ken molestina, 9news now. >> officer deriek crouse was an officer, husband, father and soldier.onight his family is coming with the grips that he is gone. >> there's a point where you think that someone is invincible, nothing is going to happen to them. and this is just a complete shock. >> it really hasn't set in yet. to see his picture on tv, you feel so proud of him and everybody he's accomplished. >> crouse enlisted in the army right after graduating from carroll county high school. he served an 18-month tour of duty in iraq in 2003 and 2004. he later joined the army reserve and eventually the police force at virginia tech. he leaves behind his wife tina, his 16-year-old son dustin and four stepchildren. >>> tonight a man accused of shooting a state trooper on i95 is dead. herbert wheeler died this morning. virginia state police now say trooper michael hamer shot him in a struggle. it all started yesterday when a dmv special agent tried to stop wheeler for reckless driving but he jumped from the car and took off. they spotted him walking along the interstate, tried to put hi

ken molestina is live with details of the mendelson plan. ken. >> reporter: derek, this is it right here. the mendelson plan. he's calling it the firearms amendment act of 2011. now, if this passes, it would loosen certain restrictions on the books right now as to how dc residents go about owning guns. >> we have now had three years experience and there are some issues that have come forward. >> reporter: dc councilmen is talking about the process residents must go through to legally own a handgun in the district. he is calling for a change in his firearms amendment act of 2011. according to him, several steps in the process will be removed. >> some aspect that could be just a little easier. >> reporter: for example. >> we require a vision test. but i don't know that there is anybody who requires a vision test. >> reporter: so that will be gone. training for handgun proficiency will also be made more accessible. his new amendment will allow those looking for licenses to have their guns while they train in the district rather than have them tr

ken molestina is live with the bone chilling details. ken, what is going on?porter: you know, the stuff we're talking about really is scary. the wilson building behind me, the main building of dc's government is one that failed this test terribly. the details of the findings are shocking. >> we're talking about information on the explosion. >> reporter: and even dc mayor appeared to be surprised by it. >> someone was able to get some fake explosives in here. what's to say one day they're not going to bring in the real thing. >> it could happen. i'm not at all afraid. that could happen anywhere out in the community. >> reporter: the operation by pspd last ed a full 12 months sending in june this month. officers and crews were able to sneak fake bombs past contracted security officers several times. at the wilson building, it happened at least three times at both entrances. the phone any cell phone explosives made it inside undetected. during the exercises, undercover officers used devices like this. the only building that passed with flying colors was this one,

that's important. >> reporter: i'm ken molestina, 9news now. >> if the maryland public service commission approves the increase, the utility bills would start going up in july of next year. >> police are searching for answers after a body was discovered in reston. they were called to the spring apartments in the 12,000 block of gray wing square yesterday afternoon. people living in the building called to report a strange odor coming from a storage area in the basement. when officers arrived, they found a decomposing body of a man. they have not released the victim's name. they do not believe foul play was involved. >>> a 2-year-old girl is safe after police say she was left alone for 24 hours in an apartment locked in that apartment. she is 2 years old. this happened in the 6900 block of walker mill road in capitol heights. prince george's county police say the toddler was found in a bedroom, dirty, hungry and cold. they were able to locate the little girl's father and take him into custody. at this point, no word on what charges he will face or how the child ended up alone for that long.

as ken molestina reports the union is linking a spike in crime directly to the occupy movement. >> reportermayor gray is being accused of making misrepresentations about a spike in crime. the mayor was on a local talk show two weeks ago. it was there that kristopher baumann tells us the mayor made rocks saying the occupy -- remarks saying the occupy movement has not caused crime to rise. baumann says gray is wrong. >> length of time there's been a double digit increase in violent crime and crime in the city. >> reporter: as a result he has sent documents to the mayor detailing what he claims is proof occupy movement is giving way to crime. baumann says the spike is being seen in districts where officers are being pulled from to control the occupiers. he says less cops a causing the crime to go up. >> this is on top of the fact we're down 400 police officers. >> reporter: according to the fop chairman violent crime is up across d. c. by 13% and crime overall is up 10% since the occupation began in october. occupiers were quick to react after hearing the claims they're the ones to blame. >> t

