a couple of days. it will be much, much better for the second half of the week and the weekend the way it is looking. this last weekend, the lost weekend of october. it was a lost weekend. this morning, your day planner, we've got more showers around at times today. clouds, could be a couple of peeks of sun here and there. temperatures only topping out in the mid-50s. average high should be in the low 70s. that's how much colder we are than average for the last few days. once again, showers are out there. saw some showers yesterday evening. quieter right now. look what's happening with the showers mainly north and west of town. trying to get a few other ones to start popping up here. want to take you over to live doppler 9000 hd. i zoomed it up toward the martinsburg and hagerstown areas where we've got light showers. look at the last half hour how this stuff is starting to spread from west virginia eastward from martinsburg, expanding over toward charlestown now and out toward maybe meyersville here north and west of town. it is a chilly morning. temperatures in the 30s in the

mountains. rest of us in the 40s to right around 50 down south. monika samtani is stepping in here at 5:00 a.m. with your timesaver traffic. >> i'm starting off with a green light. no problems. here is a look at the beltway. we'll zoom in to the bw parkway. i just got off the phone with park police. they tell plea the accident on the northbound side of the bw parkway at 198 is minor in nature. it should be out of there shortly. southbound, you're good to go heading through laurel and down to the beltway. let's take a live look at 95 coming down from 198. no problems here as well all the way down to the beltway and over to silver spring and 270. back over to the maps, this time, let's go south of town. zooming into 95. no problems out of fredericksburg, all the way into dumfries. we'll take a live look here in newington at backlick road. no problems as you head up on to 39 and on the 14th street bridge. back to you guys.

thank you, monika. protest movement called occupy wall street is gaining momentum. >> they've been occupying for about two weeks now. demonstrators have actually been arrested hundreds of them yesterday. 9news now reporter surae chinn is in our satellite center. she has more on this story and how it is moving forward. >> good morning to both of you. demonstrators are protesting a host of issues saying they're not happy with the state of america, including social inequality and corporate greed. >> leave this roadway now. if you do so voluntarily, no charges will be placed against you. >> protestors didn't budge, sitting on the brooklyn bridge resulting in 700 people arrested. they've been camping out at the financial district for three weeks now, holding demonstrations and marches. they've clash with the police before but this weekend became a real problem when the large group swarmed the brooklyn bridge and shut down traffic for several hours. police formed a human wall to

keep more protestors from getting on to the bridge. >> about time for the people to rise up and say we are the people. we are the public and we should decide what's right. >> the basic issue is our democratic structure is broken in this country. >> critics say this is a no leadership resistance but protestors say they don't need just one focus. they say they just want their voices heard and they vow to keep on protesting through the winter months. mike, andrea? >> surae, there's also been some demonstrations in other u.s. cities. have we heard anything in the washing torn area? >> it has been spreading all over the country including here. in fact, there is a planned demonstration, in fact, the conference here starting at 9:30 at the washington hilton. calling themselves take back the america dream conference. so, a lot of things happening including in los angeles, new mexico and chicago and right here in the nation's capital. mike? >> surae chinn live in the

satellite center this morning. >> our time is 5:03. time for the latest "your money" report. >> here's jessica. >> as for today, not the best way to start the fourth quarter this morning. it is turning out to be another tough day overseas. we're seeing foreign markets down between 2% and 4% on new concerns of course about greed. now, wall street is hoping the fourth quarter will be better than the third. stocks slammed last quarter. the dow, s&p and nasdaq losing 10% or more. that's the worst quarterly performance in three years. checking the numbers, dow standing this morning at 10,913. closed down to about 240 points on friday. the nasdaq off by 65 points. the s&p 500 down almost 29 points. investors are watching shares of eastman kodak. the stock plunged on friday in fears the photography company may go bankrupt. kodak is the only one suffering from the soft economy. the friendly's restaurant chain is preparing for a possible chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and potential sale. friendly employs 10,000 people

and operates more than 500 restaurants. fannie mae ande mack are two of the biggest contributors to local charities but they'll probably end their philanthropy in the next few years. "the washington post" reports the spending cuts could mean fewer homes for foster care kids and fewer beds for the homeless. the reason why yet again, the weak economy. tough situation there. >> always tough. what do you have coming up for us in the next half hour? >> all of our budgets are a little tight. we're spending a little luxury. we'll talk about that coming up. >> thanks, jess. >> it is almost decision time for new jersey governor chris christie to decide whether or not he's going to run for governor. both maryland and virginia's governors were on a sunday talk show weighing in about this. they each towed their party line. >> when it comes to creating schools and expanding

