Transcripts For WUSA Wusa 9 News At Noon 20151214

After this. No protesters outside the courthouse. It has been quiet so far. As reported, the defense is inside right now making its final argument in the case of Police Officer william porter, in the death of freddie gray. Porters attorney joe murtha calling the prosecution of this Police Officer, quote, a rush to judgment, accusing prosecutors of, quote, preying upon the fears that arose after the death of freddie gray in baltimore, saying there was a complete absence of real evidence. This is after prosecutor Janice Bledsoe spent an hour and a half in front of jurors, sometimes quite impassioned, raising her voice, summarizing her case, saying that with great power comes great responsibility. She said gray was loaded in a police wagon, hog tied on his stomach, headfirst, his neck broken sometime during that van ride as he slid around on the steel floor of the van, and the critical moment in this case is when she said officer porter at one stop found gray so limp on the floor inside the van that he had to be lifted up onto the seat. Gray pleaing he couldnt breathe. Porter accused of ignoring grays pleas to get a medic. Gray saying i cant breathe. Instead, the ride continued and porter is accused of failing to seat belt gray. Bledsoe held up a seat belt at one point and said it would have taken one second to connect the seat belt. Prosecutors call it gross negligence and because gray died, they argue its manslaughter. The 12 jurors are expected to have the case within an hour or two as the defense wraps up its arguments. Baltimore preparing for whatever actions this jurys verdict may spark. Live outside the courthouse in baltimore, scott broom, wusa 9. Of course you can follow the case on the wusa 9 app and of course here on wusa 9. It was three years ago today, 20 Elementary School students and six staffers were killed at sandy hook Elementary School in newtown, connecticut. Earlier today, demonstrators rallied outside the National Rifle Association Headquarters to honor the sandy hook victims and to call for an end to gun violence. The family also of wdbj reporter Alison Parker was there among the demonstrators. They expressed their disappointment in lawmakers refusal to take a stand against anyone being able to purchase a gun. Its aiding and abetting terrorists. What the senate did two weeks ago to when they could have prevented people on the nofly list to have access to firearms, and they voted it down. I mean, its insane. To me, again, i think its aiding and abetting the enemy. Listen to this staggering number. According to the Brady Campaign to prevent gun violence, 90,000 american lives have been lost to gun violence in the three years since sandy hook took place. Thats more than all of the americans who died in the vietnam war. And tonight in bethesda, an interfaith vigil will be held to remember victims of sandy hook and the tens of thousands of lives lost to gun violence since then. The vigil takes place at 7 00 p. M. At the Unitarian Universalist church in bethesda. Services for a fallen Montgomery County Police Officer will start this afternoon. The viewing for noah leotta runs from 2 00 to 4 00 p. M. In gaithersburg and resumes from 7 00 to 9 00 p. M. This evening. His funeral is set for tomorrow at 11 00 a. M. Officer liota was struck by a suspected drunk driver on december 3. He died last thursday. The driver of that crash is facing charges now. One man is dead in prince georges county. Police are now calling this a homicide. It was just before 10 00 last night at Fort Washington that police made this discovery. Nikki burdine has the latest. Reporter police say the initial call was for a car crash, but when they got here,  they quickly realized it was much more. About 9 00, i go to my bed and i heard the impact of the car. Reporter neighbor Antonio Hernandez says he saw the car in his front yard on tucker road, right of a of allen town road. Inside, a man slumped over. He knew something was wrong. Police say the man was pronounced dead at the scene, but the cause of death was not the accident. It was trauma to his upper body. Police say this was not random. The victim and the suspect knew each other. In Fort Washington, nikki burdine, wusa 9. A developing story now, two teenagers are under arrest and police are looking for three more after thousands of dollars of ipads, mp3 players and other electronic equipment was stolen from a Salvation Army warehouse on 8th street in southeast dc. It was robbed saturday night. Now today the Salvation Army will perform an inventory to count the losses. It was a historymaking weekend in saudi arabia. The results are in from this weekends elections. Women made their voices heard in saudi arabia. 