they do have a few scholarships available now based on need. do you need it? >> yeah. it's interesting. who decides at what point you need it? stay with us everyone. "news4 today" continues now at 5:00 a.m. il prime time. president obama goes before congress hoping to breathe new life into health care reform. how will his message be received by his critics? >> murder mystery, bun geier erupts and a woman left for dead outside an apartment complex. this morning police are on the lookout for who pulled the trigg trigger. let's take a live look outside right now. pretty picture of the washington monument. traffic moving on the 14th

street bridge. let's find out from tom kierein what kind of day we'llhave >> it's cloudy andoo cl ts c wednesday morning. we he aew f scattered spnknds spouar. through the morning weou may ha a fewer sttca rittsps.nkle for the rest of thenk afternoon cloudy whsreig h reaching the mid 70igs. we might have a round of aew f nkattered lesps.nkris. then tomorrow cloudy and cool. ooks like a bigger chance of passing showers with highs only arne70. improving news for friday and into saturday.ar we'll be gradually drying out on saturday. highs in upper 70s. morng n lo ows60. saturday should be up near 80 degrees and partly cloudy. looks like we'll be in the upper 70s to 80, drying out in time for the weekend. back at 5:11 with another update. let's go to jerry edwards and the news4 traffic network. jerry? >> good morning. fairly quiet commute so far as we get going here. checking out interstate 66 as

you begin the commute in to fair oaks and vienna. looks like drive pavement for the moment. the drive through northeast, new york avenue, kenilworth avenue, nothing too much to worry about. all the major road work southeast of anacostia bridges, very light as well. back to you. >> thanks, jerry. breaking news out of afghanistan this morning. a "new york times" reporter held captive there has been freed by britis stephen farrell's kidnapping had nobe enep rdteor to protect histe safety. swas abductedayse by taliban militants on saturday while reporting on a u.s. air strike in northern afghanistan. he was freed this morning in an early morning raid. a british commando and farrell's afghan translator were killed. farrell was not hurt. tonight president obama is planning a prime time pitch, making his case for health care

reform with a televised dress to a joint session of congress. the stakes couldn't be higher for his plans. the health care debate has been plagued by tumultuous town hall 3450 meetings all summer long. some people say it's the president's fault for not telling the people exactly what he wants. brooke hart joins us with more on mr. obama's hopes to change that tonight. >> reporter: you said it. as you know, the president has tried to stay at arm's length from the health care debate in congress and shape it from a distance. tonight all that changes as he steps into the center of the fray. ahead of tonight's speech, the pressures on the president were loud and visible. liberal activists showed up outside the white house, even some who worked for barack obama during his campaign threatened to abandon him. >> i will not work for him again if he abandons the ub public option. >> reporter: house speaker nancy pelosi pressured him inside and

huddled th democrats later. >> i do believe in order to pass a bill in the house we will have a public option. >> reporter: fiery town halls this summer have driven some democrats like arkansas's mike ross against public insurance. after members paused to remember ted kennedy, some republicans said start over. >> let's go back to square one, sit down together and get this issue resolved. >> he might endorse a trigger or son concept designed to enlist the support of a handful of republicans. i think most republicans will view that as repackaging and relabeling the government's plan. >> reporter: from the white hous promises of clarity. >> people will come away i understanding where he is on these big issues and these big questions. >> reporter: the senate democrat max baucus has scheduled meetings through the day and he wants his gang of six negotiators to back his $900 billion reform plan before the

president's speech. that baucus plan has no public option and is the only version with much gop input. tonight many will be listening to the president for cues about whether he's reaching to critics on the right or left for the reform srtpo he needs. y>>anou c watch president obama's prime timess add cdd rit here on nbc4. it all begins at 8:00 tonight. new today, a woman is found dead outside an apartment complex in silver spring. police't dw konno how i w tppomhean dcoisdre whean t i cassell boulevard. megan mcgrath joins us with the latest. >> reporter: good morning, eun. this happened before 12:30 this morning. we're iea37d r--ynwool l wma ii es37-yeaold woman who lives in

rt cpa antomplex here was foea dddut oside of herilding. o bu di. i'm joined by lieu ten snant paul starks with the montgomery county police department. talk a little bit about what happened? obviously very early in the investigation. >> yes. it is pretty fresh. just before 12:30 patrol officers were called here for the sound of shots. when they arrived, they did find a 37-year-old woman dead on the walkway between the parking lot and the front of her apartment building. >> do we have any reason to belie that this was random, whether she perhaps knew the person who shot her? >> right now detectives are looking at all different angles. we're looking for help. if anybody believes they heard something or saw something suspicious, we're asking them to call the major crimes division, 240-773-5070. >> this apartment building butts up against a wooded area. is that complicating things?

>> although this is a densely populate add area, this end limit limits the number of potential witnesses that we may have. >> all of this happened outside the building. is that correct, on the walkway? >> yeah. the crime scene and the altercation was all outside. >> okay. thanks for joining us. >> reporter: they're obviously trying to get some help from the public here. anyone with information is asked to call montgomery county police. we have a 37-year-old woman found dead on the scene here. back to you in the studio. >> thanks very much, megan. happening today, a major first step in a multi billion dollar makeover. the groundbreaking of the new department of homeland security headquarters in southeast washington, planned for the old saint elizabeth's campus on a bluff overlooking the potomac and anacostia rivers. the site will be transformed into a $3.5 billion homeland security complex. organizers say the move will help redevelop the area, bringing construction, retail an job opportunities.

5:07, 67 degrees. a burglar caught in the act. it's how long police took to respond that has residents concerned about their safety. plus the new details we're learning as police step up the investigation surrounding the california girl kidnapping for nearly two decades. firefighters responding to an emergency maynd e up needing

weather and traffic on the oo 5 d 5 11, a cool 67 degrees in washington, and the washington monument there in this live picture, under a cloudy sky being reflected in the reflecting pool. quite a beautiful shot. as we look at radar, we're getting a few sprinkles in montgomery, fairfax, loudoun county, and in frederick, howard and panhandle of west virginia, central shenandoah valley. temperatures in the low and mid 60s. upper 60s near the bay. 60s in the central part of

virginia, too. for the rest of the morning, maybe a passing sprinkle. tonight again looks like an increased chance of a few sprinkles during the evening. then a cloudy start tomorrow morning. a greater chance of passing showers thuray. but friday and saturday drying out. looks like it will be dry on sunday as well with highs near 80. jerry, how is our traffic now? >> doing fairly well so far this morning. good morning everyone. little tour on the oxon hillside approaching the woodrow wilson bridge. right now the travel lanes are open, outer loop move iing nice. making the trip into southeast, very quiet. top side of the beltway from greenbelt, college park to silver spring and beyond,e're moving okay. i-95 between baltimore and washington, no early issues. joe and eun, back to you. >> thanks, jerry. 5:12, the new details we've learned in the case of the california girl kidnapped and con find for 18 years.

