Hello and thank you for joining us. Im andrea roane. The National Security agency surveillance techniques are continuing to stir controversy and grab headlines. Ko im shows us how a federal judges ruling on the issue dealt a serious blow to the Data Collection program. Reporter president obama sat down with the c. E. O. S of more than a dozen tech firms at the white house to talk about the problems with healthcare. Gov and the nsa surveillance practices. On monday federal judge richard leon issued a 68page opinion saying the program that collects phone records of millions of people is probably unconstitutional. He added, quote, i have little doubt the author of our constitution James Madison would be aghast. The government says the so called met take data can help identify potential terrorists without infringing on privacy. Former nsa contractor Edward Snowden exposed this and other secret monitoring programs earlier this year. Top executives from Companies Like apple, facebook and google with users and customers concerned about government snooping are calling on the Obama Administration to scale back the surveillance practices. Some firms are working on technology to shield user data from government spies. But in the case of telephone records, legal experts expect Appellate Courts to back the nsa. 15 judges have ruled 35 times to uphold the program. I think its more likely than not that this case will be overturned. Reporter the white house says it is reviewing which spying programs should continue. Ko im for cbs news, the white house. Judge leon had expected a government appeal so hes put his ruling on hold for now. Today the push continues to increase d. C. s minimum wage. Earlier today d. C. Councilman tommy wells joined a growing list of d. C. Residents calling for an increase of the minimum wage to 12. 50 by the year 2017. And to demonstrate how hard it is for families to get by on the current minimum wage 8. 25, councilman wells is living on just 98 a week. That covers food and transportation costs for thousands of District Residents who are paid the minimum wage. Right tbhow the southbound lanes of right now the southbound lanes of connecticut avenue has reopened after a 12 inch water main break earlier this morning. Crews are in the process of replacing the pipe and say they should be finished with repairs by 4 00 this afternoon. Delia goncalves has a closer look at what it will take to get it all fixed. Reporter a double whammy for folks here along connecticut avenue. The water main break not only caused a traffic nightmare this morning, it forced some businesses to shut down for the day. A 12inch water main break made a muddy mess of connecticut avenue and the morning commute painfully slow. The break shutting down portions of connecticut avenue between n and m streets northwest and two blocks of 18th. I work at eagle bank. We reported it and we followed all the guidelines. Now were moving to the next location. Reporter a number of businesses out of water shut down for the day and sent employees home while other folks dodged mud and puddles to get to their offices. Im usually the first person in a little bit before 9 00. I guess, you know, ill just walk in and see weights looking like in our building. I hope they can fix it as soon as possible. I think our country as a whole is affected by the deterioration of our water infrastructure. Its a large ratio that i think people with pipes being underground, people dont see it physically every single day until you run into Something Like this. Reporter in northwest, delia goncalves, wusa9. D. C. Water hopes to have the pipe repaired by the evening commute. Today a judge will sentence a longtime d. C. Pediatrician on child pornography charges. In september dr. Robert dickey pleaded guilty to a federal charge of possessing child pornography. The 74yearold was arrested in may after investigators raided his home office in southeast washington. Dickey faces a maximum of ten years in prison as well as a fine of 250,000. Hel also be required to register as a sex offender following his release from prison. If youre willing to give up your fingerprints and go through an extensive background check, theres a new way for you to sail through security before your next flight. The Transportation Security Administration has opened its first precheck facility in alexandria. It costs 85 but it means you dont have to take off your shoes or take out your laptop the next time you fly. Its a huge convenience for the passengers and for us, it allows us to pay more attention to the passengers that we know less about. Once you register, you get a known travel number that you enter when you buy a ticket. Its good on Nine Airlines and more than 100 airports nationwide. Next, megaball mania. You can soon buy your own private jet and avoid all of that provide you play and hit tonights megamillion jackpot. The purse is annual estimated 586 million but its expected to increase before tonights drawing at 11 00. If ticket sales are strong enough, this Lottery Jackpot could surpass the alltime record of 656 million. Still to come when the news continues, winter thaw comes a little early but howard says dont be fooled. His forecast is up in ten minutes. But first, see how a simple handwritten note can go a long way to lifting ones spirits in this digital age. J whats really in store for Young Athletes dreaming about the future . John feinstein offers up some headlines. Tell us what file trouble is about. I call it faction because even though Terrell Jamerson who is the star and danny wilcox who is the point guard and buddy and running mate are fixal characters, high school seniors, they could just as easily be real. They could be Andrew Wiggins or Julius Randall iii, the super star freshmen who never expect us to be in College Years from now. Hes be recruited from