fired shots at a suspicious vessel. turned out no shots were fired. tom sherwood joins with us more on the story. >> reporter: it certainly looked like and sounded like something was happening on the river. the u.s. coast guard routinely cruises the waters of the potomac on patrol and for training. friday morning, it was different. >> with president obama nearby at the pentagon for the eighth anniversary of the september 11th attacks, there were urgent media reports that the coast guard was firing on a suspicious boat on the potomac. it turned out it was only a training exercise overheard on a command radio. no shots were fired. >> i want to reemphasize no shots were fired. there was some suspect vessel. there was no criminal activity. this was a preplanned normal training exercise. >> reporter: coast guard leaders declined to apologize for holding such training on the

somber september 11th anniversary. without notifying the public. other federal or local authorities. promised a thorough review of its actions. >> we will look at our procedures and our timing of this exercise. i will tell you this, we are charged with 7 by 24/365 all day, every day, all weather, security and safety. >> reporter: the incident was near the memorial bridge. in the frenzy immediately after, reagan national airport was shut down with nearly two dozen flights delayed uil the issue was cleared up. the potomac panic prompted criticism that the federal government is still scaring people rather an informing them. >> the most interesting part of the incident is the reaction. the fact that people in the area and the media did this exercise. it's not inappropriate to do so, but there is an important lesson about terrorism that ovreacon can be the most damaging. >> reporter: the white house emphasized that president obama was never near the training exercise. back to you. >> thanks, tom.

those exercises were taking place just a short distance from the pentagon where the president joined the families of those killed when american airlines flight 77 hit that building on this date in 2001. the president placed a wreath at the pentagon memorial this morning in memory of those 184 victims. the president says eight years later, the resolve to seek out al qaeda and its allies has not weakened. >> let us renew our resolve against those who perpetrated this barbaric act and plot against us still. in defense of our nation, we will never waiver in pursuit of al qaeda and its extremist allies, we will never falter. let us renew our commitment to all those who serve in our defense. our courageous men and women in uniform and their families and all those who protect us here at home. mindful that the work protecting america is never finished, we will do everything in our power

to keep america safe. >> after the ceremony, the president spoke with some of those who lost loved ones at the pentagon on 9/11. julie carey in arlington with more on today's events. >> reporter: for so many of the victims' family members, the pentagon is a place they feel they must be on september 11th no matter the pain or memories it brings back. while this eighth observance was the most low key to date, family members feel it was an important place to be to honor loved ones. >> please join me now in a moment of silence. >> reporter: they come each year to mark the most tragic moment in their lives. these families of victims working inside the pentagon who were aboard flight 77. in spite of the pouring rain, dozens came on this eighth anniversary huddled under umbrellas, wiping away rain drops, wiping away tears. it was the shortest, simplest

observance. most head to the bench with the names of their young ones. this woman was only 17, an onld child when her mother was killed inside the pentagon. some years she hasn't been able to come. >> this year it's important to come to not only pay your respects just to your family members, but other family members that are also suffering from a great loss. it's important to me because my mom actually worked here for 15 years. >> reporter: other children have grown up coming to these ceremonies. this man was just 9 when his father david a civilian army employee was killed. for him, the 9/11 gathering provides a vital connection to his dad. >> i do everything i can to remember him. i have his bracelet that has his name on it. then in sports i wear his number, number 4 that he wore in college when he played football. i do little things like that to remember him. this brings it all together, to be here on the stage is

important to me. >> reporter: martha holly and her family never missed a year here either. they all wear t-shirts bearing her husband's photo. martha doesn't wait until september 11th rolls around to visit here. >> i come and visit by myself. i enjoy that. i still miss him so very much. i feel the closest when i come over here being close to him. his memories if i see it here. >> reporter: these families draw strength and healing from seeing each other here every year. once strangers, they are forever united by this day, forever connected to this now hallowed pentagon ground. incidentally, some of the victims' family members are preparing to take on a new role at the pentagon memorial. they are volunteering to become tour guides for visitor the at the site. some 50 signed up to volunteer. julie carey, back to you. thanks, julie.

