good morning, everyone. welcome to news 4 midday, i'm barbara harrison. thursday, july 19th, 2012. and right now one d.c. neighborhood is still cleaning up from last night's storm. the heavy storm turned the bloomingdale neighborhood into a rushing river. a viewer sent us this home video of water rushing down their street. at one point, two inches of rain fell an hour. some areas also saw hail. and some of that water went into people's homes. many homeowners spent the morning trying to clean up with no power. megan mcgrath reports on that. >> well, the storm didn't last long, but it packed quite a punch, bringing down trees and

power lines. as you can see, pepco crews were very busy this morning, trying to get everybody back online. in the wee hours of the morning, pepco crews surveyed the damage caused by a large tree on acadia place. the entire street went black when it tumbled down. also dark, traffic signals along parts of north capital street, the intense heat that proceeded the storm is the likely culprit for the outage. vdot workers had to guide motorists through the intersections. pepco crews crawled down into man holes in an effort to get the power restored but couldn't happen soon enough for kia blake. >> i have been out since 6:45 yesterday afternoon. this is the fourth time this happened. i have an infant over there, too. it's been terrible all night. >> reporter: yesterday's high topped out at 101. the storm brought relief from

the heat, but it came with pockets of heavy rain. for the second time in recent weeks, renee menendez s street basement flooded. once again, her wet carpets hang on the fence to dry. >> i just washed all of those towels and sheets and here we go, again. it's like the drain doesn't drain and the water just stands. i don't know what is going on. >> pepco crews made progress overnight, but this morning still 1,000 customers without electricity in prince george's county and the district of columbia. in northeast, megan mcgrath, news 4. and we have to worry about anything like that, again, today. we have cloud out there. let's talk to tom kierein and find out what he is seeing. what's going on, tom, good morning. >> today, thankfully today not as hot as yesterday, but we still have a lot of humidity in the air and there is a possibility that we could get some heavy downpours, again, later this afternoon. right now, if you lookt a that

moving color there. the upper left of your screen. those are clusters of heavy downpours in indiana a, drifting south and east. the disturbance in the atmosphere getting close to us by later this afternoon between now and then, we could have a pop-up thundershower and out ahead of that, the temperatures are warming up now. all those areas in orange are in the 80s. the mid-80s in washington and the nearby suburbs near 90 now right at the atlantic beaches and ocean city is now at 89. cooler out of the mountains, as usual. in the 70s, most locations there. shenandoah valley right now near 80 degrees and panhandle of west virginia also near 80. as we get into the afternoon showers, though, we'll likely have clouds building back in and a little sunshine now. scattered thundershowers likely developing by early to mid-afternoon and there is, unfortunately, a possibility that some of them could produce some brief, very heavy rain that may cause some isolated flooding. peaking in the mid-90s before

that happens. we'll take a look at chances for more rain tonight, tomorrow and we'll look at the weekend, too, in just a couple of minutes, barbara. >> all right, tom, thank you. we'll see you in a few minutes. bus fires are forcing montgomery county to change its ride on bus schedule. the system is running on a holiday schedule today and tomorrow with come exceptions to the busier routes. the county took more than 30 buses permanently out of service after this fire flames engulfed a champion-style model. no passengers were on the bus and the driver was not hurt. there have been about a dozen similar fires since 2009. mechanics are looking into the cause. montgomery county expects to have replacement bus biz the end of next month. let's see how things are looking on the roads around here. danella sealock giving us the first look at traffic for midday. >> things look really good in our area so far. let's take a live look at i-270. live cameras, nice and clear

southbound, as well as northbound. no issues to report between germantown and the lane divide connecting to the beltway looks good, as well. here's a live look. checking inner loop speeds as you're making your way towards i-95. nice travel speed at 54 miles per hour. that ride taking ten minutes. >> thank you, danella. first, council members call for his resignation and now the scandal surrounding 2010 campaign appears to be taking a toll on his popularity with the city's residents. at the super screen with the numbers.

