Transcripts For WRC News 4 Today 20091015

your brain actually shrinks. one cause could be because fat-clogged arteries prevent enough oxygen natd blood from reaching your brain. >> maybe some of those people will start heeding those warnings when they realize it's not just your heart but it's also your brain. >> reporter: your best bet in deterring alzheimer's. it's not a fancy pill. just a good old diet and exercise. >> stay with us. "news 4 today" continues at 5:00 a.m. >> caught in the cross fire. five teens shot, two killed, a third struggling to survive. what police found in a house that could be the key to what started the violence in the first place. >> a shot in the dark. the debate about whether the swine flu vaccine is safe. why the government says you cannot afford to wait getting it. >> the dramatic weather change that will have you wondering whether it's really october. good morning, everyone. welcome. we're glad you're up with us this thursday morning. i'm barbara harrison. >> i'm keith garvin in for joe krebs. giving you a live look outside. beautiful capital dome in the background but it's chilly. we even have a little bit of rain out there. >> we have details of your weather for today in a look ahead to the rest of the week. >> the chilly change arrived yesterday afternoon with the chilly rains that continued off and on overnight. now looking at radar. where you see the blue on the screen we are getting some light to moderate rain. darker blue more moderate rain to the west of fredericksburg. that is moving to the east, just now coming into southern fauquier county. should be coming into stafford and spotsylvania and prince william over the next half hour or so. farther to the north and west, getting a few light sprinkles in montgomery, loudoun counties. southern maryland, around the northern neck, just a few scattered light showers this morning but it's another chilly morning. just in the low to mid-40s around the region, upper 40s near the bay. 47 in washington, mid-40s eastern shore, just near 40 in the mountains this morning. we have a lot of cloudiness around. other showers now coming in from the west and the mountains, should be here off order in into the afternoon, tonight, tomorrow, saturday and again on sunday. the chill won't leave either until the first part of next week. a look at that coming up in ten minutes. >> tom, thank you. >> thanks. let's get a look at the roadways. jerry edwards joings us as always this morning. how are you doing? >> good morning. doing fine. hope you guys are okay. away we go. pretty quiet start. no need to panic yet. that is good news. yesterday was just terrible for no apparent reason, just something in the water or something in the air maybe. i don't know. 95, 395, quiet. and generally dry at the moment, although a few spritzes out the may slow you down. be aware of that. elsewhere, travel the top side of the capital beltway, i-95 headed to points west. do be cautious. word of a light pole that's come down in the roadway, outer loop of the beltway between georgia avenue and connecticut avenue. back to you. >> allight. hopefully the water and air are clear this morning. >> we're hoping. >> all right, jerry. thank you. this morning, we're learning more about one of the teens wounded during a shootout in northeast washington. we've learned that he is in grave condition. sources tell news 4 he's the son of a police officer. investigators say two rival gangs opened fire on each other in the clay terrace neighborhood in northeast. this happened tuesday afternoon. in all, five teenagers were shot, two of them killed. yesterday fbi agents raided a home near the scene of that shooting. they recovered several high-powered assault weapons and are now trying to determine whether they are linked to the shootings. one of the victims who died, 14-year-old davon day artis, was working home from school. >> he was coming home from school actually, getting off the w-4 bus, walking through that way to come home, to come down here. he lives at the bottom of the hill, so that's how he got caught up in it. wasn't meant for him at all. >> the other victim killed in the shootout has been identified as 18-year-old daequan tims. >> a disturbing discovery inside a northern virginia home, child pornography involving children as young as 6 months old. fbi agents raided the home and arrested the 34-year-old resident. this came after a month-long investigation in which an undercover agent discovered file porn on a file-sharing website which was traced back to the home. investigators say some of the backgrounds in those imas match some of those in the home. >> brand-new today. planners ax a controversial plan to build a megachurch off i-270. the facility was proposed by the global mission church which is currently based in silver spring. they are loong to expand but residents near the planned site said the walmart sized church was too big for the rural area. last night the frederick county planning commission agreed with residents and denied the church's application. a spokesperson for the church says they feel their religious rights have been violated. they plan to pray about what to do next, which could include an appealr legal action. also new today comes word that despite the rising stock market the number of home foreclosures continues to rise. new data shows 938,000 foreclosure filings were made during the past three months. that is compared to 890,000 filings during the previous period. unemployment is cited as the main reason homeowners are falling into trouble. last year, there were 2.3 million foreclosure filings. this year, with unemployment rate currently at a 26-year high, we are on track to hit 3.5 million filings. despite the bad economy and the criticism, another round of big corporate bonuses for aig employees and a special i inspector general says the treasury department is to blame. during a hearing in front of lawmakers yesterday, the special inspector said the agency outscored -- outsourced its oversight. aig employees received huge bonuses despite the fact that the government had financially bailed out the company. aig says they had no choice but to pay the bonuses. that's not the only big news from wall street. the dow closed above the 10,000 mark for the first time in a year. coming up at 5:30, we'll tell you why analysts are still conflicted about whether we are in the middle of an economic recovery. >> math scores are up significantly for students in the district. students in maryland also showed progress, while virginia students stayed about the same. we're joined by tracee wilkins, who's live outside meyer elementary school in washington. tell us the good news. >> reporter: barbara, i love good news for d.c. schools. don't we all? it's rare we get the opportunity to share some of it. it's been a struggling school system for some time now, but, yes, it looks like d.c. school students in math have achieved mo gains than students across the nation so fourth grateders here at meyer and other elementary schools across the district and also eighth graders have a lot to be proud of. looking at all the significant gains they have made. it's considered one of the nation's poorest performing school systems, but charter and public school students rose five points in fourth grade and six points in eighth grade in d.c. this is based on a 500-point scale test. the test, which is taken every two years, is called the national assessment of educational progress. it's considered the nation's report card, and again taken every two years. maryland also showed some gains but scores in virginia remained stagnant. in fact, scores around the country remained flat, worrying some school reformists who want to see higher scores in math for u.s. students. this is about competing on the national world stage and making sure that we are as viable as possible in mathematics and that our students are doing well. d.c. is an elite line of schools here, school systems across the country because only four other states had significant gains and that was in nevada, new hampshire, rhode island and vermont. d.c. schools spoke men say they have added teachers to the school and specialists to work with students as well. they're hoping that's what made the difference. back to you in the studio. >> why you could soon hear more cell phone chatter aboard metro. >> plus, is it safe? how the government is trying to ease your fears about the swine flu vaccine. >> and justice for tom joiner. how the radio talk show host helped right a wrong that happened almost a century ag well, get a free sandwich with this news 4 bargain blast. it's an offer from einstein brothers bagles. right now, buy one stuffed sandwich with chicken, get the second one for coupon, go to nbcwashington.com and search bargain blast. >> and the taste of armenia is coming up this weekend. >> talking about a bargain for us this morning. >> look at this. this is unbelievable. every year they bring us some samples of the things they have at their taste of armenia. it's being held in bethesda at at the armenian apostolic church. starts at noon today. beautiful, wonderful food. friday, saturday, sunday. every year, they send us a little bit so we can have a little sample and tell you about it. again, 4906 flynt drive. >> am i glad i'm filling in this morning. >> look at this. looks fantastic. let's find out if it will be a good weekend for the taste of armenia in bethesda as far as weather goes. >> well, it will be damp and illy unfortunately today all the way into the weekend. we do have an area of some rain just now in southern fauquier county, now heading into prince william, southern fairfax and to stafford county, passing just south of washington. a few sprinkles farther to the north in montgomery county and a few other areas of some scattered showers in southern maryland, northern neck. it's only in the 40s around the region. we'll have some more showers later on today as well as tonight with a blustery wind as well as tomorrow. then saturday and sunday, looks like a diminished chance but still a chance of a passing shower. as we get into the first part of next week, though, finally drying out and warming up. jerry, how's the traffic now? >> tom, doing pretty well all in all. good morning, everyone. top side of the capital beltway, problem with the power pole, outer loop between georgia enue and connecticut avenue taken care of. no worries. other than that, looks like we're doing okay at the wilson bridge, southeast corridors and northeast all moving along nicely. barbara and keith, i am ready so bring on the food. >> where did the fork and knife come from? >> i'm always ready. >> we'll save some for you. our time is 12 minutes after 5:00. why some say the north pole could become a sea in ten years. >> getting your car repaired, why it takes awhile for your mechanic to get the right parts. mao to the latest on the swine flu. it seems demand for the swine flu vaccine is high, polls show many americans are still undecided about getting the shot. even some health care workers still don't want to get vaccinated. tests are still under way, so safety is a concern for some. but