i'm peggy fox in lohr -- lorton. the story coming up. need a lift? hey buddy, i appreciate the ride, you know. no problem. ♪ mind if i take a shortcut? yeah, sure. ♪ i knew the subaru legacy was the smart choice... what i didn't expect... was the fun. the all-new subaru legacy. feel the love. >>> a celebration is underway in london at the work house art center. that's the site of a former prison which is now blossoms in to a home for artists but it offers all kinds of art programs for adults and kids. peggy fox shows us what they are learning. >> if we had this when we were 18 it would have been easy. >> reporter: they are receiving special instruction in a place that's been a hot bed of drama for years the former lorton prison, now the work house art center. >> they converted it and it is amazing to have this culture here in lorton, virginia. >> the center is celebrating the one-year anniversary while exploding with children's art programs of all kinds for all ages. the classes are taught by professional artists whose studios are right here. >> you

. >> reporter: i'm peggy fox in fairfax county where 20 suspects were arrested in the mortgage fraud scheme that involves at least 35 homes. >> they were your regular illegal boarding house. people with multiple kitchens, strange configurations of the bedrooms, extension cords that are running throughout the house to provide the power to the outside for rooms that don't have the power. >> reporter: the strike force was set in motion two years ago to crack down on illegal boarding houses. and they uncovered an elaborate mortgage scheme. so far, 20 people under arrest. these are four of the eight suspects here facing local charges for them, 12 are facing federal charges. >>> in the team of people that inspire to do the multiple transactions, you see them, the same person, three, four, five times. paying them for that quite often, stealing their identity, use their identity. >> reporter: most of the targeted homes are in springfield and the church. officials say neighbors who came forward with complaints, they sparked the investigation. >>> i'm scott broom at the ocean area, the harness

i'm peggy fox. the story coming up. there's nothing more important than our health. so when it comes to health reform, we need a solution that works for all of us. now the president and congress have a plan that combines the best ideas, from democrats and republicans, business owners and workers, doctors, nurses and patients. a plan that keeps bureaucrats out of your health care you choose your own doctor, make your own decisions, and you can't be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition. that's reform we can all feel good about. >>> welcome back. two flu vaccines, four shots. that's what many parents are having to consider for their children this year to battle not only the seasonal flu, but the h1n1. as peggy fox reports, healthcare providers are urging families to start protecting their children right now. >> hi there. >> parents are starting to get their children vaccinated against the seasonal flu, which means two shots for the little ones. four-year-old ryan has a little sister and his mom is an emergency doctor. to protect the whole family, she always gets

i'm peggy fox in dale city. i'll have the story coming up. >>> back with the full forecast. so keep it right here. gao÷g>yñ you wanted more. u waed videos and phos... ail and brdband. you wanted to ruyour buss from anywhere... and stanmessa#g stay in h everyone. you wanted apps to find music, news, or the way hom ok yo wireless mpanies... grow your world. >>> a wave of foreclosures that rocked prince william county left a mess of eye sores. some 8000 property owners including banks have been forced to fix up homes and clean up yards but some citizens say the county has to step in to stop the more serious violators. here is peggy fox. >> reporter: the roof is falling in and bushes so overgrown you can barely get to the door of this dale city home. no one lives here except wild animals. >> rats were crawling over there. we see a lot of snakes and a lot of mosquitoes. >> next thing you will have squatters living there and it is not going to be a nice neighborhood. >> reporter: neighbors say the home which includes a backyard pool that hasn't been used for decades is a hazard. t

