jurisdiction of the d.c. police. police were initially told the victim was stabbed in the area of rock creek park. i'm told they are trying to figure out the exact crime scene location. police sources are saying that the male victim was cut in the face and ran to the u.s. park police area and asked for help was taken to the hospital. the initial indications arehat this man was also robbed and, again, taken to the hospital. his injuries are not considered to be life threatening and police are at this time searching a pre-ride area here that includes a local park and also at some point the search went into the zoo property but still there has been no sight of the stabbing suspect. reporting live from northwest washington, darcy spencer, news4. >> thanks, darcy. a capital police officer is out of the hospital after a triple shooting in prince george's county this happened last night outside at an apartment complex in the 8500 block of greenbelt road in greenbelt. and off-duty officer and a

12-year-old girl were injured in this shoot-out. derrick ward joins us now live fr greenbelt. >> reporter: how are you? we are also learning that the 12-year-old girl was grazed by gunfire and out of the hospital as well. it is good news for both of them. we are learning more today about how the incident transpired. bullet holes and cars, among the recommend nantsz of the shoot-out that occurred in the parking lot in greenbelt. that shoot-out left three people injured. among them a 12-year-old girl grazed by a bullet that entered her second floor apartment. it all started with an argument between an off-duty fort meyers army base police officer and civilian roommate inside the apartment they shared. >> the ofduty officer left the apartment and in an attempt to call for assistance. at that point the roommate was able to locate the officers' off-duty weapon and subsequently ran out into the parking lot and began randomly firing the weapon. >> the officer's roommate mate

was among the trio wounded and shot by an off-duty capitol police officer and come to the complex to visit his mother and witnessed the first round of gun fire. he subsequently shot the gunman and was him self wounded. >> my son ran to his car. he was going to his car. when he went to his car, he got his gun and all i know is i was laying down. i called 911. they told me that the policemen were on their way and when they did that, i -- my son came to the crime scene. it is okay, mom. get up. and when i got up, he was -- liked at him and saw he was shot. >> that officer has since been released from the hospital as has the 12-year-old girl grazed by one of the dozens of rounds fired in the parking lot. as was the third person shot, that's the roommate of that ft. myers army base police officer, he remains hospitalized and we are told he is suffering from several gun shot wounds to the upper body. doubly good news important the u.s. capitol police officer.

he was released today and just happens to be his birthday. live in greenbelt. >> good for him. it is a trip to the dmv one female driver will not soon forget. check this out, folks. a car that smashed into the motor vehicle officer in leesburg this morning. the police say the woman went to the dmv to get her title renewed and she was pulling into a space when instead of hitting the brake she hit the gas instead. the car crashed into the building and she wasn't hurt. just shaken up. no one was inside was injured. police issued the woman a ticket for reckless driving. another bizarre accident happened in prince george's county. a pickup truck crashed into a house in upper marlboro and the truck smashed into the front porch on a house. the front porch and other debris land order the vehicle. the driver was trapped 40 minutes until firefighters pulled him to safety. the van was flown to a local hospital for treatment. investigators are still trying to figure out just what caused that accident. going to be a tough weekend if you ride the red line p p the

takoma station will be closed as that investigation int last month's deadly metro crash continues this weekend. officials are focusing on a malfunctioning circuit and that continues to be a problem. tracee wilkins is live at the takoma metro stop with the latest on this. >> reporter: yes. we have been doing a lot of talking about this circuit that has the ability to stop trains and the fact that it malfunctioned on the day of the accident. five days before the accident, that circuit was actually replaced and routinely replaced and then the accident happened. while it was replaced again and now nearly a month later, it is still not working. and officials don't know why. by now you heard reports the malfunctioning circuit that was supposed to stop the red line train that crashed killing nine people on june 22 while the investigation into that circuit and the cause of the accident is continuing. the malfunctioning circuit has been replaced but still isn't working. >> we did about a dozen

different things. and it has continued to malfunction. >> reporter: why the circuit isn't work sing a mystery to metrond rontsb officials. a few weeks agohe t ntsb reported the problem in a pss re release stating that subsequent testing over the twkd train detection system intermittently fend a data is currently being collected urnd fther analyze each component in the train detection system. >> this is not a situation we can say that we have the solution take us a while to get and worked out. we will get back to you. this is where we are in the dark. and the public needs to know that. >> reporter: investigators say that the circuit is still flutderring and one minute detect it is train on the track and the next minute it does not. this is the circuit tha operates the train when in automatic mode and also stops it when there is danger detected. it can't work if it doesn't know a train is there. >> the folks that are experiencing inconveniences on the system need to know why that