>> metro is talking about more closures and delays. next at 5:15, how this might impact your planuranyod

metro riders can expect some major disripgss again next month. several stations on the green

and yellow lines will be closing for the columbus day holiday so maintenance can be performed. waterfront station and archives navy memorial penn station will close between friday october 9th and monday october 12th. no green or yellow service at the lo month service stigs. it will only run between the pentagon and hunting ton stations. service will resume on tuesday, tober 13th. only the back of a lot of minds when they get on metro, the june crash that killed nine people. one change metro vowed to make your ride safer isn't always happening. christ gordon reports. >> reporter: on june 22nd, the trailing train crashed into the rear of a stopped metro, causing the first car to collapse about two-thirds of the way back. it turned out that the telescoped car was a series 1000 which dates back to the 1970s and that the issue of uncrash worthiness had been brought to metro's attention over the years

by the national transportation safety board but metro had not taken the recommendation of replacing or retrofitting the cars. after metro's fatal crash in june, it said it was putting the series 1000 cars in the middle of trains using newer cars in front. now metro confirms that on occasion it has run trains using the older cars in front. >> we do that in the event that a particular rail yard is short of other rail cars of other series. so we have to make a decision if for some reason we're short, the options are, do we not run a train and make people wait longer, or do we take those 1000 cars in the lead, put them on a train for one trip, get it from one end of the line to the other and cut them off and reposition them. >> reporter: here at metro center we asked riders to react to the new that is the first two

cars on their train may be among the oldest cars in metro's fleet. >> i think it's irresponsible to happen in the first place. i think people are outraged. these are old cars. too many people rely on these. they have to be safe. >> i don't think we should be riding older cars just to i guess conserve money. it's not fair. >> reporter: metro does not have an exact figure of how many times since the june crash it has used the older series 1000 cars in front of trains. but it considers the occasional use of them at the head of the trains as being safe. christ gordon, news4. >> metro officials say they do not have enough money to replace all the series 1000 cars, but they have ordered about 65 new train cars. joe? this morning a mother is speaking out after two teenagers yo were shot earlier this week in southeast washington. 14-year-old stanley martin harraday and his friend were shot. he was walking with a friend when someone drove by and opened fire.

harraday was shot in the face and leg. his friend was shot in the leg. his mother says her son is a good kid. >> never been in no type of trouble. of course i'm going to be scared. it seemed like those are the targets that they target out here >> authorities expect both teenagers to make a full recovery. police say they do not have either a motive or a suspect. an eerly marand woman wh ap disro f his son's burtonsville home has been found. 74 olivia robinson suffers from alzheimesse diase. re he w she vanished. robinson was unharmed. police aren't sure where she spent the night. to make sure it doesn't happen again, robinson son is working with montgomery county police to outfit her with a project life saver bracelet. >> something that happened that gave us a little perspective on how close we need to keep an eye on her. >> we hope we don't have to utilize the bracelet. but in the event they do go

missing, we're able to track them with the bracelet, up to a mile on the ground and four miles in the air. >> the tracking brace let's have been used to find nearly a dozen missing adults. new details out this morning in the case of a california girl kidnapped and confined for 18 years. the bone fragment found near the home where jaycee dugard is said to have been held is, quote, probably human. investigators said they found the bone last week on a neighbor's property in a neighborhood phillip garrido did have access to. the fragment was analyzed by an outside expert will go to a state dna lab for further testing. a sheriff's spokesman noted that it is not uncommon to find native american remains in that same area. new information this morning on the rape allegations against pittsburgh steeler player ben roethlisberger. the accusers says she will drop

if it if he admits and. roethlisberger's lawyer says they don't accept the offer. it's designed to counter claims that the lawsuit was just about money. in sports the redskins are getting ready for the season opener against the giants this weekend. serena williams shines at the u.s. open. lindsay czarniak wraps it up in your sports minute. good morning everybody. your sports minute on this wednesday morning begins with the redskins and preparations for sunday's game against the giants ramp up today. one guy looking and excited about helping out is offensive lineman mike williams who made it as one of the ten offensive linen the redskins kept. he lost more than 100 pounds during the off season. he provides the skins with depth along the o line. to baseball, nationals pitcher john lannan was doing well until the seventh inning, he gave up three solo home run ins the inning. the nationals gave up five in the game. the phillies get the win 5-3. in boston, the orioles got

pounded. the red sox hit six home runs including two from dustin pedroia as the red sox won over the os, 10-0. to tennis, serena williams advanced to the semi finals of the u.s. open with straight set victory over tenth seed flav yeah pinetta: that's your sports minute. i'm lindsay czarniak. have a great day. time for traffic and weather on the 1s. >> let's check in with tom kierein. cloudy and cool pattern continues on this wednesday morning. as we look at the radar we are getting a few scattered light sprinkles where you see the little patches of o blue, shenandoah valley, prince william, fairfax, loudoun, montgomery counties. in frederick county, panhandle of west virginia, howard county getting a few sprinkles this morning. temperatures are cool, low and mid 60s except right near the bay it's a bit warmer.

out in the eastern shore, mid 60s. a cool morning on the mountains. all of this scattered sprinkle activity coming from a rotating low pressure system east of the del marva coast. that may give us sprinkles this evening. much of the day should be dry. highs in the mid 70s. greater chance of passing showers and cooler tomorrow. friday, saturday and sunday looking nice, upper 70s to near 80 with sthin returning. jerry, good morning. how's the traffic on this wednesday? >> doing pretty well. i-66 inside the capital beltway near scott street. so far, so good. both directions eastbound and westbound between the roosevelt and capital beltway. the speeds from the eastern shore this morning, route 50, 16 minutes from 5301 interchange in queens town to the bay prij bridge. 13 minutes from the bay bridge and seven minutes from buoy to the beltway.

>> thanks very much, jerry. our time is now 5:22. 67 degrees. big budget cuts coming to virginia. it's higher education and jobs on the chopping block. how you can cash in from its emned byon victedne ct

a fire truck that was nearly swallowed by a sinkhole in north hollywood, california has been pulled out. workers eventually used a crane to haul the 22-ton engine truck out of the hole. firefighters were responding to reports of a broken water main when the accident happened. the firefighter driving the truck noticed the sinkhole forming and tried to back the truck out of danger, but the road gave way beneath him. fortunately no one was hurt. new today, the new york city penthouse apartment once owned by bernard madoff is being

prepared for the auction block. federal agents have been busy cataloguing everything in the home from the steinway piano to the silverware as they get ready to sell off everything including the apartment itself. the proceeds are set to go to the victims of madoff's $65 billion ponzi scheme. the park avenue apartment with an estimated value of $7.5 million was received by u.s. marshals after madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison. the date of the auction has not yet been released. 5:27 is your time now. 67 degrees. the number of swine flu cases in our area is growing. what the cdc is now saying about an imminent outbreak. president obama is getting ready to go before a joint session of congress and talk about his plans for health care reform. a 37-year-old woman is found shot to death outside her apartment building in silver spring. i'm megan mcgr

prime time. president obama's promise to lay it all o on the line to address health care reform. gunned down. the investigation into how a woman ended up dead outside a montgomery county apartment complex. good morning to you. welcome to new"news4 today." i'm joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang in for barbara harrison today. wednesday, september 9th, 2009. we'll take a live look outside at 5:31. cloudy skies overhead. what kind of day will we have? tom kierein is in the studio and will tell us. >> a blanket of clouds over the region at this hour coming from an area of low pressure off the cost. it is producing a few sprinkles where you see the areas of blue on the radar. those are a few sprinkles. central shenandoah valley as fa and montgomery county. there's a fewin ses iklprn sotyunco, ty un, wa eocireti ptapion elwh no ee,c a cloudy and coolymo g.rnin

low 60 shenandoah valley. around the blue ridge weather watchers are reporting. ndper 60s ishn oninwa agt riar t ne the bay. this coastal low is over so slowly creep together the north. but still we're under the influence of this. as a result for your bus stop forecast this morning, your child may need an uchl brel la, perhaps a few sprinkles around this morning. temperatures cool in the 60s and our sunrise, 6:44. the rest of the day should be dry. th mbeay ft aew a more sprinkl th evening. highs in the mid 70s before that. then a greater chance of showers tomorrow and cooler. drying out friday into the weekend. a look at next week in ten minutes. >> thank you, tom. let's go to jerry edwards and news4 traffic network. any new problems looking at downtown? >> relatively quiet. want to show the picture. we haven't shown it for a while. a nice, serene commute ang lower 14th street towards pennsylvania avenue. another couple hours it will be a wholeifferent story.

