the heat is on today in our area. by tomorrow, the hottest weather of the season is expected to arrive. midair collision. a sight-seeing helicopter and a small plane crash over the hudson river. nine people are dead. and soccer traffic. a huge crowd is expected at fedex field today. game organizers are hoping to prevent traffic jams like this one. good morning and welcome to "news 4 today." it is sunday, august 9th, 2009. i'm keith garvin. we begin this morning with today's expected heat.

it has been a mild summer so far, but today all that changes. let's go right to steve villanueva up in storm center 4 for exactly what we can expect. good morning. >> good morning, everyone. it will be a very warm day today with temperatures climbing into the mid-90s and on top o that it will be very humid. have the hottest air of the season sitting on top of us. right now 74 degrees so we are starting off on the warm de. 74 also paxsriver. dew points in the 70s. really humid out there. all is quiet on doppler radar. notice up in northeastern ryla there is some wet weather, some showers and thunderstorms coming down from pennsylvania, heading toward the southeast. all that will stay to the north but it may nick our northeastern suburbs. that's where we could have a shower or thunderstorm this afternoon. otherwise, mostly sunny and hot. tomorrow even hotter. right around 99 degrees. again, the hottest air of the season heading our way. we'll talk about that coming up in just a couple of minutes.

back to you, keith. >> sounds good, steve. thank you. now that a deadly helicopter plane collision out of new york, nine people were killed yesterday when a small plane crashed into a sight-seeing helicopter over the hudson river. three bodies have been found so far. search crews plan to return to the scene this morning. michelle franzen has the latest. >> reporter: divers searched for the remaining victims below the murky waters of the hudson river until nightfall. in all, nine people died when a sight-seeing helicopter and single engine aircraft collided midair at midday. the ntsb, now on sight and in charge of the investigation. so far, officials hav only located the helicopter wreckage. >> they're using side-scanning sonar to locate the airplane. >> reporter: the victims, a pilot and five italian tourists on board the tour helicopter. on the plane, the pilot and two passengers, including a child. soon after the crash, officials say it was clear no one could have survived. >> this has changed from a rescue to a recovery mission.

>> reporter: it was a clear day with flying conditions nearly ideal. investigators say the helicopter, owned by liberty tours, took off from the manhattan heliport. the small plane departed teterboro airport in new jersey. witnesses say it appeared the ane clipped the helicopter's tail. >> i seen debris come flying down. >> went right in, there was a flash and it was completely submerged just like that. there was nothing else. >> reporter: the ntsb says the pilot of another liberty helicopter refueling at the heliport tried to warn his colleague. >> he radioed the accident helicopter and told them one lima hotel, you have a fixed wing behind you. there was no response from the pilot. >> reporter: the planes were flying below 1,000 feet, and pilots are not required to maintain radio contact. normal operating procedure in this busy hudson river corridor. along with the investigation into the exact cause, there will likely be a debate whether more safety rules are needed.

divers are expected to be back in the water sunday at daybreak to resume their search for victims. michellefr anzen, nbc news, hoboken, new jersey. >> in maryland, two people were killed when their light sport plane crashed into a carroll county cornfield this weekend. it happened just minutes after takeoff from a privately owned air park. maryland state police say the victims are 61-year-old robert kociemba of davidsonville and letty williams of edgewater. they say he was an experienced pilot. federal aviation officials are looking into what caused the crash. well, unless you are a soccer fan you want to stay far away from fedex field today. d.c. united is playing spain'n, realma drid today. traffic is exempted to be very, very heavy. you're seeing last week's traffic snarls. it left a lot of people unhappy. today, police are expected to be on hand to help direct drivers

into the different entrances to the stadium. more than 60,000 are scheduled to attend. transportation officials recommend using the central avenue connection to minimize delays and also advise soccer fans to get to the field early. parking lots open at 10:00 a.m. and the stadium gates open at 1:00. well, it's a huge headache trying to find parking in downtown d.c. but whatf you paid someone else to park your car and then got a ticket in the mail? that's starting to happen more often, and now the district has knew rules to regulate valet parking practices. darcy spencer has the story. >> reporter: it's a saturday night and people are taking into the d.c. night life. bars and restaurants are parked and parking is at a premium. for many, paying a valet to park your car is ideal. but for some, the service has cost them more than advertised. the district is receiving complaints that valet customers are unknowingly racking up parking tickets. >> anywhere from the resident who says that somebody is parking in their neighborhood, using their neighborhood to park

valet-parked cars or from a person who's gone to an event and perhaps has gotten a ticket because they were parked in an area that was not a designated legal area. >> reporter: some residents and tourists are complaining that valets are parking their cars illegally and they're getting parking tickets, but they don't find out until they get a court summons in the mail. some say the valets are tossing the tickets, leaving unsuspecting customers to pay the ticket and fines. when did you get a ticket in the mail later? >> i won't be happy. they'll be hearing from me. >> reporter: the d.c. department of transportation passed first-ever valet rules in june. under the plans, valet companies will have to pay the district for so-called staging spots and get permits or face getting a fines. >> it's not regulated. if you have something that's willy-nilly and people aren't sure what to do. >> that's when the system can break down. >> reporter: what should you do if you get a ticket? it happened to this ddot

spokeswoman. >> i went back to the valet company. we fought. we said we did not park our car in an illegal space. we ended up bng able to recoup the losses. >> dispute getting a ticket that way because you have no proof that you used a valet service and that that's when you got the ticket. >> reporter: darcy spencer, "news 4 today." >>ime t now im6:07. stil ahead, steve is back with more on the heat moving into our area. just how long it will last plus, fan appreciation day at redskins park. what the coach told thousands gathered to see this year's team in action. stay with us.

all right. so you know it's rough when you see, in the forecast, oppressive. i mean, i like heat, but i'm not a fan of oppress sif heat. >> well, you know, in a typical summer, it wouldn't be so bad. but it's been so cool this summer -- >> yeah. >> once we hit 100 degrees, it's going to feel like we're in the oven. >> we're just not used to it. >> ordinarily it's like, hey, 100, not a big deal. that will be the case this time around. today we're heading up to about 95. tomorrow we're heading up to about 100. easily the hottest air of the season is here. it will take about three days before it starts to cool down. today it starts. yesterday it wasn't so bad. yesterday we made it into the mid and upper 80s. since we had all those clouds in place it kept the temperatures down a bit, but today mostly sunny skies, plus we have southwesterly winds which will help to bring in the heat, bring in the humidity, mid-90s today.

tomorrow, again, flirting with about 100. in fact, southwest of town some of you may actually break the century mark. let's go outside, talk about your sunday forecast. it does look pretty hazy out there this morning. temperaturewise, we are in the 70s this morning, about 74 degrees. but the dew point, that's what you're definitely going to notice. the humidity has increased big-time compared to yesterday making it look somewhat soupy out there this morning. all right. so, temperaturewise, here is what's happening. 69 in martinsburg. look at these dew points in the low 70s. that's just really humid weather. then when it warms up into the mid-90s it's just going to feel that much warmer. we are quiet on digital doppler but notice all the way up in far northeastern maryland, there is some active weather. it's basically riding up and over us, so our far northeastern suburbs basically from hagerstown through baltimore and areas north and east, that's where we can have maybe an isolated thunderstorm later on

today. 74. again, the heat is building across the ohio valley. today temperatures will climb into the mid-90s. then you factor in the humidity and it will feel much warmer than that. we do have heat advisories in effect from cincinnati through chicago and over towards cleveland. we have a heat warning in effect for tomorrow for the philadelphia area. that's when they expect to climb up to about 100 degrees as well. you can see the clouds basically shooting over us, all connected to this warm front. for us, the main player will be this area of higher pressure. it will pump in the heat, pump in the humidity. temperatures again climbing into the mid-90s. tomorrow, about 100 degrees. then when you factor in the humidity it will feel a little bit warmer than that. then we're going to cool things down on the back side of this frontal band by the middle of the week. so, for this afternoon, mostly sunny, hot, humid, the winds on the light side so no relief there. temperatur cesmbing into t che mid-90s. 95 for today. tomorrow, 99. tuesday, 95. there it is. keith, word oppressive. we start to cool it down a

little bit toward the end of the week when temperatures drop back down into the 80s and we could have some showers and thunrstorms as we wrap up the workweek. >> all right. next few days, shade and lemonade. wow. okay. all right. >> good one. >> we'll get ready for it. thank you. >> you got it. >> bruce smith takes his place in the football hall of fame. watch out. now seven straight for the nationals. here's hakem dermish with this morning's sports minute. >> good morning, everyone. your sports minute begins with the red hot nationals. last night, nats against if diamondbacks. in the fourth inning, josh willingham hit his 18th home run of the season to lift the nats over the d'backs 5-2. the nats extend their winning streak to a big league best seven games. in football, a record crowd of more than 29,000 fans packed the park for fan appreciation day yesterday at redskins park. a spirited scrimmage was the highlight of the afternoon. running back marcus mason had the catch of the day.

