good morning, everyone, and "news4 midday," i'm barbara harrison. it's friday, june 1st, 2012. one child is dead and four others are injured after accidentally being run over in a driveway in prince george's county. it happened around 9:00 last night in the 2200 block of hannen street in hyattsville. police believe the driver saw the children, but inadvertently hit the gas instead of the brake. news4's megan mcgrath is live at the scene with more on this horrific accident. megan? >> well, barbara, it was a horrible situation. you can see the driveway, you can see the damage done to the garage behind me here.

there were five kids playing in that driveway. the woman behind the wheel of a large suv hit the wrong pedal according to police. instead of stopping the suv, lunged backwards into the children. the driver's daughter is now dead, four others were injured. one of them critically. >> max milan mendez shows the collapsed wall of the garage. the five children, ranging in age from toddler to 11 were standing in front of it when the ford expedition slammed into them. the wall gave way and bricks came raining down on the children. killing 8-year-old natalie hernandez cruz. the driver's daughter. >> translator: i came outside and i was paralyzed with fear. everybody was screaming. there was a lot of commotion. luckily, my son heard the screams and came down. and tried to rescue those that were buried underneath the rubble. >> reporter: the whoebl horrible accident began with a dispute

over the living situation at the home on hannen street. the driver of the expedition, 33-year-old maria anna cruz lopez had been asked to move out. there was a dispute and officers were called to the scene. but then, left. 20 minutes later, police say cruz lopez accidentally ran over the children in the driveway. >> she mistakenly stepped on the gas, rather than the brake. of that suv. the suv accelerated rapidly in reverse, it hit the children, and then continued on into the garage. despite the circumstances, it just seems that this was simply a devastating accident. >> reporter: and no charges have been filed against the driver. now a boy who turns two tomorrow has minor injuries. a 6-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl are also expected to survive. but an 11-year-old boy is still listed in critical condition. reporting live in prince george's county, megan mcgrath,

news4. thank you, megan. turning to the weather now, and the chance of severe weather later today. storm center 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us with the first forecast. tom? >> well, barbara, this morning we've had a lot of cloudiness around the metro area. there have been some breaks in the clouds to our south. southern maryland, northern neck, up towards fredericksburg, the clouds are closing back in as we look at storm 4 radar going back over the last several hours. you can see all the moving color, that is rain, there's a little thunder and lightning just beginning to develop, the one red spot in the lower left of your screen, just north of charlottesville is a thundershower. not a bad storm, not severe storm, but producing thunder and lightning and heavy rain there. and as you look closer to washington, just a few specks of green on the radar farther west and north, a few scattered sprinkles showing up. still sunshine, southern maryland, northern neck, part of the eastern shore, that area is in the zone, as is all of virginia, all of the areas under the ylo area in a severe risk

zone for later this afternoon, into this evening. covers all of maryland,ed eastern shore, the district, west virginia, up into pennsylvania, a large area for a severe storm risk. 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. looks like the time for that. some of the storms could be producing some damaging winds, as well as probably more importantly, some very heavy rain that may cause isolated flooding tonight. i'll have the latest, we'll take a look at the rest of the weekend, i'll look at next week, too, coming up in few minutes. barbara? >> thank you. tom. drivers in d.c. could see more problems near dupont circle this weekend because of yesterday's water main break. right now, two lanes of connecticut avenue are still closed between dupont circle and jefferson place. n street closed between 18th and 19th streets. the 12-inch main burst, cause twog blocks of businesses to lose water. within the last 30 minutes, d.c. water says all water service is back and running. going to check on the midday traffic with danella sealock.

good morning. >> good morning, barbara and happy friday to you, heading over to the roads, new york avenue in northeast between west virginia avenue, as well as pennsylvania avenue, traffic lights are out. so d d.o.t. is on the scene and they were able to put stop signs at some of those intersections. i want to warn you and tell you to slow down and use caution. crossing over the wilson bridge, slow into virginia heading towards telegraph road, look at the through lanes, very slow. once you get to telegraph road, you're forced into a single lane and that's where the delays come from. they've been here for while this morning. so be aware of that. ballpa barbara back to you. mgt a pair of traffic alerts to tell you about that could ruin your weekend travels. from the wilson bridge to the mixing bowl, you could run into lots of delays. tracee wilkins has a rundown at the news4 superscreen. >> reporter: traffic has been a nightmare. the past couple of days. and unfortunately, this weekend, it's going to be hard to find any relief.

