the low clouds, and the humidity, and the fog, we're in the 70s. and over the last 12 hours, the last of that beneficial rain exiting and heading off to the east. and still some low clouds lingering. but as the day progresses we ought to get some sunshine. first light of day showing up, and it better because sunrise is just about 11 minutes away. but the cloud cover is so thick it's rather gray and gloomy start to this thursday. by mid morning, still a gray sky. but by late morning and by noontime, ought to have sun breaking out. and by then we ought to be climbing into the low to mid 80s. and hitting the upper 80s, near 90 by midafternoon. rather steamy day but seasonably warm. our average high this time of year is 88. so, we will be right up near the average. we'll take average, after what we've been through the last couple of weeks. a look at your night planner. that will be in ten minutes. danella, good morning. how's traffic? >> good morning, let's take a look at our rails. still have a delay on the marc. this is train number 874 on the brunswick east line. your delay is seven minutes. metro and vre are running on or close to schedule. traveling in howard county, a sinkhole affecting your commute on montgomery road and closures in both directions, are between landing road and hunt club road. you want to take route 100, avoid it altogether. and a look at our bridges starting at the american legion bridge is clear for you, as well as the woodrow wilson bridge. heading down to the 14th street bridge looks really nice. i know this is going to get packed a little later in the morning but so far looking kind of lovely. the key bridge, as well. it's clear. again the roads are slick. give yourself some extra time this morning to avoid any potential accidents. eun, back to you. >> danella, thank you. 6:02 now. brand-new from overnight. a prince george's county police officer is recovering after a man shot him in the arm. it happened on marblewood avenue in the chapel oaks section of the county not far from the d.c. line. officers responded to a report of suspicious activity. when they arrived a man shot at the officer. four people were arrested at the scene. one of the suspects was transported to the hospital for an unknown injury. he's expected to be okay. we're learning more information this morning about the murder/suicide that left a 13-year-old and his mother dead. police say dr. margaret jensvold shot her son, ben barnhard, before killing herself. we're told dr. jensvold was well respected in the local psychiatry community and was deeply committed to taking care of her son. this morning "the washington post" reports her son suffered from an autoimmune disease, adhd, and obesity. ben's father told news 4 he was proud of ben for so many reasons, including his recent 100-pound weight loss which was featured on the tv show "too fat for 15: fighting back." >> i was incredibly proud of him. i loved him more than anyone could ever imagine. this is a terrible loss for me. it's my only son. i love him more than i love myself. >> police found the mother and son after jensvold's coworkers grew concerned because they hadn't seen her since last week. newspapers that had been left outside indicated that the pair could have been dead for days. president obama is calling on congress to stop the bickering and end the partial shutdown of the federal aviation administration. congress can pass a bill, if party leaders come to a unanimous agreement. for the past two weeks, 74,000 faa employees and contract workers have gone without pay. that includes more than 1,000 workers in our region. at issue is a bill funding commercial air service to rural airports and union organizing. the white house says this issue cannot wait until congress returns from its summer recess. >> come back to washington. leave your vacations. just for a couple hours. come back, congress! >> if there's no deal before the recess ends, the government stands to lose more than $1 billion in airfare taxes. a new poll says americans do not believe the deal to raise the debt ceiling and cut the deficit will improve the economy. more than 1,000 adults took place in "usa today"/gallup poll survey. 46% of those surveyed disapprove of the agreement. 39% approved. the poll says only one in five see it as a step forward in addressing the federal debt. the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus four points. today is president obama's 50th birthday. he capped off the celebration early. last night he attended a birthday party/fund-raiser in his hometown of chicago. ♪ happy birthday to you >> jennifer hudson led the crowd in singing happy birthday to the president. tickets from the event range from $50 a person to more than $35,000. the money raised from the concert will be split between the president's re-election campaign and the democratic national committee. mr. obama seemed to have a good time, even joked about turning 50. >> it's true that i turn 50 tomorrow. which means that by the time i wake up, i'll have an e-mail from aarp, asking me to call president obama and tell him to protect medicare. >> later tonight, the president will attend a birthday party in the rose garden. and you can celebrate, too. a local burger joint celebrating the president's birthday. z-burger will give out a special treat to customers. you have to say "happy birthday, mr. president" to the cashier and you'll get a single pattie burger, either beef, turkey or veggie, and a birthday cake flavored milkshake for just 50 cents. the birthday deal is redeemable only at the tenleytown location from 10:30 this morning until 10:00 tonight. >> that's a good deal. maybe not as fancy as the rose garden, but hey, we can still celebrate. >> that will be good. >> happy birthday, mr. president. >> and everybody else. the kincaids live here. across the street, the padillas. ben and his family live here, too. ben's a re/max agent, and he's a big part of this community. there are lots of reasons why re/max agents average more sales than other agents. experience, certainly. but maybe it's also because they care about the markets they serve and the neighbors who rely on them. