o found? >> great. >> rorter: signs were prohibited though one former maryland student hopes to bend that rule. >> allowed to bring a sign in. >> i'm going to take notes on the sign. a small sign. >> reporter: while they waited several small groups staged protests. >> obama gives, obama takes away. >> reporter: this unnamed group said media attention was more important to them than hearing the president's speech. >> people are paid millions for minor injuries. >> reporter: republicans handing out flyers explaining the reform they would like. then at 11:40, the protests t trash, the flyers left behind. it's the president's turn. now, ting a live look inside the comcast center where nearly 20,000 people will gather to rally for the president and listen to his speech on that

issue. that is just about 35 minutes away from right now. all of this comes on the heels of the senate bill that came out of the finance committee last night. it was billed as a bipartisan effort although republicans apparently don't have support for it right now. the president, the white house saying that's okay, we think it will come later. they think in the legislative process that the bill will be refined and will please more people than it does now. the president wrapping up his three-state sweep on the hk reform.

bob mcdonnell has a five-point league over creigh deeds. the same poll shows that 20% of those surveyed are undecided. they don't know who they are going to vote for. those are the people the candidates are trying to reach in today's debate. >> for democrat creigh deeds it's a chance to appeal to a base essential to victory. the northern virginia democrat. for republican bob mcdonnell the debate is an opportunity to clarify his stand on social issues like working women and homosexuality. health care refo and transportation are also expected to take center stage as the two

candidates face off in a debate sponsored by the fairfax county chamber of commerce. after enjoying a double-digit lead in the polls, mcdonnell appears to have lost ground. a survey released this week shows him with a 5% lead over deeds. earlier this month mcdonnell was ahead by 10 points. with 20% undecided debate moderator david gregory says this morning's event is important to both campaigns. >> this is a time for undecideds to lock in, zero in on the issues that virginians care about and try to make a decision. >> reporter: the debate is held at the capital one building in mclean. workers from both camps gathered outside on dolly madison boulevard. they waved signs and chanted slogans at passing cars. with less than two months left in the race, both candidates are trying to woo the undecided. what will it take to win their votes? we asked several voter who is

have not made up their minds. >> what it's going to take is the candidate's position on health care reform and locally out here what they plan on doing on easing congestion on 495, 395, the major highways. >> reporter: you haven't heard what you want to hear. >> not yet. >> i would like to see more about taxes and i'd like to see more about the health care plan, obviously as well as the economy. >> the economy. point blank, the economy. and how they are going to fix it without giving out more of our money. >> reporter: and the two candidates are taking the stage, this debate is about to get under wa it's expected to last one hour. we'll have all of the details on news 4 at 4, 5 and 6. back to you in the studio. >> thank you very much. breaking news in the case of the murdered yale unersity student. a couple hours ago police in connecticut arrested 24-year-old raymond clark. police took clark into custody

this morning at a motel in cromwell, connecticut. clark who was picked up yesterday on a body warrant is suspected in the murder of annie le. le's body was found sunday stuffed in the wall of a campus research building. few details are released but police believe clark is the only suspect. >> we don't have any suspects, other suspects at this time. we have a lot of evidence. we still have to analyze. hundreds of pieces of evidence to go to the lab. >> clark works as a technician at the lab in which le's body was found. he is scheduled to be arraigned in the next 24 hours. new at midday, a major about face in foreign policy. the u.s. scrapping plans for a missile defense system in eastern europe. president obama made the announcement less than an hour ago. the plan was developed underhe bush administration. it calls for a system to have been built in poland and the czech republic. it was a sticking point in

