virginia, the district, all of maryland just about, except from the mountains west. heat index 105 to 109 noon to 8:00 p.m. stay inside unless you absolutely have to be out. just stay in the ac to stay safe this afternoon. by 7:00, we'll be into the mid-70s, so a pleasant start to the morning, but soaring to near 90 by noon, then yes, near 100 by mid-afternoon. after that, could get some strong storms developing, perhaps late afternoon into early evening. i'll be back in ten minutes. danella's here now with a look at your "first 4 traffic" this thursday morning. >> good morning. right now, i'm tracking breaking news on the roadway. northbound i-270 at 109, we have an accident in the roadway. once this banner's gone, i can show you, it's blocking all lanes, involving an overturned tractor-trailer, and you can see that police as well as the fire department is on the scene of the accident in this area. so again, if you're traveling i-270 northbound at 109, all your lanes are blocked. let's head over to i-95 also in maryland, northbound. the ramp to westbound 100 has an accident there and you're going to find that ramp shut down. i'm back in ten minutes with an update on both of these accidents. for now, back over to you both. >> all right, danelle, thank you. another eerie twist involving the suspected gunman in the tragedy in colorado. police confirm james holmes sent a package to a faculty member at the university of colorado medical campus. it arrived on monday. police are not saying what was inside. meanwhile, some of holmes' neighbors are finally allowed to return home. police say he rigged his apartment with explosives shortly before last week's shootings, and some of the victims still recovering from that shooting will not have to deal with the costly medical bills when they get out of the hospital. some of the hospitals treating those victims say they will limit or wipe out their medical bills altogether. >> some of the funerals for those killed in colorado are being held this week. today, 23-year-old micayla medek will be laid to rest in denver. the first victim's funeral was yesterday. gordon cowden was the first victim. he took his two teenage daughters to the midnight premiere. his family says cowden's daughters still remember his last words. >> the girls told us that as they were leaving the theater, that he was yelling after them "i love you, i love you both." >> colorado governor john hickenlooper and aurora's mayor were at yesterday's funeral. an emotional moment at the memorial for the victims of the movie theater shootings. aurora police officers paid their respects yesterday. some of them were among the first to respond when 911 calls started pouring in moments after the shots rang out. this morning, a family is mourning the loss of a 4-year-old boy who shot and killed himself when he found a gun. prince william county police say the boy found a gun in a pickup truck outside a home on empire street in dale city yesterday afternoon. police say he died from a gunshot to the head. they say his family was inside the home at the time. no word on whether charges will be filed, but right now police are calling it a tragic accident. today is the day many redskins fans have been waiting months for, the start of training camp and the beginning of the rg3 era. robert griffin iii will be at redskins park today when camp begins. he addressed the media yesterday, though, so he could get that out of the way and focus on football. rg3 says he knows he is expected to lead the team, but he says he doesn't necessarily want to be the face of the franchise. >> i mean, there's really no true face of the franchise, because if we all just had faces, you know, we'd all be dead, so there's got to be a heart, got to be some legs, some arms, some skin, so that's those guys in there. i'm just the, i guess you could say i'm just the mask. you know, those guys are the real ones that make up the body of this team. >> if you'd like to see rg3 or any of the other skins in person, this afternoon's practice is open to the public. it's going to be hot out there, though. it begins at 2:55. parking lots open at noon and the gates open at 1:00. all right, folks, just a little more than 24 hours now until the opening ceremony, and there's some controversy. an athlete from greece is learning that she will not make the trip to london because of a racist tweet. the 23-year-old triple jumper mocked african immigrants and expressed support for a far right party. the head of the greek olympic committee said her comments showed no respect and he pulled her from the competition. she later apologized and said she was ashamed. well, tensions are also high for olympic organizers this morning after a first-day flub almost canceled one of the first events. the north korean women's soccer team walked off the field when players' faces were shown next to the south korean flag on the stadium's big screens. the game was delayed for about an hour as officials tried to persuade players to return to the field, which they did only after the flag was changed. organizers have apologized to the players and the country for the mistake. north korea went on to beat colombia 2-0. and we now know who will be leading team usa into the opening ceremony tomorrow night. fencer mario zegunis has