kristin fisher is live outside of the wilson building with the latest. >> reporter: i know some of you are sitting back saying why do we need a bill that will protect pesky critters but part of the bill is intended to help out and protect you, the homeowner, as well. now, what this bill would do is it would require animal control operators in the district to use humane methods when capturing and removing wildlife from your home. these operators could even kill the animals, provided they did it humanely. that's the bottom line. the bill is all about protecting the rights of this wildlife. but it is also about protecting your rights, as well. this does not apply to mice and rats. it only applies to squirrels, raccoons, possums, animals that like to nest in homes and it doesn't apply to dc residents but only regulates companies.

christie dshes kristin fisher was there earlier. >> reporter: president obama will be taking this stage at 3:00 this diswrarch and he'll be trying to rally support for several democrats running for elections across the state. but of course the big focus is going to be on the race for governor. in maryland. the latest poll just out from rasmussen shows that maryland governor martin o'malley is leading former governor bob ehrlich 49% to 41%. that is eight points. last month o'malley was only ahead by three points. this is enough of a lead for rasmussen's 2010 gubernatorial score card to now hit this race from a tossup to leading democratic. how many students at bowie state university spent the morning watch the media get into position and watching the stage get set up? >> i've been hear since 7:30. i am so excited. i have to go to class soon. >> this is the biggest thing since i've been here at bowie state. i'm excited for obama to come. >> i could not wait for this day. it was like waking up christmas morning. i'm looking forward to seeing him. >> reporter: the rally will start at 3:00 b

kristin fisher has more now from northeast washington. >> i don't think it matters whether it rains or shines. the habitat homes have always gotten built. >> it's wet, it's cold and only been four days since former president carter was released from the hospital, but the former president said he was ready to get his hands dirty after arriving at this habitat for humanity work site in northeast washington. >> i'm perfectly okay. it was a temporary stomach virus and god has blessed me in many ways and one of them has been good health so far. so we are working hard and driving nails. >> reporter: president and mrs. carter are leading 800 dc volunteers at the start of this week-long project. these volunteers will be working all day every day until friday. today is the only day they will be working alongside a former president. >> it is definitely an honor. today is a very exciting day and i'm definitely excited to get to work to put it up. >> reporter: president carter is working on one of the six homes being built from the ground up this week as part of the carter work project. another si

kristin fisher has been following the story and she has more information on the suspect. >> reporter: she is 30 years 'ole and she just walked in the metropolitan metropolitan police department second district shortly before 5:00 this morning and turned herself in. >> reporter: davidson is accused of leaving ryan to die on the day before her 24th birthday. she is charged with one count of voluntary vehicle manslaughter. >> at this time she will meet the judge or the magistrate who will go ahead and deal with her as far as if they are going to hold her or let her go until her court date. >> reporter: the accident happened on the 1300 block of connecticut near due upon circle. ryan was getting out of a car when she was struck by a black suv. the driver sped off. ryan was later pronounced dead at the hospital. meanwhile, police were looking for the hit and run driver. they later found her, thanks to a bicyclist who witnessed the accident an then followed the suv for several blocks before getting a tag number and calling police. >> it was an important piece of the investigation. without h

kristin fisher has the latest information. >> i was in the bathtub and jumped out of the tub somebody was banging on the door and i saw smoke coming down the steps. >> reporter: dirk myth stands and watches as more than 60 firefighters work to put out the fire that has destroyed his home at the rose kroft apartments. >> everything i own is in the house. i just moved in hoar 812 -- here 12 days ago and everything, i.d.s, money, all of my clothes, all my money. i just got my social security check. that's been burned up. >> reporter: the fire started in the top floor apartment but it quickly spread to other units. in total four units were destroyed, and now 11 families are not allowed to return home, including dirk. >> you have renters ' insurance. >> no. i didn't even think about that. i was just so glad to get out here. >> reporter: firefighters are trying to figure out what caused the fire but neighbors say they saw it start from an air conditioning closet on the top floor apartment balcony. but for now, dirk, who lives one floor below is blaming the fire department glen fire departme

