to work for the president. he's on a mission to win over voters in a crucial swing state. the latest on the campaign trail as fox 5 morning news continues right now. there's a live look outside, already looks a little hazy to me, on a warm start to what is going be a hot day. believe it or not, the heat intensifies for a couple of days. good morning, i'm tony perkins. >> i'm alison seymour. reminder, there are still school closings today, and you'll find that list at the bottom of your screen and on myfoxdc.com. with more on the weather forecast, tucker barnes joins us now with more or less the same, right? >> more of the same. but temperatures could be a degree or two worse today and the humidity will increase more. unfortunately, the heat wave continues, entering day number

eight with the temperature 95 or better. 80 now in washington. 79 in baltimore. 79 in ocean city. yesterday morning the mountains were in the 60s. this morning, 70s in hagerstown, 73. 79 in winchester. heat advisory is back as of noon today through 8:00 tonight. we know this routine by now. will feel like 100 to 105. lots of water, bring in your pets. try to take it easy in the afternoon sun. get shade if you can, that kind of thing, as the heat will be dangerous later today. quiet now. did have thunderstorm activity last night. that has dissipated overnight. might be an isolated storm today. we have no mechanism, no cold front or anything to spur widespread thunderstorms. just a few isolated thunderstorms this afternoon. 101 in fredericksburg today. 100 in baltimore. we look forward to the weekend and early next week when we'll get some relief.

let's do and traffic and julie has the latest. >> good morning. on the roads now, lighter than usual traffic volume. i got a feeling a lot of folks extended that holiday for a very long eastbound. southbound 270 easy inbound through germantown. the last couple of days we've been enjoying the hov restrictions that have been lifted. no longer the case. lanes open across the american legion bridge. that's a check of your fox 5 on- time traffic. thank you. new this morning, a deadly double shooting at an apartment complex in the district. happened in the 600 block of morton street northwest just after 2:30 this morning. one man was shot in the face, the other in the back. one of the victims has since died. so far there's no word on what

may have led to the shooting or if police have any suspects. and one of the four people shot during the fourth of july celebrations has also died from his injuries. shots rang out before 8:00 last night on first street northwest near the fort cotton area. police say it appears a group of young men were targeted by another group of young men. two of the victims are teenagers. so far, police haven't made any arrests. there's also breaking news from long island this morning. an outing on the water to watch fireworks turns into a tragedy. a yacht with 27 people on board capsized near oyster bay, new york. police confirmed that three bodies were recovered from long island sound. several reports the three victims are children. the other 24 people were rescued from the water last night. eyewitnesses say the boat was making a turn when it was hit by a wake and flipped over. now six days after the

storm, plenty of still without power today. pepco is showing nearly 21,000 customers are still without service. though they do note that they have restored power to more than 95% of those who lost it on last friday. dominion virginia has more than 12,000 out in northern virginia. bge has more than 13,000 out. there is some confusion in maryland when it comes to who exactly is still waiting. where are the wires getting crossed? >> our own sherri ly is live in bethesda with more on that and the continuing cleanup efforts. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. this is one of those areas here in bethesda that still needs a lot of cleaning up and still needs the power to be restored. you can see back here progress is being made. we have the trees finally cut up. but the road is still a mess, the lines are still down and they have not been repaired

yet. across the region tens of thousands of people are bracing for another sweltering day without power. pepco has the largest number of outages. silver springs some neighborhoods didn't have power, even though pepco's automated system said they did. the utility says it's because once feeder lines are repaired, the system reports power in on in the area. some customers complain the company can't get its story straight and they're fed up. >> however, pepco said they sent the crew out because no one was reporting power outages. but we reported power outages every day for six days. >> reporter: in that woman's neighborhood, pepco is reporting more than 300 customers there still remain without power. the community went forward with its fourth of july parade,

despite the heat. pepco's web site says no crews have been assigned there yet, and the outage is still being evaluated. in some areas the company is still saying that power may not be back on until 11:00 p.m. tomorrow night. that's the latest in bethesda. back to you. >> sherri ly, thank you very much. meanwhile, maryland's public service commission will attempt to answer some of the many questions regarding response to the storm today. that includes a recap of reliability standards for utility companies. fox5 will be in baltimore for the hearing and we'll have more tonight at 5:00. and our coverage of the storm aftermath continues throughout the morning. 7:30we're talking with the fairfax county department of public safety for more on the 911 problems that hit many areas. at 8:00, find out who is saying it's not just pepco to blame. the chair of the d.c. public service commission tells us why their shouldering part of the

blame. and at 9:00, montgomery county executive ike leggett will be here to talk more about what's happening to hold utility companies more accountable after events like this. to politics now this morning. a day after paying tribute to america's men and women in uniform during fourth of july celebrations at the white house, it's back to the campaign trail today for president obama. fox's doug luzader has more on his two-day bus trip to the midwest. >> reporter: the holiday is now over, and the president trades air force one for a campaign bus today. >> hi, everybody, enjoy the fireworks, get hot dogs. >> reporter: the first family welcoming military families to the white house yesterday for a big fourth of july celebration. but this morning, the president starts a bus trek through the heart of the 2012 campaign battlefield. starting off near toledo, and includes four stops in ohio, crossing the border into another big player this year,

pennsylvania. >> mitt romney's companies were pioneers in outsourcing u.s. jobs. >> reporter: obama campaign team has softened the ground in the midwest by hammering mitt romney over his years at bane capital, accusing him of driving away american jobs. romney spent the day in new hampshire. his campaign fired back, citing independent analyst that called them misleading. romney is joining fellow republicans in the wake of last week's supreme court decision that the president's health care law includes a big tax hike for those who don't buy health insurance. a delicate issue, since romney's own massachusetts law includes a similar mandate. >> they concluded it was a tax. that's what it is and the american people know that president obama has broken the pledge he made. said he wouldn't raise taxes on middle income americans. >> reporter: perhaps trumping all of those issues, tomorrow the june unemployment numbers come out. both campaigns are bracing for

what could be more bad news. in washington, doug luzader, fox news. >> doug, thanks. a scare for the governor of iowa. he is out of the hospital this morning after choking on food during a rededication ceremony for the u.s.s. iowa battle ship. the governor choked on a piece of food, it was a carrot, during wednesday's event. he got sick, he was taken to the hospital as a precaution. a spokesman says he is probably a little more embarrassed than anything. still scary stuff. >> yeah. hope he'll be okay. it's nine minutes after 7:00. a look at last night's big fireworks show on the national mall. >> a warning from police about a popular -- >> a new report details what caused the nuclear crisis in japan following last year's earthquake and tsunami. why investigators say it was man-made.

>> as we head to the break, a live look outside. when it's 80 degrees at 7:09, it's going to be a hot one. but tucker will give you the details and julie will have your traffic report, that's all coming up next.