opportunity, his record in new jersey has not been a record of governing for effectiveness. >> he's an extraordinary communicator and a great governor. enormous reforms from the pension system to -- >> now, that of course right there, the last gentleman, bob mcdonnell has frequently been mentioned as a g.o.p. pbl vice presidential candidate. a maryland family has filed suit after their loved one died from a listeria infection. 87-year-old clarence wells died after eating cantaloupe that originated from jensen farms in colorado. his family is suing the farm. 17 deaths will be linked to the -- have been linked to the contamination. the cdc says that number could go up. >> homeowners and property managers consider this a warning to get your furnace checked. that's the message from prince george's county fire investigators after a weekend apartment fire. they say the flames on huntington lane in laurel were caused by a faulty furniture'.

about 60 people were forced out of their hoaxes and some don't have insurance. no one was hurt in this. with the colder temperatures coming, you're urged to inspect your heating appliances before turning them on for the first time. >> the american student convicted of murder in italy is hoping for a reversal this morning. the best student designers in the world when it comes to solar power are right in our own backyard. ahead in sports, a breakout performance by one redskins runningback highlighted an otherwise win over a bad team.

grab the rain gear and something to keep you warm. once again, we start in the 40s. there are some showers out there. looking at the doppler radar in motion, you'll see the showers mainly in the mountains. we're trying to get a few sprinkles going south and southeast of town. that will be the case today at times, showers here and there. not going to rain all day. it won't be a pretty day either with highs only in the mid-50s. warmer days ahead. more on that coming up in about five minutes. monika, over to you. >> we'll fly south on the gw parkway leaving the beltway past the cia, 123 and all the way down to the potomac river crossing. no problems early on the gw parkway. in my next report, we'll take a closer look at virginia roads at 5:16. >> making news now at 9 after the hour, a jury is now deliberating whether to uphold the murder conviction of american student amanda knox. a short time ago, a tearful knox told an appeals court she's paying with her life for things she did not do.

knox has spent the last four years in an italian prison for the death of her british roommate. knox and her former boyfriend were convicted of the crime in 2009. the court is not expected back before 2:00 p.m. our time. a chief bomb maker is still alive. u.s. intelligence officials said the bomb maker may have been killed early friday along with two american-born members of al-qaeda. top officials of yemen say he is not dead. >> because of the drone strike friday, the state department is warning u.s. travelers in foreign countries to be on alert. while counterterrorism experts say the killing of two american-born terrorist leaders is a blow to the organization. al-qaeda remains a threat. >> it has been nearly 20 years since andrea started our buddy check campaign here at 9news now. >> coming up at 5:49, we'll reintroduce you to the first breast cancer patient i profiled to see how she's thriving now. >> if you grab a taxi in the

district, get ready to pay more for that ride. are you ready for a return to the 70s in howard has a warmer seven-day forecast. that's coming up at 5:14. stay with us. starting my progresso soup for lunch plan, huh. nope,

just having some tender chicken and some tasty noodles. let's see...south western vegetables...60 calories.

ya' know those jeans look nice. they do? yup. so you were checking me yup. out? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. being sent to the back of a freezer. and it's all because someone said "tacos." old el paso. when you gotta have mexican. coming up on 5:14 this

monday morning. howard is here and the warm-up is going to start later this week. >> yeah, but not soon enough. for those of you who are allergic to mold spores, this has been a prolific time for mold. mushrooms are going nuts. mold spores are going nuts. we've been wet pretty much the last five, six weeks. i don't know if you've been able to mow. tough for a lot of people. >> i don't mow. one of the things we all -- most of us can relate to it, andrea. we don't have people mowing for us. weatherwise, 5:14. >> i love you. >> 5:14 on this monday morning. damp once again with showers out there. your momslikeme.com bus stop forecast, you know, abe lincoln said i like to see a man proud in the place in which he lives. 40s this morning with an isolated shower or two. we've got sunrise not until

