you're going to hit a lot of traffic at surratts road, branch avenue, avoid those areas if you're able to this afternoon. >> all right. darcy spencer on her way to the scene there of that crash in clinton. now, to our other big story this evening. someone threw a molotov cocktail inside the ballston mall today. >> the bottle shattered but it didn't explode. there is someone in custody now. derrick ward joins us live from arlington with what police officers found. >> reporter: first off, this was a very tense period for the folks here. a lot of them were just trying to get their lunch today at the food court. at the busiest time, when this guy tried to firebomb the place. police now have a man in custody. around 3:00, police took this man into custody near the courthouse metro station in arlington. someone reported him saying he smelled of gasoline. a police bomb technician went through the man's belongings carefully. just hours before a man matching his description dropped what

appeared to be a lighted bottle of flammable liquid from the ballston commons mall into the food court. >> the bottle shattered but did not ignite in the food court. the subject subsequently left the mall. in the search for the suspect, police located other bottles of a similar nature on the property. >> there was a brown and black spot on the floor. so i kind of figured that someone threw something. very strong small of home heating oil in the mall, which made me suspicious. so i left. >> reporter: people who were also there say some people stayed in line to place their orders, until the smell of gasoline started to permeate the area and it was evacuated. >> we haven't verified what the substance was in the bottle. we haven't made a determination at this point. >> reporter: now, police have not confirmed that the man they took into custody is the one responsible for this. we are told that they are

interviewing him to determine his mental state. and talked to witnesses. because it was a witness' description that led to taking this man into custody down at the courthouse metro station. we are told that the mall will be reopening shortly. people who were in there, we're told they either had to stay, some shop owners did indeed close their stores down. but a lot of people are waiting to get in now. federal technicians are here. there's an fbi presence, as well as state police and arlington police. this investigation is ensuing. they're also trying to determine the mental state of the man in custody. no word on his identity at this point. more at 6:00. right now, live in arlington, derrick ward, news4. the bomb plot in new york, authorities now say their suspect considered going after the president before deciding instead to bomb the federal reserve in new york city. 21-year-old quazi nafis was arrested yesterday while trying to set off what he thought was a bomb inside a vehicle.

he's from bangladesh and was in the u.s. on a student visa. pete williams joins us now. pete, his family says this is not the man they know. authorities have just wrapped up a news conference. what have you learned? >> they were talking in southeast missouri state, which is where he came to the united states in january of last year. and there have been some question about whether the whole student visa system should have stopped him. but everybody i've talked to today, really, there's no way that could have happened, that there was nothing in his back ground that suggested he shouldn't come here. no terrorist connections. he went to southeast missouri state, enrolled as a student and transferred to a vocational stool in new york in may. and he was studying there. the system in that sense was tracking him. it wasn't a sham visa. there were some calls today for tighter controls on student visas. but that seems not to be the issue here. so in any event, he came to the u.s. after coming to new york in may, that's when he goes to facebook

and starts to try to find people who are willing to commit violent jihad. and that communication ultimately led him to be contacted by an fbi undercover agent, ironic for a student who came here to study cyber security. >> i think his dad said he had saved up all this money to make this american dream come true for him. >> yes. quazi nafis had been studying in bangladesh. not doing too well. but told his father he would probably do much better if he were sent to the u.s. his father said he gave him all his life savings. the family insisting he couldn't possibly be a terrorist. this is not the timid young man they knew. >> is there any indication that this contact that he was making on facebook led anyone else to be involved in this? >> no. the fbi said he acted entirely on his own. he made all sorts of claims to al qaeda connections, but they say that was in his mind, that he wasn't directed by any outside group. >> pete, thanks so much. >> thank you, pete.

