Trees. Check your flashlight batteries in critical times now 9 a. M. Sunday until 3 a. M. Monday. I think all those times will be below freezing or 32 or below. Right now were 43 in gaithersburg, leesburg, 46 downtown and 40 in hagerstown. So again no problems with freezing tonight. Well come back, talk about the difference between snow, sleet and freezing rain and why that occurs and when its going to start on sunday. Tonight the world is mourning the loss of a freedom icon, Nelson Mandela being remembered as a leader who fought against apartheid and then went on to lead his country and inspire the world. President obama, first Lady Michelle obama, the clintons, oprah will all join World Leaders for mandelas state funeral next sunday. This sunday will be a national day of prayer and reflection in south africa. Tuesday will be the official public memorial. Here in the u. S. The president did order flags to fly at half staff until sunday in honor of the former South African president. The most visual outpouring of grief and celebration of his life is taking place outside mandelas home in a suburb of johannesburg. Alphonso van marsh is there. Reporter people streamed down the streets toward Nelson Mandelas johannesburg home singing songs of praise, prayer and freedom. They gathered to pay tribute to the former South African president who died at 95 surrounded by family not far from here. This man says hes not mourning. I get to celebrate his life. We cry among our joy and laugh and remember the good. Reporter some gave speeches. While others led group prayers remembering the man who ushered in democracy for all of south africas people. Deep in our heart and minds and ears. Reporter Nelson Mandela may have been a Nobel Laureate and is receiving accolades from World Leaders, but many people gathered here choose to remember mandela as a man of the people. Mandela was not just an ordinary person, yet he lived ordinary. Reporter locals richard and clair stride brought their kids to lay flowers in honor of mandela. They want their sons to share in his legacy. All i know is that he stopped apartheid. Reporter and the prayers, remembrances and celebrations continue tonight. Alphonso van marsh, cbs news, joe lanceburg johannesburg, south johannesburg, south africa. Every night between 7 00 and 8 00 there will be a prayer vigil outside the new statue of mandela. Wednesday at 11 a. M. There will be a service to celebrate mandela at the national cathedral. Surae chinn reports from the south African Embassy. Reporter construction workers have removed fencing that was preventing people from getting close to Nelson Mandelas statue. Now they can get up close, lay flowers and pay their respects. Its a sad day, but what a great man, what a great life. Hes at peace right now. Reporter they came to reflect, give respect and for terry gerais to drop a single red rose at his statue. My son said it was the wrong color because i had white roses, too and he said it meant love and i said well, thats Nelson Mandela. Reporter Nelson Mandela became the first black president of the country that imprisoned him for 27 years because he wanted to end apartheid. Im just so happy im able to be part of the first generation that can be free from apartheid. Im so happy i could visit a free south africa and not one that was oppressed by racism. Reporter during his incarceration mandela inspired people to hold daily protests at the south African Embassy in washington. Mr. Mandela left a global legacy just from the reaction globally to his death, but you cant not be shocked. You cant the be sad. Reporter South African ambassador to the u. S. Receiving the news from mandelas daughter. She knows how important the United States is to the Mandela Family and to south africa because it was here that so much happened where people marched for our freedom, were arrested for our freedom and that is why that statue is there. His ideas will live on. They will never die. Reporter people are meeting inside the Embassy Planning on events in the district to pay a proper tribute to Nelson Mandela. At the south African Embassy on massachusetts avenue in northwest, surae chinn, wusa9. You can submit your videos, your photos, your remembrances of Nelson Mandela on our website, www. Wusa9. Com. Thats where you will also find world reaction to his death along with some of the former south African Leaders most memorable quotes. D. C. Police chief cathy lanier says there is no connection between a pair of alleged Sexual Exploitation cases involving officers accused of preying on teenage girls. Scott broom reports now that yet another officer has been put on suspension and is under investigation in one of those cases. Reporter two d. C. Police officers and two stunning cases of alleged Sexual Exploitation of teenage girls, both officers working out of the 7th district, but today chief lanier said the cases are not related. There is no connection that we are aware of between the two. Reporter but the investigations are expanding, at least one additional officer on suspension as internal Affairs Detectives take an intense closer look. Lanier wont say what the suspension is about, but it is related to the case of 32year old officer marc washington who was arrested and charged with using his Police Powers to coerce a 15yearold runaway to submit to sexually explicit nude photos