relation s with russia. this morning the president said the new shield would be unnecessary. he said iran is not focused on developing long range missiles and the system was intended to fight. also new at midday, former vice president dick cheney is in the hospital undergoing back surgery. nbc news reports he is undergoing elective surgery at george washington university hospital. we're told this is a pretty routine procedure. looking outside now, it's been a wet morning. >> sure has. what we can expect. it sounds like some of the folks got drenched waiting at the comcast center this morning. >> yeah. wasn't heavy rain but we did have light rain moving through. this has been going on since predawn this morning. we continue to see light rain now moving across northern virginia and into maryland moving out of the southwest and heading toward the northeast. the area of blue is light rain, the areas of green, coming down harder right near mclean now as well as warrenton and fauquier

county. other areas of light rain in loudoun county and to the north and east up toward northeast of baltimore, right now in washington and northwest we're getting some light rain. southern montgomery county and right now coming into southern howard county. there is one area of light to moderate rain near potomac and montgomery county. and again, this is all heading off to the north and east out of the southwest. and this is going to be the story for an hour or so. then by the mdle of the afternoon we should have rain activity really ending. right now we're in the low and mid 60s around the region, 66 in washington, leesburg at 60. they have about 1/4 inch of rain. for the rest of the afternoon cloudy, a small chance of sprinkles by mid afternoon into the evening. highs reaching near 70. a look at friday and the weekend, that will be coming up in a few minutes. >> thanks, tom. >> the wet roads made for messy moments on the roadways. jerry edwards is in the news traffic network.

what do we look like now? >> had a fender-bender on the capital beltway. hard to tell if it was on the inner loop between 355 and connticut. everything moved to the shoulder. it is for relatively minor stretch going to be below the speed limit. particularly off 270 to get on the inner loop. outer loop looks pretty good. if you are headed downtown, they're back. 395 northbound construction again today in the right lane, about mid span. and closer to the 14th street bridge. pretty good backup. exa minutes of travel time might be a good idea. back to you. >> okay, jerry. thank you. four people were hurt, this after a fire ripped through an apartment in northwest washington. the fire broke out around 7:00 this morning in the 5600 block of 13th street northwest. firefighters say people were hanging out of the windows of the five-story building ready to jump when they arrived. they rescued a number of people

by ladder including two kids taken to the hospital. one firefighter was taken to the hospital with what is believed to be heat exhaustion. none of the injuries is believed to be life threatening. 11 after 11 is the time. amtrak may change its policy about weapons on the train system. coming up we're going to tell you what the senate voted to allow. >> michelle obama will help open a farmers market. we'll have details. >> and remember mary travers of peter, paul and mary. stay with us.

we're following a developing story out of afghanistan at this hour. that's where a large car bomb shook a road near the u.s. embassy killing six italian soldiers and ten afghan civilians. this shows smoke rising over the city of kabul where the bombing happened. an american military base is nearby. the suicide bomber reportedly rammed his explosive-filled car in the back of two nato vehicles. it was theourth major impact in the capital in five weeks. a north carolina couple will spend two years in the -- on an egyptian prison. they are convicted of their role whan the country call answer illegal adoption and human trafficking case. the couple apparently tried to adopt children from an orphanage that forged documents. it's unclear if the couple will appeal.

adoptions are illegal for most egypt. >> you may be able to pack heat for a trip on amtrak. the senate voted to allow amtrak ssengers to carry handguns in checked bags. the weapons must be unloaded and locked. you were allowed to carry a gun before september 11. the legislation must be reconciled with a house-passed bill that does not contain the gun rights provision. be careful the next time you park at a metro station in montgomery county. transit-related crime is on the rise. that's mostly due to thefts which were up 40% from 2006 to 2008. officials say the most common crime is thefts from vehicles parked at stations. police are encouraging people not to leave items like gps devices, stereos and lap tops visible in cars. we're going to look at weather and traffic now. let's begin with traffic. no, we're going to begin with weather. we should. we always do.

