steve handelsman has more on this. >> thanks. good evening to you. this is president obama's first visit as president. so to many of these international delegates in new york, he is still on his honeymoon period. they see him as a superstar. he capitalized using tough talk. >> reporter: president obama says he's gotten the u.s. more involved in solving world problems like global warming and aids, and in his first address to the u.n., bluntly demanded other nations do their part. >> this cannot solely be america's endeavor. those who used to chastise america for acting alone cannot wait for america to solve the world's problems alone. >> reporter: on the middle east, the day after mr. obama urged both sides to compromise the israelis objected to u.s. demand. >> there's never been this precondition of freezing settlement. >> reporter: but the president pushed back.

we call on palestinians to end incitement on israel and america does not accept the legitimacy of continued israeli settlements. >> reporter: arabs and their friends trust this president says one arab journalist. >> as a son of muslim he is a muslim. they are happy with him and will give him the benefit of the doubt. >> congratulations to our son obama. >> reporter: even libyan leader moammar gadhafi had nice things to say before he blasted the united nations for failing to prevent wars. street demonstrators protested against gadhafi. others protested iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad being in new york. he struck a defiant tone before his u.n. speech. >> translator: and reminded mr. obama is not the first president here that we see as a friend. >> the united states stands

ready to begin a new chapter of international cooperation. >> reporter: is to unify the united nations against iran getting nuclear weapons. working that issue at his hotel not far from here a short time ago, president obama met with a y player russian president medvev who says he favors a carrot versus a stick approach to get the iranians to give up whatever nuclear program they might have. this is hard news following the president's speech. the russian president says now he probably would back any u.s. call for tougher u.n. sanctions against iran. live from new york, steve handelsman, new york. back to you. appreciate it. gordon brown addressed the u.n. general assembly today. brian williams spoke exclusively with prime minister brown and talked about the decision to release megrahi.

>> his sentence has not been commuted. es he's been let out by the scottish authorities because they believe he will die within three months. >> the problem is some of your citizens will forever believe, and a fair number of americans, it was the result of a deal and that had to do with oil. >> there was no deal. i can give you an absolute and unconditional assurance there was no deal on oil and no deal on anything else. >> the full interview with prime minister brown is coming up on nbc "nightly news" after this broadcast. new details in the arrest of those three men suspeed of lying to terror investigators in new york and denver. the fbi is denying report new york city police may have blown the surveillance of one of the suspects and compromised the agency's investigation.

a criminal complaint says police were working independently of the fbi when officers talked to a rigious leader to gain information about suspect zazi. they were arrested over the weekend. nbc news learned new charges may be filed against one of the m as early as tomorrow. d.c. congresswoman eleanor holmes norton is calling for presidential commission on security and freedom. she says it's needed to curb excessive security shutdowns of streets and federal buildings. the proposal came on the same day federal authorities asked for another traffic restriction in downtown d.c. tom sherwood is live with the story. >> reporter: treasury officials on 15th street had been asking that a little stretch of f street just up the block from here be made one way to discourage truck bombs. congresswoman norton is asking how much security is too much?

a heavy police presence is common in d.c. these days, and tons of ugly security barriers fill walkways and streets all around town. >> is this good for deterring terrorists and keeping the street open? what i have found, tom, is no option gets explored except closing it down, shutting it off. the public paid for all of this. >> reporter: eleanor holmes norton, a senior member of committees on federal buildings and homeland security has had enough. >> we've got to stop telling people that we can't prevent everything and anything and it's not worth closing down our society for all of the unknown we've got to balance the unknown against what we do know. we do know this is an open society. >> reporter: she is asking congress to create a presidential commission on making federal buildings safe and security, but more open to

