and now, from washington's leading news station, this is "news4 midday." good morning, everyone, and welcome to "news4 midday," i'm barbara harrison. it's wednesday, may 23rd. a d.c. man is fighting to help care for his wife recovering from a brutal beating. she's in the hospital and can't remember who attacked her. but police have acted as if her husband is a person of interest. news4's megan mcgrath joins us live in northwest washington with more on the story. megan, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, barbara. david guggenheim a noted marine biologist. he was a go-to expert during the bp oil spill disaster in the gulf of mexico. well, last april his wife was severely beaten in their northwest home and he says

police have wrongly focused on him. even barring him from his wife's hospital room when the real suspect is still on the loose. david guggenheim said he was out of up to on business when his wife, is a svetlana was brutally beaten in their upscale northwest apartment. and he said he has the receipts and video to prove it yet he appears at the center of the investigation into his wife's attack. david guggenheim is now speaking out. on the "today show" he again denied harming his wife and is calling on police to stop focusing on him and find out who you did. >> they have seemed actively disinterested in anything that would show that i was out of town during this incident. and the receipts is one example. my brother went to a walmart store in philadelphia, where we shopped and found surveillance video, we talked to the head of security. and i also told them, i wasn't

alone during that trip at all. except when i was on the train. i gave them the names of all the people i was with and they haven't called a single person. >> a note allegedly given to a nurse by his injured wife placed guggenheim in the spotlight. investigators say is a svetlana indicated that her husband was the one who beat her. guggenheim was then barred from her hospital room for weeks. is a svetlana has a traumatic brain injury and is unable to talk because of a tracheotomy tube. family members say she does not remember implicating guggenheim and has since made statements clearing her husband. >> my daughter videotaped her last week, signing a statement to that effect. and then interviewing my daughter interviewed her. >> interviewed her how, if she can't communicate? >> through nods and shaking of the head. you know, did your husband do this to you. yes or no? and i emailed that information,

the statement and the videotape to the d.a. and to the hospital. >> reporter: but guggenheim is apparently still under suspicion. he said he returned home last night to find police searching his apartment. guggenheim is now allowed to visit list wife. but for weeks, he was forced to stay away by police. >> this was inhumane, to allow is a svetlana to be waking up from this sort of injury, isolated from the people she needs the most around her. and her husband and her daughter. >> reporter: in the search of his home last night, guggenheim says that the police were interested in electronic items, computers, and cell phones. now as for his wife's condition, he says that she is slowly improving. he was allowed to begin visiting her at the hospital again late last week. reporting live in northwest, megan mcgrath, news4. thank you, megan. and new today, a virginia taekwondo instructor is facing seven charges of inappropriately touching minors. police say 38-year-old quinn vin

fan li had sexual contact between victims between 2003 and 2008. police say they believe the contact occurred at the fan university of martial arts in springfield. he was also charged with child pornography. detectives say they do not know of any other victims, but if anyone has more information, they are asked to contact police. and right now on capitol hill, the secret service director is making his first public comments on the recent prostitution scandal in colombia. director mark sullivan is expected to tell a senate committee last month's scandal did not threaten national security. his prepared testimony states the agents implicated did not have protective information about president obama at the time of the misconduct. the agents visited nightclubs and invited prostitutes to their hotel prior to president obama's arrival in colombia. four secret service agents involved in the scandal are now fighting their dismissals. a government official tells nbc news they claim they didn't know

the women were prostitutes and that the behavior is not specifically prohibited. there's still a chance for flooding in rain-soaked areas of northern virginia. all of the flooding from the past 24 hours is now gone, but more flooding to return if there's more rain. prince william county officials are keeping a close eye on the lake jackson dam. the water levels rose above normal levels since the first storm moved through on monday night. emergency crews evacuated families in two homes. county officials say an inch or less of rain in an hour could cause the creeks and streams to flood again. taking a look outside right now, the sun is peeking through out there, it doesn't look like any rain. there are some clouds, but tom says -- well, let's see what tom says, he can speak for himself. good morning, tom. >> well there's a possibility of some a little bit later on. i wanted it share this sunrise with you. we had a gorgeous sunrise this morning. that was the view from our news4 hd city camera.

