i have more fun. i'm probably funnier on her show than anybody's show. >> i'm fat. >> and you can watch last night's show at the kennedy center on october 30th on pbs. congratulations to ellen. love her. she is truly funny. >> that show's going to be funny. a lot of funny people out there. >> she makes people laugh without being offensive. kind of true, clean humor. exactly. >> stay with us. "news 4 today" continues right now at 5:00 a.m. i want to make sure we have the ships required by our navy. our air force is older and smaller than since any time it was founded in 1947. >> you mention the navy, for example. we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. governor, we also have fewer

horses and bayonettes. good morning. welcome to news 4. >> we're going to take a live look outside at 5:00 a.m., 60 degrees out there. pretty balmy for this time of year. looks like nice weather. >> we were promised a warmup, and we got it. >> it did get into the low 70s yesterday. today even warmer, if you can stand it. going to be a good 10, 11 degrees above the average high by this afternoon. this morning dress for chilly weather. just a few clouds drifting through now. and temperatures are in the 40s in the nearby suburbs and much of northern virginia, parts of maryland. prince george's generally mid-40s there now. and in the district of columbia and by the bay. in the mountains, generally in the 40s. storm team 4 hour by hour forecast at 6:00 a.m., still a chill in the air. mild by lunch hour.

noontime temperatures hitting upper 70s by midafternoon. by late afternoon, back down to low 70s. few clouds in and out. sunrise 7:26. sunset 6:18. i'll return with a hometown forecast in ten minutes. danella, here now with first 4 traffic. good morning. >> good morning. thanks, tom. kicking off this report with a look at the rails. if you're jumping on the rails now, nice and clear. no reported delays among the metro, marc, or vre, all running on our close to schedule. on the roadways in virginia from prince william parkway. as you make your way northbound or southbound, travel lanes are open. here's a live look as you make your way past the interchange. no issues to report. >> 5:02 now. president obama and mitt romney both claiming victory in their third and final debate. the candidates focused on foreign policy. they went back and forth on several issues, including iran, afghanistan, and iraq. the conversation got particularly heated when romney suggested the president made us weaker by going on a so-called

apology tour of the middle east shortly after taking office. >> the president began what i've called an apology tour of going to various nations in the middle east and criticizing america. i think they looked at that and saw weakness. then when there were dissidents in the streets of tehran, a green revolution, holding signs saying, is america with us? the president was silent. >> nothing governor romney just said is true. starting with this notion of me apologizing. this has been probably the biggest whopper that's been told during the course of this campaign. and every fact checker and every reporter has looked at it, governor, and said this is not true. >> romney also criticized the president for not going to israel on his first trip to the middle east. the impact on twitter right now, horses and bayonettes is trending, and that's in reference to an exchange over the size of the u.s. navy. >> the navy is smaller than any time since 1917.

the navy needed 370 ships to carry out their mission, and we're down to 285. >> governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonettes because the nature of our military has changed. we have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. we have these ships that go under water, nuclear submarines. and so the question is not a game of battleship where we're counting ships, it's what are our capabilities? >> and these are some of the pictures that popped up on twitter hours after the debate. a mock romney-ryan campaign poster. also a drawing of the president and romney playing a game of battleship. >> the candidates return to the campaign trail today. president obama will speak to supporters in delray beach, florida. he'll then fly to ohio and campaign with vice president biden. mitt romney will also campaign with his running mate. he and paul ryan will be out west in nevada and colorado.

