prison calls are on the rise for synthetic marijuana. now it's being sold very near a local college. a blunt talk of d.c. schools, but the mayor sden agree with the failing grades. the hottest state ever in los angeles. the temperatures soaring above

110. >> we start with our weather here. a flash flood watch is in effect. we've seen rainstorms and winds across the state today. what's next, doug? >> really not too much ght now. looking at shower activity over the last three hours. most of the activity to the east of the i- hi-95 correspond door. we've seen lake shore county and run dell county. but most to the right side of i-95. there is more rain to come. you can see the rain making its way up from the south. some of this rain overnight tonight will be heavy a times, most likely after the midnight hour, and that's why we do have that flash flood watch in effect for everybody through tomorrow morning. so as you're sending the kids off toward the school bus look for areas of rain, temperatures to 64 and 70 degrees as you make your way out tomorrow. it could be a very slow rush

hour so give yourself a lot of extra time. my full forecast coming up just a little later on. costs to a local poison center regarding synthetic marijuana have more than tripled in the last month. now there is a new store selling that product very near the university of ryland. craig milton is out now with more on this. craig? >> reporter: synthetic marijuana is becoming increasingly popular. it's easy to get but tey aren't talking openly about using t. tonight a woman didn't want to talk about selling t either. >> it's just a few feet from the main gates of university of maryland. when we arrived, a flyer advertising a new product called k-2, a synthetic marijuana that sells for somewhere from 30 to $45 a gram. we went inside to talk about its popularity. this is what happened next? >> i will destroy you. i told you to get out.

>> reporter: and we are out. ma'am, i wouldn't do that. ma'am. the cera was fine and so were we. no student would speak specifically on camera about using -2. some didn't see a problem with it being sold so close to campus. >> if it's legal, then i don't see a problem with it. it should be like smoking cigarettes. >> it's probably as bad as smoking cigarettes, to be honest. >> not so, says the national capitol poison control center. >> we educate teens about liquor, at least. when you put a store like that, there is nobody telling them what k-2 is. >> clancy says k-2 has gotten dozens of control about the effects of k-2. the callers are agitated, paranoid, some have even had seizures. part othe problem is no one really knows what's in the

stuff. no one verifies the herbs listed or what chemical is being sprayed on the marijuana. what dr. clancy does know is it's become more popular. >> in august we had seven calls. that's just the tip of the iceberg because most of the time we don't hear about these cases. in september we had 2 calls. >> for now it's legal in all but one state. nevertheless, the college port convenience store decided to stop advertising monday night. now, that store clerk did call the prince george's county police. he came out and calmed her down. he also told me while he was inside he spotted, quote, allegedlyrohibited drug paraphernalia. he asked her to remove it and also said he would file a report here tonight. >> i got the impression that woman did not want you anywhere around her store? was that a correct observation on my part? >> reporter: she was not happy about us being there, but i was

with a fellow who is a former marine, so we were okay. >> no problem. thap thanks, craig. d.c. councilchairman and presumptive future mayor jim gray is commenting onresident obama's comments. he appeared on "the "today" show" during special reports. he was asd by a viewer about communication in the district. >> i want to know if you know whether or not your children will get an elite education in a d.c. school in addition to the elite education they're getti right now? >> i'll be blunt. the answer is no. the public sdoochools are struggling. >> i do think we have some good

schools, both traditional schools and charter schools, and i think our daughters get a first-class education. >> president obama did say he thought there was some good schools across the country, and an effort to train 10,000 new math and science teachers. this is education week across all nbc platforms. to learn more about education nation and to read some personal stories from some local parents, we invite you to visit oureb site, nbcwashington.com. one minute a young woman was enjoying a night out with friends. the next she had to fight off a man who ambushed her on a dark sidewalk. the attack happened along 355 in rmantown, maryland this weekend in an area not so used to crime. jackie bensen is here with more. jacki >> reporter: jim, she flagged down cruisers and told the officer she had been raped. now police are warning women in the germantown neighborhood to be extra careful. the 21-year-old victim told

