when yohe this morning, you mahe needed a light jacke or sweater. get ready, tomorrow is going to be even cooler. storm team 4's tom kierein lets us know when our normal august weather wi return. and seven people shot in less than three hours in the district, b police are telling us about the violent night in the four sepate ene we begin with the violent protests in ferguson, missouri, and the arrest of two reporters overnight. the protests began after the shooting of an unarmed black man by police. derrick ward is at the live desk

now with more. >> barbara, we are hearing from one of the journalists arrested while covering the protest. wesley lowery says he was forcibly removed by a mcdonald's by police in riot gear who cleared the restaurant and he said he was arrested because he didn't move fast enough. >> i said officers, my bag is slipping. i'm sll walking out. that's when they said let's take him. they thr me up against the soda machine. they put me in handcuffs or plastic restraints all the while yelling stop resisting, stop resisting. i'm resisting. it's fine. >> he was released without being charged and there have been four days of heated protests. you see police responding with rubber bullets, tear gas and flash grenades and some protesters throwing molotov caulk staios and stones. 18-year-old michael brown in the

street after he and a friend were confronted by police last saturday. back tyou > right no montgomery county police are searching for the person who set a playground on fire. the playground is next to the sally ride elementary school in germantown. zachary is live with the investigation there. >> reporter: that's right. the park is the place people come to have a good time. that's what adults do here in germantown, wa their dogs and kids play on the playgrounds but i'm seeing a lot of long faces. check out this. this is thplayground. it was charred last night. now neighbors are trying to figure out whohianwh >> i have no idea what's going on, what went on here. >> reporter: puddled water and melted platforms helped tell the story. joan has lived in this community for more than a decade and calls it safe. her kids grew up playing here of

the but last night there was a problem. >> i was hi out with my friends and her mom was yelling and we were wondering what was happening. and then when she got off the phone she w yelling that the park was on fire. we ran downstairs and it was just engulfed in flames. >> reporter: gory county fire depare arrived around 9:00 last night but not before the damage was done. officials eim than $100,000 wh of damage was done and it looks intentional. neighbors say the flames were so high they feared the trees around the park would burn. it's a busy park, a place that brings enjoyment. >> when we walking with the dog, she swing here too. they should get arrested and they were be punished. >> reporterfo jn and her family, they just want their park back. >> an now we can't do it. so hopefully they'll put another park up for us.

>> reporter: for now the park is closed and the montgomery county fire departme asking for your help to solve this crime. police coac them if you ve any inform now back to you. right now roads are closed while crui try to fix a broken water main i alexandria. it's not far from the george washington masonic temple. people are still experiencing water issues. the problem started around 6:00 last night when crews shut off water to about 180 people. water service was expected to be restored today. it's taking so long, though, because crews had a difficult time locating the source of that water maiea across the river in prince george's county, a boil water order remains in effect for the southern pa of the county. wssc says it's taking longer to finish testing water samples to make sure that it's good to use. flooding is hampering repairs to a water main break impacting that area. 10,000 customers are advised to boil water for about a minute

before using it. if you aren't sure if you're affected by this advisory, we put a map of the affected area on nbcwashington.com. and turning to the weather, wow, was a chilly start to the morning out there. nice afternoon, though, coming. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein joi us with his first midday foreca for this thursday. tom. >> yeah, a touch of autumn in august this morning. and now it's warming quickly. just a few clouds have been passing over, over the last few years. live team view from the storm team 4 tower camera. low humidity in place as we look at the view from space. there's that deck of clouds that rolled on thrgh over the last couple of hours. now it's passing over the bay and behind that it's breaking up. lots of sunshi this morning. sunny at the beaches, sunny around much of the region and it's in the l 70s in prince george's county. much of montgomery county in the low 70s. mid-70s fairfax county and across nort virginia.