. >> reporter: i'm peggy fox in fairfax county where 20

here is peggy fox. >> investigators found the bunches of the electrical cords. mountains of trash, and multiple cooking devices and sleeping areas. >> we found one situation where there was a mother, a father, infant, literally living in that furnace room. >> sent out there to crack down on the forces. covering the scheme involving 35 homes for them, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and subcontractors. so far, 20 people, under arrest. these are four of the eight suspects for them facing local charges. >> this is somebody in a team of people that inspire to do the multiple transactions for them. so this is truly a conspiracy of the criminal conspiracy. >> they would float money into the accounts of the straw buyers who would tear down the home, build a mansion, turn it into a building house. >> this is a map. the 35 homes involved in this, they are on the east side, concentrated in springfield and the church. but in those communities are plenty of people who spoke out and complained. we'll look up the value of them, when you started seeing some of the same n

peggy fox went to falls church where kids are already going to school year round. >> one is all shadedeporter: this school used to be one of the worst performing schools in fairfax county. that's all changed. >> we have raised students scores to the point where graham road sol scores are in the top 10% of the entire state. >> reporter: she attributes the success in part to its year- round or modified calendarment students only have a five-week summer break and have the option to attend five weeks of enrichment programs called intersessions. most do. >> we have over 80% of our children qualify for free and reduced lunch. we have over half of our children that qualify for esol services. >> reporter: they say the only way to help students compete is to give them more time in the classroom with qualified teachers. >> we believe every child can achieve great level -- grade level benchmarks and far beyond for them but the variable is time. >> reporter: more school time is more costly to taxpayers but they say it is worth it if you consider the cost of dropouts. >> children who don't learn we

peggy fox, 9news now and wusa9.com. >>> montgomery county community colleges are dealing with a 5% budgetcut. overall, higher education in maryland has been cut by 10%. in virginia, it's more than 20%. >>> well, renters, be warned that ads on craig's list could befake. the better business bureau says that offices are cropping up online. here's a sign that a deal is an attempt to steal. if the landlord is somewhere else and prefers to talk via e-mail. if they ask for a deposit before showing the keys or showing you the home or maybe they ask you to wire money. all signs to be on the lookout. >> we are on the lookout for some rain. the week started off really nice. but now, well, it's, you know, some showers are coming. not a big rain event. a little cooler and dreary. we have that out there on monday and tuesday. >> we're looking at showers of tonight. but again, nothing reallyheavy. here is your forecast. the next three days, cooler. mid-70s tomorrow. in the mid-80s tomorrow. couple showers possible tomorrow. better chance on thursday. low to mid-70s. on friday, we clear out nicely. we're

so was peggy fox bringing us the story. bob mcdonald had aing strong reaction to sell the republican, joe wilson's heckling of the president. >> i condemn that kind of action i think and the stability that needs to return. i think we could disagree or agreeably do that. >> they agreed. >> the stability is not dead. and that is inexcusable. but we live in a world where anything like that happens. >> the candidates spoke separately to the officer's club. both counting near business agendas. >> we need to be able to cut the tax in a regulatory burden for them, the 48 hour turnabout for them to make it easier and for people to get into the business and to stay in the business. >> we need to jump start our economy. and to create jobs, not plan that provides a tax cut for any businesses that creates a job for them that is very simple. create a job, get a tax credit. >> they wanted to talk about the tax credits and the bipartisan budget deals, but theiring with bogged down with questions about the cap and trade and the car check w

i'm peggy fox. i'll have a look coming up. >>> 9news now is sponsored in part by your local toyota dealer. one must study it first. rushing in unprepared may prove overwhelming... with all that juicy, 100% angus beef. there! you found a point of entry! the bacon beckons like a springboard to paradise. one small bite for man... etcetera, etcetera. angus axiom number 11: bring on the bacon. the astonishing new angus third pounders. all angus. all mcdonald's. ♪ ba da ba ba ba you'll love it. your old mop will just have to get over it... [ engine rattles ] [ man ] love stinks! ♪ love stinks! ♪ yeah! yeah! [ female announcer ] new swiffer wet jet is redesigned. it cleans deep in corners. its solution penetrates layers of dirt and its absorbent pad locks it away to clean better than a mop. the newly redesigned swiffer wet jet. ♪ love stinks! the washington post calls bob mcdonnell a "culture warrior." and what does that mean for virginia? it means: bob mcdonnell introduced 35 bills to restrict a woman's r

