banned twitter and all social media sites over concerns the network would be vulnerable to attacks by viruses and hackers. at the same time, many at the highest ranks are finding twitter to be a useful tool on the ground. >> the military's got a very love-hate relationship with social media right now. you've got the top military officer in the country, admiral mike mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, he's got thousands of followers on twitter, and he's tweeting almost every day. >> the air force also recently trangd twitter messages along with other social sites to gauge the public backlash this spring following the air force one photo shoot flyover in manhattan. how it's used is still up for debate. michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. >> the defense department has created its own cyber command. it's reviewing the twitter policy for all four branches of

the military. >> stay with us, everyone. "news 4 today" continues now at 5:00 a.m. shots fired. an outbreak of gunfire in the district and a young girl rushed to the hospital. how police say a 13-year-old was shot inside her own home. >> bump in the road. a construction project amgd at easing traffic congestion. why lawmakers in northern virginia have decided to hit the brakes on this plan. >> middle ground. opposition against a proposed health care plan is gaining momentum. what president obama is now saying he'll do to get a bill passed. good morning. welcome. we're glad you're with us today. i'm barbara harrison. >> good morning to you. i'm joe krebs on this tuesday. it's the 18th day of august 2009. take a live look outside. got a nice, dark sky, 77 degrees. some star or planet gleaming brightly out there, or a freight train headed our way. let's find out.

>> a quiz for you for a change. >> i say it's a harley-davidson, with wings, coming on in. mis ngsenus is gl anbr liiltly inhern etekylias s s this morning. e a look we weak haneve o l shoneay w out there in allegheny county.ll re theonn region now in the 60s and the 70s. 75 in washington. the dew points in the mid and upper 60s so it's rather humid. near 70 eastern shore. low and mid-60s out in the mountains. just a few clos around, be with us here from time to time heroughout the day. c rwise mostly sunny, he0st, 9 ao9 and rather humid but more humid wednesday, thursday and friday, a chance of thundershowers each day. here's a look at the enowekwed.k saturday could be maybe some passinthhounders wers but drying out and cooling down sunday and monday. hurricane bill could become a major hurricane today. the latest on bill at 5:11. >> all right. thk you, tom. >> thanks very much. let's go to jerry edwards, see if h sees any motorcycles or even freight trains out there on the roads. >> good morning, jerry. >> good morning. a few folks out and about. nothing too much to worry about.

let's head out, take a live look. as i mentioned earlier, had a bunch of overnight rd work between tysons corner and river road on the beltway. they should be pulling up stakes just about any time. no worries through northeast washington. new york avenue, kenilworth avenue doing fine. wilson bridge, quiet start. back to you. >> thank you, jerry. >> thanks, jerry. new today. the nationals make a 21-year-old pitching prospect a very rich man. they signed their top overall pick late last night. stephen strasburg gets a guaranteed $15 million over four years. that's the most ever for a draft pick. strasburg pitched for san diego state, dominating in college. the nats had until midnight last night to sign him. the team gm says the deal got done at11:58. also new today, gunfire hits a teenage girl in the district. the 13-year-old was sitting inside her house when she was suddenly shot. it happened just before midnight at a home in the 1800 block of frederick douglass place southeast.

police tell us several bullets came into the home and at least onstruck the teenager in the back. she was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition this morning. police have no suspects or motive at this time. we'll have much more on this story and a live report coming up at 5:30. >> a high school wrestling coach in fairfax county is in jail this morning, bustedde in an online child sex sting. his name is gary debrielle. he is 27 years old. he is a part time coach at woodsohigh school. he's accused of going online to have a sexual conversation with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl, but au thorities say he was itglk w talking with a spotsylvania county sheriff's deputy. experts say parents should be on alert. >> research recently showed that one in seven children receive unwanted sexual solicitations online. >> school officials say debrielle worked prkt times a wrestling coach but was not a teacher at the school. they also say he did pass a

criminal background check. debrielle is being held without bond. >> firefighters haven't figured out why a vacant apartment building went up in flames in gaithersburg. the two-alarm fire broke out on east diamond avenue. firefighters sounded a second alarm. we've learned the apartment was already schedul to be demolished. >> health care reform on the minds of more americans. a new poll out this morning suggests the number of people who are concerned about reform is now growing. the findings indicate fewer americans are confident in insurance coverage, affordability and access compared with last month. the numbers are even worse when asked about medicare coverage for seniors. it's not surprising considering the number of protests taking place around the country and the number of people who have turned out at town hall events. one of those events the president tried to re-assure people that the government is not out to put insurance companies out of business with a government-run system.

>> public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform. this is just one sliver of it. >> the poll we referred to was a small sampling, only about 500 people. several more town hall events are taking place again today. >> hurricane season is really heating up out there. hurricane bill has become a category 2 with winds whipping at 100 miles per hour, and he could get even bigger today. forecasters say it will gain even more strength and could pose a threat to bermuda later his week.orws fus , gened or fs ri os m m likely track ie hbaead utde oo cknt th atlantic. as for what was once tropical storm claudette, she continues marching north, dumping rain on the southern u.s. the first named storm of the season to come ashore packed a punch along the florida panhandle, dumping heavy rain and kicking up some wind, too. another storm in the atlantic,

what was once ana has dissipated now. >> our time right now is 5:06, 77 degrees. vandals target a celebrated youth center in the district. >> plus, what federal investigators are now saying about a key part of the investigation following that midair collision over the hudson river. >> and the montgomery county police say they busted a bandit n th a tasteesor farig d clot

could be the door to an outdoor privy. welcome back to "news 4 today" at 5:10, 77 degrees right now. >> here's a binar gat toat out d. ki ne i began's, ihopihop aihnd lo ho stehoakakuse offers free children's meals on tuesday evening. call ahead to make sure the restaurant knows you're coming. >> a look at traffic and weather

on the 1s. he is in storm center 4. tom? >> a wonderful shot of the moon there. it's a rather sultry summer morning, quite humid and as we take a look at the tropics, bill has gained strength overnight. here is hurricane bill. it continues to churn away out here in the south central atlantic. there's the eye of bill. these are the latest statistics. it has winds of 98 to near 100 miles an hour. that's sustained. gusts over 120 right now. moving west/northwest at about 15. over the next couple of days, continuing on a west/northwesterly track. it's over 2,300 miles southeast of ocean city right now. but by the time we get into friday morning it certainly was going to be passing north of the islands, it appears now. that's good news for them. here's bermuda. may be coming just to the west of bermuda. could travel anywhere within this zone. by sunday morning it could be off the outer banks. we'll keep an eye on it for you. that's the latest with hurricane bill. for us on radar, got one little lonely shower way out there in

southwestern allegheny county. temperatures in the 60s and low and mid-70s around the region. we'll have a few clouds around today with afternoon highs climbing to the low 90s. then tomorrow, thursday and friday, more humid with a chance of afternoon thundershowers. highs in the 80s to near 90. a look at the weekend, that will be in ten minutes. jerry, how's the traffic? >> let's head out, take a live look. good morning, everyone. so far, so good out there. picking up volume 95 northbound, typical for this time of the year as you come out of dale city. the good news is all lanes are open northbound and southbound on 95. let's let you know that things are moving along pretty well over at good old route 50 out in southern maryland this morning, 301, route 5, nothing too much to worry abt. going all the way into southeast, light traffic at all the anacostia bridges. back to you. >> thank you, jerry. >> thanks a lot. >> our time rht now 5:12. it's 77 degrees in washington. new today, the nationals have picked up their biggest win of the season, and this one didn't even happen on the field. >> plus, easing traffic

congestion in northern virginia. next at 5:15 a.m., the mega highway construction project just put on hold.

