this august 10th. and take a look outside at the skyline and the washington monument glistening in the darkness. the predawn darkness here in washington. going to be a nice day. tom is promising it's going to be a little bit cooler day. >> i like it. >> you're on a roll, pat. keep going. i like your weather story going there. very nice. very nice description. >> no promises. >> we do have lower humidity, though, that's going to be continuing to move in. in fact, the humidity has dropped overnight. you'll notice a fresh change when you step out. you'll look up and see the summer constellations and jupiter in the southern sky. here we were 12 hours ago with the heavy downpours. now this morning, we've had just a few clouds coming in from the west. we do have a light shower that's right near winchester now in frederick county, virginia, northern shenandoah valley. that's tending to dissipate, though, as it heads off to the east. we have just a small chance of a sprinkle coming through the metro area over the next hour. right now we're in the 70s throughout much of the region. it's comfortably drier. the humidity levels have dropped overnight. 78 at reagan national. here's your day planner. our sunrise will be in a little over an hour at 6:17. we'll have sunshine back by then after a few clouds come in over the next couple of hours. and a mostly sunny afternoon. we'll be climbing into the low o 90s by early to midafternoon with low humidity and a northwest wind gusting to 20 miles an hour from time to time. a look at your evening planner. that will be in ten minutes. here's a look at traffic. good morning, danella. >> good morning. it's starting out to be a great wednesday. the weather is great, and so far our roadways are clear. let's start out in virginia. want to show you 66 at compton road. on 66 in both directions, you are clear, both inside and outside of the beltway. and a look at the key bridge. i love looking at the lights of the key bridge. i love it when there's no traffic. i am noticing volume increasing just a little. but you're still traveling at a goodspeed. in fact, if you're traveling on the inner loop of the beltway and making your way from the 270 to 95, it's only going to take you ten minutes to do so. in fact, i'm back in ten minutes with another update. back to you, pat and eun. we're following breaking news overnight in england, where there are multiple reports the rioting turned deadly overnight. three men died in the city of birmingham. they were hit by a car while trying to protect their homes from rioters. the fourth night of unrest spread across several major cities, but there was an eerie calm in london. that's due to 10,000 extra police officers flooding the streets there. police are releasing surveillance images hoping the public can help identify the rioters. the violence started saturday night following a deadly police shooting. now police say there is no longer a unified reason behind the riots. we are also following breaking news this morning out of asia. north and south korea have exchanged fire after a north korean artillery shell landed in south korean waters. the north reportedly fired three shells near the disputed northern limit line in the yellow sea. the south responded by firing three shells of its own. no one was hurt in the heated exchange. france's president nicolas sarkozy took a break from his vacation to hold an emergency government meeting about the debt troubles that have hit global markets hard. meantime, the markets are rebounding following a rally on wall street. the ftse is up .5%. in germany, the dax is up more than 1%. nikkei ended up 1%. and hong kong's hang seng up more than 2%. right now u.s. futures are slightly down. stocks ended with enormous gains after the federal reserve decided to keep it low for two years following the nation's struggling economy. it's the biggest one-day gain since may 2010. the dow soared 429 points and moved back above the 11,000 mark. nasdaq was up 424 points to 2482, and the s&p gained 33 points. a broker from st. louis sent an unconventional message to wall street. she paid $895 to hire a plane to fly a banner that read thanks for the downgrade. you should all be fired. she said she wanted to fly that plane and that banner over d.c. before she learned about the city's restricted air space. we now know the first three members of the super committee assigned with keeping the government's debt in check. senator patti murray, senator max baucus, and senator john kerry are harry reid's three picks for the 12-member panel. they must come up with $1 trillion in budget cuts by thanksgiving. nancy pelosi, john boehner, and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell must each name three members to the panel by august 16th. some families are happy to have their children home this morning after a flight the kids describe as horrifying. the american airlines plane experienced turbulence so severe people were thrown from their seats, and three wound up