government officials and ethics experts are doing their best to re-assure the public. >> what kind of an example is this to set in the middle of flu season and the possibility of swine flu epidemic to say nurses, doctors are not going to take these vaccines? >> a decision to wait is not risk-free. it is possible that you or your child will get influenza in the waiting period. >> meanwhile, colleges are still being hit hard by the virus. the american college association reports 6,000 new swine flu cases on campuses this week alone. now, some adults who want to get vaccinated in prince george's county will be able to do so today. the county health department is getting ready to hold a clinic later this afternoon. news 4's megan mcgrath joins us from greenbelt with the details of that. megan? >> reporter: good morning, barbara. prince george's county has gotten their shipment of the vaccine. they have both the injectable form as well as the nasal spray and they're going to be holding a clinic today in greenbelt later on this afternoon, and actually they are going to be targeting adults at this particular clinic, and again they will be offering both the shots as well as the nasal form of the vaccine. now, this clinic is free and it's open to the public on a first come, first serve basis. we have been seeing quite a demand here for the vaccine. yesterday at a clinic in montgomery county there was an enormous line with people waiting as long as two hours in order to get their vaccination. so we're expecting possibly a very large crowd here at this clinic today as well. let's take a look at the exact location here. this is being held at the spring hill lake elementary school in greenbelt. gets under way at noon and will last until 4:00. they are going to be targeting adults in this clinic, specifically pregnant women, young adults 18 to 24 as well as caretakers of infants under the age of 6 months. and adults 25 to 64 with chronic health conditions. now, they're also going to be soon offering the vaccinations to elementary school students, prince george's county elementary school students will be vaccinated in their schools beginning on october the 19th. then the general public will be offered the clinics as well starting october the 22nd. that is going to then happen every thursday after that, they'll have a clinic every thursday after the 22nd at the prince george's county health department where the general public can then go and get their vaccinations. but right now they are targeting specific groups, pregnant women, people with underlying health conditions and that sort of thing. again, the clinic here in greenbelt open to the public, gets under way at noon. barbara, back to you. >> okay. thank you, megan. the universityf maryland is conducting a mass flu vaccination event in college park this afternoon. about 2,000 students, faculty and staff will be vaccinated for theeasonal flu during a three-hour time period. that's for the seasonal flu. the exercise is designed to tests to university's ability to accurately, efficiently and safely vaccinate a large group of people should a disease outbreak occur. the university is designated as prince george's county emergency vaccination site. >> it's bound to be a big topic on his radio show this morning. tom joiner's uncle's pardon nearly a century after their execution. thomas and meeks griffin were electrocuted in 1915 for the murder of a wealthy confederate army veteran. immediately doubts surfaced about their guilt. yesterday, they were pardoned. joiner learned about the execution two years ago, and set out to clear their names. >> even though they're not here, this won't bring them back, but this will bring closure, and so i hope -- i hope now they rest in peace. >> joiner's uncles were apparently given just 24 hours to get their defense together. joiner says research shows the confederate veteran was probably killed because of his alleged involvement with a black woman. >> soccer fans at rfk stadium paused to wish u. national team forward charlie davies a speedy recovery. the tribute was held at last night's world cup qualifying match against costa rica. nine minutes into the gape, fans held up signs with davies' number 9. tuesy morning he was a passenger in an suv that slammed into a guardrail near the memorial bridge, killing a woman inside the car. davies opened his eyes yesterday for the first time since the wreck. >> in other sports news this morning, one of the wizards' big three gs injured. >> and a star redskins career may be over. here's dan hellie with your sports minute now. >> good morning, everybody. your sports minute starts with the wizards. last night on the road in cleveland, preseason hoops. the wiz and the cavs' antawn jamison injured in the first quarter on this play, trying to block a shot. you can see he's in pain right away. flip saunders said his shoulder might have popped out and gone back in. he likely won't play the rest of the preseason. gilbert arenas looked good. he scored 18. the wizards win it 109-104. turning to football, the patchwork offensive line for the redskins wilhave a new look this weekend. centreville native will montgomery gets the start at right guard. the question now, if and when chris samuels will return. the six-time pro bowler got hurt early in the panthers game. the injury didn't look that bad, but samuels jammed his neck. for him, it's more serious because he has stenosis, which is the narrowing of the spine, a very dangerous condition for anyone, but especially when it involves violent, head-on collisions. one has to wonder if chris samuels' career might be over. let's hope not. that's your sports minute. i'm dan hellie. everybody have a great day. >> the north pole may turn into an open sea during summer months within a dede. that's what a group of explorers and scientists say after studying the arctic ice earlier this year. the team spent three months measuring ice thickness and concluded that most arctic ice is new first-year ice. only six feet deep and would melt next summer. >> wow. that's interesting, isn't it? >> we don't want that to happen. >> let's see what tom has to say about that. good morning. >> well, it's happened in past, too, when the first explorers tried to find the northwest passage, they found a lot of it was open. no ice. that was back in the 1700s. here we don't have any ice this morning. we have rain. we do have some areas of passing showers now in fauquier county, moving into prince william, coming into fairfax county shortly. elsewhere, a few sprinkles north of washington and south and east. temperatures are chilly. only in the low and mid-40s around the region. it's 47 now in washington and looking at the wider view we have some other showers in southeastern virginia as well as out in the mountains. those showers will continue to move through the region here throughout the rest of the day with an increasing wind, too. could have winds gusting to 25 miles an hour this afternoon with temperatures holding steady in the 40s and occasional passing showers. some of them could be moderate at times, maybe over an inch of rain. a little lesser chance of showers tomorrow but still blustery and chilly, remaining chilly into the weekend with a smaller chance of showers. should dry out sunday afternoon, into the first part of next week. now let's check traffic, jerry. how's it looking? >> looking good so far. northeast traffic along kenilworth avenue, northbound and southbound very much on the light side with no accidents or incidents to impede the flow. good news there. check your speeds, see how you're doing. in from the wt this morning, 66, gainesville to centreville, ten minutes. only 13 minutes at this point, interest dent-free. headed for the beltway and inside the beltway, 17 minutes, moving along nicely. eastbound 66 all the way in this morning. back to you. >> jerry, thank you. >> time now 5:23, 47 degrees outside. a light at the end of the tunnel. why analysts aren't so sure we're in an economic recovery. >> why j.lo and mark anthony ♪ >> oh, yes. it was a night of music, marching and fun in prince george's county. 11 bands from schools across the county gathered last night at high point high school in beltsville to showcase their talents. the annual event gives the schools a chance to perform for each other and for their families and friends. there's no winner or loser here, but judges are on hand to provide feedback to the participants. >> celebrity power couple jennifer lopez and marc anthony wowed students at a d.c. middle school for latino boys. j.lo and marc anthony surprised students at the san miguel school in northwest yesterday. the power couple toured the school and told students to work hard to achieve their goals. nice stop there. >> what a nice surprise for the guys there. why the government's mailing out $250 checks to americans. >> and can you hear me now? how soon you'll notice better cell phone service on metro. mixed bag. the market's hit a big milestone but the economic news isn't all good. why analysts are conflicted about the prospects for recovery. >> swine flu scams. how crooks are taking advantage of the epidemic to cheat you out of money. >> running short. why there's a good chance your mechanic won't have the parts needed to fix your car. good morning. welcome, everyone. we're glad you're up with us this thursday morning. i'm barbara harrison. >> and i'm keith garvin in for joe krebs, october 15th, 2009. giving you a live look outside. boy, you see the clouds. when you step outside, you'll want to grab your jackets. some of you might want to grab your umbrellas. >> may feel a few drops of rain. i didn't feel it, but i know it was out there overnight. >> viewers to our south getting some rain right now in southern parts of fauquier county as well as into prince william county. where you see the moving areas of color that is where we are getting some showers moving generally southwest to northeast now. and the radar's showing that is just now coming into prince william county, getting some rain around manassas to near dale city, north of fredericksburg. that will be moving in fairfax county shortly, crossing the potomac, up into charles county after that. a chilly, blustery day on the way. i'll hminutes. stay tuned. that will be at 5:41. >> we'll be here and waiting for you. how about a look at traffic? >> jerry, how you doing? >> as far as i know, i'll be here as well unless you know something i don't. good morning. let's see how we're doing. so far, so good at the wilson bridge, close in, both the inner loop and outer loop moving along pretty well. going to have to watch the 95 corridor down there in dale city now that we're getting some rain. keep you updated on that, any changes. elsewhere, let you know that things are looking okay through northeast. kenilworth avenue on in, new york avenue, east cap, no early worries. trip in from the west on 66 and the toll road doing okay. back to you. >> all right. if it's up to us, you'll be here forever. >> thank you. >> absolutely. thank you. now to a developing story overseas where tension is mounting between north and south korea. north korea