been picked to carry the flag. the two-time olympic gold medalist was picked by her fellow olympians. she was the first american in a century to win gold when she took home the top prize in athens in 2004. she will defend her gold medal in beijing and took home world titles in 2009 and 2010. very exciting. nbc 4 is your home for the 2012 olympic games. we'll have live reports from our own dan hellie and nbc's tracie potts coming up in the 5:00 hour. visit nbcwashington.com any time for personal profiles of the athletes and the latest on the games. >> and if you haven't been to that website to check out our links and nbcolympics.com, too, it's chock-full of video and photo essays, lots of information, so you know what's going on when you start watching the games. >> exactly, get yourself ready. >> got to know who's who. >> excited! >> 4:36 is the time. ahead, why an 11-year-old's trip from great britain to rome is raising concerns about security at the olympic games. plus, one man's daredevil stunt that is truly out of this world. and brace yourself for another day of extreme heat. what you can expect, next. so, roswell, new mexico, is pretty used to incidents from outer space. the latest is from an australian daredevil who jumped out of a helium balloon close to 100,000 feet in the air. >> oh, my goodness. >> felix baumgartner jumped yesterday this trip only took 3 1/2 minutes with him traveling at speeds up to 536 miles an hour. this was only a test run for baumgartner, attempting to break the world record of 102,000 feet set in 1960. >> some people just have a different constitution. there is no way in the world, never a million years, i would attempt or want to do that! >> couldn't pay me enough. >> scary! >> no, not at all. >> time for weather and traffic on the 1s. >> coming up on 4:41 right now. here's a live look outside this morning. it's 73 degrees right now and tom kierein's in storm center 4. >> bless you! >> thank you. i think that's the humidity coming in. >> must be! >> it just got me, yeah. the humidity wave is about to move into the metro area. those areas in green, though, are still in the 60s. many locations are in the 70s, though, the areas in yellow. that includes the metro region, southern maryland, around the bay and the rest of virginia. look at the heat building, the areas in orange, left of your screen. it's already in the 80s ohio, western kentucky. that heat is going to be building our way later today. here's the "day planner." by 7:00, still pleasant, sunny, mid-70s, but by noon, near 90, near 100 by midafternoon. could get storms after that. details on those storms. we'll look at the severe risk zone and your seven-day outlook at 4:51. danella, how's traffic? >> good morning. tracking breaking news on the roadway. first up, northbound i-270, overturned tractor-trailer at 109 now has just the right shoulder lane getting by the accident there. what's happening is the tractor-trailer is in the median and crews are responding, and they're taking up most of your travel lanes, if not all in that area. again, the right shoulder lane gets by. now, let's head up i-95 at 100. this flashing light as you travel northbound, the ramp to 100 shut down by the crash there. just be aware of that, and i'm back in ten minutes with another look at your traffic. aaron and eun, over to you. >> we will see you then. thanks, danella. >> 4:41, 73 degrees. still to come, they were hit with crippling penalties in the wake of the jerry sandusky sex abuse case, but the penalty for penn state was nearly much worse. plus, the road to lo welcome back at 4:44. we're learning this morning that penn state faced years without any football if they did not agree to the ncaa's recommended punishment. a core group of university presidents told the ncaa last week that they thought an appropriate punishment was a four-year so-called death penalty, but penn state worked with officials to take that option off the table. last night, penn state's board of trustees said they would not fight the $60 million fine handed down or the other sanctions the university agreed to. on the eve of the opening ceremonies for the olympics, airport officials in great britain promising that an embarrassing security breach won't happen again. an 11-year-old boy managed to board a flight to rome by himself tuesday with no ticket and no passport. the boy reportedly ran away from his mother and went to britain's manchester airport. he mingled with passengers, went through multiple security checks and hopped on the first flight he came to, a plane to italy. >> it's quite frightening, really, to think that somebody could get all the way through security. i mean, it could have been anybody. quite frankly, so close to the olympics as well, security needs to be paramount importance. >> we're certainly not proud of what's happened, and that's why we and the airline are doing an investigation. >> the boy was sent back to his parents on a returning flight to manchester. some airline and airport security staff have been suspended. today, facebook's financial records will once again be in the public spotlight. the massive social media site will release its earnings report as a publicly traded company today. wall street analysts expect facebook to post 12 cents of revenue per share. that's