hospitalized. news 4's aaron gilchrist tells us what happened. >> and then we plummeted a little bit, like ten feet. it was no big deal. and everyone looked around like, oh, what's happening. and then all of a sudden this huge drop that felt like three to five seconds, and your stomach just went up to your neck and butterflies in the stomach. and you looked around, and everyone was just like shocked. and people were flying like three feet up from their seats, hitting their heads at the top of the cabin. >> reporter: mark frawley sent his son on a school trip to costa rica nine days ago, not expecting the flight to be the big tale to tell. he got a surprise call from liam. >> you know it's not good when his first words are, dad, everything's okay. he said they hit bad turbulence and did an emergency landing in charleston. >> reporter: flight 734 took off from miami around 3:00 headed for reagan national. it landed in charleston, south carolina, just before 4:30 after severe turbulence near jacksonville, florida. amanda sheehan's son was also on that flight with other students from bethesda chevy chase high school. >> he said they landed on a red light. ambulance and fire all around. he said everybody was pretty shaken up. >> reporter: our affiliate in charleston found ambulances waiting for the flight. american says one flight attendant and two passengers had minor injuries. the other 150 passengers and 5 crew members were put on a plane to continue on to d.c. as planes left andnd landed ata through the evening. anxious parents waited through delay after delay, wanting this life lesson to end. >> a little frustrating, but that's okay as long as everyone gets home safely. >> reporter: aaron gilchrist, news 4. the pentagon is launching an investigation into last week's helicopter crash in afghanistan which killed 30 service members. they believe insurgents shot down the chinook helicopter. they'll attempt to answer questions about the crash, including whether the service members were aware of dangers on the ground and what protection they had against enemy fire? th have not yet been able to identify all the remains yet because of ou catastrophic the crash actually was and hopes to do so in the coming weeks. our time now is 5:07. coming up, the creepy crawly stowaway that good morning. 5:11 on this wednesday morning. i'm meteorologist tom kierein. over the last few hours, we've seen a line of showers pulling out of west virginia right now into frederick county, virginia, right near winchester. they're getting a few sprinkles and farther south and west of there. this line is advancing to the east. it's tending to dissipate. just a few clouds coming through over the next couple of hours. right now 70s through most of the region. 78 at reagan national. our sunrise at 6:17. here's your day planner. sun back by 9:00, near 80 then. upper 80s by noontime. low 90s early to miffdafternoon. overnight tonight, here's your evening planner. beautiful clear summer evening, low 80s, low humidity. 70s by midnight. a look at the rest of the week coming up in ten minutes. danella, good morning. how's traffic? >> good morning. still looking good. i want to start in maryland heading up 270. this is a look at 109. if you're traveling on i-270 in both directions, it's clear for you. i don't see anything slowing you down, especially as you make your way towards the spur. traveling 95 north of the occoquan in virginia, you can see the headlights coming towards us. a little volume increasing at this time. in both directions on 95 in virginia, i don't see anything in the roadways causing you too much of a delay or a delay at all this morning. as we head down to d.c. right now. this is "h" and second street. so far clear in this area as well. back to you, pat and eun. >> thanks, danella. 5:12 now. 74 degrees. ahead on "news 4 today," at the request of drivers. welcome back. 5:16. a fight over a broom is believed to be the motive in a murder in prince george's county. police say 55-year-old michael cruz killed norman wood iii. they say wood had been mowing a lawn in capitol heights and left the broom near some trash. cruz tried to take it, and the two began fighting. cruz pulled out a gun and shot the victim. it happened monday night in the 4700 block of leroy gorham drive in capitol heights. cruz is charged with first degree murder. also in capitol heights, one of the victims of a drive by shooting outside a nightclub has died. 22-year-old jasmine banks died yesterday afternoon. the shooting happened outside the msg bloclub on central aven. the police have not made any arrests. police are cracking down on hov violators in college park. they'll be looking out for violators on route 50 between route 301 and the beltway in prince george's county. that's about a seven mile stretch. they say the crackdown is a response to all the complaints they've been getting. no warnings will be issued, only tickets. those tickets carry a $90 fine and other penalties. the number of airlines