has accused south korea of sending warships into its water off the peninsula's west coast. now it's wning about a potential naval clash. north korea doesn't recognize a sea boundary and claims the line should be redrawn further south. this morning its leaders call south korea's actions wreckless and a serious situation. this dispute led to bloody battles in the past. we're also following a deadly story in pakistan where people are dead after teams of gunmen attacked three different sites in the eastern city of lahore. one of the attacks targeted a commando training facility. security forces raided the facility, killing five attacker and freeing a family being held hostage. there were also attacks on a police training facility as well. separately, at least 11 people were killed when a suicide car bomb exploded in northwest pakistan. >> today all eyes will be on wall street. can the dow stay above the 10,000 mark? it could be a sign the recession is ending, but new foreclosure numbers out this morning may show us otherwise. kimberly suiters joins us live. >> reporter: to pull an old quote from the former head of the fed, we may be feeling some irrational exuberance today after the dow industrial average crossed the magic 10,000 line yesterday. let's bring in the good news first. the dow surging over 50%, topping 10,000.1 yesterday afternoon, around 1:20 in the afternoon just for a moment. the high felt awfully good, though. now, some experts are indicating the recession is over, but the indicators are decidedly mixed. if you separate out the auto sector where sales plummeted the moment cash for clunkers ended, retail sales showed a tiny bit of growth in september, about half a percent, especially in the clothing and electronics departments. consumers looking for bargains, not luxury there. >> check the numbers this morning, a reminder that it isn't much. it's baby steps, but there is some evidence that the household sector and demand in the household sector is stirring a bit. >> but it's not so good news to keep us wondering how fast we can pull out of the recession. foreclosure filings and jobless claims, which are closely tied together, unemployment is cited as the main reason homeowners are palg into trouble. last year, there were 2.3 million foreclosure filings. this year, with the unemployment rate currently at a 26-year high, we're on track to hit 3.5 milln filings. so, unemployment is still at 9.8% in our country. could hit 10%. until americans get their jobs back, ex cube rans over the dow hitting 10,000 still feels a bit irrational. back to you. >> kimberly suiters, thank you. president obama wants congress to pass a bill that would provide a one-time papt of $250 to seniors and disabled americans. this comes just before the labor department's announcement that social security checks will not increase for the first time in three decades. the formula used to calculate the yearly increase is based from cost of living, which has remained stagnant in the weak economy. the white house says payments would cost $13 billion. >> new details this morning involving that deadly shooting in the district that left two teenagers dead. fbi agents have since recovered weapons which may have been used in the crime. investigators say two rival gangs opened fire on each other in the clay terrance neighborhood in northeast. it happened on tuesday afternoon. in all, five teenagers were shot. yesterday, agents raided a home near the scene of that shooting. they recovered several high-powered assault weapons and are now trying to determine whether they are linked to this case. one of the victims, 14-year-old davonta artis, was just walking home from school. >> he was getting off the w-4 bus, walking through that way to come home, to come down here. he lived at the bottom of the hill. that's how he got caught up in it. it wasn't meant for him at all. >> the other victim was 18-year-old daquan tibbs. sources also tell news 4 this morning that one of the injured teens was the son of a police officer. he remains in the hospital this morning. and two teens charged with a mysterious death of a montgomery county man will go before a judge later today. 57-year-old ali zare was found dead on a pat outside bells mill elementary school in potomac back on may 10th. after an investigation, police found evidence inside his car which led them to 18-year-old emily geller and 15-year-old artie ellis. a search warrant of ellis' home then turned up property belonging to zare. >> airline pilots could soon face much tougher restrictions. the house passed a bill which toughens regulations on pilot training, qualifications and work schedules. this comes in response to several accidents involving regional airlines, including the crash of continental flight 3407 near buffalo, new york, in which 50 people were killed. it was later revealed that the flight crew made a series of critical errors leading up to the crash. the new bill would require that entry level pilots have more experience. a similar measure has been introduced in the senate. no more dropped calls when you're on metro trains. starting friday, metro is expanding cell phone service at 20 of its busiest stations. that means if you have verizon, sprint nextel, at&t or-mobile you will be able to get service. currently, only verizon customers and some sprint customers have underground service. metro's adding the service as part of a funding deal with congress. the measure requires metro's phone service to expand to cover all 47 undergrod stations by next year at this time. time now 5:37, 47 degrees outside. > so, do cell phones cause cancer? the results of a new study that tries to answer that question. >> plus, making the grade. which local school system made huge strides on math tests. >> and the field of fear. we'll take you inside one thrill that is not for the faint of heart. look outside. beautiful morning, but some rain out there, too. it's beautiful because we're looking at a beautiful picture of the lcoln memorial all lit up in the darkness of this washington morning. >> don't forget those umbrellas and jackets. some of us will need umbrellas. >> right here in the district i don't think we have any rain falling right now, but tom says it's all around the region, particularly south of here. we'll talk about that with him coming up. warm up on this cold morning with this news 4 bargain blast. get a free 12-ounce coffee, cappuccino, hot chocolate or tea at participating 7-elevens. print out a coupon by going to nbcwashington.com and search bargain blast. >> we are going to need that hot coffee this morning. >> yes, indeed. in fact, here at 5:41 in the morning, temperatures are near freezing out in western maryland. our weather watchers there in garrett county reported about an inch of snow overnight west of frost burg that has melted off, still near freezing there. a little bit of drizzle in the shenandoah valley and there's one area of some light to moderate rain now just coming into fairfax county out of prince william. this is heading to the east/northeast. also stretches down into northern stafford county. it's going to be coming perhaps into the district of columbia and prince george's and charles counties over the next half hour to hour or . so, yes, you'll need an umbrella and certainly a jacket. look at these temperatures. only in the low and mid-40s around the region. near the bay it's near 50. 47 in washington. mid-40s on the eastern shore away from the waters. only near 40 in a few areas in the mountains. near freezing out in western maryland this morning so there could be some slick spots. watch out for that. increasing areas of rain coming in from the west later on today. moderate rain with blustery winds, highs in the 40s. more of the same tomorrow, again, perhaps into saturday and sunday but drying out into next week. jerry, how's the traffic now? >> even with the light rain still doing okay along i-95 but certainly picking up a lot of volume now as you begin the trip outer triangle toward dale city and beyond. no accidents reported in to us at this juncture. let's see how we're doing elsewhere. the trip to the woodrow wilson bridge uncomplicated. good news there. springfield to the american legion bridge we're okay. the top side of the beltway from greenbelt to silver spring, travel lanes remain open but picking up in volume rather rapidly now. back to you. >> thanks, jerry. time now 5:42. our temperature 47 degrees in washington. a prank lands a woman in hot water. how she got arrested for pretending to win the lottery. >> and why it could take longer for your mechanic to repair your car. the swine flu is spreading quickly, wch i why many people have been lining up at vaccination clinics as cross the country. one of those clinics will be held later today in prince george's county. megan mcgrath joins us from greenbelt and has details about that. good morning. a lot of folks expected today? >> reporter: we could possibly see quite a few people here if yesterday's clinic in montgomery county yesterday was any indication. they had huge lines there. some people waited in line for two hours in order to get their vaccinations. could be crowded here at this chin nick greenbelt, maryland, later today. prince george's county will be offering the vaccine in both the shot form as well as the nasal form. they have received shipments of both. it's your choice, depending upon your circumstances and whether or not you have had the flu mist. that will determine which kind of vaccine you'll get here today. this clinic is free and it's open to the public on a first come, first serve basis. it's being held -- let's look at the specifics here -- at spring hill lake elementary school in greenbelt. gets under way at noon and will be going on until 4:00 this afternoon. now, this clinic is targeting adults, specifically pregnant women, young adults 18 to 24, caretakers of infants under the age of 6 months, and adults 25 to 64 with chronic health problems, things like asthma, hiv, diabetes, things of that nature. now, they'res going to be vaccinating elementary school students in prince george's county. they're going to start doing that in the schools on october the 19th. then the general public will be vaccinated here in the county starting october the 22nd. they're going to hold clinics every thursday after that at the prince george's county health department as well. that's when they'll open things up to the general public and not to just the high-risk groups. but because the shipments are still few and far between, they don't have quite the levels that they are wanting at this point, they're limiting it to the target groups, those considered to be at high risk for the swine flu. and at this particular clinic today they're targeting adults only. they'll start out with the kids a little later in the month. barbara, back to you. >> okay. thanks, megan. a warning this morning if you're looking for options outside the doctor's office or flu clinics to deal with the h1n1. there's growing counterfeit medicine market online. sites are claiming tav tamiflu for $50 which is normally $100, but testing reveals they only contain