crews will begin preparations for trying to stabilize "discovery" and begin the process of unloading it from the 747. it is the view that had people's eyes on the sky. space shuttle "discovery" on the bask a boeing 747 as it entered the washington area before arriving at dulles international airport. >> what was so cool about it? >> the engines are very loud. >> reporter: nasa says that near 200,000 pound retired spacecraft made excellent time after leaving the kennedy space center in florida and the weather couldn't have been better. so "discovery" flew a few more victory laps than anticipated. >> we had a good tail wind. we had about 30, 40 knots of tail winds. >> reporter: important engineer henry taylor, it is one of hundreds of flights he made before. >> all in a day's work for you? >> it is what we do. >> reporter: "discovery" is the most flown spacecraft in history with 39 trips in 27 years.

two miles out from the terminal at dulles, 50 winners of a metropolitan washington airport authority contest looked on as history unfolded. >> i felt reilly humbled to be an american and see, you know, our -- our greatness. >> reporter: the initial process will begin later this evening. however, crews won't begin to actually take "discovery" off of the 747 until wednesday night. 8:00 p.m. and they will work until 8:00 a.m. using the two cranes. i'm told the wind factor may be an issue. then can't really take the "discovery" shuttle off of the 747 unless winds are at 10 knots or below. in order to make room for "discovery," the enterprise space shuttle will have to leave the smithsonian. the two will meet nose to nose for a photo-op unlike any other before enterprise is flown to new york and shipped by barge to the intrepid air and space museum next monday. nasa says that it is not the end

of an era and that its best days are still ahead. >> vehicles with names like o'ryan, dragon, dream chaser are being built today all across the country that will continue to expand on the space shuttle's many accomplishments. >> reporter: how exactly does "discovery" stay atop of that boeing 747? take a look. it looks like there are three massive prongs, if you will, that have been used to stabilize "discovery" and that's what a crew of about 60 people will be working on within the next two days. come thursday, a reminder, again, that the smith seasonian will -- smith seasonian will be closed for preparation for arrival. thursday the doors will be open at 1998 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. we are expecting a procession with about 26 of "discovery's" former astronauts coming in and ushering "discovery." we are live at the dulleser and

national airport america. >> "discovery" is the most flown spacecraft in history. completed 39 missions. 365 days in space. orbited the earth 9,000 times. traveled over 148 million miles. people in maryland, virginia, the district got the unique opportunity to watch the final flight for space shuttle "discovery." more on the excitement that rippled across this area in the next half hour. covering a developing story about a body pulled from the potomac river this afternoon. prince george's county police say that rescue boats found the body near the national harbor south of the wilson bridge around 2:00. there is no word yet on the victim's age or gender or cause of death. the investigators say there were no obvious signs of trauma to the victim's body. there was an elaborate rescue mission at a mulch plant in laurel, maryland, today. a worker got his legs trapped in a large piece of machinery. paramedics called a special group of surgeons and other medical staff to the scene and sedated the victim until the

machine was dismantled and he was eventually freed. the worker had some very serious injuries to his legs but he is expected to survive this accident. and an investigation under way into what sparked two fires in less than a week on metro buses. latest fire broke out this morning on route 50 in prince george's county. chris gordon is at -- live in d.c.'s penn quarter with more on why nearly 100 buss are now being taken out of service. chris? >> doreen, metro doesn't know why the two buses burned up in less than a week. metro says that they have the same model, diesel fuel date back to the year 2000. chopper 4 flew over the metro bus that caught fire this morning at route 50 near bowie. it was being operated by a metro mechanic who was testing the bus at the time of the fire broke out. there were no passengers onboard and no injuries. today's bus fire is the second in a week. last thursday night a motorist took these pictures with a cell phone. the same model bus and o'ryan 6

