2012. you see a lot of thick clouds hanging above the district, and some of those clouds squeezing out a little rain. >> and people might want to add a few minutes for their commute. there weren't too many cars on the road when i came in, but the people that were got a lot of spray. got to take it slow. >> and some fog developing. at least it's quiet after the loud night. it woke me up, that's for sure, with the loud bangs of thunder from lightning. now that has pretty much ended. we have just a few lingering light showers around the metro area, northern virginia, western maryland and west virginia. close-up view of storm team 4 radar showing a few pockets, sprinkles in fairfax and loudoun county, across the potomac into montgomery and frederick county. farther west, getting passing showers. panhandle of west virginia and western maryland, those are heading up into pennsylvania. got a few too around annapolis and the eastern shore, where temperatures are a bit milder, mid and upper 60s right now, closer to washington, near 60s nearby suburbs. reagan national at 64. 50s farther west.

out of the mountains into the 40s many locations. hour by hour today, we'll have a drying trend. you may need an umbrella here for another couple of hours. by noontime sun breaking up for your lunch hour, near 70. by midafternoon, we ought to hit mid-70s. a wonderful day coming up, bit of a southwest blustery wind. we'll have clearing sky by late afternoon. sunrise 7:22. sunset 6:23. i'm back in ten minutes with another hometown forecast and a look at storm team 4 radar. right now a look at your first 4 traffic. we got trouble this morning. joe fox, what's going on? it is a rough morning out there, especially if you are on the inner loop of the beltway. we are looking at a tractor-trailer accident with a fuel spill has all lanes closed. you'll notice the folks in this picture are not moving very quickly. that means you will not want to go that way. take the 270 spur northbound, make a right on democracy, and make a right back on 270. that will get ayou you around this accident. the inner loop of the beltway closed between old georgetown

and wisconsin avenues. here's the view at 28. you're moving just fine. 62 miles an hour and 11 minutes on into the beltway. aaron, back to you. >> thank you, joe. news 4's melissa mollet at the live desk with breaking news. at least 15 people have been killed in afghanistan and 18 hurt after the mini bus they were riding in was hit by a roadside bomb. this happened in the country's northern province. the men, women, and children were all traveling to aed wedding. officials say they do expect the number of casualties to increase. this area has seen more taliban activity in recent years, but no one at this point has claimed responsibility. at the live desk, melissa mollet, news 4. with just 18 days to go until the election, president obama is maintaining a lead in two key batting lgroupd states. he holds an eight-point lead over mitt romney in iowa with over 50% of likely voters. in wisconsin, mr. obama has a six-point lead, 51% to 45%.

the poll also showed 95% of voters in most states made up their minds before the most recent debate. the president will head to virginia today, another key battle ground state. he'll speak at george washington university in fairfax. it will be his second trip to the campus in just two weeks. you can expect congestion and detours if you're traveling to the area this morning. after the rally, the president will head to camp david to get ready for the final presidential debate monday night in florida. mitt romney will head to the sunshine state tonight with his running mate paul ryan. they'll be holding a rally in daytona beach. today is also the start of biketoberfest. a large four-day music festival with rock, beer, and harley davidsons. the organizers joked to a local paper that romney is going for the biker vote. both of virginia apgs u.s. senate candidates are vowing to keep thousands of virginiians from losing their jobs. democrat tim kaine and republican george allen squared off last night in the final

debate before voters head to the polls. that debate got personal when the candidates discussed sequestration. virginia could lose thousands of defense jobs if congress can't reach a deal on reducing the deficit by the end of the year. >> i have a son that just started the career in the military. i'm not going to do things that will hurt the troops or hurt defense. >> we have thousands of jobs at risk here in virginia, and they shouldn't be used as a bargaining tool to raise taxes on job creating small business owners. >> allen also accused kaine of being a yes man for president obama. kaine countered by saying he'll support whoever is president. google accidentally released an earnings report early. shares of google fell 9% yesterday when the quarterly report got released. nasdaq even suspended trading for a short time. the stock recovered some of its value when trading resumed. google's ceo larry page apologized for the glitch. today we'll learn more about a deadly crash that killed a