first, a major closure is happening on the inner loop in alexandria. at the wilson bridge, through lanes for maryland into virginia are already narrowed down to just one lane. tonight, they'll shut down completely. that's going to happen between route 1 and telegraph road. the lanes closed at 8:00 punxsutawney and will reopen in time for monday morning's commute. so there's the good news. but then, just less than ten miles down the road, at mixing bowl, more closures. starting at 9:00 tonight you're not going to be able to take i-95 north to i-395. and so here's how that's going to look. if you're traveling up 95 north, this is where you're going to have to stop and then make a decision, you can take the inner loop or the outer loop of 95. but you are not going to be able to continue on to 395. now that work should be done by 7:00 tomorrow. so make sure that you're paying attention and stay safe this weekend. all right.

tracee. and don't expect reheavy if you plan on taking metro. crews will be doing track work. all five lines will be involved. the biggest headache will be on the orange line. buses will replace trains between the east and west falls church stations. that's so crews can start to tidy silver line into existing track. track will be single-tracking on sections of the blue, red, green and yellow lines. all work starts at 10:00 tonight and should be finished by monday morning. a maryland man is fighting for his life after a hit-and-run in montgomery county. police say it happened around 5:00 last night near the intersection of edwin and center hill streets in wheaton. the man was hit by a dark blue or black nissan sentra that then took off. we're working to learn the man's condition, but his injuries are considered life-threatening. it's being called the biggest bus crackdown in history. the federal government shut down more than 25 low-cost bus companies along the east coast. including some that operate out of d.c.

transportation officials shut down what were called budget buses. customers looking to go to or from new york, d.c. or other cities, bought cheap tickets online and were picked up curbside instead of at a terminal. the move comes a year after a low-cost bus crashed on i-95, killing four people. the driver fell asleep at the wheel. something that federal authorities say was happening too often. and new today, a disappointing jobs report from the labor department. employers added just 69,000 new jobs last month. that's less than half as many as economists had expected. and the fewest number of new jobs created in a year. the unemployment rate jumped to 8.2%, up from 8.1%. president obama will talk about jobs and the economy today in minnesota. he departed for minneapolis this morning. he'll tourn the honeywell campus in golden valley.

the president is expected to use the visit to announce a new initiative. urging companies to hire military veterans, honeywell has hired 900 vets since the start of last year. eight minutes after 11:00 is the time now. a big arrival in our area that will bring a lot of people to the airport. just to watch a plane land. plus, jurors from the john edwards trial weigh in on whether they think the former presidential candidate should be retried. stay with us. [ male announcer ] here's a friendly reminder.

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no comment from federal prosecutors about the john edwards campaign corruption trial. they're not talking about the verdict or whether they will retry the case. jurors acquitted the former presidential candidate yesterday on one of six charges that he faced. they failed to reach a verdict on the other charges and the judge in the case declared a mistrial. prosecutors had accused edwards of using campaign money to cover up his extra marital affair. this morning on the "today show," three of the jurors said they think edwards was guilty, but not enough evidence to have convicted him. >> raise your hands if you think john edwards was guilty on at least some of the counts against him. okay. raise your hands if you think john edwards is a bad guy. interesting. so the personal side of this

case, where they brought those witnesses forward and there was the testimony about his lies about rielle hunter, his lies about paternity of her child, the fact that he had an affair while his wife was battling cancer. did that not have any impact on you as a jury? >> we tried to put our feelings aside and what we were doing was just looking at the facts to come up with our verdict. >> at least one of the jurors, things edwards should be retried on the pending charges. a republican-backed plan to ban abortions based on the sex of the fetus failed in the house. the pre-natal nondiscrimination act would have jailed doctors up to five years for performing abortions because parents wanted a child of the other sex. pro life groups say this bill would protect unborn babies. the white house says president obama opposed the bill because it intruded on a woman's right to privacy. today scientists,

