our politics. >> reporter: on capitol hill, the last seats were filled in the so-called super committee, charged with slashing spending. one tea party member is declaring tax increases are off the table. >> credible reductions in the si size of the deficit. >> reporter: the super committee has until thanksgiving to agree on $1.5 trillion in cuts. and if they can't agree, there will be $1.2 trillion in automatic reductions. evenly divided between defense and discretionary spending, cuts neither side wants. president obama could call lawmakers back from their august vacation, but he thinks it's a better idea to let them stay at home where they can get an earful from angry voters. live on capitol hill, brian mooar, news4. jim and wendy, back to you. >> thanks, brian. the republican presidential field is getting bigger. texas governor rick perry is expected to formally announce his candidacy this weekend in south carolina. meanwhile, with two days before the iowa straw poll, the other gop contenders are gearing up for a big debate tonight. steve handelsman is live at iowa state university. steve? >> reporter: wendy, thanks. good evening. this preannouncement by perry is deductib definitely the biggest political news of the day, but it's not taking a lot of energy from all of the big doings out here in iowa, because perry is not here. he won't debate tonight, won't take part in the straw poll saturday. that's going to be here at iowa state university in ames. tonight, they'll debate here at iowa state university. but this whole thing kind of got rolling today, about a half hour south of here at the fair. day one of the iowa state fair in des moines. lots of stuff to eat and see. like the butter cow, life-size, made of butter. and fried butter. this is fried butter. here at the iowa state fair. and politicians. mitt romney in iowa today. his first visit back here since may. >> good to see you. thanks for being here today. >> reporter: romney has been focusing on fund-raising and on new hampshire. >> back in iowa, what's the iowa plan, sir? >> good to be here, thank you. work hard and win. >> reporter: it was hard today for the former massachusetts governor. >> hold on a second. hold on a second, i'll let you speak. >> reporter: hecklers gave romney a warmup for tonight's gop debate. >> ready for my answer? i'm not going to raise taxes. that's my answer. i'm not going to raise taxes. cheers and applause. >> and if you want somebody who can raise taxes, vote for barack obama. >> reporter: michele bachmann's breakthrough came at the last debate in june, polling number one in iowa. tim pawlenty who iowa analysts agree needs a breakthrough to survive saturday's iowa straw poll. and ron paul, who some calculate could win that vote. >> don't forget saturday. >> choices. >> reporter: back at the fair, iowans cast corn kernels, including rick perry, whose aide today finally confirmed will be announcing a run for the white house. and kerr nels for the declared candidates. the republican polling number one nationally is sure to be the major target of his rivals tonight. back live now, i've got the kerlnel count from our affiliate, w.h.o. michele bachmann got 20%. mitt romney 12%. but coming in third was not tim pawlenty, this was not ron paul, it was rick perry with 8%. he hasn't even campaigned here and he's not even officially a candidate. live from ames, iowa, i'm steve handelsman, news4. jim. >> this is going to get interesting. thanks, steve. looking at the economy now, foreclosures are down. that may not be all good news. according to a firm called realtytrac, foreclosure filings throughout the country fell 33% in july, compared to a year ago. it is the tenth straight month of declines. however, worries about the housing market are still in place. experts say the drop in foreclosure filings is because of delays in the filing process. not necessarily a sign that the housing market is recovering. a local congressman has been selected to join the other members of the new debt reduction super committee. chris van holland has been named to that panel, the ranking member of the house budget committee. the 12th member bipartisan group led by vice president bite biden has until thanksgiving to come up with a package that will cut $1.5 trillion from the budget. if congress does not approve whatever package they come up with, automatic and some say draconian budget cuts will be triggered. we're following some developing news in d.c. someone spotted a body floating in the river near haynes point. dc harbor patrol arrived at the scene an hour ago, retrieving the man's body. it was taken to the james creek marina. the man has not been identified. we do not know how he ended up in the water. investigators in aruba say that if a maryland woman had drowned where she was allegedly snorkeling, her body would have washed up by now. at the same time, the fbi is now assisting in the investigation into robyn gardner's