we are dealing right now with a mystery. we don't have the solution. >> reporter: ntsb officials say due to the nature of the problem they cannot rule out that it is not happening in other areas of the system. that's why metro continues to operate in manual mode. also, closely look for disappearing trains. so far they say there aren't any additional problem. >> we checked the remainder of the tracks throughout the system and haven't gotten anything unusual at all. >> reporter: this weekend they are going to continue testing that circuit and see if they can figure out what the problem is while they have access to the tracks. what they are really going to be focusing on is what they call distance testing p.m. this is all about the driver of the train. they are going to re-enact the accident and see just how far away the driver was before they were able to see that train and that was parked up on the track ahead of it. now they are saying they are going to calculate time and also reaction time and see if they can figure out how fast that train was going. but because of this, they are going to have the station shut down from 7:00 a. until 7:00 p.m. on saturday and there will

be shuttle to get you around all of this while they are working but are saying that folks that take the red line should expect at least a 30-minute delay in their commute. tracee wilkins, live this morning. good evening. bob ryan, storm center 4. earlier we were under a severe thunderstorm watch. now all of those watches are gone. no reports of any thunderstorms and, unfortunately, hardly any rain in the immediate area. few sprinkles and that's about all we have seen here. there's the one cell that's moved through southeast washington and heading towards suitland and that's about it. and there are still some watches out. tornado watch even for the tide water area of virginia. and there are some nasty storms down there. and there may be a few more as we go through the evening and u can see some in west virginia. that's about it. later on tonight, can't rule out completely 8:00, 9:00, 10:00, cool frontomes through. you may see a few more showers or a chance for some needed

rain. great weekend coming up. tell you all about it when i join you. >> thank you, bob. we are following a developing story out of indonesia tonight. so far no claim of responsibility for last night's suicide attack in jakarta. two suicide bombers posing as guests set off explosives inside e ritz-carlton and marriott hotels. at least eight people were killed. 50 wounded. eight americans are among the injured. police s the attackers smuggled explosives into the marriott. assembled the bombs in a room they had been using since wednesday. the authorities have not said who they think is behind the bombings but the suspicion has focused on an al qaeda linked group that is blamed for deadly attacks in the past. after the bombings, the new york city police department sent anti-terror teams to major hotels across that city, including the ritz and the marriott there. police say this they were not responding to specific threat but deployed anti-terror teams as a precaution. here in d.c., police will not say whether the hotels have been put on heightened alert. they are saying that would

reveal police tactics. spokesperson says police are taking a precaution to prevent a similar attack here. don't look now. the markets are on a winning streak. the dow jones was up again today. 32 points to close at 8743. it is the fifth straight day of positive gains for the dow. dow happensn't had a five-day winning streak since july of '07. even better fors in a dakotas, nasdaq up eight straight days. and it hasn't had that kind of streak since may of '05. overall, again a lot of positive economic news today. joining us to talk about it is cnbc's hampton pearson. what's behind the resurgence in the markets? >> first of all, we are moving into high gear as far as second-quarter earnings reports and we had a lot of positive surprise this week. today citigroup, $4.3 billions in profit. bank of america, $3.2 billion.

earlier in the yeek jpmorgueman and goldman sachs, a bigger gain. dow is up 7% for the week and ends a four-week losing streak. >> you mentioned banks there having a big day. also positive news coming out of the housing market. talk to me about that. >> the big surprise in the housing market was, frankly the fact we got a bit of a surprise that in june, we had the biggest one-month jump in housing starts since 2004. so maybe house sing stabilizing and risg unemployment, however, is still a major factor. those starts were up 3.6% and that translates to an annual rate of 582,000. highest since november and may numbers were revised upward as well. >> what can we attribute the uptick in the housing market? is it too early to tell. >> number one, credit is finally beginning to become available again and stabilizing relatively speaking. builders are more optimistic. there was earlier data in the week the first time in several months, builder confidence was