storms are moving from west to east right now. so get ready for possibly a stormy night. storm 4 chief meteorologist doug kammerer is tracking everything on the radar. how is it looking? >> right now looking at the showers and storms off to the west. and down to our south, too. nobody is seeing any rain right now. 69 degrees at the airport. looking at mostly cloudy skies. quin the winds now coming off the potomac towards the airport now. 70 degrees in leesburg. 73 in fredericksburg. a little cooler to the west. winchester right now sitting at 64 degrees. you can see on the radar, no real shower activity around the immediate area. but notice just south of fredericksburg, starting to see some showers entering spotsylvania county. that's the first area of rain we'll see just to the north of richmond. it will move right up i-95 and be in the washington, d.c., area in just two hours. the area in west virginia, strong storms back there, they could try to move through our

region overnight tonight. most areas will get wet overnight tonight. we'll also talk about what you can expect tomorrow. tomorrow morning could be a little rough. pat? >> all right. thanks. there are new questions this evening about a judge's ability to be fair in the trial of two prince george's county police officers. they were accused of beating a former university of maryland student after a basketball game. as news4's chris gordon reports, the trial judge was once married to a police officer. >> reporter: the revelation surprised the defense team representing officer reginald baker and officer james harrison. prosecutors were also caught by surprise. a reporter covering their trial sent a note to judge beverly woodard asking if she could be fair and if she had disclosed to the lawyers in the case that she had been married to a former police officer. that prompted prosecutors and defense lawyers to meet with the judge behind closed doors. a source close to the lawyers in this case says the judge was married to a former prince george's county police officer,

who was accused of, and convicted of use of excessive force. the judge ruled that she can be fair and ordered the trial to continue. neither the prosecutors nor defense lawyers asked for a mistrial. the judge did not mention the matter in open court and sent the jurors home for the day, with her usual admonition not to watch news coverage, or read anything about the case. another development in this case, for the second day in a row, one of the prince george's county police officers in the trial testified in his own defense, james harrison today. he said he struck the student seven or eight times to subdue him. he said james mckenna was running at police lines, threw a punch and said he might have had something like a weapon in his hand. when the student went down on the ground after being beaten with a baton, it was a cell phone. we'll have more on news4 at 6:00 tonight. this case is expected to wrap up

and go to the jury tomorrow. reporting live tonight from the prince george's county courthouse, chris gordon, news4. i'm here today for ohio. for president obama. >> bruce springsteen came to cleveland, performing several songs and told the audience he believes president obama is the best choice to keep the nation moving in the right direction. but he was just half of a one-two punch. former president bill clinton also spoke today. he slammed mitt romney for not providing voters with more specifics. >> and when you say anything, you ask any question, he says, oh, see me about that after the election. you have to understand, i'm a jobs guy. i'm a jobs guy, i'm a jobs guy,

i'm a jobs guy, i'm a jobs guy. well, what about this? see me about this after the election. >> meanwhile, president obama was campaigning in new hampshire today. he headed for new york to tape on the "daily show." romney had no public events today, but his running mate was in the battleground state of florida there. congressman paul ryan spoke to supporters at a rally. ryan explained his mother was not at the rally because she had a wedding to attend. the latest poll suggests florida could go either way in the general election. no, there was not another earthquake in maryland, virginia or the district today. but students across the area did practice for one. they were part of the fourth annual great shakeout. news4's tony practiced with the schools in reston.

>> drop! >> reporter: we just performed an earthquake drill. the idea behind it is to get the kids ready in case of an emergency, to have them prepared and have them not panic, to have them quietly following instructions, and most of all, to be safe. >> it's 10:18 at langston hughes middle school. an emergency drill that hones their skills if another earthquake hits the virginia region. today they joined thousands of other schools and organizations around the country participating in the great shakeout of 2012. >> we can't predict the future totally, 100%. we have to be ready. >> reporter: it was a little over a year ago when a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck virginia. this video capturing the exact moment the earthquake started, causing such severe damage in some spots, some buildings still remain closed. >> the epicenter area, as you saw in mineral, it damaged

buildings. we've had two schools we had to tear them down. >> reporter: although it may have been unexpected, fema and the usgs want to make sure everyone is overprepared and not underprepared in case another earthquake happens. >> what we want to do is make sure people are aware that earthquakes can happen here. we proved that a year ago. and that one earthquake does happen, there are things you can do to protect yourself. >> reporter: if you're interested in becoming part of future earthquake drills, you can always go to shakeout.org. i'm not only impressed on how well these kids were prepared, but they also executed flawlessly. let's give ourselves a round of applause. in fairfax county, news4. >> they all get an "a" for preparation. >> yes. we're just getting started on news4 at 5:00. gas prices may have reached their peak. why filling up could get cheaper. it's already a parking lot

