our other top story, counterterrorism warning for the transit system expanded on the heels of the arrest and charges in a suspected bomb plot in new york. there is a new bulletin from federal officials today about how other crowded areas that include stadiums, hotels and entertainment complexes are vulnerable to terrorist attacks. chris gordon is at nationals park where preparations are underway for tonight's baseball game. >> reporter: the gates open here at 4:30. fans have been arriving ever since. families with children. nobody appears too concerned about this new terror alert. the first alert was made public yesterday and it targeted transit systems. metro riders it may have appeared to be a police response to the alert issued monday by the department of homeland security and the fbi. after the arrest of a terror

suspect in colorado. but this kind of random inspection is now the norm. >> we have no specific information from our intelligence sources that say our system or any other is under threat of attack. our system is safe and as safe as an open system can be. >> reporter: targeted train inspections like this one at farragut north station have been going on since 2005 after the train bombings in london and madrid. in fact, transit police have had an increased visibility since the ptember 11th attacks in washington. they are meant to give metro riders reassurance. >> it's to ensure the public somebody cares about safety. >> it raises my anxiety because i don't know what's going on. >> reporter: this morning the alert was expanded with security bulletins about terrorists' interests in attacking crowded

places like hotels, entertainment venues. and sports stadiums where thousands of people gather for games and concerts. >> they have lots of staff here. they check each and every bag before you enter the stadium. >> i feel safe. >> this is my first time coming to a baseball game. i'm not going to let a terror alert stop me. >> reporter: we are back now live the at nationals park. you see the fans being screened as they enter for tonight's game. against the l.a. dodgers. this has been the protocol all season. it has not been increased in the face of the latest terror alert. live at nationals park. back to you in the studio. >> thanks, chris. d.c. police chief cathy lanier released this statement that reads, "while these bulletins do not indicate there is a specific threat, but remind us we always need to remain on guard." september is national preparedness month. officials are warning everyone

now they plan to conduct emergency preparedness drills this weekend. the drills will be held at multiple locations on saturday and sunday. city leaders will notify the public immediately when the drills start. again there will be mock emergency drills in the district september 26th and 27th. the department of defense will have some more time to change security measures around its offices in arlington. new barriers and other security measures were supposed to be installed around buildings by next wednesday to comply with federal anti-terrorism standards. todayirginia congressman jim rand announced the deadline has been pushed back to the year 2011. more than 40 of arlington's office buildings are home to department of defense employees. some arlington officials hope the department of defense can come up with effective ways to protect its spaces without dramatically changing the area's landscape. stay with us. we'll have much more on the terror alert coming up at 5:30. nbc news justice correspondent

pete williams will join us live from a look at the national impact. west virginia senator robert byrd is in the hospital. a spokesman says the senator fell this morning the at his home in fairfax county. his caregiver called an ambulance. he didn't break any bones, but may have an infection. senator byrd is 91. he is the longest-serving senator in u.s. history. he spent about six weeks in the hospital this past spring being treated for a staph infection. he returned to the senate this past july. those deadl floods in the southeast continue the number of lives lost as going up tonight. georgia, alabama and tennessee getting hit the hardest by these rising flood waters. at least nine people are now confirmed dead. the rain tapering off in many places, but the misery continues for thousands. michael flynn joins us with the latest. >> reporter: even with the rain easing up, flood waters continue on a deadly rush today.

from the skies over georgia, six flags amusement park west of atlanta looks more like a water park. nearby, a sea of submerged neighborhoods, the epic deluge prompted the state's governor to declare a state of emergency in 17 counties and plead for federal assistance. >> the kinds of life lost, property damage, expenses that our local governments will face in recovering from this. i think it's worthy of a presidential declaration. >> that means there is water up to your chest. >> reporter: 20 inches of rain water fell since friday. rising creeks and river are rs caught people surprised. >> all the people in their homes still. >> reporter: heavy downpours shut down roads and made driving dangerous and deadly. five motorists have been swept to their deaths in flash floods and a 2-year-old boy died when

