news4. >> we thank you for watching. stay right there. bob returns with the up-to-the minute details on our severe weather. eun joins jim vance effects for "news4 at 6:00." we are learning more of an own of a d.c. pizza shop who was found murdered in his store. >> car dealers are stopping cash for clunkers deal. federal officials urging businesses to make preparations now and expected outbreaks of the swine flu. there are some storms moving through the area this evening. good evening. i'm jim vance. >> i'm eun yang in for doreen gentzler. >> tornado warnings, some rorth of funnel clouds in st. mary's county and many reports of large hail and damage. now you can see that line and it is still a ferocious, as you can see, intense line of thunderstorms. now just moving out into the bay and i will briefly take off the radar. there you can see the last tip of extreme southern tip of st. mary's county. just past st. mary's city. hays beach and spots like that, you are still catching it. another couple minutes and it will be moving out into the bay. but it has been an afternoon with everything from large hail to almost ping pong ball sized hail in compton. that's moving off. the other big weather maker bill. winds up to 140 miles per hour. this is the eye of bill 30 miles across. it is a. back to you. >> thank you, bob. for evidence of just how passionately people feel about health care reform in this country, one needs to look no further than the town hall meetings that turned into shouting matches. the emotions of americans are starting to spill out of those town halls and into their every day lives. some people are now even planning on boycotting whole foods grocery stores. that's because of the ceo's position on health care. steve handelsman is on capitol hill now with more, the public's view of the health care debate. >> speaking of the public's view, the public option that's the source of the biggest fight today. the left is firing back. down at the white house today, they say president obama is still open to working with republicans on health care and willing to compromise on the public option and everything else but core democrats are warn him not to go toor far. so are the unions. >> the public option, whether we have it or don't have it. >> reporter: four days he signaled he may drop the public option, president obama is getting a health care warning from the powerful afl-cio that claims 10 million union members. >> our message is you know we can't do health reform without cost control. the only proposal that's on the table now to control cost in the short term is the public health insurance plan option. >> reporter: backers say competition from government insurance would force private plans to improve care and lower premiums. and top aides say president obama has not given up on it. >> his preference is for public option and if there are others that have ideas about how we can institute choice in competition, he is happy to look at those. >> reporter: thousands of customers say that they are joining a boycott of whole foods groceries and angry that the ceo of opposing universal coverage and the public option. a champion of the public option, massachusetts democrat barney frank, blew up at a town hall meeting. >> on what planet do you spend most of your time? you stand there with a picture of the president defaced to look like hitler. having a conversation with you would like arguing with the dining room table. >> repter: republican lawmakers adamant against the public option. >> this is not about fixing the health care system. this is -- this is about government control. >> reporter: some democrats now say lets pass reform, including the public option withoutop help. that would require democratic you don't knowsy and conservative democrats up here the blue dogs, are still leery of the public option. live from the hill, steve handelsman, news4. >> thank you, steve. we have new information this evening about the owner of a .izza shop found murdered in store. th lie n othpt mizarst pizza mart o fnhourt andn adams street northeast yesterday. pat collins has more on this story. pat? >> reporter: we know a lot more now. we know the method of murder. we know a possible motive and we know police are making progress in identifying a suspect here. crime scenes search experts continue to work the murder scene at the pizza mart in the edgewood section of northeast washington. it was here yesterday that the owner, 44-year-old rana was found dead inside near a food freezer. sources tell news4 mr. rana had been stabbed and beaten to death. they say that there's evidence that he had been robbed. they say that there are security cam inside and police are trying to see if they captured a photograph of the killer. mr. rana lives in silver spring with his wife, brother and other family members. joe fitzgerald lives next door. >> he was just a very sweet, very friendly man. he would do anything for you. and he was just a delight to be around. he's -- a very, very nice man. >> for him to die this way. >> oh, absolutely tragic. it is horrible. >> reporter: the pizza mart was once a kfc. it is open 24/7 and sold food, drinks, and cigarettes through a revolving glass door by day. and through a street side window by night. on the plate glass window outside, mr. rana posted pictures of people he didn't want hanging out at his place. people who live in the neighborhood, they say tt they are upset by what happened here. >> sad, man, somebody would do something like that. it is sad. you