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here's a check of this thursday morning's headlines. in japan, the first nuclear reactor is back online since the country's devastating earthquake and tsunami last year. the natural disaster caused massive radiation leaks. the reactor began generating power today ahead of a final report by a panel looking into the melt down. that panel concluded that the crisis at the fukushima plant unfolded as a result of "willful negligence before the disaster and a flawed response afterwards." firefighters in colorado getting a little break thanks to rains that have cooled the

raging wildfires burning there. they expect the largest blaze, the waldo canyon to be fully contained by sunday. elsewhere in the west, more than a dozen fires are ripping through bone dry pine and brush. the wildfire in south dakota has already burned 16 homes. and as always, it was a spectacular show on the national mall for this year's capital 4th fireworks. it lit up the sky for about 20 minutes. tens of thousands showed up despite the heat and threat of storms. >> this is awesome, yeah. i love it. it's so cool. >> it's beautiful. it's beautiful and enjoying it so much. it is wonderful. it depicts the greatness of this country. >> the celebration wouldn't be complete without the capital 4th concert. the newest "american idol," phillip phillips, he was among the performers to hit the stage

on the west lawn. russell watson, didn't he perform last night? >> i didn't see the lineup. >> he's coming in here today. >> excellent. okay. i was dozing on the couch and woke up in time to see the last part of the concert, the fireworks, and back to sleep. it's so sad. >> i went to bed and woke up to the fireworks. i heard them. >> did you? i heard them, too. >> maybe your next door neighbor. i know, it's tough. showing the video of winchester? take a look at this video from winchester friday night. there was a party and look who arrived, unwanted guest. watch this. >> oh, my goodness! picked up the tent and everything. look how strong that is. >> amazing. winds were registered at about 70 to 80 miles per hour across the area, parts of the area. >> you see how quickly it came in. luckily, nobody at that party

was hurt. they were celebrating an 18- year-old's birthday. >> is there no way to predict this weather event? is it a weather event? >> well, once they develop, we can track them. but we can see the ingredients are there, but we can't predict they're going to happen until they kind of do. >> on friday it started around 5:00, 6:00 p.m. started looking like this thing is coming to our direction. >> more common out west. >> hopefully i'll never see them again. >> fingers crossed. >> we can hope. >> big story today, the heat is on again. we never got relief, but going to be 100 later this afternoon or close to it. 81 now in washington. 73 cincinnati. 74 boston. i guess the good news is many cities are getting in on the misery. so it's collective here. chicago now 81. forecast high in chicago today, 105 degrees. >> dangerous. >> very dangerous heat.

and we've got excessive heat warnings, heat advisories roughly from missouri to the washington area, down to georgia. gives you an idea how much of the country is under a heat advisory. most of the country quiet. few rain showers out into colorado and utah. around here, maybe a popup storm today. we don't have any cold fronts or anything that will break up the heat and provide some direction for some thunderstorms. so hazy hot air mass. could see an isolated storm. 99 today. 100 tomorrow. 102saturday. you get the idea here. it will get better by monday with highs only about 90. >> 102 on the weekend. >> yeah. >> okay. thanks, tucker. >> thanks for what? >> pour some water and i don't know what. >> worn out just hearing about it. >> i know. >> here is julie wright. she likes the heat. i don't know if you like this much. >> i do, as long as you don't

have to get dressed. like when you have to go to work. put on your tank top and flip flops you're good. >> if i have a tank top on, i'm inside. you do your thing. >> changed that story, because earlier she was putting her hair up in a ponytail. and that was it. >> okay. >> all right. >> that's a different kind of show. 395 at duke street, one of the slowest stretches on the roads this morning, north of duke street to seminary road. no problems to report here.

leaving university headed to georgia. southbound 95, 295 quiet. no problems inbound new york avenue. 7th and o street in northwest, police activity is there. julie thank you very much. we have an alert for anyone who uses a popular running path. arlington county police are on the lookout for a man who sexually assaulted a 23-year- old on 4-mile run tuesday night. the victim was jogging when confronted by a man with a knife. he dragged off the trail and sexually assaulted her. the suspect is described as a hispanic man, about 5'5" or 5'6" weighing 140 pounds. the victim said he had a high pitched voice and spoke limited english. he was wearing a green t-shirt with the word george across the front. congress has given the faa until 2015 to come up with rules to allowed unmanned drones wide access to u.s. air space. >> but noted researchers have discovered a major flaw. this drone is similar to thousands of others that soon will be buzzing over u.s. soil guided by gps. but a team from the university of texas, they were able to knock it off its course with false signals to the navigation system known as a spoofer.

>> in five and 10 years, we have 30,000 of those drones and each could be a potential missile. >> the government is looking into the problem. they would help authorities monitor traffic, hazardous situations and guide first responders in emergency situation. it could be a stressful monday for thousands. next, a warning from internet service providers and the fbi. >> our holly morris is rediscovering a historic maryland city, digging for hidden treasures in st. mary's. coming up, a closer look at the significance of the site and what archeologists have found so far.    

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welcome back. no matter how secure it seems, no one's job is safe, and the presidents of some colleges and universities are learning that the hard way. a recent survey by the american

council on education found that the average tenure of a college or university president is now seven years. that's down from eight and a half in 2006. a growing number of presidents are from outside the academic world. the insecurity of the position was recently brought to light by the ousting and reinstatement of the university of virginia. all that according to a report from the house oversight and government reform committee. some of the discounts were apparently ordered by former countrywide's ceo. the recipients were known as friends of angelo. the report says lobbyists may have skirted the federal

bribery statute. in the past few years fcc has slapped him with half a million dollar in fines. come monday, thousands of americans may lose internet service unless they do a check of their computers for mal ware that could have taken over a year ago. the fbi has set up a special web site to check whether your computer has the virus on it. it's 7 25:00 now. still ahead, another dominating game for the nats. we've got a look at the team's red hot offense next. >> 911 service in fairfax county is now back online since friday's storm. but many questions linger about what went wrong here. we're going to get some answers for you from the head of fairfax county department of communications. >> here's another live look

outside. it is a hazy start to the day. heat, humidity, haze, all features of our forecast for today, and tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. tucker has the forecast, julie has the traffic when we return.



