and now from washington's leads news station, this is news 4 midday. good morning, and welcome to "news 4 midday." it's monday, july 2nd, 2012. this morning hundreds of thousands of people in our region still don't have power. pepco says it restored power to half of the 440,000 customers that lost electricity from friday's night. right now they report there's more than 230,000 customers in the dark. dominion reports that more than 131,000 customers don't have electricity, and bge is reporting more than 71,000 in our area are still without power

right now. novak reporting 4,000 people without electricity and smeco has more than 5,000. the utility companies say it could take up to a week to restore power to customers. now power means dark traffic signals all over the region. the situation is slowly improving for some. news 4's megan mcgrath joins us live from bethesda with more. meg megan. >> reporter: it is slowly xwlooufing and people noticed this morning as they drove into work, but we have a major problem. here in montgomery county there are 240 traffic signals without electricity. we're here at the intersection of old georgetown and democracy boulevard. we have state police here directing the traffic. well, that's helped to ease the situation at this intersection. there are plenty of other intersections that did not get this kind of attention. people had to use their judgment and come to a stop when they came up to a dark signal. needless to say, it made for a tough commute for a lot of

folks. >> there's no light, and it's just a mess. >> reporter: hundreds of intersections including major ones like randolph road and connecticut avenue were without traffic signals this morning. >> i had to make a detour off connecticut avenue p because all the lights were out as far as i could see. so, i mean, i'm just trying to get to work. >> reporter: police directed traffic in some spots, but with such widespread power outages, they couldn't be everywhere. the rule of thumb -- >> patience, patience and patience. if you come to a traffic signal that is not lit, treat it as a four-way stop sign. >> detours are a common side. this one on the southbound side of connecticut avenue was caused by a fallen tree. while things are far from perfect, progress is being made. at the intersection of randolph and veirs mill, the signals were dark early this morning. before 6:00 a.m. the power came

back on. motorists say things are better today than they were over the weekend. >> i came across from the east side of the county, it was getting better as i came. yesterday in the wheat ton area it was a nightmare. >> it wasn't as bad as yesterday. there's probably twice as many on today that weren't on yesterday. >> reporter: we also got a little break because of the timing of all of this. this, of course, is the week of july 4th. a lot of people already are out on vacation, so they didn't drive in to work this morning. then a lot of employers allowed liberal leave, allowed people to telecommute today, so that took some cars off the roadway. not as bad as it could have been, but certainly not an easy commute by any stretch. when these intersections will be back up and running? we simply don't know. the crews are out there working to restore power, but we don't have a firm time line. some places could be without power into friday, perhaps saturday. so we're going to have to wait and see. reporting live in bethesda, megan mcgrath, news 4.

>> megan, thank you. it's been nearly three full days since the storm hit, and pepco is reporting more than 230,000 still without power right now. mike maxwell is from pepco joining us to talk about how much longer people are without power across the region. we should apologize first. we did let folks know tom gram would be here earlier but he had another engagement. >> he had another engagement and i had to leave our center to come here to cover for him today. >> we appreciate you doing that. let's talk about where things stand with the recovery effort happening right now. what do you have out there and what you're making progress doing. >> we have probably close to 1700 crews throughout in the field coming in the field right now in the district in prince georges county in montgomery county. over the night we went through and looked at the damage assessment information that we got. we started to lay out work plans for today. that information was given to the crews at our staging areas at the capitol plaza and

montgomery county fair grounds. those crews went in the field and going to different places across the region it to start to restore power. >> what you've told us through the weekend you project the end of the week for 90% restoration from this particular storm. we heard some strong words from the governor of maryland after getting that sort of an estimate. we want to play that for our viewers. >> i'm very hopeful, optimistic that we will be able to beat those expectations, and nobody will have their boot further up pepco's backside than i will to make sure that we get there. >> reporter: my question is has that come to fruition, and do you look for and get help from localities, from states in making the restoration process happen? >> we've gotten assistance from as far away as canada, missouri, texas, florida, and georgia. those crews have arrived, and they're going to work right now. when it comes to the restoration effort overall, let me speak to

