now from washington's leading news station, this is "news 4 midday." good morning. welcome to it "news 4 midday." i'm barbara harris. it's montz, july 16th, 2012. we begin this morning with aa tough morning commute. a day after computer problems shut down metro service twice, the system is vk more problems this morning. the dupont circle station had to be closed twice this morning because of broken-down trains. tracee wilkins is live outside the station with more on the problems. tell us what's going on out there. >> reporter: well, right now, barbara, the good thing is everything is back to normal, but it was a mess and this was right in the middle of rush hour. so, again, things are back to normal right now, but still some

delays on the red line. this follows a he messy weekend commute. it this started this morning around 8:10 a.m. metro officials had to off-load a train back onto the platform due to a mechanical issue. the station was closed for 15 minutes as they tried to ease congestion and get the train moving again. after 9:00 a.m. another train broke down causing the station to close again. everything is up and running now, but there are delays. today's incident follows what was a messy weekend commute. passengers were stranded for 45 minutes saturday afternoon due to a glitch in the computer system. the computer problem left controllers in the metro rail command center unable to see where trains were on the lines, and they could not control switchers remotely. 44 training were told to go to the nearest station and wait. about 45 minutes later trains were operating normally. shortly after midnight on sunday there was another glitch that shut system down again for another 30 minutes.

metro officials are still trying to figure out what caused that computer system glitch, and they had extra folks at work today in case they saw another problem with that this morning. it turns out that was not the problem this morning, but broken-down trains was the issue. they're still trying to figure out exactly what caused the mechanical problems. reporting live at dupont circle. >> hopefully the air-conditioning was working. >> reporter: hopefully. >> i can't imagine how uncomfortable it must have been for the riders whose trains were stranded. thanks so much. we'll see if there's problems out there on the rails or roads this morning. danella has the latest. >> if you're taking metro, things look better. metro is not reporting any delays right now. that's good. let's go to the roadways. things look good on the roadways as well. traveling i-95, let's look right now as you make your way north and southbound. i'll give you a live look

traveling. southbound lanes are open and northbound as well towards 39 a5. you're in the clear. here's a live look at duke heading to the 14th street bridge northbound. nice and clear. great travel speed, 56 miles per hour. that drive from the beltway to the 14th street bridge will take 12 minutes at this time. back over to you. >> thank you. turning to the weather now and our latest heatwave out there, tom joins us. i hope they had air-conditioning on the trains out there for folks who might have been stuck for a while. >> welcome back, barbara. good to have you back. >> good to be back. >> this morning it's been pleasant until the last hour or so. now it's getting uncomfortably warm, and over the last several hours we've had a few clouds drifting through. here is the view from space over the last couple of hours. those clouds coming down from pennsylvania, that's part of a diminished thunderstorm that pretty much just collapsed by the time it got to the maryland border. we have a few clouds drifting

over us, and under it that high cloud cover we're in the mid and upper 80s right now. i wish i was at the pool day or at the beach weather as we have the humidity fairly high, although it's in the moderate range. it's not quite as sweltering as it was yesterday, but for the afternoon it's going to get uncomfortably hot and humid. up into the mid-90s by mid afternoon, and we'll have just a slight chance of an isolated thundershower popping up mid to late afternoon. we'll take a look at the rest of the week, how much longer will the heatwave last. there is a break on the way. i'll have the latest in a few minutes, barbara. >> thank you, tom. the heat is causing problems. the d.c. department of employment services headquarters is closed today because they don't have power there. a central and emergency personnel should still report to work, though. and all call center and one-stop career center staff should arrive by noon. if you plan to go to the headquarters today, go to the