acetaminophen. while the fda is investigating, they say the best way to avoid these scams is going through the doctor's office and pharmacy. >> it's a statistic that michelle rhee and other d.c. public school administrators will point to with pride. math scores are up significantly for students in the district. tracee wilkins joins us live from outside meyer elementary school in northwest washington with more on this. tracee, some very good news for the district. >> reporter: yes. what is significant about this is that the rest of the nation has remained stagnant with math scores on this one test. so, yes, students here at meyer elementary school in the fourth grade and also fourth graders across d.c. and also eighth graders have a lot to beroud of because they did well on these tests. considered one of the nation's poorest performing school systems, d.c.'s charter, public and schools -- charter and public school students in fourth grade rose five points and rose six points in eighth grade. this is based on a 500-point scale. the test taken nationwide every two years is called the national assess pt of educational progress and it's considered the nation's report card. maryland also showed some gains but scores in virginia remained stagnant. in fact, scores around the country remained flat, worrying some school reformists who want to see higher scores in math for u.s. students. they say that improvement in this area is about competing on the world stage. >> parents should be outraged. taxpayers should also be because we've spent an enormous amount more on our schools, and our scores have been flat. >> reporter: now, d.c. school spokesmen say they have added teachers to the classroom who helped to make math more exciting and also specialists to work with students. they're hoping that's what this is a reflection of with these improvements in this test. there were only four other states in the country who had improvements in both grades fourth through eighth grade and d.c. is among them. i'm tracee wilkins, live this morning in northwest. keith, back to you in the studio. >> trac, thank you. now to a burning medical question with still no solid answers, does cell phone use cause cancer? it depends on who you ask. a group of cancer experts reviewed a bunch of studies involving 37,000 mobile phone users. they essentially discovered most of the research found no concrete cancer connection associated with cell phone use. some of that research was funded by the mobile phone industry, but after analyzing other more reliable studies, the researchers found those who used cell phones for more than ten years did have a slightly increased risk for tumors. an ohio woman claims she won the lottery jackpot and she was going to share the money with everyone. this caused quite a bit stir, you might imagine, in clupbus, ohio, on tuesday. the woman rode in a limousine to the burlington coat factory. she told everyone inside she was going to pay for all of their purchases. word spread. suddenly there were hundreds of people inside and outside of the store. the police came to control the crowd and that's when they discovered it was all a hoax. >> at the height of it, officers estimate there were about 500 people inside the store and maybe two or three times that outside the store. >> the woman was arrested and could be charged with inducing panic and possibly fraud, and she owes the limo company $900. boy, sounds like she needs, in that case, to talk to someone more than the police. something else is going on there. >> she looked pretty happy sitting in the back of that police car, didn't she? >> happy is a way to term it. yeah. >> i don't know what she was thinking. anyway, tom, tell us about the weather. >> unless you have a white beard you're not santa claus. feeling like wintertime. almost like christmas weather here, in fact. it's going to be more like early december than mid-october today. there's the gray sky over the washington monument on this chilly thursday morning. live picture from our city camera. it's only 47 in washington. that's probably going to be about the high for the day. now let's take a look at radar. over the last several hours we've had some showers passing across virginia. they're now moving out of fauquier county, into prince william county, just now coming into fairfax county, getting some light rain there. this is just now crossing the potomac river. should be heading into charles county as well over the next, oh, half hour or so. farther to the west still a few lingering sprinkles in culpepper and fauquier county. weather watchers reporting a little drizzle, some passing showers in the shenandoah valley. we've had a little passing shower activity as well in southern maryland and right near the chesapeake bay this morning. it's in the 40s from the blue ridge all the way to the atlantic beaches. mid-40s in prince george's county, montgomery, fairfax, arlington counties. near 40s farther west and north. weather watcherere in garrett county reported an inch of snow early last evening, but all that melted off. the ground temperatures are so warm. only near freezing there now. temperatures near 40 elsewhere in the mountains, mid-40s on the eastern shore. over the last six hours, been watching some other showers. where you see these patches of color getting some rain now in west virginia, out into the ohio valley. that, too, will beoming our way. traveling today, may be some minor flight delays from portland down to san francisco. as well as from central texas through perhaps arkansas, into tennessee, the mid-atlantic states from rain. could be flight delays there, maybe from some scattered thunderstorms from south florida as well. maybe even some accumulating snow in north central pennsylvania later on today, from perhaps near harrisburg up to scranton as well as the upper great lakes and the northern plains. now for our part of the world, we've had this one batch of rain that came through yesterday afternoon and overnight last night. now moved off to the east. here comes another area of more potent rain coming in from the midwest. that's accompanied by a developing coastal low pressure system just off the carolinas. that's going to increase our moisture chances into the afternoon as well. and also increase the winds. so going forward over the next 48 hours, where you see the color's where we could get rain. where you see the white is where we could get snow. northern pennsylvania, perhaps southern new york state, could be accumulating wet snows there. may cause power outages. then this developing coastal low will begin to exit, but we have another one developing over the weekend that may give us more rain. here's how we're looking for today. we'll have our temperatures around the region holding steady, in the 40s throughout the day and maybe a passing light shower this morning but a greater chance of some more moderate rain this afternoon with winds gusting to 25 miles an hour out of the northeast. sunrise this morning is at 7:18. the sunset at 6:29. this evening may be some other areas of passing rain through the evening. a smaller chance, though, but still damp and chilly evening, near 40 top morning. then a diminished chance of rain on friday but maybe a passing shower during the day. otherwise, cloudy, blustery and chilly, in the 40s. then maybe a little smaller chance of some showers on saturday, into saturday night. highs near 50. but we ought to finally dry out sunday afternoon, it appears now. into monday, tuesday, wednesday, here comes the sun. low and be hold, maybe average temperatures. 60s, not 40s like today. >> we'll look forward to that, especially if it's dry. we'll be talking about halloween pretty soon. out to the roads now. >> looking forward to some good news for the roadways. how you doing? >> doing all right. good morning. we're getting busy and that's not necessarily a good thing. outer loop of the capital beltway approaching georgia avenue, the initial reports of an accident with at least one travel lane closed. on the b-w parkway southbound at capital plaza, have word of an accident. park police indicating it's beginning to back up there. inbound east capitol street on the whitney on bridge, car broken down. so east capital street coming in from benning road may be backing up early. on the rails we're doing okay so far this morning. metrorail, vre and marc rail reporting no delays out there as we get under way on a thursday morning. barbara, bacto you. >> okay, jerry, thank you. well it's another consequence of the bad economy and troubled u.s. car business. if your car breaks dow or if you're in an accident it could take longer to get it fixed. as bob hanson reports there's not much your mechanic can do about it. >> reporter: fixing a car can take you longer these days, as carmakers cut back on production, car parts are getting harder and harder to find. >> you don't dare take a car too much apart before you have the parts on hand. >> reporter: phil farrell says getting those parts for his body shop isn't what it used to be. he says orders are taking longer and longer to arrive. >> tumble-down effect is the loss of several manufacturers and degradation of the dealer networks has affected the parts availability and distribution. >> reporter: take this bumper, for instance. a year ago it could be ordered, delivered overnight. today, getting this bumper took nearly two weeks. and the problem seems to cut across car makes and models. it's not just body work. auto dealers service managers say they're having the same problems with engineparts. >> a lot of times it's taking up to two and three weeks to get parts in. >> reporter: at maaco collision repair, some car owners often have to make a decision between factory parts or a quick deadline. >> well, you can't get the factory parts right now. taking two to three weeks. if a customer need as quick turnaround, we have to call salvage yards, see what's available or some of the people who make parts in taiwan or whatever they call after-market parts. been using a lot more of those  than we ever did. >> reporter: as car parts get harder to find, there is a chance the price for these parts could go up, leaving the consumer waiting longer and paying more to get their car fixed. >> my goodness. it was a frightful night out at a farm in center stril, virginia. halloween is just over two weeks away, but some of the ghouls and goblins are making an early appearance. it's part of a new event called fields of fear. it's open friday and saturday nights this weekend through halloween. find out who is the most powerful person in washington that's not named obama or biden. >> d.c. mayor adrian fenty will join us live for "connecting with the mayor." we'll ask what the district is doing to protect neighbors from gang violence and when d.c. will start hosting swine flu vaccine clinics. and it's only 5:57. right now it is 47 degrees. we'll be checking with tom kierein about this chilly weather we're having. stay with us. we're coming right back with a full hour of news. frigid fall. we're getting hit with an early taste of winter. some cold rain. it's pretty nty outside. meteorologist tom kierein