welcome to news 4 midday, i'm barbara harrison. wednesday, july 18th, 2012. we begin with breaking news. firefighters are just clearing the scene of a ride-on bus fire. several eyewitnesses sent us videos and pictures at the corner of ramsey avenue in silver spring. news 4 tracee wilkins is live with the breaking details for us now. tracee, tell us what is going on out there. >> they just told the ride on literally minutes before we went live here. let me show you what it looked like earlier. this was an amazing fire. plenty of people around here who saw it. we are looking at about the

seventh fire in three years involving montgomery county ride-on buses. this morning's fire started just after 9:00 a.m. on ramsey street near the silver spring metro. no passengers were onboard, only the driver. sources say the driver saw the warning light go off and called 911 and escaped woult injury. most of these fires have started in the engine area and the causes range from circuit breaker issues to brake problems. they're going to have to investigate to see where this fire started. no one has been seriously injured in any of these fires, but this is a huge ongoing problem. the mechanics union has been complaining about the fires questioning the safety of these ride-on buses. montgomery county spokesperson told me the compass ride-on which are the vehicles that have been catching fire will come off the road at the end of august. they say they have replacement ride-ones ready to go and that these will not come from the compass company. reporting live in silver spring, i'm tracee wilkins, news 4.

>> thank you so much and we will continue to follow this story. right now, our area is under a heat advisory. hot and oppressively humid conditions could push heat indices to around 105 degrees today. late this afternoon and evening, we could be facing another problem and that's severe weather. storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us with the latest on all this and our first forecast, too, tom. >> it's heating up rapidly now, barbara. in fact, right around the metro area now, we're into the mid-90s. reagan national now at 96 and already with the humidity it feels like about 100 degrees. all across virginia, most of maryland, we are into the low and mid-90s. here we're just a little bit past 11:00 and now today is going to feel worse than yesterday because of the humidity. the humidity is higher and all these counties in orange are now under what is termed an excessive heat advisory and that's a step up from a heat

advisory meaning heat indexes as high as 110 for a time by mid-afternoon. the threat of some strong thunderstorms here as the regional storm 4 radar showing some thunderstorms firing up to the north and northeast of pittsbur pittsburgh, i should say and then west of us, just west of the shannenandoah valley. all these areas in yellow under a severe storm risk and that includes much of our viewing area, the district, the metro area, much of virginia and maryland. looks like the threat of any strong storms or damaging winds would be 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. details on that and a break from high heat and humidity. that's coming thiswalk. all the latest in just a few minutes, barbara. >> can't wait for the weekend, tom, thank you. metro may take precautions to deal with today's heat. speed restrictions could be in place, again, today. trains could only go 35 miles an a hour when they were above ground in daylight hours

yesterday. metro will allow you to bring water onboard today so you can keep yourself cool and hydrated. go to meteorologist tom cer analytal bit later to find out just how hot and humid it will be later today. he just gave a preview of the forecast and we'll talk with him, again, shortly. what caused a computer glitch that shut down service twice over the weekend. the glitch in this computer system at the metro rail command center left controllers blind, unable to see where trains were on the lines or control switches remotely. today, metro says a bad network module caused the problems and it has now replaced them. let's take a look at a our traffic now for the first time from midday and here's danella sealock. good morning. >> good morning, barbara. outer loop of the beltway at van dorn. that new lane divide and change still making your way towards telegraph road and that's where you're slow. good news, no accidents, but you are under speed. 25 miles per hour. 15 minutes to get from van dorn

street to the wilson bridge. let's head over to route 50 as you make your way past east/west high way. nice and clear in this area. between the beltway and as you make your way to new york avenue, no accidents and nice travel speed at 59 miles per hour. not bad at all. >> not bad at all, we'll see you again shortly. metro issi working to reope after a teen nler got his hand stuck in it. the 14-year-old who was visiting from canada was riding that escalator around 8:00 last night when his flip-flop got stuck. when he was trying to pull that four of his fingers got stuck. it took firefighters 45 minutes to get his hand out but he was not seriously hurt. metro are advising riders they advise against wearing flip-flops on escalators. urmging d.c.'s mayor to stay in office. holding a rally in front of the wilson building.

