tomorrow afternoon and past us by 2:00 tomorrow night. the potential is there for 2 to 3 inches of rain, maybe 1 to 3 in parts of the area with some locations picking up more, so a flash flood watch has been issued for just about the entire area through the day tomorrow. we'll be dealing with a lot of rain. i'll tell you what else we'll be dealing with and when this storm moves out. strong reaction in tonight's news that the u.s. government has been logging millions of phone calls in a secret surveillance program. they say it's part of an effort to fight terrorism. many people say they feel reassured by that program, but other americans find the whole idea repugnant. steve handelsman on capitol hill now where members of congress share both news. steve? >> reporter: first of all, verizon has no comment. but lawmakers here on capitol hill are confirming the existence of this ongoing, massive recordkeeping. it's not what we're saying on our phones that's being saved by the government. instead it's all the data about

the calls. every time your cell phone rings or you make a call, every time your land line gets used, both phone numbers, the time and the place get sent to data banks at the national security agency. not call content, not what was said. verizon is cooperating with nsa. 90 million cell phones, 12 million home phones. >> it's not just verizon, i think we can assume it's all the other carriers as well. >> reporter: terrorists are identified in other ways, and if the federal judge approves, they can look at the stored phone information. >> they can go into this database and see if that specific targeted terrorist has been making any phone calls and to whom. >> then calls can be recorded. congress approved the secret plan in 2009. president obama's version of the

readout wholly supported in congress. >> american people will appreciate the way you protect the homeland is you try to figure out what the enemy is up to. >> reporter: the house committee chair maintained today it's worked. >> it was in the last few years this program was used to stop a terrorist attack in the united states. we know that. >> reporter: but some democrats call looking at every call an overreach. >> telephone records not only foreign calls but also domestic calls, i think, goes against what this country is founded upon. >> but when you use your phone tonight, that call data will go to the government. >> president obama, said a spokesman, is comfortable with this once secret program in terms of the balance it strikes, says the president, between protecting national security and personal privacy and rights. i'm steve handelsman, news4.

a new poll shows president obama's health care plan is as unpopular as ever. 37% of americans think the affordable care act is a good idea. nearly half think so-called obamacare is a bad idea. this is according to the nbc news wall street journal survey. 38% think their families will be worse off when this plan goes into effect next year. the poll also found that most americans favor a way for undocumented immigrants to become u.s. citizens and support jobs and more when it involves those immigrants facing fines. they will be upset if the congress doesn't pass an immigration bill. a brazen attack in a usually quiet neighborhood in d.c. tonight the search continues for a man who came after a woman with a taser, with mace, and with handcuffs. all she did was answer a knock

at her door in the 2700 block of chesapeake street northwest. news4 pat collins live there now. pat? >> the suspect used pepper spray, a taser and handcuffs. the neighborhood is not accustomed to that kind of crime. >> i've never heard of a single crime of any sort beyond a little picking of loose change from an unlocked car. >> reporter: that's about the only kind of crime they experience here in this neighborhood. this bar is till's neighborhood, home to diplomats and d dignitaries where it's not uncommon to see people on patrol. so when this happened on chesapeake street, people here took notice. >> sources tell the problem this way. a man knocks on front door of

the house. you can still see the fingerprint dust on that door. the man says he wants to handle that. sprays her with pepper spray, goes after her with a taser, tries to handcuff her. he touches her inappropriately. hits her in the face, she had some broken bones. there is a violent struggle, she fights back. and that man, he runs away. they say the victim is a 60-year-old woman. they say she drove herself to the hospital where she was treated and later released. police worked the neighborhood yesterday. they were back again today conducting interviews, looking for clues that might lead them to a suspect in this case. >> i think we have a description of a white male subject in his 50s with gray hair and possibly leaving the scene in a red car, maybe a volvo, a red volvo. >> if you know anything about this case, police want to hear

from you. live in northwest, news4. people in another d.c. neighborhood woke to the sounds of gunshots this morning. tonight we've learned one of the shooting victims has died. 26-year-old andre wilson died in a hospital after he was shot on 1st place in northwest. it's just a few blocks from north capitol street and new york avenue. a second victim was treated and released. the shooting happened at about quarter to 4:00 this morning. police have not yet arrested anybody. the fire in a demolishing buildi building is starting to be contained. more than 100 firefighters had to battle the flames. more than two roads are shut down in that area. a team ofxd local and feder

