suited up and ready to go. we are now just 26 minutes from the final launch of the space shuttle "atlantis." good morning and welcome to "news 4 midday." i'm eun yang in for barbara harrison. it is friday, july 8th, 2011. we begin this morning with the weather. heavy rain is headed our way and there is concern about flooding today. meteorologist tom kierein joins us now with the latest on the forecast. tom, good morning. >> good morning, eun. we don't have any storms around us now and things are looking good for the launch. here's the latest radar across florida. and you can see that the storm

activity and the rain is on the gulf side of florida. not on the atlantic side. and as a result, they should be able to get the launch off, should not have any weather problems. right now, temperatures are warming up here. we are into the low to mid-80s throughout much of the region. 84 now at reagan national. and we've had a little sunshine in and out this morning, but overall now, it's gone quite cloudy throughout much of the region. and we will likely get some heavy downpours later. right now, getting some heavy rain moving into western west virginia. that's advancing to the east-northeast. that should be moving in to garrett county, allegheny county, western maryland over the next hour or so. expect some heavy downpours there. we've had some around the northern neck of virginia and the virginia tide water region, but that's beginning to dissipate now. but we do have a large area under a flash flood watch. all these counties in green across much of virginia, it includes the district and much of maryland and the eastern shore as well, for thunderstorms likely developing later this afternoon. there's a slight risk they would be severe with damaging winds,

but the main threat, i think, is heavy rain that may cause flooding. highs into the mid- and upper 80s. a look at tonight, we'll look at the weekend as well, and into next week in a couple of minutes, eun. >> we'll see you then, tom. thank you. the final countdown is underway for nasa's 30-year-old space shuttle program. here's a live look at shuttle "atlantis" on the launch pad. it is scheduled to lift off within minutes. nearly a million people have gathered around the space coast for the historic event. the crew of four astronauts suited up this morning, and they will carry more than 8,000 pounds of supplies to the international space shuttle. be sure to stay with us for the launch at 11:26 this morning. we will bring it to you live as it happens. and it's the end of an era not just down in florida, but right here in our area. thousands of workers will gather at the goddard space flight center in greenbelt to watch the final launch. megan mcgrath is live in greenbelt with more on this emotional day. a bittersweet day?

>> reporter: absolutely, it's a bittersweet day. there's a lot of excitement about this launch, but this launch also comes the end of the shuttle program. if you take a look here, we're in the main auditorium, and you can see all of the people who have gathered here. most of these folks are employees here with goddard, and many of them have worked on many, many of the missions here. 75% of the payloads, equipments and experience taken into space by the shuttles have come out of goddard. and the main communications hub is located here at goddard space flight center. and many of these people have worked very closely with the people at if various locations working with the shuttle on a number of different levels. and it's very emotional for them, the fact that this is going to be really the end of this program. earlier, we spoke to mike weiss. he's been involved since that very first shuttle launch, and he says this is a difficult day for him, a very sad day. >> many of us here who have

worked on almost every shuttle flight, you know, goddard has had payloads on 75% of the shuttle flights and we're on the 135th flight, so we've got a very intimate relationship, not only with the shuttles, but with the people, with the crews, with the whole shuttle family. so that part of it, it's bitter. it's sad to see it come to an end. >> reporter: and you can see that it's standing room only here in the outside toiauditori. they're getting briefed, getting presentations on exactly what's on board for this last mission. and then everyone will be eagerly awaiting that countdown to begin. the launch is supposed to take place at 11:26 this morning. as you've been hearing all day long, there are some issues with the weather, but everything is a go so far, and of course, everyone here crossing their fingers that it happens. eun, back to you. >> yep, an exciting day. megan mcgrath in greenbelt this morning. megan, thank you. and new today, the search for a carjacking suspect who led police on a wild chase through maryland and part of the district.