let's turn to sports. the nationals continue to light up san francisco's pitching staff. tucker barnes was there to witness this. ryan zimmerman homered and drove in three runs to help his team to a 9-4 win over the giants. they hit four homeruns in all. both teams face off again tonight. first pitch 7:05. and if you plan on going to tonight's game, you're in for a treat. it's turn back the clock night. in honor of the 1924 washington senators. both teams will wear 1924 replica jerseys, and the grounds crew will also be dressed in full 1920s attire. weren't they wool uniforms? also the first 10,000 fans will get a commemorative replica of the 1924 world series

scoreboard. the scoreboard? i guess it's a little -- >> right. just a replica. so maybe under armor could make it or something. be cool, but still look like the old fashioned -- >> when they say authentic, the real deal. >> i think it's the real deal. >> really? >> i wonder if they'll play 1920s music when running around the bases. >> would be fast, wouldn't it? what is the food? still would be hot dogs. >> yeah, i think so. by the way, the energy at the park, incredible. >> you had a good time? >> you can feel it. people are really excited. >> that's great. >> got that natitude, tuck. >> around here what else is kicking in, more heat and humidity. never goes away, does it? >> not awesome. >> not awesome, right. check out this unfun fact. today will be the eighth day in a row where our temperature will hit 95 degrees or higher. >> oh, man. >> i think that's what you call

a heat wave. >> it's a real one. >> unfortunately, looks like we'll continue into day number nine, 10, maybe day number 11 as well. 81 in washington. overnight low of 80 here in washington. and that's not very comfortable. 82 in annapolis. 78 in quantico. 73 the winning number at dulles and manassas this morning. 69degrees in martinsburg, you are the cool spot. upper 90s and may do triple digits without too many issues later this afternoon. no real surface features to point out. nothing to drive thunderstorm activity today. anything we see will be isolated, kind of a popup thunderstorm we get in this summery, hot humid air mass. all the heat out to the west. we to be on the outer edges of that. that will continue to push to our area. tomorrow and saturday i think looks like the worst of it, as

highs definitely will be triple digits and heat index 110 by saturday. hang in there. a few more days, then things get better early next week. 99 today. heat advisory goes in effect 12 noon. isolated storms a possibility. partly cloudy, warm, muggy overnight low. upper 70s and low 80s for overnight. 100 tomorrow, 102 saturday. heat index will approach 110 on saturday i'm afraid. then a little cooler by the end of the weekend, particularly monday, highs only in the upper 80s. can't wait. that's a look at weather. let's do traffic and there she is, julie wright, who loves this time of year. >> i do. i'd rather have the heat than the snow, in all honesty, i really would. >> maybe 90 and 100. >> i'd rather have the heat than the snow. it's like saying i'd rather have the 2 inches of snow rather than the 3 feet. >> still complaining about that. >> i haven't let it go, tucker.

eastbound 66, tucker was doing the weather, accident activity moved out of the roadway. heavy and slow leaving vienna headed eastbound. it's moved on. better news there. 395 however, below speed. no problems to report here. hov rules are in effect. the last couple of days we've had a break, that's no longer the effect. hov rules are in effect. that's a check of your fox 5 on- time traffic. thank you very much. friday night's storm knocked out 911 service in many part of of our area.

fairfax county the service wasn't fully restored until earlier this week. we have with us this morning the director of the fairfax county department of public safety communications essentially overseeing the 911 system. thank you for coming in. my first question is, in fact is the system fully up and running, 911, the 10 digit phone number, all of that? >> good morning, tony. i'm happy to say on behalf of the 911 personnel as well as the citizens of fairfax, that verizon was able to restore 911 service to the county fully a little before noon on tuesday. >> all right, very good. let's talk about verizon. my understanding is that when the storm hit friday night, an arlington facility that verizon has suffered damage and damage to the primary and the backup systems. my question, you know, as a layman, how can that happen? shouldn't the backup system be separate from the primary system? >> indeed it should be. when the storm struck at about 10:30 friday evening, 911 worked very, very well. actually in fairfax county, and i don't think we're unique, our 911 calls because of this storm

peaked more than 400% greater than normally would be the case on a typical friday evening. however, at about 6:30 saturday morning, that's when the system failed literally without warning. suddenly the 911 calls failed to come in and we were wondering why. our center in fairfax, the same across the region and around the country, has an alternate number to call in case of failure of the 911 system. however, on saturday morning, that also failed. it wasn't until mid-morning on saturday did verizon finally begin to inform us as to what the cause of that may be, and that goes back to the arlington office that you referenced at the outset. >> so it's a little confusing to me. everything works fine during the peak of the storm and hours immediately after, and then the next morning service goes down. let me ask you this, the 10 digit number, the main number people can call when 911 is not working, is that also serviced

by verizon? >> it is, yes. >> so do you all have an understanding as to what happened and do you feel comfortable that this can be prevented in the future? >> that remains to be seen. clearly there are some things that verizon must do to make their system more robust and redundant. we don't call 911 unless there's an emergency, and rarely do emergencies give you advanced notice. so it's very, very important that the confidence in the system be high all the time. in our area, the national capital region, that is particularly the case. so i truly hope on behalf of the 911 community and all of the citizens across our region that verizon will work very hard at what they can do to correct this problem and should it ever happen again, we not find ourselves in a situation we found ourselves in saturday morning. >> is verizon being cooperative and forthcoming and are they being held accountable?

>> they are being cooperative. i understand obviously there will be some inquiries into the performance, probably there will be recommendations made as a result of that. we're all looking forward anxiously and quickly to what that may be. we just don't know when the next storm may arrive. we're in the early part of july. hurricane season is coming up so we must correct this and quickly. >> what is your confidence in the system at this point? >> my confidence today is okay. so long as nothing of the magnitude that struck friday evening should occur again. >> because for citizens, obviously, you know, and you're a citizen as well, the fear is, okay, this was a storm, it was a very bad storm, but there are worse things that could happen. could have a hurricane come through, another earthquake, a terrorist attack. >> absolutely. >> and we have to have confidence in the system if something like that happens. >> 911 is the most recognized number in the united states. people rely on it 240,000 times

a day. 80million times a year. it must be solid and rebust. >> we thank you very much, steve souder, thanks for coming in. >> thank you, tony. >> allison. thanks, tony. it's about 7:38 now. it is a thursday morning. still ahead, it's an annual tradition, the hot dog eating contest at coney island. this is what's coming up on the show. find who is waking up a champ and very full, after the break. plus-- >> i have the ability to help, i'm going to go help them. >> a florida lifeguard jobless this morning for doing just that, saving a life. coming up, why he was fired and the controversy it's causing nationwide. we'll be right back. ♪

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once again, alexander's own black widow, competitive eater, has taken the top prize. would that be her name? >> disgusting. >> so gross. >> would the black widow talk

like that? anyway. 102-pound sonia thomas won the women's competition at the nathan's famous hot dog eating contest on coney island. sheeter 45 hot dogs with the buns in 10 minutes. new personal record. joey chestnut took his fifth victory in a row, downing 68 dogs and beating the competition by 16 franks. i would go over just one frank. why go over that much? >> you want the record to stand for years. >> i suppose. both also won $10,000, which is maybe a good reason to be doing this. >> immediately afterwards, they both won the vomiting championship, too. >> they sure did. >> so gross. and over the line. grotesque. >> i'm sorry. >> i was saying would the black widow talk like that. she would be more like, the black widow. >> seductive voice. >> not the hulk voice i did.

