hail. but for frostburg, for hagerstown, for frederick all seeing this line head down to the south. you can see there's a tremendous amount of lightning not just cloud-to-cloud but cloud-to-ground lightning with it and showing some signs too of a lot of wind pushing out of this storm just west of frederick, maryland, around areas of 270 and 70 right now. as we go ahead and take a look at where this line is heading, it will be making its way southeastward toward frederick in the next 21 minutes, toward damascus in the next 44, toward clarksburg in the next 52 minutes. the possibility of some hail with this line as it comes south. possibility of some downpours and that means lowered visibility on area roads. we could also see frequent lightning and you can see there's another little cell that's just north of bethesda, maryland, right now. that's the one we've had reports of hail. it's headed toward the northeast toward ashton and clarksville and another cell headed eastward. we've got all this going on with the high heat across the area as we maxed out at 101 degrees. reagan national airport, temperatures currently sit between 90 and 99. so we're getting a cooldown. we'll talk more about what's going on with these storms in a couple of minutes. >> we'll stay in close touch throughout the evening. veronica, thanks. redskins fans won't have to wait long to see rg3 out on the field. the heisman trophy winner officially signed with the team this morning. >> the deal is reportedly worth about $21 million. melissa has more now from redskins park. >> reporter: it's a four-year deal worth about $21 million. here is a picture of rg3 signing on the dotted line earlier today. it was released just after he tweeted this. well, people, it's time to go to work off the unemployment line and, oh, yeah, httr. i assume that's short for hail to the redskins. griffin's agent says the heisman trophy winner will be in rookie camp today. he was the second pick out of baylor. of the $21 million about two-thirds is a signing bonus. it also includes a club option for a fifth year. griffin wasn't considered a holdout because training karp doesn't officially begin until july 26 but he did miss two days of rookie camp. nobody expected a prolonged holdout but it's always good to have a rookie, especially a rookie quarterback in camp as soon as possible. >> because he's extremely talented. i think it's going to be a big upgrade for the redskins to be able to have him this year. >> i know that my husband grew up with the redskins and he's really excited about it. >> glad to have him on the team. hope he's ready to hit the field. >> reporter: no doubt it will be a very busy summer with lots of fans showing up to get a glimpse of rg3. at redskins park, now back to you. well, the ink is still drying on rg3's contract but the redskins quarterback is already trying to put fear into his opponents. >> it weighs on you. >> check this out. adidas released this new commercial yesterday. it shows the former baylor player getting into a defender's head by being everywhere. the player seize griffin dressed as a police officer, bus driver, even a trainer. you then see him speed through the defense. the ad is for the shoe maker's newest shoe. stay tuned to news 4 for more on the signing of rg tleechlt we g we now know what caused that computer glitch that shut down the entire metro system twice. it happened saturday afternoon and early sunday morning. a glitch in the computer system at the metro rail command center left controllers blind, unable to see where trains were on the lines or to control switches remotely. metro stopped all of its trains as a precaution. today metro says a bad metro module caused the problem and it has now been replaced. they warn trains may need to run at slower speeds because of today's extreme heat. a fleet of ride-on buses in montgomery county has been pulled off the streets after yet another one went up in flames this morning. check this video out. it caught fire near the intersection of ramsey and bonafont streets. there were no passengers on board and driver escaped unharmed but today the executive said all of the buses made by champion will be taken out of service permanently. the bus drivers union says at least a dozen of those buses have caught fire the last couple of years and they're concerned about their safety. pat collins will have more coming up in a live report at the top of the hour. some of the military members involved in that secret service prostitution scandal in colombia will not face criminal charges. the associated press reports seven army soldiers and two marines will receive administrative punishment for their involvement. that follows an investigation by the u.s. southern command. several secret service agents lost their job over the scandal. that happened a week before president obama visited colombia back in april. the nation is heading for a so-called fiscal cliff at the end of the year and there's no lifeline in sight, apparently. today treasury secretary timothy geithner said the congressional standoff