at ground zero in new york city, people paused to remember the thousands who died at that site. mourners bowed their head in silence to mark the times each world trade center tower was hit, and again at the times when those towers collapsed. names of the victims also were read allowed, both in new york and at a ceremony in shanksville, pennsylvania, where 40 people died fighting hijackers on a fourth plane. we'll have more on the 9/11 gathering coming up later in our broadcast. president obama's call for a day of service spurred a number of events in our area today. secretary of education arne duncan was as green school. the members helped paint a mural on the school's walls. anthony brown joined rebuilding together and choice hotels. >> what better place to be and what better place to remember

and what better place to show our acknowledgement of the sacrifice and the demise of nearly 3,000 people eight years ago then to come together and do what we did today? >> rebuilding together is a nonprofit organization that works to provide a safe and healthy home for all americans. they provide free home modification and repairs to make homes more accessible and energy efficient. >> some rain out there today. >> coastal storm took all week to come together finally did, producing wind and rain. reagan national, we picked up .8 inch of rain. that was the most we've gotten around here in 20 days, going back to august 22nd. we had winds up to 25 and 30 miles per hour. there were spotshat picked up around two inches of rain or so. now the center of the system, it's starting to relax. the rain is opening up and fanning out and heading down to the south through a few locations around here like new carolton and prince george's

county. later tonight we might see a few drops around with temperatures in the 60s. an evening shower chance for a couple more hours here. saturday we'll have more rotating through because there's another part to this system. still, there is the promise of some sunshine coming our way this weekend. it's not going to be a bad weekend. we are going to start to warm up a bit, too. we'll look at all of that in the seven-day forecast in a few minutes. back to you. >> thank you. the space shuttle "discovery" is headed for california now mission control ordereded "discovery" and seven astronauts to aim for touchdown at edwards air force base. bad weather deterred the shuttle from returning to florida. kristen dahlgren is at the kennedy space center in florida. >> reporter: it wasn't to be here at kennedy space center. you can probably see the clouds behind me and showers popping up in the area nasa decided to be safe to bring it to edwards air force base in california where the weather is looking better.

it's a $1.6 million decision. they always try to get it home to florida if they can. they have to load it on top of a specially-modified 747 and fly it back across the country. that costs $1.6 million. with the weather forecast here to be just as bad tomorrow, they just wanted to get "discovery" home. in about 1 1/2 hours they are expected to give the go for putting the brakes on and allowing discovery to come back in through the atmosphere. landing is scheduled for 8:53 eastern at edwards. this has been a successful mission. more than 200 orbits around the earth. the landing tonight going to be a rare sight. after this mission, there are just six more shuttle missions left before the program is retired. the next scheduled to launch this november. back to you. >> kristen dahlgren reporting from florida. thank you. stocks ended a winning streak today. after five days of gains, the market at its highest level in

more than a year. the dow dropped 22 points today. the nasdaq lost three points. s&p dropped one point. contributing to the losses today was falling oil prices, which hurt energy stocks. the dow now sits at 9605. that is the exact same lev the dow has reached eight years ago on the day before the 9/11 attacks. >> coming up on news4 at 6:00, police are investigating after a d.c. detective apparently committed suicide. he recently had been questioned about his alleged association with a murder suspect. an explosion at a warehouse in capitol heights. >> anti-abortion activist was gunned down outside a high school today. >> new developments in the case of a man who threw his shoes at president bush. >> dan, what's in spts? >> we are talking m.j., the greatest player of all time assumes his throne. an interception of "titanic" proportions you have to see. skins can't wait to take a bite out of the big apple.