up. especially in the south. so those are two factors, if you will. >> thank you, sir. appreciate it. have a good weekend. still ahead on "news4 at 5:00," a daring rescue by police officer after a van burst into flames. >> pope benedict xvi undergoes surgery after falling in italy. the latest on his recovery. people are tipping less during the tough economic times and new recommendations out for consumers. >> and this is what i did today. university of maryland's wind tunnel coming up. what category three winds do your your face and body. f?oó#qx

a beautiful day in space. endeavour is docked creating hiory because never before have 13 astronauts been in orbit at the same place. the advertise station astronauts can photograph the entire shuttle. they are looking for any significant damage from the launch. nasa says some foam insulation hit the "endeavour" during liftoff and some of the shuttle's thermal tiles were dinged. >> we are torn. wendy needs rain. i don't need any rain for the nats game tonight. >> i love your trees. >> good baseball weather. >> that's what i like to hear.

>> we may get showers. tail end. >> exactly. something for everyone. >> showers in northern parts of maryland. not in my rose garden. outside right now, we have a lot of haze out there. humidity is still there. current temperature outside now because of all of the clouds, that's in part the reason the current temperature is 73 degrees. not 81 degrees. i -- i don't know why we change the temperature. i had the correct temperature in there. look at the correct temperature on our map. 73 degrees right now. a lot of 70s up to or north because of the high clouds we had that sprinkle coming through. the dew point is still 68. 68. so it is still a bit humid there. and there are still some watches out to our south. these are tornado watches as i mentioned earlier in the tide water area. and down in north carolina, there is a severe thunderstorm watch now until 10:00 -- 10:00. look at what has been going over

the last 12 hours. we have this dip in the jet. now is the reason. yesterday it didn't look like there would be severe weather and you can see sort of how we got split. there were showers up to our north and nasty storms down to the south. everything from hail and some large hail down in the tidewater area and damaging winds. southern parts of virginia, though, not right around here. although there was one lonesome cell last evening. here is how it has been moving around. you can see the last of the watches going out. there's the patch of showers up into northern parts of maryland and ound us, really hard-to-find sprinkle. there's one in southeast washington and that's moving to you folks into prince george's county. even that one is falling art. there's still lingering showers up around annapolis and heading up into northeastern parts of maryland. and there is another one associated with the cool front. showers now to mountains of west virginia. we will keep an eye on that. it may come through, 9:00, ten

cloak with a passing shower. look how much rain fell in southeastern virginia where it is 71 degrees. boo boonsboro, too. 74 with a half inch of rain. front royal about a half inch of rain. here in northwest washington, hardly anything. so overnight tonight what's left of that little area of storminess moves up into new england. behind it once again we are going to get into a west to northwesterly flow. a lot of nice air coming in with comfortable humidity. into the 80s. so for the remainder of the evening, cloudy skies, might see passing shower and the cool front comes through late tonight. 9:00, 10:00, 11:00. by tomorrow morning, different areas in on us. we will see westerly winds. and temperatures tomorrow morning, 65 to 69 degrees. and a delightful saturday. and i think also sunday it wl be delightful with nice comfortable air in on us. fair weather clouds. th indexs i i nine.

he sp laethunbl eock. head ttoin aches,e tak t upthere. and there will be neaice ech erat e llth be l cges riud ng di t heango virginia beach. temperaturth io nte 80o ds,oo g ing saatwer.her. yesterl .ndwi o 20 ktsnout o on ttshe bay. aorie uand as f alsouteth o beaches, some nice weekend weather coming up. >> lovely. >> water your garden. >> degrees. >> it is. 74. 74 degrees. >> okay. outside now. we did have a sprinkle. >> important thing, it is mott 90. >> appreciate it, bob. when we come back, a football field is vandalized in an unusual protest under school budget cuts. >> we will tell you which hospital in maryland ranks number one in the country. >> i'm liz crenshaw. the traffic sign says no turn on red but does that include weekend and holidays? that's the question. the answer is coming up on "ask liz" on "news4 at 5:00."

if we don't act, medical bills will wipe out their savings. if we don't act, she'll be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. and he won't get the chemotherapy he needs. if we don't act, health care costs will rise 70%. and he'll have to cut benefits for his employees. but we can act. the president and congress have a plan to lower your costs and stop denials for pre-existing conditions. it's time to act.

