from the first local station with news in high definition, this is 9news now. >> hello, i'm bruce johnson. we begin with a breaking story in fayetteville, tennessee. five people have been found dead in two homes and the sixth person has been found dead 20 miles from the tennessee, alabama line in huntsville, alabama. police say they have a suspect in custody. some of the victims are related, we're told. the killings took place friday night or early this morning. that's all we have at this point. americans around the country are mourning the death of walter cronkite. he died friday at his home in new york s . wa wa waheeum to my dahe y in gt invish, rsonsi pa siedusto remember the veteran news man

who many called uncle walter. former colleague spoke to 9news now about walter's connection with the viewers. >> he was an authentic journalist who respected his audience and in return, the audience respected him and gave him a great deal of encouragement and whether or not he was the most trusted man in america, it was well deserved. >> that's the way it is, friday, 1973. >> 1992 and '94 pronounced cronkite as the most trusted man in america. cronkite quote, set the standard for which all news anchors have been judged. cronkite is when walter cronkite was not at the anchor chair, he

would visit his best friend in annapolis, maryland. suray talked to the personal side of him. >> they became friends 35 years ago at a fundraiser ashburn was hosting. they spent time at the saloon in downtown annapolis. this afternoon, visitors sit at the bar where walter cronkite and mike would swap stories over cheeseburger and beer. one day cronkite couldn't decide between chili and steak, so he ordered both. >> he mentioned, he r edveneve a mewial, ndsach ornd ythi ng d menameafter him. so it was chili over steak. we had one person order it, that was good enough. it came off the menu. we didn't talk much about the

cronkite steak special. >> it was a place cronkite could remove himself from the busy new york lifestyle. where he could completely get away from it all was at sea. the two shared a passion for sailing and were shipmates on countless ventures up and down the east coast and the caribbean. >> i have an empty spot. i'll never have that kind of exciting life again. >> he shared one of cronkite's last voice messages to him. th. llheo mike cronkite and i just missed your call a few minutes ago. i'm anxious to speak to you on a couple matters. i need to talk to you occasionally, so give me a call back when you get a chance. >> ashburn knew the most trusted man in america, but he remembers the very personal side of his dear friend. >> i didn't have a father when

i grew up and look what i wound up with as my father figure, my brother. walter sa i wantou toknow that i consider you the brother i never had. i think i'm lucky. >> he says even though his death was not a surprise after suffering from a vascular disease, he still has a hard time believing he is gone. >> thanks a lot. good story. >> and katie couric will be anchoring tonight. tomorrow, cbs will air our prime time special about walter cronkite. it's called what else, that's the way it was. remembering walter cronkite it airs right here on wusa9. >> two astronauts aboard the space shuttle endeavor performed their first space walk today.

the final pieces on a billion dollar japanese science lab. today's space walk was the first of five planned walks during endeavor's mission. the shuttle did a back flip with space station cameras. a view of the photos shows endeavor to be in good shape. tiles that fell off during liftoff caused no damage. >> metro plans to resume service tonight. service is shut down until 7:00 while federal investigators do testing. that is to determine how long it should have taken the operator to slow her train before it slammed into a stopped train. metro is running shuttle buses until 6:00 tonight. >> tonight on 9news now at 11:00, we'll have a story that makes every government worker feel proud. it's the story of service and how the dc housing authority staff helped send an old man

home. a plane with others when new orleans was evacuated from hurricane katrina in 2005. staffer staffers have been trying to locate any possible family members, but the 73-year- old mr. griffin couldn't remember much until two days ago. >> everybody was screaming g yelling and clapping and crying because they thought he was deceased. >> you'll have to tune in tonight to see how this story ends in a very happy way, four years in the making. you might want to bring some tissues. still ahead on 9news now at 6:00, we'll have the latest on a fire. and some brides to be are making a difference with the purchase of thr eis wngo isth weekend. we'll explain. stay with us. /d is

cooking left unattended is being blamed for the apartment fire that left a five-year-old dead and his seven-year-old brother injured. the fire started just after 5:00 last night at the oakridge apartments in riverdale, maryland. firefighters went door to door to check fire detectors and ask residents about fire safety.

