handly. we are going to begin with the news out of mexico city where a plane hijacked just two days before the eighth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. here is the scene in mengs city where passengers have been released from the air mexico passenger plane hijacked at the airport in cancun. >> reporter: a couple of things we do ow. the flight was in routero f m cancun to mexico city. anexeiaic mediaed is rtporeg stateae liv fpo menro fm the hijacked plane are in handcuffs. they are believed to be bolivian citizens demanding to speak with mexico's president felipe calderon. mexico's transportation secretary said all the passengers and crew members are safe, but he would not say how many of the hijackers were detained or give any details of their motives. there wasn't a bomb on the plane, according to authorities, but passengers told the mexican

media one of the hijackers held up a package that resembled an explosive device. there is no word to where the plane was heading before it was hijacked, but one of the passengers said to the media that the crew made an announcement the plane had been hijacked once it landed in mexico city. the incident is over. it sounds like the passengers didn't know until the very end what happened. a tough time of year. >> appreciate that. also tonight we have news out of stafford county. it's left church officials devastated. their youth minister has been indicted for having sex with a teenage boy. keith garvin joins us to tell us about this. >> reporter: investigators say the relationship took place earlier this year. lasted for about two months. the 36-year-old woman is the youth director at the church in stafford and allegedly was counseling the 15-year-old against having sex with his girlfriend. >> the congregation as a whole is deeply saddened.

is just heart sick. >> reporter: a church community searching for answers after a trusted staff member allegedly eenamrdvantage of ar under her council. 36-year-old jennifer michelle brennan is the youth minister at thias mstetdircho chuh in st.afrd fo c yesterday the grand jury and motherf o two young children on charges she had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy. it was church officials who took the allegations to authorities in july. >> over the course of the last six or seven weeks we have fully and faithfully beenart p tof his investigaonnd a answered all of their questions. >> on a facebook fan page dedicated to brennan, someone writes, jen is an amazing youth leader and so god-focused andnd amazing in every aspect. she is like a mom/big sister to everyone and loves us with all her heart." according to theit free lce star ne fredricksburg, court rerdms aicl she may have taken that love too far. the documents say brennan was

counseling the boy against premarital sex, but the at some point she allegedly began holding and kissing the teen during sessions, which escalated to sodomy and sexual intercourse. after the allegations were levelled, brennan's pastor placed her on unpaid administrative leave. >> our director of you ministries was a very important position here. >> reporter: in brennan's neighborhood in fredricksburg, none of her neighbors wanted to talk on camera. off camera, many describeder family as sweet,ai p a parnd kind. th , a along with her church family, are hoping the allegations are untrue. >> they sadden me terribly. my congregation is hurting. all who are involved are hurting over this. so i am deeply pained by it. >> reporter: investigators say some of the acts took place in jennifer brennan's home. she is charged with ten counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and ten counts

contributing to the delinquency of a minor. >> keith garvin, thank you. a murder suspect who slipped away from montgomery county police has been caught. last night detectives arrested this manwinston dillon. they have been looking for him since last month when he gunned down 63-year-old clarence rankin after an argument at house party in silver spng. dillon was hurt, went to the hospital, but left before police could get to him. own tatraor tscked h d last night. they are stillng lnkiooor fki a secondusctpe though. vincent minto. they want minto for first degree murder. tomorrow planners will present a list of capitol improvements for the rail and bus service for ten years. they will be issuing recommendations from the national transportation safety board, like upgrading the infrastructure. planners identied $11 billion in capitalprimovenim.ts the money would be used to. , td inmata, expain and improve

ra, ndbu a s paratransit service. part of that would include replacing all of metro's 0001, series railcars which have been in service since the system opened in 1976. amtrak is taking extra steps to make sure travelers are safe with two days until 9/11, tsa, amtrak security and law enforcement officers are testing their ability to respond to a terrorist attack on the rails. tracee wilkins reports. >> reporter: today amtrak put theory into action to have a drill to protect passengers in the case of a terrorist attack. >> i think clearly it is an area of terrorist interests. most attacks around the world have been focused on mass transit, whether subway or rail system, spain, for example. we think it's definitely an item of concern for us. >> reporter: during today's morning and evening commutes, tsa practiced their ability to communicate with one another across jurisdictional and

