what went wrong? i'm barbara harrison with new information about a story we brought you all morning long. a motorcyclist and a garbage truck collide with disastrous results. digging through the rubble while one part of the world deals with a devastating quake, people in parts of the u.s. want to see if a tsunami is heading this way. i'm storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell. sunshine and poor air quality the way that you're going to view this afternoon. a check of how high the temperatures will go and how long the warm weather will last, coming up. plus big changes could be coming soon to one of the busiest roads in our region. some of it could actually involve you paying more. news4 midday starts right now.

i'm kristen wright at the live desk where we are watching the situation in chile after a big very earthquake. the quake hit the central coast so now the area is flooding. it is a huge mess. not only that, eight people were killed. the earthquake was a magnitude 8.3. that is massive. these are still pictures of some of the recovery efforts happening now. right here, video from a supermarket right as the quake struck. complete chaos inside. 100,000 people are without power right now and the damage is really bad. the quake wiped out homes and it was the strongest anywhere in the world so far this year. california and hawaii are both under tsunami advisories. big waves are hitting the coast of southern california and people in hawaii are being told to use extreme caution out on the water. back to you. i'm megan mcgrath live

outside the district's 911 call center where a graduation ceremony is about to get under way in just a few minutes. now, there have been concerns about the 911 center, specifically with respect to staffing levels in light of a jump in calls for service this summer. now, today a new graduating class is going to be added. there are 22 people who will join the call center in all. 11 call takers, 11 dispatchers. the hope is that the added personnel will help handle an increase in 911 calls. the emergency call center was handling about 3800 calls a day, but this summer that number jumped to 4400 calls a day. this is the first graduating class in about five years. mayor bowser is going to speak at the graduation and we'll talk to her about the staffing levels, how this will improve things at the center. we'll also find out exactly who these new folks are who will be joining the center. i've been told that some of them have first responder experience

as well as dispatch experience from other jurisdictions, which they hope will be helpful in their new role here in the district of columbia. we're going to talk to the mayor, find out more and we'll have those details in the evening show. back to you all in the studio. i'm adam tuss at vdot headquarters where today a large discussion about i-66. what's going to happen to the corridor in the future. what we've been hearing from vdot leaders today is that you should be ready for tolls on 66. both inside and outside the beltway all the way to hay market. this is going to be a large, large project that affects people in communities like vienna, haymarket, gainesville, centerville, chantilly, a large, large project. and one thing that we heard today that's going to happen no matter what design changes happen to i-66, the hov requirements on 66 will change from hov-2 to hov-3 by 2020.

basically it means big-time construction is being planned for this very, very busy crawling corridor. we'll have much more at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00 tonight. in fairfax, adam tuss, news4. i'm storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell. another sunny and warm day here in the washington area. air quality index is at code orange for later on this afternoon. so if you have heart or respiratory issues, you may want to avoid extended periods of strenuous exercise outside today. otherwise staying warm, staying dry for the next couple of days. looks like it will be cooler as the pope arrives in town next week. for now, though, temperatures are warming quickly. we're already 79 in gaithersburg, 76 in stafford, virginia, and 76 in washington. planning out the remainder of your afternoon, plan on temperatures to be mostly up into the low and mid-80s for much of the afternoon. high in downtown today right around 87 degrees.

we'll start looking into the weekend in more detail coming up. right now we're learning its identity of a man killed in a crash in prince george's county. 29-year-old marcus heinz was killed after his motorcycle struck the back of a tractor-trailer. it happened around 11:30 last night. the tractor-trailer was hauling trash when it was struck by that motorcycle. the driver and a passenger in the tractor-trailer were not hurt. developing right now, we're working to find out the name of the man shot to death inside a car. d.c. police found his body in northeast washington just before 8:30 last night. witnesses say they heard several shots at an apartment complex off east capitol street not far from the benning road metro station. police haven't said if they have any suspects in this case. also developing right now, the latest back and forth on the spike in crime in d.c. a hearing on the city's violence took more than ten hours. take a look. it didn't end until early this morning. one thing they came back to at

the meeting, illegal guns. d.c. police chief kathy lanier said officers seized more than 100 in just the last four weeks. pope francis will be here in less than a week. a lot of people are working very hard to get ready for him. construction still under way at the national basilica. on wednesday, pope francis will deliver a mass to 25,000 people and perform the first canonization on american soil. megan fitzgerald is there. we're going to find out how work is coming along there in our next half hour. forced out by flames and forced to live in tents. our first idea of what may have caused one of the most devastating wildfires we've seen so far this year. plus sparring back and forth. breaking down who won and who surprised folks, and who stuck to the issues during the presidential debate. news4 midday back in 60 seconds. stay with us.

