(vo) there's a freedom about asheville. an unspoken invitation to discover who you really are. here, the world is a big, beautiful place filled with adventure. take it in. visit lonely planet's best destination for 2017. and let the magic find you. asheville. discovery inside and out. >> now abc 7 news at noon. on your side. adrianna: happening right now, a memorial service for the woman killed in the car attack in charlottesville. heather heyer is being remembered for standing against white nationalists and neo-nazis a the

we're joined live outside that memorial now with john. john: good afternoon, there are thousands of people inside the paramount theater here downtown charlottesville this hour, maybe just as many outside of the theater. you can see the crowds. they've been gathered. this is the overflow crowd. we can tell you that there are people out here that have been singing and praying and you can see the marquee there of the theater, heather heyer, gone but not forgotten. many paying their respects to the 32-year-old heather heyer killed here last saturday two blocks away. family and friends describe her as outspoken, outgoing, passionate, and if you take a look at the video, there are people that lined up as early as 9:00 this morning. there also was a group of activists that showed up here with purple shields and pink bats and helmets, a display appearing to indicate they are ready for a fight, a

their cause, the same cause that brought heyer out here on saturday afternoon. co-workers at the law firm where she works say she was nervous about coming out here this past weekend because of possible violence but she felt strongly about being here. we spoke with a man who lined up early this morning to try to get inside. >> i'm a local here from charlottesville but i do want to just stand and remember heather for her courage and bravery for standing against hatred. she was not at that time participating in the battle but she was a victim of an outright act of terrorists. and i want to do my part to stand for her. john: we are also seeing a large presence this afternoon of charlottesville police and virginia state troopers out here and even though there are thousands inside gathered with family and friends of heather heyer, there are again many out here.

of tension, unrest, anything like that. so that's the good news out here. just really a lot of folks praying, gathering together, big sign of unity and love out here in charlottesville this afternoon. reporting live, john gonzalez, abc 7 news. adrianna: thanks, john. about an hour ago the president tweeted about the service that was beautiful and incredible heather heyer, a truly special young woman and will be remembered by all. the violence in charlottesville may have highlighted the racial divisiveness in this country. with the president's defiant and divisive remarks yesterday seem to be unifying democrats and republicans. today we look at the backlash of the president's remarks. the outrage pouring in over president trump's response to the violence in charlottesville, sparked by white nationalists protesting the removal of a robert e. lee statue. president trump: i've condemned neo-nazis and many different

people were neo-nazis, believe me. there are some very bad people in that group. but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. adrianna: in one of the most contentious news conferences, the president angry and not backing down from his initial response that both sides are responsible for the deadly violence. president trump: what about the alt left had a came charging at the alt right, do they have any semblance of guilt? what about the fact they came charging swinging clubs and a group on one side that was bad and a group on the other side also that was violent? adrianna: the backlash to trump's remarks were swift and widespread, one group was loving his response, the so-called alt right with the former kkk grand wizard david duke, thanking the president for his honesty and courage. even republicans quickly distancing themselves from the president's remarks and the hateful groups he's credited

>> there's no good kkk member, there's no nice neo-nazi, racism, big outry has no place in the republican party has no home here, we don't want your vote and we don't support you. >> as the fallout continues more business leaders are distancing themselves from the businessman turn president. now six executives have resigned from trump's manufacturing council over his response to charlotsville. adrianna: teachers in charlottesville getting ready for students to return decided to honor that community and those killed this weekend with this song. >> ♪ lean on me when you're not strong ♪ ♪ and i'll be your friend ♪ i'll help you ♪ carry on adrianna: that is of course the bill withers classic "lean on me." the three hearts put up on screen were for heather heyer and the two virginia state troopser killed on

stay with abc 7 for the latest out of charlottesville for updates any time, go to our website at wjla.com. the sun is shining after a foggy start to this wednesday. chief meteorologist doug hill has a look at your forecast. hey, doug? doug: hey, adrianna. now we got rid of the fog and teaches climbing there's enough low lovely temp it's feeling muggy and it feels like it's 92 though it's 85. it's hot out there. only in the lower 80's most spots but 87 in warrenton and culpepper and 88 in charlottesville. they'll warm up to near 90 and will feel warmer than that. no storm worse today, rain a dry day and plenty of sunshine and satellite and radar shows areas of clouds passing through but we're in a lull between systems, the one that gave us the rain the past couple days and system coming our way that