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amazing video of a roadside rescue in georgia pap family of four driving to atlanta where their van burst into flames. two got out right away and two more, disabled woman and her daughter, got stuck inside. police officers pulled the woman out of the inferno and her dautder also get out okay. investigators think that a spark caused by a blown tire ignited the van's gas tank. protester used a high school

football field to make enough of subtle statement about spending. someone burned a giant dollar sign into the turf in east hampton, new york. the vandal left behind a five-page letter complain being school spending. his protest may backfire. the school estimates it is going to cost $100,000 to fix that field. and insurance, however, could cover the bill. pope benedict xvi is recovering tonight after an unplanned surgery for a broken wrist. the vatican's spoken person said the pope fell in his vacation home but despite the injury still celebrated morning mass before going to the hospital. doctors say that the surgery went well and pope benedict will feel no long-term effects. the pope will have to wear a cast on his right arm for about a month. it is a streak johns hopkins hospital is proud of for the 19th year in a row. hopkins has been recognized as the best hospital in the country. "u.s. news & world report" ranked the baltimore facility tops among 4800 facilities across the u.s. and hawkins ranked first and

specialties such as ear, nose and throat and rheumatology. other top hospitals include the mayo clinic in hocht, minnesota, ronald reagan ucla medical center in los angeles. the cleveland kent declinic and massachusetts general in boston. the university of medical mtd's wind tunnel may not be as famous as the legendary basketball programs but this year, the tunnel set brights its 60th birthday and use it to test the effects of extreme wind and simulated hurricane conditions. today i went to check it out. >> one leg through here and one leg through here. >> we do studies to the effect of wind on all kinds of things. mostly vehicles. airplanes, automobiles. trucks. ships. actually water employee submarines, all people can hang in there up to category 3 conditions. >> reporter: this is what a 40 miles per hour wind would look and snd like.

for us to go higher, we are going to have to get the camera out here. >> 80 miles per hour. this is what it will look and sound like if you were tethered to something. i can still talk and move my hands. that's about it. 100 miles an hour. looks and sounds ke, category 2 storm. i think we can go up one more level. what did we get up to? >> 117. >> is that the highest for today? >> that's the highest i have seen today. >> that's what i was going for. then the guy threw down the gauntlet. >> anything after 80 miles an hour you cannot stand up in those winds. >> we are in 60 miles an hour. we are going to walk in a square

here. now 70. you can still manage to ge around. far more difficult when you are not tethered to the floor. >> we know you are okay. >> the last one was at 85. you cannot apparently physically stand up. >> was it wild? >> it is. i'm exhausted. a lot more tn i usually am at 5:25. >> was it padded? >> it was not pad. >> flying across the room. >> you should do that. i think -- >> yeah. well, actually i do. maybe i should try that. coming up on "news4 at 5:00," a crash ties up traffic on a busy road. >>est stops in virginia many set to close next week. a last-minute effort to stop that from happening. >> change is coming to starbucks. some stores are getting a new name and something a little harder on the

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second half hour of "news4 at 5:00." i'm wendy rieger. >> i'm craig melvin. last-minute push to keep virginia rest stops open. changes are coming to starbucks locations. how you can get a helping fland your neighbor at no cost. first at 5:30, the banita jacks trial continued today. she is accused of killing her

four daughters. neighbors are now testifying the familiar sounds of her children playing in the yard stopped abruptly two years ago. pat collins, once again, outside d.c. superior court. >> reporter: this is a high-stakes criminal case. it mass life consequences. who is the boss of the banita jacks defense team? it is banita jacks. banita jacks, she's taking an active role in her defense here at superior core. talking to her attorneyses about questions to be asked. making strategy decisions that could greatly influence the outcome of this case. and it was banita jacks who decided to have this trial in front of judge frederick weisberg. and instead of having a trial in front front of a ju. kenny robinson is a former prosecutor and savvy criminal defense attorney. >> i think the world of him. to try that case in front of

