right now, police are try to to figure out who killed a silver spring woman today. and president obama is going to address health care reform tonight. and another gray morning. the clouds could stick around for another couple of days. "news4 midday" starts right now.

good morning to you. welcome to news4 midday. i am joe krebs. >> and i eun yang in for barbara harrison. it's wednesday, september 9th, 2009. just ahort time ago an american airlines plane blew a tire upon landing. there wases no damage to the aircraft and no passengers were injured. the runway was closed while everything was cleared up. the runway has now reopened. now to a developing story. police in silver spring are trying to figure out who shot a woman dead outside her apartment. >> at this point police don't have many clues as to how it happened. megan mcgrath is in silver springs with the latest now. good morning. >> reporter: we saw investigators come back to the scene here. they are concentrating their focus there on the front door of the building here.

that is the crime scene. that's where the resident was murdered. police could use help in this case. a lot of people who live in the apartment complex heard the gun shots early this morning, but so far police don't have any eyewitnesss. the woman was shot just steps away from the front door to her building. the question is who murdered her? investigators don't have a whole lot to go on. just a 911 call about shots being fired. police brought in a dog to try and pick up a trail on the gunman, but at this point it's not known if the shooter ran away or had a car. >> i just was doing homework, and i was on the computer, and i told everybody to shut the blinds and stuff, because i just heard shots. i told mom that there was shots. >> it happened at the ashford wood lake apartments. just before 12:30 this morning

shots rang out. >> i just heard three gun shots, and that was it. i did not hear anything else. i heard the police after that. i did not think anything of it, because people shoot around here all the time. we went back to sleep. >> reporter: when police arrived at the scene they found the body of a 37-year-old residents lying on the sidewalk leading to the front door of her apartment building. police are not sure if it was a random murder or if the woman knew the gunman, and because of the location of the building it may be hard to find witnesses. >> although theres a densely populated area, the apartment building is directly adjacent to a wooded area. this may limit the number of witnesses that may have heard or scene something, but we are asking anybody that saw something suspicious to give us a call. >> reporter: police tentatively identified the woman, however they have not been able to track down her relatives to notify

them. her relatives likely live overseas, and it could take time to find her family and explain what happened. in terms of the situation with witnesses, they have the 911 call, and a lot of people heard the shots and some people called in to police and said they heard shots to the area, and that's how officers were called to the scene. they are loong for people that saw something suspicious, and perhaps a car leaving the area or somebody running in the area, or somebody that was acting in a suspicious way prior to the shooting. they need eyewitnesss in this case. anybody with any information are asked to call the police. and a burglar breaks into a house and the homeowner catches him. but the burglar escapes after police take about 45 minutes to show up. this all happened on friday afternoon on wyoming avenue in

northwest. the owner got a call from the alarm company that somebody broke into his house. and he rushed home and ran into a back alley, and a delivery man pointed out the suspect. >> he was bleeding on his right hand, and i asked why his hand was bleeding and he started cursing me and started to walk briskly. i followed him. he started running and i ran two blocks while trying to dial 911 again. >> the homeowner says the police arrived 45 minutes after the alarm company called him. they went in the direction the suspect had ran but he was gone, along with the homeowner's laptop. a prolife group gathered in the rain this morning for what they call a kill-the-bill rally.

one donned a grim reaper costume. the debate shows no sign of losing steam. brooke hart has a look at tonight's speech. >> reporter: pressures on the president were loud and visible. liberals showed up outside the white house. some of those that worked on his campaign threatened to abandon him. >> i will not work for him again if he abandons the public option. >> nancy pelosi huddled with him. >> reporter: the problem is, fiery town halls has pushed some against the option. >> he might endorse a trigger or some consent designed to enlist

the support of a handful of republicans. i think the republicans will view that as repackaging and relabeling the government plan. >> reporter: some republicans said start over. >> let's go back to square one. let's sit down together and get the issue resolved. >> reporter: when the white house today, no going back. >> we talked about this problem for decades. he will go to capitol hill and talk about solving it this year. >> reporter: he wants his gang of six negotiators to back his reform plan before the president's speech. the bacchus plan is the one version with gop input and no public option in it. the big question tonight, will he reach out to critics on the right or left for t u support he needs. in wash, brooke hart, nbc news. you can watch it right here