in washington, kristin fisher, 9 news now. >>> >>> a consumer alert for the owners of mercedes-benz cars them company is recalling the c and e class models made between june of 2009 and february of ten. the company says the cars have been shown to gradually lose their power steering fluid, making them difficult to control. >>> we're just three weeks away from the november election. >>> coming up next, we will hear why jobs are so important to the candidates in maryland's race for governor. >>> plus, the first of 33 miners trapped for more than two months could soon be rescued. we will have details. i'm bob ehrlich. i'm not the kind of guy who likes to hang on the sidelines. today maryland's in trouble. we're worse off than we were four years ago: dangerous debt, higher taxes, not enough jobs. we need real leadership to turn this state around. fix the budget -- honestly. grow small businesses -- really. excellent schools -- everywhere. protect the bay -- finally. it's why i'm running -- to make the state we love not just good, but great. now let's get down to work. >>> turning our attenti

in lusby, kristin fisher, 9 news now. >> thank you, kristin. >>> the forms are also problems in virginia because some commuters found themselves looking for a new way to get to work this morning. vre had to cancel all service on the manassas line trains. and the rail service is apologizing for the short notice. low hanging power lines in the alexandria area were blocking the tracks. >> is this going to be really inconvenient for you? >> yeah. because the traffic takes more than one hour and 30 minutes to drive down to dc. >> reporter: how long would this take you on the line? >> you mean if i take the vre, only 30 minutes. >> reporter: virginia dominion power says it has fixed the leaning pole that caused the power lines to sag, but vre says the manassas line service is cancelled for this afternoon. riders with a valid vre ticket can ride metro from noon until 8 p.m. >>> how much rain did we get? howard is here with some of the answers. >> tons is one word, but we will get the numbers in a moment. thankfully we are watching the storm. it is gone now and bugging new england with heavy rai

kristin fisher is live in northeast washington with a preview. good morning, kristin. >> good morning. nobody likes to start a construction project in the rain, but so be it. the very first habitat for humanity volunteers have a-- are arriving at this work site in northeast washington and joining me is the president and ceo of the habitat for humanity in washington, d.c. thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you for being here. we're excited about the day. >> what exactly are you going to be doing today and throughout the course of this week here? >> we are kicking off 12 houses with president and mrs. carter for the work project and it is extremely important for us because this is an area that has long been expecting revitalization and we subscribe to the neighborhood revitalization initiative and president and mrs. carter have been instrumental in helping to advance that with their name and presence and we are excited about that. >> 12 homes in this sigh i have city neighborhood will be renovated or rebuilt over the course of this

kristin fisher is live from dc superior court with a preview of the proceedings. good morning. >> good morning. this is a case that not only transfixed washingtonians but the entire nation. and almost ten years after her murder, opening statements in her alleged killer's trial are set to start in just under five hours at 10:00 a.m. now, the defendant is none other than 29-year-old ingmar guandique, an alleged -- he's an illegal immigrant from el salvador and alleged ms-13 gang member. he is accused of raping and murdering the 24-year-old intern in may of 2001. her body wasn't found until a year later, so there is no dna evidence, no murder weapon and no eyewitnesses. ingmar guandique says he's not guilty in this case, but he is already in prison for attacking two oh women in rock creek park. and that's where the bulk of the prosecution's case is going to come from, jailhouse informants. prosecutors say that ingmar guandique admitted to his former cell mates he did dill levy. so their testimony will be a key part of the prosecution's case and another person that co

kristin fisher, thanks for the update. maryland race is heating up. >>> we don't expect a ruling until next year in the case involving the funerals at our fallen troops. the case involves a father of a fallen marine. his son's funeral in maryland was picketed by the west borough baptist church. the church says the deaths of u.s. troops are divine retribution for tolerance of homosexuality. the soldier's father says the protest violates his right to privacy. >> there's no line that can be drawn here without shutting down a lot of speech. >> there is a civilized way to express an opinion in america but it does not involve internally inflicting emotional distress on others. >> reporter: a court originally awarded snyder $12 million in the initial ruling. >>> a 37-year-old woman is dead after a stabbing at a vietnamese restaurant. police were called to the five t bar and april grill in the 7,000 block of spring garden for a while drive last night. the victim was pronounced dead at the scene. a 40-year-old man was found dead at