found on washingtons personal camera taken while he was in uniform and on duty. It only takes one cop to do one thing like this to shake everybody in our community. Reporter in the second exploitation case there are no charges yet, but a search warrant outlines how police raided the southeast d. C. Apartment of veteran officer linwood barnhill, jr. Wednesday where they found him with two girls, one a 16yearold run away who claims she and other girls were being pimped out for prostitution by the officer. The girld barnhill advertised photos of her on the website back painpage. Com. Barnhill has been on limited duty, but chief lanier wouldnt say why. All i can tell you is for an injury. I cant discuss the rest. Personnel prevents me from talking about certain details of. Reporter the raid on barnhills apartment turned up evidence of prostitution including large containers of condoms, Womens Clothing and mirrors that may have been seen in one of those back page. Com advertisements. A federal judge ruled this afternoon that a of accused d. C. Police officer marc washington can be that accused d. C. Police officer marc washington can be released for electronic monitoring once he puts up the deed to his home for security. Police say two men approached a woman at front door of her house on varnum drive november 25th and forced their way inside. At that point the men held the woman and her husband at gunpoint and stole some property, a cadillac that was stolen later recovered. Right now we want to give you a live look to the ellipse where president obama and the first family are about to flip the switch on the National Christmas tree, kind of looks like a snow globe there. Of course, theyre having a few challenges because of the weather, but on stage right now we believe could be train. I think weve got train that should be coming up any moment now. They are part of the headliners of this fantastic show that we have put on every year around this time of year about a message of peace and hope. Theyre getting it going there. The ceremony dates back to 1923. So this is the 91st ceremony. Were expected to see Aretha Franklin and mariah carey. Jay lynch is hosting this. Those poor folks in the audience are not under any cover. No. You can see the rain coming down through, yeah, and it looks like the lead singer of train has on a rain jacket. So they are sitting out in the elements, but everybody is excited about this, one of our holiday traditions here in the United States. Well be back in just a little bit on the other side of the break. Oh, by the way, before i let you go today is a day being called by many ice friday, big deep freeze moving all across the country and a lot of that is coming our way, too right, top . Afraid. So were lucky right now. We just have a cold rain. Its miserable amount the Christmas Tree lighting, but could be at the Christmas Tree lighting, but could be worse. Weve got snow, sleet and rain heading our way. Well talk about the rest of the day being a yellow alert and well break down sunday which is a red alert. But up next the latest jobs report is better than expected, but for those yn nzczczc its a rainy night for this years National ChristmasTree Lighting as evidenced by what you see coming down around the band train and you see them wearing raincoats. Imagine what everybody else is out there doing in the audience as the rain comes down. Its interesting because i was reading that you could bring an umbrella, but while you are seated your umbrella cannot be up. So its like what is it, just decoration . Lets listen a little bit to train. Merry christmas, you all. [ cheering and applause ] of course, with that performance coming after train we anticipate the Main Attraction, the lighting of the National Christmas tree. Theres jane lynch, host of the event. Good evening and welcome to the 2013 National ChristmasTree Lighting. Welcome. Were here on a wet but wonderful winter night at president s park in washington just across the road a piece from the most famous house in america, the white house. Now every president since Calvin Coolidge has taken part in this terrific event, spoiler alert. Calvin coolidge is not here tonight, but the first family is here and they will be joining million of americans celebrating this Holiday Season including this great tradition filled with music, memories and one very cool Christmas Tree. I would like to add a special welcome to our men and women in uniform serving our country in places around the world tonight. Lets hear it for them. [ cheering and applause ] we have so much more on the way, but first lets hear it for our outstanding United States army blues [ cheering and applause ] and now it is my great honor to welcome the first family of the United States of america. [ cheering and applause ] [ music ] welcome, first family. Mrs. Robinson, mr. Obama, sasha, malia, welcome and merry happy holidays. Were still having fun, a little wet but still having fun. Our main job today is to light the National Christmas tree and so were going to need a little help from you to count it down. Were going to start at five. Yeah. Lets do five. Since its a little wet we shouldnt start at 10, all right . So everybody ready . Five, four, three, two, one. [ cheering and applause ] Merry Christmas [ music ] [ music ] shes a 20 time grammy award winner and a president ial