body, chopping off his left hand. >> the robber lunged at him. that's the first instinct to do that. >> reporter: you think he did the right thing? >> absolutely. if you don't do anything, you are going to keep on being a victim. people are getting tired of being victims. >> i think if that's the only thing he had to defend himself, he had to use it, i guess. >> reporter: the student grabbed the sword as he went to investigate the break-in. >> confronted the suspect, asked him what he was doing. said he called for police and that's when the suspect lunged at him. backed him up against the wall. >> reporter: police were called from the home around 1:30 this morning. they received a report of a suspicious person in the area they found the suspect 48-year-old donald rice dead in the garage. the student is claiming he acted in self-defense. rice was unarmed. >> everyone has a right to defend himself.

if they want to use a sword, baseball bat, teddy bear or gun, they have a right to do that. >> reporter: earlier that day the same house had been broken into. two computers and a sony playstation had been stolen. >> it's hard to say he did the right thing. you never want to see anyone die. >> reporter: police are saying the suspect had a lengthy criminal record. he had been arrested 29 times over the year. just got out of jail saturday after serving one year for driving a stolen car. in baltimore, darcy spencer, news4. >> that student was released after being questioned for several hours. police say they'll turn over their evidence to the state's attorney's office. the state attorney will decide whether that student will be charged. it's been an an emotional day at crosland high school in prince george's county. they are dealing with the death of 13-year-old ashley davis. she was hurt two weeks ago when a car hit her walking to a school bus stop on brinkley

road. davis died of her injuries yesterday. grief counselors were sent to thurgood marshall middle school. john moore, 44, of arlington, died. he was hit by a train working in a tunnel. metro officials say moore is the third worker to die on the job this year. in iraq today, mortars were fired toward the green zone in baghdad as vice president joe biden made an unannounced visit there. this is the vice president's second trip to iraq in three months. shortly after he arrived, militants fired four morters toward that heavily-fortified complex. nobody was injured. none of the mortars landed in the green zone itself. the vice president's visit went on as scheduled. he met with top u.s. officials there and focused on troop levels and on stabilizing iraq's political situation.

>> frankly, i think a successful election is sort of the necessary condition for those political outstanding political questions to be resolved. >> u.s. combat operations are scheduled to end in iraq by august 2010. a full u.s. withdrawal is planned by the end of the year 2011. admiral mike mullen is the president's senior military advisor. he is chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. today mullen told the senate more troops and resources will likelye neededo win the war in afghanistan. there are about 65,000 troops in afghanistan right now. they are due to be joined before the end of the year by a few thousand more. the new troops will be assigned to help train afghan security forces. some senators are opposed to adding any troops beyond that,

but other senators such as john mccain argue that not committing enough forces invites a replay of mistakes made in iraq. mullen's comments about troop levels came during a hearing on his nomination for a second term as the chairman of the joint chiefs. south carolina congressman joe wilson has been admonished for his outburst during president obama's speech to congress last week. he shouded out, "you lie." democratic house leaders introduced a resolution of disprofl over his conduct. the nonbinding resolution overwhelmingly passed in the house. wilson spoke to the chamber. >> mr. speaker, i think it is clear to the american people that there are far more important issues facing this nation than what we are addressing right now. the president said the time for games is over. i agree with the president. he graciously accepted my apology and the issue is over.

>> president obama did accept the apology saying people make mistakes. republicans said he is a good man and democrats are just using the incident to play politics. some encouraging news from the chairman of the federal reserve today. ben bernanke says the economy is growing and recession is technicallily over. there was more positive news today. retail sales up sharply in august. some auto workers are being called back to work after they were laid off. today president obama said health care reform is also part of economic recovery. steve handelsman has our report. >> reporter: president obama went to the chevy cobalt plan in ohio where a thousand workers are being called back from lay-offs. >> that's worth standing for. >> reporter: the president took credit. cobalt was a big seller in the cash for clunkers program, giving general motors a boost after the government bailout. >> because of the steps we take,

this plant is about to shift into high gear. >> rorter: retail spending kicked up sharply in august, up 2.7%. at a speech to the acl-cio in pittsburgh, which felt like a rally for health care reform, the president said rising medical costs are pushing down the economy and workers wages. >> it's the fault of a broken health care system that's sucking up all the money. when are we going to stop it and say enough is enough? how many more workers have to lose their coverage? how much longer are we going to have to wait? it can't wait. >> rorter: back in washington, republicans said we can't rush. >> the american people are concerned about the costly government takeover of our health care system. >> they do not want the federal government taking over their personal decisions about their health care. >> reporter: but president obama -- >> i've got a question for you. are you fired up? are you willing to go? >> reporter: is turning up the heat.

