hello. welcome to 9 news now at noon.

i'm j.c. hayward. the president and congress are facing an uproar over the bankruptcy for the cash for clunkers program. so many people took advantage of the rebate offer, that it is running out of money. tara merge never reports that lawmakers are now racing to bail out the program. >> the government's cash for clunkers program took off so fast it's already running on empty. >> we have given away probably 140,000 of government money already. it has been unbelievable. >> reporter: for the past week, car owners have flooded local dealerships. eager to scrap their old gas guzzlers for a rebate on a fuel efficient vehicle. >> my grand voyager i would never get $4,500 for word came on thursday the program would have to be suspended because participating dealers may have sold 2 a 08 -- 250,000 vehicles burning through the $1 billion congress set aside. >> we have to figure out out in a are you -- hurry.

the program was last until november 1st or until it ran out of much but no one expected it to happen fast. now lawmakers are scrambling to come up with the money to keep it going. they are looking to pass a bill to keep it from stalling out and buyers out this weekend can count on the government rebate. congress approved the program to put more fuel efficient cars and trucks on the road and to help to jump start the worst auto sales in 25 years. >> this has been an island for six days that's been reminiscent of how the industry could be and should be. >> reporter: one thing everyone agrees is the incentive program is revving up sales at a time when it is make or break for the car industry. tara mergener , cbs news, washington. >> the vehicle of atf is on the scene of the fire on wednesday that destroyed a multimillion- dollar mansion and priceless art work. mayor fenty is promising a quick investigation in to water

pressure issues after wednesday's fire that destroyed the home. neighbors showed us and they showed us how a private pump kicks up the water pressure in their faucets. the mayor says a detailed report, spelling out what the government knew and did about pressure problems will be made public. as mayor fenty talked to some neighbors they say they want to believe something will get done but they are not entirely confident. >> give you the report and tell you what we will do about it. >> i'm hoping that you, as mayor, will make sure it goes through quickly. >> sure. we will get it done early next week. >> the chair says she doesn't want to wait long for the report in case there are more problem areas that are compromising public safety. firefighters had a much easier time fighting a fire in northeast washington. in this case, the fire broke out at a five-story apartment building on rhode island avenue

northeast. firefighters had plenty of water pressure. and what's more the building was vacant. the roof collapsed but no one was injured. there's no word on the cause of the fire. the dc city council will meet today to talk tax hike and budget cuts. if the proposed increases pass, residents who live, work an drive in the district will be paying more to close the city's budget gap. 9 news now digital correspondent armando trull has more from the wilson building. >> reporter: the council is trying to cut that $660 million budget deficit. and to do so they may have to raise the sales tax by .25% to 6% and may have to add an extra 50 cents to every pack of cigarettes that you buy and extra 3 1/2 cents to every gallon of gasoline you put in your vehicle. we had an opportunity to speak to some council members about these proposals. >> we're not going to tax our way out of this and there needs to be a balanced approach and that is what the residents have

tweeted me an come to my facebook say we understand we are not going to balance the budget on the back of low income and middle class families and we have to find the right balance to do so. >> the city is trying to close a $340 million short fall and everyone has to contribute to that. schools $33 million actually and human services everywhere across the board, public safety are going to have to contribute to that short fall as well as revenue enhancements. >> reporter: two options that have been taken off the table, no increase in income tax or property taxes. reporting at the wilson building, armando trull for 9 news now and wusa9.com. the judges assigned to hear a civil lawsuit and the virginia tech murder case have recaused themselves. in court papers, the montgomery county, virginia judges cite a conflict in hearing the case. lawsuits were filed by two students killed in that

massacre. a new witness has surfaced in the chandra levy murder case. meanwhile the man charged with killing the former federal intern is heading to court today. prosecutors say the new witness identifies the suspect as the man who attacked her on a jogging trail. it is unclear exactly where that attack took place. levy disappeared in may of 2001. her body was found in rock creek park a year later. a 76-year-old boxer is attacked and killed in his very own neighborhood. and now family and friends are looking for answers. he earned his golden gloves years ago. police say he was walking to a store in the anacostia area earlier this week. that's when two men tried to rob him. he fought back, but he was severely beaten and he died several days later. his daughter in law can't believe that a neighbor would

do this. >> to think that a 76-year-old man who had lived in this area all of his life. in the anacostia area, everyone knows him and someone could kill him. it doesn't make no sense. >> reporter: police have not made any arrests in the case due to the nature of the attacks. dues could only identify his attackers a two black men on bicycles. all the suddens have been cleaned up from the so-called beer summit at the white house. president obama and vice president biden sat down with harvard professor henry lewis gates and the cambridge police sergeant james crowley. crowley arrested gates earlier this ntteh afr a poreneighborrted ported a suspected burglary. gates was in his own home. the incident sparked rta na ba ba abou ci thprisiling. this is a positive step in going forward as opposed to reliving the event for the past couple of weeks in an effort to