judge weisberg with this judge with his experience and intelligence, his track record, that's like automatically may as well telephone in the verdict and send her off to some maximum security prison. that's how that will play. >> reporter: banita jacks charged with killing her four daughters, ages 5 to 17. she says that they were possessed by demons and they died in their sleep. jacks continued to live in her house for several months as the bodies of her girls decomposed and mummified. is this insane? overruling her defense attorneys, jacks chose not to mountain insanity defense. >> goes to trial on guilt and innocence and on insanity, over objection or not, with a judge, period, but with that judge, without getting him all upset,

no chance. those lawyers know that. she is a tough client. she's controlling what they do. >> reporter: in court today, banita jacks' neighbor, terry lynn loudon, said in spring 2007, jacks' daughters seemed to disappear one by one. in summer 2007, she noticed a foul odor near the jacks hous jad in fall of 20, s says cks told her the girls are fine. they are staying in had to be ed

as a precaution. route 301 was closed a while while police cleared the accident scene. the drivs of both vehics were not seriously hurt. some virginia leaders are still fighting to keep more than a dozen restaurants open ugrothhoutro the state. to9 o 42 o rest s atopsre sdtel close and i olungdine on ng i-95 in dale city and another on i-66 in manassas. all but one are expected to close tuesday. the closings will save the state $9 million a year. but some state leaders are appealing to the federal government for help they want congress to step in and keep the rest stops open. ing the district government says it is going to ask the u.s. supreme court to decide whether the city can use random roadblocks. lower court ruled this month that the roadblocks violate constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure. top sherwood has been following the story joins from us the newsroom. >> reporter: this is a hot button issue. what can the city legally do to

stop violent crime? last summer, the d.c. police set up roadblocks in the trinidad neighborhood in northeast after a series of violent crimes including the triple homicide. civil liberties group for trage short-term roadblocks following suit against the city. although lower courts upheld a targeted use of police stops, the united states court much appeals ruled july 10th the roadblocks were unconstitutional. saying the police action infringes on the right of innocent citizens to move freely in public places. >> welcome to the politics hour. >> reporter: friday, d.c. attorney general peter nichols said the roadblocks were naowly targeted and cut crime and he said he would file an appeals to the u.s. supreme ew weeks.hin the nex f >> keep inind itas w onlyseas ud twice last summer inni u tddari use of thebe unique situation there with the vehicles coming in and shooting the place up and

escaping in vehicles. so we are going to appeal that decision to the supreme court and in the meantime we are working on approaches that would avoid the problems that the d.c. circuit found with the checkpoints. >> reporter: d.c. council judiciary and public safety chairman phil mendelson oppose it is roadblocks as unconstitutional and opposed to the supreme court review. it is unfortunate that nichols was so wrong to insist that the roadblocks were constitutial . eth previous court decision is a triumph over rhetoric. mendelson told news4 that the appeal to the supreme court is not a good use of city resources. craig, back to you. >> tom, thank you so much. following breaking news right now in rderiveale, la ma jhio cgreen c havt us ulen pdle frodm a feeair n ar compx.leen lo inok aat gooeap mt'ha ts en vehag in 5pp 5th pla in alrd we recp ad olr og id n pr ress re dhon. creld we ono not kwnyor mutebo a heirdis contion w.no e wavwe t cre ohenway.

ehey are minutes away a w etwi tll g yheouesat lt atasfon yioherm tveriarri s irioufiren e,ve rdal ma. o e dsav p hbeenulled from the fire. we will update you as soon as we learn more. there is another huge water main break. 24-inch pipe burst into fairfax county this morning at franconia and telegraph roads in alexandria. wasn't much water in the road but did tie up traffic during the rush. some folks experienced low water pressure at the time. some of us saw sprinkle as short time ago. what about the night? >> we have -- did have more than a few sprinkles that came through southeast washington and there are some over the eastern shores, you can see. unfortunately for so much of the area, really didn't amount to much of anything. couple more showers down there around dale city. there is the one that passed over national airport and now you can see that's also been pretty much falling apart. silver spring, .02. here is how this july is comparing to others. this is a cool july.

our july average temperature right now is ranking as one of the coolest julys compared to 2008 when the average temperature five degrees higher than this. tomorrow temperatures will be into the mid 80s and refreshing air coming in once again. with westerly winds and more of the same on tap for sunday. really some nice weather coming in for sunday if you are heading out to the game tonight, i think it will be fine. can't rule out completely there might be a pass sprinkle. humidity does not come back until late monday or tuesday. that's when we have the chance for more needed showers or thundershowers. just an outside chance of the way it looks now. back to you. >> thank you, bob. when we come back, our refrigerator water filters as effective as the faucet mounted ones? we are going to ask liz. >> if you need help getting work done around the house we are going to show you how you can get a helping hand at no cost. america, whattaya say to big cheesy-steaky-ness!