tom kierein was making his way to the weather maps. he'll join us here. >> we see here, it's been cloudy all day long. we've had off and on rains throughout the region. and cool temperatures. >> mentioned a minute ago folks waiting out there for the president at the comcast center, did have to deal with a little bit of rain this morning. but not the drenching that they could have experienced. tom joins us to talk about what we can expect. >> there has been some more rain farther to the north, frederick county had about up to a half inch of rain this morning. here around washington we hardly had a trace. so it's been sort of scattered around across northern virginia and parts of north central maryland. but we are now getting some light to moderate rain here at northwest washington at this time. let's take a look now at the live view from our sky watcher camera. that is showing a look at the low clouds that are hanging over the skyline. there is american university in the foreground and virginia in

the distance. yes, we are covered in the gray clouds all around the region on this thursday morning. here's a look at the city camera showing the gray clouds over the washington monument and the jefferson memorial. at reagan national temperatures at 67, and eight of the last 11 days have been cooler than average. so, we continue on this cooler than average trend. looks like all the way into the weekend as well. now let's take a look at the radar. that is showing an area of rain that is spread across north central virginia. right now as we see this area of light and dark blue that is mostly light rain that is right now into fauquier county, culpepper to loudoun county. and this area of light rain is continuing to move off to the north and east as well. but right here, right around washington, we have just a little bit of light rain now falling in nortest. the close-up view of that is

showing an area of light rain that's now also passing out of northwest into northern prince george's county and across central montgomery. but other locations it's dry, southern maryland, northern neck of the eastern shore and west virginia they had sunshine this morning. the lows we had this morning, down in the low 60s and then we haven't warmed up much. only in the mid 60s around the region. a bit cooler to the west. right now in prince george's county at 65. they haven't had rain, a few sprinkle this is morning. for the afternoon, cloudy, a chance of a few more sprinkles, afternoon temperatures only reaching around 70 degrees. not much of a warm-up with these low clouds. just diminished chance of rain by later on this afternoon and overnight tonight. should be cloudy. we'll be down in the low 60s by dawn tomorrow. and then during the day on friday, improving news. just in time for the weekend. we'll have morning clouds but afternoon sun. highs reaching the upper 70s. then on saturday mostly sunny,

morning lows 50s, afternoon highs mid 70s. lots of sunshine. partly cloudy on sunday, looks like good weather for the skins and the rams at fedex field sunday. highs in the mid 70s. the first part of next week, may get wet again late on monday. perhaps into tuesday and wednesday. highs in the 70s. that's the way it looks on this thursday morning. >> all right, tom. hopefully we will be out and able to get out and exercise this afternoon. miss some raindrops. >> it's a chance is going to diminish into the afternoon. >> thank you. >> let's check in on the roads with jerry. >> i got my spandex shorts ready to go. going to run a couple of good blocks today. >> too much information. >> you got that right. let's head over and salute the brave souls who were at work on the interstate. this is a dangerous job. just a good reminder to be cautious when you come up to the construction workers. the inner loop of the beltway approaching 66, the only notice

that commuters have is one arrow board and these guys are working. i've stine a couple of close calls, so please do pay attention out there. outer loop looks all right. the inner loop brief delays. wilson bridge okay. 95 northbound, up from lorton, right now their travel lanes should be open. back to you. >> don't forget that spandex, jerry. >> i'm sure you are very cute in your spandex. we'll talk to you later. today, people who live and work in downtown washington can shop at a new farmer's market. the request to open it was made by first lady michelle obama. local residents and federal employees will be able to buy fresh vegetables and cheese and milk and baked goods. it will be open for business every thursday from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. between h and i streets northwest. today's opening will happen at 3:00 this afternoon. it is now 11:21, 67 degrees. still ahead on "news 4 midday"

the latest on the death of a teen in centreville and whether she was taking part in a religious ritual. >> chris brown begins his community service in virginia. >> a look ahead to the weekend scene and the popularity of block parties. >> first, a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com right now.

singer chris brown like you have never seen him. he started his community labor for beating up then girlfriend rihanna. he was found clearing brush, part of his 180 days of labor that he received as punishment for the attack. brown is from virginia so a los angeles judge allowed him to work off his sentence in the commonwealth. brown received five years probation and must complete a domestic violence counseling program. mary travers from peter, paul and mary has died. she passed away after a long bout with leukemia. the band mate said he was heart sick to consider life without mary. the group came to fame with hits like "puff the magic dragon" and "leaving on a jet plane." traverse was 72.