the american public. >> it will be a presidential commission because it has to do not only with us, first and foremost, we close down more than anybody else, but the entire country is bewildered. we've got to have people sitting at the table beyond security people to simply cover their rear ends. >> reporter: norton was holding a hearing on security and freedom same day federal authorities were asking the city for its latest security concession, diverting traffic away from the downtown treasury building by making f street and 15th street one way east. >> the treasury department is concerned vehicles traveling westbound here on f street could reach a high rate of speed and plow into the treasury building, which is right behind us here at the intersection of 15th and f streets. >> reporter: just within the last hour, news4 was told troushy has withdrawn that request for f street. jack evans who represents this area said that is a good thing. he said a terrorist likely wouldn't obey a one-way street

sign anyway. >> tom sherwood, thanks. vice president joe biden was in montgomery county today to host a town hall meeting all about health care reform. mr. biden spoke to residents at leisure world, a retirement community at silver spring. he had plenty of company on the stage. barbara mikulski was there with kathleen sebelius. he assured this health care reform would not hurt medicare. >> we are committed to protecting medicare, securing that trust fund and making sure another generation of americans follows our baby boom generation is able to have medicare. >> mr. biden warned without health care reform, the medicaid trust fund could run out of money in eight years. >> police arrested two men in the murder of a 22-year-old fairfax county woman. erika yancey was killed in november 2008.

police found her stabbed to death in her car on sunrise valley drive. today they announce an arrest in that case. eun yang joins us with more. >> reporter: the arrests come a year after the murder. michael thompso and marcus williams were arrested yesterday. the victim's family had no doubt police would close this case and want the suspects brought to justice. >> although it doesn't bring erica girl, another young girl won't be victim at their hands. >> reporter: she still wants to see them pay for what they've done. >> we do hope and pray justice prevails and that they are in prison for the rest of their lives without being eligible for parole. >> reporter: 27-year-old michael thomas and 28-year-old marcus williams have been charged in the murder of 22-year-old erika

yancey. yancey disappeared last november from dulles airport where she worked. police found her body in the trunk of her car two days later, not far from her home in fairfax. she had been stabbed multiple times. one of the suspects marcus williams was yancey's roommate and was arrested in detroit yesterday. >> mr. williams will go through an extradition hearing today and depending on the results, some point we'll go to michigan to retrieve him. >> reporter: erica lived with williams and his grld and two children. she couldn't understand why erica's roommate would have wanted to kill her. >> family get togethers, holidays, she won't be there. that is a void that willever be filled. >> reporter: investigators are releasing few details about the murder or motive but credit thorough police work for the arrests. >> for detectives, it's very good to come to an end of a long

case like this. this took a lot of pe cystens on their part. >> reporter: if marcus williams waives extradition, both could appear in court for arraignment the next few days. wildfire are threatening about a thousand homes in california this evening. that wildfire is burning 45 miles northwest of downtown los angeles. fire officials say the blaze spread across 15 square miles. firefighters have it about 20% contained so far. crews are working to protect ranches and orchards. there is concern about nearby oil fields and a natural gas pipeline. raging flood waters in the south eastern states forced hundreds of people to stay in red cross shelters. schools closed down and major roadways are still under water. today president obama assured georgia officials their request for federal aid will receive prompt attention. state officials there estimate $250 million worth of damage.

>> fortunaly nothing like that here. for more we go to bob ryan in storm center 4. good news is some of the flood waters are starting to recede. you see an area in georgia, mississippi, tennessee into alabama and north louisiana that are under flood watches and even flood warnings. for the area hit so hard around lane, some areas had 20 inches of rain in about a week. you can see finally now it's beginning to break out. there have been more showers around the southeast arn savannah. some of that may work its way back in. certainly nothing like the torrential ins. it's going to be days before the recovery for parts of the deep south. more about our weather and fantastic images of the worst dust storm in more than 50 years in australia. wait until you see this. >> coming up on news4 at 6:00, a bethesda teenager accused of plotting to build homemade bombs

entered a plea today. >> two of the biggest banks are changing their policies about overdraft fees. >> high-tech robbery. a gang who landed a helicopter on the roof of a cash depot. >> dan, what is ahead in sports? >> nationals trying to avoid loss number 100. it's go time for michael vick. the big question of redskins park, is jim zorn on the hot seat? clinton portis answers that question.