ryan has been in colorado for the last several days. here in virginia, governor bob mcdonnell will try to help george allen pick up votes. they'll visit hampton roads next thursday. this is the first time mcdonnell has campaigned for allen since june. he has hosted fund-raisers for the senate candidate before. today the 12-year-old boy accused in the beating death of a 2-year-old foster child will be in court. prosecutors say the fort washington boy entered an alford plea to involuntary manslaughter. it does not admit guilty but concedes there is enough evidence to convict. since the boy is a juvenile, his name has not been released. police say he beat anaya bachelor while a 15-year-old and 4-year-old were also in the home back in july. an autopsy confirmed the child died of blunt force trauma. police are stepping up patrols in bethesda after a woman was sexually assaulted. the attack happened at 7:00 on sunday night at the capital

crescent trail near brookaway drive. the woman was knocked unconscious and dragged into the woods. she woke up with a serious head injury and found her way to the trail. another jogger helped the woman find her way to a house to call 911. news 4 spoke exclusively with that homeowner. >> so shocking to me. this is the first time that something like that happened just 100 yards from here. >> the victim is in serious but stable condition. police are not releasing any details about the attacker at this time. >> 5:06 now. three new crew members are preparing to make their way to the international space station. here's a look at the launch operations in as kazakhstan. one american and two others. they'll join two crew members already on board, including one american. the new members will stay in space until march. a new piece of history will join the smithsonian air and space museum today.

a flight suit worn by a pilot that photographed sites during the cuban missile crisis will be donated today. pictures by ecker were taken to prove to the u.n. that cuba was stock piling weapons. be careful about the predictions you make. why several scientists in italy are now facing prison time. also ahead, what you can expect today when apple unveils its newest must have gadget. 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.

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"and what do you do?" "oh, i sell insurance like no one else." "oh, that's nice." "thank you." now, that's progressive. call or click today. there are no formula one cars at this grand prix. souped up lawn mowers got together. rainy weather made for muddy and rather green conditions, but it didn't dampen the competition or the popularity of the sport. many of the lawn mowers cost more than the average use car.

>> that's how to mow the lawn with a helmet. if you've got a helmet on, you are doing some bad lawn mowing. >> maybe you can bring them over to this side of the pond and get some lawns mowed. >> it's a great day to be outdoors whatever you're going to be doing today. we're in for unusually warm temperatures. >> love it. time for weather and traffic on the ones. meteorologist tom kierein telling us about the nice warmup. >> lawn mowing season coming to an end. now leaf blowing season ends. we have a lot of leaves beginning to come down. we still have peak color around the metro area. chill in the area. not as cold as yesterday. much of the suburbs and rural areas in the mid and upper 40s. same out of the mountains. low to mid-40s in washington and out of the bay. montgomery county, by 7:00 a.m., near 50 and partly cloudy. by the lunch hour near 70 and partly cloudy there. hour by hour for the whole region today, we should be reaching upper 70s by midafternoon.

a delightful day coming up and partly cloudy. back with the seven-day outlook in ten minutes. danella here now with the first 4 traffic. good morning. >> good morning. thanks, tom. if you're traveling along i-95 in maryland, also 295 in maryland, bw parkway nice and clear between the baltimore beltway and the capitol beltway, really in both directions. not seeing any road work to tell you about. as you travel 301, clear here. a live look on maryland 5 at 301, northbound clear. southbound as well. ssueno i to report. i'm back in ten. richard and eun, over to you. >> danella, thanks. the mistake a group of scientists made that's landing them behind bars. anncr: seven-hundred-thousand jobs.

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welcome back at 5:15. this morning we're seeing new video of a deadly car bombing in lebanon's capital that killed one of the country's top security members. this is security video from near the scene. it shows the manager being sprayed by a wall of glass from the force of the blast. eight people were killed in the bombing. the death of that security member has sparked violent clashes in the capital of beirut and may be evidence that the conflict in syria is spilling into neighboring countries. breaking news. iraqi police say separate attacks killed 8 people and wounded 24 others. the attacks happened in the shiite neighborhoods of baghdad this morning. a police officer says three parked cars exploded at the same time in three separate areas killing six people. and mortar fire killed two people in the iraqi capital. this morning firefighters in taiwan are trying to figure out what sparked the flames at a nursing home there. 12 people were killed and