right now good to go. nice picture. wanted tshow you that. the wilson bridge, no hang-ups to report either direction. find the lanes open. potomac on river roads between falls road and po symmetry road. a couple lanes may be blocked on river road, a little work around the neighborhood. you'll be just fine. joe and eun, back to you. >> thank you very much, jerry. tonight president barack obama will try and sell his health care reform plan to america. he is set to give a prime time speech from capitol hill. >> in fact, some think tonight's speech to a joint session of congress could be the most important speech of his presidency so far. news4's tracee wilkins joins us live from capitol hill. good morning, tracee. >> good morning joe and eun. tonight the white house says the president will answer all major questions, for democrats, republicans and the public. they say his bottom line will be if anybody has a better idea, lay it on the table. >> reporter: after tonight's joint address to congress,

president obama is hoping all questions about his push for health care reform will be answered. after a fiery summer of angry town hall meetings, proponents say opposition to the bill is based on misinformation. >> people will come away understanding where he is on these big issues and these big questions. these were liberal activists pro pest testing outside the white house yesterday for a public option in health care reform. what was once the focal point of the democratic push for the change in health care is now considered by some a deal breaker not worth mentioning out loud. even some fiscally conservative democrats have vowed not to include the option if it's included. speaker nancy pelosi said yesterday the bill must have it. >> i believe a public option will be essential to our passing a bill in the house of representatives. >> reporter: most republicans are saying it's not clarity that's needed, but a whole new direction. >> the american people don't

want another speech on health care. they want another plan on health care. >> the american people are asking us to start over. they want reforms, but they want the right reforms, not some grand scheme. >> we're not starting over. >> reporter: e we understand tonight's speech is supposed to be about 35 minutes long. most of it will be written by the. back to you all in the studio. >> thanks, tracee, very much. today supporters of the late senator edward kennedy are vowing to pack a public hearing a at a massachusetts state house, pressing lawmakers to pass a bill which would allow governor deval patrick to name an interim replacement to the senate seat left vacant after kennedy's death. the replacement would fill the position until january's special election. g > new today,n i atiesonnvtigar

d war n unmati is erlvfoinpradg after a woman was found deadx. ce lempoffirsisre d morarnind 12ou0 tsng i mning ie 14000 block of cass el boulevard. news4's megan mcgrath joins us from silver spring this morning with the latest on this. good morning. >> reporter: we're here at the ash ford at wood lake apartments in the 14000 block of cassell boulevard where a 37-year-old woman has been found shot to death outside her apartment building. this happened just before 12:30 this morning. police received a 911 call for a report of shots being fired in the area. when investigators arrived on the scene, they found the woman lying on a concrete walkway between the parking lot and the front door of the apartment building. we're told she lives or lived in that apartment building. police are looking for anyone who happened to hear or see anything. obviously someone heard the

shots fired. they placed the 911 call, but they have yet to find anyone who can report anything in terms of a suspect perhaps running from the scene or leaving from the scene in a car. they simply do not have any of that information. thwarting their effort to find witnesses is the exact location of this apartment building. while this is a very large sprawling complex, this actual building is located on the end. it's kind of more of an isolated area. >> although this is a densely populated area, this apartment building she was found outside of is an end unit directly adjacent to a wooded area. this may limit the number of witnesses that may have heard or seen something. but we're asking anyone who saw something suspicious to give us a call. >> police don't know if this was a random act of violence or whether she perhaps knew the person who shot her. no i.d. on her yet. we're told she is from another country. so they're going to have to make some phone calls to try to locate her next of kin.

back to you. >> thanks very much, megan. first on 4, the story that's left d.c. police scrambling to explain. a burglar breaks in. the homeowner catches him, but he escapes after police take 45 minutes to show up. this all happened friday afternoon on wyoming avenue in northwest. the homeowner was at work a few blocks away. suddenly he got a call from his alarm company, someone had broken in. the homeowner says he rushed home and ran into a back alley. some delivery men pointed out the suspect. >> who was bleeding in his right hand. i said why is your hand bleeding. at which time he became a little belligerent and was cursing me and then started walking briskly. i followed him. then he started running. i ran for two blocks while trying to dial 911 again. >> the homeowner says police finally arrived 43 minutes after the alarm company first called

him. he said they drove in the direction the suspect had run, but he was gone along with the homeowner's laptop. >> our time is 5:38. 67 degrees. why first lady michelle obama wants to shut down one busy district intersection once a week. the deep cuts for the commonwealth affting higher education and putting hundreds of people out ofn plus a jo n plus a new version of the age old game mamakes s nyoyoureieighboonopo makes neighbo

time for weather and traffic. good morning. cloudy and cool on this wednesday morning. as you look at the radar, these patches of blue are a couple sprinkles. points west and north across the shenandoah valley in the panhandle of west virginia where temperatures are cooler. only in the 50s out of the mountains. low 60s around the blue ridge shenandoah valley, mid 60s in washington. in washington now 67. these clouds and sprinkles coming from a coastal low pressure system east of the del

marva coast that's going to linger throughout the day. maybe a few morning sprinkles and perhaps evening sprinkles. most of the dayhould be dry, cloudy, highs mid 70s. greater chance of showers tomorrow mainly in the afternoon and evening. highs near 70. friday and the weekend we begin to dry out. should stay dry into monday and tuesday as well. i'm ack in ten minutes with the national travel forecast. how is the traffic now, jerry? >> still pretty quiet through most of downtown. good morning everyone. we'll check out new york avenue as we go through northeast toward north cap and beyond. no worries. travel lanes are open. elsewhere, wilson bridge, travel lanes are open. southern maryland, a preity decent commute coming up on 301. route 4 to the belt way also looking good. joe and eun, back to you. >> thanks, jerry. 5:43. 67 degrees. monopoly is going global. your neighborhood can now join

in the action of the age-old popular board game. plus the number of local swine flu cases is on the increase. next at 5:45 what the is now .

good morning and welcome back. the swine flu is spreading across college campuses nationwide. here locally the biggest outbreak we found is at the university of maryland. that's where h1n1 is blamed for making more than 170 people sick. george mason, there's only a reportedly a handful of cases. health officials say the flu targets college-age students 18 to 24 years old. many local schools are not testing for swine flu because it costs about $200 per patient. vaccines for the swine flu virus will not be ready for a few more weeks, of course. in the meantime the centers for disease control says antiviral drugs like tamiflu and relenza can be used to treat the vir.

