we are working on that. we are trying to get as many people back as we can. right now, pepco has crews from other states trying to help that happen. more than 100,000 people remain without power it morning. ntsb members are meeting and will release ninformation on wht caused last year's deadly metro accident. today, the pentagon is promising a robust vigs into the leak of afghanistan war secrets. "news 4 midday" begins right

now. good morning, everyone. welcome to nude 4 midday. i'm barbara harrison. it is tuesday, july 27th, 2010. utility crews continue to run into problems. this was a scene at old georgetown flowed win gait and bethesda. it was around 6:30. wires in the area began smoking forcing emergency crews to respond. just before eight, downed wires fought to fire at georgia and glen avenues in silver spring. it could take several more days to restore power to people around the washington area. they are reporting 130,000 people without power. bge is reporting just under 3,000 and dominion has just under 300 customers without power right now. pepco brought in extra crews to help restore power. they just wrapped up a news conference and talked about their target for getting electricity restored. news 4's megan mcgrath is live at the staging area in

gaithersburg and has details for us. good morning. they just wrapped that press conference up a short while ago. we now know they brought in 400 crews, 399 crews from other jurisdictions to help with the restoration effort and those crews are out there right now working with pepco crews to get the power back on in many areas that are still dark. now, in terms of when people will be restored, that, of course, is the big question. there are no hard estimates, not right now. there is a phone number, a hotline that will open up at 3:00 this afternoon. you can call that restoration line. you can call from your hard line phone from your home or you can type in your account number. that telephone line will give you an estimate on when your street will be restored. that number is 1-877-pepco 62. that hotline is going to go on line at 3:00 this afternoon. people will be able to call and get a specific estimate based upon their account number or location as to when they are

going too see the electricity turned back on. in the height of all of this, 301 customers were without power. as of a few hours ago, 180,000 had been restored. we are still with 131,000 customers who are in the dark at this time. they hope to make significant progress in the next 24 hours. however, they do say that some may still be without power until thursday, in some cases, perhaps into friday. people who have been without electricity since sunday, you can imagine, they are not very happy, not very comfortable. they are asking whether pepco acted fast enough, whether this he brought in enough help from other jurisdictions and if they did that quickly enough. residents eager to be restored. pepco says they have done everything that they can. it's been dark hallways. i live in a c ochl ndo. there are dark hallways getting to your car in the garage.

>> reporter: how much of a pain has this been? >> packing up my cats and getting to my sisters and bringing them back. >> with the travel time associated with crews coming in, there is a rest period that's needed. this is going to be a very long day for them, a long few days for them. it is really a safety issue fors. we brought those crews in as quickly as possible. we were already starting work. our crews were already working on the system. now, pepco officials say that they requested help from their partners in other jurisdictions within a half hour to an hour of realizing just how powerful this storm wasment they brought in 399 crews from other jurisdictions to help. they got up and running at around 7:30, 8:00 this morning. there is a phone number that you can call beginning at 3:00 this afternoon. that phone number, 1-877-pepco62. you have to call from a hard line phone from your house. if you are calling from a cell

phone, you can type in your account number. after 3:00, you can get an estimate as to when your particular street will be brought back up. they are working in 12-hour shifts out there. they had extra crews standing by in advance of this storm we are told. they did not realize how severe it was going to be. they didn't have their full complement standing by. when the damage estimates came in, they began to bring their crews in and have now asked for additional help from the surrounding jurisdictions. still 130,000 some people without power. >> at least it is not as hot as it was last week. thanks very much. let's take a look outside and see what it is look can like. those puffy white clouds out there. tom, what can we expect the rest of the week?