another 70 were injured. the 12 victims died of smoke inhalation. the nursing home is on the second floor of a hospital. it took crews about 40 minutes to put the flames out. the hospital and nursing home are run by the health ministry. this morning we're hearing from a woman who survived the deadly shooting at a wisconsin spat. radcliffe haughton shot and killed his estranged wife xena haughton before turning the gun on himself. haughton had a restraining order against her husband. on thursday, he was ordered to turn in any firearms he owned. two days later he bought the gun used in the attack. a witness says it sounded like he kept firing until he ran out of bullets. >> he was facing me. we were about five feet away. i just held my breath and pretended i was dead. >> she says she's surprised she didn't get hurt with all the glass and debris flying everywhere. four other women injured in the shooting. three remain in the hospital. the murder of a pregnant

mother in new york city. vindalee smith's killer left a note referencing d.c. area sniper lee malvo at the killing. she was stabbed to death the day before she was to be married. the killer left a note warning that he or she would kill other pregnant women unless malvo is released from prison. police don't think malvo had anything to do with the murder. they believe the note is to distract investigators. several scientists will spend three years in prison for failing to warn people about an earthquake that killed 300 people in italy. the 6.2 earthquake hit in 2009. among those convicted were the most prominent seismologts and geologists. members of the scientific community have called the trial ridiculous, saying there's no reliable way to predict earthquakes. a scene from a recent episode of show time's award winning series "homeland" is sparking controversy. a scene titled beirut is back shows militia men and snipers

swarming on a popular street. they say the street is actually a lively neighborhood packed with book shops and pubs. they say it was not filmed lebanon. it was filmed in israel, two countries that notoriously do not get along. now lebanon's tourism minister is so upset about the portrayal of beirut he says he's considering suing the show. makers of the show are not commenting. apple is expected to unveil their highly anticipated ipad mini today. the smaller version of its popular ipad is expected to have an eight-inch screen and use a new dot connector unveiled on the iphone 5. the price is still unknown, but estimates range from $250 to more than $300. it's meant to cut into the rising number of small tablets from competitors. >> it makes total sense. it's like what they did with the ipod. they need to extend their lines to keep milking the market. >> the announcement is scheduled for 1:00 this afternoon.

not to be outdone, microsoft is releasing its new tablet called surface this week. it's a funnel cloud spotted in northern california. people living near sacramento are cleaning up from wild weather. the national weather service confirms at least five tornadoes touched down last night. strong winds damaged roofs, uprooted trees, and knocked over a tractor trailer. so far there are no reports of any injuries. and news 4's tony tull is at the live desk with breaking news. tony, good morning to you. >> good morning. a tropical storm warning has been issued for jamaica as tropical storm sandy nears and is expected to grow. as of now, the max sustained winds are 45 miles per hour. the u.s. national hurricane center says it expects sandy to become a hurricane in jamaica by wednesday. so we're going to continue to keep an eye on this. at the live desk, tony tull, news 4. >> tony, thank you. >> time is 5:21. time for a check of weather and traffic on the ones. >> storm team meteorologist tom kierein with more on this balmy

weather we're having. i like this weather. we've got the peak autumn color around the metro area. absolutely gorgeous. and not as cold this morning. much of the area, we're in the 40s. most of northern virginia and most of maryland, except right near the bay waters and tidal potomac, in the 50s. most locations mid and upper 40s as well as out of the mountains. just a few clouds drifting through from the west. storm team 4 four-day forecast, delightful afternoon, enjoy. we should be climbing into the upper 70s by midafternoon and a light wind and partly cloudy. average high this time of year is 66. we'll be way above that today. and again tomorrow. in fact, near 80 degrees on wednesday. the record high is 84, set back in 2001 for the day. that's at reagan national. it will be partly sunny and up around 80 tomorrow. cooler weather moves in on thursday and friday with an east wind. near 60 in the morning, clouds in and out, and highs near 70 during both of those afternoons.