prince george's county police officer. 28-year-old kevin bowden was off duty yesterday afternoon when witnesses say he was hit by an suv at the intersection of branch avenue and surratts road in clinton. the crash sent his car into a utility pole. witnesses say he may have been cut off in traffic. bowden is the second officer from the department to die in a crash in recent months. back in august adrian morris was killed during a chase on i-95. >> this is a tragedy. it's unfortunate. it's very sad. yet again in the past two months we've lost another officer, and all my members are basically hurting, trying to heal through this process. >> at southern maryland hospital last night, fellow officers held a vigil to remember the fallen officer. bowden was a father of two and a six-year veteran of the prince george's county police force. the driver of the other vehicle was taken to the hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries. new this morning, police are

searching for a person who shot a man two times while standing on his front porch in southeast d.c. it happened around 11:15 on 50th street. police say the victim was shot during the robbery. he was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive. today the sixth gunman in one of the deadliest murder sprees in d.c. history will learn his fate. nathaniel sims will be sentenced this afternoon. sims admits firing an assault rifle into a crowd of mourners who gathered after a funeral in march of 2010. that funeral was for a young man sims and his friends had killed days earlier because one of them thought he'd stolen his fake gold bracelet. in all, five people were killed. eight others were injured. prosecutors are recommending sims get a 25-year prison sentence because his testimony helped them convict the other five men involved in those attacks. this morning the boston commons mall will reopen after a man threw a molotov cocktail inside the food court. take a look at this video you'll see only on news 4.

it shows arlington police taking a man into custody at the metro station. his name has not been released at this point. this morning fbi and atf agents say they're trying to figure out why he dropped that molotov cocktail from the third floor down to the basement level food court yesterday afternoon and then ran away. nobody was hurt. the fbi does not believe he's connected to any terrorist organization. the time right now, 5:07. coming up, the case possibly connected to a little girl in colorado found tragically killed. and what actress eva longoria said about a presidential candidate that now has her apologizing. 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. 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.

under the president's policies, middle income americans have been buried. they're just being crushed. middle-income americans have seen their income come down by $4,300. this is a tax in and of itself. i'll call it the economy tax. i'm not going to raise taxes on anyone. my plan is to bring down rates to get more people working. my priority is putting people back to work in america. i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

a dangerous dust storm in oklahoma forced officials to shut down part of the highway. the weather is also to blame for a massive crash that involved 30 cars. five people had to be hospitalized. interstate 35 was closed for six hours due to low visibility. experts say the dust storm is the result of the extreme drought in the midwest, and it's hard to even make out what we're looking at there. >> used to seeing that sort of thing in the southwest, but oklahoma is a little different. >> very odd. around here some people might have a little fog to contend

with. low visibility in some parts of our area this morning. >> meteorologist tom kierein. some low visibility and high water. watch for standing water from the overnight downpours. much of the heaviest rain has ended. storm team 4 radar showing a few areas of sprinkles in northern virginia and into west virginia. south of richmond, a downpour heading towards the northern neck in another hour in southern maryland. hometown forecast, front royal, maybe a passing shower, mid-50s. by noontime, into the mid-60s, and sun breaking out. we ought to see more sun this afternoon. highs reaching mid-70s midafternoon and then clearing out by late afternoon into this friday evening. a look at the next seven days in ten minutes. a look at our traffic trouble now with joe fox. good morning. >> good morning. we are looking at breaking news on the inner loop of the beltway. all lanes of the inner loop are closed approaching wisconsin avenue. you really want to bail out by the 270 spur or old georgetown

road. these folks you see on the camera, these were the same folks we were looking at ten minutes ago. they have not moved. the way you want to get around that is to take the 270 spur northbound, hang a right on democracy boulevard, and get back on 270. that will get you around this accident. this is a tractor-trailer with a fuel spill. it is likely to be there for some time. elsewhere around the area, route 50 coming in from new carrollton, looking great with an average speed of 59 miles an hour. aaron and angie, back to you. >> thanks, joe. time is 5:12. ahead on "news 4 today," why a judge had to get involved in a debate over

president obama: i'm barack obama and i approve... this message. anncr: victims. dependent. that's what mitt romney called forty-seven percent... of americans. including people on medicare. but what about his plan for you? romney would replace guaranteed benefits with a voucher system. seniors could pay six thousand dollars more a year. a plan aarp says would undermine medicare. you're no victim...you earned your benefits. don't let mitt romney take them away.