operational boundaries. >> we are doing the best we can to let the people know we are out here looking for you, defending our traveling public and employees. >> reporter: amtrak officials say their security on a daily basis may not be as visual as in airports, but they say that's by design. >> there is security out there. we try to keep it low key. we don't always operate everywhere. you never know where we are going to be next. we operate seven days a week. >> reporter: passengers said seeing security officials working in advance of an emergency is reassuring. >> it's great. >> you don't wait for something bad to happen before you get on it. this is excellent. >> reporter: tracee wilkins, news4. a shoort time ago the 40 passengers and crew died on united flight 93 received a special tribute on capitol hill. a bronze plaque is on display as a tribute to them. on that memorial, the names of all who died. flight 93 crashed in a pennsylvania field on 9/11 when

passengers tried to regain control of the cockpit from the hijackers. governor tim kaine is declaring september 11th as a day of tribute and urge people to volunteer in their communities. volunteer jobs can range from helping seniors balance their checkbooks to school beatification projects. it's been a little bit damp, but the sun is now out. >> we lucked out today. the rest of the week more clouds. finally those showers because that storm that's been stuck down south of us looks like it is going to start making its way further up the coast. look at college park there. partly sunny skies today. got up to 77 now. it's 75 degrees, your temperature. here's the break in the cloud cover. pour coming in from the north and east pushing right over us some more clouds, more drizzle and that light rain. hard to tell where it's going to

pop-up. right now there is a little cell in northern loudoun county heading south. temperatures upper 70s now. dropping to the mid and low 70s by 7:00, 8:00. more showers back in on it. your forecast, a few lightening showers here and there through the area. one extra day of rain now. thought it would be over with tomorrow. we could pick up another half to inch of rain as this starts making its way up the coast. back to you. > thanks. a packed house honoring the life of the anchorman known as the most trusted man in america walter conkrite. he passed away in july. today hundreds of people celebrated his life at the lincoln center in new york. president obama and former president clinton sat next to each other. president clinton said he watched cronkite on the cbs evening news when he was in high school. president obama challenged journalists to live up to an example and told a humorous story to the crowd. >> even 1 1/2 decades after his retirement, he still ranked

first in seven of eight categories for television journalists. he was disbelieving he hadn't won the eighth category, attractiveness. >> cronkite was honored by several musical guests. he anchored the cbs nightly news from 1962 to 1981. abortionro ptestors are taking their fight against health care reform to capitol hill. >> since 1973 we cheapen life in the womb. >> they are urging law makers not to include abortion coverage in any health care plan that might be passed. tonight, of course, president obama will address a joint session of congress on health care reform. >> some say this will be a make or break speech for the president as he tries to advance his agenda. joining us now is nbc news deputy political director mark murray. boy, this has been one heck of a

battle. the new ap poll shows people are moving against him. who knows what this thing is anymore. what does he have to accomplish tonight? >> he has to sell it to the american people. the white house wants americans to know what's in this legislation or what will be in the legislation and what isn't in the legislation. our own nbc/"wall street journal" poll showed when you ask about president obama and his handling of health care, do you favor his health care plan? it doesn't fare as well as the individual mechanisms and proposals being debated on capitol hill. they want people to see what health care will do. two quick points cover almost all americans and cut costs in the long term. >> even if he apieces those so-called blue dog democrats beings apieces the moderate republicans, if he hits a her tonight, what does that mean for the health care battle? are we going to see something? arwe gng to see something that includes perhaps that so-called public option? >> the public option has been a very big debate.

