is. this is 9 news now. good evening. i'm lesli foster. we begin with some severe weather. let's go to meteorologist tony pann. he's in the weather center. >> yeah, the storms have been tracking in the northern suburbs have intensified a lilaster 10 last 10 to te numis. nulot okve vesehu tstreer andmsi afctorsere thunderstorms are in storctafsh foninwa gt frederick county, rymand huor terst m across the er putrnheart of wn hirn heun torse uth of ha wn and anwilliamsport. . 25 at w25. into frederick county thwihe tin txtne 15 net0 s. if you are watching in me rsyelle or the inty for rsd in 0 ovher udclining clsters gu hamian hour and some larg leil. elnowh . ert a lot e gog ingoon ndings are pretty quiet ouar th of ba bahome home inth gs are okay. around the city. we will check live doppler 9000

in the seven-day forecast when e >>w feminutes. not far from that system you talked about investigators wrecrf geec oa hoalsp ge of a hospital ngtr yito e ouwhy it crd he alonong i-70 last night. our team coverage begins. >> ntsb investigator says there was no contact with air traffic control because the control tower was closed and no flight data recorder now the ntsb has the difficult task of sifting through the debris to find out the cause. video 0 you will only see at 9:00 tonight. wreckage at a private hangar at the regional airport. they are looking at the debris to be hauled off to delaware where the bulk of the investigation will take place to determine what caused the chopper to go down. >> the cabin of the aircraft was consumed by fire, so it was not survivable. >> reporter: the deadly crash

happened 10:30 last night on the shoulder of eastbound i-70 ten miles east of hagerstown, maryland in smithsburg. three of the four victims worked for advanced helicopter concepts a flight instruction company. the fourth victim was a female friend. the group was heading home after giving flight tours at a fund-raising event to help troubled kids. the fiery crash happened moments after takeoff from hagerstown regional airport killing all four people on board. >> witnesses reported the aircraft was flying very low. they saw sparks flying before the aircraft hit the ground and then a post crash fire. >> reporter: investigators will focus on three possible factors bad weather, power lines and t lopihistory. 24-year-old jeff nordaas was piloting the chopper on a visual flight pattern. he had delayed the flight for two hours before taking off at 10:15 because of the storms. >> this is very unfortunate and people who are obviously trying to help others in commune and

have this kind of outcome. >> reporter: the national transportation safety board says jeff nordaas was a certified pilot who logged 630 hours of flight time. and he also passed his medical certification this month. that's the latest here in hagerstown, 9 news now and wusa9.com. >> thank you for that. >> maryland state police have tentatively identified those on board as -- felix was a well known community leader and a mother of three in new market, maryland. >> president of the pta. she did things for the children. had a full-time job. always had time for people. >> reporter: felix had been invited on that flight as part of an effort to launch a new foundation to provide mental health services to at-risk

youth. 43-year-old booth was the director of the foundation, which was organizing formation helicopter flights around the country to raise money. the foundation is backed by advanced helicopter concepts a frederick-based company that operated the helicopter that crashed. 9 news now spoke to jeff nordaas' brother today and as digital correspondent derek mcginty tells us his brother says he may have been young but he knew his way around a helicopter. >> at 24 years old, jeff nordaas had more than 600 hours in a helicopter. that according to his brother mike hart who spoke to 9 news now via the telephone. he could fly aircraft as well and 24 years old. he was an extraordinary individual. >> reporter: jeff nordaas is . e youngest of four victims last night's helicopter crash on 70 near hagerstown. 9 news now gathered from the

ntsb officials that jeff nordaas was flying the chopper when it crashed but the brother says he still doesn't know who the pilot was. >> we do not know who was flying. we don't know which of the -- because there were three people from the school and one passenger in the aircraft. >> reporter: the robinson r-44 chopper crashed and burned on the left side of the highway. his brother said the helicopter had been delayed for two hours because of the bad weather. >> they were doing a charity fund-raiser for under - privileged youth promoting sky rides. >> reporter: the double majored in norwegian and economics in saint olaf university but his heart was always in the air. >> he had been a pilot since he could walk. >> reporter: and neighbor esther hill could not say enough about this young man's kindness. >> he would clean the snow. he would do anything to help you. >> reporter: derek mcginty, 9 news now and wusa9.com. again, we know that jeff nordaas was piloting that doomed helicopter and he leaves