a utility company says a downed power line that hit a tree may have caused that massive wildfire in central california. the butte fire has burned through more than 200 homes and 72,000 acres. two people have been killed. nearly 5,000 firefighters are working to get it under control. the fire is about 45% contained at this time. sergeant bowe bergdahl will go before a military judge today on desertion charges. bergdahl was charged after leaving his post in afghanistan. he was captured by the taliban soon after that and held for five years. experts say his lawyers will most likely argue the years in captivity were punishment enough. the hearing could last for several days. today virginia's health board will consider changes to regulations over abortion clinics. officials will look at scaling back on strict standards. critics say the regulations were driven by politics and not science. supporters of the tougher construction standards say

they're necessary to protect women's health. just in, the country's biggest automaker gets ready to pay out big for a deadly defect. here at humana, we value sticking with things. when something works,

people stick with it. more people stick with humana medicare advantage. because we stick with them. humana medicare advantage. the plan people stick with. welcome back to news4 midday. i'm storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell. any weather-related slowdowns to worry about today, tomorrow, on into the weekend, no, siree bob. poor air quality but that won't slow things down much across the region. if you're doing any traveling, don't go to the sunshine state. if you're looking for sunshine. an enormous amount of rain all across the peninsula of florida here. west of tampa bay in the open waters of the gulf a system has been spinning around a couple of weeks and may try to take on some tropical characteristics. if you're traveling to the upper midwest today, severe weather leaving the twin cities now, but could be impacting the big hubs around chicago by later on this

afternoon into this evening. but nothing to worry about around here, just the sunshine and temperatures way above average. we just learned the specifics of a settlement with general motors. gm will pay the government $900 million for a faulty ignition switch issue that led to more than 100 deaths. criminal charges will be dismissed if the company complies for three years. gm will also agree to retain an independent monitor, review and assess its policies to ensure compliance with the agreement. prosecutors say the automaker knew about the problems for more than a decade. this morning marie mcdonnell is awaiting a decision on her corruption appeal. last year she was found guilty corruption along with her husband, bob mcdonnell. her lawyers say federal bribery law should not apply to her because she was not a public elected official. mcdonnell submitted her written final arguments to the federal appeals court considering her case. she'll have a hearing next month. right now on news4 midday,

the diplomatic phone call to a music legend that really wasn't exactly what it seemed. we're back in just a moment.

breaking news coming into the live desk. a big ruling at a pretrial hearing happening right now for charles severance, the man accused of killing three people in alexandria over a ten-year period. the judge deciding just moments ago that at the murder trial the

defense can introduce evidence of third-party guilt. that third party being former alexandria sheriff, jim dunning, the husband of victim nancy dunning. sheriff dunning died in 2012. but today severance's defense presented evidence from the police investigation to suggest that dunning was a subject in his wife's murder. our northern virginia bureau chief, julie carey, tweeting from the hearing said dunning's family was visibly upset by the judge's ruling to allow that evidence at trial. a psychologist also testified and ruled out schizophrenia as a diagnosis for severance. follow julie and the nbc washington app for updates. back to you. you know, it's interesting to me, mr. trump said that he heard mr. bush very clearly and what mr. bush said. i think women all over this country heard very clearly what mr. trump said. >> carly fiorina, just one of

the names in the gop you're talking about right now. the big question this morning, who won the republican presidential debate last night. a lot of you were watching. i'm joined by nbc chief political editor mark murray to talk about that and everything that's going on in politics right now. good morning. >> good morning, barbara. >> it was a long time -- >> very long night, yes. >> did you watch the entire thing? >> all five hours. the three hours of the main debate and two hours of the undercard. >> i want to ask you if you thought there was a clear winner but first let's talk about some of the subjects that came up last night. >> certainly immigration was a big topic, what the republican party wants to do on planned parenthood, foreign policy, the iran deal, the iraq war, big disagreements. barbara, this is one of the fascinating things about the republican party right now is that on so many of these big ticket items there is a disagreement where you end up having two or three or four republicans on one side of the issue and the rest of the field on the other. >> now, of course everybody took their opportunity to get at trump, beginning with the very first question. do you want to talk about those