kristin fisher is following this commuter alert. she's live from the train station in rockville. kristin? >> reporter: hey, good morning, andrea. well, three marc trains have now been cancelled for this morning. i want to show you where they are and what we are talking about. this is a map of the marc commuter trains systems. this is union station, dc down here. montgomery, frederick county, washington county and this is the brunswick line starting at martinburg and frederick and this, the three trains cancelled are all along this route here. the trains we are talking about. one of them happened this morning at phi clock this morning out of brunswick. the two other marc trains that have been cancelled are train 894 departing frederick at 7:20 a.m -- excuse me, i'm so sorry. it is 89 departing frederick at 7:10. and train 880 departing brunswick at 7:40. those are the two other trains that have been cancelled. the best alternates are 894 departing frederick at 7:20 a.m. or 878 departing martinsburg at 63 o. it will hold at the brunswick station until 7:40 this morning. other alter

that's where we find kristin fisher. kristin i good morning. >> reporter: good morning, andrea. we now have three marc trains that have been cancelled for this morning, and there could be more cancellations coming. this is the situation if you use the marc train you are going to want to check their website, mt a's website before you head out to begin your commute this morning. i want to tell you why this happened first and foremost. this all started yesterday afternoon. unfortunately, police say, there was a -- this was an apparent will suicide and a train literally struck a person who was standing on the tracks south of where i am now at the rockville station. that shut down the brunswick line for several hours during the heart of the evening rush, which meant that many of the marc crews were not able to have their federally mandated time off duty last night. the federal railroad administration rules require that all crews operating passenger trains have eight hours of off duty every night in between trips. so now marc does have some stand by crews but not enough to staff at no

kristin fisher is live at the mayflower hotel. the site of the press conference. good morning, kristin. >> reporter: good morning, andrea. michelle rhee is expected to announce she will be out as chancellor by the end of the month and this means she will likely be replaced by her close associate, deputy chancellor henderson. the news is really no prize. it's really more of been a matter of when she would resign, not if. ever since her boss lost to to vincent gray. one day after fenty's loss she called the defeat devastating for dc's school children. rhee did meet with gray after comments were made. clearly they were not able to work through their differences. during her tenure, she closed dozens of schools, fired principals, hundreds of teachers and took on teachers unions and created a system of merit-based pay in which compensation was determined by improvement in test scores. she was seen as aggressive, unapologetic and supporters credited her with turning around the dc school system. >> i think that what she attempted to do was a little drastic to those who we

kristin fisher is live from that site with a preview good morning, kristin. >> good morning. you know nobody likes to start a construction project when it is raining but so be it. the first habitat for humanity volunteers just started to arrive at this work site. you can see the white tent behind me in this northeast dc neighborhood. over the next week, a thousand habitat for humanity volunteers will be building or renovating 86 homes in dc, baltimore, annapolis and three other cities across the country. 12 of those homes are located here in northeast washington. and construction will be taking place all day, every day this week and it all starts this morning at 8:00. now, the big headline event is going to be taking place at 10:00 this morning, and the headliner is of course, former president carter. this project is his baby. this is the 27th year for the carter work project in washington. and, you know, keep in mind this is going to be president carter's first public appearance since he was admitted to the hospital last week for that nasty stomach virus. so, he's going to b

kristin fisher is live outside of the supreme court with more on this case. oral are good morning, kristin. >> reporter: good morning, jessica. members of the church have been all over the news for protesting at military funerals and today their actions will be looked at by the highest court in the country, the u.s. supreme court a and the big question is who's right? are their actions protected by the constitution and the first amendment, or do the military families have the right to privacy, the right to bury their loved ones in peace? now, this case all started more than four years ago in maryland where seven members of this kansas-based church protested across the street from st. john's catholic church during a marine killed in iraq. they believe that u.s. soldiers are being killed because god is punishing america for homosexuality. snyder one even gay but members carried picket signs at his funeral, that read thank god for dead soldiers. for matthew's father, he says the protesters were clearly in the wrong. >> my son and hundreds of thousands of men an