medal of freedom recipient with an honorary doctorate of harvard so Aretha Franklin is getting ready to come on, the queen of soul, but the Main Attraction there, the fir adorned in all those beautiful l. E. D. Lights is all aglow. We want to see the queen. Is she coming on a sleigh . there she is right there it looks like. Oh, there she is. Joy to the world the lord is come let earth receive her king let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing and heaven and nature sing and heaven and heaven and nature sing joy to the world and men their songs employ while rocks hills and plains repeat the sounding joy repeat the sounding joy repeat repeat the sounding joy oh yeah joy joy to the world joy joy to the world he rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love, and wonders of his love and wonders wonders of his love joy and peace joy to the world joy to you and me joy to you and me and wonder of peace when the queen of soul opens her mouth, the heavens open up. It looks like the rain is coming down even heavier now. Glad we got to hear her, though. Yeah. Can you imagine the challenges they must be facing the musicians especially out there because a lot of those instruments are susceptible to i think theyre covered where she is. The band is behind her, but everybody else is out in the elements there. Were going to explain some stuff to you and start doing different things, sleet, snow and freezing rain. Please take notes. Well start with cold air damming and kind of wedges its way down the eastern side of the appalachians and nuzzles up against the appalachians. Cold hair is denser. So cold air is denser. Thats why its so hard to prime your chimney when its cold out. Even though we have southwesterly wind as lot of, it kind of blows over the mountains and keeps a very shallow layer of cold air, maybe only 1,000 feet in depth, but cold enough to keep it 32 degrees at the surface. So may be the case on sunday where its 32 downtown, it could be 48 in charleston, West Virginia because of their elevation. In in case elevation works against you. The colder air will be lower. Thats cold air damming. Right now its a classic case of cold air damming. Sleet versus freezing rain, okay. Sleet falls frozen and bounces off your windshield and the ground and wed rather have that than freezing rain which falls liquid and freezes on contact. Thats what collects on the power lines and also the trees and can cause big problems. Okay. A winter storm watch has been issued for the entire metro area except for Southern Maryland and st. Marys and calvert county. Were kind of splitting hairs there. It does include charles county, not so much for snow. Well see some snow at the onset, but primarily for sleet and freezing rain during the day sunday and into sunday night. Well break it down. Start time sunday, maybe a little bit later 7 00 to 10 00. We could see an inch of snow before it changes over to a mix the rest of the day and temperatures below freezing until 1 a. M. Monday and that is downtown which means if youre up in gaithersburg or out in fairfax, it will be longer below freezing. Live look outside, michael and son weather cam, 46, raining to beat the band, winds north, northeast at 9, colder air moving in. Heres a big picture of the radar. Were still just worried about rain tonight. It wont freeze tonight. Youre okay tonight. You want to do errands tomorrow, no problem. Saturday is a good day for that. Right now light rain across most of the metro area, heavier rain up 270 toward hagerstown and out 68 westbound, 42 white oak, 43 bethesda, fairfax and 45 in springfield and also in waldorf. Were headed for the 30s tonight, but well stay above freezing. More rain, above freezing, saturday get out and do your errands. Saturday night colder but dry and sunday a red alert, a mix all day and im really concerned about the freezing rain. Temps 40 to start and stays pretty much in the 40s on saturday, chilly and breezy. Well have sunshine tomorrow and then 32. Theres your snow to a mix sunday, lower temps monday, maybe 41 if were lucky, chilly with more showers. On the Football Game fooled myself cloudy and cold with sleet and freezing rain. I tweeted about this, there is no upside to playing rg3 on sunday. Ill get off my soapbox now. Next seven days. Tuesday we get into showers and rain. It could end in snow. That will not be a driving problem and just cold wednesday and thursday. Were back in the 40s on friday. Thanks. Take notes . Bundle up, folks. Thank you to everyone who has given to our virtual toy drive this season. Youve helped us purchase all the toys on our wish lists and many of your are wondering if there are any other needs for these families . The kids could use shoes and coats this winter, especially this weekend. You can go to www. Wusa9. Com, click on give a gift and there you will also find some of those items on the amazon page and thank you to those who sent cards and wrote on our facebook page. Cat wrote i supported families of homeless veterans. The entire process was so easy. I liked that my amazon prime membership allowed me to utilize the free two day shipping option. Thank you wusa9 for making it easy to get toys to these well deserving children. Yea, cat thank you, cat, for supporting the kids. Together we can make a difference here. Wel the job market continues to improve. The