that attacked trump last night? >> right. in the way that cnn designing the entire debate was to say donald trump said this, what is your reaction. so he really was a target. i think one of the big takeaways from the entire debate was that donald trump spent the last six weeks or two months whacking all the other republicans. now they have their turn. and in a lot of ways, we saw whether it was rand paul, jeb bush, scott walker, and of course you have that clip of carly fiorina all hitting donald trump. it kind of kept him on the defensive and didn't allow him to shine the way he was in the other debate. >> were there some that you thought clearly shined last night? >> again, carly fiorina was one of the big standouts. it's important to note these debates, you have to be able to steal a moment or two. there are 10, 11 people on the stage, a limited amount of time. but you have to be able you be sure to get a clip the news media talks about. carly fiorina got that. of course the more you go up in the poll, then you start getting litigated on your business experience and others. chris christie also was able to stand out last night and i

thought that jeb bush had some standout moments as well. >> he had some strong words for trump in response to some comments trump made about his wife. >> to subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate and i hope you apologize for that, donald. >> i have to tell you, i hear phenomenal things. i hear your wife is a wonderful woman. >> she is the love of my life. she's right here and why don't you apologize to her right now. >> more energy tonight, i like that. >> all right. do you think we're going to see some changes in the polls following this debate? >> here's what i do know, that we saw a tremendous amount of changes from the first debate, which ben carson shot up, carly fiorina did very well. you ended up seeing jeb bush go down, scott walker go down so i think we'll see changes in the polls. we just don't know what those are right now. it's really hard to predict. i don't think a lot of people saw ben carson coming out of nowhere to do well in the polls. i do think he had a disappointing night.

he was not able to seize some of these moments to help him grab center stage. >> we'll be watching to see what america thinks of what happened last night. >> and then on to the next debate. >> great to see you. thank you for joining us. chuck. >> all right, thanks, barbara. outside we have sunshine. here's the way future weather handles our forecast. i promise you, the computer model is working. here's time going forward on the bar up here, the legend. just not a cloud even forecast to be in our sky for the remainder of the afternoon hours and into the evening. mostly clear into early tomorrow morning as well. there may be an occasional passing cloud, but that's it. there's no chance for rain for the remainder of today or on into the weekend. cool by dawn. tomorrow morning wake-up temperatures will once again be mostly in the mid to upper 50s. tomorrow sunny and warm, temperatures mid-80s. mid to upper 80s coming up on saturday. so warm you may even want to think about going out to the beach. fine idea all weekend, friday, saturday and sunday. great beach weather. ocean water still at 77 degrees.

>> all right, thank you, chuck. two comedians in russia might want to start singing "i hope you don't mind" to elton john. turns out they were behind the fake phone call between the singer and what was thought to be russian president vladimir putin. take a listen to what happened. >> he told that everything that you invest in music culture and for human rights in the world. >> tell him i'm extremely honored that he's calling me and that i'm speaking to him. >> one comedian pretended to be putin and spoke in russian. the other claimed to be his translator, all a hoax. the comedienkmeecomedians decid the prank after elton john said he wanted to talk to putin about gay rights. a lot of you are reacting to a story we told you about yesterday. a texas teenager was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to

school. if you didn't see it here or online, here's the recap. police arrested ahmad mohammed after a teacher thought that a clock looked like a bomb earlier this week. now the hsh tag is circulating and even president obama invited him to the white house in a tweet. mark zuckerberg and a nasa scientist all tweeted in support of the teen. they all say it was a case of discrimination. >> they went after this young man and treated him like a terrorist. and we know what people think terrorists are. they associate that with people who are muslim. >> police didn't charge mohammed with anything. the school suspended him for three days and they say they're now defending their actions. we just learned about a big new restaurant coming to our city.