the actual carjacking happened in odunnton in anne arundel county at 2:20 this morning. two men held up another man at gunpoint and took off in his car. officers eventually caught up to the stolen vehicle and chased the suspects into the district. the suspects crashed in northeast d.c. and bailed out of the car. police caught one of them and they're still looking for the other. all the streets that were closed have reopened. and traffic is moving again on northbound lanes of the baltimore washington parkway after a deadly crash closed the major roadway. one person was killed and three others seriously hurt when the car they were in flew off the road and into the woods near route 197 in laurel. investigators are still piecing together what led up to that crash. a man is dead after he was hit by a car while changing a tire on the beltway. this accident stopped traffic on 495 in the beltsville area for nearly an hour yesterday. police say the man was struck just below the flyover ramp for i-95. that caused a chain reaction

crash. all together, five people were taken to the hospital, two of them were children. police aren't releasing any of their conditions. right now nine northeast d.c. residents are looking for some place to stay after a fire tore through their row homes early this morning. the fire torched two row houses at around 7:30 in the 100 block of 16th street northeast. news 4's melissa mollet is on the scene now with the latest. melissa, good morning. >> reporter: the fire starting inside one house and then quickly spreading to the house next door. everybody inside those houses saying they're extremely lucky. >> i never went to sleep the night before, because something was just telling me, don't go to sleep. >> reporter: instead, tiffany went downstairs to make breakfast for her sister, nephew, and 2-year-old son. >> i was in the back porch. i was cleaning everything up, and i heard this rumbling sound upstairs in my back room. i seen glass flying out the window, and i told my sister, don't go back upstairs, there's a fire upstairs.

>> reporter: fire was blazing in the room above the kitchen. frantic tiffany got everyone out, including an elderly aunt staying in the basement. she then ran to tell her fiance working down the street what happened. >> i came back over here, saw the house, saw the stuff on the walls, at that time, the fire department got here. >> reporter: the family has lived here for 30 years. within minutes, the fire had spread up into their roof, damaging part of neighbor chris brewer's second floor. >> you could hear, like, the glass next door being broken out and breaking out the windows. >> reporter: it took firefighters about ten minutes to knock the blaze down. windows now smashed out, the roof cut open for ventilation. furniture charred. >> always do have the danger, because thing are so close together, the fire extending from one place to another. >> reporter: still, tiffany and john say this was their lucky day. >> everybody feel lucky -- it's lucky when everybody can get out. that's luck. >> yeah, i was lucky. i was real lucky today. because i could have been in there asleep. i normally don't get up until 12:00.

>> reporter: at this point, fire investigators are saying they're still trying to determine exactly what sparked this blaze. in northwest washington, melissa mollet, news 4. the 1300 block of "u" street was closed early this morning when a fire broke out at a liquor store. fortunately, a fire station is located just a block away, so firefighters were table to get to the scene quickly. no one was hurt. investigators are now trying to figure out what caused the fire. new today, a judge set the trial date for the woman charged with killing her coworker in bethesda. brittany norwood is accused of killing jana murray at the lululemon store in march. norwood will stand trial october 24th. her defense attorney says he's open to a possible plea deal, but is preparing for a trial. police say she killed murray during a fight after murray found suspected stolen items in norwood's bag. police say norwood then tried to hide the murder by tying herself up and blaming the attack on two masked men. the store reopened last month. prince george's county plans

to place mobile speed cameras at more than 100 sites near county schools. that's according to the "washington examiner." the county can fine drivers $40 when they're caught speeding 12 miles per hour or more over the limit in school zones. officials say the program will generate about $7.5 million. and it will likely be up to maryland voters to decide whether the children of some illegal immigrants can pay in-state tuition for college. opponents of the maryland version of the dream act have enough signatures to force a referendum on the law. that referendum will probably end up on next november's ballot. "the washington times" is reporting that the dream act will be suspended until then. the dream act was passed this spring. it allows the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition if their parents can prove they pay state taxes. it is now 11:09, 82 degrees. coming up, we have breaking develops on the nfl lockout. the court ruling released less than an hour ago.

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welcome back to 11:12. we have breaking news in the nfl lockout. the eighth u.s. circuit court of appeals has thrown out a judge's order to lift the lockout. this is a huge victory for the league and its owners, as the court ruled that they were legally allowed to lock out the players. the two sides are still trying to hammer out a deal and there's word that a preliminary agreement could come as early as next week. the clock is ticking as the league's first preseason game is

