reopening by honoring the firefighters who prevented lives from being lost. >> may 7, 2009, a day that p.g. firefighters will never forget. >> i personally have never seen anything like it. >> the explosion from the gas leak blew through the shopping center in forrestville. amazingly, no one was killed, but eight firefighters and gas employee or injured and six stores were destroyed. now, 17 months later, they're celebrating the grand reopening of the ledo pizza shop. >> they waited for me to come back. >> he also held a tribute for the firefighters to evacuate his employes and customers that day. >> you definitely felt it when it exploded. >> firefighters say the explosion rocked the building, lifting the roof and blasting

glass and debris 70 feet into the parking lot. >> some were taken off their feet, blonde across the sidewalk. we were fortunate that people were position where they were. >> other stores have relocated to the far end of the shopping center or elsewhere. to celebrate the return, he treated every firefighter to pizza. >> i am prepared. >> and forrestville, mike khadine, abc 7 news. . favre is not talking publicly but he has spoken to his coach on the allegations that he sent voicemail and racy photos of himself to an employee. the nfl is investigating and reportedly in talks with the woman, who worked as a sideline reporter in 2008 when favre was a guest quarterback -- when favre was the jets' quarterback.

a disturbing trend of mistakes by air-traffic controllers have jumped dramatically over the past year. the faa reports the number of incidents are up 51%. they say most of the errors occurred during takeoffs and landings. 41 errors were reported at reagan, dulles, and bwi airports, more than double a year ago. a recall involving mercedes- benz, 85,000 of its c-class and the class models because of a steering problem. mercedes says power steering fluid may leak. if that occurs, drivers cannot control their cars. no word on if any accidents have been lent to the problems. thousands continued their walk for a cure for breast cancer, day to in the susan g. komen three-day walk. organizers are walking 60 miles.

stations are set up along the way for the long journey. the walk finishes tomorrow with a rally on the national mall. steve rudin has a look at the weather. hopefully the nice weather will continue. >> precisely, what a day. it looks nice tomorrow. after midnight, mainly clear skies, nice news there. it looks like a clear sky stick around another several hours. the weatherbug network, the highs and lows have reset. a 57 currently in a delphi, manassas 65, a high of 88. the correct reading at ballou senior high school, southeast d.c., correctly 65. -- currently 65 degrees. reagan national official high, 83 degrees. the average is 71. the record, not even close, 94.

that was back in 2007. we have dropped to degrees, currently 65 at the airport, the wind out of the north at 3. gaithersburg 54. annapolis 60 degrees. warm air to the south and west. the warm air slowly moves in our direction, temperatures in asheville at 55 degrees. warmer air on monday. then we cool down, just another couple days. the satellite radar, very weak frontal system just to the north. that will extend the south overnight. then and eventually will lift to the north for the day tomorrow. we look for the wind to shift out of the south tomorrow afternoon, warming temperatures. the cloud cover keeps us cooler compared with what we had today. showers and the forecast, clouds moved and by tomorrow afternoon. the best chance of showers on columbus day later in the

afternoon, vary widely scattered, only about 30% chance of anything. the forecast tonight, temperatures fall in the suburbs to the mid 40's, low 50's downtown, mostly clear skies. tomorrow morning, beautiful, lots of sunshine, temperatures in the 40's, mid 50's. by the afternoon, 75-80 degrees. clouds increase, chance of sprinkles in the mountains. especially the shenandoah valley, potomac high land, amounting to much. the extended outlook, temperatures warm nicely monday, 80 degrees, 30% chance of showers. tuesday, wednesday, back to school, back to work, mid-70s. then we cool down, showers thursday. next weekend, temperatures slightly below average this time of year. nice warm day tomorrow and monday. one more day of 90 degrees or better to break the record.

we are tied right now. we still have the rest of october to go. >> you want the record, don't you? >> yes. >> next, [ music throughout ] [ male announcer ] looking for a complete picture of your money? meet pnc virtual wallet. it comes with a calendar that shows you all your finances at once. it lets you know when your money's going out. and when it's coming in. it even tells you when you're running low. we call that danger days. it's built to help you see your money in a whole new light. experience everything virtual wallet has to offer at pncvirtualwallet.com. pnc. for the achiever in us all. ♪

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fans are paying tribute today to john lennon on what would have been his 70th birthday. people in new york gathered at strawberry fields in central park. it was one of many celebrations. at a concert was also held earlier this evening to benefit amnesty international. exciting news if your capitals fan. >> absolutely. the washington capitals quickly put their season opening loss behind them, they get impressive and then some in their home opener. sports is coming up. boss: our breakout session is gonna be great.

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the toyota sports desk, brought to you by your local toyota dealers -- moving you forward. the real washington capitals showed up at the verizon center tonight. facing the new jersey devils. in the second, tied, alexander ovechkin gets involved. first goal of the year.

the caps. the way. less than a minute after, ovechkin again, on the panel the shot, he beats the goalie. the capitals overpower new jersey, their first win of the season. seven-to the final. the washington redskins surprised their fan base today by cutting wide receiver kevin thomas, who was a second round pick in 2008, starting 10 games last year, but did not wind up at all at wide receiver this year. thomas did not fit into a head coach mike shanahan's plan. he reportedly tried to work out a trade with thomas, but was not able to get a deal done. virginia tech welcoming and central michigan. blacksburg, first quarter action, taylor gets the ball and goes. at 72 yards, into the end zone. taylor again using his feet.