kristen dahlgren has the latest. >> reporter: the flu is spreading quick through classrooms. the vaccine is still a month away. >> it's going to be a busy and long season. we need to be prepared for the next several months and also the spring. >> reporter: the good news is the strain doesn't seem to have changed since last spring, but the cdc says it is spreading fast, starting in the southeast. this vacant dorm at emory university houses infected students while clear across the country at washington state university more than 2000 may have been infected. >> you have to be a little concerned. what can you do? they have to go to school. >> reporter: experts say there are things you can do. >> frequent washing of hands, avoiding shaking hands with people who are sick, covering your mouth when you sneeze and cough. >> reporter: seeking medical treatment is also imrtant. but the cdc isew nng o new guidelines for the use of antivirals like tamiflu,

limiting them to people at high risk. >> most children, adolescent and adults with influenza like illness don't need antiviral medicines. it's just people with risk conditions. >> reporter: the cdc says more frequent use could cause resistance and make things worse in a season already expected to be bad. kristen dahlgren, nbc news. >> health experts say those who are high-risk patients need to be treated with antivirals. but for anyone else, rest and perhaps some chicken soup may be better medicine. some state employees in virginia could learn today they're being laid off. it's part of a new round ouf nasa budget cuts. yesterday governor tim kaine ordered cu of $1.35 billion from the current budget. nearly 600 state employees will be laid off. some will get pink slips as early as today. more than 100,000 other state workers will take an unpaid day off next year. governor kaine also ordered the

closing awful two prisons and juvenile detention center as well as cuts for state-supported colleges and universities. northern virginia community college is just one that will take a big hit. it comes at a time when the college is seeing record enrollment. the college has yet to fully recover from a 10% budget cut back in 2002. yesterday state budget announcement will mean another 7% loss in funding. that means the tuition will probably go up. >> i think a lot more people aren't going to go to school now if they're going to raise it. they've already raised it in the last year and a half. >> experts estimate that virginia will need 70,000 additional graduates this decade. yet, with the budget cuts, it means we're lucky to have the same number of graduates coming out each year. >> if there is a tu igs increase, the school has yet to decide on the size of that increase. this week in d.c., the government will sell off thousands of commercial and residential properties. the district is hoping to

collect 26,000 in back taxes. despite the economy, d.c. is one of the most sought after markets in the country. not everyone is doing well with real estate. the annual property tax sales draws a lot of would-be buyers. the tax office will sell nearly 5,000 properties. >> washington, d.c. has a great deal of valuable pr operes. you'd be surprised what will be on the topax sale. t>> cap ttest property is a garage here on connecticut avenue northwest at $30,000. the most expensive is here on i street in northeast assessed at $19 million. she has her own vegetable garden outside the white house. now first lady michelleto aat cs wants re c ae farmer's market in then hbneighoneor. the first ly'sic officeas h asked the districtas f permission to close ispesion to close between h and i between h and ihwrtnotes eryve northwest everyweet :00 p.m. and 00.m p.ar p hech p yetkarom t from thebas.hiayma os s a ba o s a s rmfaer's

market would be a win-win for people in the city. she says that residents would have access to healthy food and local farmers would have a place to sell their food. but that's not an idea that everyone likes. some say closing vermont avenue during rush hour would create more traffic headaches. it's now 5:51. that means time for traffic and weather on the 1s. meteorologist tom kierein is here with a look at our forecast. >> the apples are starting to co-out. e we've got the corn out there now, talking about the farmer's markets. the weather has been cooperating agriculturally. as far as our seasonal temperatures go, this is cooler than average. only the low and mid 60s now. there's capitol hill under a cloudy sky on this wednesday morning. er reicvem ftuurro o city camera. right now on radar where we see l ltle flecks of blue, those are areas of light rain, just some sprinkles right now falling in southern charles

county, seeing a little sprinkle there as well as the western northern neck of virginia. elsewhere, a few sprinkles in fairfax d montgomery and frederick county. enhandlf of west virginia, central shenandoah valley and shenandoah and page counties. otherwise a dry start this morning. weather watchers are reporting temperatures only in the low 60s to upper 50s around the blue ridge and shenandoah valley this morning. in montgomery, fairfax, arliton, prince george's county, temperatures in the mid 60s. charles, calvert, st. mary's, anne arundel, those temperatures a little warmer. on the eastern shore mid 60s this morning. it is cool in the mountains, only the mid 50s in the mountains of west virginia and western maryland. this coastal low that's been spinning off the del marva for the last day or so is ever so slowly creeping to the north. with this persistent easterly flow pumping in some of the clouds. as that does happen it produces a few scattered sprinkles around our region. heavier showers moving from

nantucket through martha's vineyard toward southern new england, that will perhaps move up the later part of the day. probably only minor flight delays, boston and new york city from that. maybe a few storms causing delays in south florida as well as texas and the upper midwest. the west coast is looking settled except for some rain portland to seattle. for us, we have this coastal low that is ever so slowly creeping to the north. it will eventually pull away, but not until thursday night. we'll be under the influence of that until then. we have dry air waiting to come our way. it has to come in after this leaves. we're going to wait. as we look here going forward over the next 48 hours we see areas of blues where we could get a few sprinkles perhaps this evening. then during the day tomorrow, mainly in the afternoon we'll maybe have some showers passing through and then passing to the north on thursday evening. finally it looks like this system will begin to exit as we get out of here on friday. so things are looking a little damp this morning for the bus

stop forecast. maybe a few sprinkles. we'llwe be in t 60s. dress accordingly. by 9:00 most of the sprinkle activity should begin to end. then dry the rest of the day. a slight chance of sprinkles this afternoon with highs in the mid 70s. maybe a greater chance of a few more sprinkles this evening until around midnight, sunset till midnight. tomorrow morning cloudy and cool, near 60. tomorrow, cloudy. a slight chance of anior mngor sprinkle. a greater chance of maybe passing swers and maybe theg evening. then drying out ondariy d y into the weekend. friday partly sunny, highs upper 70s. saturday and sunday partly cloudy both d .ysda highs near 80. t foror outdogr activities. then monday and tuesday, partly cloudy each day. high 70s to near 80. that's the way it looks on this wednesday morning. >> thank you, tom. let's go to jerry edwards and the news4 traffic network. any problems form us? >> relatively quiet. shh. going to keep our fingers crossed. hope. ly it will last that day for a

while. that would be a treat, wouldn't it? fredricksburg 95 northbound this side of the roadway route 17 looking good. southbound 95 no worries. 395 through landmark and shirlington moving along well. at the woodrow wilson bridge, no hang-ups to report. check your speed this morning, let you know how things are pro glesing along i 270. two minutes from clarksburg down to route 27, farther hurley boulevard. from that point, 22 minutes, utt volume, headed down toward e capital bac joe and kn, teu back to ha you,o >>nkha you, jerry. monopoly isoiha gng g globa. the new free web gelil w bring google ethtr a s vndeetiliew to make the wholelaeetneheam get board. the company le o tabnywno s at lehe ttreet in the world and bui from houses to castles in ol ttto cle r to collect repsent and buildemp. .anpiem playeo t aeo sabbiginag ldingbir on their streets.

the company noted that they built the application with help from google. >> interesting. food prices have caught up with the economy. the labor department says the price of food sold to grocery stores dropped for the seventh month in a row. prices have dropped on grains, meats and even organic foods. >> the prices have dropped. there's a lot more sales every week end is probably a different fruit is on sale, which for a while there nothing was going down. >> analysts say things like weather and oil prices can affect how much you pay for your groceries. in this case lower fuel costs and frugal customers helped edge the prices down. to the money crisis now and a look at how the foreign are doing. nikkei loss and china's shanghai gained .54%. to wall street where the dow futures are pointing toward a negative opening. yesterday the dow gained 56 points closing at 9497.

