Apply. Not alter the work of the peoples representatives. Reporter republicans are calling the nominee impressive. Respected, and a consistent conservative. But judge gorsuchs path to confirmation wont be easy. Democratic senators are already lining up in opposition to him. I have very deep, serious concerns as to whether he is in the mainstream. Reporter democrats point to judge gorsuchs record on Womens Health re rights, and privacy rights as being outside of the mainstream. The most important criteria for Senate Minority leader chuck schumer. He said he has very serious doubts about judge gorsuchs ability to meet this standard. Gorsuch will need to win over some democrats to get 60 votes needed to gain confirmation. Weijia jiang, cbs news, capitol hill. The 60 vote rule is a senate rule to stop the filibuster. However, republicans can invoke the socalled Nuclear Option which would do away with the filibuster rule meaning it would take only 51 votes to gain confirmation. But they may be reluctant to do so in case the gop is in the minority the next time theres a Supreme Court vacancy. The army plans to approve the Dakota Access pipeline within days. After an executive order from president trump. Saying the project can move forward. Meantime, the Standing Rock sioux tribe plans to move forward until an environmental study is finished. The last section to be finished is under the Missouri River in north dakota which runs near tribal land. With 20 executive orders and ten days, plus a Supreme Court and cabinet nominees, there has been no shortage ophyrons at play in the less than two weeks donald trump has been president. And of course people are passionate on both sides of the issue. But as wusa9s hilary lane explains, some people are having trouble having their voices heard. I am not political at all. Reporter but the issues at stake have motivated arlingtons gina to pick up the phone and get political for the first time in her life. It was time for me to kind of lace up any boots and my boots and get in there. Reporter when she called her representative to talk about issues like president trumps cabinet picks and the Affordable Care act, she didnt get very far. [ phone ringing ] this mailbox is full and cannot accept new messages. To disconnect, press 1. Literally our voices cannot be heard. Because nobody is picking up the phone. Reporter so what are the next steps you can take . We spoke to former hill staffer ben goodman and heres some advice he gave us. First, dont stop calling. Its hard an elected official to ignore the phones ringing off the hook in his or her office. To have your voice heard on the particular issue, send an e mail. Its quicker than snail mail. The more people you can gather together to write about the same issue, the more likely it will catch the eye of legislative staff and then will eventually reach your elected official. With facebook dont expect your comments on the elected officials page to make a big splash. Staff dont monitor facebook as closely and while d. C. Is where all the Big Decisions are made, stop by and get to know the staff at your elected the officials smaller district offices. District staff have the ear of the congressman because theyre driving him or her around the district. Theyre taking them to events and getting to know them or congresswoman out to an event in your district and getting to know them and invite the staff out to learn about your concerns and see what it is you want to tell them about. Developing those relationships are going to be critical. Reporter hilary lane, wusa9. And we have much more information including a link to find your elected officials Contact Information on our website. Wusa9. Com. The search for that bobcat missing from the national zoo has been called off for now. Today zoo officials are trying to put fears to rest about the public being in danger. They say animals are generally afraid of humans and pose little threat. But as many as 13 schools canceled recess since the bobcat vanished two days ago. More than a dozen people at an assisted Living Center in Anne Arundel County are going to be okay after the Carbon Monoxide fumes filled their building. Someone working at the chris lee assisted Living Center in maryland heard the c. O. Detector going off and got everyone out of pge shut off gas to the building and now are looking for the source of the leak. Nobody was hurt. Well, before you get too used to a pretty seasonable forecast today. Big changes are coming again this weekend. Heres meteorologist melissa nord with the first alert forecast. Andrea the first day of february today and certainly it is not feeling much like wintertime outside. We just wrapped up january with our average temperature six degrees above normal. Another un just unprecedented warm month that we have had. Now overlooking the skyline right now. It almost looks kind of cool like the morning sunrise with these beautiful orange yellow colors showing up. Lunchtime 43 degrees and clouds are hanging tight today. And with that temperature, slowly going to be climbing up for the 40s to around 50 degrees later this afternoon. Already 054 to 54 in orange and 45 in gaithersburg. And a weak front draped over the area keeps the clouds in place. Keeps e and theyve got a couple of snow showers that are still lingering in the mountains. This is futurecast this afternoon. Were rolling the clock forward stopping it at 2 30. Mostly cloudy and hanging right around 50 degrees in the metro area. And a stray shower around your evening commit at 6 30. Commute at 6 30. But most of us are dry. Bigger story towards the weekend. Going to be the falling temperatures and with those colder air temperatures in place, will there with the possibility of be the possibility of rain or snow Come Super Bowl sunday . Ill be breaking down that information for the weekend talking about that possibility and of course you can always get that seven day forecast on our free wusa9 app. Andrea . Thanks measles. Weve been talking about it for years, Affordable Housing is a big issue here in the district. And now city leaders are saying poor regulation of home sharing Companies Like airbnb is making it worse. As wusa9s evan koslof reports, a new bill has been introduced to try and emphasized that this is not meant to regulate the typical user. That just rents out their home every now and again. Instead they say it