investigators are working together to figure out what started that massive four-alarm fire last night? frager's hardware store burned through the night. it put out thick black smoke that could be seen from miles a wi. >> reporter: well, jim, you can see frager's, what's left of frager's behind me. there was a hardware store, a rental store and a paint store all in that same complex. all of those businesses are gone. today those employees are showing is still alive a well. >> this has been the greatest place -- is the greatest place and will be again the greatest place to work. >> frager's place is the best

place on the hill to come, you know, if you don't want to buy anythin anything. >> she said her favorite memory fts when president bush made a surprise visit here. >> it was wonderful. he came in here and shook everyone's hand. that was a great day. today they were busy trying to figure out what to do next. they want fragers to. >> a great, local business with great customer service. to see it go up in flames last night was destroying, great people work here. >> there are probably hundreds of thousands of neighborhood

kids and individuals over the years, and they carry everything. today some of those employees got a chance to fuel that love from the community. >> everyone i meant was hugging me, wanting to know if they can do anything for us. everybody has been so great. >> now you can see the rain is coming down here, but it hasn't stopped the cleanup efforts over at frager's. they're starting to board up the windows. pennsylvania avenue has reopened. they say it's way too early to guess or speculate as to what causes fire. that's days away until they have any idea about that. as for fragers. there are two groups helping to raise money for the businesses that are loodsing money. another survivor pulled from the rubble of a philadelphia building collapse. tonight investigators work to

figure out what happened with a demolition. desperately looking for animals after finding the dog shot to death. what tropical storm andrea means for your friday and your weekend. who better to talk about spending money at the irs than the

tonight in philadelphia, they are no longer looking for survivors in the rubble of that building collapse yesterday. fire and rescue crews say they don't believe there's anybody still alive. the four-story building fell onto the salvation army thrift store that was next to it yesterday. six people were killed, 14 were

pulled out alive. rescuers found a woman this morning more than 12 hours after the collapse. she's in critical condition now. investigators are still working to try to figure out what caused that building to crumble. a public viewing for the late new jersey senator frank lautenberg is wrapping up at this hour at the capitol. the funeral took place yesterday in manhattan but the senator's casket was brought to washington to lie in repose in the senator's chamber. friends, family, colleagues, other mourners spent the day paying their final respects. lautenberg spent nearly 30 years in the senate. and just as the late senator's casket was arriving at the capitol, new jersey senator chris christie was talking about the successor. >> during the last few days as i've gotten to deliberate on this decision, it became clear to me that attorney general che cheisa would be the best person to represent the people of new

jersey in the new jersey senate. >> senator jeffrey cheisa says werfel not run in the election in september. an official of the internal revenue service is apologizing for what he calls embarrassing training videos. faris fink shiz nais his name. he testified in congressional hearing on waste spending. he starred as spock in a training video. fink says the videos are meant to be funny. the conference was paid for by taxpayers. it cost more than $4 million. today fink said no rules were broken. >> they would not occur today based upon all the guidelines that exist, and frankly, they were not appropriate at that time, either, mr. chairman, and the fact of the matter is, it's

embarrassing. >> two irs workers could lose their jobs over the scandal. they were placed on leave yesterday for accepting free food at a private suite during that conference. we have a little storm system called andrea heading our way. >> just a little storm system. if you've been waiting for some rain -- >> it could be a big day for you tomorrow. >> it's a big day for you tomorrow and even tonight. i do think we're going to continue seeing that rain move in over the next couple hours. it's going to be heavy. rain coming in right now. that's going to slow down traffic all across the region, so if you were heading outside or beginning to think about heading somewhere, give yourself extra time throughout the night. i do expect to see fairly heavy rain in portions of the region. anywhere you have these yell lows and oranges, that's where the heaviest rain is. if through culpeper county, montgomery county. not a whole lot down through southern prince georges county through southern maryland, but

it is heading your way. around martinsburg, we've seen the heavy rain all day long. up to an inch in some locations already. this still making its way our way. we have some very heavy rain coming in overnight tonight. that's just the start of things to come. our storm system has been down to the south. this one has a frontal boundary down to the west. then you go all wait dothe way the south and that's where you find tropical storm andrea. it's going to continue to move off toward the northeast at about 17 miles an hour. it will increase in speed over the next day or so, and by tomorrow at 2:00, it's already into the carolinas with a 44-mile-an-hour wind. then along the coastline on saturday around 2:00 a.m., still looking at storms there. could quickly become a sub-tropical depression. we're going to see a lot of rain from this.

