news 4's megan mcgrath live above the traffic now. megan, how's it looking? >> reporter: it is a real mess, aaron. we've got hundreds of vehicles that are stuck between the two exits here. 355 just up ahead there, exit 34. that's where the tractor-trailer accident is. there's a fuel spill associated with it. they've shut down all lanes at 355. the problem is you've got all of these folks that are between this exit and the o just before it, old georgetown road. and they can't go anywhere. we have guard rails all in between, along the median here, and so they are just trapped here. they've been sitting for about an hour or so at this point with absolutely nowhere to go. we're seeing a lot of folks actually exiting their vehicles. a lot of people are texting. other people are on the phone. some of these tractor-trailer drives here, we saw one who appears to be looking over his schedule forred too's deliveries, at least trying to get some good use of his time while he's just sitting here on

the highway. in terms of an estimate of when things will reopen, we don't have a good estimate for you. we can tell you emergency crews are here on the scene, trying to clean up the fuel spill. we have not yet scene a tow truck or any movement with respect to these tractor-trailers involved with the accident. so it is going to be some time before we can get some lanes open here. bottom line is the folks that are trapped, they're not going anywhere, not for a while, until they can open a shoulder or open a lane. they're just going to have to stay put and try to be as patient as possible. if you drive the inner loop, avoid the area entirely. it is an absolute mess this morning. back to you all in the studio. >> megan, thank you. that backup is now at least two miles long. >> joe fox is in for danella with a look at how to get around it all. hey, joe, i know you've been busy. >> good morning, angie and aaron. it has been busy this morning with the drizzle and the big delays on the inner loop. we're looking at the sirens and the emergency vehicles in this shot. the way you want to get around this accident is take the 270

northbound exit off the inner loop of the beltway. you're going to make a right on democracy boulevard. that's democracy boulevard east and then make a left on old georgetown. old georgetown will take you back to 270, sign for 495 south. that will get awe rouyou around accident. as megan showed you, you don't want to get stuck in this delay. 95 north minor delays at back lick road. at the occoquan, you're fine. at backlick road, it will back down. 18 minutes to get to the bridge. brunswick east 870 train, 35 minutes. metro cross-honoring. metro and vre running just fine. some loud thunder rolled in overnight wreaking havoc with our roadways. >> we've got clouds and drizzle in some places we're dealing with this morning. >> some dogs are still under the beds afraid to come out. that thunder was so loud. we had lightning bolts coming down. that was around midnight last night.

this is what it looked like right around midnight. we had clusters in the reds and yellows. those are the heavy downpours we had. as a result, we've got high standing water too in low areas. watch out for that. it has now rapidly improved. we still have a few scattered light showers now. these areas in green scattered across northern virginia and into maryland. still mostly cloudy. we have a few scattered showers on the eastern shore as well. forth to our west out in the mountains, a couple of bands of showers heading up into pennsylvania and tracking north. and farther south, heavy downpours right around richmond. if they hold together, they may move into the northern neck and southern maryland in about an hour. right now it's mild, low to mid-60s. reagan national at 64. it's mild near the bay waters, parts of the eastern shore. farther west, shenandoah valley and into the mountains, temperatures there right into the low 50s now. hour by hour today by 7:00 a.m., still the possibility of a few passing showers. by noontime, light breezes, sun coming out near 70.

a delightful afternoon with a bit of a blustery southwesterly wind, highs mid-70s midafternoon. i'm back in ten minutes with another update. angie? >> thank you, tom. we're following breaking news out of the middle east. at least we're hearing at least 13 soldiers have been killed on an attack on an army base i yemen. al qaeda militants attacked the base in the southern province of avion. moments later a group of militants attacked the base from the sea. at least 13 militants also died in that attack. in the race for the white house, president obama once again focusing efforts on virginia with a trip to george mason university today. the president's visit will create some congestion and some road closures, starting at 10:00 a.m. vehicles larger than suvs will not be allowed to drive down ox road route 123. a lot of detours for drivers to not be allowed to drive around that area.