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when do bank checks expire? what's the best water filter for your home? a question about d.c. traffic laws. liz crenshaw has the answers on this friday afternoon. welcome. >> do you have to obey the sign? that's a good question. >> i think you do. >> yeah. our first question comes from tim in temple hills. he wants to know if, yes, d.c.'

ight turn signslu incde i ds a hayidols if youan c rma akeight turn an o red w n te ten aicngffra ffcirc. u eayoca nrkr on n ofut service fire hydrant? >> good question. these are cute. we turn to theroet mpolitan police department to get yetou er swan. sensw thenig snayso n rhtig tut deswe a ndp t7-hatluha inc dseneknd a holiysnd. yo n tcanou park nreano a hntrayd fv ien i ois i of utservice. as fntg eineric tinraffclir ceir a drilor trf twsolos pted fi iafgnsif there is one before making a right turn into the circle. no overreaching rule on that one. >> all right. >> you don't get to say the fire hydrant wasn't work. >> i'm sorry,e.at d next question comes froatnoh j oh tno i fhndan a w k banking standard for when a check is considered out of date. >> i didn't ow the answer to this. we contacted the american bankers association as well. hiov tanoria ssw. sti sth aonocsiaay foni urmni t almm eerod cci a checkt' tsha outstaorin fegorn m

ha t shaix mohs isen glyaler cdealsionred sie. alst al ua s ibaernd no obl tateriono pa ay check when it isre aed pst t nhaixnon msthft a t erhe t ias twritten. ov wachia sayst aols follo o nith uatrmfoom ciarcmelodute brc ss nkba ay m thoayeoso che a six-month or older check. it is up to the banks' discretion. >> get that money in the bank. >> yes yes. don't leave the birthday check there until next bihd. ay >> theas. t question comes from wuck in leesburg. tsan o t know iof af igatat worerre filters are as effective as the one you mount on your faucet. >> we called consumer reports to get this answer. ltays a 2007 test of water erfion cedudcl that tseudwo t ho aug he h s or fpemance deferfre incner tms stdear o cmororofnd aad b eta remova meleds show or sh tendeoy t cl. aneep d den ohen d t brd. d the cost of replacentem er lte fiarhes tinam trie pce range. t butheautcentou med filters need to be replaced more often.

that's from consumersreports. if you have a question and you ouuld like us to consider for zlik sd it to ngm.cocwn.hito s cam.ll at u882-2220445-.44 n yoca tu eussaihi-m elo-m contact us about any story idea that you have. >> interesting. have a good weekend. >> you, too. thank you, ma'am. coming up on "news4 at 5:00," moderator of "meet the press" david gregory is going to join us to talk about all of the stuff that happened on capitol hill this week. also a prediction of the nats/cubs game tonight. tough economic times. that means cities are cutting back on trash service. that, as you may imagine, is causing quite the mess in some streets. could you soon be able to order an alcoholic beverage at your local starbucks? coming up in sports a look at the best plays and best bloopers of the week. just in case yd mseis.it qw .

it has been an extraordinarily busy week on capitol hill. the confirmation hearings of the supreme court nominee. >> david gregory. we will get to the nats and cubs in just a moment. start with health care. moving through the house and senate. congressional budget office issues a stern warning what they say and how that might affect the debate. >> the president said that the goal of all of this is to make sure that long-term health care costs go down. well, the congressional budget office said problem with this plan, the thing debated, it can only cause the costs to go up. so there is a big fundamental point here that undermines the president's plan. this is do or die time.