we are closely following the stories you are clicking on this morning. honda wants to be hip. check it out. the company unveiled its all-new civic yesterday. it is a sporty attempt at winning back the compact car market. there will be a coupe version for buyers and a power recall r-type version for car enthusiasts. the civic is one of the best-selling cars in american history. some pretty wild colors too, that green. restaurant lovers, listen up. a new spot is heading to the district. brittany johnson is here with the latest. >> i have some exciting news for all the sushi lovers like myself. a famous restaurant is coming to d.c. this is super exciting. we still have some time until it opens. it's set to open in fall of 2016 but it will be located on m street in georgetown. on top of a main dining room, there are two priva dining rooms and two private patios. that view is going to be

spectacular for sure. i've posted the details on our nbc washington facebook page. you can check out more of it over there. >> can't wait to try it. an air canada flight was diverted after a pilot realized that a cargo hold heating unit had failed. no big deal, right? well, simba, a 7-year-old french bulldog was riding in that cargo hold where without heat temperatures can become extremely cold. the flight from tel aviv to toronto was diverted to frankfurt. about 200 travelers were delayed about an hour. the passengers says they were okay with a delay when they knew it was about saving man's best fri

and another warm day coming up. our stretch of warm weather has been quite extensive. the month of september is more than four degrees warmer than average. 79 already in leesburg. that's our average high

temperature and it's only 11:30 in the morning. mid-70s around town and mid-70s by the bay. afternoon highs today will be in the mid-80s in most neighborhoods. 87 downtown, 84 in manassas. the next couple of days also look exceptionally warm. 87, 86 and 88 degrees for thursday, friday and saturday. again, our average high is only 79. cooler weather and a little breezy as well by sunday on into monday. a chance for light rain on tuesday when pope francis comes to town. this is the kind of video that makes you want to go ooh, like you're watching fireworks. lightning struck central minnesota last night. look at that! there were heavy storms around the university there and these cameras caught the lightning as it struck. wow. >> pretty cool. if you went to the nationals game in philly, you have an interesting pope francis souvenir. he will arrive in washington, then new york and then on to philadelphia. so last night the philadelphia

phillies gave out this pope baseball card to fans. we only got this picture of the front of the card so we're not so sure what's on the back of the card. if we had to guess, it probably does not include any rbis. speaking of the pope, we're in the home stretch now. right now on news4 midday, we'll take you to the center of last-minute preparations before the pontiff arrives in washington next week. plus the power struggle over a power company. the effort to gain support over a controversial deal.

new today, the fight continues over a possible power company merger between pepco and exelon. darcy spencer is live in northwest now with the latest on this process. darcy? >> hey, melissa, yeah. the press conference is still under way here by supporters of this merge. you may remember it was late last month that the public service commission here in washington rejected this deal, but these two companies are not giving up the fight. let's show you some video of these supporters again meeting right now. the press conference is being held by the federal city council. this is a private business group. those attending the press conference are from the business communities as well as the faith-based organizations. for this $6.4 billion deal that

would allow excelon to make over pepco. last month they rejected it saying utility customers would not benefit from this merge, one even saying this is a bad deal for d.c. i just got a statement from pepco and they plan to file an appeal for reconsideration of that decision. it has to happen within a 30-day period. let's hear from former mayor anthony williams. he's now ceo of the federal city council. >> as you know, to show our support, our very strong support for a merger of exelon and pepco that we think is going to deliver for the district in terms of resiliency, in terms of sustainability and, very importantly, in terms of opportunity. >> exelon has committed to extending pepco's philanthropy for at least a decade if this merger is approved. >> reporter: so again, there is strong opposition to this merge.

at noon today, those who are in opposition plan to hold a rally. they want to get muriel bowser's attention. they want her to take a stand. up to this point she has not taken a public stand on whether she thinks this merger should go through or not. melissa, back to you. outside we have sunshine and another warm day coming up. bus stop weather when the kiddos are coming home from school between 3:00 and 4:00, temperatures will be in the mid-80s. sunny and warm outside and dry. no chance for rain. so as a result, you can get that car washed and keep it clean for quite some time. thinking about the weekend already and what you may want to do outside. the bluemont fair is this weekend saturday and sunday in bluemont, virginia, from 10:00 to 5:00. great weather for outdoor planning this weekend. saturday, among and warm, temperatures in the mid-80s. we'll start to cool down in the shenandoah valley and the mountains sunday afternoon.