kristin fisher is live on location where some scenes, some chase scenes were being shot in northwest. good morning, kristin. >> good morning. well, without a doubt the thing that had everyone talking yesterday on the first day of filming of transformers in washington wasn't the stars or all of the street closures, it was an unscripted crash between auto bot bumblebee and a dc police car. all right. now i know you want to see it. put down your coffee. here it is. it was caught on tape by a fan of the movie who wanted to stop by and see the filming, and this person got more than they bargained for. the crash happened around 3:30 yesterday afternoon at third and maryland in front of the national museum of the american indian. the dc police k-9 unit was enroute to a suspicious when it slammed in to to bumblebee while they were filming the movie. the area had been shut down by police as part of a number of street closings to accommodate the filming but heying accidents happen. and the police officer and the stunt car driver walked away with no injuries but bumblebee not so much. he was tak

kristin fisher is live at the wilson building with more. good morning, kristin. >> reporter: hey, good morning, jessica. i know some of you at home are thinking, woe, hold on. why do we need a bill that will protect these pesky critters but it is actually intended to help out the homeowner, as well. what it would do is require that wildlife control officers in the district use humane methods when trapping and removing these animals from your home. you could still even kill these animals if need be, but the bomb line is you have to do it humanely. now, this bill would not apply to rats or mice or animals like this. what it would focus on is animals like squirrels, raccoons, possum, animals that love to nest in your home. it doesn't apply to residents. i only regular lathes companies. so all of that sounds standard and freight forward. one is causing the bulk of the controversy. it states a wildlife control operator shall make every reasonable effort to preserve the animal family units and not knowingly abandon dependent young inside of a str

fisher is joining us live along constitution avenue with the latest. >> reporter: good morning, kristin. >> reporter: good morning, angie. the weekend is starting a day early for most employees a the commerce building. they have been authorized to take administrative leave after this fire. although they are encouraged to telework if they can swing it. only people that do indeed need to show up for work today if you work at the commerce department are what's called the emergency designated employees. let's talk about this fire. it started at 8:00 last night on the third floor of the commerce building the building is currently undergoing a massive multi-year renovation and it just so happens that the fire broke out in the section undergoing asbestos removal. no one was injured but it was bad news for the firefighters because it meant they were exposed to asbestos while knocking out the fire in that construction zone. >> that elevated this incident to a different level, bringing in specialized teams to go in, to decon our personnel. >> a deacon -- a decontamination for firefighters was set

kristin fish -- kristin fisher is there with more. good morning, kristin. >> good morning. maryland is a strong state for democrats and here in prince georges county it is especially true. and especially so for president obama. he's very popular in prince georges county, and that's going to be a big reason whooshes he's going to be speaking here today, alongside governor martin o'malley. he's going to be stumping for him very hard. he's also going to be talking about other democrats running for election this november. now, obama is not alone in his support of governor martin o'malley. keep in mind, in the past week there's been a huge surge in the number of star politicos that have tried to influence the outcome of this race for maryland governor. last tuesday, when president obama released his radio ad backing o'malley, that same day former massachusetts governor mitt romney endorsed ehrlich. the next day o'malley announced that bloomberg would be campaigning for him in bethesda. quickly that was followed by the news that former new york city mayor rudy giuliani was endors

kristin fisher is tracking the commuter alert for u.s. and she is live at the foggy bottom station with more. >> good morning, jessica. we are talking about adding an extra 40 minutes to your commute if you are planning to ride the blue or orange line through downtown washington this morning. and i want to show you why. take a look at this map. you can see the problem. we are talking about the fact that both the farragut west and mcpherson square stations are closed and will stay that way until 5:00 tomorrow morning. there will be no service at the blue and orange line also. so that means orange line trains are operating from vienna fairfax to foggy bottom and federal triangle to new car rollton. and blue line from federal triangle to largo town center. free shuttle bus service will be available around the closed stations. metro says they chose this weekend to do all of this work because rush hour ridership is usually down 40% on columbus day. take a look at this graphic and you will see what i mean. in 2009, metro reported 358,000 trips