over taxes and spending is having a tangible effect on the nation's economy. here's brian mooar. >> reporter: as congress struggles to disarm a budget doom's day clock of its own making, treasury secretary tim geithner says the uncertainty is threatening to stall the economy. >> it's stuck and it needs to get unstuck. again, the most powerful instruments of economic policy that the country needs right now are in the hands of the congress. >> reporter: if congress can't find compromise before december 31st, the bush era tax cuts expire for every single american and $115 billion in automatic defense and domestic spending cuts kick in. fed chief ben bernanke says it could be a devastating 1-2 economic punch. >> if that all happens, that will no doubt do serious damage to the recovery and probably would cost a significant number of jobs. >> reporter: in the defense industry alone, 100,000 jobs could be lost, but that's not an estimate. >> we are unable to reliably estimate how many employees will lose their jobs and how many families are going to be disrupted. >> the president's position is clear about what congress needs to do. >> reporter: the white house is telling congress to find a solution. congress is already preparing for the worst. >> this vote, the yeas are 414. >> reporter: the house voted to force the white house budget office to start drawing up a report outlining the cuts it will make on january 1st. >> we're simply saying to omb tell us how it's going to go down. >> reporter: a fiscal cliff hanger with the whole world watching. if there is any pulling back from the fiscal cliff, it looks like it will be after the election. they call him blade runner. oscar pistorius will become the first disabled athlete to compete in the main games rather the paralympics. it's at the center of a controversy sparked by michael johnson. the gold medalist says he believes pistorius may have an unfair advantage because of his metal prosthetics and he should not be allowed to compete. johnson says pistorius is his friend and is aware of his stand on the matter. meanwhile scandal has hit the olympics just days before the opening ceremonies. the security company hired to staff the majority of the events now says it will only have half the expected number of guards ready to go. the british military is now being deployed to help fill in the gap. nbc's michelle kosinski has the latest. >> reporter: checking bags, guarding athletes now being done by soldiers and police scrambled from under the u.k., because the security company g4s, the world's third largest private employer just figured out it cannot meet its target. of the 10,400 guards they were going to provide, it admits only having half that number ready. >> a fiasco and a shambles. it's inexcusable. >> it's a humiliating shambles, isn't it? >> it's not where we'd want to be. >> reporter: the ceo says he learned july 3rd that they will fall well short n june, an internal memo talked about a system called just in time phase-in saying it would have been an advantage to have everyone fland advance but that was neither practical nor cost effective. many people who wanted to work at the olympics complained they went through interviews and training and didn't hear back for months. >> this has not, nor will it, impact the safety and security of these games. >> reporter: the bigger question, how much g4s guards will show up at all. will more military be needed. >> you cannot guarantee how many will turn up on the day. you can't be sure, can you? >> no. >> reporter: keep in mind there's still an additional more than 10,000 military and security personnel already lined up to help guard the games. back to you. >> we're just nine days away now from the start of the 2012 games. opening ceremonies are friday, july 27th, and nbc 4 is your olympic station. you can catch all the action right here and on nbcwashington.com where you can keep track of all our local athletes who are competing, and we have got a lot of them. and when news 4 at 4:00 continues, a movie accident that sent halle berry to the hospital in real life. plus tom cruise sees his daughter for the first time sips his split with katie holmes. i can't keep letting him do this. i can't keep letting him do me like this. >> and a mother's 911 call oscar winning actress halle berry is probably taking it easy today. she suffered a minor head injury late last night while shooting a fight scene on the said of her new movie. she was taken to a los angeles hospital as a precaution and released a short time later. we're told she's okay and will continue shooting the film as planned. she has suffered injuries on other movie sets as well. she was hit with a lighting prop while filming catwoman and brought her arm on another set. for the first time since katie holmes filed for divorce from tom cruise, he got to spend some time with his daughter, suri. "us weekly" says before the outing they had only been hanging out by video chat. this is the first public citing of the family since june in iceland. holmes and cruise didn't have