a new study examines how effective shots are when it comes to nasal spray when battling seasonal flu. which wk against the flu? brian moar h our repo. adults can best protect themselves against the regular seasonal flu by getting shots instead of a nasal spray. that is the finding of a new study just published in "the new england journal of medicine." >> in healthy adults, the injected vaccine worked better than the nasal spray vaccine. >> reporter: the university of michigantudy found nasal spray was about half as effective as the shots for adults. 68% effectiveness for the shots,

36% for the nasal spray. in children -- >> the nasal spray may work better. >> reporter: medimmune said it shows to be just as effective for adults and children. >> for adults the study is still out. in children, they get less influenza than those receiving the flu shot. >> reporter: the michigan study suggests adults might not get the same protection from the nasal sprays because they've been exposed to different flu strains before. because most young children have not been exposed, their immune systems have a stronger response. d because the h1n1 swine flu virus is completely new to all age groups, the head of this study believes adults and children could be protected by either a shot or a nasal spray. >> i would take the one that's available first. >> reporter: encouraging news

with the first h1n1 vaccine just weeks away. brian moar, nbc news, washington. the government ordered up more than 250 million doses of the swine flu vaccine. two of this nation's largest banks are changing their policies on overdraft fees. many criticized the fees calling them excessive. the announcement comes as congress considers cracking down on such charges. oamwill no longer ge ctors their 0n one day.ss however, they will still 5 e ie is ba of america says they are ow the number otifs a customeran wint e to fou tldait's lso going to customers decline overdraf protectionf they choose toe changestart octl on walstretodato retreate dte theedal reserve' decion t lea short-term interest rates at nearly 0%. the dow fell 80 points. nasdaqse 14ointslor.

th newk ock exchange held steady. i sp one pnt on theday. a igatinramatic d ditedircraf ees usedeleaohe ha rest norf e first police c t omeb > our broadcast, pocereleased video o a man they bievearjaed a wom viin. > an how much dvers m hao pay drive on maryland's intercounty connector. >> and anoth che o

today maier fenty announced construction will begin on a new play ground in the district. the maier and other community leaders were on hand at another ribbon-cutting ceremony. fenty says the plans are still in the works for baseball fields and soccer fields. >> got warm again today. came out of nowhere. >> a little bonus. we get these, k-mart shoppers, unadvertised specials. i like those. outside today, it was a warm one. reopen those pools. we are getting a little bit of color. i think we will get rain as we get into the primary time would be late saturday. we could use a bit when things are a little dry.

outside our high temperature today as we looked at that sunshine. 87 degrees. look at the record though. 98 degrees from 1895. imagine what the was like in 1895 before air conditioning? outside we are losing over two minutes of daylights a day. it's still warm. that dew pointakes it feel like it's well into the 80s with near 70? my goodness. big changes coming up later on tomorrow. not this evening. 83 here. a lot of 80s to our south. look at denver right now. 43 degrees early this morning in lubbock, texas. 41 degrees. warm and hot down to the south. especially spots like brownsville. yesterday texas was 101 degrees. our temperature here feels like it's 87 degrees. good news is as i showed you earlier, a look at georgia and alabama. even though there is still overall circulation, the rains at least have ended in some spots. it's still raining.

jackson, mississippi, right now nasty thunderstorms. into parts of louisiana. at least where the folks have been hit so hard around atlanta and parts of georgia, it is not raining, although there will be maybe a few scattered showers for us. we've seen some clouds build up. the only area of showers is well out to our west. out in parts of garrett county. the other patch out there around the mountains of western virginia, i think, died out. that is it. our temperatures into the 80s. even the low 90s. while we are looking at warm sunshine, let me show you what they were looking at. this is the harbor bridge in sydney, australia, where it has been reduced to visibility of only a few feet because of an unusual dust storm. folks are walking around with masks in parts of australia. look at the view from space. this is from the great nasa say the light. there is the dust storm.