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. well, you might think about packing a candy bar along with your energy drink when you head to the gym this morning. a new study suggests you may get a better workout if you eat a little chocolate. hurray. researchers say leg muscles on mice fed with chocolate performed better on treadmill tests. before you splurge too much, though, scientists say you should skip milk chocolate and go for dark chocolate, instead. you should also only eat a small amount, about five grams. that's like a heaping teaspoon. >> is the five grams what they did on the mice? because you've got to double that for a person flp >> double? like ten times that much chocolate. >> i think we need to review those numbers. >> we'll do our homework. >> thank you, aaron. >> a full-size candy bar. you can workout inside for free and escape the heat. the washington sports clubs are offering free workouts this month, only on days when the temperature tops 90 degrees. >> it is part of their heat wave promotion. however, it does not apply between 4:30 to 7:30 on weekday afternoons. probably that's the busiest time of the day for them. >> yeah. may want to keep the treadmills free for people who are actually paying for them. >> that's right. >> live look outside as we approach 11 minutes after the hour. we've been dealing with a little bit of fog in places, and some little drizzle out there. >> check with meteorologist tom kierein in the storm center for our forecast. >> good morning, aaron and eun. starting off this morning with some fog around the region. the overnight rain is pretty much dissipated now. we do have patchy, dense fog around. watch out for that. this morning we're mild in the 70s throughout most of the region from the shenandoah valley to the atlantic beaches. right now in the upper 70s in washington and right near the bay. away from the waters, low to mid 70s. prince george's, arlington, fairfax, montgomery counties in the low to mid 70s. the last of the showers are now heading out to sea and moving away. being replaced by low clouds and the fog which will be with us for another couple of hours. by late morning, sun breaking out. we ought to be in the low 80s by noontime. and then mid and upper 80s during the middle part of the afternoon. perhaps near 90 briefly. and it's going to be rather humid today, as well. here's your night planner. if you're heading out on this thursday evening, partly cloudy. a mild summer evening. by midevening near 80 and by midnight back down into the 70s. and still rather humid through the evening. a look at friday, the weekend, and into next week. that will be coming up in about ten minutes. how's the traffic, danella? >> looking good. happy friday eve. the weekend is almost here. although we are wet in some spots, no accidents to report as of right now. right now, starting out i-66 earlier heading west. we did have some construction. and right now those cones are up. that was between the beltway, and route 123. but so far in both directions, on 66, you're clear, both inside and outside the of the beltway. this is the beltway in virginia. both inner loop and outer loop is good there, as well as in maryland. you are picking up a little bit of volume. this is 495, and right at university boulevard. but so far, no major delays or accidents to report for you. i'll be back in ten minutes with another update. eun and aaron, back to you. >> thank you, danella. >> 6:12 now. 75 degrees. a major recall linked to a deadly salmonella outbreak across the country. >> and tropical storm emily. [ cherie ] i always had a job, ever since i was fourteen. i could not make working and going to school work. it was not until the university of phoenix that i was able to work full-time, be a mom, and go to school. the opportunities that i had at the university of phoenix, dealing with professionals teaching things that they were doing every day, got me to where i am today. i'm mayor cherie wood, i'm responsible for the largest urban renewal project in utah, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu. [ child's voice ] can i have some? [ child's voice ] you guys should rock, paper, scissors for it. one-two-three-shoot. one-two-three-shoot. i win! oh, man. [ muffled ] congratulations. [ male announcer ] get your own subway® bbq pulled pork sub. slow-cooked pork with bold barbecue sauce. welcome back at 6:15. here's a look at radar of tropical storm emily as it inches closer to haiti. it's expected to barely miss port-au-prince. but all the rain from surrounding areas might cause bigger problems, including severe flooding and mudslides. relief agencies, including the red cross, are doing all they can for the 600,000 still without a home from last year's devastating earthquake. >> forecasters say emily could turn into a category 1 hurricane after it passes through haiti and the come on can republic. you see it on the radar. 