j.c. hayward, 9news now. >> the foundation has donated $5,000 to the mobile health van. doctors say the money will come in handy to help maintain it with the cost. for more information on this story and more, go to j.c. hayward.com. you're watching 9news now. we're glad for that. it is tuesday. good morning, smo. >> you're almost on vacation, mike. >> so close. >> we're very glad you're here. i'm andrea roane. howard bernstein is here

j.c. hayward introduces us to the homeless project. >> reporter: each week, loretta jones brings her son and daughter to the northwest church family network on new york avenue. they go for recreational activities and the opportunity to interact with other youngsters. for two hours her children can relax and play like normal children. >> i first -- my kids wouldn't go. my son used to scream because he didn't want to come. and now he screams when it's time to go. he wants to stay. so that's pretty exciting now that he really don't want to be all up -- want to be around other kids now. >> how about pbs kids? have you heard of that? >> reporter: eight years ago she and a friend started the volunteer program to help homeless children succeed. their belief was that youngsters and shelters suffer from emotional, behavioral, and learning problems. their answer? structured play. >> when children are traumatized and children who become homeless have gone through multiple traumas in their lives ranging from demostic violence to eviction to losing their belongings and family members. and one of most pow

j.c. hayward, thank you for joining us. montgomery county police just held a news conference updating the search for 11-year-old william mcquain. his mother was found murdered in their jermantown apartment last week. bruce johnson has been following this story and he joins us now from clarksburg with the very sad news. >> reporter: yeah, i tell you what j. c., a whole lot of really broken hearts up here right now. about 9:11 this morning just off of route 121 just off of i- 270, police dogs discovered the body of 11-year-old william mcquain. you can look down and see close to the crime scene here that fire truck has a boom that is going out. a ladder that's going out into the woods and that is where we understand william mcquain's body is. they're very carefully documenting the crime scene here. they want to make a criminal case against curtis lopez who is william mcquain's stepfather. the police chief, thomas manger says that curtis lopez is the prime suspect in the death of 11-year-old william mcquain. he has already been

j.c. hayward. has for joining us. the so-called underwear bomber entered a surprise guilty plea in a courtroom today. in detroit, the suspect admitted that he tried to blow up a jetliner to retaliate against the united states. manuel gallegus has details from detroit. >>> umar farouk abdul mutallab stunned the federal courtroom when his lawyer announced he wanted to plead guilty to all eight counts against him including attempted murder and the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. the accused terrorist calmly and clearly told the judge he understood exactly what he was doing by pleading guilty. he admitted he tried to blow up a bomb in his pants on a jetliner from amsterdam to detroit two years ago. the judge asked him a series of questions to determine his competency. then she began to list the crimes he was accused of, one by one. conspiracy to commit terrorism, attempted murder on an aircraft, attempted placement of a destructive device. the 25-year-old man listened and agreed to everything, including dec

j.c. hayward. thanks for being with us. right now, an italian jury is deciding whether to set amanda knox free. the seattle native is fighting a 2009 murder conviction for stabbing to death her british roommate. monique reports. >> reporter: amanda knox made a tearful plea to an italian appeals court begging jurors to set her free. she spoke fluent italian as she insisted she did not kill her british roommate. i am not what they say i am, she said. i did not kill, rape or steal. knox and her ex-boyfriend, raffaele sollecito are fighting a 2009 conviction killing exchange student meredith kirchner. a judge sentenced knox to 26 years in prison. but knox's lawyers say dna from the first trial should be thrown out. they're hoping the flawed evidence will persuade jurors to let knox go. the jury hear at the courthouse has several options. they can keep knox in prison and reduce her sentence or even lengthen it or they could decide to acquit her and set her free. knox's family says if she does walk free, they'll take her back to

j.c. hayward. jurors have been sworn in and opening statements are under way in the murder case against brittany norwood. norwood has been charged with killing a coworker inside the lulu lemon athletic store in march. jim shalick is a former prosecutor. he's been following this story from the beginning. he joins us now live from rockville with some insight. what can you tell us about the jury pool, what is the makeup? reporter: j.c., the jury has been selected, six men, six women, one african-american man, one african-american woman and one asian woman. the jury is seated. as we talk, the government is making their opening statement. andrea mcí carren is in the courtroom and i'm here reporting for you. >> there was some question as to whether the defense would make an opening statement. what do you think? reporter: we don't know. under the law they do not have to make an opening statement, but everybody is on the edge of their seat because we have no idea what the defense is. they will go after the

j.c. hayward. testimony in the brittany norwood murder trial is underway in rockville. norwood has been charged with killing her co-worker, jayna murray inside the lululemon shop in bethesda and then lying to investigators about what happened. surae chinn is joining us now from the district court in rockville with the latest on today's events, surae? >> reporter: well, j. c. testimony is going on the right now -- on right now in the courthouse behind me. the detective who interviewed brittany norwood multiple times. the jury now listening to at least 50 minutes of recorded interviews. i have now legal expert jim shalleck joining us now. premedication? >> exactly right. was this a premeditated murder or a spur of the moment outburst where the defense lawyer says she lost it during a fight at the shop? >> reporter: the jury really has to decide is this going to be murder one, murder two, life in prison or 30 years in jail with the chance of parole after 15. >> the jury will never know what the penalties are, the judge will tell them not to consider punishment. however mur

