not cooling off, 84 at reagan national. 71 baltimore. ocean city 75. should be steamy, hot, humid this afternoon, highs in the low to mid-90s. changes tomorrow. rain in the forecast. let's do traffic, and we know who we're going to. julie wright. fatal crash occurred in the 5:00 hour this morning. this is what's closing the westbound lanes of 202 at fire house road. westbound side of the highway remains closed west of 704. eastbound, your lanes are open, no problems on the beltway either direction at the wilson bridge. northbound i-95, on the brakes, delays headed up to the beltway. that's a check of your fox five on time traffic. thank you very much. now to our top story. the search is on for a big fix. a critical meeting at the white house this morning could defuse the debt crews. >> appears both sides may be giving, with the president reportedly willing to put social security on the table. good morning, doug. >> reporter: good morning. it's not clear how they'll get there, but democrats and republicans are looking for a grand bargain. pennsylvania avenue isn't exactly the vegas strip. they might as well have tables and dealers set up there today, because the stakes have never been higher. president obama and his twitter town hall meeting yesterday said the situation is dire if congress doesn't agree to let him borrow and spend more money. >> interest rates could go up and it could cause a whole new spiral into a second recession or worse. >> reporter: the president may continue to back something in the neighborhood of $4 trillion in deficit cuts or for 12 years in exchange for more borrowing now. though the math gets a little fuzzy. his ideas will include, according to the "washington post," big cuts in medicare and social security. that is sure to rankle democratic congressional leaders today, as the president's insist hanson new taxes will anger republicans. >> there are many in the white house who just believe now is the time to raise taxes and somehow money comes out of thin air. >> reporter: republicans may be open to getting rid of some tax deductions as the president wants, and they may be willing to back his changes to entitlement programs. but the white house may be trying to simply float the image of a president willing to bargain, hoping republicans will be the first to blink. there has been some progress behind the scenes with both sides agreeing in principle, at least, to cut some federal programs that have been on the books for decades. thank you. all eyes will be glued on the casey anthony case. a florida judge will sentence her later this morning on four counts of lying to police. she could be set free because of time served. each charge carries a maximum of one year in prison. she's spent nearly three years in jail. could be more legal drama, the volunteer group that helped look for her daughter in 2008 is considering suing her. they spend $112,000 on that doomed search. >> jose baez's opening statements were caylee was never missing. so why did they call us, why did they put us through that? we don't ask for a penny more than what we spend on it, so this can go back in our kitty to help other families in the future. >> that volunteer group says anthony will have no problem paying, since many expect her to make big money on memoirs and interviews. lawyers and prosecutors in the roger clemens perjury trial continue picking the jury today. he is accused of lying to congress about taking steroids and is not on trial for actually taking it. big names in baseball could be called to testify. prosecutors and defense lawyers are talking about bringing in barry bonds and mark mcgwire. the judge says the jury should be selected by next week. new this morning, a car crashes right into a diner. the driver was heading down georgia avenue before midnight when for some unknown reason at this time, drove off the road and flew into the air. smashed into the building. so far, no word on injuries or what might have caused that accident. in our other big story, changes at metro. the transit agency is holding committee meetings today. >> could find out about the design of new rail cars and to changes of some of the names of the stations as well as escalators which continue to be a huge headache. we get the latest from sarah simmons. good morning, sarah. >> reporter: good morning, allison and tony. talking about several meetings and several different topics on the agenda starting at 9:00 this morning. be talking about a variety of issues, one of which seems to ruffle riders' feathers, the outages of escalators. there is an escalator replacement program here. this has been an issue at several different stops. talking about a plan to increase on time preventive maintenance. large increase in maintenance and service calls over the past month for the escalators and elevators. metro is looking -- or have been getting feedback on the design of the new rail cars. the first of those cars set to arrive next year for the silver line extension to dulles airport. along with that, one of the committees will talk about the naming rights of some of the stops on the new line. had been initial talks of selling the naming rights to the stops. they're looking at something that will ban that entirely. that is being talked about. also, there was a report that came out in may talking about the on time reliability of bus and rail. apparently the performance is getting worse due to traffic congestion and detours. they'll be discussing that also bus service from the pentagon to the market center and the brac facilities. a lot of different topics, several more we didn't even get to this morning. that will be happening at 9:00 the meetings will get underway. back to you. >> sarah, thank you very much. d.c. mayor gray is now in favor of an above ground station at dulles airport. after talking with virginia's governor, gray says the proposal could imperil the entire extension. he is urging the district three members of a regional airport board to switch their votes. if they do, it could swing the board in favor of the above ground option. foreign governments said the u.s. and u.s. airlines being warned about terrorists who have bombs surgically implanted in their bodies. the tsa may start implementing more methods. >> if you subject -- [inaudible] -- to an interview, a professional interview by a skilled interviewer, like those that the israelis are using in their system, i think there's a probability that they would be exposed is extremely high. >> the tsa has increased security check for passengers flying from international locations to u.s. destinations. police still on the hunt this morning for the armed suspect who forced a major traffic artery to shut down yesterday in maryland. 295 near bwi airport was closed for hours during the manhunt. the suspect apparently got a gun and a hammer. police say he tapped on the window of a state highway vehicle with the gun, hit the windshield with the hammer and took off. there had been reports of shots being fired, but that was not the case. the driver of a bus that crashed on i-95 in may, killing four people, pleads not guilty. he is facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter. court records show chung admitted to police he fell asleep when the bus went off the interstate. a trial date is set for december 12th. police have made an arrest in the murder of henry prat. the suspect is being held in jail on unrelated charges. he will face murder charges in prince george's county. prat was stabbed to death while breaking up a fight. police haven't released the suspect's name. prince william county mother facing charges, including mother, for forgetting her 2-year-old son in a hot minivan. she left him in the car the entire work day. prosecutors say murphy made the same mistake in january, but only remembered when the day care called asking if the young boy would be coming to school. some neighbors describe murphy as a pillar in her community. it is seven minutes after 10:00 on this thursday morning. one frederick county maryland mom is criticizing her student's text book for being biased. plus, nasa supposed to launch its final space shuttle mission tomorrow, but mother nature may be having other plans. an update on "atlantis'" launch coming up. as we head to the break, we have a live look outside. we'll get the latest weather and traffic from tucker and julie coming up. right now, it is 7:11. we'll be right back. space shuttle "atlantis" is supposed to launch on the final shuttle mission tomorrow. mother nature might not be cooperating. nasa is paying close attention to the weather forecast. now there is a 70% chance it will rain. the liftoff ending 30 years of the shuttle program could be postponed until the weekend. >> i am betting it's going to be postponed. >> a lot of clouds and probably some rain. >> they could go on the weekend. >> why not? >> i earlier said mother nature just didn't want to see it end. >> maybe that's it, yeah. >> let's switch gears. around here, heat and humidity. and haze back in the forecast. >> all right. back together. >> teaming up. 74 reagan national. annapolis 75. cambridge-- >> what's happening? >> give me the word. 71 martinsburg. slightly cooler off to the north and west. detroit 65 this morning. the reason i show you that, some of that, can't call it cool air, but less humid air, will get in here for the weekend. satellite radar, a little fog across the area. will burn off quickly. should be mostly sunny morning. later this afternoon, a weak cold front, and by weak, i can't even show you it on the map, but it's out there. will likely spark off a few scattered showers and thunderstorms and tomorrow we'll watch an area of low pressure develop, and tomorrow looks like a cloudy day with on again off again rain. get ready for changes. 