>> in the next half hour, president obama is scheduled to arrive in college park. a large crowd has gathered to hear from the president on health care reform. >> we'll have the lest on a breaking story we're following this morning. an arrest in the case of a murdered yale university student. >> and d.c.'s mayor responds to reports the budget cuts could cost teacher layoffs at city schools. >> tom kierein will let you know when the skies are going to clear up. we'll be right back.

thousands of people packing the comcast center on the university of maryland campus to hear president obama. >> he will be promoting his plan for health care reform. he's supposed to take the stage. let's go to kimberly suiters out there all morning. looks like he's about ready? >> reporter: the president just arrived. he lit early got here about 30 seconds ago, the motorcade came in down there, that driveway behind us. there is a small crowd that's gathered outside the comcast center that got a quick look at it. let's take you to what it looks like before the president arrived. >> we support the president. we support the present. >> reporter: as many as 20,000 people are going to be allowed into the comcast center, a largely friendly audience. one woman and her daughter got

here at 4:30 in the morning. they did have tickets to get on the floor to be near the president. but you did not need a ticket to get in. this is wide open to the public and many university of maryland students came. now, some people who were not students, that gentleman there and his group, there were three small groups that we counted that were protesting the president on issues ranging from health care to abortion. some members of the prince georges republican party handing out flyers to give their version of health care. all of this comes on the heels of two things. first, the president's three-state sweep from minneapolis to pittsburgh and now to college park. to promote his health insurance reform plan. and also, the senate bill that was announced last night out of the finance committee, it was billed as a bipartisan effort, although chairman m baucus does not have republican support at this time, it appears, so an

interesting time for the president to be speaking. we're curious to know if he will be talking specifically addre addressing that attempt at a bipartisan effort. we did hear from the white house this morning saying that we're encouraged by the senate bill, that it's a good building block and we'll take it from there. so, the speech is about five minutes away. everyone is inside as far as we can tell. we spoke too soon earlier the rain has turned. and this is one of our umbrellas, but we could have taken one of the hundreds that had to be left outside the comcast center. they were not allowed in because of security. reporting live at the comcast center, in college park, kimberly suiters. back to you. >> we'll get back to you when that speech begins. >> update on our other top stories. the u.s. is scrapping plans. president obama made the announcement. the plan was developed under the bush administration. president obama says it's shelved because iran is less

focused on developing the long range missiles that the system was intended to fight. virginia's gubernatorial candidates take part in what could be a pivotal debate. th race is tightened in recent weeks, the poll from this week shows mcdonnell once double-digit lead is down to just 5 points. details in the murder of yale university student annie le. a few hours ago police arrested raymond clark at a motel. clark is a technician at the lab in which le's body was found. clark is the person police brought in to take a dna sample from. we have new details in the unsolved murder of a fairfax county teen more than a year after her death. the 18-year-old died in july last year, two days after she was found unresponsive at a home in centreville. new court documents indicate that the medical examiner did

the not rule kim's death a homicide until december of last year. about five months after she died. >> as soon as they developed sufficient probable cause to do so, they attained yet another search warrant which i believe was filed late in august. that allowed them to use, as a tool, to continue the investigation. >> the new documents indicate police may be focusing attention on kim's own family. a juvenile told investigators that kim became unresponsive while he, kim's mother and two others were performing a religious ritual on her. police have gathered dna from the juvenile and the mother to see if it matches dna found at the scene. kim's mother insists she had nothing to do with her daughter's death. a former d.c. police officer is one of 12 suspects facing charges after a major drug ring bust in southern maryland. federal and local agents say the operation moved large amounts of powdered and crack cocaine