will let you know how long the blast of cold, rainy weather will last. >> confidence booster. investors on wall street cheer when the dow hits the 10,000 mark, but is the optimism trickling down to main street? >> making the grade. a new report card on how well elementary school students are doing in math is out. find out how your child scored and the big gains one local school district made. good morning. thanks for waking up with us this morning for "news 4 today." i'm barbara harrison. >> and i'm keith garvin in for joe krebs today which is thursday, october 15th, 2009. a look outside. you see the wonderful washington monument there to the left but you see those clouds also there in the background. >> they're causing some rain, and tom kierein can tell us if that's going to continue throughout the day. good morning. >> yeah, going to feel more like early december than mid-october, but don't start singing "jingle bells" just yet. no snow in the forecast anyway. there is the view of our radar. you can see those patches of blue, those are areas of light rain. right now it's raining in fauquier county, prince william, fairfax and now charles county, and farther to the south and west in culpepper county. getting drizzle, too, in the shenandoah valley and passing showers out of the mountains. here's the forecast for today. occasional passing showers through the morning. we'll stay steady in the 40s throughout the day and the winds will increase this afternoon as the rain also intensity increases. we'll have temperatures climbing into the upper 40s, perhaps briefly by noontime. then overnight tonight, maybe some more passing showers and a blustery wind. and tomorrow as well as into saturday and sunday, still chilly and still chances of passing showers. finally drying out into next week. details on that in ten minutes. >> okay. commuters sure had a lot to deal with yesterday. >> they sure did. >> hopefully they earned a better day today. >> jerry, you tell us things are starting to get busy this morning. >> yeah, they are, unfortunately. chopper 4 on the job for us dodging the raindrops this morning. silver spring on the beltway outer loop near georgia avenue, the accident we told about you is over to the shoulder. police were also chenging on the beltway between rockville pike and old georgetown road for an accident. may have something there, may not. they're checking on that. the backup typically to silver spring continues to grow because of the accident on the shoulder outer loop near georgia avenue. 66 inside the capital beltway this morning, already jammed up, worse than normal because of an accident near the east falls church metro station. police are on the scene trying to get that out of the roadway. that's just that two-lane stretch so heads-up for that. barbara and keith, back to you. >> thank you. >> thank you. new today, chaos in pakistan. a series of attacks have left at least 37 people dead. teeps of gunmen stormed government build ngs the eastern city of lahore. the raids targeted a commando training facility. pakistan's federal investigation agency and a police training facility. government employees, police officers and the attackers were all among those killed. separately, nearly a dozen were killed when a suicide car bomb exploded in northwest pakistan. the country's interior minister described these and other recent attacks as the beginning of a guerrilla war. we are following another developing story overseas. tension is mounting between north and south korea. north korea has accused south korea of sending warships into its waters off the peninsula's west coast. now it's warning about a potential naval clash. north korea does not recognize the sea boundary and claims the line should be redrawn further south. this morning its leaders called south korea's actions reckless and a serious situation. the same dispute led to two bloody bat also in 1999 and 2002. >> this morning investors are hoping the good news will continue on wall street today. the dow closed above the 10,000 mark for the first time in more than a year, but new foreclosure numbers just out this morning may show the road to recovery hasn't reached main street yet. news 4's kimberly suiters joins us live with more on that. kimberly, good morning. >> good morning. to pull out an old quote from the former head of the fed, we may be feeling some irrational you can eastbound rans after the dow industrial average crossed that magic 10,000 mark yesterday. the dow surging over 50%, topping 10,000.1 wednesday afternoon around 1:20, just for a moment, though. the high felt good after the dow's 12-year low of 6547 back in march. some economists are indicating the recession is over but indicators are mixed. if you separate out the auto sector where sales plummeted the moment cash for clunkers sales ended, retail sales showed a tiny bit of growth in september, half a percent, especially in the clothing and electronics departments. consumers there looking for bargains, not luxury. >> check of the numbers this morning are a reminder that it isn't much. it's baby steps, but there is some evidence that the household sector and demand in the household sector is stirring a bit. >> but it's the not so good news that keeps us wondering how fast we can really pull out of the recession. foreclosure filings and jobless claims, which are closely tied, unemployment is cited as the main reason homeowners are falling into trouble. last year, there were 2.3 million foreclosure filings. this year, the unemployment rate currently is at a 26-year high. we're on track to hit 3.5 million filings. unemployment is still at 9.8% and could hit 10%. until americans get their jobs back, exuberance over the dow hitting 10,000 still feels a touch irrational. back to you. >> thanks, kimberly. today is the absolute last day you can own up to the irs for hiding your money offshore to avoid paying taxes. after today you'll face severe penalties if you get caught. the irs says 7,500 people have signed up for the amnesty program. >> today, president obama will head to new orleans. the president will hold a town hall meeting and stop by a school in the hard-hit lower ninth ward. some 60,000 properties are still abandoned or in serious di disrepa disrepair. this will be the president's first visit to new orleans while in office. >> two teenagers are eected in court today charged with the murder of a montgomery county man. 57-year-old ali zare was found dead on a path outside bells mill elementary school in potomac back on may 10th. after an investigation, police found evidence inside his car which led them to 18-year-old emily geller and 15-year-old artie ellis. a search warrant at ellis' home then turned up property belonging to zare. >> we have new details about that deadly shootout in northeast d.c. one of the teenage victims is in grave condition and sources tell news 4 he's the son o a district police officer. investigators say two rival gangs opened fire on each other in the clay terrace neighborhood in northeast on tuesday afternoon. all five teenagers were shot, two of them killed. yesterday, fbi agents raided a home near the scene of that shooting. they recovered several high-power assault weapons and are now trying to determine whether they are linked to the shootings. one of the victims who died, 14-year-old dah ton day artis, was simply walking home from school. >> he was just getting off the w-4 bus, walking through that way to come home, to come down here. he lives at the bottom of the hill, so that's how he got caught up in it. it wasn't meant for him at all. >> the other victim killed in the shootout has been identified as 18-year-old daquan tibbs. >> to frederick county, maryland now. planners denied a controversial plan to build a megachurch off i-270. the 130,000 square foot facility was proposed for the global mission church. chir ee looking to expand. residents near the planned site said the walmart-sized church was too big for the rural area. last night the frederick county planning commission agreed with residents and denied the church's application. a spokesperson for the church says think feel their religious rights have been violated. they plan to pray about what to do next, they say, which could include an appeal or legal action. >> a new report card is showing how students are doing in math, local students who are making the grade. >> controversial radio show host rush limbaugh finds out if he will be the owner of an nfl team. >> we're off to a chilly and wet start. meteorologist tom kierein will let you know how long this nasty weather will last. time now 6:08, 47 degrees. weather and traffic on the 1s. good morning. 6:11. a chilly 47 degrees in washington. on the radar where you see the blue is rain. getting some scattered showers across northern virginia and west virginia. that's heading into maryland over the next half hour or so. these are the rainfall totals over the last 24 hours. generally .1 to .2 of an inch of rain has fallen. it's chilly. low to mid 40s around washington, the nearby suburbs. near 50 right near the bay. occasional showers today, tomorrow, all the way into sunday morning, but finally drying out by sunday afternoon and into next week. we'll finally get back into the average highs, perhaps 60s on tuesday and wednesday with sunshine. jerry, how's the traffic? >> tom, a live look along i-270, chopper 4 scooted up toward gaithersburg, we're doing okay. certainly filling in very rapidly out of gaithersburg from 124 down to 370 to points south, but right now all through lanes are open. main lanes, local lanes, no accidents to report. just heads-up as we're getting light rain. 66 eastbound, an accident between ooh and 123. jammed up from 7100. back to you. >> thank you. >> thanks. coming up, a pardon for the family members of a popular radio talk show host. >> next at 6:15, a think report card is out on how well elementary school students are if you're just waking up, here of some of the day's top stories we're following. 37 people are dead after a series of attacks in pakistan. gunmen stormed government buildings in the city of lahore, and in northwest pakistan, a suicide car bomb exploded. all eyes on wall street today after the dow reached its highest level in over a year. the dow surpassed the 10,000 mark yesterday. while this brings some hope, there are still serious concerns about the rising unemployment rate and the housing crisis. president obama is visiting the big easy today. he'll be taking a look at the progress new orleans has made since hurricane katrina hit back in 2005. this will be the president's first visit to new orleans while in office. and two teenagers are expected in court today after being charged with the murder of a montgomery county man. 57-year-old ali zare was found dead on a path outside bells mill elementary school in potomac back on may 10th. >> good news for d.c. public schools. math scores are up significantly for students in the district. students in maryland also showed some progress, while virginia students stayed about the same. for more, we're joined by tracee wilkins who's live outside meyer elementary school in northwest washington. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. what's significant about this is d.c. showed improve pt force fourth graders and eighth graders. only four other states in the country that did that. this is a huge gain for d.c. schools, something that fourth graders here at meyer elementary school and schools across the district can be proud of. it's considered one of the nationest pooreste performing school systems. >> parents should be outraged. taxpayers should also be because we've spent an enormous amount more on our schools, and our scores have been flat. >> reporter: the test is called the national assessment of educational progress and it's considered the nation's report card. every two years, fourth and eighth graders are tested in various math skills nationwide. charter and public school students in d.c. rose five points in fourth grade and six points for eighth graders on a 500-point scale. while d.c. scored below the national average, there are gains. in maryland, the gains were minor. in virginia, there were no improvements from two years ago. a reflection of what happened across the nation. worrying some school reformists who say the country needs improvement in math. >> i feel a real sense of urgency. we have to get a lot better as a country. we have to educate our way to a better economy. >> reporter: d.c. school officials say they have added teachers to the classroomho know how to make learning math much more fun for students and they also have specialists helping as well. they are hoping these improvements are what's made the difference. i'm tracee wilkins, live in northwest. >> very good news. thank you. >> bound to be a big topic on his radio show this morning. tom joyner's uncles pardoned nearly a century after their execution. thomas and meeks griffin were electrocuted in 1915 for the murder of a wealthy confederate army veteran. almost immediately, doubts surfaced about their guilt. yesterday, the state of south carolina pardoned the men. joyner had just learned about the execution two years ago while taping a pbs documentary so he set out to clear their names. >> even though they're not here, this won't bring them back, but this will bring closure. and so i hope now they rest in peace. >> joyner's uncles were apparently given just 24 hours to get their defense together. joyner says research shows the confederate veteran was probably killed because of his alleged involvement with a black woman. >> rush limbaugh is out as a potential owner of the nfl's st. louis rams. espn reports that the conservative radio talk show host was dropped from the deal. the chairman of the st. louis blues hockey team initially included limbaugh in a prospective ownership group, but he realized he had to drop limbaugh to get the required 3/4 approval by other nfl owners. the opposition to limbaugh stems from comments he made in 2003 about quarterback donovan mcnabb receiving favorable coverage because he is black, among other quotes. soccer fans at rfk stadium paused to wish u.s. national team forward charlie davies a speedy recovery. nine minutes into last night's match against costa rica, fans held up signs with davies' number 9. he was a passenger in an suv that slammed into a guardrail near the memorial bridge tuesday morning and killed a woman inside. davies opened his eyes yesterday for the first time since the wreck. he is set to undergo elbow and facial surgery tomorrow. doctors do not think he will recover in time for next summer's world cup tournament in south africa. in sport this morning, one of the wizards big three gets injured. a star redskins career may be over. here's dan hellie with your sports minute. >> good morning, everybody. your sports minute starts with the wizards. last night on the road in cleveland, preseason hoops, the wiz and the cavs. antawn jamison injured in the first quarter on this play, trying to block a shot. you can see he's in pain right away. flip saunders said his shoulder might have popped out and gone back in. he likely won't play the rest of the preseason. meantime, gilbert arenas looked good. he scored 18. the wizards win it 109-104. turning to football, the patchwork offensive line for the redskins will have a new look this weekend. centreville native will montgomery gets the start at right guard. the big question now, if and when chris samuels will return the six-time pro bowler got hurt early in the panthers game. the injury didn't look that bad, but samuels jammed his neck. for him, it's more serious because he has stenosis, which is the narrowing of the spine, a very dangerous condition for anyone, but especially when it involves violent, head-on collisions. one has to wonder if chris samuels'areer might be over. let's hope not. that's your sports minute. i'm dan hellie. everybody have a great day. >> what kind of day is it going to be as far as the weather goes? let's find out right now. >> boy, i don't know if it's going to be a great one, tom. >> tom, good morning. >> dress for december, not october. good morning. we have some scattered showers across virginia and west virginia this morning, just now coming into the district and maryland at this hour. those areas of blue are where we are getting the rain. it will increase in intensity as the day progresses. temperatures around the region, low and mid-40s. we're in the mid and upper 40s. highs today should just be upper 40s. it's going to get blustery, too, this afternoon, along with those moderate showers. winds gusting to 25 miles an hour out of the northeast. could get some more showers off and on tonight, friday, saturday and finally ending on sunday morning, and generally staying in the 40s throughout the period. looks like we'll dry out sunday afternoon. monday, tuesday and wednesday into next week finally we dry out and warm up with the sunshine returning, near 60 monday, perhaps low 60s on tuesday, maybe even near the average high. into the mid-60s or so on wednesday as we get into mid-week next week. i'm back in ten minutes with another update. jerry, good morning. how's the traffic now? >> hey, tom, good morning to you. good morning, everyone. check out chopper 4. kind of scooting around the capital beltway area, checking things out for us this morning. keeping in mind we had the accident quickly moved to the shoulder earlier on the nop around georgia avenue so basically we're picking up volume both directions but all in all, a manageable commute at this point. nothing too dramatic to worry about. should find the travel lanes open. elsewhere, check out, see how we're doing on the rails this morning. marc rail, vre and metro all reporting trains leaving the stations on time so good news on the rails this morning. barbara and keith, back to you. >> we like good news when it comes to traffic, jerry. >> keep it that way. so, wait until you hear this and this is coming up. the chaos that ensued when a woman walked into a store claiming she won the lottery and wanted to pick up the tab for all the shoppers. >> and next, find out who was the most powerful person in washington who is not named obama or biden. rahm emanuel tops "gq" magazine's new poll as the top person in washington. rounding out the top three, defense secretary robert gates and ben bernanke. caps star alexander ovechkin made the list at number 48. the president and vice president were disqualified from making the list. >> an ohio woman's in hot water this morning after pulling a prank on a store full of shoppers. she said she had just won the lottery and wanted to share her prize with everybody. the woman rode in in a limousine to the burlington coat factory. she told everyone she was going to pay for all of their purchases. word spread and suddenly there were hundreds of people in the store. police had to come control the crowd. that's when they discovered it was all a hoax. the woman was arrested and could be charged with inducing panic and possibly fraud. she owes the limo company $900. >> staying connected during your commute. soon your phone call won't be dropped while riding on metro. thousands show up for a shot at the swine flu vaccine, waiting in line for two hours. find out where you canet the vaccine today. >> we're following a developing story overseas. a series of terrorist attacks today kill nearly 40 p chilly change. it's a wet and cold morning outside, and the weather won't clear up any time soon. meteorologist tom kierein says a nor'easter is headed in our direction. >> a long shot. the rush to get a swine flu vaccine shot is on. find out where you can get your dose today. >> connecting with the mayor. d.c. mayor adrian fenty will join us live here in the studio. we'll ask about that deadly shoot outin northeast washington this week that killed two teens. and when a swine flu vaccine will be made available here. good morning. thanks for waking up with us this morning. we're glad you're out there. i'm barbara harrison. >> i'm keith garvin in for joe krebs. it is thursday, october 15th, 2009. a look outside and you can see -- you can tell it's a little damp out there and it's also chilly so grab those jackets when you head outside. >> look at how those lights are reflecting. is it raining out there, tom? >> it is, raining on capitol hill and in washington. the winds will be increasing by later on this afternoon. the gales of november and december will be arriving in october. right now the winds are beginning to pick up a little bit. there's a live picture of some of the autumn color that's showing up, actually a little bit earlier this year than we get. the color on radar is rain. we are getting areas of rain across west virginia and northern virginia, raining right now in washington. where you see the blue and green it's coming down harder. that's now moving into prince george's county. this area of rain will continue to move in out of the southwest to the northeast over the next several hours and it's certainly chilly. just in the low and mid-40s ray round the area, now 47 in washington. dress akrd cogly. you will need a rain coat and m umbrella for this morning. the winds will increase as the nor'easter develops. gusting winds to 25 miles an hour with passing showers tonight as well as into tomorrow. then a diminished chance of rain over the weekend. i'll show you next week coming up. >> all right, tom. we'll be waiting for that. >> thanks, tom. let's check in with jerry edwards to see how things are looking on the roadways. good morning. >> good morning. wet pavement to deal with making the roads a bit slick. want to check out inside the capital beltway along new york avenue at north capitol street, not too bad of a morning so far. we had the broken down vehicle inbound on east capitol street. on the whitney young bridge, tow trucks there. a couple minutes, that will be yanked out of there, the lanes re-opened. elsewhere, inbound b-w parkway, the accident near capitol plaza has been cleared now. headed for downtown, check out 395, northbound and outbound. right now travel lanes are open both directions, but again you can see particularly, obviously, on the inbound side we're beginning to slow. about midspan headed for downtown, but no