now from washington's leading news station, this is "news 4 midday." >> good morning, everyone. welcome. it's monday, august 13th, 2012. one man is dead and a fairfax county police officer in the hospital after a head-on crash earlier in morning. the crash happened at the intersection of franconia road and gumm street. derek joins us live with more on this horrific accident. what can you tell us? >> reporter: as we speak the investigation continues into the crash. look at the intersection here. traffic is flowing freely now. no sign of the carnage that

played itself out. what remains is answers to the questions, why this accident happened? as the scene was being cleared, the severity of this crash became evident. both vehicles crumpled. the county's cruiser's passenger compartment largely intact but the infiniti burned. >> he died at the scene and the officer was transported to the hospital. >> reporter: the cruiser was eastbound near gumm street. the infiniti was traveling west. >> that car for an unknown reason veered dramatically to the left and struck the cruiser head on. >> the officer radioed the call in to the dispacher there was a crash. police say the officer may have been responding to a call but not an emergency call using lights and sirens. the crash is under investigation. fairfax county police are looking for witnesses. >> if anybody saw the crash, call us. >> folks say this is a fast

stretch of the road. those who have been here a while remember pedestrian accidents and motorcycle accidents and automobile accidents but nothing on the scale of this one. neither of the people involved in this one have been identified. >> thank you, derek. let's look at traffic all around the region now. any problems out there, danella? good morning. >> good morning. let's start with metro. we had delays earlier, but metro isn't reporting any delays right now. over to the roadway we are seeing some bridge work across the 14th street bridge as you go northbound. that left lane is blocked, but your volume is very light as you cross over the 14th street bridge. i want to make you aware there's a disabled vehicle right in your right shoulder lane blocking it. travel lanes from the beltway to the 14th street bridge at 57 miles per hour. that drive taking 12 minutes. not bad at all. back over to you. >> thanks, danella. turning to the weather now, very comfortable start to the day. blue skies out there right now.

storm 4 meteorologist tom kerr ran joins us today. >> a wonderful break from the usual heat and humidity in august. this morning we started off in the 50s in some locations to the 60s locally. right now just past 11:00 we climb into the 70s to around 80 across much of northern virginia and much of maryland, the district of columbia in the low to mid-80s. near the chesapeake bay as well. montgomery county in the mid to upper 70s. much of arlington and fairfax counties as well. the view from space showing a few clouds drifting in from the west. they're producing a few sprinkles of rain, those patches of green you see there in western maryland right now in allegheny county down into the hylands of west virginia. those are advancing northeast into pennsylvania intending to dissipate as they move to the east. i don't think we'll have any rain today. just a few clouds coming in for the afternoon. partly sunny. low humidity. highs reaching near 90 by

mid-afternoon and back down to the mid-80s by late afternoon and before sunset. we look at tonight and some maybe rain on our way for tomorrow. we look at that and the rest of the week and weekend in a few minutes, barbara. >> thank you. it may take longer than usual to get around one fairfax county community in the coming days. v-dot is prepares to take down dozens of trees in the great falls area. the massive effort comes a little more than a month after a tree fell on a car killing its driver. megan mcgrath is in great falls. >> reporter: well, this all comes after that terrible storm back in july where an enormous oak tree fell on a car that was travel odd georgetown pike and killed the driver. it turns out that that tree was rotted the out at the roots, and folks who live in this area are concerned about other trees as well. so they raised those concerns with v-dot. v-dot in turn went out and got a team of arborists that surveyed the area and they identified 59 trees considered to be dangerous

and they're going to be cut down in the physical examination couple of weeks. on river bend road there were 25 trees taken down, 15 trees on browns mill road, 7 on beach mill, 6 trees on georgetown pike, 4 on walker road and an additional 2 trees that will be taken down on utter back store road. the work is scheduled to get under way tomorrow. that's when they start to begin cutting these trees down. they expect it will take about three weeks to complete. in great falls, megan mcgrath, news 4. today prince georges county police will continue to patrol what they call crime hotspots in that county. specialized patrol officers and detectives will focus on six cities in the county, langley park, east riverdale, suite land, kent land and oxen hill. they will patrol during evening and early morning hours. the goal is to get as many guns as possible off streets. police believe an argument