on wisconsin avenue. now nih has planned to make traffic even more of a nightmare. historic nursery in old town alexandra. [ minto ] you know, those ads saying mitt romney

would ban all abortions and contraception seemed a bit extreme. so i looked into it. turns out, romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life. this issue's important to me, but i'm more concerned about the debt our children will be left with. i voted for president obama last time, but we just can't afford four more years. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

and balanced the budget every year. and tim kaine and i both cut our own pay as governors, to lead by example. mark warner and i reached across party lines to get things done. we were a great team in richmond and we'll be a great team in washington. i'm tim kaine and i approve this message ...because we'll work together to restore fiscal responsibility, grow our economy and create jobs. [ male announcer ] tim kaine. bringing people together to tackle the challenges of tomorrow. in old town alexandria, some

residents want to keep a building from torn down in favor of new development. as erica gonzalez reports, the clock is ticking and they only have so much time before the building goes. >> reporter: it was a nursery school for african-american children during world war ii, and later an american legion post. >> i've been trying to save this building for the last two years because i think it's important to the african-american community. >> reporter: today it's up for sale. what does a chunk of history go for these days? this one in particular, nearly $700,000. residents tell us it needs a lot of tlc, but that's part of the charm. >> you can tell your grandchildren about it. well, this used to be here, but it's not there anymore, i think it's good to just keep the history of old town. >> reporter: what's the point of living in historic areas like the parker gray district if it's not kept historic, says boyd walker. >> one of the reasons we have a

historic district is to protect it from condominiums and development, because we know we're very near both the king street and braddock road metro station. >> reporter: the owner of the property is playing nice. he's tabled his application to turn the little house into a house or condos for the time be. >> we struck a deal with the developer to take a two-year period before it would be considered for redevelopment. and try to find a buyer who would buy it and preserve it. >> unless we find a buyer or unless the city purchases the building, and starts some community process to find a use for the building, the building will be torn down in february. turning to the weather now. doug's busy taking pictures. >> i'm tweeting this picture out right here. just took it. i'm going to tweet this. go to our facebook page. check out that picture. >> sunshine, good weather does this to you. >> that's what we've seen the

last couple of days. i think we're going to get a little bit of a stormy period tonight. and then the next week really looks fantastic. you know what else looks fantastic? 5-year-old kids. take a look at this. >> all right. >> take a look at those guys. all of the kindergarteners today, 106 of them in germantown today. the kids, i'll tell you what, this was a great, great group of kindergarteners. i had a great time coming out there today. i want to say hello -- hi, guys -- wanted to say hello to them today. 69 degrees. we talked about the we have ther and the potential storms for tonight. we also mentioned most of them would not be too strong. don't worry, kids, you should be aok. most of them should be when you're sleeping tonight. 69 out there at the airport with winds gusting to 18 miles per hour. a little breezy, but not too windy. temperatures to the north and west, 66 in gaithersburg.

72 in manassas. 73 in fredericksburg. 67 down towards pax river. a little above average for this time of year. now we're starting to see the rain make its way closer to our region. spotsylvania county, this is where the rain is starting to come. this is moving to the north and east. as it does, it's going to move right up i-95 and should be in the washington, d.c., area about 6:30, 7:00 tonight. you want to keep your heads up for that. notice these little boxes here? these are all severe thunderstorm warnings with this line of storms. and it does have some strong to severe storms. and the storms will move our way. something else that's going on? notice the moisture down to the south. this will all come together over our region tonight. and that's actually another reason why this is not going to be a widespread severe weather outbreak. it's going to be more of a rain and maybe strong storms, but not a real severe weather threat here. can't rule out some strong storms. but once again, i think we should be okay. look at the size of this storm.

