good morning, everyone. welcome to news 4 midday. i'm barbara harrison. it's wednesday, july 25th, 2012. and we are just days away now from the opening ceremony of the 2012 london olympics. with the games and olympic fever officially start today. in just about an hour, the u.s. women's soccer team will kick off competition. you're looking at their gold medal win from the beijing olympics. this year their third straight gold. they begin their quest against france. you can catch their first match live on nbc sports network at

noon today. then tonight is the final rehearsal for london's spectacular opening ceremony, but the show's director is begging spectators to stay tight lipped about what is on that show. director danny boyle is making a personal plea for fans to keep e quiet. started a hash tag on twitter keep the surprise. a british countryside complete with live goats, sheep and even sheep dogs. remember nbc 4 is your home for the summer games and you can keep up with the comtitian any time on the 2012 section on nbcwashington.com. a look at the weather now and a short break from the heat. storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us with a full forecast. sure feels nice, tom. >> i would like to award a gold medal to this day today. it is absolutely gorgeous. a perfect summer day under way.

why, well, because we had nice, dry high pressure and a giflt from canada. this came down from ontario and now over us now with a beautiful blue sky, sparkling sunshine and low humidity. temperatures are just in the comfort zone. perfect. 82 now at reagan national with the low humidity and atlantic city now 78 and it's gently low 80s across most of virginia and still in the 70s there along the pennsylvania border and western maryland and cool locations still in the 60s out of the highlands in west virginia and this morning it was in the 50s, we'll take that in late july and the rest of the afternoon sunny with low humidity and highs reaching the upper 80s about 3:00, 4:00 and by late afternoon, back down to the mid-80s a perfect summer day. big changes on the way, though, barbara. the latest on that and we'll look at the weekend, too, in

just a couple of minutes. >> all right, tom, thank you. amtrak wants to turn union station into a hub for high-speed rail. it will unveil its $7 billion plan later today and that's just part of some big plans to renovate the busy d.c. train station. tracee wilkins is at union station with some of the specific changes you may see in the coming years. >> union station is the second busiest train station in the country. with more than 100,000 people coming through here every day. but officials say they're at capacity and now they're hoping that some new construction will help to not only increase the number of trains and passengers here, but also bring some new development to the district. during peak rush, this can be the scene at union station. >> very overcrowded in the station, the whole entire station. >> reporter: union station brings mark, dre and metro passengers together in one central location. but most of union station rail structures have not changed since the early 1900s.

amtrak wants that to change. today amtrak officials will announce a $7 billion transformation of union station. the rail company says the upgrade will triple past capacity and help make union station a high-speed rail hub for the northeast. the renovation will double the number of trains union station can accommodate. >> i think, in general, we need to expand the rail system nationally to give people more options. >> i think it will make it worse, but, it's kind of a balance between the two. we need the trains, we need them to run on time. and we still need the space for the people. >> reporter: in addition to add aing trains. district-based developer released a statement saying the restructuring will include a 3 million square foot mixed development that will include shops, homes and business space. they aim to create a new urban neighborhood in downtown washington, d.c. it will be built over the rail

yards north of the station and connect to both the capitol hill and noma neighborhoods. >> i do think it is a good idea. everybody wants to talk about jobs and development and i think this is tons of jobs going on right there and we're expanding and stuff like that. yeah, i think it's a good idea. >> reporter: according to "washington post" the proposal call s for the restructuring of the h street bridge. an funding issues ahead for the $7 billion project. since it appears they'll need federal funds to pay for it. >> that's a lot. i doubt they'll spend that much. >> reporter: amtrak will make its official announcement during a press conference planned for this afternoon here at union station. reporting from union station, i'm tracee wilkins, new 4z. and let's take a look at our mid-day traffic for the first time today. here's danella sealock with her report. good morning. >> good morning. a situation in the northwest. if you're traveling along first place, fire activity blocks first place between kennedy