an anti-abortion activist was gunned down protesting in michigan. many students had just arrived for classes and saw the whole thing. schools in that area were put on lockdown until police confirmed a suspect was arrested. the suspect told officers he had also shot a man at a business earlier that morning. no motive is clear for either of the shootings. police believe the guy shot both men on purpose. the debate continues in the senate whether to send more troops to afghanistan. the top u.s. commander spoke out on public support for the mission and military's chance of

success there. >> i think the situation is serious. there are some indicators that indicate it is deteriorating in some areas. i think there are areas of significant progress being made. i think we are turning the security situation in areas of the helmund valley. >> this will show our commitment to the success of a mission that is clearly in our national security interest. >> senator carl levin visited afghanistan last week. general mcchrystal is expected to formally request an increase in america military presence in the section couple of weeks. the state department strongly condemned a rocket attack on northern israel today. israeli military officials say several rockets were fired from southern lebanon. they fired artillery rounds across the border in retaliation. lebanese official say the village from which the rockets were fired was hit. this is the first time since

febrry that rockets were fired from lebanon into israel. there were no reports of injuries on either side. state department officials say the incident highlights the need for the international community to remain fully committed to supporting the u.n. mission in lebanon. the iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at president bush is getting out of jail. the incident happened in baghdad weeks before george w. bush left office. the journalist from iraq said recently he thought he would be shot by the secret servicehen he threw his shoes. he was sent to jail for nine months. he will be released on monday. he's become a hero to many in the arab world. before the shoe-throwing incident he was a local tv reporter. his bosses built him a four-bedroom house to show his appreciation. the journalist says he is not going back to the business soon. coming up in our broadcast, we'll report on a deadly hit-and-run accident that happened in prince george's county. >> an explosion rocked the capitol heights warehouse.

>> and veronica has our forecast. as we travel up 270 corridor, you've got rain and volume. this is north of clarksburg. delays begin before this point. actually closer toward montgomery village. elsewhere around town, the beltway is messy. inner loop is jammed from the toll road up towards 270 and slows through silver spring. 95, no problem. it's dry. you make your way down into the southbound direction toward newington and woodbridge, travel lanes are open.

okay. i hope you brought good news about our weekend, veronica. >> at least part of the weekend. we'll have some sunshine around here. ayndave to wait until su th ough i know. tomorrow is not going to be like today tomorrow. we got quite a bit of rain

around parts, prince george's county. there is a look outside with a low hangie dn dieei spo'tstill. i didn't see airport delays around here. boston and laguardia, they had airport delays there. 59 was the start today. 69 degrees. i at was it, the high temperature. kind of like an october day around here. just over 0.75 inch of rain. since september 1 we received 1.35 inches of rain. gone is the deficit that we had going into this week. just like that we got rid of the deficit. 66, the temperature. dew point 56 degrees. humidity 70%. wind shift all week long it's been out of the northeast-northwest, but it's still going to take time to see clouds clear. it's still a bit of a breezy evening out there. i want to show you this cool satellite image from earlier today. tropical rain storm or tropical

cyclone? this storm did not have a name. look right there. this was around 11:00 a.m. the circulation around this system, an eye right there. and the worst of it was around the coast of new jersey, the coast of delaware. they had winds up to 60 miles per hour. they had 19 foot waves off the coast. and over four and five inches of rain through some of the communities of new jersey. now our low is pulling away. so the rain, watch it. it's opening up as the center of the storm relaxes. most of the rain up in pennsylvania. even around here we are seeing some of that rain shift down to the south and off to the west. 0.8 of rain here. to salisbury, to philadelphia and movin u ennnal pennsylvania. there is wildwood, new jersey, over four inches. toms river three and atlantic city. harford and cecil count i is where most of it is now.