>> what we found out is that with short time after a tragedy has occurred, within 24 hours, we find most citizens are more apt to open up their doors, let firefighters into their homes and listen to our speech about fire safety information, having working smoke alarms, having a home escape plan ready to go and practice with all the family members. >> the apartment complex has fire alarms that are hard wired to the building's electrical system. meantime, the seven-year-old remains hospitalized tonight in critical condition. >> and the body of a man was found inside his northeast dc apartment building. firefighters were called to an apartment structure at 3298 just before 11:00 this morning. they found the man dead. he tried to fight a kitchen fire, but was overcome by heat and smoke. his name has not been released, we are told the building did have smoke alarms and a

sprinkler system. a company honored one of its own today when the fire house was renamed in honor of the late dc fire chief. johnson was the first african american fire chief. he was appointed to the post back in 1973. he was credited with the recruitment of more minority and women firefighters. he died in 2007 at the age of 89. brides to be who are looking for a bargain on a wedding dress may want to check out a special sale in arlington, virginia this weekend. brides against breast cancer is sponsoring a sale of wedding dresses at the arlington gateway. dresses worth as much as $8,000 are being sold for just $400 to $800. the dresses are donated. money raised will support the making memories foundation. that foundation grants wishes to stage four cancer patients. still to come, a cup cake

for the record book. tony, what do you have? >> it was another beautiful day today, we have a little rain in the seven-day forecast. we'll show you that in a few minutes. first, let's take a look outside. ing tuned, r weheomat c exfa nup n /db@fa

if we don't act, medical bills will wipe out their savings. if we don't act, she'll be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. and he won't get the chemotherapy he needs. if we don't act, health care costs will rise 70%. and he'll have to cut benefits for his employees. but we can act. the president and congress have a plan to lower your costs and stop denials for pre-existing conditions. it's time to act.

this is about a new, more efficient luxury hybrid continuing to produce 70% fewer smog-forming emissions while delivering greater power. a fact not lost on the world around us. the all-new 2010 lexus rx hybrid.

this weekend is the last chance for virginia travelers to take advantage of rest stops. the state is shutting down 18 rest stops in an effort to save money. drivers aren't too happy about all this. >> that's ridiculous to close all these people. you have traffic that doesn't even move. what about the older people that come down here that have to change pampers, people have to go to the bathroom. people pull up here when they are too tired. the next stop is up in maryland. who is going to wait that long? >> save some $9 million a year. there will be rest stops every 120 miles. a cup cake is supposed to be a small treat made for one person unless you are trying to set a world record. at the mall of america today, cake.com unveiled the world's largest cup cake.

it weighed in at 115.7-pounds. 24 inches across. the judge from the guiness world records was there. 15-pounds of fudge filling to make the record cup cake. it took 15 hours to bake. the cup cake contains about 130,000 calories. >> well, depending on how many people you divide it by, not bad. >> if you divide it, yes. you do everything big at the mall of america. isn't that the biggest mall in the country? there's nothing small at the mall of america. you can get lost in that place. >> it's hot out there, isn't it? >> it wasn't too bad. low 80s for this time of the year. you were probably riding really fast. hot where i was. >> exactly. but 83, 84 degrees for a high temperature. that's good for this time of the year. you can't complain about that. and a couple days ago, we made it into the mid 90s. the same weather pattern set up this weekend that we enjoyed

all summer. that allows the cool, dry air to fill in from the north and that will continue for a while. let's start with the three-day trend. going for a high of 83 tomorrow. i think it will stay dry, so sunday will be a repeat of today. so for this time of the year, you got to call it outstanding. there could be a couple showers around monday and tuesday. we are going to get through the rest of the weekend dry. partly cloudy skies for the rest of tonight. this will be another night where you don't have to keep the air-conditioning on. you can open the windows, the temperatures will drop into the 50s again. you have to keep in mind how remarkable this is. typically, the low temperatures don't get below # 0 many times in the middle of july. say 56 degrees in the cooler suburbs is saying something. partly sunny skies tomorrow. pleasant conditions. another day just like today. the high temperatures between 80 and 85. a northwest wind at 10 to 15 miles per hour. we are picking up a couple showers. those will all dispate before

they get to us and a little bit of cloud cover that we do have should drift away, a lot of it anyhow. it's not going to be a completely clear night, but we'll call it partly cloudy. 81 degrees the high today. 33%. dlater hevy ar enishappths time of the year and the temperatures never made it out of the 70s in the northwest suburbs. 77 in haggerstown. the really cool air for this time of the air is up in the great lakes. this looks like september or october. 66 degrees right now at minneapolis, st. paul. it is only 80 in atlanta. i say only 80 in atlanta because the average high down there is about 93. so that is quite remarkable for them. front will be stalled off the coast during the day tomorrow. a little disturbance. we'll see a chance of rain coming in from the south on monday. and maybe on tuesday as well. but tomorrow we'll get through dry. the high temperature only 81. 82 degrees on monday and