ken molestina, 9news now. >>> new at 11:00, a wanted fugitive is to blame for a major traffic backupp on i295 in prince george's county. this all got started when that suspect allegedly stole the cab of a tractor-trailer in baltimore. the officers eventually tracked him down, but he wouldn't stop. he drove down 295, lost control. well, that's when the cops moved in to make an arrest and that resulted in the backup you see right there. the suspect also wanted down in mississippi on other charges. fortunately, despite the accident, nobody hurt. >>> it's going to be two years this saturday since the potomac man named alan gross was arrested and imprisoned. since that time his mom has been diagnosed with cancer, his daughter has undergone cancer surgery and his wife has had surgery as well. he has lost 100 pounds and suffers from a crippling condition. as this anniversary approaches, gary nurenberg says the campaign to set him free. >> reporter: well, from a quiet diplomacy that has been ineffective to a more public posture designed to bring international pressure on cuba to let gross go

ken molestina is here to explain what all of the fuss is about. >> reporter: the siri is a virtual personal assistant. you can ask it almost anything. for example, nearest apple store. the siri processes the request and it gives you several answers. but there is one request, one question in particular it doesn't seem to be able to answer. >> i'm locked out. >> i found three locks necessarily close to you. >> say hello to the most amazing iphone yet. >> reporter: and now it's becoming the most controversial iphone yet, specifically when it comes to the debate over abortion rights. >> we're concerned when people use siri they're getting directed to sources that are not unbiassed and honest about the information. >> reporter: ted miller is with the national abortion and reproductive action rights. they have written a letter calling to the change for the certain functions when asked about abortion clinics. the application either steers people in the wrong direction or doesn't provide a result at all. >> what we're asking apple to do is to ensure that people get the information they ask siri for

ken molestina, 9news now. >>> and one of the tests outlined by the report.undercover officer hid a simulated bomb in a book. security officers put it through the metal detector several times examining it after each attempt and after several attempts those security officers finally called their manager. >>> coming up on 6:15. olga breese is in for howard bernstein and we start off with the mild forecast. >> absolutely a pleasure to be in this morning and temperatures though are dropping off. in fact, we're already starting to see some of the 40s creep in across the western and northern locations. right now though most of us are doing well. partly cloudy skies and cloud cover will continue to move on through and more cloud cover in the afternoon. your day planner today will have us dropping as the front moves through i would say the next hour or so, we will slide into the 40s. that means by 9:00 we'll see about 48 degrees. and then midday and late day, more cloud cover, but rebounding a little bit. highs your daytime highs today should be right around 50 degre

we're at the national mall, ken molestina, 9news now. >>> time for the latest "your money" report of the morning. >> and our money maven is here, jessica doyle. good mornings my dear. >> wall street managed to overcome europe. at least it did yesterday. there's always something else on the horizon. standard & poors is putting 150 euro nations on review for a possible downgrade including a threat to germany and france's triple a rating. leaders are calling for a new treaty to prevent nations from running up big debts. dow stands at 12,097. jumped 78 points in trading. nasdaq and s&p 500 gained over 1%. >>> two former employees of failed brokerage mf global have sued jon corzine who used to be the former governor of new jersey. the two employees say the executives lied about the finances and encouraged workers to put their retirement savings into company stock that later plummeted. they're seeking class action status. convicted insider trader raj is now a new type of insider. he arrives at federal prison in massachusetts yesterday to begin serving the longest ever sentence for insider

i'm ken molestina, 9news now. >> the federal deficit may be heading in the right direction. we'll tell you why coming up next. >> the occupy protestors succeed in slowing operations at some of the nation's busiest ports. >> plus, a man many hoped would run for president picks his favorite among republican hopefuls. that man right there. we'll be right back. >> another frosty morning out there. scraping the windshields. that's what we got with temperatures down in the 20s in most areas. today will be a day with sunshine and a few high clouds. i think a few more this afternoon. mid-40s at noon. highs today around 50 with the northwesterly winds at 5 to 10 miles per hour. i'll be back in five minutes talking about the upcoming weekend. right now, monika is in with timesaver traffic. >> i've been looking at the camera in landmark on the northbound side of i-395 here at duke street. i saw them pick up all of the cones and construction from this area. all lanes open up to the 14th street bridge on 39 with 5. coming up, another look into virginia at 5:16. andrea, back to you. >>> o