7:06. today, yes, another day. where the threat of showers will be with us most of the day. won't be running most of the day but at times it will be. only 51 at noon. 54 by 5:00. not the greatest day once again because once again, looking at this big upper low. almost on top of virginia right now. see the showers out of pennsylvania, new york, west virginia, some of these have been in the form of snow showers through the higher elevations and this morning, we've got little rain here and there. in fact, in southern maryland now, the patuxent river naval air station was reporting some light rain and you could see some of it down there and also to our north and west. these are pretty much the two big areas. this section panding into the shenandoah valley from new market all the way to hagerstown and just about now to harper's ferry into the washington frederick county border up along i-81 up toward hancock and paw paw. looking at some light rain showers there over to cross junction in northern frederick county, virginia. the other spot we'll take you

to is in southern maryland. look at the light rain showing us, very light stuff, southern maryland. calvert county, sneaking into st. mary's as well. maybe down a tiny bit here in the northern neck. you may get a couple of sprinkles. another just damp period for us. with temperatures in the upper 40s down south at pax river at 49. 50 for the tappahannock airport. luray and win chester. oakland last check, 34 degrees. snow showers on and off for the last several days. in the higher elevations of west virginia and western maryland. we've got 47. 42 on the dew points, the humidity at 83%. with partly cloudy skies at reagan national. bigger picture, the storm system and once we can get rid of this, the showers going back to detroit. once we get rid of this, we'll kick it out of here. our weather is going to improve pretty quickly. in fact, today, some showers scattered about here through

5:00 tonight, showers mainly in the mountains. tuesday, showers in the mountains. we're doing ok here middle of the day. that storm system finally pulls away. breeze is going to pick up tomorrow as well behind that storm. then the temperatures will rise. 55 today. 67 tomorrow. breezy. sunshine tomorrow. wednesday, look at that. 74 without the breeze. wednesday, a very nice welcome day. little bit cooler thursday in the upper 60s. the weekend right now, i'm excited about this. hopefully this is going to hold. highs in the upper 70s. >> thank you, howard. >> we're starting with the green light because overall, early this monday morning, things are looking fine. we'll head out to the beltway and first of all, zoom in to the west side of town. no problems on 66 coming in from gainesville, manassas, centreville and over to the beltway. we'll take a live look in rosslyn here at lynn street. no problems as you head in toward downtown using 66. back out to the maps and this time, let's zoom into 395 and

95. first of all, down in fredericksburg and newington and springfield, you're fine. good up the line to 395 to the 14th street bridge. a live look on the south side of town on the wilson bridge. both loops look fine across the river coming in from alexandria or oxon hill. if you take the trains in the morning, i just checked. everything is running on time. in my next report, a look at maryland roads at 5:24. we have good news for library patrons in d.c. the martin luther king jr. library will remain open on sundays. last month, library administrators announced plans to close sundays because of budget cuts but now the library on g street northwest is receiving $316,000 to keep it open seven days a week. sunday hours are from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. you should fear the turtle. the university of maryland won top overall honors in the solar decathlon this weekend.

the competition pits student teams from around the world against each other. they designed solar powered homes and built them on the national mall. each house is graded on performance, livability and affordability. winning home must produce as much or more energy than it consumes. all righty. shaky there in the fourth quarter but the good news is the redskins eventually won yesterday's game. >> the bad news is they only outscored one of the league's weakest teams by 7 points. highlights coming up in sports. >> before we take a break, here is a look at the question of the morning. >> 49% of us say we would pay extra for this at a restaurant. is it... >> here is a look at a response left on the facebook.com/wusa9 page from terri who wrote kids free zone. >> log on to facebook.com/wusa9 page. we'll reveal the answer coming

up at 6:00.

we've got some light sprinkles and showers throughout in the northern shenandoah valley and western maryland. also down in southern maryland. so, just grab the rain gear. that will be the case once again today with the showers from time to time. by 9:00, upper 40s to near 50. temperatures won't be moving

much. we'll go through the noon hour with a few showers. temperature around 50 degrees. maybe mid-50s by 3:00 south of town, we'll be around 53 with again, a scattering of showers eastern shore, 56. for the drive home, we're looking at still low to mid-50s with a couple of showers here and there. andrea and mike, over to you. the redskins start their bye week in first place in the nfc east. >> the fans have reason for concerns. washington almost lost yesterday's game against the winless st. louis rams. but they did win. brett haber has your highlights in the morning sports. >> good morning, everybody. 3-1 start is something we would have taken had it been offered back at the start of training camp. over the last three weeks, the redskins offense has been averaging 18 points per game. while they did win yesterday, it may have been against the worst team in all of football and it wasn't all that convincing. not a great day for rex grossman. though he did have a couple of shining moments. second possession of the game. santana moss, perfectly thrown. 'skins jump out early 7-0. huge