temperatures back down into the mid-70s, breezy and noticeably cooler. not much of anything in the way of a rain chance. dry weather continues on into early next week before our next chance for showers shows up as we get into tuesday. but our warm, dry weather will continue at least through your saturday. >> thank you, chuck. the lone survivor of last month's horrific shooting that played out on live television, vicki gardner, suffered serious injuries when she was shot by the same man who killed reporter alison parker and cameraman adam ward. gardner spoke to the "today" show about her recovery. >> well, it's a day-by-day recovery. hard to know what to expect as each day goes by, but i am feeling better. you know, when you combine the physical and the mental, i have like i am the poster child for recovery. >> disgruntled employee vester lee flanagan ii, also known as bryce williams, ambushed the three on august 26th. by now thousands of you have seen that video.

gardner talked about why she wanted to relive the horror by watching it. >> i think it's very important. this is not something you can suppress. you just really need to face it and piece together those pieces of the puzzle. i think it's helpful for everybody. >> gardner curled up in a fetal position and tried to play dead. she was shot in the back and lost a kidney. developing in utah right now, hundreds of volunteers and rescuers are out looking for a missing 6-year-old boy. they confirmed the boy is the last person still missing after a flash flood washed away two cars in the town of hildale. the boy, his mother, siblings and cousins were all inside. 12 of the people, mostly children in those cars, died. in nearby zion national park in utah, rescue teams are looking for a woman who is missing right now. they say she's the only person from a group of hikers who is unaccounted for following the floods. the six others all died. is the purple line closer to

becoming a reality? tonight the maryland transit administration will hold a meeting to talk about possible changes to the line that could include cost reduction and staffing for the project. the public is invited to see the presentation. the meeting is set for 7:00 p.m. at the silver spring civil building. metro says it's planning changes after a panel criticized its rail operations control center. according to "the washington post" metro requested a peer review from the american public transportation association. the group said the underground emergency exposed several issues in the control center, specifically training and communications there. they also said metro should create a way to get information directly to riders in an emergency. well, he's the man behind one of the biggest movies of the year. now he's bringing his latest prong to nbc and talking about it here i

i'm aaron gilchrist. if you can think it, they will most likely say it. that's what they can expect in the comedy "truth be told." it is produced by will packer. will, we appreciate you coming in today to talk to us. >> thank you for having me. >> you've had such an incredible body of work that we've enjoyed. >> i can't stop now. i have to keep it going. >> i have to ask you first about "stay outta compton." this movie, people have loved this film. there's oscar buzz. what do you make of all this that's come from the movie? >> it's so exciting. just to think that you have a movie that's about, i think, the american dream. i mean you're talking about kids who came from nothing to reach the highest pinnacles of success. to have a movie that has made obviously so much noise at the box office about four kids from compton. i think that it says a lot about the fact that audiences want authentic material and want stuff that is organic.

you know, you don't want to jinx it, but i'm very optimistic about awards season. just a tremendous job on all fronts. i'm so proud to be a part of it. >> an awesome film touched so many generations and genres and people came together around this film. >> absolutely. >> so it sort of begs the question, what's in the offing? do you think you'll do more biopick type movies? >> they're hard. it's tough to tell a true story, especially with this one where you had two of the main three members of the group that are still alive. it's tough to tell their story and to get it right. i think if you get it right, it will resonate and audiences will respond, so i'm excited by the biopick world and the opportunity to tell true stories. let's talk about this new series, "truth be told" on nbc. >> speaking of being organic and keeping it real, this is the show that literally the title is "truth be told."

if i'm telling you something and i say truth be told, you get ready. whatever is coming next, it might be brutally honest, i'm going to keep it real. this is about a diverse group of friends. the cast is amazing. mark-paul gosselaar from "saved by the bell" i'm excited about this cast. but what it is on friday nights at 8:30 on nbc, we are gog there. it is literally like going into the most raucous twitter conversation or instagram conversation that you can have. >> hold on, right? >> you say those things that you're thinking. we go there, we talk about race and sex and politics and all this stuff that you're not supposed to talk about. we do it. >> looking forward to it. will packer, appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. >> barbara, back to you. the calendar says it's september, but the temperatures climbing out there. >> i know, it is. it could cause health problems for some of