93 today. >> thank you very much. here's julie wright with an update on traffic. >> been talking about this fatal crash that occurred in the 5:00 area on the westbound side of 202 in prince george's county west of 7 un4. ongoing investigation that has the roadway blocked. westbound 202 closed off at fire house road, west of 704. police on the scene, a lot of tape around the area and it occurred shortly after 5:00 this morning. again, the investigation continues to block the highways westbound on 202 headed in the direction of the district. eastbound, lanes are open. southbound along 270, travel out of rockville this morning, heavy, slow and instead with an accident before you commit to 28. delays stacking up from 370 headed southbound towards the beltway. that's a check of your fox five ontime traffic. thank you very much. battles over what's in children's library books and text books have been going on for decades. this one comes from a texas woman. "washington post" columnist robert mccartney came to surprising conclusions. he joins now. i don't know if the word investigation is too much for this. a fascinating column. it's in today's paper. this woman, cindy rose is her name, she's made it on national tv. >> she's been on fox news nationally twice, including the glen beck show. >> she says this particular social studies book she thought had a liberal or progressive bias. tell us what attracted you to this? >> i'm very interested in school text book issues and the question of political bias. i care a lot about american history, and i wrote about it in virginia earlier this year and last year, when there was a lot of controversy over virginia text books that had a lot of mistakes and i thought misrepresented important things about the civil war. in this case, i heard about this woman raising these questions about this third grade social studies text, and i decided to look into it. i think she's right. she's a tea party supporter. very conservative. she objected to what she saw as a liberal bias in this book. i read the book. it's not that long. it's written for 3rd graders, so doesn't take long for an adult to read, and i agreed with her. i thought it was very slanted to the left. it's not inaccurate. she thinks it is. i don't agree with her about that. but the -- it is clearly pushing a pro environmental agenda. all of the heros sort of community heros it picks are liberal icons like cesar chavez. i think the objective of the slant, it actively promotes government funded child care and health care. >> that is surprising. >> it also suggests it's free, that if the government just did it, it would be free. it says that it's a real burden on american families that we don't have community child care and community health care, and other countries like denmark and vietnam have free public child care and there's no mention that you have to pay taxes to support this. >> is this an excerpt from the book? >> yeah. >> child care is not free for most people in the united states. in vietnam child care is free or costs very little. this makes it easier for parents to work. >> after that it says sort of a leading question, do you think child care ought to be free? the obvious answer, of course, especially if you're a third grader. >> this can be insidious, no matter what the bias is, whether it's conservative or liberal. especially for young children, they're reading it and they don't know that it's biased. >> exactly. the defense by the school administration, and by some members of the frederick county school board was that there are other materials in the curriculum that offset this and explain you have to pay taxes and explain some of the stuff left out this book. the more conservative members of the board are concerned even if those exist, there's no guaranteed they're being used. seems this book is the central part of the curriculum for this part of the year, when they're looking at these issues. i think a text book in third grade shouldn't be slanted one way or the other. as i explain in the column, i'm in a weird position, because i personally support sort of the goals that this book is pushing. save the planet and improve public services. but bias is bias, and i don't think a public school text book ought to be slanted one way or the other. >> very interesting column, interesting read. robert mccartney, in today's "washington post." good to see you. >> good to see you. it is 74 degrees right now at 7:22. mexican man responsible for killing a teenager is about to be executed in texas. now the white house is asking for a delay. the reason why straight ahead. plus, on a lighter note, we're learning about the peace corps today. our holly morris is live on the national mall with more. we'll check in with holly when fox five morning news continues. stay with us. making headlines, prosecutors in germany have filed murder charges for the killings of two u.s. air men. the shooting happened in march at an airport outside of frankfurt. investigators say he wanted to kill them because of america's involvement in afghanistan. execution of a mexican man in texas could be delayed tonight if the supreme court blocks it. the white house wants it delayed. the man never had access to the mexican consolate and his argued say they never know if that could have helped in his defense. execution is set for 5:00 tonight. army psychiatrist charged with the deadly shooting rampage at fort hood will face the death penalty. he is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in the november 2009 attack. his attorney has declined to say whether he's considering an insanity defense. he is paralyzed from the waist down after police shot him to stop the attack. about 7:27 now on this thursday morning. we'll look at the nation's debt crisis. as we head to the break, a live look outside. going to get -- wow, look at this fog. is this our tower cam? i think this is our tower cam near in northwest washington. a lot of fog. tucker will tell us about the forecast, julie has a look at the roadways when fox five morning news returns. buddhists from around the world gathered at the verizon center for a chance to see the dalai lama. he'll meet with lawmakers on capitol hill. he'll address thousands on the west lawn on the national mall. maybe he's the one to do it. >> maybe. maybe he'll bring sanity and understanding. >> after you meet with the dalai lama i expect you feel peaceful and you don't want to break that peaceful feeling up. >> unfortunately, i think the politicians we have today, it just goes -- rolls right off of them. go back to their stuck in the mud ways. >> you could come here and -- >> spread peace on the set of fox five. >> we're peaceful. >> we're a peaceful group. the weather maybe not peaceful later today. maybe have thunderstorms. >> that is an act of god. >> it is, absolutely. headlines this morning, early sun, more sunshine -- i know we have a little fog at the moment. you're saying what sun? the sun i promise will be out soon. few afternoon thunderstorms. clouds build in later today. tomorrow looks wet. kind of a change. more clouds around and a wet friday. not going to rain every minute tomorrow, but definitely a different air mass as this tropical air mass will move through, and periods of rain tomorrow. weekend, sunny and dry. upper 80s or 90. but no rain. mid-90s early next week. right now it doesn't quite feel like the 90s, but feels muggy with a temperature of 74 degrees now at reagan national. annapolis at 75. mountains, 71 martinsburg and 72 winchester. yesterday we had the shower and thunderstorm active to the west? not the case this morning. fog developed this morning. should burn off shortly. off to the north and west, one blip, that's our cold front, not very impressive at all. later today as it gets into the area here, at least the possibility of the front kicking up showers and thunderstorms. later tonight and tomorrow, an area of low pressure will develop along the front and bring widespread rain looks like for the day tomorrow. partly sunny skies, scattered shower or thunderstorm. best timing, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 this afternoon. 