caught fire on route 66 in fairfax near the view anymetro station. a traffic camera shows it burning in the eastbound lane. again, no passengers onboard, no injuries. metro today decided to take all 94 of its o'ryan 6 model buses out of service. that reduces metro's fleet of 1492 buses by 6%. but for how long. >> we are going to let the process determine the timeline as opposed to the other way around. we don't know exactly how long these buses will be out of service just yet. but we won't put them whack in service until we understand the cause ask there is a fix in place. >> reporter: some metro bus riders are concerned whether the reduction in the number of buses will affect service. but they are more concerned about safety. >> you make -- some type of mechanical malfunction and safety of the people of the city they need to investigate that. >> reporter: in order to maintain service metro has a contingency plan. >> we are going to spend the

afternoon hours reconfiguring, rebalancing our bus fleet to ensure there are strategic buses, reserve buses, all moved into position and pressed into service so if everything goes according to plan, customers should not notice much of a difference at all. >> reporter: bus riders are hopeful metro can maintain its schedules with fewer buses. >> the ones that need to be taken out like the ones that are catching on fire, i don't think it will really inhibit the flow of passengers. i think it is -- a necessity. >> reporter: it appears to be a normal evening rush hour tonight. but it is too soon to tell if metro riders will encounter any delays as a result of metro's decision to take 94 buses off the street while it investigates the cause of the fire onboard. northwest washington, chris gordon, news4. teenager in prince george's county today pled guilty to

murder. burglary and theft. all involved in the death of his 92-year-old neighbor. prosecutors say that william fits admitted he stabbed thelma steele several times. it happened in steele's house in district heights last august. they say that he also went back to the house after he stabbed her and stole her credit cards. he was 15 years old at the time. he's now facing up to 60 years in prison. a judge will sentence him in september. man accused in so-called sex-t ro tion case is facing more charges tonight. federal authorities arrested richard finkbiner. he is accused of coercing a 14-year-old child from beltsville to fondle himself during a video chat. then he threatened to blackmail the teenager with the video. he allegedly did the same thing to another boy in michigan. he's now facing additional federal child pornography charges in that state.

he could get a maximum of life in prison if he is convicted. warren buffett informed his company shareholders today he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. he described it as early stage and says his condition is not life threatening. he and his doctor agreed on a would-month treatment plan that will begin in july. buffett is the ceo of berkshire hathaway and one of the world's wealthiest men. he is 81 years old. they call it the pig book let. annual list of government waste of tax dollars. it was released today. as americans filed their federal income taxes, lawmakers on capitol hill continue to grill executives with the general services administration for wasting money on trips and parties. brian mooar reports. >> reporter: as americans pay their due on this tax day 2012, officials from the general services administration are accounting for a scandalous

waste of tax dollars. >> i personally apologize to the american people as the agency head i am responsible. i will mourn for the rest of my life the loss of my appointment. >> reporter: former gsa administrator martha johnson got no similar path write and beneathder other officials 'they faced a second day of hearings. >> i hope had you a good breakfast because we are going to have a long time to go through these. >> reporter: resort trips, lavish parties, and even outright theft. >> we turned over every stone and every time we turned over a stone we found 50 more. >> reporter: the man at the center of the controversy, former gsa commissioner jeffrey neely, was a no-show. >> the only way we will get to see him is on a video in the hot tub. >> reporter: the gsa was under the microscope. spending watchdogs delivered their annual report on wasteful spending by congress. >> there are no earmarks for museums, theaters, opera houses, bridges to nowhere. >> reporter: thanks to a ban on pork barrel spending the pig

book was mercifully short this year. that doesn't mean washington pork isn't finding new ways to eat up your money. to give an idea where the gsa case is headed, the agency's party planner was urged to leave today's hearing to get an attorney. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. stocks way up today in their best gain. stocks ended near highs. the dow rallied 194 points. back above the 13,000 mark. nasdaq up 54 points. ended above 3,000. s&p 500 was up 21 points and about three-quarters of the s&p companies reported earnings that beat estimates. breaking news now in the battle over the budget. >> reporter: sunday democrats rejected the budget again here. just a few minutes ago, this is a -- process that's already into extra innings and the issue this time is dulles rail funding.