reagan natial is at 77. we'll have this low humidity in place here for another couple of days and then a big change moves in for the weekend into next week. a look at that, that's coming in just a few minutes. barbara. >> thankou tom. new this morning, one person is dead after a crash on the beltway around 11:30 last night. two cars collided on the outer loop near the van doren exit. no word on what caused the accident. > aa violent night in the district with seven people shot in just two hours. the first shooting was just after 11:00 p.m. at the intersecti of malcolm x. avenue and mlk avenue in southeast. just befo 1:30 a man was shot in southeast. around the same time a man was shot on 7th street and n street in northwest washington. and one man was killed during a shooting on 46th place and central avenue in northeast. another man wa h but is expected to be okay. less than a mile away, two other

people we shot on 48th place northeast. in these two shootings, police are looking for either a black or gray nis two people are on the run connected to a d.c. police officer shooting. according police report an off-duty offic was driving on suitland parkway when a car pulled up and someone in the vehicle fired three shots at her car. the officer was not hurt. next the suspects tried to carjack anoer off-duty d.c. officer at pennsylvania and southern avenues. that detective was shot multiple times but expected to survive. one pern w arrested, two are still at large. in the corptn trl of former virginia governor bob mcdonnell and his wife, prosecutors a expected to rest their case today. yesterday the agent testified the mcdonnells were $90,000 in debt while he was in office. the former governor says he's

ready for the defense to tell its side of the story. >> i am ready for them to rest and we're ready to start our case. >> will nd b the day we'll hear from you? >> i can't talk about our case. >> reporterri the case, prosecutors have claimed that financial probls led the mcdonnells to money from williams in exchange for promoting hidisulent company. the smithsonian's natural history museum is expected to reopen in abt an hour. it was closed this morning for emergency i.t. repairs. the museum says that none of its collectionse damaged. the museum should reopen by noon today we hear. right now questions about these trucks movg towards ukraine. cominup, what russia says they are carrying. and politicians are taking notice of the continuing violence ferguson, missouri. coming up, what's being said and will the president make statement st wh , 'lbe back.

right now pope francis is in south korea. the pope is urging north and south korea work toward reconciliatn and called for stability on the korean peninsula. the countries have been divided since the korean war more than 60 years ago. pope francis is the first pope in 25 years to visit south korea. he'll e the rest of his trip visiting wit some of t country's fi million catholics. russia is sending supplies to eastern ukraine today to help people impa by the war. a russian aid convoy included 262 trucks of canned meat, portable generators and baby food. the trucks will pass through an area contro by the pro-russian separatists. russia will deliver aid to a checkpoint where it can be inspected by ukraine and the red cross. ukraine says it's also preparing

to send its n . and now to the crisis in iraq. u.s. forces say the conditions on mt. sinjar are not as grave as first reported. army special forces dispatched to the mountain say there are far fewer refugees than they believed. according tohe pentagon, fewer people to rescue means a large-scaleis to get people off the mountain is unlikely. it's posbl refugees could walk off the mountain with u.s. air cover and kurdish military escorts. the u.s. says air strikes against isis have helped the situation. a five-day extension to a cease-fire eeel and hamas is holding steady today. this has been the longest cease-fire t since the war broke out last month along the gaza strip. the cease-fire is a chance for negotiators -- it has given them time to work ot a permanent end to the violence. so far 1900 palestinians and 67 israelis ha died in the fighting. this afternoon friends and

family will say good-bye to a two-star general killed in afghanistan. major genel harold greene will be buried at arlington national cemetery. he was ll in an insider attack at a military training facility ne kabul last week. greene, who served at aberdeen proving ground, is the highest ranking u.s. officer to be killed in ct since the vietnam war. the supreme court could make a final decision on virginia's ban on same-sex marriage. yesterday an appeals court denied the prince william county clerk's reque to ephean. lawyers for t clerk say they will ask the u.s. supreme court to block any same-sex marriages while the case is on appeal. unless that happens, virginia counties cod begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples next week. with the latest court rulings, is t political fight over same-sex marriage over now? we are join by carrie dann.