it encompasses an area from canada down to the gulf of mexico and all the way out towards the atlantic, over two-thirds of the nation affected by this storm. and it's going to continue to make its way our way tonight. so, warm temperatures out ahead of it. here's our frontal boundary that will move through tonight. tomorrow, another nice warm one. think we'll see plenty of sunshine after noon tomorrow. i think we'll also see shower activity early. saturday, mild with cloud cover. i want to take you through hour by hour here. 5:15, nothing going on right now. by about 7:00, we'll start to see some shower activity here. overnight tonight, that's when i expect most of the rain. this is actually around rush hour tomorrow, between, say, 5:00 and 7:00 a.m. the potential is there for strong showers. and again, heavy rain, maybe some storms. watch out as you're making your way out and about early friday morning. tomorrow morning could be a little problematic. temperatures tomorrow, back into the 70s. 75 on your friday. then another front swings through. we get back into the 60s on

saturday and sunday. sunday we'll have a lot more sunshine than saturday. monday, a high of 72. through the next couple of days, look at next week, gorgeous. highs in the 70s. >> nice. the way fall should be. thank you. straight ahead at 5:00, a new campaign to end the battle between drivers and pedestrians in northern virginia. suvs that park themselves. liz crenshaw gets behind the wheel to test them out. we're going to rewind to bounce that game to a former washington wide receiver that led them to victory over the giants. at 6:00 tonight, one of the fastest growing companies in the d.c. area, hiring hundreds of new employees. the look at its office space that

maryland schools are number one in america because we invest in them. but we can do even more. every year marylanders spend five hundred and fifty million dollars at casinos in other states. question 7 keeps that maryland money in maryland through expansion of gaming in maryland. it will mean hundreds of millions of dollars for our schools. as governor, i can promise you, that money will go to education. that's the law and that's what we'll do. vote for question seven.

washington redskins preparing to head up to the

meadow lands. lots of fans remembering what happened last year. >> they sure are. carol maloney joins us with the "redskins rewind." carol, we're looking back at last year's regular sweep of the g-men. >> a lot of people are looking back at last year. the skins were the only team in the league to sweep the eventual super bowl champs in the regular season. definitely a highlight of 2011. but it's nowhere close to topping what happened when these two teams met up 21 years ago this month. dan hellie takes us back in "redskins rewind." >> october 27th, 1991, a day of redemption and comeback. joe gibbs had the redskins 7-0. but the giants are next on the schedule. a team the skins have lost to the last six times they've played them. in the meadowlands, a repeat performance is under way. new york leads 13-0 at halftime.

while the giants defense is stifling, the skins offense is trifling. gary clark wants to hide. his quarterback in the end zone only to see the ball slip right through his hands. when a receiver drops an easy one like that, you have to go to him again. looking for clark one more time. the pass right on the money. clark right under it. but the jmu grad misses the ball again. time for redemption. third quarter, from the giants 7 yard line. ripen with a bullet to clark. this time he hangs on. skins trail 13-7 now. fourth quarter, rippen goes long again, and again he chooses clark. this a 54-yard attempt and it's safe in his hands. clark gives the skins a 14-13 lead. >> i was able to come over to make up for the first half that i dropped the ball. but it's a big game for us,

emotional win for us. i'm kind of drained right now. i don't know if i'm coming or going. i'm glad we had the win. it's sweet. it's good. they've had our number the last six times. they're a great team. we have to face them again. i'm sure it will be the same type of fight and i hope we can come out and win that one, too. >> one final piece of drama. skins up 17-13 with 25 seconds to go. jeff hostettler leading a last-second charge for the giants. pass picked off by marshall. coach gibbs none too pleased. >> wilbur gets an a-plus for the interception. he gets an f for trying to lateral it. i wanted to run out there and tackle him myself. >> that was my next question, what did you say to wilbur? >> i didn't say anything.