street and new hampshire avenue. the fire department is on the scene there. please, avoid that area. 395 heading northbound and accident activity just in the right shoulder lane in this area and you are slow as you make your way from the beltway and head northbound past edsall. inner loop looks a lot better at 193. just a moment ago, i did see some volume as you make your way towards new hampshire avenue and looks a lot better on the inner loop, as well as the outer loop of the beltway. barbara, over to you. >> thank you, danella. we'll see you, again, shortly. the mother of cal ripken jr. is safe this morning after being reported missing. 74-year-old violet ripken was reported missing tuesday night after last being seen driving her car near the town of essex outside baltimore. baltimore county police found ripken just about an hour later in hartford county. this morning, the accused gunman in that colorado movie massacre is being held in solitary confinement. he is reportedly wearing a black

plastic face mask to prevent him from spitting at guards. investigators are still trying to figure out why holmes allegedly shot and killed 12 people and wounded dozens more last friday. leanne gregg has more now from aurora, colorado. >> reporter: six days after the massacre, more focus on the crime scenes, the theater and the suspect's apartment. investigators are analyzing what they found and talking to those who knew james holmes. they plan to look through records at the medical college where holmes was a ph.d. student. at the makeshift memorial, emotions are raw. even among those who didn't know the victims. >> i'm overwhelmed by the tragedy of all of this. >> reporter: star of the batman movie "christian bale also came to town unannounced. he and his wife went to the memorial to pay their respects. earlier bale visited first responders.

>> so sincere why he was here. >> reporter: in the wake of the tragedy, there are stories of hope. caleb medley critically injured while shielding his wife and then unborn baby. >> he is making small improvements. baby steps every day. >> reporter: calebs wife gave birth to his healthy baby boy tuesday. with uplifting stories along with heart ache, investigators hope to determine how a lone gunman could have caused so much damage. leanne gregg, nbc news, aurora, colorado. warner brothers made an undisclosed donation to an organization that distributes fund to the victims and their families. at last check, that fund already has over $2 million. this afternoon, democratic leaders in the maryland house of delegates will meet in annapolis to come up with a compromise to expand gambling in that state. governor martin o'malley is meeting with local county and state leaders to come up with a consensus that would bring a vegas-style casino. lawmakers are concerned about

lowering the state's 67% tax rate. o'malley wants to reach a consensus before calling a special legislative session. aural aingten police are investigating their first homicide in more than two years this morning. it appears to be a murder/suicide. police say a family member found the couple dead inside their apartment at the park shirlington complex yesterday afternoon. the couple, both 30 years old, lived there with two young sons. investigators are searching trash bins behind the building for evidence. police have yet to identify the couple. we are learning new information this morning about a drowning in laurel, maryland. police just told us the name of the victim who was found outside the mistletoe apartments around 9:00 last night. police tell us 21-year-old kalif omar richardson was found in a pond which was about chest deep. he was then rushed to the

hospital where he died shortly after midnight. reports that richardson was simply going for a swim on a hot night, but police are still investigating why he entered the water. the red cross is helping residents of a prince george's county apartment building forced from their homes by a fire to find places to stay. it took firefighters about an hour to put out the three alarm fire near rachelle avenue and walker mill road in district heights last night. everybody got out safely, but one dog died. residents said they were shocked at how quickly the fire spread. >> it was an entire building. it was on fire. and by son said, mom, i could feel the heat on my ankles. >> we ran inside the building and knocked on the doors, like all the doors and tried to get everybody out. >> investigators are still determining what caused that fire. ten minutes after 11:00 is our time now. coming up, we're going to take a look at the latest poll numbers for the presidential race. it's tough campaigning paying off for either of those candidates? we'll find out. plus, we sit down with debra

messing. the actress is for the international aids conference. we'll ask her about her

the debate over tax breaks will play out on capitol hill, a test vote to extend tax breaks for all americans who earn less than $250,000 a year. democrats support that plan, but they don't appear to have the 60 votes needed to advance it. republicans want tax breaks extended to all americans. they don't appear to have the support to advance their proposal either. taxes will go up for everyone next year, if the two sides cannot reach a deal. president obama still holds a slight lead over mitt romney in the latest nbc news/"wall street" poll but the candidates attacks on each other may be wearing thin on voters.

