week. they'll be responding for finding more than a trillion dollars in deficit cuts this fall. thousands of police officers filled the streets of london again last night in an effort to stop the days of rioting there. the city was a little bit calmer but violence did spread to manchester in northwest england. riders there set buildings on fire and ransacked stores. pakistani intelligence officials say a u.s. military drone plane fired two missiles at a home near the afghan border. close to 20 militants are believed to have been killed in the attack. the strike took place before dawn wednesday. the remains of 30 u.s. troops killed in afghanistan are now back on american soil. president obama paid his respects to the men during a private visit at dover air force base in delaware. the president then met privately with about 250 family members and fellow troops. the 30 men died saturday when a rocket-propelled grenade hit their chinook helicopter. they were racing to help a group of army rangers at the time. the crash was so destructive, military doctors now have to officially identify the remains before they can be given to their loved ones. seven afghan soldiers and an afghan translator died in the crash. police believe the raid, a series of them in d.c., in maryland, may have helped break up an established drug ring. as gary failurenberg reports, the defendants range in age from 21 to 68. >> the investigation into d.c.'s shaw neighborhood took years, was centered at 7th and o near the youth friendly kennedy recreation center, 17 defendants from d.c. and maryland. >> that's pretty large. in d.c., we normally see smaller crews. this was a large organization. >> ronald is the u.s. attorney. >> with today's operation, it was a blow. i think we struck against significant enterprise. >> a neighborhood walker. >> that's good news. >> reporter: d.c. police made no one available to talk about the story. the chief's press release "because of our continued focus in the shaw community, we've seen a dramatic reduction in violent crime." but this crew wasn't restricted to chaw. >> two charged the defendant for distributing drugs within 100 yards of a high school. >> colorful nicknames for the defendants. peewee, ma, short dog, smoke, many in their 40s, 50s, one guy 68. >> that's good. >> we hope that individuals will not pick up the mantle where these guys have left off. >> reporter: gary nurenberg, 9news now. >> police seized $600,000 in cash, drugs, cars and guns. investigators are trying to piece together the last moments before robyn gardner went missing in aruba. she's been missing for a week. gary giordano is being held on suspicion of murder. so far, he's not been charged. he claims gardner disappeared while the pair were snorkeling. the d.c. police officer who authorized a police escort for charlie sheen has been demoted. hilton burton had been a commander in charge of the department's prestigious special operations division. well, now, he's a captain assigned to the medical division. burton tells us the demotion is an act of retaliation and he wants whistle-blower protection. >> classic whistle-blower case. i spoke about it. >> the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. >> back in june, burton testified about the use of police escorts for celebrities visiting town. he said they were routine. police chief cathy lanier said they were not. burton's demotion had nothing to do with his testimony before the council. the d.c. police union is speaking about chief lanier's all hands on deck practice. they call it expensive and a public relations stunt. the fraternal order of police calls it a violation of their collective bargaining agreement. chief lanier says a ruling from public employee relations board which upheld a decision saying she broke union rules does not apply to other all hands on deck events. she said she even issued one for this weekend. during ahod weekend, officers are required to work an eight hour patrol shift every day. turbulence on board a flight from miami to reagan national led to an emergency landing in charleston, south carolina. >> the incident sent about half a dozen people to the hospital. as matt jablow tells us, the plane's passengers including a group of students from chevy chase high school were on a summer trip together. >> reporter: american airlines flight 734 left miami around 4:00 on its way to reagan national but just a few minutes into the flight, as the plane was passing above the georgia/florida border, it encountered what the airline is calling severe turbulence leading to what passengers are calling an extremely frightening experience. >> we hit a bunch of turbulence. all of our stuff came from under the seats, flew up in the air. came back down. everybody started screaming. some of the passengers that weren't in their seats hit the roof of the plane. i think people normally expect there's going to be some sort of turbulence, just not as bad as we experienced. >> he said that the plane dropped and then really dropped again. kind of caught itself and then really dropped again. he didn't say that there was turbulence. he said they hit this air pocket and the plane dropped out of the sky. >> amanda sheehan's 17-year-old son was one of the 152 passengers on board. she spoke to him when the plane made an unscheduled stop in charleston, south carolina where three passengers and two flight attends were taken to the hospital with various