stranding passengers on the tarmac is rising, and one of the biggest culprits is at dulles airport. nationally 14 flights sat on the tarmac for more than three hours this union. thr three of those flights were united planes that got stuck on the tarmac during a windy day. airlines are supposed to be fined $27,000 for tarmac delays of three hours or more. the hunt is on at washington area airports for one of the world's most destructive insects. the capra beetle has been found recently at dulles. it travels in on rice from southeast asia and the middle east. the beetle can not only kill american crops it can also make people very sick. the beetle has also been found at baltimore-washington international airport and at l.a.x. nearly 4,000 faa employees furloughed for two weeks could soon receive back pay for the time off. a bill was introduced in the house yesterday to approve the paychecks. the workers were forced off the job from july 23rd to august 5th after congress deadlock ed overa long term fupding deal. congress has approve it. because congress is on recess, faa employees likely won't see the money until september. in just about a month, prince william county students will head back to school, and some will be greeted by new state of the art facilities. three new schools have been built in the western end of the county to accommodate the rapid growth of what is already the second largest school district in virginia. at new patriot high school, everything is wireless, and there are special workstations where students can gather with their laptops. books are joined by stationary bikes in the library to promote reading and healthy living. and the equipment in the culinary arts kitchen rivals that of fancy restaurants. >> they have a real focus on providing a world class education. when you look at this high school, you definitely see the elements of world class. >> the land the new schools sit on was once the boyhood farm and home of a former school board member. he agreed to sell the land only if the school was built there. you heard breakfast is the most important meal of the day. now a new research study backs that up. researchers at the university of missouri found those who eat a protein rich meal feel full longer and may get less hungry throughout the day, which is important for children heading back to school. so try eating eggs, greek yogurt, low fat dairy, or lean meat with whole wheat bread and trade those sugary cereals for whole grain secereal with fruit. those will keep you fuller longer. a tractor-trailer stuck on an overhead sign. check out these amazing pictures. the truck is at a nearly 90 degree angle on the highway sign on north freeway in houston last night. police are still not clear how it happened, but the trailer somehow got entangled with a high sign while the cab was parked nearby. part of the freeway had to be closed while crews cleaned up the big mess. no injuries were reported. wow. what a shot. >> right. exactly. you hear the explanation, and you still can't believe it happened like that. >> that's sort of a freaky accident there. >> 5:21. time for weather and traffic on the ones. meteorologist tom kierein is here to tell us about a nice trend in our weather, tom. finally, some good news. you can see it there. that's a live picture from our city camera. there is the first apricot glow of this new day showing up on the eastern horizon way off in the distance. northeast washington. on the horizon is prince george's county under a mostly clear sky. we do have a few clouds drifting in from the west. those clouds coming in as a weak front has come into the mountains with just a few showers. they're tending to dissipate, just getting a few light sprinkles in frederick county, virginia, into warren county. that may hold together and move into loudoun koicounty. it does look like it's dissipating. just a few clouds drifting through here the next hour or so. right now around the region, temperatures in the 70s. 78 at reagan national. sunrise at 6:17. later today will climb into the low 90s by early to midafternoon with lots of sun, low humidity. northwest winds gusting to 20 miles an hour. overnight tonight, mostly clear. down into the upper 50s in the rural areas. low and mid-60s closer to washington. low humidity in place thursday and friday. hide mid-80s to upper 80s perhaps briefly. getting cloudy on saturday, highs upper 80s. saturday night perhaps into sunday night, we could get showers and storms. then drying out first part of next week. danella, good morning. how's traffic? >> good morning. let's take a live look at our roadways starting out at the beltway in maryland. it's clear. this is the seven locks. i can tell you the lanes are getting filled just a little bit. you're still speeding right along at an excellent pace. if you're traveling on 395, you're clear from the beltway to the 14th street bridge, and that is in both directions. and i love the 14th street bridge now that the cones are up. traffic