they go back to work this morning. in canton, ohio, last night, former bill and redskin great bruce smith was inducted into the football hall of fame. bruce smith goes down as one of the greatest pass rushers to ever live. smith racked up a record 200 sacks in 19 seasons. in tennis, three time champ andy roddick advanced to today's legg mason finals by defeating john isner in straight sets last night. that's your sports minute. i'm hakem dermish. have a great day. >> next up, "reporter's notebook," an inside look at the stories affting your community. we'll be back in 15 minutesat o stories, but for now here's jim eyhanly'.ha >> good morning and welcome to "reporter's notebook." i'm jim hanley. we have a lot to talk about today. let's start in virginia where we've got a gubernatorial race that is heating up. the president appearing for creigh deeds, the democrat. is this going to help or hurt

his candidacy, do you think? >> the interesting thing is obama has helped democrats in virginia. he's a -- he's popular. still remains popular but it's his programs that are causing his ratings to go down. they're affecting the candidates apparently in virginia. the health care costs are bothering a lot of people. people aren't sure what the plan is. of course, he being the local democrat has to explain for obama, and he's having a difficult time getting the message out. >> i don't know if it's necessarily his agenda on health care, per se, that's causing the problems. the way it's being marketed -- >> yeah. >> -- certainly at issue. in a room full of people, the question was asked, who's against socialized medicine? nearly 90% of the people raised their hand. then they asked, how many of you are on medicare? the same people raised their hand. you're already on socialized medicine. what are you talking about? that having been said, deeds has raised a lot of money. hi polling hasn't been that great. however, he's been a little reluctant to embrace obama because of the points that dave

brought up. you're talking about health care and other issues. i will say there's been some kind of undercurrent that's been fomented primarily by right wing broadcasters that perhaps lines up with the democratic profile of some of the inland areas of virginia. >> you talk about the marketing of it. you can see these tv spots now, on both sides, tying mcdonnell either to bush perhaps in the future or tying deeds to obama's policies. >> right, right. and that -- how well that's going to swing in the southern part of virginia, remember, we talked about this before. deeds comes from the southern part of virginia below richmond. that vote down there is -- the concepts are altogether different from northern virginia, from what you see. so, i think it's a 50/50 situation in virginia with whether obama is going to be successful in helping deeds to get to office. and the reason i say that is because you still have this

strong conservatism in virginia that, in the southern part of virginia, that alters what's going on in the northern part of virginia. all of that to be said that it's a 50/50 situation. yes, it could hurt mr. deeds, but also it could help him. >> well, that location -- that locale has helped democrats in recent years. it helped kaine, it helped warner. they're hoping it's going to help deeds in the end. but, you know, you can't get away from washington. you can't get away from obama's programs. while jim is rit, they're not necessarily deeds' programs, the fact that they're all democrats is what the republicans are going to take aim at. >> you're right. deeds has said, in fact, well, i'm not running for congress as -- mcdonnell has been trying to aim these ties to him. but also what's the climate change issue, they've been profiling this in such a way to indicate that, well, we don't want to hurt small businesses. and small businesses -- these are not millionaires typically. but still, they are --

>> but while the press and everybody seems to be focusing on what obama can do for the deeds campaign, let's not forget mr. kaine, governor kaine, what role will he play? how much of a help will he be to deeds, too? >> i'm not sure. i think it may have been uniquely obama phenomenon when we saw him eclipse hillary in the primaries in virginia, and i don't know if that's necessarily off his coat tails or is transferable to another candidate when the real political landscape is laid out. >> all eyes in the country, safe to say, will be on virginia, though. onlywo gubernatorial races coming up this fall, then in new jersey, too. let's move on to the current governor of virginia. he has got a challenge ahead of him with cutbacks and big budget problems right now. >> here we go again. is it going to be layoffs? who's going to be laid off? there's no more fat to find. they're down to bone and gristle now. all states have the same problem. virginia is not california.

it isn't going over the edge of a cliff, but retrenching is in order. it's always politically unpopular. so it's all kaine can do to apply the pain but try to make convincing to people that this is what they have to do. >> he talked about layoffs last week during this whole crisis. the fact that for the first time they may have a massive layoff by labor day, by september. >> that was it. >> but on top of that, people are gritting their teeth in virginia still because of the transportation problem. and those projects may be held back because stimulus moneys have not rolled down the pike yet. >> yeah, but that's supposed to be on the way. i know they're putting all the pressu on to get the stimulus money. that could help. >> let's stay with transportation, move to maryland now, governor o'malley talking about the purple line. this has some controversy to it. it would connect prie george's county and so forth. where are we now in getting this

done? why is there opposition to it? mainly coming from environmentalists. >> i think that some of the same factors apply in all these cases. so interesting to me. there is some area that will have an environmental impact and environmentalists. the crescent trail. exactly. it won't completely destroy it, but it will have a significant impact on that area. maybe the largerssue is not the state or any of the counties can really afford to do this. >> right. >> they are dependent on federal dollars to do that. so they believe that the right local officials are in place and the right person is in the white house to make this happen right now. >> but i don't understand. $168 billion is a lot of money on that particular line, especially when you're still talking about the intercounty connect, which -- i mean, to my way of mapping, it's almost the same system. the interconnect is supposed to go from, what, rockville to

i-270 over to bwi, marshall airport. the same thing with the purple line. >> a 16-mile stretch. >> so you're going to have two systems. i'm just wondering where all of this money is going to come from, and the environmentalists fighting this thing, that's going to end up in court cases, too. so it's a lot of money being poured into that whole pot. >> yeah, the concern is that the light rail that they opted for, that kind of light rail would be near a lot of the crescent trail. people who who walk it, bike it say we're too close to mass transit. i don't know what they can do to stop it. the skids are pretty well greased bureaucrat which i. you're right. there's a funding problem but they think they can get over that funding problem. >> the funding problem is really dependent on what they can rest from the federal government. people are -- economists are starting to indicate that maybe we're nearing the end of the recession and the bottom line is for these local a letters and these cities and the states

we've talked about, unless they find new ways to generate additional revenue by way of a tax base they will be at the beck and call of federal

urur welcome back, everyone, to "reporter's notebook." we're talking about topics in the district. mayor fenty, front and center. a couple of things in the news this week, an accident and this fraternity party, too. let's touch on both those right now. >> i'm sorry. well, the accident seems to be -- you can talk about the fraternity party. i'm only kidding. i'll talk about the accident. >> i didn't go. >> neither did i. >> i'm sorry i didn't. >> sounds like it was -- well. we difficult grease. >> you may have helped pay for it initially. who knows? >> that's the problem, yeah. the problem here in the original thing is that -- it's an

accident report. the mayor had a fender-bender with another car or an accident. at first it was not clear who was in the car with him. the names weren't released. sources indicate that they were the mayor's family and some friends. and then there's also the fact that the mayor has had a couple of scrapes involving febdzer benders or drivers where he's driving and he's not supposed to be. i understand he was driving here. the protocol is that you have an officer of the law drive you around if you're a high ranking official, a governor or mayor. the mayor apparently likes to drive himself. i'm not sure that's a violation of the law, but you have to wonder -- his critics are wondering, why is the mayor, with all the other stuff on his mi driving this car and why is he driving like he's iving? >> one of the areas where people had concern regarding this accident is the officer that completed the accident report was a member of the mayor's detail. >> right. >> so, we have some questions about the veracity of his recordkeeping there. one of the things of interest, the report says that this includes all passengers of all

vehicles even those who may not have been injured. >> yeah. >> and that was not true. >> one year away from the fact that the mayor's going to run for re-election. >> he has a lot of money. >> already raised how much? $2.5 million. >> $2.5 million. but the point ithat while we've been waiting for michelle rea's report of progress in the d.c. schools, waiting for some good, positive reports about crime fighting in the city and health care as well as affordable housing, we're getting most of the news headlines with the mayor saying, it was a mistake. a mistake. that some government official would allocate $37,000 to give a big party. well, anybody in their right mind -- >> this is a barty now. >> the frat party. anyone in their right mind in government knows darn wel there's a difference between municipal funding as well as funding for private events and activities. anybody in government knows darn

well you can't take taxpayers' money and give a party such as that. so, the mayor keeps coming off on television and on radio and the newspaper saying, this is a mistake. well, you know, if those are the kind of mistakes you're making, mr. mayor, then i'm beginning to wonder, like everybody else in this community, what's happening to my tax paying money? who is the trust with? >> his defenders say this is not crack cocaine. this is not -- this is not other difficulties in the office. this is not fraud to the extent that it's high level, you know, corruption and things of that nature. this is a party that was improperly paid for, which the mayor admits. there was also this accident. so you're in a different level. you're not into really high stakes corruption and problems, as you had with previous administrations. >> well -- >> whose name i will not mention. >> not so fast. go ahead. >> my point is this is a distraction. for a mayor who was peachy

clean, squeaky clean, pardon me, was going to run on "i am the mayor. i am perfectly in line with what people want to do. i have a good record, a good family." it's disturbing to his supporters. >> pardon me for cutting across you. a little bit troubling because one of his initial responses was, well, i did belong to a chapter in the fraternity but that was the national organization. but, wait a minute. if you weren't a member of that fraternity, that $37,000 would have never been kicked out. >> yeah. >> now, the thing that we also might want to watch, that was a grant. >> that's the point. >> takes awhile to process a grant. >> takes awhile to process a grant. >> somebody missed that. >> that's my point. >> or it was a hastily apportioned grant, which is a real problem, a larger problem. >> here we have the swimming pool close to his house, recreation center that they expand, what, $7500 on to put a heater in the swimming pool. and there are other instances -- >> i don't blame them for that. >> well, i guess not.