43% of voters now view the president negatively. that's the second worst rating of his presidency, actually. romney has a negative rating of 40%. that's lower than john mccain at this point four years ago and john kerry back in 2004. the prezumpative republican presidential candidate is in london right now. he arrived early this morning. his surrogates, though, will hit the campaign trail here in the u.s. in his place. tomorrow virginia governor bob mcdowell will travel to iowa to stump for votes and louisiana governor bob jindal will join mcdowell at one point in the campaign events. romn romney's campaign is questioning voter registration form sent to virginiaens. a nonprofit group mailed the envelopes to diseased relatives and family pets. romn romney's campaign wants them to look into how it happened because many of the residents

who received them are in democratic leaning voting blocs. tom is here to talk about the weather and what a great we are going to have, but i'm afraid to ask. >> if your doctor is not available, he's probably out playing golf with your dentist. >> that kind of day. what are we doing here? >> i know. we have a spectacular summer day under way with low humidity and a beef break from our usual hot heat and humidity. take a look at how it looked this morning from chopper 4. look at this beautiful view of their vantage point and 1,500 feet of the sunrise dawn on this spectacular morning. that was from chopper 4 when they were flying over the city. right around 6:10 this morning. well, take a look now. there are the blue waters of the potomac reflecting that gorgeous blue sky. reagan national now at 82 and look at the dew point, 53. that is extremely low. yesterday we had all the humidity around the dew point with 73. humidity only 37%.

here's how you stay cool in the pool. just like libby. libby is going to want to do this tomorrow, for sure. when we are going to be soaring compared to today. that was sent to weather by nbcwashington.com. all around montgomery county, arlington, fairfax county and now in the upper 70s near 80 and near 80 right near the bay from annapolis down towards pax river and farther west, shenandoah valley into the blue ridge and gorgeous day for hiking around skyline drive and up along the blue ridge and into the mountains where it's in the mid-70s and some higher elevations only in the 60s along skyline drive and we are going to be holding steady here for another hour or so. big area of high pressure and a nice gift from canada that came down. over the northeast and all the way down into the mid-atlantic states. this is what is giving us our brief break. low humidity in place and late tonight into thursday we'll have this warm front moving in and that is going to bring in the

hazy, hot, humid conditions that are in place here tomorrow and into friday. for the rest of the afternoon, though, enjoy this wonderful break. sunny with low humidity. we'll be reaching the upper 80s here another couple hours or so and then back down to the mid-80s by early evening and a light, variable wind. this evening if you're heading out. sun sets at 8:25 and clear, low humidity through the evening and then by midnight down to up thor 70s and then it's right after midnight and around dawn tomorrow, that's when the humidity returns and the heat builds. tomorrow afternoon up to near 100 degrees. by mid-afternoon, that haze and humidity around, we might get an isolated storm popping up and then on friday, partly sunny, hazy, hot and humid, up again near 100 and we have a greater chance of some storms that does look like on friday afternoon. and then as we get into saturday, a bit cooler, but still hotter than average. average high this time of year is 88. on saturday we'll make it into the low 90s and a possibility of

some scattered storms around as drier air pushes back in. looks like a nice break from high heat and humidity on sunday and monday. we'll get temperatures up near 90 both of those days could get more storms around maybe on tuesday. that's the way it looks. enjoy the afternoon. >> i guess we'll start getting those little breaks a lot more often. >> now that we get into this time of year. >> we'll see you, again, shortly. meanwhile, we'll check on the midday traffic. here's danella sealock. >> still watching things in the northwest. fire activity and this is between kennedy street, as well as new hampshire avenue. fire department is on the scene and street is blocked and i would have waited, if you can. let's head up to i-270 and look in the germantown area if you're traveling southbound at father hurley boulevard but your travel lanes are open as you make your way to the beltway. in both directs southbound, as well as northbound. i-270 no accidents or delays for you.

barbara, back over to you. >> thank you. 19 after 11:00 right now. still ahead on news 4 midday, often hard to talk about, but, today, a look at what women are saying about sex. and is a shark weekend something you might be interested in? they're having one at the national aquarium. tell you what visitors can expect. but, first, here's a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com.

