breaking news. that man arrested in connection with the alleged terror plot to damage or destroy the pentagon and the capitol. his name, rezwan ferdaus. he has a physics graduate from northeastern university and he was attempting to use two large model planes filled with c 4 to carry out the attack. gary nuremberg joins us now from the newsroom. >> reporter: first of all derek he's a united states citizen. he was committed to jihad and had been since last year. travel today d. c. in fry -- traveled to d. c. in may to scout the pentagon and capitol. he apparently liked east potomac park. he was working with fbi undercover agents that he thought were representatives of al-qaeda. his ash land, massachusetts home is being extensively searched this evening as is

this storage facility in framingham. top targets? the capitol whose dome he had targeted hoping to quote smash it to smithereens by flying the planes filled with c 4 explosives and the pentagon using the same method. the fbi says ferdaus wants to decapitate the military center and severely disrupt the head and heart of the snake killing men, women and children. he had had made progress and had already acquire one remote control aircraft. c 4, six ak-47 assault rifles and some grenades. he was confident about using the model planes saying -- on january 20th, the fbi quotes ferdaus as saying he was also considering an attack on the metro station to cause panic and fear. at the capitol, ferdaus is quoted as saying he was excited

at the prospect of quote gunning down politicianings at the capitol building. the fbi told ferdaus that cell phones he had rigged to explode had already been taken to iraq and used there to kill american soldiers. his response? this is exactly what i wanted and i feel so blessed. i feel that i am seeing the fruits of my labor. i want to work with you guys and i want to hit the snake on the tail and i want to choke it right in the head. the world will never be the same. now although the fbi says ferdaus had acquired some of the weapons they apparently came from the same fbi agents he thought were al-qaeda. remember these are allegations only and we haven't heard from his attorneys yet. but the plot appears to be a serious one with d. c. as its main target. anita? >> certainly does. thank you. tearful and heart-wrenching testimony in the trial of carmella de la rosa.

the courtroom heard gripping testimony today from the girl's mom. peggy fox sleeve outside the fairfax -- is live outside the fairfax county court. so heard for her to testify and for the jurors to hear i imagine. >> reporter: absolutely anita but the last witness of the day brought tears to the defendant's eyes. just was the first sign of emotion from a grandmother who appeared heartless the night the unthinkable happened. for the first time in her murder trial, carmella de la rosa broke down. it was when her sister, rebecca ross took the stand. she asked her sister what happened and de la rosa told her she was quote spinning around as if she was in the middle of a car crash. earlier her daughter cat ogdoc only referred to her mother as the defendant. she testified through tears that on november 9th. she turned to see her mother. i turned around again and i saw

her by the railing and i didn't see angelyn. her hands were out and over the railing. i said what just happened? we all ran down six flights of stairs to where angelyn was. there were other people who are already there. they blocked her. i looked up and i saw her. the defendant leaning over the rail. she didn't have any expression on her face. she had her hands on the railing and just leaned over. then cat's father told the jury that carmella de la rosa had been a good wife and loved the baby but also that his wife was taking antidepressants and tried suicide four times and had grown increasingly withdrawn, erratic and even violent including one time when she pulled a knife on her husband. leandro de la rosa said that they would a recommendation that his wife should be in a

mental hospital but they chose to have outpatient therapy instead because there's also a stigma attached with it. i'm peggy fox reporting live in fairfax, back to you. new at 6:00 tonight, prince george's county police today revealed the crime rate in the county has been taking a surprising plummet downward during the first nine months of the year particularly violent crime. and i'm here in the newsroom with scott broom who's been following this to find out what accounts for what's going on. >> well, the numbers have dropped a lot and what was really surprising to me today is about the sort of surgical way they went about this. they targeted five specific neighborhoods this summer and in those five specific neighborhoods, only 67 offenders they targeted to watch carefully all summer long. they got some surprising results. welcome to river dale heights one of the targeted nights where prince george's county

police figured they could make the biggest gains by pulling up known offenders for a talk this summer. here's the chief. >> basically called them in and explained what the summer initiative was and basically said what do you need? >> reporter: he said police bought offenders to stations and sat them down with social services actsies and nonprofits to give them help on staying straight but the offenders were also warned. police would be keeping a close eye on them all summer long. in river dale, violent crime is down 22.5% for the first nine months of the year and similar results in the rest of the targeted areas -- and it affected county wide numbers as well. >> property crime was down 8.4%. flush flush violent crime was down 12.1%. translating to the overall