. three people close to gray's campaign have already pleaded guilty to corruption charges and now a new sign of how seriously d.c. residents are taking this scandal. more than half of city residents, 54% of them say that mayor gray should step down. now, that's compared to 37% of folks who think that he should stay. but the numbers are even more dismal when it comes to trust. only a about a quarter of residents view the mayor as being trustworthy where more than 60% say that gray cannot be trusted. and then, finally, take a look at these numbers. when looking at the broader picture of corruption, the poll found that 44% of d.c. residents think that corruption in our city is getting worse. supporters are rallying around gray and point out that the mayor has not been accused of any wrongdoing up to this point. >> all right, erika gonzalez

reporting live and new this morning, a frightening rescue on the tracks at a metro station. a viewer took this picture at metro center around 10:00 last night. as you can see, the woman is standing right between the two sets of tracks there. look at her. there she is. metro officials say the woman realized she was on the wrong platforms and decided to jump on the tracks to get to the other side. once she hopped down, she realized she wasn't doing such a good thing and froze until she could be rescued. that woman will probably face a fine. metro riders at another station sprung into action to stop an a alleged thief. you can see two men holding down the suspect tuesday night at the arlington national cemetery. the man who snapped the picture said he saw a man darting between cars and then a woman yelling that he had taken her phone. metro transit police have arrested the suspect. arl now reports that the suspect is 17 years old and has been charged with robbery. george zimmerman says he has

no regrets about following trayvon martin the night he died. in his own words, zimmerman describes what happened. >> he started bashing my head into the concrete sidewalk. i was, as soon as he broke my nose, i started yelling for help. i was disoriented. >> in his first interview, zimmerman tells fox news the unarmed teenager started the deadly confrontation. during a fight both he and martin reached for his gun. he fired one shot and martin was killed. >> i'm not a racist and i'm not a murderer. i feel that it was all god's plan and for me to second guess it or judge it. >> this morning on "today" show trayvon martin's parents reacted to zimmerman's interview. >> i really think that's ridiculous. i wish trayvon was here to tell his side of the story and i

don't believe that's god's plan for him to kill an innocent teenager. >> he had no regards for trayvon's life and he don't regret taking trayvon's life. had george zimmerman stayed in his vehicle, trayvon would be with us here today. >> zimmerman is charged with murder. he pleaded not guilty citing florida's stand your ground law. nine minutes after 11:00 is the time nu. coming up, less than four months from the presidential election. is one candidate moving into the lead? we'll have the results of the latest poll. >> what are you doing? >> we're going to take these bags of trash and throw it over to their side of the park and then let the stink and the raccoons run wild. plus, the best in tv and movies recognized this morning. stay with us, we'll be right

the u.n. will not impose new sanctions against syria. minutes ago, russia and china vetoed a western-backed resolution that would have threatened sanctions against syria over the ongoing violence in that country. the vote comes a day after three syrian leaders were killed in a bombing. rebels are claiming responsibility for the attack inside a high-level meeting. president bashar al assad brother-in-law is among the dead. the bombing is proof that assad is losing control of his country. right now, president obama is taking his re-election campaign to the state of florida. air force one is taking off from joint base andrews. the president will hold two events this afternoon, one in jacksonville and then another in west palm beach. florida is considered the largest election day toss-up state. >> if you have a business, you didn't build that.

somebody else made that happen. >> president obama , you're killing us out here. with hard work and a little bit of luck, we built this business. >> that is a new ad released by mitt romney's campaign. he is toutding small businesses as the life blood of our economy. the ad attacks president obama's comments at a rally last week when he tried to outline a partnership between business and government. romney says the president insulted business leaders and doesn't understand job creation. well, a new poll out today shows mitt romney virtually tied with president obama in the race for president. 47% of registered voters side would the new gop candidate in a cbs poll. president obama got 46% and the survey has a three-point margin of error. and with just eight days before the start of the olympic games, there's a new potential problem in london. border agents at busy heathrow airport are preparing to walk off the job because of an

