one, no doubt about it. not starting the day too badly here off to the north and west. it is in the 60s in frederick, 66. our highs later today, how about upper 90s? yesterday, we were in the mid- 90s. today, upper 90s for afternoon highs. i hope you like upper 90s because for the next five-plus days, we'll be in the heat wave. very quiet conditions. high pressure is anchored throughout the mid-atlantic. you can see it here with the cloud cover working around it. that will be the case here for several days to come. we are not even talking about the possibility of a thunderstorm until the end of the week. code red air quality. that means unhealthy air for all of us. the good news is the humidity won't start to pick up for another day or so. more on the forecast coming up in a minute. back to you. >> thank you. metro has pulled 100 railcars out of service because the doors could open while the trains are moving. metro says there was not prompted by any particular incident, just observations by metro staff and performance tests. with today being a federal holiday, service won't be affected because of light ridership. police say they handed out a $500 vilation to a person would violated the water restrictions. wssc is working around the clock to repaar a broken water main in potomac. -- to repair a broken water main in potomac. & god bless america &&. >> hundreds of thousands of people filled the mall to celebrate america's birthday. we have a report. >> reporter: this is why people will brave 90 take temperatures and huge crews crowds. arguably, the best 17-minute fireworks display in the country. >> we watched them in gaithersburg and it wasn't the same ambience. >> reporter: it is why jean turner and her girlfriends trove in from frederick and pitch awed tent. >> it was on the bucket list to do before so that is what got us started in deciding to come down here. >> reporter: the heat was really tough on the crowd this year. many stopped by the first aid stations to try to stay cool. they had their hands fuel treating others would waited a little too late. >> we've been seeing a lot of heat exhaustion patients and a lot of blisters. >> reporter: there were lots of sights to see. none more unusual than jeff west of alabama reading the declaration of independence to his three grand kids. >> i think it is one of the most special places in america and i believe every family that has the opportunity to come to this city needs to come here and see what the nation's capital is all about. >> reporter: 7-year-old natalie actually wanted her own copy. >> there was someone in our class who went on spring break to washington d.c. and he got the declaration of independence and i wanted to do the same thick. mike ad henderickson of south africa has been coming here for about five years. >> my citizenship should be coming through this year so really enjoy coming out here. >> that was audrey barnes reporting. we have much more still ahead this morning. fox 5 morning news at 4:30 begins right now. good morning to you. we are glad you are along with us after just a beautiful long holiday weekend although that heat is make ago comeback which you promised us it would. >> and it is here to stay. -- the heat is making a comeback, which you promised us it would. >> today, temperatures are falling slowly right now. 74degrees with 73% humidity. winds are out of the south. here is the good news. if you like sunshine, you will like today. today and the next several days will feature bright sunshine and very quiet conditions out there. things will be changing as we get into the middle and end of the week. not a lot happening. we'll be in for a quiet weather pattern and a lot of heat with increasing humidity out there with code red air quality advisory today here in washington. so there you go. sunny and hot. 98 for your afternoon high. wind out of the west at five to 10 miles per hour. more details coming up. >> julie is taking this long weekend off but lauren demarco is in with a look at traffic. hopefully light traffic today. >> good morning. very light. not too much of a problem. we have several accidents on the beltway. let's take a look at the live cameras at the woodrow wilson bridge. no problem in either direction. the well-lit lanes there on the right are the outer loop. very light volume. everything wide open, which is good news because ahead of that there is an accident route 5, branch avenue. you have the three right lanes blocked. everybody moving to the left to get by t also, the outer loop at 123, we have a disabled vehicle blocking the two right lanes. you want to stay to the left there. 395 northbound heading up from the beltway to the 14th street bridge, nothing in your way. there is some construction around town but not causing much of a problem. that's a check of your fox 5 on-time traffic. back to you. >> thank you. remember, can you get the latest weather and traffic updates complete with live radar, maps and traffic cameras on myfoxdc.com. we have a new iphone and droid app. you can find out more information about that on our web site as well. metro riders can expect a slower trip than usual this week. the transit agency has yanked 100 railcars out of service to inspect a potential problem with the doors. stacy cohan joins us from the metro center station northwest with all the details. