right now at midday -- >> vet the people vote. >> get ready for what is expected to be the biggest hearing in d.c. council history as people battle it out over gay marriage. and monday night madness, as redskins fans give up on their team. and eagles fans will flock to washington in an effort to dominate fedex field. and then we'll show aman and his best friend reunited once again. "news4 midday" starts right now. good morng to you, and welcome to news4 midday, i am joe krebs. >> and i am barbara harrison. we begin with a breaking story right now from afghanistan. 14 americans are dead after a pair of helicopter crashes. seven soldiers and three civilians were killed when their helicopter went down, and two helicopters went down in afghanistan. this tragedy comes on the same day president obama will meet with his security team to discuss the strategy in afghanistan. it will be his effort to discuss the war in the situation room. aides say it doesn't mean he will make a decision of whether or not to send more troops to that country. and then in iraq the death toll keeps rising with the deadliest bombing in two years. more than 150 people are said to be dead and 30 are children. this morning funerals were held in baghdad with massive security. the twin car bombs tore through the heart of downtown baghdad and happened yards from the fortified green zone. and government employees are among the dead. in just a few hours the d.c. council could witness the biggest public hearing in its history. hundreds of people signed up to testify for and against gay marriage in the district. and megan mcgrath is outside the building right now where the hearing will take place today. good morning, megan. >> reporter: good morning, joe. more than 260 people have signed up to testify in the hearing, so many people they will actually have to break it up in two parts. 100 or so folks will speak today and then the rest will wait until the second part of the issue on november 2nd. >> the d.c. council already passed a bill recognizing gay marriages performed in other states, but new legislation would go a step further, louing gay couples to tie the not in our nation's capital. more than 260 people have signed up to speak. but the issue is not without controversy. this weekend opponents of gay marriage, many clergy members protested in freedom plaza. they want the issue put on the ballot, so d.c. voters can decide for themselves. >> for only a council to decide such a major issue will negatively affect every one here. on the streets of washington opinions of same-sex marriage are mixed. >> i think it's ridiculous that we are discriminating against gays and lesbians, and it ought to stop. >> i don't think it should be passed for gay marriages to be approved. >> why not? >> i am a christian and i think it goes against biblical values. there is also a move to force the issue to a referendum, a group argued before the d.c. board of elections this morning trying to get the issue placed on the ballot. and that is not expected to go far. and there was a similar request shot down when there was a law that called for the recognition of same-sex marriages that were performed in other states. this hearing today on the law, the public hearing will get under way at 3:30 this afternoon. this will go on well into the evening and in fact into a second day, and that second part of the hearing to take place on november 2nd. today you can get a chance to check out the progress of d.c.'s new streetcar align in anacostia. ddot is holding open houses all week long. it begins at 7:00 p.m. and runs until 8:30. if you cannot make it tonight, ddot will hold other open houses through this week and next. if you live in the suburb, county leaders are holding a hearing on several changes to the master plan, and among some of the options, extend the yellow line over the auxin hill, d extending the green line. it's set to start at 7:00 p.m. they hope to have a plan approved by the end of next month. now to the swine flu and your fight to get your hands on the vaccine. kathleen sebelius says there is enough of the vaccine to go around. she said it's unfortunate the supplies are not where the officials planned for them to be at this time. she said approximately 1,000 people in the united states have died, and they are getting the vaccine out there as quickly as we can. >> as of today we will have a total of 16.5 million doses pushed out. the vaccine is coming out the door as fast as it comes off the production line. >> the republican senator of kentucky said yesterday congress would be happy to provide additional support and money if it needs to. pregnant woman and children between the ages of 6 months to 3 years old can get their flu vaccines at the fairfax county health department district offices. they are given out on a first come first serve basis. they are given out on cameron glenn drive. and the joseph willard family center in fairfax city. and then there is a clinic open to the public, between 3:00 this afternoon and 7:00 this evening. that will be at the manassas mall. keep in mind this clinic will provide the nasal spray vaccine. the mist is only recommended for healthy people between the ages of 2 and 49. for just one week and one day away from the governor's election in virginia, and this week's candidates will be turning attention to senior citizens. today president obama will try to drum up support for deeds this week when he stumps for votes in roanoke. let's take a look outside. beautiful out there on the chilly side. feels like fall today, and just beautiful with the leaves. tom is here to tell us what we can expect the rest of the day. >> yeah, the air filled with wood smoke and dry leaves and pumpkin pie, maybe, for lunch. we have the autumn weather in place, and it has been here over the last couple weeks. it seems it's cooler than average. as a result, we have our leaves turning early. and look at the view from the sky watcher camera. the leaves are a peak color here in northwest washington. this is six or seven days earlier than average when we get the peak color. in the blue ridge, they were in the 30s this morning. in the upper 50s in southern maryland. and eastern shore in the upper 50s and 40s, and upper mountains it's in the upper 20s predawn. it warmed up 20 degrees over the last several hours. and space, showing the high clouds drifting in from the west all coming from the developing area of low pressure off the carolina coast. and that is spreading rain as far north