this is a plume of dust. there is brisbane, australia. you can get the idea of the extent of that dust storm. the worst dusttorm they had in australia in 70 years. for us, we'll still be under southwesterly winds into tomorrow. weather front slips to our south. as we get into tomorrow evening, you'll notice the difference. on friday, we'll get into northeasterly winds. the good news is while there will be scattered showers for parts of tennessee into south carolina, i don't see any repeat of the terrible rains that brought all of that flooding. temperatures around us tomorrow will be into the low 80s as they will be down to our south. for the remainder of the evening, partly cloudy. warm, humid, good baseball weather with temperatures only dipping into the high 70s in the next few hours. and with clouds around and humidity, tomorrow morning certainly going to be feeling more like a summery morning. almost an august morning with

temperatures for overnight lows only about 70 degrees. tomorrow afternoon as that weather front approaches, there could be a few scattered showers, maybe even a thunder shower. i think it's more likely for you folks across southern maryland down around fredericksburg. then we dry out. much different day friday with a northeasterly breeze. temperatures for highs only in the low 70s. we'll start out with sunshine by saturday. saturday afternoon into saturday evening. maybe showers. sunday looks good now. another chance of showers on monday. we could use a few showers. we are getting a little dry. don't have any dust storms. >> that looks nasty. >> terrible. of all places sydney. they are nod used to that. the bethesda teenager of having bomb-making materials. >> police hope the man accused of carjacking a woman video will

lead to an arrest. >> a report on renovations to one of the most renowned sporting venues. in sports, nationals trying to avoid the 100 loss mark tonight. clinton portis says the entire redskins organization is on the hot seat. and michael vick getting ready to make his regular season debut on sunday.

we are looking at some of the stories making headlines tonight. president obama challenged other united nations leaders to help step up and address the world's problems. he called on other countries to forget past sentiments that the u.s. likes to do things on its own. officials with the treasury department have about drawn the request to change traffic patterns on f street. officials wanted to make the street go one way to deter potential terror attacks. two men now have been charged in the murder of a 22-year-old fairfax woman.

erika yancey was killed last november. one was her roommate. investigators are releasing few details about the murder or motives. a teenager appeared in court today. 19-year-old colin mckenzie-gude pled guilty to one count of possession of a constructive device. christ gordon has that report tonight. >> reporter: the parents thanked the lawyer, but had nothing to say publically after their 19-year-old son pleaded guilty to one chargeossessing a destructive device. a large quantity of chemicals, wires, electric timers and armor-piercing shells that were seized by law officers during a raid of his home in july 2008. when the case first broke officials said he had a hit list of teachers from j. jon's college high school in the district where he just graduated. they alleged he had a map of cam of david. his lawyer says mckenzie-gude

never intended to kill or hurt anyone. he entered a guilty plea even though his lawyer claims the bomb-making chemicals in his bedroom did not belong to mckenzie-gude. it was here in the roads in gaithersburg colin mckenzie-gue said he and a friend exploded five pipe bombs in 2007 and 2008. >> he was influenced by the patrick yezikov's father who brought a majority of these items over to the house about a month before this event, stored them in colin's room because he felt -- because there was a domestic dispute between patrick's father and mother. they were asked to remove all firearms from the house. >> to shift burden and blame on my client's father for the acts of colin mckenzie-gude in this case is simply not true and

contrary to the facts and the evidence. >> reporter: patrick is in college awaiting sentencing after he pleaded guilty to possessing destructive devices. colin mckenzie-gude has been held custody the past 15 months. he faces the possibility of up to ten years in prison. a gaithersburg city official is in trouble after being accused of firing a weapon. fred felton was placed on administrative lead. he is charged with reckless endangerment and discharging a firearm. there is new information about the incident that led to these charges. felton had been a city of gaithersburg employee 20 years. he has been city manager since 1999. >> tre are new complaints tonight it that it's taking too long to find out what caused that deadly metro crash on the red line earlier this year. yesterday three months after the crash, the national transportation safety board released new information about

