approaching us from the south and west. they will be here later today. in the meantime, a mostly cloudy and cooler weather forecast. we have kris sneed in the traffic office to keep you updated on the traffic. >> we have our first accident of the morning. this is on southbound route 28. all southbound lanes are blocked right now. you are diverted to pacific avenue and old ox road and back to 28. we will keep an eye on that and let you know as we get more information in. heading over to 66. slow from 50 to 123. an you are clear out to the beltway. checking out 395 northbound. that slow down from duke to seminary ten minutes and building and then you have no problems as you make your way to the 14th street bridge. the inbound new york avenue in the district, we are slow from

the times building to bladensburg. an extra five minutes and then clear on to the third street tunnel. andrea, over to you. >> thank you. the issue of fire hydrants in the district is making headlines again. we have learned one hydrant firefighters desperately needed last month to put out a burning home had been mislabeled. 9 news now digital correspondent, armando trull has more. >> andrea, good morning. when firefighters respond to a fire, they can expect a lot of things, but one of the things that they really count on is that the hydrants they are working on are properly hooked up and labeled, not only by the fire department but also by wasa. wasa certify the hydrant has enough flow for the hoses to be hooked up to. the fire department certifies it is in working condition but during a devastating fire two weeks ago that was not the case. fire hydrant 03553 on chain bridge road is now marked in red. it is a warning to firefighters

it cannot supply enough water to help them do their job. however, on the night of the devastating fire that destroyed the multimillion-dollar mansion, wasa had mislabeled the hydrant in blue. >> it is distressing. >> so distressing that a week after the blaze e report ar ad rt pore edand pledged to work with wasa, begin an aggressive testing of 4,000 hydrants this the district. >> i understand they will share information with us about the gallons a minute flow. >> reporter: until the testing is complete the fire department promised to send tanker trucks to fires in areas of low water pressure. we don't want to undually alarm anyone and want to make sure it is stressed this wasa and the

fire department say the issue with this hydrant is an isolated one and they don't believe it reflects the situation throughout the rest of the district. nevertheless, they are looking at 4,000 suspect hydrants. reporting live, armando trull for 9 news now and wusa9.com. new this morning, homicide investigators may have made a break in the murder of an acupuncturist in her home. she was found murdered in her home in the 4100 block of hummer road in annandale last month. this is surveillance footage released by investigators. they are looking for a person seen getting out of a dark- colored car and walking to the ctlaim p'sce of business which was her home. if you can identify the vehicle or the person call police. they want to hear from you right away. >> paramedics put their live on the line to save an injured hiker in shenandoah national park. this is video of yesterday's rescue. the paramedics lowered a stretcher to the edge of the cliff to get to the man.

another hiker helped the team to hoist the injured man back in the helicopter. this morning, all nine victims from saturday's midair collision have been accounted for in new york city. we're talking about that crash between a small plane and a helicopter. they crashed and fell in to the hudson river off manhattan. search teams recovered the final two bodies yesterday. they salvaged the first large piece of the damaged plane. federal safety investigators say they will closely examine the wreckage and want to review the use of air space ahead of the crash. the american dream turned in to a nightmare for dozens of illegal immigrants as young as 17 years of age. authorities say they were forced to work as prostitutes at three long island bars and some were sex slaves. most of the young women for from central america and lure toad new york. one customer said he was alarmed at how silent the girls were. he said they never talked.

>> we know they are very pretty. we know that. but they are quiet. they keep their mouth shut a lot. >> reporter: three people who managed the bar is questioned and forced with sex trafficking and forced labor. they are held without bond and facing life in prison. the economy appears to be returning around and however there are concerns it could be smoke and mirrors. jessica has the "living $mart" report. what do we mean? we are talking about the federal reserve and talking about a bubble maybe forming in the economy. the federal reserve is going to deliver the latest prognosis on the health of the economy today. it is widely expected that central bankers will hold steady on southwest rates for some time to come but wall street is starting to worry the fed will have to deal with abubble forming this time for the stock market. some economists warn that stocks have gone too far too fast, purely on the hopes that the economy will bounce back because of stimulus money pumped in to the economy. the s&p has jumped 51% since

march. even though the mainepid and so remain tepid and some markets are up 80% overseas this year. if you want a green job this could help you find one. our partners at careerbuilder.com. they have a new website called going green jobs.com. the trend could continue. career builder says one in ten employers report adding green jobs in the last 12 months. the era of the mcmansion maybe over the first time in 16 year the size of u.s. homes is shrinking. new homes have rank by 7% in the first three months of the year and last year, home sizes fell every quarter, marking the first year of home declines since ' 94. some experts say the trend is due to the recession and others say our tastes are changing. buyers are more interested in smaller spaces opposed to those 20,000 square foot kitchens