and just a spectacular sunrise, the most beautiful one we've had in a long time if you've got a great nature or weather photo, post it on our facebook page or send it to weather@nbcwashington.com and we will share it. overnight we it get some bands of heavy downpours, this is what it looked like at 11:00 last night. all the areas in orange and yellow, it was raining hard. washington county, panhandle of west virginia, into warren and clark counties, a developing line of even heavier rain was coming into orange county, through culpepper and it came up through prince william county, right where they had the heavy flooding yesterday, they picked up another inch of rain and that caused some creeks and streams to come out of their banks for a few hours this morning. now they've receded and we have a partly cloudy to mostly cloudy sky around the region. as we are just now past 11:00. temperatures are climbing into the low 70s much of the region. reagan national is now at 73, we'll continue to climb, ought to get into the upper 70s to around 8 0 by mid afternoon. when we could have more isolated showers with heavy downpours

that may cause flooding. a look at the memorial day weekend in just a few minutes. >> and we're going to get our first midday check on traffic now. good morning, danella. >> good morning, barbara. i'm happy to say things look good. let's start with metro. if you're taking the metro, metro is not reporting any delays. over to the roads, we're seeing road work on i-66, it is slowing you down, but not terrible. 66 at cedar as you make your way eastbound. the left lane is blocked by the road work and you are slow from fairfax county parkway, at about 36 miles per hour. taking you about 16 minutes to get from fairfax county parkway to the beltway. now over to i-270, things look really good on i-270, a live look southbound at falls road, as well as northbound. not seeing any accidents today and no delays at all. barbara, back over to you. >> thank you, and we'll see you in a few minutes. new from overnight. prince george's county police are investigating a deadly pedestrian accident at the intersection of branch avenue and kirby road. one person was killed, the victim's name has not been

released. we're told the driver stayed at the scene. so far, no arrests have been made in this case. several harness race drivers are in the hospital today after a crash last night at rosecroft raceway in oxon hill. multiple horses and carts collided during race number five just before 9:00 last night. the accident ended with three drivers in those carts seriously hurt. two of them had to be airlifted to the hospital. the third was taken by medics. a trainer at the track described the scene. >> the horse on the front end made a break, went in sideways, russell, driving the horse behind, couldn't get out of the way in time. that horse clipped that horse and then he went down, which caused a chain reaction. >> none of the injuries are considered to be life-threatening and no horses were hurt. well, fans may have a chance to say good-bye to the godfather of go-go next week. the "washington post" is reporting that one of chuck brown's daughters says plans are in place for an all-day public

viewing at the howard theater. that will be next tuesday, the 29th. a funeral service will be held on thursday. those services could be held at the washington convention center or the verizon center. the private school that president obama's daughters attend is debunking a prank email sent to parents. sidwell friends said someone sent a message saying condoms would be available at school bathrooms, at dances and other school functions. that according to the washingtonian. the email claimed inappropriate sexual behavior was the reason for the condom distribution. the message went to parents at the upper school at its wisconsin avenue campus. another email shortly after addressed it as a prank. it's nine minutes after 11:00. coming up on "news4 midday," frightening claims. what one woman said that forced an international flight to be diverted. plus, feeling a little itchy? it may be some mosquito, they're out there all right. why the pesky bugs are already

out and about. what's your dog thinking? how scientists are trying to answer that question. stay with us. [ female announcer ] with xfinity,

you can always expect more. like more on demand shows and movies than ever. and more ways to discover them too. plus more speed from america's fastest internet provider. so you can run more devices at the same time. ♪ feel a firework [ female announcer ] and best of all, it keeps getting better. no wonder more people choose xfinity over any other provider. ♪ love can be so mystical ♪

every driver is different, and we've got great news for them all. now you can try snapshot from progressive before you switch your insurance. just plug snapshot into your car and drive like you, to see if your good driving could save you up to 30%. so, try the new way to save that's as unique as you are. snapshot -- only from progressive.