>> it gets hot in the afternoons when you don't have the a.c. and the temperature outside in the upper 80s. at this hour, just past 11:00, there is a view of our sky looking towards virginia in the distance. mostly cloudy over much of virginia to our south as there has been an increase in humidity there as well as an increase in the few showers that have been pushing off as far north as charlottesville. right now, it's 84 in washington. we are in the low and mid-80s in montgomery, arlington, fairfax and prince george's county. on the eastern shore, temperatures in the low to mid-80s there. out of the mountains, this morning, it was in the 50s. now, there it is in the 70s in western maryland and in much of west virginia. now, the dryer air that was with us yesterday and throughout much of the day is beginning to move off the atlantic seaboard. as it does, we have had increasing humidity and the circulation around that shifting our winds into the south and southeast will increase the humidity later today. already, we are getting a few

showers as far north as charlottesville. they may creep a little farther north and to the west of washington. a slight chance of isolated storm. otherwise, partly cloudy and highs near 90. a little more humid today and more tomorrow. we will look at the weekend coming up in just a few minutes. >> okay, tom. thanks very much. right now, a meeting on the final report of the deadliest metro crash underway. last june, nine people died in the red line accident. today, 13 months later, the national transportation safety board is expected to take a final vote on the probable cause of that crash. news 4's tracee wilkins is live in southwest and has more for us now. tracy rs good morning. >> good morning, barbara. i sat in on the first few hours of this meeting. let me tell you, very disturbing information coming out of this meeting. we have ntsb officials saying that for years, they have made recommendation to metro and asked them to change some procedures so that it could be a safer system and metro has

decided not to take on those recommendations. we are also hearing them talk about the train detection system that they believed caused this accident. they are saying that that train detection system was operating so poorly that they could not even run their test to see what was wrong with it without the malfunctioning causing all kinds of issues to do the test. this is the very same system that metro riders use every day. >> metro was on a collision course long before this accident. >> reporter: ntsb officials say that metro has embraced a culture that does not put its passengers safety first. that's what contributed to last year's deadly train crash. >> when safety is more important than schedules, their organizational culture can be a success. >> reporter: this video showed during today's hearings is a terrifying jild of what wept wrong on june 22nd, 2009 when

red line train struck. it failed first it showed that train 214 was not stopped and on the track when it was. secondly, it had train 112 move forward at full speed. by the time the operator saw the stopped train, she used the brake but it was only enough to slow the train. >> in a larger sense, the safety board's investigation revealed much more than the failure of a track circuit. the layers of safety deficiencies uncovered during the course of this investigation are troubling and reveal systemic breakdown of safety management at all levels. >> the family members of the deceased train operator watched at ntsb officials explained that over the years, metro's management has chosen not to imt ple implement. after 2004 crash atwoodly pa wok

showed that it could not sustain strong impact. >> the only question was when metro would have another accident and of what magnitude. >> reporter: shortly after this ntsb meeting began, metro sent out a press release to the media reminding them of all of the safety changes that have happened on metro since the 2009 crash, including the fact that they are now operating in manual mode. they have also put the older cars and sandwiched them in between newer cars on some of the lines as well. now, here, ntsb officials, were saying that that is no replacement for safety. doing that is not part of their recommendation. they don't believe that is actually going to help the situation. metro also included in their press release that as of last night, they have contracted to actually have some new trains built. they are looking at building a seri series 7000 train to replace the

other model. back to you in the studio, barbara. >> thank you, tracy. metro finally received federal approval to buy rail cars. they signed off on the plan to spend 886 million to buy 428 railcars from kawasaki railcar, incorporated. they ran into trouble with federal "buy america" rules. they would replace the cars involved in last year's deadly metro crash. let's talk to jerry and see how things are moving better than yesterday. good morning. good morning, everyone. better, far from perfect but much better than 24 hours ago out on the roadways. take a live look up around rockville, route 28, twin brook parkway. georgia avenue, 29. still have some sporadic outages. they are coming online. i just received the latest numbers. we are down to 120 traffic lights now that are out. that was compared to a high of