over food was the motive behind a murder in capital heights. they arrested 19-year-old travts hoss kins and charged him with killing his roommate over the weekend. he was arguing with oliver davis over food in their home. he shot and killed davis and then took off. police caught and arrested him later in d.c. he's charged with first-degree murder. as we speak maryland's house of delegates is meeting to discuss a bill that could bring a casino to prince georges county. that's right, the senate passed the measure on friday. it would clear the way for a casino to be built in prince georges county and table games to be legalized in all maryland casinos. a house committee will work on the bill this afternoon. at least one delegate wants to amend the legislation. he plans on submitting an amendment today that would create a joint house and senate panel to oversee the gambling. six minutes after 11:00 is our time right now. coming up, duelling campaigns and why mitt romney is counting

on this weekend's announcement to make a difference come november. we do some comparison back-to-school shopping for you as part of back-to-school week here on "news 4 midday," where to buy school supplies for less. stay with us.

to a developing story out of iran. officials stopped searching for survivors who may be buried underneath the rubble from two powerful earthquakes. at least 3,000 people were injured in those quakes. 16,000 people are now homeless. a 6.4 magnitude quake hit first and 11 minutes later a 6.3 magnitude quake struck that same area. there have been more than 30 after shocks since then. right now president obama and paul ryan are both campaigning in iowa. mitt romney meanwhile is talking with voters in florida.

this is the first time he and his vp pick appear separately since introduced ryan as his running mate on saturday. nbc claire letka has more on this crucial day on the campaign trail. >> reporter: thousands of supporters turned out to welcome home wisconsin's native son, and now presumtive republican vice presidential naum nye. >> so when we win this election we go fix this mess in washington. >> reporter: in the 48 hours since congressman paul ryan was added to the romney ticket, the gop presidential campaign has fired up. >> i guess you think i made the right decision, the right choice? yeah, i know i did. >> reporter: president obama in his hometown of chicago moved fast to define ryan by his budget plan and tie romney to it. >> this kind of top-down economics is central to governor

romney and it is central to his running mate. just yesterday morning my opponent chose his running mate, the ideological leader of republicans in congress, mr. paul ryan. i want to congratulate -- no, no, no. >> reporter: the gop campaign will divide and conquer this week. the romney bus tour rolls into florida today without ryan. the wisconsin native heads to drought-stricken iowa, the same state the president campaigns in in today. obama will tour a farm in iowa and announce that the agriculture department is buy up pork, lamb, chicken and catfish to help support farmers suffering from a very hot and dry season. nbc news, washington. >> romney's vp pick was a surprise to almost everyone, and that's just how his campaign wanted it. aides went to pretty extreme measures to keep the choice under wraps. romney wanted to offer ryan the job in person, but that proved to be quick tricky. instead of flying him to boston,

which would have been suspicious, romney flew the wisconsin congressman to hartford, connecticut. ryan was wearing a baseball hat, sunglasses and jeans when a rented suv driven by a campaign aide's teenage son drove him to boston. don't expect to hear any lines about hockey moms at this year's republican convention. sarah palin won't speak at the convention in the tampa area later this month. the 2008 gop vice presidential candidate says she looks forward to hearing from year's candidates and will focus on grassroots efforts to get them elected. palin hasn't said whether she'll even be at the convention. a navy ship that collided with an oil tanker in the persian gulf is now in port in dubai. check the damage the accident caused to the "uss porter." it collided with a japanese owned oil tanker over the weekend just outside of the strait of hormuz. no one was hurt but it tore a