kristin fisher is live in southwest washington to explain. >> reporter: good morning. this street right here, third street in between independence and constitution is going to be shut down starting at 6:30 on the an will likely stay that way until thursday. this is one of many street closures dc commuters will have to deal with the next few days because of the movie transformers three. as i have been showing all morning we have three pages of street closures and parking restrictions to deal with. so if you want to see them and learn more about how they might be affecting your commute and where you are parked, go to our website at wusa9.com and we will have a full list. that's the bad news. more bad news for people who have been opening to get a sight of their favorite autobot or decepticon. this was filming yesterday at the arlington air force memorial and that's where a lot of families brought out their kids on the federal holiday, columbus day in hopes of catching a glimpse of their favorite hollywood star. take a listen. >> great movie. i wanted to bring the kids ou

kristin fisher is live with the latest. >> reporter: good morning. michelle rhee is expected to announce she will indeed be stepping down as dc school's chancellor by the end of this month. and she will likely be replaced by her close colleague, the deputy chancellor of dc schools kya henderson. the news is not that surprising. it has been a question of when would she resign, no if she would resign ever since her boss, mayor fenty lost the democratic primary to vincent gray. one day after the loss she called the defeat devastating for dc's school children. rhee did meet with gray after the comments were made. clearly they were not able to work through their differences. during her tenure she closed dozens of schools, fired principals and teachers and took on teachers union and created a system of merit-based pay, a controversial system in which compensation was determined by improvement in test scores. he was aggressive, unapologetic. supporters credit her with turning around the troubled school system but opponents say her aggressive reforms were di

our 9 news now's kristin fisher was at the supreme court and filed this report. >> the sign on my left says "thank god for dead soldiers ." >> they are here preaching hatred. >> thank god for breast cancer. >> that really hurt my feelings. >> people on both sides of the supreme court battle squared off for hours on wednesday morning. a father of a soldier who says families have a right to privacy and he had a right to bury his son in peace. >> we're here to show this isn't the only side. that there's love and opposition. >> reporter: in addition to all of these people holding signs check out this massive line of people waiting outside of the supreme court. this line stretches all the way down this block and around think corner. many of the people in line are interns or law students, and they say they are willing to wait hours in line because they believe this is the beginning of a historic supreme court case. >> we discussed the case and for me it is an emotional side aside from the law. these people are ignorant. you have to laugh at them and not get too mad about the situation and th

kristin fisher has more on the conditions there. howard said no rain to exacerbate the flooding but you have one family that's got more on their plate than that. >> absolutely. but let's take a minute and enjoy the fact it has indeed stopped raining. how nice is this? after 36 hours of solid rain, this county has seen over a foot of rainfall. the cleanup is certainly going to continue here in calvert county, especially for this family. the owners of this home. this is just an unbelievable scene of devastation for this family. check this out. you see the sign here? notice this home has been condemned and i'm going to show you why. let's start by looking just underneath the door. the entrance to the door and you see the crack, the space between the bomb of the door to the walkway up to it is at least about six inches, maybe a foot. and if you go left, walk with me over here and you will see the big problem. yesterday afternoon the foundation to this home completely collapsed in the middle of all of this rain. the ground that i'm stand