ongoing labor dispute. the strike could begin the day before the opening ceremonies. that has untrained replacements could begin waving through many passport holders to avoid lines from building up. they pushed for the strike blaming government pushbacks have left lines dangerously understaffed. one of london's most iconic landmarks is about to become basically a giant mood ring. the london eye, the city's big ferris wheel will change lights base. students from mit came up with this idea. every night there will be a 30-minute light show that will change in real time based on tweets. if people are feeling negative, the eye will glow purple, positive feelings will create a yellow shine and neutral will have it looking green. remember, everyone. nbc 4 is your home for the 2012 london olympics. visit the london 2012 section of nbcwashington.com where right now you can meet some of the

youngest and oldest members of team usa a. . storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein is with us now to talk about what is going on out there today and yesterday we were really happy to get your photographs of what was going on before it actually happened, tom. >> that was quite a dramatic sky. but yesterday we had that storm passing right over washington, our city camera captured this wonderful view showing the downpour. you can see that rain shaft. it almost looks like a ball gown. there's a certain grace and beauty to these things, if you're not under it and see it from a distance. >> you like looking at it, tom. >> that's the heavy rain that caused that flooding. we saw the video here earlier and you can see some flashes of lightning there, too. that did unload torrents of rain right in washington as it passed over, but as you see, it is a highly isolated area that did get the downpours. now, take a look at this photograph. this is the one i took yesterday afternoon before the storms hit.

this was in montgomery county. whenever you see a sky like this, these are clouds that look like bubble wrap. when you see a sky like that, you know there is potential severe weather on the way and get inside and check out nbc 4. here's another photo sent in by one of my twitter followers. in his office, you can see him, he took this picture out the window of a lightning bolt. this was near 20, i think it was 24th and new york avenue. no, i'm sorry, 12th and new york avenue where he got this shot of a lightning bolt right when that same storm was passing over washington. right now reagan national at 85 and dew point at a 68 and, so, it is rather humid. temperatures around the region, we are well into the 80s now across northern virginia and into maryland and that includes montgomery, arlington, fairfax and prince george's county right near the bay, we're in the mid-80s. shenandoah valley out of the mountains are in the low 80s and upper 80s southern maryland and

near 90 from fredericksburg to pax river. at the beaches right now and around the bay, near 90. now, we have this stalled frontal boundary right now to our north. but it is slowly showing a trend to sink south. may sink south of the mason/dixon line. when that happens, probably some storms popping up. right now along that front, heavy downpours in ohio and indiana and that is drifting south and east and will be moving right towards the metro area by later this afternoon and into this evening. and as we look here, all these areas in color. these are the zones with the potential downpour, some of these could produce quick inch or two inches of rain and may cause localized flooding, again. this afternoon into this evening and then settle down a bit after midnight. then during the day on friday, more showers and thundershowers with heavy downpours likely throughout much of the region and then as we get into saturday, though, it will settle down a lot, only a small chance of an additional shower on saturday morning. and then drying out after that for the rest of the weekend.

so, for today, expect some downpours, again. could have some isolated flooding, but probably no damaging winds like we saw yesterday. mid-90s early afternoon back down to the 80s by early evening and occasional thundershower and chance for more isolated flooding this evening and into the 70s and then tomorrow those passing showers and downpours may cause more flooding on friday. over the weekend, looks a lot better now and highs only near 80 on saturday and a small chance of a shower could get more storms monday and tuesday, and most of the weekend looks nice and dry mid-week next week. that's the way it looks. >> i'll keep looking for mamatas clouds. >> i never heard of those before. >> they're pretty rare. >> lesson for today. we'll check on the traffic out there. any problems that we should know about, danella, heading out? >> things look pretty good all around, barbara. we'll take a closer look at the dulles toll road. right here and check travel speeds. here we go right now, if you're traveling on the dulles toll road making your way eastbound

to the beltway, driving at 51 miles per hour. not bad at all. that trip will take you seven minutes. now, connecting to the beltway, no issues from the dulles toll road as you head to the interchange and live look at the interchange flowing nicely in both directions but outer loop speeds, not too bad. 47 miles per hour and that drive will take you 16 minutes. barbara, back over to you. >> thanks, danella a. 11:20 is the time. still ahead, great fashion for a great cause. we're going to tell you about the event taking place tonight. plus, a success story from steve hayes. he introduces us to a woman who has changed her life through diet and exercise. you want to see this. first, here's a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com. [ male announcer ] where did all the obama stimulus money go?