good morning, carrie. >> good morning. republican leaders have said they don't nt their party to be seen as anti-gay but there are a lot of outspoken republicanske rand paul, for instance, who have been historically opposed to same-sex marriage. how is this going to affect the party in the coming elections? >> i think you see a change of tone from republicans on the issue of gay marriage. during the bush administration, it was used as a major issue to get social conservatives to head to the polls, especially in midterm years. a big motivating factor for them. now you don't hear as much talk about this issue on the campaign trail and you hear about it talked about in different terms. you hear things talked about let's talk about religious liberty and that's a blanket idea that applies to issues like abortion, heth care and the gay marriag issue. one reason you don't hear much about that on the campaign trail is just how much the electorate has moved on this issue in the last eight to ten years. >> so are we seeing fewer and fewer candidates campaigning with that as an issue?

>> right. you're still seeing social conservatives on the trail i do believe in traditional marriage buth often when they're aske it'not necessarily a platform that they're really running on. looking at some of the statistics, it not surprising. more than half of the country now says that they believe same-sex marag shlde legal. here's a great statistic. the pew research center found 61% of republicans under 30 said that gay marriage should be legal. so if the expand to younger people and minorities, t is something they really don't want to alienate some those demographicon. let's move on to what's happening iferguson, missouri, violent protests over the shooting of an unarmed man by police. what are politicians saying about this? are they getting on the bandwagon campaigning with this in mind? >> you are starting to see not necessarily campaigning, but you are starting to see statements like the governor in the state of missouri came out and said that he bedt is is a deeply troubling situation. you did also see the president -- the white house

said the president has been briefed. i think it's possible that you may see him start to weigh in on this issue, especially if it isn't deescalated in the coming hours and days. >> do you thin' hear from president oma on what's going on -- he has already spoken on it, but again? >> we got a brief statement from him earlier in the week but this president h not really shied away from weighing in on issues like this. remember when henry louis gates was arrested, they held the beer summit at t white house. he was very vocal on the trayvon martin issue. if the violence continues, it wouldn't be o character for the president this is a teachable moment, i want to step up and say something about it. >> he would like to see people talk in way that say they could do something helpful rather than the protests. >> and he offered his condolences bu didn't speak specificaloe aspect of racial tension, which is something th we may see him in the coming days if this situation don' get better in the coming days. >> all righ carrie, thank you so much. we'll see yom for more carrie and the rest of the nbc news political

team, check out first read on nbcnews.com whaa wonderful morning for those of us who are up and trying to get some exercise early today. >> great morning for a morning run, getting outside, absolutely gorgeous. we'll ta th in august. and now take a look, this is your morning moment of zen. this is the sunrise at bethany beach. >> i misse that. oh, wow, did we get that sunrise here? i guess we did. >> this was at bethany beach this morning. you can post your pics, i love seeing your pictures and reading your comments. connect with me on facebook, twitter, instagram. i love reading your comments. there's the y looking over washington now. we do have a few clouds coming over. 77 at reagan national, dew point comfortably dry, down to 53. we have a very light breeze out of the south now. elsewhere where there's more sun across mu of virginia, it's now climbing into the 70s. low 70s shenandoah valley. it is feeling like autumn in

august. don't have any color showing up in the trees yet, but down to a chilly 59 in oakland out in garrett county and around the bay. beautiful da on the bay and the eastern shore, at the beaches lots of sunshine, comfortably dry, and the air is filled with the aroma of corn dogs and cotton county. afternoon highs in the low 80s in gaithersburg and tonight under a clear sky down to the low 70s. the fair on until midnight and 10:00 until midnight tomorrow. afternoon highs on friday with sunshine sh b around the upper 70s. for us for the afternoon these clouds com and going. 6:00 p.m., bright sunshine. then by this evening we'll be under a clear sky but that temperature after we peak in the low to mid-80s briefly by midafternoon i going to really begin to plummet after midnight. then by dawn tomorrow, down to near 50 degrees across much of the region. north and west may dip into the