injuries. >> while the plane was dropping, you know, everything was quiet but then there was -- people were scairnd they were scurrying and bags fell. then he said the pilot came on and made everybody feel better and everybody kind of laugh and clapped afterwards. >> reporter: right around 9:00, the passengers were not injured, provided a replacement plane provided by american and headed to washington. they arrived about an hour later, happy to report the second leg of their trip to washington was significantly less eventful than the first. >> this last flight from charleston, it was good. the flight from miami until we got to charleston, we hit some pretty serious turbulence. >> a lot of people on the plane were panicking and yelling which kind of made it nerve- racking. >> matt jablow, 9news now. none of the passengers were seriously injured. the plane which carried the passengers through the turbulence is still in charleston, south carolina now. it is now being checked for any damage. >> our time is 4:37. at 4:41, a credit ratings bureau tells the free state it has nothing to fear. >> 4:49, back to school means back to school shopping. we'll break down the sales and the deals before you head out to the area stores. >> we're back with your weather first in two minutes. no, but there's a charming farmhouse. right next to my posh castle! i'm sensing a theme here. well, i am the queen, dear sister. get your annual ikea catalog today. looking pretty good out there. lone shower out in the mountains between romney and winchester. we're looking at shine today. it will be breezy and hot. 88 by noon. lower 90s this afternoon. but the key today, lower humidity levels are moving in and they're going to be here for a few more days. talk about your weekend next time i see you. right now, angie is in with this morning's timesaver traffic. >> happy wednesday, everybody. we're taking a live look at 95 in virginia making that northbound trip still looking at about a 50 to 55 minute commute out of fredericksburg up to the springfield interchange. a look at traffic around the region at 4:48. over to you. thank you, angie. >> it is time for the first "your money" report of the morning. >> jessica doyle is here. arms up. here comes the first hill. >> it's much better though. compared to yesterday. hey. we've got smiles on our faces. >> wall street hoping to fill yesterday's rally. hong kong's hang seng rose 3%. europe's trading higher, too. the big jump on wall street yesterday of course followed the pledge from the federal reserve to keep interest rates at record lows to the middle of 2013. checking the numbers with a smile on our face, the dow stands at 11,239 this morning. gained 430 points just about yesterday. that's a gain of about 4%. its best day in more than two years. the nasdaq finished nearly 125 points higher. that's a gain of 5.3%. the s&p 500 added 53 points, a gain of nearly 5%. even with the big gains yesterday, investors are still on edge about the weak economy and the federal reserve says the economic recovery is taking longer than expected. it signaled plans to keep interest rates low and economists are still warning there is a risk to the economy that it could fall back into a recession. >> apple now neck and neck with exxon mobil as the most valuable company in the u.s. on tuesday, its value briefly surpassed exxon before falling back down to number two. the two are so close, apple could re-claim the top spot today. we'll keep an eye on that. in maryland, the state's treasurer says standard & poors will not downgrade the state's top aaa credit rating. "the washington examiner" reports analysts at s&p told the treasurier's office, the agency won't take any action regarding the credit rating. it was in doubt since the agency downgraded the rating. moody's investors service had warned it may lower the credit rating of five states highly dependent including maryland and virginia. if it downgrades the u.s. government ratings but maybe possibly in the clear at this point because we haven't heard from moodies at any time soon they're planning on downgrading. >> nice to hear good news. >> right! >> take a little break after the last couple of days. >> thanks, jess. well, the blue crab population doing pretty well. >> music not only calms the savage beast but it may also help ease anxiety in cancer patients. time now for the united airlines travel forecast. we're looking at 74 degrees at dulles. clear skies and a southwest wind at 6. waiting for the second cold front to come through. visibility at 10 miles. looking pretty nice across much of the country except for parts of the south where the heat and humidity are there but columbus, 79. detroit 79. chicago, sunny. a gorgeous 76 degrees. even out west, denver, 82 and sunny. a little bit hot. that's pretty typical of vegas and phoenix at 106. we're looking at 71 san francisco and sunny and 72 in seattle. howard bernstein is here and a change is already in the wind. we can feel it out there. >> it's gotten drier but there's even drier air moving in. so, yeah. >> we've been waiting. >> you're going to love it the next couple of days. no excuses not to get outside. take that walk. do that run or just sit and read a book on the back porch. whatever you want to do. mother nature is going to deliver here over the next couple of days. >> we're looking at -- we're looking at live doppler 9000 hd here. gotta make sure i'm in the right show. we've got a shower for you as it is coming across the region. temperatures today going to be climbing up into the lower 90s for a high. it will be breezy with winds out of the west-northwest at 10 to 15. back up a little bit here. make sure i got my own bearings on this wednesday morning. yes, i believe i do. there's that shower coming toward 5:22 here. this is up toward cross junction. this thing is diminishing as it moves into frederick county, west virginia -- out of west virginia. so, we'll probably say good-bye to that shortly. we're in the low 70s in winchester. upper 70s in washington. 