the mobile home he lived in was washed away. boats are the best way to get around some places as rescue crews keep ferrying stranded residents to safety. at least two homes have gone up in flames during the flooding. firefighters were unable to get to the homes because of high water. >> get out of the house! get out of the house. they finally came through the front door. >> reporter: the rain around atlanta today is not as heavy. a bit of a break. residents are holding on to one another waiting for the waters to recede. and for the skies to clear. with so many roads still washed out tonight, thousands of residents don't know how high the what you're got in their neighborhoods and whether or not their homes are ruined. >> unbelievable. pictures are unbelievable. thank you. let's check with bob ryan now. are those poor people going to get any relief from this? >> they are getting a break today. unfortunately, with the amount of rain that has fallen, and take a look at the region, this

has been in the past few days. some spots as much as 20 inches of rain. here's one of the spots i tapped into about 20 inches of rain. the good news is that for today, there is the area around atlanta and georgia. you can see that it has not had as much rain. heavier rains today are around louisiana. they also had seven to eight inches of rain. there are still flood watches and flood warnings out because the small streams and rivers down there, even though it's not raining today, still will not be receding for a couple of days. unfortunately, the flooding itself will continue. here is aegional futurecast. you can see tomorrow. they'll get a break. unfortunately by later in the week, there will be another weather front approaching that could, by late thursday and friday, bring more rain. the good news is for much of mississippi and alabama and georgia for the next couple of days, they will get a break. i'll zoom into the area around atlanta. you can see while the flood warnings remain up, there are no

rains right now. it's still going to be many days before they can begin the recovery process from what has been record-breaking rain. tell you more about it and any impact on our area when i join you. >> thanks, bob. >>. >> police in arlington are looking for a man who approached a middle school student and showed her an obscene picture on his iphone. they are trying to find out if he is linked to a series of incidents that have taken place over the past few years. julie carey with this story. >> reporter: that incident occurred last wednesday morning. parents are keeping a watchful eye on their kids and keeping an eye out for this suspect. it happened this way. a middle school girl was waiting for the bus at about 8:30 in the morning when a man approached her, then showed her an obscene photo on his iphone. he spoke to her briefly and went on his way.

soon after a neighbor and her daughter headed up to the bus stop passed a man they thought was acting strangely. they asked the girl if anything had happened. >> i got up there. i went up and asked her. i said did that gentleman speak to you? i said man. she said yes and got tears in her eyes and said he showed me a picture of a naked woman. she didn't specify it was on a phone. i didn't know about that. then he asked her where she lived. then i comforted her. >> reporter: after she comforted the teen, she called police. this is the letter sent home with students who attend all the arlington public schools in the area informing them of the incident and telling parents to be on guard. now arlington county police are trying to determine whether this case could be linked to the work of the same man who approached students with a laptop computer showing them lewd images. there have been more than a dozen incidents reported in the past three years in arlington,

alexandria and fairfax county. police are exploring this case to see if there is any connection between the man with the iphone and those laptop cases. this is also one of two incidents that have occurred in this area in the past 1 1/2 weeks. more on that coming up on news4 at 6:00. live from arlington, julie carey, back to you. we are just getting started here on news4 at 5:00, coming up, slots coming to maryland. are we one step closer to knowing where the coins are going to fall? >> a snowstorm in time for the final hours of summer. winter tried to upstage autumn. >> only redskins player to score is opening up when he has lunch with lindsay. >> swine flu awareness gets the boost from a doctor's rap. ♪

any district government workers hoping for a bonus next year can forget that. the d.c. council today passed a $9 billion budget for 2010, but specifically cut out any money for bonuses. tom sherwood is here with that story. >> bonuses aren't that common in city government. some department heads get them, but not next year. in the past year, the d.c. council and mayor have cut $700 million from the city budget, slashing programs, jobs and

payments to many community groups. >> organizations we cannot fund because we do not have the money and we have employee whose lost their jobs. >> reporter: with that mood in the council in its first meeting since summer, they passed a $9 billion budget for next year and killed a provision to set aside $2 million for potential government and employee bonuses. >> especially in this year where we just cut millions and millions of dollars. i think that this is beyond symbolism. i think this ia wise thing to do. >> no mat ware we did in previous years, we are in a new climate now. the revenue projections f the last number of quarters has been down, down, down. >> reporter: and not spend money on bonuses and special pay, but to keep that nearly $1.9 million aside to play defense against what will certainly be further reductions in our revenue estimates. >> reporter: the council took its first steps to create a