93 the high. warmer in the sunshine later today than yesterday. early showers, thunderstorm, and warm and muggy overnight. this is a familiar weather pattern. 74. there's your five-day forecast, 85 tomorrow with cloud cover. and showers and thunderstorms in the forecast. dry this weekend, highs about 90. that's a look at your forecast. let's do traffic. we've been talking about a fatal crash that occurred in the 5:00 hour this morning and it remains under investigation. this is the incident along westbound 202 at forehouse road. westbound lanes headed into the direction of the district remain closed at this time. there's a lot of police activity there, ongoing investigation. blocked on the westbound side of 202. if you're eastbound, your lanes are open. let's go back inside. 66congested in manassas. want to give you a heads up about something going on tonight. beginning at 10:00 tonight, you'll find a portion of branch avenue closed off in each direction at pennsylvania avenue. it's a long-term construction project that will be in place until monday evening. a combination for those traveling northbound on branch avenue, southern avenue around pennsylvania avenue. thepoint is, branch avenue closes tonight at 10:00 in each direction at pennsylvania avenue and southeast. big closure. thank you very much, julie. can we have a prompter please? following breaking news now from the netherlands. part of the roof of a soccer stadium has collapsed, trapping some people underneath. it crashed into a bank of seats behind one of the goals. not a big crowd. the stadium is ongoing offseason renovations. one newspaper reports at least five people have been hurt. more allegations against the british tabloid news of the world. there are reports hackers targeted the telephone numbers of dead military personnel. this comes days after a private investigator says he helped the hackers hack into the phones of a teen five years ago. police in london are currently looking into evidence that the tabloid paid police officers for information. >> people need to know there, there is a major police investigation underway. it is one of the biggest police investigations currently under way in our country. i hope members opposite will listen to this, it does not involve police officers involved in the original investigation that clearly didn't get to the truth. >> several companies are pulling ads from the tabloid. we keep hearing the united states is careening closer to defaulting on its debts. today president obama is calling an important meeting at the white house to try to speed up a compromise. but is it a real threat? could lawmakers allow it to happen? joining us with more, managing editor of the hill. when we need real answers we call you in. >> good morning. >> big meeting today again. the president is getting involved now in this, directly. what can we expect today? >> you wonder how much these meetings actually accomplish. they've had a lot of meeting. joe biden had a series of meetings, and now the president is involved. the big development this morning, he's putting social security on the table. that could be a game changer. democrats have been nervous the president will blink. he's going to blink to the gop like what a lot of them thought he did on the tax cut deal in december. obama putting social security will irritate a lot of democrats, but maybe it's something that can get the republicans off their no new tax increase pledge. that's been frustrating to the white house. if there's going to be any type of deal, democrats say republicans must increase taxes on billionaires and millionaires. republicans have been united against that. >> when you say social security, that's everybody. everybody understands that. a portion of our check is taken out, goes to social security. we hope we can get some of that money when we retire to live a good life. now that's on the table. what does that mean exactly? >> i don't think it will affect current beneficiaries. we don't know the deal for future generations that really don't expect social security to be there, at least completely, they could be talking about raising the retirement age. that's gotten some support from democrats in congress. it is a big development, and where it goes from here, who knows? they don't have much time. this is going to be -- fasten your seat belts, this will be a difficult month. they have to get this bill done by roughly july 22nd, to get it into bill language to pass it by august 2nd. i was talking to a couple of people on wall street, and they're getting nervous. if the stock market plunges, that could dictate when this deal is done. >> we all understand what defaulting on our debt means. would the government really make this happen, or something, because everybody can understand it, everybody is getting on board and nobody wants to blink, as you said, because the constituents are watching and democratic base is watching? could this really happen? >> i think there is a small chance the u.s. could default. we saw optimism, a lot of it, in june. it's disappeared. more of the question is not when a deal will get done, but will it get done? you have this game of chicken. the left and the right are both pushing at their parties. yeah, the tea party. congressional leaders and, whether they're republican or democrat, and the president, want to get a deal. but can they get a deal that is going to get the votes in congress from conservatives and liberals? that's an open question, especially talking about the senate. someone could filibuster this, then you'd need 60 votes in the senate. not one congressional republican voted to raise the debt limit in the last congress. going to be very difficult to do. i think they'll get it done, yes. am i more pessimistic than last month, yes. >> what about the tea party factor? you have almost three factions now in congress. that one group that says, no, no more spending, no taxes, no tax increases, what have you. no tax breaks, whatever side you're on. what about that group? >> i think that's going to put a tremendous amount of pressure on john boehner. think about the presidential candidates. michelle bachman, she is absolutely a no. a lot of the tea party lawmakers, including i think senator jim de mint, they're not going to like whatever deal is reached. that will be a problem. then, how many votes can the republicans give? how many votes can the democrats give? there are some similarities to the 2008 bailout bill when the bill went to the house floor initially and it failed and the stock market plunged 800 points. >> okay. well, can we get that dust storm video back in phoenix? bob cusack, appreciate your insight. >> thanks. >> tony back to you. thank you both. coming up on 7:41 now. will google plus take down facebook? we're going to break it down if today's smart phone zone. up next, verizon gets ready to roll out its new data usage plans. we'll let you know how it will affect your wallet. yes, it will. that's coming up on fox five morning news. ú÷ 7:44. we have a consumer alert. beginning today, new verizon wireless customers will have to pay for their data usage based on a new tiered plan. using up to 2 gigabytes a month will cost you $30. eighty dollars for 10 gigabytes. the plan won't affect current customers. big changes to facebook. soon you can make video calls on the site. skype and facebook are teaming up. users with web cams can select which friends they want to video chat with. they'll click on a blue video icon and start chatting. they'll also add a group chat option. >> and it will rule the world! will be the master of all of us. >> one of my facebook fans told me last night he had just eaten a bowl of ice cream. >> what did you reply? >> i haven't yet. >> crafting it. >> thinking of something witty to say. >> i'm thinking, what kind? >> very nice of him to tell me that. let's get to the temperatures and reagan national, 74 degrees. just not cooling off these last couple of mornings. later today, back in the 90s. 73 baltimore. 