>> mitt romney is taking his campaign to florida. he and running mate paul ryan will be in daytona beach. coincidentally, it's the start of biketoberfest, a four-day festival with rock music and harley davidsons. in iowa, the president has an eight-point lead over romney with 51% of likely voters. in wisconsin, he leads romney by six points. each of those polls are virtually unchanged from last month. five after the hour now. just 48 hours after they sparred in a debate at hofstra u university, president obama and mitt romney met again to trade jokes. they met at a white tie event that raises money for needy children. both mr. obama and mr. romney took jabs at each other, and they also made fun of their own debate faux pas. >> find the biggest available strawman and then just mercifully attack it.

big bird didn't even see it coming. and by the way, in the spirit of sesame street, the president's remarks tonight are brought to you by the letter "o" and the number 16 trillion. >> smf yome of you may have not i had a lot more energy in our second debate. i felt really well rested after the nice long nap i had in the first debate. >> there are now just 18 days before the general election. new this morning, police are searching for the 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 a judge will sentence one of the men behind one of the deadliest killing sprees in recent d.c. history. nathaniel sims admits to firing an assault rifle into a crowd of mourners who gathered at a funeral in march of 2010. that funeral was for a young man sims and his friends had killed

days earlier because one of his men thought he had stolen his fake gold bracelet. in all, five people were killed, eight others injured. prosecutors are recommending that sims get a 25-year prison sentence because his testimony helped them convict the other five men involved in the attacks. today we're expected to learn more about a deadly crash that killed a prince george's county police officer. as fellow officers honor the second colleague killed in just a few months. 28-year-old officer kevin bowden was off duty 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. >> you heard a loud crash, and it sounded like an explosion. then after that, you didn't hear anything. >> i feel for the family. i give the family my sympathies. i'm a family man myself, and this is just a tragic loss.

>> 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. and the time right now is 6:08. coming up, a high school kid did something no professional has ever done. his amazing accomplishment is still ahead. breaking news on the beltway. the inner loop shut down. [ obama ] i'm barack obama, and i approve this message.

[ female announcer ] seen this from mitt romney? then take a look at this. [ anderson cooper ] if roe v. wade was overturned, congress passed a federal ban on all abortions, and it came to your desk -- would you sign it? "yes" or "no"? let me say it -- i'd be delighted to sign that bill. [ female announcer ] banning all abortions? i'd be delighted to sign that bill. [ female announcer ] trying to mislead us? that's wrong. but ban all abortions? only...if you vote for him. ♪

this is pretty awesome to see. lava inside one of the most active volcanos. this is mt. kilauea on hawaii.

the lava rose within 100 feet of the volcano's vent. if this trend continues, the lava will eventually spill out. there's been no mention of an imminent eruption. >> pretty spectacular sight. we have a little activity here when we talk about the weather. let's check in with tom. >> good morning. roadways are still wet from overnight downpours. moderate to heavy rain stretching from fredericksburg just east of charlottesville. this is going to be moving just southeast of washington over the next half hour to hour. otherwise, a few scattered light sprinkle then. alexandria by 8:00 a.m., maybe a passing shower. by noontime, ought to be in the 60s with sunshine breaking out. ought to be the story hour by hour. reaching mid-70s by midafternoon with increasing sunshine clearing out tonight. a look at the next seven days in ten minutes. joe fox, how's the traffic now?

>> good morning. it's really rough out there. the inner loop of the beltway is closed at old georgetown road. once again, take 270 northbound, democracy, and old georgetown to get you back on the beltway. there's a fuel spill with two tractor-trailers. in montgomery county, route 28 closed at bower drive due to flooding. all lanes closed in both directions. aaron and angie, back to you. after the break, a good reason not to host thanksgiving dinner this year. >> i like that. also, decades of allegations revealed in secret files just released. the larming numbers from within the boy scouts.

if you're just tuning in, breaking news on the beltway. this say live picture from the inner loop, which is shut down. it's been that way for well over an hour. a tractor-trailer crash and a fuel leak in the road near old georgetown road. this say live picture. it doesn't really tell the story of just how bad it is right now. we'll have a complete update for you ahead with weather and traffic on the ones. meanwhile, more breaking

news. melissa mollet at the news 4 live desk. >> good morning. an update for you. six children killed overnight as a mini bus collided in afghanistan. 15 people dead overall. we have video of the 18 people who survived being treated at a nearby hospital. most of them in critical condition. they were all traveling to a wedding. this happened after a nighttime police patrol. no one has claimed responsibility. at the live desk, melissa mollet, news 4. >> thanks, melissa. los angeles police are looking into a dozen unsolved murder that happened near where some of the murders tied to charles manson happened. the investigation involved recorded conversations between manson and follower charles tex watson and his attorney more than 40 years ago. manson and his followers were convicted of killing eight people in a notorious plot to incite a race war. police did not specify which murders they were investigating. the boy scouts of america is