two prominent ministers are holding the event. they accuse three d.c. council members calling for the mayor to resign a grandstanding. today's rally comes more than a week after investigators revealed a $650,000 shadow campaign run on gray's behalf during the 2010 mayoral election. and new today, rg3 is officially under contract now. he signed a deal this morning with the redskins and now in his own words, it's time to go to work. news 4 melissa mollet is live at redskins park and has more on this occasion. what time did he actually sign up? >> he signed early this morning, we don't know exactly what time, barbara. but we know it was early this morning and just after that, he sent out a tweet. but it is a four-year deal worth $21 million. a whole lot of cash. i'm sure he's happy. here's a picture of him signing after he tweeted this. well, people, it's time to go to work and off the unemployment line and oh, yeah, httr.

now, his agent says that the heisman trophy winner will be in rookie camp today. a the second pick, of course, in the draft out of baylor of the $21 million about two-thirds is a signing bonus. the deal also includes a club option for a fifth year. now, griffin was not considered a holdout because training camp doesn't begin until july 26th. he did miss two days of rookie camp. the redskins very, very happy and no one expected a prolonged hold out, but always good to have a rookie, especially a rookie quarterback in camp as soos as possible. >> he's extremely talented. i think it's going to be big for the redskins. >> i know that my husband grew up with the redskins and he's really excited about it. >> glad to have him on the team and hope he's ready to hit the field. >> live at redskins camp,

melissa mollet, back to you, barbara. >> thanks so much, melissa. it is seven minutes after 11:00. and coming up, a giant tree falls on a major road killing a man. the work that went on thrgh the night to make sure that doesn't happen, again. plus, he's in the hot seat, again. the federal reserve chairman is being grilled right now on how to get the economy moving in the right direction. stay with us, we

federal reserve chairman ben bernanke is back on capitol hill today. he is testifying before a house committee as part of his semiannual monetary policy report. he delivered that report to a senate committee yesterday. bernanke is telling members of congress that the economy has slowed down during the first half of 2012 and the fed is prepared to step in, if needed.

>> you see continued moderate growth, but we are very committed to ensuring or at least doing all we can to ensure that we continue to make progress on the employment side and we have stated that we're prepared to take action as needed to try to make sure that we see continued progress on employment. >> bernanke has not said what steps the fed may take or when it will ac. a new bill is on the books in virginia this morning that offers more support to law enforcement. governor bob mcdonnell signed the public safety legislation in stafford just moments ago and now he's headed to capitol hill. there he'll meet with virginia's congressional delegation about federal budget cuts that could have a big impact on jobs. if congress does not act soon, automatic cuts across the government departments will start. this coming january. the impact could mean more than 200,000 jobs slashed in just virginia. mcdonnell will address the issue with virginia congressional leaders this afternoon.

the u.s. military could be hardest hit by those cuts we were just talking about. new defense industry study shows more than $1 trillion would get chopped from government budgets. half of that would come from the department of defense resulting in more than 1 million military jobs lost. the spending reduction would not affect troops fighting in afghanistan, though. however, cause a critical shortage of military resources. this afternoon, a house committee is scheduled to vote on a bill that would ban abortions in d.c. after 20 weeks of pregnancy. the legislation is based on a disputed claim that fetuses can feel pain at a gestational age of 20 weeks or older. nine states passed similar legislation. opponents called the bill an attempt to undermine a woman's right for an a abortion and an intrusion on the district's self rule. right now, president obama is meeting with agriculture secretary to discuss the country's worst droughts in