here, showers around montgomery county. south dry. it's the southern edge of this that is starting to sink further southward. around silver spring, around wheaton, light showers moving through. gaithersburg, through. new carrollton, you've got light showers approaching your area same thing for northern loudoun county. nuisance stuff left out there new. ocean city, it's the end of summer, folks. they are taking down the volley ball net. that's when you know summer is done. ellicott city, maryland, coolest spot 58 degrees. 63 in annapolis. you folks will get a chance to dry out tomorrow, as well. high pressure will start moving in. we'll watch the gulf because there could be more developments taking placeown there over the next couple of days. could be a tropical-type system forming there. for the next 48 hours here, rtainly the next 24, we'll start to dry out. by morning we'll have cloudy

skies around. then by the afternoon, the rest of this system right there in the upper levels over the atmosphere, the rest of this system rotates through, we could have more scattered light showers coming through. on sunday, i think we'll see a lot of the cloud cover moving on out of here. and we'll keep our eyes on tropical storm fred, too. instead of moving to the north, it's expected to move more west to the open atlantic by wednesday. here is a look at your forecast starting with this evening. occasional light showers. 60 to 64 degrees. by morning, a cool start. starting out in the mid 50s in some sections. cool, clouds, 53 to 60. don't think we'll have fog around. there should be enough of a wind hanging on throughout the area. by the afternoon to mrr,owaybe a littlit bay of clearing bye lt in eenevg. for the most part'l ylouen you'll re lymo cst mostly cloy te atshscd sreerowin c om scattered shh.s thugh.cr nos aerors nthcipelycrn ry ndama 77.3 we'll talk about sunday a 'l nice it's going to be in just a

few minutes. >> we are all soggy. thanks. coming up on news4, more on the events taking place across the country today as people pause to remember 9/11. a d.c. police detective apparently committed suicide. authorities say he was being questioned about his alleged association with a murder suspect. >> more than a dozen people were injured in an accident involving a metro bus this morning. >> we'll tell but an art exhibit offering people an inside look at the plane that landed on the hudson river. >> coming up in sports, ralph friedgen trying to get his terps pointed in the right direction. skins have a giant pass over the weekend. michael jordan finally in the hall of fame.

the media reported shots on the potomac today. the media reports were apparently based on radio communications that were part of the exercise.

space shuttle "discovery" on its way to california now for a second landing atemperature. the landing last night was canceled because of bad weather over florida. discovery is ending a 14-day mission to the international space station. the landing tonight at edwards air force base in california is scheduled for 8:5 3 eastern time. a man is in custody in michigan in connection with the will kling of an anti-abortion protestor. the suspect is believed to have targeted the victim because of his anti-abortion views. coming up in this half hour of news4 at 6:00, new information about how much vaccine it will take to fight off the swine flu. we'll tell but a new art exhibit taking people inside the plane that landed on the hudson river. the holdest woman in the world has passeded away at the age of 115. eight years ago today, thousands of americans were killed in a coordinated terror attack that forever changed our

lives. from the pentagon to pennsylvania to new york city, people gathered today to remember. tracie potts has our report. >> coast guard gun boats confronting a vessel in a short distance from the president and the anniversary of 9/11 it sounded like a big story. >> no shots were fired. there was no suspect vessel. >> the coast guard said it was just a routine drill but quickly escalated into an extraordinary misunderstanding. >> that is clearly not the report we were looking for. that's the report of the exercises by the coast guard that had many people concerned today while some of the 9/11 ceremonies were taking place. we'll try to get tracie potts' story later in our broadcast. many americans stationed around the world in the military or foreign service also marked this day with memorial services. troops in afghanistan paused to salute the people who were killed during the terrorist attacks, and those who died since then.

more than 800 americans have been killed in afghanistan since the u.s. invasion there in 2001. in okinawa in japan, soldiers serving there fought already in iraq and afghanistan. in london, the u.s. ambassador to britain laid a wreath in a memorial garden. in moscow, a memorial service was held at the church of st. catharine. they say this is the reminder russia and the u.s. share common feelings in police value. a d.c. detective is dead. he had been recently questioned about his alleged association with a murder suspect. the's all related to the case of a pizza shop owner found murdered inside his store. pat collins has our report. >> reporter: police say last night at his mother's home in

forestville, they found the body of d.c. police detective terrance green. they say it's an apparent suicide. detective green was assigned to the fifth police district in northeast washinon. sources tell news4 that a short time before his death, investigators questioned detective green about his alleged association with pizza mart murder suspect shanika nicole robinson. robinson, charged in the murder of shabidan ramma, the owner of that pizza mart store. sources say investigators are looking into allegations that a member of the d.c. police department may have provided assistance to suspect robinson after that murder. sources say at this point no charges have been filed against detective green. it was august 18th that rama was