on nbc4, and it starts at 8:00 tonight. a news pioneer is being remembered today in new york city. a memorial service for walter cronkite is being held at this hour. he anchored the nightly newscast from 1962 to 1981. he died in july. president barack obama is speaking at the memorial service and is expected to be back in washington well before tonight's big speech on health care. let's take a look outside here in washington, d.c. where a lot of clouds above us, as you can see. we had rain as well. >> meteorologist, tom kierein, is up in storm center 4. >> the rain tapered off now. just a few isolated showers are lingering. a little sun may be trying to break out in the afternoon. still a lingering shower in southern principles -- prince georges county. temperatures are climbing now

into the low 70s where there is some sun breaking out across parts of virginia in the san undougha valley. and upper 60s out in the mountains. all of the clouds and these scattered showers. light breezes. temperatures climbing into the 70s with an east wind. the weekend's forecast will be coming up in a minute. jerry edwards has the latest on the traffic out there. >> a lot of roadwork. very, very slow traffic, indeed. the capital beltway, and the inner loop, and the delays begin back in tyson's corner. at river road you lose the left lane. as a result, traffic headed in that direction is slow. the outer belt of the loop is doing well, but still repaving.

and good shape at the wilson bridge. bay bridge doing okay. no accidents or incidents reported over on 66. joe? >> jerry, thank you very much. here in d.c. and from virginia to vermont, thousands of security officials are patrolling amtrak. the security and local law enforcement officers are testing their ability to respond to a terrorist attack on the amtrak trails. >> you saw security walking the platforms and checking things out. it's unusual to see that heightened presence on the rails. they wanted to see how efficiently that operation could run if necessary. today amtrak put theory into practice with a drill that tested their ability to protect passengers in case of a

terrorist attack. >> most attacks have been focused on mass transit, the subway-type of system. so we think it's definitely an item of the concern for us. >> during the day's morning and evening commutes, tsa and local and federal law enforcement practiced their ability to communicate each other across jurisdictional and operational boundaries. >> we want people to know, we are looking for you. >> the amtrak officials say while the security may not be as visual as, for instance, an airport, it is always here. >> there is security out there. we try to keep it low key. we don't always operate everywhere, but we are random. you never know where we are going to be next and we are operating seven days a week. >> reporter: spaerpassengers sa working on the issues in advance of an emergency, it's

reassuring. >> you don't wait until something happens before you get on it. this is excellent. >> reporter: this is not in response to a specific threat. you can expect to see heightened security this afternoon on the rails. so far the operation is going as planned and communication between law enforcement agencies is good. >> thank you very much. it's 70 degrees and 11:12. coming up, we will tell you how a reporter was captured and more about the violent raid that freed him. plus, a motorist that avoided speeding tickets. and today is

>>a "new york times" reporter ldheap ctive in afghanistan hasi been freed kcommand

doze. he was up duktd on saturday while reporting on a u.s. air strike. he was freed today in an early-morning raid. british military official was a translator was killed. for more information leading to the conviction of an arsonist in southern california is going up. there is $50,000 for a reward that leads to the conviction of the arsonists. that's in addition to the $100,000 reward already being offered by the state. investigators ruled the fire as arson but have not released any other details. and already nearly 200 students are being treated ec sp csudte oases suspecte c st th omoef essp cas re a a aet th ses

university of maryland whe h fnvetoniy uitrers georgetown university reports 12 cases, and howard and american universities report no cases. and health officials are not testing patience for swine flu, but treating every case as if they do have the virus. students are being encouraged to go home if they feel sick. >> are you okay? >> yeah, i am perfectly fine. >> if you come in wearing a mask, we will know to clear the way. >> yeah, that's right. >> the weather has been rtdank. and the flu loves the cold, damp weather. things are improving, i am happy to say. the sky watcher camera shows the sky brightened a bit. blue trying to show through here and there. mostly there and not here. you can see the gray sky over