contact during suri's hand-off according to tmz, it was all handled by intermediaries. a new show coming to nbc this fall is being filmed in the windy city this summer. it focuses on brave men and women who work in chicago's fire department. >> the show is called "chicago fire." its creators say that it's authentic. they want it to be as authentic as possible, so they have actually teamed up with the chicago fire department to see what firefighters do and how they do it. actors on the show say it's been great for developing their characters. >> this show is going to give the public a real idea of what we do for a living. >> it's amazing how little you see. it's all by touch and feel. it's tough to breathe even with the air. >> the show premieres wednesday, october 10th, right here on nbc 4. a popular site for movie reviews has stopped users from posting about one of the most highly anticipated films of the summer. the site rottentomatoes.com suspended reviews on "dark knight rises." it's because some of the comments were profane, even made threats against critics who wrote them. the movie is the final film in the batman trilogy and opens in theaters on friday, but some folks have already seen the premieres at designated theaters across the country. >> joel reports now from new york. >> reporter: it's the most anticipated movie of the summer, christopher nolan's final chapter in his batman trilogy. it's "the dark knight rises" and the world premiere is finally here. new york was as star-studded as a city could be. christian bale, anne hathaway, morgan freeman. >> i'm a big chris nolan fan and a batman fan. >> the whole series has been fantastic. i can't wait for this one. >> this is going to be really a fantastic evening. i hear the movie is terrific. >> reporter: just to get you up to speed, the movie picks up nearly a decade after batman was chased into compile and now gotham city meets its biggest threat yet. it's that threat along with a charismatic catwoman that brings batman back. >> what was it like the moment when you took that mask off and the costume off for the last time. >> it was kind of sad because i knew that was never going to happen again. i got choked up about it. >> did you keep the costume? >> batman wouldn't be batman and bruce wayne wouldn't be bruce wayne without lucius fox. that's pretty cool. >> i'm glad to hear you say that. >> do you agree? >> well now, yes. now we finished the trilogy, absolutely. >> i call it the bat. and yes, mr. wayne, it does come in black. >> as the mayor of gotham city, i have one very important question for you. why is everyone always trying to destroy gotham. >> i know. and why are they trying to kill me too? there always seems to be a target on me. i don't know. it's such a wonderful city. even though it's been chicago and pittsburgh now -- >> and new york. >> and new york and a number of rein carnations. i don't know. there's something about that city. >> you are amazing in this and scary. tell us a little bit about bane. >> well, he is the villain of this movie and he's just a big, angry bloke. he's come to spoil the party. >> as for anne hathaway, she's following in some very famous footsteps, but don't expect this cat burglar to play a copy cat. >> i honestly, not to be disrespectful to any of the other actresses who played the role, i'm sure they would understand, there was no point in taking anything from them because this is a totally different world. so whatever they had done wouldn't have applied. >> and what does your fiance think of you in that cat suit? >> oh, he likes it very much. >> reporter: i can't give anything away but this is a must-see so go get your tickets because it flies into theaters on friday, july 20th. >> it's gonna be big. >> you going to stand in line? >> oh, yeah, i'll do it. i'll wait until the line kind of peters out. coming up on news 4, an incredible video of a man jumping out of a moving van to save his life. plus how a car wound up plunging down an elevator shaft. and veronica is monitoring severe storms moving across our area. her forecast is up next. as expected, our severe thunderstorm warnings are now warnings, they were watches but things are intensifying action folks. >> veronica johnson can tell us where we are right now. >> that's right, barbara and jim. the whole area under a severe thunderstorm watch until 9:00 p.m. so that means conditions are favorable for what we would get when we get those warnings and that means frequent lightning. that means the potential for high winds. you can see that lightning right there. so the type of situation today, if you've got anyone outside that's playing, make sure they come on in. stay away from any windows too. and for right now, we've had reports of some hail but that is about it. no high winds reported as of yet, but this line has had a history up in pennsylvania of producing some high winds so we could see winds of 60 and 70 miles per hour. take a look here. until 9:00 p.m., the expintire a under a severe thunderstorm watch until 9:00 p.m. those counties that you see