here's a look now at some of the top stories maging headlines today. the search is on for the gunman who shot a 13-year-old. the girl was inside her home when a bullet pierced the house,

striking her in the back. this happened on frederick douglass place southeast. the 13-year-old is expected to survive. well, what was once tropical storm claudette is losing strength now, but it still packed a punch in florida. claudette battered parts of the panhandle with heavy rain and strong winds. elsewhere, all eyes are on hurricane bill this morning. it is expected to strepgen into a major hurricane and could strike bermuda later this week. this morning a federal official says there will not be nearly as much swine flu vaccine ready by mid-october as had been predicted. a spokesman for the health and human services department says that there should be about 45 million doses by then. afterward, about 20 million are expected weekly. the delay is being blamed on manufacturing issues. barbara? >> a major development this morning on the highws of virginia. it looks like virginia's putting the brakes on plans to build h.o.t. lanes on i-95 and 395.

news 4's connected to your commute with more on this one. tracee, good morning. >> the plan was to ease congestion in virginia on one our area's busiest roads but now state leaders are saying this isn't the right economic environment to support the cost efothr construction. construction of the h.o.t. lanes was scheduled to begin next summer. the h.o.t. lanes would have run from the pentagon to massaponax in spotsylvania county. the governor's office now says it's re-assessing the plan because it's not se money to build the private/public funded h.o.t. lanes will be available. now, the decision will not affect the $1.9 billion h.o.t. lanes project already under construction on the beltway. h.o.t. lanes are free to car pools and buses but drivers who don't meet the high occupancy vehicle requirements are supposed to pay tolls. the prices vary according to the time of day and the number of cars using the lanes. the virginia transportation secretary is telling "the washington post" the plan has been delayed but not abandoned. back to you all.

.ok ay thanks, otan> rheeeac another heads-up for drs.er they'll nos.cee stiom ntiight e closures on i-oulohr tghi-ou ts can work on tunhe co ws t teinntyou ntentrcinyou run from8rou 19 ichntanerge e.haininterchange to rte21te e utsoon witeinounghand ede southbound lanwi edosrtta ag 7:00 .m,p. am.orun. .,p. etxpecm.p. expect to see ubdoean l closures. drivers should see some relief from the lane closures by october. >> well, montgomery county police say they've nabbed a cross-dressing t f w designer f 20-year-old jonathan bra eyea-yr-old jonathan bradl r-edpullr o ve pulled over while driving in w sosoheast washingtont last week. after questioning, investigators connected him to a shoplifting incident at sax fifth avenue in chevy chase last month. they say bradley, dressed in drag, stuffed are $2,000 dress his bag. police say he ran away, but not before attacking a security guard with pepper spray. >> this morning, the search is

on for a bank robber in manassas. take a lkt isthis surveillance photo. lice say the man in this picture robbed the td bank on digs road. he took off on foot. if you recognize him, police ask you to give them a call. >> the washington nationals picked up their biggest win of the season and it did not occur on the playing field. >> the team has agreed to a contract with the number one overall draft pick. lindsay czarniak has details now in your sports minute. >> hey there. good morning, everybody. your sports minute on this tuesday begins with the nationals. it went down to the wire, but finally just at the midnight deadline, number one pick pitcher stephen strasburg agreed to a deal with the nationals. we'll have more on the strasburg signing this afternoon. elsewhere in the big leagues, the angels blasted the orioles pitching with four home runs. vladimir guerrero hit two homers, had five rbis and the angels beat the or yeels 8-5. to redskins news, where

clinton portis says he will play saturday night against the steelers. don't expect to see him long but he will see some action. meanwhile, the rookies got a real workout yesterday but it was because of the veterans. rookie kevin barnes and robert hanson were tied to the goal posts, couldn't break out until veterans let them out, all in good fun. that's your sports minute. i'm lindsay czarniak. have a great day. >> it's not the kind of music you typically hr at the ballpark, but now nats park is getting ready to open its doors to opera. the washington national opera will offer a free screening of the barber of seville at the ballpark on october 12th. opera fans will get to watch the film while taking in everything the park has to offer, including concessions. the event is intended to make opera more accessible to everyone in the washington community. >> when was the last time you had a hot dog at the opera, during the middle of it, as you re sitting there watching it? >> doesn't happen too often. not at the kennedy center. let's take a look at our weather.

moving up on 5:21. traffic and weather on the 1s, tom. >> it's a rather steamy summer morning under way, partly to mostly clear at isho ur, just a few high clouds coming through. venus in the east, jupiter in the west. 75 in washington. 60s farther to our west. 70s around the bay. just one little lonely shower out in southern allegheny county. that's dissipating. lots of sun today. highs low 90s. rather humid. but steamy and more humidity around on wednesday, thursday and friday. each day in the 80s to near 90. a pretty good chance of afternoon passing thundershowers. looks like that's going to be the story on saturday as well. but on sunday and monday, lower humidity moving in. fresh and cool in the mornings, low and mid-60s. afternoon highs only may make it into the low 80s on sunday and monday. a little fallish feeling in the air as we start off next week. now let's check traffic. jerry, how's it looking? >> looking pretty good so far. good morning, everyone. capital beltway so far traveling

both the inner loop and outer loop around greenbelt, college park, down toward andrews, a little bit of volume, but all travel lanes are open as you can clearly see. elsewhere, water main break continues to cause potential delay on route 198 westbound at 29 up in burr tonsville. 270, no worries so far. back to you. >> thank you, jerry. >> 5:22 now, 75 degrees. what federal officialsre saying about the availability of swine flu vaccine. >> also a make or break in the biggest case of hacking and identity theft. >> the investigation following a series ofvethnt eedats l to

a major indictment in what could be the largest identity theft scheme ever prosecuted in the united states. albert gonzalez and two unnamed

russians are accused of stealing more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers. prosecutors say they stole the numbers from five major corporations including 7-eleven between 2006 and 2008. if convicted, each suspect faces up to 35 years in prison. >> new information today about that midair collision over the hudson. the ntsb now says that the helicopter that hit a small plane was not initially visual on ray czar to the air traffic controller. investigators had said the controller failed to warn the plane's pilot of the potential for a collision with several aircraft in its path, including that helicopter. nine people were killed in the august 8th accident over the river between new york and new jersey. >> our time is 5:26, 75 degrees. hurricane bill is gaining strength out in the atlantic ocean. what meteorologist tom kierein says about its chances of hitting our region. >> and d.c. police are investigating an overnight shooting that sent a 13-year-old girl to the hospital. >> also, a warning for parents

after a tragic accident involving a local child and a set of venetian blinds.

>> reporter: bullets pierce the walls of a townhome in southeast washington. a 13-year-old girl is shot in the back. i'm megan mcgrath. that story coming up in a live report. >> change of heart. what president obama's now saying he'll do to get his highly contested health reform bill passed. >> wrongful death. the new details we're learning about what may have happened -- or what may happen now in the investigation into michael jackson's death. well, good morning to you. welcome to "news 4 today." i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm barbara harrison. it is tuesday, august 18th, 2009. looking outside, we see venus. we know that's what it is, not a harley-davidson heading in our

direction. looks like we see the sliver of a moon out there as well. some clouds. let's talk to tom kierein about what we can expect from the weather today. >> looks like a baseball mitt getting ready to catch venus. >> such an imagination, joe. >> let's go to tom kierein. >> hey, out in the tropics hurricane bill maintained strength overnight. still is a category 2 hurricane. bill is continuing to spin away out over the south atlantic and it does appear now that it's going to pass north of the islands. right now sustained winds near 100 with gusts over 120 moving west/northwest at 15. by the time we get into friday morning it will still be out over the open wattest of the atlantic but it will be approaching bermuda, which is right here. it does look like sometime on saturday. it could tck anywhere in this yellow zone. if it's on the western side of it we'll of to keep an eye on it. by sunday maybe just off ocean city. for us, low and mid-70s, 60s farther to the west and north. we did have an overnight shower in the shenandoah valley and out in the mountains.