is flowing really nicely. i know it's a relief for you as you make your commute this morning. i'm back in ten minutes with an additional update. back to you, pat and eun. >> thanks, danella. do you have plans for friday night? if you don't, you may want to head to woodbridge, virginia. you'll get to see stephen strasburg there in action. the nats pitching phenom will make his second rehab start for the potomac nationals. they're going to take on the myrtle beach pelicans. the first 2,000 fans through the gate will get more than a chance to see strasburg in action, they'll get raffle tickets for a chance to win his game worn jersey, the one strasburg will also autograph. we checked the potomac nationals website. there's still a few grandstand seats left for game. hurry if you want to go. today we'll find out who will start at quarterback in the redskins first preseason game. we may be getting a clearer picture of who's impressing the coaching staff at qb. rex grossman is number one at this point. it's still too early to say whether he'll start with the regular season play begins. john beck still isn't taking part in the regular part of team practice because of a sore groin. >> any time someone's got a sore groin and he can't sprint to his right or sprint to his left full speed, you've got to make sure you don't put him in that situation where he sets himself back a couple of weeks. i don't think it's anything that's really serious, but you never know. >> no timetable has been set for beck's return. you can catch the skins' first preseason game this friday night right here on nbc 4. the burgundy and gold take on the pittsburgh steelers at 7:30. we'll also have a complete post-game show right after the game. it isn't uncommon for someone to look for a roommate after moving to a new town. it is pretty unusual, though, when that person is a star football player. new england patriots wide receiver chad ochocinco says he's going to stay with a fan for the first few weeks of the season until he gets adjusted to life in boston. in case you know someone living in boston with a room to spare and you want to know what it will take to wow him, he says his roommate has to have internet access and an xbox. that's all. >> that's not bad. >> he'll be happy. >> there will be a long list of people trying to be ochocinco's roommate. >> there will be lots of offers. you may have seen some familiar faces on last night's "america's got talent." >> first up, the dance team from west springfield high school in fairfax county. they earned a spot on the show with that impressive youtube entry. and if the judges' comments are any indication, they have a really good shot of moving forward in the competition. university of maryland's gymkana troupe also got a shot. they travel to local schools promoting drug free lifestyles. they'll learn their fates on tonight's show. >> i hope you voted. i hope they both get through. only four get through. so it's going to be tight. >> tough competition. 5:24. 73 degrees. coming up, what happened to the breaking news right now in northwest washington. a suspicious item near the verizon center. news 4's melissa mollet is live with the very latest. melissa, what's going on? >> reporter: good morning to you, eun. this entire street just reopened 20 seconds ago. as we were standing here at seventh between "f" and "g." take a look here in the distance on the steps of the national portrait gallery, 4:46 this morning. security guards there called in -- made a call to 911 about a suspicious item. we still are not exactly sure what it is. initially they told us they believe it was a backpack. now you can see it is something quite different. we spoke with somebody out here on the scene, a police official, and he was saying, you know, no matter how many calls they do get like this, they have to treat every single one of those calls as a real threat. things here have been reopened. everything here getting back to normal. back to you, eun. >> melissa mollet live in northwest washington for us. thanks for that update. and we're going to take a live look outside right now. good morning to you. i'm eun yang. >> and i'm pat lawson muse. here's that look. the washington skyline before the sun gets up. tom kierein is here to tell us what kind of day it's shaping up to be. how would you describe that sky? >> i would describe that sky as blueberries and peaches. >> i knew that. sounds delicious. we have a few clouds way off on the horizon, that's where prince george's county is. closer in the middle distance is northeast washington. and there is the jefferson memorial right on the banks of the potomac in the foreground. on this august the 10th, we are starting off with low humidity. excellent visibility you can see there in that live picture from our city camera. early on this wednesday morning, great to have you with us. here's how it looked yesterday afternoon around 5:30. we had the heavy downpours that came through. those quickly went across the