this real quickly. while we said we would probably get most of these customers back by the vast majority on friday, with the work that was done over the last night, we've been able it to substantially reduce the number of customers. we took 100,000 customers out of the system and got 100,000 customers restored. we think we can beat that estimate, but i feel pretty pleased about that effort. with regard to the governor's comment, i think we're making significant progress. i don't necessarily feel the boot, but we're doing everything we can to get these customers back. >> we had a couple viewers, your customers send us questions they had as well. some people asking how they lost power, today? for example, how does it happen they have power through the weekend and lose power today? >> when you go out there and get a crew to a site, and they're starting to restore power, sometimes they have to take some of the customers out of service in order to do it safely and expeditiously. some customers may see an

interruption because of that, but that's because of the complexity of getting these circuits actually finally constructed and restored. >> i can't understandary has a question. pepco has made much of the improvements made since the last major outages. how have they impacted response to this outage and why does is appear that the average customer nothing has changed. $900 million invested over five years? >> with the reliability enhancement plan, we put money into restoring and hardening the system, but this was an extreme event. this was not a run of the mill thunderstorm. this was not blue sky outages. a lot of the work we did has made the system more rezilt yent to outages in general. however, 100-foot tree, 150-foot tree coming down on power lines, there's nothing we can do to resist that type of destruction. >> it makes it sound as though whatever storm might come up, if 100-foot tree comes down, no matter how much do you to shore

up the system, there's nothing to do it to keep from having this sort of impact from any hurricane or any dericho that cams through. >> if think about that, those are unique events. we weren't the only ones affected by it. you had as far away as indiana and many areas hit hard. there was nothing they could have done to prevent the damage in their area. the plan is working for us in terms of reducing the frequent stee and duration of outages that customers see on an annual basis. i think we make good headway there, and this was -- let me be clear. this was a significant event. >> mike maxwell, we should note that a lot of folks on facebook and twitter accounts said thank you to all the crews actually out in the street doing the reconnecting in the heat. they appreciate the work they're doing. >> those guys really appreciate it. i appreciate it. they're working as safely as possible, and please, you know, stay away from those lines. >> mike maxwell, we appreciate you coming in. >> thank you. let's get a check on the

midway traffic. danella has the latest. >> good morning. lots of problems in the area. if you're about to head out of the house, be careful and give yourself extra time, because we have trees down in some areas. also accidents slowing you down. if you travel in upper marlboro, 382 at mount calvert road, all your lanes are blocked by the crash there. let's head up to enterprise road at route 50. all the lanes are blocked by debris in the roadway there. heading over to southbound connecticut avenue, it's closed right now at decatur avenue due to a downed tree. you can see the crews are working right now to get the tree out of the roadway. i've been watching this it road all morning long, and they cut that tree down. you will see incidents like this all over town. if you head out of the house, give yourself extra time. i know it's hot and some of you don't have electricity. please be patient, and if you come to an intersection where the lights are out like this one right now, please stop and treat it as a four-way stop sign.

aaron, over to you. >> thank you, danella. >> another hot afternoon is ahead of us. 87 degrees is the temperature right now. it's only 9 minutes after the 11:00 hour, and you will remember through the weekend we saw temperatures push and break 100 degrees around a lot of area. well, today not quite that bad, but not going to be so good out there either. meteorologist verronica johnson joins us. >> our temperatures are rising quickly. this is the national heat index values. d.c. is at 88 degrees. we've got the highest value, one of the highest values across the east right now. 93 in miami, sure, humid down there, but 91 in chicago, illinois. 93 in minneapolis, minnesota already, so you can easily see where the core of the heat is from the ohio valley areas of the midwest touching on the mid-atlantic. 88 is the temperature now with a north wind at 10 miles per hour.