upper 40s, so quite a chill, unusual one for mid-august coming in late tonight under a clear sky. our rain chances are very low for today, tomorrow and saturday. they g ai higher, about a 30% chance on sunday. a little lor chance monday. but then a likelihood of some showers and thundershowers moving in on tuesday next week. so generally a dry pattern as we get into the weekend. highs tomorrow, the low 80s after that cool start. lots of sunshine. then on saturday in the upper 50s. saturday after upper 80s with some clouds coming and going. and then on sunday it's going to be tuing more humid, afternoon storms. maybe a 30% chance or so as well as into the evening. highs near 90. august acting like a summer month again as we get into sunday and into next week as well. each day we'll have high temperatures reaching the 80s and that likelihood of showers and thunderstorms around on tuesday and remaining hot and humid into midweek next week.

when you're out and about and you're mobil s are we. download the storm team 4 weather app. it's free. you can get it google play and the itunes store. that's the way it looks. >> okay, thank you, tom. we'll see you again before this hour is up. no guilt. why an extra sprinkle of salt is not the worst thing for you, we're hearing, and why these yoga pants can be worn over and over and over again without washing them. first here's a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com. stay wi ullgh back.

burger king is scrapping its lower calorie french fries, satisfries were a big bet for burger kingut overall it was a loss. the item was on the menu for

less than a year. burger kingav its franchisees the choice whether to continue selling them but less than half opted to keep them on the menu so eventually those chains will phase out the fries altogether. ladies, this next story is for you. how would you like to have some yoga pants that you don't have to wash? take a look at these new leggings. new rb zara terez say they wick away sweat, prevent stains and fight odor. they come in four sizes and eight designs. they're not cheap, though. they'll set you back about 75 bucks each, but sounds like you won't have to buy very many of them. right family and friends of a race car driver killed on the track a gathering to say good-bye as the driver's father is demanding some answers. plus, more on the situaon in ferguso after another night of violent protests, including a look at two people who got involved. > tempes o there great this morning. we'll take a look at what they're gng to do this

afternoon st wh awe

you mspow. >> anger boiling over again in the stres of ferguson, missouri. police fir tear gas and flash grenades protesters upset by the death of an unarmed teenager. jay ay wre the unr >> reporte for the fourth straight night, tear gas killed the air in ferguson, missouri, where hundreds of angry protestersga clashed with police as tensions continued to boil over afr the death of 18-year-o brown. the unarmed teenager, who was shot and killed after a confronta with police last weekend. >> you must continue dispersing in a peaceful manner. >> reportth buildup of officers, intact cal and riot gear, started before the

sun went down. and so did the protests. earl many of th marching for justice also calling for calm. >> i know everybody is angry about a lot of stuff, but we need to do it peacefully. >> reportebrown's parents have condemned the violence in the wake of their son's death along with local pastors, public officials police. >> we're just asking people to be peaceful andhat we are actively working to resolve this situation to g the truth and to get justice. >> reporte a tt n' come sono in an angry, grieving community still on edge. as you can hear and see behind me, crews starting to clean up one of theui tt s been damaged the last several nights. governo nixon releasing a brief statement, written statement si that he'll be in this area for the first time

later today. he's calli the situation, quote, deeply troubles. jay gray, nbc news, ferguson, missouri. naonen of silence will honor police brutality victims, in 18-year-old michael brown. the moment of violence is at 7:00. vigils will be in as many as 50 cities across the country, includingg he in our area. you c f out where the local vigils a on our website, nbcwashingco race car driver kevin ward jr.'s fath is asking for some answers. we'll get t story in a moment. we're gng to check in with derrick ward who's following a story at the live desk. >> reporte rit now friends and family are saying good-bye to sprint car racer kevin ward jr. they're hin his funeral at his high sl in upstate new york. ward died saturday night after he was st by tony stewart's sprint car. ward walked onto the track gesturing stewart's car just