eastern shore. and now this morning we've had clouds drifting in from the west. this is a secondary weaker front than the one that came through yesterday that will give us a reinforcing shot of dry air. as it does come through getting a few sprinkles in warren county in the northern blue ridge. it is drying out. we'll probably just have a few clouds coming through in the metro area over the next couple of hours. right now in the 70s from the shenandoah valley all the way to the atlantic beaches. except in parts of southern maryland, it's dipped down into the 60s in charles county and parts of southern prince george's. most of prince george's county in the low to mid-70s, as it montgomery county and fairfax county. mid and upper 70s in arlington as well as in the district. sunrise at 6:17. later today we'll climb to near 80 by 9:00 with the sunshine. and a mostly sunny afternoon, highs climbing to the low 90s, low humidity. a fresh northwest breeze gusting to around 20 miles an hour. a look at your evening planner in ten minutes. here's a look at your roads. good morning, danella. >> good morning. your roadways with looking really good. let's show you a live look. i-66 at spout run. it's clear both directions on i-66, both inside and outside the beltway. i am seeing a couple moorehead lights as you make your way east, but so far you're traveling at a goodspeed. 95 north of the rest area. see the headlights coming towards us, that's volume increasing heading north as you make your way out of dale city. nothing to slow you down on 95 north and south. and a look at northern maryland, i don't see any accidents to report. i'm back in ten minutes with another update. back to you, pat and eun. >> thank you, danella. 5:32 now. now to global concerns. france's president nicolas sarkozy took a break from vacation to hold an emergency government meeting about the debt troubles that have hit markets hard. meantime, the markets are rebounding following a rally on wall street. ftse is up 1%, up the past half hour. in germany the dax up more than 2%. japan's nikkei endeded the day up 1%. and hong kong's hang seng is up more than 2%. right now the u.s. futures are slightly down. yesterday stocks ended with enormous gains after the federal reserve decided to keep interest rates low for two more years to help spur the nation's struggling economy. the dow soared 429 points and up above the 11,000 mark. nasdaq up to 2482. and the s&p gained 33 points. let's go live to tracie potts with more on what we can expect today. >> reporter: good morning. the market actually tanked a bit before rallying yesterday following news the federal reserve is going to keep interest rates low for the next two years. this isn't actually the first time they've specified a date. they said until mid-2013, giving us a hint as to how long they think this economic slump may last. the hope is that banks may be able to get more money and loan it out so people can spend more money and boost the economy. the stock market reaction, analysts say the fed is trying to encourage investors to buy. we saw that 600-point jump after it went down initially yesterday. also, some saying this is a message to congress and president obama you've got two years to fix things here, to stimulate the economy, and to create jobs. and, in fact, we have the beginnings of that super committee that's supposed to be looking for more deficit savings in the fall. harry reid has announced his threw choices. patti murray, max baucus, john kerry all expected to be democrats who will protect medicare and social security. eun? >> tracie potts live on capitol hill for us this morning. tracie, thank you. watch out, big oil. apple is right behind you. for a short time during trading, apple passed exxon mobil as the most valuable business in the world. apple finished the day with a market value of about $374 billion, a mere $1 billion behind exxon mobil. it's been an incredible few months for the tech company. earlier this year, it was announced apple had more money than the u.s. treasury. as tracie mentioned, we now know the first three members of the congressional super committee charged with keeping the country's debt in check. harry reid chose washington senator patti murray, senator max baucus of montana, and senator john kerry as his three picks of the 12-member panel. the group must come up with more than $1 trillion in budget cuts by thanksgiving. house speaker john boehner, house minority leader nancy pelosi, and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell must each name three members to the panel by august 16th. the contentious debt debate could lead to changes in congress. a new "usa today"/gallup poll suggested current members may not get reelected. only 24% of members deserve to stay in congress. that is the lowest number since 1991. however, the poll said that 56% of adults believe their own representative deserves re-election. 