[ monthly test for emergencies [ [ monthly test for emergencies ] >> this is a test of the washington, d.c. metropolitan area emergency system. in the event of an emergency, this system would bring you important information. [ testing of emergency warning system ]

[ inaudible ] [ inaudible ] [ inaudible ] [ inaudible ] [ inaudible ] [ inaudible ] [ inaudible ] >> back between two districts of the time they were abducted. so far, officials have not released the identities of the victims. no one has claimed responsibility for the abduction. a new presidential poll out this morning shows that mitt romney is gaining ground on president obama in decision 2012. the nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows if the election were held today, the

president would have only a four-point lead, 47.43%. last month, the president had a six-point lead. the troubled economy seems to be helping romney. nearly two-thirds of the voters polled say they are not confident their children's generation will be better off financially than voters are today. the. ed fbi is investigating an international flight scare. woman on board a flight handed a flight attendant a note saying she had a device implanted inside her. the packed us airways flight was traveling from paris to charlotte, north carolina. two fighter jets scrambleabled to escort the plane to maine. passengers say the woman attracted attention by walking up and down the aisle earlier in the flight. >> the first officer came by, escorted her back to the rear of the plane, and then there was a lot of hulaballou, by trying to determine which bags were hers.

>> three doctors on board examined the woman, found no scores and determined that she seemed to be mentally disturbed. the woman never said the device inside her was explosive. blame it on the mild winter. we had the mild winter weather this mid winter, the first batch of mosquitos is hatching early and that means that we could see one of the worst mosquito years ever. the insects are about six weeks ahead of schedule right now. health officials are concerned about west nile virus activity peaking earlier this year. ahead of its usual time, which is august and september. and storm center 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us. it's feeling kind of summery out there today, kind of muggy. >> it will get hotter as we get to the memorial day weekend. this weekend after we have the overnight downpours, we had sun breaking up, but now clouds are moving back over the city. there's a live view from our city camera. it's mostly cloudy right over the monument now, reagan national is at 73, with calm

wind. and yes, humidity rather high, dew points in the 60s now, temperatures all in the yellow zones are in the 70s. it includes all of virginia and parts of the shenandoah valley and the blue ridge and into maryland. low to mid 70s. we ought to peak by mid 80s in the afternoon. last night, a long line of heavy downpours on radar. storm 4 radar showed the heavy rain from western maryland down to southern virginia. it advanced east, had some heavy downpours in prince william county. by the time they got over the district this morning around sunrise, a lot of it had stopped. now we're getting a partly sunny to mostly cloudy sky across the region. here's the local close-up view of that rain that did come through. and then it dissipated quickly. now we're getting the sunshine breaking out, especially across northern virginia going forward over the next couple of days. this green zone is a zone of scattered showers and heavy downpours. likely occurring by mid to late afternoon and early evening. things should settle down a bit

overnight. during the day on thursday we have a chance for more showers, maybe heavy downpours, as well, especially areas east of washington during the afternoon hours. finally we'll begin to dry out as we get toward the weekend. over the next 24 hours, we could pick up in these blue zones, anywhere from an inch to two inches of rain, to maybe a half inch to an inch in the green areas, including much of virginia and maryland. the heavy rains may occur north and west of washington, as well scattered across parts of virginia and into west virginia. for the afternoon, have an umbrella handy if you're going to be out and about and you may be dodging lightning bolts as well as we'll have the heavy downpours, we'll have the possibility of some isolated flooding from especially in virginia, where the ground is still saturated, from about 3:00 or 4:00, to 9:00, that may linger until then. the possibility. then by midnight, down to near 70 and the atmosphere will settle down after that during the day on thursday, it does look like we'll have a smaller chance of some showers.

and some of those downpours with some thunder and lightning. on friday, heating up, it will feel like summer, partly sunny, into the mid 80s and hotter for saturday, sunday and monday. memorial day each day. highs near 90 degrees and morning lows near 70. rather humid, only the small chance of an isolated thundershower each afternoon. a greater shower perhaps on tuesday. earlier this week i travelled to prince george's county and visited the tulip grove elementary school in bowie. and talked to the students about weather. they were so smart, they knew a lot about weather and they asked me a lot of questions. they were very inquisitive and very alert and paid great attention. i had a great time at the tulip grove elementary school. the teacher mary louise lopez was the one who invited me to this great school. in prince george's county, tulip grove elementary school. >> it looks like a great time. 19 minutes after 11:00. they are prescribed every day,

but what are the effects of steroids on your body and mind. plus, he's already involved in an international mystery. why he's facing new charges at home. first, a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com. i'm one of six children that my mother raised by herself, and so college was a dream when i was a kid. i didn't know how i was gonna do it, but i knew i was gonna get that opportunity one day, and that's what happened with university of phoenix. i feel like the sky's the limit with what i can do and what i can accomplish. my name is naphtali bryant and i am a phoenix. find the program that's right for you at phoenix.edu/beltway