that north wind not offering aa whole lot of relief. other values already feeling like 90 in frederick, maryland and 90 in charlottesville. storms this morning roll through and made their way east of the area by 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. with ocean city getting hammered. later today should see isolated storms and it will feel more like 99 degrees out there. we'll look at the seven-day forecast, fourth of july coming up. the widespread power outages causing problems for hundreds of businesses in the area as well. tracee wilkins is live with more on that. >> it's a mess out here in laurel. just to explain how much of a mess, when i lost my power on friday, i went out on a fruitless expedition hoping to find a generator somewhere. i came out here to laurel, and i was greeted at every store with hi, good morning. i'm sorry. we have no generators. that's how bad it was here. everybody was trying to get as

much power as they could to their homes, and sths pathis isf the reason why. this is the damage laurel had to deal with. this is how it looked on saturday. it hasn't changed much today. bge and is doing lots of work. at the height of the storm there were 400,000 customers without power in their system and now they're down to 200 thousand. they expect to continue the work throughout the weekend. in laurel, maryland and prince georges county it looks like the storm hitd yesterday. some roads are closed and some roads are too important to close. but they're the scene of amazing damage like here on route 1 near cyprus street. a fallen utility pole caused a domino effect cracking four other poles and bending at least five others. one pole carrying transformers landed on top of this pre-owned range rover that was for sale. >> they were down for the remainder of the night on friday and down all day on saturday.

a number of seks had hotspots where there were actually flames shooting up from power lines. >> reporter: louis who lives here said he called bge and to report the dangerous situation, but it took a while to respond. >> there's no way there to notify them those power lines were energized. you could clearly see flames shooting up from power lines. >> reporter: a number of businesses are still without power this morning. at roitute 1 there's no line at the chick-fil-a since there's to electricity. it was the same sat starbucks where management apologized with a handwritten note. with thousands of customers still without power and in need of food, the one place that was open, mcdonald's. >> this morning it's mcdonald's because? >> frg everything is spoiled. >> reporter: i spoke with a bge spokesman a while ago, and he said when irene hit, 750,000 of their customers lost power in 22 hours.

he said with this storm 600,000 customers lost power in just two hours. so that's just how devastating this was for their system, and again, they expect to continue restoration through the weekend. reporting live in laurel, i'm tracee wilkins, news 4. >> thank you. your time right now is 11:14. coming up drivers in d.c. encouraged to take metro today. we'll tell you when transportation crews hope to have all the city roads cleared. a lot of work taking place right now so the fireworks on the mall happen this year. we'll tell

thousands of people are expected to celebrate the fourth of july in the nation's capital. the national parks service working very hard to clean up the storm debris on the national mall and the surrounding national parks. >> our maintenance crews and other staff have been working around the clock to make sure that everything is straightened out for the fourth of july. so i want to aknowledge that today. >> the national parks service reminds people to arrive early wednesday if you plan to watch the fireworks on the national mall. they recommend that the public take -- that everybody use public transportation. also, a reminder, no grills, no alcoholic beverages either

allowed at that event. here's the latest on where we stand after the storm. more than 480,000 customers still without power this morning. utility crews say it could be the weekend before all service is restored. federal government offices are open today, and employees are able it to use unscheduled leave or enscheduled telework. the commute could turn into a mess today. hov restrictions are lifted to help drivers leaving the district. the other big story today, of course, is the heat. it's not going anywhere. >> it's not going anywhere, and as we look forward through the week, we have the potential for severe storms nearby on the fourth of july. i'll explain more as we work through the maps here. i wanted to start out by taking a look at the temperatures across the eastern half of the nation, especially the eastern third of the nation. we're currently at 88 degrees. i've been saying all morning how we hit 90 degrees around lunchtime today. 81 in boston, 82 in new york, 88

here and down to the south of us where you think it would be much higher, it's not. it's cooler. 81 in raleigh, north carolina, 81 in atlanta, 85 in ya jacksonville. we have the highest temperature on the earn third of the nation. the core of the heat, though, right here. check out the temperatures. st. louis is 93, 89 in fem mime tennessee. the core of that heat will move eastward arriving here around the fourth of july. we don't have a heat advisoriea, but we have all the advisories to to the west of us. north of chicago they're under a heat advisory. we could be back into one on the fourth of july. current temperature, reagan national airport 88 right now with a dew point temperature of 62 degrees. we'll watch this number prize as this number goes up, so it will be another oppressive day with only light winds. we've already hit over 90 degrees in bristow, virginia.