specific ethnics code for itself and replace the federal hatch act with a local version barring government version. >> it would prohibit employees from soliciting gifts from a government facility. >> reporter: council members say this is the first time ever the council voted to block bonuses to city workers. quite a move. >> thank you, tom. you may be able to use slot machines in maryland during your summer vacation at the shore next summer. "the washington post" is reporting maryland officials are going to be rewarding the first slot machine gambling license to the oceans downs race track about five miles from ocean city. the track owner says slots could be up and run buying memorial day. other bidders are facing a number of issues that could rce them to delay their plans to open until at least 2011. for the past year, the federal deposit insurance

corporation or fdic, has been assuring bank customers their deposits are safe because they are backed by the insurance fund. "the new york times" reports that so many banks have gone bust this year, the fdic is running out of cash and considering a plan to borrow from the nation's banks. the agency has a $100 billion line up credit with the treasury department, but regulators are reluctant to borrow from taxpayers. the fdic is announcing its plan to replenish the fund next week there are only a few minutes left in summer now. folks in denver are seeing snow. the area had been enjoying sunny skies and above-average temperatures. a cold front brought several inches of snow to the colorado mountains and the foot hills. >> my goodness. >> it's wild between the south and out west. >> each time we get these extremes and this terrible

flooding, is that due to global warming? one leading scientist, certainly scientists feel we are liky to see more and more of these extremes in a changing climate. so it does have a factor and does have influence. for instance, this august the oceans were the warmest temperatures in record. all these things and warmer atmosphere and warm moisture, you are seeing unfortunately more extremes. for us, just a few sprinkles. outside our high temperature is about our current temperature 7 degrees. to give you an idea, remember last year how wet we were? our rainfall this year is nine inches below what it was at the same time last year. on the other hand, atlanta wh a terrible floods now almost 14 inches above what they were last year. remember for much of last year they had a terrible drought in atlanta. 77 here. 80s to our south. they are getting a break, as i mentioned, with the temperatures and the dew points still in the 60s. here's been the pattern.

there's some indication we get onto these patterns where some of these circulations break off and tend to lead to some of these extremes. look at the monthly rainfall in atlanta, new orleans, overeven inches. up to our north parts of new england, around buffalo, less than an inch of rain. around us you can see we had a few sprinkles, a few showers. meanwhile, down to the south we had a few showers in and around us. the south and southeast has been catching it. a few scattered showers for you folks up there across northern maryland. a few oths aund culpeper. that's about it. madison, wisconsin, getting some heavy rains. they had over 3.5 inches of rain today. wettest day ever in september. look at marietta, georgia. over 20 inches of rain for the month. new orleans has been catching it with 3.5 inches today. overnight tonight, we'll see more of the same for us. any of those rains will be staying to the south. with this general

south-southwesterly pattern it will still be moist, a lot of clouds around, maybe a passing shower. i don't think anything for us heavy. more likely i think later on tonight and tomorrow morning for you folks into southern maryland, a few sprinkles and showers. temperatures overnight tonight into the mid 70s. then here we are heading into the autumnal equinox where we are into autumn. tomorrow will start out in the 60s. a little bit of humidity, too. once again tomorrow afternoon primarily there may be a few scattered showers around. after that, i think we'll be seeing some breaks in the clouds and a little bit less humidity on thursday. still, a chance for a few scattered showers thursday afternoon. friday and saturday, i think we'll start out the weekend okay by late saturday. perhaps another chance of some showers. no sign of any of the torrential rains or anything we have to worry about here. >> that's good news.