hole in the ship. gabrielle giffords is back home in arizona now. she spent more than a year at a rehabilitation hospital in houston. she was move there had a few weeks after she was shot in tucson in january of 2011. jared loughner pleaded guilty last week. storm 4 meteorologist tom kiernine is here. beautiful. >> now na school is starting, that's great. >> later today some rain you think? >> not long before kids are back in school, but no rain today. does not look like we'll have rain perhaps until tomorrow. we could use it. as you know, we've been abnormally dry here for most of the 2012, including this summer. there is the live view from our nbc 4 hd city camera overlooking washington. there's the washington monument being lit up by some sunshine

now. the jefferson memorial, 84 at reagan national, but it's comfortably warm. we don't have a lot of humidity in the air. dew point comfortably dry at 57. humidity only 40%. we've got a calm wind now. temperatures around the metro area, much of northern michigan low 80s now, and farther to the north montgomery county, howard county now in the upper 70s to near 80. prince georges county east of washington near 80 and much of southern maryland, st. marys around 80 degrees. wide view showing a beautiful day around the bay and at the beaches, too. it's around 80 at ocean city. just in the upper 70s now to near 80, to is certainly is great, swimmable water as well as around the bay. bay water temperatures are in the 80s. off to the west still cool. these areas in yellow, 70s now and much of the shan doe what valley. a few spots in western maryland

and west virginia sfil in the 60s. it was down into the low 50s there this morning. now we have just a few clouds coming in from the west. we have a few sprinkles here of rain showing up in the western highlands of western maryland and into west virginia and penlz. that will dry out as it heads to the east. as we go forward here over the next several hours, we'll have a few clouds coming in from time to time. during the afternoon and into the evening hours, we're probably going to have more clouds moving in. this is by midnight. we have it getting increasingly cloudy, and then by dawn tuesday around 5:00, 6:00 in the morning, might get a few passing showers. all these areas in yellow and green, these are the zones off and on from tuesday late morning to mid-afternoon and into the evening hours. these are the zones that will probably get some needed rain, maybe with some thunder and lightning. a small chance of any severe storm. as we get into tuesday night by midnight, things settle down. we get the lower humidity moving in during the day on wednesday. so for the rest of this day,

enjoy beautiful afternoon up near 90. great beach and pool weather. then back down to the mid-80s by late afternoon and early evening. we have a southerly wind around 5 to 10 during the afternoon. this evening a few clouds coming over and sunset at 8:05. we fall from the 80s down to the upper 70s by midnight and by dawn tomorrow. the low 70s, and during the day on tuesday a cloudy day. tomorrow morning may be wet on the roadways off to work tomorrow morning. then during the afternoon a greater chance of some showers and maybe some thundershowers tomorrow afternoon. some of those may linger into tuesday evening and then very early wednesday morning it looks like some dry air moves in from the west. there may be lingering showers to the east of washington, perhaps on wednesday afternoon. highs reaching the upper 80s. then thursday the entire region drying out, beautiful day, lots of sun. not very humid. highs reaching the upper 80s and

morning lows in the comfy 60s. we'll take that for mid-august, and then on friday getting a little more humid, up around 90 friday afternoon. over the weekend another front coming in might trigger some thunderstorms on saturday mainly during the afternoon the way it looks right now. sunday looking nice, partly kroud cloudy in the mid-80s and not too humid. >> only one 90 there. >> no extreme heat. >> thank you, tom. we'll see you again shortly. we'll check on the midday traffic again. any problems, danella? >> things look pretty good. if you krost over the 14th street bridge still have construction blocking the left lane, but travel speeds in our area pretty good. in fact, let's look at right if you travel on the dulles toll road from the beltway. you're at 56 miles per hour. then on the beltway from the dulles toll road to the interchange, 58 miles per hour and in montgomery county you look good to the outer loop.