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. this was hand nld quite an unusual way. metro released a statement or a operation release rather at 11:56 saturday night to notify the media and public that 100 railcars were being removed from service. -- this was handled in quite an unusual way. metro is apparently concerned about the electronic doors on these railcars. they are inspecting them. the cars in question are the 4000 series railcars. there are usually about # 0 to 70 of those in service every week. all have been pulled. apparently the doors have opened while the trains are in motion. -- there are usually about 60 to 70 of those in service every week. >> they tell you not to lean on the door and just thank god nobody was leaning on the door because somebody could have got hurt or an accident could have happened. >> reporter: the metro 4000 series railcars have been in service since the mid-1980s. we are told engineers isolated the problem and are repairing them as we speak. a man struck by a metro train over the weekend has died t happened just before 3:00 yesterday morning. metro says he somehow ended up on the tracks at the manhunt minute avenue station in northeast. he was instruction by an oncoming train and taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. investigators are looking into how he wound up on the tracks in the first place. wssc is cracking down on water restrikes. officers handed out a $500 citation. wssc asked customers to cut their water usage. some have not. so far, police have issued 200 warnings. wssc says its work right now is on track t plans to wrap up repairs today. officials will then decide when the water restrictions can be lifted. it was just a horrifying scene actually july 4th parade turning deadly in iowa. two runaway horses pulling a wagon trampled dozens of people in bellevue killing a 60-year- old woman and injuring at least 23 others including young children. four people are now in critical condition. the horses somehow were spooked when one rub the its head against the other. they tbal lopped several blocks with the wagon in -- they galloped several blocks with thing the -- with the wagon in tow. coming up, general petraeus is now in formal command of 130,000 troops on the front lines. when he is saying about the fight against al-qaeda, when we come back. a soldier from fredericksburg, virginia as tied while serving in iraq. 19-year-old sperkist morgan macbeth died on july 2nd. she joined the army in july of 2008 and was deployed to iraq last august. vice president biden and his wife jill spend the yusuf holiday with american troops in iraq. the two provided over a ceremony for new citizens in baghdad. more than # hundred u.s. service members were sworn in as american citizens. -- more than 200 u.s. service members were sworn in as american citizens. general david petraeus has taken command in the wake of general stanley mcchrystal's unexpected departure. >> reporter: general david petraeus officially assumes the spot as the top commander of coalition forces in the war in afghanistan. he says nato and afghan officials must work together to defeat a stiffen my. >> we must demonstrate to the people and to the taliban that afghan and isap forces are here to safeguard the afghan people and we are in this to win. that is our clear objective. >> reporter: petraeus will not make major strategy changes and praised his predecessor, general stanley mcchrystal, who was fired after making unflattering comments about the obama administration in a rolling stone magazine. >> no one did more in helping get the inputs right than general mcchrystal. >> reporter: washington lawmakers continued to depeat president obama's call for troop withdrawals in july of 2011. senator joe lieberman, the independent from connecticut, says leaving without stabilizing country would threaten america's security. >> if we pull out, it will energize those radical islamist extremist groups, those terrorist groups, all around the world. >> reporter: other lawmakers agree it is important to defeat the taliban and insurgents before pulling out. >> we are here because it is in our vital national security interests to secure this country. >> our commitment must be we will succeed and then we will withdraw. >> reporter: general petraeus takes over during the growing unpopularity of the war in the united states. there are more calls for rnc chairman michael steele to step down and more republicans are trying to distance themselves from his remarks. steele called the afghan war obama's war and called it unwinnable. >> chairman steele needs to apologize for our military, all the men and women who have been fighting in afghanistan. this is america's war. it is not obama's war. >> mr. steele will have to assess as to whether he can still lead the republican party as chairman of the republican national committee and make an appropriate decision. >> after that comment surfaced, steele quickly issued a statement backtracking. ed rendell says that steele is a gift that keeps on giving for the democrats. the disaster in the gulf continues to spread. coming up next, why the latest effort to clean up millions upon millions of tballands of oil now involves a ship called a --ions of gallons of oil now involves a ship called a whale. i'll have the details of the forecast and lauren demarco is coming up with the detail on traffic. what do you get when the put the fourth of july, 90 take temperatures and hot togethers together. some upset stomachs