86 and rising, montgomery county in maryland. the big storms that came through the area this morning, they sat for a while out in ocean city. moved through here, too. really hammering areas of southern maryland and gave way to more scattered power outages. for today i do not think we'll have any severe storms. we may have a few isolated, strong storms but nothing severe. if there were any severe weather, it would be down here through the south around north carolina, around south carolina, around alabama. as far as the next big system for us to bring some storms, we've got a slight chance today, and then we have again a bigger chance coming our way on the fourth of july. watch the satellite and aid dar over the last couple of hours. we did clear out with more sunshine than clouds. for this this. scattered showers and maybe isolated strong thunderstorms, and by 1:30 and 2:00 there will

be more storms not around i-81. 30% chance and make their way eastward into the cooler part of the overnight they start dissipating. the forecast as we check it out the next couple days. it's hot and 94 degrees tomorrow with a partly sunny sky. could have a few showers and storms west of the area, but then a weather front will build around the area on the fourth of july giving us a chance for strong he believe, severe storms. i thing we cool down back to the 80s of next week. >> i love the 80s. >> i do, too. love the 80s. thank you, veronica. let's check on the midday traffic now. danella sealock joins us with that. >> i have good news at mount calvert road. i had a crash blocking all the lanes. it's now out of the roadway for you, and travel lanes are open. let's go to i-95 earlier today.

if you had to take i-95, it's a nice trip. right now you hit the brakes southbound at route 123. those delays continue and not seeing accidents and just small delays there. in the district we have good news there, too. we had close urzs this morning and over the weekend along fox hall. those roads are re-opened. back over to you. >> thank you, danella. still ahead, the high price to escape for some without power in the area. the red cross spent the weekend helping storm victims. now the organization is asking for your help. first, though, a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com.

the american red cross is one of the organizations that has been here to help since friday's deadly storm hit our area, but the agency is also dealing with a significant drop in donations especially for blood. the medical director for the american red cross is here this morning. we appreciate you coming in. let me ask you first to tell us about what you have done saturday of the storm that came through on friday and how much work this put on the red cross around here. >> as always, we're quick to respond to any kind of

emergency, and this is certainly an emergency we would respond to. several of our chapters have opened up cooling stations to help accommodate people without air-conditioning. over the weekend, i believe, there was an apartment complex in riverdale where people were out of their homes. we've responded by providing food and clothing to those folks to stay. >> we know that the red cross is table to provide the help you've been providing by way of donations and through volunteers doing a lot of work. because the storm, though, i understand that you've lost almost 300 potential blood cell donations, is that right? >> that is correct. this couldn't come at a worst time. last month we actually were down nationwide about 5,000 pints of bl blood. we're rolling into the independence day weekend with a considerable deficit, and the storms certainly locally doesn't help things very much. in fact, we had a couple centers weren't able to collect over the weekend, which are now up and

running thanks to the efforts of the power companies. >> what are you looking for in terms of blood donations? what do people need to know if this is something they're considering? >> if it's something they'd like to do, call 1-800-red-cross or go to the website redcrossblood.org and make an appointment on the website or calling on the phone. we need all types of blood. we don't turn away any donors, but the types are o positive, o negative, b negative and b positive. we have a lot of patients using blood in the region, and the thing that really is most important is that unlike a monetary donation, you know that this donation that you make is definitely going to help save a life. >> okay, all right. can't make it sound any more convincing than that. we appreciate you coming in, and we hope folks hear the message and make a difference here. thanks aa lot. >> thank you. in the next half hour of "news 4 midday," we continue or coverage of the aftermath of friday's storm with the latest

from hard-hit areas of falls church including when power crews expect to get into neighborhoods. plus, people are beginning to look ahead to the fourth of july. veronica johnson lets us know what the weather will be like