i'm sorry. >> that particular black widow came in here. she has a soft voice. >> but don't let that fool you. she could probably wrestle either one of you down. >> probably. tucker would pay for that. [ laughter ] >> don't ever pay for it, tuck. don't ever pay for it. >> let's go to the -- >> you're better than that, tuck. >> thank you, allison. i like to think so. let's take a look at the maps. excessive heat warning for parts of the country out to our west. believe it or not, we're not even getting the worst of this

heat. >> that's crazy. >> chicago i mentioned, 105 today. st. louis has been triple digits i think the better part of the week. cincinnati. when you get into chicago, wisconsin, minnesota, they see warm days, but not triple digits days on end. >> chicago can get super hot. >> around here, heat advisory today, with humidities feeling like 100 to 105. between 12:00 and 8:00 tonight, heat advisory for our immediate washington area. 81 now in the city. 79 in baltimore. 81 ocean city. not much relief to be found anywhere today. mid-90s in the mountains. close to 100 here if you're inside the beltway. baltimore, fredericksburg, close to 100 as well. 99 today. 100 tomorrow. i think saturday will be the worst. heat index very close to 110 by saturday afternoon. then a little better sunday. much better by monday, closer to where we should be. >> will feel like 110 on saturday, that's what you said? >> that's what i said. >> i don't know what that feels like. >> you're about to find out. >> wow. >> let's go to julie wright, find out what's happening with traffic. >> 110 means two words, pool party. >> yeah, baby! >> and you have to stay in the

water, totally submerged. >> although i will say at 110 it's more like bath water, i think. >> julie, we should move your pool into your house and have the air conditioner and the pool at the same time. >> love it. >> not a bad idea. >> how will tony canon ball off the high dive? >> right off the couch. >> all right. our wazers are checking in this morning. i love the notes we're getting. thank you for checking in on pennsylvania avenue, and she writes, traffic is moving steady all the way in on pennsylvania avenue. thank you for the update. unfortunately, slow traffic to report on the roads. heavy volume on the outer loop of the beltway through alexandria and continuing to the wilson bridge. no accidents, just volume. crash on eastbound 66 approaching 123 earlier, it's cleared. 395 at duke street heavy and steady headed to seminary road.

a tad below speed. again, enjoy that ride. i think a lot of folks have exercised their ability to take off the next couple of days for an extended weekend and we are seeing lighter than usual traffic volumes. that's a check of your fox 5 on- time traffic. thank you very much. this next story has a lot of people outraged. a lifeguard working at a beach in florida got fired for rescuing a drowning swimmer. >> why you might ask? it's because it was outside of his jurisdiction zone. his employers even gave walking papers to a lifeguard who came to his defense. here's that story. >> reporter: fourth of july, if you are in the water, you better be in the right water, in case you begin to drown. because the private company that provides the lifeguards here will not send one to pull you out. >> don't ever think you did something wrong -- >> reporter: this lifeguard

broke the company rules monday. helped pull a drowning 21-year- old tourist out of the wrong water and was fired for saving him in the wrong place. that's the tower that he was manning. the company says that meant he was supposed to be watching this zone, and only that zone. that's where he's supposed to save people. problem is, the drowning man was over here, past the sign that says, basically you're on your own, jack. >> if i see someone, and i have the ability to help, i'm going to help them. i'm not going to worry about jurisdiction or any other nonsense like that. >> reporter: but wait, it gets better. i mean, worse. listen. >> reporter: so you got fired just for saying you would do the same thing? >> yeah. they asked me yesterday if i would follow the company's policy on not going outside of our zones to rescue someone, and i told them no. as a human i feel that's wrong

to let someone die because i'm not allowed to go outside of my zone. >> reporter: others promptly resigned. >> if i'm a lifeguard, i want to help someone even outside of my zone. >> reporter: the company that has the beach contract reported, "we have liability issues and can't go out of the protected area. what he did was his own decision. he knew the company rules and did what he thought he needed to do ." >> reporter: you are the one that voted for this company to come in, right? >> yes did. it was a cost saving measure years ago to privatize our lifeguard system. >> reporter: how do you feel about it now? >> we should go back to the old way and he should be one of the first guys we hire. >> lopez said he started the $8.25 an hour job four months ago, and had hoped to continue working it when he goes to college in the fall. somebody will be hiring him.

>> he will be rehired. not a problem. still ahead, a look into america's past. >> holly is live in the city with america's first state house with more details. >> reporter: this is fascinating. in fact, if you like to get dirty, there might be a future for you in archeology. these young people are getting their hands dirty all in the name of history. we are live this morning at historic st. mary city. what a project for them. they're uncovering, like you said, the first state house. what they're finding, and how you can get in on the big dig, live next on fox 5 morning news. stay with us. 

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there he is. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. it's an exciting summer program giving kids a good look into the field of archeology in maryland. >> holly is out to get the scoop, no pun intended, really. holly, do you see why that's

funny? >> reporter: yeah. we're getting down and dirty this morning. you see why that's funny? because we're digging in the dirt. we'll stop now with our comedic routine and talk about what is going on here, this amazing project and amazing experience for the young people. dr.reardon is the chief archeologist and joins me. good morning. >> good morning. >> reporter: archeology takes a lot of patience. but here, these people get to be a part of things where they're getting results as we speak. let's talk about what's going on here. >> this house was built by the first governor of maryland in the first decade of settlement. the province of maryland purchased it as the first official state house of maryland. from then until 1676 it served as the state house of maryland. >> reporter: part of what they're looking at here is an actual building that was build in the middle 17th century?

>> part of it, yes. the main bricks you see here are two outbuildings from the 1840s. there was a plantation here and they built on top of the site. but the area you see over there, behind where they're shoveling, the bricks and stones are the foundation of the calvert house from the 1640s. >> reporter: what are we learning from the things we're finding? >> about the architecture of the building. one of the important things we're interested in are the cellars. >> reporter: why? >> because the cellars divide up the interior spaces. we don't have a real understanding of how the building was used, so the cellars help us. it tells us a lot about the building. >> reporter: i didn't know i was going to have to stretch out. look at this position here. but it is all about getting in there and getting dirty. how do you know when too much is too much or when to be more gentle? >> we look very carefully at the soils. the soils tell us when to dig

and when not to dig. so we look for things in the soil that indicate somebody else has dug in that place before. >> reporter: tell me about the field school. these are all students from the field school. >> the field school is a 10- week course with credit to st. mary's college of maryland that we teach every year. it's one of the places people can learn how to do archeology. essentially a college class in how to do archeology. >> reporter: john young is one of the students there. john, how has it been going? >> going well. >> reporter: is it what you expected? >> yeah. pretty much been a good experience. >> reporter: what's been the biggest challenge, over the fact it's going to be 105 today? >> i was going to say, the humidity is pretty bad. but it takes a lot of patience, so more dedication kind of thing. >> reporter: is it rewarding for you, though, when you find that one little thing that you're like, look? >> it's awesome to be able to find like a little arrowhead or

find a piece of pottery that no one has seen for over 300, 400 years. >> reporter: pretty cool. i want to get someone else in. there are many parts. there's the digging, the sifting. this is shannon, she's in the field school. shannon, what are we finding over here? >> well, we've got -- >> reporter: i love it when we walk up and someone goes, ooh, look what we found. >> bird shot, probably used to shoot birds. want to feel it? >> reporter: it is heavier than i thought. what's been the most fun thing for you? >> honestly, when i get back and i get to take a shower and i see all the dirt come off me, i feel like i've done something productive. >> reporter: i made a difference today because i got dirty. i love it. real quickly, this weekend you have the tide water archeology experience? >> the 28th and 29th of july. it will be when the public can come in and get their hands dirty, help us find artifacts and the lead shots and beads.