shaded in yellow, that's where there's the severe thunderstorm warning. d.c., northern prince george's county and northeastern fairfax county until 5:00 p.m. the entire area under a watch for the possibility of severe weather until 9:00 p.m. you can see this whole area from new york, areas of the northeast, boston, new york, all the way back toward chicago under a watch too. so this is one continuous line of storms that's been making its way down to the south. look at that, tremendous amount of lightning and we've got more lightning too showing up in areas around frostburg and just off to the west in northern areas of west virginia. the line right now making its way southward but we've also got some individual cells that have jumped out ahead of that line, which is why we've got the warnings coming up now for d.c. and prince george's county. but for owings mills, you can see that area being hit in the next ten minutes with high winds, downpours toward eldersburg in the next 15 minutes and on toward randallstown in the last 41. and again, hail a possibility as well as the possibility of some high winds too coming into the area. this other cell that you see here from veinsville in the next 38 minutes with heavy rain and on tart waterbury in the next 59 minutes. and then we've got our temperatures, of course, that topped out at 101 degrees. that's the reason why we're seeing such strong storms again come to our area, because we had the high heat today, we had a tremendous amount of moisture. we've also got this weather system that is sinking southward so the potential of storms again tomorrow. but at 101, that's now the seventh time that we've seen temperatures topping out in the triple digits this year and the sixth time for the month of july. we sit at 99 degrees right now. your dew point temperature at 66 degrees. we expect a cooldown some with these storms as they come through the area. 82 the temperature currently in gaithersburg, maryland. 97 right now in fredericksburg so cooling into the 70s and low 80s as this front comes on down. heat index up there also in the 80s. here still over the triple digits. 103 is what it feels like in d.c. 85, cooling down in gaithersburg, maryland. the forecast for the overnight period, storms continue until about 9:00. still could have some showers left, maybe even an isolated storm south and east of the area by 11:00 p.m. we're warm and humid for tomorrow morning and then we'll do it all over again. not with the high heat but with the storms for tomorrow afternoon. there's your front. once again, we're going to see more storms popping throughout the afternoon, and i think these will even go a little later tomorrow evening into friday morning and then some showers left around on friday with more of a northeasterly wind. so your forecast, we're hot and stormy with those downpours. high winds possible. 83 to 87 degrees and then 74 to 81 degrees. we're warm, we're humid with a partly cloudy sky for tomorrow morning. and then tomorrow afternoon storms again, some that could be heavy. 89 to 93 degrees for a high temperature. your four-day forecast, we're into the mid-80s for friday. the weekend right now, some morning rain showers for your saturday. 81 to 88 degrees. we'll see temperatures rise on sunday. then a storm threat again next week. we're not expecting any high heat for next week. we expect temperatures to be topping out somewhere in the upper 80s to low 90s. but right now again for d.c., for southern montgomery county, northern prince george's county and northeastern fairfax county, you continue under that severe thunderstorm warning until 5:00 p.m. back to you. >> veronica, thanks. it's amazing that temperature differential. 75 all the way to 100 degrees just in our viewing area. >> 101, wow. still to come on news 4 at 4:00, video of a bizarre rescue. raccoons in trouble on a backyard fence. plus, why many hospitals are starting to ban baby formula from being given away in maternity wards. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone likes a bit of order in their life. virtual wallet helps you get it. keep track of spending, move money with a slide, and use the calendar. all to see your money how you want. ♪ how you want. we gotta sell the car. where would we even start? get the car. hi howard. get in. hi, good to see you. start with an actual written offer when selling your car, no strings attached. carmax. start here. weather is getting downright nasty out there, folks. welcome back at 4:30. >> we're watching severe storms. meteorologist veronica johnson is in stormcenter 4. >> that's right for sure. threatening weather and a nasty evening rush for many folks hitting area roadways right now. you can see this whole line. it is showing signs of weakening now right in the middle as it makes its way southward. hagerstown and frederick, big-time heavy rain and a lot of lightning too. d.c., southern montgomery county, northern prince george's county and northeastern fairfax county under that severe thunderstorm warning until 5:00 p.m. you can see a tremendous