one-stop career center instead but expect nor crowds because of the other closure. new tonight, maryland governor o'malley is trying to harm out a deal to expand gambling in the state. this morning he met with city and county leaders in his office about a plan to expand gambling in maryland which would include a casino at national harbor. megan mcgrath is live at annapolis and has more on that for us. >> reporter: good morning. governor o'malley wants the gaming issue resolved sooner rather than later. he's not calling for a special session unless there's a consensus to actually pass legislation. otherwise, it would simply be a waste of time and money. to try and build that consensus, this morning the governor met with prince georges county executive baker and ike legg and the executive at montgomery county as well as the mayor of baltimore. the clock is ticking on this issue. to be put to a referendum, a special session must be called and the legislation passed by

august 20th so that it can go to the voters. all involved in this morning's meeting say there is slow progress being made. opponents in the house of delegates have come guard with suggestions, specifically to allow a gaming commission to set tax rates for the casinos. that's been quite a sticking point in the negotiations so far, but those who were here this morning say there's enough to work with, enough that's common ground, enough that they can agree on that they believe the eventually will get a deal passed. >> i feel like progress is being made. of course, i also thought progress was made up until the goal line when the house members pulled and walked off the field and took off their helmets. so i'm hoping now that with the incorporation of their suggestions and with the support of the mayor of baltimore, the county executive of montgomery county and county executive of prince georges county that we have the makings for a coalition to resolve this in pretty short

order. >> let's agree on the things that we agree from the commission. table games and let the gaming commission -- put a gaming commission to set the rates. that's the house alternative plan they offered to the gaming commission, and i think we should go forward with that. >> reporter: while supporters are optimistic, this is not a done deal by any stretch. the governor thought he had a consensus before, only to see it fall apart there in the end. so a lot of negotiations still ahead. the governor is hoping to know something more definitive in the next week to ten days. reporting live in annapolis, megan mcgrath, news 4. >> thank you, megan. right now police are looking for a man suspected of shooting his ex-girlfriend and her friend. late last night they found his car abandoned. he's accused of shooting the mother of his two kids. the shooting happened saturday night at the hair and nail care

spa. both victims are in critical condition this morning. the women had a protective order against her ex. if you've seen him, call howard county police. today we expect to learn more about an apparent murder suicide in falls church. they found the bodies of two men at the eden center at the 6700 block of wilson boulevard on saturday night. police say it appears one man took his own life. they're still investigating how the other man died. their identities have not been released. if you have any information call falls church police. our time right now is 8 minutes after 11:00. coming up, back on the campaign trail. a war of words on president obama's record on the economy, and mitt romney's background at the private equity firm bain capital. why a change in the way you walk could be an early s

right now president obama is on his way to ohio. he left this morning for cincinnati, and he should be arriving in just a few minutes from now. he'll attend a campaign event and fund-raiser before returning to washington. it will be the president's second trip to the battleground state this month and his eighth trip there this year. the president is refusing to apologize for criticizing mitt romney over his he tenure at bain capital, the private equity firm he founded. romney is going on the attack this week and going after the president for going negative. nbc's brian mooar has the latest on the political sparring making headlines. >> reporter: from president obama, no apologies for the sharp, new attacks on republican mitt romney and his leadership time at bain capital. >> no, we won't be apologizing. >> reporter: an obama campaign spokesman took the fight to a whole new level when she claimed romney is lying to the nation

about when he left bain or committed a felony in filing false documenting with government regulators. >> he's claiming i wasn't there at the time, except he files an sec listing that says he was the ceo, chairman and president of the company. >> by starting negative, by going extremely tough. >> reporter: in a new add team romney is blasting the president for going negative. >> whatever happened to hope and change? >> this is not the candidate of hope and change. this is a candidate who is hoping to change the subject. >> reporter: romney's campaign wants to shift the conversation back to the economy. >> the president is the outsourcer and chief with our taxpayers' dollars. >> reporter: for now mitt romney is on defense forced to explain the business background that's the heart of his resume. the romney campaign is going on the offensive this week trying to paint president obama as a typical washington politician. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. not a kind welcome for secretary of state hillary

clinton during her visit to egypt. protestors pelted her motorcade with water bottles and tomatoes over the weekend. neither she or her vehicle was struck by the objects. some protestors chanted monica when she passed, an obvious reference to monica lewinsky. the food and drug and administration is accused of spying on its own scientists for whistle blowing. records somehow the fda created a list of disgruntled scientists who sent messages to members of congress, lawyers, labor officials and even president obama. it looked at five scientists but quickly grew into a widespread investigation. the scientists were critical of the agency's medical review process. the nation's current drought is one of the top ten worst in a past century. that's expected to be the finding of a new report due out today by the national climatetic data center.