as the outer banks. that will drift our way today as well as another area of low pressure coming in by wednesday. it looks like we will have a damp period coming in tomorrow later in the day and into wednesday. temperatures are climbing into the low 60s for highs by midafternoon. we will look at a full forecast coming up in a few minutes. stay tuned. >> we will. tom, thank you. let's go to jerry edwards and the news4 traffic network. >> we will take a live look downtown. far left side of the screen, you see the construction cones. that's the westbound freeway or southbound 395, if you will. construction is back where the ft lane is taken away again today. not a big backup, but as the day progresses things could slow down a bit. and vdot cameras, we see a little work coming down route 1 and these folks are having a decent route to the capital beltway. the redskins are taking on the eagles at fedex field on a monday night match-up. and on metr during the rush hour, and this morning there is speculation that when it comes to fans, the green and could drown out green and gold. eagles fans are buying the tickets up. >> not having a great season, but i have a funny feeling tonight they will upset them. >> i think there is going to be a lot of skins' fans and i hope they win, and things are not looking good and i am disappointed right now. >> the fans are disappointed. personally for me it starts out with management. vinny has to go. >> it will be the first play the skins play with lewis calling the plays. the team stripped jim zorn of those duties after the lost to the winless chiefs. kickoff is at 8:30 tonight. and for those of you using metro, an important note for you, the morgan boulevard metro station will stay open an extra hour. the last blue line train leaving the station will be at 12:27, unless the game goes into over time. we are just getting started here on news4 midday. >> an important travel alert as construction gets under way on an important thoroughfare. what you need to know. what happened that left four little girls without their mom and dad. reunited in maryland, stolen from a gasoline station, how ely the dog finally found her way home. they were out picking up dinner with another car lost control and slammed into them. the sister remembers them as loving parents. >> s was a fantastic sister. and i have to say the most important thi is they were just amazingly dedicated to their kids. >> three of the couples' four children were in the car, but were not seriously hurt. and the couple's 9-year-old daughter was staying with a friend and was not in the suv. the deadly crash is still under investigation. a happy ending for the sauga of a man whose car was stolen with his beloved dog inside. and here the maryland student made a plea for the return he wanted the thief that stole the car to at least return his 8-month-old ely, and the story does end well. chris gordon has details. >> reporter: ben's reunion with his dog ends after two and a half days of desperation. >> two and a half days went by, and people were sending e-mails, and they were keeping her in their prayers, and i had a peace that she would come back and be okay. >> reporter: despite the rain ben and ely returned to a dog park in annapolis with a friend. it was when he left the key in the ignition and went in to buy a drink and jumped in to the jeep and drove away. ben went on tv and radio saying he did not care about the stolen car or cell phone, he only wanted ely returned safe and sound. finally, saturday morning he got word. ely was found in her crate left in a mcdonald's restaurant. but then animal control provided a bath and new bandana, and she is just fine. dog owners that heard the story are relieved. >> i am grateful that the person that took the vehicle, you know, they must not be all bad, you know, to return an animal unharmed. >> ben will return to iraq next spring, and he and aely will spend time together until he leaves. >> every time somebody mentioned deployment or the dog, i tear up. two and a half days was hard enough, and now having to do that for a whole year, i hope my mom loves on her a lot while she is at her house. >> reporter: this is chris gordon, news4. >> ben said he never lost faith that who ever stole his car would somehow find a way to return ely. thank goodness he did that. >> or she. >> yeah, right. we don't know who stole the car. tom is here and it's a gorgeous day out there. >> perfect weather for the marine corps marathon. it was around 50 degrees at dawn yesterday with bright sshine after the rainy saturday. we really added to our october totals. let's take a look at the sky. a live picture from the sky watcher camera. high cloudiness passing over virginia, and come into the district of columbia and maryland, coming out of the southwest. and you can see the autumn color in the trees there in the foreground is at peak color at or near washington. and then the capitol hill is in the disstruns, we don't have as much color here but will peak color around the metro area in our or five days. right now 55 in washington where the october rainfall is 3.5 inches thanks to the rains that we got on saturday. friday night and saturday. that was about 1/10 of an inch above average. let's take a look at the temperatures now. it's in the 50s from the shenandoah valley all the way to the beaches. warmer in maryland. alexandria, and arlington, and most of fairfax county and prince georges as well as montgomery in the 50s right now. staffford county is now at 58. their morning low was 42. quite a warm up from the morning low there. it was in the upper 20s out of the mountains this morning and now in the upper 40s there. over the last six hours, it has been mostly clear over the mountains, and there we have been seeing high clouds coming in, and we are continuing to see high clouds riding in. at the surface, we have an area developing lowressure off the carolina coast. and that's going to ve us more of an easterly flow beginning later on this afternoon. this is the average dates of the peak color and we passed that in the mountains, and we are seeing it certainly here in washington in the zone between washington and the shenandoah valley. it's at peak color now. we are earlier than average this year because it has been a cooler october and with that rain we had recently we are getting vivid color. and the other areas of rain we had in the upper midwest to the mississippi valley. there is a low pressure there, and this will track due east for the