and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for second best. upgrade to verizon fios tv, internet and phone for just $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years with a two-year agreement. act now and we'll add a special bonus: $250 back. but hurry, this offer ends june 2nd. unlike cable, fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers america's fastest, most consistent, most reliable internet plus the best tv picture quality. why keep paying so much for cable? switch to fios for just $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years with a two-year agreement -- plus your special bonus: $250 back. save $600 in your first two years. but hurry. this incredible offer ends june 2nd. call 1.877.707.fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities that's 1.877.707.3467. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. or visit us online to save even more. fios. a network ahead.

they're drugs prescribed every day, steroids such as

prednisone. these medications are effective, but have serious physical and psychological side effects. dr. joshua winer is here to explain. a lot of people are taking them, are these the same steroids that we hear about athletes taking for physical -- >> body-building and so forth? no, i think that's confusing for a lot of people. these are medications similar to a substance that our body produces called cortisol, made by your adrenal glands, an bollic steroids are similar to testosterone and the androgens made by men. those are body-building medications as opposed to steroids that have the opposite effect. they cause you to gain weight, they cause fat development, not muscle development. it's a very often prescribed medicine. what for? what is it used for? >> these medications are actually taken by about 1% of the population at this current time and it's used for a wide variety of things. things like asthma, bronchitis,

skin allergic reactions, chronic back or neck pain. so also used as part of cancer treatment. so the list goes on and on. these are very effective medications used for a lot of things. but they do have some serious potential negative side effects. >> before we go to that, what does it do? what does the, what does it do in the body that can fix all of those things? >> they are powerful ant anti-inflammatory medications. so that's what they're helping with. they're decreasing inflammation and swelling and that's how they exert their beneficial effects. >> what are the, some of the side effects? >> there are physical side effects, things like weight gain. people's faces will sometimes become a little more round. they call that mondon faces, th might get a lump of fat in the back of their neck. they also can develop some serious psychological side effects, that can range anywhere from things like irritability, agitation, sleep difficulties, to it being as bad as

depression, psychosis and suicide. >> so, let's start with some of the physical effects now. with this, the gain weight and the lump in the back of the neck. why? what does that come from? >> fat deposition. people who have elevations of cortisol naturally in their body, there's an illness called cushing syndrome where people produce too much cortisol. this is one effect that cortisol has on the body and all the court corticosteroids cause the body to swell up. >> and what about the psychiatric symptoms? >> we don't understand why they happen. and they happen with some regularity. what's important is that the dose of the medication does play a role in the likelihood of developing these problems. so people who are on low doses of these medications, like 10 milligrams or less of prednisone, they have about a 1% chance of developing a psychiatric side effect. those who are on 80 milligrams

or more have about a 20% chance of developing a psychiatric side effect. >> would people be aware that they have a psychiatric problem? is it something that they were doing that they wouldn't even know they were doing? >> i think most people will be aware that something's different. they're not sleeping, they're angry, they're agitated. maybe they feel hyped up and energized. however, people don't attribute the changes in how they're feeling and thinking to the medication. they think it's just something else. because unfortunately a lot of doctors are not educating their patients about this potential side effect. >> what should someone do if they think they have a problem with this? >> if you think you have a problem with this, you needily need to talk to your doctor. probably what the doctor is going to do is gradually decrease the dose of your medication and hopefully be able to stop it. that's the treatment. sometimes you need to take some medications to counteract the psychiatric side effects as well. >> good to find out about this, because i know a lot of people are on steroids.

thank you very much. coming up in the next half hour, defying the odds. we'll introduce you to some new additions to the national zoo that have been through a lot in their young lives. plus, why a high school student has been suspended for trying to fight bullying. and tired of the rain? well it's not done yet. tom will be back with a look at the forecast. stay with us.