what failed, but no new information about why it happened. michael flynn has our report. >> we hear stories on a daily basis about communication and automatic train control problems. >> reporter: the head of the local transit workers union insisting she is not surprised by the ntsb's preliminary findings about june's rail crash that killed nine people. with more so-called anomalies revealed about the automation system, the union wants rail operators to stay in the slower, manual mode till more answers come out. >> we ask the public to bear with us as we are continually working to ensure a safe ride for everyone. >> reporter: the ntsb yesterday issued an urgent alert warning that the same signal system which failed to detect the stop train in june's metro disaster should be checked by other rail operators across the country. also the ntsb revealed tests of some rail automation equipment

at a ft. totten control room found false signals registering the track was clear when there was a train idling. >> that's what we are looking for, parasitic oscillation. >> reporter: jim graham a metro board member vented his frustration at the wording of yesterday's letter to metro and others three months after the crash. he wonders why the transit agency is getting more information about what went wrong, but not why it went wrong. >> we need to know how it happened in order to prevent it from happening again. >> reporter: metro rail passengers are anxious for answers, but it hasn't kept them from riding the rails. >> definitely scary that they don't know and that they are still finding more and more problems. >> hope they can figure that out and rectify it. it's a lot safer than driving. i'm not concerned. >> reporter: you still feel safe? >> i feel safe. >> reporter: jim graham expects metro train operators will be

ntinued to be told to run in manual mode as opposed to automatic until the exact cause is determined and any problems are fixed. in northwest washington, michael flynn, news4. metro board member jim graham expects metro rail operators will keep operating trains manually until the ntsb figures out what caused the sensor failures. an ntsb spokesperson says an investigation of this magnitude can typically take between 12 and 18 months to complete. >> from the rails to the roads now. maryland transportation authority today outlined its plans for tolls on the intercounty connector. the road will connect i-217 with i-95. they estimate they will run 25 cents to 35 cents in peak hours. it will be cashless. there will be no toll playses. drivers can use ez-pass. so far reaction from drivers has

been mixed. >> do you plan on using the icc? >> i probably will. >> they've got to get the money. rather through there than raise real estate and income taxes or something like that where everybody has to pay. >> the first section is slated to open in the fall 2010. roadway is scheduled to be completely finished in 2012. >> in the race for governor of virginia, democratic creigh deeds says he won't rule out a tax hike to fund transportation. in a "the washington post" opinion piece, deeds writes he will raise taxes if necessary to pay for transportation imovements. republican candidate bob mcdonnell says he will not raise taxes. up to today, deeds' position on transportation funding had been unclear. voters have a clear contrast. >> one saying we can do it without taxes. the other saying we can possibly

do it without taxes but can't take you the out of general revenue. >> the fairfax county chamber of commerce political arm says it will support mcdonnell. that is considered a seal of approval. police released a video of a man who carjacked a woman last week. after being spotted by police, driver led authorities on a chase that stretched into prince george's county. eventually the guy gets out of the car and starts running. the victim was treated for minor injuries. police want you to give them a call if you have any information about that case. it's been 23 years since a 15-year-old named lisa marie triggs was murdered in prince george's county. >> reporter: lisa marie was 15 years old when she was murdered in may of 1986. >> lisa was full of life.

she was just a lover o people. >> reporter: on wednesday may 21st, lisa, her mother and brother were at the dale city shopping center for hair cuts. after lisa wanted to leave while her mother and brother shopped. when debbie got home after shopping, lisa was not there. >> right away in my heart, it's like something's wrong. >> joe krebs will have more on this case and the determination of lisa's mother to find her daughter's killer. coming up on our broadcast, we'll tell but calls to extend an $8,000 tax cut to first home buyers. >> an impressive discovery in israel. >> and a kid over in china who got himself in a tight situation.