10 minutes to get from-95 to-270. back over to you. >> thank you. we check as we just did the midday traffic. a mississippi man is what we want to tell bu now who grew up in mississippi is going the extra mile and more for a taste of childhood. dave drives nearly 1500 miles from madison, mississippi to strout ton, massachusetts for spa pizza. every year he does this. schuler, his brother and seven sisters moved to mississippi 38 years ago. they haven't been able to get over the pizza from their childhood home. they loved it so much, last year he took 150 pizzas home with him. this year he bought 250 pies to take back with him. looks like he joys them. it's 19 minutes after 11:00, and still ahead on "news 4 midday," trouble keeping track of homework? an app can help out. it's part of our back-to-school week here on ne"news 4 midday." plus, jennifer aniston's happy ending and the d.c. man

making that happen. first a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com.

well, it's that time again. time for kids to head back to scho school. for students in louisa county school starts on wednesday. the buildings for the high school and thomas jefferson elementary are still closed. they go to classes in temporary buildings this year. both schools are being rebuilt with help from fema and donations from the community. with students in our area heading back to school over the next few weeks, we focus on what it takes to get ready to head back to school. this week auto "news 4 midday." we begin with a long list of school supplies every student is responsible for and how parents can get the most for their money when they buy those supplies. here's liz crenshaw with some money-saving ideas.

>> reporter: it's binders, backpacks, notebook papers. lists come to parens of grade schoolers and the supplies must be bought. the national retail federation says this year the average grade school student has to spend about $95 just on school supplies. so each year we head out with a typical list for an elementary school student, and we shop for the same items at three different stores. we try to determine if there's money to be saved if you shop around. we go to drugstores, discount stores and office supply stores. so we've been doing our back-to-school supply shops experiment for about ten years. we buy about a dozen items. here's why it's so important to shop around. if you buy your whole list at a drugstore, you're going to spend about $34. if you buy it at an office supply store, a little bit better, $23. you buy that whole list at a discount store, you're going to spend about $19. a $15 savings compared with that

drugstore. one other tip. each store, whether office supply, drugstore or discount store, will have one or two items that are really cheap like 25 cents for elmer's glue. if you have time, shop at all three types of stores in your neighborhood and look for those big, special deals. liz crenshaw, news 4 washington. maryland is helping you save money as you shop for back-to-school clothes. all this week shoppers will not have to pay the 6% state sales tax on clothes and shoes under $100. everything else is taxable including school supplies. before you head to the stores, you may want to check their websites. many shops are offering coupons. tax-free week ends on saturday. here's a look at other segments planned for back-to-school week this week on "news 4 midday." there's an app to help your child stay organized and tomorrow picking the right

backpack for your child. wednesday, fun back-to-school fashions, and on thursday back-to-school gadgets for e readers -- from e readers to personal gps. you want to see that, too. a lot of interesting things. friday, how to pack a healthy lunch for your clild that tastes good too. that's not always easy. it is now 11:26, and coming up in the next half hour of news 4 mid dashgs a star-studded end to the olympic games and a look ahead to 20. plus, gas prices headed up again. why experts are blaming the weather. an update on our weather. tom lets us know how long we can

right now v-dot is preparing to remove dozens of trees in the great falls area. crews wi spend the next three weeks cutting down about 59 trees. it's happens in the same area where a driver died when a

40-ton tree fell on his car last month. mitt romney and paul ryan are adopting a divide and conquer straenl. romney is campaigns today in florida. ryan his running mate is talking with voters in iowa. that's also where president obama is today. today a showdown between republican leaders and attorney general eric holder escalates. here's a live look at capitol hill. house oversight committee chars darrell issa is expected to file a civil contempt suit against holder. he's trying to obtain documents related to the fast and furious gun tracking operation in which guns were given to mexican drug lords. the committee is investigating the death of a u.s. border patrol agent. so far holder has not released those documents. the white house refused a request citing executive privilege. issa claims the privilege does not exist in this case. well, you may call it pop and circumstance to close out the games.