>> the win, however, said a bunch as the skins rolled off 11 straight wins. they finished 14-2, and they were champions of super bowl xxvi. >> oh, yeah. mark rippen willed clark to get over those misses. reminds us of a certain quarterback currently playing for the redskins. we'll hear about this weekend's matchup at 6:00. >> wilbur marshall, that's a name we haven't heard in a while. >> he escaped, didn't he? the wrath of gibbs. >> thanks, carol. next at 5:30, we have more on our breaking news. a live update after a police officer is critically injured. also, why the traffic trouble is only going to get worse in the bethesda area. plus, a big oops for google. what sent the stocks sailing down today.

take away his toys and he'll play with a stick. take away their bikes and they'll still find a way to get where they're going. but if take you away early childhood education... slash k-12 funding... and cut college aid for middle class families ... they won't go far. yet that's exactly what mitt romney wants to do... ...to pay for a $250,000 tax break for multi-millionaires. if mitt romney wins, the middle class loses. priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising.

and balanced the budget every year. and tim kaine and i both cut our own pay as governors,

to lead by example. mark warner and i reached across party lines to get things done. we were a great team in richmond and we'll be a great team in washington. i'm tim kaine and i approve this message ...because we'll work together to restore fiscal responsibility, grow our economy and create jobs. [ male announcer ] tim kaine. bringing people together to tackle the challenges of tomorrow. a prince george's county

police officer was critically injured, and a woman also taken to the hospital after a crash here on branch avenue and clinton this afternoon. darcy spencer joins us now live from the scene. darcy? >> reporter: jim, i can tell you, this was a very, very serious accident involving a prince george's county police officer. all we can tell you at this point is that it's a male officer. he was taken to the hospital close to the crash scene. his cruiser crashed into a utility pole here at surratts road and branch avenue. there was a second vehicle involved. you can see the white vehicle there. a lot of serious damage there as well. both the officer as well as the person who was in the second vehicle were taken here to southern maryland hospital. we do not have an update at this point on the condition of the officer as well as that other person who was taken to the hospital. now, prince george's county police are not providing a lot of details about the circumstances surrounding this

incident. we don't know if the officer was responding to a call, or exactly what was happening at the time of the crash. the chief of police is here, and a press conference is scheduled for 6:15 at the hospital here this afternoon. we'll be able to provide additional details at that time. i also want to tell you, there's a severe impact here on traffic. branch avenue is closed in this area. surratts road also and woodyard road, avoid it if you can. reporting live from clinton, darcy spencer, news4. police continue to investigate after they say a man threw a molotov cocktail inside ballston commons mall today. in the last 30 minutes, police have detained a man outside the courthouse metro. this is exclusive video as police took the man into custody. they say he has not yet been arrested but they are questioning him. no one was injured in the mall. these are photos from arlington now showing the scene inside

after police arrived. we'll have a live update on this story coming up at 6:00. the candidates for virginia's open senate seat will square off in their final debate in a few hours. they'll face off at virginia tech in blacksburg tonight. stay tuned for news4 at 6:00. richard jordan will have a live report. dozens of people are under arrest following a series of raids in fairfax and prince william counties. a month-long effort to seize drugs and weapons, money and stolen property. news4's pat collins joins us live with word on how the crooks committed the crime. pat? >> reporter: this police operation, they say, focused on crimes that impact the quality of life. things that can lead to the decay of a neighborhood. when rosa opened the store today, he had some customers he didn't expect.

cops. seizing what they described as counterfeit cds and dvds. >> no, we were cool. they just take all the dvds, cds. >> what was it like when they came in? >> nothing. we were cool to each other. i know them already. >> reporter: babin was on his way to get a hair cut. he saw the police move in. >> i was pretty scared. i was like, what's going on. thinking it was a robbery happening or something. >> how many cops did you see? >> about seven. undercover cops, all unmarked vehicles. >> reporter: what happened here today, just one of a number of raids, the culmination of a ten-month investigation targeting crimes along the richmond highway. seized by police, ten pounds of cocaine, 30 pounds of marijuana,