the two-year budget was first easily approved in the house this afternoon. but the budget derailed over in the senate side over the issue of added state funding for phase two of the silver line project. the senate budget originally included $450 million for phase two but when house and senate negotiators hammered out a compromise $300 million in a moment keep the dulles toll road rates in check, that money was stripped out. government mcdonnell said the money was no longer available. but democrats accused the governor of playing politics. they say he backed out of the funding to put pressure to drop a union labor incentive for phase two construction. here's how fairfax county state senator howell explained it. >> rail-to-dulles is going to be an economic bonanza because of the job growth that it is going to bring. the commonwealth is going to

greatly benefit from the this project. and yet, somehow there is no money available for it. and the entire project is at risk because of the failure of the welt to come forward. it is not a good position to be in. i'm sorry we are in this position. but we have to protect the toll pairs up in northern virginia. >> reporter: now the governor and republican lawmakers say schools and road projects will suffer as a result of the fact there is no two-year budget. they even warn of a partial government shutdown if some kind of compromise isn't reached. just yesterday, vdot told its contractors on road projects that they might have to suspend work within 60 days because there is no state budget. and as lawmakers debated in the senate this afternoon some offered the idea of perhaps coming to terms on a budget now and schedule something kind of special session to talk about that dulles rail money but right

now, everything is in limbo here in richmond. reporting live, julie carey. >> thank you, julie. well, we have all been focused on the space shuttle "discovery" coming overhead today. but nasa is sharing video of another air show now. we now know what happened to an american couple on a cruise ship that sank off the coast of italy. >> a home invasion on capitol hill came to a dramatic end. it came down to a grandma armed with a hobbyhorse. in california, drivers successfully beat a $400 traffic ticket. it is how he did it that's attracting a lot of attention. >> not bad weather. hey, we are talking about this. how much do you want? how much do you need? we are talking rainfall. would you still like it if it came during the weekend? we have the details coming up. let's head out to dan. >> reporter: we are talking hockey. capitals taking a step back. they could be without nick backstrom for game four. here at nationals park, the nats

[ male announcer ] this was how my day began.

a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us.

so, where to next? ♪ showered with compliments. new details about a secret service scandal. congress learned at least 20 women were involved. secret service director mark sullivan briefed the lawmakers on the incident today.

he said the agents and military officers took the women to that your hotel and that some of them admitted that they were prostitut prostitutes. that hotel was less an mile from where president obama stayed during house weekend visit in colombia. congress is concerned whether the women pose ad security threat because the agents had hard copies of the president's schedule. italian authorities have finally identified the bodies of two americans killed in january's cruise ship disaster. barbara and jair old hile on what their family calls a dream vacation. when the costa concordia capsizecapsiz capsized. >> it has been the longest waited for the families. the only american couple that fell victim of the tragic accident of the "costa concordia." the cruise liner that sunk off the coast of tuscany. their bodies were recovered lee weeks ago and took this long to

officially identify them. number of identified victims has risen now to 30 with two more to be found that will bring the death toll to 30 -- 32. the families have been informed and will clear their bodies so they can be taken back to their hometown of white bear lake in minnesota for a proper burial. in the meantime, the investigation of the real cause of the tragic accident is still ongoing with the main defendant still under house arrest in naples. also costa cruise's will announce final winner of the bids to remove the costa concordia. they are still seeking -- tilting off the coast of the island just in the same position as it 'twas day after it sank. it will still be there many months to come.