our computer model is talking about this tonight, and you notice where that rain is, down to the south. about 9:00, just about everybody has seen that rain. that's why the nationals game will be canceled if it hasn't already. tomorrow here comes the first rains from andrea, and the yell lows and oranges back toward the west, including the metro area. give yourself time tomorrow morning for sure, and just about all day tomorrow we're inundated with that heavy rain. the potential is there for one to three inches of rain in parts of the area. that's why we have the flash flood watch for parts of d.c. help us save some lives there. as far as 8:30 goes tomorrow night, we're still dealing with heavy rain. but it's going to be moving pretty quickly. by 11:00, it's out of here, and that means we'll see an okay weekend. don't cancel your plans for the weekend. in d.c., heavy rain.

1 to 3 inches. in some places, it may be 4 inches or more. the winds are not going to be a big factor here and this is moving out friday night. if you're going toward annapo s annapolis, one of the things you want to know along the bay. winds gusting 20 to 30 miles an hour. if you're going to be crossing the bay bridge into the beaches, you want to make sure you give yourself time. i think the best time to leave would be after 8:00 tomorrow night because you'll be dealing with heavy rain and wind. if you can wait until saturday to leave, i think you'll do okay. mad rat to heavy rain, once again, 1 to 3 inches here, too, but the wind, 32 to 40 miles an hour, maybe the gusts up to 50 miles an hour. here's the question, you might want to leave a little later and give yourself extra time. 85 on sunday, 40% chance of rain there and still dealing with that chance of rain on monday

and on tuesday. it's going to be warm and muggy throughout the entire period, but we're not talking about any real hot weather, and we will dry out a little bit as we head toward next week. we're going to continue to keep you updated on this form. storm center4 tracking this for you as we move through the next 24 hours. >> we're getting a look now at what tropical storm andrea has already done. a lot of damage in florida and other parts of the south. nbc's jay gray. he's live in reddington beach with a look at what the storm has done so far. jay? >> we're looking at systems that came through this area earlier. let's look at the beach, because people are doing the same thing. those high winds and heavy rains we talked about, a choppy surf, as you can see, and tornadoes, which can be a serious problem.

>> tropical storm andrea rushed across the florida peninsula, flooding coastal communities. while inland, the bigger concern continues to be tornadoes spawned by the first named storm of the season. in palm beach county, power lines and debris was scattered for blocks after a funnel td. . pieces are tin are, and they took a lot of devastation for 15 minutes of fear. >> andrea is an early warning of what could be a tough tropical season. >> you usually expect it like a month or so into the season, but this is amazing. >> for most, but not an end to their trip.

>> ymaking the best of the bad weather but not taking any chances with the violent surf. >> the waves are really rough, taking you all the way down the beach. >> a potentially active hurricane season. you see the kids out in the suff suffer. andrea, as you've been. by this time north reddington beach, i'm jay gray. back to you, wendy. >> thanks, jay. download our i team weather

appear from. there are some new video out there that sitting down to dinner. i'll have a closer look at the. >> you want to get one of your friend. it's about to get a whole lot easier in the district. we're going to find out how. coming up on, serene. so bitter about something the

new changes may be coming to allow almost any adult legally officiate marriage ceremonies. the council is also moving closer to approving driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants. >> not anyone could officiate over a wedding, but that could soon change. the council is going to approve legislation for anyone to officiate a marriage ceremony. many couples forego religious ceremonies and don't like the coldness of a courthouse. >> a union between two individuals does not necessarily have to be before a judge or before a religious order. between individuals, it's just that. >> reporter: marrying couples still would need a license but have a close friend, family member or other person involved. >> it's another in the many,