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the global down syndrome foundation is hosting the be beautiful, be yourself preview tonight in d.c. to raise awareness about the disorder that affects 1 in 976 babies. the director of the foundation

joins us this morning with more on what's happening tonight. good to have you with us. >> thank you for having us. >> quite a startling statistics. 1 in 691 babies is born with down syndrome. is that right? >> the most frequent chrome zonal disorder but the least funded genetic condition by our institutes of health. >> you have a personal reason for being involved in this? >> yes, nine years ago i gave birth to sofia and she happens to have down syndrome and i'm not looking back, only forward. >> just not enough attention to this syndrome. >> yes, kind of been defunded and the funding really would help medical care and help developmental research on how our kids learn and then cognitive research, as well. so, it's all important, but none of it is happening. >> tell us about tonight's event. >> celebrities from "e.r." "fairly legal" and "the bachelor." a wonderful band coming.

drinks, food, we're unveiling a scientist who is a specialist in alzheimer's because there's, unfortunately, a correlation between alzheimer's and down syndrome. >> something we'll have to address at another time because right now what we'd like to do bring on some of our very anxious models who are part of tonight's events. >> who do we have here? >> fumi, that's great. go to the number four with brad and wave at the tv. and there's brad and brad is walsh which is a wonderful brand here in d.c. >> looks like he knows how to model. >> you can twirl around, brad. look at you. beautiful clothing. >> you want to twirl around? twirl around or wave? >> that's a fabulous outfit you have. >> she's in our cheerleading camp and brad is in our football camp and major fashion shows in denver and d.c.

so, thank you. >> thank you. and we are going to have our next models come up. >> the next models are julia and frank. frank is really an old pro. he's been in our fashion shows. julia is new to the global foundation. >> go to the number 4, honey. >> he looks like he's ready for a party. >> i said, i have to go take him dancing now. >> julia is in robisons. she'll be there. all of these models will be here tonight and walking down. we have about 20 congressional representatives coming and they're going to escort these kids down the runway. >> julia, you want to show off your purse? that's wonderful. >> frank, you look very handsome. all ready for the party. >> thank you, julia. let's head on back. >> tell me about tonight's event. how can people get tickts and where? >> you can still get tickets at the door and it's at sul

belmont. and we're just very excited. we're going to raise a lot of awareness. hopefully some funds to the alzheimer's down syndrome research and congressman van holin will be there. >> how much are tickets? >> they're $250 and you get great food, wine, celebrities and these wonderful, inspirational models. >> thank you so much. >> thank you so much, barbara. >> and for bringing your beautiful models with you. >> thanks. well, the tickets, as she said, are available at the door. 11:27 is the time. coming up in the next half hour of "news 4 midday." how tall is too tall? today congress is taking up the issue of height restrictions on d.c. buildings. plus, the chance of storms remains across our area. tom kierein is coming back to tell us what we can expect. and a health concern that's now being called just as deadly as smoking. stay with

i'm barack obama and i approve this message. [romney singing]: oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plain, america, america, god shed his grace on thee, and crowned thy good, with brotherhood...

rnlths right now on "news 4 midday" pepco crews are restoring power to parts of the district hit hard last night by the storm. heavy rain flooded streets and homes and many people spent the morning cleaning up from that storm. a hearing later today could be the first step in reshaping the district's skyline. a congressional committee is scheduled to take up building height limits in d.c. melissa mollet joins us with more. >> a look over the city over a potential change in the city's skyline. though there are a few exceptions since 1910, buildings in the district have been restricted to about 130 feet. now, momentum appears to be growing, to make at least some small changes to the rules. >> i worked in d.c. probably about the past five years and i feel like, you know, the bigger the better.