highs today soaring to the low 90s. >> rather humid. it will get steamy wednesday, thursday, friday. afternoon thunderstorms. a look at the weekend in ten minutes. jerry, how's the traffic? >> aive look and see how things are going. the commute around town not so bad. capital beltway around van dorn street, traffic continues to move well. a water main break on route 198 near route 29 in burtonsville, authorities are over there dealing with that. received word of another one crews are working on in bladensburg. beltway, college park to silver spring, so far, so good. back to you. >> thank you, jerry. >> jerry, thanks very much. new today, the nationals get their man. it took them well into the night but the team signed pitching phenom stephen strasburg. the number one overall pick in this year's draft. both sides agreed to a deal just 77 seconds before midnight last night. the deadline for the teams to sign their picks.

and it's quite a deal for strasburg. the 21-year-old will make record money. no matter what he does on the mound, he will make $15 million guaranteed over the next four years. >> also new today, a 13-year-old girl is sitting inside her southeast washington home when she is suddenlyhot in the t before midnhthappened jusa foig are it dnight at a home in the 1800 block of frederick douglass place in southeast washington. news 4's megan mcgrath joins us now with details on this. good morning, megan. >> reporter: good morning. this is the townhouse that was shot up behind me here. it's located at the intersection of frederick douglass place and to buy as drive. police say that shots were fired from somewhere outside in the street. nine bullets -- we counted nine bullet holes in the side of this townhome, and some of those bullets actually went through the walls, entering the home. that's when a 13-year-old girl who was inside the house was shot in the back. this happened a little bit before midnight early this morning. we're told by police that the girl was about to get into the shower when she was shot in the

back. she apparently could not be seen from the street so the people who were firing would have no ability to aim at her in any way. again, these bullets, the hail of gunfire, some of the bullets actually pierced the sides of the walls and went into the home itself. now, it'sunclear whether or not the people who were firing these shots were actually targeting this particular house or whether they were firing in the street and this was a random kind of thing. they're trying to sort all of that out. looking at the home from the street, it looks like there may have been an egg thrown at the window as well. that's splatter mark on one of the lower level windows. now, the 13-year-old who was shot, we're told that she has been treated and released. she's going to be just fine. back to you all. joe, barbara. >> all right. thanks very much, megan. >> thank you, megan. a long and difficult cleanup is under way after vandals caused some shtious damage at a celebrated youth center here in the district. these are pictures taken from inside the life pieces to masterpieces center in northeast washington. the vandals struck sometime between sunday night and monday

morning. employees believe fire extinguishers were used to break through glass doors. once inside, the vandals splattered paint throughout the building, left hate messages and destroyed a flat screen television. the organization is an art space -- >> devastated. it was like seeing 15 years of really hard work, doing good things in the community basically trashed. >> again, the organization is an arts-based youth development program. it received a lend a hand award from the "today" show back in 2004. damage is estimated at $10,000. >> well, from coast to coast, health care reform is what everyone's talking about today. according to new polls out this morning, confidence in the current system, though, is falling. and the president appears to be backing off his push for a government insurance option, know the white house says nothing has changed. brooke hart is joining us now live to sort all this out. good morning, brooke. >> reporter: good morning to

you, joe. tough job that is. the bottom line is that democrats are still struggling over what a reform package should look like. in the meantime, americans are still flocking to those town halls in big numbers. in orlando last night, lines started early for a health care town hall. activists on all sides of the debate. >> the health insurance industry is ripping off americans right, left and down the middle. >> reporter: by dark, police kept overflow crowds in check. almost ten times as many people showed up as could fit inside. >> i'm not going to sit here and let them block me out of the meeting when he's got his handpicked union people. he's my congressman and i'm entitled to talk to him. >> reporter: inside, the democrat fielded calm questions. the main friction point now, the state of a public insurance option and the president's suggestion it might be dropped. >> the public option, whether we have it or we don't have it -- >> reporter: former party chairman howard dean is leading the liberal backlash. >> we've had socialized medicine

in this country for 45 years. it's called medicare. most people really like it. it's called veterans affairs benefits. most people really like it. >> reporter: the comparison to v.a. care came as president obama promised veterans better. >> deliver your benefits sooner. i know you've heard this for years, but the leadership and resources we're providing this time means that we're going to be able to do it. >> reporter: republicans are looking to seize on democrats' internal squabbles over health care. house republican leader john boehner sent an open letter tob. he warned its cooperation on the white house with reform is like cutting a drug deal with a bully. some are bound to see this as lobbying gone backwards. in his letter, representative boehner urges pharma t join republicans in what he calls opposing "government health care

subsidies for those who insist on being irresponsible. m "back to you. >> a decision on whether or not to release the man convicted in the lockerbie bombing is expected to be made in the next few ys. he has always maintained his innocence but he's been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. libya has asked that he be released to see his family before he dies. the decision is in the hands of scotland's justice minister who has consulted with families of the victims in the u.k., the u.s. and has visited the man in prison. >> our time is 5:38, 75 degrees. big changes for a major construction project in northern virginia. what this might mean for your commute. >> also, a parent's worst nightmare. how a child was killed inside their own home. >> plus, growingears about the swine flu as health officials release new information about the availability of a vaccine.

weather and traffic on the 1s. now 5:41. good morning. 75 in washington. here's a view of the eastern sky. 45 minutes away from sunrise. we have an exquisite cress cent moon. steamy wednesday, thursday and friday. pass of afternoon thundershowers. mid-80s on friday. maybe some thundershowers as well still rather steamy. then cooling down, drying out sunday and monday. latest on hurricane bill in ten minutes. jerry, how's the traffic? >> tom, doing very well so far this morning. good morning, everyone. at least on the interstates no worries. 395 northbound headed north from duke street toward shirlington and to and across the 14th street bridge, smooth sailing. 395 southbound looking good. elsewhere, let you know how we're doing on the speeds. eastbound 50 headed down to

ocean looks pretty good through bowie. a little slow. had a broken down truck reported on the seven river bridge. after that looking goo all the way to the ocean. back to you. >> thank you, jerry. >> our time now is 5:43, 75 degrees. a major highway project in our region has been put on hold. >> plus the investigation into the death of michael jackson continues. next at 5:45, what members of the pop star's family could do in an ns consbe

here's a look at the top stories we're following this morning. a 13-year-old girl shot in her home when someone opens fire outside. a bullet went through the wall of her house, hitting the teen in the back. it happened on frederick douglass place southeast. the girl is expected to survive. a high school wrestling coach arrested in an online chxilseinh std g. his name is gary debrielle. he's 27 years old and is a part

time wrestling coach at w.t. woodson high school in fairfax. police say he had sexual conversations online with an undercover officer who he thought was a 14-year-old girl. and the nationals hope they have an ace up their sleeve. the team signed the top overall pick in this year's draft. stephen strasburg, the 21-year-old pitcher, will get $15 million guaranteed over four years. that's the most money ever given out to a draft pick. >> well, it's been nearly two months since the death of michael jackson. to this day we still do not know how the pop star died, but now there is word that his mother might file a wrongful death lawsuit. leanne gregg has more on who might become the target of that suit in that investigation. >> reporter: some of the final images of michael jackson's days before his death. attorney burt levitch, representing the pop star's mother, katherine, says she may file a wrongful death lawsuit because of the circumstances surrounding her son's demise. one possible defendant, dr.