Labor Department says employers added 203,000 jobs in november. Thats 20,000 more than expected dropping the Unemployment Rate to 7 . A little whacky. I mean what can you do, though . It is a law, supposed to obey the laws of the land. Many people are still looking for work, could lose their unemployment checks if congress doesnt extend a program that expanded benefits during the financial crisis. That would make the unemployed eligible for just six months of payments meaning about 1 Million People would lose benefits come january. Coming up next as the world mourns one of the most revered and respected men of our time, Nelson Mandela, one man who worked for him recalls the lessons he learned that changed his life. A subaru. Are the hands that do good things for the whole community the ennmviroent, seniors, kids, and animals. Thats why we created the share the love event. By the end of this year, the total donated by subaru could reach 35 million dollars. You get a great deal on a new subaru. Well donate 250 dollars to a choice of charities that benefit your community. It feels good to be a helping hand. Funeral arrangements have been announced for Nelson Mandela, a state funeral for the former South African president taking place next sunday. This sunday will be a national day of prayer and reflection in south africa and tuesday will be the official public memorial. There will also be commemorations at the south African Embassy here in washington and from World Leaders to entertainment icons tributes are pouring in today to a man who devoted his life to democracy, equality and education. Nelson mandela will be remembered for many things. He will be certainly remembered for the way he led. His dignity, his extraordinary understanding, not just of how to bring democracy and freedom to his beloved south africa, but how important it was that he first brought freedom to himself. You may recall that there were a lot of disturbances after he came out and even after became president where some members of the black community did want to get even and it was mandela who once again stood up and said no, this is not the way to go. So i always see him as the george washington, the Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther king of the people of south africa. Ive been working for Nelson Mandela pretty much my whole life since i was 18. I did his first antiapartheid gig. He made that incredible speech where he said the fight against extreme poverty is not the task of charity. Its an act of justice and that poverty like apartheid is not natural. Its manmade. Here in the u. S. The South African ambassador announced today that washington will serve as the official site for the commemoration of mr. Mandelas life. Bruce leshan joins us live from the embassy right now. So, bruce, for our viewers who want to take part how can they . Reporter you can sign a book of condolences here at the embassy. I imagine you can send cards, too. I think thats what you asked. I couldnt quite hear you. There are books of condolences and theres also a book of condolences down at the Wilson Building you can sign. Theyre also going to have these prayer vigils here every night between now and tuesday 7 00 to 8 p. M. Either out front at the Nelson Mandela statue or in the case of bad weather as were having inside. Then there is going to be a National Service at the Washington National cathedral at 11 a. M. On wednesday. In south africa rain is a sign and in washington in ones and twos and sometimes more people braved the rain to leave a flower, say a prayer, take a puckett in memory of the towering fig picture in memory of the towering figure of Nelson Mandela. Such an amazing model of what a human being can be. Reporter this embassy was once a battleground in the fight against apartheid, the racial separation that mandela fought in south africa, which is why the new south africa erected his statue right here. The statue stands there because that was the fulcrum. Reporter d. C. Mayor vincent gray remembered those american protests as he signed the embassys book of condolences. Today 7th graders dont even know, they have no idea of the struggle. They know of a hero of. Reporter the mayor pledges a hero. Reporter the mayor pledges a new curriculum in d. C. Schools to help teach about the man and the struggle. They are absolutely rock solid, extraordinary, far too rare. We went to lots of protests when i was a kid of. Reporter laura nunn used to come here for protests and brought her daughter back and hopes she will remember something. I just wanted her to know how important the work that he did for freedom was. Reporter andrew mack had a long talk with his son benjamin about mandelas values. You talked about the ability to be a good person when other people around you arent beg good people. People everywhere were smiling. He was that kind of guy. Reporter cedric tumas saw mandelas triumph ant visit as a child in quban west africa. He was in jail for 27 years and got out and said i want to live. Lets walk together. People should remember that in everyday life. We have to forgive and move on. Reporter a good lesson from Nelson Mandela to all of us that will ring down through the ages. Among those whose lives were forever changed by Nelson MandelaArmstrong Williams. The political commentator served as mr. Mandelas personal secretary when he