every college in the country but also by shoe company reps, by agents, by aau coaches and some cases people who are supposed to be his friends because they all see him as a human atm machine. When i was a kid, i had trouble deciding in the morning what i wanted to wear to school to impress the girls. Heres an 18yearold kid who has all these people coming around including girls and drugs. Including girls and drugs, exactly right, saying this is the right path for you. And its very difficult. Even though it looks glamorous and you hear, hes the next lebron james, its not as glamorous and you have to make difficult choices. Unfortunately as we know from many experiences, many that ive had as a reporter that they often make the wrong decisions. Its difficult not to make the wrong decisions because he talked about his mother and getting a house. Weve seen that i covered a story like that with a young player here. I was telling you earlier in researching this, the 2001 Intercollegiate Athletics commission, this guy some say is a sleaze, he testified the corporations offer big money so they can make money off the student athletes and the universities grab money for the same reasonable. That was 2001. 12 years later nothing has changed. No, if anything its gotten worse. He represented nike, reebok. Last i look were major corporations making money. Got Michael Jordon to sign with them. Among many others and lebron james with nike more recently. But the point is everybody is making money off these kids. Thats terrell faces this dilemma because hes being told on the one hand if you take the money from the agents and shoe company reps, thats clearly off limits, out of bowfnldzs. Bounds. But if you go the other way, go to college and dont break the rules, then the colleges make millions off of you. The coaches make millions off of you. Because when you get to the final four, what happens . Contributions go up. So everybody is making money off of you. You go, wheres mine . Why shouldnt i get some of this . It really is a conundrum for these kids who i often feel story for sorry for. Its a good read, maybe even for the coaches. Congratulations on another good book. Howard, how is the forecast looking . Kind of chilly out here. Weve been stuck in the clouds. Temperatures havent moved much. Many 30s around. In some spots we have a little precip falling. Some light snow still in western maryland and light rain showers off to our east. Well talk about chances for rain and snow this afternoon and of course a little taste of spring as well. Wusa9 news at noon returns in todays hightech world, the cards and letters we used to send in the mail are more likely these days to drop in our email boxes but getting a handwritten card or note means so much more, especially when youre not feeling your best. Making sure everyone who wants and need as card like that is what the pink ribbon love letters project is all about. Reporter this is ann kinneys fourth grade Language Arts class at Carrollton Elementary School in new carrollton, maryland. She teaches reading and writing. Todays assignment is a little different than usual. Just like the vocabulary list which includes the words courage, survivor, resist and hope. Never lose your hope. Reporter words the students are writing when they send poems, letters and get well cards to total strangers who are Cancer Patients or survivors to help put them in a happy place. Let your heart say you can. Just know god is watching over you and i am, too. Stay strong. I wrote fighting the cancer, yeah. I fell through every crack there was. Ive been misdiagnosed four times. Reporter victoria ann Russell Walton is a Breast Cancer advocate and survivor. Falling through those cracks even cost her loss of sight in one eye but what pulled vicky on the healing side after brutal fouryear cancer ordeal were the love letters and spiritual notes she received from her beloved mother daisy may russell. She always made me understand that this walk is not about me. Its about what im doing for my community. Reporter vicky told her story a few months ago at carrollton elementarys career day. One little girl gave me a little card and said feel better, get better. You can do it. Reporter thats when it hit her. What she could do for your community. She started the pink ribbon love letters project and called on these 9yearolds to help her send out the good vibrations to survivors. Some even offer advice in the form of a corny joke. Knock knock. Reporter whos there . Medicine. Reporter medicine who . Drink medicine every day. I wrote a line across it, eliminate the cancer. Sometimes as adults we go to the left with this and the first thing we want to talk about is death. Their thoughts are so pure. They dont stop to think this person may die. They stop and say this person needs to hear something to make them happy. Reporter the letters go to anyone in need of encouragement and prayers, from maryland to california and as far away as sarah leon in africa. Just know i want to help you. Do not cry. Do not be down because i know you can do it. This is going to be so exciting. Reporter vicky comes to the school regularly to collect the letters. Thank you so much. This is the first one i have in spanish and english. Theyre so focused on the positive and making sure its a happy letter or a happy card or a happy picture. They dont understand the bad side of cancer. Reporter but some do like timothy. For him its very personal. My mom is fighting cancer, too. My mom was very sick and i help my mom feel better. I write this letter to you, stranger. I hope you feel better. Keep writing the encouraging cards. Remember that youre sending a smile somewhere. They might think we dont understand but i do understand and i care. Vicky is just working with Carrollton Elementary School for now but said the word is spreading