archaeologists and historians from around the world are in arlington to discuss what happened to amelia earhart. a three-day conference on the missing pilot begins today. it will include recently recovered evidence that suggests earhart died on an uninhabited island in the pacific. today is the 75th anniversary of the beginning of earhart's failed attempt to fly around the world. as we speak, the first passenger flight ever with a new boeing 747-8 is on its way to washington. while you were sleeping, the lufthansa flight took off from frankfurt, jaim, it's scheduled to land at around 12:45. it's more eco-friendly and considerably larger than past models, the airline said it will use the plane on its routes from frankfurt, to washington, and we expect the weather to hold until that landing happens, or not. >> it looks like it will be okay. and we've been talking about the

severe weather the last couple of days, it's still looking like this is a good six or seven hours away before we're going to see any severe weather. probably not until late afternoon into the evening if that happens. and we will certainly be giving you plenty of information throughout the afternoon. we'll have frequent updates here on news4, so stay tuned. you hear thunder and you're outside, get back inside and turn on news4. right now, no threats, just a gray sky over the potomac. a live view if our hd city camera. temperature now is at 78, dew point, a steamy 69. we've got the humidity back after that wonderful break yesterday. we've got a southeasterly wind around five to 15 miles per hour. now, the radar over the last few hours, is showing the advancing line here. this is probably the area that's going to be producing any severe weather. this is advancing off to the north and east, getting close to us, but not until late this afternoon. right now, close-up view of the radar showing a few scattered

sprinkles in montgomery county, into loudoun county and parts of fauquier and prince william. farther south and west, here just to the north of charlottesville, this is a thundershower that is developing it's not a severe storm. it is advancing to the north and east. maybe near warrenton in another oh perhaps hour or so. and maybe if it holds together, head towards the metro area, around 3:00, 4:00. even by then i don't anticipate we'll have much in the way of severe weather. but this is a huge zone of potential severe weather that covers all of west virginia, virginia, maryland, the eastern shore, up into the district of columbia. it looks like the time for any severe weather will be around 5:00 until perhaps as late as 11:00 this evening. so definitely if you have plans to head outside this evening. you may have problems with high water. that's going to be the main problem tonight. right now we're into the 70s to near 80 degrees. they've had sunshine, fredericksburg over to pax river, northern neck, near 80. upper 70s in washington, farther west and north, only in the low

70s. and as we go forward over the next several hours. all of the areas in yellow and orange and red, this is the zone of potential heaviest rain. this is the zone of potential severe weather. here's the timeframe. by 8:30, 9:00 this evening, it looks like that's when we may have our greatest risk for any severe weather. damaging winds, heavy rain that may cause localized flooding. and especially at night if you're driving along and you see high water on a roadway, you have no idea how deep it is, turn around, do not attempt to drive through any high water. me may have it from a long line stretching from the pennsylvania border to central virginia as the line moves through, by midnight, most of it will be moving east of the bay. by dawn on saturday, we'll probably get some sunshine out. maybe a few showers early on the eastern shore on saturday. the rest of saturday looking terrific. and sunday looking nice as well. how much rain? well take a look here. all of these areas in red and lavender is a big area of some heavy rain. we could have here's the scale, as much as four inches of rain in some isolated storms, that's

certainly enough to cause some quick flash flooding. and then that's going to be the situation tonight. so for the rest of the afternoon. don't anticipate any severe weather until 4:00, 5:00, we will have between now and then a few scattered thundershowers coming through. warm and humid, climbing into the low 80s and overnight is when we have the risk of the severe weather coming through. we'll drop from the mid 70s early evening, upper 60s by midnight and by dawn tomorrow, all of it gone except perhaps around the eastern shore. a few lingering showers. sun back on saturday. nice day sunday as well as monday. partly cloudy to mostly sunny at times sunday an then partly sunny on monday. could get more showers and thundershowers on tuesday into tuesday night and wednesday. and recently i talked to these students from the horace mann elementary school in washington. talked about weather and broadcasting. had a lot of fun. these students came from the horace mann elementary school here in northwest washington. louise hill, the teacher in the back, i want to thank her for the invitation, had a great