many steps that we've taken in the city to bring equality to everyone who lives here. >> reporter: also at the council thursday, a crowd allowed a law to pass allowing undocumented immigrants a driver's license same as citizens. the proposal could conflict with federal rules but supporters say it would allow immigrants to legally drive, get insurance, help families get to school and cut down on job exploitation. >> you need to buy groceries for your family, take your kids to school, go to church, go to the doctor, just do all the things all of us are allowed to do. >> it's important for all of us, because the general safety on the highways and roadways depends on having properly licensed drivers who have insurance and everything else that we would expect. >> reporter: in the district, tom sherwood, news4. the council's judiciary committee also voted to make it easier for transgender people to

change the name on their birth certificate. current law takes up to three weeks for the change. the new law puts an end to that. transgender people could obtain new birth certificates simply by obtaining a note from their doctors. an update on the city's farewell to senator frank lautenberg. >> he just left capitol hill. his body lay there in repose today. here's the video of the casket's departure just moments ago. lautenberg died monday from viral pneumonia. he was 89 and he was the senate owe oldest member. colleagues remember the democrat for his leadership and laughter for 30 years in the senate. lautenberg will be buried tomorrow at arlington national cemetary. at the live desk, i'm pat lawson-mews. a woman's search for her

missing dog ended tragically today. her st. bernard, bentley, was found shot to death. julie kerry spoke to the woman yesterday who said she felt like she lost one of her children. >> age 24, megan lotty didn't have any children yet, but she still had a big family, one 150-pound st. bernard named bentley. he was her family pup. >> my name for him was sunshine because he was happy all the time. >> her dogs rarely wander off. but last sunday, bentley turned up missing. >> it was probably five hours later that i was officially freaked out. >> reporter: megan drove across parts of two counties, putting out flyers calling for her beloved dog. then a glimmer of hope. someone who saw her facebook ad about bentley said her husband had seen him.

megan went out and drove all day, searching for him again. then a deputy called. >> he said, i don't know how to tell you, but your dog has been shot. >> they found bentley's body in the woods when they went out to investigate an odor. investigators told her the bullet cut through bentley's body. >> these dogs are my babies. i feel like my child has been murdered. that is how i feel. i feel like somebody shot him for no reason, just because they wanted to shoot an animal. this wasn't annen m animal, he y pet. he was my best friend. >> the warren county sheriff's department is now investigating exactly what happened. an animal control deputy tells me bentley's body was picked up today and taken to the agriculture lab in warrenton. there an autopsy will be done to determine the exact cause of death. police advised megan noto go see bentley when he was found. she hangs on now to his collar, his dog tags and the family

pictures that bring tears to her eyes. near front royal, julie kerry, news4. today news4 talked to a man who was robbed at gunpoint while eating out near logan circle. the whole thing was caught on video just released today. it happened last month. the suspect walked up to two people sitting at a table outside pizzoli's pizzeria on 12th street northwest. the suspect demanded money. when they said no, he pulled out a gun. they handed over wallets and cell phones. police are still looking for the thief. a man died in an overnight crash in montgomery county. the driver of the vehicle, 36-year-old aaron williams of high -- hiattsville. it happened in silver spring.

police closed part of the road to investigate. they're still not sure what caused this crash. parents, teachers and school administrators are gathering for a high-profile school board meeting in fairfax county. they are anticipating a long night as the board votes on a controversial change in the way students are punished. welcome to reporter david cullen who reports from lutheran jackson middle school where that meeting is being held. >> that school board is getting under way here in less than half an hour. i already checked the parking lot, it's starting to fill up. the biggest issue is, when a student gets in trouble, when do you let the parents know? >> she knows when she gets involved. >> we're called if a student is sick. we're part of a team. this is just one more aspect. in many cases, it is the most critical time in a student's life. >> she is referring to student discipline. she represents those who want to

know right away if their child did something wrong in school. >> we don't understand. parents don't get why we're not involved. >> we value our relationship with our students more than anything. >> he was voted principal of the year. he's a father, too. but while waiting to see if administration investigates before calling parents about an offense, he feels torn. this policy change is in part riddle riddled in a school tragedy. a student got expelled and was so upset, took his own life. his dad had been one pushing for more parental notification. >> administrators can bring students in and interview them and ask for a written statement on a very serious offense, that a child could be suspended for ten days and written up for expulsion. >> as a parent, she's told her kids -- >> you need to explain to administrators you will not