seven-day outlook into the weekend, saturday, sunday, and monday, quite a bit of cloudiness around and cooler weather moving in as well. saturday 60s to near 70 in the afternoon. then partly cloudy to mostly cloudy at times sunday and monday. both days, just a slight chance of a shower, mainly out of the mountains but much cooler. highs only around 60. and morning lows by monday morning in the 40s. cooler weather looks like it's moving in next week. we'll keep an eye on that for you. big change coming our way after this mild pattern this week. i'm back in ten minutes. danella here with first 4 traffic. good morning. >> good morning. thanks, tom. checking the roadways along the dulles toll road if this is your commute in both directions, east and westbound. from reston to the beltway, nice and clear. travel lanes are open. not seeing any accidents reported on the roads. and connecting to the beltway from the dulles toll road all the way to the interchange, earlier had road work on the outer loop of the beltway near

braddock, also another work zone at georgetown pike. that's now clear. travel lanes nice and open and no reports of accidents right now. over to the rails, still checking them. right now all are running on our close to schedule. i'm back in ten minutes. eun, over to you. >> danella, thanks so much. 5:23 now. a new study says most women can wait three to five years between checks for cervical cancer. according to college of obstetricians and gynecologists says women between 21 to 29 whose pap smears show no signs of trouble should get tested every three years. and women ages 30 to 65 should check every five years. children who eat organic fruits and vegetables lower their exposure to pesticides. a study by the american academy of pediatrics says there are indications that pesticide

exposure can affect development. >> you see small changes in the equivalent of iq by five points. five points for most of us isn't very important, but for a whole population, it is. when you start adding it to other toxins in the environment, each one contributes and adds up. >> just last month, research erds at stanford university found no significant difference between conventional foods and organic foods as far as nutrition and safety. cheering injuries are up, and now doctors are pushing for new guidelines to make it safer. with jumps, flips, and falls it's becoming a dangerous activity. they want to designate cheerleading a sport, which means they must have presaeds on physicals, access to better coaches, and better medical care. last year there were 3,000 emergency room visits from cheerleading injuries. chris cooley is back at redskins park. he was re-signed to replace fred

davis, who injured his achilles in sunday's loss to the giants. chris cooley was waiting for head coach mike shanahan to call him when he saw davis go down. >> i sat and waited for the call, and i thought, i hope they call. it was like ninth grade or eighth grade basketball. am i going to make the team call? i'm laying there like come on. just give me a call. tell me i can come wak. >> and we're glad he did call. cooley got that call sunday night. he was at redskins park yesterday morning. he could play this sunday against the steelers. >> former washington wizards star gilbert arenas is joining a new team in china. the three-time all star formerly known as agent zero in d.c. is close to signing a contract with the huangdong southern tigers. the move likely means that his nba career is over. you can call them the comeback kids.

the san francisco giants are headed to the world series after rooting the st. louis cardinals in game seven 9-0. the giants had to win three straight games in both the conference and division series to keep their season alive, tying a record for the most must win games. they move on to face the detroit tigers for the championship. game one is tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. >> i know it's would have, could have, should have, but i know the nationals could have beat the giants, and we would have been in the world series. >> that's what a true nats fan would say. it is now 5:26. coming up, putting foreign policy in the spotlight as president obama and mitt romney square off in their final debate. plus the unexpected delivery made along the side of the beltway. ike leggett: gaming generated one hundred and eighty...