time. barbara? >> we're going to check in again on the midday traffic with danella sealock. good morning. >> good morning, well barbara right now i'm watching the 14th street bridge there, bridge work is slowing you down this morning, taking away the left lane and i'll give you a travel speed on 395. a little slow, you're looking at about 45 miles per hour per hour to get from the beltway to the 14th street bridge. other roads in our area, taking a look at the dulles toll road, six minutes to get from hunter mill road to the beltway, not bad, driving about 57 miles per hour. and also on route 50, this time, headed from the beltway to 295 to the split, sensors are picking up speeds at 58 miles per hour. barbara, tell these guys to slow down, the roads are open. >> slow down. thanks a lot. see you again shortly. 19 minutes after 11:00. still ahead, a preview of the new movie, "snow white and the huntsman" we'll hear from one of the stars of the film. we talk to tommy mcfly. and a new reason to have a little chocolate with your lunch -- but first, here's a

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i'll determine what concerns

me, thank you. >> you will do this for me, huntsman. >> the classic fairy tale gets a dark and twisted turn in "snow white and the huntsman." the evil queen looks to rule the whole kingdom but is threatened by snow white and her beauty. so she sends her evil forces out to capture her. but snow white is no princess in the story. charlize theron and kristen stewart and chris hemsworth star. it's rated pg 13. andrea garcia stars as a retired general in the middle of a civil war in the greater glory. he and his wife watch mexico fall into a battle but feel they have nothing at stake until they see persecution of their countrymen and are forced to act. eva longoria stars in the drama. "for greater glory" is rated r. and a high school senior's college dreams could go up in smoke in "high school." henry is afraid to get drug-tested after his principal institute a drug policy.

so he and his friend decide to beat the system but will their plans go to pot? michael chickless and adrian brody star in this comedy. "high school" is rated r. new york city mayor michael bloomberg is defending his proposal to ban large sodas and sugary drinks in the big apple. >> he wnts to outlaw drinks bigger than 16 ounces it apply to restaurants and ballparks, supermarkets would be exempt. this morning on the "today show," bloomberg says he isn't trying to eliminate unhealthy drinks, just encouraging people to drink them in moderation, he says. >> that's exactly what we're trying to do with soft drinks is get you to drink in moderation. so instead of getting the big 32-ounce, get two 16-ounces but all the tests show is what you'll do is you'll probably only drink one. >> new york became the first city in the country to ban artificial trans-fats under mayor bloomberg. the proposed ban would ex-eth diet sodas, coffee drinks,

drinks that are mostly juice and alcoholic beverages as well. can you spell winner? after three days of intense competition, there is a new spelling champion. 14-year-old snigdha nandipati won the scripps national spelling bee at national harbor last night. the san diego native aced a french word that means to ambush, snare or trap. >> guetapens, g-u-e-t-a-p-e-n-s, guetapens. [ applause ] >> snigdha nandipati won $40,000 in prizes, beat out 277 other competitors. it's 11:25 now. coming up in the next half hour of "news4 midday," the condition that could put your teen at a higher rick of getting into an accident. and the training that is helping. plus, police in search of a smoking gun in one of the most

unusual investigations we've had to tell but in a long time. and we are watching the weather closely today. with a chance of severe weather. tom kierein is back with an update. [ 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 ♪ ♪ love can be so mystical you know what's exciting? graduation. when i look up into my students faces, i see pride.