move not just the city of cambridge or two individuals past the event but the whole country. >> reporter: there were no apologies at the meeting the president invited the men after admitted he made matters worse by saying the police acted stupidly. both sergeant crowley and professor gaits say they plan to meet again. well, most of the local kids quarantine while on a trip to china are now back home. the group of local high schoolers arrived last night at dulles airport. they plan to attend a two-week summer school program in china, but during the flight over one student showed symptoms of h1n1 and chinese authorities decided to quarantine all 22 youngsters. a handful did test positive for the flu. >> these guys came and put me in an ambulance and took me to a little makeshift hospital.

it was kind of sketchy at first. >> reporter: by the way, not all of the youngsters from that summer school program are back from china. some decided to stay another week to make up for the time that they lost. first round draft pick brian orakpo showed up for work this morning at the redskins training camp. our digital correspondent dave owens is joining us from ashburn with more information. >> reporter: you are right. he showed up for work. of course a lot of excitement here as redskins opened camp. but there was one thing missing yesterday, or i should say one person, brian orakpo but that changed early this morning the 13th pick out of the university of texas finished negotiations of his contract last night and got the call home in texas. he was with his fiance and he jumped on an early morning flight to redskins park to participate in special teams and individual drills and set out team drills. zorn said he needs to finish

his physical, take care of minor details before he goes full board. no doubt we should see more of orakpo this afternoon. >> very happy. got it done. i'm not a guy -- i don't like missing workouts. i know my teammates are working. i don't like to miss it but there is always a business side to this whole ordeal. excited it has been done quick and i was to get out here. >> reporter: business is business no doubt about that. while he was out there this morning, no surprises working with the outside linebacker and defensive end. they think he will be one of those swing players. orakpo says whatever he does he will do it with speed an wreak havoc and redskins fans are happy to here hear that. brett haber will be here at 5:00 with more. we will have more on orakpo and the rest of the day in redskins news. back to you. still to come when 9 news now returns, details of the

search warrant served to the doctor who was present when michael jackson died. five space walk and now the crew aboard the space shuttle "endeavour" is home. we'll be right back. having the right tools is crucial

to being able to manage your diabetes properly. it's very important for me to uh check my blood sugar before i go on stage. being on when i'm feeling low can be like a rollercoaster. it does at times feel like my body is telling me to do one thing... and, my mind, my heart is telling me to do something else. managing my highs and lows is super important. with my contour meter i can personalize my high/lo settings so it really does micromanage where my blood sugar needs to be. i'm nick jon and never slowing down is my simple win. authorities who served grand jury search warrants to the doctor who was with him when he died are looking for

evidence against dr. conrad murray to support a manslaughter charge. randy kay has more. >> reporter: we have a copy of the search warrant issued in los angeles for dr. conrad murray's home and office. it states it is looking for evidence of demonstrating crimes of excess, prescribing to an addict and manslaughter. the addict in this case, apparently yankee michael jackson. the search warrant says they were looking for prescriptions and information on when medications were administered, sold, transferred, administered and sealed including diprivan which authorities believe killed michael jackson and which we know from a source dr. murray gave him within 24 hours of his death. they seize five hard drive images, iphone and records and a key piece of evidence is a cd with the name omar arnold on it. detectives seized that and i confirmed with a source close to the investigation that jackson used the name to obtain

prescription drugs and get procedures done without anyone knowing. now we used his name an we know a doctored with that name was taken from his clinic in vegas. that's something investigators will no doubt look at. authorities believe michael jackson was using 19 other aliases. they were looking for prescriptions written in all of those names including the name of his personal chef and his own son prince jackson. his attorney says dr. murray is a witness and has not been named a suspect but the search warrant also mentioned seven other doctors that may have had correspondence or written prescriptions for michael jackson and any of his aliases. so it seems they are trying to match up mike squall hack son and any other names he used with doctors they are looking at. those mentioned include dr. murray, jackson's long-time determinologist and five other doctors. they are looking for correspondent dense between jackson and lee his former nurse who said that jackson

begged her for diprivan. he begged her for it so he could sleep. and they are still issuing subpoenas for records, still visiting doctors offices. he says the autopsy and toxicology report is just not done. cnn, los angeles. coming up next, howard has the weekend forecast. and the weekend may start with a bang in some spots. s e severe weather ithreat for this afternoon. for this rnvelido veli doppler whf oe the area where we are tr concerned about. and thouat t e weekend as well when 9 news now returns.