reviving last year's winning campaign style. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. >> the good economic news today helped spur a rally on wall street. the dow gained 56 points. it closed at 9,683. that's the highest close since last october. the nasdaq picked up 10 points and finished just above 2100. the s&p closed three points higher. tributes to the actor patrick swayze are pouring in today. fans left candles and flowers at his star on the walk of fame in hollywood today. swayze lost his battle to pancreatic cancer yesterday. he is known for his roles in "the outsiders" and in "red dawn." swayze made his leap to fame in 1987 when he starred in "dirty dancing." the training he got from his

mother, a ballet choreographer helped him shine in that role and in broadway roles later in his career. his role in the 1990 film "ghost" cemented his status as a leading man. swayze announced his pancreatic diagnose last year but kept working through radiation and chemotherapy treatments. he played in the a&e series called "the beast." swayze was 57ears old. coming up on news4 at 6:00, new developments in the murder of a yale university graduate student. what police are saying about the case. a commuter train crash injured more than a dozen people in boston today. >> federal authorities raided two airports. >> u.s. special forces in somalia killed one of the most wanted. >> we had clouds coming in and showers.

lyndsay has sports. >> coming up, tom brady in full effect on "monday night football."

this evening, authorities in new haven, connecticut, say they have a person of interest in the murder of yale graduate student annie le.

investigators haven't confirmed whether the person of interest is one particular suspect who worked in the building where the body was found sunday. the yale community continues to mourn one of its own. michelle franzen has the report. >> reporter: official cause of death will not be released as expected in the murder case of annie le. the medical examiner's office says the new haven state attorney made the request to help facilitate their investigation. the medical examiner ruled the death a homicide monday, but so far there are still no arrests in the case. law enforcement sources tell nbc they are closing in on a suspect, someone who worked at the lab and had access to the high security facility. experts say the evidence and details point to a person who also knew the victim. >> he felt comfortable that he had, number one, enough time to assault the victim and kill her, and number two, to hide her body and get away and still not be seen by anyone else. >> reporter: but the killer was likely seen on camera. there are more than 70 surveillance cameras inside and

around the lab. cameras captured le walking into the lab last tuesday and workers need a special key card to access areas of the building, including the basement, where le's body was found, stuffed inside a wall panel. investigators say they have questioned a lab worker and revealed the suspect failed a lie detector test and had defensive-like wounds on his body. on the yale campus monday night, students and friends gathered for a candlelight vigil. those who knew le say she likely fought to the end. >> she would have yelled and screamed for help. i am not surprised that this person has scratches on his body. >> reporter: students are dealing with a lost sense of security. yale university added patrols and extra security measures are in place. no details have been released about funeral arrangements, but a family spokesperson is expected to make a statement tonight.

michelle franzen, nbc news. >> annie le's body was discovered sunday, the date she and her fiance were supposed to have been married. there was a commuter train crash in boston this morning. about a dozen people were injured. about 100 people were on the inbound train when it hit a track bumper. the engineer says he was mistaken about the length of the train, which caused him to misjudge the distance to the end of the platform. investigators are ruling out any distractions such as cell phone or texting. police from american airlines were among those arrested. federal agents and puerto rican police descended on the island in san juan. 23 people were arrested. nine worked for american airlines. federal prosecutors say the drug trafficking operation began about 20 years ago when a man recruited airline workers to

make sure suitcases filled with cocaine would go undetected to american cities. puerto rico is a common shipping port for south american cocaine because drugs do not have to pass through customs on the way to the u.s. the number of colors on the terrorist threat chart could be reduced. a bipartisan task force is expected to recommend reducing the chart from five colors to three. the chart was created after the september 11 attacks to make americans more aware of imminent threats. the panel is expected to make its recommendation to the president soon. government officials in somalia today said that the u.s. was within its rights to kill one of the most wanted al qaeda suspects in east africa. that attack was carried out yesterday by special forces trooped and helicopters. they destroyed a car thought to be carrying a kenyan terrorist. he was wanted in connection with two attacks that happened in