>> thanks, bob. coming up, eating your veggie is not just a rule from your mom. where eating green is lovely. >> the fans booed the team during sunday's home opener. we'll look at why fan loyalty is fading. tomorrow morning, the drug more and more women are becoming addicted to and abusing. >> it approves your alertness, concentration and some use it to lose weight. it's very dangerous.

a couple of area chefs stood up to the challenge today. peter smith and oliver fridly competed at thurgood marshal academy. making foods that are good to taste. >> vegetarian is the new green. a vegetarian diet is better for the planet, better for yr body and better for the animals who

suffer to become our food. washington is a great place to be a vegetarian which was evident recently when vegetarians and the curious gathered for veg fest d.c. it's all about the food. people were lining up for dozens of vegetarian offerings from restaurants like sunflower cafe. think vegetarians are deprived? check out these vegan treats. >> when i started, it was harder. now they are similar to products you would buy in the store, veggie burgers, veggie dogs or veggie bacon. >> veg fest d.c. is sponsored by the group compassion over killing and the vegetarian society of d.c. >> the goal was to bring people in who are not vegetarian and to ask vegetarians to bring your friends, bring your family and hask them come sample some of this food. >> reporter: first a meat-based

diet creates an abundance of greenhouse gasses and xluts the earth and water. going vegetarian is bet why are for the planet and body at any age. pam is a vegan and so is her little boy. >> i had a perfect pregnancy, and i'm 44. >> reporter: there is a call to consciousness. organizers want to remind people of the animal suffering that occurred in a meat-based culture. >> just because these happen to be chickens, turkeys, pigs or cows, doesn't mean they don't suffer? >> reporter: there were cooking demonstrations. and another whose vegan cooking classes atairfax are the rage. long lines formed for author rory friedman, "skinny bitch", which was on "the times" bestseller list for years.

>> every vegan said could never give up meat or cheese. now we are all the biggest promoters out there. food never tasted so good. >> reporter: maryland state senator raskin is a new convert. >> then i did it for another week and did it for another week. now i'm vegetarian. >> so go veg for a meal, a day or a week. it ds make a difference. for links to the variety of local vegetarian websites, go to nbcwashington.com and search going green. thanks to rising fuel prices and theour economy, more people rode a bus or train last year and the increase in transit ridership in maryland was among the highest. according to a new report, north carolina and louisiana led the nation with a 16% increase in transit use. maryland posted a 15% increase.

transit use was up 4% in virginia. the district of columbia recorded a 3% jump. environmentalists say congress should invest more money in public transportation to help relieve traffic congestion and save energy. meantime, the senate passed a new transportation funding bill that includes $150 million for metro. according to "the washington post," metro will receive that money during the first year of federal funding. the bill still has to be passed by the house before being signed by the president. if do you decide to drive, a warning for virginia drivers trying to cheat in hov lanes. your chances for getting caught just went up. they are stepping up the crackdown on violators in northern virginia. an hov ticket is $125 the first time, $250 the second time, $r four times and you have to pay

$1,000. >> that's incentive to stay out of the wrong lane. >> yes. coming up on news4 at 5:00, the terror alert we told you about comes days after a major arrest in new york. we'll take a look at the connection. he kicked off another season with the skins. lindsay gets the gridiron scoop. >> holiday discount shopping may be different this year. strategies to get the most from your holid

we are following some breaking news about the investigation into june's metro train crash that killed nine people.

jane watrel joins us live from metro's headquarters in northwest washington. >> reporter: we are learning this is a very complex ruling so we are going to try to break it down as simply as possible. as you know, that fatal accident that happened june 22nd is still bein investigated. i want to caution that the final cause of the crash has not been determined. this is what the ntsb has said in a statement just issued within the hour. the ntsb issued nine new safety recommendations to metro and its circuit manufacturer. its track circuit manufacturer. six of those recommendations are urgent. the ntsb again restates they have not determined the cause of the crash, however, they can say without any doubt the safety agency does say there was a failure when it came to a false signal created by the track transmitter. in other words, the train that crashed was -- the train that crashed received a fault signal from the transmitter. it mimicked a valid signal,

according to the ntsb that bypassed the rails and it wasn't detected by the train operating system. in other words, what happened was a false signal was transmitted to the train that crashed, but the train that crashed thought they were getting a valid signal saying that the track was open. the head of the ntsb says in a statement that these are, "safety glitches that we have found that need to be addressed and that needed to be avoided to avoid another tragedy." not only have these safety recommendations been given to metro, they've been sent all the way up to the federal transit administration, the federal railroad administration, individual railroads, individual track manufacturers. this is sort of an all hands on deck alert, saying this problem has happened and that everyone needs to be aware of this. what does metro have to say about all this? we will find out more at 6:30 when metro's general manager