good evening. bob ryan, storm center 4. a few clouds out there, but it's still warm. there have been a few showers and even a few thunder showers across western maryland and out into the mountains of west virginia. watching out for you in the shenandoah valley. our temperatures still into the 80s. we'll be seeing some clouds overnight tonight. i think any showers will miss us. tomorrow morning heading out to school and to work, temperatures

with the humidity will only be around 70 degrees. after that, much cooler as we head onto friday. back to you. >> thanks, bob. archaeologists have uncovered a ritual bath in israel and pilgrims visiting the jewish temple possibly used it 2,000 years ago. the compound in jerusalem's old city. roman soldiers destroyed the second temple in 70 a.d. the bath is one of the largest ever discovered, apparently. a plan is now in the works to renovate the coliseum in italy. the plan is to reopen a number of sites in the next few months, including the palace in the promenade of the temple of venus. they paid more than $50 million for the renovation plan. a 3-year-old boy got himself into a tight spot in china. poor guy was playing hide-and-seek with his friends

outside a building in southwestern china. he squeezed himself between two concrete pillars. it was a tight fit. his little head got stk. the boy cried for his mother as rescue workers tried to figure out how to get him out of there. as the night wore on, the boy's head started to swell. the workers finally used a chisel, some lubricating oil and an electric saw which was probably scary for the 3-year-old. he was finally freed without suffering any serious physical injury. by then a crowd gathered. woers carried him to his parents while everyone applauded. more guy. >> you know what? he probably won that game of height-and-seek. >> and he's never going to hear the end of this story for his entire life. >> no coming up, officials today unveil the hope diamond's new setting. we'll take a closer look at the gem. >> and dan, what do you have in sports? >> talk a little bit of

everything. redskins' stiffest test on sunday might be themselves. they talk about that today. the caps' rookies making a mark preseason. and in nationals park, nats trying to avoid loss 100 for the second straight year.

dog owners in bethesda can finally let their dogs roam leash-free. a new dog park opened at kevin john regional park. there are two areas, one for big dogs and little dogs.

the park is free and it's open during regular park hours, sunrise to sunset. it doesn't look too crowded yet. >> as the sun gets ready to set ou there. nats stadium, dan hellie standing by. washington nationals getting ready to probably hit another milestone. >> let's hope not, dan. >> we don't know for sure. >> oh, come on, dan. >> it's inevitable, but maybe not necsarily tonight? >> yeah. i think it's going to happen at some point. it's a milestone few teams are unlucky enough to reach, nationals trying to avoid their 100 loss for the second season in arow. last year they led all of major league baseball with 102 losses. barring a modern day miracle, they will probably beat that mark this year with 12 games left in the regular season. last night, if that was any indication, going to be tough to get a win tonight. they were no match for the

dodgers. bottom third, nationals down 1-0. adam dunne changes that in a hurry. dude's been doing this all year. another moon shot. this time a two-run home run that gives the nationals a 2-1 lead. his 38th of the season. dunne is two homers shy of his sixth consecutive 40-homer caaign. hernandez didn't have it. top of the fourth, tied at 2-2. bases loaded for dodgers. rafael furcal takes advantage. casey blake scores easily. the throw is off the mark. dodgers poured it on. they beat the nationals 14-2. nats now lost six of their last seven. for some rookies, like ian desmond, this will be their first taste. >> we are trying to beat the other team. i couldn't even imagine going on the field saying, i don't care. we already had 99 losses, why not get 100? you know what i mean? these guys are all playing hard.

the ninth inning, the first inning, whatever. you are trying to win the game from the time you are 10, 35, 40, whatever it is. every man, woman has that competitive spirit in them. you can't lose that. that is something you have to bring to the table every day. >> ian desmond, we had him on at 5:00. nationals going to use him at shortstop, second base and tried him in the outfield. could be on the big league roster after spring training next year. out of redskins park today, anthony aldridge is back on the roster. if the name sounds familiar that's because it is. anthony aldridge, one of the final cuts after the preseason. he is a change of pace back. he's small and very fast. the only negative about this kid is that he had a serious case of fumble-itis, putting the ball on the ground as many as ten times during training camp and the preseason. jim zorn has four tailbacks on the roster which could mean more

