confusion and panic after reports of gunfire on the potomac river. what really happened that caught just about everyone off guard. president obama continues his push for health care reform. what he will be doing this weekend in one of the healthiest states of the country. will it be clear skies or more rain this weekend? details in your full forecast. good morning. welcome to "news4 today."

saturday, september 12, 2009. i'm eun yang. we are going to take a look at the forecast with chuck bell. good morning, chuck. >> good saturday morning to you. happy weekend, everybody. cloudy skies have been plaguing us all week long. we are still going to have more clouds than sunshine today. still weather is getting ready to improve in big way. area of low pressure clouding our skies all week is still bringing rain to portions of central pennsylvania and some of those showers may wrap back down into our area for today. by and large, most of us will enjoy a mostly dry saturday. 64 here in washington this morning. 58 in springfield. 63 in frederick, maryland. 61 degrees in martinsburg, west virginia. low 60s alongside the bay. a more cloudy than sunny day today. a chance of a light passing rain showers but by and large if you are planning doing something outside the further north you go the better rain chances will be. further south you go, fredericksburg and charlottesville, better chances for a dryatto sy day.da da toy.day

d, orange expect expect in tgak dhe wn taking weekend. truck maintenance will have trinaiglns sinerackeg between the medicalra center and grovern stations. between east falls church and ballston on the ongee linnd greeeln o nth the green line.en ddtrmesays riders should at tr their o t ttrs.heir trips. the maintenance is scheduled through tomorrow night. not again. that's the horrible thought that went through people's minds yesterday eight years to the day after the september 11th attacks when reports surfaced that shots were fired on the potomac river. the president was nearby at a memorial service for victimsf the pentagon attack. the whole thing was just a coast guard drill. jackie bensen has more now on the panic on the potomac. >> reporter: the coast guard boats were doing a training exercise in which officers pretended to fire on a boat that breached security in the potomac river not far from the pentagon. someone monitoring a police

scanner, internal communications would have sounded very real. that's just what cnn staffers were doing. the network soon broadcast a report that it was the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. the president was at a pentagon ceremony. there was a period of concern and confusion. the d.c. police chief cathy lanier says fortunately harvard police officers were not far away. >> we found out about it once the exercise began. we did have harbor boats out there. we were very kwlik able to determine it was an exercise. the aftermath was letting everybody else it was an exercise. >> reporter: departures from national airport were delayed for about 20 minutes. the faa released a statement that said it's not typical for the faa to make decisions based on media reports but when there are reports o shootings on the potomac the situation needs to be checked out. coast guard defended its train. >> we will look at our procedures and timing of the exercise but i wl tell you this. we are charged with seven by 24

365 all day, every day, all weather, securit and safety. >> reporter: cnn released a statement that said in part, given the circumstances, it would have been irresponsible not to report what we were hearing and seeing.ip as with any breaking news story information is often fluid and cnn updated the story with the official explanation from the coast guard as soon as it was provided. jackie bensen, news4. >> the secret service says president obama returned to the white house by the time the reports of shots fired surfaced. happening today, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people, expected to descend on d.c. today to protest excessive federal spending. aar fch mroed fmomrezala pola t ule aped eg bt a tedch ed to begin at 11:30 this morning. it is beingrg banyized freedom works. conservativerotup tha opposes what it calls a tax a spend a agenda on capitsthiting at 9:00 inre agss iledd arosswdg in the crowd at freedom plaza and g including leaders of the tea party movement.ng itself lialts

billionaires for wealth care is planning a counter protest. the president will be giving a speech on health care. preparations are being made for an overflow crowd at the target center in minneapolis. minnesota noted for the high quality cost-effective health care system. the president plans on using the example set by the state to rally its supporters. one of mr. obama's first health care speech owes the road since he addressed congress wednesday night. apologize or face a public scolding. those are the options democrats are giving congressman joe wilson days after his outburst during president obama's speech. the south carolina republican, you may recall, shouted "you lie" had the president said his health care plan would not cover illegal immigrants. a spokesperson for house speaker nancy pelosi says democratic leaders will vote for a resolution of disapprova of wilson if he does not apologize on the house floor. wilson called the white house thursday to say he's sorry but