scheduled for august 7th. new today, a disappointing jobs report for the month of june. the unemployment rate actually jumped to 9.2% after the labor department reported that just 18,000 jobs were created last month. and that's a far cry from the 120,000 jobs many economists expected to be generated. june also proved to be even weaker for job growth in may, when just 25,000 new jobs were created. president obama discussed the report just minutes ago. >> but our economy, as a whole, just isn't producing nearly enough jobs for everybody who's looking. we've always known that we'd have ups and todowns on our way back from this recession. and over the past few months, the economy's experienced some tough headwinds, from natural disasters to spikes in gas prices to state and local budget cuts that have cost tens of thousands of cops and firefighters and teachers their jobs. >> house speaker john boehner described the economic situation

in the u.s. as dire. he said we have a spending problem and we have a debt problem and we have a jobs problem. lawmakers will work through the weekend to try to hammer out a debt reduction solution now. president obama called the latest round of talks, quote, frank and constructive, but he said there's been no breakthrough. he says both sides are still far apart, but everyone agrees there will be political pain on both sides by the time an agreement is reached. lawmakers have until august 2nd to keep the government from defaulting on loans. the president will reconvene with lawmakers on sunday. tragedy in michigan as a man went on a shooting rampage, killing seven people before turning the gone on himself. it happened in grand rapids, which is in the western part of the state. a makeshift memorial has been set up at the scene of one of the shootings. police say roderick danceler shot four people in one home, then killed three others on the other side of town. he then took three people hostage inside an apartment, holding them for hours. police were trying to negotiate

with him and danceler released one hostage before turning the gun on himself. danceler was recently released from prison, but authorities do not know his motives for the shooting. casey anthony will walk out of jail a free woman in ten days. she was originally going to be released wednesday, but the orange county corrections department announced her release date was recalculated to sunday, july 17th. a judge sentenced her to four years in prison for lying about her daughter's disappearance. she was given credit for time served and good behavior. now there's a campaign underway to require parents to notify police immediately about their child's disappearance. supporters say it will be called caylee's law. well, bear alert now. black bears have been sighted in bethesda, montgomery county, and leesburg and loudoun county. check this out. cell phone video shows a young black bear devouring the seeds in a bird feeder in the backyard of a bethesda home. dave coleman took that video. he says the bear chewed holes in the feeder and drank the water

from the birdbath before knocking it over. he called the department of natural resources, but he wasn't too happy with their response. >> i was kind of shocked, and couldn't even think to get a shot of it, and it ran payooff it saw me, and i thought that was the end of it, and then ten minutes later, it came back. >> we'll see them this time of year, this is the time of year where the 2-year-old cubs, so last year's cubs, are being kicked out of the nest by mom and they're trying to find a place of their own. >> colvin says he'll keep an eye out on the deck to see if it comes back, and if it does, he'll push to have the bear move. how do you do that? shoo! >> we live in a heavily wooded area, so it's not surprising. we love our trees and do the bears. here around our region, we've had the humidity in place the last couple of days, and it is still so steamy. look at those heavy clouds

hanging over washington. look all the trees too. we have these clouds not producing any rain yet, but as we get into the afternoon hours, we'll likely get some heavy downpours. right now 83 at reagan national. dew point is a steamy 72. we have a wind coming out of the south, pumping in more humidity that's coming up off the gulf of mexico. speaking of the gulf of mexico, that's where the rain is falling, on the west side of florida right now. that's going to be good news for the launch, which is just a few minutes away. here is cape canaveral. and the launch site is pretty much rain free, although right now, closer in, there is one little shower here near cocoa beach. that's going to be tracking up right perhaps near the launch site, which is right in here. this is just a little shower. that may not be enough for them to stop the launch, but it does look like it is beginning to develop a little bit. so it's going to be a close call for the launch, which was just a few minutes away. it was supposed to be at 11:26 this morning. right now, as we look at our

radar, we don't have any storms here locally, but farther to our west and down to our south and east, we do have some of these storms around that are going to be with us here as we get into the afternoon hours. right now, it's in the low and mid-80s throughout most of the region, the eastern shore to the blue ridge. the blue ridge west, though, generally still in the 70s, and there is some heavy rain, now, coming into western west virginia, just about to come into western maryland. this large area of very heavy rain could be producing flooding, creeks and streams coming out of their banks. those will be passing to the north and east. meanwhile, we've had some diminishing showers passing through the lower part of the bay and the far lower eastern shore. now, all these counties in green under a flood watch from far southwestern virginia across most of virginia, including washington. most of maryland, eastern shore, north and east of us. this is for later today and all the way into tonight. all of this coming from a stalled front that's just to our north, along the pennsylvania border. this front is going to slowly drift down to the south as we