speak to them until your parents arrive. >> if you can't make it here yourself, no worries. we're going to be here through the end. we'll cover it for you and you can follow my twitter feed throughout the night to get updated. i'm david colbert, news4. what correction officials are doing to better screen inmates and guards after a scandal involving sex, drugs and cell phones. and a washout now threatening this home after heavy rain sends a river over its banks. washout here, doug? >> not over the weekend, but i think tomorrow there is a washout. the rain coming down fairly heavily from d.c. to fredricksburg. it will continue to move

oklahoma just can't catch a break. after weeks of tornadoes, people there are now dealing with flooding from a massive rainstorm. families are struggling to save what they can near the north canadian river. it's already washed away a storage shed and now it's threatening homes in that area.

a homeowner in vermont is lucky to be alive tonight. his house exploded. aum all he did was use his garage door opener after returning from a two-day trip. as you can see, not much is left of the house. the man is okay except for a headache, he said. fire investigators said there were several propane-fueled appliances in the house, but they're not sure exactly what it was that caused the explosion. we're learning more about the timeline of that scandal that involved alleged gang activity at a baltimore city jail. maryland's corrections secretary told state lawmakers today that he first learned of a possible problem back in 2009. in 2011, a gang task force identified a problem again with the gang activity linked back to that baltimore facility. and a federal indictment is accusing 25 people, 13 of them corrections officers, for helping a prisoner allegedly run gang activity from behind bars. >> the indictments that led to

the 13 indictments of those corrections officers, that was after thousands of hours of listening to cell phone conversations, wire taps, trying to piece things together. >> in addition to changing the test for prospective corrections officers, the state will also add cell phone blocking technology to keep inmates from using devices that have been sm smuggled in. tropical storm andrea getting ready to dump a bunch of rain on us tomorrow. more on storm track. coming up in sports, the nba final starts tonight and lebron still holding a grudge. he got news on his knee and it's not good. rg3 back in practice. his knee is soun

hello, everybody.

chief meteorologist doug hammerer. take a look at the rains coming down heavily in some locations. current temperature down to 73. it is wet and it's going to stay that way right over the next 24 hours. 66 by 9:00. rain that entire time here likely. i think the heaviest ends around 9:00, maybe a little bit of a break from this. it's raining in d.c. right now. southern maryland, you're still looking at a little rain down there, but there's still more in the southwest and it's going to continue to move through i-95, right through the d.c. metro area, through fredricksburg. right now the heaviest rain in through stafford and prince georges county. this is the path it's going to take on that track. it will be through portions of the carolinas by tomorrow. then it's quickly off the coast by 2:00 saturday morning, so that's very good news. but again, the biggest threat

for us is just going to be the rain. i'm not predicting much in the way of winds, 20 to 30 miles an hour, but that's about it. two inches of rain in d.c., two inches in fredricksburg, two inches in manassas. looking at some of this now, maybe upwards of three, maybe even four in isolated areas. that's why we had that flash flood watch in effect. we're looking at 1 to 2 inches across the region. 1 to 3 with the potential of more than that when we see this band setting up. one thing for sure right now, the weekend not a washout. don't cancel your weekend plans. if you had plans to do anything tomorrow, you might want to rethink those. >> thanks, doug. rg3 i heard him today saying -- i'm not sure what he said. is he ready or is he not? you saw him last week. what do you think? >> i think there's been no major setback. he's still ahead of schedule. four straight days he was out there. he's in good shape.

he's right on target for his comeback, and this has easily been the most watched and heavily evaluated program in history. rg3 in and i shis surgically re knee. there hasn't been any setbacks for the torn acl. it was a big week for rg3. on the field four straight days, his most extensive work since his knee injury. he's not practicing fully, just working on the side with other injured players, but he's throwing every day, cutting and working with the receivers. no soreness or swelling, and griffin says his realistic target is day one of training camp on july 25. >> without a doubt. >> what makes you say without a doubt that day you're in training camp? >> one, it's a mindset, and two, it's just how i felt and how it's progressed. you know, like i said, over the last three weeks, you know, i've had a lot of progress and i feel a lot better.