gives us a chance of rain and storms friday as well. the future cast through this afternoon indicates a possibility of an isolated shower but wouldn't put a lot of stock in it so keep your eyes open and tomorrow it changes and we'll be back to tell you what that will be in a few minutes. adrianna: developing now more confederate statues taken down or covered in cities around the nation. overnight several statues were removed in baltimore. mayor katherine keys said it wasn't the threat of removal by residents that led to her decision. >> i mean, i know what we were planning on doing and i think if you'd check with the city council, i sat down with the president and said what we'd do, move quickly and quietly and i did that. adrianna: suzanne kennedy was in baltimore as the statues began coming down. >> this is the site of four confederate monuments that came down overnight and one was robert e. lee and stonewall jackson is now a empty pedestal is remains as graffi p

overnight. crews were here at 3:00 a.m. and took a large crane to remove the statue dedicated in 1948. the monument had been proposed for removal by a committee appointed by baltimore's mayor. the robert taney station in mount vernon also taken down overnight, while not complicitly a federal monument, he's known for his decision advancing slavery in the u.s. and the 100-year-old confederate women's monument sits now as just a blank pedestal. baltimore residents woke to a new look in their city. >> i feel it should have been done a long time ago because of what it represents. so i'm happy for that. >> there's oftentimes a feel of just disappointment and kind of just sadness with the way things are in our country. but then there's these glimmers of hope that means that, you know, change is happening. suzanne: baltimore's mayor

supervised the removal of these monuments and no word yet what will happen to them. adrianna: breaking news at this hour. abc 7 learned there is a fire at the smithsonian castle located on the national mall. we're told the fire is on the third floor and the sprinkler system did go off. this is all we know at this point but we have a crew on the way and we'll bring you more information as we get it. also right now, the search is on for a army blackhawk helicopter that went down overnight in hawaii. the coast guard says the helicopter had five crew members onboard, two blackhawk aircrews were conducting training when the helicopter went down two miles west of cuyanna point on the island of oahu. a debris field was spotted and several boats and aircraft are searching for the helicopter. coming up on abc 7 news at noon, a heroic mother and strangers helped save lives after a massive true fell in central park. frequent flyers seeing unusual numbers on their boarding passes.

hiccups at southwest. >> i've never seen an eclipse before and i really want to. adrianna: still ahead, a look at what will enhance your eclipse experience. now a quick check of the roads with erik smith. eric: thank you, adrianna. a bit of trouble on 395 southbound at the entrance ramp from seminary road. you see what seems to be a large trailer involved in a crash and just right by the entrance ramp here comes a fire truck to get on the scene here as well. it looks like it only affects traffic coming from seminary road on to 395 south. those cars. and a dump truck there, those are all blocked off right now to get on to 395. so just a bit of a hassle, 395 here is unaffected. northbound 395 is heavy across the 14th street bridge with typical volume into the city. 95 in virginia southbound here below fairfax county parkway, expect a bit of a tough ride and work zone before lorton

extra delay. that's all from the traffic center f

>> you're watching abc 7 news at noon on your side. adrianna: plenty of questions remain after a tree crashed on her mother and kids in central park in new york. new details are emerging about the heroic efforts of a mother, ann goldman. passersby raced to help her and her three kids and a witness says her quick thinking to shield her kids from the branches as the tree fell probably saved their lives. >> they got the kid and she seemed to be moving. she was unconscious probably three minutes. >> lying on her back. the stroller was off

in the branches. adrianna: the incident had -- infant had been in the baby carrier and brothers in a stroller. goldman has broken vertebrae and her 2-year-old son has a cracked skull and other two kids suffered facial bruising. a woman survived a month lost in the wilderness but police want to know how she ended up alone in the woods. 25-year-old lisa theris was found alive over the weekend after spending about a month lost in the wilderness. she also lost 50 pound and covered in deep scratches and deeply tanned and she survived by eating berries and wild push rooms and drinking water from puddles. she was with two men around the time she disappeared. >> there's a whole lot more to this story, a whole lot more to this story. it's going to be sad and heartwarming at the same time when the story is actually released. adrianna: those men are facing burglary charges for a

break-in, something she didn't want to participate in. southwest airlines is working to fix a glitch. the airline does not assign seats but gives travelers a boarding position based on check-in time. frequent flyers are pretty much guaranteed early boarding but the glitch left many of them with higher numbers on their boarding passes. there's no timetable on when that problem might be fixed. happening right now in charlottesville, a press conference with governor terry mcauliffe and senator tim kaine. take a listen. >> a very inspirational message. unfortunately today is the first of three funerals and memorial services that we will have to attend here in the commonwealth of virginia. today is heather. on friday we will have trooper bert bates' funeral and on saturday jay cullen's funeral. it is a very tough week for the ommonwealth of virginia. the message we heard from everybody who spoke and the message we tried

now it's time for healing and it is time for reconciliation. we need to go forward. we need to put the hatred behind us and the bigotry. we need to come together as heather's mother spoke about. to make her life impactful, we need to go forward. she said there's a blood bank going on right now. as reverend edwards spoke, you want to make a difference, you have to make each day something special. it means you've got to help someone else. adopt a child who cannot read today. i want that to be the message for all of us in virginia and like that to be the message for all americans. we've got to move forward together. we've got to stop the rhetoric and the language. we've got to work together. our nation is a nation of immigrants. it is that great mosaic tile that's made us the great united states of america. and as we go forward from this