get into the afternoon hours. that should draw a lot of this rain, as well as developed rain, right on top of us, as we do get into the afternoon and evening. futurecast showing all that and all that color, those are the zones of potential heavy downpours. then we'll settle down as we get into saturday, we'll get some sunshine back. it will be a little less humid. as we get into sunday as well, no rain around, looks like a terrific summer pattern for the weekend, just a little bit less humid on sunday as well. so for the rest of friday afternoon, though, likely getting some heavy downpours, some thunder and lightning. only a slight risk that a storm would be severe with damaging winds. and then as we get into the evening hours after we peak in the upper 80s, we'll cool down. overnight tonight, scattered storms are possible until after midnight with just a slight risk they would produce any damaging winds. the main threat, though, is the flooding. we'll be near 80 early evening. then the mid-70s by midnight, then saturday and sunday, great weather for the weekend. a little bit less humid, highs near 90 each day. getting a little bit more humid monday and tuesday next week.

could get storms around tuesday. then wednesday and thursday, another drop in humidity in heat. a break coming next week with highs in the 80s and lower humidity and sunshine around on wednesday and thursday. that's the way it looks. all right, tom, thanks so much. still ahead on "news 4 midday," hospital dangers. why more mistakes are made during nothe month of july. and we are minutes away from the final launch of the space

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we are now just minutes away from the launch of the space shuttle "atlantis." it is the final flight of the 30-year shuttle program. an estimated 750,000 people are in cape canaveral. here's an nbc special report. >> announcer: this is an nbc news special report. "atlantis," the final flight. here's brian williams. >> we are coming on the air from new york. and as you'll see in a moment, florida. it is time to see what is, in effect, the end of the u.s. manned space program, as we've come to know it, with nasa firing rockets off into space with individuals on board. hundreds of individuals have made this trip now, going back to 1961. we have had 135 shuttle missions, hard to believe. and 30 other missions prior to this.

there are four astronauts on board. captain is known to his colleagues as fergie, chris ferguson, 49. doug hurley is the pilot. he's 44. marine corps colonel. mission specialist, sandra magnus is 46. and rex walheim is a retired air force colonel. looking well as they came out into the vehicle to go out to the pad this morning. just four of them because there's no shuttle rescue mission, should something happen to go get them. they would have to come back on a russian craft from the international space station. our launch is coming up in 2 1/2 minutes. you see the top of the apparatus come off. the solid rocket booster, there have been some questions for days now about the dicey weather conditions in south florida today. we have a special event here, and that is our own space veteran, jay barberie, 53 years

covering all of man's space flight for this country, this will be his 166th mission. and jay, take us down to 30 second, especially for what this day means to you. >> reporter: well, brian, it means the end of an era, as you said, but again, it's about the same as always. it's always the same excitement, you got souls on board, you want to make sure they get into orbit safely. and the launch team here has been performing as it's always performed. however, there are 6,700 people on this launch team, and after this mission, there'll be a thousand left. so it's getting down hairy here, a job situation, but they're flying like always and we're getting real close here, as george diller is in launch control. he's a veteran. and he will be taking us down to liftoff, brian. >> it is important to remember, jay, as you point out, that for a lot of the veterans, this is it. they walk away from the control

panel as commercial space flight takes over. >> that's true. it will probably be at least four years before we see astronauts leave this sand spit again. as you said, there have been 165 flights from cape canaveral. this will be 166. and we're getting real close here, with 40 seconds to go to launch. and i want to tell you this, brian, we're going to be climbing up toward your place, where you are. this will be going up the eastern seaboard from here to asbury park, new jersey, is where this will burn out in about 8 1/2 minutes. now let's let george diller take us through the rest of the countdown. >> go ahead. >> we need guys to go do the -- >> just went into a hold here at t-minus 31. in a hold here at t-minus 31. we're not going anywhere.

let's see what's going on. >> we're positioning camera 62 right now. >> okay. let us know as soon as 62 has swung over and you can verify. >> we should be hearing from george diller in a moment. any moment, that will tell us what happened here. they're holding at t-minus 31 seconds. >> -- has fully retracted. >> they were having trouble getting something retracted from the space shuttle itself. >> okay. and you can verify that it is fully retracted per the instructions that we're being -- correct? >> that's correct. >> they satisfied the requirements. i am go. >> okay. i copy. >> yes, sir, i heard all that and concur. press on. >> all right. very good. >> clear the hold, please? >> very good. >> and gls? do you have concurrence?