>> reporter: no specific increase is being discussed at this point, but lawmakers and city officials will meet today, according to the district's planning office. the changes will be incremental, made so that rooftops can be used for office space, rec rooms or maybe even restaurants. now many are used to house elevator equipment and heating and cooling systems. >> i don't think you should, you know, have gigantically tall buildings here. i think take away from the feel of the city. >> reporter: preservationests and builders will also be at the hearing. many of the residents we spoke with want the height restrictions to remain, fearing anything taller would take away parts of the city's character. >> you don't want to have a skyline like new york city, i don't think. that's one of the appealing parts of if. you can go to places like the monument and see pretty much everything. >> i say leave it. >> reporter: why? >> it's tall enough. >> reporter: the director of the d.c. office of planning supports the idea, as does the city's cfo. dr. gandy will testify he's in

favor of the idea, but even if the bill is passed, any building modifications will still have to go through an a approval process with the city's zoning commission. >> i feel like the height restrictions in other places are definitely a barrier to progress and if d.c. is truly going to become a global city, then we need to let the top off the box a little bit. >> reporter: efforts to modify the city so-called height act could take years, though. that hearing is at 1:30 this afternoon. live on capitol hill, melissa mollet, news 4. >> thanks, melissa a. d.c. public schools will not have to adhere to all standards of no child left behind law. the obama administration granted the district a waiver from key provisions of the controversial law. all d.c. students will no longver to be proficient in math and reading by the year 2014. the school system, though, will have to show improvement. maryland and virginia have also

received vouchers. we're going to check, again, with tom kierein with the latest on the forecast. he's outside in the storm 4 weather patio. little cooler than yesterday, huh, tom? >> it is a beautiful, late morning now. we've got little bit of a breeze coming through, you could see the lawn here is dappled with sunlight and it is still rather humid, but we do have quite a bit of sunshine now around the metro area. but i don't think that's going to last much longer as we do have a lot of humidity in the air and little bit of a disturbance coming in later this afternoon and likely trigger some passing showers and thundershowers and some of them could produce enough heavy rain that might cause some flooding and there goes, looks like marine 1 passing over right now. upper left of your screen, that is a lot of heavy rain in ohio and indiana. that disturbance drifting down our way later today will likely trigger some of those downpours with thunder and lightning. all the areas in orange are in the 80s.

85 at reagan national and we'll climb into the low, maybe briefly mid-90s by the next two or three hours. not as hot as yesterday, but the passing showers and thundershowers might cause localized flooding coming in later this afternoon and off and on tonight and off and on on friday, too. cooler highs mid and upper 80s and then even cooler saturday. a lot of clouds around, highs near 80 and a small chance of a shower. partly sunny, mid-80s and more storms monday and tuesday next week. that is the way it looks, barbara. i'll be back in a few minutes with another update. >> thank you, tom. a flasher alert in northern virginia. monases police are looking for a man who exposed himself to a 17-year-old girl monday afternoon. according to insidenova.com. the girl was walking on a dirt path behind a building on wellington road. officers believe the flasher was between 17 and 20 years old. anyone with information that could help catch this person is asked to contact manassas

police. highway robbery. that's how one loudoun county lawmaker explains tolls. now he wants the attorney general to do something about it. representative frank wolf is asking ken to look into the toll structure on the privately owned road. right now, commuters pay up to $4.80 each way during rush hour and that doesn't even include the cost of taking the dulles toll road, which connects to the greenway. that means many drivers are paying $2,500 a year or more in tolls on those roads. virginia commuters could be paying even more in tolls next year. the airport authority just gave preliminary approval to a 50 cent rate hike for one-way tols on the dulles tol road starting next year. that means that you'd now pay $2.75 each way. the increase will help pay for metro silver line. think $2.75 is a whole lot, well, tolls could reach $4.50