know. everybody is going to miss art. it is a shock. it is really a shock it is real sad. you know. >> reporter: who do you think could have done something like this? >> that's a good $100 question. >> reporter: police will be out tonight passing out fliers as they look for more kefd and information. in this case of murder. eun, back to you. >> pat collins. pat, thank you. british media is reporting that the lockerbie bomber will be released on compassionate grounds. the official announcement is eggs expected tomorrow. the yesterday a hearing in scotland cleared one of the final hurdles to his resxlees agreed to formally drop any appeals of his conviction. he's suffering from terminal prostate cancer and he's asking to return to libya to die near his family. seven u.s. senators, including edward kennedy, have sent scottish authorities a letter demanding that he remain in prison. he was convicted of planting the bomb that caused the crash of pan am flight 103 in december of 1988. most of the passengers on that flight from london to new york were americans. 270 people in all were killed. a soldier from virginia has been killed in afghanistan. sergeant first class william woods jr. was from chesapeake. woods died on sunday at a hospital in germany. he was shot two days earlier while on patrol in afghanistan. he was based in maryland. he was 31 years old. the final equipment and battles are being delivered to most remote corners of afghanistan for use in tomorrow's presidential elections. the materials are delivered by truck as far as the roads go and then put on donkeys for the rest of the journey. the contest is between current president karzai the foreign minister. the strategy is to build alliances with tribal leaders. abdullah has been promising to build roads, schools and hospitals in rural areas. the contest is reportedly a close one. bombings ripped through bag dade today. 95 people were killed and more wounded.acooeer crdat coordinaa dlitst day ay ddl in iraq forces.s u forces withdrew from the urban areas there back on june 30. michael flynn has our report on this. >> there were six bombings total and led to some concerns about the ability of iraqi's security forces to spin violence in advance of a full american combat withdrawal and said to be complete ad year from now. the series of bombings targeted iraqi government and commercial buildings in baghdad. the deadliest of the attacks was a truck bombing near the ministry of foreign affairs. the attack alone killed at least 70 people and wounded 250 others and the blast shattered the glass of the rasheed hotel and parliament blding which are both inside the green zone. christopher hill, the u.s. ambassador to iraq, quickly denoced the violence. >> these bombings, as other bombings have been, are simply truly dastardly acts that need to be thoroughly condemned by everybody. but i think these particular bombings from targeting the foreign ministry and finance ministry really targeted the entire international community. >> reporter: these attacks come at a crucial time for the iraqi government. it is trying to show its people and the world that its forces are in control of the security situation, especially after american forces withdrew to their bases around the country at the end of june. it also comes before the parliamentary elections in january of next year and some members of parliament believe the motive behind the attacks was to disrupt those upcoming elections. >> translator: i believe the main motive behind the bombings is an attempt to redraw the political landscape in the same sectarian outlines as we saw in the previous elections in 2005. >> reporter: iraqi prime minister al maliki blames sunni insurgents for the attacks and say the iraqi government must evaluate measures and the first acknowledgement of security failings since a recent uptick in violence. >> michael flynn. michael, thank you. the broadcasting world is mourning the loss of a pioneer in television news today. cbs producer don hewitt, creator of "60 minutes," has died. hewitt started at cbs in 1948. he produced the first televised presidential debate between richard knicks sxon john f. kennedy. he was later came up with an idea for a show that mixed hard news and feature stories. taking inspiration from a news magazine. that idea became "60 minutes." the show won 73 emmys during hewitt's tenure. he had pancreatic cancer. he was 86 years old. coming up tonight, car dealers no longer offering cash for clunkers. federal officials announced recommendations for how businesses should deal with another swine flu outbreak. a report on the new credit card rules that go into effect tomorrow. a new study finds more baby boomers are doing drugs. >> jim zorn pulling out the big guns for preseason game number two against the steelers. the nascar drivers hanging out at the white house today. plus back on the field. fred smoot. dangerous and versatile, too. trying out a new position. de the market saw another rally today thanks to a spike in oil prices that sent energy stocks way up. oil topped out at over $72 a barrel. the dow, meanwhile, closed 61 points higher. the nasdaq ended the day up 13 points. the s&p was up more than six points. there are growing concerns about the federal cash for clunkers rebate program. some car dealers are pulling out of it because they say they are not getting paid. jay gray takes a closer look at the complaints and the government's response. >> reporter: theash for clunkers federal rebay program has apparently