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safety in the air, even more security checks on the ground. a court decision today will essentially finish "don't ask, don't tell." we'll hear from the man who led the challenge. what to expect tomorrow at casey anthony's sentencing and people are upset at pictures of the defense team celebrating. good evening. i'm jim vance. >> i'm doreen gentzler. we begin tonight with new details about the alleged misappropriation of city funds by one council member in the district, from hooters to a perfume store to cash withdrawals at a las vegas casino, the washington city paper published charges from a debit card in the name of team thomas, a nonprofit group run by harry thomas meant to introduce underprivileged kids to sports. here's a sampling of the charges from 2007 to 2009 that the city paper uncovered after a freedom of information request. $143 at hooters. $278 at jimmy buffett's

margaritaville in myrtle beach, nearly $600 at a hotel in little rock, arkansas, $150 at a steakhouse in the same city. the list goes on. these revelations follow the d.c. attorney general's civil lawsuit filed last month that alleged thomas used $300,000 in city money as a personal expense account. the attorney general listed 14 such examples in his complaint including money spent on an audi suv and golf outings to pebble beach and other courses. thomas has denied the accusations but has stepped down as the chairman of the economic development committee. he did not get back us to about this tonight. another warning tonight about a potential terror attack on airplanes. it shows terror groups are going to even greater length in an effort to beat airport security. craig melvin is at dulles international now with the impact on all the flyers on all

this. >> reporter: i talked to a federal security official tonight. he told me while there is some new intelligence about a possible technique, he wanted to make sure that folks knew there was no imminent or specific threat. nonetheless, they are ramping up security at international airports like dulles. u.s. officials say they have intercepted intelligence from yemen indicating al qaeda terrorists may attempt to surgically implant explosives or explosive components to carry out a suicide attack. >> we see this as the evolution of how they can try to defeat us to get around those layers of security we have now. >> reporter: a cell phone could be used to set off a bomb that's been implanted. the terrorist would inject a chemical detonator into a part of the body with a device that had been implanted. the wildly used full body scanners, it's being said are

not able to detect for explosives under the skin. people returning to the d.c. area wednesday night from overseas had not heard of the newest threat and were not overly concerned when we told them about it. >> it's not that i'm okay with the risk. but i don't know what we can do. we can't stop traveling and let it paralyze us in fear either. >> speaking as a physician, that sounds difficult. but, hey, who am i to argue with tsa? it seems unlikely, honestly. >> reporter: a former homeland security official admits carrying out such an attack would be tough. >> you don't know how the explosive would react in the body, how the impact would be affected because of the body and you don't know what effect it would have on the individual of it being in the body. there's not a whole of testing you can do in advance. >> reporter: officials think an attack involving a surgically implanted device would likely originate on a flight overseas bound for the united states. from dulles international, craig melvin, news 4.

there's a manhunt for a gunman involved in a violent confrontation on the bw parkway. he approached a speed camera and had a gun and a hammer. he smashed a window in the vehicle before he disappeared into the woods. that altercation and the search that followed shut down traffic in both directions for hours. many people were inconvenienced but no one was injured. a court ruling in san francisco today may forever end "don't ask, don't tell." a federal appeals court ordered the military to immediately halt its ban on openly gay members. and with the pent gan committed to repealing the rule, a court decision is unlikely. jackie bensen is live outside the pentagon with reaction. >> reporter: the decision by the ninth circuit court of appeals in san francisco is extremely significant.

the judicial ruling came in response to a motion brought by log cabin republicans, an influential group of gay gop members. art clark cooper is also a captain in the army reserve. >> this ruling did come as a surprise. we knew there was a ruling pending but log cabin republicans are attorneys, we weren't expecting a ruling today. happy it happened. and it does mean that at this point one could look at this as the final nail in the coffin on the arcane unconstitutional "don't ask, don't tell" statute. >> reporter: last year, the d.c.-based organization persuaded a lower court judge to declare unconstitutional the military's ban on openly gay service members. the government successfully appealed arguing the military needed time to figure out how to implement the change. the latest decision essentially means there's no more waiting and it applies to service members around the world. >> judge phillips at the time

said, no, we have service members around the world serving in peacekeeping operations as well as in conflicts in war zones like in afghanistan and iraq. >> reporter: reaction from people we talked to was positive. >> i feel that your sexuality has nothing to do with your capabilities of being able to fight in the military. >> your sexuality has nothing to do with you being in the military. if you want to serve and that's how you feel, i'm all for it. >> reporter: the military has already begun training on how to deal with the change. doreen, back to you. >> jackie bensen reporting tonight, thank you, jackie. in orlando, florida, tonight, plans are being made in case casey anthony is set free tomorrow. the maximum sentence she could receive for lying to investigators is four years. but she's already been in jail for three. and many believe she may walk free tomorrow. tonight, abc news interviewed one of the 12 jurors in the case. >> there wasn't enough

evidence -- there wasn't anything strong enough to say exactly -- i don't think anyone in america could tell us exactly how she died. if you put even just the 12 jurors in a piece of paper, write down how caylee died, we'd all be guessing. it doesn't feel good. it was a horrible decision to have to make. but i had to do it based on the saslaw. >> noted local defense attorney and former prosecutor rene sandler joins us to talk about all this. what's your take on this? >> i fully expect the judge to release miss anthony and set her free. she served about three years in jail and it's time to move on from this. >> a lot of death threats against casey anthony. is it going to be difficult to protect her if she walks? >> i do. i think this is unprecedented in terms of the reaction, similar to o.j. but even a bit different. i think it's going to be very, very difficult to secure her, her family and the community.