quarter after the hour,

braebing ns on the beltway. an accident causing major problems on the inner loop right now. megan mcgrath live on the scene with the latest. megan? >> reporter: aaron, an absolute mess out here on the inner loop of the beltway. take a look. up ahead there, you can see the flashing lights. that's where the accident involving this tractor-trailer is. it's just prior to old georgetown -- it's after old georgetown road, prior to 355. and as you can see, all of the traffic has been stopped. it's been that way for a while. all of these folks here, they are trapped. they're not going anywhere. in fact, we are seeing quite a backup. if we spin around here, you can see on the other side of this foot path we're on here, which crosses the beltway, you can see the traffic is backed up as far as the eye can see. no one is able to move forward because they've got some sort of a fuel spill associated with this accident. so everyone is just sitting here because they're trapped between the two exits. so if you normally go this way, inner loop of the beltway, we're talking about the area around

old georgetown road, 355, it is at an absolute standstill. no one is going anywhere. you're certainly going to want to take a different route in this morning. in terms of estimates on when we're going to see some movement here, when they're going to be able to open some lanes or maybe a shoulder, we just don't know. no estimate at this point. crews are here on the scene, but right now nobody is going anywhere. aaron, back to you. >> megan, we'll come back to you as soon as we have more information. thank you. 17 after the hour. police in colorado are looking for any leads in the jessica ridgeway murder. and they're asking the public to come forward about another attack that might be related. police say a man tried to abduct a woman jogging at kechner lake in may. that is less than a mile from ridgeway's home. the 10-year-old girl disappeared this month while walking to school. after a week long search, officials found her dismembered body. a canadian border officer shot this week continues to recover.

she has been able to take her first steps since the shooting on tuesday. officers say the bullet missed major arteries, and she is lucky to be alive. she is expected to make a full recovery. the suspected gunman, 32-year-old andrews cruz shot and killed himself at the scene. the shooting at ft. hood in 2009, the wounded soldiers and families of those killed in the shooting say they have not been getting the necessary benefits because the government has not deemed it an act of terrorism. they also say they should be eligible for a purple heart. 13 were killed in that shooting, and major nadal hassan faces the death penalty. this morning we're learning about allegations of abuse by boy scout leaders. the organization released thousands of documents detailing that abuse in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. those files revealed more than

1,200 scout masters and volunteers nationwide were accused of molesting children. the documents were evidence in a civil lawsuit filed in oregon two years ago. >> the boy scouts knew they had an institution-wide problem with child abuse and didn't take steps to deal with that. >> in the past, we didn't do the job we should have, and we're sorry for that, profoundly sorry. >> the boy scouts of america says the files actually protect the public from abuse because they make sure child predators can't become part of the organization. jerry sandusky is not giving up his legal battle just yet. the former penn state football coach wants a new trial. he is asking a judge to overturn his child sex abuse convictions, claiming his attorneys didn't have enough time to prepare for his trial. he also says the statute of limitations for some of the charges of which he was convicted had expired. a jury convicted sandusky in june of abusing ten boys. a judge sentenced him to two weeks -- a judge sentenced him two weeks ago to 30 to 60 years in prison. actress eva longoria is

apologizing for an offensive comment she made on twitter about republican presidential nominee mitt romney. longoria is a co-chair of the obama campaign. on wednesday, the actress re-tweeted a message that called romney a racist. she originally deleted the offending tweet and implied a twitter glitch was to blame. later, she tweeted that twitter is a platform for all americans to voice their opinions, and she apologized for offending anyone. a peanut recall now has schools across the country double-checking their supplies. smuckers is advising schools to pull its uncrustables peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. they contain peanut butter made by new mexico based sunland incorporated. which also supplied several products to trader joe's that were recalled because of salmonella contamination. smuckers says it tests all of its products and found no problems but are recalling it out of what they call an abundance of caution. coming up on 5:21 right now, a little light rain still

falling out there. let's check in with tom. >> you may need an umbrella here maybe for another hour or two as we have lingering showers, but look what happened over the last 12 hours. we had a weak front come through. it triggered heavy downpours and thunder and lightning overnight. still some standing water. some of the high water mostly in montgomery county and points in washington where they had heavy rains overnight. one cluster of heavy downpours and thunder and lightning in richmond. this is advancing north and east. maybe moving into the northern neck, southern maryland over the next hour. still a few scattered sprinkles, light showers, northern virginia into central maryland, much of eastern west virginia and western maryland still a few lingering showers there. and temperatures, all the areas in light green in the bal mchl y 60s. points west and north in the 50s. out of the mountains, it's in the 40s. here is the storm team 4 four-day forecast. enjoy a wonderful pattern into the weekend.