about 300 at one point right after the storm. progress is certainly being made. just be very careful. river road is one that we have to deal with between the district line in several spots and the capital beltway. let's go into the district and see how we are doing. new york avenue at first street northeast. there, the traffic lights are out. everybody appears to be treating it as a four-way stop as well, this he should. no big accidents to report at this hour. we have the proverbial construction out there. we will keep you updated on that. barbara? >> jerry, thank you. we are following a developing story in afghanistan. the body of a missing navy member has been recovered. the two navy sailors disappeared in the eastern province of logar after an armored sports utility vooep vehicle was seen driving into a taliban-held area. so far, six insurgents have been contain contained with regard to the

disappearance. the young soldier who could be behind the release of the 90,000 documents, the military has launched a very robust investigation. the prime suspect is 22-year-old army private first class bradley manning, already facing charges for leaking a classified video to wikileaks. they posted the documents sunday night which detailed the u.s. strategy in afghanistan, war targets and partners. the pentagon is still reading through the documents trying to assess the damage. our time right now is 13 minutes after 11:00. bp says their top priority remains sealing the blown oil well in the gulf. coming up, the latest on the company's change in leadership and a look at the new man in charge. plus, new information on how bad problems are in arlington national cemetery. the dirty details of a new report that may make you think twice about a trip to the concession stand at the verizon

center and how other local stadiums compare. stay with us. we'll be right back.

that gulf oil spill may soon make history again as enbattled bpceo, tony hayward makes an ex sit and robert dudley takes over

as the company tries to clean up an oil spill. leanne gregg has more. >> reporter: at the center of a firestorm, controversial ceo, tony hayward, is out as bp's ceo. stepping down in october to take a job with the company's joint venture in russia. his vehicle, rushed by cameras as he left company headquarters in london monday. >> tony hayward has become the wayward ceo and not a ceo who has legitimacy to leave. >> news of hayward's departure as bp announces the company's grim quarterly report. he had a series of blunders that caused a public relations disaster including this one. >> i want my life back. >> little sympathy about his firing among coastal residents whose way of life has been threatened. >> now he gets his life back. every time he opens his mouth, he shoves both feet in it. >> i wish him well in his retirement. i hope he will donate some of that money to the gulf coast.

>> reporter: more than three months aft disaster, a bp management shakeup as final preparations are underway to try and permanently seal the well possibly by mid-august, leanne gregg, nbc news. he will hand over his present duties to lamar mckay, who serves as president of bp america. we're learning this morning the number of mislabeled graves at arlington cemetery could be in the thousands. democratic senator, claire mccaskill and her subcommittee are investigating potential fraud in arlington. an army report found at least 211 discrepancies between burial maps and graves. that was limited to a small section of the cemetery. joe bide is taking some time to check out some of america's

beautiful parks. he visited yellow stone with his granddaughter, naomi yesterday. biden visited yellow stone yesterday with naomi and he said he has always wanted to have a look at parks out there. >> you can probably say in general that the park service has always had infrastructure issues. that's not just in yellowstone but throughout the system. >> this has multiple effects. it is not just a job project. it is things we should be doing anyway. vice president biden will head to the grand canyon today. what a nice place to be. >> how is the weather out there in the grand canyon? >> it gets cold at night. even in the summer, it can be down in the 40s at night. afternoon, 70s and low 80s. we have certainly had our run of

hot weather this summer. we have had two major heat waves, one in june and the extended one we had in july. those heat waves have taken their toll in human life. we have had 17 heat-related deaths in maryland, nine in virginia, one in the district of colombia. we will be adding to these numbers before the summer is out. as we look at our sky now, we don't have the excessive heat and humidity, although it has gun to creep back a little bit. in the distance is arlington and fairfax county way out there in the distance is tysons' corner. right now at national airport, 84 degrees. the long-range outlook for our region, september, october, calling for more warmer weather. temperatures around the reegion from the shenandoah valley out.