at least 60% of the lower 48 stalts are affected by severe drought conditions. 30% of the corn crop is in poor and very poor condition. eventually you see effects of that drought in the grocery stores. food prices are expected to rise more than 3% by next year. fortunately, the corn is still in the stores and tastes pretty good so far, tom. it sounds like it won't last. >> locally or corn looks great. >> it tastes good, too. >> we had enough of the rain around, and it's at least been spotty enough that many area agricultural interesting are not really in the drought mode yet. we are abnormally dry, but not in the drought mode yet. we can look for rain this week looking wet by mid to the end of the week. not today. there's a live from the nbc 4 hd city camera. there's the washington monument and jefferson memorial along the banks of the potomac river there. we have the sunshine back, just

a few high clouds drifting over, dew points around 70. yesterday the dew points were in the mid-70s. it was brutally humid, and may not be that humid today. number of 90-degree days so far in 2012 as recorded at reagan national airport. we've had 24 of those, and that's above the average. average number of 90-degree days by july 15th is 16. so that's 8 more than average. now, in an average summer we get 38. some summers we've had over 60 days, 90 degrees or higher. it does look like we will add another one today and the next couple of days. already it's pushing 90 in parts of southwestern virginia and right around richmond, 88 there. reagan national is up to 87. probably in the next hour above 90, and that will be the 23rd -- 25th 90-degree day of the year. eastern shore, beautiful day as at the beaches and oceanside at

75. much of maryland and the hylands in west virginia. over the last 12 hours we had showers and thundershowers rolling through. a few clouds out of pennsylvania from a dissipated thundershower. those clouds raced on through this morning. now they past to our south, west and north of us, quite a bit of sunshine, a few high clouds over the metro area and just to our south. as we go forward over the next several hours, these areas in green are zones of potential isolated thundershowers. that might happen mid-afternoon, and just a small chance of that. then this evening if any of that does get going, it will dissipate. we'll have a mostly clear sky tonight for screen on the green they're showing butch cassidy and sundance kid. should be good weather for that. we'll be in the 80s for that. during the day on tuesday, lots of sunshine, and it's going to be even hotter than today. these areas in green you see here toward the north and west of us by wednesday afternoon, this is a large zone of potential rain with some thunder and lightning and maybe isolated strong storms. so it covers most of maryland,

the district, eastern shore. by late in the afternoon, early evening a lot dissipates temporarily but could more on thursday. for the rest of this monday, mid-90s by mid-afternoon, slight chance of thundershower and back down to near 90 just after perhaps 6:00 or so, and then by late evening, back down to near 80. by midnight under a mostly clear sky. it will be humid and we have light winds and during the day tomorrow and up into the upper 90s tomorrow afternoon, maybe near 100 on wednesday. and getting sweltering humidity. wednesday looks like the hottest, most humid day the week. afternoon showers and storms may linger off and on thursday into perhaps early friday morning. it looks much better for the weekend i'm happy to see with lower humidity and highs in the 80s saturday and sunday. >> we should save it for the weekend, don't you think? >> yeah, perfect timing irchgts out to the roads we go again.

here's da nell la sea lock. >> i'm watching a situation in northwest. water service repair has eighth street struck down in both directions between webster street and barnham street. let's go aacross the wilson bridge. nice and clear in both directions. no issues on the inner loop or outer loop of the belt way. as you go towards van doran, your travel speed is 55 miles per hour and looking good, 6 minutes to make that drive. barbara, back over to you. >> all right. thank you. 19 minutes after 11:00 is the time now, and still ahead on "news 4 midday," we're celebrating belgium cooking today with with a great mussel recipe. it smells so good in here you want to write it down. she's making a name for herself in a sport dominated by russians. meet the rhythmic jgymnast from our area headed to the olympics. what makes a sleep number store different?