reminder of the day a holiday turned into tragedy. powerful earthquake that rocked chile was captured during a newscast in santiago. it those the news anchor grass ping the desk and reporting what happened. the 6.7 magnitude quake sent thousands running from their homes last night. there were no reports of major damage. but a 72-year-old man died after suffering a heart attack. take a look at this. nasa satellite captured this video yesterday afternoon. so-called solar prominence. it happens when plasma on the surface of the sun becomes unstable and bursts. nasa says such eruptions are often associated with solar flares. it did not happen on the side of the sun that face it is earth. it won't cause any radiation storms that can interfere with satellite or radio signals. then how do we get a picture of it if it is on the other side of the sun? >> we have these wraparound cameras. >> nasa can do anything. okay. >> can you imagine the energy

released? >> enormous. >> no. >> incredible. look at that. wow. >> gone is the energy from around here. it is going to be cooling way down tomorrow. it is going to feel more like march around here. >> how about rain, too? the wind that was kicking up the pollen today. >> i know. and it is going to get kind of messy, too. >> our cars will look messy tomorrow. it is going to be just enough rain to kind of take all that thick coat of pollen and make it look messy. so we are talking about a little bit of rain and talking about cooler temperatures for tomorrow. but the cool will affect more people than the rain. look at that sky. nice sky. right? earlier today we did have some clouds. it was -- partly sunny across the area. the clouds really helped to allow great photo taking of "discovery" for a lot of people. blocking the sun at times. so you wouldn't get that sun st your camera. this shot taken from daniel johnson of the shuttle "discovery." cool when it flew past a lot of

the monuments. today 77 is our high temperature. started out at 66. closer that low temperature to our average high. now tomorrow, we are going to be way cool. we are beg to be on the other side of that 66 degree mark. yearly rainfall deficit close to 5 inches and as far as rain coming up, yes, we are going to get about that much in the next 24 hours. 73, the temperature currently. wind out of the northwest at 12 miles per hour. it has been breezy today. but i have seen this wind settle down a little bit over the last hour. we are at 16 miles per hour now. gusts that are occurring throughout the area. we are at 66 degrees in leesburg. it is 73 degr-- 75 in annapolis. the radar is quiet and dry. storm 4 radar, you can see a slither of rain. just that. rain showers coming into the western side of west virginia.

thunderstorms making their way northeastward. just south of roanoke now. these have been moving through the western side of north carolina and more storms, too, down to the south. all this out ahead of the weather front that's moving eastbound. we will get out of it and maybe a tenth, perhaps even a water of an inch of rain. a few neighborhood just south of d.c. tomorrow. but then a bigger system for this weekend that will be pulling a lot of moisture out of the gulf of mexico. could give us more than an inch of rain, maybe even would inches of rain by the time we get to monday. that storm will be lasting a while, too. there is your front. clouds will just con streaming over the area tomorrow. we will stay on the cool side of this system. with highs upper 50s to around 60 degrees. rain chances mainly d.c., south, off to the west, northern neck, southern maryland. even by thursday morning, we still could have a few showers left around the a prior to sunrise. sunshine will get to the afternoon on thursday. it will be turning mild. so for your evening, we are 59

to 67 degrees. we will be cool so you will need a jacket if you are going to be stepping out in chilly for tomorrow morning. 46 to 52 degrees. our wind tomorrow is north to northeast. that is a cool wind for us around here. so showers, they will be light and not many. better chance of rain will be coming this weekend. 70 degrees, the high temperature on thursday. still warming up. friday is looking great. 76 degrees. couple of degrees above average, too, again. nice and mild and weekend right now is 40% chance of showers and thunderstorm. saturday, saturday night, and sunday, those storms could possibly bring severe weather to the area. warm day out weekend will be saturday and you may be able to squeeze a few outdoor things in. >> okay. >> not bad. >> thanks, veronica. called a cops to a kindergarten class and took the cops on a 6-year-old. >> a mother breaks her violence