go? >> we've still got about four minutes to go in this window. >> jay, this was about checking to see whether the arm had retracted all the way? they were trying to swing cameras around to be sure. and we'll get our call here. >> all right, guys -- >> reporter: jay, waiting here, trying to get the count all the way back. got the cameras watching. 2 minutes and 16 seconds left before we have to launch. they're holding at t-minus 31 seconds. >> all right, very good. >> reporter: they say they're ready to go. >> we're going to go ahead and proceed. >> all right, all personnel, we'll pick up the clock momentarily. resume the clock on your mark. >> countdown clock will resume on my mark. three, two, one. >> reporter: we're counting. >> and off to "atlantis'" computer has occurred.

the booster nozzle steering check in work. >> 20. >> firing chain is armed. >> 15. >> go for main engine start. t minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five -- all three engines, up and burning. two, one, zero. and liftoff, the final liftoff of "atlantis" on the shoulders of the space shuttle, america will continue the dream. >> roger, roll, "atlantis". >> houston now -- >> she's climbing beautifully here. everything is on -- everything is on course. she's climbing beautifully. here is rob from mission control. >> 24 seconds into the flight, roll program complete, "atlantis" now heads down, wings

alignme alignment. 40 seconds in -- >> reporter: this onboard camera -- >> throttling back to 72% of rated performance in the bucket, reducing stress on the shuttle as it go transsonic for the final time. >> reporter: everything running perfectly. >> standing by for the throttle up call. >> reporter: she's programmed over, everything, she's head in up the eastern seaboard. stand by, daytona beach, here comes the farewell flight of "atlantis". >> "atlantis" go at tluhrottle , no action dpdt. >> the call from capcom -- >> reporter: our colleague, jim oberg. >> no action required. >> reporter: jim oldberg in mission control reporting she's now 46 miles off daytona, 17

miles high. >> 16 miles down rage from the kennedy space center, 1 minutes, 40 seconds into the flight. "atlantis" flexing its muscles one final time. "atlantis" traveling almost 2,600 miles an hour, 21 miles in altitude, 24 miles down range, standing by for solid rocket booster separation. >> reporter: this picture is from a camera on board the external fuel tank. there goes the solids. they are now separating. there they are. falling away. you can see them. >> a good solid rocket booster separation. guidance now converging. the main engine steering the shuttle on a pinpoint path to its preliminary orbit. 2 minutes, 20 seconds into the flight, "atlantis" 35 miles in altitude, 50 miles down rage. just passed daytona beach. >> system engines have ignited. "atlantis" kicking on its afterburners for 1 minutes, 23

seconds for the final phase of powered flight. >> reporter: perfect. >> "atlantis," two engine tal. >> reporter: that means they could get across the atlantic with two engines instead of the three they have on board. everything perfect now as "atlantis" climbs into orbit for the final mission of the space shuttle. everything right on target. you are looking at a picture of "atlantis," from a camera underneath the belly of the spacecraft, attached to the external fuel tank. it will take eight minutes and 24 seconds for it to get into space. it's riding now, everything is going perfectly. we seem to have lost the transmission from mission control by rob navius. don't know what's happened here, but we'll stay with it, keep you going up. here we are here. here we go.

here we pick up rob navius again. all right, everybody is on schedule right here. it should be coming up here shortly to what they call negative return. what that means is that they cannot return here to the space center. they would have to fly across the atlantic atlantic ocean to a landing site in spain if they had an emergency. okay, they are now off the coast of savannah already. they're 172 miles off the coast of savannah. they're 60 miles high. everything is going perfectly. i don't know why we've lost communications here with mission control -- >> however, "atlantis'" three engines performing perfectly. >> jay barberie, thank you for your call. what a moment to witness at what great speed and now well on its way into earth orbit. this is for everyone, of course, who piloted the x 1, the x-15.