it happened in garret park in the 4400 block of cambria avenue and that's where ken molestina joins us live. >> reporter: well still a very active scene over here, as you said let's go ahead and roll video of what it looks like just down the street where this all happened apparently. the call went out for a home on fire. when fire crews got here there was evidence there was some sort of an explosion. we're still working to get that confirmed. also we're working to get confirmed some preliminary reports that went out in dispatch suggesting there may have been some sort of a fatality involved in this, but again, definitely a fire here. there are still tons of crews, fire crews on the scene and i also saw some explosion investigators that are here on the scene but again this is the 4400 block of cambria, a very active investigation right now as well as a fire suppression effort on the part of firefighters out here. we'll stay on top of this and bring you the latest details as we get those. back to you guys. >> ken, thank you so much. >>> today marked the 70th anniversary of the attack on

our ken molestina is live outside prince george's county police headquarters with the story you'll onlyn 9. ken, what happened? >> reporter: well, she showed up here. that 27-year-old mother came here to prince george's county police headquarters because this is the spot where the toys for tots folks were giving those toys away. but it's what happened after she got here that put her in a tough spot. mahogany jackson is a 27-year-old single mother of six. her children range in age between 2 and 10. she's even got a pair of twins. she has no steady income, however, and only way to ensure her kids had gifts this holiday season is to accept toys given out by the toys for tots campaign. >> i received the e-mail from toys for tots to tell me that i can pick up toys from the police station on sunday. >> reporter: her problems began soon after she got in line. jackson claims her cell phone was stolen from her and that officers brushed her off when she tried to report it. the 27-year-old mother admits she then made a seen yelling and acting out. >> my voice did raise, yes, it did. >> reporter: h

our ken molestina explains why pepco wants more of your money. >> reporter: a significant snowstorm and hure in our region exposed pepco's shortcoming since the last time they had a rate increase. now they're asking for more money again. >> at the end of the year we'll probably will be about 3,000 miles of cable. they need to replace the noo new technology on the -- new technology on the system. >> reporter: those efforts aren't cheap and he's asking for $68.4 million. if the maryland public commission improves the proposal, that means maryland customers will have to pay an additional $5.56 a month. >> i'm not happy at all. >> reporter: one of the residents who was left in the dark and cold when snow blanketed her neighborhood at the beginning of the year. pepco has failed her before and she isn't hopeful a rate increase will solve liability issues. >> i think that their performance hasn't been good. you call them up and they don't come and i gave up. >> maybe next year they're going to ask for another 5 or $10 and who is going to guarantee that the quality is going to increase. >> repo

we're live at the national mall,ken molestina, 9 news now. >>> will harry thomas take a hike?may take a leave from the d.c. city council. the fbi and irs raided his home last friday. the councilman is accused of diverting to his personal use $300,000 in public money, money meant for a sports program for kids. thomas denies he did anything wrong, but just the same, he has agreed to pay back all that money. today, his council colleagues met to talk about the ongoing investigation and they instructed the council chairman to have a face-to-face with mr. thomas. >> and i look forward to having a conversation with council member thomas to discuss so he's clear on where his colleagues are and what they feel. we look forward to having the discussion shortly. >> thomas so far has not been charged with any kiln investigations. >>> things going from bad to worse for the u.s. postal service. in an attempt to stave off bankruptcy, they announced they're going to make dramatic changes to its first class mail service. the postmaster general wants to shut down almost half of the services big