we've seen, the thing is, if he hits a her tonight, the health care debate will be on his current trajectory that you are going to see something ne. democrats have 60 or about 60 senators in the united states senate. they have an overwhelming majority in the house. everyone is onboard to get something done. the nitty-gritty has to occur on what is going to be included. one is the public option right now. liberals, progressives want it. blue dogs are worried about it leading to government takeover of health care. chances are we'll see some type of compromise. and how president obama sells it tonight saying he would prefer this, but the public option isn't the end all-be all of health care reform. >> today senator max baucus said he would push ahead with this. >> the one republican who does

seem to be a player is olympia snowe out of maine. you'll see max baucus go off on s own, introduce a bill and probably olympia snowe might be the only republican willing to play ball with that. >> a lot of theater. >>t. ghri >> thanks, mark. gnu in about 30 mi w s,te te's,ake a closer lo hokth a a realtrecaeform quseson oti inreur community. plus watch the i president's address live here on celnnha 4. nbc coverage with brian williams begins tonight at 8:00. news4 at 5:00 getting started. torrential rain and deadly floods. we'll find out where those rising waters ravaged an entire community. >> be prepared, the flu is spreading. we have a guide to keep your family healthy. >> breaking ground. the biggest federal construction project since the pentagon. first we want to share another moment to honor walter cronkite. we look at the new orleans style

tribute led by trumter martin marsallas. ♪

the large number 8 on the back of the statue calipken jr was stolen last night. it was displayed in front of baltimore camden yards. police spotted four men driving with the statue in the open bed of a pickup truck last night. the men were arrested and the number recovered. a d.c. superior court today blocked an auction that the government hoped would help collect billions of dollars in back property taxes. nearly 5,000 properties were lsted for the annual sale. one of the potential bidders at the auction complained in court the city did not include all property that owed back taxes.

the city says it listed only those properties with more than $1,200 in overdue taxes. it is being called the biggest federal building project since the pentagon was built. department of homeland security ceremonially broke ground today on a massive headquarters on the grounds of the old st. elizabeth hospital in southeast. tom sherwood joins us to tell us about this. >> reporter: it will take years and billions of dollars. it is hoped to spur development in the poor section of the city. there was the "star-spangled banner" and more than a few motorcades wednesday as the federal government broke ground to build a home for the massive homeland security bureaucracy on the sprawling grods of the historic st. elizabeth hospital in the east. the first major federal project east of the anacostia river. >> we are making history in another important way. because the federal government is crossing the anacostia today,

my friends. cong over for the first time. >> this is the largest federal building project since the pentag pentagon. when it's done, it will actually cost more than the pentagon. >> reporter: the site with dozens of historic buildings that will be preserved and restored will consolidate homeland security offices scattered in dozens of buildings around the washington region. >> having a unified headquarters will be so very, very helpful. it will help us to streamline our communication. it will help us to hold meetings. >> reporter: district community leaders hope the billions of dollars to be spent will revitalize the ward 8 business community, along the poor section in the nation's capital with thousands of construction

jobs and thousands of permanent jobs in the future. community activist mary cuthberg lived in this area more than 40 years. >> i'm excited. we have a lot of young people well qualified for these positions. i am excited about it. i'm excited about the retail that's coming. >> reporter: the current cost is now $3.4 billion. it's scheduled to be finished in 2016. back to you. >> all right. thanks, tom. we finally ended the day nicely. it was damp to start. >> we got a lucky break today. just today. this time tomorrow, not so lucky. wini he'k mellore clouds. it's going to be wet across the area. it shifted a little to the east far enough off the coast to give as little bit of clearing here this afternoon. that is one interesting low, too. it's like a tropical system,

like a nor'easter. i think you'll feel the effects of it being like a nor'easter tomorrow. winds will start to pick up a little bit out of the east. right now winds out of the east at 14 miles per hour. temperature 76 degrees. your dew point temperature at 56 degrees. humidity now 50%. today we only picked up .03 inch of rain. the storm system that's not in a hurry to leave today, just a little bit more to the east. meandering northward up the coast. then tomorrow it will start shifting more westward and more inland. yes, closer to us. those locations that have been south of us across north carolina, south eastern virginia that have gotten some of the heavier rainfall out of this system, that's what we may be witnessing tomorrow. especially points east and north. there it is. further off the coast. that's the set-up here. this low pressure system, the easterly wind around it. the moisture source the atlantic is in my pressure to the north blocking that system from going anywhere. we've been stuck, stuck, stuck.