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looking at the stories making headlines at 5:29, president obama and mitt romney are both claiming victory after the two squared off on foreign policy. a 12-year-old boy accused in the beating death of a 2-year-old foster child will be in court today. and two crew members are preparing to make their way to

the international space station. we'll have those stories throughout the morning. first, good morning to you. i'm eun yang. >> and i'm richard jordan in for aaron gilchrist. it's tuesday, october 23rd, but the temperatures sure aren't feeling like it's late october around here. we have a warmup, and it looks like temperatures are only going up from here. >> looks good, tom. >> this is the time of year we get big contrasts between the morning and afternoon, so you have to dress for two seasons. it's rather chilly now. storm team 4 current temperatures, all those areas in blue are in the 40s. that covers much of virginia, much of maryland and the eastern shore. the little patches of green, that's where we're in the low 50s. right at reagan national on the warmer waters of the potomac, it's at 54. right around the chesapeake bay, temperatures there generally low to mid-50s. farther west in the mountains in western maryland, much of eastern west virginia, mid-40s, as is much of the shenandoah valley, except around winchester and the low 50s. here's the view from space. a few clouds drifting over from

a little disturbance. scattered clouds will stay to our north. just a few clouds from our system. storm team 4 hour by hour. by 7:00 a.m., still a chill in the air. for your lunch hour, delightful, into the low 70s, with a light breeze and partly cloudy, and a mild afternoon. we should climb into the upper 70s by midafternoon. late afternoon, getting back home from work and school, back down to the low 70s. sunset at 6:18. back with the hometown forecast in ten minutes. first 4 traffic with danella. >> good morning and thanks, tom. still in our area pretty quiet. i know things are going to heat up soon but not yet. if you're about to head out of the house, nice and clear. 66, your travel lanes are open in both directions. here's a look at sudley, not bad at all. clear to the beltway. inside the beltway on 66, nice and clear as well. a live look at glebe as you make your way east and westbound. traffic getting by without any issues at all.

no accidents to report in this area as well. still no reported delays along the metro, marc, or vre all running on or close to schedule. >> danella, thanks so much. 5:31. we are now in the homestretch of this election. voters head to the polls two weeks from today. president obama and mitt romney are kicking off the final push in battleground states. the president will begin the day before heading to ohio. he'll many campaign with vice president biden in dayton. romney will join paul ryan in colorado. the republican presidential candidate and vice presidential nominees will visit today. this comes less than 24 hours after the candidate's third and final debate. the focus was foreign policy and included the most heated moments of the debate season. tracie potts joins us live with more. >> reporter: cbs and cnn both giving this debate to president obama, one by 30 percentage points, the other by 8.

interestingly, in that cnn poll, a number of people, 60%, do think that mitt romney, even if he didn't win this debate, could be commander in chief. it seems the strategy last night for president obama was to try to paint governor romney as a lightweight. he criticized him, saying that all of his opinions have been wrong, that he'd been all over the map. the governor said a number of times that attacking me is not an agenda. interestingly, though, there were a number of areas where there was not a lot of disagreement. on syria, they both agree no military, no u.s. military intervention there. on afghanistan, it's one area where they disagreed a bit, but they both agreed we need to pull out by 2014. here's more on their thoughts on the war on afghanistan. >> i congratulate him on taking out osama bin laden and going after the leadership in al qaeda, but we can't kill our way out of this mess. we're going to have to put in place a very comprehensive and

robust strategy to help the world of islam and other parts of the world reject this radical, violent extremism. >> give the president a chance. >> governor romney, i'm glad you recognize that al qaeda's a threat because a few months ago when you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing america, you said russia. not al qaeda, you said russia. call the 1980s and ask for their foreign policy back because the cold war's been over for 20 years. >> reporter: they've got a pretty aggressive agenda going forward, hitting a lot of those swing states. governor romney today in colorado and nevada out west. the president is going to try to hit five different states over the next two days. eun? >> tracie potts live on capitol hill for us this morning. tracie, thank you. virginia will see plenty of campaign stops in the next two weeks starting thursday. president obama will return to the commonwealth with a rally in richmond. he appeared at george mason university in fairfax on friday. paul romney will be in virginia too. he'll be campaigning in bristol.