goes after people who dont even live in the units and are buying them solely to put on websites like airbnb. They say this takes the housing out of the hands of locals and chips away at Affordable Housing. Where were standing in Columbia Heights is pretty much ground zero for where we see this kind of activity occurring. Reporter Valerie Irving is joining us along 13th street in Columbia Heights where she made headlines a month ago when she did what she called a sting operation as the Affordable Housing building. She used airbnb to rent a room inside and claims that nearly all the rooms were being rented through the home sharing site. You can buy a building. You can buy several buildings and you can live in delaware. And not live in the district. And displace entire communities and drive up the price of housing in the district. Reporter now the owners of the building denied the accusations back in december. Nonetheless, the regulations have grown. At city hall on tuesday, people held signs saying no more hotels. And stop gentrification. And councilman mcduffy formally introduced new regulations. It would limit hosts to renting one unite at a time and only in permanent homes. We want to lay out a scheme so that residents understand what they can and cannot do. We also want to give our district Government Agencies the tools that they need to enforce the laws on the books. People do not want to see their neighborhoods turn into you know, these kind of popup hotels. Reporter if approved this bill also sets the punishments for violations. After the first offense, youll be paying up to 1,000 after subsequent offenses its up to 7,000. Reporting here in the south center, evan koslof, wusa9. Worth noting d. C. Wouldnt be the first city to take action. Similar legislation has been passed in new york, new california. Also they passed something similar in Arlington County just last month. Well, car crashing into your home would be a big deal for just about everyone except Leonard Miller of lanham. Maryland. It appears the driver of this car lost control and crashed through the brick bawl into his wall into millers living room. Now because leonard as to deal with had been has to deal with the Insurance Company and contractors you think hed be upset but how many times has a car crashed into leonards home . Five times. Only fife times . Glyph been here since 71 and this is the first time in many years now because when they fixed the road up the street here that took care of the big problem. So you have a house to be hit five times. Yeah, we remodel quite frequently. To say the least. Five time this is the same thing has happened. Whlice are still investigating no injuries were reported. Pictures from the final frontier. If you think these are impressive. Find out why the experts at nasa say you aint seen nothing yet. But first, Heart Disease, every 80 seconds it claims a womans life. Next, see why early heart screenings can make the difference between life and death. Welcome back to wusa9 news. Ladies, its time to show your heart some love. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women. More than all cancers combined. On average, a woman dies of Heart Disease every minute of every day. Now the best way to avoid Heart Disease is to get screened and know your risk factors. But a new National Survey shows women are years apart when it comes to knowing when to start those screenings. As the mother of a 2yearold, erin knows the importance of regular checkups to make sure her daughter is th health . She admits she wasnt as proactive. At just 26, erin learned the hard way she had heart problems. I just got like a really strong taste in my mouth and the right side of my body went numb. Thats not uncommon. Many women assume heart probes wont affect them especially at a young age. Many people believe that its a disease that mostly affects men. However, women are equally affected and in fact, were still you know we have been dying more Heart Disease than men. The best way to avoid Heart Disease is to get screened. And know your risk factors. Be a new survey by Orlando Health department shows women health shows women are way behind knowing when the screenings should start. The American Heart Association recommends Healthy Heart screenings start at age 20. But the survey found only 8 of women said screenings should start in their 20s. 60 didnt think they were recommended until after age 30. Certain cardiovascular diseases we have higher risk than men. So its extremely important that we start early. Screening should include your blood pressure, the weight, cholesterol levels, glucose levels, and some may want to consider an ekg or other heart test to uncover any existing heart conditions. Information erin didnt know that could have cost her her life. Once you know its come the light you can do preventive measures. Something like mine was so easy with an aspirin a day and i wouldnt have had that problem. I would have started it you know ten years prior to that. All this month, wusa9 is committed to saving lives from Heart Disease. Today were kicking off a month Long Initiative called heart love. Throughout february, we will be hosting especial events and one of events and one of them begins on february 8th as we partner with inova urgent care to provide you Free Heart Health screenings at north arlington, dun loring, manassas and tysons and West Springfield. They are all free of charge will run from 4 00 to 8 00 p. M. And ill be at the West Springfield center and i hope youll join me there. You can find more information on all of the events and their locations on our wusa9 app. Or at wusa9. Com. Check out this cascade of molten lava from hawaiis kilauea volcano, expert says its coming from a lake of lava and its pouring into the pacific ocean. Right now the flow isnt posing any threat to nearby communities. Well, it appears space travel doesnt only change your view of the world, but apparently your dna as well. Astronaut scott kellys year in space changed his dna at least temporarily. He and his twin brother mark were part of a study to see how space travel could impact humans longterm. The brothers shared biological samples before during and after scotts trip. Mark was on earth the entire time. When scott returned, scientists noticed several changes. The first he was a full two inches tailer than his brother. Also the caps at the ends