[ female announcer ] safeway presents real big deals of the week. or how to keep from driving all over for the best deals. you don't need to run around. safeway gives you real big club card deals each week. this week, the farm comes to you. fresh sweet corn is an amazing 6 for a buck. deer park water is just $3.33 a case. and honey bunches of oats just $1.88 a box. real big deals this week and every week. only at safeway. ingredients for life. file this under bad timing. the sticker shock that awaits

hundreds of thousands of met row riders this morning in 60 seconds. we'll tell you where we stand after the storms today. more than 480,000 people still without power right now. utility companies say it could be the weekend before all service is restored. today some people living in fairfax county need to boil their water at least until tonight. the falls church water autility says customers in tyson's corner should boil tap water before drirnging it because there was a drop in water pressure. it may have let bacteria and other contaminants into some pipes. in the d.c. metro area at least five people have been killed in storm-related incidents. >> getting around northern virginia remains treacherous today. dozens of traffic lights still dark and streets still closed because of storm debris. erica gonzalez is live near one of the closed streets in falls church. erica >> reporter: a little more

debris. look at this huge tree behind me. the tree belongs in a yard that way and fell this way into a yard blocking this intersection completely. neighbors say crews have been out here multiple times to survey the damage and take this off the road. people are getting really frustrate right about now. it's been grueling 48 hours for residents in fairfax county. with hundreds of thousands still without power, at least 15 schools have been forced to close. malfunctioning traffic signals like the one on lee highway and fairfax drive are working drivers' nerves. because government employees are allowed to telework and hov restrictions inside the beltway were lifted, so roads are moving faster than ever. and then there's the neighborhoods, case in point. wrest great falls in falls

church where a toppled tree and down the poir lun force road closures. >> my husband was walking the dog when the storm struck, and he could have been killed. >> nancy says part of a city-owned tree wrecked her two cars and home, and now she is just feet away from livewires and there's no relief in sight. >> i've called twice. actually, i've called three times now, dominion power, and they told me to call back around noon. >> reporter: others are relying on the generosity of neighbors. >> we got a generator from friends who did get power back. >> reporter: jill martin sent her dog to stay with friends for a few days while she and the family stayed home and stuck it out. >> we had a good neighborhood party and cooked out all the freezer food and all the kids ate ice cream to clear out the freezer. >> there's cindy. >> we lost power friday night at 11:00 who is trying to keep a few things cool for her

daughter. >> we didn't have a whole lot in the fridge so we loaded up the cooler with ice and tried to salvage what we could. >> at this point people why just kind of saying, i'm done with this and i'm tired and my family is tired or hot. one lady said we've given up and taking the rest of the week as vacation. fourth of july is coming up naz, and we need to goit of here and get out of this mess. again, not sure when crews are out into this particular area to remove this tree. that was once in a yard back that way, and wound up on this other side of the street. we're live in falls church today, erica gonzalez, news 4. >> seeing that story in far too many places right now. thank you. as drivers headed into work this morning, they had a few obstacles during the morning commute. there are traffic lights out around the d.c. metro area. police officers and soldiers in some places manning dangerous intersections, directing tv.

d-dot's monica hernandez joined us earlier. she said the biggest thing is to take it slow and be patient. >> it will be slow at various intersections. we are advising all motorists to please proceed with catch, to basically take public transit if pob. >> fernandez said all hands are on deck right now until all the traffic lights are up and running. >>. before your open your reason fridge rarity, and if you lost power at all and on the freezer for two days and a half for one day, refrigerated fooding should be good as long as the power is on for a few hours. here's a quick list what foods should be thrown away, meat, fish, poultry, all dairy and egg

products, soft cheeses and your cooked foods. those foods should be discarded if they warm up above 40 degrees. let's check in with storm 4 meteorologist with the latest on our forecast. >> if only all of us got in the car and drive to ocean city, because boy it's cool there. the water temperature, the current water temperature. look in the upper part of the banner here. 75 degrees right now. now, that's enough to cool you off, right? especially if you stay and hang out in the water for a while. forecast for the next couple of days, tuesday, fourth of july and thursday we're going to see temperatures rise to 86 degrees on the fourth of july. now, as far as tomorrow goes, 81 for a high temperature just like here on the fourth of july. we have a chance for showers and a few thunderstorms mainly during the afternoon. that chance at ocean city carries through through thursday. again, 86 degrees sure feels and sounds right, a lot better than temperatures that will be max out around 95 to 96 degrees.