if you want to go swimming. the point is that people are beginning to look at this mayor as a person who's using a lot of his arrogant attitude to get things done in his own favor. he is stepping over the line when it comes to ethics, such as the accident and such as giving a party with government money. no one can convince anybody in their right mind that you can take $37,000 grant, which has to be processed, and throw a big bash and then come back and say, oh, i made a mistake. >> let's switch topics real quick, stay in the district, though. health care and testing, voluntary testing in high schools for stds. big problem with hiv in the district. this is something that doesn't require parental notification for one. >> right. >> is there a lot of controversy over this? >> the rap is that the city has made progress, is doing better but not enough.

it doesn't seem to be -- the big question is it can't seem to get its message out or isn't getting its message out, isn't doing what it needs to do to alert people to what they can do about the problem. you have these extraordinary levels of this kind of thing in the district of columbia, higher than many other places. >> this is not testing for hiv, we should say, but it does test for other sexually transmitted diseases. >> but there's a -- >> the hiv rate here is alarming. >> oh. 300%. >> the controversy here is the fact that parents, they can go around -- parents, teenagers can go around parents to get tested. you don't have to notify your parent. some parents have really complained about that saying that this takes authority out of their hands as to letting them know what's going on in the schools. >> that means they would not know about the results as well. >> exactly. >> and we should say that there is a program, a structured program and the student can opt out of participating in actually giving a sample. >> sure. >> we're talking about, what,

12, 13% of all the kids tested testing positive? >> we're also talking about very young kids. we're not necessarily talking about 18 and 19-year-olds. we're talking about kids that are like in the -- what, 12 and -year-old range? >> always been a problem in the district. >> it has. >> for a long time. >> a growing problem, not getting any better. >> that's it. that's all the time we have, gentlemen. thank you very much. we thank you for watching "reporter's notebook." now back to "news 4 today." have a great weekend, everybody. our top stories, search clues will be back on new york's hudson river this morning searching for victims of yesterday's midair collision of a helicopter and small plane. nine people were killed. the bodies of three have been recovered. investigators will also be back on the scene. d.c. united is playing spain's real madrid today at 3:00 p.m. traffic is expected to be like

last weekend, very heavy. you just saw video of last week's traffic snarls due to the paul mccartney concert which was also at fedex. today police are expected to be on hand to help direct drivers into the different entrances in the stadium. the parking lot will also open early, 10:00 a.m. the redskins' organization says 29,000 people came out for fan appreciation day at redskins park this weekend. the crowd was treated to an intrasquad scrimmage. preseason play begins thursday against the ravens. good morning. welcome back to "news 4 today." i'm keith garvin. let's begin this half hour with one more look at the very hot weather in the forecast. steve villanueva is up in storm center 4. good morning. >> good morning, keith. good morning, everyone. it will be very, very warm today. temperatures heading into the mid-90s. it's going to be qte hot. by the time we get to tomorrow,

temperatures around 100 degrees, possibly record-breaking temperatures. 74 right now. 73 dulles, 66 manassas. dew points are in the 70s. that's just really humid. there is some active weather up around elkins, well northeast of the district and far north and west -- or north and east. that's where we can have maybe an isolated thunderstorm this afternoon. otherwise, mostly sunny skies. it will be quite warm with temperatures around 95. feeling warmer with the humidity. tomorrow temperatures close to 100 degrees. southwest of town even hotter, plus with the humidity, it will feel like the triple digits in some spots. all the details coming up in a little bit. back to you. >> thanks, steve. the culmination of a long battle as judge sonia sotomayor was sworn in this weekend as justice of the u.s. supreme court. sotomayor, a bronx native, is is the daughter of puerto rican immigrants and is making history by becoming the first hispanic to join the highest court in the land. brian moore has the story. >> i, sonia sotomayor, do

solemnly swear -- >> reporter: judge sonia sotomayor made history, becoming the first hispanic i can, the third woman, the 111th justice on the united states supreme court. >> so help me god. >> congratulations and welcome to the court. >> reporter: it was an emotional moment for sotomayor's puerto rican mother, a widow who couraged her daughter to reach far beyond her bronx roots. in new york, a group of students the judge once helped gathered to watch her dream become reality. >> definitely one day i will be walking in her footsteps. i believe i'm stepping in them right now, hopefully. >> reporter: even critics concede her journey is inspirational. supporters say her legal experience is even more rich. >> 17 years on the bench, the opportunity that she had to be a prosecutor and to also work in the private sector. very unique set of skills that she's been able to accomplish on her 30-year plus career. >> reporter: for the first time in some 70 years, the new justice wasn't sworn in at the white house. president obama decided not to

attend, emphasizing the court's independence. though few doubted she would win her senate confirmation, sotomayor was forced to explain some rulings and defend her 2001 comment that a wise latina judge might make better decisions tha a white male judge. >> that was not my intent to leave the impression that some have taken from my words. >> reporter: that confirmation fight is now a footnote as associate justice sonia sotomayor takes her place in history and on the high court. justice sotomayor does not have a long time to get used to her new office. she'll be hearing her first case here on september 9th. at the supreme court, i'm brian moore, news 4. >> president obama is heading to mexico today. the president will be in g wad a lahar a. mexico has stepped up security for the visit. he will work on a number of issues. some of the things they are expected to discuss, trade and

immigrati immigration. secretary of state hillary clinton spent the weekend in south africa. she helped plant flowers in cape town. mrs. clinton also revisited a construction site she first toured 12 years ago when she was first lady. she praised the progress made in the area since then. as the secretary of state, also danced with locals for the second time this week. wednesday, she participated in a dance in kenya. we are learning more about what caused june's deadly metro crash. according to "the washington post," the crash avoidance system suspected of failing in the june accident also malfunctioned three months earlier. it was only safely stopped when the operator used the emergency brake. the post says the incident did not raise eyebrows at the time, but when officials reviewed computer logs the week after, they determined a problem with the automatic train protection system. this isn't news metro riders

want to hear but need to know. this month there will be delays on the blue and yellow lines. major track maintenance work is the reason why. metro's replacing the entire rail switch at the pentagon city metrorail station. starting tonight and continuing through thursday from 10:00 p.m. to midnight, there will be no blue line service between rosslyn and king street. yellow lines will be sharing one track. metro riders should add another 45 minutes to their commute during those times. most claim the government's cash for clunkers program has been phenomenally successful, but apparently not everyone. usedar dealers say their business is tanking. that's because instead of old cars getting traded in, they're being destroyed. the communicate kaers can't be resold. they have to be crushed, then their parts will be sold off or recycled. also, people who are in the market for a car aren't buying used. >> i see probably, on average, about three to five trades every day. now we haven't seen any trades at all.

>> but the clunkers program is a bonanza for wrecking companies who are expecting a tidal wave of cars to come their way and they're looking forward to selling them off one part at a time. today is the last day for shoppers to take advantage of the tax-free holiday in virginia. you don't have to pay sales tax on most school supplies and clothing. this year, virginia is the only place in our area offering this tax-free weekend. derrick ward explains why. >> reporter: stores like staims it's already the busy season. >> that tim of year, it just comes more and more until we peak in september. >> reporter: this family has to live on a budget. this shopping trip well thought out. >> with the economy you have to fund before going to the store. >> reporter: the tax-free shopping days have been salvation for families all over our area, but you won't find the tax-free holidays in the district or maryland this year. they just cannot afford to give up the revenue. so, for this weekend at least, this family is giving up on shopping for school supplies where they live and opting for virginia, home of our area's

lone sales tax holiday this year. >> i work in virginia but i live in maryland. >> reporter: even folks who aren't filling up a cart are happy to tak advantage of the tax breaks. 5% off is still 5% off. every little bit helps these days. >> i'm not going to be paying taxes. they have sales. i don't know yet, but i know it's going to be significant. >> reporter: other folks can take advantage of the break even though they're not school shopping. >> doing a little office shopping. >> reporter: the sales tax break applies to purchases of clothing items up to $100 and school supplies up to $20. while the purchase of electronics are not covered, some stores, like best buy, are offering their own breaks for customers. >> every time wrun this type of promotion, a lot of guests do come in. they are taking advantage of the 5% that the state would normally charge them so they can save a lot on televisions, appliances, also computers. >> reporter: back at staples, this family is expecting to save about $15. it's good news to mom. as for daughter diamond --