9 storm passing over the haitian island now, and again the concerns about flooding there. we'll follow that for you throughout the morning. the federal government is recalling 36 million pounds of ground turkey because of a salmonella outbreak. the turkey was made at the cargill plant in springdale, arkansas. the usda says the meat is linked to one death in california, and at least 76 other salmonella cases in 26 states. government health officials have not recalled certain brands of the company's ground turkey, as they say they don't have enough information to issue those recalls. casey anthony does not have to report to a probation office in florida this morning. her attorneys filed an emergency motion earlier this week, saying she already served the probation while she was awaiting trial for her murder case. anthony pled guilty to 13 counts of check fraud last year. tomorrow the judge presiding over her probation hearing will decide whether she has to return to florida to serve her year. anthony does not have to be present for that hearing. police arrested a fairfax woman accused of robbing two banks. but her husband says it's a case of mistaken identity. police arrested angela fitzhugh hill for the bank robberies at apple federal credit union's kingstown branch and the springfield plaza branch. police released the surveillance video and posted it on youtube. police say they tied fitzhugh hill to the crimes through her car, which they found parked outside her job. her husband, raynald hill says she's a hard working, church-going wife and robbery would be totally out of character. >> everybody knows her, they know she's a very nice lady. i mean, she goes to church. anyone you talk to, that will tell you she's a very kind person. she's not that type of person with that kind of mentality to go and do something like that. >> fitzhugh hill is charged with two counts of bank robbery and two counts of threats to bomb. each of the robberies happened within ten miles of where she lives and works. a alexandra school teacher faces at least 15 years behind bars after pleading guilty to making child pornography. 35-year-old justin coleman taught fourth graders at adams elementary school. he told investigators that in addition to viewing thousands of sexually expolice it photos and videos of young children, he also made videos of his own. coleman was arrested in falls church in april as part of an international child porn sting. today, the football world and hollywood are mourning the death of bubba smith. the former nfl star and actor was found dead yesterday in his los angeles home. his death does not appear to be suspicious. smith played for nine years in the nfl, five of those years were with the baltimore colts. and you don't have to be a football fan to recognize him. smith also played officer moses hightower in the police academy movies. bubba smith was 66. tiger woods will be back in action today. he tees off this afternoon in the first round of the bridgestone invitational in akron, ohio. this will be tiger's first tournament since withdrawing from the players championship in may. he's been recovering from knee and achilles heel injuries since then. tiger has not won a tournament since capturing the bridgestone invitational two years ago. today is your first chance to see some of the newest redskins take the field. this is the first day free agents who signed with the team can practice. there will be two practices today at redskins park. both are free and open to the public. the first is just a walk-thru. it starts at 8:30 this morning. a full contact practice will begin at 4:00 this afternoon. let's hope you didn't splurge on a new john beck jersey. the redskins' quarterback just changed his jersey full beurre from 3 to 12. that was the first number he ever wore when he played football in middle school. beck was able to get 12 from 'skins wide receiver malcolm kelly who switched his jersey number to 14. running f running back ryan torain will be skiedlined. this is the third straight year in which he's been hurt. the team does not expect the injury to keep him out of regular season games. from the gridiron to the diamond now. where stephen strasburg could be back on the mound as early as this weekend. the pitching phenom expected to continue his road to recovery on sunday when he pitches for the nats single-a affiliate the hargerstown suns. it will be the first time he pitches in an actual game since undergoing elbow surgery last september. he could pitch again in the major leagues early next month. >> very exciting. for the nats. >> definitely looking to see him back in action. >> we want him to take it slowly, though. we don't want him to reinjury that elbow. >> these guys know what they're doing. that's a good way to ease back. in. >> and he's young. >> as we take a look outside now. we've been telling you all morning about a little bit of fog around the area and some humidity. it does feel a little thick out there. >> it does. >> not hot, though. >> no but still it's thick. we're going to see if there are cooler temperatures as well. meteorologist tom kierein is