the nasdaq closed at 2,037. a real life night at the museum witsne4'w jobs 4 you. the smith sonia is looking for a security guard. salary ranges4' between $33,000 s sdd 43,000 a year. if you're interested nbcwashington.sd acomnd nbcwashington.com and search "jobs 4 you". ewss4 i always connected to r u on fanebk itoofod twr ter up to the minute news, weather and breaking traffic alerts, you can find us by searching news4today. next in the 6:00 hour, live on the scene of an early morning murder in silver spring. a woman was found shot to death overnight. what does apple have up its sleeve? the te giant is getting ready to unveil its next innovation. meteorologist tom kierein will let you know if we'll see the sun today. we'll have weather and traffic togs on the 1s. we'll be right back.

the president's prescription. tonight president obama will deliver his pivotal health care pitch to a joint session of congress. and this morning we know what his message will be. but is it enough to satisfy his critics. murder mystery. a woman is found killed early in silver sprin we're live on the scene with police as they comb through the evidence and search for a killer. good morning and welcome back to "news4 today." i'm joe krebs. >> i'm eun yang in for barbara harrison today, wednesday,

9/9/09. let's take a look outside right now. beautiful kind of a day out there. 67 degrees. but there are some clouds above us. lts see if that will bring rain for usy.toda today. meteorologist tom kierein has joined us. producing a few nerinkles in whengasintohin he arbyncrerth in virgor nndneria fin th anen oe shah the shenandoahor nner thdoor nt neck. heutarso mylrn and getting a fe anrinkles around the clouds this morning. the forecast for the rest of the da y, well, for the morning hours, expect a few scattered sprinkles from time to time and in the 60 s. en by noontime low 70sow and cloudy. just cloudy this afternoon. only a small chance of sprinkles withnsig ih the mid 70s. our sunrise is in about 45 minutes. sunset will be at i 7:26. we may have a greater chance of sprinkles this evening and drying out again by dawn tomorrow. mo tstf oheulayfho sd be dry in the morning on sdhourthayur then thursday afternoon and evening, looks like a greater chance of rain moving back in. pashg iner lsg ikely and cooler will highs near 70,

friday, saturday and into sunday with highs near 80 each day. back in ten minutes with another update. >> we'll see you then. >> jerry is back with a look at traffic. we'll head south and check out the capital beltway. as you head for the wilson bridge or as you come off the wilson bridge. depends upon which direction you're going. between alexandria and oxon hill looking pretty good. here is the capitol beltway, travel lanes are open. 95 in virginia looking okay. picking up a lot of volume. word of an accident on route 1. police headed over to check on that. in potomac river road between falls road and po symmetry road, reports of a water main break. some say it is make or break for health care reform. president obama is gearing up for a prime time address ton the topic to a joint session of congress. he's expected to make his case to lawmakers and to the nation and to specify exactly what he wants in a bill.

brooke hart joins us live from capitol hill with more on how the president is trying to change the debate tonight. good morning, brooke. >> reporter: exactly right. president obama has tried to stay at arm's length and to shape it from a distance. tonight that changes dramatically as he steps into the center of the fray. >> i know that some of you -- >> reporter: ahead of tonight's speech, the pressures on the president were loud and visible. >> what do we want? public option! >> reporter: liberal activists showed outside the white house, even some who worked for barack obama during his campaign threatened to abandon him. >> i will not work for him again if he abandons the public option. >> reporter: house speaker nancy pelosi pressured him inside and huddled with democrats later. >> i do believe in order to pass a pill bill in the house we will have a public option. >> reporter: fiery town halls have driven democrats like mike ross. after senators paused to remember ted kennedy, some

republicans said start over. >> let's go back to square one. let's sit down together and get this issue resolved. >> reporter: will the president endorse a public plan as a fallback if too few uninsured end up covered? >> he might endorse a trigger or son concept designed to enlist the support of a handful of republicans. i think most republicans are going to view that as repackaging and relabeling the government plan. >> reporter: from the white house promises tonight of clarity. >> people will come away understanding where he is on these big issues and these big questions. >> reporter: senate democrat max baucus has scheduled meetings through the day. he wants his so-called gang of six negotiators to back his $900 billion reform plan before the president's speech. the baucus plan is the one version with gop input. there's no public option in it. the big question for president obama tonight, will he be reaching to critics on the right or on thds?ft

?l,e on capitolikilt or hee n'm live on capitol hill, i'm broe hart, joe and eun, back to u.yo y>> can watch president a' imobamprs e time address right here on nbc4. it begins at 8:00 tonight. topr day.today. esnvti igati iss under silver lversir found deadmawo is o found dead outside her amertpant complex. dpolicertiscovered the would na before 12:30 this morning in the 14000 block of newcastle boulevard. >> reporter: good morning, eun. this happened outside the ash ford at wood lake apartments in the briggs cheney section of silver spring. it happened very early this morning. a little before 12:30 in the morning. that's when a 37-year-old woman was found shot to death outside her apartment building. now, a 911 call came in to police just before 12:30 this morning. someone in the area reported the sound of gunfire. police responded. that's when they found the woman lying in front of her apartment

complex. >> she was found on the walkway directly outside her apartment building. it's still very early. we're looking at her connections to the community and other connections that she had in this area. so we're looking at all angles right now. >> reporter: now, the building where she was found is in a remote area here in this very sprawling apartment complex. it's actually- it butts up to a wooded area. so it's a little more isolated than other areas in this apartment complex. they're looking for any witnesses who perhaps saw someone leaving from the area either on foot or in a car. anyone who can shed light on what happened here. again, a 37-year-old woman found shot to death outside her apartment building. they have not identified her. we are told she is from another country. they'll have to make some overseas phone calls, they believe, in order to notify her next of kin. they're not sure if this is random or whether she knew the person who shot her. eun, back to you. >> megan mcgrath, thank you.

there's continuing concern over metros series 1000 rail cars. they're the oldest cars carrying commuters. the cars date back to the 1970s. that deadly crash in june involved one of those cars. the national transportation safety board recommended replacing those cars. metro has not done so. metro said it would begin putting cars in the middle of trains, but officials tell news4, there's still older cars traveling the front parts of the trains and they consider the occasional use of them in the front to be safe. a dark cloud is hanging over virginia this morning in the wake of new budget cuts. hundreds of state workers will learn they'll be losing their jobs. governor tim kaine announced $1.35 billion in budget cuts. nearly 600 state employees will be laid off, some asked to leave starting today. those keeping their jobs will have to take one day without pay next year. kaine has also ordered the closing of two prisons and

funding cuts for state-supported colleges and universities. 6:07 is your time. 67 degrees. more cricis sm thilimor in tfog virginia. gubernatorial candidate bob mcdonnell about something he said years ago. new evidence found near the home where a california woman was held captive for 18 years. why police now say there could be another victim. the fab four are back. get ready to rock out todayatle fothe beats.