behind six nephews and his nieces on his mother's side. his father is a search and rescue pilot returning from base at the red sea. metro spent rom time passing out flyers detailing what you can expect on the red line in the next few weeks and the flier outlined what investigators have learned since the deadly accident on june 22nd. it explains why trains are moving through that area more slowly and asks people to be more patient. passengers faced other delays this afternoon that were significant after a man was hit by a train at the van ness station. witnesses say the 40-year-old man intentionally went on the tracks. deputy fire chief says that victim does have life- threatening injuries but was couldn't -- conscious. >> he has lacerations and injuries compatible with being struck. he is being transported to gw parkway. >> -- hospital. >> an adult male. able to extricate him and get

him to the platform. >> for two hours trains shared one track between the cleveland park and friendship heights metro station. you can stay one step ahead of any delays at wusa9.com and click on traffic. that's where you can always track delays on the roads, the rails and the runway. president obama is trying to mend fences with police organizations around the country that are calling for him to apologize. it is all about the words he used on wednesday to discuss the arrest of a harvard university scholar. the president said police acted stupidly by arresting henry lewis gates for disorderly conduct and he linked that arrest to racial profiling. today mr. obama telephoned the officer that made that arrest, sergeant james crawley. >> i unfortunately gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department aw onsergeant y craw specifically and i could have calibrated those thrdwoe

differently. >> president obama said both gates and the police probably overreacted during the incident and he has invited gates and crawley to the white house. he said he hopes the public debate this stirred up can be instructive for the nation. the fate of the president's health care plan is up in the air tonight. the head of a group of fiscally conservative democrats says negotiations with house leader have collapsed. mike rossets after a week of talk the blue dogs health care task force failed to reach an agreement and that means the bill does not have enough votes to advance pass committee. danny highwayer suggests that lawmakers work past the scheduled august recess to get the bill on track. today maryland governor praised the president for trying to pass health care reform. the governor says we finally have a chance to pass a meaningful measure that can make a difference in people's lives. >> you can not have a diverse and up wardly mobile middle class if the citizens can't afford rising medical bills or if families have to choose

between buying prescription drugs for their parent and food for their children and you can not reach your potential as a nation if small businesses cannot afford to provide health insurance to workers and workers condition afford to provide health care for their families. >> reporter: he went on to say the need for health care reform is urgent in maryland. he says right now 22% of the state's budget is devoted to health care expenses and state residents spend $36 billion on health care every year. still to come, new evidence about the consequences for u.s. troops exposed to agent orange in vietnam. and 9 news now has learned that your neighborhood fire station may be closing. more on that coming up. but first, tony. >> strong thunderstorms rolling through the northern suburbs of washington and fredericwo seun ty, revethrede rm warning until rn45 look at live doppler yo eellwill see the sto inlktae sg talking about moving east. could produce large hail and damaging winds. we wilven- day folkseven- day forecast in a few minutes. s

a boat powered by solar energy made its debut today. it can tour inland waterways and lakes without leaving any contamination from fossil fuels behind. in "living $mart" focus, creating a new system to protect you as a consumer. >> we believe that the only viable solution is to provide a single entity in the government with a clear mandate for consumer protection and financial products and services with clear authority to write rules and enforce those rules. we promos to give this new agency jurisdiction over the march place. >> reporter: the treasury secretary went on to say this new agency would specifically address consumer protection issues and he said doing so

will help the country from falling in to economic crisis like the one we are in right now. to living well and a possible link between agent orange, parkinsons disease and serious heart problems. vietnam vets contended for years the herbicide used during that war made them ill. a study by the institute of medicine suggests that vets who were exposed have a higher risk of heart disease and parkinsons but the authors caution the study was based on a limit number of cases the department of veterans affairs will decide what to do with the latest findings. a new program designed to help you get cash for your clunker could leave some charities in a lurcis coming u story is coming up on 9 news nows.