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right now on "news4 midday," one child is dead and four others injured after a horrific accident in prince george's county. police say a woman accidentally ran over the kids and into a garage at a home in hyattsville. they believe she saw the children and inadvertently hit the gas instead of the brake. now to a news4 exclusive. police have dropped the charges against the suspect in one of montgomery county's oldest cold cases. bobbie coley was link dodd a murder for hire in montgomery county back in 1975. earlier this week, he discovered there was a warrant out for his arrest while he was applying for a job. last night, the county state's attorney dropped the charges, saying there's not enough evidence to proceed.

news4 spoke to him who maintains he had nothing to do with the man's death all along. >> i didn't do this. i am willing it take a lie detector test. i'm willing to do anything that the government want me to do to prove i didn't have nothing to do with this man's death, period. >> coley was accuse of being part of a murder for hire case where a woman hired three men to kill her husband. virginia state police are asking for your help to find a car that dragged a man on interstate 95. police say the man fell out of the dark, late model sedan around 7:00 last night in the 156 mile marker. they say the man was dragged for 200 feet before falling out of the car. the victim was taken to the hospital, doctors expect him to make a full recovery. police are still trying to figure out if the man was thrown or jumped from the moving vehicle. well while were you sleeping, d.c. police kept busy,

a spree of robberies kept them chis chasing. eight robberies throughout the city and responded to reports of a shooting on rosedale street in northeast washington. police dealt with a serious car accident that shut down southern avenue in the southeast as well. no word at this point on whether they made any arrests last night. and maryland police need your help in finding thieves who stole a very unique cigarette. this cigarette is ten feet long and weighs more than 150 pounds. a silver spring couple say thieves took it from their yard and probably needed a truck to carry it off. it used to be a telephone pole, but was painted to look like a cigarette. today marks the official start of hurricane season. there have been two tropical storms this year, alberto and beryl. the national oceanic and atmospheric administration predicts 9-15 tropical storms will happen this year. noaa says between four and eight of them will become hurricanes. the agency is also predicting of

those hurricanes, one to three could become major ones with top winds of 111 miles per hour or higher. tom, i guess we don't have to worry about the storms today getting that furious with us. good morning again. >> good morning, barbara. well our biggest concern is perhaps some severe storms arriving into the metro area later this afternoon. between now and then, maybe a little sun trying to break out. right now as we look at the radar over the last several hours, there's a developing thunderstorm that is just north northeast of charlottesville, virginia, it's moving about 30 miles to the northeast and may be getting closer to the metro area. you can see the area in red, the lower left of your screen. that's the thundershower, it's not a severe storm but it is in albermarle county, now into green county and should be heading into madison and perhaps into culpepper over the next hour and then perhaps about a half hour after that, up around warrenton. if it holds together it may be mere manassas around 1:00 or

2:00 right into the metro area. and fairfax county. that's if it holds together. otherwise, a few scattered light showers farther west and north of us. all these areas in yellow are under a severe storm risk. it looks like the primetime for that is 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. stay tuned, we'll be here throughout the afternoon with frequent updates. if you hear thunder and you're outside, get back inside. turn on news4, we'll let you know if any storms are threatening your neighborhood. right now, upper 70s, near 80 degrees. sweltering humidity in place as well. might have a lingering shower around the bay, east of the metro area, early saturday morning. partly cloudy sunday and monday. highs upper 70s. might get more showers and thunder, tuesday, tuesday night into wednesday right now. i'm back with another update in a few minutes. >> it is friday. folks on the way out of town yet danella? >> not yet. but i can tell you the biggest delays we're seeing are folks heading from maryland, crossing

the wilson bridge, heading into virginia. the situation is there's road work. once you get to telegraph road, you'll be forced into one lane. we're seeing delays really out of maryland right now from right around branch avenue you're slow crossing the wilson bridge heading to telegraph road. i-95 for folks traveling oub, nice and open. to quantico, 55 miles per hour. happy friday, back to you. >> same to you. talk to you later. car accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers in this country. a big factor for those accidents can be distractions. so kids dealing with attention deficit disorder are faced with a major challenge when it comes time to learn to drive. as nbc's rehema ellis explains, there are things parents can do to keep everyone safer. >> reporter: it's images like these that make parents of every young driver cringe. oh, my god. this girl was lucky and not seriously hurt.