guys with names like crossfield and sheffield and armstrong and aldrin and collins, the entire manned space program, from here on in, at least for a little while, the russians will be our ride into space. hard for a lot of veterans to believe in the era of commercial space flight will now be begin. but for now, this is 166 missions, again, hundreds of americans have hurdled into space. the last of the shuttle missions, this particular shuttle will be on display at the kennedy space center and tourists for years to come will look at this spacecraft that has flown so many miles in earth orbit. so successfully on their way, the last of the space flight missions, the last of the shuttle missions. there have been 135 of them heretofore. we'll have complete coverage

tonight on "nbc nightly news." and again, a special tip of the hat to jay barberie of our staff, 53 years covering america's manned space flight. i'm brian williams. nbc news, new york. >> -- shoulders of the space shuttle, america will continue the dream. >> houston now controlling the flight of "atlantis," the space shuttle spreads its wings one final time. >> and you've been watching an nbc special report on space shuttle "atlantis," lifting off into space. there was a slight delay, but at this point, mission control counted down tln"atlantis" withe words "america continues the dream," and it is right on target so far. we'll be back. 11:35. coming up on "news 4 midday," the tragic accident at a texas baseball game. players and fans still in shock

and right now on "news 4 midday," the space shuttle "atlantis" is on the way to the international space station. >> liftoff, the final liftoff of "atlantis" on the shoulders of the space shuttle, america will continue the dream. >> the shuttle took off just minutes ago in front of a huge crowd. it is the final flight of the 30-year space shuttle program. the crew of four astronauts is carrying more than 8,000 pounds of supplies on board for the space station. once "atlantis" returns to

earth, it will be another three years, possibly five or more, before astronauts blast off again from u.s. soil. this will be the 33rd flight for "atlantis" and the 135 shuttle mission overall. today, a tragic reminder of just how important it is to be careful while going for a ball at a baseball game. a fan in texas has died after falling out of the stands while trying to catch a ball. we have video of the incident, and we want to warn you that it may be difficult to watch. a fan tried to catch a ball toxed to him by texas ranger josh hamilton. he fell head first about 20 feet and landed on to concrete. paramedics rushed him to the hospital, where he died. as the british tabloid "news of the world" gets ready to shut down due to recent allegations of phone hacking, police say a former aide to prime minister david cameron has been arrested. cameron has promised a full investigation into the arrest. the latest allegations against

"news of the world" say the tabloid accessed voice mails on the phones of thousands of people, including members of the royal family, celebrities, and families of soldiers killed in iraq and afghanistan. police are investigating a list of possibly 4,000 victims. the tabloid's last edition will go out on sunday. the paper was open for more than 150 years. 11:40 right now. let's get another check on the forecast with meteorologist tom kierein. tom, that liftoff looked beautiful, huh? >> yeah, really, really stunning. and fortunately, they did just dodge the showers and storms that were on the other side of florida, on the gulf side, so they were able to get the launch off on time. here, we have had heavy showers and heavy downpours passing south and east of washington, west and north of us. and on the radar, way off in western virginia, there's an area of heavy rain along with thunder and lightning now that's just about to come into the panhandle of west virginia and western maryland. that is advancing off to the east. and we have locally, though, just some low clouds that are hanging in.

and those clouds are looking rather ominous now. they may begin to start producing some rain here over the next couple of hours. right now we're in the low and mid-80s throughout much of the region. and that big area of rain coming in out of kentucky into west virginia and out of ohio and into pennsylvania, that is continuing to advance to the east and that's associated with a stalled front that's over the region. all these counties in green under a flash flood watch for this afternoon, all the way into tonight. it include most of virginia, the district, and most of maryland. so expect some heavy downpours later this afternoon and overnight tonight that may cause some flooding and thunder and lightning as well, and a small risk of some damaging winds. but then, less humid for the weekend. a bit less humid saturday and sunday with highs near 90. a little more humid monday and tuesday next week. and break from high humidity again on wednesday and thursday. eun? >> tom, thanks so much. still ahead on news 4 h midday, why july is a bad time to be admitted to the hospital. plus, the royal couple heads to southern california today. we'll tell you

hiring slowed to a near standstill last month. let's check in i know back's hampton pearson now for more. hampton, good morning. >> hello, eun. as a matter of fact, as soon as i got my first look at those disappointing jobs numbers, i knew it was going to be a rough day for the markets, and right now the dow's down 117 points, the nasdaq off 33. the s&p down 16 points.