right now, on "news4 midday," the director of the secret service is speaking out publicly for the first time about his agency's prostitution scandal in colombia. mark sullivan is testifying before a senate committee. secret service agents are accused of bringing prostitutes back to their hotel ahead of president obama visiting the country the following day. sullivan claims national security was not at risk. one lawmaker is criticizing the director for calling it an isolated incident. a d.c. man wants his name cleared of his wife's brutal beating. david guggenheim said he was out of town when someone attacked

his wife in their apartment in northwest washington. the noted marine biologist says d.c. police should not treat him as a person of interest in this case. new today, we're getting an up-close look at a pair of new cheetah cubs at the submit sewnian national zoo. the 2-month-old cubs have survived a lot in a short time. scientists at the zoo have been hand-raising the little cubs following complications during delivery. news4's richard jordan is live at the zoo with more on what happened. have you had a look at them, richard? >> we did get a quick look at them, remember that these are fluborns. so they have a lot of energy, they also have a very big appetite. right now, they are not available for the general public to get a look at them. however, we were able to get a sneak peek while they were feeding today. they are being given a special formula that is mixed here at the zoo. using baby bottles, each one of these cubs weighs just two pounds. when they're healthy and fully grown, they'll be about 60 pounds to 70 pounds each.

it's a male and female. brother and sister. they were born a month ago in front royal at a smithsonian facility there. their mother gave birth to the male cheetah first. that really smoothly. it was a natural delivery. however, veterinarians became very concerned when the mother simply abandoned the cub. they then decided that they were likely more cubs in the litter. so they performed a cesarean, when they found the female cub lodged in the birth canal. two other cubs were not able to survive this very delicate procedure. right now the two surviving clubs were cared for around the clock at the national zoo. the cheetah, known to be the fastest animal and doctors say these two are making a very quick recovery. >> these two will be hand-raised, they will probably stay together until they're mature. and so once they're mature the female will actually come back out to front royal and she will be bred at the breeding facility out there and hopefully we'll

have more cubs. these two are pretty important to us. the mom was a first-time mom. she hadn't had cubs before. so these two are important to the cheetah population. >> reporter: so again the female is expected to be part of a breeding program. however, the male, he could possibly be on exhibit here at the national zoo, it's not clear when that might happen. right now veterinarians still need to monitor his progress, they say if things go well, he could possibly be out here for the public to get a look at him as soon as late this summer. reporting live at the national zoo, richard jordan, news4. >> they sure are cute. can't wait to see them myself. thanks, richard. today maryland state police will honor one of their own who was killed working security. family and friends of late trooper wesley brown will join maryland officials to dedicate a highway sign in his honor. the maryland state highway administration will put up a sign with brown's name along the beltway near the forestville

barrack. the ceremony is happening at 1:00 this afternoon. the 24-year-old was shot and killed working security at the applebee's in forestville in 2010. cyril williams is serving a life sentence without parole for brown's death. the gaithersburg man linked to a high-profile missing person case in aruba is facing new charges closer to home. gary giordano was arrested friday in annapolis. police they found him and carol ann bach of springfield, tennessee having sex in an suv. a parking attendant saw what was happening and called the cops. >> the customer come by and complained that they saw something going on that shouldn't be going on in a car and i went up and checked it out. it did appear that there was something not supposed to be going on, so i made the call to the cops. both giordano and bach face jail time and a fine of up to $1,000 if convicted. last august, giordano became the

sole suspect in robin gardner's disappearance. giordano denied involvement and was released after a panel of judges ruled there wasn't enough evidence to continue holding him. also in annapolis, police are searching for the man who sexually assaulted a 21-year-old woman. it happened early saturday morning along duke and, duke of gloucester street. they say he dragged the victim into an alley and assaulted her. police say the woman was eventually able to fight off the attacker who took off on foot. seven prince george's county nightclubs are facing criminal charges for allegedly not paying their taxes. the indictments come after undercover surveillance from june to october of last year. maryland prosecutors say the clubs owe the state $700,000. some are accused of selling alcohol without proper licenses. most of the charges carry up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine. a former treasurer for d.c.

mayor, vincent gray is first to face prison time in a year-long probe into the mayor's campaign. thomas gore pleaded guilty to felony lying and destruction of evidence. he admitted he funneled money from gray's campaign funds to candidate suleiman brown. in exchange, brown made negative campaign attacks on then-mayor adrian fenty. his lawyer believes more names will be revealed in the case soon. >> i believe that the government will charge additional people. whether i represent them or not, i don't know. >> gore faces between a year and 18 months in prison. the judge delayed sentencing until the criminal investigation is complete. three, two, one. zero -- >> the rocket headed toward the international space station has some very special cargo. not only will it deliver supplies to the space station. it's also carrying the ashes of three men, including james doohan, the actor who played scottie on "star trek."