j.c. hayward. thanks for joining us. right now, montgomery county police are trying to solve two problems in one major case. they are looking for the 11- year-old son of a woman found murdered in her germantown home. investigators found the woman's car. authorities have issued an amber alert for 11-year-old william mcquain. he was last seen at the family's home on september 30th. kristin fisher joins us now from germantown with more on the investigation. kristin? >> reporter: j.c., the victim is 51-year-old jane mcquain and the last time -- excuse me, right now, police are not trying to track down her killer, but they're also trying to find her missing 11-year-old boy. in the last -- the last time anybody saw him was 12 days ago. an amber alert has been issued for 11-year-old william mcquain. five foot teal, 85 pounds, the boy was last seen at his home on september 30th. montgomery county police are now trying to find someone who's seen him since then. >> we're hoping to advance that in the daylight hours, today, contact

j.c. hayward. thanks for being with us. >>> it's a scene being duplicated across the country. thousands have taken to the streets. they're protesting the u.s. government policies that many believe favor the rich. ruth is at freedom plaza with more information. bruce. reporter: yeah, j.c., the protests, the marching, the music, the speech making set to begin right at this hour back up on the stage which is behind me. but this place is starting to take on the feel here at freedom plaza of woodstock, but with a decidedly political bent or as the protestors are fond of saying, square square in cairo -- tahrir square in cairo. here's one sign, a favorite one, corporations are not the people, referring to the supreme court decision. you can see nationalized the federal reserve, stop corporate greed, imagine, act and create. and then down over here all these booths representing troops who have been killed in iraq and afghanistan, each one has a name. and over here shoes representing some of the civilians who have been killed in afghanistan and in iraq. take a look at the videotape. t

j.c. hayward. thanks for being with us. 50 people are hoaxless this afternoon after a fast-moving fire tore through their apartment building in langley park. it happened at the bedford stations apartment in the 1400 block of university boulevard. surae chinn has more on efforts to find the families new homes. >> karla munoz came home to find the building next to her on fire. >> everybody was coughing. we tried to go back inside. it was like people, they wanted to evacuate everybody. [ speaking spanish ] >> reporter: lost everything. some distressed attents thought they were on their own as advocacy group stepped in. >> they're very upset. they don't know what to do. where are they going to go? >> the apartment manager says that only added to the confusion. when you hear the property manager didn't do enough, what's your response? >> that's not fair because we did respond quickly. the red cross were there. they want to stay with us and came to the office. they all had kids. had keys to a new home la

j.c. hayward. we haven't even handed out the halloween candy and already we are bracing for snow in our region. road crews at the mdot yard in prince george's county are getting their plows and salt trucks ready for what could be the first winter storm of the region. the storm happens to coincide with mdot's annual dry run. that's when drivers, dispatchers and authorities patrol their routes, looking for potential problems such as potholes or other road hazards. >>> well, the snow that we are expecting, it's from the same system that caused severe damage in the west. now, we're looking at pictures from denver, colorado. the thick, heavy snow tore down trees and knocked out -- knocked out power to thousands. i hope we're not going to expect anything like this. let's go right to howard and get his forecasts >> j.c., those denver pics scare me because we could be looking at a heavy wet snow north and west of town and heading up to pennsylvania. winter storm watches 2 up to maine from virginia and west

j.c. hayward today. we begin with some good news and we have you to thank for it. it's because of your generosity and the gannett foundation that a food pantry in northern virginia will be able to feed hundreds of people. peggy fox joins us from the acts food pantry in dumfries virginia with more on the story. a happy story to tell peggy. >> reporter: the story is ask and you shall receive here at the acts food pantry in dumfries. on mondays the shelves were bare. they told the community about it. we helped them tell the community about it and take a look. they've gotten so many donations in that now the problem is they've got to figure out where to put it all. bright and early a huge truckload of food showed up from the capital area food bank with pallets of all kinds of food. after news of the pantry's temporary closure, the community responded big time. with more than 12,000 pounds of food and $60,000 in donations. >> it's pretty -- pretty mind blowing. it's -- it's amazing i mean one day everything's bare on the shelves. the next day it's -- i mean look at it.

j.c. hayward reports on a man that was at the top and fell to the bottom. >> reporter: james clark was cruising through life, had a great job in georgia until he fell on hard times. the company downsized, a flood struck destroying all of his belongings and later he endured a tornado. >> when i first lost everything, i felt hopeless, i felt empty. i felt to the point is it worth living. >> reporter: he came to alexandria where he rebuilt his life. for 37 years they reduced homelessness, increased community support and promoted self-sufficiency. >> they assisted me in moving to this apartment which i truly love. i have taken care of and it has given me a foundation that i can start to experience life as a prosperity versus looking at the loss. >> we help equip people with the skills and anything that is going to help them stabilize their current situation and then learning how to continue that into the future so that they don't need good shepherd housing forever and always. >> not only does clark have a home but he has a new business. he makes organic spray body clean sers. they are called god's

j.c. hayward found an organization that is helping them and their families. >> 12% of all americans experiencingmelessness are veterans. u.s. vets also known as the united states veterans initiative helped service personnel get their lives back on track. >> i've been homeless for two years now. it's such a blessing and i feel so grateful. >> 52-year-old darryl graham describes his personal story. he served his country as a naval cook for six years before falling on hard times. >> i had to question and everything, i stopped using drugs a little bit and i was out there on the streets for a while. and family couldn't trust me and couldn't trust myself. >> one in four who are homeless are veterans. the very sad commentary, but the residents who live in this building in southeast washington were given a new lease on life and a place to call their own. u.s. vets provides more than housing. clients get counseling, jobs, medical services, and psychological support. emily but ton, the program director says the goal is to empower each veteran and guide them on a path of success. >> having housing changes