for most teenagers, staying focused is one of the toughest things about learning to drive. it's even harder for teens like 17-year-old annie otto who has adhd. attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder. >> i've known if for a while now, we've been dealing with it. >> adhd teens are the largest and most studied group of young drivers with diagnosed attention problems. they're two to four times more likely to have an accident than other teenagers. >> this is our virtual reality driving simulators. >> reporter: researchers have spent years documenting how adhd teen drivers repeatedly get into trouble. >> they don't pay attention to cars ahead of them. stoplights. cross traffic. and then all of a sudden, they'll detect an emergency and they impulsively react. in a dangerous way. >> she can overcome those things by very specific learning tools. >> reporter: with her mom, annie

is taking action by studying techniques. she's on medication, delayed getting her learner's permit to gain another year of maturity. and enrolled in a driving school that puts adhd teenagers through a tougher course. with driving simulators, online training and extra practice. >> experts say even with extra training, adld teenagers should still be very strict, to limit cell phones, passengers, music, even keep pets out of the car. >> i don't think i'm 100% ready yet. but when i get there, i'm going to be, oh my god. >> one determined teenager turning the corner with a greater focus and control behind the wheel. rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. in a news4 exclusive this morning. the woman who had her motorized wheelchair stolen from outside her home is speaking out now. melissa weiss has cerebral palsy. she says she keeps her wheel

chair outside her basement condo on sixth street in the northeast but on wednesday, her husband discovered the wheelchair is gone. >> i can't figure out what they would use it for, because they didn't take the charger with them. they must not have known very much about it. you can't use an electric wheelchair after the batteries run down unless you have a charger. >> weiss says the cheelchair was worth around 5500. homeowners insurance won't pay to replace it because the wheelchair was parked just outside her condo. the d.c. expo is being held this weekend at the washington convention center. mauden cooper from the greater washington urban league and john hall from the department of housing and community development join us with more. let's start with you, john. maybe you can tell us a little bit about home ownership in the district. is it declining? and has the city been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis? >> right, well the city has not been hit as hard as many cities.

but we have our pockets. that have experienced tremendous foreclosures. such as wards, 8, 7 and parts of 5. we're trying to pour resources into those areas of the city to help stabilize the neighborhoods and give people motivation to buy a house. >> are people buying homes in the district? >> yes. >> fast as they were let's say five years ago? >> it's beginning to pick back up. washington, d.c. is one of the hottest real estate markets overall in the country. so we expect the real estate market to rebound fast. >> mauden, tell us what people can expect to learn from the expo tomorrow? >> it's focused on housing. and there will be workshops on everything from loss mitigation to foreclosure, to credit scores. what do they mean. you can come and actually have your credit pulled. and we will sit with you and walk you through it. because a lot of people don't know, what it is or what it means. there will be speakers like willie jolly, who will be keynoting, everybody knows

willie in this town. chef hooter will be there cooking. there will be all kinds of things from fixing a washer, the small efforts to make repairs around your house. something there for everyone. even if you say you have a house and i don't need to come. you have neff knews, nieces, friends, cousins. come and get the materials and take it to them. we are pushing as mayor gray is pushing, as president obama is pushing, for home ownership among americans. >> how important is home ownership to people in the district of columbia? >> well across the country, i mean it's probably the largest asset that most of us will have. you have tax advantages, you have equity building in your home. studies have shown that where there's a home that is owned by the family, the children tend to be better students. better people, better citizens. so there's a lot to go along with this as mine and i own it. >> john, why is this a good time

to buy a home? or is it? >> yes, it is. >> in the district or anywhere? >> absolutely. in addition to having historically low marge rates for interest. this is a good time because we have resources available to help those who have always wanted to buy a home. we have downpayment closing cost assistance, up to 77,000 is available in certain parts of the district to help you get into your home so that it would lower your monthly payment. >> so is this open to people from everywhere? i mean a lot of people would like to move into the district if they work here because it's so expensive to use the gas to commute. are you encouraging people to come from other places other than just the district? >> yes. you know, june is home ownership month. we have activities that are open to everyone. we want people to come out and become knowledgeable about home buyer education resources. so everyone is welcome, it's free of charge. and we just want you to come out and make informed decisions. >> you'll be dealing with resources available not just

here in d.c., but around the region. >> counseling will be available throughout the region. but the program referenced by the housing director is operated by the urban league. strictly for people who live in the district and who have lived there for over a year. there are certain allowances for people who live in other jurisdictions. if funds are available. right now it's pretty tight for people in d.c. >> most jurisdictions have a similar program. so my counterparts in northern virginia and southern maryland will have resources as well. but we're focused with d.c. residents. the same resources are generally available. >> so what time does it start? what time do people need to get there? >> 10:00 to 3:00. >> and carpool or take a cab or metro. >> and it's at the washington convention center tomorrow. >> yes. >> and we thank you so much, mauden of course for coming in mauden cooper of the greater washington urban league and john hall with the department of housing and community development.