peggy fox has the latest. again, we do need to warn you, some of the video is very violent. >> the karate instructor's name is bobby. he sets up an apparent mentally ill man to be brutally attacked. police believe the man was attacked in the karate that used to be in the duple friday's shopping center. >> i think anybody who would take somebody in there who is mentally challenged and take advantage of them deserves to have some type of punishment. >> the cold case detective is now investigating the incident. in the video, he showed the student some moves, but the black belt is much more skilled and over powers the man, stomping on his head twice. >> i get a sick feeling in my stomach. somebody should have came forward and said something about this. >> bleeding victim is dragged away. the victim is being drug out the back door, which would have been right about here. now police don't think he died because they checked area coroner's records from that time period and found no matching description of an unidentif

but as peggy fox reports, caretakers are not surprised the disease is underreported. >> reporter: youind people of various abilities at the alzheimer's family day center in maryfield. there is lucy ho can talk about today as -- who can talk about today as easily as the day she was married and then lynn lion, a former psychiatrist diagnosed with early onset alzheimer's five years ago when she was 51. >> it is something that woipt change -- won't change and something you have to deal with. >> i think it is a disease that nobody wants to talk about. and that people are deathly afraid of it. it is almost like the scarlet letter. >> reporter: he believes the same fear is behind the underreporting of the disease. the zig ma in the united states has -- the stigma in the united states is becoming less and less over time but we still see in countries around the world a tremendous stigma of not wanting to tell other people, not wanting to get the clear diagnosis. >> reporter: the report says that by the year 2050, a staggering 115 million people will have alzheimer's disease. the rising numbers

peggy fox explains. >> reporter: the roof is falling in an the bushes so overgrown you can barely geto the door of dale city home. no one lives here except wild animals. >> we see rats and snakes and a lot of mosquitoes. it is horrible. >> next thing you know you will have squatters living over there and it is not going to be a nice neighborhood. >> reporter: neighbors say the home that includes a backyard pool that hasn't been used for decades is a hazard. they want the county to fix it up or tear it down. >> it has been sitting like that for 20 years. no with one has lived there. when the house falls down or gets hurt, is that when you will take control? >> reporter: the county can't take someone's property without due process and say it is not a danger yet. we finally contacted the owner and got cooperation and hope that we will get voluntary compliance. >> reporter: they have been plastering this letter on homes with violations. it threatened to take them to court and fine them if the problems aren't corrected. >> people don't like the legal look of that notice and once they see t

peggy fox and wusa9.com. >>> they were the first blue ribbon school in fairfax county.now, this has story has a lot of you leaving your thoughts on our facebook page. here is just a sampling. i know when i went and my children went, much shorter days and longer summers. turning out much better than we see today. i think extra rerpbing is a -- learning is a wonderful kwr-fpltd that'll make all the difference. we want to know what you think. leave your comments on wusa9.com. >>> in other education news, breaking with the pta. two fairfax county schools are leaving behind the national organization. and former parent groups of their own. the schools at fairfax and the south county's secondary schools. both have severed ties with the national pta groove saying it's irrelevant in the 21st century. in the last year, the parent teacher association has lost 1 million members nationwide. >>> the 80-year-old man accused of killing the guard at the holocaust museum is in north carolina tonight. he is at a prison there for a psychiatric evaluation. he arrived last friday under the j

in mcclane, peggy fox, 9news now and wusa9.com. >> for more information, or if you would like to discussour concerns with other parents, log on to our moms website. momslikeme.com operated by wusa9.com. >>> robert byrd is in the hospital tonight and doctors expect to keep him there for a few days. the 91-year-old democrat took a fall in his home in mcclane. he didn't break any bones, but an exam turned up signs of an infection. the doctors will treat him with antibiotics. >> just a short time ago, the styte senate passed a bill that would allow the governor to appoint an interim replacement and that could happen by the end of this week. the appointee would serve until after a special election in january. >>> burris did a tearful good- bye to his family today as he was led off to jail. the former new york giant was sentenced to two years behind bars. the 32-year-old shot himself in the leg at a manhattan nightclub. he hopes to play football again after his release. >>> from star to star witness, actor john trevolta may take the stand in a bahamas courtroom. prosecutors say the men demande