john kato is expected to address some of these recommendations. we'll go through them, see what they are and report back to you in about an hour. >> jane watrel, thank you. one of our top stories today was a terror alert. here is a recap. police are urging the public to be on guard against possible terrorist attacks in places where there are large crowds, sports stadiums, entertainment complexes and hotels. all of this comes on the heal of a major terror arrest that occurred earlier this week. pete williams is here to tell us more about that. is this related to the arrest of those three men in denver and new york? >> yes, it is. i think wt it really tells you is they don't know what the target was. if you look at the list of possible venues there, it's half the yellow pages. it clearly tells you the authorities don't know what it was. they don't feel they have all the people involved rounded up. they think they are still out

there and still might have the capacity to carry out an attack. why not urge the people in charge of security at those places to keep an extra eye out? that's the audience, not the public. it's the people in charge of security. in fact, in response, while metro says they haven't done anything different here, long island railroad is increasing extra security on the fork subways. >> and we areeeing tonight at the nationals ballpark, they are starting to check bags more. how should the public interpret this? should they just go about their lives and not think about it? >> i think it's a legitimate concern. what the people of homeland security would say, go on about your business, lead your security to the the professionals and we'll do whatever we think is necessary. i must say my own personal view is that is a prudent thing to say. if you try to live your life on

the changing vagaries of these memos, would you drive yourself nuts. >> they are talking about changing the whole terror alert, remember all the color bars which were confusing. >> right. >> does this indicate maybe they're getting a little bit of information from these guys at all? >> no. i think it tells us just the opposite. that they haven't learn bad the goal of the attack was. if they knew, it was a goal to attack site x, they wouldn't send out a lot of advisorys to say let's increase security at lots of other places. i think that's what it tells us. >> you think this means they are getting nothing from these men? >> i don't think they are getting much. we learned today some of what they are getting is misleading. they told them about places they might ve chosen as targets that they completely discount. the authorities completely discount. i wouldn't be surprised. they've got these placeholder charges against the three of them, lying to federal agents. i wouldn't be surprised if we

don't see more serious charge he against some of them. >> pete williams, thank you so much. >> my pleasure. president obama's job approval ratings will be out soon. in the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. one of the questions involves whether the president is overexposed. people were asked, do you feel you see and hear president obama too much? about the right amount or too little? 34% said too much. 54% said just the right amou. 9% say they see too little of the president. earlier today on "the daily connection" nbc news deputy political director mark murray talked about those numbers. >> our new poll finds he is hitting that goldilocks moment, which is just right. it's breaking down against partisan lines. if you voted for barack obama, you are fine seeing him and just 8% of his voters from last year say they are seeing too much of him. >> you can hear what senator

john mccain's voters think about the issue and get the latest look whether americans believe more troops should be sent to afghanistan. get the full results of the poll on nbc nightly news right after news4 at 6:00. when we come back, booed at home. what's behind the field fight between the skins' fans and their team? and casket for two. how some just can't seem to part from their family pet.

this is the smithsonian museum honoring baseball manager bobby lasorda today. they put up a huge painting of the l.a. dodgers' skipper. the portrait is on display in the new arrival gallery through november 15th. lasorda is in town with the dodgers as they take on the nats tonight. washington's ugly win on sunday is still the focus of water cooler chat all over the metro region. the conversatn was fuelled by comments made by a rookie who called booing fans "disloyal dimwits." >> keith garvin joins us to tell us what's going on the streets out there. >> rookie robert henson wasn't a well-known redskin but his comments helped make him the talk of the town.

they caused some to wonder if the love between redskins and their fancies starting to wane. sunday's game was an ugly game, but it was a win. it wasn't enough for fans who are frustrated, they were mad and let the players hear about it. >> i think booing, we have the right to do that. especially if we paid to go see the game. >> reporter: you think the booing is justified? >> i i had to see it, but i do cause i agree with some of it. >> the frustration reportedly boiled over and led some fans to throw objects at some of the flavors. rookie robert henson was so upset hours after the game he lashed out on twitter. he called angry redskins' fans dimwits who worked 9:00 to 5:00 at mcdonald's. he was forced to apologize the next day. >> i apologized and updated every social network i was on. >> reporter: some believe sunday's behavior indicate as