coming clean about allegations some of its leaders abused children for decades. the organization released thousands of documents detailing the abuse in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. the those files revealed that thousands of scout masters and volunteers nationwide were accused of molesting children. the document were evidence in a civil suit filed in oregon two years ago. >> the boy scouts knew they had an institution-wide problem with child abuse and didn't take steps. >> in the past, we didn't do the job we should, and we're sorry for that, profoundly sorry. >> boy scouts of america say the files actually protect the public from abuse because they make sure child predators can't become part of the organization. jerry sandusky wants a new trial. the former penn state football coach asking a judge to overturn his child sex abuse convictions. he claims his attorneys did not have enough time to prepare for trial. he also says the statute of limitations for some charges on

which he was convicted had expir expire expired. san dus which wdusky was accuse molesting 12 boys. a judge sentenced him to 30 to 60 years in prison. the food and drug administration says the fungus was in one lot of vials made by the new england compounding center. the massachusetts pharmacy is at the center of a national investigation involving meningitis. so far at least 20 people have died. two people have died in virginia, one in maryland. this morning at least 257 people in 15 states are sick. 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 sun land 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 it's recalling these uncrustables out of what they call an abundance of caution. getting stuffed this thanksgiving will leave you even lighter this year. your holiday feast will cost you about 15% more this year. turkey prices, they're up 20%. dairy products up 10%. apple prices shot up the most. they're up 30%. the new year won't bring any relief either. economists say the biggest food price increases will come next february. >> at least it will cost you a little less to drive to the supermarket. we're finally seeing a little relief at the gas pump now. the national average for a gallon of regular has fallen for the 11th straight day. overnight it fell 2 cents to $3.72 according to aaa. in d.c. it will cost you $3.85 on average to buy a gallon of regular. gas is almost 20 cents less in maryland, $3.67 a gallon right now.

even lower in virginia, averaging $3.55. it will cost you $3.82 on average to fill up your tank in west virginia. little bit of relief right there. >> absolutely. if you're planning on driving, there's major problems on the roads already. part of it attributed to some of the weather we're dealing with. >> let's see what we're dealing with now, tom. >> many of the roadways still wet from the overnight heavy downpours we had. there's still standing high water. this is what it looked like around midnight last night. those clusters of heavy downpours and thunder and lightning. things have improved dramatically since then. a cluster of heavy rain in fredericksburg moving into the northern neck and southern maryland over the next half hour to hour. right now low to mid-60s around the metro area. chilly off to our west where much of the rain is tapering off and ending. storm team 4 four-day forecast mid-70s. a delightful weekend to follow. and getting mild as we get into next week. joe fox, how's traffic now. >> and good morning. it is a tough morning on the

inner loop of the beltway. a double tractor-trailer accident, one of those with a fuel spill. inner loop of the beltway still closed approaching wisconsin avenue. you really want to take 270 northbound, use democracy and joeld georgetown to get back on the beltway. in the outer loop, some delays approaching colesville coming into connecticut avenue. 22-minute travel time on that. and one accident, eastbound route 50 at prosperity drive that is blocking two right lanes. aaron and angie, back to you. >> joe, thank you for that. we want to go on the phone now. we're trying to get a better idea of what exactly is happening on the inner loop. sergeant brian blubaugh it with us from the state police. what can you tell us about the scene on the inner loop right now. >> basically, we have two tractor-trailers. the first one at approximately 12:45 this morning had jackknifed onto the side of the road into the guard rail.

while that truck was attempting to be towed away, the guard rail had to be cut open to get the truck free. a second tractor-trailer then jackknifed about 100 yards behind that one, and the two trucks combined blocked the entire inner loop. and as the second truck was also trying to be towed, they discovered that there was a fuel leak from both trucks, and now the fuel tanks have to be pumped out before the trucks can be towed from the scene. >> this is going to be quite the process, sergeant. as we know, we've seen accidents like this before. last we checked, there was about a two-mile backup. any word on that, on how far it's backed up now? >> we don't know any further than the two miles we have backup now. we do have state highway that's responded out there. they're going to try to come up with some type of a detour, and we have trucks with sand to put down for the fuel that did spill on the roadway. >> sergeant, at this point,

you've got traffic that is not moving at all, people just sitting on the interstate, no way around any of this at this point or some way to reverse traffic? >> possibly we can detour some on georgetown, but that's going to create even more of a mess up in that area as well. >> so your advice to people who may typically drive through this area, just don't go there at all? >> that would be the best option for right now, yes. >> sergeant brian blubaugh with the maryland state police. sir, we appreciate your time. >> thank you. ♪