through prince georges, and calvert county through november 2006 until this month. search warrants on the suspects yielded guns, cash, cars and jewelry. the feds also seized a home. now they say they will go after any proceeds that may be hidden among friends, family, properties or businesses. could that massive fire that destroyed a prominent home been put out before it destroyed the home completely? that's what the d.c. council wants to know. it held a hearing to discuss the upkeep of fire hydrants. fire destroyed the home of peggy cooper kayfrits in july. the nearest working hydrants were on the same street as the home but could not provide the water needed. >> the topography, narrow streets and the lack of cross streets that would have provided easier access for vehicles to reach additional hydrants seemed to have contributed to this

unique situation. >> plans have since been put into place to deal with the areas where low pressure is an issue. we're a few weeks into the school year. the district is facing a $40 million budget shortfall. to close that a number of cuts have to be made. mayor fenty says hal of the cuts were determined by the council in august. the other half by looking at the enrollment and the number of staff. in the end, some teachers will be out of work. >> in some school years, the teachers have been left in the system, not assigned to a classroom. i think what's going to happen this year because of more austere times those teachers will have to be let go. but it won't affect the education in the classroom. >> the mayor says he's not sure how many teachers will be cut but the decisions made will be the best for the school system. having a sweet tth could cost you according to a study in

the new england journal of medicine. taxing sodas by a penny per ounce could raise billions. it could cut sar consumption. the tax would be on manufacturers on intent to cut the sugar. it would help curb obesity. soda sales have been falling while the obesity rate is climbing. >> time to look at weather. >> let's talk to tom about what's going on with the weather out there. on again and off again with showers today. >> yeah, and now they are back on at reagan national, now getting light rain. there's a live view from the city camera showing the planes taking off and landing on time. no travel delays at reagan national or the area airports even though we have rain. right now where you see the blue is where we're getting light rain here in washington, northern prince george's county, across montgomery county. a few sprinkles in fairfax, light rain in western loudoun county, moderate rain in prince

william through fauquier county. some other areas of showers to the south and west, and that is heading off to the northeast. so, it's maybe going to be an hour or two hours before we see any of this rain activity tapering off. these are the totals so far. about a half inch up near frederick, about a quarter of an inch around loudoun county, only .15 at dulles. we haven't turned the rain gauge at reagan national. perhaps .1 before the day is over. in the 60s from the blue ridge to the atlantic beaches. near 60 around the blue ridge in the shenandoah valley laurel at 68. their rainfall near zero, too. only sprinkles this morning. the rest of the afternoon a chance of a sprinkle by mid afternoon and into this evening. we'll have highs near 70. then this evening cloudy and by dawn tomorrow the low 60s. then improving friday into the weekend. we ought to get sun friday into the afternoon. highs upper 70s. mid 70s on saturday and sunday.

ne week a passing shower late monday into tuesday and wednesday. highs in the 70s. that's the way it looks now, barbara and keith. >> all right. we'll be talking to you later. >> thank you. and jerry for a last look at traffic. >> hello. we'll check on the progress of the workers along 395 northbound at the 14th street bridge. there they are, still there. far right lane is blocked. bit of a delay. not terrible at this hour. closer to lunch time might get more backed up. be forewarned. it is wet and sloppy, fortunately no big issues. 270 in gaithersburg near shady grove road, things are looking okay. barbara and keith, back to you. >> thank you. we are connected to your commute. drivers in virginia want to avoid the beltway near tysons corner friday night. construction will close that section for five hours starting at midnight friday evening. all lanes near the chain bridge

road interchange will be shut down up to 30 minutes, including the exit ramps to and from chain bridge road, this is so that power crews can relocate power linings. >> the education of a former soldier is in the balance after being discharged from the army. he is trying to finish his senior year at american university but he recently learned he may have to redeploy to iraq. >> reporter: american university like every college campus has students from different cultures, countrs, different life experiences. senior adam is representative of one of the fastest growing segments of today's student population. >> i was in mosul for about three or four months, then in baghdad for about 11, 12. >> reporter: he snt four years in the army. 15 months of that time took place in combat in iraq before the surge that helped quell much of the violence.