and shares her regrets that changed her life. she has a lesson for all

that could be a costy rule as well. do in georgia, cops put

handcuffs on a 6-year-old little girl. she apparently will you a tantrum in class. officials say that the kid tore items off the wall, threw furniture around her classroom. she allegedly knocked over a shelf. the principal says he was injured when that happened. we don't know if the school called the parents but we know they called the cops. they put cuffs on the kid after they were unable to calm her down. they say that is standard policy. the child's family would like to see that policy changed. >> call the police, is that the first step? or can there be any other kind of intervention that can be taken to help that child. >> detainee to be transferred is to be handcuffed on the back. no age discrimination on that rule. >> apparently they charged that child with simple assault and property damage. a 37-year-old man is in 

police custody tonight after an unusual encounter during a home invasion this morning. his would-be victim took matters into her own hands. using an unorthodox method to scare him off. pat collins has that story from capitol hill. >> i held my hobbyhorse up and i said you aren't going, put the stuff down here, now. >> reporter: don't mess with grandma turton. this morning she used this hobbyhorse to fend off a robber who was trying to steal a bunch of her stuff. >> he grabbed my hair and pulled my neck, pulled my head over and shouted obscenities at me. and i -- we i recovered and said now, put the stuff down. and he did it another time and knocked me out of the way. >> reporter: about 15 months ago at this capitol hill home, 37-year-old ashley turton died in a bizarre car fire in the garage. she left behind three young

children. a 3-year-old girl and 5-year-old twin boys. enter grandma turton. she moves here to take care of the kids. and watch over them she does. today as she is getting them ready to go to school, one of the kids goes downstairs and comes running back up and says grandma, grandma, there's somebody in our house. >> i grabbed their hobbyhorse and i went down to see what was going on. and it was a man with armloads of our stuff. >> reporter: with hobbyhorse in hand, grandma turton chase it is robber outside. she begins shouting police, police. johnny on the spot. capitol police on the scene. they find the robber hiding behind a car. case closed. >> i learn ad big lesson today. you keep the doors locked no matter what and you are always with your children no matter what. >> reporter: don't mess with grandma turton.

on capitol hill, pat collins, news4. >> metro officials are trying to figure out what sparked would bus fires in less than a week. first one broke out last thursday in fairfax. then today another fire in a bus on route 50 near bowie. both buses were the same model prompting nearly 100 of them to be taken off the road. luckily no one was injured in either fire. the senate rejected the state budget. the democrats saying they are than standing their ground to get needed funding for the silver line to dulles. there is a possibility of a partial government shutdown. the current budget will expire in two months. president obama called for a crackdown on oil markets. he said speculators are driving up the price of gas. urged congress to take action. republicans say the president already has the tools to prevent the market from manipulation. they are blaming him for higher gas prices. it was a horrible crash a year ago.

the driver crashed and fled the scene leaving three friends dead or dying in a car. >> they were sentenced to 20 years in prison but now he's asking for that sentence to be reduced. darcy spencer spoke to the mother of one of the victims. >> i feel like i have aged 100 years. i have such a hole in my heart that will never be healed. >> reporter: carrie's son johnny was one of three passengers killed in a drunk driving crash one year ago. >> i will never be the same person that i was before i lost my son. >> reporter: hoover remembers coming home after a trup to find everyone there crying. everyone except her son, johnny. she knew something was wrong. >> i started to turn around and put my hands over my ears and i ran out the door and started to run away. because i did want to hear what they had to tell me. my sons grabbed me and pulled my hands away from my ears and told me. johnny was killed.