decades. the relentless heat and dry conditions are decimating corn supplies in the midwest. the price of corn is sky rocketing and that means we'll have to pay more for most of these items at the supermarket soon. >> when the price of corn goes up, that pushes up the price of just about everything that we buy at the supermarket. >> it is probably the one most important thing to just like life on the planet next to water. >> he says you may not notice much of a price hike on most items at the supermarket until next year. everybody is calling it global warming, tom. what do you say? i know you're not a big fan of that idea, are you? >> i mean, i'm not a climatologist so i really can't weigh in but for us locally, we are not having a drought. we don't have any serious water restrictions and we're not in a drought, the local corn crop is looking good, but it's the national one that is of serious concern. in fact, i'll be on the show

discussing that on wmau at 1:00 this afternoon. well, around our region now, around our region, we have increased humidity and we are probably going to get some rain, some needed rain and as we take a look at the view from our hd city camera, look at that thick haze that hangs in the sky ever the nation's monuments this morning and we have the humidity in place with the searing sun. hazy sunshine, dew points at 70. whenever it's that high, it's steamy humidity. temperature reagan national now is at 96. it's 11:00 in the morning, average high this time of year is 89. looking at other temtures around the metro area, into the mid-90s across northern virginia and all of fairfax county and arlington and much of montgomery county suffering right around the low 90s and much of prince george's county in the mid-90s and low 90s right near the bay. farther south and west, manassas at 93 and look at warington 93

degrees and likely exceed 100 in the next hour or so. here's the wider view. little bit of relief and little breeze off the bay and had eastern shore on the eastern side of the bay, east and down to cambridge near 90 and not much relief in the shenandoah valley or even in the mountains. near 90 degrees there, as well. now, as we take a look at our heat index, that's that feels-like temperature. the combination of the humidity and the air temperature. feels like 103 in washington. that's the heat index. and it feels like it's over 100 throughout most of maryland and most of virginia. in fact, the heat index, as we approach 100 degrees may get between 105 and 110 by mid-afternoon. and all these counties in orange are under an excessive heat advisory until 9:00 tonight and include all of virginia, the district and maryland. northeastern parts of delaware into the philadelphia area are

under an excessive heat warning. now, we do have some thundershowers that are popping up here northeast of pittsburgh. those are drifting off to the east a bit to the southeast. another cluster of some thundershowers there and not severe. just about to come out of west virginia into the central shenandoah valley and don't have any storms around the metro area yet, but we are under this risk zone for some severe storms. i think the timing is going to be like around 5:00 to as late as 10:00 this evening. we could get some strong storms in this area, including our metro area. and that could for deuce damaging winds and perhaps some hail, but main problem would be power outages. we don't want that. you see in color these are the zones of potential showers and storms dissipating after midnight. then another round developing during the afternoon tomorrow and then again on friday as we get an area of low pressure coming through, but with a lot of cloudiness and won't be as hot and probably won't have any severe storms around. so, for the rest of the afternoon, be aware, if you hear thunder, get inside and turn on nbc 4 and we'll let you know if

any storms are threatening. temperature as high as 101 here for a high by 3:00 and then this evening, passing thunderstorms, some of them could be severe and back down to near 80 by midnight and then by dawn tomorrow mid-70s and a lot of clouds on thursday that should keep it cooler and scattered showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon and as we get into friday, too. maybe more showers and thundershowers. we'll take the rain, we need it. does look like we'll get some lower humidity, cooler. only a slight chance of a storm on tuesday. highs in the 80s, that sounds like winter almost compared to what we had. >> sounds good to me, thank you, tom. we'll see you, again. check on the mid-day traffic, again. danella, what is it looking like on the roads out there? >> let's check travel speeds eastbound 53 miles per hour. seven minutes on the beltway. outer loop you're looking at 54 miles per hour, however, 395 is

slow from the beltway to the 14th street bridge here at 39 miles per hour, but crossing the bridge heading into the city, nice and clear in this area. barbara, back over to you. >> all right, thanks, danella. 11:19. do you find yourself spending more and more time on your phone or your laptop? why being so connected could be bad for your mental health. >> every member of our clan living, dead and undecided. oh, yes. we will sit down with two stars of the musical "the addams family." first, here's a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com. what makes a sleep number store different?