here. >> we certainly did yesterday. that was a wonderful relief from the high heat we've had. yesterday's highs were only in the 80s. right now in the 70s throughout most of the region. we do have that generally light fog right around washington, but many of the rural areas, we do have some denser fog. so watch out for that. and there we're in the low and mid 70s. closer to washington, mid and upper 70s, as well as right by the chesapeake bay. weather watchers around the blue ridge, shenandoah valley reporting fog there out of the mountains. dipped down into the 60s this morning. a pleasant start there. there's the jefferson memorial shrouded in some light fog. sunrise was at 6:12. by 9:00 in the upper 70s. and still quite cloudy, but most of the fog should be gone by midmorning. and then by late morning and afternoon peaking in the upper 80s. with some sunshine returning. but still rather humid, and rather humid again tomorrow. partly cloudy with highs into the upper 80s. then it's into saturday and sunday, still steamy. a lot of clouds around. does look like afternoon and evening storms are likely on saturday into saturday night. and then on sunday, we might get an afternoon thunderstorm, highs reaching the low 90s on sunday. and getting rather hot on sunday. but the last couple of days, back down to highs near upper 80s, 90 degrees on tuesday and wednesday. danella, good morning. how's traffic? >> good morning, let's start out in virginia. have an accident involving a garbage truck and shut down your southbound fairfax county parkway lanes and they're closed at rolling road. follow police directions. they're directing you to get onto rolling road. just be aware of that. the garbage truck needs to be towed out of the way. we'll have to wait to get a vehicle strong enough to tow that garbage truck out of the roadway. a look at 395 and you're traveling on 395, you're clear from the beltway to the 14th street bridge. i see no accidents for you. and on 270 in maryland, look at this. shady grove heading south, you are going to start seeing some volumes. however, i have no accidents, or significant delays for you at this time. as you're making your way towards the spur. i'll be back in about ten minutes with another update. >> all right, danella, thank you. >> as new four "today" continues, the big change for this labor day weekend. baby caughing... baby wheezing... baby caughing... anncr: congress can't ignore the facts. more air pollution means more childhood asthma attacks. baby caughing... anncr: log on to lungusa.org and tell washington don't weaken the clean air act. some he'dian jerry lewis will not be on the mda telethon this year. the veteran entertainer is no longer serving as the national chairman and will not be replaced. he announced in may that he was retiring from the telethon that really has become synonymous with his name. the 85-year-old planned to make this his final appearance at this year's telethon. he'd been doing this since the early '50s. the association offered no explanation for this change. >> big change. the duchess of cambridge is learning how to defend herself. according to the daily mail, kate middleton is undergoing training to protect her from kidnappers. she's reportedly being trained by the highest ranking officers in the british arm mir. the course teaches survival skills including how to react when attacked and how to build a relationship in the event of a hostage situation. it also teaches how to become more aware of anything unusual in routine situations. driving under pressure, and passing on coded messages. i'd like to take that training course myself. >> you'd have to assume the other royals have taken this training or been exposed to this training. >> you have to be prepared. >> so the queen, quite possibly, could know some stealth moves. >> that's right. she could protect herself. i bet you she could. don't underestimate the queen. it is now 6:26. 75 degrees. the one weekend you'll see no metro delays. navigating today's real estate market is complicated. you've seen the signs. that's why having the right real estate agent is more important than ever. at remax.com, you can find experts in short sales or bank-owned properties or commercial real estate, agents who can help speed up the process, no matter how intricate. and that's good news, whether you're trying to sell or hoping to buy. because the only sign you really want to see is "sold." nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. right now at 6:29, a prince george's county police officer in the hospital, hurt in a late night shoot-out. what happened the moments before officers opened fire. ♪ happy birthday to you celebrating the big 5-0. how the president is celebrating a milestone birthday today. how does the president celebrate? any way he wants. >> this is true. >> there you go. good morning and thanks for joining us for "news 4 today." i'm eun yang. >> and i'm aaron gilchrist in for joe krebs today. it's thursday, august 4th. >> it is. let's take a live look outside. it's soupy out there. 75 degrees. lowe visibility and part of it is because there was some misting around the area this morning, and now some fog. and tom's going to tell us what that means for the rest of the day. >> it is humid. that certainly is the telling sign. we do have a lot of humidity in the air. starting off this morning in the wake of those rains we had last evening. beneficial rains, certainly was welcome and was certainly welcome to get a break from the high heat yesterday. right now it's mild, and muggy. we're in the 70s throughout most of the region. 