>> reporter: the end of july? 28th and 29th. myfoxdc.com is our web site. we have a link to the field school and tide water archeological weekend. next hour, we'll talk about how they recreate what was once here however many years ago. back to you in the studio. power outages, still a real for thousands in the d.c. region this morning. at the top of the hour, find out who is saying it's not just pepco to blame for the outages in maryland and the district. the chairman of the d.c. public service commission joins us live. >> also ahead at 8:00, a closer look at the quality and convenience of more than 100 veterinarians and vet clinics.    matters. pioneers in outsourcing us jobs supports tax breaks overseas. insourcing. industry and favors bring jobs home. it matters. this message.

straight ahead, a deadly end to the fourth of july holiday. at least six people shot in two separate attacks. now police are on the hunt for the gunmen. >> putting pepco in the hot seat and sharing some of the

blame. thousands of people still have no power. regional regulators are looking into what is going on. they want some answers. we'll have a live report. >> later, the first lady's family tree. we're going to sit down with the author behind a new book tracing six generations of michelle obama's ancestors. good morning, everybody, i'm tony perkins. >> i'm alison seymour. it will be another sizzler in the washington region. a heat advisory takes effect later today, as temperatures once again push into the triple digits. >> because of the extreme heat and lingering power outages, we still have school closings throughout the area. the full list is scrolling along the bottom of your television screen. >> tucker barnes is here and filling in the hot, hot, hot details. >> yes. unfortunately. >> right. >> heat continues. overnight temperatures in the upper 70s and low 80s. later today, upper 90 to about 100. mix in humidity, feels like 105. >> amazing.

>> it's like you bake it up and you get a heat advisory. >> bad news for those with no air conditioning still. >> yeah. >> that's the bad part about it all. >> it wouldn't be fun even if everybody had air. >> no. >> heat advisory, washington, baltimore, 95 corridor, under a heat advisory. looks like the only exception for today is to the north and west, hagerstown, in the mountains, you'll be a little cooler. you're not going to be comfortable. still in the 90s. 81 now in washington. humidity 58%. both the temperature and the humidity will be at unpleasant levels today. could be a few scattered storms and isolated thunderstorms this afternoon. i don't think they'll be widely organized. but in a hot and humid air mass, it doesn't take a lot to kick up a thunderstorm. otherwise, more of the same, unfortunately. high temperatures nearly 100. heat wave will continue into the weekend. thanks, tucker. >> let's go to julie wright now. >> good morning to all of you.

not a lot happening here on the roads. i think a lot of people have extended their holiday into a long weekend. southbound 270 typically at this hour bumper-to-bumper out of germantown headed south. not the case today. lanes are open. at speed, continuing toward the split. looks good across the american legion bridge. no problems on the outer or inner loop. looks good headed to georgia avenue into the sunshine. earlier problems on 66 near 123 cleared. back up to speed in vienna. 395 heavy and steady leaving duke street toward seminary road. a deadly end to the holiday. now d.c. police are investigating two separate shootings in northwest that left at least two people dead. the most recent happened around 3:00 this morning along the 600 block of morton street. police say two people were

shot. one died. there's no word on the victim's identification. and still no word on a suspect or a motive. police are also looking for suspects and a motive in a quadruple shooting that happened before 8:00 last night along the 5000 block of first street. it appears the group was targeted. police haven't released the victims' identity. dominion virginia showing 9,000 customers still without service. bge has more than 13,000 out. pepco has more than 20,000 customers still in the dark, though they do note they have restored power to more than 95% of those who lost it last friday. some of the pepco customers still without dealing with another frustration. >> in some cases the company

has been telling customers incorrectly that power has been restored. as the main feeder lines are repaired, the automated system is reporting to people they have power. but the company says there may be pockets where repairs are still needed. >> yesterday morning i called about 6:00 a.m., and she said, oh, yeah, the work is completed in your area. i said, no, the wire is still down. nobody has been here, nothing has been done. my neighbors are still out, so she said, well, we'll issue a new ticket. >> pepco is still asking people to call and report outages so that it can identify those pockets where handfuls of homes or businesses may still be out with isolated problems. while the number of power outages drops, the death toll keeps climbing. as of this morning, officials blame the storm for killing 26 people nationwide. residents in every d.c. ward and even d.c.'s mayor

criticized pepco's response. regulators say the power company isn't the only one at fault here. joining us on the phone, chairperson of the d.c. public service commission with more. good morning. >> good morning. >> you know, it's very interesting, i don't recall the city regulators and your counterpart in maryland is doing the same thing, taking the blame here. why now? >> we've never taken the blame for the storm outages. i had a conversation with the post about the new rules that we put in place and the new standards we put in place for every day reliability. which toughen up what pepco has to do every single day. but those rules don't apply to storms. there's no utility or commission in the country that's got restoration standards for storms which are

unique. we are considering those. but that was a total misrepresentation of that post article. we have worked very hard at the commission to have standards in place, new standards, tough standards, that we put in place last summer for regular situations and for what we call nonmajor outages with less than 10,000 people without power. >> how do you feel today? still residents in the district without -- >> we have 1700 residents without power. looking at -- we are getting this time very useful information. they are clustered in the zip code 2012 at the moment. i think the largest number, about a third of them, that's in the upper 16th street area.