17 women were voted into various municipal offices across the country, and this is the first time women have been able to vote in municipal elections. It is also the third municipal election held in the country since the 1960s. So how will the environment be affected when it comes to the merger between two power giants in the dc area . Dc City Council Committee is going to weigh that and a list of other things connected to the pepcoexlon merger. You can comment as well. The meeting is coming up at 1 00, less than an hour from now at the wilson building, room 500. Critics say the mayor forced through this deal after the company promised to fund a new soccer stadium for dc united. The future of Fantasy Sports is the focus of a debate in annapolis today. Lawmakers are taking a closer look at multistate online betting sites. New yorks attorney general is trying to stop sites like fan duel and draft kings from operating in that state. He says Fantasy Sports essentially is illegal gambling. Maryland allows Fantasy Sports betting, but the state law is tailored to small groups playing for an entire season, not like the daily sites. A vote is expected today on an issue that has divided Montgomery Countys Public School community recently. Its about the school calendar. Superintendent larry bauers is now recommending the School Year Start on monday, august 29 and end on june 16. Just last month, the School System decided to accommodate families who celebrate the muslim holiday eve by Closing School on september 12. To accommodate that day, students will now attend school on october 21. Officerinvolved shooting. Civil rights activists call for an independent investigation into the shooting death of a california man at the hands of deputies. And holiday procrastinators with less than two weeks until christmas, you are now officially on the. Welcome back. Im mike hydeck. The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department released Surveillance Video and pictures after the shooting death of a man two deputies shot by two deputies over the weekend. Deputies fired 33 times after they claim the man refused to drop his weapon. Don champion reports. Reporter the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department says this Surveillance Video shows why deputies opened fire on 28yearold nicholas robertson. It shows robertson holding what investigators say is a gun. Moments before the encounter, people called 911, saying robertson was acting erratically and firing rounds. Like at least seven times in the air. We showed he had a weapon in his hand throughout the whole encounter. Theres going to be criticism any time theres a deputy involved shooting. Thats why weve come out today to try and be as transparent as we can. Reporter the shooting happened saturday afternoon in lynnwood, california. Investigators say deputies opened fire after robertson refused to drop his gun. In all, two deputies fired a total of 33 bullets. After the first shot and he hit the ground, he was immobilized. There was nothing you could really do to him. Just to stand there and keep shooting and reload and keep shooting, it was just it was uncalled for. Reporter the Sheriffs Department says robertson posed a risk to several people who were nearby. There were several citizens, civilians in that arena that Public Safety was critical here with a suspect who is armed and highly populated area. Reporter robertson was a father of three. The deputies involved in the shooting have been reassigned as part of the investigation. Don champion, cbs news. Maryland governor larry hogan is promising to help rebuild the annapolis yacht club. A threealarm fire broke out at the yacht club on saturday. It took 90 firefighters several hours to bring it under control. Witnesses believe a Christmas Tree may have started the whole thing. Hailing a cab in arlington will cost you more soon. Also ahead, donald trump is now targeting senator ted cruz. And out at dulles, we have already tied the record before the noon hour at 67 degrees. Everybodys in at least the mid 60s, if not higher than that. And were tracking rain and a big cooldown for the weekend. Ill have welcome. Always a friendly hello. Always a perfectly flaky crust. Always mrs. Smiths flaky crust pies. The only one made with real butter and abundant seasonal fruit. Warm and welcoming and fresh from your oven with our flakiest crust ever. Youre always welcome at mrs. Smiths. To campaign 2016, were a little more than 24 hours away from the final gop president ial debate of the year. Tomorrow, donald trump is expected to keep his focus on senator ted cruz. As jamie yuccas reports, cruz is surging in iowa and gaining ground on trump nationally. My whole life has been about winning. Im going to win. Reporter a determined donald trump wasted no time pouncing on his rival ted cruz. You look at the way hes dealt with senate, where he goes in like, frankly like a little bit of a maniac. Reporter a des moines registerbloomberg poll shows cruz with a 10point lead in iowa. Cruz has been reluctant