the potomac. the rain ended in washington now. right now at reagan national, it's 70 degrees. and half an inch of rain, about 6/10 of an inchelow average. we need more rain, even though each day we had precipitation. and the last linring rain that affected the region is now into far southeastern prince georges county, and a ban of light rain that continues to go south and east. elsewhere precipitation stopped, and a few lingering sprinkles out in western maryland. and they warmed it up in the low to mid-70s there. still near city in tover the la we have seen the conveyor belt of moisture and clouds coming

out of the east and circulating to the east of the peninsula. if you are traveling today, maybe flight delays in south florida with thunderstorms perhaps from texas up through the central plains as well as e. most of the west coast is dry except pacific northwest may get light rain. and then the circulation around that is pumping in the moisture. we have nice, dry air waiting to come in. it's sitting in the waiting room waiting for its orders, but right now we are waiting for this to exit. it's pulling out just in time for the weekend. mostly try tonight. just a slight chance of a sprinkle. the low pressure will slowly climb up the coast, and take the moisture away. highs are reaching the mid-70s,

add only a slight chance of an onditial sprinkle this evening. we will be in the 60s by midnight, and near 60 by dawn tomorrow. a cool day on tor f thursday. f be. mtlloos cudy tomorrow. we will likely have rain, mainly during the afternoonovin cgkac c in. highs near 70. and any of the rain should taper off and end late thursday nit.gh by friday morning things should improve. we will get a run of dry days, starting fridayll w thent iayo the first part of o w and the temperatures near 70 are quite a bit below the average oghhif nea gh80. we will be near the average high on friday and again on saturday with sunshine returrnin alows iw iininelowsthn cool low 60s. atut'sth ahe tbo averageor f ptrly to mibeseem and then on suay, artly loudy with aig hh near a and lo ws in the mid-60s. the pattern continuing into aynd t.ueaysday and the feeling of autumn in the air. that's the way it looks.

>> thank you, tom. let's go to jerry edwards checking on the traffic out there. >> a feeling of aggravation in the air. roadwo, 95 northbound you lose the left rain. and we are looking about a mile of heavy and slow traffic. after that another construction zone newspaper lorden takes away t a lane. and southbound 395 headed off the 14th street bridge downado shirleyton, doing well. police in arizona charged a driver with speeding 37 times, but he says he does not have a case. these were snapped by speed cameras in phoenix. police sent him tickets for the peeding, and he is vowing to

fight the tickets in court. police say they have surveillance footage of him putting on the masks as he approaches the camera. well, 70 degrees and 11:21 is the time. a man accused of kidnapping a girl, and holding her captive for 18 years. and the transit system using its oldest cars. and jermaine jackson promoting a michael jackson tribute concert. he say i i a as p pop star is a pgt of the event. fi>> >t,rs a p look at what is t onbcgtwainomshon.c.

welcome back. a tribute to michael jackson

headlined by the king of pop himself, and that's what organizers are promising for a concert planned for austria planned in about a month. jermaine jackson promised it would be a star-studded event. and a virtual performance, a duet between michael jackson and jermaine. >> we are planning to bring michael one last time on stage again. it will be the surprise of the evening. michael will re-appear on stage one last time and sing a song with his brother, jermaine jackson. >> the purpose of the event, i wanted to do this for the fans. >> jermaine jackson would not confirm whether any other members of the family would perform during the tribute. a lot of couples are hoping

today's date will make them lucky in love. officials in sin city are preparing for one of the busiest days of the year. nine couples will get married on the strip at 9:09. and more are waiting for 9:09 tonight to get married. and another chapel booked 70 ceremonies for today. the 9:a.m. slots were booked more than a year ago, which is an eternity by las vegas standards. 11:27 is the time. coming up in the next half hour of news4 midday, we will have the latest on the u.s. supreme court case involving a movie about mill r-- hillary clinton. tom kierein is also back to let us know when we can see the sun again.