>> not really because i'm not paying for it. >> reporter: ah, to be young again. derrick ward, news 4. >> the tax breaks are expected to cost virginia some $4 million in tax revenue. the tax discount also applies to online purchases as long as they meet the criteria and are accepted by the retailer during the tax-free weekend. the recession seems to be affecting how many children merngs are having. a decade-long baby boom has gone bust. u.s. births fell by 2% in 2008, marking the first drop in births since the start of the decade. 2008 was also the first full year of the recession. some experts believe the drop in the birth rate is directly related to the economic downturn. california and florida had the largest declines. those are also the two states hit hardest by the housing crisis. now 6:39. still ahead on this early sunday edition of "news 4 today," get ready for some football. we kick off the nfl preseason tonight. plus, paula abdul dancing

her way to another job already? who is courting the former idol judgr afe brthtek.ea

we could get used to this. good news on wall street. looks like the trend will continue, at least for one more week. cnbc's michelle caruso-cabrera has this morning's business

report. >> reporter: the bad news is getting less bad, inact getting better. that could send stocks higher on wall street for the fifth week in a row. last week we heard that far fewer jobs were lost in july than expected. this week the federal reserve will meet for two days to figure out how to keep the green chutes of recovery growing. chain stores last week told us the back-to-school shopping is a dud. speaking of growing, the treasury department is expected to report that the federal budget deficit ballooned by another $129 billion last month. consumer prices, that's what you and i pay at the store, they're also expected to show a little bit of growth. break out your wire-rimmed glasses, tie dies and headbands. this coming weekend marks the 40th anniversary of woodstock. you can relive the experience or just help revive the economy by spending your bread on any number of new dvds, cds and books about woodstock. or later on this month, you can

check out the mind and fact-al rring movie "taking woodstock." the counter culture goes capitalist. geall your business news on cnbc. >> a movie tribute to michael jackson will soon be available for you to download. ♪ smile though your heart is bre breaking ♪ >> jermaine jackson sang that song at the memorial for his brother michael. you will be able to download the audio or video version. jermaine chose the song because he says it was one of his brother's favorites. silent film star charlie chaplin wrote it. no longer searching for the next american idol, paula abdul is searching forork. she's already getting interest. the man in charge of programming at abc says he would love to hire abdul, possibly for the

show "dancing with the stars." before she became a singer, she was a professional choreographer. it is now 6:44, 78 degrees outside. coming up next on "news 4 today," we'll have the morning's top sports stories and an update on this hot, hot forecast expected over the next few days. stay tuned.

hawaii residents are stocking up on the essentials in preparation for hurricane felicia. stores are bustling as people pick up bottled water, toilet paper in order they are supplies. felicia, which peaked at a category 4 sto in the pacific, has weakened and is expected to hit land as a tropical storm or

tropical depression. heavy rains and flash flooding are expected and officials are osing beaches today as a safety precaution. still surprised we haven't seen one in the atlantic, but obviously not the first one since it's at "f." >> the pacific has had a busy season but the atlantic is quiet. they had to revise the forecast and lower the amount of expected named storms in the atlantic. we are now in august, and nothing is going on. >> not complaining, just saying, you know, not normal. >> it happens in cycles. sometimes it's really busy, sometimes it's not. that's how you get averages. so, it is going to be hot. >> we couldse something to cool us off over the next couple of days. >> absolutely. it will be the hottest air so far of the season. tomorrow we would tie or break records. get ready, everyone. today the heat is here. today, temperatures will be climbing into the mid-90s. with the humidity, it will feel much warmer than that.

so, as keith likes tod an lemonade. >> there you go, baby. >> shade and lemonade for today. here's what it looks like. it does look a bit hazy out there this morning simply because we do have all of the moisture in place with the southerly winds. lots of moisture's coming in. ivery humid out there, but unlike yesterday, we are going to see lots of sunshine today, and with that strong august sunshine, temperatures today will climb into the mid-90s. you can seehain the background?in e background? the lincoln. there you go, the lincoln. hard to see, that's how hazy it is out there. there you go. so, good morning, everyone. 74 degrees right now, 75 in atlanta. you can see two air masses. east of the rockies it is really warm. west of the rockies, you can see the air is much cooler. today temperatures ahead of the rockies will be in the 90s and the triple digits. even here in the district climbing up to about 95 today with the moisture, it will feel even warmer than that. we have heat advisories in the ohio valley and the heat warning

for tomorrow for the philadelphia area because temperatures tomorrow will be even warmer. it will feel like basically 105 around phly. here's what's happening. the big picture. for the last couple of weeks we basically have had this pattern right here. a dip in the jet stream and we'll try that again. basically a big ridge out there and a dip in the jet stream for us. this has been the overall pattern this summer. hot out west, much cooler across the east coast. now the pattern is changing. we have a dip out west and a ridge for us. this is allowing the heat to build in from the south. so basically the jet stream pattern has changed. this will allow us to warm things up. it will be brief, a couple of days. then we'll start to cool things down. clouds moving across the area. northeast of town that's where we'll have partly cloudy skies. southeast, mostly sunny for today. you can see some rain showers right now moving across the new york area. all tied to this warm front right here. but for us, the main player will be this area of higher pressure. this is creating that southwesterly wind flow. today it's pumping in theheat.

95. tomorrow, even worse. temperatures around 100 degrees. with the humidity, it will feel even warmer than that. then we'll be watching this front right here. the front will d inthnt aoarea e area and cool things off by the middle of the week. but for today, mostly sunny, mid-90s. upper 90s southwest of town. it will feel even warmer with the humidity. tomorrow, about 99 degrees. and with the humidity will easily feel like the triple digits, then maybe a f thunderstorms by the end of the workweek. but i think the record high tomorrow at dca is 98 degrees at reagan national. we could tie it or beat it. >> in jeopardy. >> yes. >> all right. thanks, man. in sports this morning a record set at redskins park and the nationals power their way to a seventh straight victory. >> good morning. we start with baseball and offense is what's powered the nats to a big league best six-game winning streak but the one thing you don't get against arizona pitcher dan haren is

offense. haren is holding opponents to a 1.98 batting average. that mark is best in the bigs. last night, nats trying to stretch their stwreek to seven. we start in the bottom of the first. adam dunn facing dan haren with runners on the corners and dunn pokes one through the right side for a base hit. nyger morgan trots home to give the nats a 1-0 lead, only the fourth run haren has allowed in the first inning all season, so instead of coming from behind, the nats get on the board first. bottom of the second, still 1-0 nats. haren pitching to alberto gonzales. check this out. gonzalez hits one back to haren. kicks a beauty. throws to first, gets the out. that was nifty. bottom four, national nats trailing 2-1 until josh willingham comes to the plate with a man on. it's hammer time. crushes one to left. that's out for a two-run homer. it's his 18th of the season. nats go on to win 5-2 and extend their within streak to a big-league bes seven games.

how about them nats. talking football now and a record crowd of more than 29,000 fans packed the park for fan appreciation day yesterday. a spirited scrimmage was the highlight of the afternoon. skins rookie defense end brian orakpo had a very good showing. on the offensive side of the ball, running back marcus mason is proving he's worthy of a roster spot. and the offense took center stage yesterday in front of a bevy of redskins fans. my goodness. former georgetown prep star marcus mason showing off his versatility. here he gets some positive yards on the carry. mason led the league in rushing in the preseason last year, and then mason working out of the back field. makes a nice one-handed grab. interestingly, mason has been practicing as a fullback for the last three days, something jim zorn wants him to do more of. >> you know, he pretty much taught me the more you can do, the better. that's why i'm trying out fullback now. you know, i think it's working out. >> are you comfortable in that

spot? >> i'm getting there. i mean, i've only done it for three days, but i'm getting there. >> all right. we're in canton, ohio poshgs, for the hall of fame induction ceremony. former bill and redskin great smith. he racked up a record 200 sacks in 19 seasons. smith a first ballot hall of famer. >> in the beginning, i had no desire to play football because my first love was basketball. my agility and speed on the court convinced my coaches and friends, like andre, that i would be stellar in football. after much duress, i surrendered and decided to give it a try. >> and we're glad you did. bruce smith, a class act, inducted into the pro football hall of fame. turning to tennis. to get to the legg mason finals, andy roddick would have to complete a tall task, chop down 6'9" john isner. roddick had his hands full last night. first set tie-breaker, roddick

in the far court, isner at the bottom of your screen. the two exchange ground strokes from the blins. then isner gets sneaky with the drop shot, catches roddick off guard. isner wins the first, 7-6. roddick won the second set. we got to a third set. tied at four. isner move itses to the net, hie drop shot. this time roddick tracks it down. roddick beats john isner in three sets, advancing to today's 3:00 title where he'll take on defending champ jn martin del potro. padraig harrington is leading at the bridgestone invitational but he could be victim to another sunday tiger attack. tiger woods shot a 5 under yesterday, trails by three strokes going into the final round. tiger braving the elements all day in akron, ohio. tiger's third shot from 90 yards away. he's in attack mode. his ball lands on the green and rolls past the hole, but he's not finished with it.

pulls the string and the ball stops just inches from the cup. nice.ou wapr tnld i tiger would tap in to move to 6 under. then on 18, tiger putting for birdie. he gets that to go. tiger birdied four of his last six holes to finish with a share of the lead at 7 under. but paid rag pairing hon, who is playing behind tiger, turned it on. knocks down the birdie to move to 10 under for the tournament. he leads tiger by three strokes. that's all for your morning sports. i'm hakem dermish. >> the nfl is back on nbc. as terrell owens likes to say, get your popcorn ready. his new team, the bills, kick off the nfl preseason. buffalo takes on tennessee in caon, ohio. a familiar voice will not be calling the action. it is the first game since john madden retired. his replacement says this is like deja vu. >> it's actually the second time i've had to replace john madden. i did it once when i was working at fox, and he left there to go

to abc. and so now it's happened to me again. so, you have to be a complete and utter fool to follow john madden once. i don't know what category you get put into if you replace him twice. but it is -- it's quite an honor. >> chris collinsworth there. you can catch tonight's game on nbc 4 starting at 8:00. 78 degrees outside. we're back in two minutes with this morning's top stories, plus weather, sports and "viewpoint."