to criticize trump. He would like to win over trump supporters. However, the texas senator did post a lighthearted comment on twitter with a link to the 1980s song maniac. Reporter republican strategists say cruz could be just as polarizing to the electorate as trump. We need more female voters, more hispanics. Instead of learning those lessons, you have candidates like cruz and trump doing the exact opposite. Fight for the future we deserve reporter another new poll Shows Hillary clinton would defeat trump or cruz in the general election, but she would narrowly lose to marco rubio or ben carson. Nine gop candidates faceoff tomorrow night in las vegas for another prime time debate. Jamie yuccas, cbs news. Mike huckabee, Rick Santorum and Lindsey Graham did not make it into the main debate. They will appear earlier in the evening as the undercard, as they call it. Rebranding washington football, the day after the redskins win over the bears on the road, first road win of the year. Activists want the teams name changed. They want it to happen now. This morning, they are headed over to headquarters of the team, delivering a petition to owner dan schneider. Dan schneider has publicly many times said he will not change the name. If you have something to say about Governor Terry mccull loves latest budget plan, you have a chance. The budget includes nearly 13 million . Pottery for veterans services, also 7 million for education programs. The first two public hearings are set for january 7 in fredericksburg and chesapeake, virginia. Its going to cost you more cash for a cab ride in arlington soon. The county board voted to raise fares for the first time in four years. The plan is to increase the initial charge by 25. The permile rate will go up by 6cent. New fares start january 1. A typhoon slammed into the philippines today. Thousands of people were driven from their homes in the eastern portion of the country. Schools were shut down for a day. Flights were canceled. And they are still bracing for destructive winds and coastal flooding of up to 13 feet there. And as we around here savor the warm temperatures, people in texas are facing treacherous driving conditions because of snow. Part of the highway in amarillo, texas which shut down after several inches of snow fell there, the wintry weather started late saturday night and one busy highway is expected to remain closed throughout the afternoon. Maine, a much different story. No winter cuts, unusually warm weather, snowfree december calls for teeing it up around the state. The owner of one of the golf courses in scarborough says he has had unusually busy days this winter. At this time last year, there was snow on the ground and no golf. When you were standing on the weather deck, looked like there was sun overhead. There was a little bit of sunshine coming out through the clouds. Its mostly cloudy out there, but it is warm and breezy. Winds are out of the south, so its just heading to the upper 60s. Weve already tied one record and a lot of other ones are in jeopardy as well. So warm, all the stores and restaurants digging back out their outdoor tables to enjoy over the weekend. Today, very warm once again. However, things are changing. The first half of the week is still okay. Its still pretty comfortable, but by the end of the week, well have a second front head our way and that one is going to bring in some pretty typical temperatures for december. So enjoy the nice weather while we have it. We do have the clouds out there, with a little bit of sunshine and that southerly wind. Were seeing temperatures soar. 66 degrees right here through the district. That wind is out of the south. This time of year we usually dont talk about dewpoint, but its a little humid, at 60 degrees. Thats ahead of the front coming through tonight bringing showers with it. 68 for leesburg. We already tied the record out at dulles, so temperatures will keep on climbing. Well get to the details later on tonight. 67 was at dulles. They have several records out of dulles. 70 degrees for dc, tying the record many times. Baltimore at 71 degrees. Its going to be close. We could tie or break that record here in the reagan national. Heres the rain were tracking. Its not a lot of heavy rain. Its pretty light. It will continue to break up a bit as it gets closer to our area. Scattered showers for your drive home. Its not going to be a washout, not going to be hard to see, but definitely inconvenient when youre trying to drive home. Inconvenient when we enjoyed such a nice weekend. All of a sudden now here come the clouds and the rain. Here with are with our closest showers heading up 81 corridor. Well see showers continue to push up closer to the 81 corridor, near winchester. Then later on tonight after we keep seeing temperatures climb, well have a round of showers push on through. Timeframe for the best chance of scattered showers, or the most steady rain across the area will be between 4 00 and 6 00. Then later on tonight, well start to see things wind down. Ill show you that on future cast. Those winds are going to stay breezy. In fact, up to 20, 25 mileper hour winds later on this afternoon, right through the evening. Lets time it out on future cast. Cloudy skies, moments of sunshine here or there. Nice warm days. Its our warmest day of the next seven. 