game for ryan at runningback. was in witness protection the first three weeks. went nuts yesterday. 135 yards including 20 on this touchdown. 'skins led 17-0 in the third quarter but the rams got within 7 and had a chance to win when rex threw this pick and returned it to the 'skins 19 the rams couldn't do anything with it. 17-10 final 'skins go to 3-1. >> hold them when they get the great field position to keep them out of the end zone, to make some plays like we did says a lot about everybody. >> when you get a victory, you have to appreciate the things you did to get those 17 points. so, no doubt we can improve and we will improve. >> by the end of the day, we've got a win. we know, we'll be hard on ourselves. we're going to enjoy this. >> 'skins go into the bye week

at 3-1. when they come back, michael vick and the eagles at fedex field. have a great monday, everybody. an american student awaits word in italy on whether her murder conviction will be returned. plus, the engineers inspecting the washington monument are hoping for some better weather after a scary incident this weekend. >> we'll take a live look at pennsylvania avenue here at the sousa bridge. no problems coming in from silver hill in suitland. across the anacostia river here. coming up in my next report, a closer look at district roads at 5:30. you're watching 9news now. stay with us. when it comes to getting my family to eat breakfast, i could use all the help i can get. like nutella, a delicious hazelnut spread

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fiber one. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? uh, try the number one! i've never heard of that. [ wife ] it's great. it's a sweet honey cereal, you'll love it. yeah, this is pretty good. are you guys alright? yeah. [ male announcer ] half a days worth of fiber. not that anyone has to know. fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. good morning and welcome back to 9news now. i'm andrea roane. >> i'm mike hydeck. happy monday to you. we're glad you're here. here's monika samtani. she will be back with traffic

momentarily. >> ta-da. here's howard with our forecast. chilly today. improving forecast is on the way. >> warmer tamale. >> average temperatures in october are in the 70s. >> 73 degrees should be the average high. yesterday, we were more than 20 degrees below that. today, maybe 18 degrees below that. we'll be much closer to that by wednesday. here is a look at your day planner. grab the rain gear and something to keep you warm. low 50s at noon. mid-50s for highs with a couple of showers here and there at times. you know the drill. just like the last couple of days. there was a little sun for awhile before the showers kicked in. and once again, we're thanking, not thanking the upper level storm system slow to spin, spinning on top of us now. going to be a surface low off the atlantic. once this thing starts moving tomorrow, it will pull all of this out of here and our weather forces will improve greatly. this morning, light showers. areas of light rain off to the north and west and also

southern maryland. along i-81 now. light rain showers and we'll quickly look at radar down south. we've got the showers down in southern maryland. temps are mainly in the 40s. brrr, monika. >> that's cold. i've got the green light. i got word of police activity on the northbound side of i-270 at i-370 block the right lane. on the beltway, we'll zoom into the district. no problems right now on 295, the 14th street bridge. we'll take a live look first of all at scott street here at 16th street as you can see, nice and quiet. let's go over to m street at south capital street. in this corridor, you're looking fine. you'll be ok in this corridor. we'll wind a look at northeast, lleytonsburg road. no real delays heading into here and down new york this morning. coming up in my next report, we'll take a look at maryland roads at 5:39. >> this morning, a team of engineers will reassess whether or not it is safe to rappel

down the washington monument. >> their operation was called off saturday after a gust of wind blew engineer eric stone about 30 feet off the monument. luckily, he was not hurt. >> the engineers are slowly rappelling down the monument checking each stone for damage from the august earthquake which caused numerous cracks to form. engineers say they believe the monument is structurally sound