london brought out some musical icons to put the finishing touches on the summer olympics. for weeks there was speculation that the sfis girls would renew night for the olympics. for one night they did. london's mayor boris johnson could not help but dance. he immediately became a trending topic for those moves he made. tracie potts is here now with a look back at some of the most memorable moments of the xxx olympiad. >> reporter: the third time was a charm formery old england, london's third olympiad came to a close sunday night with a more musical fan fare than it welled come in. despite the sonic pomp and circumstance and a nod to the next summer games in rio, these games will be remembered for their heroes. >> no one has won more. >> michael phelps placed himself

atop swim's mount olympus capturing his 22nd medal. usain bolt all bluster and speak, mercury with winged cleats proved that his fastest man title was not fleeting. >> cannot catch him. >> i came here to become a legend. and i'm now a ledged. i'm the best without a doubt. >> there were young lions nipping at the heels of greatness humbled by the ampions these games still waiting their turn. >> u.s. is a team. >> for beach volleyball's queens was court, these games were both a coronation and an ab domestic of the throne. >> our competitive journey is done. that's a big deal. that crushes me little bit. >> others captured crowning jewels and hearts for the first time. through it all glory, defeat, or something in between, london again played host to a jubilee. >> it's really been fun. olympic park, i've been walking up and down all over the place.

>> both seasoned athletes and royals revelled in the ma jesy of support. the supporters were gracious, and the home team rose to the occasion. >> the best feeling in the world. >> south african blade runner oscar pistorious taught us the difference between victory and t triumph. >> there's the runners going for water. >> the rains didn't disrupt much. empty seats didn't stay empty for long, and this notoriously reserved island became a playground for champions. tracie potts, nbc news, london. >> the closing ceremony also offered a glimpse into the future. great britain passed the baton to rio de janeiro the next host of the summer games in 2016. that's when viewers were treated to an eight minute display of lights and samba dancing that

highlights the culture. the supermodel and soccer legend pele starred in the performance. it was a hot one. the show culminated in a fireworks display over olympic stadiu well, with the london olympics in the books, the u.s. can claim the gold for most medals. america won 104 total medals, 46 of them gold. china was the next closest with 87 medals and 38 golds. it's the fifth straight summer games with the most total medals for the u.s. well, bethesda's golden girl, 15-year-old katie ledecky stopped by the "today" sthoe to talk about the thrill of wijing the gold medal. she said when she arrived back in the state she was shocked to see all her friends waiting for her. >> it meant a lot to me. i knew a few would be there. i didn't expect so many people there, and to share that moment with them felt great. i couldn't be more thankful for all their support. >> ledecky took home the gold and a new record for the 800

meter freestyle. she's the youngest gold medal winner at the london games. she says she wants to go to the 2016 games in rio, but she needs to focus on her upcoming sophomore year in high school. we're going to check in with tom kierein with the latest on the forecast. he's outside on the patio where it's nice today, tom. >> it's a gold medal day here for the early part of august, middle part of august. we'll take a break from our usual high humidity, and that's what we have now. you can see the sun-splashed lawn behind me and we have a blue sky and a few puffy, clouds floating over. a live view from the hd city camera shows the washington monument and jefferson memorial on this beautiful monday. looking at the view from space, we have a few clouds drifting from the west. they produced a few sprinkles out of the mountains. those tend to dissipate, and temperature there is are into the 70s. closer to washington it's in the

mid to low 80s. reagan national is 84. it's in the low to mid-80s in montgomery, prince georges, and arlington and fairfax counties and we're in the low 80s in the chesapeake bay. a wonderful beach and pool day. if you have to work outside, great day for that. then overnight tonight humidity does return with clouds, and it looks like a steamy day on tuesday. morning lows in the 70s, afternoon highs upper 80s tomorrow. might get a morning shower on tuesday, and then tuesday afternoon might get some passing storms to be followed by low humidity returning again for wednesday, thursday and into friday. getting a little more humid again friday night and saturday. front comes in saturday, maybe triggering some storms but looks nice nor sunday now. that's how it looks, barbara. >> tom, thank you. we head out to the roads again. danella, anything we should know about if we head out? our cars? >> on i-95, barbara, things look good in virginia.