crime reduction of 9%. >> we are planning a community walk. >> reporter: residents like marty newman of river dale heights said community partnerships have now blossomed. >> you're sending a visible signal to the criminals that we have a partnership and we're not going the high behind our doors and close our blinds. we're actually going to report if we see something going on and i think that's really important. >> reporter: well, of the 67 targeted offenders that are on parole and probation that they were payings attention to all summer long? not a single one of the family ended up were -- people ended up being arrested over the summer. the question is now can they keep it up? >> all right. thank you scott. back into the studio. going to d. c. now where some federal help for folks hit by hurricane irene is on the way. president obama has signed a disaster declaration that will funnel federal dollars to the district and other local governments. money to help businesses and homeowners repair or replace what irene carried away or tore

down during last month's storm. the 207 to bottom inspection of our washington monument. a team of two men and two women were back at it again today using ropes and harnesses outside of the landmark. out on the walls just searching around for the earthquake damage. kristin fisher has more in this live report. >> reporter: they are still up there and you no today is the first full day that all four of the climbers have been out on the ropes and look you can see two of them working hard. they've been climbing on and off for about five hours now and would be of the climbers is actually from our area. eric is a 33-year-old engineer from fairfax with a day job that can give you vertigo just watching him. but his sister says he hasn't always been a daredevil climber. >> i wouldn't say that climbing has been a passion. he's been an engineer always and i think he just kind of found his way into this. >> reporter: eric is joined on the monument by three other

climbers from across the country. together they're called the difficult access team. this is a group with a complex combination of skills in both climbing and engineering. >> they have worked together. they've done lots of work together over the years and have lots and lots of experience on high structures and historic structures. >> reporter: for the next five days or so you'll see them dangling off the side of the monument going stone by stone looking for damage. it's a slow process but one that will help keep this landmark standing for generations to come. on the national mall. kristin fisher, 9news now. >> all right. difficult access team. that's really something. >> no kidding. >> wow. all right, well ladies i'm going to be moving off now to work on the 7:00 p.m. newscast. we can prove that you don't necessarily need an eye for detail to be a great artist. three people all lost their vision years ago still creating amaying works after -- amazing

works of argument. nudes news -- art. 9news now now at 7:00. coming up on 9news now, census workers in suitland are order today stay awake -- ordered to stay awash on the job. plus, the final curtain may be coming down on the u street's lincoln theater. those stories and more just ahead on 9news now. topper? looking at live doppler 9000 hd, couple of heavy thunderstorms south and west of town. one right through goldvein right now and manassas and woodbridge. we'll come back and track those and in fact the weekend forecast too.

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no sleeping on the job. seems pretty obvious right? apparently not at the census bureau. the "washington post" obtained a memo sent to all 4,000 employees, sending a response to increasing complaints of workers sleeping in public

areas. the memo calls it quote not acceptable and not professional and urges ill workers to take leave and seek medical help. maybe sleeping on the job is just one of the reasons trust in the federal government is at an all time low. new cnnorc international poll found just 15% of americans said they trust the government to do what is right almost all of the time. now that's down from 25% just one year ago. the poll by the way though was conducted last friday to sunday when the democrats and republican lawmakers were fighting over fema funding and threatening jet another government shutdown. 9news now will be right back.

at progressive, you can bundle your home and auto policies and save. don't worry, tiny people. flo is a gentle giant. bundle home and auto at progressive.com. an emergency board meeting at the historic lincoln theater is underway right now. the theater located on washington's black broadway served the city's african- american community. but theater has fallen on hard times and there is even talk this evening of closing it. matt jablow has more on the

live report from u street closing it matt? >> reporter: anita, in fact, it's now entirely possible that the lincoln will soon go dark. the lincoln theater first hoped in 1922. since then, the landmark building has hosted a wide variety of prominent performers. it's become an important part of washington's cultural life especially here on u street. >> it's a landmark in the u street area. >> reporter: as a result plans are now in the works to celebrate next year but it may not make it past 89. >> without some city support the lincoln cannot operate. >> reporter: he says the lincoln is almost completely out of money. >> we have no money. no grants. in the fy 12 budget. >> reporter: without yet another cash infusion from the

city -- >> a good starting point would be $250,000. >> reporter: it might have to close its doors by the end of the jeer. >> that's dig pointing to -- disappointing to see that. >> reporter: in fact, much of the past few years has been a struggle to stay afloat. >> it's a very important part of this neighborhood. >> reporter: maurice is the manager of another u street institution, ben's chili bowl right next door. >> it will be a big loss. >> reporter: he says the lincoln simply cannot be allowed to go under. >> we definitely don't want the see it close. the neighborhood got to get together and see what we can do. >> reporter: once again the board of directors is now holding an emergency meeting to review the theater's finances. just as soon as we get the result of the meeting we will pass them along. now back to you in the studio. >> hope the community can come together and save the lynn on the theater. it's such a ge . >> you know the morning this