the president is putting the pressure on and not clear he has the votes. a real question about what he will accept an in terms of tax hikes and a public plan versus a private plan. whether all americans who are uninsured would be covered under the plan. there's a lot of controversial material i here that does not make this certain. he will have a prime time press conference next wednesday to keep push thing and needs to do it. >> he has an august deadline on this. is that realistic? is that just -- >> there are some democrats who want more time to negotiate all of this. moderate republicans as well. why can't we have just a little bit more time? he has been adamant saying no, we have to get it done by the deadline. >> big story, the confirmation hearings for judge sotomayor. what were your impressions of the hearings? >> low-key which is what the white house wanted. she wasn't controversial. they wanted her to be plain spoken, free of controversy. they achieved that and will get republican support, it looks like. and democrats as well. >> how did the republicans do in their questioning of her? >> i think they laid -- cautious. they didn't want to oppose the

first hispanic supreme court justice. clearly they laid markers down on future nomination fights which there are probably going to be several. >> manny acta. >> there we go. big stuff. >> i hate to see manny go. i have been a supporter of the nats from the beginning. i'm out there going to the games. i was there last night. get the pitching and offense. we have ryan and dunn. we can get it done. get the pitching. >> shake it up. >> unfortunately we had to do that. i thought manny was a dedicated guy. >> score prediction, nats/cubs? >> keep the pitching up and take down the cubs. i don't leik like these teams coming into our town with all their fans and outcheering us. we can get it done. >> all right. david gregory, thanks. >> you will be there yelling. >> i was there last night. can't go tonight. >> i will go for you. >> da t s,d.nkvi >om c uingphisdaun sony on th"mt eseepre s, idavitss esgu llwinclude hdltanh ll human staicec kumeceeryhlatn itli mccndus mchonll. m another sign of the tough economic times, many cities

strapped for cash are cutting down on a key service. trash collection. just this week battle positive more, long list of cities are streamlining trash collections from twice a week to once. the city is upping its recycling efforts from twice a week, twice a month, i should say, once a week. residents have mixed views the change. others are worried about trash piling up. shoppers are looking for good deals. if you are looking for a flat screen tv you may want to go plasma. consumer experts say there are a lot of good deals to be had now. since january two companies, pioneer are announcing they are no longer selling those tv's. those products are on sale. researchers say the plasmas generally cost $300 less and offer pretty much the same picture. a cup of jav a and a glass of merlot. starbucks is trying out a new idea at a store in seattle. the company will add booze to the brew.

the serving alcohol is calling in european coffee bars and spar bucks will see if it catches on here. the new store will be called 15th avenue coffee. typical coffee products and half dozen beer and wine items. what do you think about the eaf o starbucks selling beer and wi? right now it is only in seattle. that's our question of the day. go to our homepage. nbcwashington.com. as the recession continues, some people cut back on everything. including tipping for service. but wait staff and hospitality workers make their money from tips. the associated press is out with new adve for tippers. 15% is the minimum for just being served at restaurants. 20% is appropriate for good service. use a capital indicator and tip in cash. if you can't afford to tip at an expense event restaurant, stay home. taxi drivers should get $15%. find out what we are working on for "news4 at 6:00.."

folks, we are continuing to follow a developing story out of northwest d.c. police are looking through an area of rock creek park. looking for a suspect in a violent attack there. also tonight, production is not going as smoothly as hoped. this manufacturer is of the swine flu vaccine. trying to get it going. we will have the latest on those efforts. an online name game has ended up changing the lives of two people in a dramatic way. those stories and more coming up in a few minutes. i have to tell you, on the plasma story earlier about a good deal and all that, you might want to consider why the companies are droing manufacturing of plasma tvs before you buy. there is a good reason for it. >> which is? >> i'm not going to say because i might get in trouble. i don't know quite enough about it. but you might not want a plasma tv is what i'm say. >> what kind of the do you have? >> it ain't plasma. >> all right. >> that's all we needed to know. all righ. hey, it is friday. it has been a busy week with a lot of stuff.

in case you missed it, here's hakem dermish. >> i have a plasma. it is no good, i know, all right. in this episode of in case you missed it, president obama gets fashion advice from his wife and celebrity trades in his microphone for a glove and spectators give up their bodies for a souvenir. heads-up. it is in the house in case you missed it. pitching, the president. the southpaw who cheers for chicago's siders threw out the first pitch of the all-star game and very nice, mr. president. why are you wearing a white sox jacket on an 80-degree night in st. louis? >> everybody knows i'm a white sox fan. my wife thinks i look cute in this jacket. between those two things, why not? >> reporter: crawford had a chance to meet president obama and showed why he was an all-star. deep fly ball to left.