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where queen mattresses start at just $699. for the third straight year, d.c.'s top belgian restaurants are coming together to celebrate their heritage with belgian restaurant week. one is teddy folkman from grandville moores. we have a mussel recipe. you can't go to belgian without eating mussels. >> it's one of the most popular dishes there. as far as the share, go out, have beers. very important part of the belgian lifestyle. that's the way to go. >> that's mussels with french fries. we don't call them french fries in belgian. >> no. >> what is the special thing about belgian food? >> belgian food, the best way to describe it is french techniques with german portions.

>> that sounds good to me. let's go with what you make right now. you need a pound of mussels, four tablespoons of blended oil, aa third cup of smoked bacon and a third cup of thin slice the shallots and one lemon juiced and one third cup of baby spinach and sea salt and black pepper. >> you start with off with any fat. we used the blended oil in the recipe but i used butter today. we use pork belly, bacon uncured and resalted and cured and smoke it ourselves. saute it up until the fat renders off the bacon and melts off it. the shallots cook a little bit. it's a quick process that always happens together. what we do now is add the mussels into the dish. we get a couple jumpers, you know. they'll be okay. >> is there a special way to tell -- these are fresh, right?

>> they're fresh mussels that are rope grown. they're harvested on ropes rather than in the water. it allows for a cleaner mussel. they're clean and absorb all the minerals in the water, and that's how they eat. we're going to toss that around. get everything going a little bit. >> wonderful. >> at a little belgian beer. >> you have to have beer in everything you cook in belgian cooking? >> that, or next to krur dish. it has to be in the dish or accompany with it. you don't have to, but, of course -- >> most people do. >> you add in the juice of lemon for acid did it. the pork belly adds salt and fat and leem mon juice catching the seeds there for acid did it and the beer for flavor. we throw some blue cheese in here. >> you put it right in there. >> that melts off. what happens is once that melts by the magic, boom. >> oh, wow. >> so as it melts into the

broth, the broth flavors the mussels and they pop open. >> that's when you know they're ready. what happens with the spinach? >> that's at the end. the dish looks colorful. here it looks a little bland. what we decided to do with this dish is tlou some spinach in there so when you plate it -- >> oh, it's beautiful. >> you have the color of the spinach. you have those beautiful mussels that opened up and top it with blue cheese and, of course, garnish with some bag ets. >> you have to have the baguettes. >> the best part of the mussels most of the time in my opinion is the broth. everything marrying together and sooking up the bread and sipping the beer. >> all around town this week belgian restaurants celebrate their national cuisine. >> absolutely. tonight kicks it off. they're doing global beer, beer dinner tour. we have it tomorrow night at

grandvil grandville moors and friday is the white night and saturday is the big night with the six top chefs in d.c. competing. >> i promised people on facebook i would tell them what a mussel slowdown. you open it up and let it slide, right? >> yes. >> thank you so much for coming. for more information on belgian restaurant week go to belgianrestaurantweek.com. thanks. we have some food here. >> yes, we do. in the next half hour, a local man attacked by a pit bull in front of his two sons. what one of those boys did that may have saved his dad's life. we're going to tell you. plus, when temperatures are back near the 100-degree level. i don't want to talk about that. tom is back with an yun date on that. she is following in her mother's footsteps. look at this. we sit down with a bethesda woman flipping, tossing