and then a couple of other areas where they are still 100 or so without power. >> how do you feel pepco's response has been then, let me get your response to it. >> sure. i think the major problem in the district is the communication system. partially because people don't understand when they get the callback saying their power has been restored that they hang up apparently after that call, they're supposed to press one to verify whether or not the power is out. but there have been a lot of glitches with pepco's web site, with the information that's on their, with the coordination apparently between what the crews in the field are doing and what information gets into both the phone system and into the web site system. we have a rule in place that requires the company, any company, every time there's an outage, whether it's verizon, pepco, et cetera, they have to

file a very comprehensive report with us within 21 days, and analyzing exactly what happened, exactly how they responded, and any improvements. and clearly the communication system is going to be part of that. we will then put that report out for hearing and we will have a hearing on it later this summer. >> so there will be that follow- up. >> yes, absolutely. we do that after every outage. lessons learned, after hurricane isabel, the recommendation was there be a public/private partnership and put some of the lines underground. no question putting some of the primary lines underground that were hit by trees would have made a difference. half the district, over half the district customers already in areas where it's underground. all you have to do is look at the zip codes and see that

southwest, for example, on the waterfront, not a single outage. because it's all underground. >> let's end it there. we're out of time. we do appreciate you joining us, setting the record straight on that. thank you very much. our suburban neighbors want answers about the storm response. today maryland's public service commission will meet to baltimore to review the reliability standards. we'll have more tonight at 5:00. and today, montgomery county executive ike leggett will be here. the holiday break is over for president obama. today he'll be on the campaign bus. wisdom martin joins us live with a look at what to expect. hey, wisdom. >> good morning. yesterday it was about the food and fireworks at the white house. today it's back down to the business of trying to secure a second term. the president's bus trek begins in the heart of the 2012

campaign battlefield in ohio. he'll start near toledo, then make three other stops in the buckeye state. then he'll cross the border into another big player this election season, pennsylvania. the president is expected to defend his policies, and attacking mitt romney's business record. meanwhile, mr. romney is still on vacation in new hampshire, but that doesn't mean he's taking time off from politics. the former massachusetts governor has now joined fellow republicans in criticizing the president's health care plan as a tax in the wake of the supreme court's decision. he says the president broke his promise not to raise taxes on middle class americans, or middle income americans. we'll have to see, things are heating up just like the weather. tony and allison, back to you. >> thanks, wisdom. >> we knew they would. for many people, pets are like members of the family. >> they are members -- >> they are, not like.

but how much do you know about the people you trust to keep your four-legged friend healthy? >> good point. still ahead on fox 5 morning news, we are vetting the vets. >> a look back at independence day celebrations from the capital to coney island. it's 8:12. ♪

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[ sound of fireworks ] as always, it was a beautiful sight on the capital mall. many braved the heat and threat of storms to take in the show. many took in the concert. "american idol" champ phillip finishes was among those who hit the stage. and the black widow took the prize in the dog fight. sonia thomas won the women's competition at nathan's famous

hot dog eating contest in coney island. she ate 45 hot dogs with the bun in 10 minutes. it's a personal record. on the men's side, joey chestnut took home his sixth victory in a row, downing 68 dogs and rolls, that was a personal best for him. both won $10,000 and unlimited supply of hot dogs maybe. or not. >> the crazy thing about it, you're not enjoying the hot dogs. >> how do you even do that? >> you're stuffing them in. they dip them in water to get the bread all soft. it's terrible. it's disgusting. >> nasty. >> i would never eat another hot dog. >> do they chew it? >> i don't know what they do. here is tucker. he was turning away. he can't watch. >> it's gross. >> give us something pleasant to look at.

>> let's do it, time for our fox 5 first photo of the day. say hello to jahleel, the toilet paper bandit. he turned one last saturday and his parents say he loves fox 5 weather. >> and loves the toilet paper. kids are fascinated with the toilet paper. >> do you remember being fascinated with it? >> i think it's a boy thing. >> i don't remember it. >> he's so cute, it doesn't matter. >> he's extremely cute. happy, happy birthday to you. and we love the picture. send us your child's picture, go to myfoxdc.com and click on mornings. like the music, too. heat advisory, not just washington. look how much of the country has an excessive heat warning. chicago today going to be 105

degrees. over 100 in st. louis and cincinnati. indiana is having some of their worst temperatures since the 1930s. incredible heat wave to the west. we are getting in on the action and another heat advisory today. 100 to 105 this afternoon. the heat advisory starts at 12 noon. not much to break up the heat. big ridge of high pressure out to the west, and might be a popup storm or two later today. air mass unstable. we don't have any cold fronts moving in soon. won't get here until late this weekend, early next week. 99 today. heat advisory at 12 noon. tomorrow awful, saturday even worse. sunday a little better. and by monday, we will call quits on the heat wave, at least for the time being. let's do traffic with julie wright, who also wants to play with toilet paper. >> i love what? i love what? >> i think she missed the my 5

picture of the day. >> i saw the picture of the baby, and i thought when he hits college his friends are in for a lot of pranks. >> i said you love playing with it, too. >> the heat is getting to you, my friend. >> i think so. >> lanes are open, no problems reported now, leaving college park headed past university boulevard. easy drive. i think a lot of folks have extended the holiday. they had the day off and said, why not take friday off too and have a long weekend. lighter than usual traffic volumes. check out the ride along 395. this was one of our slowest commutes and no longer. it's nice and easy now traveling north headed to seminary road. that's a check of your fox 5 on- time traffic. thank you. we are crazy about our pets. but do we know enough about

their doctors, their vets? the founder and president of consumer's checkbook has a comparison of local veterinarians and clinics. fox5 viewers can check the report for free for the next week only. that link is on our web site. now we are talking to robert about this. good morning. >> yeah, hi. >> hi. we love our pets. >> that's true. >> do we do enough to, as we've been saying, vet the vets? >> there are a lot of things you should do to check out the vets. obviously there's great vets and people love the vets and we assume the pets love them as well. but there are big price differences and there are many vets people aren't happy with. you want to check them out. the price differences are staggering, though. for instance, to neuter a 6- month-old, 30-pound dog, we find prices that range from less than $200, to about $700. >> no kidding? >> for the same job. and we found the same sort of

thing in cleaning teeth and spaying and things like that. routine procedures. the vets that are low priced on those procedures will tend to be low priced even on things you don't know about. >> right. and that's the thing, and in the life of a pet, you have to do this sometimes, so you might not know what to check the price on, if that makes sense. >> right. we check the prices on a lot of different things. >> that's why we have you. >> once you know that, you can be sure if they're low on those things, price differences are so dramatic. there are other ways to save money with a vet. important one, not to get more service than you need. for the first time in the last few years, we found this in several types of services, people are really -- some of these vets are kind of pushing things that they shouldn't be pushing. >> okay. >> they suggest you get x-rays. they suggest you have those

teeth cleaned a lot more often than they need to be cleaned, things like that. those things can really run up the cost. >> sure. >> there are a lot of things that will save you money and anxiety, one thing is they give you good advice. they listen to your description of what seems to be happening, and then they tell you what you should do, tell you in a way you can follow it. so when you go home you can do the right thing for your pet. very important they give you good prevention and general care advice, so you don't have a problem in the first place. so there are a lot of things that make a difference. >> we have a few of the top rated ones. maybe they're in your area. the other thing is convenience. don't want to go so far out of your way. here are some of the ones you like. wisconsin animal clinic. gaithersburg animal hospital. kings town cat clinic. animal care center.