police she was walking alone early suspendnday morning o thi very dark stretch of route 55 just south of high point drive. >> we know she had been socializing with friends in germantown and it was her plan to walk to this 7-eleven to meet another friend. >> reporter: there is a sidewalk but streetlights are few and far between. >> she was attacked behind by an unknown male, grabbed her, took hernto the woods and sexually assaulted her. she did attempt to fight off her attacker. she did sustain minor injuries during that resistance. >> reporter: police say that after the attack, the woman, who does not live in germantow was able to get to the 7-eleven, a short distance away on professional drive, and call for help. the neighborhood enjoys a very low crime rate. women we spoke to were surprised by news of the assault. >> i work in this area, i live in this area, and it seems pretty safe to me. i think around some of the bus stops you have to be careful a little bit, but i think anywhere

you go, you should be careful. >> because it was so dark, the woman was not able to get a good look at her attacker. jim, back to you. >> thapnks, jackie. two of the country's largest low-re airlines will be merging and it could mean more flights to local airports. southwest plans to buy airtran in abillion-dollar deal. if it goes through, it will make more flights to logan national airport. passengers hope the new airline will keep southwest's popular bags fly free policy. >> it seems like most of the other airlines do charge, and southwest has always banked on that bags fly free, so we hope that continues. >> airtran stockholders ned to sign off on the agreement before it can happen. coming up tonight and in passion protest outside the white house, more than 100 people arrested.

levees and dikes break across the northwest as last week's rain becomes this week's problem. one of the most popular brands of ice cream will be getting a new look. not by choice, though. lindsay, what's coming up in sports? >> the nationals tried to stop the phillies fr celebrating on their field. their field. clinton portis with an injury four years ago, bob ehrlich got fired as governor of maryland. for good reason. rst, he protected tax loopholes for giant cable cable companies. then, he let utilities jk up our rates 72%. and for the last four years, he worked as a hired gun for big corporations, even a bank that took billions from a taxpayer funded bailout. ehrlich sides with corporate executives again and again and again tell bob ehrlich b banks and billionares don't need help. mile cde do.

more than 100 protestors were arrested outside the white hose tod. they were part of a large demonstration against mountaintop removal mining. they asked the president to ban what they believe is a relatively unsafe practice. mountaintop mining involves clearing forests and blowin holes in the earth to dispose of

coal. sometimes the debris is dumped in valleys and streams. >> a man was carged with murder in the deathf a baseball player. andrew gallo was charged with murdering nick adenhart in a drunk driving accident. e was killed just urs after his debut with the angels when gallo ran a red light. gallo's blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit. two others were also killed in thatcrash. juan deekay will have to wait three weeks to go to trial in the mder of chandra levy. a judge decided to postpone that trial. it was supposed to start next week. a defense witness will be clled upon to discuss why inmates agee to testify for prosecutors. juan deekay has pleaded not guilty to levy's murder.

her remains were found if a park a year later. he fell to his death while riding one. los angeles swept to the hottest temper building wind farms and expanding clean energy manufacturing.

but in america, gridlock has held us back. now, the senate can change that by passing a renewable electricity standard. it will spur development of clean energy and boost manufacturing in america, creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs. so we can make our own energy future - not just buy it from china. call your senators and urge them to pass a renewable electricity standard today.

there is a major offensive under way in afghanistan to kick the taliban out of its stronghold. it's known as operation dragon strike. u.s. troops are working with coalition and afghan forces in an effort to weaken the taliban there. military officials say they're closing in on the southe area around kandahar. it's in hopes of denying insurgents an escape route. in the meantime, taliban leaders are reaching out to the afghan government in an attempt to reconcile. but the taliban says it will not negotiate until foreign troops are out of thecountry. a british millnaire who owned the segway company died

after an apparent accident involng one of the scooters. jimmy hendelson bought segway late lastyear. police believe the segway somehow fell off a cliff and into the river. their investigation continues. torrential rains in the midwest have led to widespread flooding out there and now towns from the minnesotas to the dakotas are underwater. a levee broke in the town of po portage. some people therdid not heed the advice to evacuate ask they were stranded when rushing waters covered unend of the one road out of town. towns are cleeaning up as water levels begin to recede. >> los angeles hit the record books today. temperatures soared to 113