we've got showers across northern loudoun county. jefferson county and hillsborough area. these are passing south toward blumonte. light, scattered showers. western maryland picked up .7 inches of rain. from 76 to 69 degrees. more cloud cover for the afternoon. the temperature from 77 now 70 with a northeast wind. it's going to start picking up across the area. 76 here. temperatures in the 80s. still doing okay. spots like ocean city today mid upper 60s and closer to what those water temperatures are because again, the wind is off the water. the warmer water temperature out in the eastern atlantic has taken tropical storm fred to hurricane fred. that's the status with it right

now. it's a hurricane. still doesn't pose big threat to land. even a couple of days out it's expected to move northward and continue in the open atlantic. we focus on this storm system off the coast. low pressure. it will start moving north. light showers for tomorrow morning. here's late tomorrow. that low comes in. some heavier rain for us, especially points east. that high pressure starts getting out of here. low pressure continues over us for yet another day. while it looked like the rain was going to move out of here on friday, now it looks like friday is going to be wet. 68 to 74. 2 temperatures dropping this evening just a few isolated showers around. tomorrow morning, kind of drizzly with the low clouds hanging. cool temperatures 56 to 63. by the afternoon tomorrow, today we lucked out. we got some sunshine. up to 77 degrees. tomorrow with more cloud cover across the area, a high of only around 70 degrees. it's going to be cool. that wind expected to pick up

out of the northeast. could be up to 20 miles per hour. still a weird day coming up tomorrow. >> thanks, veronica. still ahead, a journalist held captive in afghanistan is free. we'll tell you what led to his safe return. >> flu fears for kids can be scary. we'll tell you how asthm

a "new york times" reporter is free after others are dead. journalist stephen farrell was kidnapped saturday while covering a nato air strike in northern afghanistan. the five people killed during the rescue today included one of the british commando's and taliban commander. farrell is an irish and british national. executives at "the times" said they were told to keep quiet about his kidnapping because of fears about farrell's safety. flash flooding in turkey killed more than 2 dozen, 200 cars were washed into sea. a town about an hour west of

istanbul. two days of torrential rainfall sparked the oods. the water is more than three feet high on a main expressway in istanbul. some drivers had to climb up on the roofs of their vehicles to wait for help. authorities say at least 31 people have been killed so far. still ahead, hunted down and killed. a woman murdered in a busy local community. staying healthy goes further than your medicine cabinet. >> a far-out visit.

welcome back at 5:30. i'm craig melvin in for jim handly today. >> i'm wendy rieger. community q and a, your concerns about health care reform. a date with a roabber. a suspect who returned to the the scene of crime for love. and hubble telescope snapshots are beautiful. a woman shot at close range this morning in silver spring. this killing happened outside the victim's apartment building in the briggs chaney area. it does not appear to be a

random act of violence. pat collins is in silver sprin to tell us about this. >> reporter: the murder victim identified is 37-year-old simone white. nothing was taken here. her laptop, her purse, her keys, all left at the scene. this appears to be personal. police out tonight looking for a killer, someone who ambushed a woman here just a few feet away from her home. >> i heard shots. i was doing homework. i was in front of the computer. i told everybody to shut the blinds and stuff because i heard shots. i told mom there were shots. it's kind of scary. >> reporter: this is how they say it happened. around 12:30 this morning in the ashburn woodlakes apartment, simone white is on her way home. the parking lot is full so she has to park way back there near

the dumpster. she gets out and begins to walk toward her apartment. her apartment that's on the end of the complex. right near a wooded area. as she steps on to the walkway leading to her apartment, someone comes up from behind. one, two, three shots are fired. two hit her in the body. one to the head. she falls dead to the pavement. sylvia walked into the building a short time before the shooting. >> it's a little bit scary. when i was coming in i didn't see anything unusual. i usually come home around that time. so to think somebody was probably just in the bushes or in the parking lot waiting is very scary. >> reporter: so right after you walked inside you heard the gun fire? >> yes. >> reporter: people who live around here say gun shots are not all that uncommon. is this a safe neighborhood? >> i can't say that.