right now more problems on metro. the dupont circle was shut down twice in morning because two separate trains broke down. at one point metro kept passengers from entering the station to clear up heavy congestion inside. the issues come after major computer glitches shut down the entire system twice this weekend. maryland governor martin o'malley is trying to harm out a deal to expand gambling in the state. this morning he melt with baltimore's mayor and prince georges county executive in his office about a plan to expand gambling in the state that would include a casino at national harbor. o'malley is trying to build a consensus with state lawmakers before he calls a special legislative session. the general assembly needs to approve any deal before it goes to voters in a state referendum. this morning one man is dead. he was run over and killed

during an attempted robbery from prince georges county. three masked men approached a group of people standing near a parked car in fairmont heights on sunday morning. the robbers ordered the group to lay down on the ground. police say a woman was behind the wheel of a car. she got scared and drove over one of the men who was on the ground killing him. neighbors are worried about their safety. >> it was very scary, you know. i have kids and grandkids, so it makes me wonder, you know, if they're bold enough to do this right in front of my house, what makes me think they won't come and knock on my door and do some kind of home invasion. you understand? it's very scary. >> the robbers ran away after the victim was run over. police say they did not take any money or valuables from the victims. a prince georges county nightclub trying to re-open will plead its case today. they're trying to re-open the msg nightclub under a new name. cherry's lounge would be the new name. the club shout down last august

after 20-year-old jasmine banks was shot and killed, another man was hurt. no arrests have been made in the murder. this morning's meeting is set to begin at 11:00 a.m. a news 4 exclusive now. this morning we hear from a man attacked by two pit bulls. the attack happened yesterday afternoon along south oakland street in arlington. max says he got out of his truck, and the pit bulls charged. when he tried to scare them off his property, he was bitten at least a dozen times. that's when his son ran out of the house and threw his shoe at the dogs to scare them off. >> i don't know how i got it, but i managed to throw it at it. >> they really wanted to bite me from my neck. there's a wound here and here. they probably would have killed me. >> police shot one of the dogs when it charged an officer. the other was taken into custody by the arlington animal welfare

league. we'll check in with tom kwih the latest on the forecast. he moved outside. not so comfortable, though. he's on the weather patio, tom. >> in the shade it's kind of comfortable. we have soft, summer breeze coming through under a blue sky here at northwest, and it's rather humid. not quite that sweltering humidity we had yesterday. now, as we look at what's happening over the last several hours, we had a few highs clouds out of pennsylvania. those are south of the metro area. we have to have increasing sunshine into the afternoon. and temperatures all around the region now well into the 80s. great beach and pool weather. afternoon temperatures should peak in the mid-90s by mid afternoon, and just a slight chance of an isolated thundershower popping up. overnight tonight should be a beautiful evening, under a clear sky, 80s through the evening and 70s after midnight. near 70 by dawn tuesday. tomorrow is a beautiful day in the morning, but getting up to

the upper 90s, near 100 by late in the afternoon on tuesday. still moderate humidity tomorrow, but getting more humid looks like on wednesday, after highs near 100. it will feel hotter than that with that humidity and could get storms around wednesday afternoon and evening. might have passing showers and thundershowers thursday into friday morning. after that just in time for the weekend. lower humidity and cooler temperatures, saturday and sunday highs in the 80s. that's how it looks. barbara. >> tom, from the weather patio. thanks so much. we're going to check on the midday traffic and see how things are moving out there on this hot day. here's danella. >> definitely hot outside, but if you travel along i-270, we look in the germantown area past germantown road. you're clear as you make your way to the lane divide connecting to the beltway. northbound clear as well. heading over to the american

legion bridge, no issues here. taillights this time as you make your way toward the dulles toll road. nice and clear. nothing in the roadway. also on the inner loop clear as well. back over to you. >> thank you so much. a record 230,000 passengers are expected to pass through london's heathrow airport today. that's right, as athletes begin to arrive for the summer games, but they do so aamid new security concerns. the british newspaper "the observer" reports that emigration staff at heathrow airport have missed several passengers that should have been reported to counterterrorism police. officials are worried the huge influx of people starting today may cause even more security lapses. the report comes as britain's military added more troops to guard venues after a security contractor announced that they could not meet the demand for guards. tonight you have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see this year's dream team in action right here in washington. the usa men's and women's