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♪ >> i recognize that music. "the addams family" is playing at the kennedy center opera house. two of the stars are joining us today.

good morning. >> good morning. >> welcome. that looks like a lot of fun. >> it is. we have a great time. >> i don't think i have seen anything of the "adams family" since i was growing up and watching it on television. it must be fun to do it as a comedy. >> i think that's what people are most surprised by. you think dark, gloomy and dreary. but when you come you realize it's the epitome of the american music. >> i want to hear more about the show. now, you play the daughter. >> yes, wednesday adams. >> i suspect you must wear a really wild costume. >> very short dark wig and very pale makeup. i am a little cherokee so i'm a little dark. >> what do they call it, whatever it is that they whiten up your face. >> my face, my chest, my neck and my wig is just almost completely black, i look a lot different. >> he is your love interest. >> this is my boyfriend, plays lucas. >> he's not an adams, obviously.

we are the normal family from ohio. your tipple middle america family. >> what is it that attracts you to this strange-looking -- >> her craziness. he loves it. the whole storyline is my family is coming to meet the adams family and, obviously, they're very different. so, kind of just about how these two families interact with each other. >> we are looking at a little bit of a show right there. just tell me something, did you grow up watching you're younger than i am. did you watch it in reruns? >> i think more so now that i've started doing the show. we glue up with the movies because i was a huge christina ricci fan. they play on tv all the time. >> does it help to be the fan of the show or the movie to do this show that you're doing now?

>> we with encouraged not to think about the tv show and the movies and kind of be inspired by that. i was in a different boat because my character is not iconic it's not somebody that people have known. i kind of got to start from scratch and create who wanted lukes to be. >> did you feel you had to look at wednesday in the movies to see what wednesday was about? >> no, i think i had a basis of knowledge from loving the movies growing up. i knew who the family was. i knew what america was and we have gone back to the original comic strips from charles addams and creating a family all on our own in the room in new york when we started and just kind of created what the addams family is to us and we heard people come and see it and when the curtain opens and you see the addams family standing there, it is exactly what you want them to look like. >> the music is really good. but, let me ask you, the humor now, is the same humor that we watched many years ago, what has

it been? several decades ago now. >> the humor comes from these people think they're normal. this is their reality. they lived their lives saying, all these crazy cookie things and feeding rats to plants and this is our normal life and they don't see the irony in it. it's funny for the audiences to watch them just operate as a normal, everyday family. >> you also incorporate some contemporary ideas and events. >> absolutely. >> lots of commentary on even political stuff and, you know, all very modern and all very today in new york city. >> and you're having a good time. >> a great time. >> a great time. >> we're glad to have you in washington and how long will the show run? >> through the 29th. >> two more weeks. >> all right, thank you both so much. >> thanks for having us. >> can't wait to see you. of course, we won't recognize you if we come to the show. >> we want to tell you that "the addams family" at kennedy center through july 29th. still tickets available. 11:26. coming up in the next half hour

of news 4 midday, the latest on cleanup and safety concerns after a huge tree fell on a car on the georgetown pike killing one person. plus, olympic security. the mistake the company in charge is admitting to this morning. and when we could see some storms move in the area. will it cool things

right now on news 4 midday, ride-on bus to catch fire in montgomery county. the bus caught fire this morning. this is the seventh ride-on bus that has gone up in flames in the past three years. trains yesterday were only allowed to go 35 miles per hour when above ground during daylight hours. metro riders can bring water onboard today to help keep cool and hydrated. tom kierein will have an update

on our weather in just a few minutes. we have new information about a 40-ton tree that fell on a car killing the driver. fairfax county police identified the man as 64-year-old albert roth iii. he was behind the wheel when the tree fell unexpecting on his car. crews removed the tree and cut a second tree to prevent it from falling. this as tracee wilkins reports. >> this is a terrible, freak accident. taking a look at what was once the root system for this 40-ton oak tree, you can understand how this accident happened. there's nothing there. now, that's part of the reason that the virginia department of transportation wanted to go ahead and cut down a second tree. we felt the ground shake when that second tree came down. not even a quarter of the size of the 40 ton oak that fell yesterday.