ken molestina is live outside the mall where the procrastinators are out by the car load. >> it is always amazing to see just how packed the malls get the days before christmas. but the commotion inside there certainly lends itself to a rather poetic atmosphere. 'twas the night before the night before christmas and all through the mall, the aisles were packed, shoppers wall to wall. >> the excitement of it, the busyness, the crowd, you know. it actually is fun. >> reporter: the sale signs were hung by the store fronts with care with hopes that the shoppers would sample their wares. the children were dressed in their holiday best as they took their picture as santa's guests. >> i asked santa for a strawberry shortcake doll. a new slippers and reindeer doll. >> reporter: last-minute shoppers, they hurried along hoping for deals. jewelry, a cell phone or maybe a gown, many were happy, their lists finally whittled down. >> getting my kids out of the way. my little sisters, my mother and everybody. >> i'm look for one more thing. >> as merchants tally up sales and the season winds down, everyo

as our ken molestina reports, people on both sides of the issue are dialing in and sounding off. >> reporterbora hirschan made the annount . >> no call, no text, no update is worth a human life. >> reporter: a personal electronic device will be completely banned. that means cell phones, including hands free devices can't be used in any capacity, period. the only exception would be during an emergency. >> i think it's an awesome idea. i really do think it's distracting and i'm distracted enough as i drive. >> i think it's too much. yes. i don't think that -- how are you going to enforce it to begin with. >> reporter: enforcement was the question. triple a and the national safety counsel joined 9news for a debate. it's something you just can't police. >> what we're concerned about is the enforceability of this law if it were to become law. if the public will is not there, it won't be enforceable. >> reporter: another didn't see it that way. >> i will tell you 50 years ago people said drunk driving couldn't be enforced. we had people that said seatbelt laws can't be enforced. cops are smart peo

now, ken molestina is here. he was at a vigil tonight.pontaneous vigil that the campus just had over by the memorial. >> reporter: that's right. and anyone who has stepped foot on campus here today knows that the mood here can easily be summed up with one word. disbelief. yet again these folks are having to deal with this nightmare. >> let's go. >> reporter: the wounds from the 2007 massacre are far from healed in the hearts and minds of the hokies community and they're living it over again. >> it's a joke this happened again. what else can you say. >> reporter: more than 100 people gathered at virginia tech's drill field, the site of the campus memorial for the 33 people killed here three years ago. their hearts filled with pain. >> i think it's unreal that a police officer is shot. >> reporter: the younger students like freshn john shannon today's emotions are something that only described to them. they never thought they would experience this firsthand. >> it's pretty bad. all of the phone lines were tied up and no one really knew what

we're live in northwest d.c., ken molestina, 9 news now. >>> if you waited until the last minute to dochristmas shopping, you're not alone. some retailers are reporting today looks like the busiest shopping day of the year. some stores, including macy's and "toys r us" in new york city have been open 24 hours for several days now. a lot of people waited until christmas eve to finish their shopping. good things apparently come to those who wait or procrastinate. discounts of up to 50% in some stores. >> i think i'm addicted to the crowds and getting angry and then once everything is over, it's all good, you know. >> i found better deals like recently, like this week. >> i feel like a lot of the stores are cutting prices this year. i don't know, maybe it's just me. >> the national retail federation predicts stores will bring in $169 billion in sales this holiday season. >>> president obama is his wife are spending their christmas in hawaii. the president arrived in honolulu last night where he joined the rest of the first family. they're staying in a rented vacation home with a close cir

ken molestina has more on what all of the fuss is about. >> i'm locked out. >> i found three locksmiths fairly close to you. >> say hello to the most amazing iphone yet. >> now, it is quickly becoming the most controversial iphone yet. specifically when it comes to the debate over abortion rights. >> we're concerned that when people use sirry, they're getting directed to sources that are not unbiased about reproductive health information. >> ted miller is the reproduction active league. they've written a letter to apple's ceo, tim cook, calling for a change to the way siri functions when asking about abortion clinics. it either steers people in the wrong direction or doesn't provide a result at all. >> we're asking apple to ensure that people get the information they asked siri for. >> reporter: let's give her another test. >> abortion clinic? >> found two abortion clinics a little ways from you. >> i'm standing outside planned parenthood. >> there is another issue. the two results that come up for an abortion clinic search are cries is i pregnancy centers where abortions aren't perform