johnny was dead. >> reporter: hoover is sharing her experience for the first time. she appeared today at a mother's against drunk driving event at the national press club. experts say that 6,000 people lose their lives every year as a result of underaged drinking. and newly released information in the case 26% of the time parents are family members are buying the booze. the driver, 20-year-old kevin coffey, pleaded guilt dwroy three counts of vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison. after the crash he ran away. police say he was still intoxicated when he was tracked down three hours later. three judge panel on friday will consider coffey's request for a sentence reduction. he says it will unfair and vengeful. >> i think by reducing sends the wrong message about drunk driving, seriousness of it, and the running away part. >> reporter: hoover says the judicial process made it even

more difficult to move forward. >> we have to go through it all over again. i just -- i can't even believe it. >> reporter: darcy spencer, news4. >> debate is under way right now over whether to extend drinking hours in the district. jim graham is holding a public hearing to discuss mayor gray's proposal to push back the closing time for bars in the city. his plan would allow for an extra hour to serve alcohol from 2:00 to 3:00 in the morning on weekdays and from 3:00 to 4:00 in the morning on weekends. critics worry more time to drink will lead to more crime but others say the benefits would outweigh the costs. >> i know it is a really big, you know, economic opportunity for the neighborhood. bars and restaurants staying open later make more money. >> if somebody lives in this neighborhood it can be pretty loud late into the night and -- 4:00 seems late to have that kind of activity in residential neighborhood. >> reporter: extended hours

could generate $3 million to $5 million in extra revenue for the city. a huge fight that destroyed a barn in western montgomery county this afternoon. it happened in poolesville just off of whites ferry road. fire officials say that fire started sometime around 1:00 when firefighters started to put watt other the fire, the straw and hay inside the barn burst into flames. what was left of the barn was smouldering for hours. nobody injured. not yet clear what started that fire. people all over our area stopped what they were doing this morning and looked up just to catch a glimpse if they could of the space shuttle riding piggyback on top of a 747 on its final flight. the shuttle was taken to duffeles airport aboard a modified jumbo jet. before touching down it took a few low passes over the d.c. area. high flying salute to the nation's capital. shuttle circled the national cathedral here in northwest d.c.

it also flew by national harbor in prince george's county. jane watrel has more from the national mall, one of the many shuttle watching hotspots. >> reporter: in the shadow of the u.s. capitol the space shuttle "discovery" took a victory lap around the national mall. with an appreciative crowd drinking it all in. >> it is a blessing for me to be here right now. >> wonderful. needed to be there. and see that. it is wonderful, yes. >> thousands turned out if the heart of washington for "discovery's" final flyover. veteran of nasa's 30 year program. it launched in 1984. it is the first of three retired space shuttles to be put on display by a museum. the crowd couldn't get enough. >> phenomenal. i have never seen a shuttle up close before. to see one in flight. 747 air carrier the first. pretty cool. >> reporter: after leaving florida this morning, "discovery" arrived about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. as it made its final salute,

many came into the air and space museum to watch interest land at dulles airport. applauding as it touched down. to be on public display at the udvar-hazy museum. >> it is sort of amazing to actually see this live and experience it live. >> it is -- emotional in the sense that the shuttle program has ended but it is also amazing that "discovery" is coming here and will be able to be seen by millions of people that come through the air and space museum. >> reporter: once the shuttle makes its new home in northern virginia, it will be open to the public on friday. in northwest, jane watrel, news4. coming up a smart driver did his homework to get out of pay traffic ticket. >> google apologizing for leaving some of its customers completely out of touch. >> coming up in sports, the caps return home but the results not so sweet at all.

ball. accouu gmail users should be able to access accounts by now. that's what google says in response to a rare outage this afternoon. the number of people got error messages when they were trying to check their mail. thousands of messages posted to

twitter expressed outrage over the zblich. google apologized for the inconvenience and said that system remember lay built is a top priority. dimitri is a physicist from the you don't know of california. he got a traffic ticket for failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. he didn't pay the $400 ticket. instead he wrote a four-page paper and that paper explained why in his view the police officer's version of events defies the laws of physics. he says he was able to show that from the officer's vantage point it only looked like he didn't stop. >> therefore my argument in the court that what he saw could easily be confused by the angle of speed. therefore, what he saw did not reflect reality. >> did you hear that? it was not clear whether the judge got it either but he did