kenya back in 2002. he is accused of a botched missile attack on an israeli passenger jet that was leaving the mumbasa airport. and he allegedly built the bomb destroyed a beech hotel. the iraqi journalist who threw his shoe to former president george w. bush got out of jail today. he was originally sentenced to three years in prison. upon his rease today, he held a news conference and accused iraqi security forces of torturing him after his arrest with beatings, whippings and electric shock. he was a little-known tv reporter until he threw his shoe at mr. bush in iraq in december. the act deeply embarrassed the iraqi government but turned the man into a hero to many people in the arab world. today u.s. government approved theew swine flu

vaccine and limited supply should start showing up in a few weeks. kristen dahlgren reports. >> reporter: in a major step in the fight against the h1n1 flu, the fda approved vaccines from four drug makers, paving the way for the first doses to be delivered early october. >> single dose of the vaccine rapidly introduces a strong immune response in healthy adults. >> reporter: kathleen sebelius said the vaccine should readily be available to 90,000 sites around the country and they are working to get the first doses to the most vulnerable populations as soon as possible. >> how to get pregnant women, children under the age of 24, caregivers of infants, health care workers, how to make sure thos folks get to the front of the line, if you will. >> reporter: doctors around the country are working to getting the word out to those patient. the vaccine could be in their offerses soon.

>> we e-mail a post card that says you are a teenager and at risk, you need to get this mimization. >> reporter: this comes just in time when the swine flu appears to be spreading rapidly through schools. the swine flu could hit 1/3 of the world's population, but the new vaccine could be a key tool fighting that spread. kristen dahlgren, nbc news. the vaccine will be shipped to the u.s. and distributed to the recommended population. last week centers for disease ntrol said it's likely one dose of the vaccine will be enough to protect from the virus. coming up tonit, there is some evidence the housing market is rebounding across the d.c. area. >> some changes to security at dulles airport. >> and bob has our forecast coming u

bob is back. you picked a spectacular day to return. >> sunshine, a few sprinkles and weather to talk about. >> that's why we need you. >> welcome back, too. >> thank you. >> outside today we had a lot of clouds. after the morning sunshine, our temperature, a high temperature. tomorrow is quite a day our high temperature today made it up into the the 80s. tomorrow's high temrature is 79 degrees. today's high temperature, 80 degrees. so for you folks that love the

hot weather, time to say good-bye to that. not until next may 30th does our average high reach 80 degrees. outside right now, we've got clouds. light showers around. no thunder showers. 84 degrees. ragweed. pollen count 13. look at the temperatures around the east. we are at 80. oh, boy, almost time for talking about the change the of the leaves. caribou, maine, 50 degrees. it's warm and humid down to our south. our temperature only dropped a little bit. it will be quite a bit lower tomorrow as we get into that moisture. 64 is our dew point. it's still warm and humid around memphis. at the boundary, and you can see close clouds, there is a little weather front coming through us right now. northeasterly winds, that's what we'll have tomorrow. overriding that, the humidity. that's the reason we are going to have a lot of clouds around. we do have some of these sprinkles and showers around. folks around hay market have a

few. around silver spring toward annapolis. light showers. maybe 0.1 inch of rain here and there. here is the future scan. all of this will be moving off toward the south and southeast. another batch heading toward baltimore. meanwhile down to the south, those are the areas of showers you can see around northern parts of georgia. all of that moisture coming up and over. though i think much of it will stay to our south, more likely for you folks around fredricksburg and richmond, hay market, only a few hundredths of inches of rain. out in the tropics, a weak tropical storm faded away. some clouds, scattered showers. you can see down around the bahamas. no sign of any more tropical weather forming.