hit another roadblock. >> we are probably owed about $45 million at this point. >> reporter: car dealers across the country say they made deals that hinge order a government marine fund but sometime haven't been reimbursed. >> we have well over a quarter million dollars right now invested. so we are -- we think that hopefully soon, you know, we will start to get some more of that money. >> reporter: estimates from the national automobile dealers association show that nationwide tens of thousands of clunkers' contracts are still pending with millions of dollars hanging in the balance. >> the dealers have advanced this money on be half of the customers. that's money out the door that the industry is now trying to collect from the u.s. government. >> reporter: today transportation secretary ray lahood aggressively defended the program. >> this program is working. >> reporter: he is urging frustrated dealers to test the brakes when it comes to their concerns about a pay out. >> they will get their money. we have the money. congress provided the money. and they are going to get their money. >> reporter: the ceo of america's largest auto retailer, auto nation, agrees and says part of the problem has been the overwhelming response. >> it is so successful beyond everyone's expectations that the department of transportation was not prepared to deal with the unbelievable surge. they are on it and adding more resources every day. >> reporter: the national highway traffic safety administration is, in fact, in the process of tripling the number of employees working to process claims. work that can't come fast enough for dozens of auto dealers still struggling just to stay in business. jay gray, nbc news. transportation secretary lahood said thousands of deals had been returned because the dealers did not fill out the paperwork properly. new rules regarding credit cards take effect tomorrow. they are among the changes the federal government passed this spring. the new rules give consumers more notice when changes are made to their accounts. statements are to be mailed 21 days before payments are due instead of 14 and if a payment is missed, car users have more options if companies charge them fees or raise their rates. the next phase of law includes limits on cash rates and companies can charge on existing balances that take effect in february. coming up in the broadcast, the mental health records for the virginia tech gunman were released today. we will tell you what seung-hui cho said to counselors prior to the shooting. look forward to the history of a d.c. neighborhood where munitions turned up several times. bob is back with our forecast. hope diamond, at the smithsonian museum is a beautiful thing. it is going to get a new setting. the jeweler who donated the rare blue yes, ma'am is offering people a chance to help decide what that setting should be. the voting are available on the smithsonian website. the new setting will be announced this fall. it would be in place next spring. the diamond will return to its original setting late next year. legend has it that diamond was stolen from the hindu idol and it is cursed. i think it would look really nice with a right-hand ring, you know, right the. >> it would be so heavy. >> i know, i know. do i want a curse ring on my hand who knows. >> just like a whopper. that's a whopper. outside we had whoppers of storms to our south. around washington we did finally get a bit of rain and you can see rock creek pierce mill there, it is getting down a bit. we could use a lot more rain than we had. we had a tenth of an inch of rain day. our high temperature didn't get to 90 degrees because of all of those clouds. and since july, our rainfall is still well below average. outside now with those storms, those really violent storms for our friends down there in southern maryland, skies clearing up here in washington. it is still humid with our temperature 82 degrees and got a southerly wind at nine miles per hour. dew point at 72. not refreshing. we will have to wait until sunday for that. look at the temperatures around the east right now. 80s here because of the showers that moved through. still in the 90s. lot of 90s to our south. and we had humid pattern coming in. on top of it, a little wave, i think, that came through that really was the instigator, accommodation, that caused the severe thunderstorms and look at the airport delays up and down the east coast now because no only are storms around us but as you can see, there are some up around philadelphia, too. here we are in washington. another little batch up around hagerstown and a few showers heading towards fredericksburg. but you can see how those storms that move through southern parts of maryland and st. mary's county, still literally live. look at the amount of lightning that is heading out into the bay. ping pong sized hail around leonardtown. compton, st. mary's county and also some golf ball sized hail. those were really nasty. a couple of reports, funnel clouds. that's the reason the tornado warning was out. here you can see the heart of that storm now. boy, you wouldn't want to be out sailing in lower part of e bay today. out in the boat with a monster like that coming through. there's the only other area of some leftover showers and in one of the things we can do with doppler radar is integrate everything. there you can see that is where the rain was. inch of rain for you folks earlier around laplata and st. mary's county. annapolis, three-quarters of an inch of