conrad murray, the singer's personal physician. >> dr. murray's name has been floated because he is apparently under criminal investigation. >> reporter: that investigation apparently focused on the possibility murray may have improperly given jackson a powerful anesthetic that's usually only administered in a hospital. police are also looking into actions of other doctors who had been treating jackson and the role prescription drugs may have played in his death. asked whether concert promoter aeg might also be a defendant in a wrongful death suit, levitch refused to answer but said aeg had an aive role in the last si f omo jackson's life, paying his rent and hiring murray at the singer's request. >> in that regard, there's an obvious link between aeg and concerns that we have about the decedent's demise. >> reporter: in a development relating to the estate, a judge on monday pproved a deal between the co-exedtors of the singer's will and bravado

international group which clears the way for the sale of merchandise in jackson's image. the judge delayed until friday a decision on a traveling exhibition of jackson memorabilia after hearing objections from katherine jackson's attorney about allowing the exhibition. >> there have been some opportunities that we may lose or, in fact, have lost because of the delays caused by mrs. jackson's objections. >> reporter: earlier this month thjudge approved a deal between jackson's estate, aeg and columbia pictures for a movie to be released in october usin footage from the final rehearsals. the deals are expected to generate millions of dollars for the estate. leanne gregg, nbc news. >> and an attorney for dr. conrad murray says it is up to the jackson family to dece whether to proceed with a civil suit. aeg says it would be, "inappropriate to speculate on any potential litigation." >> a housing developer who failed on his promise of the american dream will now spend the next 12 years of his life

behind bars. victims of leon coleman's housing scam hugged outside the prince george's county courthouse yesterday. coleman and his wife were both charged with violating construction contracts with home buyers. prosecutors say they took more than $1 million and never built any of the homes they had promised. >> when he realized that he couldn't complete this job, he could have brought us all together and said, look, i'm in trouble here. we need to stop. i need to refund your money. >> seeing him taken away in handcuffs by the security guards, by the bailiffs, by the police officers, iwas just remarkable to see. >> the judge also ordered coleman to pay nearly $1,000 to each of the five victims. >> a potentially sensitive operations manual has been stolen from a ft. meade military police officer. laurel city police say someone broke into the officer's car outside the base. they say the thief took a book containing operating procedures and the names and telephone numbers of key personnel at ft.

meade. a ft. meade spokesperson says none of the information in the book is secret or even restricted. >> a horrific accident and a child's bedroom. a toddler killed when he somehow be-eme tangled in a venetian blind cord. itpe hlaneapeestd tk whein montgomery vlage area.ue dsneng his foster mother's apartment. sheidan n woott t go on camera but she did talk about what happened that day with news 4's pat collins. >> i put him down for a nap. i was doing laundry and watchint my .tv my 4-year-old daughter came over, andhe sdaio t me, s deehneck.i sgeinthn window. htdadaererle 9dd11. b -- m and, andbu- w -t eaheas -- - b. tgcoon >> montgomery county police are investigating. they say this appears to be a tragic accident. the consumer products safety commission is also investigating. they tell parents who have

venetian blinds, make sure the cord is not looped at the end. if it is, cut it and tie the ends off. >> well, some troubling news this morning about the swine flu vaccine. the government now says there will not be nearly enough to go around by mid-october. a spokesman for the department of health and human services says there should be about 45 million doses at that time. however, after that, they do expect about 20 million more doses will be ready every week. this delay is being blamed on manufacturing issues. >> we've got a nice start to this day out there. temperature right now 75 about, right? >> yeah, but rather humid. sun's coming up later and later. sunrise is still about 35 minutes away. we're starting off with a beautiful view of the eastern sky. we can see the crescent moon. above that is venus. out in the western sky is jupiter, gleaming brilliantly at this hour. mostly clear. that's the live picture from our city camera. e weak l t aasook out in the tropics, well, we've got

hurricane bill that is maintaining strength overnight. a lot of times hurricanes in the evenings tend to lose a bit of strength, but bill is a rather powerful hurricane. here it is. here's the northern coast of south america. here are the islands. here's haiti and dominican republic and there's cuba. and here's florida and here's washington just to get you oriented. well, bill now has winds of near 100 miles an hour with gusts over 120 miles an hour. moving west/northwest at about 15. here's the latest projected track for bill. now, could track anywhere in this yellow zone but it does appear it will be missing the islands, passing north of there over the next couple of days. here's bermuda. it may become just -- just to the west of bermuda by saturday morning. here's the atlantic seaboard. it appears it's going to take a turn to the right and stay out to sea right now. however, if it tracks here on the left side of this potential track zone, it may be just off the outer banks, perhaps on sunday. could be some very heavy surf at the beaches as we get into the

sunday and monday period. we'll keep an eye on bill for you. here's how our sky is starting off this morning. we're in the 60s to near 70 degrees with the dew points in the 60s. that's moderate humidity. eastern shore now near 70. and out in the mountains in the low 60s weather waters are reporting this morning. there were a few showers last night, shenandoah valley out in the western part of maryland but those have dissipated. traveling today, could be flight delays in florida, gulf coast, up through south land as well as up perhaps through the ohio valley into the upper midwest. some other storms in the central plains. but elsewhere should not have any travel problems. weo have a front that is slowly traveling to east, triggering some showers and thundershowers there overnight that are now dissipating. ahead of that we have the humidity sweeping in. as we go forward over the next 36 hours there's a small chance of perhaps an evening thundershower here. otherwise we'll have some clouds around. a greater chance of some passing rsth arsundeweho tomorrow. so for today, afterhsonwe hig soaring into the low 90s. and rather humid. we'll have temperatures tonight

in the 80s. a slight chance of a thundershower this evening and tomorrow morning the low 70s. then steamy humidity ndouar f ou wednesday, thursday and idfr.ay highs tomorrow and thursday near 90. and a pretty good chance of passing afternoon thundershowers. as well as on friday, but friday a bit cooler. high 80s onsa turday. could get some thundershowers entonlo,ai my in the afternoon. then lower humidity moves in for sunday and monday. and clearing out with lots of sun. 60s in the morning, afternoon highs only the low 80s. that's the way it looks. >> cooling off out there. >> looks good. >> thank you very much. let's go to jerry edwards now and the news 4 traffic network. any problems? >> a couple things to talk about. on the outer loop of the beltway at new hampshire avenue we're okay here but just around the bend we have reports of a broken down vehicle left lane, outer loop approaching university boulevard so police are going to head over and check that. elsewhere this morning making the trip on route 50 at the bay bridge no worries. if you're traveling route 198 at 29 and burtonsville, remnants of a water main break. westbound we have at least one

lane closed off. keep you aiupdated. back to you. >> okay. ks, jerry. >> jerry, thank you. >> transportation officials in virginia are putting the brakes on plans to build high occupancy toll lanes on interstate 95 and 395. construction of the so-called h.o.t. lanes was scheduled to begin nebs summer. the lanes would have run from the pentagon to massaponax in spotsylvania county. the governor's office now says it's re-assessing the plan because it's not sure the funding will be available. the decision will not affect the h.o.t. lanes already under construction on the beltway. >> well, facebook is now facing a lawsuit about how it uses le's personal information. that lawsuit was filed in california by a group of facebook users. they say that facebook is violating privacy laws and misleading members about how their information is used. the lawsuit says that facebook breaks the laws by giving third parties access to users' personal information. facebook has not commented on the suit so far. >> now to the money crisis and a

check on how the world markets are doing. the asian markets made modest gains. japan's nikkei gained .16%. hong kong's hang seng jand 0.8%. to wall street now where the dow futures are pointing toward a slightly positive opening. yesterday the stock market saw its biggest losses in more than a month. the dow lost 186 points closing at 9135. the nasdaq lost 54 points closing at 1930. >> news 4's helping to find jobs for you. the art institute ohi pas wngto isdm aasonissi admissions. e bacheloron dpresenveti's a elchegor's degree in salesst s required. to learn more or t apply,o o t nbcwashington.com and search jobs 4 you. >> and still to come on "news 4 today," new supreme court justice sonia sotomayor makes what appears to be her first decision on the supreme court. >> overnight, gunmen opens fire on a home, hit ago 13-year-old

girl inside. we're live at the scene. >> meteorologist tom kierein says get ready to sweat a little bit out there today. we'll find out how hot it will be. t

teen shot. while you were sleeping, a 13-year-old girl was the victim of a drive-by shooting. she was hit inhi wle while simply sitting inside her home. >> big, bad bill. the first hurricane of the season is churning in the nt laatic andnl oyla getting stronger. we could feel the impact as soon as this weekend. >> deal or no deal. the nats negotiations with prized pitcher stephen strasburg go up until the very last moments. could the two sides agree on a deal? >> good morning. thanks for waking up with us this morning for "news 4 today." i'm barbara harrison. >> and good morning to you. i'm joe krebs. today is tuesday, the 18th day