of scotts chromosomes lengthened while in space. Now those caps typically shorten as we age. Many of scotts results reversed themselves after he got back to earth. Check out these new pictures to have icy rings around the planet of of the icy rings around the planet of saturn. Nasa just released the pictures taken by the spacecraft. This is the closest view of the planet ever before seen. In april, it will embark on the final mission plunging between the rings before disappearing and burning in the planets atmosphere. Nasa Scientists Say the pictures of saturn have yet to come. Remarkable looking at pictures like that saint . Oh it is. And i just want do go back to the lava flow for a second. Yes. When that hot lava is hitting the really cold ocean explosion and some of the explosions were going twice as high as the rocks. The cliffs that the lava was flowing off of. Just remarkable. When we talk about the force of nature, it is really powerful and these new images from beyond space are incredible as well. Look at that. Oh it is. Hopefully gets you a little more interested today in science and space weather and earth weather. Weve got to because what is it 25 years were in mars according to all of the visionaries . We will have to see. We will have to see. All right, lets talk about our weather though because this weekend, a lot of people have sunday on their minds. Theyre going to be able to cook out in the backyard . Throw the football around . Before the big game on sunday night and we have been watching the last couple of days that potential for maybe some rain or snow showers. Im going to update you on that coming up in just a second. Nice glow to the sky through lunch hour due to the mainly cloudy sky and just a little bottom of the horizon you see the sun poking through. So icr glow. Weve got a stalled out really slow moving front. This is leaving the clouds around today. Its leaving full spotty showers a few spotty showers and also notice theres snow still cranking up in the mountains where theres a Winter Weather advisory in some of the higher elevations. Right along the alleghany front. But the rest of the day here do you to that front were going to keep a mainly cloudy sky around. So at times you may have a little bit of sun poking through but overall the clouds will believe around and light breeze coming out of the west around 10 Miles Per Hour and top out in the upper 40s to near 50. Theres also the chance of a stray shower most of us end up staying dry though. So were starting february tomorrows groundhog day. But if you dont believe that prognostication, which theres no Scientific Evidence at all going into what he says, then you need the look at this outlook. This is whats actually predicted for the month of february. This is what the Climate Prediction Center they look at some longrange forecasts and look at the entire lower 48. Look how we have all the orange and reds colors showing up . What this means the theres an average temperatures. So just like january was warm, february also looks like we will end up warm as a whole. But within the month were going the bet some warm trends and also some cold trends. So looking towards the weekend, what im tracking is cooler temperatures. Look at this. We go from 50 today down to 40 on saturday and when we have the colder temperatures if place, and in place, and just little moisture working in thats the potential for a little rain or snow shower action. Now today versus what it looked like yesterday, and the day before, looks like a smaller chance. So im leaving a slim chance of a rain or snow shower. It would be afternoon timing mainly. But otherwise its just going to be cooler for the weekend. I dont expect big road impacts if we see anything. In more than anything just a few flurries and just for entertainment purposes only, this is the most excited model out of all the weather models showing snow potential for sunday. Yeah. Were just not really going to see any. Its going to be another snow drought that continues into first whole weekend. Maybe beyond that of february. All right so next three days the trend is returning colder towards the weekend and tomorrow more sunshine. But breezy. 47. Groundhog day tomorrow, watching that potential for a shower or flurry on sunday. And back in the mid 50s on tuesday. Well be right back with more wusa9 news at noon after this. A recently opened restaurant in brussels offers a new experience to adventurous food keys, how about a reservation for two 16 feet below the Swimming Pool . Its installed. For about 100 customers get a full meal complete with diners dive into the pool to get their meal in the spherical underwater cabin. Customers whove never dived before can take an Introductory Lesson right before the meal. 16 people have eaten at the restaurant since it opened. We dont know if they went back for a return visit. Well lot you know about that. When we come back one final look at the forecast. And with the billion pointme giveaway, its about to get more awesome. To claim your share of ali bilon shop your way points during the big game, download the shop your way or kmart app today tonight on wusa9 news at 5 00, students at the university of maryland rally to support fellow students stuck overseas in president trumps travel ban. And quick check of the weather. Mostly cloudy today. Turning colder for the weekend. Groundhog day is tomorrow. Watching that or shower possible on sunday. Wonder if hes going to be the pogo stick like the forecast has been up and down. Thats it for wusa9 news. Well be back at 5 00. Until then have a great afternoon. [ captions by caption colorado, llc 8007757838 email comments captioncolorado. Com ] jack call me back as soon as you get this [ groans ] [ knock on door ] stop pounding just come in phyllis hey. Jack hey. Have you seen lauren . Phyllis howdy doody to you, too, jack. No, i havent heard from her. I assumed she was gonna be here. Jack well, obviously shes not. Phyllis whats with the attitude . Rough day . Jack im fine. I just want to finalize this deal if your boss would ever show. Phyllis well, lauren will be here. Shes probably stuck in traffic. Have some water. Relax. Everything will go down as its supposed to. Jack not if jill has anything to say about it. Phyllis jill . Jack jill owns half of fenmores, something lauren failed to consider. Now jills ready to blow up the whole deal