for us, we'll continue to see this area of moisture with the cool air to our north and northeast. high pressure will gradually build in on us. as we go through and head into the weekend, that drier air will win the day. in the meantime, a few light showers. light sprinkles tonight. with that northeasterly breeze, tomorrow morning when you get up and head out, going to be feeling on the cool damp side. temperatures to our north, you folks up around columbia, fredrik county, probably getting down to around 58 degrees. mid 60s in town. tomorrow a lot of clouds around. nothing heavy. a few sprinkles, light showers. that should be about it. a northeasterly wind will make the temperature tomorrow only about 72 to 74 degrees. again on thursday, the chance of more scattered showers. as we get into the weekend, i think we'll see sunshine returning. by friday, saturday and sunday right now look good with temperatures in the 70s. i brought that nice weather from

my time out. >> glad you are back. we'll tell you about a local university that will not offer classes in the fall. >> a new book could bring a lot of attention to the nation's capital. >> signs of life in the real estate market. in sports, alex ovechkin joins live at the sneaker ball. also antoine randle el makg a big impact for the redskins.

we take a look at some of the stories making headlines tonight. police in baltimore are investigating after a suspected burglar was killed by a student at johns hopkins who was armed with a samurai sword. it happened in an offcampus house just after 1:00 this morning. police say the student's house was being burglarized. they say the alleged burglar was killed during a confrontation with the student. vice president biden has made an unannounceded visit to iraq. shortly after he arrived in baghdad, militants fired mortars. nobody was injured and none of them actually landed in the green zone. vice president metith top u.s. officials about troop levels and a way to stabilize iraq's political situation. >> police have a person of interest in the murder of

20-year-old student of yale annie le. they aren't confirming whether it is a lab technician they already questioned. he worked at the building where authorities found le's body. le's autopsy report will not be released to facilitate the investigation. coming up in this half hour of news4 at 6:00, why the district is doing away with safety inspections for some cars. there are new signs of life in the d.c. housing market. southeast university in the district will not be offering classes this fall. some school bus drivers in spotsylvania county, virginia, are upset about a new physical examination requirement. they all have to be checked out by the same school district nurse practitioner instead of their regular doctor. some bus drivers accused that practitioner of appropriate behavior. julie carey has our report. >> reporter: every year spotsylvania county school bus drivers have to undergo and pass a department of transportation physical to keep their job

behind the wheel. when she was first hired eight years ago, katrina duncan went to a nurse practitioner for her physical. she was alarmed by the ex. >> we had to get undressed. i had to stand there and do calisthetics while she was standing there and asked personal questions about my sex life i didn't appreciate. i didn't want to go back and never went back. >> reporter: duncan is now speebing out against a new policy that would require her and all spotsylvania county bus drivers to go to that same practitioner. they wore buttons reading, "is there a doctor in the house?" drivers want the freedom to choose the doctor that conducts their exam. >> there were specific stories that came out as far as some of the things, extensive questions that were asked about your personal life that have nothing to do with the department of

transportation physical. >> reporter: the new policy does allow drivers to seek an exemption to go to a drif practitioner. the request must be approved by the school district nurse practitioner. >> personally i feel our backs are against the wall. we don't have the choice to choose who -- it's a personal thing. >> reporter: the school district superintendent offered strong support for the policy and nurse practitioner. jerry hill wrote, "the statements provided by several drivers were a misunderstanding of actual events or misrepresentation by particular speakers of the events. over a ten-year period the nurse practitioner has proven herself to be competent and thorough in her responsibilities." school board member linda wheelen heard from school bus drivers who support the nurse practitioner. >> i had two emails and calls in full support of the nurse practitioner. >> reporter: the new policy was enacted with good intentions to bring consistency to the exam process, but she wants to fully

explore the driver complaints to see if the policy needs adjustments. when we contacted her, the spotsylvania school nurse practitioner had no comment. family members of a woman found dead outside her home in silver spring, maryland, are making an emotional appeal tonight for help in solving her murder. simone white was found murdered last wednesday outside her house on castle boulevard. police still have neither a motive or suspect and today they announced a $5,000 reward in this case. white's sister came from jamaica to the murder scene today. she says the family would like to see justice. >> you know, she really didn't deserve this. she did nothing, nothing. everybody who you will ever speak to will have nothing but good things to say, you know? it's too sad. >> police say white did have a husband, a man she married for

