it keeps getting better. no wonder more people choose xfinity over any other provider. ♪ love can be so mystical ♪ crowds on the national mall as the country begins a weekend's worth of ceremonies for memorial

day. from candlelight at the vietnam m memorial to the world war ii memorial. the weekend got off to a point yant sta -- poignant start in the capital. shomari stone? >> reporter: they remember them this memorial day weekend. [ bagpipes sounding ] >> this is a time for all of us. his name is inkrscribed on the black granite. >> we are doing this in his honor. >> reporter: the vigil honors harbord and 58,000 servicemen and women who died in the war. >> honor those who have served and especially those who paid the sacrifice. >> it's not just at vietnam, at the memorial, people place flowers here to show respect for veterans. >> it is emotional. >> reporter: an iraq and

afghanistan vet. he appreciates the more than 400,000 americans who died in world war ii, represented by the stars, along with the millions who served. >> it is an honor to go up and say thank for what you did. we are taking the baton. we learned a lot of lessons from you. >> a special moment as he finds world war ii vets. >> thank you for your service. iraq, afghanistan, war vet. want to thank y'all for what you have done. >> it's very touching. >> reporter: marvin baker drove his daughter to the memorial to teach her about the men and women who dude for oied for our. >> you think what they have done for freedoms in america. reason for me joining the military as well. i tell my daughter the importance of it. >> reporter: while there are many ceremonies this weekied en find more on our website. shomari stone, news 4. >> this memorial day weekend means a lot of people getting out of town. for most tonight traffic has not

been an issue. this its how it looked east on route 50 towards the bay bridge earlier tonight. a lot of traffic. smooth sailing on the wilson bridge here in town as well. plenty of that traffic headed to ocean city. lots of people took advantage of the nice day to catch raise, waves, check out all the food and fun on the newly renovated ocean city boardwalk. the actual boardwalk itself is all new. most of the businesses and attractions have been there decades. many people say it is it history that keeps them coming back. >> how long have you been down here? coming down? >> i guess, 29, 30 years. >> my parents, every year this is where we come for vacation. >> what is it about ocean city, how much do you love ocean city and why? >> 1,000, hundred, it is fun. you can play, everything. >> i mostly agree with her. >> what she said. the warm weather, more people test the water than normal on

memorial day weekend. veronica is in. a look at the weekend. veronica. >> you see they had a breeze. we here inland are hoping for a little breeze today. check out the high temperatures today. mid and upper 80s throughout the area. this weekend, higher temperatures. but that's just part of the story. the other part, the very high humidity. that means that we are going to be sticky. sweaty and when you sweat, it is going to be harder for the sweat to evaporate. so, shirts sticking to us. going to be quite uncomfortable. if you have family untoin town they're probably going to be complaining. how high the air temperatures will go in a couple minutes. >> tonight new questions about emotional stability of a man charged in one of this nation's most high profile missing child cases. 33 years to the day after etan patz disappeared. prosecutors charged a man with his murder. erica edwards reports.

>> reporter: 33 years to the day that 6-year-old etan patz disappeared there is new hope for ans tirwers to what happene the little boy. police have arrested and charged 51-year-old pedro hernandez with the murder of patz, according to authorities, hernandez confessed to the murder telling investigators he lured the 6-year-old from a school bus stop to a neighborhood store where he worked. he led him into the basement, choked him there, and disposed of the body by putting it into a plastic bag and placing it into the trash. >> it was a cold case that was never forgotten. patz, the first missing child ever to appear on a milk carton and his disappearance led to national missing children's day observed every year. >> do you feel relief today? >> no. no. i don't think so. i would have felt relief years ago. now it is really depressing. >> reporter: last month police searched an empty building in

the new york neighborhood where patz lived. over the years his parents refused to give up hope, never moving or changing their phone number in case their son tried to call. >> we can only hope that these developments bring some measure of peace to the family. >> the recent search led police to hernandez after a tip about incriminating remarks he made in the past. >> hernandez told a family member and others that he had "done a bad thing" and "killed a child in new yorkch". >> reporter: with an arrest and confession, perhaps a chance to solve a 33-year-old mystery. erica edwards. >> lawyers want his conviction thrown out. they filed a motion in charlottesville, virginia. convicted in february of murdering his ex-girlfriend and fellow lacrosse player, at uva, yeardley love. his lawyers claim there were at least eight pretrial and trial errors including the fact of the

judge giving the jury in their words improper instructions. they say hugley deserves a new trial. scheduled to be sentenced in august. unusual twist. closed out a week of deliberations in the john edwards corruption trial. the judge cleared the courtroom to talk with lawyers about an issue with one jury member. it is not clear what that issue was. jurors are now the talk of this case. one woman in particular, an alternate juror drawn attention for repeatedly smiling and flicking her hair when looking at edwards. john end wards is accused of misusing campaign funds to hide his pregnant mistress. deliberations scheduled for tuesday. a lively crowd turned out in fairfax county to watch the final debate between republican candidates for the u.s. senate in virginia. the most spirited debate came after a question about an openly gay judicial nominee recently rejected by lawmakers in richmond.