his office says he considers that apology sufficient. new details this morning surrounding the murder of a pizza shop owner in the district. it turns out a d.c. police detective found dead of an apparent suicide is being linked to that case. police found the body of detective terrence green in his mother's home thursday night in forestville, maryland. sources tell news4 green was questioned in response to allegations that he had given help to murder suspect robinson. robinson is charged in the death of ranna who owned the pizza mart where authorities found him dead last month. no charges have been filed against detective green. a lodge in northeast washington has been closed and the district says it is because of wild parties. the department of consumer and regulatory affairs and teens have been partyg on the lot. city leaders say those parties have led to violence in recent months. pir fenty will discuss the discussion to close the lodge on monday. football season is officially under way. redskins fans and players are

gearing up tomorrow's big game. dan hellie has more in you "sports minute." good saturday morning, everybody. your "sports minute" starts with the redskins and say what you will about the redskins' preseason. jim zorn accomplished his main goal and that was to keep everyone healthy. all of the guys practiced all week long and they will be ready for the giants. no excuses. they are playing with a full deck. they are, however, still 6 1/2 point underdog. don't forget the premiere of our new show "redskins showtime" which is tonight at 7:00 followed by "the jim zorn show." michael jordan inducted into the hall of fame last night. on the diamond, nationals in miami taking on the marlins. ad jon dunn hits home run number 37 and nats knock off the fish 5-3. that's a winning streak, two in

a row for the nationals. high school football, dunbar taking on eastern and man, did they roll. the crimson tide all over the ram blers. dunbar downed eastern 54-6. that's your "sports minute." i'm dan hellie. have a great saturday. 6:07 is your time now. 60 degrees. coming up after a day of circling in space, "discovery" is finally able to land. remembering those killed on 9/11. how many people responded this year by volunteering. a new warning about the swine flu while an outbreak could happen sooner than everyone thought.

touch r main gear touchdown. >> the shuttle landed at edwards

air force base just before sunset last night. "discovery" was diverted to california after bad weather preventped landing in florida for the second day in a row. >> we are very happy to be back on land here in california. we wish we could have gone to florida today, gotten the see our families down there. it just didn't work out with the weather. >> "discovery" and its crew dropped off supplies at the space station during the two-week anything. a $5 million treadmill named after comedy central stephen kobe effort. he was given the honor after winning a vote on nasa's website. familiar tribute returns in th eeneeribute in lig was prented on t six-month anners ary of the september th attacks. now every year the two beams of light shoot straight up into the air to symbolize the twin towers of the world trade center. the lights themselves are located several blocks from the site but it brings a ghost of

the reminders of the tower that were once part of the skyline. this year's tribute was for one night. many people remembered the eighth anniversary by -- 9/11 answering president obama's call by a day of service. >> service! >> can do. >> service! >> a number of events hosted in our area. yesterday secretary of education ernie duncan was at green elementary school in southeast washington. he was joined by a group of city year americorps members that helped paint a mural on one of the school's walls. elsewhere rockville, maryland, anthony brown built a group rebuilding together and choice hotel hotels. >> what better place to be and what better place to remember and what better place to show our -- acknowledgement of the sacrifice and demise of that nearly 3,000 people eight years ago than to come together and do what we are doing today. >> rebuilding together is a nonprofit organization that works to provide a safe and healthy home for every american.

they also provide free home modifications and repairs to make them more acceptable and energy efficient. and there is more to report today about the swine flu season. no only do we face a double threat this year. we learned today the flu is making an unusually early appearance that this there are flu cases i all 50 states. most of those swine flu cases. and there's news as well about the swine flu vaccine. here is our chief science correspondent robert bazell. >> reporter: health officials are encouraged by the experimental results showing that healthy adults will need only a single dose of the swine flu vaccine when it stars to be available next month. >> now appears that most of the folks have a robust immune response in eight to ten days from the date of the first vaccine. >> reporter: many people will get swine flu before there is any vaccine. after the virus first appeared in late april, visits to doctors and hospitals for flu increased

sharply. then stabilized for the summer. in recent weeks, the numbers climbed sharply again with no ent. sight. the american college health association reports that 72% of colleges and universities and surveys across the country reported flu cases in a week ending september 4th. >> 98% of theiruses circulating right now are this new h1n1. the levels of flu activity that we are seeing right now in september are extremely unusual for this time of year. we have flu activity occurring in all 50 states in the district of columbia. >> all right. ready. >> ready. >> reporter: the new swine flu vaccine should be safe. 1976 vaccination campaign against the different swine flu threat caused an increase in a rare condition. >> we are going to be monitoring it very, very carefully. this is extremely important and, of course, we are very mindful of the experience in 1976 and