of august 2009. looks like a beautiful day out there right now. 75 degrees, kind of clear skies. venus in the blue sky still up there, believe. still looking at that. that's a lovely day. >> it is. >> but it's going to be humid, tom says flgts i was just getting ready to say that. going to spoil our -- >> hey. >> it looked absolutely gorgeous. iy ca st.de typical augu w weatherith heat y.d humidity on the thy.wa today is starting off pleasantly, though, with he t t0s 6 and0s 70s. watch weather watchers checking in this morning. noer sulnod sore to the low 90s. it will be rather humid. hold on. ionto re humid as weet g toght and tomorrow as the humidity begins to push in this evening we may have a passing thundershower early this evening. then by dawn the low 70s. wednesda tyhudars adand friday sweltering humidity and an increased chance ofno aerfton thundershowers etch day. highs near 90 tomorrow and thursday.ay

the latest on hurricane bill coming up in just a couple of minutes. >> all right. thanks, tom. >> thank you very much. let's go to jerry edwards now and the news 4 traffic network. >> good morning. >> good morning. we're certainly loading up very quickly. 95, look at that, long line of brake lights now as you head to and beyond the prince william parkway. i have a sneaking suspicion we have something going on just around the bend. there was an accident near dale city. that was tying up the left lane. so a little suspicious of that. elsewhere, let you know on the outer loop at the b-w parkway, had a report of some debris in the roadway. several folks ended up with flat tires so authorities are going to go out, wisely check that. traveling the beltway, university boulevard, somebody with a flat tire in the left lane there. very precarious situation. look for delays coming out of the i-95 interchange west over to silver spring bethesda. back to you. >> thank you, jerry. lice s a s 15-ye in hak ter in r 1.e e rlro e 1. gith told police sheokok wp u

to a e shd moh. ed iderur tried to oke r.he the teen was off and h r ndoff a he ran li aycepof s t police say the teen has atscu cutsndis b an rur.he anyone who may haveed to anything assked to call the fredericksburg police. >> also new today, a district teenager is recovering after being shot in the back. it happened while she was sitting inside her h th the gunfifore eigbet mirednt ht 18 night at om he0018 t block of frederick douglass place southeast. news 4's megan mcgrath joins us live with details. good morning, megan. >> reporter: good morning. the home that was sprayed by gunfire is located here on frederick douglass place in southeast, right on the rn coulder with tobias drive. we are told that the shots were fired from somewhere in the immediate area, possibly the street. now, standing here on the street corner and just counting up the bullet holes, i saw nin different holes in the side of this home. some of the bullets actually pierced the walls and went

inside the townhome. that's how the 13-year-old girl was shot. she was actually inside her home. police say she was about to get into the shower when she was struck in the back by one of the bullets that again went through the wall of this home into the interior of the townhouse. now it's unclear if the house was being targeted or if the people were just shooting in the area and the house inn aadvertey was sprayed with the bullets. that's the kind of thing they're looking at at this point. we're told they haven't had a whole lot of luck with that, in terms of people coming forward with information. again, a number of bullets sprayed the house. we're also seeing what looks like an egg splatter or something on the front window of the home on the lower level. police say they have no leads really. they have no suspect descriptions at all, no arrests have been made. they're trying to sort everything out to again see whether or not the house was targeted or whether it was inadvertently struck in this

hail of gunfire. i should also mention, barbara, the 13-year-old has been treated and released. she's been okay. >> she's been released from the hospital. wsthd gat. neoo >> reporter: yes. >> thaupg, megan. >> new today, the newest national signs on the dotted line with just one minute to spare, a little over. the team and top pick stephen strasburg agreed to a record contract late last night. strasburg will make more than $15 million of over four years. all that money is guaranteed. that's the most ever paid to a draft pick. the nats and strasburg's agent negotiated right up until a midnight deadline. the team's gm says the deal got done at 11:58. >> the first storm of the hurricane season to hit land has weakened considerably. tropical storm claudette hit the florida panhandle yesterday but weakened once it hit shore after causing some wind damage and sporadic power outages. claudette has now dissipated. and now that claudette and ana have fizzled, all of the

attention is on hurricane bill. let's send it over to tom kierein with the latest on bill's track. tom? >> bill could become a major hurricane later on today. right now it's a category 2 storm. here's what bill's been doing overnight. it has maintained its strength and structure, organization. it still has an eye. to get you oriented, here's washington, the outer banks, here's florida. it does appear now over the nextself days bill will continue on a westerly track. right now over 2,300 miles southeast of ocean city, maryland. moving west/northwest at about 15. sustain winds are near 100 with gusts to 121. now by friday evening into saturday morning here's bermuda. may be approaching bermuda, perhaps passing just to the west of there. it could track anywhere in this yellow zone. if it's on the left side of the track near the outer banks by sunday, could be right near the outer banks or just off ocean city and our eastern beaches along the atlantic shoreline with some heavy surf there as we get into sunday and monday. that's the way it looks right now. i'm back with our local forecast at 6:11.

>> tom, thank you. >> it is still unclear how a vacant apartment building broke out in flames in gaithersburg. take a look at these flames. the two-alarm fire broke out on east diamond avenue. arkansas rooifg on the scene, firefighters sent out a second alarm. we've learned the apartment building was already scheduled, though, to be demolished. >> 6:07 is the time right now. a local high school coach is arrested and charged with soliciting a teenager online. vandals attack a local youth center. why this case has police scratching their heads. >> new u.s. supreme court justice sonia sotomayor makes what appears to be her first decision on the high court. how she ended up on the losing bd.th> nhe>>s owrewsa iar 4ne

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on tuesday makeur ssdeao makee sue staurant near you is participating in the special offer, though. >> let's get a look at our forecast now for this tuesday. tom, good morning again. >> hi, sort of a mid-augu m mid-august morning. it's rather humid. temperatures in the 70s in montgomery, fairfax, prince george's counties as well as arlington and here in washington, low to mid-70s. farther to our west, around the shenandoah valley weather watchers reporting temperatures in the 60s. southern maryland around the bay it's in the low 70s. high today all around the region low 90s, lots of sun, rather humid. but even more humid tomorrow, thursday and friday. highs near 90 wednesday and thursday. could get some afternoon storms, maybe some passing showers and thundershowers on fday as well as on saturday. and highs in the 80s. but lower humidity and cooler sunday and monday. jerry, good morning. how's the tuesday traffic? >> good morning, everyone. here's 270. it's fine and dandy.

picking up a lot of volume now in the interchanges, but no accidents all the way down. that is good news. elsewhere the top side of the beltway lookingretty good. south side of the beltway there's the sparkly wilson bridge. both the outer loop and the outer loop between alex drn i a and oxon hill, traffic moving nicely. >> that bridge is so beautiful. i guess not so beautiful when you're on it during rush hour but it is gorgeous from a distance. thank you. >> thanks, jerry. >> it will be more difficult than expected to get the swine flu vaccine thisst fall. a coach at a fairfax high school is charged with trig to solicit hi

police say someone opened fire at the house on frederick douglass place just before midnight. the girl was shot in the back. it's unclear whether she was the intended targe a plan to construct so-called h.o.t. lanes is on hold in virginia. the high occupancy toll lanes would have been built on i-95 and i-395 and run from the pentagon all the way to massaponax in spotsylvania county. but state leaders have put the plans on hold, fearing there may not be enough money for the construction. >> new today. supreme court justice sonia sotomayor made what appears to be her first public decision as a justice. she voted unsuccessfully to delay the execution of an ohio death row inmate. she voted along with the court's liberal bloc to stop today's execution. she will sit on her first supreme court hearing on september 9th. the new term doesn't formally