by this afternoon, we'll dry out with sunshine and into the mid-70s. overnight tonight, we're heading out. down to near 60 at midnight under a clearing sky and upper 40s by dawn on saturday. bit of a chilly start tomorrow morning. then on saturday, partly cloudy. we should climb into the mid-60s. a delightful day for outdoor activities. as we get into sunday, afternoon saturday night's clear sky. it's going to get cold saturday morning, down near 40. warming into the mid-60s with the bright sun on sunday afternoon. another delightful day for outdoor activities on sunday. monday, back to work and school. low 40s again, but warmer during the afternoon. with bright sunshine, monday, up near 70. then even a bit milder as we get into next week. tuesday, wednesday, thursday, each day afternoon highs should make it into the 70s with morning lows in the 50s. i'll return in ten minutes with another look at storm team 4 radar. a look at traffic with joe fox. >> good morning, tom. we're looking at major delays on the inner loop of the beltway as megan showed you a

few minutes. those folks are not moving because we have two jackknifed tractor-trailers and a fuel spill approaching wisconsin avenue. the inner loop is closed. you need to bail out at old georgetown road. the better way to go take the i-270 northbound, get off at democracy boulevard, and make a right back onto the beltway. elsewhere in the area, here's your view of the folks on the inner loop. else where in virginia, 267, the dulles toll road is moving well. only seven minutes in from hunter mill road. and here's a look at springfield interchange, also moving quite smoothly there. 13 minutes from the toll road down to i-95. aaron and angie, back to you. >> joe, thanks. a new study says that they found a new way to get people to quit smoking. kick the habit and get some cash. the korean motivational study offered financial incentives to a team of co-workers if they quit smoking and stayed smoke free. the team got money for each successful participant at the one-week and then at the one-month points. half of those who quit were still smoke free after a year.

they say emotional support and positive peer pressure improved motivation. talk about a little dog's lucky day. a long distance paddle boarder spots a little dog stranded in the ocean. >> it's okay. it's okay. it's okay. come here. come here. >> it's not clear how alabama got stranded on the rocks in england's north sea during the final stretch of charlie head's grueling 600-mile bid from cornwall to london. he spotted the animal. he was able to scoop up the terrified pup and hold him on his paddle board until he reached the shore. the whole rescue was captured by a camera on head's helmet. he said the tide was coming in, and the dog would have been submerged within ten minutes. animal workers are now trying to contact bam-bam's owner. for now texas cheerleaders will be able to go back to the field with their homemade banners displaying christian messages. a judge overruled the district's attempt to block the signs

yesterday. the coombs high school cheerleaders were asked to take down the banners after a complaint from the freedom of religion program. they got a complaint from an atheist. the judge says banning the signs violates the cheerleaders' freedom of speech rights. >> these cheerleaders by their own uniforms and bought the banners and paints. it's their own free expression, and for that reason, they can use them in competition. >> the cheerleaders can use them for the rest of the school year. a trial will be held to discuss the issue further in june. a man is arrested for trying to extort money from former pittsburgh steelers player hines ward. he tried to extort $15,000 through one of ward's personal assistants. investigators say he threatened to release information that ward had paid women for sex. hines ward was mvp when the steelers won the super bowl in 2006. he retired in march after 14 seasons with the team.

the detroit tigers heading to the world series after sweeping the new york yankees. game four last night for the american league championship series. the tigers win 8-1 and deliver the yankees their first winless series in the postseason in more than three decades. it will be the first time detroit has been in the world series since 2006 when the tigers lost to the st. louis cardinals. tonight the cards will try to win their series against the san francisco giants. the redskins head to the meadowlands this sunday to take on the giants. the defending super bowl champions say they have plenty of respect for the skins rookie quarterback robert griffin iii. one giants defensive player jokingly called him bob before the season began. he claims griffin hadn't earned his nickname rg3. griffin's earned that nickname now along with a ton of endorsemen endorsements, wouldn't you say? >> he's no longer bob, right? >> sir. his name is sir robert griffin. that's what i refer to him now, sir. >> why is that?