outside we have sunshine for everybody across the region. the only real knock on the day is the air quality. we're code yellow currently, but we're forecast to become potentially code orange later this afternoon. you can tell kind of a gunkiness in the atmosphere. stagnant air has been in place over the region all through the course of the week. high pressure has sealed out any real weather changes, so as a result it's unhealthy for sensitive groups coming up for outdoor activity later on this afternoon. you may want to limit your time outside. temperatures now are in the 70s to near 80. we'll be in the mid to upper 80s later on today. >> okay, chuck. a frightening sight in germany. a train slams into a school bus. the good news, the bus was empty. turns out it was stuck on the railroad tracks after the driver made a too-sharp turn. this video was taken by one of the 60 students evacuated from the bus before the accident. >> very lucky there. right now on news4 midday, mud slinging on a national stage. >> and tapping into the funnier side of the race for the white house.

when pope francis visits washington next week, he will celebrate his first mass in the u.s. >> and today we're getting a look at some of the construction now under way at the basilica in preparation for this special event. news4's megan fitzgerald is live from northwest where organizers

just wrapped up a news conference. megan. >> reporter: they did indeed and excitement is almost like an understatement at this point. less than a week away from when pope francis will give the historic mass right here. crews are busy at work. take a look behind me. they have been out here working tirelessly to make sure that everything is in place. now, cardinal wuerl along with monsignor rossi and other officials took a tour of the progress just about an hour ago. you can see they're in the process of building the altar in the outdoor sanctuary. we're told that metal structure is the roof that will be raised so pope francis has coverage during the mass. stands are being built for the media to broadcast the mass. the next order of business is putting down the 15,000 chairs on the lawn for those who will be seated. the other 10,000 people will be standing. at the press conference this morning, cardinal wuerl talked about the significance of the canonization during pope francis' mass. >> he was a franciscan.

he came from spain. brought the faith to the new world. this holy father is the first pope from the new world. he's coming for the first time to the united states to do for the first time a canonization. >> reporter: now, the construction is expected to be complete on sunday. i had a conversation with monsignor rossi and he was telling me he gets calls and e-mails and letters every day asking about the tickets. he told me the 25,000 tickets have almost been distributed. fear not, if you didn't get get a ticket, we'll do wall-to-wall coverage and you can see all the happenings when the pope arrives. back to you. >> all right, thank you, megan. remember, we have you covered all next week whether you're planning to catch a glimpse of the pope, or just trying to avoid all of it, keep the nbc washington app handy for all things before pope, during pope and after the pope's visit.

i know you're about to go for your interview with jimmy fallon but he's a total lightweight so i'm going to do him a favor and interview you instead. >> that's great. you know how much i love being interviewed. as long as you don't start talking over me when i'm trying to make a point. >> hillary clinton took questions from jimmy fallon, republicans launched an attack on donald trump. trump got front and center position in the latest gop debate and ten other republicans did anything they could to stop his momentum. >> edward lawrence is live on capitol hill. edward, which candidate really got the biggest boost? >> reporter: well, melissa and barbara, there were a few candidates that really stood out. both carly fiorina and governor chris christie were very well prepared for the big stage with all eyes on donald trump. front runner donald trump was the big target. >> he supports clinton. and when he asks florida to have

casino gambling, we said no. >> wrong. >> we said no. and that's the simple fact. >> don't make things up, jeb. >> political experts say the other candidates on stage jabbed a bit, but took trump's candidacy seriously and mainly stuck to the issues. >> russia is a bad actor, but vladimir putin is someone we should not talk to because the only way he will stop is to sse strength and resolve on the other side. >> reporter: e.other issues lik immigration and the economy also made for huge talking points. >> we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa. when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder and say you have overstayed your welcome. >> i think we also have to have two minimum wages. a starter and a sustaining. >> reporter: still, there were a few moments. >> jeb, jeb, i was a businessman. i got along with clinton, i got along with everybody. that was my job, to get along with people. >> but the simple fact is -- >> excuse me. one second.