but it remains closed to visitors. >> 50-year-old carmella della rosa is being tried for throwing her 2-year-old granddaughter off a walkway at tysons corner last november. prosecutors say della rosa confessed to the killing of anglyn ogdoc primarily to get back at her son-in-law. she has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. >> an american student has begged an italian court to let her go. amanda knox says she's not guilty of killing her british roommate four years ago. she cited faulty dna evidence. 9news now surae chinn is in the satellite center with more from this morning's court proceedings. >> it is judgment day. amanda knox spoke for about 15 minutes addressing the jury and i've been watching the proceedings which wrapped up about 45 minutes ago. speaking in italian, she addressed the jury made up of eight people including two judges and a packed courtroom in perugia, italy. knox says i'm paying with my life for things i didn't do. fighting back tears, she says she is innocent. she said she couldn't believe her roommate had been murdered back in november 2007. she said she did not rape, steal or kill. she said she wasn't present during the crime and believes she was home, she would be dead, too. instead, she was at her boyfriend's, rafael who was

also convicted and pleaded for his life and his innocence just before amanda knox spoke this morning. her boyfriend speaking there, pretty emotional. it has been four years since 21-year-old british exchange student meredith kercher was killed in their home back in 2007. she was found stabbed to death. police believe it was a night filled with drugs and sex. we, of course are waiting to hear the result of what the jury comes up with. they said it won't be until about 2:00 p.m. eastern standard time. back to you. >> thank you, surae. >> today, the u.s. supreme court starts its fall season. sunday, the justices, their staff took part in the annual red mass at st. matthew's cathedral. washington archbishop cardinal donald wuerl celebrated the mass. the red mass is held on the first sunday of october to kick off the supreme court session. some dramatic video from a broken steampipe. a ruptured pipe forced city

crews to shut down part of 10th street. the department of public works were able to repair the pipe and reopen the street a few hours later. what a scene. passengers will soon be paying more for a taxi ride in the district. last week, the commission announced plans to remove the $19 cap on fares. that means the meter keeps running no matter how long the ride and that is on top of any surcharges for extra bags or additional passengers. a $1 gas surcharge also remains in effect. construction out of the metro out to dulles airport is up to six months behind schedule. that's according to "the washington examiner." despite claims by officials that the $7 billion silver line remains on time and on budget. a july progress report shows construction as 188 days behind schedule. the first days of the silver line from falls church to reston would open in mid 2014.

instead of late 2013. time for another "your money" report. >> what are we splurging on even though the economy is rough? jessica is here to tell us. >> incomes are down. why are so many people buying costumes for their pets this year? it is happening. analysts say with budgets so tight, folks are spending what little they have on pragmatic luxury, the little things that matter to us. they feel like indulgences. $25 blue chanel nail polish. $45 justin bieber inspired fragrances. the national retail federation tells our partners at "usa today," nearly 15% of us will dress a pet for halloween. that's up 43% from last year. sales of specialty food and beverages were up 8% in 2010 and so far this year, the sale of nail care products is up

61%. barnes & noble is trying to win over customers of border's group. it has purchased a list of border's customers including a list of their dvd purchases in bankruptcy court. customers can prevent barnes & noble from receiving their data by doing this. you visit www.bn.com/borders. you have to go there before october 29th and you have to opt out. tomorrow, big day for apple fanatics. we'll find out what the new iphone five looks like. there is some speculation, it will be called the iphone four app. it might have a wedge shape and it is expected the phone -- it could have a sharper eight megapixel camera, a faster chip and we'll get to see tim cook in action, the company's new ceo after steve job stepped down for medical reasons. >> lots of excitement tomorrow. >> i can't wait.

>> the well has run dry at a well-known d.c. watering hole. >> thousands of animals get blessed by the clergy including amongst in ceremonies around the world.

i have my middleweight winter coat on. day planner calling for plenty of clouds. might see a peek here or there. expect scattered showers. temperature by 3:00 only 53. we top out in the mid-50s. still only 54. seven-day forecast has 70s and you'll like that. i'll see you with that in a few. here's monika with timesaver traffic. >> good morning. we'll check live northbound on 270 here at i-370 through the

trees, there is police activity in the right lane again on the northbound side. southbound for your commute, everything should be fine down to the point where the lanes divide. more on this and other maryland roadways coming up at 5:47. mike, back to you. capitol hill institution is no more. the hawk n dove served its final drinks on sunday. the watering hole has been serving members of congress, lobbyists and others for the last 44 years. the bar had been operating however without a lease for several months. then a rival bar owner snapped it up. the bar's contents will be auctioned off online. it will reopen in a few months as a casual restaurant. >> many of us feel blessed to have our pets and some pet owners got their animals blessed by the church sunday. catholic churches around the world commemorated st. francis of assisi feast day with a special service for animals in. northeast washington, it took place at the franciscan monastery on quincy street. >> a sure sign it is time to

start planning your halloween. >> as breast cancer awareness month gets underway, which is why i'm in pink, i revisit my first buddy on 9news. >> al sharpton turns 57 today. tommy lee is 49. actor clive owen turns 47. rocker and clothing designer gwen stefani is 42. screen actress neve campbell is 38. india.arie is 36. ashlee simpson is 27 today.