the rocket is also carrying the ashes of gordon cooper, part of the mercury 7 astronaut team. as well as bob schrake, the engineer who designed the spaceship control instruments nor nasa's jet propulsion lab. we'll check in with tom with more on the forecast here on earth. >> a live view from our sky watcher camera. a lot of clouds, a few breaks, a little sunshine trying to show through. this is what's been happening over the last 12 hours. there we were at 11:00 last night. we had some heavy downpours, washington county into loudoun county, then another batch that did develop in culpepper. moved across fauquier into prince william where the ground was so saturated that any more rain, they ought to end up an additional inch that fell overnight. they had more flooding, we had roads closed around dawn. but then the waters receded. since then, sunshine and temperatures now into the 70s.

fredericksburg up to 77. rationen national around 73. there's a possibility of more heavy downpours this afternoon and early to mid evening. some of those could produce some isolated flooding along with thunder and lightning. then a smaller chance on thursday. and warming up friday into the holiday weekend. for memorial day weekend, highs near 90 it looks like right now for saturday, sunday and monday, only a small chance of isolated storms each one of those days. that's the way it looks right now, barbara, i'm back in a few minutes with another update. >> okay, tom, see you then. >> in less than half an hour, you can earn an extra buck just for buckling up in prince george's county. police and highway officials will hand out dollars to everyone who is buckled up in the 13,600 block of baltimore avenue in laurel. officials will hand them materials to show how seat belts can save lives. and let's check onned midday traffic with danella sealock. good morning. >> good morning, barbara.

i got to give you a heads up if you're traveling new york avenue outbound at florida. we are seeing some delays in this area, earlier we had an accident, new york at florida blocking your right lane. it's out of the roadway, but once you get around north capital street and continue to head outbound, you'll see some delays so far this morning. now over to i-66. keep in mind, road work continues and takes away the left lane at cedar. and continues as you continue eastbound. barbara, back over to you. >> thanks, danella. it's 1 1s 39. still ahead, americans are startsing to buy more houses, the good news is being overshadowed by european worries. plus facing foreclosure, how a local event is helping residents get in on a piece of r[ male announcer ] are you of paying more and more for cable

and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for second best. upgrade to verizon fios tv, internet and phone for just $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years with a two-year agreement. act now and we'll add a special bonus: $250 back. but hurry, this offer ends june 2nd. unlike cable, fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers america's fastest, most consistent, most reliable internet plus the best tv picture quality. why keep paying so much for cable? switch to fios for just $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years with a two-year agreement -- plus your special bonus: $250 back. save $600 in your first two years. but hurry. this incredible offer ends june 2nd. call 1.877.707.fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities that's 1.877.707.3467. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. or visit us online to save even more. fios. a network ahead.

tomorrow a housing and foreclosure relief summit is being held in brandywine, maryland. there you can find out if this

historic foreclosure settlement will five of the largest national banks will impact you. maryland attorney general doug againstler and councilman mel franklin will be at the summit and they join us with more on who should attend. first of all, tell you about the settlement and who is included in this? >> what happened was the 50 of us, the attorneys general had a deal with the five national banks where we got $26 billion nationally. here in maryland, we were disproportionately affected by the foreclosure crisis, so we got a disproportionate amount of money. $960 million coming to folks in maryland. a third of all the foreclosures in maryland occurred in prince george's county. what we're doing along with councilman franklin is to make sure that people know about this. if they're eligible for this relief in principal reduction or loan modification. we put them together with a counselor and they get the relief imminently. >> why were we disproportionately affected in maryland, particularly in prince

george's county? mel, can you answer that? >> in prince george's county, we had a lot of loans and mortgages, many of them were subprime. subprime when they didn't need to be subprime. home ownership has always been the gateway to the american dream. particularly in the african-american community. it was seen as a way to get to the middle class level and feel like you've accomplished what we all dream and hope to get. but unfortunately, what we saw happen was, when the foreclosure crisis occurred, a lot of folks immediately became under water. immediately had their mortgage interest go up through the roof. and people lost their homes leftnd right. and really are still losing their homes. this crisis is caused a real collapse in our tax base. that's why we're seeing major reductions in services. major reductions in what we can really deliver to residents. so we're trying to work with the attorney general to get people to help they deserve. and prince george's county as the attorney general mentioned, was hit dramatically, harder than everything else in the