75 in ocean city. 72 in winchester. looking at our future cast, here we go, thursday at 7:00 a.m., not much happening. should see bright sunshine. and late this afternoon you can see we have widely scattered thunderstorms starting to develop to the north and west as we get a cold front coming through. let me show you what happens here. overnight into tomorrow, with that front around and a lot of moisture working from the south, looks like tomorrow during the day, on again off again rain and there could be periods of heavy rain. could pick up 1, maybe 2 inches of rain tomorrow. tomorrow could be a wet one before the weekend. cooler tomorrow with the cloud cover, and rain and thunderstorms on again off again. nice weekend, saturday about 90 and sunday, too, sunshine. >> no rain yet. >> we'll get it out of here, hopefully. here's julie wright with an update on traffic. >> good morning. getting busy out there. problems now in louden county. if you are traveling at thomas avenue north of route 7, there was an accident involving a commuter bus and another vehicle. unfortunately, at least four utility poles knocked down at the scene of this crash. poles down across the highway and wires as well. the parkway is shut down north of route 7. we're told at least 100 customers without power and they hope to have it restored in an hour or so. wires and poles down, so it will take a little bit of time to get everything cleared up. north of route 7 at thomas avenue closed. 66inbound on the brakes. inner loop is tied up. southbound 270, the wreck at 28 gone. expect delays 370 headed into rockville. that's a check of your fox five on time traffic. thanks. we want to say good morning to our fabulous fan of the day, our face book fan is tasha cook. she doesn't just want to be fan of the day, oh no. she thinks she should be fan of the year. if you would like to be tomorrow's fan of the day, find us on facebook by searching fox five morning news. we wish we could make you fan of the year, but we have to share a little bit. post a comment under her photo. >> looks like a star. >> she does, right? the smithsonian folklife festival drawing big crowds. >> our holly morris is out there talking about the peace corps. >> reporter: the peace corps is celebrating its 50th anniversary. and part of the celebration will be featured in the folklife festival in its 45th year. this is a pedal power seed sheller. we'll tell you more about this and why it's so important next on our fox five morning news. stay with us. consumers today have a legitimate concern about the chicken they eat. they want to know more about how they were raised, what they were fed. we spend a lot of time on the feed because a chicken is what it eats. [ jim ] this seal verifies we feed my fresh all-natural chickens an all-vegetarian diet including corn, soybeans, and marigolds. we actually ask the usda to come check us. we have never fed steroids or hormones and never will. no blood meal, no meat and bone meal. yuck. no animal by-products. it means when you put my chicken on the table, you know where it came from. about 1 million people visit the national mall over the course of the 10 days during the smithsonian folklife festival. >> holly morris is there as they get ready to kick off their second weekend. event. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. this is the 45th year they've had this festival. nationally and internationally, this is the model people go by when trying to plan a research based festival. numerous books written about this festival, documentaries filmed. and a million people come here to be a part of it. it's in our own back yard. you're crazy if you don't take advantage of it. it's different and special each year. there's always three areas they are celebrating. the first one we're showing you this morning has to do with the peace corps. jim is the curator and joins me. good morning. >> good morning. >> reporter: i think a lot of people might go, peace corps, i don't think of folklife festivals having to do with federal governmental agencies like the peace corps. >> we are looking at the peace corps' third goal, which is to help americans better understand the people and the culture where peace corps volunteers are serving overseas. peace corps is currently serving in 77 countries. we have representatives from 15 of those countries to demonstrate their skills, traditions, experiences and their relationship with peace corps volunteers overseas. >> reporter: i remember, i had a friend that wanted to become a part of the peace corps. it's very hard. the standards are high to become a volunteer with the peace corps. >> that's absolutely correct. it is a job, and the volunteers are working in agriculture, education, environment, health, and many more areas, helping countries overseas develop industries, businesses and more. >> reporter: it's been around 50 years and you're celebrating this anniversary, the peace corps is making a difference, not only in the country, but like you said, even for the americans that are going over there and taking part in all the different activities. >> exactly. our goal at the smithsonian is to help americans better understand cultures from around the world and by bringing people here we have this one-on- one direct connection between our public and our visitors from overseas. >> reporter: as always, you guys do an amazing job. the peace corps area of the folklife festival won't disappoint. we have special people with us to help show off more. henry, a police corps staff member, and alexandria. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> reporter: tell me what you guys are doing. >> working on technology based on a number of things -- [inaudible] -- security and transportation, as well as the using -- [inaudible] -- different applications. [inaudible]-- corn is our main staple in zambia. we make corn meal out of it, and a corn porridge. >> reporter: the whole point of this is to take what you have and find out ways to use it to make your life better, right? >> exactly. >> reporter: everybody is biking over there? >> yeah. well, a lot of people have bikes there, so this part of our booth is about trying to show the different uses you can have for them. >> reporter: henry, hop on and tell me what's going on. you mentioned it and we showed you a little bit before. it's pedal powered maize sheller, right? >> yes. >> reporter: people ride around with this on their bike? >> no. this is actually something that is an attachment. they use biking as this mechanism here. but we want to make this more appropriate and more additional to the community than just the biking. >> reporter: i get it. you can turn your bike almost into a small business, right? >> that's right. >> reporter: hop on and show us. i want people to see -- >> this application is attached to this, and also this is the attachment, the maize sheller itself. alexandria will show you how it works. >> reporter: what happens then, one person can take the bike, they have this apparatus, they go to a village and shell the maize, right? >> that's right. >> reporter: and they can go to another village, and they have their own little business they've created? >> yes. >> reporter: this is not waste? >> this is not waste at all. [inaudible]-- >> reporter: wonderful, thank you. thank you, guys, so much. it's so fascinating and amazing the work you're doing. myfoxdc.com is our web site. come down now to the festival. you're not done. come on, more to shell. coming up, we're going to to the columbia section, another area. back to you to you all. >> holly, that is cool. should you only use the er as the place to go when you feel sick or have an injury? >> coming up, fox's medical team will tell you where else might be better and help you get seen by a doctor faster. stay with us. three minutes before 8:00 now. two days after being found not guilty of killing her daughter, casey anthony will be sentenced for lying to investigators. we'll have that live this morning. a new rail line, possibly new rail cars and more broken escalators. we're live with a preview of the meeting. summer is the busiest time of year for emergency rooms. doctors say a lot of patients could be helped in an urgent care clinic instead. the fox medical team has a guide to figure out where to go. i'm tony perkins. >> i'm alison seymour. we say good morning to our friend tucker barnes, with a look at this thursday forecast. good morning. >> good morning. hazy, hot, humid conditions back. >> they're back. >> a little fog this morning. once the fog burns off, hot, bright, and highs back in the 90s. maybe a thunderstorm. satellite and radar, generally quiet here. little fog burning off. otherwise, should be a quieter morning than yesterday. yesterday we had the thunderstorm to the west. today, generally clear skies. north and west, a cold front. will get in here later and try to kick up a few thunderstorms. we'll see how much it succeeds, as it's very weak. temperature now, 74. humidity 91%. not comfortable for most people. winds out of the south and west at 7 miles per hour. another hot one today. i think warmer than yesterday, with highs in the low to mid- 90s. 93 washington. how about 90 in front royal. changes tomorrow, and we'll look at the weekend coming up. thank you. here is julie wright with the latest on the rush hour traffic. r, so good. the outer loop of the beltway, no incidents now. leaving college park headed to 270. typical slowdowns as you travel between 95 and georgia avenue. southbound 270 still tied up, earlier accident 28 has cleared. pace improving from shady grade heading southbound. no incidents to report -- 66 looking a bit better at fair oaks. you will find inbound 50 in maryland tied up now as you work in out of river dale headed into northeast. 