and other schools are anxious to partner with her. Shes also getting requests for cards from as far away as japan and russia. If youd like to help by donating supplies through pink ribbon love letters, well post a link to vickys website at wusa9. Com. It is time for howard to tell us whats going on with weather. One minute its winter. The next minute its going to be spring. Just give it a couple of days. If you have a bike that maybe needs the tires pump up, youll have opportunities friday, saturday, maybe sunday. You want to get december golf in, definitely golfable toward the end of the week so some outdoor weather coming up in a few days but winter is far from over. Lets show you the forecast for this tuesday afternoon. A little cloudy and hazy out there. Weve had some showers in spots. Some light snow still falling across parts of far western maryland. A couple of showers here and there. A little break for a few hours and then i think a better chance later this afternoon, especially south and east of d. C. For a few more rain showers. Its borderline cold enough that a fran decision to wet snow flakes wouldnt surprise me but the temperatures will be low 40s, even upper 30s by 9 00 so im not concerned with anything other than wet streets. How down county, Howard County had a light dusting. Across parts of hagerstown. Amy in flint stone said she had an inch earlier. Maybe a little more than that right now. Snow is falling across parts of new england. Locally were looking at a little bit of snow, rainsnow mix here in the hagerstown area heading back into garrett county. South and east of us, this is where were seeing some light showers. Not all of this is reaching the ground but it does look like were getting a few showers on the Eastern Shore from queenstown to chestertown and south and east. Maybe a few sprinkles, especially along the 301 corridor. But locally just the low clouds are hanging out. I want to show you the visible satellite imagery. This is kind of neat. We have all the clouds in d. C. And north in the mountains. Look to our south and west. See the dark colors . That is sunshine. Fauquier county, south and west of charlottesville, down to the blue ridge, where the sun is out, what a difference in temperatures. Theyre in the low to mid50s from harrisonburg to lauer to luray. Still 28 hagerstown. 33 westminster. We think its a different season there just a couple of hours to our south and west. Were going to warm up nicely here by the time we get to thursday and especially friday through the weekend. Outside on the mike equal son weather camera, a little hazy, cloudy, 37. Very light wind out of the south at 3. This time with the low sun angle and the clouds stuck, were not mixing the air very much. Kind of staying on the chilly side. But the cold stuff, boy, its up across northern minnesota and into the northeast where its 5 this afternoon in ottawa. 3 in caribou. 27 below earlier in the adirondacks. For us a chance of some showers will be with us, especially south and east this afternoon and again this evening. Notice all the rain here with a little bit of snow in the mountains well west of us. Southern maryland through 9 00, midnight the Northern Neck going to see some rain there which could mix with a little bit of wet snow showers and then by tomorrow morning were clearing out. So the sun returns tomorrow. Still on the cold side tomorrow. Then after that, almost spring like. 43 this afternoon. A few more showers, especially south and east of town through the evening hours. We cleared out some overnight so 31 by tomorrow morning with 20s north and west. Tomorrow 40 but it will be blustery, even though the sun will be out. Then much milder thursday, 54. Even warmer for friday. Well be in the low 60s. Saturday low to mid60s with a chance of a shower late in the day. Best chance of rain will actually be later sunday, sunday night with a cold front and back in the 40s on monday. We have a nice treat for you in the can i welcome back. Were in the kitchen with some holiday bites with a twist. American bistro holiday bites with a twist. Matt is the executive chef of the restaurant in cleveland park. This segment is sponsored by ardeobardeo. Ive been there many times and enjoy the food. Tell us what you have here. I have roasted Sweet Potatoes with onions and a little bit of roasted honey crisp apples. That looks beautiful. This is a sweet potato apple soup. Theres bacon apple jam and some craisins. That is a hot dish. Yes, maam. Then you have the holiday special menu and thats where we have these beautiful scallops. Were showcasing this for our holiday menu. Its pan roasted scallops, soy, bens country ham and theres a spiced cranberry puree. Assemble it for us. The recipe is on wusa9. Com. A nice hot skillet here. Yes, nice, hot skillet. Salt and pepper on the scallops. We have about a minute. These are large scallops about ten to a pound. Were going a little quicker because of tv time. So four is enough for two people or one . This is one portion. Its the holidays. You got to eat a lot, right . Absolutely. A nice hot pan. Is seafood expensive this time of year . Depends whats in season. Most of the stuff right now is a decent price. So let somebody eldo the work for you and it makes owe let somebody else do the work for you and it makes it even better. Well caramelize them. Put a little butter in the pan and fresh thyme. We have about 30 seconds left. I know were rushing. We have fresh greenery. Asian greens with soy, nice and buttery. The cranberry is this for the scallops. The cranberry puree. You simmer and puree it. Again, this is the finished product. Well let you know tomorrow how good it is. Thank you, matt. Thank you very much. Thank you for watching. Were always on at wusa9. Com. The next newscast is at 5 00 p. M. Have a great day. Howard and i will see you tomorrow