it won't be a candidate but a rock star campaigning in virginia today. ♪ bruce springsteen will perform at a rally for president obama this afternoon in charlottesville. the event is free. tickets are available through the obama campaign office in charlottesville. springsteen already had a concert scheduled for tonight at john paul jones arena on the uva campus. religious leaders will hold a rally supporting maryland's dream act. visitors are set to rally at the southern seventh day adventist church. they're urging people to vote that would allow illegal immigrants to receive college in state tuition if their parents paid tax ds. the district pulled in more

than $178 million in traffic fines in the 2012 fiscal year, and more than half, $23 million, came from parking and moving violations handed out by actual officers. revenue is still on the rise from speed cameras, up to $85 million. a man was forced to help his wife deliver their babe yoy on side of the beltway. stacy ann bryson was due to be induced, but baby aaron had other plans. she started having contractions, and the whole family jumped in the car and headed to holy cross hospital. they got stuck in traffic on the beltway, forcing dad to call 911. with the right instructions, baby aaron mason was born a healthy 7 pounds, 6 ounces. his brother even helped with the delivery. >> is he's crying. he's breathing. he's breathing. >> gently wipe off his mouth and nose and dry him off with a clean towel. you want to tie the shoe lace around the umbilical cord.

>> i was really tugging on my shoestring. >> good job, big brother. the brysons are doing well. they're now trying to figure out what nickname to give aaron, beltway perhaps, 95, shoestring. a whole bunch of ones. >> we could put up a poll on our website and see what people think. hopefully, they had a car seat ready to go. >> very cute. and happy ending too. congrats. >> the time is 5:37. questioning the safety of energy drinks. the local case that is landing one drink maker in court.

beep-bop-boop-bop boop-beep. [monotone] she says, "switch to progressive and you could save hundreds." call or click today. today facebook will release their earnings for the latest quarter. the network hit a major milestone during that time, reaching 1 billion users. the company's stock has struggled since making its initial public offering in may. after opening at $38 a share, it is now trading at half that value, around $19. >> just about 5:41. time for weather and traffic on the ones. >> let's check in with meteorologist tom kierein. live view of capitol hill

from our hd 4 city camera this tuesday morning. just a few clouds floating through, dry pavement. hometown forecast, oakton, fairfax county, by 7:30 upper 40s. quite a chill in the air. around the entire region, mostly in the 40s. soaring to 70 in the afternoon hours in oakton and much of fairfax county. hour by hour for the whole region today, here's the forecast. afternoon highs should soar into the upper 70s. delightful. average high this time of year 66. a look at the rest of the week into the weekend. storm team 4 outlook in ten minutes. tom, here's the situation. i-95 southbound at 234. have a disabled vehicle there. luckily just in the shoulder lane. delays northbound. starting to hit the brakes at 610 as you travel northbound to triangle. over in college park, nice and clear. you are picking up volume but no accidents.

>> thank you so much, danella. 5:41 now. was it unnecessary work? the changes made during a high profile construction project that has people in one community upset. 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.

now 5:45. a popular energy drink company monster is facing a lawsuit from a maryland family over the death of their daughter. 14-year-old anais fournier died after drinking two monster energy drinks in a 24-hour period. her cause of death, caffeine toxicity. since anais' family has found reports of four other deaths linked to monster energy drinks. >> they need to be regulated. they regulate ice. they regulate band-aids. we need to get word out so it doesn't happen to anybody else. >> energy drinks are not

regulated because they are not considered a food. monster insists they are unaware of any death linked to its drinks. talk of a soda ban is bubbling up among council members. two said during an at large debate they would vote to ban the sale of large sugary drinks. a vote to tax the large drinks by councilwoman mary cheh did not pass by one vote. a former cia officer is expected to plead guilty for leaking covert officers' names to reporters. john kiriaku will plead guilty as part of a plea deal. he was originally indicted on charges that could have landed him in prison for 45 years. it is not clear to which charges he'll plead guilty. a judge suspended prison sentences for daycare owners in northern virginia who pled guilty in connection with a baby's death.