deegsz do degrees downtown. that makes it the hottest day in los angeles since recordkeeping began in 1877. residents looked for a beach or any patch of shade they could find. that makes our weather sound like a piece of cake. >> you know, last week it was us hitting 99 degrees, the latest we've hit a temperature like that this late in the year, and then you flip-flop it. they see very cool weather in los angeles. we now have the cool weather, they have the hot weather out there, and it looks like that pattern is going to stick around. they're going to stay hot, we're going to stay rather cool. look at this shot. a very co shot over the washington monument righnow. no, it is not the day after tomorrow. the day after tomorrow, by the way? wednesday, and i do expect to see more rain. out there right now temperaturewise, we are on the cool side, but you walk outside, it's fairly humid, so it does feel warm. and even though we hit 78 degrees today, it did feel warmer. we saw much-needed rainfall at

the airport today, about 2.9 inches at the airport officially, but somereas picking up 2.9 inches of rain. showing all rain off to the east and that's really where it's been over the last three hours. i-95 to the east. to the west not much rain at all and most of the rain has been on the light side, but it's all stll to come. it's in this area low pressure down here. see this little spin in the area of eastern tennessee, and it's continuing to pump moisture t of the gulf of mexico and that's why we still have more rain to go tonight and that's why we have that flash flood in effect through tomorrow morning. we will still see some areas of heavy rain between now and, say, 8:00 tomorrow. i do think as you're driving in tomorrow, you may need to slow down because we may see some flooded roadways in some location. 72 in culpepper and quantico

coming in at 72 degrees. there's that low pressure and rain associated with it. we may hear a few rumbles of thunder tonight. i'm not too concernedbout thunderstorm activity, but we could see some rain. the biggest threat will be that heavy rain. tomorrow the low pressure is out of here and i think we see some sunshine by late tomorrow afternoon. it's just on the breezy side late tomorrow with 15 to 20-mile-an-hour winds. by wedneay, rain moving back into the region as a tropical system moves up the coast. this, again, could produce a lot of rain? how much rain are we talking between now and thursday? with this big dip in the jet stream, this wind continuing to come up from the south, i think we'll see some areas where you even see two to three inches. maybe four irchlz nches ofain through the day on thursday. for tomorrow morning, scattered showers, wet roadws, 60 to 74 degrees. we'll rise up to about 80

degrees no most locations. early showers and afternoon clearing. it will become windy at times, d your four-day forecast, you want a high of 76 on wednesday. late-day showers and storms on thursday. friday drying out and look at the weekend only in the low to middle 60s. big changes from what we've been dealing with. >> the umbrella is going to stay soggy nor a ffor a few days. >> and you need the big one, t the little one. legal gambling begins in maryland. and in sports, [ mom ] my son ryan didn't know his voulez-vous from his frere jacques... [ speaking french ]

[ mom ] ...so he decided to study in paris. ♪ to see french mterpieces with his very own eyes. we even linked our citibank account to his so when his account ran low we just transferred funds. i just hope the language isn't a barrier. bonjour. [ mom ] my ryan can be very shy. [ male announcer ] from linked accounts to citi mobile we make it simple to manage your finances. what's your story? citibank can help you write it. we make it simple to manage your finances. right here in this neighborhood, i grew up learning strong families and hard work means opportunity.

and that starts with good schools. it's a tradition here in maryland-- and why in these tough times ve put education first. we've made record investments in our classoms... doubled the number of charter schools... and we've frozen college tuition for four years in a row. and it working. experts say we now have the number one schools in the nation. when it comes to expanding opportunity in every neighborhood, i know that we must do even better.