77 now at reagan national. prince george's county in the low 70s. so is montgomery county. arlington county mid 70s. much of fairfax county, low and mid 70s. and weather watchers reporting some patchy, denser fog in the rural areas this morning, as well as around the bay in the eastern shore. where they've had some sprinkles this morning, but those have now dissipated. it's dipped down into the 60s. parts of the shenandoah valley and parts of the mountains. you can barely make out the lincoln memorial. that's a live picture from our city camera. and temperatures, that's the front of eun's house. that's what that is. and by noontime we'll be into the low to mid 80s. and by midafternoon and the fog gone, climbing into the upper 80s to near 90. it's going to be a rather humid day, as well. these are seasonable temperatures. average high this time of year is 88. we'll be right near there by mid to late afternoon. look at your night planner in ten minutes. danella, how's traffic? >> good morning. it is foggy out there. ladies you may want to rush to your car to avoid your hair from getting frizzy. once you get inside slow down. some of our roadways are still wet. want you to be safe driving on the roads. let's go to virginia right now, southbound lanes fairfax county parkway are closed. you're going to be diverted onto rolling road. an accident there, involving a garbage truck. going to be a minute before we can get that truck towed out of the roadway. and a look right now, live at the beltway. i've been watching this outer loop at new hampshire avenue. i've seen it come to a complete stop. luckily it's going right now. but, there are delays, and they continue as you make your way towards georgia avenue. no accidents inner loop or outer loop of the healthway in maryla -- beltway at robinson term cal. i-66 clear in both directions east and west, inside and outside of the beltway. back in ten minutes with another update. >> thank you, danella. new overnight, working to get more information on the shooting of a prince george's county police officer. that officer was shot and wounded in the arm on marblewood avenue overnight. that's in the chapel oaks section of the county. this happened after officers responded to a call for suspicious activity. when they got to the scene a gunman shot the officer. another officer then returned fire. in all, four people were arrested at the scene there. one of those suspects ended up in the hospital. for an unknown injury. as for the officer, he is expected to recover. three men acquitted of misleading police in the unsolved case of washington lawyer robert wone will pay an undisclosed amount to settle a civil lawsuit over his death. wone was stabbed to death back in 2006. joseph price, victor zaborsky and dylan ward were charged with conspiracy. but last year they were acquitted. all three men agreed to a financial settlement in a civil suit filed by wone's widow. she told "the washington post" she is, quote, moving on. the monetary terms of the settlement were not disclosed. this morning, crews have a big mess to clean up after a crane collapsed in stafford county. it will take a week to clean up. it happened at the quantico corporate park. the operator says he was using the crane to lift a heavy panel when the ground gave out and the 200 foot machine toppled over. he was not hurt. but it caused more than $3.5 million in damage. red light cameras make intersections safer. that's the finding of the texas transportation institute. they found a drop in the number of crashes dropped 25% at intersections with red light cameras in the lone star state. you can find them throughout the district, maryland and northern virginia, as well. a new study shows living in the district might save you big bucks when it comes to your commute. the d.c. office of planning released a study showing that living in some neighborhoods in d.c. can save a family as much as $16,000 per year in transportation expenses. even though housing is more expensive in the district, there's usually less of a commute, so people are spending less on gas and parking. some of the most affordable areas of d.c., east of the anacostia river, columbia heights, and the areas around nationals park. and commuters who take i-66 will soon have a better idea of how long their trip will take. in a couple of weeks, electronic signs will show the miles and minutes traveling eastbound on the beltway and westbound to gainesville. this is part of the two month long pilot project to try and cut down on highway congestion. the signs will be on from 5:00 in the morning to 9:00 on week days and 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the weekend. >> the new look for an american classic. a live look outside at 6:38 on this thursday morning. 