kids were like thunderstorms and sunshine, what's going on today? >> what's going on with a half day? that's a better question absolutely. half days are just no fun. nothing ever good happens with a half day. that's true. let's start with live doppler 9000 hd. couple of showers and storms, one batch to the northwest. and actually these folks have been getting hit second day in a row really between cumberland and hagerstown up near pumpkin center and capon ridge. these storms south and west of town because these have held together pretty well the last hour or so and a pretty heavy storm right around goldvein. at one point it did have hail in it. it has pretty heavy rain, anywhere to 1 inch an hour and it's going to held to the north up to warrenton. put this into motion and here's where it's going to go. slide to the north and the east. knock on woodbridge's door and manassas' door in about an

hour. if anybody heads out 66 in the next half hour or so, you may have to go through relatively rainfall. all right, let's talk about temperatures because that's actually nice. upper 70s downtown still. 75 in gaithersburg and 79 still in leesburg and in fredericksburg. despite the clouds, remember we've been unsettled for two weeks and been on the warm side. which is actually kind of nice. 72 up in cumberland as well. all right, outside story, well, drying out slowly. a few showers tonight. morning shower or thunderstorm again tomorrow. then just a slight chance tomorrow afternoon. friday, best in week. no doubt about that. late tonight, couple of showers back in the mountains nothing heavy and then by 6:30 in the morning, we could have some lights again much like today through parts of the metro area. everyone won't see a shower but right now leesburg and gaithersburg and frederick the best chances of storms in the morning. and then by lunchtime, grab your umbrella going to lunch. couple of light showers, notice

everything is green and it's light, that's good news. by friday morning, attention back to the west and get rid of one storm and another system approaches the mountains and that will roll through and bring us the coldest air of the season. over the weekend. early thunderstorm tonight then a late shower possible. patchy fog. low temperatures in the 60s and winds south southeast at 5 to 10. next seven days better on friday and breezy and still nice and warm. 75. and then downright chilly. only 60 on saturday. mostly cloudy with showers. 60 on sunday. then next week looks fantastic and i think we've earned it. sunshine monday, tuesday and wednesday and up to 80 by tuesday. >> okay, that's a good string. >> pretty nice. >> thanks top. hey, last game of the year for the nats and last start for stephen strasburg? we didn't get him long enough. >> i know but now we have something to salivate over as the off-season arrives because he was tasty today. what a nice memory to dwell on as winter arrives at least baseball's winter. supersteve untouchable in the

season finale. plus the redskins get back to work and deangelo hall does what all good cornerbacks do -- he back pedals, 9 sports next.

the last game of the season for the a third place team usually doesn't mean very much but today's did for the nationals. a. because stephen strasburg was pitching and b., because a victory gives thes in 80 for

the year -- the nats 08 for the year -- 80 for the year. season finale in florida and strasburg, six inning of shutout ball, just one hit. 10 ks including five in a row and seven out of eight at one point. the fastball hit 100 on the gun. he leaves for the off-season just where we want him for next year. as for the offense, ian desmond, 6th inning, base knock scored pudge and almost bar douse. not lead it -- nats lead it right now in the 9th. not bad at all. meanwhile all kinds of drama tonight around baseball. red sax and rays are dead -- sox and rays are dead tied with one game to go. sox at camden yards and rays hosting the yankees. still tied after tonight a one game playoff in florida at the trop. one fewer day for deangelo hall to say something he shouldn't. last week he started by saying he was going to hurt tony romo then he blamed a coach for a

screwup. hall unleashed a tirade criticizing jim haslett for calling a blitz on this play in the fourth quarter on which hall got beat setting up the game-winning field goal for dallas. today the remorse and the damage control. >> i was extremely frustrated that doesn't excuse what i said. how i said it. i was sitting down and talking to him. i definitely understood where he was coming from. >> okay. meanwhile rex grossman. another mixed bag on monday. 250 passing yards and one touchdown and one pick. he made some nice plays and also fumbled on the last meaningful play of the ball game. he's taking his share without the prompting. >> i put a lot of pressure on myself to play at a pro bowl level every week and you know when i don't, you know, it's frustrating and i go back and watch the tape and fix the things that didn't allow me to play as well as i know i can.

>> pro bowler every week. like to see that. time to reveal the candidates for dc.high school.net.com play of the week -- winning game leads the coverage on friday. finally we must reiterate something we said earlier in the year. a foul ball is not as valuable as your child. you see the dad going for the ball and dropping his daughter into the row below? that's not good but what's even better is the look that the husband gets from his wife. >> oh, yeah. >> his wife? did you just do that? >> i've seen that look. you know that look fellas. that's not a good look. that's not a good look. >> you are in some major trouble look. >> no, that's a death stare. we know the look. >> you all have been on the receiving end. >> you've delivered that look have you not? >> that's all for 9news now at 6:00. >> that's it for us. have a good night. [ captions by: caption colorado, llc 800-775-7838 email: comments@captioncolorado.com ] [ speaking french ]

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