arlington and fairfax county and the dew points are creeping back up into the low and mid-60s. low and more humid here. it is going to start getting more humid there too and we'll have our winds gradually shifting into the east and southeast. we will tap some increased humidity. eastern shore, mid-80s, westerly maryland and west virginia in the 50s now. this increasing humidity is now creeping into virginia with an east/southeasterly flow. we have had one shower and a little bit of thunder just to the east of charlottesville as well. they are drifting off to the east as we have high pressure sitting right over us now. it is now beginning to drift off the atlantic seaboard. this high pressure going forward over the next 48 hours will move off and move off to the east. then, we will have this increased flow out of the south/southeast. we will have a front moving in from the midwest. along this front, late on wednesday and during the day on thursday, we will likely have

some thunderstorms developing, some of them unfortunately could be strong, similar to what we had on sunday. we will have a pretty strong front coming in on thursday. for today, this tuesday, we will have a partly cloudy afternoon, slight chance of an isolated thunderstorm as highs reach near 90. it will be turning more humid. we will be in the 70s by midnight. during the day on wednesday, it is going to be hot and humid. highs reaching the low 90s. for those who don't have power are going to be suffering tomorrow without the air-conditioning. wednesday night into thursday, an increased chance of showers and storms. unfortunately. hopefully, we won't have damage like we did on sunday but could have strong storms on thursday. lower humidity for friday and saturday. highs in the 80s. more humid sunday and monday with a small chance of a storm. that's the way it looks. >> thank you, tom. we will see you shortly. out to the roads, jerry.

let's head out and update folks and let you know what's going on. for the most part, we still have a lot of traffic lights that are out. everybody seems to be dealing with it. we have already pretty much learned to make it a four-way stop. road work, you can't escape it on the beltway. outer loop, on the approach, on the bridge span, inner loop, through oxen hill and across the bridge spans alexandria. let's head on over and check things out. bradley lane and connecticut avenue, no worries. traffic lights are working. however, a call went out for wires down on the roadway on bradley lane between connecticut avenue and wisconsin avenue. so authorities are heading over there to investigate that. we've seen that in a couple of spots. some fires this morning too. chopper 4 had pictures of fires when the lines were reenergized in some spots, they have caught fire. that's something that pepco has to deal with as well. just be mindful of that. barbara? >> thanks, jerry. we will see you too shortly. it's now 11:23 and still ahead

on "news 4 midday." it sounds downright disgusting. a new report that will have you think twice about grabbing a bite to eat when you head to the verizon center. from hip-hop star to president, what artist is considering a career in politics. >> will taking vit michbs and eating certain foods help you look younger. we will sit down with dr. cheryl burgess to talk about anti-aging nutritional supplements. first, here is a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com. imagine if it were this easy to spot the good guys.

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every single concession stand inside the ver izod center is in violation of health codes. they compiled a report. 100% of the vendors had some violation on record. that's the most out of any stadium in the country. mouse droppings were found in the food preparation areas of at least ten stands. capitals and wizards owner promises to remedy the situation. other stadiums faired better. at fedex fields, 36%. the two major baltimore stadiums proved to be among the best.

only 4% of ventors at m&t received violations. oils park at camden yards performed well with only 9% of violations. hughesic artist and human tear yik wi cliff john could add another title to his resume. the musician may run for a five-year term in haiti. wycl the 37-year-old was raised in brooklyn. if elected, he would serve a five-year term. >> our time right now, 11:28. coming up in the next half hour, we are going to have an update on the effort to restore power to thousands left in the dark today. stormy weather can cause serious stress for some people. we will look at how to overcome that anxiety. tom kiran will be back with

another return of the forecast. we will look at whether children with lice should be allowed to return to school. st "know the species, know the stain." lanolin-free coat, i know it's an alpaca. walks in here, looks says "hey look, it's a llama!" cleaning the stain like he would a llama stain. time he's wasting. ♪ call 1-800-steemer

the ntsb is meeting with trash investigators about a final report on last june's deadly metro crash. officials are expected to take a final vote on the probable cause of the red line accident and issue recommendations on how met metro can avoid a similar tragedy in the future. the crash killed nine people. >> utility crews continue run into problems this morning. a scene at old georgetown road and wingate drive in bethesda. wires kept smoking forcing emergency crews to respond. pepco brought in extra crews to help restore power. they say thursday is the target date to get everyone back on line. pepco is reporting nearly 130,000 people without power. bg and e is reporting just under