a family in need is getting a roof over its head thanks to habitat for humanity. the nationals pitcher helped the organization to build one of the last homes in a 53-unit

development in northeast dc today. the project started in 2004. it is already home to 26 families who have been in public housing. the rest of the development is due to be finished by november. the catch for clunkers program begins today and it's aimed at getting more buyers in to dealer show rooms and getting those gas doesers off the road. but as jessica doyle reports it could have one unintended consequence. hurting the charities that depend on vehicle donations like melwood, based in upper marlboro. >> our job is to make sure people with disabilities have jobs and for them to be successful is for us to provide the support. and those supports are paid through our vehicle donation program. >> reporter: the nonprofit worries the new program to get old cars off the road will swallow up the supply of used vehicles it depends on. >> cash for clunkers actually targets the vehicles that are usually donated to melwood, the same profile, older, high

engine guzzling gas guzzlers. usually bigger cars. >> reporter: at melwood the donated car gives the donor a deduction of $500 up to the actual sale price at auction. that is typically less than the $3,500 to $4,500 owners clunker owners will get under the new federal program. melwood isn't alone with its concern. >> we partner with other agency and they use our call center to have vehicle donations for their programs. they will all be impact by this. this isn't just a melwood issue. >> reporter: they restricted the program to vehicles that get 18 miles or less a gallon to limit the impact on charity donations, but melwood is already struggling. with a drop in donations even before the program. in 2005, car donations brought in $12 million for melwood. this year they are projected at $4 million. because of that budget crunch,

melwood laid off 103 workers and has been forced to cut back on services for those with developmental disability and it is worried the cuts will have to go deeper. jessica doyle, 9 news now and wusa9.com. we were also the first to tell you about why the cash for clunkers program may not be ready to get off the ground. you can see digital correspondent andrew stack's exclusive report at wusa9.com. just click on living smart. well, our region is getting more than $58 million for homeland security projects and today, national capital region officials detailed how money from the urban area security initiative, it is a mouthful, will be spent. the largest share, just more than $9 million, will go to helping law enforcement agencies share information. about $5.5 million will go to monitor traffic. 4.7million goes to bridge, tunnel and metro security and the rest goes to shelter supplies and a patient tracking system. 9 news now has learned the new chief of the prince georges county fi department wants to

close tw s ce llst. sources tell our dave statter th f chieeugene jones wants to shut down 841 in calvertton and 844 in chill. this is a video of the chill fire company on race road. the plan was part of a budget- cutting proposal. both would close by august 1st but for people that work in chill, um it is surprising and is bad idea because of recent growth in the area. >> they just built over in there. more houses, more stores. >> i just don't think they need to shut down any fire stations regardless of where they are. they must be there for a rason. eporr: both of the fire stations shutting down are the two closest company those montgomery county border. firefighters there sometimes respond to call across the county line. sources say montgomery's command staff only learned of the plan in the last few days. we will have more on the story

tonight at 11:00. hey, tony. >> yes. >> so it is the end of july. and all of a sudden, you know, what happens usually at the beginning of july is happening now. >> we have been on cruise control most of the summer. >> we have. >> and now it is getting back to normal because everyone thinks it is hot. in the 90s over the week and i will talk about that in a second but we have had a few strong thunderstorms pop up this evening. 80% epofu yowatching have quieto weather buieerthe e tharsome strong storms arthe northern suburbs. live view here. most of the metro area isdry bu t this thunderstorm up in the northern subur t out of washingt c ictyeruncoto frederick county has been strong. had some hail reitrth ed w that and wind guov s ster 50 mi les ans hour the national weather service l s ilstils haa ctfer afs wa ing fofr affect for frederick and washington counties until 6:45. though it looks like this storm