weather and traffic on the 1s. 6:11. good morning. as we look at the radar, we have passing light showers and sprinkles moving from the north to south across maryland, virginia and into the panhandle of west virginia as well. we'll have them with us for another three or four hours. temperatures are cool under the clouds. in the low and mid 60s. near 70 right near the bay. then again later this evening we

may have a passing sprinkle or a light shower. much of the day will be dry afternoon time. highs reaching mid 70s. cloudy tomorrow. slight chance of a sprinkle and a greater chance of afternoon and evening showers. drying out friday, s sunday. should stay dry into next week. jerry, how is the traffic now? >> take a live look along connecticut avenue at k street. while perusing the cameras, this caught my eye. look at the water coming up along connecticut where k and 17th come in. don't have a word of a water breaktion, but we'll check on that and see what's coming through. when the cars come through, they're splashing up a lot of water over connecticut and k. we'll keep you updated on that. that could be an issue. southeast you're doing fine. 270 you're fine. the beltway north of town. if that is a water break, we have travels in river city. >> thanks very much.

swine flu fears beginning to become a reality. the dramatic speaking cases of local college campuses. mo controversy for bob mcdonald, what he said in 2003 that has mcdonnell o

virginia's o gubernatorial comment is facing more criticism for comments he made more than six years ago. in 2003 the then chairman of the house courts of justice committee voted against rubina askew's reappointment because

she allegedly harassed a female colleague. mcdonnell said certain homosexual conduct could disqualify people from being a judge because it violates the state's crime against nature law. he said that has nothing to do with his campaign for governor. new details are out this morning in the case of the california girl kidnapped and confined for 18 years. the bone fragments found near the home where jaycee dugard is said to have been held is probably human. investigators said they found the bone last week on a neighbor's property in an area that dugard's accused cap tore d accused rapist phillip garrido had access to. the fragment will go on to the state dna lab for testing. a sheriff's spokesman also noted that it is not uncommon to find native american remains in that area. joe? rlea0 n20y a a nrly 200 area

do zesrt gezen possie or mason, three ses. howard and american universities have reported no cases. in college park, health officials are not testing patients for swooi. rather they're treating every case as if it is infection with the h1n1 virus. students will flu-b like symptoms are encouraged to go home or to isolate themselves. it was a lesson plan from the president. president obama gave a speech -- >> you cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. you've got to train for it and work for it and learn for it. >> president obama gave a back-to-school speech at wakefield high school in aoss the country.y televised in among them lehigh school in springfield. >> every day you go home after school and your parents are always on your case trying to push you to do your best. it's not very often that the

president of the united states actually comes on television speaking directly to the students. i think that was something great. >> some schools in our area decided not to show the speech after conservative groups protested, they claimed the speech would be politicized. the president did not touch on any hot button issues like health care reform. eun? >> joe, thanks. the senate's first order of business was to remember a friend, late senator ted kennedy. a moment of silence was observed before the senate's fall session convened. black velvet draped kennedy's desk along with flowers and a poem from robert frost's "a road not taken." he spent 43 years in the senate before his death last month. the supreme court gets back to work today. justice sonia sotomayor will hear her first case, one on campaign finance reform. the nation's first hispanic supreme court judge took the oath of office yesterday. the redskins are getting ready for their season opener against the giants. lindsay czarniak has that and more in your sports minute.

hey there, good morni everybody. your sports mississippi ut on this wednesday morning begins with the redskins and preparations for sunday's game against the giants ram up up today. one guy looking and excited about helping out is offensive lineman mike williams who made it as one of the ten offensive linemen the redskins kept. he lost more than a hundred pounds during the off season. williams provides the skins with depth along the o line. nationals pitcher john lannan was doing well until the seventh inning when he gave up three solo home runs. the nationals gave up five home run ms. the game. the phillies win 5-3. in boston the orioles got pounded. the red sox hit six home runs including two from dustin pedroia as the red sox won over the o's 10-0. to tennis, serena williams advanced to the semi finals of the u.s. open over tenth seeded flav yeah pinetta. that's your sports minute.

i'm lindsay czarniak. have a great day. it's time to check weather an traffic. >> let us do that. k iinrenrm tom kierein in storm center 4. these clouds can make you giggle, can't they? there's a view of our washington monument. the reflecting pool. the capitol there in the distance. a wonderful live picture. it's a dark and cloudy morning. the sunill be up though. s sunrise anyway is in about 25 minutes. right now it's in the upper 60s in washington. looking at the radar where you see these moving patches of blue and green, these are scattered light showers and sprinkles moving through montgomery county and the district and prince george's county. there's one shower there in southern fairfax, too. along interstate 95 near springfield as well as in southern charles county they're getting a few sprinkles. a few sprinkles in calvert and anne arundel counties. looking at the wider view of the radar, we have other bans of light showers coming into northeastern maryland. those may move into the eastern

suburbs over the next half hour or so. getting at other sprinkles in the panhandle of west virginia, out in washington, garrett and allegheny counties as well as shenandoah valley and page and shenandoah counties. a cool morning, 60s to near 70 by the way. we'll have the highs reaching the mid 70s after the morning sprinkles end, it looks like we'll be dry much of the daylight urs. after sunset and until midnight maybe a few more sprinkles this evening. tomorrow will be cloudy, highs near 70. mae a morning sprinkle. but a greater chance of afternoon and evening passing showers. finally drying out friday, saturday and sunday and into the rtrst pa of next week. jerry, good morning. how is our traffic on this wednesday morning? >> tom, good morning to you. good morning evyone. we've been watching connecticut avenue where k and 17th all come together. the amount of water flowing into the roadway has lessened a little bit. we're checking to see if this is

a water main break. it could be that the fire department was draining the hydrants and testing them out. we'll follow up on that and let you know whas atl, connecticutd k and 17th. not affecting traffic, whatever it may be. along the capitol belt way from springfielto the wilson bridge, seven minutes off the wilson bridge up to route 50, just 16 minutes. still moving quite nicely between route 50 and college park. i 95 interchange at eight minutes. steelers quarterback ben roethlisberger is facing a sexual harassment lawsuit. the woman who filed it said e'll drop the case. what she wants in return. beat l mania is back. how you can pretend to be one of the fab four today. i'll alwa ♪ i'll always be true ys

♪ i want to hold your hand beatles cover band helped rock last night. the new interactive music game allows players to sing or play along with john, paul, george and ring go. the game features 45 songs remastered onto cds for a crisper, cleaner sound. new information this morning in the rape allegations against pittsburgh steelers quarterback ben roethlisberger. his accuser says she will drop her civil lawsuit if he admits it, apologizes and donates $100,000 to a domestic violence group. roethlisberger's lawyer says they won't accept the offer. it's just designed to counter claims that the lawsuit was just about money. how a team of military commandos freed a "new york times" reporter in afghanistan

today. the slow response time in the distriur by glarth hate burw l

murder mystery. a woman is found killed early this morning in silver spring. we're live on the scene with police on this developing story. good morning and welcome back to "news4 today." i'm joe krebs. i'm eun yang in for barbara harrison today, wednesday, september 9th, 2009. a live look outside at 6:30. 67 degrees. we had a few showers around the region. neteorologist tom kierei is o tel us he's going t f we'll getor minrae today.klu es through t r oinchhe te esthf rda of thy right now dronad right noonad wreee y sou s the moving patches of blue, those are light showers rotatin around a coa lstowalstreur

system jar asvaar coast. cloo aurreerta c idthl 60sro ad unw loheand mid region. right near the bay it's near 70. 67 in heid a mnd upp 70er tin m and upper 60s in i.tygton, fairfax,county. 's he tow l60s. th l c oa cst lsalow ial not going anywhere. slly drifting off to the north and east.ow we'll be under the influence of this this morning. it appears we'll dry out this afternoon, highs mid 70s. another round of sprinkles likely this in enevg. tomorrow morning a slight chancn of a sprinkle and a likelihood of passing showers in the afternoon and cooler. finally drying out and just in time for the weekend friday, saturday and sunday. each day partly cloudy, high ms. the 70s to near 80. back in ten minutes with an update. let's go to jerry and see if we have any problems on the roads. jerry? >> we'll check out i-270, southbound right at the split. these folks headed down the spur, headed toward the inner loop.