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6:31 is our time right now. we're on top of breaking news this morning on the inner loop at a standstill near old georgetown road. you're looking at a live picture now of traffic that hasn't moved for more than an hour. news 4's megan mcgrath live on the scene with the latest. megan? >> reporter: well, you can see the flashing lights there and the standstill traffic. an absolute mess here on the inner loop. we've got an accident involving two tractor-trailers just prior to 355. that had a fuel spill associated with it, and so they closed down all lanes of 355. so we have standstill traffic, folks who have been stuck in place for over an hour. they're actually stuck between the two exits, between 355 and

old georgetown road, and there simply just isn't anywhere for them to go. a lot of folks have actually exited their vehicles at this point. they're walking around. they're talking to one another. they certainly aren't moving anywhere this morning. and you can see the backup here live. we're told it goes for about two miles and that this is an accident that's going to take hours to clean up. we have seen a state trooper seeming to try and organize some of the traffic here. i don't know if they're trying to kind of do something, maybe open up a shoulder or something like that. they have not done that yet. there is some indication that they're trying to organize the folks that are trapped here a little bit. we'll, of course, keep an eye on it. if they do open up a shoulder or a lane, we'll let you know as soon as it happens. right now everything at a standstill. i can only imagine the frustration of the folks who have been stuck down there on that highway for over an hour. reporting live from the inner loop, megan mcgrath, news 4. >> looking at that picture, if

you haven't left yet, consider yourself lucky this morning. >> here's joe fox in for danella with a look at how to avoid this big mess. >> good morning, aaron and angie. as megan said, we have major delays on the beltway. we're looking live at the accident scene on the inner loop approaching wisconsin avenue. we also have more standard delays on the outer loop from colesville road to connecticut avenue. now into virginia, we have delays on 66 eastbound just slow and go from 234 into route 50, and you're going to be moving a lot better at chain bridge road. only 13 minutes from the fairfax county parkway to the beltway. aaron and angie, back to you. >> thank you, joe. we are waking up this morning to some slick roads out there, a lot of spray, some cloud cover we're dealing with. >> meteorologist tom kierein is out on the storm team 4 weather deck this morning. pretty warm to start too, tom. >> it is mild. it's in the 60s. very damp. in fact, all that heavy rain that came last night, none of it's evaporated.

the roadways, sidewalks still wet. that's a recipe for more fender benders. we have some heavy downpours right now just east of fredericksburg into the western part of the northern neck of virginia. that is heading out right into charles county, about to cross the river, that area of yellow and orange is where you get the heavy rain. that cluster of heavy rain is going to be passing just east of washington here in about another hour across southern maryland. all the areas in green are in the 60s. dark green 50s. the blue in the 40s. out of the mountains. 64 at reagan national. hour by hour, we'll be gradually drying out. by noontime, near 70. little sun breaking out. midafternoon partly cloudy, mid-70s, and clearing out by late afternoon. i'm back in ten minutes with a hometown forecast. back to you. >> tom, thank you. new this morning, reports that a man suspected of leading last month's deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in libya is in plain sight. ahmed abu katallah spent hours

in a luxury hotel in benghazi. he said he hasn't been questioned once about the attack which killed the u.s. ambassador to libya and three other americans. he says he doesn't have any plans to go into hiding either. he's the leader of a militant islamic group. the man accused of trying to bomb the federal reserve building in new york may have targeted maryland too. court documents show that in july quazi nafis talked to an undercover agent about attacking a military base near baltimore. nafis reportedly changed his mind because he wanted a target that would cause more devastation. nafis was arrested wednesday in manhattan. his family in bangladesh insist he is an a terrorist. the boston common mall will reopen after chaos in the food court. that is where a man is accused of throwing a molotov cocktail. here the man is being taken into custody near the courthouse metro station.