adrianna: governor's terry mcauliffe saying in the press conference we all have to move forward together. of course bowl have much more on this coming up at abc 7 news at 4:00. meanwhile, president trump was busy on twitter this morning. amazon was among his targets. the president pleaded. amazon is doing great damage to tax-paying retailers. towns, cities and states throughout the u.s. are being hurt. many jobs are being lost. traditional retailers are closing stores and blaming amazon for a shift of buying goods online but amazon hired thousands of warehouse workers at job fairs like the one in baltimore the beginning of august. amazon pays sales tax in some states. speaking of job fares, talented educators were invited to upper marlboro by the maryland state department of education. that just wrapped up at noon. prince george's county public schools started the day with about a hundred vacancies and officials tell abc 7 they filled about half of them. a second job fair will be held

august 25. all right. doug is here and all morning until about 9:00, i'd say. t was just gray and foggy. doug: dense fog advisory for some areas and we want to start with the camera on the high school in laurel. fog everywhere. only took a couple hours to brighten it up and it went away. it lifted out of here and plenty of sun shine, warm and humid weather and a scattering of cloud. don't expect the rain widespread or anything but the amount of moisture in the air and sunshine, that combination could yield an isolated shower at some point this afternoon. as far as the numbers go at noon time, already it's feeling like 92 degrees in washington and feels like 92 in couple uper and 89 leesburg and 91 in annapolis and this is the combination of the air temperature and moisture levels to give you an accurate feels-like temperature and what we have now. it will be hot in the park and 105, a day time game against the

and will be 85, 87 at first pitch and be a very humid day but it's a great summer day to be at the park if you have that opportunity. it's also a big hurricane gert right now. the top winds, 85, 90 miles per hour and this thing consolidated and gotten larger. look at the size compared to the size of the coast of the u.s. kind of struggled along with low wind but now pretty well organized with a sustained winds of 90 miles per hour, gusts to 115 and the location now of the hurricane is well out in the atlantic ocean heading to the northeast at a high rate of 25 miles per hour. it will reach briefly 100-mile-per-hour winds the forecasters think and will happen sometime later this afternoon and then slowly begin to diminish over the open waters of the north atlantic and eventually become a rain storm south of iceland and green land as well. the numbers stack up like this, upper 80's to around 90 for several days around the area and showers and storms increase

thunderstorms possible saturday afternoon. sunday there could be an isolated shower but sunday looking at of the two weekend days, probably the more reliable day not to get rain and looking for the eclipse monday and it will be hot looking at the hot sun, 91, 92 on tuesday and then we stay in the upper 80's and finally cool off a bit by the end of next week. adrianna? adrianna: thanks, doug. coming up on abc 7 news at noon, making the eclipse the biggest social media event in history. the app that will enhance your solar eclipse experience.

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the last 40 years since we last saw a total solar eclipse in the u.s. >> the big difference is you're able to have a instantaneous conversations and send them pictures and see what they're seeing and that's something we never had before. >> is he a senior editor at c-net and thanks to social media the eclipse could become the most shared event in human history. technology is making it easier for everyone to be a part of it. >> i've never seen an eclipse. >> there are apps and countdowns and maps to bring it to your back yard no matter where you live. dan's favorite, the free smithsonian eclipse app. >> gives you a lot of good information. >> shows you how close you'll be to totality. >> a 71.43

>> what the eclipse will look like for you. >> there's the moon and the sun. >> perhaps most important on august 21, a place to live stream the eclipse as it's happening. if you're lucky enough to be in the path of totality, dan says snapping the perfect pic comes down to two things. >> time collapse is key. and use a tripod. >> 20 minutes or so while the eclipse is happening and will cut to a nice, small video and make a gift out of it and will give you motion and see it happening. >> abc news, new york. adrianna: and of course stay with abc 7 and news channel 8 for complete comprehensive coverage of the eclipse. we'll be tracking it as it makes its way across the u.s. with a special report starting monday at 12:30 on our sister station news channel 8 and streaming it at wjla.com. stay with us.

adrianna: a hotel in singapore is going the extra mile for customer service with a room service robot who delivers amenities to the guests at the m social hotel and more robots are in the works for the hotel including one to cook varies kinds of eggs, hotel execs says don't worry the robots won't replace employees. doug: it will be sunny and humid and isolated showers and storms likely tomorrow and friday as it steams up a few more days. i'll check out the weekend for you at 4:00. adrianna: thank for you joining us this midday. see you back here

news at 4:00.

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