i can't say that. >> reporter: you hear gun fire around here often? >> yeah. yes, sir. >> reporter: scared? >> yes. >> reporter: investigators tonight trying to tra down friends of simone white as they search for a motive in this case of murder. wendy, back to you. >> pat collins, thank you, pat. the number of suspected swine flu cases reported at the university of maryland skyrocketed overnight. at least 256 people have now been treated at the health center for flu-like symptoms. according to a letter sent to students, parents and faculty today. just yesterday the school reported about 170 flu cases. umd officials say the health center will expand its hours, see patients on sundays until the number of cases go down. the university is not testing specifically for the h1n1 strain, but is treating every case as if it were the swine flu. in roughly 2 1/2 hours, president obama will talk about his plan to reform health care in this country. he's going to do it in a

primetime address before joint seion of congress. people have lots of questions about how the proposals will affect them. today we let some of our viewers ask theiruestions and took those questions to an expert to get answers. christ gordon has that report. >> reporter: we let people of different ages and medical backgrounds ask their health care reform questions, which we then brought to a professor who teaches comparative health policy at the university of maryland school of public policy. the first question is from 90-year-old elizabeth sullen. >> i would like to ask what happens to medicare? >> all the pending bills make cuts in the medicare program. it's not clear whether the cuts will be on the providers, the doctors or hospitals, but somebody will suffer. >> reporter: joe is concerned about the cost. >> are things going to go up as far as i already got health care. >> proponents say they'll save

so much money health insurance premiums will stay the same or go down. the problem with that is, it's a massive increase in the number of people covered. it's an increase in the kinds of things covered. either premiums will go up or taxes will go up to subsidize the premiums or the providers will be paid less money. >> reporter: merriam is a student at george washington university. >> i don't have health insurance. how would that affect me? i don't know how it's going to affect me. >> under all the pending bills, she would be required to purchase insurance. if the risk profile that is applied to her is just her own, it will not be very expensive. if it's the general risk profile, it will be expensive. >> reporter: sterling is a construction worker. >> what is the public option for health care? >> the proponents say it's the way to keep the private insurance companies honest. it will provide a competition for price. the opponents say it's a trojan horse. the public option will eat up

private insurance and within 5, 10, 15 years there will be no private insurance yet. >> reporter: if you had a question to ask president obama about health care reform, what would your question be? >> what are you going to put in the bill that will allow the congress, you and the american people to reconsider the whole program? to fix it for the inevitable problems that i'll will have? >> reporter: that question and others m answered ns over time. christ gordon,wsne4. anoth qui ckre minder, you can watch the president's address live here on channel 4 tonight at 8:00. still to come, a robber willing to risk it all for a date. >> also we've got a break in the rein, but when will the clouds turn?

a wednesday's child is making great strides in his school for kids with special needs. >> josh is making great strides, but it would be wonderful if he had a family to make that journey through life. here is barbara harrison. >> reporter: when josh comes into the classroom, he loves to be the one to turn on the

lights. his teacher says he's always ready for learning. she says he may be quiet a lot of the time. always shows that he understands. >> josh understands a lot of what he is told. we do get a few verbalizations from him. not too much, but he does understand a lot. >> reporter: she says josh concentrates as he puts effort into everything he tries, like making play-do figures. he reached for the drum and knows exactly how to use it. outside, josh's favorite thing to do is fly. his social worker says he made terrific progress since starting school here two years ago. >> he's been in our program since 2006, but he's been in foster care since he was a newborn. he learns pretty quickly and has made many gains since he's been with us. >> rorter: social worker angie

quinn says when josh gets to know you, he is a very loving child. >> josh is super affectionate, always smiling. he's just a joy to be around. josh is ready to be with a family who can give him a lot of supervision, but a lot of love and play time. he is very helpful and affectionate and likes to participate in family activities and likes to be as independent as he can. >> reporter: there are programs offered to help families who might consider adopting josh, but aren't sure whether they have the skills necessary to care for a child with special needs. >> we provide training, child-specific training related to his disability. training on his medication management, training on parenting a child with disability. >> reporter: one thing that takes no training is love. that's what a family can give josh. barbara harrison, news4 for wednesday's child. oo rmnr iou y avoo rm in your ho y hror frt a aldhi c