23 guns, $560,000 in cash, stolen gift cards, ipods, gps devices, and jewelry. police say a lot of suspects worked the borders. commit a crime in fairfax, then down the highway to prince william county for another job. then back to fairfax to do something else. police from both those jurisdictions joining forces to try to put an end to this crossover crime. >> we would just remind the offenders that police also know no boundaries. we are much better now about sharing information, sharing our resources, and we will go to really no end to arrest the offenders, and to keep our community safe. >> reporter: the final totals tonight, 101 people arrested on 168 criminal charges. live in fairfax, pat collins, news4. a new effort began today to

keep traffic and pedestrians moving in one of the most congested intersections in arlington county. police are now manning the corner of lynn street and wilson boulevard here. during rush hours, traffic moves slowly, and when the light changes, cars often get caught in the middle. traffic headed in the other direction and pedestrians can't get through. now when the light is about to change, officers stop drivers from entering the intersection and crosswalks. pedestrians say it's been a big problem. >> it's annoying. it happens quite frequently. i'm glad i saw the police officers over there, and i'm like, yeah, it's about time. >> officers can write tickets for blocking an intersection. but they say their main goal of this new campaign is to educate drivers. there's another traffic nightmare in the making in montgomery county. the planned expansion of the national institutes of health and walter reed medical center will make already congested roads in bethesda even more congested. steps are being taken now to

lessen the impact. but as jackie bensen reports now, it may not be enough. >> reporter: residents and commuters alike describe this traffic as a nightmare that gets worse every day. and there's only so much that can be done to improve traffic flow. that is the problem. >> traffic is horrible, especially on this stretch of 355. >> it's ridiculous. i go up and back, like three times a day because of my children. >> reporter: the estimated 20,000 people who commute to work at the national institutes of health in bethesda make it the county's largest employer. and nih sits directly across from the county's second largest employer walter reed national medical center with about 12,000 employees. they plan to add a combined 4,000 workers over the next two decades. plans to lessen the traffic on an area some believe is rapidly reaching its breaking point has proven complicated. >> there will be a major improvement to the medical

center metro station. right now there's only one entrance on. nih side of the street. we're going to build a bank of deep elevators on the navy side of the street, so people taking metro rail can get right to the navy without crossing the street. >> reporter: another complication, the military medical center has special needs that make restricting parking one way to get people to use metro very difficult. >> it's a 24-hour operation. people are at their desks at 6:00 a.m. frequently, and it's a hard for a lot of those people to use metro because it doesn't work for them. also, it's a hospital, you have not just wounded warriors, but retired military, military families. >> reporter: among the suggestions to decrease the traffic in the area, bike share stations at regular intervals on rockville pike. reporting from bethesda, jackie bensen, news4. coming up next at 5:00, if your weekend plans involve riding metro, we'll run down the major closures. a judge rules today whether cheerleaders can display biblical banners during football

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finally, drivers are getting a little relief at the pump. prices have begun their seasonal slide. the annual drop usually happens sooner than this, when refiners switch to cheaper fuel blends and summer driving ends. but this year, a series of pipeline and refinery problems delayed the drop in prices. the average price is now $3.74 a gallon. even though it's 13 cents cheaper than the peak high last month, it's still the highest price we've ever paid this time of year. there is major track work on metro this weekend. two red line trains, medical center and bethesda will be closed. shuttle buses will replace the trains around those stations. shuttles will run between east falls church and the orange

line, and delays on the red, orange and green lines from 10:00 through closing on sunday. you'll need to add about 30 minutes to your trip on any of these lines. bible quotes will be back on the football field in a southeastern texas school district. cheerleaders at a high school in the small town of kuntz were banned in religious scriptures last month. they said it violated separation of church and state because it's a public high school. but today a judge ruled the banner messages count as individual speech of the cheerleaders, not the school or the government. a baby that has the internet buzzing. >> why google shares plummeted so much today. trading had to be halted. i'm liz crenshaw. this car is parking itself. no hands. my story about this affordable technology is coming up. we've got rain moving in right now. i'll show you where it is and

when you may see the rai as governor, i cut five billion dollars in spending and balanced the budget every year. and tim kaine and i both cut our own pay as governors, to lead by example. mark warner and i reached across party lines to get things done. we were a great team in richmond and we'll be a great team in washington. i'm tim kaine and i approve this message ...because we'll work together to restore fiscal responsibility, grow our economy and create jobs. [ male announcer ] tim kaine. bringing people together to tackle the challenges of tomorrow.