kick off until october 5th. a high school wrestling coach from virginia is behind bars after he was busted in an online sex sting. 27-year-old gary debriel is a part time wrestling coach at w.t. woodson high school in fairfax. he's accused of going online to have a sexual conversation with someone he thought was a whegirlut it turns out he was actually talking to a spotsylvania cou wy sheriff's deputy. experts say parents should be on the alert. >> research recently showed that one in seven children receive unwanted sexual solicitations online. >> officials at t.w. c woodson shighchool say debrielle worked part time as ahi wrestling coac but was not a teacher there. they also say he did pass a d ouinal background checdee ieli debrielle is being held without bond. and here in the district, a long and difficult cleanup is under way after vandals broke into a youth center. these are pictures taken from inside the life pieces to masterpieces center. it's in northeast washington. the vandals struck sometime

between sunday night and monday morning. they splattered paint throughout the building, left hate messages and destroyed a flat screen television. police believe the vandals only wanted to cause damage because nothing was stolen. damage is estimated at $10,000. >> well, it literally went down to the last few seconds. at 11:58:43, the nats signed prized pitcher stephen strasburg. the contract is a record for a rookie. a four-year deal worth more than $15 million. lindsay czarniak has your sports minute. >> hey there. good morning, everybody. your sports minute on this tuesday begins with the nationals. it went down to the wire, but finally just at the midnight deadline, number one pick pitcher stephen strasburg agreed to a deal with the nationals. we'll have more on the strasburg signing this afternoon. elsewhere in the big leagues, the angels blasted the orioles pitching with four home runs. vladimir guerrero hit two

homers, had five rbis and the angels beat the orioles 8-5. to redskins news, where clinton portis says he will play saturday night against the steelers. don't expect to see him long but he will see some action. meanwhile, the rookies got a real workout yesterday but it was because of the veterans. rookie kevin barnes and robert hanson were tied to the goal posts, couldn't break out until veterans let them out, all in good fun. that's your sports minute. i'm lindsay czarniak. have a great day. >> all right. let's see what kind of weather we're going to have today. >> we'll do that. here's tom kierein. >> sunrise in about seven minutes. here's a live picture of the eastern horizon overlooking the potomac river. that's our city cam view. now 74 in washington. now way far inth e cpeake bayndillman island rht on the bay. a view there looking west. tillman island is just southwest of st. michael's and it's a steamy 78 there. their dew point at 74. they've had quite a bit of monthly rain, almost three inches so far this month.

this month of august. as we look out in the tropics, hurricane bill continuing to hold its strength overnight. it still has a well-formed center and good structure and winds of about 100 miles an hour with gusts over 120 moving west/northwest at about 15 miles an hour. it's over 2,300 miles southeast of ocean city. looks like it will pass north of the islands by thursday. then as we get toward saturday, passing just west of bermuda. could track anywhere in the yellow zone. all around our region we're the 60s, low and mid-70s. highs reaching the low 90s today with lots of sunshine. then more humidity around wednesday, thursday and friday. could get passing mainly afternoon thundershowers each day, near 90 tomorrow and thursday. mid-80s on friday. again saturday. saturday could get some passing showers and thundershowers as well. mainly looks like in the morning to early afternoon, then drying out. saturday afternoon into sunday and monday with lower humidity and cooler temperatures.

now let's check traffic. jerry, how's it looking this tuesday morning? >> looking pretty good all in all. good morning, everyone. along i-270, clearly you can see the volume now increasing as you make the trip down. this is right at the interchange of falls road. ndrth of that point travel lanes are open. south of this point travel lanes are open. just a little bit of volume. elsewhere makinghe trip to the woodrow wilson bridge, both directions between oxon hill and alexandria doing fine. had some debris outer loop at the b-w parkway. authorities telling us that should be out of the roadway now. looks like the tire change that was on the outer loop of university boulevard has moved on, hopefully with a new tire. barbara and joe, back to you. >> one would hope. thank you. >> our time right now is 6:20. why it will be tougher than expected to get the swine flu ma new informaonf ior

it's been almost two months since michael jackson died and we still don't know what killed him. however, there's word his mother might file a wrongful death lawsuit. jackson's personal doctor, dr. conrad murray, is one personal target. investigators are looking into whether he improperly ge jackson a powerful anesthetic normally used only in hospitals. concert promoter aeg might be another defendant. lawyers say the company paid jackson's rent and hired murray at his request. >> troubling news this morning about the swine flu vaccine. the government now says there will not be nearly enough to go around by mid-october. a spokesman for the department of health and human services says there should be about 45 million doses at that time. however, after that they do expect about 20 million more doses per week that will be

ready. the delay is being blamed on manufacturing issues. >> kids across our area are getting ready to head back to school and news 4 wants to make sure they're prepared. that's why we're continuing our annual backpacks for kids drive in an effort to make sure all students have the supplies they need to be successful. pat lawson muse joins us live now from the tenleytown cvs with more on how you can help. hi, pat. >> reporter: hi. good morning. summer comes and goes so quickly, doesn't it? already it's time for the kids to get back to the books and back to the business of learning. we're here this morning to help get them started by collecting backpacks for kids, backpacks like these. they are stuffed backpacks. backpacks stuffed with all of the necessary tools. they've got paper and pencils and we've even got some extras like antibacterial wipes and water and crackers. all of these for needy kids who need just a little extra to get them started on their school year. here's how you can help this year. by going to participating cvs

store, buying a backpack. only $12.99. you buy the backpack, you donate the backpack there at the store. you can find a list of participating stores on our website, nbcwashington.com. you can also go to the website to make y your donation ouonlin cr arit l tl he donations wilyl bu ckbapaorcks fba kids. and we're going to be here all day long until 6:00 this evening. we've got a team of volunteers and we're going to have school principals, some of the folks who will be receiving these backpacks. they're already identified, those who will be receiving the backpacks. joining me right now are our vice president, director of community affairs, awell as aisha and tim miller, the district sales manager for cvs. tim, you have been a partner with us -- this is our fourth year. >> that's right. this is our fourth year. cvs is very proud to be participating in backpacks for kids again this year. particularly this year, times have been very tough. difficult financial times. we're happy to be able to help

children throughout the tri-state area. >> reporter: okay. >> we have 50 volunteers give up a saturday to stuff 4,000 backpacks. >> reporter: all right. your mic is not working. use mine. >> we're very proud to be a bart of this. here at 4555 wisconsin avenue northwest at the tenleytown metro. come on down today. for $12.99, buy a backpack, donate it united statesly. >> reporter: thanks so much, tim. we'll work with you all day long. from 6:00 to 6:00. you can donate, go to nbcwashington.com to get a list of the stores and to make your donations online. see you a little later. >> what a terrific effort. thank you, pat. our time right now is 6:27 a huge stock slide on wall street has uninvestigator wondering if we're really on the road to an economicce make an >>poaklis mcee an m arrest in a ghlehifiho stipliffing case. hoth weyplere able to track down their man, so to speak. >> while you were sleeping, a gunman opens fire on a home hitting a 13-year-old girl inside. er

good morning to you. welcome back to "news 4 today." i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm barbara harrison. it's tuesday, august 18th, 2009. looking outside, there's the sun coming up out there on the horizon. we had a sliver of a moon out there. i wasn't sure if that was the moon setting, but i guess from where we're looking toward the east that has to be the sunshine. >> the oronov howas m dedn, good morning.o r rathelo od morgong. a r mheratamy inrnmorn temperatures in mogo x,fair nglinntou0ies nearshoninwa-7 mg. sh-7gtgtid m0s. ndlarryea nidner t er erryland near epea wrs erti watchers reporting this morning. weather watchers checking in from virginia and maryland, shenandoah valley, out in west virginia reporting temperature 60ins. highs today soarin theo t0 low 90s.

lots of sun.ow rather humid. if you can believe it, eastbound more humid wednesday, thursday, friday, some serltweing humidity highs near 90 tomorrow and thursday. a pretty good chance of passing afternoon thundershowers. could get morning and afternoon thundershowers on friday, highs in the mid-80s. that may linger ilto the week thans werll, sunday and monday drying out a bit, highs in the 80s in lower how many it moving in by sunday and into the first part of next week. >> thanks, tom. >> sounds good. let's go to jerry edwards, see if it sounds as good out on the roadways. >> good morning. not such a bad morning so far. relatively quiet. good news there. live pictures 395 northbound right at the inn boun 14th street bridge. headed downtown early this morning, nothing to fear. things are moving along very nicely. the southbound side also looks good headed from the district into northern virginia. elsewhere at the wilson bridge, no hang-ups reported. had apparently two separate accidents now dale cy 95 northbound, both if not completely gone are at least over to the shoulder so you should find the lanes open there.