the importance of being able to assure the public about the safety of vaccine use. >> reporter: new monitoring system will check electronic medical records of many hospitals and insurance plans. for the first signs of any side effects of the vaccine. robert bazell, nbc news, new york. >> for more information about the swine flu and what you can do to protect yourself, visit nbcwashington.com and search swine flu. up next, a look at sports and all-important forecast with chuck bell. >> that's right. good morning. is going to be a fairly cloudy day today. don't sweat it out just yet. there is a lot of improve many in our forecast. all the details of a dry, mostl.

it is a go for the white thcimark.e ty a ve the city approved r asteqrouem f first lady michelle close verntmo

close vermont avenue between h and i streets northwest. the block will be shut down to traffic on thursdays between 1:00 and 8:00 p.m. market organizers say 18 local farmers and producers will sell their products. people wl be able to buy milk, cheese, bread and other baked goods. that will be very nice. you get to eat locals. >> the question is will they be selling the vegetables they are going in the white house garden out there. >> i wonder. >> cou you charge more for lettuce just because it came there the white house? >> probably not. it would look bad. >> that's what i think. they would have to give it away. we are play paying plenty for that operation down there as it is. >> what we want to know is it going to be the kind of weather you can go outside to a farmer's market today. >> yes. >> lot of rain. >> farmers are tough people. as you know. farmers, they will tell you that they can get out there and they can hoe the corn in pouring rain if needed. they prefer not to. we had plenty of rain across the area most week long.

now to the weekend, my job is safe because the rain is just about ready to come to an end across the area. just in time for the weekend. sun not up yet but it is close to our eastern horizon at this point in time. 64 our current temperature in washington. light northwesterly wind at eight miles per hour. yesterday .8 inches of a rainfall. dry around here. so far since january 1, we had 28 inches of rain in washington. that's about average for this time of the year. but compare that with a year ago when we had 37.5 inches of rain. nowhere near as rainy as it was last year. at least for this year, we are pretty close to average in rainfall. right now it is 62 in annapolis and 62 in baltimore. 63 in frederick, maryland. 59 degrees in leightonsville, maryland. the commonwealth, 52 in culpeper. 62, though, in winchester. 61 in manassas. 63 in dulles. 62 degrees in ashburn, virginia, this morning. on the whole, it is going to be in -- a weaer improving story across the area. temperatures 50s and 60s up and

down most of the eastern seaboard. this area of low pressuree probably should go ahead and give it a name because it has been there over a week now. last wkend it was sitting over the outer banks of north carolina and during the last six days, it made it from there to the new jersey coastline. rainfall has been wrapping around the system. we had the clouds and off and on showers much of the week long. and most of the rain is done with but as the area of low pressure pull ace way may wrap some of that moisture back around. especially for the folks northern and northeastern maryland. mountains of west virginia, better chance for showers around there today. here in washington, very slim chance for rain today. 30% or so and further south and west you go the drier your day is going to be. so charlottesville, blacksburg, roanoke, dry weather down there for today. great weather for everybody returns during the day tomorrow. for today we will call it a mostly cloudy day. more sunshine the further south and west you go. maybe a shower or two. mainly for the north today. temperatures will stay mostly in the mid 70s around wn. upper 60s for northern maryland. then for tomorrow, the sunshine

comes back for everybody. and beautiful weather. 82 tomorrow. we haven't been in the 80s all week long. and 85 on monday. 82 on tuesday. plenty of except sunshine on the way. and once we get rid of the rain chance today i don't think the next chance of rn arrives until friday of next week. >> we need a break from all this rain. >> we need a little sunshine in our lives after this week. >> all right. thanks so much, chuck. >> you're welcome. redskins are getting ready for their first regular season of year. dan hellie tells us what they are doing to get ready. >> reporter: it is the redskins and the giants sunday at 4:15. we talked about the defense trying to stop the giants powerful running game. a matchup we haven't focused on nearly as much, the redskins secondary against the giants young and unproven wide receivers. the skins' goal is to make the giants beat them through the air with guys like hixon and smith. the giants also have this guy. the younger brother of redskins wide receiver santana moss.