go good news here. here's a live look southbound and northbound. nice and clear. northbound travel speed from the river bridge as you make your way to the belt way, 63 miles per hour. that drive taking 11 minutes. you still have to be careful on 395 northbound crossing over the 14th street bridge. still seeing bridge work blocking the left lane here. six to the right, and you'll get by fine. travel sfeed is not bad. your volume is light on 395 and you drive at 55 miles per hour. 12 minutes to get from the beltway to the 14th street bridge. back to you. >> danella, thank you. at least one local lawmaker is speaking out against a pro mosuled d.c. commuter tax. maland representative cummings says the tax could sfashg a turf war causing other counties and states to retaliate by creating a tax of its own their own. california republican darrell issa proposed a tax for those that live in maryland or virginia but commute into the district for work. about 250,000 people commute from d.c. or into d.c. from

maryland alone. a frederick, maryland chick-fil-a is open today for the first time since being vandalized. vandals hit the storm on late saturday night. police arrived early sunday morning to find stickers premoating marriage equality and gay pride flag on the windows. this is at least the third chick-fil-a across the country to be vandalized since the company's president spoke out against same-sex marriage. new today, a vatican judge ordered the pope's butler and another vatican employee to stand trial for stealing documents. the butler for pope benedict xiv is accused of stealing and leaking confidential papers from the pope's private apartment. vatican authorities found documents, presents, a gold nugget and rare 16th century book in his apartment. another employee is charged with aiding and abetting. the scandal hag rocked the holy see since police arrested the butler in may at the vatican.

doctors in north carolina say they expect to be treating billy graham for bronchitis for several days. the 93-year-old evangelist was rushed to the hospital over the week. his spokesman says he's in stable condition and resting comfortably. he even watched the olympics closing ceremony last night. doctors at the same north carolina hospital treated graham last november for pneumonia. new today, the commission on presidential debates announced who will moderate the series of debates. cnn's candy crowley will moderate one of the october debates between president barack obama and republican challenger mitt romney. crowley is the first woman in 20 years to moderate a presidential debate. jim lair from pbs and bob schieffer will moderate the other two debates. martha rad dits from nbc news will moderate between joe biden and paul ryan.

paul ryan has been a high profile political figure for years but now hose role is putting his wife in the spotlight. andrea mitchell shows us how jenna's ryan's journey to political prominence is more unexpected than her husband's. >> after a whirl winld sfwrukz to the national campaign, nothing felt berlt for paul and jana ryan than comes home to wisconsin. >> this is such a phenomenal place to live, to work, to raise your family. jana, our daughter liza and our sons charlie and sam. we live on the block i grew up on. >> she was a small town girl from oklahoma from a prominent oklahoma family where democrats often vote like republicans. a welsly graduate like her mother and sister, she became a lawyer and congress aal staff member. her first cousin is the democratic congressman from

oklahoma, dan botheren. she met a young republican congressman paul ryan. friends say it was a relationship that was almost destined. they were both smitten. ryan an avid hunter, jana and friends started the washington women's shooting club for trap and skeet shooting. they married in december of 2000. without any hesitation she wanted to raise her family the way she'd been raised, in a small town. they settled in janesville. he commutes from washington sleeping in his congressional office during the week. rachel duffy, a good friend, is also married to a wisconsin republican house member. >> there is no couple on capitol hill that manages their time better in favor of their family than the ryans. i think that's an incredible foundation from which to launch into something like this. >> in just 48 hours their small town life has been turned upside-down, bonding with the romneys, a national bus tour, the secret service, pictures of their kids playing with the