72 from bill in newland. 72 in -- 74 excuse me in bowie and about a 70 in prince frederick. we're at 78. winds are northwesterly at national. southwesterly at dulles. but there is a secondary boundary coming through and we'll see the barometer which is 29.64 start to rise a little bit later today as high pressure builds in. look at that dew point, it is in the low 60s now. it is dropping into the 50s over the next couple of days thanks to a big area of high pressure up toward smeend wisconsin that's moving in. in between the nice, cool air on the hot stuff to the south, big, big thunderstorms which have been pounding parts of the central and southern plains. had friends in tulsa telling me the power has been knocked out. a lot of areas with wind damage down there. this is what we were looking at. this little area of showers coming through west virginia and western maryland and just falling apart as it moves toward the winchester area. the future cast today, southwesterly winds ahead of this front which is coming through, the second front which is coming through. and we will have some much nicer air to move in. as we have this air mass coming down from canada and the northern plains with the dry air in place. it will feel fantastic. the high temperatures today still on the warm side. we'll have winds out of the west-northwest at 10 to 20 miles per hour with highs here at 93. upper 80s from martinsburg and winchester. oakland, 74 degrees. still lower 90s down south. not as humid. tonight we're dipping down to the 60s. cumberland points west into west virginia although pax river may hold ton 71 along with annapolis at 72. tomorrow, feeling pretty good here and this may be overshooting the mark by the computer at 87. i'm going 86. 48 for gaithersburg. 82 in martinsburg and hagerstown. it will be some kind of nice around here tomorrow and friday. next three days, today, 93. breezy. tomorrow, 86. a nice, nice day tomorrow. as we head toward friday, also going to be nice. maybe a couple more clouds late in the day. 86 but friday morning, 60s, even some 50s north and west. as we go toward the weekend, we can't hold on to it. saturday afternoon, a couple of showers and storms with an even better chance for showers and storms on sunday. temperatures are staying down in the 80s. nice again monday and tuesday with highs back in the low to mid-80s. finally, angie, a nice break from the heat. >> we knew it was going to come. thank you, howard. >> hello, everybody. hope you're having a wonderful wednesday. right now, the roadway is looking nice as far as incidents and accidents are concerned. green light stays on. construction, we continue to track it. bladensburg headed eastbound at 450. eastbound 450 out in the bladensburg area, eastbound 50 at 46th street, all lanes currently blocked until the start of the 5:00 hour. capitol heights, 214 out near this area. it looks like by addison road, only the left labor of traffic is able to get by. in silver spring, we have another work zone, southbound new hampshire avenue at elton road. this is blocking the right lane and 270, happy to report no construction early this morning as drivers make their way from 80 past 121 all the way down to the split and some better news out of virginia looks like the crews worked really hard this morning, were able to clear both loops of the beltway from 395 up to 66 and beyond. you got your lanes wide open early on. still ahead, a look at 267, the dulles toll road. i'll have that coming up at 4:56. over to you. the first day of school is right around the corner. that means many of you are doing some back to school shopping. >> for back to school shoppers looking for the great deals, the state of maryland starts its sales tax holiday on august 14th. retailers are touting blockbuster discounts all in an effort to get consumers into the stores. >> reporter: the hunt for back to school bargains is and parents of kids in grades k-12 plan to spend $600 on clothes, school supplies. the price tag for college students, closer to $800 but shoppers beware! those back to school essentials will likely cost you 5% to 15% more this year. >> commodity costs of cotton have gone up. transportation costs went up because of fuel costs as well as labor costs in china and other countries went up dramatically last year. retailers, to make money, are going to need to maintain their margins are going to need to pass some of the price increases along to consumers. >> while you'll find special promotions at your favorite stores, don't expect to see deep last-minute discounts. retailers kept a lean inventory to avoid the big sales. stores won't be offering major price cuts on laptops or smart phones either. they know you will buy these items even if they're not on sale. >> very often, we've seen they're making those purchases at the expense of some others and they're