immigration purposes. they say he is cooperating in the investigation. tonight there are new signs our local economy is beginning to recover from the recession. home sales are up dramatically throughout the region. the biggest increase is in prince george's county where the price of foreclosed homes dropped so much, the homes are becoming more attractive to buyers. christ gordon has more. >> reporter: natasha is a first-time home buyer. she chose this house in forte washington, maryland. she bought it in a bank foreclosure sale. it had been empty for 1 1/2 years. prince george's county has a lot of homes up for foreclosure. few like this one. yo see, it is located right on the thir hole of the national golf club. natasha's brother nathaniel helped her find a loan that provides cash for renovations. it's called a 203-k and it helped her make the deal. >> the home down the street is

on the market for $1.6 and the other is on the market for a million. >> your house you bought for? $225. >> a foreclosure. how did you do it? >> i made an offer. >> reporter: the down turn in the local housing market has brought challenges and opportunities to prince george's county. bank foreclosures are a blight on neighborhoods. the county program called down payment on your dream is using federal stimulus money to help first-time home buyers who want to purchase vacant homes. >> you can get up to $20,000 to buy a foreclosure. there are different funding scenarios, but basically, we are going to help you realize your dream. we know when it's time to buy a house, coming up with the cash is probably the most important reason most people don't get into one. >> reporter: under the program, qualified buyers are eligible for the $20,000 down payment loan interest-free. and no repayment if they stay in

the home for ten years. christ gordon, news4, prince george's county, maryland. in prince george's county home sales jumped 48% in august compared to a year ago. home sales in montgomery county were up nearly 23%. district sales were up 20%. sales in northern virginia up 10% last month. today a d.c. superior court judge blocked the fenty administration's effort to evict a popular tennis program in southeast washington. the southeast tennis a learning center is run by corey masters barry. the nonprofit center draws hundreds of kids to sports and education programs in a depressed part of town. city officials want to evict the group. they claim it is not legally incorporated. today the judge said more legal proceedings are necessary before any eviction can be carried out. >> i've been living in terror, really, of not being able to

touch these children and not be able to see them on a day to day basis. i'm not fighting against anybody. i'm fighting for the children and for the community i live in and have lived in over 15 years now. >> the group says it filed the proper incorporatation papers. southeast university in the district lost its accreditation and will not be offering a fall term. the private school's accreditation expired august 31st. the college was facing shrinking enrollment and financial instability. coming up, new security procedures at dulles airport. >> and why the district is doing away with safety inspections for automobiles.

good evening. bob ryan, storm center 4. some clouds and showers out there. they are very light and more of the sprinkle variety than anything. one area of showers you can see for folks up around northern parts of montgomery county, south of fredrik and soon as we go through the evening, we are going to see more of those. tomorrow morning heading out to work and heading to school. northeasterly breeze. sprinkles or drizzle around with overnight temperatures getting down to the high 50s in the panhandle of west virginia. we may see lingering on into thursday. temperatures will be only into the 70s. that will be the story of the week. it will dry out by friday. saturday and sunday for the weekend look pretty good. back to you. >> thank you, bob. coming up tonight on news4 at 11:00, could exercise be

interfering with your plan to lose weight? >> really, really frustrating. when she told me that, i almost started crying. if i try to lose 16 pounds, i will have no energy. because you have to eat to keep it up. >> doctors and experts insist exercise is one of the keys to losing weight. with the number of gym memberships on the rise, americans should be skinnier. trouble is they say it's all that exercise keeping people from shedding the extra pounds. >> i stopped counseling my clients, my patients, the people i work with to exercise for weight loss. >> we'll take a look whether your workout could be keeping you from winning the weight loss fight tonight on news4 a 11:00. some big changes in security today at dulles airport. new check points opened up. the snaking security lines that once crowded the main terminal lobby are gone.

a new security mezzanine is located underground and features new machines and 16 lanes to help move more passengers along more quickly. >> just coming into this new wing. >> looks nice, very modern. sleek design. >> crews are working on the rest of the $3.4 billion dulles development project. it will include an underground aerotrain system expected to be finished by next year. >> it's been a requirement for years. in two weeks the district's safety inspection program is going away. one of the reasons, the cost. getting rid of the program will save the city about $400,000 this year. besides helping the tight budget, it will mean less of a hassle to own a car in the city, but safety experts question the decision saying it could lead to more accidents and not all vehicles will get a pass from  inspection. commercial vehicles like limousines and taxis will still be required to get the safety inspection.

