patch of showers coming through this morning, then a nice little break in the action around 8:00, 9:00 this morning, probably up to 1:00 or 2:00 this afternoon. not much of a rain threat, but with every break of sunshine we see, our chance of thunderstorms goes up. just sort of keep that in mind. when you see the sunshine, think, oh, this is going to be trouble for later. outside, first thing on a sunday morning, it is very cloudy and kind of sticky outside as well. a lot of humidity around. you can see the washington monument standing tall in the early morning drizzle and mist. temperatures in the low 60s already. going to be a very mild day today. just down to the south, dale city, fredericksburg, you're already dry for now. notice the rain showers pulling on out, and there's a big gap in the rain down to our south and west. that is our break of sunshine. but with each moment of sunsh e sunshine, we get a little more unstable. possibility o strong to severe thunderstorms this afternoon. not a big possibility, but a possibility nonetheless, when you hear the thunder, that's your sign to get inside. >> we didn't see the sun at all yesterday. >> gloominess in abundance yesterday, a little bit nicer but could be more unstable. historic flood levels call for drastic measures. now about 25,000 people and millions of acres of land have been intentionally put in the path of the raging water. crews opened one gate of the organza spillway yesterday afternoon and today will open more. now all they can to do is wait for the water of the mighty mississippi to roll to their back door. nbc's brian mooar reports. >> reporter: for the first time in nearly four decades, waters from the mississippi river is inundating lands once protected by the morganza spillway. >> we're using every spare mile we have. >> reporter: this cajun land is being sacrificed to protect others from the ruins. >> we understand why that's done, but we certainly don't particularly care for being the dispensable people in this particular issue. >> reporter: some 25,000 people were in harm's way. most fled, but a few are fighting, shoring up their own levees to save what they can. >> if the levee broke, then i wouldn't have nothing to come back to. my house would be gone. >> reporter: upstream in vicksburg, mississippi, the scope thf disaster is hard to measure. >> there's nothing else you can do. >> reporter: and downstream, the worst is yet to come. >> this is certainly going to be a marathon and not a sprint as we go through this tremendous amount, huge amount of water as it comes down. >> reporter: desperate times, desperate measures, and a fight to salvage as much as possible from the mighty mississippi. brian mooar, nbc news. 6:03 right now. one of the world's top financial diplomats is in police custody right now, charged with attempted rape. dominique strauss-kahn is the chief of the international monetary fund and a potential presidential candidate in france. authorities pulled him from a flight at jfk airport in new york and charged him last night. a 32-year-old hotel maid claims strauss-kahn came out of his bathroom to his suite naked and tried to sexually assault her. the 62-year-old father and husband has a history of sex scandals behind him. in 2008 he apologized for an affair with an imf staffer. the new allegations didn't surprise french tourists staying at the hotel. >> maybe he will try again. this is the second time. maybe he will do it a third time maybe. why not? >> reporter: strauss-kahn should be arraigned in a new york court sometime today. later this morning, search crews will begin day three of searching for a missing boater in the james river. he was one of ten people on a sailboat that capsized late thursday night after a party in newport news in southeastern virginia. a 23-year-old man from hampton died. eight others survived. authorities say three people were on board for the university of maryland and worked for the national aerospace institute in hampton. investigators say no one had a life vest on when the boat capsized. prince george's county police are trying to track down a driver who hit and killed a man and never stopped. investigators say the victim was trying to cross addison avenue near central road in seat pleasant early yesterday morning. the victim died later at the hospital. police have not released his name but say he was just 34 years old. do call prince george's police if you can help out with this case. a local volunteer firefighter is sitting in jail this morning after investigators in spotsylvania county say he had sex with a 13-year-old girl while on duty. the encounter came about because the victim accidentally text messaged the wrong person. >> 33-year-old justin baber, a volunteer with the volunteer fire department in fredericksburg is behind bars, charged with raping a 13-year-old girl in a chance encounter that started with a cell phone text message. >> as far as you know he admitted