next day or so and then late on tuesday into wednesday we will see it come up our way as the coastal low slowly tracks along, too. both systems are combining to give us an increased cloud cover and an increased chance of rain. this steady rain may move into the area tuesday and into wednesday. wednesday looks like the wettest day of the week. and enjoy the crisp autumn weather today as temperatures reach the low 60s for highs this afternoon, cooler than average, and a gentle easterly breeze. tonight for the game, eagles and skins at fedex field. kickoff time at 8:00. it will be in the mid-50s under a cloudy sky. by midnight, it should be near 50 and still cloudy. don't expect any precipitation tonight. and then tomorrow a chance of a small sprinkle and then a greater chance of an afternoon shower, and then a diminished chance of any rain on tuesday. tuesday night is when we have the likelihood of rain moving in. and then drying out and warming up on thursday, partly cloudy and upper 60s, partly cloudy to sunny on friday and near 70. and then saturday, chance for in for halloween for the trick-or-treaters, and then we fall back, turn our clocks back an hour back to eastern standard time, and the longest weekend of the year. >> and the longest party of the year, halloween night in washington, d.c. jerry, any problems? >> a little roadwork. head over to northern virginia along i-95, northbound and southbound construction. not a bad delay right now and that's good news if you are headed in that direction. route 1, if you need to use an alternate, it's moving along well. elsewhere, check things out along 395 northbound. a little sluggish, and i did not see any roadwork, and those def ruls may have rolled up in the roadway in the course of three minutes or so along the 14th street bridge not a huge backup by any stretch of the imagination. watch those guys carefully. >> isn't that color beautiful out there on the road? >> yeah, gorgeous. look at that. >> thank you, jerry. here is another traffic alert for you. a construction projecttarting today forced some lane closures on h street northeast going eastbound between 3rd and 7th streets. these lane closures will last until monday november 16th, so until then make plans to avoid that area. this one might have you thinking twice before you have a drink of your morning joe. >> workers were poisoned by drinking coffee in their break room. it never happened until now, what president obama did for the first time with a woman. first, you are looking at what is hot on nbcwashington.com. if i had to sit on a bench during the middle of a game due to diabetes it would frustrate me. in a bastball game a couple minutes could mean a big momentum shift. my bayer meter is very important. 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(announcer) the contour meter, only from bayer. yankees win the pennet. >> yes, indeed. the yankees are going to the world series. fans from the big apple celebrated the team's 5-2 win over the los angeles angels of anaheim last night. they are set to play against the philadelphia phillies in the best of seven series, and that begins on wednesday. if you are not tired from staying up to watch the yankees win, maybe you are sore from running the annual marine corps marathon. and 26.2 mile course snaked its way through the most historic and scenic parts of washington. and then many would say appropriately, a serviceman won the marathon. from the race course to the gulf course, a first for president obama, since taking office, he went golfing with a woman. melody barnes with the chief domestic policy advisor, and she is the first woman included in an outing. 11:27. the vaccine, tough to come by. are you concerned? coming up, what happens now that obama declared it a national emergency. >> and how well, it could be one of the largest hearings in d.c. history, that's how many are describing the hearing this afternoon about legalizing gay marriage. hundreds of people signed up to testify. the council is expected to have a gay marrie bill ready by the end of the year. the redskins are preparing to take on the philadelphia eagles tonight. skins' fans heading to the field will be able to take metro. it will stay open an extra hour to accommodate the crowd. and then a swine flu clinic today from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., and will provide only the nasal spray vaccine. the mist is only recommended for healthy people between the ages of 2 and 49. this week hospitals in the u.s. will have the power to manage their own response to the swine flu pan demic. >> president obama declared it to be a national emergency, but there are still deep concerns abou vaccination shortages. brooke hart has a report from capitol hill. >> reporter: at swine flu vainations clinics this weekend in l.a., long lines and a lot of concern. in virginia, people lined up before dawn. >> just worried, basically. >> reporter: north carolina, too. >> i got here at about 4:00 this morning. >> reporter: demand strips the supply. clinics in chicago ran out of vaccine within a few hours. so far the virus has sent 20,000 americans to the hospital under the president's emergency declaration, hospitals may set up alterna treatment sites in case there is a influx of more. >> we have to be prepared in case hospitals get busy or overwhelmed. >> reporter: the vaccine is rolling out at half the rate officials predicted. >> the virus does not grow well in the process, which is an egg-based process. there is a delay in the total quantity we expected early on. this vaccine, with a single dose of the standard amount will work once we get it out there. >> one, two, three, deep breath in. >> reporter: good news for those that made it to the front of the line. >> i usually don't get him flu shots, but did not want to take thamble and be wrong. >> reporter: millions more weight to take their turn, too. up to 10 million dos vaccines will ship to states. the government is getting less specific with its predictions because of the delays so far. brooke hart, nbc news. a new study shows the fear of catching the swine flu changes the way americans do things. more than 50% of employees are changing their ways in the workplace. some are washing hands more, and some are not shaking hands at all. many churches are giving communion in the hands instead of the mouths. kids are staying home from schools if they have any symptoms at all. and health care reform. democrats say that businesses will not have to provide health