thank you both for telling about this. i'm sure you'll get a big turn-out tomorrow. >> we hope so. it's 11:41 still ahead. more benefits to eating dark chocolate. plus why one group has a big problem with this father's day ad. stay with us. [ male announcer ] are you paying more and more for cable and enjoying it less and less?

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well as if being friday weren't enough reason to celebrate today, it's also national doughnut day. several doughnut shops around town are offering some sweet deals to celebrate. national doughnut day always falls on the first friday in june. and believe it or not, there's some historical significance to this holiday. the salvation army established it in 1938, to honor women who served donuts to soldiers in world war i. in news for your health, a new study says eating dark chocolate daily over ten years could prevent heart attacks and strokes. more than 2,000 people at risk for heart disease took part in the australian study.

researchers found dark chocolate could prevent 70 heart attacks for everly 10,000 people treated. dark chocolate contains flavonoids, compounds known to protect the heart. cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, according to the world health organization. a new jcpenney father's day ad is stirring up controversial among conservative groups. one million moms, an organization that has criticized jcpenney for naming ellen degeneres their spokeswoman has released a statement condemning this ad. it reads in part. omm is disturbed that jcpenney's is continuing down the same path of remoting what they called sin in their advertisements. they go on to say, it is obvious that jcp would rather take sides than remain neutral in the culture war. omm wants jcpenney customers to refuse the catalogs and cancel

pen penniny-the-credit cards in protest. the fewest jobs were created in a year, in may. >> well both wall street and main street are disappointed in the latest jobs report. when you add in concerns about europe, there's a reason why at this hour, we see the dow down 214 points. the nasdaq down 60, the s&p down 25. in may, employers adding just 69,000 new jobs. less than half what economists were looking for. with the unemployment rate on a slight uptick to 8.2%. construction taking the biggest hit, losing 28,000 jobs last month. job growth for march and april was also revised downward by 39,000. the number of people out of work for six months or longer went up by 300,000 to 5.4 million nationwide.

42.8% of the total unemployed. that week, jobs report has triggered a trader stampede into government bonds, bond prices were up sharply and the yield on the ten-year treasury note fell to 1.46%, the lowest on record. gold leading the way kmong among commodities to 1615 per ounce, the first time in three weeks gold has been above $1600 an ounce. on the flip side, crude oil futures down $3, below $84 a barrel. extending a month-long slide with that commodity and we know cheaper crude oil means consumer savings when it comes to the price of gasoline at the pump. well it looks like more and more consumers are putting gas in new cars. general motors reporting an 11% increase in auto sales, the biggest monthly growth in nearly three years. the overall auto industry is expecting a 31% hike from a year ago. barbara, that's about the only good news on the economy i can find.

and i did participate in the celebration of national doughnut day. >> you did. what kind did you have? >> something with chocolate on it. >> that sounds good. >> and that's good good for you we just learned. hopefully it was dark chocolate, so you're okay. >> my question is can a national cupcake day be far behind? >> let's hope so. >> mcdonald's is working to insure its pork comes from humane fact and circumstancers. the fast food chain says by 2022, they will only buy pork from farmers who don't use gestation stalls. gestation stalls confine the pigs during the breeding and post-birth process. animal rights groups say this is cruel and is happy with mcdonald's' move for more humane practices. but farmers say overhauling their barns to comply with the new regulations is going to be expensive. a california elementary school had an uninvited guest at their graduation ceremony. a 200-pound black bear wandered

onto the school campus. the school was put on lockdown, the bear wandered over to a nearby apartment complex. animal control officers tried to remove the bear but used a tazer to remove him safely. they say he was so far away from his natural happen tat he must have hopped a train to get there. the bear wasn't injured and was released back into the wild late last night. it is 11:50 and coming up, which star of the new movie, snow whyte and the huntsman is not afraid to use bad words. we'll tell you which one. plus meteorologist tom kierein will be back with another check of the severe weather that could move into our area this evening.