that we saw. >> sounds nice. do you really need all of that space? all right. jessica, thank you. now to check on weather and traffic for maryland we want to get to kim martucci's forecast. >> all right. it is idthat time. here's the satellite and the radar loop. showing we are watching rain approaching from southwestern virginia. this is pretty good news. as we zoom in we will show you what the ermpteatures are for mp inviiarg isthismorning thal mp. teurr ere thatonmmthales onr temperatures are running g ou the 70s out there. it 169 winchester, 75 in the district. by the late morning, approaching wood stock amissville we will have some showers and storms. not as hot as yesterdays. 7 arlington with afternoon showers and thunderstorms. let's send it over to kris sneed. he's keeping an eye on the traffic. good morning. look at chopper road and clint orchard, no problems here and in silver spring no problems as

you make your way though the district and finally we will take fly on 50 westbound from the bay bridge annapolis to bowie and the beltway. no problems. >> thank you, kris. >> what you say is often what you will get these days. willy jolly explains the power of woods. >> reporter: hi, this is willy jolly. i want to give you a simple idea to help you live better and have greater success. this is something i have learned over the years that is very effective it is seeking good. if in your life, finances, family and future. most people don't realize the power of words. if you ask most people are you huh are you do detective i'm just making it or if i didn't have bad luck i wouldn't have any luck at all or here's one, how are you feeling, i think i'm trying to catch a cold, no. when people ask how are you doing i'm doing great or

outstanding or always unbelievable. things going good or bad, unbelievable. speak good because your words have power. speak good in to your life and your future, your family and finances because your word has power. this is willy jolly. this visit my website at willy jolly.com for free motivation. a @

the kennedy family gathered in

massachusetts in preparation for the wake of eunice kennedy shriver. she died yesterday at a cape cod hospital. hundreds turn out last night to remember the three women killed inside of a suburban pittsburgh gym. a wake will be held this morning. nine others were hurt when an emotionally troubled gunman fired. 70 people were killed after a typhoon struck taiwan. rescue crews are searching for survivors, possibly trapped under tons of mud and rock. officials rescued 300 people trapped by floodwaters. and now to say good morning to kim martucci. relief, how do we spell it today. >> in the form of rain showers and some cloud cover. by the way, i have a tip, already people are contacting me about they gardens jan in reedville said she planted her garden in pots and set them three feet off of the ground and that kept the ground hogs out of eating her produce.

>> we have a rabbit in the backyard. >> silly rabbits. trick are for kids. great to have you with us. you are minding me on facebook and sending in weather pictures. let me share one with you from last night. this is spooky clouds a new cloud classification. if you take any weather pictures send this them to us at the station. here's the sat lie light light radar loop. light s erowinrashowercoming fr the shenandoah valley points south to roanoke and go hokies, virginia tech. i married one of those. so now i'm part of the rocky nation, too. we will be watching for more clouds than sun and a couple of showers to sneak in to the afternoon. not only good for the garden. rainfall totals we are carrying a one-inch surplus for the year but we haven't had a lot

recently. we could use more. we will hope for showers and storms. not as many tomorrow. if we see any it should be south of dc. 88 tomorrow. it is back to where we should be this time of the year for high temperatures instead of the 90s like we have been seeing recently. numbers in the middle to lower 70s up to frederick county, maryland, 70 in gaithersburg. toward fredericksburg, 74. 76 at pa tux sen river and as we look to the west, winchester, 69. we will take you to the middle 80s this afternoon. some clouds and sun but building more clouds than sun as the day wears on and watch for the showers in to the afternoon. 87 degrees for the high. here's how it looks across the country. you can see a lot of cloud cover precluding that perseid meteor shower observation. it is sinking this week. we'd like to get outside to watch for them even if last night if you didn't have rain, there is a haze the air and

unfortunately more clouds around tonight if you have to go outside to watch them. and check out kristin fish ear's blog on the perseid meteor showers. whenever we have a boundary in the summer and moisture in the mid level winds. perfect combination to grow showers and storms. we will be on the lookout, ch. ialytrninterg y in tern virginia. today in the 80s. pittsburgh 79 new york city 83. not too many 90s on the map. here's the seven day. we will keep us in the 80s in to the week. tomorrow looks to be the driest day of the next seven. then friday, saturday and sunday we pick up the pace a little bit as energy in the mid levels tries to slip through bringing us when the sun is up thunderstorms later the day and things die down at night. next week hot again in the 90s. let's check in with kris sneed with the traffic.