each way by 2014 under the airport authority's plan. we're going to check in on the mid-day traffic, again. hi, danella, how is it looking? >> you talk about the toll hikes there. let's check out i-95. in maryland looks really good. 295 southbound at 64 miles per hour. not bad if you consider close to powder mill road and slow down just a bit, not by much. let's head over to i-95. here's a live look as you pass 100. tail lights, they're heading southbound to the beltway. give you a travel speed. 63 miles per hour as you make your way to the beltway. barbara, back over to you. >> thank you, danella. sitting around and doing nothing may be as much as a health hazard as smoking. researchers at harvard say inactivity is responsible for 5.3 million deaths worldwide each year. they say smoking kills 5 million people. the researchers came up with their statistics by compiling these numbers of cases of heart

disease, type two diabetes and cancer that could theoretically be prevented if people suddenly became more physically active. talk about physically act aive, now, a weight loss success story we want to share with you. steve hayes is here to introduce us to a woman who made a big change after a doctor's visit. hey, steve. >> hi, how are you, barbara? >> barbara, this is laura and her trainer. laura has an incredible story. she lost 33 pounds in six months. >> you had something to do with it. >> yes, i did. but it was all her. first of all, laura a, tell us why you needed to lose the weight or wanted to? >> my annual doctor's visit she told me that i was technically obese. i'm 5'2", i was 167 pounds and i never thought of myself as obese and that word really triggered me. >> i could imagine. >> let's take a look at your before picture because maybe we can -- well, you were a lot heavier. how much weight were you heavier?

>> 33 pounds heavier. >> 33 pounds heavier and the doctor said you are obese and you were mad. >> i was shocked. >> shocked, but mad enough to get out and do something about it. >> it was a wake-up call and inspired me to go join my sport and local health and luckily they set me up with latonya as a personal trainer. >> did you think exercise first or diet? >> you always think exercise but it's both. they go hand in-hand. >> tell us what you did to get her started? >> with every new member that comes into the gym we'll sit down and talk to them about their fitness goals and what they want to accomplish? laura already established a why factor right before she came into the door because that's the most important thing when it comes to reaching a goal. >> there she is. she's doing cardio there. right? how important is cardio to weight loss? >> cardio is really important. matter of fact, i, laura, she has to do 150 minutes a week. so, if you were to do five days

for 30 minutes of any type of cardio activity, you've met your quota for that week. also, know that, of course, you're not going to go at one steady pace. so, what i have laura doing is what you will call zone training where she'll focus on using her heart rate to establish what intensity she is going to do for that day. >> i see. so just picking up the ball, is that considered cardio? >> this is an osam exercise here because what you're doing, you see the maximum explosion that she is exerting. using hips, quads, shoulders, not only aerobic but strength training at the same time. >> is this part of the 30 minutes of cardio training that you were talking about? >> yes, especially when we do zone three training which is pushing 80% to 85% of your max heart rate. focus on power speed, agility and muscle strength. >> barbara, something that is very unique. she is a high school history teacher and can you imagine the inspiration she gives to the

kids, the students when they see her. they say, my god. my teacher is in great shape. i know i've got to do it. >> when do you have time to do these 30 minutes a day? >> i try to do it after work to just kind of fit it in there and i can go home and feel really proud of what i've done. >> is it always at a gym? >> it is. >> that was part of it, what you just did and 30 minutes is all you spend? >> i spend 30 minutes on cardio and then alternate in strength training three times a a week. >> you have an exercise you want to show us. >> this is a no excuses one. ladies, let's show them what we have been doing in the studio. >> the first thing i'm going to have laura do is power step ups in the frontal plain. stand behind the box for me. what she is going to do is place one foot on top of the box and you're going to go ahead and drive the foot into the box as you power up towards the ceiling. make sure that you bend your knees to absorb the landing. so, let's go for it. >> see, barbara, you can do