during that tour he was so determined to attend american for its renowned international relations program he finished his admissions packet during combat patrol. >> write my whole admissions essay. i did that for at least a few weeks, a month. i got interrupted. >> reporter: after being discharged from the army he began classes in the fall of 2008. but on the first day of classes this semester he received a startling letter from the army. it said he would have to deploy to iraq again this october. his contract with the army mandated he serve four years on inactive ready reserve, a system that can call discharged soldiers back to duty. >> very dedicated. put in the time and commitment to succeed. to see that interrupted again, as the semester is beginning is really a sad story. >> reporter: with the same determination he displayed in

iraq he sought an exemption the next day. >> the next two to three weeks i worked on getting letters from faculty members, from the group that i work with, the student betterment of america. >> reporter: he received a letter granting his exemption. the shock he felt on the first day of class was replaced with almost overwhelming joy. >> the mission had to be done. i knew that. if i had the ability for exemption then i was going to do my best and do whatever needed to be done in order for that to happen. >> reporter: he does not know if the exemption will give him time to graduate. he's not trying to get out of deployment, only delay it to finish his degree f. he has to return before he graduates he will do so willingly. >> he's a senior now. a year left. >> right. hoping to finish up either in the summer next year or by december. >> good luck. >> very good young man. still ahead on "news 4 midday," president obama is

going to speak about health care at the university of maryland. weelt take you this live when it happens. >> a tour that shows off washington.

new information released about housing and jobless claims. >> let's check in wit courtney reagan live with more and the rest of the business headlines. >> good morning to you. right now stocks are higher. not substantially so. the dow up greater than 24 points but it's still a green arrow. this is today after stocks finished higher on wednesday for a third straight session and eight times in the last nine. so of course we do it tod we'll be 9 for 10 and four days straight. asian markets closed higher and europe is also higher. we got the new claims for unemployment benefits, they fell by 12,000 to a low are than expected 545,000. a small increase had been expected. then housing starts gained 1.5% in august. the increases less than expected, so good for labor, not as good for the housing market. the biggest -- average balances at the top 22 dropped

by 1% in july. critics argue the government hasn't done enough to assure the money the banks received is being used to boost lending activity. toyota is planning a huge marketing blitz. the company is planning to spend $1 billion on the advertising campaign. in the last quarter of the year. the automaker looking to capitalize on the improving economy and its high inventory. it will expand the prius line that dominated the hybrids since 2001. back to you. >> all right. thank you very much. we'll see you tomorrow. have a great day. thanks, courtney. toyota dealers are told to inspect how floor mats are installed after a family of four died in an accident. investigators think the crash might have been caused by the mat in the car jamming the accelerato accelerator. it was a 2009 lus es 350. officials say it appears the floor mat in the car was from a different model which could have

interfered with the accelerator pedal. this week's wednesday's child is a youngster you may remember. we met her about a year and a half ago on a trip to the wax museum. she has grown up a little bit since then. >> hi. >> hi. >> great to see you. >> you too. >> i hear you've gotten into dance since we saw you last. >> yes. >> guess what we're going to do. at the d.c. dance collective we met wake-up the director, nancy. >> nice to meet you. >> i'm good. >> with you can see we've got traditional classes, i teach tap, there is hip-hop and breaking and recognizing and popping. >> i like hip-hop. >> we've got the guy for you. >> the dance instructor was waing up in the studio when we arrived. nancy introduced us and drisha was ready. >> let me see what you can do. oh. that's -- oh!