welcome back to 9news now. 5:44 on this monday morning. what did you do this weekend? we have a picture of what howard and i were doing. we were falling for fairfax and

the rain was falling. >> you were bundled up. >> i had doubled up the scarf. look at our hail and hearty fans there. >> mike and missy. >> he's in shorts. unbelievable. >> missy was underdressed because she was influenced by mike. i saw howard and andrea later in the day. they were both doing this. blowing into their hands. >> they had so much to do. it was such a shame that the rain -- it let up for a little while, even a peek of sun but then it came down harder. but people still came out and we're glad you did. >> hats off or gloves on to everyone who came out. >> did a great job. >> lot of fun for the kids. celebrate fairfax in june and then fairfax. >> indoor activities. more pictures on my web site. >> weatherwise, bundle up once again. we've got more showers coming at times throughout the day. so, yeah, i know. last day before things start to improve. here's a look at your

momslikeme.com bus stop forecast. it is cool. it is damp. isolated showers. temperatures are running in the 40s and sunrise, not for another hour and 20 or so. still very, very dark out there. our day planner today calling for those showers at times. 48 degrees at 8:00. by noon, only 51. middle of the afternoon, 54. top out 55, maybe 56. winds will turn westerly at about 5 miles per hour. an 8:00 temperature, still 52 with a couple of showers left over. this pesky low pressure spinning now on top of us. it has been around the mid- atlantic northeast all weekend with showers all the way back toward detroit and toledo. we've got a ways to go before we can get rid of this. it looks like it will pull out tomorrow. along the west toward shenandoah valley, up toward strasburg, front royal all the way up to hagerstown. showers there. off to our east, across parts of calvert, anne arundel. starting to get a few of those

showers to move up toward the north. we'll go northwest first. you can see this area is actually, if you've been with me, expanding off toward the east. getting into western frederick county through jefferson, over toward brunswick coming out of harper's ferry into win winchester and perryville. east of town, we've been watching these showers creep northward here through calvert and st. mary's now. southern anne arundel here and even as you get into prince george's county, east of 301, pretty good chance you're going to run into sprinkles there as well. our temps this morning, they're cold. only 41 in gaithersburg. 45 at bowie this morning. it is 46 for alexandria. 43 in leesburg and haymarket. centreville is 46. in town, temperatures which are barely cool. 47. dew point 42 and the humidity at 83%. we're looking at another day

like we've had with the scattered showers here and there. mid-50s. tonight, we're back in the 40s. breezy tomorrow. sun returns. 67. a warmer wednesday. 74. look at this. little cooldown thursday. 68 but the rest of the week friday, saturday and sunday, long weekend perhaps? temperatures in the upper 70s with sunshine. monika? >> there you go again. if you're planning to head out right now, no problems. we've got the green light. let me show you the beltway and zoom into the northside of town. we're looking good on the beltway right here. no problems at university boulevard, colesville road. let's take a live look in silver spring. looking good over to bethesda, 270 and the american legion bridge. let's head back out to the maps. we'll zoom into the other side of town. route four, route five, route 301, everything is incident free. we'll take a look across the potomac river, no problems.

good from alexandria and oxon hill. a quick look at the travel times starting off with 295 leaving the beltway. 7 minutes, 95 in from 216 is five minutes. the toll road, 7 minutes right now. we'll take a look at virginia at 6:00. making news now, a tiny island nation in the pacific ocean has declared a state of emergency because of severe fresh water shortage. military units are delivering the water to the capital city as well as bishen. about 11,000 people live in the low-lying islands. >> san diego authorities are suggesting residents evacuate as the brushfire grows bigger. the great fire has already scorched more than 2,000 acres. it is forced to shut down one highway and the flames are nearing a mobile home park and a small town. here is a sign halloween is just a few weeks away. midwest farmers are showing off