30. the power outages from the storm damage have become dangerous. one couple is recovering from carbon monoxide. it happened along the 11,300 block of buckaneer road in maryland. the couple is expected to be okay. fire officials say generators need to be operated at at least 25 feet from any enclosed structure. as power becomes restored, many people are asking if refrigerated or frozen food can still be safe to eat. if you kept the doors closed, the full freezer will stay at freezing temperatures for two days. a half-full freezer, about one day. if your frozen foods have gun to defrost, they are still safe if they have ice crystals on them or are still cold.

refrigerated food should be safe as long as the power is not out more than a few hours and the doors have been closed. the mangic number is 40 degrees. o food that warms above 40 degrees should be thrown out. all egg products, soft cheeses and cook foods. the experts say, when in doubt, throw it out. you can't rely on appearance or odor. it is the magic 40 degree murder that you have to remember. the only safe way to do that is to buy a food thermometer to check it. when the power first comes back on, test the temperature of the foods in your refrigerator and freezer. lower than 40, toss it all out. we are going to check in with tom about the weather out there and whether we can expect it to warm up. it is beginning to come back. it is still not terribly humid like it has been before the

storms on sunday. right now, looking off toward friendship heights in the foregrfor foreground. much of this region does not have power. in southern montgomery county, we have clouds that have moved into the region. it is partly sunny now. there is a small chance of an isolated storm developing later today. nothing like on sunday. it has turned more humid. 84 in washington, low and mid-80s in fairfax, arlington, prince george's and montgomery county. a few showers popping up and the increased humidity in southern virginia. they are drifting to the east/southeast and away from the metro area. a slight chance of an isolated storm popping up mainly west of interstate 95 this afternoon. tonight, into tomorrow, the humidity increases, highs, low 90s on wednesday. could get some storms on wednesday night. greater chance on thursday as the front moves in. friday and into the weekend, lower humidity returns with

lower temperatures as well. sunday and monday, a small chance of some storms. that's the way it looks. barbara? >> tom, thank you. summer storms can make many of us twoont run and hide. children and pets in particular may get anxious from the loud claps of thunder and the bright lightning strikes. dawn tim ameney has ways you ca calm their fears. >> reporter: thunder and lightning may usher in relief from steamy hot temperatures but they can give anything but relief for people that fear them. >> they seem to be getting more violent. people for good reasons have fear. >> reporter: dr. linda welsh specializes in phobias and says anyone can develop a fear of thunder, often related to the inability to control the environment. >> sometimes the anxiety and excitement feel the same.

although you think you may be feeling anxious, maybe you are just excited. >> you can help fearful children by being honest and realistic. >> pairing it up with something positive is a great idea. >> dogs can be moved by thunder and lightning too. >> this is potentially dangerous because -- >> i had a patient long ago now who jumped through a plate glass window twice with two different storms. >> reporter: dr. alana risener said, let the dog find a place he feels saechfe. distract him with food or a toy. dogs who are extremely anxious pay need medication. >> on the day of a storm, sometimes even getting a sedative of some kind. thousands of boy scouts from all over the country are making their way to fort a.p. hill in

virginia for the national scout year jamboree. this marks the 100th anniversary of america. they are trying to make this the safest one ever. the last jamboree in 2005 was marched by the death of four scout leaders that were killed when a dining tent collapsed. this year, they are trying to stay hydrated in what may be a very, very warm week. >> what's the most important thing to do when it is hot and humid? >> wear sunscreen and drink lots of water. >> there has been a lot of thought to making this the safest ever. >> over 35,000 scouts are expected to attend. let's take another look at our traffic. let's see what jerry has to tell us now. how is it looking? >> barbara, for the most part, not that bad. much better than 24 hours ago. we still have issues to deal with. the good news is, clearing up. had an accident on the capital