kristin fisher is standing by live at dc superior court with more information. kristin? >> reporter: hi, jc. opening statements in the case wrapped up a half hour ago inside of a very packed courtroom. and it started with the prosecution making their case against 29-year-old ingmar guandique. and here he is. he is an illegal immigrant from el salvador and he's accused of raping, robbing and murdering 24-year-old chandra levy while she was jogging in rock creek park in may of 2001. the prosecution told the jury in opening statements if you are expecting dna evidence or eyewitness accounts it's not going to happen. remember, levy's body wasn't found until about a year later. so the prosecution says any dna evidence washed away. therefore, the prosecution's case is going to center around testimony from jailhouse informants, specifically ingmar guandique's former cell mates who say that ingmar guandique confessed to killing levy while in prison. the defense countered by saying ingmar guandique did not do it. they say there is dna evidence in the case and it exonerates ingmar

kristin fisher sat down with both sides of the controversy one day before the grand opening. >> i'm christina and i'm the daughter. >> i'm kimberly and i'm the mom. >> we are the owners. >> this mother daughter duo is one day away from opening the store of their dreams. where anything is possible and no one under 18 is allowed. >> it's a legal business. there's a lot of enfie tell did in marriages today and if there were more stores like this, maybe people wouldn't be afraid. you should be able to go in and buy anything you want for you and your partner. >> reporter: i'm not allowed to bring the camera inside the store. they want to keep ate surprise until saturday's grand opening but it seems to be your pretty straightforward adult entertainment store. not that i would know but the store says they have adult dvds, lotions, lingerie and more. what's the problem? to find out i'm going to meet with one of the biggest opponents, councilman way. >> manassas has had a long time reputation of being a wholesome family town and while we appreciate that every type of business and all persons have the

kristin fisher has the latest. >> reporter: authorized to take administrative leave after the fire but they are encouraged to telework the only people that have to come to the commerce department to work today are emergency designated personnel. let's talk about this fire. it started around 8:00 last night on the third floor of the building, the commerce building. it is currently under a mass i have multiyear renovation and just so happened the fire broke out in a section undergoing asbestos removal. good because no one was inside the of building and everyone was successfully evacuated and no one was injured but it was bad news for the firefighters because it faint were exposed to asbestos. >> it elevated the incident to a different level bringing in specialized teams to go in to decon our personnel. >> a con contamination unit was set up along 15th street shutting down traffic for hours. every firefighter that went in the building had to be washed off using special chemicals to get off asbestos fibers they may have gotten on their bodies while fighting the fire. the fire department wi

kristin fisher is live from the site where police are searching for suspects and a motive. >> one of the victims who was shot just over here in this apartment of public works parking lot is still in the hospital in good condition, but the other victim has indeed died. he is 51 years old, from suitland, maryland. his name is larry hutchins. he had been an employee here for 24 years. police are trying to identify the person or persons who killed him. dpw is part of the metropolitan police department family and we will work around the clock to bring the responsible persons to justice. these people work too hard to have senseless shootings take place while they are trying to do their job. >> police found two employees at the department of public works had been shot to at the entrance to a parking lot. police say it is not a drive by but said the shooter was wearing some kind of uniform. we don't know if it was an employee here and we don't have a motive and there is a chance of a second suspect. police won't confirm if they have anyone in custody. all they will say is they are interviewi

. >> reporter: i'm kristin fisher in manassas where an adult entertainment store is one day away from opening. it is called kk's temptation and it's owned by this mother/daughter duo. >> i'm christina and i'm the daughter. >> i'm kimberly and i'm the mom. >> and we are the owners of kk temptations. >> what do you think of the store? >> i love stores like this. temptation is an interesting name. don't know what to expect. may find interesting things in there. >> historic town and doesn't make it look good. >> i had my doubts when i first heard about it but it is legal and lets potential customers decide whether they stay open or not. >> reporter: johnathon way tried to find a way to shut them down. now he is on a mission to make sure other sex shops don't start to pop up in old town manassas. >>> i'm armando trull in silver spring where a family grieves for a dead son. 27-year-old ali moment of silver spring died outside of the dc 9 club after an altercation with personnel. >> the assault was predicated by the fact he threw a rock through the window, broke a window at the establishment