an accident at route 28 and steriling boulevard. it is blocking all lanes. medevac on the way. if you want to get past this you are diverted to pacific avenue and then old ox road and back to southbound utteroe 28. going to 95 northbound in virginia. slow from the prince william parkway to lorton. 10 to 15 extra minutes there.th check out route 4, route 5, 301. no problems, incidents or accidents out here. moving to 95 and the bw parkway if you are coming out of baltimore, nothing but green cars on the map and finally we will take a live look at 270 southbound. slow 109 to 121 an seeing a lot of volume from germantown to 370. no problems after that as you make your way to the split. andrea, over to you. time for the hero central segment with kristin fisher. and you are going to say ahhh at one point. >> this have a story that will make you say ahhh.

this is one woman's fight to save a family farm and the animals that helped her to do it it. this is one farms in maryland. the land was bought in 1882. >> the property, the home and outbuildings and everything were built by animy great great grandparent and i wanted to maintain the place and i didn't want it to be sold to developers. >> angel is an only child. when her father became sick in ' 96 she quit her it job to save the family farm. >> my transition was very scary. the main problem i had is i am not a farm girl. i was born and raised on miami beach and i had a lot to learn. >> the key was finding an animal she could raise or a crop to grow on her own so she turned it in to the largest alpaca farm in southern maryland. >> she was born 24 hours ago.

>> it is now home to 90 of these animals and she knows every one by name. >> say did, admiral helmsly. it is fantastic animal, as a woman on my own i can manage them. >> this is a dung pile. they are so easy to take care of they even pooh in the same place where it makes it easy to clean up. but the best part is they have allowed angel to turn a profit. >> my two here -- my true heros are the alpacas because they have enabled me to keep this farm and make it self sustainable. >> now angel's main profits come from buying and selling her alpacas. but in the past few years she started to sell the fleece and turning them in to blankets and angel is a huge fan of our morning show and especially kim

martucci. >> oh. >> she knew that you just got married so she has a wedding gift for you. >> oh. look at this. i can't believe it 100% pure alpaca fleece blanket. >> you can see the little label in there that means it is authentic. >> it is so soft and they can dye the fleece in to these beautiful colors. i visited an alpaca farm in southern maryland and they are so docile and they have those big eyes and they are so sweet. >> gorgeous color. >> easy to take care of. can't go wrong with that. >> does she have tours of the farm? >> she does and if you want to see more about the farm i will have a link to the farm's website on my blog at wusa9.com. >> heros come in all sizes. >> yeah. >> i like that. pit bulls are back the news first a pit bull puppy was thrown in a dumpster and left to die after losing a fight. another pair mauled their owner to death.

so is there a problem with the breed or ttheir owners? we decided to pay a visit to the owner to find out if it is bad nature or nurture. meet odon't an his three-month- old pups pit bulls and have a maligned reputation for being vicious. the reputation their owners say is undeserved. >> they are fun, eager and eager to please you. if they are raised correctly they are loving, prospective and goofy dogs. >> reporter: wendy and derek should know. the stafford couple owns and breeds pit bulls and says the dog's loil loyal toy people is sometimes abused. >> they are eager to please. so when you ask them to do something they are going to want to do it for you. if you ask them to fight they will want to do it for you. therein lies the problem, not a dog problem but a dog owner problem. >> in my yeah eyes totally a

people problem. >> reporter: so they try to reach out whenever they can as ambassadors for their pets. >> you will see the positive stories 0 or the therapy dogs that are pit bulls our dogs never see the good people that just want to give pit bulls a good rap for the good dogs they are. you have to keep doing the right thing and keep spreading the word that they are not bad dogs. they just have a bad rap. >> that was james hash reporting. according to dog fight law.com, pit bulls and rottweilers are responsible for the most attacks against people. sports is next. when 9 news now returns, find out why michael vick's agent met with the redskins yesterday. a the signs of now question asks, what magazine did hugh hefner work at to raise money for "playboy." was it childrens activities magazine, good housekeeping or

cosmopolitan magazine? we will have the answer when we return. b@

whrk 0 9 news now. in the signs of now question --

if you guessed cosmopolitan you are wrong. it was a, children's activities magazine. he served as the circulation manager right before leaving to start "playboy" magazine in december of 1953, marilyn monroe was the first "playboy" playmate. turning to sports michael vick is still a man without a football team. you can imagine the attention his agent received when he showed up at redskins park yet he met with the skins vice president yesterday. he says he is confident that vick will hook up with a team but the meeting had nothing to do with vick. >> see, jason and laurent, d'angelo, rob thomas, watch a couple of my guys practice, send time with vinny. talking to a host of clubs and i'm confident vick will be with a team. >> i wish he could be playing here with the redskins? no chance. >> they are gearing up for the first preseason game tomorrow night against the ravens.