rain. if you are going out boating and heading to the beaches this weekend, here's what they say -- the thing you want to keep posted. there's no direct threat at all. but look at bill. look at the eye. i want to take you in close. imagine being inside of that. there's the 30-mile wide diameter ride. aqua satellite 400 miles above it. if you look close you can see these swirls or what are called cyclones inside the eye. winds 135 miles an hour now. it is a category 4 hurricane. and as it continues to move, fortunaty over the open waters, the warm waters, it may even get a little bit stronger and the good news is that on the current track, it will probably brush bermuda as we go through the weekend. some of those big as well as from bill will be out on the shores. heading to ocean city, rehoboth and dewey, watch out for heavy surf four to eight feet and importantly rip tides, too. tomorrow once again, we are into the humidity and eventually there's a slow moving cool front that will be close to us but, unfortunately, not come through here until later on saturday and by friday, we are going to even have a slight risk of severe thunderstorms around us, our area, again. those thunderstorms, showers to the south, gradually diminishing and continuing to move off. few lingering showers. tomorrow morning when you get up and head out, guess what, it will be humid. with temperatures into the low 70s and hazy sunshine and mixture of clouds and sunshine once again. then by the afternoon, the risk of some afternoon thunderstorms. we will keep you posted should any of those get locally strong to severe. better risk of afternoon thunderstorms on friday. i'm afrai sti lingering showers now into saturday. but as we get into sunday, monday, tuesday, more comfortable air coming in. lower humidity. we can deal with that. >> we certainly can. >> thanks, bob. coming up tonight the mental records for the virginia tech gunman were released toy. hear how federal health officials recommend businesses react if there is a swine flu outbreak this fall. >> will is a new study out that shows more people in their 50s are using drugs. >> we will tell you about a complex in northern virginia that is going to be featured on the television show "ghost hunters." coming up in sports the redskins using fred smoot in a new position. the nascar drivers pulling into the white house. plus ryan zimmerman doing his best to keep the nationals' winning streak alive. we are back now with a check of stories making headlines at this hour. four days after president obama signaled he may drop a controversial governor health care option from his health reform plan, supporters are pushing back. today the head of the afl-cio joined many democrats in saying that the public opening is essential for keeping health costs down. >> police say there is evidence a man murdered inside of his northeast d.c. pizza shop may have been robbed. the 44-year-old shop owner was found stabbed inside the pizza mart yesterday. police are handing out fliers looking for more information on the murder. wave of bombings in iraq today at least 95 people killed. hundreds of others were wounded. explosions damaged iraqi parliament buildings. iraqi foreign ministry and police pa silts there. some people believe those explosio are an attempt to disrupt the upcoming elections. coming up this evening on "news4 at 6:00" the mental health records of the virginia tech gunman were released today. virginia's governor tim kaine announced massive budget cuts today that could have an effect on college tuition. at a show called "gust hunters" is visiting an historic site in prince william county tonight. the government is out with new guidelines how to fight swine flu this fall and winter and the recommendations could mean more telecom utding and more sick leave for most workers. brian mooar has our roar. >> reporter: children are back in school and so is the swine flu. now the government wants businesses to get ready important the inevitable spread of the h1n1 virus and plan now to accommodate workers who might be sidelined. >> in america we love to praise the puritan work ethic. and with reason. but this fall it would serve the country better to praise common sense and responsibility. >> reporter: if employees get sick they should go home and stay home. businesses should draw up contingency plans to keep operating. some vital industries like oil and gas are already taking action. >> so their critical employees have backup cross training occurred and telecommuting has been explored. reporter: hhs secretary kathleen sebelius is playing down this week's news that only 45 million vaccine doses will be ready when the flu season takes off. >> we are very much on target and we are working with five different manufacturers. >> reporter: in nashville, doctors began the first vaccine tests for children two weeks after the adult trial started. >> there you go. >> reporter: children like luke donahue, it is no big deal. >> like a regular old shot. >> reporter: his mom, a dock, thinks otherwise. >> we realize how important it is and how minimal the risk is compared to the benefits. >> reporter: back in washington, reprentatives from 37 countries are now comparing notes and swapping strategies on fighting the flu. experts say that it all boils down to two words -- hands and home. keep your hands clean. and go home if you get sick. at the commerce department northwest, brian mooar, news4. >> schools in our area are waiting for more guidance on how to administer