has deintensified a little bit. it has died off a touch. it is moving east at 25. so if you are watching in frederick or urbana, the storm will be afcing you within the next half hour or 45 minutes to me it looks like it weakened a bit but tech nick hely the warning is in affect until 6:45. thunderstorms over the northern neck affecting the neuland area in that time, as well. it should cross in to southern r oland as we hea tor o15 71 -- 7:30. e moredewiview here and most of you are enjoying a pleasant evening. look at the three-day trend. as we head to the weekend it will be warm. low 90s on saturday but i believe it will be dry. better chance of thunderstorms on sunday. so tonight a chance of a shower or thunderstorm. mostly in the northern suburbs. low temperatures in the 60s. during the day tomorrow, partly to mostly sunny. the humidity will go up and

highs range between 88 and 93. right now 86 at national airport with a comfortable dew point of 61. that produces a relative humidity of 40%. not that bad in the humidity department. temperatures are cooler to the west, 75 in culpeper. everybody will settle back to the 60s by tomorrow morning but some summer heat in the southern plains and that will be drifting eastbound and this pattern will shift a little bit. for most of the summer the dip in the jet stream has been over us and it will move west as we head through the next couple of week and that means more normal conditions for most of the time. so the seven-day forecast reflects that. a chance of an afternoon thunderstorm just about every day next week with highs in the upper 80s to around 90 degrees. and that's the way it should be for the hottest part of the year, end of july, beginning of august. >> you got it. >> guess what happened today the wizards signed a center and not just any center, a center with a ring. >> and a center with a cool name. >> alberto. he is like madonna and charo.

just one name. people know who he is. the wizards needed plus and they got some today. details of his signing. and plus, as training camp nears my chat with jim zorn including the state of his relationship with jason campbell. you widehespar or tson orts coming up.

well, tom thomas the wizards are suddenly faced with a lack of beef in their front court. ernie has been shopping around for a wide body to fill the void ever since and he got his man. umberto. the 6'10" big man from argentina signed a deal with the wizards today. he spent the last three seasons with the spurs winning a championship there in 2007. prior to that an olympic gold medal with team argentina. he can play forward or center and averaged 4 points four boards and 15 minutes during his career. doesn't sound like much but a reliable backup behind duncan and will do the same behind brendan heyward. if you are a fan of baseball and appreciate the beauty and grace of our national past time you may want to stay away from nationals park tonight because the nats will host the padres placing the two worst teams in baseball on the same field at the same time.

the nats 39 games under 500 and sadly that is eight worse than the padres. san diego has the lowest batting average in the league at 230. maths have the highest era at 5.1 and fittingly a pair of winless youngens will be on the mound. mock and latos. mock the experienced one making his fifth. from college football, the mystery has been solved everyone who wanted to know which sec coach did not vote for florida as the all conference quarterback this year and it was former skins quarterback steve spur year. surprising since he used to coach and play at florida. he said it was a mistake. that his assistant filled out the ballot and not him. not sure what you are doing this weekend but for redskins player and staff it will be the last weekend of freedom until december if they are lucky. training camp 0 starts on thursday and with it the make or break season for campbell. the quarterback is entering his

fourth season as starter but he had to endure a trying off season as you know. the team flirting with cutler toe replace him. leaving perhaps a damaged relationship between him and the team. i sat down today with skins head coach jim zorn and asked what he had done to repair that relationship? >> i don't think there needed to be a repair job, if you will, because i didn't think that anything was broken. while it was happening he was well informed. are we looking at jay cutler, absolutely. but this is the reality of big- time football. >> don't forget, nine sports will have wall-to-wall training camp coverage starting next wednesday. we will have live reports from redskins park and feature stories and uncut interviews on our website at wusa9.com. no matter how mad you get on a tennis court one thing you don't do is cross to the other side of the net to confront your opponent.

the net is tennis' -- but it happened and the two meet again the kastles and they meet eight days after their epic rhubarb in which john mcenroe and adams came across the net to shout down pays. both were suspended and fined. mcenroe won't play tonight. game time is 7:00. finally tonight, freddy funk went to sleep with a three shot lead in the british open. the lead was down to one this afternoon until freddy got to 18 and lost his eight iron from a buck 68 and that's not just close. that's an eagle. as the pride of takoma park and watch he had his putter out of the bag. let me put it in because that thing went in the hole. freddy funk in the lead. >> he receive funky. >> that's it for us on 9 news now at 6:00. the cbs evening news is next. derek will e you