>> look what he's done. look what he's performed as a rookie. you don't see players coming into the league and performing like that. all due respect in the world goes to him. he's a phenomenal football player. >> the redskins-giants came is set for 1:00 on sunday. >> and he hasn't been opposed to earning that respect either. i think he's done a good job of it. >> very, very mature. he's a good leader. >> time is 5:27. coming up, punch lines in politics. >> i felt really well rested after the nice long nap i had in the first debate. >> i was actually hoping the president would bring joe biden along this evening because he'll laugh at anything. >> president obama and mitt romney share the stage for a night of laughs. e.

the middle class, who move our country forward. work hard. raise families. and keep america strong. but mitt romney's budget plan will hurt the middle class. raising taxes on the average family by up to $2000 dollars.

while giving a tax break of $250,000 dollars to multi-millionaires. doesn't mitt romney understand, we can't rebuild america...by tearing down the middle class. priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising. imillion dollars for maryland one hundred schools.ty... question seven will double it. rushern baker: question seven will add table games and... a new casino, generating millions of dollars... every year, without raising taxes.

leggett: and audits will ensure the money goes... where it's supposed to. more jobs, and millions for schools. baker: question seven will be good for our kids... our teachers, and our schools. leggett: keep maryland money in maryland. baker: please vote for question seven. leggett: vote for question seven. breaking news on the beltway this morning. an accident causing major problems on the inner loop in maryland of let's go to megan mcgrath live on the scene. megan? >> reporter: what a mess out here on the inner loop of the beltway. take a look.

that exit right there, that is 355. you can see the police lights there. we have two tractor-trailers involved in an accident. there's a fuel spill associated with it. they have shut down all lanes of the inner loop just prior to 355. as you can see, traffic at an absolute standstill, and we are looking at traffic as far as the eye can see from our vantage point on this foot bridge across the beltway. you can see people are trapped between 355 and the old georgetown exit. they can't go anywhere. they're just sitting here, and there's no indication how long it will take for them to reopen some lanes or maybe a shoulder to allow this traffic to filter out of here. if you travel the inner loop of the beltway, again, around 355, you want to make sure that you take a different route this morning because, again, the traffic is not going anywhere. take a look here. that's 355. you can see the lights. we do have emergency crews on the scene. they are trying to clear it as quickly asossible. however, we're not there yet.

i also should mention there is one of these authorized vehicle only situations down here. you can see perhaps some headlights there. there's a car, not an authorized vehicle, just a regular car that's stuck in the backup, who's using that little cut through to go over onto the outer loop. very, very dangerous. we've seen close calls here this morning. it's not a good idea. on the outer loop, the traffic is running at speed. you can see just how fast the cars are going. it's dark. it's also slippery out here. we've had rain. these folks are trying to pull out of that little cut through here onto the outer loop. i'm concerned we're going to have another accident on the outer loop instead. so a little dicey situation here. it looks like we've got a police officer approaching there. so hopefully he's going to stop that from happening. again, a bad situation where you have hundreds of cars that are trapped between the two exits. again, 355 and old georgetown road. the accident being just prior to that 355 exit here. so it's going to be a real ugly rush hour for a lot of people.

we'll keep an eye on things, and hopefully they'll start trying to get some of this traffic that's trapped out of here sometime soon, but we're not there yet. back to you all in the studio. >> thank you, megan. >> a situation like that, just being patient is the most safest thing to do. also tracking this story is joe fox in the first 4 traffic center. he has more on ways to get around this. good morning, joe. >> good morning, aaron and angie. we are, as you can see looking at the inner loop of the beltway, in delay. the best way to get around this is to take 270 northbound. you're going to make a right on democracy boulevard. then a left on old georgetown. that will put you back onto 270 going towards i-495. that is sign towards i-495, and that will get you entirely around this accident. also look out for rubber necking delays and use caution, as megan showed you. one other thing we're can traing. there's a power problem at the brunswick east 870 at the brunswick station.