here is a look at some of the top stories we are following. an investigation is under way after a woman was shot dead outside her apartment building in silver spring. it happened on castle boulevard. police found a body of a 37-year-old resident. police are not sure if it was a random murder or if the woman knew the gunman. and the testing of the nation's ability to respond to the terror attack on the rails. officials say they are not responding to any specific threat. president obama is gearing up for a primetime push for health care reform. he is expected to layout what he wants in a reform bill. you can watch his speech live tonight at 8:00 here on nbc 4. you cannot drop out of

school and just drop into a good job. you have got to train for it, and work for it and learn for it. >> president obama gave a back-to-school speech in arlington yesterday. it was televised to schools across the country. among them, lee high school in springfield. >> every day you go home after school and your parents are on your case to push you to do your best, but it's not ery day the president of the united states is speaking directly to the students. i think that was something great. >> some schools in the area decided not to show the speech aft conservative groups protested as it being paw lit sized. the hilary movie could overturn decades of ruling.

pete williams explains. >> earlier last year when it looked like hillary clinton had a shot at winning the democratic nomination for president, a conservative group wanted to run what it called a hillary movie on tv. >> she was the first first lady to come under criminal investigation. >> but because the movie was partly paid for with corporate contributions, the government blocked it, because federal law bars corporations and unions from using their own money from running ads. in the months leading up in the elections the law also prevents ads from mentioning some names. and now they want the law to strike the laws down as a violation of free speech.

>> the more information the public has, the better decisions the individuals will make when going to the voting booth. >> reporter: but that would create other opportunities for corruption. >> what they could spend if they could use corporate treasury funds is simply enormous, beyond our imagination. >> the group challenging the law has a surprising mix of allies from the aclu to the national rifle association. >> barack obama is not the kind of change we need. >> even though they are nonprofit, they are corporations too. so they cannot buy ads, either. it will be sotomayor's first case in the supreme court. the justices asked lawyers to return and reargue the case today. hundreds of state workers in

virginia could learn today they may lose their jobs. tim kaine announced budget cuts. 600 state employees could be laid off and some will be asked to leave starting today. those keeping their jobs will have to pay one day without pay a month next year. northern virginia community college is one of them. the cuts come at a time when the college is seeing record enro enrollme enrollment. >> higher education has been hit more than once. >> i think that the budget cut has hit for virginia's insubstitutioinstug intuitions have been hit. >> higher education is essential

for the individual and for the state. >> they will need 70,000 additional graduates this decade, and yet with the budget cuts, it means that we are lucky to have the same number of graduates coming out each year. >> reporter: the college has yet to fully recover from a 10% budget cut in 2002. the blow was softened by the stimulus money, and still tuition may go up. >> a lot of people will not go to school now if they are going to raise it. they raised it in the last year and a half. >> instead of two or four years to get a degree, now it will take three or six years. and that's a problem for families and for students that want to get out into the workplace as soon as possible. >> the students that we spoke to say they will just have to plow through it all and many will have to go on to four-years in tugs where cost are rising

steadily as well. >> i have to go to school because i don't have a choice, i want to be a teacher. >> with budgets already in place and the school year started cuts would be too disruptive. happening today, a major first step in a multibillion-dollar makeover. the department of homeland security headquarters in soutastso washington. this is on a bluff overlooking the river. the site will be transform into the a 3.5 billion homeland security complex. organizers say the move will help redelop the area and bring construction and other retail job opportunities. it's time to look at today's forecast again. >> as we look at the sky. a live view from the skyra meca ra showing it has brightened a bit. the rain ended in washington. and the sky watcher is showing a few breaks. and as we look at the radar, we

are getting a few sprinkles around the beltway. further to the south and east there into calvert county, and northern st. mary's, they are getting a few sprinkles at this time. in western maryland they are getting a few sprinkles now. and temperatures are in the low 70s. sun may break out this afternoon. overall, quite a bit of cloudiness still. a low pressure system hanging around the delmarva. any precipitation we have now should be dissipating shortly. highs reaching the mid-70s. and tonit, cloudy will be near the upper 60s in the late evening. and sunset today at 7:26. sunrise on thursday at 6:45. tomorrow, looks like a cloudy day. and then a greater chance of perhaps greater afternoon showers that may linger into thursday night.