this morning atf agents are trying to figure out why he dropped a molotov cocktail from the third floor of the ballston mall to the food court yesterday afternoon and then ran away. we talked to some people who heard the commotion. >> i was going down the escalator, and all of a sudden flas just splattered all over down the food court. >> about five minutes after that, i saw police and a bomb-sniffing dog. >> nobody was hurt. police did evacuate the mall for more than five hours while they searched the building. they found three more bottle bombs. the fbi does not believe he's connected to any terrorist organizations. right now police in howard county are trying to find a man who secretly recorded two men in their own home. take a look at this video of the man setting up the camera. police believe this man dressed in a uniform and likely 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 towards the bedrooms and the bathroom. police aren't sure how he got

into the apartment because there were no signs of forced entry. >> breaking news just in. melissa mollet at the news 4 live desk. good morning. the pakistani girl shot in the head by the taliban last week has stood for the first time since the attack. this is according to doctors at birmingham's queen elizabeth hospital where the 15-year-old is being treated. she is still not able to talk. while there was some damage to her brain, doctors say there seem to be no long-term effects. she was on her way home from school when she was shot. she's a teen activist fighting for female rights. at the live desk, melissa mollet news 4. time right now is 6:37. breaking news this morning. for now about two hours, the inner loop of the beltway is shut down. [ obama ] i'm barack obama, and i approve this message. [ female announcer ] seen this from mitt romney? then take a look at this. [ anderson cooper ] if roe v. wade was overturned, congress passed a federal ban on all abortions,

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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. time for weather and traffic on the ones at 6:41 on this friday morning.

i'm storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein. we've had heavy downpours with thunder and lightning overnight. another cluster with heavy rain with thunder and lightning just east of fredericksburg. that's just about to cross the potomac and head into southern maryland and then into the eastern suburbs of washington over the next hour. hometown forecast, damascus, northern montgomery county by 8:30, maybe a passing shower and around 60 there. by the lunch hour, some sun breaking out into the mid-60s. elsewhere, hour by hour through the region. around 70 by noontime. hitting the mid-70s in the afternoon with increasing sunshine and a clearing sky by late afternoon. seven-day outlook, we'll look at the weekend and into next week in the next ten minutes. >> good morning. it is a tough morning on the montgomery county parkway. the scene you're look at is folks being diverted onto old georgetown road. you want to take 270 to democracy to old georgetown to get around that. also, we have an accident

blocking the two center lanes of connecticut avenue. use the right and left lanes to get around that. you're backed up to 95 extending your usual delays there. here's the scene at new hampshire avenue. not a pretty scene on the outer loop either. take you 42 minutes to get from 95 to 270. good morning, aaron and angie. >> thank you, joe. we want to go to the phone now. we've got casey maddox on the phone with us a i driver who is stuck in traffic on the inner loop now. casey, we know you were on your way to the airport. tell me where exactly you are on the inner loop and how long you've been there. >> i'm about a half mile away from old georgetown road and have been for a little over an hour and a half. >> are you headed to catch a flight? i assume that, if so, you're not going to be making it. >> yeah, i was supposed to be on a flight at 6:55 out of bw to charlotte. of course, u.s. airways is not particularly helpful >> i can only imagine. >> so yeah. >> what are you seeing around you as you're sitting there in traffic? are you literally at a standstill?

are you inching? what's going on? >> i'm at a total standstill. occasionally, you'll see cars move a little bit, but i think that's -- i'm not even sure anyone is moving at all. i keep hearing that they're diverting traffic onto old georgetown road, but i don't see any evidence of that if it's happening because no one seems to be moving at all. >> this has to be such a frustrating situation for you. we can't even imagine. our megan mcgrath has been there all morning long staying on top of the story. she said that people were actually getting out of their cars, and there's reports of people trying to do cut-throughs and make their way onto the outer loop. have you seen anything like that? >> well, people certainly pulling off onto the sides and that sort of thing. i'm seeing a lot of that. i'll say this. if you were someone with a doughnut and coffee truck, you could make a killing walking up and down the aisles right now. >> casey maddox, gosh, i guess you packed your patience this morning. we feel for you. thank you for sharing your story, your experience there at the beltway. meanwhile, inner loop still