it only gave an inkling of what that crash must have been like. >> i never want to see that, again. >> reporter: the oak was six to eight feet wide and came crashing down without warning on to a man's mercedes coupe shortly before 7:00 p.m. yesterday. he was killed in the accident. >> i just saw gridlock traffic going up georgetown pike because this is just the way everyone goes home and i heard a crack and it just like fell on the car. >> reporter: officials closed georgetown pike overnight as they work to cut up the massive oak and also take down a second tree that they feared were also decaying. it was clear to see that the massive oak was dead with its now hollowed root system exposed. people who live here say it's been evident for years that both trees needed to come down. >> yeah, you know, the tree should be coming down because when it comes down it's already hollow inside. it's empty.

>> reporter: at this point, there's no word from the department of transportation on whether they're going to be inspecting other trees along roadways to make sure they don't have this problem somewhere else. i'm tracee wilkins, news 4. and now to the extreme heat. we're going to check in, again, with tom kierein and the latest on the forecast. he's outside on the storm 4 weather patio where he says we don't have to worry about him. he is under a tree. are you okay out there, tom? >> in the shade it's almost tolerable. but not in the sun. that is for sure. we have got sweltering humidity and the humidity was higher than it was yesterday and the temperatures are as hot or maybe a little bit hotter. we're into the mid-90s most of maryland and virginia and including the district and it's about 90 there. shenandoah out of the valley it's near 90 there, as well. heat index, the combination of

temperature and humidity and leesburg now 105. in washington at national airport, 103. the heat index near 100 throughout most of the region right now. all these counties in orange under this excessive heat advisory. ash from now on until sunset we'll have our heat index above 100. now the only breeze coming from passing thundershowers and as they do come through, they'll quickly drop the temperature maybe down into the 70s, but, unfortunately, come with strong, damaging winds and we're in the severe risk zone 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. looks like the prime time for that. so, yes, hovering around 100 degrees in the next couple of hours and then between 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. is when we're right there at our peak heat and tomorrow and again on friday, more showers and thundershowers and probably not severe and less hume frud the weekend and first part of next week, just a slight chance of a thunderstorm on saturday. that's the way it looks, barbara. >> tom, i was just thinking,

maybe we can get one of those kiddy pools and fill it with ice water. >> better yet, i'll go inside. >> come on back in. as pepco tries to avoid outages, they're considering burying some power lines. the utility says they're launching a study into putting some lines underground in maryland. there have been renewed called to bury lines after hundreds of thousands lost power, some for more than a week during last month's major storm. pepco has long opposed burying lines because of the cost. but they say the study should help them make a decision on how to move forward. and we're going to check, again, on the mid-day traffic and see how things are moving out there. how is it looking, danella. >> an accident pretty serious because all of oyour eastbound lanes are blocked and this is as you travel on north glebe road. all your lanes blocked in both directions in this area. let's head up to i-270 and things look better in this area. live look in germantown as you pass germantown road, things arant so bad at all.