the average high had time of year is 80. on friday, we ought to be up near the average high. partly sunny, climb into the upper 70s, and near 80 on saturday. and more of the same on sunday. into monday as well. we should stay dry into the weekend and the first part of next week. the morning lows should be in the 60s. highs near 80. a final check on the traffic with our own jerry edwards. we have bad news for folks trying to get in along i-66. eastbound 66 right at the capital beltway. a three-car accident right side of the roadway is tied up. the backup begins at route 50. that's hefty. westbound, no worries. inbound towards the beltway, that's the sore spot. wilson bridge, no worries. continuing construction on the inner loop, just before river road. delays will begin around tyson's

corner. once you get on 70 you are in fair shape northbound and southbound. big concerns continue this morning about the safety of riders on metro. it turns out on some occasions, those 1,000 series cars are still leading trains. metro said after the metro crash that killed nine people, those cars would only be used in the middle, because they are not as sturdy and crumbled during the june crash. the 1,000 sies carsse carse havl ed the trains on one run to oid dela riders can riders can disruptions disruptions next monthor mainna the the waterfront waterfront sti pe nn penn quarter. there will be no green or yellow line service at the plaza station. the yellow line will run between the huntington and pentagon stations meaning there will be no service in the district of

maryland. service will resume on thursday, october 13th. and the case of the california girl kidnapped and confined for 18 years. the bone fragment found near the home where jaycee dugard was held is probably human. they found the bone in an area that dugard's convicted captor had access to. the fragment will now go on to the state dna lab for further testing. and the sheriff noted it's not uncommon to find native american remains in that area. we are learning disturbing new details about philip garrido this morning. it's through songs that he wrote and recorded that some say reflected an obsession with little girls. a business associate says garrido gave the songs to him a few years ago.

mark said he did not think of the music at the time, but after his arrest the songs appear to have disturbing under tones. >> i remembered i still had the dcs in my possession, and i played them and listened closely to the lyrics, and realized he had written the songs, i believe about jaycee and her daughters, and possibly some of his activity in the past, which is absolutely horrifying. >> he said he had old friends who were in the music business, and garrido was interested in getting a deal. 11:42 right now. 70 degrees outside. ahead, we will check in with wall street and see where the numbers begin the day. plus, you may notice a lower grocery

asian markets were down this

morning. >> let's check in with bertha, and she joins us now on how the markets are doing this morning. >> joe, we started off in the red. right now we have the dow up 70 points or so. the markets turned around. a couple analysts upgraded a few stocks. we have goald. when investors move to gold they are worried about the cdonald'ss and mcdonald's, it's the biggest loser on the dow jones industrial giant. the food giant's august sales came in lower than expected. they were up 2% globally. it was well below analysts expectations. and then a biotech firm is soaring today. the company is reporting strong

results for a diet drug. trials lost 15% of their body fat. they will look for approval from the fda later this year and a big day in terms of the digital music. it could be a convergence. apple will be ready to unveil it's latest music offering. the big buzz is that maybe we will see ceo steve jobs for the first time since he took a leave for his liver transplant. and there is also some talk that apple could announce the availability of the beatles on itunes today. and 9-9-09, and the library could go on sale, out today

along with the launch of the beatles rock band video game. and the beatles settled the licensing dispute over the apple logo. a lot of folks thought it would lead to them selling the music. it would be interesting to see if we could see jobs and maybe talk about the fact that they will sell apple music. and it's only rock 'n' roll but we like it. there may be a rolling stones n intrig intrigue. shoppers are finally getting a break at the grory store. prices dropped on dairy and grains and the savings may equal a few dollars a month on the bill, but shoppers say they are