swine flu vaccines when the time comes. some teachers have been asked to come up with lessons that could be put online or distributed in packets if school have to close. the virginia tech gunman was never treated at the university's counseling center. in spite of orders from a judge that that troubled student get help. seung-hui cho is his name and mental health records were released today. his family authorized that move. those records show that cho met with a cowens already after being detained at a mental hospital overnight. a post-it note on the records shows the meeting lasted 30 minutes and that cho denied having any suicidal or homicidal tendencies. the counselor also wrote that he denies suicidal or homicidal thoughts. he said the comment this he made was a joke. he says he had no reason to harm himself and would never do it. the counselor wrote that she gave him emergency contact numbers and encouraged him to return next semester in january. he did not make an appointment. the counselor did not know that cho had been taken to a psychiatric hospital because his roomma thought he was suicidal. that meeting came 18 months before cho called 32 students and faculty before he killed himself. somber news from the governor of virginia. more budget cuts are on the way. governor tim kaine is lowering the state's estimated revenue by near reply $1.5 billion for the two-year budget that ends in june. kaine says nothing is exempt from consideration, including the possibility of college tuition hikes. >> those are ultimately decisions inform visitors and not for the budget plan that i would put out. but, you know, we -- we have to make these decisions and they are much easier to make if we make them now. >> the governor plans to make his latest round of budge i cuts public early next month. living in an upscale neighborhood in northwest d.c. have been fighting for years to get the government to do more to clean up world war i mungitions and chenccami that were ca sc edovdi t ierhen soilthere. e.to today d.c. delegateor ean hooues of therouf o the spring valley neighborhood and promised more help. tom sherwood is here with more on this story. >> the neighborhood has been -- neighborhood has been frustrated over the pace of the cleanup. we saw some of that frustration today. davis kennedy is publisher of the current newspapers. a weekly that covers spring valley and world war i legacy. >> this was the center of research for the united states' attempts to get poisonous gases. >> reporter: it won awards covering the outrage of residents. >> we have a right to know what the arsenic is in the streams and going through the neighborhood. >> reporter: in the wealthy spring valley neighborhood of northwest washington near american university, residents for 16 years have faced a controversial and contentious cleanup of world war one era munitions and remnants of mustard gasses and arsenic. neighbor said there are several bombs buried in the ground. >> we don't. we know there are -- segments. there will be an explanation offered. >> reporter: d.c. delegate eleanor holmes norton toured the area wednesday after the latest gas residue. up to 1600 homes in the area, nearly 150 had their yards and driveways excavated into removal process. many spring valley residents say that the army corps of engineers in charge of the cleanup has been less than forthright with the residents. >> downplaying the extent of contamination and risk and we know of more than a dozen areas that have yet to be investigated. there is a burrow pit under this house. >> the corps must remain until there is an objective all clear here. nobody need move out of this beautiful neighborhood. >> reporter: norton said he she would continue to hold hearings and tour to make certain the corps of engineers the neighborhood stays i informed. >> what is it they want to be informed most about? ? >> they want to know what has been found in terms of weapons and chemicals and arsenic and other types of things. because no one has ever told them the corps of engineers has never told them the list of what they found. norton says they are compiling a list of what has been found and will make it public. i think that will ease some of the frustrations. >> thanks, top. reports of some strange sightings led ghost hunters to our area. the center in prince william county will be featured tonight on an episode of "ghost hunters" on the sci-fi channel. they visited the civil war landmark recently. visitors have reported seeing a woman in one of the windows. she' believed to be agnes, a slave ek cuted for killing her master with a butcher knife. other strange incidents have been reported there. such as objects being moved without explanation and cold bursts of air moving through the rooms and trance luisent figures gliding through the former jail cells. it airs at 9:00 on the sci-fi channel tonight. coming up on our broadcast, nasa made an important decision today regarding the upcoming launch of the space shuttle "discovery." >> we will hear from the mayor that got beat up when he came to the aid of a grand mother and her grand daughter we will tell you about a woman that called 911 when she was going into labor and t paramedic who arrived at her house was familiar. good evening. bob ryan, storm center 4. in washington we are seeing nice blue skies. it is still humid. look at those wild storms that moved through. you folks in st. mary's county, out over the bay. heading to lower eastern shore. and lower parts of chepeake bay. for