disappearance in aruba. aaron gilchrist is following this story. what is the fbi bringing to this? >> today the fbi told me the bureau has been asked by aruban authorities to do several things, not to execute any searches at this point, but the fbi has done several interviews here in the states. today we caught up with robyn gardner's boyfriend right after he was questioned by agents. >> i want people to know that she is a loving, wonderful person. >> reporter: robert forrester holds out hope his physicimissi girlfriend will be found. on july 31st, she left thinking she was visiting family in florida, when in fact she had taken off with gary giordano whom she met on a dating website. >> how that came about i don't know. it's certainly an issue on my mind, but it's far from being anywhere important right now. >> reporter: he couldn't go into detail, but forester says thursday morning he spent an hour answering questions from the fbi. >> i don't know the reason for the questioning. i mean, it was just a lot of questions about her, about me, about our relationship. things like that. >> reporter: aruban police are trying to piece together what may have happened to her. her travel partners, gary gore dano and she went snorkeling and she never came back to shore. >> snorkeling at 6:00 at night, probably the ideal time. she is more of a sit by the pool, have a drink. >> reporter: aruban authorities have expressed doubt, too, saying if gardener had drowned, her body would have washed up by now. they arrested gary giordano saying his story has too many inconsistencie inconsistencies. at the same time, it appears giordano has skeletons in his closet. >> he is alleged to have had a history of violence with past girlfriends. the authorities have to look at that, as well as look at any evidence that's going to suggest they left a hotel together or he left by himself. >> reporter: forester tries to stay positive as the search for answers continues. gardener's mother released a statement that reads in part, she means the world to us. we are hoping for the very best outcome with the help of the international community. >> i try to be strong and positive, and, you know, and say a prayer every day for her. >> right now, gary gore dano is considered a murder suspect according to his lawyer. investigators have to decide by next week whether they're going to charge him with something if they have evidence that says gary giordano had something to do with gardener's disappearance. wendy, at this point his attorney says his client is innocent and he does not consider him a suspect. >> i know the family wants resolution. >> the mother is waiting exactly to find out what happened to her daughter. >> aaron gilchrist. thanks, aaron. there was an explosion at an apartment building in sterling, virginia today. it happened about 8:00 this morning at the fields cascade apartment complex in the 46,000 block of englishel mar terrace. a gas leak ignited an explosion and a small fire. no injuries reported, but several residents were forced to leave their homes. damage to that building assistanted at $300,000. still ahead, the british police weren't the only ones busy tracking down the people behind some of the violent riots across the u.k. a swamp fire that started in virginia is now spreading across state lines. a credit card scam that started in maryland wept global, and a pair of customers help put one guy behind bars. a guy got some video of a deer in a backyard in virginia. it's now sparked an official investigation. and what's going on with our weather? rain on the way? >> it's beautiful out there right now. temperatures around 87 degrees. but yes, wendy, rain is on the way. and it's going to affect your weekend. i'll break it down for you and show you how coming up in my full forecast. dan. >> coming up in sports, fred davis gets his shot in the very first preseason game. tiger woods has an up and very down day at the pga championship. and a scary day for the nationals in chicago as michael morse has to leave the game. news4 at 6:00 continues. what if it snowed chocolate? what if sweet mocha fell from the sky? or imagine catching icy caramel flakes as they drift down -- melting just as they touch your tongue or sliding down mounds of whipped cream right into a pile of rich chocolaty goodness. [ male announcer ] send your taste buds a sweet shiver with mcdonald's mccafé frappe. a creamy blend of ice, coffee and mha. or caramel. mmm. sweet. ♪ ba da ba ba ba british citizens are helping police catch those responsible for the days of violent riots. angry citizens across england are looking over the security footage of the looters to see if it they recognize anyone. more than 1,200 people have already been arrested. as martin fletcher reports, prime minister david cameron is now looking to the united states for help. >> security in there. >> reporter: the rioting is pretty much over, and now it's time of reckoning. police are