nice and clear. take a look at this in both directions, in fact, as you make your way northbound and southbound. barbara, back over to you. >> thanks, danella. a well-known political strategist is in the hospital this morning after being badly beaten about his iphone. take a look at this surveillance video. david mercer walk under to the 7-eleven on capitol hill and the democratic fund-raiser is talking on the phone and then sets it down on the counter. a man then took the iphone and put it in his pocket. he realizes his iphone is missing and appears to ask the man if he's seen it. he then follows the man outside and there's where an argument happened and mercer gets beaten up. police say they identified the men in the video and they're in the process of interviewing them. police are investigating whether an arm aed robbery at a harris teeter in loudoun county is connected to similar robberies in north carolina. two men walked into the harris

teeter store in aldi, virginia. the men robbed customers and employees at gunpoint. one of those employees talked with news 4. he asked, though, that his identity be concealed. >> i see he has a mask on and he just has a gun pointed to me and he walks up to me and he's like get down, get down on the floor. >> if you recognize these men call loudoun county crimestoppers. harris teeter is offer a $50,000 reward. two spotsylvania sisters are recovering after being attacked by a rabid beaver. they were swimming in lake anna on sunday when the animal went after them. it first bit the 11-year-old and then attacked her 8-year-old sister. the freelance star reports their uncle shot the beaver. police turned it over to the health department, which confirmed that the beaver had rabies. volunteers are asking a lot of questions this morning about

the abrupt closing of a breast cancer charity. it's a story first on 4. y-me based in chicago suddenly stopped operations and shut down its website. the charity is popular in the d.c. region for its annual mother's day race. y-me shut down operations shortly after a golf tournament last month. volunteers are now questioning what happened to all the donations. >> we want to know what's happened to this money and how it can help, did it help others, who is it helping? we want accountability for that. >> y-me hasn't said much about its closure, except that it's due to a cash flow crisis. volunteers hope to continue counseling and support group services. a pulletszer prize winning columnist from "washington post" has died. william raspberry died yesterday. he had prostate cancer. he wrote about social issues for nearly 40 years in his "washington post" callume and

his writing appeared in 200 newspapers nationwide. william raspberry was 76 years old. well, with just nine days to go until the opening ceremony, olympic organizers are facing a frightening reality. there isn't enough security. now, the man whose company was hired to guard the games is admitting his company messed up and is promising to work overtime to make it right. nbc michelle kaczynski reports. >> checking bags, guarding athletes and now being done by soldiers and police scrambled from around the uk because a security company g4s the world's third largest employer cannot meet its target. it admits having half the guards ready. at a cycling event tuesday where 300 were needed, the company turned up 38. british lawmakers let the ceo have it. >> a fiasco and a shambles.

>> it's a humiliating shambles, isn't it? >> it's not where we want to be, that is certain. >> it's a humiliating shamble to the company, yes or no? >> i cannot disagree with you. >> reporter: ceo nick buckle said he only learned july 3rd that they will fall well short. what happened? >> it was incredibly logistically challenging. >> reporter: in june, a memo talked about a system called "just in time phasing" saying it would have been an advantage to have everyone trained months in advance, but that was neither practical nor cost effective. many people want to look at the olympics went through interviews and training and didn't hear back for months. it is reassuring to many that the military and the police are stepping in. >> those in charge will do their jobs. >> put on a heck of a show. >> reporter: olympic organizers emphasize their confidence. >> this has not nor will it impact on the safety and security of these games. >> yet, even now g4s is expected

to be paid its more than $90 million management fee. >> you still think you want to claim it? >> yes. >> i find that astonishing. >> reporter: how many guards will show up at all? will more military be needed? >> you cannot guarantee how many will turn up on the day. you can't be sure, can you? >> no. >> and that was michelle kaczynski reporting. an olympic legend is taking heat this morning for some controversial comments about a para olympic athlete. michael johnson says he thinks south african sprinter could have an unfair advantage because of his prosthetic. prestorius known as the blade runner will be the first disabled athlete to compete in the main games. his prosthetic legs could be an advantage over some abled-bodied athletes and for that reason he shouldn't be allowed to run. johnson says they're friends and that the bladeis aware