basketball teams are playing at the verizon center tonight. the biggest names in basketball have been in town all weekend. on saturday they hold an exhibition for troops and their families at the d.c. armory. the men's team also has something to prove, especially after kobe bryant said they're better than the original dream team of michael jordan, magic johnson and larry bird. >> i'm not sure what you want me to say. i'm not going to say no. i'm not going to say no. i'm an ultimate competitor. you never know. we'll see ten years down the line when they're all done playing who is the better team. >> the women's team kicks off the action tonight at 5:30 against brazil at the verizon center followed by the men's team at 8:00. the men's team took time out of their practice schedule to honor our nation's troops. players visited arlington national cemetery yesterday. kobe bryant helped to lay a

wreath at the tomb of the unknowns and the entire team spent some time getting to know the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general martin demp y dempsey. a bethesda native is the first u.s. rhythmic gymnasts to qualify for the olympics since 2004. she will head to london to hope to make an impression. julie joins us this morning with more on her goals in the weeks ahead. good morning. >> good morning. >> good to have you with us. >> thank you. >> this is an exciting time. did you ever imagine you'd go to the olympics when you started out doing this? >> you know, it's always been a dream of mine since i was a little girl. being told that i didn't have the natural talent that some other girls had, i didn't think it was actually possible maybe up until i was 16 years old when i was told by one of the best coaches in the world that i had it. >> speaking of natural talent, you come by yours naturally because your mother was a gymnast as well? >> yeah, i guess it runs in the

family. >> tell us about your mom. >> she's from hungary, and she was a hungarian rhythmic gymnast as well. i don't believe she had the goal for me, but she wanted to introduce me to the sport. once i saw it, i didn't want to stop. >> tell us what it's like. we've seen this before. it's a lot harder than some people think it is, and i can tell you why a little later. what's it like? a lot of energy? >> a lot of energy. trainings are very long. lots of hours, and there's a lot of cross training that you have to involve in to the whole demands of being a rhythmic gymnast. >> you study ballet? >> yes, it's based off ballet. p if you don't have good ballet technique, you're probably not going to be a good rhythmic gymnast. >> what's the difference between this and regular gymnastics. >> we're not tumbling. we do acrobatics, but we have a lot of equipment that's involved and you toss it and catch it in

the nook of your back and shoulder and whatnot. so, yeah, it's based off of ballet, and you have to have a lot of flexibility almost like a contortionist. >> it looks like it's not only beautiful but not an easy thing to do. >> it's definitely not easy. thank you. >> when did you leave for london? >> july 28th, so a little less than two weeks. >> are you the only member of this rhythmic team? >> i am. >> you are it for the united states? >> i am. >> you have a lot on your shoulders right now. are you nervous at all? >> the nerves aren't kicking in yet, but i'm getting more and more excited. the full effect of being an olympian definitely hasn't kicked in yet. i think it will kick in when i get there in the village and see all the other athletes. the day that i compete, the two days i compete walking onto the carpet it will kick in. >> when you're competing, do you watch the competition? >> no. >> you don't watch them at all? >> i don't watch it at all a. i try not to even listen to scores if if they're announced. i block everything out. >> you just zone out.

>> zone out. >> i told you i was going to share with you why i would like to get your opinion of how tough this is, because i actually tried it. look at this. this is me. >> wow. >> see me trying to learn how to do this four years ago when we were challenged to try to do various olympic sports. >> that is great. >> it's not great. >> no, it is. >> we entertained people and laughed about it, and it was kind of fun. actually, i had jim handly and wendy give me scores. i won, of course, by their scoring, but i don't think i'd want to go against you. we're excited to watch you. hometown girl. >> thank you so much. >> you do good over there. we know you'll do very well. >> i'll do my best. thank you. >> thanks for coming and talking to us about it. good luck, again. nbc 4, of course, is your house for the 2012 olympic games. the opening ceremony starting july 27th, and visit the london