tuesday. slight chance for some rain showers both days. maybe a thunderstorm on wednesday as some warmer air comes back. the best chance for rain this week will be on thursday and i think we are going to stay in the 80s again all the way through the end of the week. this is quite remarkable to have a stretch of weather like this in the middle of july. this is the hottest part of the year from mid july to the beginning of august and no 90s, no 100s. >> the big set up for a horrible winter? >> i have seen a lot -- i'm not going to go there. i saw a lot of stuff online from people who are accomplished long range forecasters saying it is going to be a bad winter on the east coast. >> we'll get back to you. >> thanks tony. a horse rider on course during horse week in morocco. seems like a white dog decided to chase him around the arena. thought it was funny until the dog was caught by security.

what did he think he was going to do when he caught the horse? >> maybe the horse stopped, turned around. >> what do you have for us? >> british open. tiger is not in it. >> how is the old man doing? >> not bad. still some great story lines. you know, most people would think tiger not in it, no reason to watch. but there's a lot of reasons to watch. steve moreno making a run on the other side. third round highlights of the fairfax native and his attempt to win his first tour event. we'll tell you how hed y didato th inthe third round next in sports. fios guy! where ya headed?

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doing well. of course he was here at the at&t a couple weeks ago. and he is picking it up and playing well. >> there you go. tom watson doing well, too. steve moreno is playing at the

british is amazing. amazing story in itself. when phil mickelson withdrew, moreno became the alternate. the fairfax native needed last minute plans just to get to scotland. playing well, there today with tom watson. so you think, maybe he is going to fall off a little bit. cold cold-blooded. hits the birdie. that got him to three under. watch watson do his thing. long distance bird man. that gives him the share of the lead on the 17th hole. the eagle, no, but it would lead to a tap in bird. so watson alone at the top of the leader board. he was the oldest player ever at 59 with a 54 hole lead at the majors. >> that's your business to write the story.

it's my business to make the story. and the way i'm doing it right now is, i have a game plan and the game plan seems like it is working well. >> working pretty well. i would say so. here is your leader board. looking for his sixth british open championship. he won back to back in '82 and '83. matt gagon, he is an australian. jim, and john daly tied for 14th. he still hanging around. some baseball now. the nationals, banking on offense to hold the fort this year. that's what they were selling to their fans. with a healthy nick zimmerman and adam dunn, you could probably believe that. lately, production has been like the economy in a recession. last night, washington's 3-7 hitters ouch. 0 for 17 combined. the nats have scored just one earned run in the last 29 innings. last night, another example of

opportunities wasted. they had carlos, chicago's on the rope. but can only score one run. couldn't get out of it, they lost 3-1. jordan zimmerman heads to the hill, tries to get his first win in a month. holds a 2.72e.r.a. soriano will be in the lineup tonight after being out with a dislocated pinky. the swelling has gone down and the pain is almost gone. soccer, dc united returns to action tonight. the team has knocked nine tied a already this year and knotted up with columbus. colorado in town at rfk stadium tonight. a team that shut out the dc united 3-0 in june. they are in fifth place, but both divisions with tight and as the players speak it, you can't afford to look past anybody at this point.

>> it was being so tight, can't afford to, you know, lose or even tie at home at this point. you are going to lose some ground. so it's a big game and it will be good to be in front of our home fans, again. >> it is double header day. the ladies playing right now. freedom taking on st. louis. check out kj, this is where it really helps to be 6-foot 2. hey, she believes she can fly. she believes she can touch the sky, too. nice block there. no scoring in the first half. freedom could really use a win that is currently second from the bottom in the standings. and finally, an american making the move today, but it wasn't lance. his former teammate gained almost five minutes on the leaders. finishing second on the stage. also moved up to second overall. armstrong dropped to fourth. a 61-year-old spectator was killed during the race.

she was killed by a police motorcycle escorting cyclists. >> he knows how to handle the media. >> he knows how to handle it. > thanks for watching the cbs evening news is next. we'll see you back here at 11:00. >> bye. .