prosecutors say rosita chavez and her husband ran an illegal daycare out of their home in bristow. a 3-month-old baby died in march. medical examiners could not determine the cause of the girl's death. as a result, the couple will be on probation and cannot run a daycare. two in charge of the baby when she died are still in jail awaiting child endangerment charges. prosecutors charged 18-year-old kevin austin with the murder of 22-year-old gregory troxler. he was shot and killed in the middle of the day in an alley off north 8th street. the victim's mother remembers the day like it was yesterday. >> i heard shots. i come running outside, and it's my baby on the ground. i'm trying to get to my baby. i get there. there's no life to him. he's gone. i didn't even get to tell my baby before he left me i love him. >> austin has a criminal record and spent time in juvenile

facilities for an arson charge. at the time of the shooting, he was wearing a court ordered gps can traing device, but it stopped working just before the alleged crime. firefighters are still trying to figure out what sparked this tractor-trailer fire in tinnily town. the truck was making a delivery at cvs on wisconsin avenue and brandywine street before 7:00 last night. somehow, the items inside the trailer caught fire. a college student murdered 30 years ago in prince george's county is being honored in a unique way. some signs will be going up in upper marlboro in coming weeks to remember stephanie roper. she was murdered in 1982 after her car broke down on a dark lo road. since then her family have become advocates for victims and their families, creating the maryland crime resource center. april 3rd, the anniversary of stephanie's death, will be named crime victims and advocates day. the massachusetts pharmacy

linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak was cleared by state regulators after an inspection last year. the new england compounding center received a satisfactory grade. federal investigators are blaming the outbreak on tainted steroid shots. the cdc says 23 people have died from the fungal meningitis outbreak, including 2 people in virginia and 1 in maryland. another 285 people are sick. wegman's is recalling a brownie mix after allergic reactions to an undeclared milk in the product. it involves wegman's gluten free double chocolate brownie mix. they started selling it in may in stores in virginia and maryland. wegman's says it may contain milk not listed on the label. the time is 5:49. in an effort to avoid another scandal over mislabeled graves, arlington national cemetery has a digital database that maps out nearly all of its grave sites. the database can be accessed

online and through a smartphone app. it allows you to search the name, see where that person is buried with birth and death dates, and see photos of the back of the head stone. about 90% of the cemetery's 260,000 gravesites are included. the rest date back to the civil war and are still being researched. a former marine in alexandria is trying to get his dog back after he left him behind in afghanistan. sean dooling has raised $4,000 to bring home his dog named bolt. he found the stray while serving in afghanistan, built him a home, and even let him stay in his tent in september. but the two were separated when the commander ordered the removal of all dogs. bolt was taken away. >> he ran behind a convoy for roughly ten miles or so, pitch black, 3:00 in the morning. all of a sudden, just out of nowhere, bolt comes running full speed right behind me. it was a good feeling. having your buddy back.

it's an awesome feeling. >> and with the help of online supporters, dooling raised enough money to bring bolt home. bolt is expected to be reunited with dooling before his birthday, which is november 15th. what a great birthday present. >> one of those photos, bolt was sleeping on a redskins blanket. you know he belongs here. this is his home. no doubt about it. >> great homecoming story. what a nice dog too. >> time is 5:51. time to get a check of weather and traffic on the ones. >> tom is here with more on the nice warmup. >> with the warmer weather, i think it's making the deer more active. i was dodging deer coming in this morning. watch out. they're active this time of year. they go out for cocktails and dancing, as you know, this time of year. they will be with us here for the next couple of months being very active. and the autumn color is coming on strong now. look at this scene on the campus of mary washington in fredericksburg sent in to

weather@nbcwashington.com. if you've got an awesome autumn tree in your neighborhood, take a photo and post it. weath weather@nbcwashington.com. temperatures generally in the 40s, suburbs and rural areas, maryland, virginia, and the eastern shore. right at reagan national on the warmer waters of the potomac, at 54. near the chesapeake bay waters, it's a bit warmer. much of western maryland and west virginia in the mid-40s. we do have a few clouds passing through. tracking across pennsylvania and spreading a little light rain. we have a few clouds from that system. for your morning commute, dry, partly cloudy, chilly, and thankfully a light wind. upper 40s and low 50s for about another couple of hours. then for your lunch hour, delightful. you can have your lunch outside. we'll have temperatures by then upper 60s to low 70s. and partly cloudy. and for the afternoon commute heading back home, after we hit upper 70s, midafternoon back down to low 70s by late afternoon.