many more you looked at, too. >> we rated more than 200 veterinarians and people, your fox viewers can see them -- see all of our ratings for both price and quality for free for the next week. >> that link is on our web site. i want to also tell the viewers that checkbook has taken a look after that wicked storm on friday, the best roofers, tree services, the best auto body places. how can we get in on getting that information? >> checkbook.org they can see all these things. we don't carry advertising at checkbook, so we are supported by people that pay to subscribe. we have about 60,000 in the washington area. you can subscribe to check out any or all of those subjects. but the advice i would give them is try to take a little

time to make this decision. don't just panic and hire a firm that's driving down the street -- >> don't flag them down. >> because the really good firms won't be that desperate for work now. >> definitely, and that's checkbook.org. for the tips on your screen, that's on our web site, myfoxdc.com, what to do when vetting a vet. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> tony, over to you. thank you much. coming up later, we are all about the history this morning. how one man is making olympic history before the competition even begins. >> plus, a trip back in time in st. mary's county. holly morris is trying a new career in archeology. we'll have that for you, too. 

major discovery at the world's biggest atom smasher in switzerland. >> scientists now think they're a step closer to finding out exactly how the universe began. physicists found a new particle that may be related to the god particle. it's believed to give all matter in the universe its

shape and size. scientists have now discovered all 12 particles associated with this theory, but they still have to find out what kind of properties the 12th one has. >> i often just tune that out, because it feels like so hard to understand. until this morning, when we reported it earlier, i said i'm going to try to understand what that means. it's so exciting. and interesting. >> it is. >> my mind is now open to it. >> very good. still ahead in our next half hour, cheap gas at the touch of a button. my mind is open to that. easy way to save cash thanks to fox 5's latest traffic app. >> the first lady's family tree. we're going to sit down with the author of a new book that looks at the life of our first lady, michelle obama.

breaking news from england, anti-terror forces shut down a

major toll road today, responding to a suspicious activity on a mega bus. officers swarmed the bus after reports a man was seen pouring liquid into a bag that was smoking. we haven't heard if they've determined whether there was any real danger. in an unrelated incident, six people were arrested in an anti- terror raid today in london. we'll keep our eyes on that. tucker barnes is here once again. here's a quick question for you, have you gotten tired of saying pretty much the same thing for eight, nine days? >> stuck in a pattern, and yeah. this is not fun weather. >> i know. >> yet you have to do it right now again. >> i'm about to. >> okay. >> 27 times a day. >> feels like it some days. when it's 100 out, i have no energy to do anything. >> who does? >> we went out yesterday to have -- we had a crab feast. i don't pick and eat crabs, but

some of my family members did. it was so much fun, and then i was done. >> all you can do is go home and lay down. today is day number eight, 95 or higher. i'm afraid we'll have days nine and 10, as our forecast the next couple of days more extreme heat. temperature now in washington, 85 degrees. we're bouncing up. 83 in annapolis. let's see, few 70s north and west of the most of the day hot and humid. don't have any mechanisms, cold fronts or anything to drive widespread thunderstorm activity. but we have an unstable air mass and a lot of heat around and energy. so the possibility of a few afternoon thunderstorms. otherwise, more heat and humidity and the forecast remains the same. 99 today. overnight lows in the

uncomfortable range. 100 tomorrow, 102 saturday. little better the end of the weekend, and by monday, only 89 degrees. hang in there, by monday we'll call it quits on this heat wave. back to you. that's a look at weather. thank you, tucker. a "new york times" reporter took on the daunting task of tracing the family roots of first lady michelle obama. her research became the basis for a fascinating new book, tracing six generations of the first lady's family. i talked with her about her new book. >> thank you so much for coming in to talk to us about this. fascinating book. this started as an article you wrote for the "new york times" back in 2009. what got you interested in the subject matter to begin with? >> i was writing about michelle obama and the first family, and we got a call from a genologist who have been doing work for us. and in september of 2009 she called saying, wow, i think i found something.

would you guys like to work with this, and we were very interested. >> what had they found? basical to birmingham and spent time in the archive and trying to track down anyone who new anything about her great-great grandfather. that article reported on the great-great-great grandmother, a slave girl valued at $475 in 18 tea, and her great-great- great grandfather, who was a white man whose identity was a mystery. >> you note that there's at least one photo i guess in the white house, i guess a family photo that he is in, but there was a lot of mystery surrounding him and who he was? >> the first time the white house saw this photo, we

presented it to them, and actually the great-great- grandfather of the first lady, was someone she had not seen before. >> how much cooperation did you get from her family, those who knew the family? was this a difficult project to see through? >> it's difficult in a lot of ways, because basically i was looking at her family going back as far as i could, to the 1800s. even a bit into the 1700s. so some of her relatives helped, which was wonderful, in sharing the family stories. but some of it is just hard history to dig up. >> and for a variety of reasons, i mean, some of it, there are all kinds of comfort levels with this kind of thing, particularly a long time ago, and all of that. do you know the first lady's reaction? >> i don't. the first lady doesn't do book interviews as a matter of policy. i briefed her staff and gave her copies and her staff

copies. i hope she finds it fascinating. >> tell us more about the great- great grandfather. >> the great-great-grandfather was a biracial man. the big question was who was the white man in her family tree? i was able to figure that out through research. >> i don't know how much you want to tell us, obviously want people to buy the book, let me ask you this, were you surprised at the number of multiracial, as is the case with many of us, were you surprised at the level of multiracial family members that there in her family? >> you know, it really is so reflective of so many americans, all four of her

grandparents had multiracial ancestors. she has irish americans who nurtured their dreams here. slaves who toiled on plantations and smaller farms. mixed race people who were free for generations before the civil war. and her >> you write about some relationships that were apparently loving relationships between enslaved women and their masters, their owners. can that really be a loving relationship? >> it really is one of the central questions in the book, is whether this relationship between this young woman and a member of her owner's family, what was the nature of that relationship? truly we don't know.

rape was a very common occurrence. the descendants take some comfort in the fact the first lady's great-great-great grandmother continued to have by racial children after the war. it's a painful question for a lot of people. >> she will discuss her book in baltimore on wednesday july 18th at 6:30 in the evening. it is fascinating. >> i know you love that kind of stuff, all that history. >> it's fascinating. >> still ahead, one of the new ways to use the waze apps. >> first, making olympic history in london. why one athlete will go down in the record books, win or lose. it's 8:39.

we'll be right back. ♪  oreo and dunkin' are the perfect match for the perfect moment. enjoy the new oreo coolatta and donut today.

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in our sports breakfast, it's turn back the clock night between the nats and giants this evening. >> the fest vests are in honor

of the 1924 world series championship washington senators. nats win 9-4. a fast african runner is making olympic history before the games begin. oscar pistorius will be the first amputee athlete to compete in any games. he is missing both legs. he was the last runner added to the team. >> wow. >> i know. >> i wonder if they had to change rules or anything to let him in. >> i don't know. >> interesting. >> yes it is. speaking of history, as we were talking about earlier with the first lady's family, holly morris is getting a look at the past. >> she is live in st. mary's county, maryland.