66 no hang-ups to report all the way to the beltway and to the roosevelt bridge. back to you. >> thanks very much. new today, a 13-year-old girl is recovering after being shot in t home. it happened jtus or b home. oreefni mghidt heb dein 1800 blockre fckri ssugcela fderick douglass place in southeast washington. news 4's megan mcgrath joins us now with details. good morning, megan. >> reporr: well, good morning, joe. this happened very late last night. the house that was impacted here, the house that was sprayed with bullets is here on the rn coulder of frederick douglass place southeast at the intersection with tobias. the shots were fired from somewhere in the immediate area, possibly the street. standing on the sidewalk looking at the home, we saw nine bullet holes in the side of the home in the downspouts, the pillars, near the front door. according to police, some of those bullets pierced the walls of the home and actually entered the house. that how the 13-year-old was struck in the back. according to police, the girl was about to get into the shower

when she was shot. she apparently could not be seen from the street. she was in an interior room so it wasn't a situation where someone could see her from the street and fire shots. so they're trying to figure out exactly what happened here, whether or not the house itself was targeted or whether it was a situation where shots were just being fired in the neighborhood and this house happened to be impacted. that those bullets went into the walls and through the home i inadvertently. there's another home in the area around the corner on tobias that also had some shots strike it. those bullets, though, apparently did not enter the structure, according to police. police also say they've had some issues with burglaries in the area recently. they're goingo start beefing up patrols. they have madeo arrests. there's no suspect description. i should also mention that the 13-year-old who was struck, who was shot in the back, she has been treated and released from the hospital. joe, back to you. >> well, that's good news. thanks very much, megan. >> a child put down for a nap

dies when he somehow becomes entangled in a venetian blind cord. it happened last weeknck i the montgomery village i area. oo gnan to go onut b s he tututol she t news 4's pat collins she thought 2-year-old angel duenes was . when s rsleeping. when she realized he wasn,slt i was too late. me,aiam t me, angel'steredam co slpi tng in is window and his neck. an r into e wd nganasth igim,n and he was hanging in the window. >> montgomery county police say this appears to be a tragic accident. the consumer products safety commission is investigating. they tell parents who have venetian blinds take that cord, if it's looped at the end, and cut it. tie the ends off. >> a local housing developer who scammed several people out of $1 million will now spend the next 12 years behind bars. victims of leon coleman's housing scam hugged outside the prince george's county

courthouse yesterday. coleman and his wife were both charged with violating construction contracts with home buyers. prosecutors say that they took the buyers' money and then never built any of the homes they had promised to build. the judge also ordered coleman to pay nearly $1,000 to each of the five victims. >> montgomery county police say they have nabbed a aste for taste forheotcls. clothes.as-ydonatha bey wradlas pulled over while driving in southeast washington last week. after questioning, investigators connected him to a shoplifting indent at saks fifth avenue in chevy chase last month. seybrth ayadle dressed in drag, ufad adst $2,000 dress in h bag. police say he ran away but not before attacking a security guard with pepper spray. >> well, new today, staring down a midnight deadline, the nationals score big off the baseball diamond. they signed pitching phenom stephen strasburg, the number one overall pick in this ye's draft. the 21-year-old's phenomenal

college career earned him a record-breaking contract. he will make $15 million guaranteed over the next four years, making him the highest paid draft pick ever. >> the controversial h.o.t. lanes project was supposed to ease the commute in northern virginia but now the construction project is on hold. plus, what president obama is now saying he'll do to get a highlyeteed healthar ce reform bill passed. >> big, bad bill is churning in the atlantic ocean. meteorogist tem toerein is tracking that plowfuerm ri hneca ffects.l tell you when we might

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bargain blas yo gy ncaetto a free 11et b 14 pho fl o toay ply,ch'lou of y postage to have it sentstpotoe . at 11 by 14 photo poster at walgres. >> let's get a check on traffic and weather together right now. we're going to go to tom kierein. he is in storm center 4. tom? >> good morning. 6:41, a rather sultry summer morning under way. we've got the sun up in a mostly clear sky now. temperatures 74 in washington. from anacostia to brandywine, franconia and dah mass cass it is rather humid and near 70 degrees. farther to our west, weather watchers reporting temperatures in the 60s. weather watchers southern maryland, around the bay, eastern shore reporting low 70s. lar on today, highs climbing into the low 1069 wi90s with lo sunshine. wednday and thursday, a pretty good chance of passing showers. maybe a shower friday as well as saturday but lower humidity. drying out sundayr nd monday. latest on hurricane bill in ten minutes. jerry, how's the traffic? >> a live look here loading up and slowing down along 395

northbound. folks over at vdot adjusting the camera here as you head north through landmark and shirlington. may know something we don't but we'll check on that, let you know. certainly beginning to load up quickly in volume, if nothing else. at the wilson bridge, no worries. 270 incident-free. checking report of a police activity new hampshire avenue near route 108. barbara and joe specifically, back to you. >> thank you very much. >> 6:42. a huge stock slide on wall street has investors wondering whether we're really on t road to an economic recovery. we'll speak with cnbc about that. why leaders in virginia suddenly decide to put the brakes on the h.o.tda project

. >> reporter: -- state leaders are saying this doesn't look like the right economic environment to sport the cost of the construction. the h.o.t. lanes would have run from the pentagon to massaponax in spotsylvania county. the governor's office now says it's re-assessing the plan. because it's not sure money to build the private/public funded h.o.t. lanes will be available. now this decision will not affect the $1.9 billion h.o.t. lanes project already under construction on the beltway. hotd lanes are free tell car pools and buses but drivers who don't meet the high occupancy vehicle requirements are supposed to pay tolls. the virginia transportation secretary is telling "the washington post" the plan has been delayed but not abandoned. back to you. >> tracee, thanks very much. >> new twists in the health care debate. the white house insists is president is not dropping plans

to provide a government insurance option. at a town hall event, president obama suggested the option could be dropped from the reform bill, but the president's own party says a public option is a must. they argue it's something the government has already been doing for years. >> it is fair. it's the best way to think about it is to think about it as medicare or the veterans administration. these are two very good health care programs that exist already. they've been around for a long, long time. that's what we'd like to offer the public. >> meanwhile, the crowds continue to flock to town hall events in protest. new polls out today show the number of americans who have confidence in the current health care system fell last month. and this morning investors are concerned about whether we really are in the middle of an economic recovery. cnbc's courtney reagan joins us live with today's business headlines. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. right now futures are pointing to a rebound. that's good news following the big sell-off we saw yesterday on wall street. triggered by lingering concerns about the consumer pulling back,

possibly even derailing the economic recovery. consumer spending is very important and in fact accounts for 2/3 of gdp. but those fears spread around the world and brought down both asian and european markets on monday. it was a topsy-turvy session in asia overnight but most markets did manage to close higher. europe is in positive territory. investors will look for more evidence today that the housing sector is at a turning point. we will get data from home depot, also get numbers on wholesale inflation. the dow will start off at 9135. the nasdaq fell 5 points to 1930. authorities have busted what could be the largest ever case of identity theft involving more than 130 million credit and debit cards. an american, albert gonzalez, and two russians hacked into the senior verse of credit card processors heartland payment systems. they planned to steal data in