remains shut down near old georgetown. >> 6:43 is our time right now. some track work to tell you about that will mean delays this weekend on metro's red, orange, and green lines. on the red line, buses replacing 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. on the green line, trains will single track between greenbelt and college park. those delays could cause major headaches if you're running in this weekend's army ten-miler. that race starts sunday morning near the pentagon. more than 30,000 runners will be raceing in this year's event. this is the 28th year the army ten-miler will be run. this morning president obama is maintaining a solid lead in two swing states. the latest nbc news/"the wall street journal"/marist polls show him with a lead over mitt romney. in wisconsin, mr. obama has a

six-point lead. both leads are virtually unchanged from last month. they also showed 95% of voters in both states had made up their minds before the most recent debate. today president obama will focus his efforts in virginia, another crucial battleground state. he'll be visiting george mason university for the second time in two weeks. with that visit, you could expect congestion in and around the campus, and starting at 10:00 in the morning, no vehicles larger than suvs will be able to pass through the campus on ox road and route 123. there will be detours with drivers to get around that area. mitt romney's campaign will also have a presence in the commonwealth. today new jersey goff nvernor c christie will attend a romney rally in richmond. mitt romney himself will be in florida tonight. he's holding a rally in daytona beach along with his running mate paul ryan. their visit coincides with the start of biketoberfest, a four-day festival with rock music, beer, and harley

davidsons. >> both president obama and mitt romney took a break from the campaign trail to share dinner and jokes. the two spoke at the alfred e. smith memorial foundation dinner in new york. the event raises money for needy kids. romney and obama took jabs at each other while also poking a little fun at themselves. >> and i've already seen early reports from tonight's dinner. headline, obama embraced by cath lic catholics. romney dines with rich people. >> tonight is not about the disagreements governor romney and i may have. it's what we have in common, beginning with our unusual names. actually, mitt is his middle name. i wish i could use my middle name. >> there are now just 18 days before the general election. the senate race getting more heated as we near election day.

democratic candidate tim kaine and republican candidate george allen squared off. virginia could lose thousands of defense jobs if congress can't reach a deal on reducing the deficit by the end of this year. >> i have a son who has just started a career in the military. i'm not going to do things that will hurt the troops or hurt defense. >> we have 200,000 jobs at risk here in virginia, and they shouldn't be used as a political bargaining tool to raise taxes on job creating small business owners. >> right now tim kaine holds a slight lead over george allen in most polls. more fallout from virginia's controversial new abortion clinic regulations. the state's health commissioner announced today she is stepping do down. in a letter to the governor, karen ramally said the new rules created an environment that compromises her ability to do her duties. it requires states to meet the same construction standards as hospitals. abortion rights activists warn

the move could force most clinics out of business. 6:47 is our time. another legal victory for same-sex marriage advocates. a federal appeals court in new york ruled the defense of marriage act is unconstitutional. the act, which was passed in 1996, denies federal benefits to married same-sex couples. it also says states don't have to recognize the unions. the supreme court expected to take up this issue eventually. today we're expected to learn more about a deadly crash that killed a prince george's county police officer, as fellow officers honor the second colleague killed in just a few months. 28-year-old officer kerch bvin n 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 accident sent his car into a utility pole. witnesses don't believe bowden is at fault for this accident. >> we have witnesses saying the officer was cut off, but we're not at a point yet to say that's what caused the accident.

certainly, we're looking into that. >> you hairedeard a loud crash, it sounded like an explosion. then after that are you didn't hear anything. >> 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. bowden is the second officer from prince george's county to die in a crash in recent months. back in august, officer adrian morris was killed during a chase on i-95 in beltsville. the two suspects in that chase were later arrested. we expect closing arguments today in the trial of two prince george's county police officers accused of beating a university of maryland student. closing arguments were delayed yesterday. sources tell news 4 it was after revelations the judge was once married to a police officer convicted of a similar crime. the officers in this trial are accused of beating john mckenna after a maryland-duke basketball game in 2010. the jury expected to begin deliberations at some point today. new this morning, police are

searching for the 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 a robbery. he was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive. today a judge will sentence one of the men behind one of the deadliest killing sprees in recent d.c. history. nathaniel sims admits to 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 recommending sims get a 25-year prison sentence because his testimony helped them convict the other five men involved in the attack. google is hoping for a friday rebound. the company stock took a big hit partly due to human error. cnbc's jackie deangelis explains. good morning, jackie.