digital correspondent, peggy fox, reports. >> reporter: can a team with a name that goes back to 1932be forced to throw it away? a group of native americans who say the name redskin is offensive and they want that name tossed out. >> this is a derogatory of racial area. >> reporter: phillip moss represents the group and asking the supreme court to overturn a lower court decision finding that they were protected from long ago violations. moss argues there's no continuing protection. they bar trademarks that mispage any person's living or dead. and the strive to cancel that under the land began back in 1992, with a petition. many people, even visitors to the american indian museum see nothing wrong with the name red skins. >> the name redskins is just something that we have grown up with and it is kind of benign. >> we're way too overly sensitive here. while being hispanic, i have indian blood in me and i don't see anything derogatory in it. >> reporter: some workers say that the name is offensive. >> you've got this and then a picture of a native american on the helmet, you understand

. >> i'm peggy fox in virginia where police are investigating this 25-year-old video taped beating. police say another victim has come forward to say the same thing happened to him at the same karate place that used to be at the shopping center. the youtube video shows bobby jo setting up an unsuspecting man who appears mentally ill to be beaten by one of his black belt students. >> the victim looks like he is being drug out the back door, which would have been right about here. now police don't think he died because they checked area coroner records from that time period and found no matching description of an unidentified deceased person. >> right now we believe there are more victims out there that were brought in from the street, that were brought in and assaulted and what we are looking for is the public to come guard with that. >> prince william county police hope to bring charges against the black belt who live in california. >>> i'm saray chin where a youth minister is accused of taking advantage of a teenager she was supposed to be counseling. disturbing allegations of one

>> peggy fox in mcclane y virginia's candidate faced off in a lively debate at the capital one building. >> i wrote the legislation that created the fund that put it into law that created 78,000 jobs since we put it in the code. i wrote the most progressive program in the country. i wrote megan's law. >> normally campaign donations are a good thing for a candidate. with the infusion of money from big unions, creigh deeds has to walk a balancing act. >> when the independent business made up of thousands of people said that i have an a rating and they endorse me and they look at my opponents rating and said he has an f, i think that is an important factor. >> but deeds lack of a clear transportation plan may be problematic for him. >> mcdonald clearly won. he had the answers. he had specifics. that's what people want. >> i'm dave in bowie, maryland. it took the fire department 11 minutes to get to this home. it was meant for improved safety. >> i wish i could thank the fire department. i could thank my neighbors. >> neighbors used garden hoses to control the fire. the public safety direct

. >> thanks for that, peggy fox. >>> a woman in arlington came home late last saturday night and found a strange man apparently sleeping it off in her bed. and that man happened to be a u.s. capitol police officer. 34-year-old thomas mcman is now charged with unlawful entry. police say the woman or her roommate didn't know the guy. >>> a 21-year-old man was stabbed. police looking for two suspects. a black man in his 20s and a white man in his 20s all wearing black clothing. if you're one of the people with information on it call crime stoppers. >>> police are looking for a man who tried to abduct a 15- year-old girl in fairfax county. this all reportedly went down around 5:00 p.m. yesterday evening as the girl was walking home from woodson sr. high. a passing motorist intervened. suspect is described as a white man in his 40s. the pick up had a pittsburgh steelers on the left side police say. >>> take a look at this nightmare in anondale virginia. this home literally consumed by fire early this morning. investigators believe that fire got going in the basement. so far no sign of foul

peggy fox, back to you. >> thank you very much, kim. >>> it is hard to believe so much of the first quarterf this new school year is already behind us and that means parent- teacher conferences are around the corner. they can sometimes be so daunting. how do you make it easier? joining me is the assistant editor of washington family magazine. thank you for coming in. >> good morning, peggy. >> start off. what is the goal? when you go too a parent- teacher conference you need to have a goal, right. >> the goal is communication. trying to open the lines of communication with the teacher. you want your child's education to be a partnership. in 15 minutes you won have time to coverage large indepth issues but using it as a spring board to get communication. in our family we schedule a meeting within the first couple of weeks of school so we can get the interface going early on. >> i have never done this t. our teacher conferences aren't until the first week of november. so teachers receptive to a meeting in the first two weeks of school. >> usually. we let the craziness get over for all of us a