202closed west of 704. that's where we have the fatal crash from earlier this morning that is still under investigation. later this morning, a portion of branch avenue closed down until monday. be prepared for alternate routes southern avenue and pennsylvania avenue from the north. massachusetts and alabama avenue as alternates. as to the charge of first degree murder, verdict as to count one, we the jury find the defendant not guilty. >> casey anthony acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter, caylee. but the florida mother was found guilty of four counts of lying to investigators. the charges carry one year terms a piece. anthony has already been in jail three years, so it is widely believed she'll be sentenced this morning to time already served. she could be released as early as today. the hearing starts at 9:00. we'll bring that to you live. a warning for foreign governments and u.s. airlines to be on the lookout for possible suicide bombers who could have explosives surgically implanted into their bodies. some experts say traditional screening and new body scanner technology won't detect the bombs. the tsa may start implementing more methods such as increased patdowns and passenger interviews like the ones done in israel. >> we have a solution to this, and that is the ability to look the terrorist in the eye and ask him a couple of questions and talk to him. >> the tsa is increasing security for passengers flying from international locations to u.s. destinations. the army psychiatrist charged with the deadly shooting at fort hood will face the death penalty. the commanding general for the military post made the announcement yesterday. major nadal has dn is paralyzed from the waist down from the police shooting him to stop the attack. the suspect apparently had a gun and a hammer. police say he tapped on the window of a mobile photo radar vehicle with a gun, hit the windshield with the hammer, then ran off into the woods. new this morning, a car crashes into a diner in wheaten, maryland. happened before midnight on georgia avenue near university bullet. for an unknown reason, the driver left the roadway and smashed into the building. so far, no word on injuries or what might have caused this accident. metro is holding important meetings today that could lead to some big changes at the transportation agency. they're making decisions on ideas for new rail cars and some new station names. for more on the changes, we turn to sarah simmons who is live at the foggy bottom station. sarah? >> reporter: tony, there are a lot of different options on the table they'll be talking about at these meetings, several meetings starting at 9:00 this morning. some of the things they'll talk about, metro has been getting feedback from rider focus groups on exactly what people think of the design of the new 7,000 series rail cars. those cars are the first ones set to arrive next year for the silver line that is heading out to dulles airport. along with that, also will be addressing the issue of naming rights for new stops on that line. there was talk of selling the naming rights, but they're looking at trying to ban that option instead. that is something that will be on the table. also, there is a report that came out in may talking about the ontime reliability of the bus and rail. apparently the performance is getting worse due to traffic congest con and detours. they'll be addressing those reports. also looking into additional bus service from the pentagon to the mark center, those are areas affected by the brac process. on top of that, i think the biggest issue a lot of people will be concerned about, especially riders, obviously, the escalators and elevators. there's been a huge issue with outages. they're looking at a plan to increase their ontime preventive maintenance. seen a large increase in maintenance and service calls. back here, if you look out live at the foggy bottom metro, this escalator back here, where it's cordoned off, has been under repair for months. part of the escalator replacement programs. we saw crews out early this morning working on it. obviously, this is something that's a big issue at a lot of stops requires see on a day-to- day basis. we'll be watching that one closely, as well as the other list of issues we talked about. again, that meeting is at 9:00 a.m. at metro headquarters and we'll be there live. back to you. >> thank you very much. we appreciate it. metro may be stepping in to help ease congestion created by brac changes in our area. the transit agency is proposing new bus lines. they would take people to and from the mark center and alexandria in fairfax. one line would run from the pentagon to the mark center. the process of moving workers to the new locations is supposed to start next month. now to the talks the white house on raising the debt ceiling. president obama invited top congressional leaders for more negotiations today. we might see real progress out of the meetings. some top republicans are hinting at allowing tax tradeoffs and the white house is reportedly agreeing to cut social security. but both sides remain far apart on coming to an agreement. >> we should all be able to agree the billionaires and millionaires don't need a special tax break. >> we can't be raising taxes in this kind of economy. >> vice president joe biden will attend the talks this morning. negotiations at the white house set to begin at 11:00. it is nine minutes after 8:00 now. 74degrees on this thursday morning. up next, we'll check out some of the stories making headlines, including more on how security is being stepped up along one popular trail after a series of attacks. plus, we'll take a closer look at a growing scandal in britain surrounding tabloid journalists accused of hacking into cell phones. stay with us. we'll be right back. 8:09now. [ male announcer ] are you paying more and more for cable, and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for second best. upgrade to verizon fios and get tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month for a year. want to save even more? call now and we'll add over 60 premium channels, including showtime, starz, epix, and more for 12 months. fios is a 100% fiber optic network. it delivers superior picture quality, the best channel lineup, more hd, plus america's fastest, most consistent and reliable internet. and there's no annual contract required. why keep paying for cable? move up to the best. get fios tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month for a year, plus over 60 premium channels for 12 months. don't wait. call 1.877.729.fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities that's 1.877.729.3467. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. or for other great fios offers, visit us online. get the network that delivers more. get fios. a network ahead. time for a look at some of the stories making headlines. prince george county police have made an arrest in the murder of henri pratt. the young father was stabbed to death after getting off a party bus in clifton last week. he was trying to break up a fight on the bus. the suspect is being held in jail in d.c. on unrelated charges. funeral services for pratt are scheduled for today. a virginia preschool employee accused of sexually assaulting a 4-year-old student. it allegedly happened in march. minor has since been fired from the school. now regular safety patrols at the metropolitan branch trail. it's happening along the 1.5 stretch between franklin and l streets northeast. attacks between may 5th and june 9th. police believe local youth looking to rob people are to blame. time to turn our attention to tucker and the weather and more. >> cooldown factor of the day. let's get down to business. good morning. time for our photo of the day. >> i thought it was a doll baby. >> she does look like a doll. >> do you know what she's up to here? >> some kind of water event. >> very observant. cooling off in her grandparent's swimming pool. >> nice. i love to see the kids in the pool and they're so happy and splashing around. >> you know she is loving it there. so are grandma and grandpa. you know that, too. >> beautiful face and smile. relaxing music, too. >> it's "baby, isn't she lovely." >> do we get to hear this version often? >> no, this is for hartley. >> all right, hartley, we played this for you. to feature your child's picture, myfoxdc.com. >> hear that flute? i like this version. >> later today, possibility of thunderstorms. much quieter weather than yesterday when we had showers around this hour. north and west, a cold front will try to get in here. i have to be honest, it's not very strong. i'm not sure how much in the way of scattered shower and thunderstorm activity it will fire up later today. let's do temperatures. yesterday topped out mid- to upper 80s. today, low 90s back in the forecast, as we'll have more sunshine. 