leaps and robs the home run. a game-saving catch. papelbon. crawford turned mvp honors. an all-star-like play right before the break. pop flying to right. check it you on. dives and makes the catch. back to the gateway city for the celebrity softball game. check out superstar nellie in center field. looking like superman. st. louis native makes an incredible catch and then the reaction from legendary college basketball coach bobby knight is frightful. he looks mesmerized. this might get your attention, too p gold medal gymnast sean johnson flipping her way to first base. i give that a perfect ten. ozzie smith knowing r known for his back flips and thinking golly, gee, i used to be able to do that. in case you missed it, we like

fan participation. in arizona, there is a pool in the outfield. watch this guy. catch i t catches the home run ball and jumps for a dip. to san francco for a treat. check out this woman. leans over the wall and snags herself a foul ball. that's the kind of effort we like to see. oh, hi. in case you missed it, now you have seen it all. >> would have you done that? >> no. i wouldn't be at a baseball game. >> oh. >> if the nats win tonight you will go. we will get you to go out. you can go saturday or sunday or monday. >> the president made news this week as well. kicked the nats when they were down. >> sort. >> of no, don't candy coat. >> it i'm not. >> what did he say? >> he said there is a lot of parody in baseball and except the nationals who are young and he said he wanted to have a little bit of encouragement for fans everywhere.

have you to be politically correct. he is the president. >> thank you. >> thank you. up next, can't afford the household help you need, we can show you where you can give and get a hand. middle of the summer but time to start thinking about christmas already. where they are searching for xxxxxóçg  ññ

for my audition to become the next happy california cow i will perform a song i wrote. ♪ california ♪ my heart is set on you ♪ ♪ i want to be

♪ in california ♪ c to the a to the l-ifornia... ♪ announcer: great milk comes from happy cows. happy cows come from california. look for dairy brands with the real california seals. kathy: ♪ choose kathy, yeah. christmas isn't that far way. never too late to start planning -- never too early to start planning i should say.

the head of the u.s. capitol grounds is spend thing wee in arizona. searching for the perfect christmas tree for the u.s. capitol. this year's tree will come from the apache's national forest and alpine. once it is picked it will tour hee state in novemberefeor ading to d.c. the capitol tree lighting, of course, held in december. since the election president obama encouraged americans to help each other and volunteer their time. there is a new website that's doing just that. helping folks do that. the website helps match people's skills to people's needs. >> over in the corner. >> reporter: deborah johnson is getting a little help from her neighbor. to assemble shell ofs and new furniture, hang pictures in upper east side apartment. >> not only is something like this complicated. i could barely get to the dry cleaners. so this is huge to me. >> reporter: it is all thanks to a networking site that he

started in memory of his neighbor dave who always stepped up to help. now he connects thousands of members who can do the same. >> this is really just using your own skills and somebody else's skills to team up and get something done and save money. >> reporter: it works like a want ad. you ask for help with anything from tree removal to assembly and then tell your network what you can offer in return. a home improvement project like this one would cost hundreds of dollars. and while you won't be able to pay that out, she will be able to pay it forward. i'm a great sales coach and mentor. i get people jobs they don't think they are qualified for or capable for. i love it. i graduated college. it is going to help me out. >> like most social networking websites moore says you can get friends to join and connect to new one. >> somebody helps you. you want to help them because they will come back and help you again. >> perfect. >> nice to stand on the sidelines and watch. >> perfect.

>> reporter: even though it takes a village, sometimes you need help finding one. on the upper east side, lynn barry, news4. coming up, breaking news. two young children have just been pulled from a fire and apartment complex. wendy rieger joins jim vance up next with "news4 at 6:00." new details about a gunfight in prince george's county. tree people were wounded. >> manufacturers hit snags in their attempt to create a swine flu vac zbleen daring rescue by a police officer after a van burst into flames. it is all caught on camera. we begin tonight with news out of prince george's county. two children have been critically injured in a fire. good evening. i'm jim vance. >> wendy riegerit sngtiin.ng this fire started a a lit e remo ilan 30 minutes ago an apartmene bu i ngdin the 5400ng bcklo of 56th place in riverdale, maryland. firefighters say they pulled two children from the building and just after they arrived on