>> drisha is a quick learner. and she knows how to do anything she puts her mind to. >> the social worker works with drisha who has been in foster care several years. drisha is thinking of perhaps being a dancer. >> i wanted to be a lawyer. >> why not now? >> i might -- because i want to do dance and a lawyer. >> so why don't you plan on doing both? >> i wanted to do three things. >> tell me. acting. >> quam who is going to medical school told her she should pursue all of her ambitions, some of which have changed since we first introduced her. she was 10 then. though she's grown a lot, one thing hasn't changed. her need for a family. >> i would like a family that cares for me, that teach me how

to be independent. >> you were great. you were absolutely great. i'm going to give you this tee shirt so when you go on the road you have a costume. >> drisha was thrilled. and nancy offered her a chance to come back and take classes on scholarship. we all agreed she would make a fine dancer and actress, and a lawyer. if you have room in your home and your heart for drisha or another child waiting call our special adoption hot line. 1-888-to-adopt me or visit our home page at nbcwashington.com. now to the president, he is making his pitch for health care reform. it's happening now at the university of maryland. >> he started to speak. let's listen in. >> maybe i'll even rub tusuto's nose before i leave.

we've got a number of extraordinary elected officials here. i want to introduce them real quick. your governor, martin o'malley is in the house. the two outstanding senators from maryland, barbara mikulski and ben is in the house. one of the finest leaders in congress, steny hoyer is in the house. lieutenant governor anthony brown is here. prince george's county executive is here. mayor steven braymon is here. state senate majority leader is

in the house. congresswoman donna edwards is here. congressman elijah cummings. congressman chris van hollen. congressman sorbays is here. congressman butch rupersburger is here. and the president of the university of maryland, thank you so much. you know -- who? you know, the last time i was here it was in the heat of a very long and very tough campaign.

and in that campaign i promised to be a president who -- you guys can sit down, by the way. in that campaign i promised to be a president who didn't just clean up yesterday's crisis. i didn't want to be a president who was content with standing still. i promised to be a president who would build a better future. who would move this nation forward. who would ensure that this generation, your generation, has the same chances and opportunities that our parents gave us. that's what i'm here to do. that's why i ran for president of the united states of america. >> listening to the president

beginning his speech out at the university of maryland. his pitch for health care there. >> we know dwlaed max baucus introduced an $885 billion bill yesterday. no republican support at this point. we're going to see how it wraps up. the president at the university of maryland trying to push health care reform.

it's time to look at the weekend scene and joining us is

"the washington post" section, good to see you. we're home for the summer do we get block parties started. >> it is. you should think about having your neighbors over for pumpkin carving or a pre-fall party or tail gate party. >> is that pretty common? >> it is. >> something getting started? >> it's been around for a little while. there is a little finessing in throwing one of these. you have to sort of ask your neighbors, do you want to come do this? and in washington you have to get a permit. in other cities you don't. it's all about -- it's a combination of fun and a little bit of cajoling. >> the idea is get your block, blocked off so you can come into the street. >> absolutely. you can do that. and you can have -- one neighborhood here has a brew master who make as neighborhood brew and another has an annual pumpkin carving contest. >> not a bad idea. let's talk about hollywood and a

tour that shows off the movies and shows made in washington. >> washington has a love affair with hollywood and hollywood has a love affair with washington. so many of our iconic land marks will appear in movies. this is offered by on location tours, that will take you to spots like constitution hall which used to be the white house. and the west wing. >> how do you sign up for tours? >> you visit the website for on location tours and register in advance. it starts at union station. >> festival next week. tell us about it >> sonics circuit music necessity value, experimentalal music is people who -- they look at their lap taps and make buzzes and drones and some people wouldn't call it music but in fact this stuff has been around for nine years so people are kind of starting to discover it. washington has a really vibrant scene of people who do this.

>> where does it happen? >> it's going to happen at a number of venues including the kennedy centerment it's becoming mainstream. >> thanks. always great to see you. for more fun activities go to nbcwashington.com or washington post.com/weekend. thanks for coming. keith? >> thanks. that's "news 4 midday." tune tine the daily connection at 3:00 and news 4 at 4, 5 and 6:00 for all of the news. we'll be back tomorrow morning at 4:55 with news 4 today.