the giants receivers will be seeing a lot of press coverage. man-to-man coverage from the skins. blatche thinks the running game with open it up for the wideouts. >> one thing if we don't have to worry about the run game. yes. when you help take care of the run game and quality and quantity of run game that they have, the wideouts will get some minimal attention at times. i think it is a great opportunity for their wideouts. i would love to be a wide outon that offense because you will getting is gl coverage just because of the weapons they have. baseball last night. derek jeter. the official yankee king, he passes lou gehrig. the nationals are on a winning streak. it is only two games but still a winning streak. they beat the marlins 5-3. adam jon dunn creeped closer to the 40-homer plateau. south florida. they stopped the game at 9:11 last night for a moment of silence to honor those that lost their lives eight years ago.

we start in the top of the first. adam jon dunn. at the plate. a man on. that's gone. done hits one high ask deep. two-run shot. 37th on the year for adam jon dunn. nationals take a 2-0 lead. things looking good early on for the nats. in the sixth mike morse pinch-hitting with two on and two out. one to deep center and he ain't going to get it. josh willingham trots home. here comes nieves. two-run double. nats knocked off the fish 5-3. most of the biggest names in basketball on hand to see michael jordan get inducted into the hall of fame last night. leroy smith was even there. you are saying who is that? i know he not a big name. but in basketball he might have been perhaps the biggest reason jordan became the greatest. you see, leroy smith was the player who made the high school basketball team instead of jordan. the first and last time jordan was cut from any team.

>> he is still the same 67 guy. he played friday's game about the same. he started the process with me. when he made the team and i didn't, i wanted to prove not just to leroy smith, not just to myself, but to the coach who actually picked leroy over me. i want to make sure you understood you made a mistake, dude. >> yeah, dude. biggest mistake of your life. all right. it was friday night football last night. our game of the week was in the district. and it was featuring powerhouse dunbarton's up and coming eastern. it was happy to be on the field after forfeiting their season last year. here's how it went down. eastern had their hands full against dunbar in this one. the ramblers in blue. punting the ball away after their opening possession and dunbar opened things up with a bang. fields it. he says uh-oh, i'm thinking about changing direction here. and this was a very wise decision. he took had thing on his own 46.

how about 54 yards to the house? cuts down dunbar to take an early 7-0 lead. courtesy of mr. brae. very next dunbar possession. matthews. looking like a freshman here. sweet pass to riddick. that's a 22-yard touch. dunbar up 26-0 after the first quarter. they go on to win it, 54-6. to damascus high school. swarming hornets hosting q.o. prince orchard. first quarter, no score. prince orchard on the doorstep. takes the handoff and moves the pile and into the end zone for the touchdown. q.o. takes a 6-0 lead. second quarter, damascus down 13-0. frazier rolls out and connor frazier rolls in to end zone but it was not enough. damascus falls to orchard 37-13. they will have another good season, i believe. that's your morning sports. i'm dan hellie. everybody have a great weekend. 6:27 is your time.

64 degrees. still ahead in the next half hour, the weekend edition. mounting confusion after a coast guard drill sparked panic in the district. how officials are responding this morning. a news4 report uncovered possible safety lapses at the national zoo. this morning hear what the smithsonian is doing about it. a group on women -- a group of women thought they were on a reality tv show. i turned out to be a hoax. how they were fthcoered for mwoh

a major security scare after reports of shots fired on the potomac river. how city officials are responding today after it turned out to be nothing but a drill. are you safe when visiting the national zoo n earlier this year news4 done covered safety lapses. we will tell you what the smithsonian is doing about it. singing at ballpark. how you can attend a musical event for free.