is a tiger shark the largest shark? the jawbone is the biggest? >> this is probably like a 12-foot shark. great whites are a little bit larger and then the larger shark is actually a whale shark, which they have very, very tiny teeth. >> and tiny mouths, as well. >> they have very huge mouths, but this is probably a 40-foot shark. a very large mouth with small teeth because they're feeding on things like plankton and very small fishes. not much in the way of a danger to people. now, these other sharks. these are more specialized for eating fish. you can see they have a nice sharp tooth for basically fish prey on the lower teeth and then grabbing it and biting a junk out of it. where as this shark here is a port jackson shark. they specialize on any hard

shark prey and they are using the flat teeth to basically crush -- >> is that the jaw? >> that is the jaw, yes. >> would these be about the same age? this one is so small and this one is so big. >> i don't know the age, exactly. these are very different species of shark. typically maybe six feet long where this is probably 10 or 12-foot animal, very large shark. now, one thing that we're really concerned about with sharks is that their populations are declining and that's mainly because of overfishing and they're used for shark fin soup and, you know, different cosmetic products like preparation h or skin lotion, things like that. contain shark liver oil and we're encouraging people to use the seafood watch program to basically choose seafood wisely and, you know, just use sustainable options. >> we don't have much time left. at the shark weekend, are you going to be able to see sharks actually swimming around? >> we have four species of shark

at the aquarium. shark feedings and scavenger hunts and you can make shark t-shirt, sand art, come visit sherman's lagoon based off of the popular nationally syndicated comic strip. sherman will even be there. >> all right, well, it looks looic the way i would like to see the shark, with a little glass in between. thank you so much for coming to tell us about it. where is the national aquarium? >> we are located in the lower level of the department of commerce building on 14th street -- >> i think you want to show us something that is down there. can you, quickly. >> we do have a number of other things at the aquarium. we have snakes, we have, you know, other species of fishes. >> there he is. >> this is one of our inhabitants there. >> that is a python. >> african species. >> and those things are actually on display where people can see them and touch them or no? >> no, no. everything that we have is behind glass.

>> okay, i think a lot of parents will be happy to hear that. thanks so much, again, for coming. a lot to see at the national aquarium here in washington. 11:27 is the time. coming up in the next half hour of "new 4z midday" new information out on using the ez pass on the hot lanes of the beltway. tom kierein is back with when temperatures can reach the 100 degree mark, again. we'll sit down with actress debra messing to talk about her

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about to kick off olympic competition two days early. the team will take on france at noon. soccer is the only sport to start before the opening ceremony. you can watch the match live on nbc sports network. and breaking news in the district right now. police are looking for a 14-year-old missing girl. police say graciella rubio vanished this morning in the 1500 block of montelo avenue in northeast washington. she was last seen at 8:00 this morning wearing blue jeans and a black and white shirt. if you see her, please call d.c. police. and right now, the virginia department of transportation is announcing a new option for ez pass users. the news comes as new express lanes on the beltway will open later this year in northern virginia. news 4 melissa mollet is live in tyson's corner and has more for us on this. melissa, good morning. >> good morning. take a look here. our first look at the ez pass flex. here is all you do.

you slide it over to hov mode and then you can car pool toll free in the new express lanes on 495. now, remember to ride for free, you have to have three people in the car. this is the first transponder pass in the nation that can switch between toll pay and if you're riding the express lanes alone, just switch it back to standard mode. the lanes will be open to buses and toll cost will depend on the time and distance you drive. it will start out at 50 cents per month for virginia drivers and then jump up to a dollar. the express lanes are scheduled to be done, of course, by the end of the year. >> northern virginia has a great history of with we will now use this ez pass flex as the 95 express lanes go under development, as well as on 495 and potentially other facilities in the future. >> i understand troopers will be

keeping an eye on drivers as you drive through a gantry that will tell police stationed in the area what type of pass you're using. you will get pulled over if your exaggerating about how many people are in your car. if you get your ez pass flex pay by august 31 and then register that number online. the state is allowing you to enter to win a mini cooper. pretty cool looking. for more information to get your new ez pass flex, logon to our website and search flex. live in tyson's corn ar, melissa mollet. >> thank you, melissa. new orders for d.c. police officers can no longer interfere or seize your camera, if you're taking pictures of them on duty. the new policy is a result of a lawsuit by the american civil liberties union. a young photographer said police detained him for taking pictures of a traffic stop two years ago. from now on, they're not allowed to take your camera or tell you