75 degrees outside our studios. you will have to deal with a bit of fog in some places and definitely some humidity. we're going to check your forecast in a couple of minutes. >> the "today" show is next at 7:00. let's check in with ann curry now to see what they're working on for "today." ann, good morning to you. >> ann, good morning. coming up on a thursday morning here on "today," this brutal and historic heat wave. it's been baking much of the nation with triple digit temperatures for more than a month now. we're going to be live with the toll this has been taking, and also we're going to find out when we could actually see some relief. also ahead this morning the dramatic rescue of a 17-year-old young man who was trapped underground for 30 minutes when the sand tunnel he happened to be digging with some friends suddenly caved in around him. he's going to be talking about his ordeal in an exclusive live interview. also we're going to hear about casey anthony's court ordered return to florida suddenly being put on hold. we'll tell you why. and also the daring race to stop an out-of-control suv. you might have heard about this. the driver said his cruise control suddenly became stuck. it was a dramatic effort to try to stop that car. we'll tell you all about it when he get started on a thursday morning here on "today." >> really scary moments, ann. thanks so much. we'll see you soon. >> you bet. ann mentioned that extreme heat. folks in the midwest and the south are drinking plenty of water as they're stuck in the middle of that heat wave. memphis saw another triple digit day, hitting 108. little rock, arkansas, they hit 114 on the thermometer there. texas experienced another record level of electricity demand. even the animals are trying to find ways to beat the heat. whether it's a quick hosedown or covering themselves in mud, it's pretty obvious this heat is not for man or beast. so there you go, eun. take a dip in the mud. >> those animals are wearing fur on them. imagine if we're hot. >> maybe they should shave. >> i don't know if they want that. >> the hair will grow back. at least we always hope it will grow back. >> do you want to risk that? weather and traffic on the 1s. let's check in with meteorology tom kierein. at least the extreme heat will be gone for now. >> for us, thankfully, yes. yesterday's highs were only in the 80s. and today we're going to repeat that. we've got more clouds around this morning. and we do have temperatures that are mild, in the mid 70s, to low 70s right in the rural areas, where there is some patchy, denser fog closer to washington. we've got some light and moderate fog under a gray sky. it's a dark and gray morning. there is reagan national airport. where the temperature right now is at 77. and by 9:00, we'll be around 80 degrees. but much of the fog should be gone by then. then by noontime into the low 80s and by midafternoon, we should be peaking in the upper 80s, nea90. which is about the average high for this time of year. we'll have that sunshine back. but it is still going to be quite humid. now if you have plans to head out on this thursday night. here's your night planner. our sunset 8:16. by midevening we'll be near 80. it will be partly cloudy and rather humid and by midnight down into the upper 70s. a look at friday, the weekend and into next week, along the latest with tropical storm emily. how close will it come to maryland and virginia? i'll have that in ten minutes. >> good morning, let's head to virginia first. still waiting on that tow truck to get the garbage truck out of the way. it's blocking your lanes on fair fox county parkway southbound. all lanes are blocked at rolling road. police are diverting you onto rolling road. be aware of that as you're making your commute this morning. and congestion in prince george's county. traveling in prince george's county, crane highway, you're going to see congestion. it's going to start just as you past brandywine and make your way towards branch avenue. you know how that road is. i know how it is. you're sitting in a lot of traffic. sorry for you. a live look also in maryland at 270. i can tell you 270 in both directions is clear for you. especially as you're making your way towards the spur. back to you aaron and eun. >> thanks, danella. >> still ahead how president obama plans to celebrate his 50th birthday. 6:45 is your time now. this morning we have new images to show you of the man police in fairfax county are calling a serial slasher. they just released this surveillance video of the suspect walking into the marshall's at the greenbriar town center in fairfax in june. a woman says she was slashed on her backside while shopping at the store. police say the same man was behind at least five other attacks in that area. the sixth victim came forward this week. she says she was also slashed in june while shopping at t.j. max a couple of miles from that marshall's. we are learning new information this morning about the murder/suicide that left a 13-year-old and his marry dead. police say dr. margaret jensvold shot her son, ben barnhard, before killing herself. we're told dr. jensvold was a well-respected psychiatrist in the local community, and was deeply committed to taking care of her son. this morning "the washington post" reports her son suffered from an autoimmune disease, adhd, and obesity. ben's father told news 4 he was proud of ben for so many reasons, including his recent 100-pound weight loss which was featured on the tv show "too fat for 15: fighting back." >> i was incredibly proud of him. i loved him more than anyone could ever imagine. this was a terrible loss for me. it's my only son. i love him more than i love myself. >> police found the mother and son after jensvold's co-workers grew concerned because they hadn't seen her since last week. newspapers