good morning. welcome back to "news4 today." i'm eun yang. let's take a quick check on the forecast with chuck bell in storm center 4. good morning, chuck. >> good morning. this is certainly a cloudy day outside. no doubt about that. a look from our city cameras shows an overcast sky first thing this morning. there is a little sliver of hope. one or two breaks in the overcast now. we will see more breaks in the clouds by later on today. but there are rain showers up across portions of pennsylvania and new jersey right now. some of those may wrap back around later on this afternoon. by and large most of us will be dry on our saturday but you may know that there is at least a chance of a shower. yesterday a half inch to an inch in most locations. lighter amounts down to the south ask west. for today we will call i more clouds than sunshine but you will see the sun from time to time. and especially across maryland

pa chance of few passing showers. outdoor activities will not be washarhe. k anyoth wto hear. thank u,yo chuck frptsiders of conng oend aen r g lre oe and c derablsi delays when taking metrohis th weekend. track maintenance will have trains single tracking between the medical center and grover station on the red line between east falls church and ballston on the orange line and between greenbelt and college pk on the green line. ge riders should add at least 20 to 30 minutesirorhe t trip. maintenance scheduled through tomorrow night. the coast guard is defending its decision to conduct a aining exercise on the potomac yesterday. exercise that some people fear in our country was under attack again. officers pretended to fire on a boat that breached skwurt and some people monitoring a police scanner heard internal communications and thought what they were hearing was real. cnn was reporting the incident and flights out of reagan national airpo were delayed. critics called it irresponsible to conduct an exercise on september 11th. the coast guard begs to differ.

>> we will look at our procedures and our timing of the exercise but i will tell you this. we are charged with seven by 24, 365, all day, every day, all weather, security and safety on the mayor time interests of the national capital region. >> president obama had been near at a memorial service for those killed in the pentagon on 9/11. the secret service says he had returned to the white house by the time the false reports of an attack had surfaced. happening today, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people are expected to descend on d.c. this morning to protest excessive federal spending. a mch dow pennsylvania after re fomom p flaza a to the capitol steps is scheduled to 1. 11:30. a freedom works. conserroti gveuphatha opposes what it calls aax t and spend enda on capitol hill. addressing there will be a adn nd aza and ss inclg party mortpay movement. ifelts if flte

billionairor flth ceae is planning a counter protest at the capitol. alexandria residents are gathering today to speak out against vdot's hot lanes project. the event is billed as an opportunity to learn more about the massive project and how to learn how to owes it. it is taking place at the park fairfax volleyball court between 3:00 and 5:00 this afternoon. alexandria mayor bill ewell and other officials are expected to attend. the hot lanes project was put on hold last month due to funding concerns. opponents say the lanes will adversely affect commuters and communities and the environment as well along the i-395 and i-95 corridor. police in prince george's county need your help finding the person who held up a pizza hut in clinton, i ma robbed them beob rd the restaurant at 6400ob blolo of o alexandria road on serepmb te 4th. money y he made offith from the register as well as sh.loyees' police describe the suspect as african-american male with light complexion. 25 yrs d,ixol s feet tall and

weighs about 150 pounds. now the safety at the national zoo. last spring four zoo police officers came to news4 complaining a manpower shortage meant the public was not adequately protected. at the time the head of security for the smithsonian does what is safe but promises a strengthening of the police force by labor day. >> reporter: on a fall day as many as 20,000 adults ask children walk through the open gates of the national zoo. there's no check-in, no metal detectors. with five to seven officers on patrol to keep peace. ahead of security for the entire smithsonian constitution, j.j. mclaughlin says he hired ten new zoo officers in the last four months. >> i feel very good about it. i think we have met our goal that we talked to about earlier. >> reporter: are these officers street ready? >> yes. they all have police experience. >> reporter: a few new police officers continue to raise

concerns. this time about officer readiness. >> they are not street ready. >> reporter: officers talked to news4, two identities hidden and one that says she's no longer afraid of losing her job. she quit as a zoo police officer one day after our interview. >> for those that say you are a disgruntled employee. >> i have never seen anything like this in may life. i worked at a police department for 21 years. and i have never -- d.c. police officer. >> reporter: formerly officer latimore, she claims the issues are not only manpower b management. specifically a lack of commitment to training officers and new recruits. >> those officers are being hired given badges and they don't have the benefit of training and are put into the park. >> ridiculous. absolutely untrue. at no time do we give anyone a gun and put them on the streets. the officers that -- and they are speaking about two of the three new ones on board, that came onboard earlier this month,

have gone through firearms training. and they are riding with seasoned officers. they are not out there by themselves. >> reporter: how much training? what kind appears to be the sticking point. in a grievance filed in 2008 a zoo police sergeant claims the office of protection services is refusing to train the police an insists onficers. and iists ons a distinction betwnee tining t for federalff security guards. saying an officer must attend an accredited police academy or federal basic law enforce many program. while zoo officers admit no major crimes happened inside the zoo gates this summer they say it still happens outside. take for exam temperature monday before labor day. the very day that four brand-new officers were in orientation. right here at this starbucks at 10:00 in the morning. these police point to the life or death necessity of