>> mayor fenty was at a d.c. school to commemorate play ground equipment. the event kicked off with a ribbon-cutting and kids got to have fun testing out their new play ground. >> that's the point. >> that's what it's there for. >> coming up, a look at the new book by the author of "the da vinci code."

lyndsay is down at the sneaker ball gala. not that i know aittle bit about what is going on in this town. what is the sneaker ball gala. >> do you wear sneakers? >> here is the deal. it's very cool. don't kick my sneaker up. you wear a dress, gown, tux and wear sneakers on your feet. it's posted by the greater washington sports alliance. they raise a lot of awareness about sports in this town. it's the national museum. sometimes because of the magic of television and timing you have to improvise. that's why i'm right here with my favorite mascots, lucky from the mystics, gee wiz from the wizards. alex ovechkin is supposed to be sitting in this seat, but he's stuck in traffic on constitution avenue. ovechkin is up for an award as

far as being a superior athlete here in the community. so is gilbert arenas and chris cooley for the redskins. >> why don't you interview gee wiz? sit him down there. >> they get a little bit nervous. gee wiz is still worried about the last season. >> he should be. >> this is highly entertaining. thank you, thank you. >> what say the guy on your right there? >> the weird one. >> this is the washington castle. now i am going to do sports and wring ovechkin's neck when he makes it down here. going to "monday night football" last night. there were two incredible games that lived up to the billing. we started out west. oakland raiders, san diego chargers. jamarcus russell almost led them to victory.

let's begin in oakland, california. these guys know how to show up. they are there to support their team. jamarcus russell trying to snap the raiders' six-game losing streak. raiders trailing the chargers. russell goes deep. 57 yards for the touchdown. but philip rivers of the chargers would drive the chargers 89 yards and little more than two minutes. the drive would be capped off by this five-year touchdown. chargers win 24-20. now we take you to the game everybody was talking about. tom brady making his return after knee injury last year. everybody wanted to see what brady could do. t.o. in buffalo was ineffective. two catches. for brady. things didn't start so well. second quarter, game tied at 7-7. brady trying to make the screen pass.

pass intercepted. 27 yards he would hustle it back for the score. bills found themselves up 14-7. if you know tom brady, the key is the fact this guy can redeem himself better than anybody. pats were down by 24-19. he found ben watson in the end zone. they come back, 25-24 was the final. i think you could do highlights, but you won't talk to me. moving on to the redskins. redskins on the field tomorrow as they prepare to take on the splous rams. they feel like on paper this would be an easier game. that is not the case. the offense does want to get back into a rhythm they didn't feel they had enough time on the field to get something rolling. one guy that did make an impact was antoine randle el. he is stepping up. he's not the starter. he knows that. let me take you back to the field. second play of the game. he had an opportunity.

redskins called it trickery. gave the ball to antoine randle el. he was a college quarterback, but he doesn't get far. sacked for an 11-yard loss. woe redeem himself. late second quarter. jason campbell. first and ten from the 43. short pass to randle el. he had 25 yards after that catch. 38-yard game total. randle el said he was upset not being named a starter, but he knew he would play a lot. >> my whole focus is to play for god not man. knowing god is going to bless me and put me where i need to be. >> seven catches for 98 yards is what antoine randle el had. six of those seven catches led

to first down for redskins. the question is how much are they going to be able to go to antoine randle el? how much of an impact co-make in this system? redskins are looking for bigger things when they face the rams on sunday. back out here at the sneaker ball, we are expecting a lot of athletes. it's early for that. chris cooley will be here, george mcphee as well as alexander ovechkin when he gets out of traffic on constitution avenue. >> you mentioned that game last night. if i were a buffalo bill, i would be feeling really, really bad this morning. if i'm not mistaken, weren't they up by 20 some points with 2:11 or something like that left to play? >> they were up by a big chunk. you've got to be feel something good about yourself if you are a buffalo bill thinking i'm going to beat tom brady. you are right. you can look at that. i was hearing them talk on radio before. do you feel better if you are a buffalo bill because of what you