would ban all abortions and contraception seemed a bit extreme. so i looked into it. turns out, romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life. this issue's important to me, but i'm more concerned about the debt our children will be left with. i voted for president obama last time, but we just can't afford four more years. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. parallel parking can be pretty tricky, especially in the district. you've got traffic, tight spaces. but what if the car could parallel park itself. liz crenshaw got behind the wheel of a car that has the self-parking technology. >> cool parking, using no hands.

you only have to control the gas and brake pedals. it was really impressive. a car that parks itself. >> would you buy a car because it could park itself? >> i would. >> it kind of freaks me out a little bit. >> a car that parks itself. you'd expect it to be expensive. it's been offered as an option on some luxury cars. but today that luxury has gone mainstream. car manufacturers like toyota and ford now offer the self-parking option at an affordable price. >> ford decided we have all the technology on the vehicle. let's make this something that's available to an consumers. >> reporter: richard is a spokesperson for ford, put me behind the wheel of a 2013 ford escape. first, the system detects an available parking space. hands off the steering wheel. puts the car in reverse. >> you got it. now brake and gas only. >> i'm brake, i'm gas, it's

driving. okay. >> have faith here. let it do the hard work for you. >> oh, my goodness. >> just hang on tight. >> okay. whoa, whoa, whoa. >> and the brake. as you get close to the vehicle behind you, you do need to brake. and now shift back to drive. there you go. and it will say pull forward slowly. and voila. that's it. congratulations. >> active park assist uses an ultrasonic based sensing system. sensors on the front and rear of the car, plus electric power assisted steering. the option is available in six ford vehicles ranging from about $24,000 for a focus, to about $32,000 for the escape we drove, up to a little more than $43,000 for the explorer. parking hands-free does get people's attention. >> i couldn't believe it. you know, the car just comes right in without touching the

curb. >> i was quite impressed. i think i would benefit from a mechanism like that, too, because i have trouble parking. >> i think that was awesome. >> we parked the ford escape on a neighborhood street in northwest d.c. it made it around this wide truck. >> right there. that's when you need to stop. there you go. >> done. finished. it even parks on the left side of the street. >> this is a really tight space. >> this is really tight. >> there. it says you're finished. >> wow. nice job. we parked it downtown. and we parked it in georgetown on m street. we're using the brakes. we've got no hands. and we're -- wow. parked. yes. >> it's amazing. it's always something new coming out every year. >> my next car. i am horrible at parking.

>> oh, boy. we got so close to the curb, six to eight inches away every single time. one thing to mention, if you have the active park assist activated and you want to terminate the self-parking, just grab the wheel and it becomes yours again. it's not that big a deal. >> you have to do it like this so everybody can see. >> i had to. i kept thinking, oh, my goodness. but you do have the brake and gas. parallel parking is one of those things that freaks a lot of people out. but it made all of the calculations for you. you don't have to zip in. you can go slowly if you want. but you can go fast and get out of the way. >> it took you once? >> yes. >> parking perfected. with no hands. >> i also am a good parallel parker, by the way. i can do it without that. >> can you, doug? >> i also think cops can no longer give you a ticket. sir, you can't give me a ticket, what are you saying, the car parked itself? yeah, that's exactly what i'm saying.

>> i don't think so. >> i don't think that's going to work. 69 degrees out there right now. winds out of the southeast at 11 miles an hour. gusts to 18. we're going to see rather breezy conditions throughout the rest of the night. temperatures are not going to be moving all that much with that southeasterly wind. temperatures around the region, 71 in rockville, 71 in college park. annapolis coming in at 69 degrees. manassas at 72. as far as the rain is concerned, take a look, we're starting to see rain come through our area. moderate rain in the portions of spotsylvania county. culpepper seeing rain there, and moving through the fredericksburg region, this will move up i-95 and it will be right around the district and the beltway in about the next hour and a half. so if you're planning on leaving your house or leaving work in the next five to ten minutes, and you're traveling down i-95, expect to see some rain here. this is just the first batch of rain. the second batch is back to the west. this is where the strong storms are. a couple of severe thunderstorm warnings associated with this line of storms. that will move our way very, very slowly.