these at home. again, no excuses, you can have -- ready? >> give us a quick. >> remember to look straight ahead. good. >> this is very good even for the core, too. >> it's awesome for the core. >> fantastic. >> notice how her core is in a neutral position. any exercise is going to compromise her spine, maybe it's not safe to do, but laura is knocking it out. >> we thank you so much for showing that to us. i know you have exercises she has been doing. >> this is national blue bird month and i want everybody to eat blue birds. high in antioxidants and put them in your shake, enyour cereal or eat them as a snack. >> something blue. >> something blue, i like that. >> thank you so much. as always, steve, thanks. the hayesway.com. it is now 11:42. still ahead, how to beat the underground. plus, the nominees are -- we're going to tell you who is leading the field in emmy a award nominations just out this morning. stay with us.

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"boardwalk empire." "breaking bad." "downto abbey." "game of thrones." "homeland" and "mad men." >> the highly acclaimed drama about the 1960s earned 17 primetime emmy nominations this morning. it can set the record for most honored drama and television history. interestingly, no network show was nominated for outstanding drama series on the comedy side a familiar show, once again, led the field. >> the nominations in the comedy series category are "the big bang theory." "curb your enthusiasm." "girls. "modern family." "30 rock" and "veep." >> "modern family" is nominated for 14 emmys and won outstanding comedy series the last two years and will try to make it three in a row. the emmy ceremony will take

place in september. home sales dropped to the lowest level since october. we're going to check in now with cnbc bertha coombs and joins us with more on that and the rest of the business headlines. hey, bertha. >> hey, barbara. markets are mixed this morning. text stocks higher after ebay and ibm. mid-atlantic manufacturing activity fell, unemployment claims jumped more than expected last week to the highest level in 15 months and after strong reports on new home construction this week, a down beat report on existing home sales. the national association of realtors say home sales fell 5.4% in june. the biggest drop was in the northeast. realtors blamed the difficulty in obtaining a mortgage for the slow sales. one bit of good news for home sellers. the median home price is actually up nearly 8% from a year ago. retail sales, meantime, have been down for almost three months, but they could pick up

according to the national association of retailers survey, parents say they expect to spend more on back to school this year. on average, about $688. that's up 14% from last year. college spending is expected to top $900. up about 12% and 60% of parents, barbara, say they will likely invest in some sort of electronic device, up from 52% last year. so, it looks like the bank of mom and dad, a little more generous when it comes to back to school this year. >> it's hard to believe we're already there, though, isn't it? >> i know. we're right up on it. i'm still trying to stretch out the summer. >> thank you, we'll see you later. and this week's wednesday's child, we met a 14-year-old boy who has a lot of aspirations for his future. tirail loves carkarate. he said the sport helped him gain the confidence to pursue many of his dreams, including finding an adoptive forever

family. when he discovered marshal arts, it changed his life. >> all right, nice it meet you. this is master wilson. >> the team at on the mat in bethesda welcomed him for his first visit there. he has been in foster care almost his entire life and said the practice of karate and tae kwan do got his life going in a positive direction. >> he loves to do chores and he loves school and he's also very shy in the beginning but then he warms up to you and then he's talkative. >> give me one more. let's reset. >> what is your favorite subject at school? >> math. >> are you good at math? >> yes. >> what kind of grades are you making? >> making as. >> not all as, he says, but he's hoping to one day be on the honor roll. a goal inspired by his first teacher who introduced thime the art of karate. >> two and one -- open.