3 00, still dry out there. Just isolated showers, 81 down through culpepper and fredericksburg. A lot of the showers expected to break up a bit. By 5 00, this is when were trying to drive home and here comes heavier rain. I say heavy relatively speaking. Pretty light out there. Parts of 66, along 95, the beltway, youll be needing the windshield wipers across the area. To 5 30, the heaviest rain near baltimore. If youre commuting anap liz and baltimore, youll run into that. By 7 00, more consistent rain is out of the area, but were not done with our chance for showers lingering around near 81 and off to the north and west, even as late as 10 00 tonight. After midnight, winds turn and well get everything out of the way. Sunshine for tuesday and wednesday. This is a pretty weak front. Were not going to see a big blast of cold air this time, but after our front on thursday, different story. Make sure you know where the winter coats are. Youll need them this weekend. I dont think were going to see as many people outside this saturday and sunday. 68 degrees today. 63 for tuesday. 62 for wednesday. And we are going to see showers again on thursday. More heavy rain as well. Friday,. Welcome back. Royal dutch shell is planning to cut 2800 jobs once it completes its takeover of british rival bg group. Those losses amount to 3 of the combined workforce, and thats on top of shells previously announced plan to cut 7500 positions. There could be a nationwide ban on micro beads in products like soap, toothpaste and body wash. Environmental experts say they easily travel through Water Treatment plants and they enter the waterways and can eventually be eaten by marine wildlife. The house has approved the ban. Now the measure goes to the senate. Chinese ecommerce giant ali baba is planning to buy the Hong Kong English language newspaper called the south China Morning post. The deal is worth about 266 million, including properties in hong kong editions of casmo poll tan and esquire magazine. They believe it will help improve chinas image in the western media. At least thats what they hope. Amazon says no to hover boards. The retailer is pulling most hover boards from its online sales after reports of the toys catching fire. Sales are suspended until manufacturers can provide documentation proving the hover boards meet safety requirements. Blue bell ice cream is coming back. The Texas Company says it is back on store shelves now. Blue bell spent months cleaning its production plants to ensure the ice cream is safe to eat after a listeria outbreak back in april. The ice cream was linked to listeria cases, including three deaths in kansas. And expect long lines at the post office today. The Postal Service predicts this will be the busiest mailing and shipping day of the year. Keep in mind, you have until tomorrow to send packages and letters standard mail so they will get there in time for christmas. Express mail is still very much an option. Its a white house tradition dating back to the truman days. Today, First Lady Michelle Obama is visiting Childrens National Health System in northwest. Mrs. Obama will take a tour, visit patients and thank the staff for their work. Following the tour, she will read to the children and take their questions. The rain moves in at some point today, right . Yeah, its not going to be a washout, but nuisance shower moving through right in time to drive home. No one likes that. Were going to see temperatures climbing until the rain arrives. Take a look at your sevenday forecast. Headed to the upper 60s, or find it on your app. This weekend, get ready. Its going to be very cold. That will do it for the news at noon. Abby so, weve picked a date, and we have compromised over the color scheme. Stitch and by compromise, we mean i let abby decide everything except for the shoes. Well, im wearing a suit, but my feet got to be comfortable. Abby [ laughs ] he still thinks that hes gonna wear sneakers. Yeah. No. Its never happening. Stitch no . Its bad . Abby no. Okay. Whats going on . You two have been giving each other death stares since you got here. Victor we were discussing your wedding plans. Lets stick to that, all right . Abby great. Its another round of abbotts vs. The newmans. Whats the fight about this time . Victor my sweetheart, lets not get in to it. Ashley we might as well just tell her. Shes gonna find out eventually. Abby find out what . Ashley your father. Has decided to sue jabot more specifically, me