good morning. welcome to "news 4 today." it's 7:00. it is sunday, august 9th, 2009. i'm keith garvin. let's get the latest on the weather from steve villanueva up in storm center 4. steve, hot, hot, hot. >> it is the hottest air of the season is upon us today. temperatures will climb into the mid-90s. with the humidity it will feel more like 00. tomorrow it will be even hotter. so right now, 74 degrees, 73 out at dulles, 73 up at bwi. look at the dew points. they're in the 70s. that's just really humid. things are quiet on digital doppler, but from hagerstown

through baltimore and areas north and east we could have an isolated thunderstorm a little bit later on this afternoon. we do have some clouds overhead but that's mostly northeast of town. south and west of the beltway we will see mostly sunny skies today. so all in all, plenty of sunshine. temperatures climbing into the mid-90s with all of that sunshine. it will be hot and humid. tomorrow, temperatures flirting with 100 degrees and with the humidity it will feel even worse. in fact, tomorrow we could break a couple of records. that's your forecast. more weather later on. keith, back to you. >> all right. sounds good, steve. thank you. in the news this morning, a temperatures start to temperatures start to rise today. children and the elderlyre at high risk foreat stroke. dteunnd atun edndin a a car. o ea sf o cl vehicle befoitexing. exiting. also consider checking on your elderly neighbors. d.c. united is playi real madrid today at 3:00 p.m. and traffic is expected to be like last weekend, very heavy. you're seeing video of last week's traffic snarls due to the paul mccartney concert, which was also at fedex.

today police are expected to be on hand to help direct drivers into the different entrances to the stadium. the parking lot will also open early at 10:00 a.m. and according to "the washington post" the crash avoidance system suspected of failing in metro's june accident also malfun kxed three months earlier. on march 2nd, a rush hour train came dangerously close to another train and was only stopped safely when the operator used the emergency brake. those are the top stories th rng.ne is next is channel 4's "viewpoint." wel be back in a few minutes with an update. >> good morning, everybody. welcome to "viewpoint." i'm jim hanley. our topic today is quality of life in the district of columbia. and our guests this c morning a daniel flores, a long-time community act advice witness the latino community here in our area. also with us is d.c. council member kwame brown, leading a quality of life campaign about what's good about d.c. and dr. at that mer a jackson, a local

psychologist who works with families and individuals here. welcome to all of you. thank you for coming in. we appreciate it. let's first of all define quality of life. what do we mean by that when we say that? >> well, the quality of life, how we define the quality of life is, you know, making sure that your families and individuals that live here in the district of columbia, that the basic city services are working, that no matter if you live in georgetown or you live in ward 8 over in berry farms, there are certain things you should have access to. good schools, good recreation centers, health care options, the ability to be safe whether you get off the metro and go home or you drive home, or the ability to raise your family here in the district of columbia. as you know, mayor williams spent an incredible amount of time trying to increase the middle class here in district of columbia and attract people here but we want you to come here single, we want you to fall in love here, we want you to have

kids here and we want you to stay here and feel welcome as a family here. i think that's the crusade that i'm on, to talk about what's good about d.c. sometimes we get away from talking about the positive and wonderful things that are happening in this city, and i think we need to spend an incredible amount of time talking about those, but more importantly, create more of them and more opportunities for our residents. >> and these are exciting times. that's an incredible pitch because there is so much to brag about right now going on in the city. >> right. >> but do you see a divide out there in people that you deal with every day? some have described it as a rich man, poor man city where tre is this gap, if not a growing gap, between people struggling more and more these days and those who seem to be getting wealthier? and are doing well living in very expensive city. >> yeah, i think, you know, there is a divide. but i also think with the quality of life there -- it's also a case of looking at the different aspect that's we have

in life and being able to, you know, have a sense of well-being or stability or, you know, some type of full i willment from those areas. i think from that extent even going beyond the financial piece, if, you know, a person is not particularly balanced across that, then they can really see an impact on their sense of quality of life because there are a lot of people who may be doing well financially, but when you talk to them, they're very stressed out. and really in a lot of ways not happy with their lives. so i think quality of life definitely goes beyond material possessions. >> thas interesting. an overall balance and how they view themselves and their lives day to day, too. daniel, what are you seeing out there? >> well, lived in this area for over 28 years, and i've seen a lot of change in the quality of life and there is a divide between families also. but in addition to what the council member has mentioned

about education, good jobs and also public safety, the help to nonprofit organizations is very crucial to latino community because in instants, they are located in the community and it's easier important them to get their children there, to get their health issues taken care of there, aside from having to go to a hospital, have to go to private practice. also, to be able to have programs like the radio station or telemundo who's an affiliate for nbc who has free fairs, where they have clinics and information and is an annual thing where everybody comes and they can actually get all this information for free. >> let me say that clearly there's a gap and as the economy worsens, as you know, the gap widens itself. i think that we have to focus on

how do we improve the quality of life for those that are at the bottom. as you look at crime, crime increases. you look at parents that are working two or three or four jobs, trying to make ends meet. and the question becomes, how do we help people become better employed? how do we help people that are unemployed become employed? how do we get them to participate in the economic reward that they see in their neighborhoods and their communities, whether it's columbia heights, georgetown, the new h street, people see a lot of things going on in addition to columbia, see a lot of economic activity but they don't see themselves connected to it. their paychecks are getting smaller where it looks like the city is prospering even more. in order to help build middle -- middle class city in this -- not forget about the middle class, can't be a city of rich and poor. we have to help people take advantage of affordable housing. what does that mean? if you don't have a job, then the affordable housing is not realistic for you. if you don't have job training you're not going to get a job. that's the big thing we hear in the city no matter where you go.

people are applying and somebody is telling them you don't have the skill sets. there's no infrastructure to create a training people to help people get off their feet so they don't have to work two jobs. they can become better employed and have one job so they can be home with their kids and spend more time with their kids as a parent. >> very good point i want to pick up when we come back, talking about jobs and surviving in this city with small paychecks and how to expand the middle class, too. so stay with us on "viewpoint." we'll be right back.

welcome back to "viewpoint," everybody. our topic this morning, the quality of life in the district. let's talk about this current recession and what kind of impact it's having on people, and their hopes for the future. what are you seeing and hearing out there today? >> yeah, there's a lot of demoralization, you know, especially people who have put so much time and energy, you know, into their work and into,

you know, developing their families and then to have this come along, it really creates a sense of having no control. and, you know, that's not a comfortable feeling for, you know, anyone to have. and i think that that really enhances, you know, the stress that we tend to experience on a daily basis anyway. >> the latino community, how -- and how is that community working with residents to help build hope and build a stronger future in their neighborhoods? >> well, we look for the same things everybody wants. quality education, jobs and public safety. those are very key items that anybody wants for a quality of life. we were talking earlier about education, and perhaps going into adult education where you can go beyond and get a

different type of job if you don't want to continue into coege. however, the latino community continues to thrive and continues to work very hard to make sure that the haves and have-nots because, like we talked about earlier, there is a gap in between, and make sure that those gaps are met. again, i go back to the social services in the latino community by nonprofit organizations like el fula senior center, the catholic social center, the latino economic development that helps tremendously to small businesses. the small businesses that, in turn, pay taxes to the city and employ also people from the same community. so, all those things come together to make a better life for everybody. but it is a process. not to say that the washington region is not a good place to live, play and work because

we're doing much better than most other regions in the nation right now. >> we are. and we've got a strong certainly government base to give good-paying jobs to a lot of peel, but you had mentioned, council member, a number of people having two, three jobs, low-paying jobs. how do we get them to that one good-paying job in the private sector? >> well, right now we have to do more. as you look at the process of education which clearly the city is moving in terms of education being a number one priority, revitalizing our schools, really trying to improve our academic outcome for our students, but what are we doing inform our parents? i think the next phase is to focus on our adult pop lace, those authorize 20, 25, 30, 35 years old that don't have the skill set necessary to get a job. what are we doing to improve the quality -- their quality of life? if we don't focus on the parents, then we're never going to be able to deal with the

social ills of what's going on in schools with our kids. that's why we have phelps architect and engineering construction high school, cardoza construction academy and hospitality high school that's now, through this budget process, that i proposed to have, you know, $million to keep these schools open nights, weekends and summer for our adult population. i think that we have to start to focus on that particular ea. we can no longer sit back and say, we're developing everything and everyone's going to be able to participate when people don't have the basic skill set to do so. the second thing is we have to hold all of our nonprofit providers accountable. we give money to a lot of non-profit groups and we want to know who is producing who is being trained? what is coming out at the end? are people getting jobs? are they trained in the right areas? we need qualified programs to do that. as well as ex-offender returning citizen population, which is growing. we have great organizationsuch as the peaceoholics and others that are out here. but at a time when the economy

is going down you're going to see an increase and spike in just petty crimes. so we have to make sure that organizations like those are well-funded, that really deal with the ground -- what goes on the ground that you and i may not even know is coming down the pipeline. there's a number of different ways that's going to affect the quality of life if we don't pay attention and increase not only the middle class but help, you know, low-income residents feel some hope. they need to know that we're spending more than $3 million on a job training for adult population in a $10 billion government. until people like you and i and readily available we know we can send people to get trained because most people i talk to on the streets they say, just send me somewhere. i'll do that for eight weeks and i know i'll get a job afterwar. we don't lack jobs in region. as vice chair of the metropolitan council of government, we had a study that showed that jobs are up. the question is, d.c. residents getting jobs is down. 11% unemployment in the economic boom we see is unconscionable.