realtime as it was being entered by cardholders. authorities say gonzalez, who's already in jail in a separate case, had at one time been working as a government informant helping to track down hackers. ironic, isn't it? back to you. >> certainly is. okay. have a great day, and we will see you a little bit later today. >> reporter: thank you. >> breaking news to tell you about right now. chopper 4 is over some hay fires in damascudamascus, maryland. wow. look at that. you can see the large plumes of smoke coming from several different areas. this is apparently hay that is on fire in a damascus, maryland. we'll have more on this story. these are live pictures from chopper 4 this morning. that's creating quite a disturbance out ther we don't see any efforts to be putting that fire out at this time. but we'll keep on top of it and let you know what we find ou right now children are heading back to school and news 4 is helping to give them the tools they need to succeed. this is all part of our annual

backpacks for kids drive. an effort to make sure that students in need have the supplies they need for the school year. pat lawson muse joins us live now from the tenleytown cvs store with more on how you can help. pat, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. get your pencils, paper and rulers ready. it's time to go back to school. we're here to help. wee in the 4500 block of wisconsin avenue in northwest washington collecting backpacks for kids. here are the backpacks. they are stuffed with all of the supplies that kids need to get the school year started. there are pencils, paper, rulers, glue, wet wipes, water, even crackers. all of it to go to needy children in the washington area. you can help by buying one of these backpacks at a participating cvs o>. b going online tog nbnbcwashington.com. make your dackpacks arecw bacac we've got a lot of e 'vhegot a lot of them here. you can come to the 4500 block of wisconsin avenue and buy the backpacks here. joining me now is aisha cramer,

the director of community affairs. this is our fourth year. last year, how many backpacks did you collect? >> thousands, thousands, thousands. we served so many children throughout our region, and really -- we really do believe at nbc 4 that we have the greatest viewing awed yebs in the area. they are compassionate and generous. so we know if we ask them to come out and help, that they will do that. they can come individually, bring their church members, their organizations, businesses. just come and purchase a backpack and leave the backpack at the cvs. >> reporter: telus exactly where the backpacks go. >> the backpacks are going to schools and nonprofits throughout the region. schools in montgomery county, prince george's county and the district of columbia and fairfax, arlington and alexandria, throughout the region. we are going to make sure that there is not one child who needs -- who does not have what they need to be able to be successful in school this year. >> reporter: all right. >> we need everybody's help. come on and help us right now. >> reporter: okay.

aeesh a, the director of community affairs. we have a team of volunteers from cvs, from lido pizza, from nbc 4 who are all here, and g.e. and g.e. corporate finance. they're here to help us collect backpacks for kids. joe, come down when you get off the air and buy a backpack, too. >> i will be there. i'll see you when i get off the air. thank you very much. >> reporter: thank you, joe. >> hurricane season is heating up fast. tropical storm claudette fizzling out after making landfall along the florida panhandle. she dumped heavy rain and knocked out power. this morning all eyes are on hurricane bill, now a category 2 hurricane. he's getting stronger and heading west. tom's here to talk about our weather, though. what can we expect today? are we going to see any of the remnants of any of these storms? >> the beaches could have some heavy surf looks like by sunday into monday as bill will be just off our atlantic seaboard. i'll show you the latest track for bill and the latest statistics on bill's strength. first let's observe the sunrise

and revel in it. coming up now in a mostly clear sky. live picture from our city camera. rather humid this morning. brace yourselves. we have increasing humid it moving in by later on tonight t d into tomorrow.re aagan natia reagan national. well, let's take a look at hurricane bill. here's how he's been behaving overnight. here's the atlantic seaboard, florida, washington. bill is way out to sea but you can see already the eye is forming and getting a little bit larger. bill has quite an organized structure to it. here are the caribbean islands. here is dominican republic and haiti and puerto rico. that does appear those zones are going to be missed by bill. right now over 2,300 miles southeast of oefsh an city, moving west/southwest. sustned winds at 100 miles an hour. bill is quite a powerful hurricane. by the time it gets into this zone it may become a category 3 storm. that is a major hurricane. it does look like it will stay on its west/northwesterly track into saturday. here's bermuda.

it looks like it may track just to the west of bermuda and take a turn to the north and then the northeast as it gets just off our atlantic seaboard sometime during the day on sunday. but if it tracks farther to the west here in this yellow zone could be anywhere in this yellow zone, have to keep an eye out at the beaches for some really strong surf, maybe heavy rain. right now in the mid-70s in washington, near 70 in montgomery, fairfax and prince george's counties. excuse me. near 70 on the eastern shore. out in the mountains in the low 60s at this hour. pleasant start there with comfortably dry conditions. if you're traveling today, could be some flight delays, florida, gulf coast, up the mississippi valley into the upper midwest anthtreen cna alplains. for us today, we'lle h avighs reaching the low 90s with lots of sunshine and rather humid. and then increased humidity tonight, maybe a passing thundershower this evening. by dawn tomorrow, low 70snd really swelteringum hidity for h wednesday, thursday, friday. afternoon highs near 90 tomorrow and thursday. friday into the mid-80s and maybe a passing shower or thundershower.r. looks like that's going to be

buy orst sy atdaeluras watl.as t sunday and monday, lower humidity moving in. looks like it will be coolers well. low 60s in the mornings. afternoon highs in just the low 80s sunday and monday. that's the way it looks. >> thank you very much, tom. >> thanksery much. now let's go back to jerry edwards now and the news 4 traffic network. >> hello there. sunshine slowing you down this morning along 395 headed up from edsel road toward landmark and shirlingt shirlington. vdot looked. we couldn't find anything in the roadway. just a lot of volume on the northbound side. i-270 coming out of germantown down to the split we're okay. no worries at the american legion bridge. southeast corridors seem to be doing very nicely. back to you. >> thanks, jerry. >> thanks very much. back to breaking news right now. chopper 4 is over some hay fires burning in damascus, area of maryland. look at that. that is really spread over a wide area now. we did see a stream of -- some water coming at it from the

left-hand side of the screen there. this is in the 14000 block of wood field school road. as you can see, the fires are causing a large amount of smoke in the area. there's the firefighting effort going on from the side. whoseever field that is, obviously a lot of concern. been pretty dry lately because not too much rain. this could spread quickly. unclear whether there are any homes in the area or how the fires began. we'll continue to follow this store and have updates throughout the morning. >> checking the top stories of the news today, police say a 13-year-old girl was shot while getting ready to take a shower at her home in southeast washington. a drive-by shooter opened fire just before midnight. the girl was shot in the back. she has been treated at a hospital now and released. >> a plan to construct high occupancy toll plains is on hold

in virginia. the so-called h.o.t. lanes were to be built on i-95 and 395 and run between the pentagon and massaponax in spotsylvania county but state leaders have put those plans on hold fearing there might not be enough money for the new construction. >> and stephen strasburg is a very rich man this morning. the nationals signed their top overall pick to a $15 million contract. that's the most money ever given to a draft pick. negotiations went down to the wire. the deal finalized about 75 seconds before midnight deadline. >> listen up. news 4 is always looking for people who make the day very special in the early morning hours. if you know someone like that, please send that person's story along with a clear, close-up pi cture or video to morningperson@nbcwashington.com. we'll try to feature that t pern and their story live on "news 4 today" at 6:55. >> tom, do you have an out the door forecast? >> yes, summer heat on today, nto the low 90s.y, th essdnd daweweesdn thursday and friday. maybe somesi

s each one of those days. looks like it's going to be humid all the way into the first part of the weekend. >> okay. >> any traffic troubles, jerry? >> just a little bit of volume here and there. noing really too much to worry about right now. >> okay. >> try to keep it that way. that is "news 4 today." thank you for starting your day with us. >> we hope you have a great day. ou yl join us tomorrow, s warrow,ow wakep with ., wetart at 4:55 a.m. if you can donate to backpacks for kids today, visit nbcwashington.com for more information. see you in the morning. >> bye. still in that aisle.

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