>> good morning, angie. google certainly was the talk of the town yesterday, and not for the most positive reason. now, the company's third quarter earnings report was accidentally released more than three hours early. google is blaming that on r.r. donnalley, a firm that publishes the company's financial results. on first blush, the numbers weren't great, and they were still bad when they were confirmed a few hours later. google's profits missed analysts' forecasts as sales of online ads are slowing. customers are being shifted to mobile devices w it doesn't have as big of a presence. also, motorola, which google acquired in recent months, is weighing on the result. google's stock dropping 8% yesterday, wiping out about $22 billion of the company's market value. angie? >> jackie deangelis, thanks. >> time fnow for weather and traffic op the ones. tom's here. how are we doing on the rain? >> lellingts think about the weekend instead.

still some lingering rain this morning. one last batch of moderate to heavy rain, going back to storm team 4 radar now. that area where you see the moving yellow and orange, flashes of lightning in that. now in the northern neck of virginia, crossing the potomac and coming into charles county. expect charles county and into prince george's county, over the next half hour, heavy rain, thunder and lightning. no severe weather, but enough certainly to cause delays to the morning commute. farther west and north, a few scattered light showers. right now mild. low to mid-60s in the metro area. upper 60s year the bay. farther west, shenandoah valley in the mountains of western maryland and into wrf. it's chilly this morning. locations near 50 degrees. for the morning commute, have an umbrella handy through 7:00, 8:00 this morning in the 60s. by the noon hour, we'll be up around 70 degrees and partly sunny, sunshine coming out. then heading back home from work and school, we'll have increasing sunshine.

and temperatures mid-70s midafternoon dropping back down to near 70 by 6:00. overnight tonight the evening planner for this friday evening should be clear and cool, near 60 by midnight. by dawn tomorrow in the 40s. partly cloudy saturday. highs reaching mid-60s. a delightfully cool autumn day sunday with lots of sunshine. and getting drier with mild weather monday into next week. breaking news on the inner loop of the beltway. shut down now for more than two hours. news 4's megan mcgrath there live. megan, any movement at all yet? >> reporter: a frustrating morning for folks who have been stuck on this highway for over two hours. the good news here, we are seeing some movement a little bit in terms of the clean-up. we've got a tow truck that is here on the scene. it looks like they're efforting getting one of these tractor-trailers out of the area. although, even when they do pull the trucks out, we have a fuel spill they're going to need to contend with. that's why all of the lanes are shut down here. we're talking about the inner loop of the beltway just at the

355 exit, just prior to it. they closed down all lanes of traffic. so there are a lot of folks, i would say hundreds of cars, hundreds of vehicles that are stuck in between the 355 exit and the old georgetown road exit. you can see there a loin of headlights, the line of traffic here. these folks are just been sitting here on the highway. some of them have gotten out of their cars. they're texting. they're walking up and down the road. some of them are gathering in groups talking to one another. it's a real mess out here on the inner loop here this morning. if you normally take this way, just avoid it this morning. we've been told by police it's going to take hours for them to completely clear this accident. now, hopefully, they'll get at least a shoulder or a lane open prior to that to start moving some of this trapped traffic out of here. we have not seen any such movement as of yet. we're still waiting to see some indications they may be headed in that direction. right now we do have that tow truck on the scene. it looks like they're trying to

take care of those trucks. the best advice to folks is just to avoid the inner loop and this area all together. we're seeing residual backups for miles here. definitely not the way you're going to want to go this morning. we talked to someone who's stuck in the traffic. we heard from them a little while ago. they're in the process of missing a flight out of bwi this morning because of this traffic jam. just a real mess. a lot of frustration down here on the highway. we'll continue to follow it for you. reporting live from the inner loop, megan mcgrath, news 4. aaron, back to you. >> megan, thank you. let's go to joe fox in for d danella with a look at the workaround. take the 270 northbound exit and right on democracy with a left on old georgetown to get back to 270 south. let's take a look at the incident. we'll be looking at very strong delays on the inner loop. there we go. as megan said, we're looking at significant closures as we continue.

>> joe, thank you. and that is "news 4 today." thank you for starting your day with us. >> and the "today" show is next. we're going to be back in 25 minutes with the very latest on that breaking news on beltway. [ mitt romney ] look at the evidence of the last four years. 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.