dismiss the ticket. >> who will argue with him? you can't understand him. >> like, okay, well, go ahead, you are free. >> get him out of here. >> what do you have down will? >> we are live in nationals park with the hottest team in washington, d.c. we are, of course, talking about the nationals. getting ready to take on the astros. in chicago, wizards bully the bulls. this doesn't happen

four. welcome back. we are talking about cooler temperatures for tomorrow. get your jacket red write. we are talking about a little bit of rain for tomorrow. we have a small chance of getting a few showers around the area. not everyone is going to get wet tomorrow within by the weekend, this weekend, we could get over an inch of rain. i think most of us are wet with rain likely. a bugger chance coming our way for the weekend. boy, we need it for april, may, june. and noaa most of the eastern half of the country equal chances of being above or below rainfall. the total rainfall for that time

period around nine inches. of course, we have that deficit for the we are so far at 5 inches. so already we are, you know, a lot behind. as far as temperatures go, for the same time period, april, may, june, it is still expected to be above average. we were very hot right on monday. temperature of 89 degrees. we are expected to see some cooler conditions for tomorrow. then right back up with the temperature. as far as rain goes now, will's nothing falling throughout the area. have you go all way in west virginia to the showers and tomorrow morning, we could see some light showers around the area. after sunrise 46 is where we start off tomorrow morning. 52 in d.c. 52 degrees in fredericksburg. then highs tomorrow only around 60. that will be several degrees below average. owe it is going to be cloudy and gray with just a little bit of rain tomorrow. better chance there for the weekend with high 75 to 63 on sunday. >> bring on some rain. thanks, veronica. >> thanks.

okay, dan. we got three local teens with which something interesting is happening on each one of them. where do you begin tonight? >> i think we have to start with the team that's playing the best right now. that would be the -- >> national. >> washington nationals. you hit it on the head. 8-3. these guys have the third best record in baseball and lead the division. second best record in the national league. they lost one, got back on the winning track last night. and then gonzalez will be on the hill making his second home start for the nats. the big offseason starting pitcher acquisition for this team. they are feeling very good about the season of the washington nationals and got help from just about everybody last night. strasburg was on the mound as they opened up this series against the houston astros. this was his home debut this season. cruising through the early innings. top four, the 0-2 pitch to martinez and goes down swinging. one of five ks in the game for strasburg. top six, nationals up 2-0. in trouble here with the bases loaded.

chris johnson sends one to the gap in right center, two runs come in. strasburg goes 6 innings and gives up six hits and two runs. bottom of the frame now, up with the bases juiced. 3 for 3 on the night. make it 4 for 4 at this point. he fights off that pitch. he comes two -- in comes to two runs. 13 hits. go on to win 6-2 and improve 208-3 on this young season. 4 for 5. career game for the rookie. >> it is -- really nice to come off if bench and do well because that -- every day player kind of gives it a little urgency every day players, get hurt or not -- lost my job. >> got to love it. such a great guy in the clubhouse.

all spring training, whole team loved him. he is quiet, keeps to himself. has a baseball background with his dad playing. unbelievable to see him come out here and not only get four hits but a couple of really big hits, drove in huge runs for us. i don't know. there's -- everyone on the team loves him. >> speaking of local guys, justin maxwell that played baseball sherwood high school in maryland, was in the nationals system a long, long time. actually played for the visiting astros. he was picked up recently. so going to be interesting to see if he gets some time tonight. all right. now to the other team that could be in trouble. we are talking about the capitals. they lose last night to the boston bruins in game three of their playoffs series. they could be without mick backstrom, their star center for game four. got a match penalty after cross checking a bruins player after the game was over last night, the -- caps might find out as late as tomorrow if he will be

suspended. caps now trail in that series 2-1 over the bruins. they have their work cut out for them from here on out. backstrom ending game two with a goal. involved in tend of this one. pick it up in the third. boston up 3-2. backstrom. doing the job here. beats tim thomas. we are tied at 3. great game for like who had three points in the game. under two to play. it is four-on-four hockey now. the best player on the bruins gets it past hope. take another look at this thing. off the stick and into the net. turns out to be the game-winner. boston wins 4-3. timex pyres, you can see nick backstrom with a cross check on rich peverly. dale hunter backing backstrom who feels like he was just defending himself.