found dead inside the store. he had been beaten, stabbed and set on fire. according to court documents, he paid suspect robinson $500 a week to marry his pakistani brother, so the brother could become a u.s. citizen. when the brother discovered robinson had sexual affairs with other men, he cut off the payments. robinson vowed to get rhana. there is more to be known here. this investigation continues on. i'm pat collins, news4 washington. police are searching for the driver responsible for a deadly hit-and-run accident in prince george's county. they say jose simenthal was crossing annapolis road and the driver hit him and kept going. they are looking for a chrysler with front damage, the spoiler was torn off and could be

missing a hubcap. a bus crash in southeast washington this morning left 19 people injured. it involved a metro bus and a charter bus carrying school children. the charter bus rear ended the metro bus on good hope road. officials tell news4 the charter bus is having brake problems. six children, 13 adults were hurt. none had life-threatening injuries. they were taken to the hospital. police are investigating to figure out what caused the crash. the metro worker struck by a train yesterday remains in serious condition thievening. the 13-year veteran of metro was hit by a train if the tunnel along the yellow and blue lines in alexandria yesterday morning. rescue workers has to use an emergency escape hatch to get onto the tunnel and free the worker. he was flown to the hospital. metro is investigating just what led up to this accident. firefighters are still trying to figure out what triggered an explosion at a warehouse in capitol heights, maryland. it happened at about 11:00 last night at the tesco water works

building on hamilton overlook. a front window and two doors were blown out. several drums containing nitric acid were found outside the building. some of the chemicals spilled. a hazardous materials team was called in to clean up the mess. coming up be, the world's oldest woman passed away at a 115. >> a new art exhibit offering people a look inside the plane that landed on the hudson river.

a canopy of clouds across the area. thick and low dsoucl,ou too. is there a look at city cam right now. it's cool outside, too. 62 to 67 degrees, the range in temperatures throughout. mid and upper 50s by tomorrow morning. that's crazy for this time of year already. not much in the way of wet weather left. lingering showers headed toward wheaton. northern prince george's county, too. that's out of northern anne arundel county. there is a little shower activity left around the area.

it's showing signs of drying up. a lot of that energy heading up to pennsylvania where the low is moving. tomorrow morning, 56 in frederick. 54 winchester. 58 in fredricksburg. most of the area tomorrow morning will be dry. there might be a few light showers left across the border there of maryland and pennsylvania. 77, the high tomorrow. 82 for sunday. and sunday, sunshine. right into the beginning of next ,week. we should hold on to those highs in the low and mid 80s. bark to you. >> thanks, veronica. >> now to that report we tried to bring you. eight years ago today, thousands of americans were killed in coordinated terror attack that forever changed our lives. from the pentagon to pennsylvania to new york city, people gathered today to remember. tracie potts reports. >> reporter: at ground zero, new yorkers paused four times. one for each moment the planes hit, one for each moment the towers fell. >> in our joys and in our

sorrows, we know we belong to one another. >> reporter: more than three hours they read the names of each victim, nearly 3,000 in all. grace's husband caesar died in the first tower. >> eight years have passed, but sometimes it feels like everything just happened yesterday. the pain can still be so sharp. >> reporter: new york is remembering 9/11 and looking ahead, joining president obama's call to make this a national day of service. >> we will safeguard the memories of those who died by rekiling the spirit of service that lit our city with hope. >> reporter: in washington, the president and first lady observed a moment of silence at the white house before joining families in driving rain to honor the 184 victims killed at the pentagon. mr. obama promised america won't give up on finding their