amount of very heavy rain, downpours just south of columbia, maryland. right now i-29 or on 29, i should say. it is pouring. the sky is just opening up. so some downpours. i think we could see from these storms for the evening here some possible flooding in a few isolated locations. back to you. >> thank you. a dallas cowboys player was arrested, charged with assaulting his own mother. >> dez bryant is accused in an altercation that started at his mother's home in de soto, texas, on saturday. ben russell reports. >> reporter: it's the face of defeat. dez bryant's mug shot, charged by de soto police with assault and family violence against his mother. >> in a family violence situation, we will press charges, period. that's our position. >> reporter: the allegations has the offensive star playing defense. his mother's word sticking to him like no defender ever has. >> i can't keep letting him do this. i can't keep letting him do me like this. i'm tired. i'm going to put an end to it today. i'm going to put an end to it today. i'm tired. >> reporter: angela bryant is no stranger to police. she's battled drugs and spent time in prison. but three days ago police say she was the victim when an argument between her and dez bryant got physical. according to the arrest affidavit, the defendant grabbed the complainant by her t-shirt, causing it and her bra to tear. the defendant then grabbed the complain and the by her hair and hit her across the face with his ball cap. the complainant advised that she had pain in her wrists, hands and arms. officers also observed bruising on the right and left upper arm of the complainant. of all dez bryant's off-field mistakes, that he may have assaulted his own mother is the one that seems unimaginable. his attorney says whatever the conflict, nothing is unforgivable when it comes to family. >> the strength of a family is being able to resolve those problems and remain a family. you asked me about the relationship between him and his mother. he loves his mother and his mother loves him. two people are recovering after an unusual crash in a manhattan parking garage. investigators say a parking attendant drove a lexus suv into the elevator of the garage on the fifth floor. the vehicle plunged down the shaft and landed on the ground level. both the driver and another worker inside the elevator had to go to the hospital. they are expected to be okay, though. investigators did not believe the crash happened because of an elevator malfunction. they say there's evidence the suv actually crashed through closed elevator doors before the fall. a pennsylvania man jumped from a moving vehicle to escape the men who had just threatened to kill him. and it was all caught on camera. vince sims reports. >> reporter: this video shows it all. at the corner of char tears and hillsborough watch as a marine van goes through the intersection and a man jumps out, rolling on the ground in his underwear. he starts running towards police for help. >> i just seen a guy flying out the van running in his boxers. they just robbed me, help me, help me, screaming. >> reporter: daniel dozer saw it all. >> i was like, oh -- i was shocked that it happened like that. >> reporter: the man told police he was walking here on hammond street when the van pulled up asking for directions to a local bar. when he told them he didn't know, the side door opened and two men with guns snatched him. police note the face of one of those suspects, david walker of sheridan. the man was ordered to take off his pants while they robbed him. then one gunman said where can we take him to kill him? we need to kill him. the van pulled into this parking lot behind the local library. fortunately people were there so it took off. let's look again at the incredible video just blocks away. these video cameras paid for by weed and seed money and monitored by police captures the man seizing his opportunity to jump for his life. >> this is getting out of hand when somebody thinks you can come and do these type of things in the neighborhood. it's a good area, a nice, beautiful area. we need to take care of that and cherish that and not let people come in and tear this up. >> and there's more to come on news 4 at 4:00. a brown recluse infestation. the woman who as so many poisonous spiders it could take a year to get rid of them all. >> it's okay, it won't hurt you. >> y what makes the sleep number store different? you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you wanted a firm bed you can lie on one of those. we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. oh, wow, that feels really good! take it up one notch. oh gosh, yes. once you experience it, there's no going back. now, save $500 on our p6 bed set. and hurry in for the final closeout of our 2011 flexfit adjustable base. only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699. there's a growing trend on maternity wards. >> hospitals in massachusetts have joined rhode island in voluntarily banning baby formula giveaways for new moms. breastfeeding advocates say their message is undermined when mothers are sent home with free formula. they say the women are less likely to breastfeed exclusively or at all. the international formula council, yes, there is one, it says some studies show a connection between free formula and a fall-off in breastfeeding while other studies don't. the american academy of pediatrics says breastfeeding has a protective effect on the health of infants and recommends that mothers breastfeed exclusively during the first six months. well, if one toddler's first reaction is any indication he won't be visiting tattoo studios when he's older. 