27 minutes late and counting. metro is cross-accepting tickets for the red line. maybe what contributed to that accident was wet roads. we had those overnight heavy downpours. everything is still wet. there's a live view from our hd 4 city camera. there's the washington monument. they don't have much in the way of rain, just lingering light showers. look at that patch of yellow and orange south of richmond. that's a cluster of heavy rain with thunder and lightning. that's advancing rapidly northeast. that may be moving into the northern neck and southern maryland here heading back a half hour or hour or so heading our way. into the metro area and into the mountains, just a few scattered showers. temperatures in the low 60s around the metro area. in the upper 60s right near the bay. parts of southern maryland, northern neck. forth south and west, we're in the 50s on this friday morning. good news today, hour by hour, we will be drying out. we will have our temperatures

rapidly climbing by noontime and sun breaking out near 70. hitting the mid-70s by midafternoon. so a nice afternoon coming up after a rather damp morning. you might need an umbrella for another couple of hours and a beautiful afternoon after that. we'll take a look. another hometown forecast, your friday evening forecast coming up in ten minutes. president obama's visit to george mason university along with another unrelated event nearby means that traffic jams in and around the campus are very possible today. starting at 10:00 a.m., vehicles larger than suvs will not be able to drive down old ox road. they'll have to turn down braddock or roberts road on the south side or main street on the north side. both the president and mitt romney put their bickering from tuesday's debate aside to share a few jokes with each other. the two shared the stage at the alfred e. smith memorial foundation dinner in new york city. it's a white tie event that raises money for needy children.

both candidates took jabs at each other while making fun of themselves. >> a campaign can require a lot of wardrobe changes. blue jeans in the morning perhaps, suit for a lunch fund-raiser, sport coat for dinner. but it's nice to finally relax and wear what ann and i wear around the house. >> we're getting to the time when folks are making up their minds. just the other day honey boo boo endorsed me. so that's a big relief. >> they are now just about 18 days before the general election. maryland voters could make history on election day. they could help maryland become the first state ever to approve same-sex marriage by a popular vote. voters favor upholding the state's same-sex marriage law by 9% according to a new "washington post" poll. the margin of error is 4%. voters have never signed off on the unions.

new controversial abortion regulations. the state's health commissioner announced today she's stepping down n a letter to the governor, karen langley says the new rules create an environment that compromises her ability to fulfill her duties. the new rules require clinics to meet the same construction standards as new hospitals. abortion rights advocates argue the move could force most current clinics out of business. you may want to watch what you say the next time you take a maryland transit administration bus. this week the mta installed audio recording devices on ten of its buses. there are plans to expand it to half of the fleet by next summer. the buses already have signs telling riders they're being recorded by video cameras. critics argue the audio recorder is an invasion of privacy, but mta officials say it will help in the event of an accident or incident on board a bus. 23 before the hour now. some alexandria residents are fighting to keep a historic landmark from becoming another condo complex. this small yellow building used

to be a school for black children during world war ii. it later served as an american legion post. now the owner is selling it. and some are worried possible redevelopment could hurt the historic charm of old town. >> one of the reasons we have a historic district here was to protect it from condominiums and developments because we know that we're very near both the king street and braddock road metro stations. >> 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. >> the greater alexandria redevelopment says, if the buyer is not found, the building could be torn down in february. today you could enjoy the white house gardens without having to brave the cold. all you have to do is follow the white house on facebook, twitter, or google-plus. followers can get a virtual tour of the rose garden, jacqueline kennedy garden, and also the south lawn. pretty cool. coming up on 5:39.

still ahead, the university closing campuses and just how many students might be impacted by that move. and the puppies credited with saving a boy who wandered off into the woods. [ 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.

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time for weather and traffic on the ones at 5:41. tom kierein's got your forecast. >> good morning. roadways around the region are still wet from the overnight showers we've had. let's go back over the last several hours. this is where we were last night right before midnight when it was coming down hard in many locations around the region. and then, since then, we've had just a few lingering light sprinkles around much of the area. a few passing light showers, might get one more moderate heavy downpour south and east of washington over the next couple of hours and will dry out. forecast, greenbelt, maryland, low 60s. then by noon near 70. may need an umbrella next couple of hours. by midafternoon, sunny and mid-70s, a delightful afternoon cupping up. a look at the rest of the week and weekend at 5:51. we have breaking news on the

inner loop of the beltway. you're looi you're looking at the inner loop between old georgetown and wisconsin avenue. we have two jackknifed tractor-trailers. the beltway is backed up to at least the 270 spur. you want it take the 270 north exit from the beltway coming up potomac. make a right on democracy boulevard and a left on old georgetown. that will take you back to 270 south, and that will get you around this accident. looking at 270 itself, just start to go see delays coming south from 109 in towards shady grove. and on the rails, the brunswick eastbound 870 train is now delayed 32 minutes. metro, the red line is cross-honoring marc tickets this morning. coming up, the big blunder by google that could shake up wall street today. anncr: seven-hundred-thousand jobs.