talking to an action hero in the mcfly report. tommy mcfly is here with his interview with the one and only thor. good morning. >> how are you? >> good. now "snow white and the huntsman" opens today and you talked 0 one of its stars. >> it's an awesome couple of weeks for chris hemsworth. i asked him about his co-stars, like kristen stewart. to tell me something i don't know about them. we asked hemsworth about his

favorite movie moment. >> i would probably start with the dwarf, they're not the dwarfs, sleepy and grumpy and happy that we, they're a band of drunken criminals. >> we asked about something we don't know about krifrten stewart. >> she has a good right hook on her. >> how about charlize theron? >> she's ever bit intimidating and beautiful and not afraid to swear around the old swear world. >> is he australian? >> he has an australian accent. the ladies who listened to the show today were tweeting in saying, keep him talking all day. women love australian accents the. >> he said "snow white and the seven dwarfs," i thought it was dwarves. >> dwarfs? dwarves? >> it's kind of like moose or moos? is it meese? >> move on to britney spears, she's being paid a lot of money

to be a judge on "x factor" but there have been reports of her walking out of auditions. >> there's a lot of talk that she signed up because she wanted to make more money than the first season of j. lo on "idol." her camp, i'm not sure how much truth there is to it. she was diagnosed with adhd. they're saying oh, it's her attention deficit disorder. >> she can't sit still? >> they want on to say she can't be on ritalin which is a normal adhd medication because of the other meds she's on. >> she hasn't responded to this to say no, i don't have adhd. >> she has been documented in her teen years. she was diagnosed with it. now sheer saying she didn't walk out because she was mad, it was because of her adhd, that's it. >> her fans have come up with a reason. do you think that she's got a problem? >> i think that she's doing a great job of coming back. i mean britney spears is someone had has been famous and she was ten years old. so she didn't have the normal human experience so she's doing pretty well.

>> finally, a 6-year-old star of "toddlers and tiaras" is getting her own show. why? >> because her mom is just that crazy. the little girl going to be put on, they're going to give her her own show. and this is the one if you're not familiar with the show, the one who drinks the go-go juice. >> let's take a look. >> yeah. >> i'm six and i'm a beauty queen. >> they must be crazy if they think they can beat me, move over honey child. it's not going to take us into the pageants but into her real life. what goes on in her home life and what's the whole deal. i feel like six months from now, let me get my time capsule, you and i are going to be sitting there saying where did it go wrong. >> honey boo-boo child. >> happy birthday. >> sun sunday, june 3rd i'll be

26. >> you're an old man. >> exactly. tick tock, time is running out. >> happy birthday to you. we'll take a look at some stories we're following on news4 this afternoon. pat lawson-muse joins us with a preview. >> coming up this afternoon on news at 4:00, we'll head over to the pond as london starts the festivities for the queen's jubilee. plus soccer star david beckham smaks a surprise visit and puts smiles on the faces of little children. tonight at 5:00, music therapy for premature babies. to help newborns recover faster from illness. those stories and all the rest of the day's news starting at 4:00. time for a final check on the forecast with tom. >> here's a look at radar now, barbara, we do have an area of some rain now approaching the metro area to our south and west, that is areas in yellow and orange. those are some diminishing thundershowers, they were producing some thunder and

lightning about an hour ago, now they're producing moderate rain coming into culpepper. maybe getting closer to the metro area. perhaps a another couple of hours, but not severe the. the wheel yellow zone is under a severe risk zone 5:00 to 11:00 p.m. when he we could get some strong storms producing damaging winds and flooding rains. stay tuned if you hear thunder turn on news4 we'll let you know if storms are threatening your region. >> have a great weekend. that's "news4 midday." we thank you for being with us. and invite you to tune in for a[ male announcer ] are youor 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.