2012 section of nbcwashington.com to keep track of the game and geg doug's preview of olympic eats to see what they chow down on in london. it's 11:42 now. a mother's remarkable fight to survive and walk again. plus, new research out this morning. why the way you walk could be an early indicator of a [ crows cawing ] [ male announcer ] strange things happen in the black forest. [ metallic bell toll ] [ car speeding down the road, lightning strikes ] where things aren't always what they seem. [ wolves howling ] because thrills hide in the shadows just waiting at every turn. [ coaster whoosh ] brave the black forest on verbolten.

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ford is recalls more than 10,000 suv to fix a carpet padding problem. it's in the 2013 models of ford escapes manufactured from march 8th through june 7th of this year. ford says the carpet padding can get in the way of braking. dealers will remove the padding and replace a console trim panel at no charge. so far no injuries have been reported. the price of gas is dropping from now, but the summer slide may be over. the lundberg survey says prices dropped 7% over the last few weeks, but they said that the price of gas is bottoming out. the average price of a gallon of

regular costs 19 cents more in d.c. where the average is 3.60 a gallon and it's cheaper in maryland and less in virginia where the average for a gallon of regular right now is 3.25. u.s. retail sales drop in june. third straight monthly decline we're hearing. we check in with cnbc bertha coons. she joins us live with more on that. >> they dropped in part because of the fact we spend less for gasoline, but across the board we have stocks lower. it seems that wall street has been in a summer monday slump for the seventh monday in a row. the dow jones industrial average is trading in the red, but closes down there. our streak will be complete. after those june retail sales came in lower than expected falling for the third straight month. the first time it's happened since 2008. shares of citi are higher. the megabank posting better than expected earnings, getting a

boost from a surge in mortgage activity in the u.s. and signs that losses for loans gone bad are starting to shrink. the bank hopes to resume paying shareholders a dividend next year. it revealed it has received inquiries from investigators in kwekz with the libor rate fixing investigation. when it comes to funding college, the bank of mom and dad is cutting back according to a new study from sallie mae. apparent contributi parent contributions dropped to 28% of the total this year. faced with higher tuition, more families are shifting to lower-cost schools. 29% of students are attending two-year community colleges this year. that's up from just 21% in 2010 with more than half of the students living at home, the trend even among high-income families making more than $100,000 a year. a student loan trip from student finance experts, if you do take out a loan, a student starts

freshman year paying $25 a month towards interest can save 30% in interest charges over the life of the loan and pay it off five years faster. if you want to know more, check out the personal finance page at cnbc.com. my cleej sharon epperson has been writing about this. barb. >> that's very interesting. we have to check that out. thanks so much. stay cool. >> thanks, you too. in news for your health, we learn about potential early warning signs of alzheimer's disease. dr. nancy snyderman reports. >> reporter: it may sound surprising, but new research presented today suggests something as simple as the way we walk could be an early warning sign of mental decline. >> sudden motor speed changes or gait changes you detect may be a warning system to kind of let you know there might be some abnormal pathology in the brain that could lead to cognitive decline later on. >> reporter: researchers looked

aat the relationship between brain function and the gait of the walk, measuring things like speed, rhythm and stride. while changes in walking are expected with age and slowing down is not necessarily a cause for concern, people with alzheimer's and those with less advanced cognitive impairment, walk slower than people with normal mental function. >> we may be able to catch cognitive decline at an earlier stage by focusing in addition to their thinking abilities to their walking abilities and their motor abilities. >> reporter: it's been generally accepted that regular physical exercise can improve health as we age, but now studies are looking at which types of activities are most effective and why. in another study presented today, scientists at the university of pittsburgh found evidence that suggests walking could help decrease known risk factors for alzheimer's more than other types of exercise. a part of the brain responsible for regulating memory, emotion and learning typically shrinks in patients with alzheimer's.