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melissa mollet at the live desk with breaking news. we now know six children and seven women were among those killed in afghanistan after a mini bus they were riding in was hit by a roadside bomb. it happened in the country's northern province. all 15 people were killed, 18 wounded. no one has claimed responsibility for the attack. at the live desk, melissa mollet, news 4. we're keeping a look at the beltway. traffic still isn't moving on the inner loop. two tractor-trailers crashed between old georgetown road and 355. the crash caused a fuel spill, which is complicated things. stay away from the inner loop of the beltway in that area, if you can. we'll bring you more information in just a few mips in the first 4 traffic report. >> 5:47. today we expect closing arguments in the trial of two prince george's county police officers accused of beating a

maryland university student. closing arguments were delayed yesterday. sources tell news 4 it was after revelations that the judge revealed she was married to someone once convicted of an earlier crime. the jury expected to begin deliberations at some point today. more than 100 are under arrest following a series of raids in fairfax and prince william counties. yesterday police announced results from a month's long undercover effort to seize drugs, weapons, money, and stolen property. police picked up 23 guns, dozens of pounds of drugs, and more than $500,000 in cash as well as stolen electronics, jewelry, and tools. in all, 101 people were arrested. this morning the boston common mall will reopen after a man threw a molotov cocktail into the food court. take a look at video you will see only on news 4. it shows arlington police taking that man into custody near the courthouse metro station.

his name has not been released at this point. this morning the fbi and atf agents say they're trying to figure out why he dropped that molotov cocktail from the third floor to the basement level food court yesterday afternoon and then ran away. we talked to some people who heard the crash. >> i was going down the escalator, and all of a sudden glass just splattered all over down the food court. >> about five minutes after that, i saw police and bomb sniffing dog. >> no one was hurt. police did evacuate the mall for more than five hours while they searched the building. they found three more bottles. the fbi does not believe he's connected to any terrorist organizations. >> the man accused of trying to bomb the federal reserve building in new york may have targeted maryland too. in july, quazi nafis talked to an undercover agent about attacking a military building in baltimore. nafis reportedly changed his mind because he wanted aid target that would cause more

devastation. nafis was arrested wednesday in manhattan of the his family in bangladesh insist he isn't a terrorist. police trying to find a man who secretly recorded two women in their own home. take a look at this video of that man setting up the camera. police believe this man dressed in uniform broke into the women's apartment back in june to set up the hidden camera. they say he returned several times to point the cameras toward the bedrooms and bathroom. police are not sure how he got into that apartment because there were no signs of forced entry. tomorrow more than 1,000 military members will pay tribute to women who died while serving. an event in arlington national cemetery will celebrate the 15th anniversary of a memorial honoring women in service. organizers say participants will also hold a candlelight march to the ceremony crossing the bridge to the memorial. track work means delays this weekend on metro's red, orange, and green lines.

on the red line, buses will replace trains between grovesnor and friendship heights. the bethesda and medical center stations will be closed. on the orange line, no trains between east and west falls church. and on the green line, trains will single track between greenbelt and college park. if you have a dog, you know sometimes they like to chew things to shreds, but one dog got into a little more than a shoe. how about a car? a woman in new mexico went outside this week only to see a stray dog had chewed up the front end of her toyota. the car is still drivable, but it's covered with teeth and claw marks. she thinks someone spilled something like slushy attracted the dog. the person owning the dog could face criminal charges. a 10-year-old alabama boy with down's syndrome wandered off while watching tv. when his family realized he was gone, there was a frantic search from the ground to the air. the family and the family's dog eventually found him in the woods because of who he was with, the dog's four puppies.