romney grandchildren tweeted by the campaign. still, jana clearly didn't want to take the microphone when romney offered her a chance to speak. >> she's an incredibly smart woman. she's a little reserved and doesn't like to public speak. >> their life will never be the same as the candidate told 6 positive minutes. >> jana and i discussed it at great length. it's going to change our life. >> friends say jana little ryan is ready. >> she's a very bright, exceedingly bright person. she knows what she's doing. you can have confidence that this is a woman who can handle any circumstance that's thrown in her path. >> andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. >> jana ryan told "people" that her husband is pretty low maintenance is one of the sunniest demeanors and most positive outlooks of anyone she's met. an arlington county man is proving spelling bes aren't just for little kids. michael ron the aarp national

spelling bee over the weekend. he also won the 2009 bee takes home $1,000 and a five-year membership to the aarp. his winning word was rhizoctonia. here's the spelling. r-h-i-z-o-c-t-o-n-i-a. i wouldn't have spelled that wompltd 11:43 is the time now. why snoring mants be a sign of a good night's sleep for your child. plus, caught on video. a gator -- a gator show, in fact, turns bad. how this man was able to

you're watching "news 4 midday." we have a health warning about one of the healthiest items on some fast food restaurants' menus. sliced apples sold at mcdonald's and burger king are recalled. manufacturers found listeria on equipment used by misa bay which is owned by ready packed foods. there are no reports of anyone

getting sick at noint. the apple slices have also been sold at we gman's. they have used by date of july 8th through august 20th. stocks are lower in earlier trading. julia joins us live with more on that and the business headlines. good morning. >> good morning, barbara. stocks are trading lower with s&p 500 index falling below the key 1400 level on concerns of that global economic growth. right now the nasdaq and the dow are both trading more than half a percentage point lower. sparking today's sell-off is news that japan's economy is growing at a far slower rate than analysts expected with only a 1.4% increase in the second quarter. that follows reports last week of china's dismal retail sales and exports last month. to add to global concerns, bank of america merrill lynch has cut it's 2012 gdp growth forecast for china.

google is making headlines today. the search giant will cut 20% of motorola mobility's worse work force as it cuts the offices. google has agreed to purchase farmers guidebooks and other publisher as pets. google is building up its library. it bought zagat guides in 2011. a summer road trip is costing motorists more. gaps is up a national average of 18 cents a gallon to put the total cost at just under $3.70. barbara sh it's getting expensive to dry these days. back to you. >> thanks a lot, julia. have a great day. >> it's back-to-school week on "news 4 midday." here's a app to keep krur student organized. it's for the iphone called ihomework. it can keep track of their classes and also record their homework and their grades. the app syncs everything from your iphone and ipad to your

ipod and your mac computer. it only costs as most apps do 99 cents. well, this year college students may want to rentz their textbooks for the semester and save major money. amazon just launched textbook rental allowing students to save up to 70%. users can search the site and click rent depending on how many books you rent, you can qualify for free shipping, too. the shipment comes with a prepaid label in case you need to return the books. governing what your kids eat could be the key to keeping them in shape, according to a new study. researchers say laws that restrict the sale of junk food and sweet tridrinks could play role in keeping kids' weight in check. they say children gain ls weight in fifth through eight grades if they live in states with strong laws as opposed to states that don't govern which snacks are available at school. your children's snoring may

be linked to behavioral problems. they found kids that snored loudly at least twice a week suffered from hyperactivity and inattention. researchers say breathing trouble and poor sleep qualify -- poor sleep quality appear to cause these problems. researchers surveyhrveyed mothe 249 children for the study. 1:50 is the time right now. happy news for a hollywood beauty and meteorologist tom kierein will be back with more kierein i got the chanceh more to start my own business. i know what it's like to hire people and to make ends meet. from those experiences, i had the chance of running the olympics. the games were in real trouble.