state. two to one compared to the second-place jurisdiction. >> what will people be able to find out tomorrow? >> they're going to come to the workshop. we one tonight in bowie and one tomorrow in brandywine. we'll put them together with housing counselors and get legal assistance. if any one has been serviced by the five banks, then they will be able do say, well, i'm eligible for this pool of money. that is, the $810 million that's available for principal reduction for people on the brink of dpoerk. there's another pool of money for people who are under water but have been making their payments and a third pool of money of people who have been foreclosed on who will get a one-time free check. we want to make sure that they avail themselves of the eligibility or it doesn't help it we want to stem the foreclosure crisis and help the economy. >> there's a good chance that some people who are on the brink. that haven't lost their homes already, will be able to stay in their homes? >> absolutely.

we want to get the word out. there's a lot of hesitation about dealing with the banks and a lot of skepticism about whether this is going to work. we've heard about a lot of other programs and it seems like nothing is going to work. we want to get people to respond and if the banks reach out to them to find out if they're eligible, we want people to respond. if they come to these workshops to find fought they're eligible, that's great, too. we want people to get the help that they really need. >> are we seeing any improvement in the housing market? >> we are. i think it will continue to improve and this will help. this is federally enforced, a legal agreement. people will get the money, we'll be able to reduce the inventory of available housing and that will help everybody. those on the brink of foreclosure and those who are not. >> this is terrific for marylanders that you're all doing this. we glad you brought here to tell us. let me quickly tell people that tomorrow's summit will be held at 7:00 p.m. at gwynn park middle school. in brandywine, maryland. >> thank you for having us. sales of new homes rose

solidly last month. we're going to check in with cnbc's hampton pearson who joins us live with that and the rest of the business headlines. >> you're right but the problem for us is that this hour, worries about europe are overshadowing a second day of good news about the american housing market. we've got the dow down about 163 points. the nasdaq down 35. the s&p down about 16 points. leaders of the 27 european union countries have gathered in brussels to debate how to spur economic growth in the region. the recession threat is very real. along with ongoing concerns about greece possibly withdrawing from that union. meanwhile, here in the u.s., new single-family home sales rose more than expected last month. up 3.3%. to a seasonally adjusted 343,000 units nationwide. 9.9% higher than a year ago. home prices are higher as well. further evidence that economists are saying that the housing market is turning a corner. and our facebook update, the

stock was up in early trading, trying to break a two-day losing streak that has seen it lose 19% of its value. the social network firm was initially valued at just over $104 billion. now it's closer to $87 billion. in addition to the dramatic selloff since friday's ipo, investors have filed lawsuits and government regulators are investigating what went wrong in the most heavily traded ipo ever. barbara? >> so is mark zuckerberg not as rich as what we said he was yesterday? >> you're right. but we're still talking the "b" word as in billions. we should all have those problems. >> thanks a lot. have a great day. >> bye-bye. a video of a prank that went wrong has gone viral. it happened at a laundromat in camden, new jersey. a father put his toddler in the waeshing machine apparently as part of a game. he shut the door, which then locked, the washer turned on.

the parents pulled at the do door as the washer filled with water. they couldn't get it open. ultimately an employee unplugged the machine and got the boy out of the washerer. the boy didn't appear to be hurt, but the family immediately ran off. the man returned later to for the laundry and said the child is okay. police would like to talk to the family to make sure the child is okay and share parenting tips about putting kids in washing machines. a long island high school student is suspended for five days for creating an anti-bullying video. in the video, 15-year-old jessica barba plays a girl who is regularly bullied. she falls into a depression, is taunted on social media sites and eventually kills herself. statements at the beginning and the end say it is fictitious, but some parents were still ala alarmed. barba said she was called into the principal's office the day after she posted the video online. she was suspended for five days because the video was allegedly a disruption for classmates. barba stopped by this morning's