those folks headed north, the other way. right now everything is moving along pretty well. a few brake lights at the beginning of the spur. that's typical this time of morning. no incidents to report. prince george's county on the beltway, inner loop at 214, word of a tractor-trailer broken down in the travel portion of the roadway. crews are working feverishly to get that out of the way. river road at falls road, water main break is taken care of. back to you. > ng>>kiea newkitou els yol about this morning. a "new yoteyoim"ep rorteor hreld stan has beenca anihaanas h bee bbyeeshriti commandos. stephen farrell's kidnapping had not been reported to protect his safety. "the times" said he was abducted by tell ban militants on saturday while reporting on a u.s. air strike in afghanistan. he was freed today in an early morning raid. military officials say a british commando and farrell's afghan translator were killed during that operation.

farrell, a dual british-iris>>w. > new today, a woman isad outsih .riier apartment ngsp ceporili.ng police.ow i happened. officers discovered the woman overnight in the 14000 block of cassell boulevard. megan mcgrath joins us from silver spring with more on the story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. this happened in front of an apartment building at the ash ford at wood lake apartments in the briggs cheney section of sill verp spring. just a little before 12:30 in the morning police received a 911 call. someone in the area reporting the sound of gunfire in the area. when officers arrived here on the scene, that's when they found a 37-year-old woman. she had apparently been shot to death outside of her apartment building. she was actually found on the cement walkway that leads from the parking lot area to the front door of her apartment complex. this is a sprawling complex here. it's very dernsly populated.

a lot of people living in the area. this particular building is an end unit. it's off to the side and it's near a wooded area. it's actually more isolated than other sections of this apartment complex. so police are having difficulty finding witnesses who actually saw something this morning. >> although this is a densely populated area, this apartment building she was found outside is an end unit directly adjacent to a wooded area. this may limit the number of witnesses that may have heard or seen something. but we're asking anyone who saw something suspicious to give us a call. >> reporter: police have not identified the woman who w murdered here. we're told she appears to be from overseas. they're going to have to make some telephone calls, overseas calls to try to locate next of kin. until that happens we won't be given the identity of the woman killed here. again, it appears she was shot to death. she was found on the walkway, the sidewalk in front of her apartment complex.

it's not clear whether this was was a random act of violence or whether she knew the person who shot her. >> megan, thank you. now first on 4, the story left d.c. police scrambling to explain. a burglar broke in and the homeowner caught him, but he escaped after the police take 45 minutes to show up. this all happened friday afternoon on wyoming avenue and northwest. the homeowner was at work faw blocks away. suddenly he got a call from his alarm company someone had broken into his house. the homeowner rushed home and ran into a back alley. delivery men pointed out the suspect. >> he was bleeding in his right hand. i said why is your hand bleeding? at which time he became a little belligerent and was cursing me and then started walking briskly. i followed him. he started running. i ran for two blocks while dialing 911 again. >> the homeowner says police finally arrived 43 minutes after

the alarm company first called them. he says they drove in the direction the suspect had run, but he was gone along with the homeowner's laptop. in the wake of new budget cuts, hundreds of state employees in virginia could learn today that they're being laid off. governor tim kaine ordered of of billion from the en rrcu .buetdgrr nearly 060 state employees will beai0d off. some willet pink slips as y. hareto ty. n more than 10 o0,000er0 state s woer trkllwie alln unpaid day closin oai kgsls aodeorf thd tw closings of two prisons and a juvenile te deposition center as well as cuts for state-supported colleges and universities. the first step in a multi billion dollar make over. the groundbreaking of the new department of homeland security headquarters in southeast washington, planned for the old saint elizabeth's campus on the bluff overlooking the potomac and anacostia rivers. the site will be transformed into a $3.5 billion security

complex. the move will help the area bring construction, retail and job opportunities. find out who wants to close down a busy street downtown to set up a farmer's market near the white house. some are calling it the biggest speech of his presidency so far. what president obama is expected to say tonight about his health care plan to a joint session of congress. what does apple have up itst echnology omth technology company is getting r goodmorning.

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restaurant is participating. it's just about 6:41. that means time to check traffic and weather on >'s a a l lets. >> let's go meteorologist kierein. >> cloudy and cool start to this wednesday morning. there is the capitol under this gray sky. and it's cool. we're in the mid 60s right now in washington and the nearby suburbs. right now in radar where you see the moving color, that is some rain that is falling. we're getting some areas of light rain. right now in montgomery county, this one is heading to the south and just about to be crossing interstate 270 and the beltway on the north side o town. that's going to be heading on perhaps into fairfax county in about 20 minutes or so, getting a few other sprinkles in northeast and in southwest washington as well as right here in western prince george's county. some other sprinkles farther to the south near woodbridge and in calvert and anne arundel counties. now, the wider view of the radar is showing an area of some rain

that also is spreading farther to south as well as the panhandle of west virginia. going to be with us from time to time throughout the morning. in the 60s now. highs in the 70s. maybe dry from mid morning through sunset. then maybe some more rain tonight and again tomorrow. now jerry, how is our traffic at hour? a live look along interstate 66, just volume, no langups. centreville, fair oaks,' en nah on in. the absence of intense sunshine is helping the flow a little bit. west at no worries. 95 southbound, southbound 35, accident remains on the roadway with one lane getting by. coming out of baltimore, howard county, prince george's or the beltway. joe and eun, back to you. >> jerry, thanks very much. the president is about to tell congress and the american people his prescription to fix health care. how the president will change to

peni shung.debate tonight.tronct metro announces it will shut tr

president obama is gearing up for a speech that some call the most important of his presidency. he'll be making his case before congress and the nation. and he's expected to spell out exactly what he wants in a reform bill. news4's tracee wilkins joins us live from capitol hill with more on this story. >> reporter: good morning. of course, he will be presenting his case to the general public, the folks here across the country. most importantly he's going to be making this case for

republicans and democrats on capitol hill. he's expected to be very specific and answer a number of questions. the white house is saying at the end of the day his bottom line is going to be, if you have a better idea, then put it on the table. after today's joint address to congress, president obama is hoping all questions about his push for health care reform will be answered. after a fiery summer of angry town hall meetings, proponents say opposition to the bill is based on misinformation. >> people will come away understanding where he is on these big issues and these big questions. >> what do we want? public option! >> reporter: these were liberal activists protesting outside the white house for a public option in health care reform. what was once the push for the change in health care is now considered by some a deal breaker not worth mentioning out loud. even some fiscally conservative democrats are vowed not to

support the option if it's included. but speaker nancy pelosi said yesterday the bill must have it. >> i believe a pub liblg option will be essential to our passing a bill in the house of representatives. >> reporter: most republicans are saying it's not clarity that's needed, but a whole new direction. >> the american people don't want another speech on health care. they want another plan on health care. >> the american people are asking us to start over. they want reforms, but they want the right reforms, not some grand scheme. we're not starting over. >> reporter: the speech is expected to be about 35 minutes long. and the president is writing most of it himself. on capitol hill, i'm tracee wilks. eu n, bac to you in the studio. >>tracee. thank you. a reminder we'll show president obama's prime time address right here on nbc4. you can watch it live at 8:00 tonight. metro is getting heat over its oldest train cars, called the series 1000 cars. they date back to the 1970s.