that had been left outside the house indicated the pair could have been there dead for days. metro is preparing for large crowds for the dedication of the martin luther king jr. national memorial. metrorail will open two hours early at 5:00 a.m. on sunday, august 28th, and close at midnight. extra trains will run throughout the day, and suspending all track work. so that means no delays. metro will also offer free parking at its lot. the mlk memorial is around the tidal basin between jefferson and lincoln memorials. thousands are expected to attend the dedication ceremony. president obama is calling on congress to stop the bickering and end the partial shutdown of the federal aviation administration. congress can cut the bill if party leaders come to a unanimous agreement. for the past two weeks, 74,000 faa employees and contract workers have gone without pay. that includes more than 1,000 workers in our region. at issue is a bill funding commercial air service to rural airports, and union organizing. if there is no deal before the recess ends, the government stands to lose more than $1 billion in airfare taxes. today is president obama's 50th birthday. tonight he'll celebrate with a party in the rose garden. but last night, the president attended a birthday party/fund-raiser in his hometown of chicago. ♪ happy birthday to you jennifer hudson led the crowd in singing happy birthday to the president. tickets for this event ranged from $50 a person to more than $35,000. the money raised from the concert will be split between the president's re-election campaign, and the democratic national committee. in a few weeks, the president will head out on a three-day bus tour through the midwest. nicole lapin, anchor of cnbc's "worldwide exchange" joins us live with more on what the president will be listening for. good morning. >> i hope he brings jennifer hudson with him. that would be very cool. good morning to you. president obama has done enough talking lately. now he plans to listen not only to some nice music for his birthday, but to what you have to say. the president will take a three-day campaign-style bus tour through the midwest later this month, just listening to folks. american people about jobs and the economy. president obama's approval ratings have been dented by persistently high unemployment and the contentious debate to raise the nation's debt ceiling. all right, switching gears. this bud's for you. in a new package anheuser-busch is rolling out a new design for the nation's second best-selling beer this summer. it has a retro look with a bow tie of sorts around the budweiser name. budweiser has been struggling with declining sales for years now and is surntly running pretty much neck and neck with coors light. but it's the 12th redesign since the can has seen since budweiser debuted. here's a little bit of trivia, 1936 is when they debuted. >> that was a long time ago. i couldn't even tell you what the previous budweiser cans looked like, nicole. >> -- just being on air. >> no, i don't remember. i don't remember. right. a little shrine in my bedroom. nothing like that. all right, thanks so much. >> the secret's safe with us. see you guys. >> have a great day. well it may soon be easier to find an open chair or table at your favorite starbucks. bloggers were buzzing about some starbucks in new york where workers are actually covering outlets to crack down on what they're calling computer parkers. those are people who buy one drink and then sit down with their laptops and type away for hours on end. starbucks hasn't commented on the outlet cover-up. >> just say, hey, can you leave now? you've been here for four hours. >> can't nurse that one cup of coffee. >> it's cold, yeah. >> apparently washington and bethesda are among the geekiest cities in the country. >> congratulations, i'll take that as a compliment. san jose came in first on that list. followed by boulder, colorado, framingham, massachusetts, huntsville, alabama, and durham, north carolina. washington, d.c. came in seventh, and bethesda came in ninth. forbes created this list based on the percentage of workers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematical professions. >> so they've got big brains. >> that's a good thing. we've got our big brain here this morning. >> oh, yeah. we've had our big heat thankfully diminish. and yesterday, it was such a wonderful break. we had highs only in the 80s. and now this morning we're dealing with some fog around the region. here's a live picture from our city camera. actually the visibilities have improved a bit. we can actually see the washington monument now. just a few minutes ago we couldn't seen ee it. but the sun has been up since 6:12, and we are at 77. at reagan national. the humidity is around 90%. we do have quite a bit of fog around the region now with a couple wind. that's generally good. the fog-making weather. and we do have the fog in the rural areas. that's a little bit denser. some locations, visibility is down to quarter of a mile. watch out for that. but it should be dissipating by midmorning. right now, eastern shore in the low 70s there. closer to washington, montgomery, prince george's, anne arundel, as well as arlington, and fairfax counties. now in the 70s. southern maryland, charles, calvert and st. marys have some fog in the 70s as well as the blue ridge and shenandoah valley. mountains in the 