51% believe the president does not deserve re-election. we are following breaking news in england where there are multiple reports the rioting there turned deadly overnight. several newspapers say three men died in the city of birmingham. they were hit by a car while trying to protect their homes from rioters. the fourth night of unrest spread across several major cities, but there was an erie ca calm in london, thanks to 10,000 extra police officers flooding the streets. police are releasing surveillance images hoping the public can help identify the rioters. police say there appears to be no longer a unified reason behind the riots. the state department hasn't issued any sort of travel warning for the uk, but it is offering basic advice. the u.s. embassy urges americans to leave any area where they feel unsafe, and it tells them not to engage any rioters. all basic services in london, including buses and trains, are untruste ee ee eed -- uninterru. we could learn as early as today whether casey anthony will have to return to florida inform face check fraud charges. judge belvin perry will make the decision by later in the week. anthony has been in hiding since she was released from prison last month. this morning fbi agents may be focusing on colorado in their search for three fugitive siblings, who investigators say are responsible for a violent crime spree. the fbi says it believes leigh grace dougherty, her brother ryan and half brother dylan stanley, are on the run in colorado. they've been on the run since tuesday, where authorities say they shot at a police officer who tried to pull them over in florida. police believe the three robbed a bank in georgia hours earlier. still ahead, what we are learning about the past of the man now it's time for weather and traffic on the ones. 5:41 on this wednesday morning. good morning. i'm meteorologist tom kierein. we have just a few clouds drifting in from the west right now. they had been producing a few sprinkles around the northern blue ridge, but those have now dissipated. we'll just get a few clouds coming through over the next hour or so. temperatures are very pleasant with the lower humidity in place this morning. we're down into the 60s in parts of virginia and southern maryland. closer to washington right near the beltway, low to mid-70s. upper 70s in washington. low to mid-70s around the bay and parts of the eastern shore. prince george's, arlington, fairfax, montgomery counties now just in the low 70s. there's the first light of dawn. sunrise at 6:17. here's your day planner. we'll have it near 80 by 9:00. mostly sunny the rest of the day. into the upper 80s and low 90s by early to midafternoon. a fresh northwest breeze gusting to around 20 miles an hour and the low humidity in place as well as this evening. here's your evening planner. sunset at 8:09. that's getting earlier and earlier. by 7:00 we'll be in the mid-80s and then low 80s by 9:00. by 11:00, upper 70s. a clear sky, low humidity. a look at the rest of the week into the weekend. that will be in ten minutes. danella, good morning. how's our traffic? >> good morning. i have report of an accident. this is the outer loop of the beltway in maryland right at kenilworth avenue. be aware of that as you're making your commute. if you're traveling the beltway in virginia, clear for you in both directions. here's a look at robinson terminal. clear in virginia. let's shoot up to 270. got to show you this. if you're traveling 270 south, you're going to start to see delays as you pass the weigh station, and you are going to slow down as you drive past 109. further down 270, so far you're keeping a goodspe speed. i see nothing in the roadways. and shooting down to d.c., new york avenue and bladensburg. i'm watching this, and new york avenue is picking up steam this morning. the good news is no accidents for you as you're making your commute. i don't see anything on 295 or route 50. and back to you, pat and eun. >> thank you, danella. >> our time is 5:43. ♪ ♪ oh, won't you be good to yourself? ♪ ♪ and don't you feel like coming home? ♪ ♪ ♪ it'll be like coming home [ male announcer ] some rooms feel like a fish bowl. but in our roomy suites, you can spread out and live a little. with breakfast, dinner, and drinks included, you'll feel right at home. ♪ la la-la-la-la la la la ♪ welcome back at 5:46. the first family may have to find a new place to stay when they vacation on martha's vineyard later this month. blue herron farm where they lik to stay was damaged in a fire. the family renting the home accidentally left an outdoor cooking grill on overnight. no one was hurt. the family had planned to go back to the blue heron farm later this month. no word on if those plans have changed. officials preparing for upcoming terror threats at the dedication of the martin luther king jr. memorial. there's no specific threat, but it warns about the potential domestic attack, particularly from white power extremists. heightened security measures will be in place for the event, which also marks the 48th anniversary of