attackers. >> in defense of our nation, we will never waver. in pursuit of al qaeda and allies we will never falter. >> reporter: he helped paint a habitat for humanity. in shankville, pennsylvania, today, bells tolled at the crash site where 40 people died fighting hijackers an a fourth plane believed to be headed to washington. >> never forget what they did here as they struck the first blow in this ballot against terrorism. >>eporter: a battle that continues as america remembers. at the pentagon, a new program started today. victims' families are training volunteers to lead tours of the pentagon memorial and explain to visitors what happened there. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. a british sailor named kate

nesbith has become only the second woman in the royal navy to be honored with the navy cross. she was a medic and caught in a taliban ambush in afghanistan. she repeatedly ran into the line of fire to help the injured troops. british and defense officials said she made the difference between life and death for a rine who had been shot in the neck. there is an art exhibit 2 new york city offering people a look inside the plane that landed on the hudson river. the plane touched down in the waters off new york city after a bird strike. the new art exhibit is offering a different look at everything from the cockpit to the tray tables. the exhibit of photographs is called "brace for impact" and is being opened inside a brooklyn warehouse gallery. a woman in california thought to be the oldest woman in the world died. gertrude baines lived to be 115 years old. she was born in 1894 in georgia. this is gertrude celebrating her

most recent birthday. she is quoted saying she never thought she would live to see a black man become president. president obama sent her letter of congratulations hearing of her milestone birthday. health experts say there is encouraging news about the swine flu vaccine. football's little michael jordan peppered in there. michael jordan gives us his take on his legacy. plus, it's an attitude check in the swins' locker room. you ?

you've got to wait until 4:00. >> i know. i know. >> at least you can watch a little football then you can have your dessert and redskins-giants at 4:00. say what you will about the preseason, but jim zorn did accomplish his main goal, keeping everyone healthy. as a matter of fact, one redskins beat writer says this is the first time in more than two decades of covering the team that every member of theoster practiced the entire week leading up to a gain. the redskins will need all hands on deck in the meadowlands on sunday. eli manning and giants beat the redskins twice last season. payback, not the issue. getting off to a good start this year is. deangelo hall had an interception against eli in fedex field. he is wearing the burgundy and gold. >> this is a great place to play. can't wait to go up there.

obviously, animosity between the two teams will be added pressure. our guys are ready to go. i'm excited. >> there are no warm-up games in the nfl no matter who you are. just having a divisional rivalry to be dominant in your division, it's as tough as you can get. week one, playing against the toughest opponent who's been dominating us the last couple of years. >> that was clinton portis. this is snoop dogg checking out steelers and titans. first quarter, troy polamalu, what a great interception, but not a great ending for the safety. he left the game with a sprained mcl and is out three to six weeks. end of the first half, still no score. ben roethlisberger getting plenty of time. he delivers. after the pump fake, over the

middle. 34-yard touchdown for santonio holmes. steelers take a 7-0 lead. this went to overtime. steelers pull it out on a jeff reed field goal. ben roethlisberger threw for 313 yards. maryland looking to rebound after a lop-sided loss against cal last weekend. terps ten-point favorites over jmu saturday night. jmu hails from the caa, the colonial athletic association. it'she same conference that pulled off three major upsets over big-time schools last weekend. maryland hoping to pull off their own upset in berkeley last week. it was evident theff the bat that wasn't going to happen. cal running back torched the new-look maryland defense averaging ten yards per carry. i think this one helped out his average a bit. cal racked up over 500 yards in a 52-13 win.

terps didn't help themselves in offense or special teams either. that is history. now fridge and friends are focused on beating jmu for their first win of the season. >> it's like life. you have to be able to respond to adversity. there is nothing we can do to dwell on this game other than to take what we learn from this game and go on. we start worried, cal's over. it's done. we need to worry about james madison right now. at the end they all count. >> i wonder if fridge was watching this one last night, clemson and tech. do you like the all-purple? >> no. >> i kind of do. it's a fake. pulled off to perfection. the kicker, scott blair to demariusz thomas. those guys have no idea what went down. michael jordan inducted into the basketball hall of fame.