>> reporter: this final debate before primary day provided george allen's, challengers, a last chance to dent his front-runner status. the short 60 minute format allowed for a few questions submitted via facebook. in prior debates. candidates outlined federal programs they would cut, starting with president obama's signature health care reform. there was one new lively area of discussion when the moderator asked about the virginia general assembly action to block openly gay prosecutor tracy thorn begland from being named a judge, two decades ago, a former naval officer questioned the military don't ask don't tell policy. gop delegate led the opposition in richmond. >> i said no because this applicant said no to his oath of office. >> jamie radkey and e.w. jackson, a minister say they agree with marshal's position and would block similar judicial nominees. >> the biggest threat that we

have facing this country is activist judges. >> i would put a hold on any judge that does not believe in the san kt tctity of life, and judge that thinks that it is not one man and one woman married. >> a more moderate response. >> sexual or jen taientation is criteria for qualifying or discadi disqualifying a judge. with the primary 18 days away, whether any of them can cut into his significant lead. >> a mother caught red-handed trying to use her 6-year-old son to steal an iphone. it happened on wednesday in northwest d.c. the woman told her son to take the phone from a man she thought was sleeping on the sidewalk at the corner of 14th and parkwood. what the woman didn't know the sleeping man was an undercover

cop. once the kid picked up the phone, police arrested the mother. athe child referred to social services. a man who went to great lengths to rob a taco bell in virginia did not get money. surveillance video caught the guy crawling into a drive through window wednesday night. when he demanded money, the employees told him they locked up and money was in the safe and nobody had the combination so. he went out the back door. and that what end of that. a man in california exonerated ten years after a high school friend falsely accused him of kidnap and rape. 26-year-old brian banks spent five years in jail after taking a plea deal to avoid a life sentence. after he was paroled his accuser reached out to him on facebook. he hired a private investigator to videotape their meeting, where she recanted her story. >> my story against hers. and unfortunately, my story was never heard at the time. >> banks had hoped for a career

in the nfl. he said he would still look ike try that. >> confusion about detergent that is causing kids to get sick. poison control received 250 calls this year about kids ingesting what they call tide pods and similar packs of concentrated detergent. doctors say it may look like toys or candy. some kids and parents who spoke to us today agree with that. >> it's kind of color, and kind of smushy and feels good. >> yea. looks like a cookie jar. that is right. does it open all the way. yeah. >> proctor and gamble plans to make a new lid for the tide pod container. one that is more child proof. >> coming up tonight. holiday weekend off to a unique start in nevada. tell you what that was falling from the sky there, might not be what you think. >> first at the international space station.

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in nevada today, that is not snow. it's hail. drivers in reno got no help from mother nature. buckets of pea-sized hail fell in city. a brief flurry.

the hail on top of snow showers last night. >> future of space exploration might one day be traced back today. for the first time. a private company successfully docked a spacecraft, with the international space station. tom costello has our report. >> reporter: flying high above australia at 17,000 miles per hour. >> half a meter. >> reporter: a private company this morning managed to accomplish only something four nations have ever achieved. at 9:56 a.m. >> capture confirmed. >> reporter: the space station's arm reached out and grabbed a spacecraft named dragon. >> looks like we got us a dragon by the tail. at headquarters outside los angeles, celebration and tears. >> i would like to thank the space x team. you guys are awesome. the man behind it all, space x founder. >> a fantastic day. a great day for the country and

for the world. >> reporter: with the space shuttle fleet retired, nasa has been relying on russian spacecraft to ferry astronauts and cargo to and from the station. while waiting for private business to talk over. surprisingly this company just 10 years old beat out some big competitors to win a $1.6 billion nasa contract. >> they completely built, tested, and flew this spacecraft in a manner that is really, has been just remarkable. >> reporter: the average age at space x is just 30. but combined years of nasa know-how with different thinking to paul this off. >> this mission is only the beginning of a widening of space access including not just cargo to orbit but people to orbit. >> the first space x manned mission could be just a few years away. tomorrow the space station crew will unload the cargo. tonight with dragon in the station's arm it is champagne at space x. tom costello, nbc news, washington.

>> president obama's administration is certainly no stranger to social media. tonight, we get a behind the scenes glimpse of the president in the midst of a learning moment with his twitter account. >> all right. >> i'm a the master tweeter. >> zero characters left. >> that's the perfect tweet. >> what's it called? >> a twoosh. >> a twitter swoosh. >> i am a twoosh master. >> mr. obama sent the perfect tweet taking part in an online question and answer session in iowa. ever done a twoosh? >> i am not. >> he follows nbc washington. >> we know this. >> if he doesn't. i am asking him to follow us now. >> man now he will. >> how are we looking out there? >> looking sticky. very sticky. still muggy right now. the temperature dropped. the humidity still high. so that of course makes it uncomfortable, right? yeah, this weekend we will be

wanting a little breeze. to come our way. with higher heat across the area. the high temperature, today, was 86 degrees. that might not sound like a high temperature. we have had temperatures higher in the month of april. higher humidity than in april. that was the last time we had temperatures so high was back on april 16th. we hit 89 degrees. as the far as other temperatures throughout the area. ocean city, meteorologist, doug was. breeze off the water. nice and cool. why one of the reasons they like going that way. inland locations. fairfax, 83. silver spring, maryland, 86 today. now talking higher temperatures again. 75 right now. reagan national airport. dew point, 68 degrees. still this afternoon. at 70.