us, there mate be still one or two more. some out across western maryland. but as we go through the nighttime, we will just see back to the humidity and i think tomorrow afternoon, especially friday afternoon, another risk of afternoon thundershowers, lingering plain old showers saturday and clear out sunday, monday, tuesday. looks fine with a lot of sunshine. comfortable. back to you. >>thanks, bob. nasa announced a plan to launch space sttle "discovery" next week. if all goes as planned, the shuttle is set to take off early tuesday morning. today nasa officials finished up a flight review in which they focus order large amount of foam insulation that broke off the fuel tank last -- during last managers sayhach. t managers say that tank is fine. il wl boa "discovery" to deliver supplies to the international space station. tom barrett is mayor of milwaukee, wisconsin. over the weekend he got beat up when he went to the aid of a grandmother and granddaughter who were being attacked. it all happened near the wisconsin state fair. the mayor's hand was broken and he lost some teeth. he has gash owes his head. barrett said he didn't want to talk about the specifics of what happened that day. >> we don't want to in any way jeopardize the criminal case. but i think that -- i think it is -- fair to say that things got very, very ugly very, very quickly. >> the mayor says he received hundreds of calls from well-wishers praising him for his action. one of those calls from president obama. coming up in our broadcast, we will tell you about a new report that shows more baby boomers are doing drugs than they were a few years ago. >> and what's up, dan? >> we are going to investigate the fred smoot experiment. we might just have some nationals general manager news. plus, president obama dropping the green flag at the white house. "news4 at 6:00" cont dan healthy -- dan hellies that news of today. >> the dreaded two-a-days are almost over. tomorrow is the final official day of training camp. friday walk-through as they get ready for the game against the pittsburgh steelers. a very short special teams practice this afternoon. this morning, a practice that chris cooley missed because of back spasms. it is just the second practice he had missed since 2004. he is a warrior. phillip daniels missed practice because they drained fluid from his surgically repaired right knee. they wille ready to play on saturday. we are going to see all of the big dogs out there on sat kay and haynesworth will play against the steelers. portis will play against the steelers and santana moss will be playing against pittsburgh as well in that game at fedex field you can see right here on news4. we all know that portis will be fine watch prosecuting the sidelines in the preseason. the same cannot be said for his buddy santana moss after missing the ravens game as a precaution. moss will play with the first team offense and unlike for forrest if he is in the game he wants to get the ball. that would no doubt help the offense get into a rhythm for the first time in a preseason game this year. >> whether i'm getting the ball or not i have to run. we get in will and get something going. and we got it. >> it is very important. he likes to play. he loves -- he doesn't like to even watch at practice. so every chance he gets and also i think that it sharpens his game. i think he thinks that about practicing. and i think he thinks that about game time. and it just keeps his game sharp. you know, he caught over 70 balls last year and it is because he - he was just in there. he didn't care if he had five catches, 15 catches or one catch. he was in there work. he kept his game sharp. and i think that is -- i think that's what he means by that. >> jim zorn probably is going to keep his starters at least on the offensive side of the ball in there for about a quarter. the redskins still looking to score their first touchdown of the first season. versatility will be a big thing for the skins this year on defense. they have the rookie linebacker/defensive end brian orakpo out of texas and chris wilson, the same position. now they have fred smoot. smoot is a cornerback that they are work him at safety in certain packages. smoot is the lightest he has been since high school, he told me. down to 180 pounds. that's 30 pounds lighter than when he was in minnesota playing for the vikings. maybe that's why things didn't go as well for smoot. in the first preseason game, if it was any indication neither one of the redskins young cornerbacks is going to beat out smoot for the corner job. fred will be on the field a bunch. he hasn't played a whole lot at safety but smoot told our hakem dermish he feels plenty comfortable in the new position another job i can do, you know. we got a couple -- orakpo, wilson. now me. you know. >> do you think you can be more effective? >> always more effective. my knowledge and being able to line guys up. >> he had been a real pleasant addition. not only as far as the players are concerned but as far as leadership. as crazy as he is, much leadership he comes up with, he's also a fine leader. behind all the clowning he is a guy that keeps guys going in the right direction on the field. i can't say what he does off if field. but on the field what he does. >> greg blatche says a whole lot of defense this year. interesting happening for the nationals or maybe not. at least two reports say the nationals were going to go out of house to hire a new general manager. one of them said they are going to hire