kristin fisher is down there and we will check in with her later this morning. we have anne arundel, baltimore, the areas north and east and stafford county sheriffs report closed roads due to high water from the heavy rains we had yesterday. the momslikeme.com bus stop forecast, i foresee few spots except for spotty showers this morning and drizzle. 50s and 60s to low 70s on the lower eastern shore. sunrise a at 7:04. the day at a glance, mid-60s at 9:00. 80ish for noon if not upper 60s and 72 at 5:00. mostly sunny skies to finish out the day. the winds are northwest at 10 to 20. the plus sign means gusty. gusts to near 30 miles an hour. tonight, clear and chilly. the winds will drop off 44 to 54. a very cold night so far this year. haven't much colder than this. northwest wind five to 15. we will go back to the heaters potentially tonight. sunny and pleasant near 70. a beautiful saturday in store. northeast winds five to ten. going to friday night football should be good for that and don't forget dc high school sports.net is the website for the high school foo

kristin fisher is live from the foggy bottom station with news on how this could impact the morning commute. kristin? >> reporter: i could get ugly out there because if you are riding or planning to ride on the blue or orange line through downtown washington, you are going to need to add an extra 40 minutes to your commute if you ride on the red or yellow line. certain sections you will have to add 30 minutes. i will break it down for you using the ipad. check this out. here's the deal. if you are riding on the blue or orange line, they are going to be closed, these two metro stations right here, farragut west and mcpherson square. they are going to be closed on the blue and orange line. also, metro center is not going to be open for anybody on the blue and orange line. what this means is that the orange line is going to be open from vienna fairfax all the way to fox give bottom. then you are going to have to take a shuttle bus if you are going from here to foggy bottom. metro service will resume on the orange line. if the -- for the blue line you have service from franconia springfield to

kristin fisher is live outside of the court with a preview. >> good morning, jessica. this is a case that will likely take several months for the u.s. supreme court to issue a ruling on, but the process all starts right here this morning. and the big question the justices will have to decide on is whether or not these protesters are protect -- protected by the constitution, first amy, freedom of speech or whether the military families win the right to privacy, the right to bury their loved ones in peace without these protesters shouting or singing nearby. now, this is a case that started in maryland more than four years ago when members of the kansas-based west borough baptist church protested across the street from a funeral of a marine killed in iraq, lance corporal matthew snyder. these people believe that u.s. soldiers are being killed because god is punishing america for tolerating homosexuality. they carried picket signs at his funeral that read thank god for dead soldiers. his father says the protesters were clearly in the wrong. >> my son and hundreds of thousa

kristin fisher is live from dc superior court. she has the latest on the proceedings. >> reporter: good morning, mike. this is a case that not only transfixed washington unions but also the entire nation. and now, almost ten years after chandra levy's murder, opening statements in her alleged killer's trial are set to start in just under four hours right here at dc superior court at 10:00 this morning. now, the man at the center of it all is 29-year-old ingmar guandique. he is an illegal immigrant from el salvador and an alleged ms- 13 gang member. he's accused of kidnapping, raping and robbing the 28-year- old captiol hill intern while she was jogging in rock creek park in may of 2001. but her body wasn't found until a year later. there's no dna evidence, no murder weapon and no eyewitnesses. that will be tough for the prosecution. now ingmar guandique says he is not guilty in this case but he is already in prison for attacking two orwomen in rock creek park. anthers where the bulk of the case will come from. jailhouse informants

fisher is live from calvert county with more. good morning, kristin. >> hey, good morning, andrea. this is really the bull's eye for the storm. calvert county. they have gotten over a foot of rain since the storm started. road have been closed. some homes, some businesses have flooded. there's been mild spotty flooding, but i think perhaps the best example of the kind of damage the storm caused can be shown right here. come walk with me and check out this home. it is pretty incredible. yesterday afternoon the foundation on this home literally collapsed and you can see just over here, this concrete wall here literally split in two and if you look down you can see it was almost like a mudslide. half of this front yard literally collapsed right in to the basement of this home. now incredibly nobody was inside at the time of the foundation collapse. otherwise officials say somebody could have easily been crushed behind this concrete wall. you can see this poor family's belongings are covered in rain, completely soaked, and you know,