to stop snapping pictures. police are also banned from intentionally blocking your view. under the new policy an officer can seize your cell phone, if they think it contains evidence. but they'll need to get a search warrant before they can view the images. animal rescue workers hope $2,500 will help them find the person who nearly killed a puppy in maryland. hershey is an 8-month-old pitbull. the humane society says someone put him in a trash bag and tossed him from a car last week. animal control officials picked him up and brought him to the shelter. a vet says hershey is under weight and has paw problems from likely being put in a cage. >> heartbreaking. he's such a sweet and still such a young dog. very obedient. i just don't know how basically someone can leave him for dead and basically abandon him. >> the mutts matter rescue

program in maryland will take care of hershey until he's healthy enough for adoption. here's tom kierein in storm center 4 and he's out on the weather patio. nice place to be, tom. >> absolutely gorgeous, barbara. what a gift here in late july, low humidity. i'm standing in the shade under this gorgeous willow oak and above that, we have a sapphire blue sky and temperatures around the region are absolutely in the comfort zone now. as we take a look at temperatures around the region, it's 82 at reagan national and it's near 80 else where with low humidity in place. around the bay, the bay waters are deep blue reflecting the sky and so is the title potomac out along the blue ridge and shenandoah valley and the mountains and the blue ridge. look at the big heat. you see areas in red are near 100 degrees in the middle midwest and middle mississippi valley, yes, some of that heat

coming our way tomorrow and again on friday. so, enjoy this while you can, it's not going to last long, unfortunately, we'll get the humidity sweeping back in tomorrow morning and during the day on thursday. highs reaching near 100 tomorrow afternoon and hazy sunshine, maybe an isolated storm. greater chance of storms in the steam heat on friday. cooler for the weekend, highs near 90s saturday and sunday and might get some storms saturday afternoon and lower humidity sunday and monday and maybe more storms around on tuesday. that is the way it looks, barbara. >> all right, tom, thank you. let's check the midday traffic again, now. danella, know any problems out there. >> fire activity that has north place closed. please avoid the area. also, if you're traveling 395 northbound at edsall still have accident actevty in your right shoulder lane as well as the fire truck blocking the right lane. stick to the left and you'll get by without any issues. traveling along the dulles toll road in any direction no issues

or delays or accidents to report at this time. barbara, back over to you. >> thanks, danella. the international aids conference continues here today in washington. among the people participating is debr messing from the nbc show "smash." thank you for coming. >> thank you for having me. >> great meeting you in person after watching you so long on television i'm impressed that you have given so much of your time in this effort to fight aids and tell us how and why you got involved. >> catalyst was was really just a personal loss. 20 years ago my acting teacher from nyu, paul walker, had passed and that was devastating and a wake-up call and i just felt call to arm as and ever since i have been working and helping support the efforts and research and prevention towards making an aids-free generation.

and the wonderful news is that for first time ever, the news coming out of the convention is that that is within reach. the hiv preventions, the combination of the approaches. they're actually working and i saw that in zambia. >> tell us about your trip to zambia. that was this past may. >> yes. >> why don't you tell us about it. >> i'm ama basder for the global health psi and i went down to really just learn about these interventions and to see them first hand. what i learned was that discrimination and stigma is a significant problem. >> for the people. you met a young woman named irene. tell us about that. >> she was an extraordinary woman i had met at a counseling session. she had just been diagnosed hiv

positive. and it's a heartbreaking story because she, she was ostracized by her community. her family rejected her. and she, you know, when she was telling her story, she had a beautiful baby on her back and another one there on the floor and, i mean, the great news is that she, she has access to medicine, to arvs and she's being counseled how to stay healthy with a positive status. so, not only is she alive, but she's thriving and that's the big message that we're trying to send is that this is, this is not a death sentence. this is now a preventable disease. we have the intervention and the tools that work. we just need policymakers and our government to stay the course. >> taking that message to capitol hill this week. tell us about what you've done on capitol hill. >> it's been a really exciting and moving trip here.