again, in to that end zone. virginia tech wins, 45-21. virginia at visiting georgia tech. anthony allen was a monster for the yellow jackets. at 195 yards, three touchdowns. georgia tech beat virginia. steve spurrier, remember him? south carolina gamecocks taking on alabama. jeffrey, touchdown. a knock off alabama, knocking off the no. 1 team in the country. a 35-1. navy gets the best of wake forest, how were false, losing big to firman. -- howard falls, losing big to firman. the yankees looking to put their stranglehold on the series against the twins.

the pitch, he got all of that. two-run home run. the yankees win, eliminating the twins, moving on to the american league championship series. the tampa bay rays climbed back into their series against the rangers tonight. solo home run, right center, the rays win game 3, 6-3. third round action of the senior pga, potomac, maryland. on 12, 15-foot putt, the burden falls. -- the birdie false. o'meara goes into the final round tomorrow as the leader. and d.c. united's long season continues to drag on, another lost tonight as they lose to san jose, 2-0. [ male announcer ] antiques can be nice. but you wouldn't want an antique computer.

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final check of the forecast? >> not so bad tomorrow, chance of isolated showers in the mountains. clouds increase, 30 percent sign chance of showers on columbus day monday. better chance of showers thursday, and cooler, drier for the upcoming weekend. today, absolutely beautiful, 83 degrees at reagan national airport, well above average. thank you for joining us. saturday news extra is next.

captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- good evening. by midweek, the miners trapped

underground in chile may see some light for the first time in months. the drill rig punched through it to the chamber house in the minors saturday morning. soon, the most difficult part of the rescue will begin. the celebration began with a bell tolling. but the 33 miners could not hear it half a mile underground. more than two months ago, their work place collapsed, sealing them off from everything. saturday, rescuers made remarkable progress. >> we finally broke in. >> overjoyed family members at camp hope where relatives eagerly await news cheered the thought of impending freedom. as the saga creeps towards an end, they're happy, too. >> now that it is drilled, there are other people involved. we got our job done. we got a hole drilled.

them in the coming days, one by one, a narrow capsule will pull the miners free. less than a week to go until their first glimpse of daylight in more than two months. the midterm elections and the u.s. are just three weeks away. which are the hottest races to watch? mike allen has a preview. >> it is time to turn the table. christian, thank you for coming on. at about three weeks from the midterm elections, which races are you watching this closely? >> the democrats want to hold onto their majority and the republicans want to push the democrats out. i have looked at the senate race in connecticut. it is a very tight race. he has had a 41-point lead in

january, which has whittled down. according to his own campaign, it was not double digits, but they say could be lower. the question of who will win and how and what strategy is there for the debate. we had interviews, we spoke with voters, and we also talked to independents who seemed to be favoring republican candidates. we will see how that turns out. basically, the campaign it boils down to he is pro-business, wants to create jobs, and that is what the state needs now. obviously, a colorful and controversial past with world wrestling entertainment, and the people know him and he spent two decades fighting special

interests on behalf of the people of connecticut. we will see how that boils down. obama will campaign for blue mittal in october. she has been spending $25 million of her own money. those are the reasons we are looking at. >> what do you have this week? >> we have a report from connecticut. and the broader report about the race. then we have a vital interview with christine todd, the first and only woman in the group of industrialized working democracies, and very powerful.

at a time when europe is in a massive test phase as to whether fiscal austerity is going to win compared with more fiscal stimulus. in other words, trying to figure out how to make economic growth with the disagreement between europe and the united states and some places within europe. in europe, it is almost unprecedented austerity measures, and the u.s. is not going that way and is recommending that europe try more stimulus and try to stimulate growth to fix the unemployment crisis in that way. there will be interesting. then we are turning to the other major issues. we have the alleged plot uncovered in the last 10 days in europe, and is connected with

pakistan. we will talk with the former president of pakistan, per as musharraf, a very close u.s. ally, who is now planning a comeback at a time when animosity among pakistani towards the united states is practically at an all-time high and the u.s. is trying its best to pump billions of dollars into pakistan and continued to move that country as a vital partner and stabilize the war in afghanistan. tell everybody to keep their dial on "this week" and we hope to see you there. >> watch abc's "this wii" sunday morning at 10:00, right here on abc 7. an iconic symbol for train passengers across the region,

but it may look different. metro is expanding its system and station names are changing. no decisions are being made on whether metro will stick to the color-based system or switch to something else. 7 on your side with new details on a series of electric cars about to hit the market. chevrolet has the vault, nissan has a vehicle, and now a first look at the 2012 prius. one local university is planning an extended test drive. >> take a good look, this is one of the rest cars on the road. there are only about 150 in the u.s., and there are two in georgetown. this is the new toyota prius, plug-in car. james connor will be driving it as georgetown university takes them on an extended test drive.

behind the wheel, it looks, feels, and handles like almost any other prius. it is a bit heavier, but he is averaging 70.7 miles per gallon. >> i have driven two weeks and after two weeks i have only put 7 gallons of gas in it. >> this is the trial yon for the first plug-in to hit the market after the widely anticipated chevrolet volt and nissan leaf. the prius will offer 40 miles of pure luck. driving at speeds up to 60 m.p.h. in charges at a standard outlet in three, four hours, half that at a charging station. it stimulus money is being used nationwide to install similar charges. >> some drivers want high miles per gallon and others want electric cars.

>> these are early production models, 2012. they will be at georgetown for about a year while they evaluate them and then they will go on the market. prices ahave not been announced. kris van cleave, abc 7 news. coming up, the rally to restore sanity is taken seriously. thousands of fans may be heading to washington. and from grey's anatomy to the big screen, can sheet and a great rate -- reinvigorate the romantic comedy? >> steve rudin, the belfort furniture weather center, high temperatures saturday in the low 80's. what for the remainder of the holiday weekend?