well-trained officers. >> we have to watch out for the people that come into the zoo. >> reporter: ops is mclaughlin promises mor training. federal law enforcement and new course to be run by zoo police in january. >> the zoo continues to be a safe plain. the zoo police d a great job. >> reporter: the day after that interview, ops announced all new and current federal police officers across the smithsonian institution will undergo a one-week mandatory weapons program. in the meantime the zoo told its recruits to return their badges and weapons. until eiinrra ice tinsg complete. kimberly suiters, news4. >> the zoo hosts 2 million visitors a year. last major security incident in 2000 outside the gates while zoo police do make arrests on site most of the crime reported at the zoo involves minor. new today. nine young turkish women faked

they were taking part in a big brother show were rescued after two months of confinement. police raided this villa. thisiethr year -- early this year after receiving a complaint nine women were being held in confinement the last two months. cameras filmed the women 24 hours a day, providing a live stam of images for internet users who had paid access to the footage. the nine women that adnswere for an ad looking for contestants for a big brother tv show. the women sign ad wethree-month contract but faced a hefty fine if they left. the iraq journalist that threw his shoes at president bush will soon be a free man. it appears he will be free to pursue a number of opportunities. he was released from jail monday after serving a nine-month sentence for the hurl heard around the world. the reporter may quit his job. according to his brother and -- that's accorng to hibrother, he will start working as a political activist or for

humanitarian organizations. his brother says has also turned down several offers to go in a politics. the world's oldest person has died. gertrude baines pass aid way yesterday in los angeles. she was 115 years old. she was born in 1894 when grover cleveland was still president. she was 9 when the first world series was played. baines lived alone until she was 107 when she broke her hip. the oldest person in the world is now 114 years old. that person lives in japan. looking good for 115. she must have live ad nice life. looking for a way to spend your saturday night. details about the free event taking place at nats park. plus, champagne isn't just for special occasions anymore. what the makers are doing to get you to drink more bubbly.

wall street ended the week with losses. dow lost 22 points yesterday closing at 9605. nasdaq lost three points. closed at 280. reassuring economic news from the treasury secretary. tops our look at that time big business stories. bill griffith has more in this week's "business report." >> treasury secretary tim geithner told a cnbc town hall meeting the u.s. economy is no longer on the edge of an abyss. the credit is more stable. americans are borrowing less and saving more. the economy is now growing. and to prove him correctly, consumer sentiment was up in the early part of september. now at its highest level since the spring and as more americans do think the economy really is getting better. we know americans are trimming debt by a lot. consumers slashed their borrowing by a record amount in july by more than $21 billion. steve jobs took the stage at an apple products launch this week.

the ceo's first public appearance since a liver transplant earlier this year. could there be a bidding war for british candy maker cadbury in the offing? the firm reject ad nearly $17 billion takeover offer from kraft foods. kraft is expected to sweeten that bid while hershey's and nestles are interested in various pieces of cadbury. if you lost investments in the last year you are not alone. even the ivy leaguers at yale and harvard reported they lost about 30% of their endowments in just the last year like everyone else. i'm bill griffith. get all your business news on cnbc. now celebrating its 20th year. one item that has gone flat during the recession is champagne. >> what? >> can you believe that? sales off 50% for the basic bubbly. down 85% for premium brands. they get expensive. bubbly bwers are changing their pitch to make their drink less of a special occasion thing

and more of an every day indu e indulgen indulgence. one label has scar will he -- scarlett johansson as a spokesperson. we will see what happens. tell bus the forecast. >> that's what i'm here for. the big buck. i'm paid the big buck to let you know -- >> champagne for lunch. >> all the time. outside, plenty of clouds this morning. what's that mean for our rain chances? complete che p.