88 right now at reagan national airport. a light wind out of the nort, but not doing much to help us out. the storms came through the area early part of the day today. we have some sunshine right now, but we're going to see some clouds buildings for the afternoon. some clouds for the afternoon and maybe an isolated strong storm and plenty hot with a high of 90 aaron feeling like 99. >> i'm not a beach person. it that could work for sure. overnight no traffic signals led to a four-car crash in tysons corner. it happens before 11:30 at the sbeshgsz of leesburg pike. this is one hundreds of intersections in the region where the traffic lights are not working. let's get a check on the midday traffic for you. danella is keeping an eye on the roads. >> you watch out four traffic lights dark right now. you're looking out for debris in the roadway.

if you're traveling route 50 eastbound between the beltway and mlk, 704 here. debris is blocking the right lane. have to be aware of downed trees cleaning up southbound connecticut avenue at denfield avenue. all the lanes are working. crews are working to get the tree out of the roadway. quite large, and still you see debris in the road here. hopefully it will be cleared by the time you head out of the house. aaron, over to you. thank you. to help drivers leaving d.c. tonight the hov restrictions during the evening rush hour. be patient if you ride mess troe today because of the weekend storms. 200 metro bus lines are running on detour routes because of downed power lines and other storm damage. metro says all of the 86 rail stations are open, but some stations may be operating on backup power systems and emergency lighting. that means escalators, platform

displays and some p.a. systems may not be working properly. commuters today had to pay a little more this morning on metro. new rates kicked in yesterday. it now costs 5% more on the rails. bus fares went up 10 cents and parking rates went up a quarter as well. there is good news, though. metro eliminated the peak. peak surcharge. it will be used to balance the operating budget. amtrak, the northeast corridor service has returned to normal today. crews worked nonstop to clear the tracks of trees and downed power lines over the weekend. passengers that bought a ticket and chose not to travel today can receive a refund our voucher for future travel. select tickets online but can be canceled, you can call usa rail or visit amtrak.com/alerts for the latest updates. it seems like everyone had trouble because of the storms,

including more than 200 people who got stranded on an amtrak train in west virginia. the train was traveling from new york to it chicago. friday's storms knocked trees onto the tracks there, leaving some of them stranded for more than 20 hours. buses finally arrived to pick them up saturday night to take them to their final destinations. the passengers say despite being stuck, things weren't that bad. >> just long. i mean, they took good care of us on the train, very good care of us. we were always comfortable in the train. we just sat a lot and walked a lot. climate-wise, food-wise everything was good. >> amtrak officials say the passengers were stranded for so long because the buses had a tough time navigating the west virginia mountains. still ahead on news 4 midday, staying cool remains a priority for thousands still without power. we'll have ideas for you. a couple of cool drink ideas in morning that are perfect for the fourth of july. stay with us fmpltz [ male announcer ] are you paying more

and more and more for cable -- and enjoying it less? upgrade to verizon fios internet, tv and phone for just $99.99 a month, guaranteed for a year with no annual contract. or choose a two-year contract and get $200 back and a two-year price guarantee. fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers america's fastest, most consistent, most reliable internet. and now, it's faster than ever. you get speed you can count on... even when everyone at home is online at the same time. plus, the best tv picture quality. tired of cable's inflated bills? get fios for just $99.99 a month for a year with no annual contract. or choose a two-year contract and get $200 back,

plus a two-year price guarantee. call 1.866.685.fios. that's 1.866.685.3467. fios. a network ahead. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v.

you're watching "news 4 midday." the georgia woman who spent the last two months fighting

flesh-eating bacteria is out of the hospital. her father says she'll move to an inpatient rehab clinic. she contracted the rare nfxz while cutting her leg ziplining two months ago. they had to amputate both hands, left leg and right foot. she will spend the next several weeks learning to use a wheelchair. >> for people still without power and considering to get hilgts, double-check the prices and do shopping around. prices at area hotels have since gone back down, but yesterday there were some places charging downright outrageous rates. the motel 6 in northwest d.c. was going for 500 pucks a night. there was a days inn in college park that cost $600. we called area hotels but they don't have control over prices you see on sites like hotels.com or expedia. with thousands of people without power right now, there are a few things you can buy at stores to help you survive and stay informed as well.