and upset rivals and nathan's hot dog eating contest. joey jaws was hoping to win. the winner downed 54 hot dogs in 10 minutes to win. he also brings home $20,000. the fireworks continued after the competition. a man rushed the stage to apparently to congratulate his rival chestnut. he was taken to jail charged with resisting arrest and obstruction. he did not enter the contest because he refused to ion a contract with major league eating. he said he wanted to be free to compete in contests saskatchewan shunned by other groups. a free agent? is that the way it works. >> i could see why joey chestnut couldn't eat as many this year. the heat is starting to come back. >> all of these guys look like they weigh about 110 pounds. >> i know. >> how do they do that? >> i don't know. >> it was very hot and eating hot dogs under extreme conditions can be dangerous. >> sounds rather disgusting. >> gurvir is too elegant to talk about that. 94 at reagan national yesterday. dulles was 95. bwi marshall as 98 degrees wea.z look at current conditions, you know, they are not too bad. we'll look at current conditions in a minute. take my word for it. -- as we look at current conditions, you notice, they are not too bad. we have a big area of high pressure anchored across the washington area. as long as this pattern stays intact, we are not talking about any major changes until perhaps the end of the week when we can get a few thunderstorms in here. it will be hot. it will be humid and our air quality will continue to deteriorate around here for the next couple of days as we are getting a good old-fashioned hot summer setting up across the washington area. this is your futurecast and we've got a little pocket of heat across the area. you can see the extreme heat is here in the washington area. back into the low to mid-70s overnight. look at that. by tomorrow afternoon, it is trying to give us a big old 100 mark. we'll be hot around here not only monday and tuesday but right through the end of the week with temperatures well above where they should be each afternoon in the upper 90s to about 100 degrees. a slight cooldown as we get into the end of the week. lots of sunshine. the humidity in check for another day. code red air quality. that is unhealthy air quality for all of us. take it easy out there. lots of liquids if you've got to be out there. overnight, we don't cool off. i suspect we'll see some heat advisory issued because of the extreme heat not only during the day but at nighttime. it will be dangerous heat around here. tomorrow, oppressive, 99. wednesday, record heat. thursday, steamy and then friday, cooler, only 95 with perhaps a thunderstorm by friday afternoon. plenty of heat around here this week. let's get to lauren demarco with the latest on our traffic. >> it sounds like a great idea to be at the pool today. we do have a few accidents but with the lighter volume, not causing much of a problem. inbound 66 at 7100, there is an accident. it is actually on the left shoulder. it is out of this camera view but not causing any delay. you want to watch out for those folks and give them plenty of space as you pass by. on the american legion bridge, can you see you have lanes open in both direction. nice, easy ride to the rifted your screen. in virginia on the outer loop, there is an accident at 123. you will find the two right lanes are blocked n bridge county, on the outer loop at route 5, branch avenue, three right lanes are blocked. a reminder you can get the latest weather and traffic updates complete with live radar, maps and traffic cameras on myfoxdc.com. we have a new iphone and droid app. you with find out more information about that on our web site as well. we are following breaking news from southeast washington where a car and metrobus have collided. there were passengers on the bus but we don't know whether anybody was hurt. we do have a crew on the scene and we'll bring you updates as they come into us. a weekend of music and culture in new orleans. tens of thousands were in the crescent city for the 16th annual festival. while the big easy may have got ain't boost, other coastal cities are still coping with the huge financial losses. some beach towns looked like ghost towns over the weekend. many say the area will never rebound from the oil spill. bp is promising money will be paid out to those affected. craig boswell reports. >> reporter: by midday, the fireworks show on pensacola beach was locked and loaded but the beach chairs along water were largely empty. for some who come here every year, it hardly seemed like a celebration. >> our beeps are being destroyed. they'll never be the same again. >> reporter: others are more optimistic. >> if you have an extra dime or penny, come down and support the people would really need you. we are all americans. >> reporter: across the gulf, it is the same story, the oil continually garbing from the blown-out well -- gushing from the blown-out well. >> i'm working for the people in the gulf. i want to try to maximize as much compensation as i can do fairly and consistently to the people i'm trying to serve down there. >> reporter: after touring beaches this weekend, lisa jackson says water sampling will now be done every 48 hours instead of once a week. lifeguards are changing their restriction about getting into the gulf waters replacing their red flags with yellow flags but that is based on surf conditions saying it