the fat lady has sung for the washington nationals' disappointing season. she will be singing at nationals park tonight literally. tonight is the second annual opera in the outfield. a free simulcast of the opera's

performance at the ballpark. the show will be broadcast in high def on the park's enormous scoreboard. it includes food, games, prizes. nationals park opens at 5:30 this evening. the show starts at 7:00. i think that's a great idea. operas are expensive. this is a way to catch the opera at a ballpark and eat hot dogs and watch the opera. >> i want to say that's more my style because when i smuggle the hot dogs into the kennedy center that's when i get in trouble. >> people give you durty looks. are they going to have a nice day to be outside tonight. >> yes. on the whole, yes. i can't give the complete all clear on the chance force rain today. but most of us are going to stay dry today. i say all of us will s foto for tomorrow. so that's definitely some welcomed news. today sort of that transition day. plenty of clouds will be involved in our transition back to nicer weather. but on the whole, most of the rain has pulled out of the area. right now, as you look live from

our city camera view, mostly cloudy sky first thing this morning, temperatures ar only in the mid 60s around town. there are upper 50s on the map as well. ronald reagan, washington national airport, temperatures at 64 degrees. light northwest wind at eight miles per hour. over three-quarters of an inch of rain yesterday where we are right on average for this time of the year. 28 inches of rain, average amount of rainfall this year. last year to the same point we had an additional tennches of rain. so it has been a relatively dry compared to last year. not so bad compared to average. 62 in annapolis. 61 degrees in inner harbor, baltimore right now. mostly in the low 60s. most of the neighborhoods, 63 at dulles airport and 63 in frederick, maryland. 61 in charlestown, west virginia. 66 degrees in charlottesville now. the whole, it is going to be a dry day today. this same area of low pressure which has been churning its way up the coastline all week long. and it has been keeping the cloudy skies in our area for all week. and now that area of low pressure is drifting up the new

jersey shore. it is going to have a bit to north to northwesterly component. the rain showers in central pennsylvania may wrap all the way around that area of low pressure and down especially into northern maryland and southern pennsylvania. day trip to gettysburg towards new market, maryland, more clouds with a chance for showers there. further south and west you go, out into southwestern virginia, much drier weather on tap for the rest of the day today. so here's our way our future cast model. what's with the area of low pressure gradually works its way offshore and up the coastline. we will keep the clouds mostly cloudy for today. and as we go later on this afternoon and this evening, those clouds will tend to break up just a little bit. bright sunshine returns back into our area for tomorrow. so for today, cloudy skies. scattered showers mainly north of washington rain chances abot 30%. if you are headed out to the bay o sailing today, low to mid 70s for today. a chance for a shower.uping ort tomorrow. and if you are making the trek

75 ocean city. again, pretty good xhans for some passing showers at the beach toda tomorrow will be lovely day along the coastline. there sour extended forecast. back into the 80s tomorrow. mid 80s on monday. low 80s on tuesday. and other than our little chance for a shower coming up today, looks like much of the next week will be dry. next chance of rain after today comes next friday. >> hold on to summer for a few more day. >> it will be one of those classic september weeks around here. >> thank you, chuck. i-next, a restaurant that's taking dining to new heights.

for five days in paris, people with a lot of money to burn can eat the finest french cuisine with one of the best views in the city. a platform that can seat 22

people raised 165 feet into the air where the guests can enjoy their meal which is prepared by some of paris' most elite chefs. the privileged does not come cheap. $1300 for a seat. about $150 of that is donated towards an organization that funds research into rare diseases. harnessed down to get a seat at that table. what an experience. redskins fans, the wait is almost over. the season starts tomorrow. burgundy and gold are heading up i-95 to take on the giants. jikoff at 4:15. skins' last trip to giants stadium barring a meeting in the playoffs. skwlints move into their new stadium next season. the nats are hoping to spoil any chances the marlins have of making the playoffs. they explored a 5-3 last night. adam jon dunn and ryan zimmerman each homered for the nats in that victory. the teams play again tonight. first pitch at 6:10.

>> good weather for the game. >> and if you are traveling you have to make the trip. burgundy and gold fans are going up to new york for the game tomorrow. beautiful weather. bright and sunny in new york city tomorrow. highs near 80 degrees. that will be very nice weather indeed. >> let's hope that helps. >> 9:00 hour today, i want to make everybody sure they know you want to come back because we will have college football forecasts in the 9:00 hour today. >> all right. including maryland. >> of course. >> that's "news4 today." coming up next, the "today" show. we will see new 25 minutes for a local news update. join us again at 9:00 for your latest local news, weather and sports. until then, have a great morning. we will see you at 9:00.