almost accomplished versus a team like the redskins going up against the giants? don't you love the nfl? >> i also love the fact there are no moral victories and that kind of crap people are talking about. thanks, lyndsay. thanks. alex is not really on connecticut avenue. >> just wanted to watch you squirm with mows mascots. >> i hope i did okay. >> you done good. take off your tap dance shoes. >> thank you. coming up in our broadcast tonight, a new book by the author of "the da vinci code" bringing attention to d.c. >> video taking youtube by storm. >> it's been a nasty day. got started off early with a major accident across the american legion. as the headlights head down from river road, we've got volume.

inner loop not doing too much better. no major accidents. heavy volume. out of springfield as you can see, hov, very much overwhelmed with volume heading southbound into woodbridge. just a lot of people.

the recession has forced a lot of us to cut costs and try to save money.

a lot of people are struggling to do that. a new survey from hsbc bank found 61% of americans said they only had enough savings put away to live on for about three months, while 38% couldn't survive a month without an income. carmen wong ulrich has more. >> reporter: as our personal savings rate rises back from negative territory to a healthy 5% last quarter, many people are asking, where can i put my cash and earn some interest? with savings and money market rates below 2%, it's easy to feel like your hard-earned dollars are dwindling sitting still. it's key to understand why you have those savings in the first place. ask. what is this cash for? if it's an emergency fund to pay the bills and keep you afloat should you lose income, protect the money that is going to protect you. that outweighs the need to grow the money, which means putting it at-risk investments. look for a high-yield low fee

savings or money market account with fdic protection. if it's cash savings with a longer term goal that you are okay for locking up for a time, look for cds with shorter maturity dates as interest rates will go up after this year. op around for high-yield savings accounts, money market accounts at bankrate.com and interestrate.com. if you earned 2.5% in your assets last year, you'd be ahead by millions. more coming up on "nbc nightly news with brian williams." now it's become a permanent home for people who lost their jobs to the recession and homes to foreclosure. the popular author dan brown is using washington, d.c., as a setting for his latest novel. it's titled "the lost symbol." it hit bookstores today. tracie potts has our report. >> reporter: this is the temple

room where the free mason supreme council meets in washington just blocks from the white house. it's here th dan brown's new mystery, "the lost symbol "sncht begins. >> it's very exciting and scary. >> reporter: the building usually gets 5,000 visitors a year. now with all the attention from brown's book they are bracing for more. thinking about repalatial the carpet, hiring more guards and maybe charging for towers. >> we don't know how to prepare for this. >> reporter: when brown featured this church in "the da vinci code," tourists quadrupled. >> they enjoyed the church, they lookround and see what a very, very beautiful and historic place it is. oh, and by the way, they look at the tomb. >> reporter: the masons have been connected to washington hundreds of years. orge what and teddy roosevelt were masons. mason laid the corner stone for the white house and capitol. the book combines landmarks, library of congress, botanical

gardens and masonic temple with secret rituals of the masons. >> the fact is they managed to remain secret. >> it's probably more accurately to describe us as a society with secrets, rather than secret society. we suddenly have had a spotlight put on us. >> reporter: and on washington. there is a new website to point tourists to all the sites featured in brown's books. tracie potts, news4. about 5 million copies of "the symbol" have been printed. >> final check on our weather. >> we have clouds that have come in on us after sunshine earlier today. you can see that band of showers, that's associated with the cool front that is now coming through. you folks in dale city, the one feature we'll notice tomorrow will be a northeasterly breeze and much, much cooler air coming in. there are those showers that stretch from up around annapolis into south around dale city. clouds and cooler.

five years ago, youtube didn't exist. who would have thought in 2009 it would be a household word? or that a simple video of a french bulldog puppy trying to turn over and stand up would draw more than 1 million viewers from all over the world? >> he's trying to give up, isn't he? >> consider the fact 20 hours of video are uploaded to youtube every minute of the day. youtube spokesman gave this example recently. come on, buddy. come on. he said if all three of the nation's major broadcast networks, nbc, cbs and abc had been broadcasting for 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 60 years, they still would not equal the amount of content uploaded to youtube in under 60 days. >> wow. >> i want to