so if you think training camp is a month, month and a half away, two months, i feel really good about that and the start of the season is even farther than that. if i'm ready to go week 1, then i play. if i'm not ready to go week 1, then i can swallow my pride and not play. it's that simple. >> you always want somebody to have goals, that's for sure. you want them to come back as somebody who is ready to go, but the doctor has to okay it. from the beginning they talked about recovery time being anywhere from seven months to nine months. i think august 9 is seven months, and so we'll just have to wait and see. >> all right, so we have 49 days until training camp. we have about, i don't know, roughly a month or so of training camp. so that's about three more months talking about rg3's knee until he actually gets on the field for a real game. you okay with that? >> i'm okay with that however it

goes down, but, boy, i hope they don't rush him back on the field. i hope he doesn't rush himself back. >> it doesn't sound like they will. seven months is the minimum time. >> so cousins is going for his first game now? >> yes. which i think is good. brice harper now heading down to see dr. james andrews. he's the same surgeon who operated on rg3. harper has been diagnosed with bur sight i bursitis in his knee. he's seeing andrews for an opinion because they're saying it could be worse than they thought. >> everybody is saying it's bursitis, and i thought you take anti-inflammatory to calm it down, but it's kind of been lingering. when he runs, it swells up, and

this is just light jogging in the pool, it swelled up from that. so we're concerned and will get another opinion on it monday. he'll go sunday night and be at the doctor's office early monday morning. the nats, as doug predicts, may start late or not at all. goes all the way to the wall. chris davis was in first and he's coming all the way around to score. no play at the late so we're tied at 1. the 18th double of the year for jones. next up, j.j. harding. scores one into right field and jones is now coming home to score. the o's take the lead and that's all they needed. on the mound, miguel gonzalez pitching well. bottom of the sixth, strikes out jimmy perades. they struck out ten batters today. gonzalez ha sd seven of them.

maria advances to the finals. her showdown with serena williams. do you want to see it again? >> yeah. >> ironi, the runner-up at the french open last year, but serena set the tone early in the first game. we pick it up mid volley. i'm tired of this, i'm going to the net. a little backhand winner. the match went 37 minutes before ironi even won a game. check out what happened when she finally did. a little mock victory lap there for her. good times didn't last long, though. an ace to seal the deal. serena extends heroine streak to a career best, so it's is he veen a a-- serena and sharipova

in the finals on friday. nba, your job is never safe. george carl, the nba's coach of the year, fired today. he wanted a contract extension and denver said, how about a pink slip? meanwhile the heat and spurs kick off game 1 in the nba finals tonight. lebron still searching for revenge after he beat the cavaliers six years ago. >> they took 0-7 and beat us on our home floor, celebrated on our home floor, and i won't forget that. you should never forget that. it's the same group of guys, for the most part, the same big 3 and coach pop, and i look forward to the challenge once again. >> they stuck with us in the big 3 and they improved the guys around us and that's why it makes it even more special now to be back in the finals to six years. you appreciate it even more.

>> so i guess the question is, you know how much vance loves lebron, right? he loves lebron. >> i'm sold on lebron. >> the old spurs, long in the too tooth spurs, are not going to be able to beat the heat, is that what you're telling me? >> they should pick up their golf clubs now. >> you already called it 5, though. >> i said six. >> you said five. >> five will do. it might be five. >> it changes day to day. >> not on who is going to win. who is not going to summer camp. we'll tell you why.

it's going to get kind of rainy. >> it's going to stay kind of

rainy this time tomorrow night, too. some of us picking up 4 inches of rain by tomorrow night. 76 degrees with that rain. clearing out a little bit for the weekend. a chance of showers both saturday and sunday, but right now not a washout of a weekend. don't cancel your plans if you have them this weekend. next week not too bad. >> thanks, doug. i want to tell you about a 14-year-old girl who should be preparing, you might think, for the eighth grade but not. she's beginning next semester at harvard but not for a bachelor's degree. she's already got that. she's going to harvard for her master's. this is jeannie desilva. she lives in tennessee. she graduated from high school three years ago. just got her college degree from the american military university, her undergrad. jeannie has already finished a textbook for her first summer class at harvard. she says you shouldn't be surprised if you see her in washington in the next few

years. we expect her in a year or two now, something like that? >> it would be nice. if she could come sooner, that would be

on the broadcast tonight, tracking your calls. why is the government keeping a record of every phone call you make? the stunning disclosure of a secret policy that's been in place for years. a story on the eve of president obama's crucial