employers added just 18,000 new workers to their payrolls in june. the slowest job growth in nine months. economists were looking for about 125,000 new jobs. and headline unemployment rate went up to 9.2%, a six-month high. average hourly earnings actually decreased. the labor department revised the jobs rural route for the last two months. 44,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported. traders have been rushing to the relative safety of government bonds, increased demand for bonds moved the yield on the ten-year treasury note. it fell to 3.04% from 3.19. and that weak jobs report shattering market expectations the economy is rebounding off the so-called soft patch in the spring. next week, we do get the first wave of second quarter earnings reports, and federal reserve chairman ben bernanke reports to congress on the economy and monetary policy. and boy, will he get a lot of questions. eun? back to you. >> hampton pearson, hampton, thanks so much. have a great weekend. >> you too. >> thanks. a health warning this

morning. new studies indicate that being admitted to the hospital in july may increase the duration of a patient's stay in the hospital, and increase a patient's risk of death. a study by researchers from the university of san diego found that during the month of july, there is a 10% increase of lethal medication errors at teaching hospitals. dr. steven hopping joins me now this morning to talk more about this problem. good morning. this is alarming. >> hi, eun. >> hi, nice to see you. this is alarming. why is there this increase in mistakes at teaching hospitals for the month of july? >> well, i think this has been suspected all along. this study is very interesting. i mean, we have great teaching hospitals here in washington and they've saving lives every day, but studies have shown that during the month of july, when students now become residents, they're responsible to nurses, to handling emergencies, to making decisions, to writing orders, there's an extra 10% of fatalities in teaching hospitals the month of july. >> and that's the whole point, it's at teaching hospitals.

we want to support teaching hospitals, though, so what do you do? you don't want to say, we don't want to go there because the residents have to learn. those are the ones that eventually become your doctors and your surgeons. >> many time it's the middle of the night, the nurse's station calls, they have a problem with a patient, they're the first line of defense or of health for patients. so it's an interesting study. we don't want to scare people from going to teaching hospitals, because we have the best teaching hospitals in the country in this area, baa the consumer needs to be aware that july is a time that there are new doctors there and inexperienced physicians. >> just some of the teaching hospitals in our area, georgetown university hospital -- >> georgetown, george washington, the military hospital, howard university, and recently johnson hopkins just bought suburban and sibley. i don't know if they're going to send residents there, but we have a lot of teaching institutions here. >> and they're great

institutions, for sure. let's give some advice to patients when they are being admitted to teaching hospitals, especially in the month of july. what are some things we should be looking out for? >> well, try to avoid having elective surgeries at these teaching institutions in july. let people get their water ring, so to speak. there is a learning curve to being a doctor and to making decisions. let people know what you're allergic to before a nurse or a young daughter administers to you. these kind of errors happen all the time. there's something like 100,000 fatalities a year in hospitals from medication errors, and it's 10% worse in july. let people know. have somebody advocate for you in a hospital, family member, or be your own advocate. be very knowledgeable about what you're receiving. wash your hands with gel or, again, hospital-acquired infections, 31,000 deaths a yea infections. you can help by washing your hands and making sure your caregivers are doing the same.

let people know if you're having elective surgery, is it your right knee or left knee? put a big "x." errors have happened where we've operated on the wrong limb. this is important. finally, these people are human, they're trying to do their best. be courteous, be respectful, and they will do the best for you. >> is there a way with when you go and you're a little worried about whether or not a rsesiden or a student is coming in and say, listen, can i speak to somebody else, without saying, i want to see the real doctor. >> if you're really uncomfortable with the care you're getting, it's true, talk to your attending or talk to the nursing supervisor and say, look, i'm not comfortable and i would like someone else involved in my care. >> all right. dr. steven hoping, thanks so much for joining us. coming up, meteorologist tom kierein

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welcome back. the duke and duchess are on their way to california today, but not before kate made a little girl's royal dreams come true in calgary. 6-year-old cancer patient diamond marshall wrote a letter to the children's wish foundation, expressing her desire to meet the princess and give her flowers, and she got a little more than that, kate greeted the little girl with two big hugs, which reportedly made diamond's day.