g,wainlithial cural special adoption hotle 1-88-to-adopt-me. we want to take another look at this weather. it started gloomy. we saw sunshine. at about tomorrow? >> tomorrow back to gloom and gray. today some sunshine. it's still hanging out on skycam there. breaks in the cloud cover. we can see lots of blue. temperature at 76 degrees. dropped to 74. by first pitch we take on the phillies again. we might see an isolated shower. there are a few cells around northern sections of montgomery county and loudoun county. temperatures overnight move up to the low 60s. here is a look the at the high temperature for tomorrow. we should get up to a high temperature of just 70 degrees. more rain, more gray, more wet weather through fr.id

an important warning from the cdc as flu season approaches. people with asthma are more prone to severe complications from the flu. this year the threat of swine flu presents a new concern. 2/3 of children killed by swine flu had some other underlying condition. swine flu vaccines won't be ready until mid to late october, yet we are already seeing the h1n1 virus spreading quickly. eun yang tells us what every family needs to have ready in case it strikes in your home. >> reporter: in indianapolis, 12-month-old joey was hospitalized with a soaring fever after both his parents came down with swine flu. >> the doctors said rotate tylenol and motrin. then he stopped eating and

drinking. >> reporter: joey pulled through, but halfway across the country, 27-year-old police officer ryan johnson died. >> i just want people to know this is happening. without any underlying disease. that it can happen and prepare for it. >> reporter: flu season barely started. swine flu cases have already begun to surge. experts say vaccines won't be ready for weeks, but people should start preparing now. >> we want our residents in the county to be responsible for themselves. >> reporter: montgomery county health department nurse manager kay says people need toat gher key items to create a swine flu survival kit. the kit should include drinks with alelectrolytes. >> many people have these items in their home. over the years, they might have

an expiration date on them or you might not have certain items you thought you had. >> reporter: the kit should have items to prevent spreading the flu virus, things like hand sanitizer and the mask that health care workers should be wearing. >> many times we are in different places. we don't have water and soap available. hand sanitizer is very important. at least 60% alcohol based. and purell is one of the examples. >> reporter: like in all emergency kits, make sure to have plenty of water and about two weeks' worth of nonperishable foods. >> it's really important to start planning ahead and have these items in your house as a stock pile. there might be shortages of certain supplies. it's important to start stock piling some of these items. >> reporter: eun yang, news4. health officials are reminding everyone to keep washing their hands, cough and

sneeze into your arm. taking these measures are the best way to prevent spreading the flu virus. here is a case out of the stupid criminals file. police in columbus, ohio, say a group of three men robbed a couple at their house sunday night. two hours later, one of the robbers turned to the same house and apparently asked the woman out on a date. she immediately recognized the man. she had a rel testify call 911. that 20-year-old i now in jail on a $100,000 bond. she said no, too. she did not go out with him. >> well, you know. there's a world full of losers. >> please keep him in jail. that guy is too stupid. coming up tonight, a report from baltimore on the people accused of stealing a statue of cal ripken in front of camden yards. and beatles fans. and a guy in arizona accused of

ngee .co me h ohin camera. he says cops can't prove he is the man behind the mask. those stories and much more tonight on news4 at 6:00. i guess it's the same in arizona as it is here. doesn't matter who is driving the car. it's the tag. whoever owns the car gets the ticket. >> exactly. >> 37 times. that's how many times he's been arrested. >> lock him up, too. >> what's up, man? >> how about the nats? >> can we have a win, please? there's been so few lately. it's been a rough season for the nationals. as their 91 losses would indicate. things have been especially bad against the phillies. nationals just 2-11 against the world series champs. now just nine losses away from that ugly 100 loss mark, which will inevitably come at some point this season. lyndsay czarniak at the park with a man who would love to avoid that.