16-year-old marshall -- >> it's okay. it's just a pretend tattoo. it's okay. it's for fun. it's okay. >> 16-month-old marshalles not convinced. his mom posted this video on youtube showing his reaction to a fake tattoo she got for him at a festival. he might have preferred a different souvenir. >> do you want me to take it off? >> okay. when he's 16, that mom is going to be saying don't get a tattoo, whatever you do. and now the tables are turned. does not like. coming up, take a good look at this. a surveillance video that shows where a political strategist was attacked on capitol hill. and veronica is tracking some severe storms. stay with us, we'll be right i'm one of six children that my mother raised by herself, and so college was a dream when i was a kid. i didn't know how i was gonna do it, but i knew i was gonna get that opportunity one day, and that's what happened with university of phoenix. i feel like the sky's the limit with what i can do and what i can accomplish. my name is naphtali bryant and i am a phoenix. find the program that's right for you at phoenix.edu/beltway there could be problems for commuters this afternoon from the weather. >> yeah, lots and lots of rain on the way home. let's get the latest from the stormcenter. veronica, how about it? >> until about 9:00 p.m., in fact, we've got the potential of seeing some strong and severe storms throughout our area. that watch continues until 9:00 everywhere. look at the little boxes here, these counties. portions of the counties that are shaded in bright yellow. that is where we have the potential of seeing some high winds, a lot of lightning and possible hail. we're hearing that lightning rumble right now over our studios. for d.c., for fairfax county until 5:00 p.m., you are under a severe thunderstorm warning right now. look at the lightning there and the possibility of hail too. it is pouring around bethesda, around d.c., areas just north of bowie. anne arundel county, prince george's county, under a severe thunderstorm warning until 5:15 as well. those are the areas shaded, again. a lot of lightning with this, possibility of hail, downpours, so there could be some ponding and flooding on area roadways for sure. elk ridge, that will be hitting you in the next 11 minutes. bowie, maryland, in the next 26 minutes and then on toward dundock in the next 52 minutes so it's sliding more toward the east. it's bringing down our temperatures in a big way from 99 to 81 degrees but with more on those storms, let's go to meteorologist chuck bell, who's been taking a look at some of the damage reports throughout the area. >> yeah, heavy rain in a lot of spots. we'v of the white house where we've got the heavy rain coming into downtown washington now. so we'll keep a close eye on that here over the next little while. so the rain in downtown as you saw on the radar with the heavier showers moving east of town as well. we've had a couple of reports of damage. frederick county, maryland, there are trees down on old frederick and ole mill rose there. west virginia reports some trees down on old field road there and in shenandoah county, virginia, near clary, virginia, there's a tree on route 55 near backroads. if you're out and about this afternoon, if you can delay any of your plans, that would definitely be preferred. i have a picture from tom kierein in northern montgomery county as well of the strong thunderstorms over on graphics 29 for our control room there. the showers and thunderstorms are going to be a big part of the late afternoon and into the evening hours as well. here's tom's picture. these are the clouds that you oftentimes see with strong thunderstorms. we'll keep a close eye out. if you have great pictures of the severe weather, send them to weather @nbcwashington.com. veronica is working on the radar and rest of the seven-day. >> that's right. for our evening hours until about 9:00 we've got the potential of storms. there's that shot of the white house where it is pouring, folks. this is what we're trying to convey here, that it's like the sky is opening up. all that humidity, all that moisture that we've had, it's now being released with these storms that are coming through the area. but again a lot of lightning. that's a big part of this storm system. we've got stormy conditions until 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. and showers until 11:00 p.m. as you check out your good night, wakeup planner forecast. we're warm and humid in