>> reporter: good morning. what do you do when you have no documents, no map, but you know a city existed? well, you have to dig it up. that's exactly what they're doing here in historic st. mary's city, where they are uncovering the past. they are digging up the first state house and they have found amazing objects. we're going to take a look at the treasures next on fox 5 morning news. stay with us.  [ male announcer ] are you paying more

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you've likely heard julie wright talking about waze, w-a- z-e. fox5 has partnered up with the smartphone traffic app. >> it helps you join up with other users to beat the traffic. now there's a new feature. lauren demarco is here to explain. love how you spelled it out, w- a-z-e. >> users can help contribute to julie's traffic reports. now this new feature can help you find the cheapest gas around.

take a look. >> reporter: the waze traffic app has been upgraded. along with helping you beat traffic, it now locates the cheapest gas available on your route. when the price at the pump creeps up, it can start to impact the bank account. >> i'm a college kid and especially during the year, i want to spend the money on other things. >> reporter: nothing like filling up to realize a station down the road is offering a better price. >> one is like, you know, 50 cents, you know a gallon cheaper, and it's just like, i should have filled up there. >> reporter: with waze, you and fellow drivers on the road can now help keep each other informed about prices at the pump. with the app open, go to navigate, tap on the new categories menu and you'll find gas station right there at the top. that pulls up real time places at nearby stations. either in a list version or on

a map. >> i can see where the gas station on here. >> reporter: if you see a price you like, tap on the station and hit go. waze will get you there with turn by turn directions. >> we are all set. let's go. >> i'm on the road all day for work. so if i can find cheaper gas to save my company money, and considering there's four gas stations on this street, it's nice to get the cheapest gas. >> reporter: like accident reports, the new information on closures and delays, the posted gas prices are user generated. if they look different when you arrive, you can submit an update. but in most cases, click to confirm. waze is available for iphones and androids. there's also a data version available for blackberry. >> is it free? >> reporter: yeah. >> you're sure? >> reporter: we're sure. up load it today and join the wazers group. >> important to make sure you

keep updating your app. that's how you'll get the new features. there's an additional feature, with the iphone. we told you earlier you could wave in front of it and report an accident on the road or other activity, that's so you don't have to worry about typing. now that's available for android phones as well. don't have to have a passenger in the car, you can do this and speak. you say, accident ahead, and it knows where you are. >> smartphones getting smarter. >> that's right. >> lauren, thank you. >> great stuff. taking the lab into the field. students are spending their summer out of the classroom and inside the real excavation of a 17th century estate. >> holly morris is at historic st. mary's city in maryland with more. hey, holly. >> reporter: the stories our stuff can tell, that's what this is really about. they are indeed undigging treasures in historic st. mary's city, the first state

house and they're learning all about a city that they knew was here. we just don't have papers to tell us about it. that's where dr. henry miller comes in, the director of research. good morning. >> good morning. >> reporter: what a puzzle you've been asked to solve. >> it's a huge one. entire vanished city, over 300 years ago, and not a map, not even good written descriptions. so it's in the ground. that's where our answers lie. >> reporter: you have found answers. how many objects have you pulled out of the ground so far? >> so far, about 5 million. >> reporter: wow! >> there's many more out there. >> reporter: it takes all to really get the full picture, right? >> absolutely. every clue is valuable. you never know how the pieces are going to go together until you get it out and start resembling things. >> reporter: let's show people some of the things you have found and what they tell us about way back when. >> sure. this for example, is obviously, it's a piece of pottery. it's a drinking cup. made by the first colonial

potter in maryland. man named morgan jones. >> reporter: how do you know that? >> because they dug one of his pottery making factories and we know the style and he was making this in the 1660s and 1670s. so we can pin it down to a time. but this was also a government town, where people came to do business. of course in the taverns they would smoke and here we have a tobacco pipe. this one is wonderful, because it's got a maker's mark on the heel, telling us it was made actually in the netherlands and shipped over here in the 1650s or 1660s. >> reporter: who was this made by? >> edward byrd. >> reporter: hence the e and the b on there. very cool. >> even though there was a frontier society and a rough lifestyle, there were elegant things here. this, for example, is a really fancy cup, made of glass, with blue lines around the edge for

decoration. it's a lovely specimen. even more spectacular, though, are vessels that are called dragon glasses. this is a wine glass made by talented venetian or dutch glass makers. almost jewel-like. >> reporter: beautiful. really is beautiful. obviously that helps tell the story. then you find certain things that help you rebuild, right? >> absolutely. >> reporter: and that's kind of where we are in the process here as well? >> right. there was nothing above ground. most of the buildings, 98% of the buildings in maryland's first capital were build of wood. of course, termites back then did their number. what we're left with in the ground is discolorations in the soil where they had dug a hole to put the wood post that supported the buildings. we can go back and try to determine when they were built, how big they were. for example, buildings right over here have been

reconstructed on the actual spot and the one you see to the right there was built in the 1660s. it burned down in 1678. so when we came along, where the wood posts had been were beautiful concentrations of charcoal and ash. it was exactly 30-foot long, 20- foot wide. in the middle of it, it had not a chimney, but a fire hood that you would gather around the fire and sit inside it. >> reporter: how long have you been working on this? >> i first came here 40 years ago, and the project started in the late 1960s. we have at least 100 years of archeology yet to explore. >> reporter: you came 40 years ago because -- >> i saw a board that said archeologists were needed and was lucky enough to be hired here, and become i guess my vocation. >> reporter: get paid $1.25 and

all the water you can drink. >> that's right. >> reporter: look how passionate he is today. myfoxdc.com is our web site. we have a link to all that is going on here. don't forget about the tide water weekend that's going on the last weekend in july. if you want to come be a part of the discovery yourself. we'll have more coming up in our next hour. back to you in the studio. >> all right, holly, thank you very much. >> thanks, holly. coming up, managing mosquitos. >> we will sit down with the pros for a way, or ways to keep the pests off of you. we'll put the popular repellents to the test. time now, 8:55. we'll be right back. ñ'

good thursday morning. i'm alison seymour. >> i'm tony perkins. right now at 9:00, thousands still without power and now local lawmakers are calling for answers. coming up, who is responding.

plus, montgomery county executive isaiah leggett joins us in studio to discuss restoration times. >> managing mosquitos. don't let those insects ruin your summer, really, or the next party you're going to. tips from the pros. and find out if what you're using works. >> later, a remarkable story you don't want to miss. russell watson beat several life-threatening illnesses. now he is out with a new cd to inspire a nation. he joins us live instudio this hour to perform what he says may be his favorite track on that new album. ♪ >> before we get to weather, we want to mention there are still a number of schools closed today and that's impacting summer programs. you can find a complete list at the bottom of your screen, and on our web site, myfoxdc.com. now let's get the latest on the weather. it's going to get, believe it or not, even hotter. tucker can tell