>> but the simple fact -- >> more energy, i like that. >> reporter: later in the debate, rivals battling for the same viewers. more shots were taken at hillary clinton and even congressional republicans on capitol hill than the candidates took at each other during the debate. on capitol hill, edward lawrence, news4. warm and sunny outside for the rest of today. temperatures will be climbing up into the mid-80s for a time this afternoon. high up near 86, 87 degrees today right around 4:00 this afternoon. and the next seven days are all going to be warm here, at least through the front half of the weekend. things will turn a little cooler on sunday as a little weather front passes by just to our north but it doesn't have much, if anything, in the way of moisture. even a little chance for showers on tuesday is just that, a small chance for showers, but at least it will be cooler. >> all right, chuck, thank you. this week's wednesday's child is a little guy with a smile that lights up the world. with his many challenges, you

may think this toddler has little to smile about, but not only is he just a really happy kid, he makes all those who meet him smile too. we paid a visit to his foster home the other day and saw why social workers are hopeful he will soon by a loving, adoptive family. ♪ >> reporter: meet seth, a happy 3-year-old who is curious about the world around him. and while he found the wonderful voice of music teacher katie very kootisoothing, he wasn't q ready to doze off for a nap. he seemed ready to get up and move, if only he could. >> hi, seth. hi! how are you? it's so nice to see you. do you want to get further up on the pillow? >> he tries very hard to get around but has challenges. >> he has been born with several significant challenges from birth. he was born very premature, and so at this point he has issues

with possible cerebral palsy. >> he has been in foster care since infancy. >> he's been in care for about two and a half years. he is making slow and steady progress. >> he loves katie's music and was anxious to join in. >> seth is the most cheerful, playful baby. he loves to snuggle. he loves for you to talk to him. he loves to talk back. he's not talking in words yet, but he loves to make sounds. he's very, very, very socialable. >> those who work with him say he is making progress and it's hoped he may one day be able to communicate better and improve his motor skills. katie brought along a colorful ball as a gift. >> he does do o.t., occupational therapy, and physical therapy. they are working with him to keep his motor skills -- to develop his motor skills and to

with hope eventually be able to walk, probably with an assistive device. >> he needs a loving family. >> we are looking for a family that will really love and support and nurture him and let him reach his fullest potential. >> his fullest potential, even doctors don't know for sure what that might be, but with his spirit and spunk, we kind of think he might surprise a lot of folks. >> his doctors are keeping open the possibility. >> and if you have room in your home and your heart for him or another child who's waiting call our special adoption hotline or search wednesday's child on nbcwashington.com. a real cute little guy. >> he looks so sweet. millions of you watched the candidates square off in last night's debate, but social media is buzzing about someone who was not on stage. that's when we come back.

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here are some of the stories lighting up social media this morning. while much of the nation was glued to the gop political debate, it seems that some of you were a little distracted. buzzfeed is buzzing with this story this morning. who is the hot guy who sat behind jake tapper? there he is behind jake's right shoulder. a little bit more of a closeup. a lot of people went to twitter to figure out who this guy is. can someone please get a screen grab of the hot guy in the audience behind jake tapper. #cnndebate. we're all waiting for the clear winner of that debate and to see whether this man is going to reveal himself. so how much money do you spend eating out? well, "the washington post" has revealed which cities are spending the most and you may be surprised to know that d.c. and new york are just not big spenders. texans in dallas-ft. worth spent more than 6% of their total spending on eating out. the national average is about 5%. so perhaps it's true, everything

is bigger in texas. well, we all have them and now for some families, they will become a work of art. we are talking about awkward family photos. this is a trending story this morning on nbc washington. more than 200 cringed and laugh worthy photos will be on display this week in peoria, illinois, as part of a national tour. these photos are great. it is a spinoff from the website awkwardfamilyphotos.com. i'm sure we all have a few of these photos we can add to the collection, but you won't be seeing any of mine. back to you. >> i guess you had to send them in, huh?

that's it for us here at news4 midday. thank you for joining us today. we're back on the air this afternoon first at 4:00. >> you can get news and weather updates any time with the nbc washington app. download it now if you haven't. we hope you have a great day. did you see it's code orange out there today? >> code orange, that's what they're saying. >> so be careful. it feels more like august.

we'll see you tomorrow. have a great day.

here in vineland, new jersey, home of progresso, we love all kinds of chicken soups... but just one kind of chicken. it's white breast meat chicken every time. because white breast meat chicken releases its flavor into the broth and absorbs more flavor from it. and in vineland, it's all about flavor so if you're not going to make your own chicken soup tonight, do what we do...make it progresso.

>> announcer: today on the meredith vieira show. who were the big winners in the republican debate and hilary and haylie duff. and we went to the hardware store to find a stud. it all starts right now on meredith. [applause] ♪ ♪