33% in a certain ward. we have a long way to go, and the question is, how do we make a commitment to job training over the next five years that will help people get up off their feet and give them a chance to actually participate? >> you mentioned parenting. i want to talk a little bit more about that when we come back, too, on "viewpoint." stick around.

good morning. i'm keith garvin, updating the news today. today is the last day for shoppers to take advantage of the tax-free holiday in virginia. you don't have to pay sales tax on most school supplies and clothing. this year virginia is the only place in our area offering this tax-free weekend. a special exception for baseball fans with peanut allergies. the washington nationals are hosting peanut-free baseball next weekend. fans will be able to bring in food that suits their dietary needs to the august 23rd game against the milwaukee brewers. this rule applies to people with a party suite ticket.

fans with peanut allergies can buy a ticket for $30. the redskins organization says 29,000 people came out for fan appreciation day at redskins park this weekend. the crowd was treated to an intrasquad scrimmage. preseason play begins thursday against the ravens. now back to "viewpoint." >> welcome back to "viewpoint." our topic this morning, the quality of life in the district. mr. flores, you were talking about policy changes that you say need to happen to improve the quality of life for all in the district. >> that's right. >> what are you talking about? >> well, there are families right now -- single-parent families that they have two, three jobs. but they're not making enough money to make ends meet. and at the same time, they can receive help from either state, local or county because they are

in the edge of making those dollars and if there is no change in the policy that says if this person comes in at $27,0 $27,000, the federal government can't help. but if this person comes in at $20,000, we might be able to help some. so, some parents decide to stay home. some parents decide to go to work, but then is the baby-sitting and who's go to tab care of them? parents usually do, grandparents take care of the kids. but if that is not there, then the parent go out to work is essentially maybing money just to pay for the baby-sitting and the transportation and transportation is another piece of quality of life because we spend hours in transit just trying to get from one end to the other. if you have two, three jobs, that means that you're not going to be at home watching your kids or spending time with your kids, maybe leaving at 6:00 in the

morning, coming home at 11:00 at night. >> juggling all that, dr. jackson, has got to be overwhelming for any family. but if it's a single parent that's raising two or three children, that's even more of a challenge. >> right. yeah, i think it's also important to look kind of the intangibles that go into a quality of life and i think this is where it comes in as the councilman talked about, the programs for parents. i think a big part of it has to deal with like our support network because i think especially when it's the case that you have limited financial funds, you know, looking at those things that can be done to enhance your life that don't have a cost to it. you know, such as what are ways that, you know, you can get to the people involved to feel more support with each other? what are perhaps various activities that can be done, family-friendly, to really promote that sense of belongingness because i think a big part of this is that people start to feel very isolated.

and because they're so busy either looking for a job or working job to job, they don't really have a chance to have contact with their peers and get that support. so it can enhance, i think, feelings of depression and stress and make it that much more difficult to interact with family in a meaningful way. >> i want to flip and do the other side. we started out on a very positive note. you were describing all the excitement in the city right now, too, with the new administration, very friendly view toward the city. we've seen a lot of gentrification over the past years and years in this city. what are some of the effects of that that you see? >> well, it's a number of different things. in terms of whether you have the ability to live here financially or not seems to be no matter what the color you are or what injure jen dr or race is, are you able to afford to pay the rents, are you able to afford to send your children to kwaul schools. if you're single, do you feel safe when you come home from

work? the question becomes we talked a great deal about all the great things that are going on in the district of columbia. then we have some issues, right, some quality of life issues that people need to be more educated. we need parents to get involved. involved with their kids. and we're not talking about -- we have some great parenting in the district of columbia. we have some that are not doing what they should. it's okay to take care of your kids. we need more dads to step up to the table and take responsibility for their kids. this becomes a whole wrap-around services to me. you can't fix education if you don't fix some of the social ills that are going on in the family. how do you fix that? what's the best way to fix that? let me give you an example. a gentleman came up to me and, you know, he did not see his son for a long time. he finally went somewhere and got job training and got a job. the difference means he spends time with his kids now. it's just a big difference because he is some -- he doesn't feel like he can give him that

if he didn't have the where with all to do it. he's a returning citizen. someone gave him the opportunity to get some training so now when he goes to file the application, he has some basic training to actually get a job. so he's taking care of his family, taking care of his child. and that really hit home. that said that what are we doing -- no matter how much money we give to nonprofits, no matter how much money we throw at our schools, what are we doing to create hope? his story is a story we should lean on. if not, you are going to have the conversation around gent gentrificati gentrification. people don't want blight in their nehborhoods. they want it to be developed. when you develop a blighted neighborhood, property taxes go up because it's better quality. retail, shopping, all the amenities that grandmothers and grandfathers have been fighting for for a long time are now there. what comes along with it is a different community. some people -- so many times people feel that's gentrification as opposed to

creating affdable housing that people can live in. >> we'll talk about that more when we come back on "viewpoint."

welcome back to "viewpoint" this morning. we were talking during the break about families in the district, and not feeling really like they're part of the district. daniel, you were saying this is nothing new really. >> it's nothing new. i've seen, in the past, during this 28, 30 years how families have been moved out of different neighborhoods due to changes. and i don't see them returning to those neighborhoods as councilmember was mentioning before because of the changes and the cost of leaving. schools change. everything just goes up. and the salaries are not enough r them to really stay around and be able to stay where it's

going to make a very big difference in their quality of life. >> and we talked, dr. jackson, about quality of life from the beginning. health care is certainly so important to so many people out there. and that is a big struggle right now for so many singles and families. >> absolutely, it is a big struggle, especially as far as having health care coverage and not being able to, you know, get the care that you need both for physical issues, but also for mental issues as well. because there is a tremendous amount of stia attached to that which is very unfortunate because our mental health is very much tied to our physical health. so, that's definitely a piece that has to have some improvement as far as, you know, related to improng a person's quality of lif >> we were talking, again, councilman, about families and making them feel more welcome in the city, keeping them in the city, for one. i can remember under the tony

williams administration it was like build up the middle class. ha that happened? >> well, i think what we have is no matter where you live in the city, whether you live in upper northwest or whether you live in far southeast, families want the same thing. they want -- mothers want a quality of life for their children. they want to be able to go to a park, a recreation center. they want to be able to bring their child up in a rich area to be safe. no matter where you go, we want the same thing. the question comes with health care is extremely important. if you don't have a job, then you're going to be hard for you to provide health care to your family. what's going to happen is the city will pick up the cost of -- which we've done a phenomenal job of making sure that children have greater access to health care. but it's nothing like, as he mentioned, if they get a job and it doesn't pay enough, it's probably worth them not having a job and getting health care than losing the benefit of having health care for your children. that's why we need to provide a better quality of life by giving people an opportunity to improve their employment status.

people that make $20,000 a year, we don't want to build houses for people to make $20,000 a year. we want to help that family make $70,000. the question becomes how do we do that? not only does it help them from an educational standpoint, it helps them from a mental standpoint. people are frustrated. times are hard now. people are struggling. people are being laid off. 11% unemployment in the district of columbia. that tells you that d.c. residents are not participating in economic reward of the state. >> another staggering figure. only 47% of high school students actually graduate. how do we turn that figure around? improve schools here still? >> i think the chancellor has done -- is trying to work on this issue. the mayor's trying to work on this. the council's been more involved in education than ever before. i do believe we need to tackle our middle schools. i don't think we've done enough to tackle our middle schools. when you tackle the middle schools, you improve the quality of education in your middle

schools, you automatically are going to affect the high schools. you look at the high school graduation, our children prepared to come out of high school is at an all-time low. we attack our middle schools, where people are leaving when it's time to go to middle schools. taking their kid to a private school or leaving the city to go to a middle school. if we improve middle schools in the district of columbia, make it a singular focus we will automatically improve the quality of our high schools, increase the graduation rate. >> pre-k is also very important because statistically if your child has a pre-k education, the dropout rate just reduces tremendously. and it helps the child grow up. >> from the beginning. all right. we -- >> we do have -- we implemented that part of it. the question is how do we move to the next tier? >> the conversation continues. we're all out of time now. so much to talk about in the district. again, so many important, positive things going on, but still a lot of challenges as we know. thank you all for joining us this morning. >> thank you for having me on. >> thank you. >> we thank you for watching "viewpoint" this sunday morning. now back to "news 4 today."