there was an encounter. >> yes, he has admitted it. >> but his story was a little bit different? >> a little bit different, yes. >> reporter: it started may 5th. the girl accidentally sent a message to baber's phone. he said, hi. she said, who is this? i don't think i know you. he said, that's okay. the conversation continued between baber and this 13-year-old girl. at one point he asked her if she could sneak out of the house and meet with him. she agreed and met up at 2:00 in the morning. authorities say the rape happened inside his fire services vehicle. the girl told authorities he was driving a white police type vehicle with radios in it. they traced the crime back to baber through his cell phone number. >> the phone number led to a volunteer firefighter within the county, and he started making contact with the volunteer organizations andette going the investigations started through that. >> reporter: authorities say baber was on duty at the time of his assault. one of the fellow volunteers says he's never seen baber act inappropriately toward underage girls. >> i don't believe them. i've been knowing that boy for four or five years. ran alongside him for years. i would say they're hearsay allegations. >> reporter: darcy spencer, news 4. today officers from around the world will gather for a ceremony in front of the capitol followed by a wreath laying at the law enforcement memorial at judiciary square. yesterday officers marched from new jersey avenue and f street to that memorial. bag pipers among the tens of thousands who traveled to d.c. to honor their fallen comrades. today marks the beginning of national police week, which honors the officers who put our safety above theirs. good to see it wasn't raining on them. >> exactly. >> although it hasn't been beautiful weather at all. >> we're hoping the rest won't be a washout. >> and you wanted to go to a wine festival at national harbor. >> the event is under tents. >> there's the key. and the odds the storms will be there right at the beginning of the festival fairly low. as each passing minute goes through with the afternoon sunshine, that will cause a better opportunity for storms. we'll talk about all that and also the mention of how much longer this is all going to 3q i can't let allergies stop me from leading the way... so, i get claritin clear... alright... let's move on team ! claritin works hard to relieve my worst symptoms. and only claritin is proven to keep you as alert and focused as someone without allergies. no other brand can say that not even allegra. watch your step ! i couldn't do this without you ! don't let allergies hold you back. live claritin clear with non-drowsy claritin. ♪ [ rock ] [ chattering ] [ man on tv ] 96309. [ man ] ♪ she got it, you got it ♪ i got it, we got it [ groans ] ♪ who's got it see you later. ♪ yeah! ♪ come on, she got it you got it, we got it who's got it ♪ we're all different. that's why there are five new civics. the next-generation civic. only from honda. what is that? >> uh-oh. doesn't look good. because of that snow, some extra time off to enjoy the snow in january means d.c. students will spend one extra day in school at the end of the year. the fast moving snow and ice storm literally paralyzed roads in our area. the last day of school is now monday, june the 20th, with a 12:15 p.m. dismissal time. friday, june the 17th, will now be a full day of school instead of a half day. d.c. law requires the day to be made up. >> my daughter in arlington county doesn't get out until five days after that. >> is that right? >> that's almost the fourth of july. >> you have one weekend before the fourth of july. >> you enjoy the snow days then. you have to pay for it later. >> i didn't remember the school year being extended that much last year when they had a crazy amount of snow. >> it was the same amount of time last year. nicholas hasn't been complaining about the summer. >> and his grades have been suffering. nicholas is the dachshund. >> i got it now. it's really going to be a struggle to get more than a few hours of nice weather. this pattern is going to stick around not just for today, but it looks like all the way through at least the middle of the upcoming week. don't expect a whole lot in the way of sunshine and appreciate every little ray that you get because it's going to really be at a premium here for much of the next three to five days. outside on a rather gloomy looking sunday morning, a lot of low clouds hanging out over the capitol building first thing this morning. a little light rain continuing to fall. 63 the temperature down at national airport. the dewpoint is also 63. when those numbers match, we get 100% relative humidity. so far just trace amounts of rainfall since midnight at national airport. low to mid-60s already in nearly every neighborhood. rainfall amounts over the last 24 hours. on average a third to two-thirds inch of rain. much of that came in the late