76washington. 76in baltimore. 75 in winchester. your forecast for today, and the next several days, 93 this afternoon. could be a scattered storm. tomorrow a lot of clouds around. going to be a little cooler, and on again off again rain tomorrow. tomorrow looks a little different. the weekend dry. hot again by monday, with highs in the mid-90s. let's do traffic and of course julie has your latest. as you are traveling in virginia now, you'll find on the outer loop of the beltway, this is where we had an accident behind this tree, actually, tying up the right side of the roadway from springfield in the direction of the wilson bridge. heads up there. delays forming back at the springfield interchange. next camera, the outbound stretch of 66, past 28. two right lanes tied up. leaving centerville into manassas. beltway, outer loop closed, 95, college park to georgia avenue. southbound 29 at green castle, the crash, stay to the right to get by. problems traveling over in prince george's county. westbound 202 closed at 704 because of the fatal crash from earlier. west of 704 at forehouse road. 10:00this morning, branch avenue shut down each direction at pennsylvania avenue, for a long-term project scheduled to last until 9:00 a.m. monday morning. that's a check of your fox five ontime traffic. thanks. more companies are pulling advertisements from britain's news of the world newspapers. anger grows over reports a reporter hacked into the phones of private citizens, including murder victims, terror victims, film stars, sports figures, politicians and parts of the royal family entourages. we want to say that news of the world is owned by news corp, which is the parent company of fox five. thanks for coming in. >> good morning. >> this whole scandal, is this something that they are used to as far as this tabloid news of the world, or what's the standard, i guess? >> the standard, of course, it's a matter of dimension rather than anything new, in the sense that you do have -- first of all, these are national papers. in other words, distributed from the northern scotland to the very end of the southern tip of england. this is not a city paper. it's also a sunday paper. it's the thing that -- and it sells, i think the last count was 5.5 million copies, something like that. so it's not something small, and it's not, you know, like local rag. they've always been -- there's always been a stratum of fleet street papers as they used to be called, because they were all on fleet street, and no longer are on fleet street. you're looking at the reporter who in fact started, not on the news of the world, but one of its related. and the competition is huge. the pressure on these people to deliver is enormous. and the methods have always been traditionally not particularly nice. in fact, rather brutal. so the advance of technology has made it even easier, you know, they're not going to just let all these opportunities go by. so, you know, they're using hacking and they're using, you know, all that is available to them. in the case of the news of the world, there are two phases to this. the first phase was when they hacked into movie stars like hugh grant for example, and into members of the royal family entourage, but including kate middleton, incidentally. for that, a reporter and investigator were jailed. when this came out, somehow was revealed and they went to jail. the second phase, noncelebrity aspect. in other words, now you're dealing with people who are actually people. who are victims of crimes, who are -- have murdered children. in the case of the 13-year-old child, this girl who disappeared. her parents were frantically calling her cell phone, and the news of the world bugging her cell phone. and erasing some of the pleas by her parents to make space for other stuff. which made it look as if somebody was using the phone. in this case, therefore, you're dealing with a real interference in the investigation of a crime. very serious. >> you said it was competitive, so wouldn't someone other than just the reporter know. if that is the case, should they be held accountable as well? >> this is the okay to the whole thing. which is that at what -- who knew in the paper and when did they know it? rebecca brooks, who used to be editor of news of the world, says she didn't know anything about it. this kind of, you know, is somewhat questionable. but there's a political implication to all of this, which makes it even more complicated and in a way more scandalous. brooks is a great friend of the camera. the last editor of the news of the world before brooks became prime minister camera's spokesman. he then resigned under mysterious circumstances. as all this is coming out, seems perhaps the circumstances may not be so mysterious. so the question of who knows and who knew then is kind of key to the whole thing. however, my feeling is that somehow it won't end up being as revealing as we all thought, because too many political implications here. >> i wish we had 10 more minutes to speak with you. unfortunately, our time is fleeting. it is now out of time. but i appreciate you coming in. this is not at all dead. so hopefully we'll see you again. >> sure. >> tony, over to you. thank you, much. 8:23now. the military's don't ask don't tell policy is back in the headlines. more on a court's decision when we come back. then a little later, we're live on the national mall with a look at this year's folklife festival which is going on again this weekend. stay with us. fox five morning news will be right back. [ mr. clopper ] i don't talk to them as much as cindy does... good morning chickens! [ jim ] you know, that's our business so we want to be the experts in chicken. we're not the status quo. perdue is the first and the only chicken company to have usda-process-verified programs for fresh all-natural chickens. [ jim ] this is an all-vegetarian diet, no animal by-products, no animal fat. [ joe ] we never have used steroids or hormones of any type. it's not gonna happen. [ joe ] and always raised cage free. we set our goals higher than anyone. we're trying to make a better chicken. [ jim ] my dad did, my grandfather did and it's what we do today. there's a new twist in the laws on gays in the military. an appeals court in san francisco is telling the pentagon to stop the ban on openly gay service members. the policy was already declared unconstitutional, but the supreme court decided to keep it in place until the military can change its procedures. now the obama administration is in the unusual situation to file court motions to prevent the reappeal from happening faster than originally planned. a collection of artifacts from iran is headed back home after they were illegally brought into the united states. they will be returned later this morning during a ceremony at the iraqi cultural center in northwest. among the artifacts, saddam hussein related era items. several officials expected to attend. coming up next, we're going to check out some of the other stories making headlines this morning, including more on the hiker who was killed by a bear in yellow stone national park. summer is the busiest time of year for emergency rooms. but doctors say a lot of patients could be helped in an urgent care clinic instead. the fox medical team will help figure out where you should go, that when we come back. 8:26now. [ male announcer ] are you paying more and more for cable, and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for second best. upgrade to verizon fios and get tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month for a year. want to save even more? call now and we'll add over 60 premium channels, including showtime, starz, epix, and more for 12 months. fios is a 100% fiber optic network. it delivers superior picture quality, the best channel lineup, more hd, plus america's fastest, most consistent and reliable internet. and there's no annual contract required. why keep paying for cable? move up to the best. get fios tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month for a year, plus over 60 premium channels for 12 months. don't wait. call 1.877.729.fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities that's 1.877.729.3467. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. or for other great fios offers, visit us online. get the network that delivers more. get fios. a network ahead. 