is more moderate. families on pensacola beach say they've seen fewer tar balls washing ashore. craig boswell, fox news. we are covering the crisis on the gulf coast online at myfoxdc.com. can you go there for all the updates. bankrupt says, bail juts and local budgets busted. is the world broke? it is a new series where we look at just how tough things have become. montgomery county, thicks have gotten so bad, they are pulling porta-potties out of parks unless residents pay up. >> reporter: these kids are learning how to tough on out on the field and soon some may have to do same off the field if they need a bathroom break. what would you have done if that wasn't here? >> i don't know. probably just gone to the woods somewhere but i don't want to do that. >> reporter: that is the uncomfortable situation montgomery county parks are in because of judge budget cuts. >> it is something that no one wanted to do. >> reporter: the parks department was forced to cancel its contract with the company to save $150,000. that will leave people in some 08 parks across the county having to put the call of nature on hold or having to go a bit further to answer it. last call for porta-potties was supposed to be july 1st but then the county decided to try a creative solution. >> we are exploring alternative ways to keep them in the park like our adopt a.y sponsorship program. >> reporter: the silver spring tacoma thunderbolts is the first to pay up. >> having a proper toilet facility is crucial. >> reporter: he says the team found out the johns would be pulled just days before the start of its annual kids summer camp. >> i wouldn't call it sponsoring it. we saw the need to have proper toilet facilities so we agreed to pay for it. >> reporter: the park department is now offering porta-potty sponsorships on its web site. $65 a month. >> some folks have offered to sponsor a couple. some folks have said i could do one. >> we've been very pleased and excited about the fact that the community is willing to step up and help out, help not only themself but their neighbors as well. >> reporter: so this is what it has come to when county budgets are in the toilet. they can spiff it up with a nice sponsorship sign. but it won't make the situation any prettier. melanie alnwick, fox 5 news. >> the county has until august 1st to secure sponsorships before the portable toilets are pulled. park users will see less grass cutting and higher field use fees because of the budget cuts. we are closing in on major league baseball's all-star break and one nationals pitcher has made the roster but it is not stephen strasburg. who got the call and why he didn't make the cut. also just ahead, more on the big fourth of july celebrations down on the mall. we'll take a look at some of the unique ways america's birthday was celebrated across the country. we'll be right back. it was a cool treat for military families in our area. they spent the fourth of july holiday at nats park. the uso and the nats team teamed up to give military children a chance to relax and make some friends as part of the me and friends program. >> to give kids, military kids, who have to sacrifice when their parents move from base to base an opportunity to bring friends out to the ballpark today to help them make friends and empower them and to give them something special. >> the nats will provide free tickets to thousands of young fans throughout the rest of the season. and while the nats' stephen strasburg has been dominant in most of his appearances, he doesn't have enough starts to warrant all-star recognition. he is one of best in the league. 53 strikeouts, only 10 walks through almost 37 innings. >> i'm not surprised or disappointed. i think there is going to be some all-star games in his future. hopefully, he will stay healthy and represent the nationals in the future along with some of our other guys. i certainly see the logic in -- he hasn't been up there that much yet. >> you've seen him just like i have. every day he goes out there and the stuff he has automatically speaks for itself. but there is other guys that have been having good years. he has only hay few starts. he is young and those kind of things will come. and he'll be good. i think rest will be good to him mentally and physically. i think from an organizational standpoint and selfishly, i'm he kind of happy he's not going. >> the nationals will be represented at the all-star game by matt capps. he saved 22 games. it was an emotional announcement for him who would have liked to have shared the news with his father who passed away in october. >> it means a lot. every time you take the field, you want to be one of the best. and to be recognized as -- over the year that of a he started to be recognized by baseball and by the players. i mean it is very humbling and exciting. >> we have much more still ahead this morning. your weather, traffic and top stories as fox 5 news at 5:00 begins now. we are glad you could join us on this monday morning, july 5th, 2010. a live look at our nation's capital as we sort of wrap up this long holiday weekend. it is settling into a hot monday. i'm gurvir dhindsa. >> i'm sarah simmons for for i believe it is steve today. >> steve is off all week. >> yes. welcmorning news, everyone. ♪ god bless america &&. >> hundreds of thousands of people filled the national mall to celebrate america's birthday last night along way nearly 0- minute long