>> i think the manager would try to prove you wrong. dan said he doesn't know if a win will be possible tonight. what do you think? >> of course i do. we can't suit them up and get them if we don't think we'll win. it will be a tough challenge. cliff lee is a good pitcher. former american league cy young award winner. we have a lot of confidence in jared mark in our lineup. we think we are up to the challenge. >> it's been lately sort of a roler coaster for you. you busted the team out of the slump. you won eight in a row then lost eight in a row. how do you manage that? >> i think you have to continue to look at the effort you are getting. we were very satisfied with the effort we are getting. you hate to ever concede to losing ballgames and accepting it in any way. we don't accept it. we have to deal with it. you can't get to the point where you accept it and that's okay. our players are agonizing over it.

we make sure they are agonizing over it because if they are not, that means they don't care. they do care. they give a great effort. long as they give us a great effort and play with intensity, we have to live with that. we know better days are ahead. >> you are an avid runner. you said some mornings you wake up and say, i don't want to go running today. does that get that way here? >> no. especially if we are having a rough time. i don't want the season to end. i want things to slow down because i feel like i want time to get this thing straightened out. i feel i don't want it to be over because that means our record is what it is. every time we come out here, we are going to improve our record. we are going to get better and send a better message to our fans that better days are ahead. there are days i can talk myself out of running, but never talk myself out of coming here. >> do you feel you have done enough to prove the interim

title should be taken off that manager title you've got now? >> i don't think in terms of that. i just know i love to manage. it's what motivates me. i feel like my job is to motivate the players, try to get the most out of the players on a daily basis. i think there are so many things that go into that decision that are not strictly in the manager's hand. i have to respect any decisions made. i hope i get the call, but again, you have to deal with it if it doesn't go your way. it's what i love to do and i hope i get a chance to continue. >> have you seen a difference in the players and their response in the time since you've taken over? what have you seen that's been improved? >> i don't see any difference in the response to me. i just think we hit a point where we were just so bad, we were just not playing good baseball. we were giving an effort, but we weren't getting any results to speak of.

i think that the players during the all-star break collectively, whether it was conscious or subconsciously made a decision. let's go. we've got this break here. we've just got to be better than that. i happen to be managing at that time. you can't live on that very long. that little spark is going to die, so we have to do everything we can, myself and the staff to continue to get them to give a good effort every day. and eliminate those losing streaks. minimize those losing streaks. you've got to minimize them to two or three games. you can't let them get out of hand the way we did in the first half and the recent eight-game losing skid. >> jim, thank you very much. pressing on are the nationals. >> thank you for throwing me under the bus. that was awesome. >> stop it. >> lyndsay czarniak. thank you very much. nationals and phillies tonight. coming up, a visit from an

astronaut. ln essotoch soo lesson tol sool

>>. >> the hubble space telescope officially made a comeback. today at nasa headquarters in southwest d.c., we saw the first deep space photos taken by hubble since astronauts gave it a major overhaul in the spring. the telescope is providing the sharpest, clearest pictures yet of the cosmos in all its glory. so part images captured by the new cameras include stars bursting to life and a butterfly-shaped nebula trillions of light years away. >> one of the astronauts was in our area today as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the space agency. they are spending astrouts all over the country to talk to school children. today one astronaut visited a school in greenbelt. >> the telescope can see it very well. this is the type of picture that allows scientists to figure out

how the universe formed. reporter: bruce was aboard spaus shuttle "discovery" back in 1990 when the crew deployed the world's most famous telescope. >> this is the hubble space telescope. we were just lifting it out of the payload bay. >> reporter: he talked with students at spring lake elementary in greenbelt, maryland. the talk wasn't all about the telescope. his audience wanted to know what astronauts eat and wear. >> scrambled eggs freeze dried, if you look at them, you would not want to eat that. notice bruce has his legs inside the bottom half of the spacesuit and then there is a top half of the spacesuit they put on. reporter: the audience was curious about the coolest part. >> now would you be able to go to the ceiling, bounce off the ceiling, bounce off the floor, off the walls. if you wanted to go to sleep all

you have to do is closure eyes and you can drop off to sleep or you are not held to the floor by gravity like you are in this room. that might be hard to comprehend, but as soon as you got there, you would enjoy it. >> sounds fun. you can sleep on the ceiling. >> pretty cool. the day we see those fantastic pictures from hubble, the same day one of those astronauts is in our area. >> very nice. that's it for news4 at 5:00. coming up, a plane hijacked at a tourist hot spot. >> jim vance and doreen gentzler with news4 at 6:00. a youth minister at a church in virginia accused of having sexual relations with a 15-year-old boy. >> more people accused of stealing a four-foot tall statue commemorating cal ripken from outside camden yards. >> president obama