accidents presently reported. be careful out there. that's how we're doing now. back to you. >> okay. thank you, jerry. new today, chaos in pakistan. a series of attacks have left at least 37 people dead. while you were sleeping, teams of gunmen stormed government buildings in the eastern city of lahore. the raids targeted a commando training facility. pakistan's federal investigation agency as well and a police training facility. government employees, police officers and the attackers were all among those killed. separately, 11 people were killed when a suicide car bomb exploded in northwest pakistan. the country's interior minister described these and other recent attacks as a beginning of a guerrilla war. the swine flu vaccine is being shipped out across the country and as soon as it arrives, there are plenty of people taking advantage of it. long lines have been forming at the clinics across the country, including one at montgomery county. while there are many people who want the vaccine, there are still a number of skeptics. some health care workers are protesting rules requiring them to get vaccinated. others are worried bus the vaccine is still being tested but federal health officials are re-assuring everyone it is safe. megan mcgrath joins us from greenbelt where another clinic is being held today, expecting crowds there, too, as well. >> reporter: we are expecting some crowds here today in prince george's county, they're holding a clinic in the greenbelt area at an elementary school here. if it's anything like what we've been seeing here lately in other jurisdictions, there will be quite a few people turning out to get the swine flu vaccine. a similar clinic in montgomery county yesterday, they had an enormous line at that clinic. some people waiting in line for as long as two hours in order to get vaccinated. now here in prince george's county, they will be giving both the nasal form as well as the injectable form of the swine flu vaccine at this clinic. it's open to the public, first come, first serve. let's take a look at the specifics here. this clinic today is being held at the spring hill lake elementary school. that's in greenbelt, pd md. it gets under way at noon and will last until 4:00 this afternoon. this specific clinic is targeting adults, specifically pregnant women, young adults 18 to 24, caretakers of infants under 6 months and adults 25 to 64 who have chronic health problems, things like asthma or diabetes. they're going to begin soon vaccinating elementary school students in prince george's county. they're going to start doing that in the schools beginning on october the 19th. and then the general public will be able to get vaccinated as well in the county. that's going to start on october the 22nd and they're going to hold clinics, free clinics every thursday after the 22nd at the prince george's county health department to allow the general public. right now, because of the numbers of doses available and two health departments around our area, they're really focusing on those targeted groups, the people considered to be at high risk for swine flu. pregnant women, specific age groups. again here at this clinic they will be concentrating on adults. but once they get those people vaccinated, then they'll open things up to the general public. we have seen quite a demand from the public here with people willing to wait in line for as long as two hours in order to get their shot. could be a busy day. >> you brought us those pictures yesterday from montgomery county. we'll see what happens today in prince george's county. >> reporter: yeah, it was amazing yesterday. yeah. >> certainly was. >> a disturbing discovery inside a northern virginia home. fbi agents said they found pornography involving children as young as 6 months old. agents arrested a u.s. army major, 34-year-old daniel wolverton. this came after a months' long investigation. a file-sharing website was traced back to his home. investigators say some of the backgrounds in those images matched those inside the home. to montgomery county where today two teens accused in the mysterious death of a man will go before a judge. 57-year-old ali zare was found dead on a path outside bells mill elementary school in potomac back on may 10th. after an investigation, police found evidence inside his car which led them to 18-year-old emily geller and 15-year-old artie ellis. police say a search warrant at ellis' home then turned up propertyelonging to zare. >> today president obama will head to new orleans. the president ischuled to visit the only school to re-open in the lower ninth ward since hurricane katrina. he'll also have a town hall at the university of new orleans. this will be the president's first visit to new orleans while in office. >> well, staying connected during your commute. you will soon notice better cell phone service on metro. >> the president wants to give 50 million people a check of $250. a member of your family could be likely to get some of that money. >> and mayor fenty will join us live for "connecting with the mayor." rain falling around our region. you can kind of see it here. cloudy and kind of nasty out there right now. 47 degrees here in the nation's capitol. good morning and welcome back. >> and we have something that can help warm you up on this cold morning. this news 4 bargain blast. you can get a free 12-ounce coffee, cappuccino, hot chocolate or t.e.a. at participating 7-lens. print out a coupon by going to nbcwashington.com and search bargain blast. boy, that sounds like a good idea on a morning like this. >> it sure does, doesn't it? don't think it's going to warm up too soon. let's talk to tom kierein about that. good morning again. >> yeah, this pattern's going to linger all the way into the weekend. we are starting off wet and chilly on this thursday morning. look at the radar. where sigh the blue and green, that is rain. it is coming down light to moderate rain now i washington, prince george's county as well as montgomery and fairfax. areas of scattered light to moderate rain across virginia and west virginia as well. heading southwest to the northeast. temperatures only in the low to mid-40s. now 46 in washington. a little bit warmer near the bay. bay water temperatures are still in the 60s. later on today, some more passing showers. could be moderate at times. later on this afternoon, accompanied by gusty northeast winds to 25 miles an hour. we'll stay in the 40s today, tonight, tomorrow and mostly on saturday and sunday as well. but a diminished chance of showers saturday into sunday. looks like this will finally end sunday morning. probablyet a drying tnd then sunday afternoon. looks like it will definitely be drying out for monday, tuesday and wednesday as we get into next week. finally temperatures getting back to the average highs in the 60s by tuesday and wednesday. coming up in ten minutes i'll show you a spectacular image of a fireball that was sighted in the sky a couple of nights ago. how's the traffic? >> busy morning on the wet pavement so we'll update you here along i-95 northbound above the prince william parkway. an accident, a truck and another car behind it. quickly moved to the shoulder. appears two lanes are open. also an accident on the occoquan river bridge. that was just cleared. once you're on 395, a lot of heavy traffic but no hang-ups to report. lanes open at the wilson bridge chtd had an accident on the b-w parkw parkway. quickly cleared. over to the shoulder. the flashing lights might be a bit of a distraction. incident free along 270 and both directions at the american legion bridge. back to you. >> thank you. staying connected during your commute. soon your phone call will not be dropped while on metro. >> d.c. mayor adrian fenty is here for "connecting with the mayor." good morning, sir. >> how are you? >> good to have you here. we'll ask him about the deadly shootout in northeast washington that happened this week, two teenagers left dead and when the swine flu vaccine wille made available here in the district. i'm here this morning, like every thursday morning, with d.c. mayor adrian fenty for "connecting with the mayor." again, good morning. >> thanks for having me. >> of course, a big story right now and a very sad story, a deadly shooting in northeast. two teens dead, three others wound wounded. it happened on tuesday afternoon in broad daylight, 4:00 in the afternoon in the clay terrace neighborhood. police say it was a shootout between two rival gangs. we've discovered one of those killed was just somebody getting off a school bus. neighbors say they're afraid to even go outside. let's listen to what one had to say. >> it's scary for my children. it's scary -- you walk out of the house, and it might be you. what is the city and what is everybody going to do about it? >> it breaks your heart to hear that kind of talk because you know they are afraid to go outside. whatre you going to do about it? >> well, the good news in d.c. -- i mean, the entire city -- not the entire city, but large parts of the city used to mirror what y see here. the homicide rate is way down. the closure rate is way up. but there are neighborhoods like clay terrace, and we know about clay terrace which still has way too many issues. i was there the day of the shooting. neighbors walk up to me and say, shut this place down. we made some unbelievable arrests about six months ago, literally arresting lots of people, getting drugs and guns. this is more than drugs and guns. this is actually a beef. there's a feud going on between two neighborhoods. >> these are teenagers. >> unexplainable. >> can't something be done about it? teenagers. >> yes, it can be done, but it would be -- it would be very irresponsible for either one of us to say -- that's it. why didn't we think of that? that's the silver bullet. these are hard, complex issues that involve lots of police, lots of education, lots of intervention from the government, absolutely, but from the greater community. if you've got eight 16 and 18-year-olds shooting back and forth at each other, one caught in the cross fire, there are issues that are ep-rooted. we think with education, better policing we're get agent some of them. we will work to do more. we do have to shut it down. >> i'm sure the neighbors think it's coming too slow, though. >> absolutely. no one can deny that things have improved, but no one can deny in clay terrace we have a long way to go. >> the swine flu vaccine being shipped around the country. we saw folks lined up in montgomery county. what about here? when are we going to see some swine flu vaccine available here in the district? >> all of the vaccines are coming at the same time. what we've done is to give it to some of our first responders first because they're actually going to go out and help distribute it. we're going to have a press conference within the next couple of days. one of the things we want to say from the get-go is there will be repeat giving of the vaccine. so the first day you don't have to stand in a long line. it will be given out a couple days from then and more and more will become available. >> within the next week, will