"today" show. she said the video is meant to help students, not hurt them. >> i just created the video in order to raise awareness of the major issue, that's bullying and i don't understand why i'm being pushed for it. >> today, the school is holding a hearing on whether or not to dismiss the suspension. some dog owners swear they can read their furry friends' minds. thanks to new research we may be closer to finding out what's really behind those wagging tails. with more on what man's best friend might really be thinking, here's nbc's erica edwards. >> reporter: a dog's affection is hard to miss. they wag their tails, some even over do it with sloppy, wet kisses. >> sweetest of sweetness. >> reporter: but don't you ever wonder what's going on behind those puppy dog eyes? >> what we hope to figure out is what is a dog thinking. and more specifically, what are dogs thinking when they look at humans. >> reporter: this isn't your typical dog house. to get the first look at an active dog brain, dr. greg burns

at emory university spent months training two dogs to stay still in an mri machine. they used a simulator. the dogs were taught hand signals that indicated treat or no treat. >> what we're discovering is just how sensitive they are to hand signals, body language. and what parts of their brain are processing that. >> they found the reward center of the dog's brains lit up when their owner signaled treat. >> there may be benefits in terms of service dogs, military dogs, therapy dogs to improve training and improve bonding with humans. >> you are so good. >> reporter: while this is just the first study, the researchers are planning more and they already have willing, treat-rungry participants. >> now when we go to the scanner, it's hard to get her out. >> reporter: erica edwards, nbc news. the georgetown university graduate who wrote the iconic horroror movie, "the exorcist"

plans to sue his alma mater in a court. he said georgetown strayed away from the doctrine and should no longer call itself catholic. he said it violated church teachings for decades, by inviting speakers who support abortion rights. the "exorcist" writer said they need to teach morality. incredible photos that put a twist on the first moments of marriage. plus meteorologist tom kierein will be back with another check on the forecas

he got a breaking ball. in the air to left field. did he get it? yes, he did. 4-1, washington. >> the nats may finally be the better of the two teams in their rivalry with the phillies. ian desmond and bryce harper provided the offense in the a 5-2 win. nats have won six straight in philadelphia and have 13 wins against their rivals in their last 16 matchups, things could

heat up tonight when the nats face phillies pitcher cole ham els for the first time since he was suspended for five games for intentionally hitting rookie bryce harper. the redskins are going to have to watch their spending over the next two years. an arbitrator upheld the nfl salary cap. which means they'll lose $36 million. the redskins were penalized because they overloaded contracts during the uncapped 20010 season. despite league warnings, the dallas cowboys are also in trouble with the league. this they'll loss $10 million. and we're going to take a look at stories that we'll be following on news4 this afternoon. the head of the secret service goes before congress on the prostitution scandal in colombia. we'll have a full report from capitol hill starting at 4:00 this afternoon. then tonight at 5:00, help for new mom who is are juggling their babies with their busy schedules, we'll take you inside mommy boot camp in tonight installment of what's your workout. and it's time for a final check on your forecast, here's tom.

>> plans on taking the baby to the park, you may want to think twice about that. we're seeing some dark clouds beginning to build, a live view from our sky watcher camera. and around our region, we are going to have a possibility of some heavier downpours coming in. perhaps later this afternoon. nothing right now showing up on radar. breaks in the clouds, temperatures are in the 70s, 76 at reagan national. it will continue to climb up to around 80 later this afternoon. maybe with some of the heavy downpours ha that may cause flooding, late afternoon into the evening hours. maybe some thunder and lightning. a smaller chance tomorrow and we heat up as we get into the memorial day weekend. have a great afternoon, we'll see you tomorrow morning. >> all right. thank you, tom. a close call captured by camera, this is caleb and kendra pence who recently tied the knot in harper, kansas, after walking down the aisle for the first time as a married couple, their wedding photographer captured an amazing snapshot.

the picture shows two tornados in the background. the twisters were about eight miles away and didn't pose any threat to the wedding party. the photographer said she doesn't expect to capture anything like that ever again. hopefully it doesn't mean they have a stormy future. thanks for joining us, we invite you to tune in for news at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 and 11:00 and we'll be back tomorrow morning at 11:00 for "news4 midday." until then have a terrific day and we'll see you in the morning. [ male announcer ] here's a friendly reminder. it's your last chance to get verizon's reliable high speed internet and phone for small business for only $84.99 a month. call 1.866.solutions now

or visit verizon.com/solutions. only $84.99 for high-speed internet and phone. plus your choice of either no annual contract or a two year price guarantee. call 1.866.solutions or visit verizon.com/solutions today. hurry -- this offer won't last long. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v.