in people who exercised aerobically by walking regularly for a year it grew, compared to those who stretched and toned, something experts say is evidence lifestyle can impact the brain even as we age. >> the best thing you can do for your brain all throughout your life and especially as you age is physical exercise. >> reporter: with more research, understanding the relationships between exercise, motor skills and mental function could help doctors treat, monitor and even diagnose dementia at earlier stages. dr. nancy snyderman, nbc news, new york. in other health news after decades of research, scientists say an aids vaccine may be within reach. a 2009 study in thailand using a combination of two vaccines helped cut hiv infections by more than 30%. that may not seem like much, but experts need a 50% success rate to make a huge dent in the aids epidemic. they hope to put a vaccine on

the market by 2019. they'll discuss that vaccine next week at a conference here in washington. the national cathedral will be hosting several panels of the aids memorial quilt over the next week as the quilt celebrating its 25th anniversary. it will go on display starting tomorrow including a panel blessed by archbishop desmond tutu earlier this year. on saturday they have an interfaith memorial service to honor those lost and living with the disease starting at 7:00 p.m. her family is calling it a miracle. a young south carolina mother who was nearly killed by a flesh eating bacteria months ago is now in rehab and could go home any day now. lana developed the infection days after giving birth to twins. she underwent more than 20 surgeries but managed to keep all of her limbs. this morning on the "today" show she said she's overcome one challenge. now she's looking forward to the challenge of raising twins. >> you've been through a lot,

though, haven't you? >> i have. it's been a long road, a lot of which i don't remember, but we're recovering and that's what matters. >> i understand your doctors say now you could go home as early as tomorrow, at least sometime this week. let's put aside your own health for a moment. are you ready to tangle with those infant twins? >> yes, i think i am. they've been visiting the hospital, so i've been practicing. >> she's a paramedic. her doctors say her medical training was crucial because she recognized early on that she needed to go to the hospital. our time right now is 11:52. coming up, why police pull the plug on a concert featuring two musical icons. plus we'll be back with another check on how long our lates

you're watching "news 4 midday." you'd think that a concert featuring bruce springsteen and maul mccartney would end with

cheers. sometimes things don't go as planned. yeah, they were booing. the rock legends show this weekend in london ended in boos. this is one fan's video of the concert. organizers pull the plug on the singers' microphones as they wrapped up the show. they had apparently gone over their sound curfew by about a half hour. great for the crowd. the concert was held in hyde park and residents complained about the late night noise there in the past. now, that's not booing. well, he looks like bieber. fans act like he's bieber, but then he's not justin bieber. apparently this toon heartthrob look-alike was staying in the same hotel in the artists and decided to use his similar looks to play a trick on the crowd below. as you can tell, they fell for it. it wouldn't be surprising for the actual justin bieber to do the same thing. he's known for surprising fans with unexpected visits, and even

unexpected concerts. look at that. we're going to look at some of the stories we follow for news 4 this afternoon. coming up tonight on news 4 at 4:00, the latest on a widening sex scandal at one of the nation's busiest military training centers. plus the captain accused of causing a crash of a cruise liner leaving passengers to fend for themselves speaking out about that fatal accident. coming up at 5:00, what you need to know if your ac unit is not working and you call a repair company. you don't want that to happen today. let's find out how hot it will be. tom is here. please let the power stay on, too. we need the ac as we've had a few clouds drifting through this morning. after that we've had a clearing sky in washington. temperatures already now around 90. reagan national is at 91. later into the mid-90s, and a slight chance of an isolated thundershower, near 100 on tuesday and wednesday, more humid wednesday. afternoon showers and storms

possible wednesday and into thursday. off and on showers, maybe a little thunder and lightning but drying out for the weekend and cooling down just in time. see you tomorrow morning. we'll see you. that's "news 4 midday" for today. thank you for joining us, tune in at 4:00, 5 and 6:00 and join us for that. until that have a terrific day and we'll see you in the morning.