>> a lot of anger and frustration at that jury decision. but it demonstrates one more time, does it not, that jurors take their responsibilities very seriously? >> this case is what we want to happen in our system of justice. this is a case where the process worked. these jurors, by all accounts, took this matter very seriously. they deliberated, they did what their oaths required them to do. and we need to respect the process now. and we need to have integrity and respect for it. >> we've seen a lot of reaction to the jury's verdict. there's also been some reaction to the behavior of the defense team, the attorneys who defended casey anthony after the trial. talk about that a little bit. what do you think? >> well, it was a bit reminiscent of a sporting event. and i think it had no place in this case. we have to, as lawyers, have to always maintain the rules of professional conduct, ethics. again, we must always preserve the integrity of the process.

and some of the behaviors that we've seen just didn't do that. >> should say, the defense team was celebrating in full view of cameras and the public, celebrating the victory. >> right. i think a more discreet celebration privately would have been more appropriate. >> rene sandler, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. coming up tonight, more treble on metro escalators as the evening commute grinds to a halt because of flip-flops. and the roger clemens perjury trial begins in d.c. as the prosecution and defense reveal a high-profile list of witnesses. a guy walked into an art gallery empty-handed. next, he came out with $200,000 picasso under his arm. our chances for rain are going to be on the increase tomorrow. and again on friday. but what does that mean for the weekend?

there were more problems for metro riders tonight. escalators have been causing problems for the last two days at the foggy bottom station. at one point, all three of the escalators there were out. maintenance staff found several flip-flops and sandals inside the escalators. there was a line of people waiting to walk down into the station. riders say this is not a new problem. >> it's pretty annoying. i'm not happy about it.

i feel as though something's always broken when we get down here. it's just about time they put in a fix. >> metro says escalator maintenance schedules are updated daily online at metroforward.com. vincent gray is in favor of building a dulles metro station above the ground. the washington metropolitan airport authority voted in april for an underground station. before today, mayor gray supported that plan. but the extra $300 million price tag changed his mind. the mayor says holding out for an underground station could derail the entire project. the loudoun county board of supervisors will not consider the action -- or the project, that is, now until july 19th. here in the district, jury selection is under way in the roger clemens perjury trial. clemens is accused of lying to congress in 2008 about performance-enhancing drugs. he testified then that he never used steroids or human growth

hormone during his 24 years as a major league pitcher. jury selection is expected to last into next week, possible witnesses in the case include barry bonds, sammy sosa, bud selig and joe torre. a first in the white house, it was interesting. >> a local woman who's just lost 100 pounds explains how she won the most famous eating contest in the world. doug's got the weather, too.

yellowstone national park reported its first deadly bear attack in 25 years. a man and his wife were hiking near canyon village this morning when the grizzly attacked. those nearby heard the wife's screams and called for help. the man died at the scene. rangers closed all trails and campsites in the area. facebook users now have the option to chat with their friends face to face. the social networking site announced that it's teaming up with skype. all you need is a camera. you see a friend online, you click a button and their face and voice appear live. if they're not there, you can leave a video message. the service will not be

available on cell phones, only on computers for now. president obama hosted a twitter town hall this afternoon at the white house. the president took questions from around the world on numerous topics including jobs and the economy. mr. obama answered the selected questions before an audience in the east room. a co-founder of twitter served as the moderator. and the president was not limited to 140 characters like the rest of us, as i understand it. >> no, whatever he wanted to do on that. >> that's the way it goes. so changes ahead? >> changes ahead for us, as far as the rain is concerned. but have you guys ever heard or seen a haboob? >> yeah. >> in real life? >> no. >> this is for you. this is an amazing phenomenon. what this is is a sandstorm. it's called a haboob. this is a time-lapsed video of what happened in phoenix yesterday.

