the ncaa. the historic football program will be punished for its involvement in the jerry sandusky sex abuse scandal. cbssports.com reports penn state will be hit with a fine of at least $30 million and it may go as high as $60 million. the money will go towards charity for children's causes. the football program is also going to be stripped of some of its scholarships and will likely be banned from any bowl games. a source tells cbs sports the penalties are going to be unlike anything that's been handed down and may last beyond one season. >>> one day before the penalties to be announced, penn state removed the statue of the late football coach joe paterno. the 900-pound bronze statue stood outside the penn state football stadium and crews removed it sunday morning putting it into secured storage. a report found the coach did not do everything he could after learning about the accusations about the sandusky abuse. paterno's family criticizes the decision and h

we have team coverage beginning with andrea mccarren who is live along old georgetown road in bethesda. >> reporter: well, back drops like this still dot our local landscape, downed trees, downed power lines, but in aspen hill we have a story that has left one local family shaking its head.  >> it caught them at neck level. you can see his scar here. >> reporter: 15-year-old fivo owens neck has horrible scars. the teen was riding his bicycle along the sidewalk yesterday when a dangling power line caught him by the neck and flung him backwards off his bike. >> the scar is one thing, but electrocution would be a complete clint story. >> reporter: remarkably when his father called pepco to alert them to the dangerous situation, they asked him for the account information of the homeowner closest to the downed wire. >> i didn't know who lived there, what the account information was and they said well, without that we can't take a report, which i was astounded at because they tell us in the newspapers and on tv and the radio don't approach a downed line. call pepco. >> reporter: jeffrey co