growing divide between the skins and their fans. in the glory days at rfk, could you imagine the crowd booing, much less throwing things at their beloved redskins? >> i would never boo my team, no matter what. >> reporter: chris and christi lopez are die-hard skins fans. they have the jerseys, caps and custom-painted jeep to prove it. they believe fans who were starting to get out of hand may represent a new type of redskins' fans. >> now we have a little bit more casual fans. sometimes it's more about the status of having a ticket or, you know, than actually being a fan of the team. >> reporter: there were other redskins including chris cooley who spoke out saying booing is not going to motivate the team to play any better. fan whose feel they have the right to boo say they are frustrated after going ten seasons without a division title and 18 seasons without a super bowl title.

>> it gets emotional out there. >> thanks, keith. coming up, a new push for

credit scores are taking a big hit in this poor economy. liz crenshaw is here to report on steps you can take to protect your score. >> and the pumpkin predictions. scarce in some spots, available in others. who knew? you have news from the pumpkin patch. >> reporter: let's start with these credit scores. the banks may be crying about customer delinquencies, but the bottom line appears to be credit-worthy consumers are struggling to find loans they can get. the "usa today" reports consumer delinquencies reached almost 1.75%, the highest level in at

least 35 years. combine that with a bankruptcy filing increase of 22%, and you've get the recipe for a banking industry reluctant to make loans to consumers with even pristine credit. experts say you'll need a credit score of at least 750 to qualify for a loan with an affordable rate. here is what you need to do. pay down your debt. this will help boost your credit score. don't automatically close those unused accounts. doing so lowers the amount of useable credit and can hurt your score. use or lose credit cards, charge purchases to your cards once or twice a month, but pay off balances. open a new account if the lender closes the old one. this helps your score. pay bills on time. this makes up 35% of your fico score and is the most important thing you can do creditwise. also be careful using debt-settling businesses. many end up owing more while damaging their credit scores

further. holiday shopping. despite the lousy economy, consumers may find it harder to snag the deep discounts they found last year because scores have cut back on inventories, they lowered starting prices for many items and added lower-cost products to their shelves. this means shoppers who wait hoping for deep discounts may find no bargains available. it's better to create a holiday shopping strategy. set a budget by making a list and sticking to it. pace your shopping throughout the fall so you won't end up with a giant credit card bill in january. avoid den-like shopping which causes many consumers to make costly buying decisions. be organized. get plugged in. sign up for e-mails and promotions from retailers you're likely to buy from. retail experts predict fewer last-minute sales events this year. waiting may not pay off this time. and for wendy, finally it's

pumpkin time. there are only a few weeks until consumers start turning thoughts to jack-o-lanterns. new england will be hard hit because heavy rains in june and july damaged their crops. there appear to be enough supply from other areas. pumpkin prices may be high they are year for halloween. we may pay a little bit more. >> i found an amazing recipe for pumpkin lasagna. >> pumpkin bread recipe. >> thanks. some people always have their pets by their side. for some, it's true even they're six feet under. this is audrey swigert's obituary photo and her little dog molly. they were a team in life and now

are a team in death. the springfield, missouri, woman demanded to be buried with her dog and her wish was granted. the dog had been cremated. the national funeral directors association says it's just one growing trend. >> just make sure your pet is dead first. what's coming up? >> we've got a lot coming up at 6:00. we will continue our coverage of the terror warning that's been issued to police around the country. we'll report how authorities in the d.c. area are responding. we'll tell you about one hospital that is so swamped with swine flu cases, authorities have had to set up tents outside the facility. police officers are caught on videotape playing video games during a radon a home. those stories and more coming up on news4 at 6:00. we'll have more about these ntsb relations following the deadly metro crash. we are expecting metro officials to have a response to that. >> thanks, doreen.

lyndsay had lunch with the guy who was the one hero on sunday. >> the kicker. you're right. redskins would have been shut out sunday would it not have been kicker for sean suisham field goal. they brought in another kicker to compete for his job. in the end, suisham won out. the guy from ontario, canada, said growing up he dn't want to play football, he wanted to be a hockey star. he met me for lunch the at an ice rink to talk field goal and food. looks good, doesn't it? we brought you here to the ashburn ice palace because i know you are a big hockey guy. the other thing i wanted to ask you about is food. i read a food you love that is

canadian is putime? >> a lot of times you'll see it from a van that sells food. back home a lot of times you'll see french fries, you put the cheese on top and gravy on top of that. >> tell me about your love for hockey. you spent times with boudreau even at his house? >> yeah. growing up hockey is a big deal. >> did you play growing up? tell me about that. when did you play? >> i started at the age of 3. >> really? >> it's probably stupid to admit this. the first year i skated, i learned to figure skate. i didn't have women figure skates. i didn't have a toe pick. i didn't. from there i started playing hockey. right up until i went to school in bowling green.