making trade-offs their budgets to be able to afford the higher ticket items. >> many apps alert retailers. >> you may get, because they recognize you very specifically, deals that are configured especially for you. >> the deals are based on past purchases made the last time you shopped in the store or online. it is a great way to save and can help you stick to your budget. lesli foster, 9news now. here's another reason to do some comparison shopping. check this out. a box of 16 count crayons at four different retailers, you'll come up with four different prices. for example, we paid $2.57 at a cvs but you can buy it on the cvs web site for $1.99 crayolia sells them for $199 as well. staples, same box, $1.79. however, the best price, office depot, same box of crayons, $1.59. >> a new report confirms the blue crab population is making a very nice comeback in the chesapeake. researchers credit a decision made by regional agencies in 2008 to reduce the harvest of female crabs by 1/3. in previous years, a decline of blue crabs was blamed on overfishing. >> a simple blood test is proving to be very effective when it comes to determining the sex of unborn babies. a new study published in the journal of american medical association says the test done seven weeks into pregnancy are more than 95% accurate. doctors say the test is important because it not only finds out the sex of the baby, it can also detect gender- linked disorders. amniocentesis is still the standard for determining the sex but there is a risk of a miscarriage. sonograms determine the sex but only after 11 weeks and they're not always reliable. more research shows that exercise can protect the aging brain. researchers at university of colorado studied older rats and found a bacterial infection in some of the rats who ran after a short period of time. they performed better on memory tests. studies showed the older people are more susceptible to memory loss after severe bacterial infections. music could be the best prescription to reducing anxiety in cancer patients. researchers in philadelphiaableized -- philadelphia, analyzed patients. the music not only reduced anxiety but in some cases improved heart and respiratory and blood pressure rates. more studies are needed to confirm the findings. before we take a break, it is time to take a look at the question of the morning. >> this morning's question, the average woman has more than 200 of these. what are they? facebook friends. saved numbers in her phone. or c, cosmetic products. i bet i know the answer to this one. what do you think? we'll give you the answer in a little while. úcú;ckca/ [ male announcer ] big news for allergy sufferers. prescription strength allegra is now available without a prescription. same exact medicine, same full prescription strength. allegra. now without a prescription. >> pretty nice around here. temperatures are down in the 70s. other than a passing cloud or two, a great day ahead. 80 degrees by noon. 70s -- 70s in the shenandoah valley. we head toward noon, little breezy today. we're in the 80s, even upper 80s for lunch. this afternoon, we'll make it into the lower 90s. showers up in pennsylvania. we head home with a temperature about 90 here. 85 in leesburg as the drier air continues to move in. angie? >> all right, we're taking a look at 267, dulles toll road in virginia. right now, no construction to report as we get geared up for the 5:00 hour. taking a look past the airport here, find the lanes wide open all the way to the toll plaza. still ahead, we have more traffic that matters to you early coming up at 5:01. over to you. >> ashton kutcher still trying to keep fans guessing about two and a half men. >> hollywood is planning a do- over of dirty dancing. joel brown has a look that the morning's entertainment. >> reporter: he's the new man on two and a half men but ashton kutcher is alone on the new cover of details magazine. in the article, kutcher is still playing coy about his new role describing his character as something between an alien and jesus christ. producers announced last week kutcher will play a billionaire internet entrepreneur. ♪ this could be love >> the '80s hit dirty dancing is going to take the leap into the 21st century. patrick swayze and jennifer grey were in the original. now the man behind the high school musical films is planning a remake. >> a beverly hills auction house is getting ready to sell some of tony curtis' prized possessions. among the items on the block, artwork by andy warhol and pablo picasso. of some curtis' paintings and collectibles including the sailor's jacket kurt his on when he kissed marilyn monroe in some like it hot. he was 85 when he passed away last year. >> you sure you want to do this? >> katie holmes and guy pearce are hoping to scare up audiences for their film, don't be afraid of the dark. holmes and pierce move into a home that comes complete with voices howling from the basement. >> i read this script and i was terrified reading it. i'm such a fan of guillermo so it is when and where, what time do i have to be there. >> it will light up august -- it will light up screens august 29th. thank you for watching 9news now at 5:00 a.m. i'm andrea roane. >> i'm mike hydeck. angie goff will have traffic in a moment. mr. howard bernstein, it feels great. >> feeling really fine today. better, even better tomorrow and friday. unfortunately, it looks like the weekend is not going to hold