lindsay is ging to tell us the redskins have much to be desired in st. louis. >> where else would you like me to start, because that is vey, very true. even if steefven jackson wasn'tn the field, they couldn't get the dskins off the field. let me take you back to st. louis. in the first quarter of the game, clinton portis broke his longest run of the season, 27 yards against the rams 30th ranked rushing defense. at the end of the run, there was a move but it looks like he kind of gave up right there. mike shanahan said he was surprised by that move. clintonfinished the game by 44 yards. only had one carry in the second half. today shanahan revealed what clinton told him about why he went down at the end of that run. >> his right hand was botheri him, and he felt like he didn't have the -- he con secuuldn't s it and he felt like he wouldn't

have contact on that side. i asked him that same question and that' what he shared with me. poor decision to go with ryan more on first and second down and clinton on third down. we didn't have the ball that many times so it wasn't as obvious as it probably could have been, but we always determine the game depending on someone's health and how they're feeling and how you're observing from the sideline. >> so clinton with a hand injury there, but he is recovering. terrain had a big day. but hey, they got the eagles next, right? moving on to basketball. in 30 minutes, we will have midnight madness kicking off at george mason where the wizards will have their first practice, the first time coach arenas is back on the field with his team. he served a 50-game success pepgs. arenas with his new number 9

engineer seerks also sportag beard, posed for his picture for the upcoming seaso looking very, very subdued. he's oblige and is working with his teammates. he's taking a very serious approach to the game. he said when he talked to the media, you will no longer see the happy-go-lucky power forward. >> i'm very happy. the past me showed happiness on the ougtside. there is no need to do that anymore. now i can just play the game the right way and play with my passion, and that's what we need to focus on. i want to play someone who is smart on the court. that's what my job is, that's what my love is and that's the only time i need to smile now. >> i thought at this point in his career, i feel the attitude heas right now is a good

attitude. you know, i figure the new gil would be better right now, trying to stay focused and get this done, just be a player on the court. >> ready to see governor arenas just play ball. ryan zimmerman will not play agn because of an injured rib muscle. he saw his team shut out by the phillies who went on to clinch their fourth straight title. they had the champagne chilling, ready to go. john lannon charged with trying to stop the phillies. jays jayson werth chang that. holiday dominated tonight. he allowed just two hits and struck out danny espinoza. the phillies win their fourth straight national league title. the phillies shut out the nats

8-0 and there will be a lot of cleanup to do in the visitors' locker room

marilyn's first casinos now open in peyville. the hollywood casino comes after years of debate on whether to legalize slots in maryland. there are no tale games in hollywood but the are 1500 slot machines. they're expected to bring in $100 nil onin the next year. e next slots parlor to open will be near ocean city in december. ben and jerry's is dropping

the all natural claims in some of its products. the scientist contacted the ice cream maker about the labels. they claim they're not true. ben and jerry's will remove t all-natural label from ice eams and frozen yogurts that contain contain aa aa promise me low prices.

an stick to it. like seriously low prices. [ malannouncer ] at safeway, we made a promise of low prices. and we're keeping it. [ female announcer ] with club card specials like pork loin rib half, 99 cents a pou and campbell's select harvest soup only a $1 each. i need to know that when i'm here, the low prices will be too. monday, tuesday, everyday. i'm a big fan of everyy. [ male announcer ] and with thousds of everyday low prices, you'll save all over the store. [ female announcer ] low prices you can count on. at safeway, that's our promise. that's ingredients for life.

fourears ago, bob ehrlich got fired as governor of maryland. [ female announcer ] low prices you can count on. for good reason. first, he protected tax loopholes for giant cable cable companies. then, he let utilitiesack upou. and fothe last four years, he worked as a hired gun for big corporations, even a bank that took billions from a taxpayer funded bailout. ehrlich sis with corporate executives again and again and again tell bob ehrlich big banks and billionares don't need help. middle cde do. . a change at the top coming for the washington national opera. placido domingo says he will leave next year when his contract is up. he has served the opera since 1973.

he has helped track the most talented voices and works to washington. thepera board says the formal marriage may end but it hopes that statistical collaborations will continue. that's our broadcast for now. "the tonight show" is next. >> thanks for watching. we'll see you tomorrow. [ cheers and applause ] nbc-universel