diamondbacks vice president dipoto in the coming days as their new gm. interesting news coming after this huge signing of stephen strasburg and a man basically responsible for sign sing assistant general manager now intrageneral manager mike rizzo. the nationals have dispute those reports in a separate report, "the washington post" says the naonals could be on the verge of promoting rizzo to the permanent general manager position. varying reports make that a -- make of that of what you will. on the field, nionals lost to the diamondbacks last night. trying to get back on track. we star -- i'm sorry. diamondbacks on the brain. start the second inning. craig stanton who helped his own cause here. pokes one down the line. alberto gonzalez comes in to score the game at one apiece. second with a double. his fourth major league rbi. top four. nats 2-1. stanton gets help. zimmerman charges and makes the barehanded throw over to first for the out. thank you very much, mr. zimmerman. he was not like this in the eighth. tied at two. sean burnett on in relief. and the first pitch he throws is crunched. solo home run by gonzalez. rockies take the lead, 3-2. burnett not happy. rockies go on to beat the nationals, 4-3. they get a chance at redemption tonight. nascar getting down to the nitty-gritty, folks. just three races left before they decide the drivers that will be in the chase for the sprint cup. nascar drivers never too busy, though, to visit the white house. that's exactly what they did today. jimmy johnson ran out of gas on sunday. but the 48 had enough fuel to make to it the white house today. president obama honoring johnson who is a sprint cup champ along with otherdrivers. richard petty had a front row seat on the south lawn. the president joked he wanted to take out the 48 car for a spin but the secret service said no. it was the first time this many nascar drivers have visited the white house. carl ed garces was one of them but got something important for his visit. >> i didn't have shoes or a tie this morning. so i scrambled for some things. my mom actually brought some of my stepdads ties from the hoe. from their house. it all came together well. the president didn't seem to mind. >> reporter: what did you get to say to the president? >> we just -- had -- joked around a little bit. we didn't get much time with him. hi. take your picture and -- cool thing, though, is to -- the president and all these folks are recognizing nascar and, y y know, that's an honor to be a part of that. >> unlike the super bowl and final four the president did not make his pick as to who was going to win the nascar championship this year. thank goodness for mom. she can bring a tie over for carl and saved the day for his visit to the white house. >> dan, thanks. coming up in our broadcast, a couple called 911 when a mother-to-be went into labor. the paramedic who showed up to help with the fami sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. a fixture of the baby generation. now a new government study finds the folks in the 50 to 59 age group are still using iegal drugs at an alarming rate. leanne gregg reports. >> reporter: one aspect of the woodstock generation that's apparently failed to stay way is illegal drug use by by boomers well into middle age. that's according to a new study by the u.s. substance abuse and mental health services administration that shows drug use in the 50 to 59 age group is doubled the rate of previous generations in that age range. >> it is a wakeup call for us we need to pay attention and begin thinking about how we are going to address this in society. >> reporter: baby boomers who admitted using drugs in the past year rose from 5% to 10% from 2002 to 2007. most commonly used among those surveyed marijuana and prescription medications. this is really being driven by people who had used drugs earlier in life and had pretty much continued to use it. >> reporter: most said they started using drugs before age 30. ilgal drug use later in may pose additional health risks. for example -- there if somebody has high blood pressure we know that using drugs can affect that and in using many drugs will lth officia. od pressureteep>>eh >> reporter: health officials hoped for a cultural shift to abstinence among baby boomers and may have spent much of their lives using. leanne gregg, nbc news. >> let's get a final check of the forecast with bob ryan.>> bob? >> hi, eun and jim. things are quieter now than they were earlier in st. mary's county. picture from lisa black around leonardtown. this was the picture around compton, and st. mary's county. there were reports of golf ball sized hail and it is psible -- pictures, these could be the hail bouncing back up. wild, wild day down into st. mary's county. for us overnight tonight we are going to continue to see some showers and dissipate tomorrow and on into the weekend. we may be seeing a few more. right now on doppler that last ferocious storm moving into the lower part of the eastern shore, back to you. >> thanks, bob. jennifer stringer is the mother of three children in lombard, illinois. she is a woman that does not spend a lot of time in labor. stringer's husband is rick tressel. he helped her deliver their most recent baby monday at home on the living room floor. he was still on the phone with the 911 operator when the ambulance arrived. got quite a check when the first paramedic walked in. 18onths ago his wife delivered their second child in that guy's ambulance. >> 08%, 90% sure it was their house.