was released from prison. The image of he and his former wife and his family, the bodyguards walking that long walk, we were part of that entourage and its been so amazing to me since obviously its very chaotic here, were not going to have a conversation, but he said when things settle down, come to the house and lets have lunch. We sat down and had lunch and what i was really struck by was his stories about being in prison and how when he went in, how harsh and how raw the racism was and the debates that were raging about because they had white prisons, also. There was a lot of tension and warring going on between the two and what mr. Mandela found was fear. They really didnt know each other, that the government had not only had manipulated and devastated them who were the oppressed, but the oppressed had also destroyed the people there who were the white africanas and he stepped in like a moses and through conversation and reading and through dialogue he built something that they had never seen before at robbins island. They got along, communicated and laughed and hugged each other and told each other their problems. The thing about mr. Mandela said they thought they were changing, but he was transforming, also because he went in with hatred wanting more violence and repudiation of the government, but he left there realizing that if he were to change, he had to put aside hatred and bitterness and he took on a role of forgiveness in order to do that. The hand of god had to be on your life to do that. You had to begin to understand your true purpose in life, what they labor as a terrorist or revolutionary, mr. Mandela could see there was a greater plan. He became humble, gentle, firm, a leader that transcended south africa and all its bitterness and racism. You have to understand south africa was a tinderbox about to explode and many of the people in the movement wanted him to take their home, take their land, destroy white people, kill white people. He said no. There will be none of that. They are just as much a part of this country as we are. We will work together. We will pray together and we will build a better south africa. And that was Armstrong Williams in his own words. In london Prince William and his wife kate were among the stunned moviegoers watching a new film about mandela when the sad news of his death was announced. The audience was told mandela had died just as the closing credits rolled. There had been talk about stopping the screening of the movie mandela long walk to freedom, but mandelas daughters asked that that premier continue. Coming up next police use the grinch to describe two thieves who stole christmas i tried depend last weekend. It really made the difference between a morning around the house and getting a little exercise. Unlike the bargain brand ,nddepe gives you new fitflex®, our best protection. Its a smooth and comfortable fit with more lycra strands. Get your free sample at depend. Com. Caught on camera a pair of grinches stealing christmas decorations. This video was complete with cartoon images of how the grinch stole christmas. It shows a woman in a white jacket as she approaches the house two days before thanksgiving. An hour later she and a male companion return to steal more decorations and heres the worse part. They leave a pile of fake gifts in their place on the homes front stoop. Thats just mean. Mean while a little girl in indiana has been reunited with her teddy bear, this after a Police Officer rescued her stuffed animal. You can see this dashcam video shows Evansville PoliceSergeant Jason cullen getting out of his cruiser to pick up that bear in the middle of a busy roadway. A few miles down the road the family of the little girl was frantically searching for her best friend. We know the importance teddy bears have in society. Nikki had chocolate the teddy bear since she was 4 of yesterday she and her familiar got to personally thank that sergeant for going above and beyond the call of duty. How did the teddy bear out there . Thats the big question. Well, the school has only been around for 15 years, but tonight the Football Team is on the verge of its second maryland state title. Well look at northwest High Schools Team coming up. But first topper is keeping a close eye on the Winter Weather heading our way. Hes going to be back in three minutes with his updated forecast as we give you a live look at the beautiful National Christmas tree all lit up this is a yellow alert day. Now heres wusa9 first alert weather. Were having way too much fun on the commercial break. We need you to be serious. I will, ill be slerious, i will, promise. We do have a miserable night tonight, good news, no freezing. Get your stuff done on saturday. Lets start with video out of arkansas. This is sort of the same system related to us. Look at the icicles on the sign there. That could be a harbinger of sunday here. Were not talking about a snowstorm. Were talking more about ice. It will start as snow. Then it will go to sleet and end up freezing rain and just a tough day to get around sunday, no doubt. Lets start with the difference between sleet and freezing rain. We get a lot of questions about this. Sleet falls frozen, little balls of ice, bounces off the windshield and the ground and can accumulate but doesnt cause the problems on the power lines that freezing rain does which