>> the life of a kicker is very uncertain, isn't it? >> sureis. this year going to camp, competing at camp, realizing how fragile it can be and how important being a kicker for the redskins is to me. i'm so appreciative and happy to be back here. hopefully, i've i got another five years here. >> you seem so focused on that while that competition was going on. there had to have been times the pressure becomes tough. >> you know you are competing with other guys around the league. when you get to share the locker room and things like that, it's an uncomfortable situation for me. i actually hated it. i understand it's part of the job. there's a lot of people that want my job. it's understandle. >> what is that like when you are going up, walking up to make a field goal attempt? what is going through your mind at that moment? >> it's hard for me to describe.

i do know if i prepare properly, i feel confident and comfortable in that situation. when you get in that situation where things are happening now, it could be what could be thought of as a pressure situation. really, it's all about preparation and trusting and the guys you are working with. danny smith is great. we go through every possible situation. there is no situation on the football field that i'm ever going to be in that i haven't been in before or practiced or succeeded at. >> my thinking is, wow, what does he feel like right now as he's walking off the field? what is that? >> it's a weird feeling. you wish you could line back up. you wish could you do that and had four downs, but you don't. that's why it's so critical especially when we north scoring a lot of points that i make those kicks.

it's hard to word this, but i think a strength of mine is being able to let that bad kick that bad miss go. to kick any field goal, it's simple and i should make every kick. that doesn't mean 's easy. >> sean suisham makes field goals of 23, 28 yards against the rams. he also is a cool guy. he has a new 8 1/2-month-old baby girl. he is good friends now with bruce boudreau. >> sienna suisham. >> he likes the double last name. >> good thing i was at the top of his game on sunday. >> i would think it was a good boost of confidence for him. the team is happy, obviously. coming up, how recalled food ends up in our nation's schools.

when a food recall is announced, schools are sometimes the last to know about it. that is according to a new audit of the general accounting office. it often took the agriculture department almost a week to notify schools about potentially tainted products in their cafeterias, raising the risk of children getting sick. the agriculture secretary says his office is working to improve food recall policies. senate finance committee is getting down to busines while starting to plow through hundreds of ideas to fix the system. one plan, cut the top penalty for not buying penalty in half. raise taxes on others to compensate.

those are just some of the 564 amendments that are being considered. the white house maintains its message, doing nothing is unacceptable. a rapping doctor is the latest wave the government is educating americans about ways to prevent the spread of the h1n1 virus. also known as swine flu. ♪ >> out of more than 200 entries, dr. john clark of long island, new york, won the government's public service announcement contest. he submitted a video on youtube promoting good hygiene. he won $2,500 and his video will be played on youtube all over the country. >> he's not bad. bob, how is the weather? >> i'm wrapping it up right now, as a matter of fact. 77 degrees our current temperature. on doppler there have been a few showers. you can see they are light though. that will be the story overnight tonight, too. heading out to school tomorrow morning, might be a sprinkle,

maybe a little bit of fog around. nothing overly heavy. temperatures will be in the 60s tomorrow. i think our temperature only getting up to 81, 82. there could be once again a few scattered showers. after that, better chance, little better chance again on thursday in the afternoon. we start out the weekend with sunshine. maybe showers late saturday. sunday looks good right now. temperatures into the 70s. no sign of any of the torrential rains from down south. back to you. >> thanks, bob. coming up, the national terror warning and new recommendations after the deadly metro crash. >> jim handly joins doreen gentzler next for news4 at 6:00. the national transportation safety board released its recommendations after june's deadly metro crash. >> police in arlington tonight are investigating a man who showed a girl pornography on an