this morning on "today" they shared blackout survival tips. >> most of the stores are busy, so you need batteries and get flashlights. these portable crank radios are available and these are nice and don't need batteries. many offer the ability to have a little usb port on the back, if i can show you that. so you can actually charge your cell phone. so you can still stay in contact with your loved ones by cranking it. there's flashlights built in, and of course nonperishable foods are important. one other thing. people get nervous about when the power is gone and they grab generators and they're like i'm going to buy one. never use one indoors. never use it inside the garage. if you're going to use it outside, make sure it's 20 feet away from the home and have a working carbon monoxide deektor. if you point the exhaust towards the house and it's blowing in there, webd have bigger problems. for those of you wouldn't air-conditioning right now, cool

off at several cooling centers all over the region. we have it on our website for us, nbcwashington.com a complete list of cooling stations. you can search for cooling centers. stocks are mixed this morning, let's check in with kayla with more on that and the rest of the day's business headlines. good morning, kayla. >> markets lose steam on the first day of the second half of the year. negative data on the manufacturing industry in the u.s. outweighing any positive sentiment from the euro zone. that causes the dow, s&p and nasdaq into negative territory. the nasdaq is bounting back but the dow is down 54 points, the s&p losing more than three points. the chairman of uk bank barclays resigning this morning amid allegations the firm allowed traitors to manipulate key interest rates that serve as benchmarks for other global economies. barclays ceo says a review is ongoing as well as an inquiry.

>> walmart turns 50 today. they're celebrating half a century earlier this month with performances by justin timberlake and taylor swift at the annual shareholder's meeting. if if you invested $1,000 in his five and dime, it would be worth $1.8 million today. it will change face this year with smaller express stores in urban areas and that begin this is year. back to you. >> kayla, thank you. we are getting ready for the fourth of july now with some great drink ideas. mixologist derrick brown joins us this morning with a couple good ideas. if you plan a fourth of july party, i would imagine the right drinking, serving the right stuff aa big deal. >> there's a few key things to do. you have to use great ingredients. we're celebrating these ingredients that are award winners that happen on july 4th. these are american-made products, but they're complex, interesting spirits.

>> tell us what you've got here then. >> the thing is even those these are complex and interesting, you don't want to spend a lot of time making the drinks for fourth of july, right? so the key to that is crushed ice. what we do is basically just add like a great ingredient like via, which is a sweet vermouth, and a lot think of sweet vermouth is something they swirl and dump out of the glass. it's a great spirit, and if it's kept well, it's a wine-based product. >> you can drink it, right? >> it's delicious. you can pour is over ice honestly. we're going to add some to this drink and add crushed ice to it. having the crushed ice is key, because that makes it dilute quickly and makes it delicious. you don't have to have a hammer to crush the ice, but it definitely helps. to make a drink like that, really just pour it over ice. what we did for this one is we

added aamar savage as well. >> it's another -- >> it's a potable bitter. the avery and janet glouser that make this, they live in brooklyn and decided to by back old style of ingredients. >> you add that, too? >> we add a half ounce. with this new american fruity culture, people get more and more p interested in complex ingredients. you can get great ingredients but make simple drinks. >> you added two things to this drink. lots of ice? >> lots of crushed ice. the thing is you have to use, i think, fresh ingredients in the process. >> you have fruit? >> we have some white peaches here and gooseberries and sage and mint. both i grew in my garden. >> nice. >> i like making lazy drinks.

>> i just walked up to the roof and grabbed this off the roof and put this in here. this i got at the fresh farmers market in dupont circle. to this we add grapefruit juice. you don't want to squeeze too much. maybe a quarter ounce in fl and a little bit of honey. >> honey? >> yeah. it's not too sweet, right? if you get certain sugars it makes it sweet. you don't want a heavy sweet during summer. you want something lighter and fresher, and honey does the trick. add more crushed ice. >> is there a name for this drink? >> it's a cobbler. it's an old colonial drink that's a little bit of spirits and fresh fruit. >> okay. so because there's alcohol then i can't drink that. what is this right here? >> also for folks that don't drink. >> some who come to the parties don't drive. don't send them away drinking. we add fresh grapefruit juice