falls liquid and then freezes on contact. That is a big time problem. All right. Big time winter storm watch covers the entire metro area sunday and sunday night primarily for some sleet and freezing rain, not so much for snow, but snow at the onset of the precipitation. So we start losing some of that cold air aloft. The exception, Southern Maryland is not technically under the winter storm watch. Youll probably still see a little frozen precip before it kicks to rain probably by midafternoon. Start time is still between 7 a. M. And 10 a. M. , earlier start time south and west of time down toward culpeper working its way northward. An inch of snow is possible before it changes over to a mix. It stays a mix the rest of the day and most of the night. Temperatures will be below freezing until 1 a. M. On monday. Thats a downtown temperature. Some folks will not make it above freezing all of sunday night north and west of town. Lets start with a live look outside, our live michael and son weather cam, 46 right now, still some rain, winds out of the north, northeast at 9. Heres a look at the radar, the big picture . Rain for us, lots of snow for ohio back into western kentucky. This will move through tonight and stay as rain, no worries about snow or sleet tonight. Pretty good rain is still heading our way. It will be a wet commute across the board down 95, up 270, up to baltimore. The heaviest rain is west of us. 43 bethesda, 44 arlington, 43 fairfax and now 45 in college park and waldorf. So more rain tonight, stay above freezing. Saturday get out and do your errands. Saturday night colder but dry and sunday red alert, a mix all day. Were concerned mostly with the freezing rain. 40s across the board to start tomorrow, chilly, maybe an early shower, then partly cloudy, brisk. Sunday snow to a mix, 32, chilly with showers monday, maybe make 41 and that might be optimistic. Redskin game, cloudy, cold with sleet and freezing rain, temperatures 30 to 32. Next seven days monday weve got showers. Tuesday the rain could end as snow but not a big deal, then just cold wednesday and thursday and back in the 40s next friday. You must be so excited, that snow coming our way. Notice i didnt bring out the breadometer because thats really just a snow event and this is an ice event. Im a purist. Speaking of being a purist, we decided wed let our folks at home get a little sneak peek of how you treat us here behind the scenes. Is that necessary . That is topper. Is that your courier. Its in his contract. He requires us to pull him around the newsroom. Hes not allowed to walk. Thats correct. I knew it would come back to haunt me. If youre wondering why hes sitting that way, hes showing us his candy cane socks and you have them on today. I have Christmas Tree socks tonight. I usually wear them just around the house, but i should wear them now. That is very special. Theyre tasteful actually. You have i dont want to say ugly sweater, like unusual sweater. Im not calling these ugly. Theyre interesting. Jessica is telling us weve got to come out of the socks. Starting the new tradition, the ugly socks with the ugly sweaters. Im calling them festive. Which is a great transition to our hot holiday toys. We are nurturing doctors and dreams with our hot holiday toys. They are so big we left them in the box. The doc mcstuffens get better quick, theres a patient that lights up. Small parts warning, for kids 3 and up. The littlest ones, not so good for them, sells for about 64. 99 and then for the princess in your house look at the disney ultimate dreamcasting. Oh, boy. 3 feet all. Its got all your princesses, cinderella, jasmine, fianna, Sleeping Beauty and the spiraling hair elevator, right . Because every princess castle needs a spiraling hair elevator. Another toy that connects with mom and dads tech toys, yocon lock secrets with the disney magic you can unlock secrets with the disney magic hair app, weve seen it as low as 170. That is a big ticket one right there. So santa better get on it. Weve had a lot of santas who have stepped in recently. The great thing is those toys are going to go to toys for tots. So it will go to a kid in need right here in our area and toys like that are a great way to give joy during the holiday. Wusa9 is teaming up with volunteers of america to focus on five programs that help families. We are hoping to buy all of the items on the wish list and so many of you have helped weve pretty much gotten all the toys off the list. Now we are adding some hats and gloves and scarves to those lists because many of you told me you still wanted to somehow give. We wanted to get the toys out of the way first. Now you can also make a donation and give a gift of maybe some shoes or a coat or send a card at www. Wusa9. Com, a card like this one from larry who wrote the magic of christmas never ends and its greatest gift are family and friends. Merry christmas and happy new year. Same to you, larry. Love our viewers. Weve had a fantastic response. Its been really great to see this resonating with our viewers. Its time to check in with derek. Hes got a look at what were working on for wusa9 news at 6 00. Tonight 18 burglaries in just one day and it was thanksgiving day at that. Police think its the work of a gang thats been targeting d. C. And maryland neighborhoods. Well look at some of the clues. Plus virginia is planning