very, very sweet and touching. now to the lighter side of news, tommy mcfly is here with us with our friday wrap-up. we're talking about the royal visit, let's start there. prince william and the new bride, kate middleton will be attending this big event on saturday with a bunch of a-list celebrities, nicole kidman, kristin chenoweth, just to name a few. who's going to be more star struck, the celebs or the royal couple? >> celebs, i think, get really freaked out about people who are as famous or differently famous than them. i think you're going to have some autograph swapping on both sides. >> very fun. and who else do you think they want to see? >> i think anyone they would want to see is there. >> are going to be there. okay. >> maybe oprah. who doesn't want to see oprah? they come across the pond, they're like, where's oprah? >> this week, you asked about the best breakup jams. i had to reach deep in my memory and i couldn't even think of

any. >> you don't have one? >> i'll come back to you. let's check out your list. you had a lot of responses. >> the top five i love, pink, "so what," a great empowering, i'm over you. in the music video, she drives a tractor down the street and beats up the boyfriend. it's very pink. and david cook's new song, "the last good-bye," which is on his cd that just came out this morning. it's kind of like, if you hear this on the radio, he's so over the girl he wrote a song about and put it on the radio. that's how he let her know it was over. and this kind of snagged me, keith urban, "you'll think of me." that was my song, and we brought it own the air. i was like, keith urban, "you'll think of me," thinking we were going to have an emotional moment together, and they laugh at me. they're like, you are such a -- what?! really? >> you're a sensitive man, that's all right. this next one, i love this one w, because it came from one of our own. >> i put it on twitter, what's

your breakup jam, and craig melvin tweets to me, boyz ii men, "end of the road." ♪ we belong together >> i love this song. this is a great choice. i love boyz ii men. i guess that's more my generation. i'm surprised craig's old enough to know boyz ii men. >> everybody goes, oh, craig melvin. >> he's a sensitive guy. >> and the last song? >> sugarland's "stay," which surprises me, because that song's about the other woman. it starts out being like, why don't you stay with me, and then by the end of it, she's like, why don't you stay there. >> there's a lot of other women in washington, huh. >> i'm not sure if i like that. finally, a youtube video getting a lot of attention. this is a lot of fun. >> this came out in april, it's not brand-new, but it resurfaced. 3 1/2 million views on marines rocking out to britney.

♪ hey, over there >> and it says that it came from somewhere deep in afghanistan. >> i love it. but you know, they're fighting a war, they've got it tough out there, why not have a little fun. >> you remember a year ago, a bunch of army guys did lady gaga's "telephone." i think it reminds us that these guys and girls are still over there. it's a fun way to bring up that our service men skbem are still serving over there. >> hats off to them and you. thank you, tommy. let's take a look at some of the stories we're working on for news 4 this afternoon. hi, pat. >> hi, barbara -- i'm sorry, eun! so used to saying, barbara. eun. coming up at 4:00, thousands of workers watched the shuttle liftoff of the goddard space shuttle in greenbelt. we'll have reaction to the final flight coming up on news 4 at 4:00, and we'll have a live report from florida. then at 5:00 this afternoon, bad botox. many people have come to rely on the fillers to make them look younger, but how do you know if you're getting the real botox

deal? we'll have that story plus all the latest news and we'll tell you about the soggy start to our weekend. join us for news 4 starting at 4:00. o eun? >> thank you, pat. let's take a live look outside. tom, what is going on out there? kind of soggy? >> those clouds looking pretty dark and ominous, but not producing any rain yet. the regional radar picking up heavy downpours, coming into the mountains of west virginia. those are moving off to the east, and there are some heavy downpours that are continuing to advance into the panhandle of west virginia and into western maryland. but right around washington, we don't have any rain yet. temperatures are getting steamy and uncomfortably hot. we're already up into the mid-80s, throughout much of the region. ought to hit upper 80s, perhaps another hour or so. but the wider view showing a broad area of rain that stretches back down into coun kentucky. that too advancing east. a stalled front to our north that will drift down as well. all of these things coming together for a recipe of heavy rain with thunder and lightning this afternoon and tonight, all

the way past midnight. we could get heavy downpours enough that might cause some flooding. so watch out for that. if you're going to be out and about tonight. baa nice week to follow with lower humidity, saturday and sunday with the sunshine back. eun? >> tom, thanks so much. have a great weekend. that does it for us for "news 4 midday." thanks for joining us. tune in at 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00 later today for all the day's news. we'll see you monday morning bright and early, tom and i will be back. have a great day and a terrific weekend.