dr. king's i have a dream speech. court records obtained by news 4 shed new light on a man in police custody in aruba after a maryland woman's disappearance. robyn gardner went out on a snorkeling trip and never returned. jackie bensen has the latest. >> reporter: this is video of 50-year-old gary giordano of gaithersburg assisting police in aruba in their search for a missing woman, 35-year-old robyn gardner, who also lives in maryland. giordano told police gardner disappeared while the two were snorkeling last week. he was taken into custody for more questioning as he attempted to leave the island sunday. gardner's friends are extremely concerned. >> our main focus isn't search and recovery. it's actually disseminating information to the media to get media involvement in reporting the case so there's awareness throughout the country. >> reporter: gardner apparently kept secret from her friends and her boyfriend that she was flying to aruba with giordano. his attorney says the two met on match.com. court and legal records paint giordano as a man with some troubling secrets. he owns this $1 million home in gaithersburg, according to court papers. it's also the address of a company he owns, an i.t. staffing firm called leverage llc with a staff of two and a revenue of $88,000 a year. but then there's this mugshot taken in 2003, when giordano was arrested for shoplifting armloads of electronics from discount stores, making a getaway in a silver mercedes benz station wagon. even more sinister, a trail of protective orders filed by women he dated. they accuse him of stalking, death threats, and violently choking and stabbing one woman. one wrote in her 2010 petition, "he told me the world would be better off without me and he could help." jackie bensen, "news 4 today." >> right now police in aruba will say only that giordano has been detained in order to answer questions about the possible drowning of robyn gardner. a virginia company is facing possible fines for losing a device containing nuclear material at a local military base. according to the baltimore sun, geo concepts engineering of ashburn lost a nuclear gauge at a construction site in ft. mead in maryland. they believe the gauge, which continues a small amount of nuclear material, was stolen. the regulatory committee says the company did not do enough to keep the device safe. a truck could be the missing clue in a murder case. the truck had a utility or landscaping trailer attached to it. it could help solve the murder of young sook yun. a white older model pickup was spotted near the crime scene at ledoux court and fairfax county parkway. anyone who may have seen the truck should call the police. a teenager is behind bars for allegedly attacking five lesbian women outside the columbia heights metro station. this incident happened july 30th. the victims said two men insulted them and called them derogatory names because of their sexual orientation. police arrested 19-year-old christian washington and charged him with assault. investigators say they're still looking for the other suspect. a former d.c. police commander says he was demoted because of the charlie sheen escort controversy. hilton burton was transferred out of the special operations division and demoted to captain. he told news 4 he believes his demotion was in response to his june appearance before the d.c. council. burton testified that police escorts were routinely provided for celebrities visiting washington. the testimony contradicted statements by police chief cathy lanier, who said sheen's police escorts violated policy and weren't regularly offered for celebrities. >> this has everything to do with my testimony before the council. this stings because i've dedicated 20 years of my life to this agency, and i think i've done a great job. >> lanier says the demotion has nothing to do with his testimony. she says there were multiple issues involving burton that had been under review even before he testified. a thick blanket of smoke is spreading across charles, calvert, and st. mary's counties in maryland more than 300 miles away. it's scorched 3,000 acres in the national wildlife swamp refuge in north carolina. crews have had a difficult time controlling the fire which was sparked by lightning last thursday. lower humidity and higher winds later this week are expected to make things more difficult for firefighters trying to put that out. >> we have lower humidity in our area as well, and it's a welcome change for us. we like the cooler temperatures as well. >> our fire danger has diminished quite a bit, certainly after we had the heavy downpours yesterday. the ground is still rather soaked after we did get some torrential downpours yesterday afternoon. those are long gone. here's a few of our sky. the live view from the skywatcher camera. looking off to the east. there's prince george's county, way off in the distance. northeast washington in the middle ground. and the camera mounted about 300 feet above northwest