there'd been way too much spending. and in massachusetts i found a budget that was badly out of balance. our legislature was 85% democrat. and every one of the four years i was governor, we balanced the budget. i want to use those experiences to help americans have a better future. we believe in our future. we believe in ourselves. we believe the greatest days of america are ahead. i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

you're watching "news 4 midday." look at this terrifies scene on tape at the ohio county fair. the trainer was showing the crowd how quickly an alligator can snap its jaws shut. beck tripped and the gator attacked him. the spectator that shot the cell phone video described the chaos has people rushed to the trainer's side. >> the gator snapped down on his arm. you heard the bone kind of crushing or something. everyone was freaking out and got a stick and fried open his mouth. the gator bit down even harder.

>> the gator held on for 20 seconds before letting go. amazingly he received a few stitches from the attack. actress jennifer aniston is getting married. d.c. native actor and screen writer justin theroux popped the question on his 41st birthday on friday. they've been dating for more than a year now, and this will be the second marriage for the 43-year-old actress. she divorced brad pitt back in 2005. hollywood insiders say fans are thrilled for the actress. >> fans will be breathing a sigh of relief, probably opening champagne themselves. they have been waiting for their friend, januaennifer aniston, t find mr. right. >> so far a wedding date has not yet been set. nfl wide receiver chad johnson is once again looking for a job. the miami dolphins cut him yesterday hours after police arrested him for allegedly

headbutting his wife. the 34-year-old is facing a misdemeanor domestic battery charge. he could face a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. well, now's your chance to treat yourself to a good meal in the district while not breaking your budget. restaurant wk begins today in d.c. more than 300 area restaurants are taking part by serving three-course lunches and dinners at a fraction of the regular price. here's the deal. lunch costs $20.12 while dinners run $35.12. it doesn't include drinks, tax or tip, though. several restaurants offer several prefixed menus that would tantalize your taste buds. the specials will last through sunday. well, how honest are you? that's what the bethesda-based company honest tea wants to know. the beverage company conducted a social experiment in dupont circle. customers were told to use the honor system. they could take a bottle and leave a dollar or they could

grab a tea and run. some honest tea employees sat nearby and kept track. in the entire time our crew was there, everyone paid for each bottle that they took. >> i didn't have to, but hey, you got to faye for what you get. >> it's what you do when no one's looking, right? >> honest tea is conducting the experiment in 30 cities across the country. the company says in most cases people are overwhelmingly honest. what good news that is. we're going to look at the stories we'll follow on news 4 this afternoon. coming up tonight at 4:00, details of a plan to build a city exclusively for women and a new venture for first lady michelle obama. how she plans to help parents get their children back to school. tonight at 5:00, back surgery used to be weeks of recovery, but a new procedure has patients

walking in just days and pain-free for life we understand. doreen will tell us about this back surgery. it's time now for final check on our forecast. tom kierein is here. it's time to go back to school already for many kids. >> it is. one more great week of pool weather it does look like, except for tomorrow. right now a wonderful pool day and beach day. we have some sunshine, low humidity, just a few clouds drifting in from time to time. the temperatures now as we approach the noon hour are climbing into the 80s around the metro area. prince georges county, ar lilinn and fairfax and montgomery. it's busy as the pools and parks. it's a wonderful day under way. later today up around 90 by mid afternoon. then overnight tonight the humidity comes back, and it looks like it's here tomorrow. might get a morning showers and scattered afternoon and evening thunderstorms. that will be rather likely.

then on wednesday low humidity comes back. it's in place wednesday and thursday. gets more humid on friday around 90. over the weekend might get storms saturday. right now sunday is looking nice. enjoy this wonderful weather. >> thank you. that's "news 4 midday" for today. thank you for being with us and invite you to tun tune in for news at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 and tonight at 11:00. we hope you plan to join us. until then, have a terrific day, and we'll see you in the morning.