so we have got a lot of warm air sitting over, our area, mid-atlantic states. and you see this through pennsylvania. little weak boundary. that boundary isn't going to go anywhere next couple days. you know this week we had one that was right through the area. so what we are going to see in the mountains for tomorrow. areas, north, west. isolated showers. not a big deal at all. certainly not going to be anything that, that wrecks your picnic. humid condition for sure. even during the overnight period. sunday, too. possibility not during the morning. but during the afterafternoon. seeing an isolated shower as well. this time though. location maze be a little more to the east. and notice this down to the south and east. off the coasting of -- north carolina, south carolina. florida, too. not the best day at the beach there. they have an area of low pressure that could be a tropical depression. could devil nelop into a tropic storm. some moisture creeping northward monday. sticky and could become even

stickier on memorial day. patchy fog for tomorrow morning. 64 to 69 degrees. ugh, that's what we are going to be saying. going like this. warm and humid. with highs, 82 to 88 degrees. at the beaches of course, especially tomorrow with the wind off the water. water temperature. 67. 74 to 77. saturday through sunday. look at four day forecast. taking it right up to 90 degrees. feeling like 90 plus. perhaps, 95 degrees through the memorial day weekend. high conditions stick with us on tuesday. with a high of 91. best chance of storms right now, tuesday. i think. cooler for the mid part in the end of next week. so, this holiday weekend is looking nice. don't forget the sun block. >> all right. feeling a little warm weather. >> uh-huh. >> yeah. bring it on. >> coming up. still celebrating the newest americans. and in sports. ryan zimmerman and the nats, ryan zimmerman and the nats, battling for

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we beat up on the braves we stay on top, right? >> yes, the game plan for the guys going in. that's what they accomplished. >> loving this. >> it was good. scoring runs has been a problem for the nats all's son. tonight it wasn't. the nats had bats going against tim hudson. a guy who is normally -- a nats killer. let's go to atlanta. the top two teams in the nl east going ate. bryce harper, a modest, four-game hitting streak coming into this one. top one. up the gut. extend the hitting streak to

five games. three batters later. two on, two out. for ian desmond. going up the middle as well. harper and ryan zimmerman come around to score. nationals jump on top early. 2-0, later in the inning. more nats offense. rick ankiel, cranks one deep right center. almost out. bounces off the wall. does plenty of damage. desmond. espinosa. and ankiel fourth triple. that's more than they average per game this season. they're feeling pretty good. in the seventh though. a 4-3 game. ryan zimmerman up with the bases loaded. two outs. hudson still pitching. not after this. zimmerman find the gap in left center field. a three-run triple. we look to call that -- we like to call that some zimsurance runs. by the way, steven strasbourg is

on the mound for the nationals tomorrow. camden yards, os open the three-game set with the royals. bottom five. os up 1-0, j.j. hardy, .315 hitter against the orioles. over francoeur's head. off the wall. two runs come in to score. 3-0 lead. now, 4-0, later in the inning. adam jones, close to that big $85 million contract extension with the os. had a 15-game hitting streak. make that 16. base knock to center field. comes into score. the os go on to win. 8-2. everybody winning on the diamond tonight. our family at nbc sports may not like it much, it's the l.a.-new york stanley cup finals. folks in new jersey are pleased. the new jersey devils are headed to the stanley cup finals after finishing off the rangers. devils looking to return to the finals for the first time since

2003. that's what they're doing. second period. rangers with the puck down. and the shot deflected by ryan callahan. the rangers captain ties the game at two. this one would go to overtime. and it did not take long for it to be decided. early on in ot. the devils attacking. scramble for the puck. and beats, henrik lundquist. see it again. lundquist will sprawl out. and scoots it through. and henrik puts it through. the game. right between the legs. and henrik. and the devils win 3-2. devils and the kings, going to face off in the stanley cup finals. game one, is on wednesday night. finally, the women's lacrosse final four. maryland, northwestern. opening face-off. action getting started right away. christie black to brooke griffin. 11 second into the game. we have a goal. maryland on top. 1-0. we are liking that. second half now.

we are tied at 6. shannon smiths, with the great pass to, to -- lacy and that puts northwestern up, 7-6. beat maryland. 9-7. northwestern will face syracuse in the national championship game. still quite an accomplishment for the maryland women to make for the mathis country was built by working people.

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75 men and women from 33 countries were sworn in as new u.s. citizens today. e congressman jerry connolly led them in pledge of allegiance. many wanted to become an american to pave a better way for their families. for others it wa

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

>> announcer: nbc celebrates 20 years of jay leno. thanks for making them so great. jay, thank you very much for inviting us here on memorial day to celebrate the sacrifices of our veterans. you know, i was in the army for 35 years. i served two tours of duty in vietnam. >> i've been in the ar