the morning in the mid to upper 70s. 72 in frederick. here's a look at what you can expect tomorrow. it's not going to be as hot. we'll hit 95, it will feel like 100 but it will be another stormy afternoon yet again. we'll look at the seven-day forecast in a few minutes. a tennessee woman is trying to get out of her apartment lease. >> it's because she has some very unwanted roommates. dozens of brown recluse spiders. ann mccloy has the story. >> reporter: this was supposed to be the year kelly lived asgloen these are my roommates. she saw her first house mate in april. >> i was like leaning over the sink and grabbed my towel and there was in ginormous spiedner my towel. >> reporter: her eight-legged friend started showing up every day. she suspected it was the brown recluse spider, the poisonous kind. she notified the management at mission brentwood apartments. >> i asked as soon as i found out that they were poisonous spiders and there was so many of them if i could switch apartments and they told me no. >> reporter: a pest control company confirmed her fear and told her she'd have to leave so they could dust. >> i had to leave my apartment for like five days, i think. i came back and they were still everywhere. >> brown recluse, you can have a lot of spiders. >> reporter: dr. frank hail says getting rid of them can take up to a year. if you live in an apartment, moving to another unit in the same building may not solve the issue. >> generally speaking when we see this many spiders, it means that more of the building -- more than one unit is infested. >> i have to shake out my clothes all the time. it just creates this paranoia. >> reporter: and if she does move, there's a chance she could take the spiders with her. experts say they hide in boxes and furniture and live long enough to survive the trip. >> looks like a movie. >> pretty creepy. yeah, coming up, viacom's compromise. how it's bringing customers their favorite shows, even though they have been pulled from directv. some relief for directv customers. viacom will allow new episodes of "the daily show" and "the colbert report" to be shown. viacom's seven-year contract with directv expired june 30th and the companies have not been able to reach a new deal. since last wednesday, 20 million directv customers have been without viacom channels, like comedy central. firefighters rescued a baby raccoon stuck on a fence this weekend. they had to try a few different ideas before one actually worked. they also had to be careful in case the little fella decided to bite. eventually firefighters moved a piece of the fence and the little raccoon was able to get free. he and mom quickly scurried off he and mom quickly scurried off up a nearby tr organic artichokes, organic lettuce, organic kale... does your cauliflower have a big carbon footprint? not at all. that's great. melons!!! oh yeah!! well that was uncalled for. uhh...mr. gallagher. incoming!!! it's wasteful. you know jimmy. folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy, ronny? happier than gallagher at a farmers' market. get happy. get geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more. a prominent political analyst is in the hospital today after a violent confrontation on capitol hill. police say it started outside a convenience store after someone stole his iphone. >> reporter: democratic strategist david mercer walks into a 7-eleven on capitol hill 10:00 last thursday night. the democratic party fund-raiser who worked on presidential campaigns talks on his cell phone, walks back and forth on the store's surveillance cameras. he's holding what appears to be a red bag or rolled-up t-shirt. he sets it down on the counter, continues to talk on the phone. moments later his iphone is set on the counter. take a look, the suspect takes the phone and puts it in his pocket. unaware, david begins checking his own pockets looking for the iphone. he approaches one of the suspects and asks him about it. the suspects walk out. david follows him outside. police say that's where they got in an argument and a fight breaks out leaving david with cuts on his head and lip. metro police show up with their flashing lights. shortly after an ambulance takes david to the hospital. neighbors are hope he recovers. >> just like an executive. usually executive folks aren't very friendly but this guy was a nice, friendly neighbor. a wild weather night. good evening, i'm wendy rieger. >> and i'm jim handly. we kick off with the threat of severe storms for most of our area. right now those storms are moving, bringing lightning, lots of thunder we're hearing right here even some hail. storm 4 meteorologist veronica johnson is tracking the radar for us. >> and let's not forget about the downpours. you saw the shot of the white house where the sky has opened up. that's what we've seen on a lot of our cameras, the skies opening up with all that humidity that we had in the area today. we're under a severe thunderstorm watch, this whole entire area, until 9:00 p.m. we've got a couple of warnings too for d.c. and fairfax