we see here in the district? >> i'm going to have a press conference within the next couple of days to announce the different sites. want to emphasize also, we're going to have enough for everybody who needs it. of course, you don't have to rush. in due time. that's one of the messages that's not getting out. if you go to people who are high priority first,ut within due time we'll get enough from the center for disease control to actually give it to anybody in the city who needs it. >> one viewer wants to know this. why is the department of human services taking more than $12 million away from homeless services at a time when homelessness is rising in the district? wrnt is approaching. some say it's already out there. shelters are at capacity. what about that $12 million? >> this is either miscommunication or distortment of the facts. what happened was we have a contractor that works for us that overspent their budget last budget year. we gave them the same amount this year we gave them last year, but last year they overspent it. to some we should just give them the extra money even though they kind of overspent it. that's not how organizations, governments or anyone else should work. >> maybe there were more homeless people. >> no, inefficiencies in government. we should not be afraid to say -- no matter what agency it is, people have to spend the money responsibly. in fact, with homeless services, it's better to provide housing than to put people into shelter. a lot of the money ends up sometimes going into administration and bureaucracy. we've done a much better job of getting the money to people who need housing and services, but overspending your budget is not a recipe for us just giving you more money. we're not going to do that. >> i hope that answers the question for our viewer. your reaction to the math test scores in d.c., you want to say something about that. d.c. scores up for kids. >> sure. i mean, it's very good news. it's an indication of a school system headed in the rig direction. if chan shell lohr rhee was here, she would be the first to say we have a long way to go. she's motivated, energized, has a good vision to get us there. >> i'm sure they're happy to have good news in the d.c. public schools. >> great news. we just have to get people to report on it and talk about education and the kids instead of all the other kind of issues going on. >>hank you. . >> if you have a question or comment for the mayor, just mail it to us. fenty@nbcwashingn.com. we're going to pass it along to the mayor. we may use it next week on the air. >> sounds fantastic. >> thank you again for coming. keith? >> thank you, barbara. thank you, mr. mayor. >> keith, thank you. >> all eyes are on wall street today as investors hope for another rally. yesterday the dow cleared the 10,000 mark for the first time in over a year. while that offers some hope that wall street is turning around, main street is still struggling. according to the labor department, unemployment is at least 10% in 14 states and here in the district. an estimated 4 million americans also lost health insurance this year due to the recession. >> right now the american people, though, are still suffering, still losing jobs, still worrying about paying bills, putting kids through college and paying the mortgage. >> unemployment is also cited as the main reason why homeowners are falling into trouble. last year, there were 2.3 million foreclosure filings. a key part of the economy that is still struggling, the housing crisis, cnbc's courtney reagan joins us live with more on those new foreclosure numbers. good morning. >> reporter: hi. good morning, keith. the number of households caught up in the foreclosure crisis rose 5% this summer, unfortunately. realtytrac monitors that actity and says government efforts to help borrowers stay in their homes are being outpaced by defaults triggered by people losing their jobs. lenders will let someunemployed homeowners defer payments up to six months while they search for a new job, but there's really not much else they can do. realtytrac says there are 344,000 foreclosure filings last month, down 4% from august, but it's still the highest month on record. president obama's urging congress to provide $250 payments to 57 million senior citizens next year. the $13 billion effort is aimed at offsetting an expected announcement this week there will be no cost of living increase for social security. i'm sure that's going to hit some folks pretty hard. back to you in d.c. >> okay. courtney reagan, thank you. >> reporter: thank you. >> no more dropped calls while you're on metro trains. tomorrow metro's expanding cell phone service at 20 of its busiest stations. that means if you have verizon, sprint, nextel, at&t or t-mobile you'll be able to get service. currently only verizon customers and some sprint customers have underground service. metro is adding the service as part of a funding deal with congress. the measure requires metro's phone service to expand to cover all 47 underground stations by next year at this time. >> all right. underground is not what we're worried about today. we're worried about what it's like when we step outside in the elemen elements. >> definitely need an umbrella. dress for more like december rather than october weather this morning. here's a view from our camera that's located along the banks of the anacostia river. there is nationals park in the distance. not baseball weather. almost not even football weather. more like hockey weather today. temperature now a chilly 47 in washington. looking at the radar, we do have areas of rain. where you see the blue and green, coming into virginia as well as the district of columbia and into maryland, moving in southwest to northeast, now raining light to moderately in washington and in prince george's, montgomery, fairfax, arlington counties. farther to the south, in charles county, this is now moving into calvert and anne arundel coties as well. farther to our west and south, other areas of rain now moving through central virginia. this is just now moving into fredericksburg. crossing interstate 95 shortly and heading into maryland. the temperatures around the region at this hour, just in the low and mid-40s from the blue ridge all the way to the bay. mid-40s in montgomery, fairfax, arlington, prince george's counties and the district of columbia. eastern shore now in the upper 40s. it will it will be a bit milder there than here. near freezing in some locations in western maryland. over the last six hours, been watching other showers pulling in out of the midwest. those will be arriving during the afternoon with increased winds as well. now, there was a chunk of space rock floating along, minding its own business tuesday night when the earth slammed into it at 70,000 miles an hour. creating this incredible fireball. this was seen over the netherlands and germany tuesday night. this photograph taken at that time as the fireball was coming in. accompanied by a loud sonic boom as well. we get fire balls in the earth's atmosphere all the time but they're rarely ever captured on camera or seen. traveling today, could be flight delays from the upper midwest from snow and from rain around the great lakes all the way down to the south land. maybe some storms may cause flight delays in florida as well as in texas. if you're dressing for the bus stop this morning, an umbrella and a rain coat will be needed. heading off to work and school, just in the 40s through the morning hours. sunrise 7:18. some other showers may be moderate to heavy at times this afternoon. we've had around .1 of an inch or so so far. maybe some winds gusting to 25 miles an hour or so later on this afternoon and overnight tonight. still blustery and chilly and rainy tomorrow. looks like a smaller chance of rain saturday and sunday. finally looks like we'll dry out and warm up beginning sunday afternoon all the way into mid-week next week. that's the way it looks this morning. i'm back with frequent updates throughout the "today" show. >> see you then. >> okay. >> thanks, tom. let's get an update on the traffic situation with jerry edwards. >> good morning. we are loading up very quickly now. 270 southbound as you head out of frederick toward germantown, ne route 118, all the way down, pretty solid as far as the delays go but no accidents to report. so that's good news. prince george's county, checking reports of an accident, 202 at marlboro pike. early reports indicate 202 is closed to traffic in both directions. incident free at the woodrow wilson bridge. headed north along 395, packed in pretty tightly now, a lot of brake lights headed to and across the inbound 14th street bridge. outbound side looks good at this hour. that's how we're doing now. back to you. >> thank you, jerry. >> thanks. taking a look at our top stories this morning, a series of bold attacks in pakistan have left 37 people dead. in the city of lahore, gunmen stormed three government buildings, including a commando training facility. in northwestern pakistan, a suicide car bomb killed nearly a dozen people. the country's interior minister described it as the beginning of a guerrilla war. >> a swine flu vaccination clinic will be held in prince george's county today. the health department will be offering both nasal mist and injections at spring hail lake elementary school from noon until 4:00. these vaccinations are only for pregnant women, young adults aged 18 to 24, infant care providers and adults with chronic health conditions. >> today president obama will visit new orleans. he is scheduled to visit the only school to re-open in the ninth ward. the president will also have a town hall at the university of new orleans. this will be the president's first visit to the city while in office. well, we've all heard the tale of george washington and his wooden teeth. turns out that's not exactly accurate. he actually wore those things there. they are dentures carved from hippo ivory with real human teeth affixed to the ivory with brass screws. one half of the lower set is going on display today at mt. vernon, along with the president's pocket watch. he also had one remaining natural tooth which will also be displayed. visitors can see the exhibit through 2013. boy, my family and i have been to mt. vernon a few times. i don't know if we would want to see the tooth, though. >> going to say. can't wait to look at those teeth. >> there are more pleasant things to see at mt. vernon. >> enjoy your breakfast everybody. >> you have to eat. >> got to have an umbrella, too, and a rain coat this morning. dress for wet and chilly weather today and a blustery wind will be with us this afternoon as well. this won't let up until the end of the weekend. that's the way it looks. >> what about the roads? >> be careful. no major incidents like yesterday but use caution. >> good news there. thank you. that does it nor "news 4 today." thanks for starting your day with us. >> we hope youl have a great day and hope you'll join us tomorrow morning, wake up with us. we start at 4:55 a.m. we'll see you in the morning.

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