around $1.2 billion. the site took a financial hit when it made its public debut in may. it started at $38 and has since fallen to about $29. maryland governor martin o'malley could call a special legislative session next month to expand gambling in the state. that's what michael busch told members in a closed-door meeting yesterday. lawmakers need to approve table games and a sixth casino in prince george's county and also come up with a consensus on the tax rate. that's been the sticking point. mgm resorts international wants to build a $800 million casino at national harbor. they are asking for a lower tax rate than the current 67%. investigators trying to figure out what caused a fire at a furniture store in rockville. you see here as chopper 4 flew over the marlo store on rockville pike yesterday afternoon. you can see the flames shooting out from the side of that building. firefighters did evacuate the store. the two-alarm fire started on the second floor and spread to the roof. two firefighters went to the hospital for heat-related injuries. they are expected to be okay. an elite-area swim coach still has not commented this morning after being accused of sexually abusing a female swimmer. a woman in her 40s told "the washington post" that coach rick pearl abused her in 1983 when she was 13 and he was 33. she and her family reportedly reached an agreement with pearl where they received $150,000 in exchange for not pressing charges. usa swimming is scrambling to hold an emergency disciplinary hearing. pearl, who helps run the swim club, has taken a leave of absence. the u.s. coast guard needs your help finding the person who's pranked them multiple times. the coast guard says six times between may 1st and june 1st, a male voice coming from the middle river area in baltimore has called out a may day. rescuers have never found anybody needing help, though. the coast guard says these fake distress calls have cost them about $70,000 and hurt their ability to respond to real emergencies. alexandria police on the hunt for these men, who are suspected in a series of car dealership burglaries. since february, they've robbed three different dealerships several times. those suspects have repeatedly robbed jack taylor toyota, landmark honda and modern motors. in the most recent case, police say the burglars stole a safe with cash in it. if you have any information on these suspects, you're asked to call alexandria police. a korean war veteran is asking members of congress to expand the korean war veterans memorial in the district. retired colonel william webber says he has some unfinished business. the 87-year-old says he wants a glass wall added to the end of the current korean war veterans memorial. it would have the names of nearly 34,000 u.s. soldiers killed in action. it would also include the members of those missing in action and prisoners of war. >> it's simply ridiculous that people would visit this memorial, be totally impressed with its artistry and magnificent but have to get a brochure when they leave to explain to them what the memorial message really is. >> and the plan is not new. it has been around. webber wants the expansion to be completed next year in time for the 60th anniversary of the end of the korean war. fastball away, and if that's how he ends his day, with 11 strikeouts, what a day it has been. >> indeed! the nats probably wish they could play the mets every day! they swept new york with a 5-2 win yesterday. the nats won five of the six games the two teams played in the past week and a half. stephen strasburg struck out 11 hitters to pick up his 11th victory of the season yesterday. the nationals have won five games in a row and hold a 4 1/2-game lead in their division. go nats! i haven't gone to a game yet this season. i've got to get out there, i know! >> dpeveefinitely have to get o in. won't get to do that today, i believe they're in milwaukee tonight. tom kierein's here. it would be hard to sit in the heat today. >> i wear we didn't coordinate this morning. >> look at us, i know! >> it just happened. >> maybe for the nats, wearing red, showing support. >> for the heat. >> for the heat, right. >> yeah, we are. and it's going to be really feeling fiery hot this afternoon, but not now. it's a pleasant start. 75 now at reagan national. we're near 70 in prince george's, arlington, fairfax and montgomery counties. right near the bay, though, it's a little bit warmer, in the mid-70s. bay water temperatures are in the 80s, and the humidity is creeping in. in fact, it is quite humid from fredericksburg over toward culpeper and warrenton, charlottesville. that's the leading edge of the humidity that's going to be sweeping in during the morning hours. temperatures will hold steady here, right in the 60s to near 70 for another couple of hours, but then this afternoon, the heat index 105 to 109. all these areas in orange, including just about all of virginia and all of maryland, the district, eastern shore, excessive heat advisory for today. and in addition, we've got the chance of some severe storms. all these areas in color across virginia, maryland, into the eastern shore and into west virginia, between around 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., some storms might develop. there is a slight risk they would