of his views. nbc 4 is your home for the 2012 london olympics and be sure to visit the london 2012 section on nbcwashington.com. you can meet some of the members of u.s. military who will be trading fatigues for team usa gear. 11:42 is our time and still ahead on news 4 midday. for the second time in just weeks, the fda approves a new weight loss drug. plus, between facebook, twitter and e-mail, are you addicted to your phone or laptop? we're going to tell you why that addiction could be hurting your ment

in news for your health, a new weight loss drug will soon hit the market. the food and drug administration approved qsymia to fight obesity. the pill was formally called qnexa and in clinical trials patients on the drug lost up to 10% of their body weight. the fda rejected the drug in 2010 because of worries over increased heart rates and possible birth defects, but based on new data this year, the fda decided the benefits outweighed the risks. they approved another weight

loss drug, you may remember, just last month. there are new safety concerns about two of the con's most popular suvs. the national highway traffic safety administration is looking into potential problems with the throttle on late-model ford escapes and tributes. it received 100 complaints about sticky throttles. the issue may have been a factor in more than a dozen crashes. one person even died in one of those accidents. the safety agency is focusing on suvs from the 2001 to 2004 model years that have v6 engines. u.s. builders broke ground on the most new homes and apartments in nearly four years last month. we'll check in with cnbc bertha coombs on that. she joins us with more on that and the rest of the day's business headlines. bertha, good morning. >> hi, barbara. it's kind of opposite day in the markets today. shares of intel and black and

decker higher despite the fact that they put together a disappointing earnings outlook. mariano rivera play eede eed st today. attracting a huge crowd. he's on the injured reserve list since may. he still hopes to play this year, though. investors, meantime, are cheering more positive and home building jumped to the highest level of october 2008 surging 6.9%. well above what analysts were expecting. meanwhile, mortgage applications surging as current homeowners took advantage of rock bottom rates to re-fi. directv telling its subscribers itser close to reaching a deal with viacom. the customers had to go without nick loadium, mtv and comedy central for a week now. directstr directv is asking viacom to return those channels while they try to work out the final

details on the deal. viacom has restored free online access to the shows. barbara last night, actually, jon stewart made fun of the blackout on the channel saying people might do something like, say, read a book. >> how about that. what a thought. did you stay up and watch that? >> you know what, i actually did. i actually did. i know i should have been asleep, but i was puttering around and i was still up at 11:00, so i caught a little bit of it. >> it has been so hot, kind of nice to be inside, just watching tv. okay, have a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. thanks a lot. >> you, too. is being too connected driving you crazy? new research suggests the internet can make us lonely and depressed and even create more severe mental illnesses. dr. joshua weiner joins us with the research and how to avoid becoming addicted to technology.

we have to admit, i will admit, i can't be without my cell phone. not calling people, but afraid to put it down. >> afraid you might miss something. >> how about you? >> you know what, i'm not really technically savvy, i'm a novice with my stuff. i sent my first text message like, i don't know, six months ago. i'm late to come into this. >> what are we doing wrong here? everywhere we have access in our homes, in our offices in the car. okay, is this really driving us crazy? not a good thing. >> i don't think it's driving us crazy. cover article in last week's "newsweek" about all the detrimental effects of being connected and adhd and ocd and even psychosis and depression and they are suggesting there is a link. i disagree with what i read in that article and what the press is saying, i do not think there is a connection. if you take a healthy, mentally well person and you put them in touch with twitter and facebook

and having more time on the internet, you're not going to turn that mentally healthy person into a person that is unhealthy. some risks associated, some things people need to watch out for, but a big exaggeration to suggest that being wired and connected all the time is causing mental illness. >> let's talk a little bit about little kids. like these 2 year olds, 3 year olds who walk around and honestly know how to turn it on and go to each game, play the games. i mean, it is pretty impressive when you see them that little doing it. but are they being hurt by it? >> i don't think so. i really don't. i think that there doesn't seem it be any persuasive evidence to suggest that a lot of kids spending time doing some of these games causes major problems. i have little kids, i let them play on my ipad and let them play games on my iphone. i'm not worried about it. >> it is pretty impressive when you see they know how to do the whole thing. a lot of things i don't know how to do on my computer i see