operating all over the capital, argue suspects identified as looting, stealing, attacking police. prime minister david cameron said the police will find and punish the guilty. he'll ask america for help, that britain can benefit from america's experience fighting gangs. >> i want us to use the record of success from cities like boston in the usa and from the police in scotland who have done this by engaging the police, the voluntary sector and local government. and i want this to be a national priority. >> reporter: security camera pictures are being circulated with the public being asked to identify hooligans. they're also using new facial recognition technology, feeding suspects' faces through an updated face-matching program. the prime minister also criticized the police. he said that when the rioting broke out, there were too few police on the streets and that the tactics were wrong. he also said they're facing a new and unique challenge, so they'll get new powers. they may be able to take marks off masked men who are trying to hide their identity. there could be a clampdown on social media and use of blackberrie blackberries. many of the movements of the riot coordinated by blackberry messenger. and the father of a boy killed yesterday appealed for calm and called on parents, saying if you value your children, keep them at home. now back to you. a massive fire in a swamp in southern virginia has now spread to north carolina. the fire was sparked by lightning strike in the suffolk area about a week ago. it has since consumed nearly 6,000 acres of the great dismal swamp. dry conditions and winds fanned the flames today past the north carolina border. the national wildlife refuge says it has become the swamp's biggest fire in recent memories. firefighters from across the country are trying to get that fire under control now. a hot summer and an unusually warm winter has revealed traces of the past in norway. recently archaeologists there discovered shoes, hunting equipment and textiles that the experts think are artifacts, frozen inside a glacier for more than 1,000 years. so far, 70 different objects have been discovered and most are extremely well preserved. >> look at that. . >> isn't that something? >> cool. >> amazing. >> wow. 1,000 years. >> yeah. >> i could look at that stuff all day long. that is aamazing. >> it is. so it's amazing we're not roasting. >> we're not roasting. that is correct. but we are still above average. i mean, you know, we continue on this streak and what a streak this has been. 26 days in a row now with our temperatures above the average. what is average today? well, our average high temperature is 87. we have reached 89. so we were still close to 90 once again. but it sure felt a whole lot better as our humidity is pretty much gone. so there it is, above average now for 26 straight days. i think we will break that streak tomorrow. as temperatures will be cooler, especially during the overnight hours. 87 degrees out there right now, humidity only 29%. so really just a gorgeous evening to get out and about. really no matter what you're doing outside. 8 right now in frederick, 84 in leesburg. 81 in hagerstown. 86 in culpeper, and putuxan river at 83 degrees. you know we're not seeing anything on the radar. and actually not much in the way of clouds. we saw fair weather cumulus today from richmond to philadelphia, back towards pittsburgh and up towards columbus, ohio. that is about it. because high pressure just continues to dominate and that's going to be the story right through the day tomorrow. high pressure bringing us that fantastic weather with abundant sunshine. another great day tomorrow. but then the high will start to shift off to the east. as it does, that will allow for an area of low pressure to move out of the plains, plenty of moisture to come out of the gulf of mexico, and we have a pretty good chance of rain. on saturday, i think most of the day is going to remain dry. especially around the i-95 corridor. but if you're back into western portions of virginia, maybe west virginia or western maryland, you do have a pretty good chance of seeing some rain, probably by the afternoon. the rest of us, it's going to take its time getting here. and i think by saturday night, that's when the rain will really start to pick up. and on sunday, it may pretty much be a washout. right now i think just about everybody has a chance of at least seeing some rain. most of us have a chance of seeing some good rain. and some much-needed rain. some areas could pick up to 2 inches. best chance for higher amounts towards the washington and baltimore area and northern portions of the chesapeake bay. we're going to continue to watch this scenario play out. we need the rain, good thing. clear skies, a great evening. sunset tonight, 8:08. winds out of the north at 10 to 15 miles per hour. tomorrow morning, waking up to some fairly cool temperatures. especially when you consider where we have been. 54 in some of the cooler spushs suburbs so you may walk outside and think, hey, i need the jacket. things will warm up very, very quickly tomorrow. inside the beltway, temperatures around 66 degrees. as we move through the day tomorrow, quickly moving back into the 80s. 83 to 87 degrees. another beauty. and really just about perfect for this time of year in august. one area that i'm not expecting it to be perfect, down towards the beaches. 