and honey and a nice tonic water. on top is the sage, white peaches and gooseberries. >> how much is for decoration? do you taste na in there? >> try it. when you put your nose into the drink, you really smell the fresh herbs and fruit, and that's a straw, by the way. >> can i drink this? >> yes, you can. >> that's good and you taste the fruits and sage in there. i'm going to keep that here. i want to let everybody know that you are taking part informant take pride in america event on july 4th at the washington design center. are you going to mix drinks there? >> we mix this drink there. so you can try that mint, grapefruit, gooseberries and all. >> tell us about that event and what it is. >> it's celebrating design and innovation in american products, especially what we focus on as culinary products. it's at the washington design center, and these are the two that are from california, from central valley and this is from

brooklyn. so either coast is celebrating. >> you've really blown my mind with the honey as peblgt of this. i didn't guess you put it in the drink. i like it. it's good. we appreciate you coming in. let folks know you can go to made in america-usa.org for more information about event at the washington design center. derrick, appreciate you coming in. my pleasure. >> the time is 11:52. coming up, a runoff for the olympics. plus, meteorologist veronica johnson back with the latest on when we will see some relief from all

crews at ice plex are hard at work trying to rebuild the ice after it melted over the weekend. the caps practice facility in boston didn't have power and the ice rink melted. they have the power back this morning and they're working to clear the surface and rebuild that ice. that process usually taking at least a couple of days. changing gears, chil much of the area is clean up from this weekend's storm, the nationals fans have reason to celebrate. three nats are heading to the all-star game. they will represent the nationals at next week's all-star game in kansas city.

bryce harper might make a team. he's on a list for the final spot on the national league roster. you can vote for him online until thursday. perhaps the most anticipated race of this year's u.s. olympic trials will take place this evening. this race was never supposed to happen in the first place. allyson felix and geneva tarmoh hold a runoff to determine who will race for the u.s. in the olympics. they finished in a dead heat more than a week ago in the 100-meter finals. the sprinters could have determined who will move on by a coin toss, but they chose to settle the matter on the track, which should be interesting to watch. >> track and field was my sport. i loved it. i always loved to watch it. >> you did? >> check you out. >> that and cross-country. certainly today is not a day when i want to be outside running, no. another hot one today.

your evening is going to be warm. we talk about hot weather for tomorrow, but next week will be cooler. that's what i'm really liking. the temperatures get back in the low to mid 8-80s around the are. a light wind, hugh humidity and it's uncomfortable. how do i know that? i spoke to a lot of folks that walked in the door. for 5:00, 92, by 7:00 p.m. it's 91 degrees. we have the chance for a few isolated storms, not severe storms but isolated, strong storms could bring some wind, maybe a little hail and certainly a lot of lightning. i know there was a lot of lightning coming in this morning not just cloud-to-cloud but cloud-to-ground lightning. that's the kind we do not like. the radar is quiet right now, but the future weather shows those areas of green where the showers and storms set up primarily west of us. they're in areas around southern maryland once again to see the storms fire up. for tomorrow a few showers and storms, a little less likely than today i think. with the threat back to the

fourth of july. up to 95, 96 degrees. very uncomfortable and oppressive. that is through the evening, and then as you look at overnight periods tomorrow morning, 72 to 77. so a warm and muggy start all week long. we'll see temperatures drop to the low and mid-90s by the upcoming weekend. the fourth of july could get strong storms. keep in mind the whole time cool next week. cool next week. >> next week, all right. just think ahead. think way ahead. that is "news 4 midday." thanks for joining us. tune in to news 4 from 4:00 to tune in[ male announcer ]00 to are you paying more and more and more for cable -- and enjoying it less?

upgrade to verizon fios internet, tv and phone for just $99.99 a month, guaranteed for a year with no annual contract. or choose a two-year contract and get $200 back and a two-year price guarantee. fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers america's fastest, most consistent, most reliable internet. and now, it's faster than ever. you get speed you can count on... even when everyone at home is online at the same time. plus, the best tv picture quality. tired of cable's inflated bills? get fios for just $99.99 a month for a year with no annual contract. or choose a two-year contract and get $200 back, plus a two-year price guarantee. call 1.866.685.fios. that's 1.866.685.3467. fios. a network ahead. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v.