here is your storm team 4 four-day forecast for midweek. a warmup, feeling more like late august. then late october. up around 80 tomorrow afternoon and partly sunny. cooler weather moves in. thursday, friday, saturday, partly cloudy each day with highs around 70. much chillier weather begins to move in below average temperatures on sunday and into monday. both days a lot of clouds around. slight chance of a shower. i'm back in ten minutes. first 4 traffic now with danella. good morning. >> good morning, tom. start off with a live look from chopper 4. over 301 at central avenue. as you make your way northbound. looks like a lay's truck has veered off of the road here, can bloi blocking the shoulder lane. left lane is blocked as well as police activity just trying to clear this incident. as you're traveling northbound 301, expect delays as you make your way towards central avenue. stick to the right, just to get by the situation here.

let's head over to i-95 southbound at 234. had a disabled. still seeing delays northbound from 610 slow to 234. when you get to fairfax county parkway, starting to see volume in this area. no accidents on i-95 in virginia. 5:54. controversy is building at a major construction project in alexandria over disappearing grass. crews laid down new grass in a median along route 1 between east glebe road and potomac avenue. it has since been torn up. turns out the median will become a transit lane for buses. alexandria's transportation director says the grass, although short-lived, is designed to cut down on the dust kicked up by construction. critics say the green patch is a waste of federal dollars. crews say the project is within budget. there's good news for homeowners in our area. your house is worth more than it was last year. newly released numbers from the online real estate company zillo

says home prices have gone up 9%, with the largest rise since 2006. zillo says they expect home values to rise another 20%. more than just a video game player, microsoft is rolling out uses for its xbox 360. cnbc's shartia brantley is live with that story and more. good morning, shartia. >> many ggood morning, richard. microsoft wants their company to make more use of their xbox 360. they'll announce new devices to access smartphones and tablets. they include something called smart glass, which lets users remotely control their xbox, surf websites, launch video, and other content and send it to their tvs from any windows 8 connected device. microsoft is launching windows 8, its newest operating software, on friday. and fedex is already in the holiday spirit. the package delivery giant says

online shopping will boost holiday shipping this year. the company plans to hire 20,000 seasonal workers, about the same number as last year. fedex predicts it will ship 280 million packages during the holidays with december 10th being the company's busiest day of the year. as it expects to process 19 million packages, up 10% from last year. that's a lot of shopping. and shipping. >> hard to believe we're even talking about holiday's shoppin. the stars are out to honor ellen degeneres. >> the stars are were out to watch her receive the mark twain prize for humor. ellen got her start as a comedy club emcee and now hosts her daily show right here on nbc 4. >> i just do what i do. i don't do it for any other reason other than making people happy. >> she's so important in every level of comedy, but every level

of humanity too. she's such an incredible person. she's done so much for so many people. >> i admire her on so many levels, on her personal life and how she's conducted herself and what she's done and changed the world and done -- plus she's so funny. >> just makes a guest feel warm. i have more fun. i'm probably funnier on her show than anybody's show. >> i'm fat. >> that is going to be a good show. you can watch last night's show on october 30th on pbs. >> it's going to be a really funny show. >> it is. >> so many comedians out there. you never hear anybody say anything bad about her. >> she seems like a really nice person. the futuristic technology that could be allowed on our streets.

governor romney has taken a different approach tgh