i met with nancy pelosi and senator bozeman and had the opportunity to meet several various deemed doctors who are committed to aids research and prevention. and, basically, we just talked about how important it is to stay the course and to keep the funding and to keep the commitment because so much progress has been made. it's, it's really a celebratory time right now. >> we're all happy to hear that. >> we want to see it through. >> we are very happy that you came. i want to ask you very quickly about the second season of "smash." when will we see it and will when will the premiere for this season happen? >> we just started shooting the first episode this week and- >> anything we should know from the first episode? everybody is going to be back? >> there's going to be a lot of exciting new things happening this season. >> all right.

>> that's all i can say. >> we look for that in september? >> no, it's supposed to be january. >> all right, then. thank you, debra messing. so nice to get a chance to meet you finally. very nice to have you here. it is 11:42. women's secrets about sex revealed. plus, we continue our olympic coverage with a look at the famous brit expected to take part in the opening ceremonies

the much anticipated iphone 5 could come out as early as september we're hearing. apple will release iphone 5 on friday, september 21st. the website says that's the word from sources close to apple and the new iphone will have a new controversial port on the base that will not be compartible with older accessories. apple is not commenting on that. small gains this morning for the dow after three days of losses. we'll check in with kayla and she joins us with more on that and the rest of the day's business headlines. hi, kayla. >> we do have big questions in

the market today about whether greece will need more intervention to pay its bills and whether here in the u.s. the federal reserve will move to stimulate the economy, again. that's with the markets mixed today. of course, not getting a fourth down day. the dow is up slightly, up just about 53 points and getting a slight boost from boeing and cat piller and the s&p is down slightly and the nasdaq is losing roughly nine points in mid-day trading and the nasdaq losses are chalked up to a rare miss from apple's earnings. that's the second time in 39 quarters of the country's biggest company fell short of revenue and profit estimates. the problem, barbara, consumers aren't buying iphones and ipads because they heard those new models might be coming out. the commerce department said sales of new homes fell 8.74% last year after sales jumped to a two-year high in may. a weaker job market could make the housing recovery slow and

uneven. treasury secretary tim geithner telling congress that repairing the housing market has a long way to go. during a recent rate setting scandal, the treasury secretary continued to wrarn of risks to a "fragile u.s. economy." barbara, back over to you. >> okay, kayla a, thank you. how men and women feel and think about sex is apparently very different. here with the latest statistics on women and sex is dr. joshua weiner, good morning. >> good morning, barbara. >> this is an interesting topic. i think we have a lot of folks waiting to hear what you have to say about this. you are going to quiz me. >> let's see how you're doing. all right, so, the first question i have for you, what do you think the average age is that most girls start having sex? 15, 16, 17 or 18? >> 17. >> ding, ding, ding. you got it. you're right, 17. so -- >> i'm surprised i got that one.

i was thinking it was going to be younger. >> i think a lot of people believe that girls today are having sex a little earlier than they were in the past, but girls are waiting than they did even 20 years ago. now, the number for boys is also about 17. right around that age when kids are starting to experiment and have sex for the first time. >> so, statistics from ten years ago might have been younger than that. >> yes, exactly. little bit younger. it's creeping down decade by decade, just by a few months, but going in the right direction. and, actually, they're using, kids are using protection more frequently and less likely to get pregnant than they were two decades ago. >> very interesting. another question for me. >> all right, so, question number two is -- what is the average number of partners that most women have had by the age of 45? two, four, seven or eight? >> i think i'm going to go with

four. >> barbara, good job. four. >> that's right, too. >> that's right. >> i guess i was thinking it might have been more. >> it's four for women and the number for men is seven. men have more partners, but i think -- >> by the time they're 45 years old. >> i guess that's not unexpected. >> all right, next question. how often do most married women ages 30 to 60 have sex? so, here are the choices. a few times per year to monthly, a few times per month to weekly. one to two times per week or more than twice weekly. >> i'm going to go to one to two times per week. >> no. i was being optimistic. all right, so, is it -- >> they're having it less frequently than that, actually. the majority of people are having sex, married women are having sex weekly to a little less to once weekly. when you look at age a, that's the primary determinant. so, most people who are married