beltway, inner loop at greenbelt. over to the shoulder. between i-95 and kennel-worwort very sluggish. looks like folks to take your donation to head over the bridge to the eastern shore. good news. barbara? >> nathank you. happening today, a bill cracking down on stalking will be introduced on capitol hill. stalking victim and espn reporter, erin andrews, will help to promote the new legislation, focusing primarily on the growing issue of cyber stalking and stalking on networks. tracie potts reports. >> reporter: espn's erin andrews said she was angry whether this

stalker posted nude photos of her on the internet. she remains a victim of technology. her kram ccrime can never be ern line. she will push for an update that makes cyberstalking a federal crime. >> our laws are not as sophisticated as the crooks who are breaking them. >> when the violence against women was past in 1994, only one in seven americans used the internet. today, 3 out of 4 do. a quarter of all stalking cases happen online. the new law would make cyber stalking, like stalking on social networks a crime, up the penalties for stalking kids and create a database for cases and make it easier to prosecute. >> this will allow a person to be prosecuted even if the person who is being stalked is not aware of it. >> it's one area where democrats and republicans agree, if

criminals are in cyberspace, the law should be there too. >> every year in america, about 3.5 million adults become new victims of stalkers. usually, it is someone they know. tracie potts, nbc news, washington. lice has been a legitimate reason for kids to get out of school for years. they are saying no lice rules at school are necessary. they are saying keeping kids out of school is depriving them of valuable classroom time. the association's rulings show that lice really aren't dangerous but rather a gross inconvenience in the eyes of parents. >> scientifically, it makes perfect sense. by the time you find a nit, it has probably been there for a month. the realities of taking otherwise perfectly healthy kids out of a learning environment. since head lice don't transmit any disease at all, it is

probably an overreaction to the icky part of it. >> doctors say to keep your kids from sharing pillows, halts, combs, brushes to avoid contracting lice. >> our time is 11:42 now. still ahead on "news 4 midday" the dow has staged trim point advantages for three sessions. healthy and younger-looking skin,

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the dow boasting triple digit gains three days in a row so far. today would be the fourth. it is not looking likely. the latest consumer confidence reading fell for july. that's take the wind of the stocks for today. europe, mostly positive. dow and dupont reporting quarterly profits. the company raising its forecast for the year. so we started out the day pretty good. the s&p shows our home price index reveals that 19 of 20 cities saw that home prices increased in may, also a good thing. washington, d.c., prices up 1.5% for the month. like i said, not quite enough to tip us really, really into this positive range at least for the dow right now. bp reports a record quarterly loss, $17.5 billion as the company sets aside $32 billion to pay for the cost of the gulf oil spill.

that does include the $20 billion fund that bp set up to pay claims. bp confirming that embattled ceo, tony hayward, will step down in october. he is being reassigned to head up bp's joint venture in russia. bob dudley has been named the new ceo and is the first american ceo for the company. he hails from mississippi. nissan is recalling about 51,000 of its cube crossover vehicles. the recall is for models made between january of last year and this july. they will install a fix free of charge. make sure to get your car to them quickly. >> see you then. >> can nutritional supplements keep your skin young and healthy. dr. cheryl burgess joins us to help educate us on that.

mother mother always said, you are what you eat and you can make a difference. my mother used to say,we had to eat carrots for good sight and spinach for strength but for beautiful, what do you have to eat? >> well, for one, nothing replaces a balanced diet. so we usually tell people, try to eat what we're going to talk about but if you don't get enough, because usually, the world health organization looks at minimal daily requirements, not what is optimal. so what we're talking about today is more optimal where you are going to get some benefit. when we look at vitamins, you pretty much look at anti-objection day ti anti-oxidativ effects that you have. when the sun hits the skin, it causes the anti-aging process. it releases free radicals and causes cancer. these anti-oxidants, capture these oxidative processes and

reverses it or doesn't let it linger long in the skin or the body. >> so what supplements do we need to take? >> well, the anti-oxidants are your vitamin c, e, sell inyum, zinc, to name a few. as far as foods, you look at your blueberries, your r raspberries, pomegranates. >> if you do it on a consistent and daily basis, yes, you can see it will benefit you. there are supplements that are made that are blueberry extract or pomegranate. >> will taking the supplements or eating the blueberries fix what is wrong or do you want to