happy with any savings. >> it does help in the long run, if you are paying attention. >> every little bit helps. >> analysts say weather and oil prices can affect how much you pay for your groceries. and fuel cost in this case helped edge of prices down. and it's 12 before 12:00. we will talk live with actressnn boe ctgomin ie hunt coming up.un we are always looking for ople that make the day special he ely morning hours. yifwheno k somebody like that e-mail tir srytono and a clear cle-re pcltuictu or

good morning. welcome back. this week bonnie hunt begins the second season of her award-winning show. and like last season viewers could expect a wide variety o

guest from movie stars to her mom. and bonnie joins us to talk about the new season. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me on. >> congratulations on the second season. that's terrific. >> yeah, i feel fortunate. who knew a show at the top of the intelligence, and with humor, and it's nice it's connecting. >> it's a delightful show. do you expect any big changes this season from last? >> i think that i am learning on the job, like so many of us do in our lives. the audience has gone on the journey with me, and they will continue, i hope to do that this year. but the biggest changes are we are just going to stick with the core, the humor and the authenticity. >> how would you compare doing a talk show with acting in a movie and being an actress.

>> well i love acting, and in your 40s, the parts are not there as much as they used to be. i always wanted to try to give the talk show host a try before they stopped asking me. i am glad that i did. i love bringing people on and talking to them. this is more revealing, and you have to deal with yourself a lot more than i could have possibly anticipated, meaning you get a little self-conscious, and then you get over it and relax into the job. that has been a struble. >> when you are there, you are you and you can't hide bind a character, i guess. >> right. >> and i have seen speculation from critics that have said you would be the perfect person to be the first woman to have a late-night talk show on a major network. how would you like that challenge? >> i would love it. i mean, i love being funny during the day. i think there is a lot of women

like me that are at home during the day that want to connect with a certain type of humor. we are fast and funny, but authentic and try to be as smart as we can. i think late night would be a real comfortable fit for that. i do believe that there is people at home during the day that want that edge as well in a respectful manner. >> you say on the show, you often talk about how much you like reality tv. do you really like it? if so what is your favorite reality show? >> i don't like reality tv, most of it is a train wreck and it's not reality, but it's false and provoked. i like shows like "the amazing race," which is i think one of the greatest game shows conceived even though it false under the category of reality tv, where a family goes on the journey across the world. you learn about geography and the human spirit. and then the stuff that we all

watch like the "atlanta housewives" and things like that. we have more fun with stuff like that. >> it's shows that are fun to make fun of, which is what you are in the business for. >> yeah, this week we do a parody, and we do atlanta housewiv housewives, csi. >> good luck on your second season. >> thank you. and the bonnie hunt shows hairs right after news4 midday, comes up at noon here on nbc 4. >> i think she is terrific. delightful, we have a preview. >> atlanta housewives, csi. sounds intriguing, like something that place takes in a lab, or unfolds in a lab. >> coming up at 4:00, today's special date, 9-09-09 prompted a lot of weddings in a location.

one designer comes up with a ground to fit the occasion. and then the threat of the read of swine flu. we will show you the flu kit that could make all the difference in your ability to stay healthy this fall. those stories and all the day's latest news beginning at 4:00, and that's 4 -- news4, csi. >> we will check that out. >> let's get a final look at the forecast with tom kierein. >> as we approach the noon hour, a few lingering light showers southeast of washington. otherwise any rain should be ending for the rest of the afternoon. cloudy tonight. tomorrow, cloudy. mit have a morning shower or a passing afternoon shower. a greater chance during the afternoon and evening. and then friday and saturday, the upper 70s to near 80 should be dry and into sunday and monday as well. we'll see you tomorrow morning.

>> thank you, tom. these five guys in cleveland get bragging rights for a year, and that's because they are champions once again of the greasy poll climbing contest. that's right, the contest is in the 95th year. the team has two minutes to climb 40 feet to the top of the poll. it's greasy and slick, a lot of times what goes up comes right back down. the participants say it's about locking yourself in that spot. they took home 4,000 bucks and bragging rights. >> and a big laundry bill. >> have a great day. >> bye. o