june's deadly crashed involved one of those cars. even though the national transportation safety board recommended replacing them, metro has not done so. officials say they would put the cars in the middle of trains, but that's not always the case apparently. >> we do that in the event that a particular rail yard is short of other rail cars of other series. so we have to make a decision if for some reason we're short. >> that's putting those 1000 cars at the front of trains. that's exactly what happened on the day of the accident. a 1000 car was in the front of the train that crashed into the other ones. the problem for riders would be if they did not do that, there would be longer m msional front use of the sees0ri oc 1onnt00 froal use of the series0 f saf fod ea resre ahead for moh, dtnentmo cbuumy oldaens ekwe performrmfo weekend cag usinsera toe waterfront archivesn, archit

at we ostlolln se t crt he 9th and the 12ille no there wil be nl green or yellow line service at the la font plaza station. the yellow line will only run between the hunting ton and pentagon stations meaning no service in the district or maryland. service will begin again on tuesday, october the 13th. she has her own vegetable garden outside the white houma wa ntsre oma wants t market in the hb market in the thtrs lady's office has y's lfice has ped ission to closeas rmissipe to close between h and i ttweebennd i st hw rt enotesryrsve thuday between nd1: a00 t 8:00 p.m. mrs. obama says a former's market would be a win-win for people in the city. she says residents would have access to healthy food and local farmers would have a place to sell their goods. not everyone likes the ideas. some say closing vermont avenue during rush hour will create more traffic headaches. food prices have finally caught up with the economy. the labor department says the

price of food sold at grocery stores dropped for the seventh month in a row. this follows a huge runup in food prices last year. prices have dropped on grains, meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables, even organic foods. analysts say lower fuel costs and lower demand from more frugal customers helped edge prices down. we're waiting for a pair of big business announcements today, one from mercedes, another from apple. cnbc's bertha coombs joins us with the headlines. good morning. >> good morning, joe. mercedes-benz says it may make the next generation of its flship s class sedans all hybrid. it would be the first time an automaker would convert an entire vehicle line. currently companies offer only a handful of models. the mercedes will show up the hybrid at next week's frankfurt auto show. can you hear the buzz? apple is gearing up for its annual music event today. the expectation is it's probably going to be some sort of ipod

upgrade or i touch upgrade. the touch perhaps adding a video camera to the touch. apple often throws in some sort of curve. this year the thing that everyone is going to be watching is where ceo steve jobs will show up. he returned from six months' medical leave in june after having a liver transplant. if he does indeed show up today for the big presentation, joe, it would be his first public appearance. a lot of folks would really like to see him. >> exactly. that may be the really big news today, how he's doing. thanks very much, bertha. a real life night .m this news4 jobs for u, t he mithsonian is looking for a security guard, tw eeben beeen $33,000 and000 a year. if you're southwestested go to nbcwashington.com and search jobs 4 you. we started with clouds this morning. then a little rain. we want to know what the rest of the day will look like. hrough the

morning commute and through mid morning. at this hour, gray sky over washington. there's the live picture in our camera. a few sprinkles right in wainiggt ron htnow. a cool 67 at reagan national. now, on the radar where you se these areas ofblue, that's where we're getting sprinkles and a little light rain. these are coming in from the north. we've got one band out here in the panhandle of west virginia. there's one other little shower in central fauquier county near warrington, a couple other showers in southern charles county and across the potomac into the northern neck. in washington and southern montgomery county as well as southern frederick, northern loudoun county, a few sprinkles there this morning. we have this one band coming from the south. it's right now from near whet ton and silver spring all the way up towards gaithersburg and poolesville. this is slowly drift together the south. will be coming into the district over the next half hour or so. adds the morning progresses we may get another band that's coming in to northeastern maryland right now. that may come into our eastern

suburbs here over thnext hour or so. right now temperatures around the region at this hour are hovering in the mid and upper 60s locally. out in the mountains in the 50s. in the eastern shore the low 60s. this is coming from an area of low pressure spinning off the del marva coast bringing in sprinkles and light showers. if you're traveling, slight delays in florida, texas, oklahoma, central plains and midwest. for us we're under the influence of this coastal low that's going to keep this moist flow off the atlantic for today and into tomorrow. then improving news for the weekend. if p you have a child waiting for a bus this morning. you might need an umbrella. chance of a few passing o sprinkles through mid morning. temperatures holding steady in th60 by the rest of the dayou y ought to stay dry. ywel mabel hweeav a slight chae of an afternoon sprinkle. overall cloudy with highs in the mid 70s. sunrise was about seven or eight minutes ago. 7:26. a greater chance for sprinkles thise eveni.

tomorrow morning cloudy, near 60. greater ancef eran shaonno ftower. finally drying out friday, saturday and sunday. will stay dry into monday and tuesday as well as we get into next week. >> thank you, tom. >> let's good. let's see if p the traffic looks good right now. here is jerry edwards in the news 4 traffic network. montgomery county at -- forgot the intersection. anyway, an accident castor road and munster road. notice the wet roads, some locations getting wet. looks like more equipment headed there. elsewhere, let you know things are looking okay at the wilson bridge. southern maryland everything is fine. just volume. 95, 395 and 6. joe and eun, back to you. >> i should have recognized the heart of derwood there. a owlver spring woman is found dead outside her> rt amept

mp inincornis now police are searc for or answers. officers discovered the woman around 12:30 in the 14000 block of castle boulevard. let's get an update with megan mcgrath who is live in silver spring. >> reporter: police say the woman who was murdered lived at the apartment complex. it's the ash ford at wood lake apartments inhe bridge cheney section of silver spring. around 12:30 this morning, police received a 911 call, someone repting hearing shots fired in the area. when investigators arrived on the scene, they found a 37-year-old woman lying dead on the walkway that leads from the parking lot area of this complex to the front door of her apartment building. no word on whether this was a random act or whether she knew the person who fired the fatal shots. they're still working on all of that and looking for witnesses as well. eun, back to you. >> megan mcgrath, thank you. totoday's news4 morning pern bogo aveesve andey yato

todaytidu.du thr washington office of enghio llc.ge geier woods, co-workers say she aiv aest f houralve e ry h day to mak s y re ready to open on time.ad gr e sheets all the clients of i tn irkerssf i they were members of her family. if you know someoneike l syherr bettis, e-mail that person's story along with a cleary close-up picture to morningperson@nbcwashington.com. it's all eyes on the 9s in las vegas today for9/9/09. wedding officials in sin city are preparing for one of their busiest days of the year. nine couples are planning to marry at 9:09 this morning at madame tussauds's museum on the las vegas strip. 99 more are waiting until 9:09 tonight for a shared ceremony in the observation deck of the

stratosphere tower. each paid $99. another chapel booked spots, booked more than a year ago which is an eternity by las vegas standards. >> exactly. any wedding where elvis walks you down the aisle gets off to a good start. off to a cloudy and wet start this morning. passing showers and again perhaps this evening and maybe some more tomorrow. dry into the weekend. >> any traffic problems? >> just slick roadways. be very careful. give yourself extra braking distance. th>> "at> 4 ne'stodaws" thanks for starting your day with us. >> have a great day. >> bye. >>