ken molestina is live to explain why comments from the mayor have some of the rank and file officers very upset. ken. >> reporter: well, you know, at the center of this debate is a spike and crime here in the district that at least the chairman of the paternal order of police here in dc is linking directly to the occupy movement. but now he says mayor gray is making some comments that are just not true. dc's mayor vincent gray is being accused of making misrepresentations about a spike in crime. he was on a talk show two weeks ago. it was there that the chairman of the fraternal order of police tells us the mayor made remarks saying the occupy movement has not caused crime to rise. gray is wrong. >> in fact, there has been a double digit increase in violent crime and overall crime in the city. >> reporter: as a result, they have sent a letter and supporting documents totaling 40 -- he says the spike is being seen in districts where officers are being pulled from to patrol the ok pierz. he says -- occupiers. >> this is on top of the fact we're down 400 police officers. >> reporter: cri

. >> and ken molestina explains the why and the angry reaction. >> reporter: the new tlc reality show is called all american muslim. and like the title suggests, it features american muslims living in the dearborn, michigan area. but now the lowe's company, a massive home improvement retailer across the country has decided it doesn't want any part of the show. >> that show should be supported. it should not be boycotted as lowe's has done. >> reporter: this man is the national executive director for the counsel based here in washington and he's sounding out over lowe's decision to pull all of the ads from the show. the reason they did it is given away to more hatred towards more muslim americans. >> lowe's has done this in response to the pressure by hate groups. >> reporter: lowe's pulled the ads after the florida family association e-mailed the company asking them to do so claiming the show was islamic propaganda hurting american values. they pulled the ads saying they did it after the show became a lightning rod for people to voice complaints from a variety of perspectives, politic

ken molestina explains. >> reporter: the kirk cam was rolling in the first of a string of burglaries cheverly. this happened in november and it has happened half a dozen times in the area. >> a burglary is, in my opinion, one of the worst invasions of privacy there is. your home is your palace. >> in all of the cases, detective jones says the suspects enter homes during the day when no one is there. when they realize it is empty, they smash windows and go inside. the burglars are mo

we're in fredericksburg, ken molestina, the news now. >>> an update now on the woman police say has beenng places of worship as her personal piggy bank. over the last few weeks, police say a woman has been stealing from churches in northern virginia. but they now believe she's also responsible for hitting up churches across the river in maryland. ten churches have been robbed of their wallets, checkbook and keys. all of the robberies have taken place right in the middle of services. police are looking at surveillance videos in hope of finding a lead, but so far no arrests have been made. >>> the verdict is guilty in the case of keith little. he is the suburban hospital maintenance worker who was accused of killing his boss in a hospital boiler room. little was convicted of first degree murder in the death of roosevelt brockington. he stabbed his boss more than 70 times on new year's day. little was upset about a schedule change and a poor performance review. >>> imagine walking down the street midday when somebody comes up, grabs you from behind, pulls you to the ground by your hair and

. >> reporter: i'm ken molestina, 9news now. >>> four tearings are facing arson charges after they set two garages on fire in urbana. frederick county police arrested four 16-year-olds. the boys used marine flares to set fires to garages in the villages of urbana neighborhood. surveillance video from a local walmart showed the boys shoplifting the flares. officers say that is how they track down the suspects. the fires cost an estimated $130,000 in damage. >>> man accused of slashing women's hinds while they were shopping in northern virginia is now in peru according to police. now, investigators are trying to get johnny timmontell back here to the u.s. to stand trial. a warrant was issued for his arrest. he used a razor blade or box cutter to cut nine women while they were shopping. >>> a government contractor stuck in cuba says he feels fine and is in good spirits. alan grossman has been there for two years, accused of trying to undermine the cuban government. this is gross in a military hospital in cuba. these picture were taken by adele la. she and others spent two hours with gross

ken molestina has more. >> we've had three years experience and there's some issues that have come forwardc. councilman phil mendelssohn is talking about the resident residents must go through to own a handgun in the district. he's calling for a change. several steps in the current process will be removed. >> some aspects, could be just a