changes down the road. there were questions to the players today about the pressure on their head coach. zorn has been a hot-button topic this week from his post game debate with sonny jerguson. clinton portis says everyone is under the gun. >> i feel like i'm on the hot seat. i don't know. i feel like i'm on the hot seat. we need to perform as a team. we get booed coming off the feel. i think everybody in this organization is on the hot seat, you know? the owner is on the verge of losing fans. how long before people give up and stop coming? you look the at the players. people want you out of here. you look at the coach, people want you out of here. who is not on the hot seat? until we come out and play to our potential, i think everybody is on the hot seat. >> i've been on the hot seat

since the baltimore preseason game. i want to see us come out, fight hard and play competitive. play like you want it. not just go out there and running plays or just doing things to be doing them and hoping someone makes a play. everyone needs to have the mentality they want to make a play any begin time. how you do it is being prepared for it and having the right attitude. set your standards high. >> jason campbell and the guys, 6 1/2 points favorites over the lions. lions riding that 19-game losing streak. eagles coming off a blowout loss. they still don't know whether their starting quarterback donovan mcnabb will be back. michael vick will be on the field at some point this coming week. vick is back after serving his two-game suspension. he will dress and be on the

sidelines. randy reid won't say whether vick will be the third string quarterback or not. vick says it's a dream come true after sitting out two years and much of that te in prison. >> i'm excited. if i was to suit up and go help cobb, that's fine by me. i'm very excited about my future. if i continue to work hard and continue to diligently work at becoming the best quarterback i can be, my future is bright. hopefully i have that longevity i've longed for. >> that's michael vick ready to play this weekend. turning now to hockey. oly the goalie called it a career after 14 seasons in the nhl. he played 719 games. 7: 1 1 for the capitals.

the staff evaluating the final 36 players remaining in training camp. one of those guys played in two preseason games. aucoin spend last season with the bears where he was one of the top stores in the entire ahl last season. as for matt bradley, he says having the young players push the older guys preseason is critical. >> for everybody, whether it's veterans getng back to game shape or rookies trying to make, improve themselves makes for good hockey. i thought the young guys have been working hard and pushing the veterans. >> matt bradley and capitals in action tonight at verizon center. nationals and dodgers here tonight at nationals park. nats trying to avoid that 100

loss. highlights coming up at 11:00. >> thank you. >> coming up on news4, new setting for the hope diamond.

the stimulus bill set up federal funds to pay for an $8,000 tax credit to new home buyers, but the program could end sooner than real estate experts and home buyers would like. kimberly suiters has that story tonight. >> reporter: the fact it took

news4 ten minutes to find a for sale sign in this northwest neighborhood is a low tech indicator the d.c. housing market is heating up. low interest rates are inspiring home buyers. so is an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers and those who haven't bought for three years. they make up about 30% of lela's clients. >> i think it's been an incentive to get new buyers off the fence. >> reporter: the program ends by december 1 this year, but with tighter lending guidelines and new waiting periods, time is running out. >> realistically the deadline is not december 1st. the deadline for the buyer to identify property is probably the next, i would say, 15 days to 20 days. >> reporter: there is real assistance to stretching that deadline. estimates are it will cost $15 billion to keep it around another six months. >> deficit hawks are against doing that. they feel what's going to happen

is it's going to add trillions more to the deficit. >> reporter: a brief sampling of commuters reveal opinions on both side. >> it could be quite dangerous and might stimulate people to take on debt they wouldn't otherwise take on. >> reporter: more than 1.4 million families have been helped out and untold numbers of businesses at the taxpayers' expense. >> these young couples buy a dishwasherr a can of paint from home depot and that multiplier effect is huge. then rolling into schools is a plus. >> reporter: the national association of realtors calculated the multiplier effect. with each home sale, 62,000 additional dollars are generated as new home buyers buy big-ticket items to spruce up their homes a lawns. the realtors say this tax credit should be extended because it is an investment that american

afford. kimberly suiters, news4. visitors to the smithsonian museum of natural history is seeing the hope blue diamond. it is usually in a platinum setting. it is