. >> reporter: peggy fox, 9 news now and wusa9.com. >>> to see a complete interview with joe perry go to wusa9.com and click on living well. >>> three terror

our peggy fox will be there and will have a recap tonight on 9 news now. >>> new developments in theder of yale grad student annie le. we have learned an arrest is expected soon in le's murder. that comes down in the last hour. from a spokesman for the new haven connecticut police department. a yale lab technician has been named a person of interest but has not been charged. le's body was found in a body where she works. >>> police are searching for three teenagers who they say stabbed a man working at a subway restaurant. the attack happened yesterday around noon at the subway in the 800 block of northeast. an argument broke out between the workers and the girls. the girls who range in age from 14 to 18 allegedly attacked the man. he was treated at a local hospital. >>> we are learning more about a college student who used a sword against an religioned burglar. police found no signs of forced entry in the home anded they it was discovered by the tune in a detached garage. the man who died has been arrested two dozen times for similar crimes and had just been released from jail. >>>

. >> peggy fox, thank you. >>> police say they are looking for a man who tried to abduct a teenage in fairfax county. the 15-year-old was walking home from woodson high. police say the man tried to pull the girl into his white pickup truck before another driver intervened. the girl was not hurt. the suspect is described as a white man in his 40s. police say his pickup truck had a pittsburgh steelers on the left bumper and one on the glass of the cab. >>> the search for survivors continuing in american american somoa. a second quake hit late today. >> reporter: thousands of terrified people ran to the streets wednesday. a deadly magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck off the coast of indonesia and many feared a tsunami would follow. the quake was so powerful buildings collapsed including two hospitals. hundreds possibly thousands of people were believed to be trapped. it also triggered landslides and sparked fires. the indonesian earthquake came less than 24 hours after a bigger quake a few thousand miles away caused a tsunami that flattened villages in somoa and american somoa. many people t

peggy fox has the story. >> reporter: can a team with a name that goes back to 1932 be forced to throwt away. a group of native americans who say the name redskins is ' fencive want it tossed out. >> it is derogatory racial at this. >> he is asking them to overthrow the decision that says the redskins were protected. an act bars trademarks bars disparaging any persons living or dead. it began in ' 92 with a petition. >> reporter: even visitor that's american indian museum see nothing wrong with the name redskins. >> i don't think there is anything offensive in the name redskins at all. it is something we have grown up with and kind of benign. >> we are being way too overly sensitive here. >> i have indian brad in me and i don't see anything derogatory about it. >> reporter: but some say it is. >> you have redskins and picture of native american on the helmet on it. it is like saying black skins and putting an african-american on it. >> if you look in the dictionary it would say redskin is a derogatory term for native american. >> if this supreme court picks up the case and boot the nam

the academy in springfield has been educating many of dc's children for 15 years, but now, as peggy fox reports, the city decided to find another place for those students. >> dc parents came to springfield today to voice their anger over the city's decision to pull their children out of the academy. >> i think it is all about money. i think they have however many million dollar short fall and they are going to try to make up that short fall by sacrificing our children. >> reporter: the school teaches 170 special needs children. >> i refuse to take my child out of the academy because they saved his life. they really did. he was just a child before he got here. >> attorney general says it is not about the money. >> the head of our special ed went out there a number of times personally and personally observed reading newspapers, seeing movies. it's not the kind of service that we expect of our kids. >> reporter: parents plan to protest the decision. and the owner says she will fight it tooth and nail and may sue the city for slander. >> we're going to fight all the way and we think it is a