and we widen out even more, this is the stuff that will actually get here before the stuff to the west. we're talking about a lot of moisture and some thunderstorm activity in north carolina. that will move right up and once again come right across our region overnight tonight. let's play it out for you hour by hour here. you can see we're starting at the 5:45 hour. overnight tonight we'll see showers and a few thunderstorms of the but look at 5:30 in the morning, if you're leaving this early, notice the heavy rain potentially right along i-95 early tomorrow morning. so tomorrow morning, could be problematic as far as rush hour is concerned. you may want to give yourself extra time. by tomorrow afternoon, this all moves out of here. i think late in the day on friday is looking like a pretty nice day. let's look at the next seven days. once again, a little bit of a slick roadway tomorrow, but breezy conditions, a high of 75. rain showers early. but then clearing out tomorrow. saturday and sunday, looking great with a high around 67 both days. sunday we'll have more sunshine. 72 on monday. next week looking absolutely

fabulous with highs in the mid-70s. >> all right. thank you, doug. now, let's check out the stories trending online today. a mistake sent google shares plummeting and impacted wall street today. a financial printer made a mistake and released its earnings report a few hours early, before the markets closed. that report showed google falling short of expectations. the company's stock then dropped 8%, and dragged nasdaq down with it. google is the third largest trader on nasdaq. one of the country's most well-known publications is going online only. "newsweek" is ending its print publication after 80 years. you'll still be able to read it online. the final printed edition is scheduled for december 31st. they said job cuts are on the way. i've got the lucky one here. actress uma thurman had a baby, and twitter is going crazy over the name. the baby girl has seven names.

i'm going to give it a shot. rosalind arusha arkadina altalune florence thurman-busson. the baby nicknamed luna was born july 15th. what is mom thinking. >> she's thinking about a lot of people in the family. >> she is. >> she wants their names on that baby. how addarol is becoming the drug of choice to help students study. we're expecting a news conference shortly about the serious crash involving a prince george's county police officer. maryland schools are number one in america because

we invest in them. but we can do even more. every year marylanders spend five hundred and fifty million dollars at casinos in other states. question 7 keeps that maryland money in maryland through expansion of gaming in maryland. it will mean hundreds of millions of dollars for our schools. as governor, i can promise you, that money will go to education. that's the law and that's what we'll do. vote for question seven.

adderall is a drug prescribed for attention deficit disorders. >> this is the story how an ambitious college student misused adderall to get an edge

academically. in his first television interview he tells "rock center's" kate snow about his fall from grace. >> all the way through the night? and how are you doing that? >> adderall. >> adderall? >> adderall. >> reporter: it's a drug we've all heard about. widely prescribed for attention deficit disorders. but this isn't a story about adhd. it's a story of an ambitious student and many, many more who have misused adderall to get an edge, with surprising candor, steffan is telling us how his aspiring climb to the ivy league ended in disgrace. why don't kids think this is a big deal? it's a controlled substance. >> because you're doing very well when you're taking it, most of the time. i've never heard anyone say, i did adderall and did terrible on my exam. it's like an academic steroid. >> i was just thinking that. it's like taking steroids in sports. >> barry bonds in the library,

absolutely. >> don't miss the complete report on "rock center" with brian williams tonight at 10:00. three breaking stories right now at 6:00. a serious crash involving a police officer. it's also causing major traffic problems during our rush hour. also, the ballston mall shut down for hours after someone threw a molotov cocktail inside. exclusive video as the police move in on the suspect. a revelation involving a judge of two police officers accused of beating a maryland student. good evening, everyone. i'm doreen gentzler. >> i'm jim rosenfeld. a serious crash involving a prince george's county police officer. darcy spencer live at branch avenue and surratts road. we're expecting an update from police very soon, right? >> reporter: yes, there will be