in their 30s are having sex about once a week. but when you look at women in their 60s, 40% of married women in their 60s have not had sex at all in the last year. >> and do you, do the statistics say whether they like that or would they like to change that? >> acatually, you know what, i don't have a study to look at that question, so i don't really have an answer. i'm not sure. >> we will have to study that. your next question. >> the final question is, true or false. most women think about sex at least once a day? >> true or false. i would say true. >> nope. false. >> false. >> so, about 20% of women say that they think about sex at least once a day or more than once a day. 60% say they think about sex several times a week. now, men on the other hand, 54% of men say they think about sex at least once a day. so, there is a difference in terms of the frequency that men

and women are even thinking about sex. >> and does that pertain to all ages of men or what ages were surveyed for that question? >> you know, that was a -- that was a general question presented to men from the teenage years up until their 70s. but you do see that men are less likely to think about sex and less likely to engage in sex as they get older. obviously, testosterone levels are decreasing as you get older and that's one of the primary determinants for the amount of sex that you're thinking about having. >> i see. with women, hormonal changes, too, make a difference. >> hormonal changes make a difference with women. as women get older around menopause women don't think about sex as much. there are physiologic changes that make women less likely to want to have sex and those factors play into, how pleasurable the experience is and, ultimately, how often they're thinking about it. >> very interesting statistics. >> you did well. 50%. you were good at first and then, you know, maybe next time.

>> 50%. my score. all right, well, we'll do this again some time. >> that was fun. thanks, barbara. >> we look forward to seeing you next week. it's 11:51 now. coming up, remembering the man who played one of the most iconic sitcom charactersive. plus, meteorologist tom kierein will be back

fans are mourning the loss of sherman hemsley best known for his role of george jefferson. the show ran for 11 seasons and also played other characters in sitcomes in the '80s and '90s and started act aing on stage with theater companies before his on-air debut. he was also a singer and air a force veteran. he died yesterday at his home in el paso, texas. he was 74 years old. we're two days away from the opening ceremony of the london games. david beckham will have a role in the ceremony. we don't know exactly what he's going to be doing. beckham is not on the british olympic soccer team any more,

but he is supporting britain and the nation's fans. >> should we do some pictures? beckham has been popping in on londoners at the olympic photo booth. some of his fans broke down in tears when they saw the soccer star. part of a commercial for adidas shoes. post up, gets the slam to go. >> this year's men's olympic basketball team appears ready for the game. in their final exhibition game the usa cruised past spain 100-78 in a rematch of the 2008 gold medal game. carmelo anthony led the team with 27 points. team usa will begin their quest for a second straight gold medal on sunday against france. remember nbc 4 is your home for the 2012 olympic games. our own dan hellie will bring you reports starting tomorrow and head over to london 2012 section of nbcwashington.com for

the latest on the games any time. going to take a look now at some of the stories we're following for you this afternoon. pat lawson muse joins us in the newsroom. >> today on news 4 at 4:00, olympic athletes are more likely to suffer from asthma than the rest of the population. what you can learn from them and managing your own health. then coming up on news 4 at 5:00. training camp starts tomorrow and robert griffin iii will meet the media this afternoon. we'll have the new conference at 5:30 right here on news 4. >> all right, pat, thank you. time for a final check on our forecast. here's tom. >> the park as, the golf courses, the tennis courts all packed now. everybody is out enjoying this. yes, it's a gorgeous day to be outside. enjoy this wonderful break from high heat and high humidity. right now 84 at reagan national and we're into the 80s but feels so comfortable with the dry air over us and lots of sun with dry

air today but then the humidity and heat return quickly. tomorrow and friday highs near 100 both afternoons and might get scattered storms and over the weekend cooling down a bit. lower humidity sunday and monday. have a great afternoon. we'll tsee you tomorrow morning. >> thank you, tom. that's news 4 midday, we thank you for joining us and invite you to tune in for news at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 and 11:00. we'll be back tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. plan to join us for that. we plan to see you then. have a great day. see you in the morning.

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