enjoy the rest of your weekend, everybody. well, the view from our city cam doesn't tell the whole story. temperatures are about to take off. how hot it will get today. plus, a horrifying midair crash over the hudson river. nine people are dead after a helicopter and a plane collide. and soccer fans hope there won't be another repeat of this. what's being done to prevent more traffic trouble around fedex field for today's big match. co o tneorni and welcome back to "news 4 today." i'm keith garvin. the news is just ahead. first, we want to check in with steve villanueva who's up in storm center 4. steve, it's going to be a hot one and hot for a couple of days. >> that is correct. it's going to be a hot one today and tomorrow. in fact, tomorrow will be the

hottest day of this little heat wave, if you will. today temperatures climbing into the mid-90s. tomorrow around 100 with the humidity it will feel like the tripleigits for most of us. so, 74 right now. 73 out at dulles. 70 in springfield. look at the dew points. boy, it is humid out there. dew points right now in the 70s. that's really humid weather. we're quiet on radar. later on today, though, we could have a pop-up thunderstorm from around hagerstown through baltimore and areas north and east. otherwise, we'll see lots of sunshine today. the clouds will stay up toward the northeast. likewise, the rain. temperatures climbing into the mid-90s. tomorrow we're heading up to about 100 degrees. we could break a few records tomorrow. of course, going to talk about that coming up in just a couple of minutes. back to you. >> sounds good, steve. thank you. a midair collision, those presumed dead in yesterday's crash, five tourists out on a sight-seeing trip, plus a young child. yesterday, recovery boats were combing the hudson for victims and for debris.

michelle franzen has the latest. >> reporter: divers searched for the remaining victims below the murky waters of the hudson river until nightfall. in all, nine people died when a sight-seeing helicopter and single-engine aircraft collided midair at midday. the ntsb, now on-site and in charge of the investigation. so far, officials have only located the helicopter wreckage. >> they're using side-scanning sonar to locate the airplane. >> reporter: the victims, a pilot and five italian tourists onboard the tour helicopter. on the plane, the pilot and two passengers, including a child. soon after the crash, officials say it was clear no one could have survived. >> this has changed from a rescue to a recovery mission. >> reporter: it was a clear day with flying conditions nearly ideal. investigators say the helicopter, owned by liberty tours, took off from the manhattan heliport. the small plane departed teterboro airport in new jersey. witnesses say it appeared the plane clipped the helicopter's

tail. >> i seen debris come flying down. >> went right in, there was a flash and it was completely submerged just like that. there was nothing else. >> reporter: the ntsb says the pilot of another liberty helicopter refueling at the heliport tried to warn his colleague. >> he radioed the accident helicopter and told them, "one lima hotel, you have a fixed wing behind you." there was no response from the pilot. >> reporter: the planes were flying below 1,000 feet, and pilots are not requireto maintain radio contact -- normal operating procedure in this busy hudson river corridor. along with the investigation into the exact cause, there will likely be a debate whether more safety rules are needed. divers are expected to be back in the water sunday at daybreak to resume their search for victims. michelle franzen, nbc news, hoboken, new jersey. >> in maryland two people were killed when their light sport plane crashed into a carroll

county cornfield this weekend. it happened minutes after takeoff from a privately owned air park. maryland state police say the victims are 61-year-old robert kociemba of davidsonville and letty williams, 66, of edgewater. airport owners say the man was an experienced pilot who flew from the air strip two or three times a week. federal aviation officials are looking into what caused the crash. new details -- rather now to a developing story out of northern california. seven li g cepoinse cincl, udur ce cpose, including four children. the highwayat p tlroried to stop aarrihe tysa went through a st opsign. the car slammed into a pickup truck. inside that truck, five children and two adults. four of the kids were killed. all three people in the car that police were chasing also died. new details are emerging about a massive internet sex sting. police say more than a dozen men tried to pay for sex from someone they thought it was a teenage girl but who was really undercover police officer.

montgomery county police say in each case, men gscrai ry prc darcy spencer has more o y. ren story. >> repor te t her:mesen, 1r: x se internet sex nt it erne sting run by montgomery coun police. iceli eay oshhe men is charged with solicitatiof ogearthwi solitation of a minor for seicx. for r sex. aedccfus o'r a tinccy ye-out b someone they thought sy she turned out to be a county cop. >> the men that were involved in this came from all walks of life, aged from 20 to age 56. and some were students. some had professional degrees as well. >> reporter: police set up an ad on craigslist directing those interested in sex to a myspace page. police say they made it -- was only 16, but instead of meeting her, they were arrested. >> undercover officer in texting and other communications with the defendants stated, you know, i am 16. you're okay with that?

>> reporter: many of those arrested are from montgomery county, but some came as far away as ohio and new jersey for a sexual encounter. one of the men caught in the net, lieutenant wayne mothershead, a long-time montgomery county firefighter. some have claimed the police tactics amount to entrapment. >> i know an accusation was made that we were ruining people's lives but we're here to protect minors involved in this. other people involved in the other side are making decisions. >> that was darcy spencer reporting. it's a huge headache to find a legal place to park in the district. getting someone else to park your car is convenient, but valet parking is starting to get a bad rap. some residents and tourists are getting more than they bargained for. they say valets are parking their cars illegally but think i don't find out until they get a court summons in mail. >> anywhere from the resident who says that somebody is parking in their neighborhood, using their neighborhood to park

valet park cars or from a person who's gone to an event and perhaps has gotten a ticket because they were parked in an area that was not a designated legal area. >> the valets are tossing the tickets, leaving unsuspecting customers to pay the ticket and fines. that is why the d.c. department of transportation passed its first-ever valet rules in june. under the plan, valet companies have to pay the district for so-called staging spots. if they don't, they face a $300 fine. and if they park illegally, they face a $250 fine. sonia sotomayor made histories this weekend. she became the first hispanic to sit on the nation's highest court. >> i, sonia sotomayor, do solemnly swear -- >> the 55-year-old justice was sworn in yesterday with her puerto rican mother holding the bible. sotomayor took the oath of office from chief justice john rober roberts. she becomes the third woman to sit on the u.s. supreme court. su heitayor is well suited to her new job. >> 17 years on the bench, the

opportunity that she had to be a prosecutor and to also work on the private sector. it's very unique set of skills that she's been able to accomplish on her 30-year past career. >> president obama decided not to attend the swearing-in ceremony to emphasize the court's independence. he will hold a white house reception for sotomayor on wednesday. the new justice hears her first case september 9th. president obama is taking a trip to mexico today. he will be in guadalajara. mexico has stepped up security for the visit. mr. obama will meet with mexican and cadian leaders to work on a number of issues. some of the things they are expected to discuss, trade and immigration as well as drug trafficking and border security. secretary , er pthistht aswe rather, this past we eeshetn td wi wiefsed the hapme anca journakor thmaqu on nyes s. ho w did the white housend a bill clinton secure the women's e?leree? was a the id? the prest' adviser general jame'

"rths. et"me the presth" "meet the press" begins at 10:30 right here on nbc 4. well, unless you're a soccer fan you'll want to stay far away from the fedex field area today. d.c. united is playing spain's real madrid at 3:00 p.m. and traffic is expected to be like last weekend -- very heavy. you are looking at video right now of last week's traffic snarls due to the paul mccart near concert, which also was at fedex. it left a lot of people unhappy. today, police are expected to be on hand to help direct drivers into the different entrances to the stadium. more than 60,000 people are o th > >>ponsioraatrtn officials recommend using theal ctren tr e enue connection toiz mimin ceoc srdv aane fo soccer fansso t he tge fieie early. parking lsot os apent 10:00 a.m. the stadium gates open at 1:00. in sports, bruce smith takes his place in the pro football hall of fame and is now seven straight for the nationals. here's hakem dermish.

>> good morning, everyone. your sports minute begins with the red-hot nationals. last night, nats against the diamondbacks. in the fourth inning, josh willingham hit his 18th home run of the season to lift the nats over the d'backs 5-2. the nats extend their winning streak to a big league best seven games. in football, a record crowd of more than 29,000 fans packed the park for fan appreciation day yesterday at redskins park. a spirited scrimmage was the highlight of the afternoon. running back marcus mason had the catch of the day. the redskins go back to work this morning. in canton, ohio, last night, former bill and redskin great bruce smith was inducted into the pro football hall of fame. bruce smith goes down as one of the greatest pass rushers to ever live. smith racked up a record 200 sacks in 19 seasons. in tennis, three time champ andy roddick advanced to today's legg mason finals by defeating 6'9" john is ter in three sets

last night. the final is set for today at 3:00. that's your sports minute. i'm hakem dermish. have a great day. >> time now 7:41, 74 degrees outside. still ahead on this early sunday edition of "news 4 today," sit, fetch, roll over. turns out your dog might be able to do a lot more than that. why one researcher says man's best friend may also be his smartest. and why some junkyard owners say cash for clunkers will continue to bring in big bucks for them long after the program ends. that's next.

the "today" show is coming up next here on nbc. it starts at 8:00 a.m. after this hour of "news 4 today." lester holt is live in new york. he joins us with a preview. lester, good morning. >> keith, good morning to you. coming up this morning on "today" we'll have all the latest on the deadly midair collision over new york's hudson river as divers resume the search for bodies and wreckage. we'll look no how it could have happened? plus, sarah palin adding heat to the firestorm over health care. we'll tell you what she's saying. also advice for parents about to face the empty nest. learn how to cope when your kids leave home for good. simple ways to fix everything from your computer to your car at a price you can't beat. jenna spends a night in a hotel that's got some major league baseball players spooked but is it haunted? all that's to come when we see you a bit later on "today." back to you. >> jenna wolf playing the role of ghost busters. be looking forward to that one. >> who you going to call? >> jenna wolf. all right. we'll be watching.