when i heard that today i said, isn't michael jordan already in the basketball hall of fame? isn't the crazy? he went in with several legends of the game today. even in the hall of fame, m.j. stands out as perhaps -- i'll take the perhaps out of there. he is the best player that played the game. david robinson there with utah jazz head coach jerry sloan. john stockton. rutgers women coach vivian stringer. jordan won six nba titles and shares the all-time scoring record 31 points a game with wilt chamberlain. that one over craig elo. which one did m.j. think was the best? >> if i start with 19 at unc, i can end with the shot in utah or playing on the dream team, playing baseball, although you

guys don't consider that to be successful, i do. at the end of the day, my teammates, if they can say anything about me, we won. every time i have a conversation with tex winners, an unbelievable coach. i remember one game coming off the floor. i scored 21 points to win the game. tex reminded me there is no "i" in team. i look back at tex and said, "i didn't win." whichever way you want it. >> i never heard that before. >> here again -- >> here is my question for you guys. are there any wizards memories of michael jordan that stand out? >> no. no. the only memory associated with

michael and the wizards is that shot of him in that mercedes leaving. >> in that convertible mercedes. driving out of verizon center. he's not going to remember that very long, i don't think. on the links, tiger tied for the lead with mike wilson at the bmw championship. it's a rare tournament played on a public course. tiger's third shot on a par 5. ninth hole. the chip just behind the trap and tiger has such great touch. look how close this gets to the hole. that sets up a birdie for tiger woods. he is seven under par tied for the lead. the shot of the day belonged to justin leonard on the par 5 13th. this lands just past the cup and rolls right back in for the eagle. leonard at two under. he's tied for 30th place. he's liking that one a whole lot. how about a fist pump? mark wilson fired a five under par today. here is the birdie on number 9. follow on the dotted line.

nice putt. wilson tied with tiger for the lead seven under par. he will be paired with tiger tomorrow. first time they played together since tiger beat him for the amateur title in '92. >> you guys always say vivian stringer from rutgers university. >> from chaney state. >> i should have known. >> thank you, dan. coming up, health experts neacci vaccine is doing e how coming up tonight at 11:00,

we'll hear from d.c. police chief about confusion in their department this morning after reports of gun fire on the potomac. also the faa will explain its decision to close national airport in response to those reports. south carolina congressman joe wilson will have one chance to apologize on the house floor for his outburst the other night

at the president's speech. we'll tell you what will happen if he doesn't do that. >> and video of an 18-foot long python taken from a man's house. plus new information about the h1n1 virus. the swine flu is spreading quickly. health officials have seen cases across the country. clinical trials for the vaccines are giving doctors hope. jennifer mitchell has details. >> reporter: at a flu clinic in alexandria, virginia, dozens of people were vaccinated today against the seasonal flu. government officials announced they are seeing record numbers of cases of the h1n1 inflnz a. numbers that are unusually high for this early in the flu season. >> 3.6% of outpatient visits are for influenza-like activities. that's much greater than we would usually see this time of year. >> reporter: clinical trials testing the vaccine for swine flu are showing promise. many healthy adults are gaining protection from one dose of the vaccine instead of two.

and the immune response is happening quicker than first expected. >> these vaccines are well tolerated and induce a strong immune response in most healthy adults when given in the single 15 microgram dose. >> reporter: a single dose would mean more people could be immunized sooner. that would be welcome news to health officials in texas, who expect to receive more than a million doses a week of the swine flu vaccine, but not until october. >> we are in a pandemic issue. i think there's more of how severe this pandemic will be within the state. >> it is still unclear as one dose of vaccine will be enough for children and pregnant women. health officials expect to know more and make necessary recommendations in the coming weeks. jennifer mitchell, nbc news. >> researchers have seen no significant adverse side effects during the clinical trials. the vaccine is expected to be available mid october. seasonal flu vaccines are available now and the experts

recommend them. "nbc nightly news" is next. >> we leave you with some of the sights and sounds from today's ceremonies in remembrance of 9/11. ♪ o say, can you see by the dawn's early light ♪ >> from this day forward, we will safeguard the memories of those who died. [ bell tolls ]