>> hey. how are you? >> did you see a lot of changes over the period that you were working with him? >> yes, a lot of accountability. great receptive to structure. very receptive to discipline and setting goals. >> he showed off some of his skills to master andrew, who rewarded him with a black stripe on his gold belt. >> congratulations. >> thank you. >> the team from on the mat had some gifts for him, too. >> and if you have room in your home and your heart for him or another child who's waiting, please call our special adoption hotline. the number is 1- 888-to-adopt-me or visit our home page. of course, that was a revisit with him because he's still waiting for a family. 11:50 the time. coming up, how to stay cool during our long, hot summer. we have some unique ideas. you'll want to hear them. plus, meteorologist tom kierein will be back with another check of the forecast. stay with us, we are coming

apparently some folks in new england can't keep their hands off the hoff. hundreds of these cutoffs trying to tempt people into some iced coffee are being stolen from

convenience stores. it seems like everyone wants one. >> it's crazy. they keep -- we probably get customers every night asking to buy the hasselhoff poster. >> why do you think people want this poster so bad? >> i don't know, man. i don't know, just like germany. the hasselhoff thing is, you know, really hot, i guess. >> the convenience store chain displaying the ads, cumberland farms say they don't know how many hoffs have been stolen, but they keep getting calls for replacements. in today's "weekend scene" unconventional ways to beat the heat. some ideas and, good morning. >> hi, barbara. >> have you been following some of your ideas yourself? >> yes, mostly staying inside. >> well, these are pretty cool. and speaking of cool, one of them is sprinklers for grown ups. >> yes, we've seen this little trend happening at local bar s where people want to hang on the

rooftops in the summer and they add aed misting systems to the rooftops. >> they have them at the zoo now. >> we are seeing this across the city. some of the bars to note include arlington rooftop bar and grill and beer garden house on eighth street in the northeast. they all added these so you can stay out a little bit longer and every now and then they'll come down and mist you and cool you off. >> they're not built into the ceiling or anything. >> they are. >> oh, they are. >> and then a lot of bars in the wintertime will have heaters. so you can stay out on the rooftop all year long now. >> let's move on to surrounding yourself with ice. >> most of us go ice skating in the winter. we think, wintertime is when you ice skate but in the summertime a great idea to cool off. you can skate at cetler's capital ice plex and any local ice skating rink that is indoors. like ft. dupont they have lessons and i'm a big brul ball and they have pickup games all

the time in the summer. >> that looks like a great idea. one i haven't thought of either. finally, you suggest going underground. what thougdoes that mean? >> it's beautiful, they have waterfalls, this is a really cool system and actually within driving distance of here and it's about 50 degrees in there. even in july, you have to wear a jacket. >> wow. >> that is a good idea. >> great way to spend the afternoon. >> nice thing to do for the weekend. which is your favorite of all these things to do? >> i will hit the caverns. right around wine country and caverns not taverns. >> that's right. >> taverns and water spray sounds terrific, too. we have hair. >> all right, thanks so much. stay cool. >> thanks, barbara. and for more ideas for your

weeke weekend, the going out guide on washingtonpost.com. take a look now at some of the stories on news 4 this afternoon. tonight at 4:00, we'll tell you about some mature comments justin bieber made in a new interview and plus how a trip to the mall ended up with a 13-year-old driving on top of two cars. tonight at 5:00, as you hit the road for your summer vacation, do you need to bring extra money to tip people? ms. crenshah joins us with who you should tip and how much. time for our final check of our forecast. clouldz building? >> not yet. temperatures around the mid and upper 80s and 87 at reagan national and later today low to mid-90s and still very humid and we could get downpours with thunder and lightning later this afternoon and cause isolated flooding and then that may continue off and on tonight as well as through the day on friday, off and on, not constant, but enough to cause localized flooding and looking

better for the weekend. a small chance of a shower on saturday and highs only near 80 and looking nice on sunday. maybe more storms monday and tuesday. we'll see you tomorrow, have a good day. >> if you get some sleep, don't watch those clouds for too long. >> i'll get to bed on time. >> 6:00 he has to go to bed, we thank you for being with us and invite you to tune in for news at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 and tonight at 11:00. we'll be right back here at 11:00 a.m. for "news 4 midday." until then, have a terrific day. the first time i saw fios it was absolutely amazing. for years and years we had to put up with cable. once we got fios it was like somebody like took our computer and shook all the junk out of it. [ male announcer ] don't settle

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