an amazing sandstorm covering the entire city in sand. a lot of people had to clean out their pools and their cars off today. phenomenal video. that happens when a thunderstorm just completely dies. the air is then sent out and that is what you get in arid regions of the world. 86, the high temperature for us today. nowhere near that 110 that phoenix is supposed to see tomorrow. we've been on the dry side. but i think our chances are going to be bond market coming up. we saw less than .10 inches rain today. chances of rain tomorrow into friday. 78 degrees right now. heat index at 82 degrees with the dew point at 72. still very warm and humid. that's going to be the trend over the next few days. 79 in hagerstown. 73 in culpepper. leonardtown, 73 degrees. not going to see any rain

overnight tonight. a slight chance of a shower or two as the frontal boundary to our north begins to make its way down to the south. a couple of showers trying to make their way toward western maryland. that's about it. but these two front, one to our south, another to our north, those will provide a focal point tomorrow to give us the shower and thunderstorm opportunity. i'm not looking for a lot in the way of severe weather. but any thunderstorms that do develop could produce very heavy downpours for a time period. so we could be seeing some localized flooding. very warm and humid conditions remain. as the front lingers, an area of low pressure moves along. on friday, depending on where that area of low pressure moves and develops, friday could be a fairly wet day for some of us. not everybody is going to be getting wet. tomorrow morning, mostly sunnily clear, warm and humid. 67 to about 74 degrees. there could be a few areas of fog in those fog-prone areas. tomorrow afternoon, partly sunny, hot and humid. scattered thunderstorms lightly.

87 to 92 degrees. i think we'll see a temperature near 91 degrees. friday, 84 degrees with more cloud cover. and a better chance of rain. right now, the weekend looking very good. highs in the upper 80s to around 90. the weekend looking dry. we warm up again as we make our way into next week. >> we're getting used to it. >> you have to. >> thank you, doug. still ahead tonight, it wasn't your average birthday party at the verizon center. and in sports, don't you know the nationals just love those on

those nationals make it interesting, don't they?

>> late-inning drama. make you brite your nails a little bit. if the nats lost tonight, we'd be talking about how they left 11 runners on base. . but we're not going to talk about that because the nats found another way to win. since june 1st, washington is 13-3 in one-run games. let's go to the ballpark. check out the presidents. they're campaigning for michael morse to go to the all-star game. that's a pretty good approval rating right there. rookie danny espinoza, takes randy wells out and gone to right. and capitals coach bruce boudreau in the house. he loves baseball. espinoza has 16 home runs. ryan zimmerman up with a runner on. and he gets ahold of one. drives one to left for a two-run home run. his fourth of the season. nats take a 4-2 lead. but the cubs tie it up on a two-run home run by aramis ramirez. bottom seven, wood pitching to ramos.

ramos fouls it off. take another look. morse running on the play, ramos swinging away, apparently missed the sign. davey johnson said it was the first time he ever called a suicide squeeze. morse counting his blessings. davey calls the squeeze again. this time it works. the bunt goes down and morse reaches home plate. michael morse said after the game, i almost got hit. thank the lord right there. top nine, nats still up by one. drew storen on to close it out. the pop-up to left for the final out. he earns his 22nd save and the nats win another one-run game. the nats improve their record to 45-43. the texas rangers beat the orioles 13-5 tonight. at the women's world cup p germany, it's down to the quarterfinals, the knockout stage. on sunday, the u.s. national

team plays powerhouse brazil. today, the u.s. lost to sweden. here's how it went down. u.s. coach coaching as her home country of sweden. 32n't minute, fisher takes it and the ball deflects off lapelvet. keeper doesn't have a chance. u.s. down 2-0 at halftime. ouch. 67th minute, same score, u.s. with a corner kick. lauren cheney. check out abbey wambach. the u.s. lose 2-1 to sweden. its first-ever loss in group play at the world cup. the u.s. will play brazil sunday at 11:30 in the quarterfinals. tennis now, castles counting

on venus here. venus charges and puts it away. so strong. williams wins and the castles cut the lead down to three. she and her partner, pays serving in the near court. if they get this point, they win the match. venus sa professional. gets professional right there. the castles come back to beat the freedoms 19-18. tomorrow night back in d.c., the castles will have her sister serena williams. the castles take on the boston lobsters. >> between pays and williams, there's a whole lot of doubles titles there. >> yes, there is, mr. vance. >> thanks. >> makes me hot just looking at it. up next, a thief reminding

the dalai lama celebrated his 76th birthday with thousands of people at the verizon center in downtown washington this morning. it was day one of an 11-day trip for the exiled spiritual leader. he spoke of world peace and nonviolence to followers visiting washington from all over the world. following the event, hundreds took to the street in unity waving tibetan and american flags. the police in san francisco are hoping this picture will lead them to the man who walked into an art gallery and stole a picasso. it's the 1965 drawing. it's worth several hundred thousand dollars. the security camera outside a pub down the street from the gallery caught this shot of a man. authorities believe the guy just walked into the gallery, snatched the drawing off the

-dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal. is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur?] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are those great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that c help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh. a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪

a woman from alexandria won this year's hot dog eating contest. sonya thomas is her name. only weighs 100 pounds but she ate 40 hot dogs in ten minutes on sunday. today, she explained her strategy. >> i don't know. i cannot reach 60 hot dogs in ten minutes, i don't think so. >> you practiced for speed? >> speed. >> not for capacity because you can hold a lot of food. >> yes about 18 or 19 pounds of food, i can hold it. >> good lord. that's our broadcast for now. >> don't try that at home. >> please. >> good night.