all right. the time right now is 5:51. time to get a check on the weather. >> all eyes turning toward the weekend. first we've got to get through this morning. we're still dealing with the aftermath of the heavy rain we had overnight. watch out for high water still lingering. standing water from the heavy downpours overnight. right now a lot of the rain has pretty much stopped. many of the roads are still wet. no doubt that contributed to the big accident on the beltway. we'll hear more about that coming up in a couple of minutes. right now getting heavy rain right around richmond with a little thunder and lightning. this cluster of heavy rain about to move toward the northern neck in another half hour or hour. and then after that, perhaps into southern maryland, passing just southeast of washington. otherwise, around the metro area, just a few scattered sprinkles in northern virginia, into maryland this morning, and farther west. we'll have these maybe off and on for another couple of hours and then dry out. we're low to mid-60s around the beltway, and washington and east of us right near the bay, upper 60s. inland away from the waters,

southern maryland and eastern shore, low 60s. farther west, we're in the 50s this morning. much of the shenandoah valley, panhandle of west virginia, and into the mountains of western maryland. and for your morning commute, the sunrise 7:22. still may be a passing light sprinkle. otherwise, cloudy and still holding steady in the low to mid-60s around the metro area. by noontime, sunshine breaking out for your lunch hour. we ought to be climbing to around 70 by then. hitting the mid-70s midafternoon. heading back home from work and school, we'll be having a clearing sky mid-70s. back down to near 70 by 6:00. by dawn tomorrow, we'll be getting chilly. for your friday evening, evening planner clear and school near 60 by midnight. tomorrow afternoon, partly cloudy, mid-60s. delightful week epd for outdoor activities. sunday chilly the in morning. afternoon high mid-60s. and a mild pattern as we get into next week and remaining dry. joe fox, how's that traffic? >> good morning. what we're looking at are a bunch of emergency lights on the inner loop of the beltway. all lanes are closed on the inner loop between old

georgetown road and wisconsin avenue. traffic has been stopped for the better part of this hour. best way around is 270 northbound right on democracy road, which will get you back to 270 on the belt the way. outer loop, we do not have any delays. you can barely see the accident as you come around the trees from wisconsin avenue. laurel 95 southbound is looking pretty good. here's the camera at 216. we're showing it just fine on the travel times. on the marc brunswick line, 35-minute delays. metro is cross-honoring tickets. metro and vre running just fine. the university of phoenix is making major changes that's expected to impact 13,000 of its students. the school system will shut down more than 100 of its campuses around the country and lay off 800 employees. students will be able to take classes if another is nearby or continue their classes online. a vast majority, 70% of phoenix

students, already do their course work on the web. 5:54 now. google will be a stock to watch this morning after a free fall on wall street. cnbc's shartia brantley live with that story and more. shartia, good morning. >> good morning, aaron. google was the talk of the town yesterday and not for exactly the most positive reason. the company's third quarter earnings report was accidentally released more than three hours early. google is blaming that on r.r. donnelly, a firm that publishes the country's first quarter results. on first blush, the numbers weren't great, and they were still bad when they were confirmed a few hours later. google's profit missed analysts' forecast. the sales of online ads were slowing. google is being hurt as more customers shift to mobile devices where it doesn't have as big a presence. google's stock price dropped 8%, wiping out about $22 billion in the company's market value. and on the housing front,

mortgage rates dip again, falling slightly in the past week to hover just above record lows. freddie mac says their average rate on a 30-year fixed loan is 3.37%. the 30-year has now been below 4% all year long. and the 15-year mortgage, which is often used to set refinancing rates, is also at a record low of 2.66%. the low rates come as we received improved data from the housing sector this week. reports showing new home construction is now at ia four-year high. >> shartia brantley at cnbc, thank you. have a good weeken >> you too. toys r us is getting into the holiday spirit a little early, at least when it comes to layaway santas or people who go to stores with layaway and pay with a stranger's gifts. the store has announce the any time a stranger pays off someone's layaway order, they'll donate $200 to the marine corps'

toys for tots program. toys 'r us will donate as much as $1 million. it's beginning to look a lot like christmas, at least in one dance studio. the world famous rockettes held their rehearsal to preview this year's radio city christmas spectacular. the dancers known for their height and precise high kicks have a huge anniversary to prepare for this season. it is their 85th year for the christmas spectacular. the production starts november 9th and runs through december 30th in new york city. this is one thing that is on my bucket list. >> to see them perform at radio city? >> not necessarily to see, but to dance with them. >> good luck with that. >> i'm not too graceful, though. i don't know how that would go over. >> 5:57. ahead at 6:25 this morning, a high school athlete's amazing accomplishment. you've got to see this video. and we are monitoring the breaking news on the beltway. the inner loop shut down. a fuel spill is make a mess of

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at 5:59, breaking news on the beltway. an absolute mess. for more than an hour now, the inner loop shut down because of a fuel spill. the backup stretching for