before that car fishtailed and hit ward, sending him airborne. detectiv investigating the incident say stewart does not appear to be criminally responsib ward's death. at the live back, derrick ward. back to you. >> meanwhile kevin ward jr.'s father is saying he wants some answers. he wanttow if tony stewart saw his son on the track before he hit and killed him. ward's father told the "syracuse post standard" he doesn't understandhy a driver as talented asart was involved in a deadly crash. stewart hn' raced since that crash. it's still not clear when and if he will compete at sunday's nascar race at michigan internatil speedway. many of you may remember the damage ca by the duckett dam in laurel back in may. the water damaged the river front park and several businesse main street. tonight the will be a community meeng about that event. it starts at 7:00 p.m. at the partnersh hall on fifth street

in laurel is the place that it will take place. check aga now with tom kierein fe latest on our forecast. he's outside. enjoying t weh out there, tom? >> it feels awesome. what a wonderful, wonderful day under way. we have a le bit of a breeze coming thnow. the low hu is with us. just a few clouds passing over now. a beautiful august day. it is feelg more like septembern august. right now it's in the mid-70s in washingtond by the chesapeake bay. it's in t 50s way out in western maryland. hour by hour for the rest of the afternoon we will warm by 3:00 p.m. into the low to mid-80s. then by 6:00 p.m. with bright sunshine down into the upper 70s and then by 9:00 p.m. back down to the low 70s. it's going to continue to drop all the way down to near 50

degrees in much of the region by dawn on friday under a clear sky. low 60s in washington and by the bay. maybe ev upper 40s a few isolated o off to the north and west. afternoon highs rebound. low 80s tomorrow, lots of sun. low humidity continues into saturday too, upper 80s. then hot and humid sunday afternoon near 90 of the might get an isolated storm sunday afoo but a greater chance on tuesday. >> thank you, tom. just imagine coming back from a trip to this. your car severely damaged because ora. dozens of cars in the lo- parking l at bwi airport were flooded. baltimore had record rainfall on tuesday. a lot of the damaged cars are still in t parking lot. the airport has left flyers on the windshields warning the owners of possib damage. they're ao taking down license plate numbers and trying to contacthes. today will be the last

chance to make the case for a mega gas station. neighbors have blocked the plans and the deal has been died up in a saga of hearings for the last three years. closing arnt are today. there coul a ruling as early as this fall. and there a new warning about soth called spice, a powerful anunpredictable drug. it's easy to find and it's easy to buy. doctors are calling it a killer, though. migu migal has more. >> reportas veronica was losing he only son, she made this desperate plea. >> we want people to know how dangerousis. this is not a game. it is totally real. >> reporte connor was never coming out his coma after one hit of synthetic pot, doctors declared the 19-year-old brain dead. >> it wa an horrific sight to see your son hooked up to machines and to know that possibly th weren't going to actually wake up ever say mama

again. >> repteno was with friends wh his parents say he was offed synthetic pot, commonly known as k-2, spice or scooby snacks. easy to find, easy to buy, and in some forms even legal. the $10 baggies are a nonpotent herb laced with dangerous unpredict chemicals, designed t mimic pot, though typically label not for consumptio >> you wod think it would be safe, it wod okay. it's an alternative to marijuana and it's anng but that. it's a deadly poison. >> reporte pn becoming prolific. accordingo studies, 17% of teens, ii one out of every nin high school have used synthetic marijuana. >> this stuff is being marketed to your kids. your kids are exposed to these products. yougot to help them understanats is incredibly dangerous. >> reportecay more and more teenagers are ending up in the e.r. every day.