washington. this camera is located in alexandria, and it's looking out across the potomac river toward the capitol. we have a beautiful salmon colored sunrise under way right now. just a few clouds coming through. just to the right down river is reagan national, where the temperature now is at 78. the humidity has continued to drop overnight. by the way, that smoky aroma in the area in maryland is dissipating because we've got a west/northwesterly breeze that will sweep smoke away. temperatures in the region have dipped down into the 60s. central and shenandoah valley out in the highlands of west virginia. temperatures all the way to the atlantic sea board, temperatures in the 70s. reagan national upper 70s. washington mid-70s. prince george's county, it's dipped down to near 70, as has montgomery county and fairfax county. arlington low to mid-70s. parts of southern maryland have dipped into the 60s. and as we take a look as what's happening over the last 12 hours, heavy downpours coming through late yesterday afternoon. we had a few sprinkles out of the mountains. those are dissipated. a few clouds drifting in right now. sunrise at 6:17. by 9:00 we'll be near 80. any of the morning clouds should begin to dissipate and head off to the east by then. a lot of sun during the afternoon. climbing into the low 90s. a sun block day if you're going to be out for a prolonged period. low humidity in place. beautiful summer evening coming up. under a clear sky, temperatures in the 70s by midnight. 50s in the rural areas by tomorrow morning. low to mid-60s in the cities. during the day on thursday, partly cloudy, low humidity. more of the same on friday. a wonderful weather pattern into the weekend too, at least the first part. a look at a little more humid on saturday. saturday night into sunday, we could get showers and storms. off and on saturday night through the day on sunday into sunday evening, drying out first part of next week. danella, good morning. how's traffic? >> good morning. chopper is live right now. here's a look at chopper 4 live over the beltway. there's an accident on the right shoulder. as you can see, the beltway is looking pretty good. volume is increasing, but nothing is slowing you down as you continue on the outer loop or inner loop of the beltway in maryland. taking a look right now, 66 at sully road. i am noticing volume as you head east from sudley road and continue your commute. so far, both inside outside of the beltway, i don't see any accidents for you as you travel 66 east. big delays on the rails. marc brunswick east train number 890, your delay is eight minutes. and two delays on the fredericksburg line on the vre. trains number 300 and 302 both delayed 20 minutes for technical problems. i'm back in ten minutes with another update. >> thanks, danella. 5:55 now. a new aaa survey finds that cash strapped americans are trying to stretch the life of their car. half of drivers don't want the financial burden of a new car, so they're keeping older ones. 2 25% say they've neglected repairs and routine maintenance in the past year. 28% say they can't afford a $2,000 repair bill. some prince george's county residents are upset about the lack of deals. they say they're being snubbed by a popular discount website. representatives from the county executives office are even reaching out to groupion a ioon living social and asking for more deals in the counties. news 4 reached out for comment. a living social spokesman said deciding where to offer deals boils down to customer interest and the number and variety of local merchants. groupon says it has no news to share about increasing its presence in prince george's county but says it has featured deals there. moving day at the kennedy space center. the shuttles "endeavour" and "discovery" will switch buildings as crews prepare "discovery" for public display. the shuttles will come nose to nose at one point during the move. "discovery" will go on display in the air and space museum in dulles, and "endeavour" is head to go california. a retired u.s. navy destroyer is headed out to sea on its final journey. crews are going to sink the "uss radford" somewhere off the coast of delaware or maryland to create an artificial reef. the ship joins other items, including old new york subway cars that have been used to create reefs for fishing and diving opportunities. many little boys and girls dream of becoming professional soccer players. >> but for one 7-year-old boy, that dream is about to become a reality of the lionel khoria has signed a contract with the soccer club real madrid. he can't even play for the legendary team until he's 16, but he can still train with the team's youth academy. real madrid might have actually had some competition in landing him. his father says another team wanted to sign the boy. think that's unusual? >> get this, real madrid's current goalie started training with the team when he was just 9. what do these professional teams do? they look for all the kids >> wow