>> there you go. >> it's catchy and it works. cash for clunkers has business booming, especially for junky d junkyards. they're finding some of the so-called clunkers aren't exactly junk, but once they're off the road, they all have the same fate and it's not pretty. nbc's lee cowan shows us. >> reporter: a car's end is hardly peaceful. in fact, it's a violent process. usually reserved for the ugly ducklings of the auto world. but clunkers aren't always junk. in fact, in many cases, thar their only sin is they sucked too much gas. >> this only has less than 110,000 miles on it. hardly the end of its life but it is the end of its life now. it's about to be crushed like a pancake. moments later -- this is the end result of cash for clunkers, king big gas guzzlers and turning them into compacts,

literally. >> there are some really good cars in here. that's why i made sure that i was going to get a good piece of the pie. >> reporter: nathan calls it a bonanza. he says he can sell the clunkers off, one piece at a time. >> this is like a trickle. i'm waiting for the tidal wave. >> reporter: it's coming? >> it's coming. i can hear the rumble. >> reporter: bus used car dealers aren't so happy. their market has tanked. >> i see probably on average of three to five trades every day. now we haven't seen any trades at all. >> reporter: the clunkers can't be resold whole. in fact, the most valuable part, the engine, gets the death penalty. >> it's sort o the lethal injection? >> yeah. >> reporter: at this toyota dealership, some 160 clunkers sit waiting for the executioner. they have their oil drained, then replaced with a glass compound that seizes the engine. >> it's done forever. >> reporter: we watched the same happen with this mercedes-benz

in remarkably good condition until -- >> you look at stuff like this, and it's like, wow, there's people that could actually use this, you know, get that second chance. >> reporter: but you got to do it? >> that's the law. >> reporter: these cnkers may get a second chance after all. pieces of them anyway. who knows? the clunker you left behind could one day be recycled and return as your aluminum siding. lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. >> okay. so maybe your dog is as smart as you thought after all. a psychologist and leading canine researcher claims most dogs are at least as smart as a 2-year-old child. according to a new report, dogs can understand more than 150 words and intentionally deceive other dogs and people to get treats. it's not just english. they're pretty solid at ll t, we iturns well, it turns out. dogs can count up to four or five. some breeds are sharper than .hers the smartest breeds areor bherdr collies, poodles andmaer gn

shepherds. yes. i grew up wh a german shepherd. one of the smartest dogs in the world. i would concur. >> you would say count to five. >> my dog could count to six. >> now, that's the smartest dog ever. >> yes, yes. all right. a lot -- a lot of dogs barking about this weather over the next couple of days. >> it is going to get really hot, the hottest air of the season is here. stick around. your forecast coming up. er

all right, steve now joins us with weather. we can not say we weren't due. >> yeah. >> it is beginning -- almost middle of august. >> it is august. we have yet to hit the triple digits. we may not hit the triple digits tomorrow but we're going to be awfully close. >> get a taste. >> definitely going to get a taste. the record high tomorrow at reagan national is 98. tomorrow we could either tie it or beat it. we could go to 99. plus, you factor in the humidity, and it will feel like the triple digits. so, get ready, everyone. the hottest air of the season is here. today warmer than yesterday. yesterday we were only in the mid and upper 80s thanks to all the clouds, but today no excuse. no clouds out there. lots of sunshine and with that strong august sun, temperatures today climbing into the the0 tomoow,rr the upper 90s. again, with the humidity feeling like 100 degrees or better regionwide. it's very hazy out there. it is -- yeah, the dog days of

summer. we have so much moisture in the atmosphere, it's really humid outside that it makes it look like this. pretty hazy. you can see the washington monument but nonetheless, you can see how hazy it looks outside as we welcome across the potomac and onto the mall. good morning, everyone. termwise, here's what's happening. 74 down at pax river. due points nr the low 70s. when dew points are in the 70s it's really, really humid. yesterday dew points were in the low 60s. it was a bit more comfortable. all the quiet on digital doppler, but later on today with the daytime heating we can rule out out at least an isolated thunderstorm from hagerstown through baltimore and areas north and east of that. 74 locally. 70 down in raleigh. this is where the heat will be building today. from chicago through st. louis, down to memphis. temperatures there will be in the 90s. with the humidity it will feel like 100 degrees for them. you can see we have heat advisories in effec from cincinnati through chicago and over towards cleveland. for tomorrow, already there's a heat warning in effect for the

philadelphia area where with the humidity it could easily feel like 105 degrees. later on today, our local weather service will determine if we need to issue a heat warning for tomorrow as well. here's the satellite image. north and east of town today, partly cloudy. south and west, mostly sunny. high pressure will be the main feature over the next couple of days. this, in turn, will pump in the heat, the humidity. again today mostly sunny, climbing into the mid-90s. tomorrow, around 100 degrees. then we're going t ols conghidown by thetao cool things down by theeiddl s the week as this frontid ssrt to push into the area solle' call it hazy, hot a ll humid. the dog days of mmsu.er. to today. rrmo, 99. if we do hit 99, we do break the record for tomorrow at reagan national. 95 on tuesday. then a literr bit cooler for the end of the week on the back side of a frontal band. >> all right. the dogs are barking. >> you got to go to the beach or the pool or -- >> find some relief somehow. >> something. >> something indoors. thank you, steve. in sports, a record set at

redskins park and the nationals power their way to a seventh straight victory. here's hakem dermish. >> good morning. we start with baseball and offense is what's powered the nats to a big league best six-game winning streak, but the one thing you don't get against arizona pitcher dan haren is offense. haren is holding opponents to a .198 batting average. that mark is best in the bigs. last night, nats trying to stretch their streak to seven. we start in the ttom of the first. adam dunn facing dan haren with runners on the corners and dunn pokes one through the right side for a base hit. nyger morgan trots home to give the nats a 1-0 lead, only the fourth run haren has allowed in the first inning all season, so instead of coming from behind, the nats get on the board first. bottom of the second, still 1-0 nats. haren pitching to alberto gonzales. check this out gonzalez hits one back to haren. kicks a beauty. throws to first, gets the out. that was nifty. bottom four, nats trailing 2-1

until josh willingham comes to the plate with a man on. it's hammer time. crushes one to left. that's out for a two-run homer. it's his 18th of the season. nats go on to win 5-2 and extend their win streak to a big-league best seven games. how about them nats. talking football now and a record crowd of more than 29,000 fansacked the park f fan appreciation day yesterday. a spirited scrimmage was the highlight of the afternoon. skins rookie defensive end brian orakpo had a very good showing, getting to the qb on several occasions. on the offensive side of the ball, running back marcus mason is proving he's worthy of a roster spot. and the offense took center stage yesterday in front of a bevy of redskins fans. my goodness. former georgetown prep star marcus mason showing off his versatility. here he gets some positive yards on the carry. mason led the league in rushing in the preseason last year, and then mason working out of the back field. makes a nice one-handed grab. interestingly, mason has been practicing as a fullback for the last three days, something jim

zorn wants him to do more of. >> you know, he pretty much taught me the more you can do, the better. that's why i'm trying out fullback now. you know, i think it's working out. >> are you comfortable in that spot? >> i'm getting there. i mean, i've only done it for three days, but i'm getting there. >> all right. we're in canton, ohio, for the hall of fame induction ceremony. former bill and redskin great bruce smith headlining the six-member class last night. smith goes down as one of the greatest pass rushers to ever live. he racked up a record 200 sacks in 19 seasons. smith a first ballot hall of famer. >> in the beginning, i had no desire to play football because my first love was basketball. my agility and speed on the court convinced my coaches and friends, like andre, that i would be stellar in football. after much duress, i surrendered and decided to give it a try. >> and we're glad you did. bruce smith, a class act, inducted into the pro football hall of fame.

turning to tennis. to get to the legg mason finals, three time champ andy rodding would have to complete a tall task, chop down 6'9" john isner. we're at the fitzgerald tennis center. roddick had his hands full last night. first set tie-breaker, roddick in the far court, isner at the bottom of your screen. the two exchange ground strokes from the baselines. then isner gets sneaky with the drop shot, catches roddick off guard. isner wins the first, 7-6. roddick won the second set. we go to a third set. tied at four. isner moves to the net, hits the drop shot. this time roddick tracks it down. rips the cross court winner. roddick beats john isner in three sets, advancing to today's 3:00 final where he'll take on defending champ juan martin del potro. padraig harrington is leading at the bridgestone invitational but he could be victim to another sunday tiger attack. tiger woods shot a 5 under yesterday, trails by three strokes going into the final round. tiger braving the elements all

day in akron, ohio. here on the par 5 16th, tiger's third shot from 90 yards away. he's in attack mode. his ball lands on the green and rolls past the hole, but he's not finished with it. pulls the string and the ball stops just inches from the cup. nice. tiger would tap in to move to 6 under. then on 18, tiger putting for birdie. he gets that to go. tiger birdied four of his last six holes to finish with a share of the lead at 7 under. but padraig harrington, who is playing behind tiger, turned it on. here on 15, knocksown the birdie to move to 10 under for the tournament. he leads tiger by three strokes. that's all for your morning sports. i'm hakem dermish. have a great day. >> that is "news 4 today." the "today" show is next. we'll be back in about 25 minute force a local news update. join us again at 9:00 for the full hour of local news, weather and sports. have a good morning.