produce some wind damage and even greater chance farther north in pennsylvania, where they could get some tornadoes later today. by 7:00 this morning, still pleasant, but noticing we have that humidity creeping in, into the low to mid-70s by 7:00. then by noon, near 90, and it's going to climb maybe another ten degrees to near 100 by 3:00 or 4:00. then by 5:00, back down to the mid-90s. that's when we could have strong storms moving in with damaging wind. we'll repeat this again tomorrow, although a little greater chance of storms. a smaller chance saturday and cooler. sunday, monday, lower humidity. maybe more storms tuesday, wednesday next week. danella, good morning. how's traffic? >> good morning. still checking on the situation of i-270. your "first 4 traffic" report, traveling northbound at 109. still have a tractor-trailer overturned in the median, blocking the northbound lanes. you are able to get by, but just in the right shoulder lane, and you are seeing some volume. if you want to avoid this, you could take 355, head northbound, make a left on 80 and then you can reconnect to i-270, if you'd like to. now, let's head over northbound i-95 in maryland at 100. that ramp to westbound 100 still closed because of the crash in that area. and if you're traveling westbound 66 in virginia, the cones are still up. just the right lane is getting by, and this is all the way between nutley and 50. so you're getting by just single file. hopefully, that should be clearing shortly. i'm back in ten minutes with a look at your rail. eun, over to you. >> danella, thank you. 4:52 now. we are just hours away from the opening ceremony in london for the 2012 olympic games. millions of athletes, fans and members of the media have made the trip overseas. >> that includes news4's dan hellie and photojournalist chris kerwin. here's a look at what it takes to cover the games across the pond. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> we're here. it's 9:49 in the morning, which means it's about, what, 3:00, 4:00 our time? tired. >> tired. please, dan. did you notice that it looked like chris was doing all the work? i'm just saying. >> yeah, dan, i don't know how he works that out. we will have much more -- >> no, he's working hard, dan hellie. >> much more olympic coverage this morning. dan hellie joins us live from london next hour with a look at men who will keep tourists entertained during these 2012 olympic games. >> and i knew that was chris's suitcase, because if it was dan's, there would be a lot of hair products in there. there wouldn't be space for all that other stuff. >> i bet his hair will look great. >> always does. >> and tracie potts is also in london. we'll have her coming up here in about ten minutes from now. so, lots of coverage from the olympics. >> indeed. >> we want to make sure we get all the bases covered throughout the days, 17 days, 18 days i guess for us. 4:54, 73 degrees. a situation that's not easing the fears of movie-goers. coming up at 5:15, what police say triggered this brawl at a movie theater. but first, taking steps to prevent the power outages that left a lot of people in the dark for days. plus, why the so maryland governor martin o'malley wants to find a way to cut down on power outages in his state. he's ordered a study to find ways of improving maryland's electric distribution system. his energy adviser is leading that effort. the governor wants a list of changes within 60 days that he and the rest of the executive branch can implement. washington gas customers in virginia will get a little bit of money back next two a lower-than-expected rate hike. the state rate commission approved a $20.5 million increase yesterday. washington gas requested a rate hike of $28.5 million total. customers had been paying the higher rate on an interim basis since october, so customers will see an average of about $1 and change back for each month they pay that higher rate. if you are shopping for a new car, you can get a smaller one with all the perks of a larger car. plus, finding a parking spot in the nation's capital would be much easier. researchers from jd power & associates found automakers stepped up their game, delivering smaller cars that are more fuel-efficient. in the past, downsizing also meant trading down on performance, comfort and features, but that's just not the case anymore. there you go. well, it's called the happiest place on earth. >> but disney world may soon get the nickname of scrooge after a jolly old soul got a cold reception. tom tolbert works at a georgia senior care facility and portrays santa claus year round. during a recent trip to disney, he attracted crowds of children everywhere he went, despite trading his red suit for a christmas-themed shirt, you see there. but a theme park employee apparently got concerned about guest safety and told tolbert to change his shirt and tell the kids that he wasn't who they thought he was. disney denies that statement. a spokesperson says they asked tolbert to be more low key in his appearance and offered passes for his family to return another day. >> and when santa's walking around disney world, you know you'll get kids that want to follow him around. he needs break, vacations like the rest of us. it's cold at the north pole. >> get some sunglasses and a