start young? >> it is better to be preventative than try to reverse. it is harder to erase the aging changes. that's why we advocate, eat a balance diet, take your vitamins. most people take vitamins incorrectly. they should take a vitamin with each meal. the vitamin actually poe ten shi eights the nutritional value of the meal. >> what about growth hormones, there is a lot of talk about that? >> it's only fda approved for children. children with growth issues. but some adults have gotten ahold of it and they are taking it to supplement the growth hormone that naturally declines as we age. there are some amino acids, arginene and ornothene that can support the sin they cease of our natural growth hormone.

we don't know if they cause cancer. that's the issue. >> my director was asking to ask you, does red wine help? >> the active ingredient is a polythenol. if you can get ahold of white tea, that's excellent. >> white tea, better than green tea and both better than wine, red wine? i don't know if he is serious about that question. >> it is true. it has been proven to be very effective. >> always great to see you, dr. cheryl burgess. we will see you next week. our time right now is 11:51. coming up, can you alter your dreams. plus, meteorologist, tom kierein, will be

"inception" is a complex thriller packing people into movie theaters has sold $144 million worth of tickets in the ten days since it first opened. chris jansing says the movie is sparking lots of conversation about its subject, our dreams. >> reporter: in "inception" leonardo dicaprio claims to have

the ability to invade others dreams. >> we bring the subject into that dream and they tell us their secrets. >> reporter: its a surprise blockbuster hit in spite of oi plot so complicated it is keeping people awake at night. >> i feel like i have to see it a few more times to understand it. >> i will see it a second time. i am going to see it today. >> reporter: it is now one of twitter's hottest topics. what does it all mean? with 25 years experience studying sleep, dr. russell rosenberg isn't surprised. >> at every cocktail party or family gathering, i get questions about dreams. being able to understand them is still not a perfect science. >> reporter: still, "inception" isn't all science fiction. >> the movie itself does demonstrate that people can have more control over their dreams. >> reporter: scientists call it lucid dreaming. sleep experts can teach you to be aware in the middle of a

dream that you are in a dream. training that includes looking for clues, things that would never happen in real life, for example, telling you that, however real things might look and feel in your dreams, they are not. that's as far as it goes. scientists don't foresee a leo-like ability to invade our dreams. >> it is whoenl only when we wa that we realize something is actually strange. >> reporter: the answer left in large part to moviemakers imaginations. jim hanley joins us with a preview of things to come. another busy day at 4:00 and 5:00, the latest at 4:00 on the power outages after pepco's 3:00 news conference. also ahead at 4:00, new concerns about the caffeine and labeling of energy drinks. then, tonight, on "news 4 at 5:00," living longer. it turns out your relationship

with your family and friends could increase your life span. we'll explain how. those stories, all the days' news and the latest on your forecast starting right here first at 4:00. back to you for now, barbara. we are going to get a final check on our forecast now. tom is here with that. humidity has increased a little bit. we are getting increasing clouds as welcoming in from the south. there is that little bit of haze in the air, the humidity is creeped up a bill. there is the jefferson memorial. to the right is the potomac river. to the left, the washington monument. the live view from our sky watcher camera. right now, 84 in washington. low and mid-80s elsewhere. over the last 12 hours, been watching showers creeping north out of the carolinas into southern virginia. had one shower near charlottesville that's now moving off to the east beginning to dissipate. we might have an isolated storm developing this afternoon. it is just a very slight chance of that. we will have highs around 90. then, tomorrow, it will be more humid, hi-lo 90s.

could get storms wednesday night, a greater chance on thursday and then friday. lower humidity moves in. temperatures cooler. that will linger into saturday. barbara? >> thank you, tom. that's news 4 midday. for today, we thank you for being with us and invite you to tune in for the daily connection. we have news at 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00. we'll see you tomorrow at 11:00. have a terrific day. stay cool if you can!