>> we've seen seizures, seen a lot of psychosis where people have had ki of these psychotic episodes. every time someone uses one of these products, they are really risking their life. >> report connor was kept on life support for four days, but there was nog doctors could do. >> my life was forever changed the day connor was born. i remembeld him in the hospital d just thinking i'm a dad. >> repoa family who lost their lite boy, now doing all they can to save others. >> please help us fight this fight. >> rorr: "today," miguel almaguer, nbc news, los angeles. >> and doctors say one of the reasons synthetic drugs are gaining popularity is because they are not detected on drug tests. well, pour on the salt. that's wt one new study is suggestingo people today. however, the american heart associati says not so fast.

new 4's aaron gilchrist is here with whatou ne to know for your diet a for your heart. >> reportee'wn for a long time that a lot of salt is not good fou and your heart but a new study says go ahead and pour t salt. the study was publisheded in the new englaou of medicine and said if you have high blood pressure, yes, salt is bad for you. let's bclear, though, if you have high bld pressure, too much salt in your diet is not good for your heart, it puts you at a greater risk of heart disease. but what if you are already pretty healthy? accordingis w study, if you have blood pressure and are under 65, then you can handle mo salt. the study sugs that you can have as ma3,000 to 6,000 milligram salt a day. for exale that's as much salt as you would find in 6 to 12 bags of pretzels. another tgo think about, researchery eliminating salt in your diet is actually a bad thing for you.

they suggest eliminating sugary drinks and keeping salt in your diet are better. the americ heart association is not siding with this study and is recommending much less salt. for their recommendations as well as a full look at this study for yourself, go to nbcwashin.c and search for salt. i'm aaron gilchrist, news4. a pizza delivery app is righting wrg done to d.c. residents. originallsh pizza did not recognize the district as a state. people wd typ in their address on to receive a message ng d.c. is not a valid state. instead people were told to put in virginia as their state. well, that didn't go over very well either, but push for pizza is happy to report that glitch is fixed now and you can put in your d.c. address to have your pizza deledu. you c see more of our area, thanks to the new silver line and we have some weekend ideas foryou. and w amazon is working to make the shopping experience easier. wel bk.

amazon is once again trying to revolutionize online shopping. ts ti it set up a mobile payment system, and here's how it works. business owners attach a credit card reader to their smartphone or tablet. then a mobile app reads your card number. the card reader costs about $10 but the app is free. amazon al imposes a fee each time a credit card is swiped. now the service isn't new, but amazon is one of the newest services to provide mobile payments. t is planning to stay open an extra hour to help riders from fedex field. be sure you enter no later than 12:10 a.m. to make sure you make it to the last blue or silver line trains. station ees at all other stations os at their normal times. the silver line is giving you a way to explore the great

outdoors neighborhoods that you might not have visited before. lavonia is here to tell us why. have you r the silver line yet? >> i haven't. >> a lot of people think of it as a commut line. we're thinking of it as a great way for fos from virginia to get in. it's also a great for people to get out and explore far out virginia. >> tt'wh h said and i'm interested to talk to you about it. you said th people can get out and enjoy the great outdoors. where can you go on the silver line in th outdoors. >> one of cool things virginia is the 45-mile washingto t old dominion trail. this is a great bike path for folks. the silver line comes really close to it. if you get off at the wheelie-rstop, which is the last st for now, you can walk just a couple of blocks, take your bike on -- >> you c take your bike on the metro? >> duri certain hours. not duri rush hour. you can te it on the silver line on ake maybe and get

off at th wheelie-reston stop. from ther you'll be a couple of blocks from some of these paved trails. it's about 20 miles if you want to ride back toward d.c. you can te it through arlington,hr falls church. you'll s a lot of great parks. it's a really great -- >> that sounds great. for people who want to take their bikes, they should check with metro online to see when you can ta your bike on. >> definitely not during rush hour, so weekends might be a great time to go. >> what about shopping? where will it take you for shopping? >> we all know tyson's corner. this is a place that's hard to get to, it's hard to park. i come from the city all the time and we're only two months out from the big christmas shopping season. now is the time to take the metro out to tyson's and explore. one of the really cool things that they have is some stores they don'tav elsewhere, like ll bean. they actuall have an ll bean that offers things like free workshopsna boarding, on fly fishing and then