little children doing. you say it's not an addiction but it can cause or do you believe it can cause some problems in some people. >> i think it can cause some problems. some things as internet addiction. we have to take all of this with a grain of salt. anything, really, for the most part that people do that they really do has the potential to get out of control. gambling, food, excessive exercise, sex. you know, people can become addicted to these things, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't do any of these things. i mean, people can go to las vegas, gamble for a day and never go back for another couple years and enjoy themselves. there are some people where this stuff just gets completely out of control. but that represents a small subset of the people who are spending time on the digital media. >> it says here, studies that have shown that excessive use of digital media changes the way the brain looks on brain scans. >> right. >> what is that about? >> there have been some studies that chinese studies, in particular, that have looked at

scanning people who spend a lot of time on the internet. so-called internet addicts. they have found that their brains look a little different than people who do not have that problem. more like the brains of people who are addicted to drugs. however, even the authors of these studies say that their studies were very small and it's really just a small association and that, really, even their own studies should be taken with a grain of salt, i can't say that these studies are definitive proof that these, this time spent on the internet is actually causing massive brain changes. the other thing to keep in mind is that pretty much everything has the potential to change your brain. so, if you go from not playing a lot of tennis to playing a lot of tennis, you are going to see differences in the way your brain on brain scans. not really that new in terms of information. >> i will show you some of the apps that you can use on your cell phone if you don't know them already. a lot of stuff you won't want to live without. thank you very much. it's 11:52 and coming up, a

pair of pants that can help you stay cool. we're going to show you and i don't mean looking cool. i mean, it really makes you cool. plus, meteorologist tom the first time i saw fios it was absolutely amazing.

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>> that ball gets away. here comes zimmerman. the nationals win on a wild pitch. the nationals continue to find new ways to win. they beat the mets last night, thanks to a wild pitch in the tenth inning. the nats tied the game earlier in the inning when bryce harper hit a triple to score jonathan solano. last night's inning was similar to last night when ryan zimmerman also scored on a wild pitch to beat the cincinnati reds. and let's take a look now at some of the stories we're following for news 4 this afternoon. tonight on news 4 at 4:00. the latest on a filming accident that sent haley ble berry to th hospital. a woman has so many poisonous spiders in her house, it could take a year to get rid of them all. plus, coming up at 5:00, cameras are there as the mother thanks the man who caught her daughter's fall. those stories and a whole lot more coming up this evening.

right now, we'll check on our forecast and tom kierein with one more look at midday. >> unless you absolutely have to be out, stay in the ac. stay tuned to nbc 4. we'll let you know what is going on. look at the temperature now, 97. here we are just at noontime. it's 97 and i think it will climb maybe another three or four degrees this afternoon for the high and the heat index, 104 in washington. 107 out in leesburg and that's all these areas in orange, all these zones are going to be the areas where it feels like 110 or so. only relief coming from storms in that yellow zone and that could be this afternoon. watch out for that. stay with nbc 4 and if you hear thunder, get inside. >> nobody talked about frying an egg on the top of your car. >> don't do that, you'll ruin the paint. >> all right, tom, thanks a lot. we'll see you tomorrow. good idea to turn on the air conditioning during the heat wave and now you can have ac wherever you go. all you have to do is wear these

pants. look at this. a japanese company designed them and they have their own built-in conditioning, air conditioning unit. a battery-powdered fan hangs on the outside of the pants. and that creates a little breeze that keeps your legs nice and cool. these pants are not cheap, though. they sell for more than $100 a pair. of course, you probably want a couple of those if you're going to buy them. what do you think, tom? want some. >> i would wear those all the time. that's it for now. we'll see you tomorrow.