>> i don't think he will be suspended. if -- if you slow it down frame by frame, where was his stick? it was up in his face first. if you watch it. just go back and -- rewatch it again where the stick is up in his face. because of his stick in his face, that -- the guy the stick up like that. and nicky reacted to it. it is dangerous play on their part. and especially for him because if you notice that -- every scrum nicky comes out with new helmet on. hit to the head by thomas. and the game before so he's protecting his head. he came off of 40 games. and -- you know. you have to protect your head. with his stick being in his face like that it is a dangerous play on his part. >> the capitals are going to need backstrom if they are going to win this series. a win happened last night for

the wizards in an unlikely scenario. one of the worst records in the nba beat the chicago bulls. a team with the best record in the nba. every now and then these wizards will surprise you and get another monster game from kevin from the french big man has been playing out of his mind lately. tough night for the bulls mascot. benny the bull comes off the zip line. takes out the ref and says come on, let me just give you a kiss on the head to fix that. second quarter, wizards up by four. chicago miss. wall. serafin for the dunk. 21 points. 13 rebounds in the game for serafin. his 11th straight game scoring in double figures. fourth quarter. carlos boozer miss's hook shot. rebound. finds john wall. john wall is going all the way to the other end before he finally hits james singleton for the dunk. wizards win 87-84. take you down the best team of the nba. next up for the wizards, bucks at home tomorrow.

and up find out the redskins schedule tonight. that in just a matter of minutes, the pre is going to release all those schedules. ht gotonig lookiy+c all right. finally i hope that davey johnson's press conference today not an indication of how the game is going to go tonight. take a look and listen to what happened during the press conference. right in the middle of it. >> my first one was 1966. you know -- >> may i have your attention, please. >> there has been a fire emergency reported in the building. please leave the building by the nearest exit. >> obviously not a real fire alarm there. but interesting to see the look on his face. we have actually experienced ♪

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what? thank you, dan. >> you're welcome. think2 one more look at the weather. you think without it help if we went out and did rain dance? >> yes, i do. it would be something to see. that will be coming up at 11:00. it is going to get a little nippy during the overnight for sure. 65 by 9:00. 62 at 11:00. into the upper 40s to low 50s by tomorrow morning. and we are talking about a little bit of rain. rain chances improving over the next couple of days. tomorrow just a little bit but important the weekend, much more. 60 degrees will be your high for tomorrow. 70 degrees on thursday. both thursday and friday real nice weather around here. then the weekend, yeah, well, it depends on how you want to define nice. we will get the rain that will help with the poll wren and rain that will -- around here. so your warm day for the weekend will be saturday, the high of

75. 63 on sunday. could even be looking at some thunderstorms, possibility of severe weather this weekend. >> plan your outside fun early. >> right. >> thanks, veronica. you know, this is one of those days, you know, you notice how really cool it is to live and be in the nation's capital. we want to leave you with a last look at the final thrilling flight of the "discovery." have a good night. >> this is a once in a lifetime event, the "discovery." we are not going to use it anymore. we are anxious to see it. >> stunning image. look at that. >> united states capitol. >> yes. this we never see planes flying over the mall because of restricted air space. >> feel like a kid coming out here to see this. something special and being retired. we are not going to see it fly anymore. wouldn't miss it. never got to see it take off but this is just as good. >> ands there it is again. i have just got to tell you that the reaction down here is you a amazing. >> it is an amazing thing to

witness. >> just a minimum or so away from

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