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well, the rain held off in florida long enough for the space shuttle "endeavour" to come home. it landed in the space center this morning. it ended a 16-day trip. drew levinson has more information. >> reporter: the space shuttle "endeavour" drifted through the florida sky and came home to earth with a picture-perfect landing. >> wrapping up a 6.5 million-

mile mission. >> reporter: more than likely the happiest of the astronauts to get back is this man because of delays to launch the shuttle the japanese astronaut had a extended stay on the international space station. >> great job. >> "endeavour" helped to set a record in space. when its seven crew members joined the six on the station putting a combined 13 people up there at one time. >> that's what it is designed for and there was room for everybody. we could spread out and also congregate. >> reporter: this is one of the shuttle's longer mission and it was jam packed. as they brought up and replaced parts. the biggest task is adding the third, final piece to the $2.4 billion japanese laboratory. during their five space walks, floating 825 miles above the earth, astronauts attached what they call the back porch. it will allow astronauts to

walk outside and perform experiments in space, and while the astronauts at the space station will soon begin those experiments, for the seven astronauts on board "endeavour." >> roger. >> reporter: they are now focused on being back home with family. drew levinson, cbs news, the space center. welcome back. we have some severe weather for the afternoon. right now on doppler, you see rain to the west and heavy rains here but nothing severe. what's happening is with the first batch of rain it is stabilizing in the atmosphere, say from 50 to 29 west. in town we are quiet but toward leesburg and points west. west of frederick and culpeper and warrenton we are seeing the showers. we will go south to north here. culpeper, light rain showers. up to luray and up 340. as bemove to the north in faulkier and western loudoun a few light showers around harpers ferry as well and

jefferson on 340. we will go up 70 and out 68 in to west virginia. this is where we see the heaviest stuff paw paw to hancock. this is moving northeast. but east of that ear area where the sun has been out temperatures are warming up. but east of 15 and 95 this afternoon, say, 3:00 or 4:00 things will get rough in spots. you want to stay up on the weather today. here's the forecast for the next three days. starting with today, upper 80s. some got thunderstorms. they will be strong to severe in spots. tomorrow a much better day. temperatures near the 90-degree mark but should be drier. on sunday i think we have more storms and temperatures in the middle 80s. scattered thunderstorms. in writing, some severe this afternoon. 89 to 89. southwesterly winds at 10 to 15 miles an hour. sunset 8:20. evening thunderstorms and may go for a couple of hours after dark. things settle down after dark. northwest winds five to ten and partly to mostly nny and very

warm for saturday. high temperatures near that 90- degree mark. here's a severe threat from the storm prediction center it is on top of us. east of 81 and east of 95. damaging winds, large hail. might be an isolated tornado like we had on wednesday afternoon but we will really watch storms that could drop heavy rains, as well. look at the moisture in to southwestern pennsylvania. and to northern west virginia. this is going up here. it is the stuff down here and farther off this map that we will see activate this afternoon. we have all of this heat and humidity. 85 already at national. 7. rtmaursb 7inis sternc heyrtthursbhaavg 77. they have had some showers there and it is also 88 in fredericksburg. so very warm, humid air mass. the dew point is 72 degrees. with a tropical air mass in place and the heat index 91. here's the winds southwest at 14. the piece of energy that we are looking at is coming from the southwest. you can see it with a thunderstorm in southwestern virginia back to north carolina

and tennessee line. this is coming at us here and this is a juicy air mass. watch out this afternoon. over the next few hour and then things improving later on tonight. here's the seven day, upper 80s with strong thunderstorms. nice tomorrow, sunday more thunderstorms and then monday through thursday upper 80s to 90 with isolated afternoon thunderstorms. it is friends friday here on 9 news now and that is coming up when we return. it's what doct most for headaches. for arthritis pain... in your hands... knees... and back. for little bodies with fevers.. and big bodies on high blood pressure medicine. tylenol works with your body... in a way other pain relievers don't... so you feel better... knowing doctors recommend tylenol...

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on friday we focus on people who are doing great things in the commune and today i'd like for you to meet my new

friend, karen brown and she is the founder of the feelings friends program. this is so important to you. what is a feeling friends project do? >> it teaches children and adults how to express their feelings appropriately. we give children a feelings vocabulary. so often growing up we didn't know how to say what we were feeling but these characters give children and us a chance to learn how to eck press their feelings appropriately and manage those feelings. >> and you go to schools and community groups and churches. >> professional organizations. it is not just for children. my friend angie the angry tiger says. >> i love her. >> you love her. >> we don't know how to express anger so she says no hitting, pushing biting, even when i'm angry there is never any fighting. >> who's this you are loving. >> this is worry the sea worm. worry doesn't know what to do

when he's afraid. we teach children to make a worry box and put them in a worry box and we give strategies for children to deal with the feelings. >> it is the feeling friends project. and we will put you on our website so they can get in touch with you and go out and help us to have a better life. >> thank you for what you are doing. >> thank you so much. have a great weekend. visit us at 5:00. ówlaóo

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