afternoon to early evening time frame. there's the sprinkles, montgomery county. even a few sprinkles around town. route 50 towards annapolis and bowie. and some showers up here in the panhandle of west virginia as well. here's a reason for a little bit of optimism from me today. cloudy skies and showers this morning. notice the thin spots in the overcast just down to our south and west. that is our late morning and early afternoon break or two of sunshine right there. these showers in southwestern virginia, that little impulse is likely going to be what turns into showers and thunderstorms later on this afternoon. here comes the futurecast model. by 2:00, 3:00 this afternoon, that ripple of showers and thunderstorms goes on through. then i think we'll settle down and be cloudy and dry overnight and into early tomorrow. tomorrow during much of the day with a little trough of low pressure hanging out close by, might kick off a stray shower or two. i don't think we'll have as much rain tomorrow as we will potentially with a thunderstorm as we get through the day on tuesday. another ripple of low pressure through the appalachians means better chance of rain return. we might destabilize just enough to get strong to severe thunderstorms. here's our little microcast model over the course of the day. between 2:00 and 5:00 or 6:00 is when the thunderstorms get going. more clouds and sun for sure today, you'll probably get a break or two of sunshine from time to time late this morning and into the early afternoon. tomorrow back to work and school. just a passing shower or thunder shower tomorrow. not quite as high of a rain chance on monday. still a 50% chance. soaker of a day on tuesday and potentially on wednesday as well. raindrops remain in the forecast at least through thursday. so yikes on that one. it's been relatively dry around here the last two or three weeks. we could actually use the rain. but still. >> thanks, chuck. tim the bulldog promised us a nats win. just with his presence he said they'd win. >> he's so cute. >> big fat liar. >> here's hakim dermish with your "sports minute." good morning, everyone. your "sports minute" begins with baseball. nationals against the marlins at nts park yesterday. marlins pitcher anibal sanchez struck out nine in eight innings of work, mike stanton provided the offense with this solo home run in the eighth inning. nats lose 1-0. marlins 21-7 in washington. most wins by a visiting team. orioles on the road in tampa bay. os starter brad berg sene was solid, tossing his first major league shutout. orioles defeat the rays 6-0. third round action at the players championship. graeme mcdowell chips in for bir day. great shot. mcdowell and nick watney tied for the lead at 11 under. play was suspended twice first because of severe weather and then because of darkness. coverage will resume this morning. hockey now. game one of the eastern conference finals between the lightning and bruins. tampa bay scores three goals in 85 seconds. they go on to win 5-2 and take a 1-0 lead in the series. the lightning have now won eight straight playoff games. in soccer last night, d.c. united hosting the colorado rapids. chris pontius scores on the penalty kick. united is perfect on pks this season. game ends in a 1-1 tie. that's your "sports minute." i'm hakim dermish. have a great day. >> it's 6:17. next up is "reporter's notebook," with stories affecting our community. >> for now here's pat lawson muse. good morning. welcome to "reporter's notebook." i'm pat lawson muse. we begin in montgomery county with joshua starr's new paycheck. he has a new contract that includes a $250,000 salary, a take home car, smart phone, moving expenses, and benefits. his salary package is reportedly $33,000 more than that of retiring superintendent jerry wiest. one board member calls it a thorough, well written contract, but some other people are questioning the size of the contract considering montgomery county's current budget deficit. is this contract really an issue? >> from what i'm picking up, it hasn't developed into one yet. they are worried about money, but they feel they're getting a top rate educator that will follow in the shadow of jerry wiest. and it's all important. people don't come to a county if they don't think the schools are good and superintendent is good, and they're willing to pay it certainly. >> everybody has budget woes right now, especially when it comes to education in this country. it's funny how we want to cut back on teachers and all. but you have to attract the right type of person. this man is going to have to walk in some big shoes. let's face it. jerry reese does great things in montgomery county. here this superintendent is coming in. they have to put out a good character. got him from a small town but plus situation in stafford, connecticut. the point is people are always going to pose a salary increase or whatever to attract people. in this case, they have to