their biggest pumpkins at an event called the monsters of the midway. top prize, pumpkin weighs 1424 pounds! he won $5,000 and a championship belt. we begin our observance of breast cancer awareness month with an anniversary. on october 4, 1993, it was the debut of buddy check 9 and the subject of today's buddy check 9 report is the same profile i -- the same woman i profiled 18 years ago. >> 18 years later, it is still a joy to be alive. >> reporter: even whether there were buddy check 9 reminders,

jacqueline was doing regular self-exams. but when it turned up a small mass, she didn't call her doctor right away. she hesitated. >> i was procrastinating. i think part of it, andrea was maybe that's not what i think it is. just not really wanting to believe or accept that it might be something going on. >> are you ok? >> i'm fine. >> overcoming the fear factor and getting women to be proactive about their breast health is one reason why 9news now began buddy check 9 in 1993. >> thank you for watching 9news now at 5:00 a.m. we believe women reminding other women to schedule the mammogram and do breast self- exams could increase survival rates and possibly prevent some cancers. >> hi, how are you? >> jackie, our first buddy was the perfect example of how early detection pays off. the initial surgeon recommended a radical mastectomy but because her cancer was caught early, the trained librarian had time to research other

treatment options. >> i got two other opinions. i decided to go with the recommendation to have a lumpectomy. >> six weeks of radiation and also chemotherapy. >> the reason i'm a survivor. >> our first buddy remains a buddy to other women and men. in addition to her job, she's an advocate through the susan g. komen foundation. >> i'm working on a project that will help bring more awareness. this area as well as in the district of columbia. jacqueline brown woody living up to her personal motto of making every day a great day for the people of prince george's county. to get a buddy check 9 packet for you and your buddy, call the lombardi cancer line

or go to the buddy check 9 page at wusa9.com. so, we've been celebrating here with cupcakes. howard is wearing pink on pink. i'm wearing pink. thanks to those who have made it a success. >> don't procrastinate. >> doesn't she look great? >> she does. >> before we go to break, let's take another look at the question of the morning. >> 49% of us say we would pay extra for this at a restaurant. is it a kid free zone? a private zone or c, a personal wait staff? >> morgan wrote if i had the cash, i would pay for all three! we'll reveal the answer in about an hour. still ahead, we'll hear some of andy clooney's words. halloween is right around

the corner. how are sales looking and what are we buying? you're watching 9news now. if you've got pain?

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to the east now, some of it creeping into prince george's county. anne arundel, calvert. watch out for that. today, we're looking at showers at times. a cool day. mostly cloudy skies. 9:00, only near 50 degrees. we won't see temperatures move that much. midday, we're still looking at some showers. maybe a peek of sunshine south and east. temps around 50. this afternoon, low to mid-50s is what we'll do. you want to be outside again. today may be a tough day. mike? >> see you then, howard. thanks. a dolphin has replaced a lion as the king of the movie theatre this weekend. dolphin tale grossed over $14 million after debuting in third place last week. it features harry connick jr. and morgan freeman in a real life story about dolphins. moneyball stayed at second place. the lion king dropped to third and two new films, 50/50 and

courageous round out the top five. >> who knew one of the oldest reality shows came to d.c. this weekend. looking for new cast members. people lined up outside the town tavern in northwest washington all for a chance to chat with the producers of mtv's real world. yes, it is still on the air. it started in may 1992 before some of weekend's applicants were even born. it is casting now for its 27th season. auditions were held in three other cities this weekend with 14 more scheduled before the cast members are selected. >> well, next week things won't be quite the same. andy rooney has stepped away from his job at "60 minutes." here's the end of his final essay as a regular contributor. >> this is a moment i've dreaded. i wish i could do this forever. i can't though. but i'm not retiring. writers don't retire. and i'll always be a writer. a lot of you have sent me wonderful letters and said good

things to me when you meet me in the street. i wasn't always gracious about it. it is hard to accept being light. i don't say this often but thank you. although if you do see in a restaurant, please just let me eat my dinner. [ laughter ] >> that's andy rooney in a nutshell. he's 92 years old. spent more than 70 years earning his living through writing. morley safer interviewed rooney. he plans to make occasional appearances. best of luck to him. i'm mike hydeck. here is monika samtani with traffic in a moment. >> i'm andrea roane. howard bernstein is here. it is going to warm up. temperatures running about 20 below where they should be. advertisement 73. we'll be much closer to that average high as we get rd