60s now. over the last 12 hours we had that beneficial rain. but now it's gone, being replaced by these low clouds and the fog, which will begin to break up. meanwhile, way down here in the tropics, here's the caribbean. there's dominican republic. there's haiti. there is tropical storm emily, still rather disorganized. but it's producing a lot of rain. in fact, parts of southeastern haiti could get -- and southwestern haiti up to 20 inches of rain later today, as it does pass over there. that can certainly cause mudslides. now the latest track takes it just east of florida, on saturday. over the bahamas. and remaining a tropical storm. how close will it come to us? well, here's virginia, maryland, does look like it's going to stay out to sea thankfully it may briefly become a category 1 hurricane east of charleston, south carolina, and wilmington north carolina, perhaps on monday. but then it will head out to sea. that is the latest track for thankfully does look like it's going to be missing us. although there could be high surf at the beaches first part of next week. here we are in washington. the foboats at the marina. temperatures in the 70s. then the sun breaking out during the afternoon, we'll be climbing into the 80s. then overnight tonight, still rather humid. low 80s early evening. upper 70s late evening. and then tomorrow partly cloudy. still rather humid into the upper 80s. saturday and sunday, still steamy. highs upper 80s on saturday. a lot of clouds around. afternoon and evening storms likely. sunday partly sunny. maybe a morning hour and afternoon storm. we'll start off the week a bit hot. highs near 90 tuesday, wednesday. danella, how's traffic? >> good morning. a couple of accidents affecting our commute this morning. let's start out in virginia. still waiting on that tow truck to get the garbage truck out of the way that's blocking all your southbound lanes on fairfax county parkway. closed at rolling road and being diverted onto rolling road. and in montgomery county, i have a report of an accident southbound connecticut avenue. just as you head towards the beltway. and a live look right now at the beltway outer loop. i've seen some significant congestion as you make your way from college park, and head towards georgia avenue. but, good news is inner loop and outer loop is clear. i have no accidents to report for you. and if you're taking 395, you are clear from the beltway to the 14th street bridge. eun, back to you. >> thanks, danella. we have a traffic alert. the cedar lane bridge over rock creek park is expected to reopen friday. that is three weeks ahead of schedule. crews closed the bridge in june to fix deteriorating concrete beams and piers. montgomery county has been preparing for an increase in traffic since bethesda naval medical center merged with walter reed army medical center. some breaking news for you right now. kraft foods just announced it will split into two publicly traded companies. one company will focus on its snacks, like oreos and cadbury. the other company will concentrate on the north american grocery business. kraft said it plans for the split to be complete by the end of next year. at 6:55, here are this morning's top stories. a prince george's county police officer was shot and wounded in the arm on marblewood avenue overnight in the chapel oaks section of the county. police arrested four people at the scene. one of the suspects ended up in the hospital for an unknown injury. as for the officer, he is expected to recover. three men acquitted of misleading police in the unsolved death of washington lawyer robert wone will pay an undisclosed amount to settle a civil lawsuit over his death. wone was stabbed to death in 2006. all three men agreed to a financial settlement in a civil suit filed by wone's widow. the federal government has recalled 36 million pounds of ground turkey because of the deadly salmonella outbreak. the turkey was reportedly made at a cargill plant in arkansas. and is linked to at least 77 cases of salmonella in 26 states. and this is the first day free age sents who've signed with the redskins can actually practice with the team. the 'skins are holding two practices. both are free and open to the pub link. the first one starts at 8:30. the other at 4:00 p.m. >> out-the-door forecast with tom. >> good for working out in pads and a helmet. not too hot. later today we'll be getting into the mid and upper 80s as we get some sunshine back after the morning fog disputes, thankfully. then on friday, partly cloudy into the upper 80s and still rather humid today and tomorrow and into the weekend. saturday looks to be a cloudy day after evening storms likely and on sunday partly cloudy. afternoon and evening storms possible into next week. not too bad, rather hot monday though. danella, how's traffic? >> we still have our southbound lanes blocked. and this is on fairfax county parkway. at rolling road, waiting for a garbage truck to get that -- waiting for a tow truck to get the garbage truck out of the way. a lot of trucks this morning. a live look, this is i-66 at fairfax county parkway, you're clear in both directions inside and outside of the beltway. a good commute. not too bad this morning. back to you. >> thank you, danella. and that is it for "news 4 today." thanks for starting your day with us. >> the "today" show is next. we'll be right back here tomorrow morning at 4:30.