78 degree ocean temperature. that is quite nice. not bad when you get in off the waters of ocean city, maybe down towards lewis, delaware towards rehoboth beach. saturday, i think at the beaches is going to be fine. sunday is the day we'll see the rain. and not just the rain and some heavy rain, but also the potential for some wind. winds gusting upwards of 10, 20, maybe even 30 miles per hour. so the rain is coming on sunday, as we have been talking about, for the last couple he of days. so once again, not a washout on saturday. saturday looking okay. so don't cancel plans saturday. monday, still a chance for seeing rain. temperatures around 84 degrees. and then look at next week. still looking nice. with temperatures into the mid 80s. one thing you do not see there is temperatures into the 90s. one thing you will see here, tomorrow, on friday, is our backyard weather. we'll be live in somebody's backyard tomorrow. if you would like to us come to your backyard, e-mail us, weather@nbc washington calm. we're looking forward to some fun and i've got to be honest, i'm hungry already. >> had you way too much fun last week. >> and too much food. >> nine courses. >> and i did not bring you -- i brought jim the food, but they wanted you to have that food too so they brought a vegetarian doggy bag for you. >> that's really nice. >> the jones family. >> bring me the meat. coming up tonight, facebook shutting down some accounts. we'll tell you why. the difficult task of paying tribute to the american service members killed in afghanistan has begun. one just getting ready to marry there will be a memorial service this weekend for a sailor from philadelphia who was killed in the helicopter crash in afghanistan last week. petty officer first class michael strange was 25 years old. he was a communications specialist. he and 29 other americans were killed when their helicopter was shot down during a mission last saturday. strange's god mother lives in northern virginia. she says he was always at the top of his class, and that he grew up in a rough neighborhood in philadelphia, but he always did the right thing. >> this little boy, this man, that you watch grow is not going to grow anymore. he's gone. a hero, but you can't tell his mom that, because she doesn't want to hear that. she wants him home, you know? and i don't blame her. >> petty officer michael strange's mother is a philadelphia police officer. his grandfather and his great grandfather also served on the police force. this was his third deployment to afghanistan. he was home in june to celebrate his 25th birthday with his family. he told them at that time he would be back for thanksgiving. it was a big day in bethesda. the new wounded warrior barracks and the warrior support complex officially opened its doors at the national naval medical center. that complex was completed -- was created as part of the '05 base closure and re alignment. this move includes the transition of patients and staff from dc's walter reed medical center to that facility in maryland. army officials say the state of the art facility will give our wounded warriors the higher level of care they deserve. two marines were rescued this morning from the pacific ocean after their plane crashed off the coast of san diego. the coast guard found the marines about 35 miles off shore, flown to a local hospital, both listed in fair condition. they were on board an fa-18 hornet y flying with another plane. the wreckage has not been found. in missouri, there is a desperate search under way for a 3-year-old child who was turned up missing last weekend. her name is breeann rodriguez. she disappeared on saturday while she was riding her bicycle in front of her house. today search crews combed over a wooded area about a mile away from that house. they say they found two items of interest, and dogs, they say, picked up a scent. neighbors there continue to hold vigils every night, hoping and praying for bree ann's safe return. a new phone app provided by the fbi to help find missing children. it provides the child's name, physical description, phone numbers, a photograph and other key information. if that child is lost, the information can be forwarded quickly to law enforcement. right now, the app is available only on iphones. the fbi says it will expand to other cell phones soon. still ahead, virginia officials, they want to know how a deer got something that looks like a dog collar around his neck. customers of a local tgi friday's may