do it to get good talent. >> and the other thing, and i'll make this point, why aren't people raising sand on how much money they spend on a new coach at the university of maryland? >> right. >> here we go, million dollars, makes the superintendent's contract look like child's play. that's what's so interesting about this. the state will spend a fortune -- they'll say, well, yeah, you make a lot of money at a university if you've got a great basketball or football team or sports program. well, you also make a lot of money in a county or attract a lot of people if you've got a great school system. the families, the first thing they ask about is how are the schools? $33,000 over a year is nothing for a good qualified superintendent. >> what his package includes is equal to what prince george's pays and less than what fairfax county and the district pay. >> again, you can make the argument that joe makes about the amount of expenditure on sports figures as opposed to the expenditure on educators. they're considered all important. if the montgomery county people think they're going to get a return on their dollar with continually improving schools and getting people to come into the county. and on the issue of the basketball coach, there's a lot of well heeled alumni who base their contributions to the school on how the sports teams are doing. >> and they probably live in montgomery county >> if you downsize sports, they're not going to be happy and may not contribute. administration has to think about that. tuition breaks for immigrants. maryland governor martin o'malley signed a bill extending in-state tuition breaks to illegal immigrants. meanwhile, a petition drive to put the issue to referendum appears to be picking up steam. the bill requires students to get associate's degree first and then they qualify for in-state tuition. opponents have until june 30th to collect 55,000 signatures. it appears the battle lines are drawn on this. supporters are digging in their heels, saying they're going to push to keep this law in place while opponents are lighting up the blogs, and they're all over the media complaining. >> the thought is, if you do something for illegals, you're rewarding them for being here improperly. that's the big issue. and the supporters say the current state of immigration law is so convoluted and so disorganized and so totally not working that we ought not to punish younger people who show every opportunity of perhaps being great citizens, go to school, do all the things you should. why shouldn't we encourage them to go to school, give them all the help and make them model citizens? why should we stomp on them? >> the head of the movement, the opposition, says it's going to be hard work. 55,000 signatures by the end of next month. he says it's going to be a lot of hard work, but he is certain they're going to get the signatures. like you said, a lot of the steam is picking up, supporting the opposition here. this could be a -- it has legs. i guess this whole issue about the tuition for illegals in maryland really has legs. one thing i could say this could be another national situation looking into maryland to see how this is going to play out >> and maryland has the reputation of being a very liberal state in this region, but even democrats are having a problem with this because of the limits number of slots they think are available, and then these slots end up going to people -- this is different than the d.r.e.a.m. act, these are illegal immigrants who will be awarded and allowed to go to school. i question whether or not they'll get to 55,000 in this short a period of time. opposing a move from adventist hospital. the planned move to silver springs. adventist plans a $3 million state of the art facility, but dimension health care says it will hurt hospitals like laurel regional hospital and other facilities near the proposed new hospital. dimensions also says the move will hurt the poor and uninsured and is asking the prince george's council to put a stop to the move. talk about the impact of it moving from its current location. >> the impact is they're moving into white oak, which isn't too far away from takoma park. if you know about takoma park, everything may be a hospital or john's store for tires. it's a very small area, and a lot of people depend on the businesses in that area. dimensioned health care system says it will hurt them. they'll lose some $30 million a year if the move goes through. they have about five locations around prince george's county. this would be a big thing. then you have two other hospitals that have been trying to build. for instance, holy cross has just spent a lot of money on extensions, building, rebuilding their area, their campus, along with montgomery genera so this is a big, big fight, big concern in prince george's county as to the moving of the seventh day adventist hospital. >> will poor and less advantaged people be ill served by t