some changes after the son of a state senator stabbed his dad and killed himself, well look at that. And Reagan National airport gets a bit of a dubious distinction when it comes to takeoff and landings tonight on wusa9 news at 6 00. A local school that once hosted Nelson Mandela is rememberinthe late leader tonight. Youll find out how coming up. Already how many times have you seen something suspicious and wished there were a cop there . Im peggy fox. Ill tell you about a new hi tech way to tonight weve got a good battle at m t bank stadium, one of those participants for a championship, Northwest High School, a mere baby in the game. The school has been open a little more than a decade, but the school already had the opportunity to win its second championship. Heres diane roberts. Reporter Northwest High School is putting in the work with an eye on the big prize, the maryland state 4a championship. Its what your goal is every year. Its like the super bowl in the nfl. Its the ultimate goal. We didnt work throughout the whole offseason and summer to come here and lose of. Reporter most people who follow High School Football might not have had the jaguars in the state finals, but here they are, just like they were in 2004 when they won their first state championship as a 3a team then. How could a young school make such an impact in just 15 years . So i think as these schools have popped up theres still people that are used to winning. Theres people that went to seneca valley. Their kids now to go northwest. It doesnt matter to me how long our program has been around. It matters to me wemany guys are on there still playing with me. It matters how much each and every one of those guys cares and how much theyre willing to put into the program of. Reporter northwest will be led on the field by mark pierce, the sophomore quarterback born the same year northwest opened. Im 15 years old. Its just a number of. Reporter pierces brothers went to northwest and he was a ball boy for the team. Ive been around the program a lot of times. Ive seen the ups and the downs. Its good to be part of the program, be a leader on the team, really pick this program back up to where it used to be. Reporter these players hope to leave a legacy of winning for future generations of northwest student athletes. In Montgomery County diane roberts, wusa9 sports. The jags will have their hands full. The suitland rams from Prince Georges County will be standing on the other side, highlights tonight at 11 00. The First Alert Weather Team declared today a yellow alert, but get ready to see some red and white this weekend. Cheap topper shutt in the Weather Center with more on what that really means. This is kind of on our radar since monday now. It has not wavered at all. We talked about the computer models being emphatic, well, they are. Lets start with radar, a lot of snow to the north and west of us. This particular system will only bring us rain. Well have rain the rest of the night and stay above freezing. Pretty good snow is breaking out now in northwest p. M. A. , much of ohio, right along the river but just green for us, just rain. This is the transition and this is the little ribbon of ice heading our way. Well zoom in farther. A wet commute is why we have a yellow alert today going and coming from work. So good news is its light. Beamed news is it encompasses the entire metro area at this hour. We do have a winter storm watch, covers everybody except for Southern Maryland. Were kind of splitting hairs, but i do kind of agree because i think by the time you get to 4 00 on sunday you will be above freezing down toward patuxent river. Everybody else will not make it above freezing during the day on sunday or sunday night north and west of town. Be careful walking. A lot of folks get out and fall with freezing rain. Ice will accumulate on the trees and power lines. Check your flashlight batteries. More than likely well have some power outages. Critical times now are 9 a. M. Sunday into 3 a. M. Monday. Temps will be below freezing. Now its 43 in gaithersburg, 46 downtown, a miserable night, rain but no freezing. Well break down the event on sunday in a bit. The weather bad as it is, thats just one of the big stories were following tonight. Were also tracking the funeral and memorial plans for Nelson Mandela and several cases involving d. C. Police offi. Cers lets get started with a look at the most important stories in your world in 90 seconds. There has been a crowd gathered here ever since the news broke that south africas legendary beloved hero Nelson Mandela has passed away. Ive been working for Nelson Mandela my whole life, 18. He made that incredible speech. The fight against poverty is not the task of charity. Its an act of justice and that poverty like apartheid is manmade. The mystery for biologists that why the whales wound up in water that off this shore is only 2 feet deep. A large group of 24 whales could not be located which could be good news if they went back to sea. Stocks soared on news of increased hiring and lower unemployment. Gains were across the board with the dow crossing 16,000 to close up 199 points. The nasdaq gained 29. Three, two, one. [ cheering and applause ] a north Texas Tollway Authority has about 80 trucks spreading sand on more than 800 miles of highway. Power is knocked out for millions of people an