8:30. 76degrees. excuse me my back, looking at the temperatures. a deadly bear attack in yellow stone national park. officials say it appears a man and his wife surprised a female grizzly and her cubs. the man was attacked and killed. the cubs chased the woman, but she was not seriously hurt. the first deadly bear mauling in that park since 1986. health risks now, the big concern for people living near an oil spill in montanas yellowstone river. at a meeting last night, one of the residents said the fumes are so overwhelming, the only way he can breathe is open all the windows. more workers have been brought in by exxon to clean it up. we showed you the video yesterday of the huge dust cloud over folks, arizona. residents are left to clean up the mess. when this car wash opened up, there are 20 cars in line, and cars aren't the only thing covered in dust. homeowners are trying to figure out how to clean off the exterior of their homes and swimming pools. >> what a hassle that would be. >> imagine owning that car wash, how excited. >> imagine all the power wash companies. >> oh, yep. and you know, this happens periodically, so you know, it's a good business out there. >> glad everybody is okay. crazy scene. >> made for incredible video, right? >> sure did. i got to do a quick weather forecast. more of the same. hazy, hot, humid later today. maybe thunderstorms late this afternoon. be ready for that, just in case. most of us will probably be dry. but the air mass will get a little unstable later today. early sun. fog will burn off. few afternoon thunderstorms return later today. looking wetter and wetter tomorrow as we're going to have tropical moisture working into this funnel system that's working through today. i'll show you in a second. looks like we'll be wet tomorrow. weekend sunny and dry. upper 80s to about 90. any time you're talking sunshine and quiet weather on the weekend, that's good. mid-90s by monday. current temperatures, and let's get started with heat. 76at reagan national at 8:00. 76baltimore. i think our cool spot overnight, martinsberg, got down to 69. 73 in martinsberg. not a lot to show you. quiet weather at the moment. off to the north and west, weak cold front, this will come down later today. could spark off a couple of scattered showers and thunderstorms. tropical moisture working up with a weak area of low pressure. i think tomorrow we'll be mostly cloudy, with on again off again rain showers into the weekend. changes for tomorrow. here's your five-day forecast, 93 today. won't cool off too much overnight. could be thunderstorms tomorrow, and periods of heavy thunderstorms. 94 by monday. toss it over to tony. thank you very much. summer means more cookouts, lots of folks outside enjoying the outdoors and unfortunately, a jump in emergency room visits. so where should you go if you suddenly feel sick or get hurt? straight to the hospital or can you just go to one of those urgent care centers? fox medical team's beth galvin joins us with answers. good morning, beth. >> good morning, tony. if you get seriously ill or hurt, it's hard to know where to go, because you have the option of the emergency room, but you have the option of urgent care clinics that often can offer almost the same level of care with a lot less crowding and a lot less expense to you. so, how do you decide if you're having an emergency, where you should go? the best rule of thumb really is to decide for yourself, do i have a life-threatening emergency? if you feel like it's life- threatening, go to the emergency room. by serious emergency, we mean sudden change in your status. you were walking before, now you can't walk. were talking before, now you're having difficulty speaking. those are emergencies. others are chest pain, stroke symptoms, difficulty breathing, any type of a major cut or major burn, all of those need to be seen in the emergency room. if you do not feel like your injury is serious, but you do need immediate care, that's when you might want to try an urgent care center. they can handle all kinds of emergencies, like strains and minor bone fractures and they can handle infections and flu and strep and all that kind of stuff. the good thing about them is your copay to visit an urgent care clinic will be lower than in an emergency room. the clinics are usually private clinics, too, so they'll be a lot less crowded than the emergency room. tony, if you feel like you have to go to the emergency room, remember, it's not first come, first served. they triage patients and take the most seriously ill first. >> i am all about the urgent care centers. i think they do good work there. is the insurance situation, should that help you determine which route to take? >> well, a lot of insurance companies and providers have a nurse hot line you can call and say, here are my symptoms. i need to go to the er? they can help you make that decision. >> if you're going to the er, is there anything that you can do to speed up that process? >> yes. few things you can do. make sure you have your insurance card. make sure you have a list of the medications that you're taking. and then finally, it gets intimidating, so be very direct and specific about your symptoms. don't say, i'm hurting. explain what symptoms are going on, what's going on and help the doctor help you. tony? >> beth, thank you very much. we appreciate the good advice. thank you. allison, back to you. thanks. a d.c. man suing for a wrong hiv diagnosis. he discovered his then girlfriend was hiv positive in 2000. he then went to the clinic to be tested himself and he was told he was hiv positive. he eventually lost his job, home, spent time in a psych ward and even had intimate relations with an hiv positive woman while living in a whitman walker shelter. the law was expanded last week, allowing people to sue for emotional injury. >> there's going to be consequences. and you are likely going to suffer. if it's foreseeable and you placed your trust in the person of particular expertise, there should be redress. >> i was a total wreck. >> the case will likely go to trial some time this fall. it is 8:37 now. weekly jobless claims just coming in. we'll have those for you when we come back. we'll go out live to the air and space museum. stay with us. we'll be right back. it's 8:37. just into our newsroom, the number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in several weeks, though applications are elevated. the applications dropped by 14,000 to 418,000. if you're looking for work, check out our job shop. our job of the day, mccormick paints. pay is between 11 and $14 an hour. for more on this job and others, go to myfoxdc.com and click on the job shop tab. 76 degrees on this thursday morning, 8:40. calling it big competition for facebook and twitter. >> we're in the smart phone zone with a look at google plus. holly? >> reporter: here's a question for you, when is a mule allowed on the mall? i'll tell you, when the mule is part of the smithsonian folklife festival. specifically a part of the columbia section, one of the three cultures they are celebrating this year. we'll tell you how you can be a part of the fun festivities, it's live next on fox five news. stay with us. [ mr. connally ] i was paying too much with cable. it was crazy! paying so much you want better quality. it was like you were trapped because that was the only system that was in our neighborhood -- was that cable. i was just getting too frustrated. [ male announcer ] stop paying for second best. now you can switch to verizon fios tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month for a year -- with no annual contract required. i always heard great things about fios, but the first time i saw the picture it was just like "wow." [ male announcer ] call now and we'll include over 60 premium channels, including showtime, starz, epix and more for 12 months. you just get so much more with fios. when i'm on the internet things download like -- shoo! just as quick as i'm snapping my fingers. it's just "bam." [ male announcer ] millions of families have switched to fios. now you can too for just $99.99 a month for a year and get over 60 premium channels for 12 months. i didn't realize how good fios was until i got it. when i got it it's just "wow." [ male announcer ] switch now and save. call 1-877-797-fios. that's 1-877-797-3467. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities that's 1-877-797-3467. at 1-800-974-6006 tty/v. [ mrs. connally ] you can't take my fios away. [ male announcer ] fios. a network ahead. verizon wireless getting rid of unlimited data plans for new customers. starting today they'll instead give new users two gigabytes of data each month, but will cost $30 and more if customers want to add additional usage. companies are raising prices because data usage is exploding. consumer groups worry. >> we think this could be harmful to consumers, especially as prices go up and consumers may not realize how much data they're using. >> two and a half years ago the hottest selling hand set in the united states was a flip phone. two and a half years we've gone from flip phones to smart phones and tablets, more or less zero applications to more than a million applications. >> the new plan will not affect current customers who already have unlimited data plans. they are saying it could be a facebook killer, even a twitter killer. talking about google plus. >> it's the latest project in the works, but will it catch on? let's head to lauren dimarco to find out. she joins us from the smart phone zone. >> do we really need another facebook? it's kind of exhausting to think about that. google buzz, that was a social media experience that never really took off. but we are in the ever changing world of technology and anything is possible. let's talk about google plus. it will combine much of the things we use day-to-day. think about all the features on face book, g chat or g talk, skype, super easy photo uploading and sharing, and news and articles personalized for you. it will be possible under this one account and of course, there's an app. you can access it all on the go. >> reporter: it's all about circles. you create circles of friends based on groups, like family or coworkers. along with all of the facebook like features, you can also start up live chat with the entire group. that's called a huddle. in fact, you need to learn new terminology if you plan to start up a google plus account. the ability to group video chat via web cam is called a hangout. and then there's sparks. that's the feature where you get videos and articles about stuff you're into sent directly to you. my favorite part, if you install the google plus app on your smart phone, you can opt to have every photo and video you take uploaded automatically to a secure album. will google plus unset facebook? well, it remains to be seen. >> remember, myspace? you can be sure facebook doesn't intend to join their ranks. facebook announced a new feature. you can use the network to make video calls thanks to a skype powered program. >> we think this is awesome, because we're using the best negligent for doing video chat, with the best social infrastructure in order to create really cool new scenarios. networking-- >> a bunch of people are already using google plus. they were invited to join as part of a field trial, and among them, mark zuckerberg. according to text crunch, the facebook ceo is the most followed user, so ouch, google. google plus has exceeded capacity, so if you were invited to be part of that field trial, if you waited to sign up, you are out of luck. but it won't be long before it's open to everyone. if you want to be among the first to know when it happens, head to myfoxdc.com and click on the mornings page, look for the smart phone zone and you'll find a link for this story. back to you. >> interesting we are seeing more and more of mark zuckerberg, right? >> yeah, yeah. >> coming out with his own stuff. all right. all right, the smithsonian folklife festival is the largest annual cultural event in washington, d.c. >> holly morris is there to learn more about this year's event. good morning. >> reporter: that's the beauty of this event each year, is it's always totally different and you can't help but learn something new about the world we live in by coming around here and down here and being part of the festival. it's interactive. they have three areas they focus on, can be a state, country, region, something like the peace corps, which we showed last hour, which is one of the areas they're celebrating this year. this hour we're focusing on columbia, and specifically they're calling it colombia the nature of culture. it's an area you'll want to spend a lot of time. if you're lucky, you'll run into this lady here, she's the curator and joins me. >> good morning to you. >> reporter: we are very excited to be here. what i love about this section of the festival this year is that it really, the culture derives so much from the environment of the country. so we learn a lot about that. >> and you can see how the space is built to provide that context. when you come to this program, you're going to take a journey through colombia. you'll go through the highlands, low lands, flood plains and to the plains and the amazon and rain forest. >> reporter: they said we'll take you through six different ecosystems. >> that's right. we're going through -- take the highlands where you'll meet participants today from the highlands and artists. then over to below sea level, the flood plains, the rain forest. i left behind coffee region. >> reporter: that's the one i want to find this early in the morning. >> we need that. >> reporter: what do you think people will learn most about the colombian culture when they walk away from this area? >> meet artists that you can learn about the occupations in columbia that are derived from the region. and the music always sings about the regions and can't leave behind the food. all different, yet some common thread, so you can say -- [speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: you've mentioned the artists and we're lucky because we have him here this morning, and he doesn't speak english, but elizabeth is going to translate. tell me what he's doing and what we can learn from him. >> can i ask him? >> reporter: absolutely. [speaking foreign language ] >> we have here, we're working with seed of the palm that is grown in south america. this is known as the natural ivory. >> reporter: he does intricate carvings. it's been going on generation from generation? [speaking foreign language ] >> okay. the country is very rich, it's along the pacific coast, and you'll find it in the carribean and it's from where he comes from. >> reporter: as we watch him work, you can see the finished products to the right. intricate carvings he does. he works at like 4:00 in the morning, 4:00 to 10:00, so when people come in the shop, he allows himself time to talk to them and explain and keep the tradition going. he's third generations and he's training the fourth and fifth generations this morning, he told us. you want to watch him work, myfoxdc.com is our web site. we have a link. it runs through this coming monday, july 11th. on the mall, between 7th and 14th streets from 11:00 to 5:30, and evening programming after 5:30. coming up, the third and final area they're celebrating this year has everything to do with rhythm and blues. we're going to do a little hand dancing this morning. back to you in the studio. >> thank you so much. can't wait for the next one. >> while you're on the mall, see a special exhibit at the air and space museum. >> it helps mark the end of an era for nasa. craig boswell gives us a sneak peek of the exhibit. >> reporter: it's a rare art exhibition called out of this world, a collection of works created under the nasa art program that's been touring since late 2008. it's displayed at the national air and space museum in washington, d.c. >> one of the neat ways to celebrate the 50th anniversary was to do an art show that traces the whole history of nasa. >> reporter: in 1962, nasa administrator james e. webb invited a group of artists to illustrate the agency's mission and projects. renowned artists have been documenting the adventure of space flight ever since. >> you really, really learn what the story of nasa is through the eyes of artists. >> reporter: faces and personalities of astronauts, scientists and engineers are are portrayed in the works. there's a bittersweet reality to this exhibition. no artists were commissioned for "endeavour"'s final launch due to budget cuts. >> sometimes we do get donations to the art program and we're excited to have them and we've had some major artists donate works as well. so we'll see what comes in the future. >> reporter: nasa art was originally scheduled to end its tour, but because it's so popular, the tour will continue on to new mexico, wisconsin and iowa. in washington, craig boswell, fox news. we have a lot to bring you, including a group of local high schoolers on their way to see the final space shuttle launch. we'll talk to them live. also, after 9:00, weird al. still around, and looking really slim, right? ha ha ha. he's making parodies, and now he is taking on lady gaga, taylor swift, t.i. and more. weird al will join us live with his own body. welcome back to fox five morning news. here's a look at some of the stories we're following. casey anthony, the mother found not guilty of killing her 2- year-old daughter is scheduled to be sentenced today on four counts of providing false information to law enforcement. will she go free this morning? we have a live rrt