and michael vick will be seen on sunday's 60 minutes. the first interview since admitting to dog fighting and going to prison. it is sunday, august 16th at 7 p.m. here on wusa9.com. still to come when 9 news now returns, the president continues to make his case for health care reform, one town hall meeting at a time. >> still tracking the accident southbound route 20 that has all lanes blocked. we will have more details coming up. on the weather terrace, cloudy skies and muggy this morning we will check out the weather forecast as we get over hump day together. you are watching 9 news now. good morning. ñ/dh óçfa

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welcome back. kim martucci is on the weather terrace. can't sit on the furniture. we had a little rain so it is a little damp. little damp from the dew this morning. we have to wish the chantilly little league best of luck at the southeast recommendny finals today in west virginia. we hope you do well. good morning, everybody. i'm kim.

it is cloudy and it is mild. if not humid outside. let's start with the weather. pl on rain showers later this afternoon. so have the umbrella with you. of i-81 rtion i-81 atm t ar at75, 77 andrews air force base. high fredericksburg, 74. the weather forecast, mostly cloudy at 9:00, 79. 85 at noon. we will say good-bye to the 90s and welcome middle 80s and upper 8 as instead. have the umbrella this afternoon it may serve you well. good morning. >> we are starting to see a couple of accidents pop up, here is route 28 at sterling boulevard. all southbound lanes are blocked. take pacific avenue to old ox route to 28. being told to avoid the area if possible. moving to 66 this accident just happened eastbound at route 28. it is blocking this left lane.

. s as you can see delays are back to 29. after this you are slow from nutley to the beltway. heading over in to maryland, outer loop, you are slow from university to georgia avenue. still moving well. no major problem and finally look at the trains. metro on time, vre, on time and marc on time. we have no delays there. andrea? >> this morning there's new urgency to the task of examining fire hydrants in the district. that is after the discovery of a hydrant firefighter tried to use last month had been mislabeled. 9 news now digital correspondent, armando trull is live with details. >> reporter: hydrants are labeled both by the fire department and by the water and sewer authority. the fire department certifies that the hydrant is actually in working condition. wasa certifies how much volume can go through the hydrant in order to feed the houses. as you said one hydrant was not

working so there is a joint task force looking at 4,000 hydrants in the district to make sure that is not the case elsewhere. >> firefighters hope the next time they respond to a blaze, the nearby hydrants will have the proper markings letting them foe know if the water flow is adequate. the night of the devastating fire that destroyed the multimillion-dollar home it had a blue tag and that led firefighters to think the water flow was adequate but it wasn't. it was less than a fifth of the water needed to fight the ble. it has been retagged in red to show it is not functional but it is too late to save the mansion. the district has begun a joint effort with wasa to make sure all hydrants are tagged for proper water flow. >> we have a high confident

dense in them. >> the special tank trucks will be stent to fires in areas with low water pressure and volume. >> wasa and the district fire department say in this case the hydrant was not working was not instrumental in fighting the blaze you as a secondary source of water and they say the problem with this problematic hydrant does not indicate a systemic problem with their efforts to look at the hydrants. reporting live, armando trull for 9 news now and wusa9.com. right now president obama's signature domestic issue is reforming the nation's health care system. as he fights to get it done he has been struggling to be heard over voices of opposition. now the president decided it is time to fight fire with fire at a town hall meeting of his own in new hampshire yesterday. >> for all the chatter, yelling, shouting and the noise. what you need to know is this, if you don't have health insurance you will footballly

have quality, affordable options once we pass reform. i don't think that government bureaucrats should be meddling but i don't think that insurance company bureaucrats should be meddling either. that's the health care system i believe in. >> reporter: angry critics stole the spotlight as they confronted members of congress at town hall meetings. check out what happened in hillsboro, missouri. >> hey hey hey! >> okay. ma'am. okay. everybody sit down. >> that was at a town hall meeting held by senator mccast kill. not only did the debate get physical, look at this one in will be non, pennsylvania. >> you want to be -- you want to be led out of here, you are welcome to go. now, wait a minute, wait a minute.

>> even called if for police reinforcement. back to the president he has two manufacture meetings in colorado and montana. tickets will be available to the general public. so the president may see some angry outbursts in the crowd. 6 listen 35. there could be a new king of the highway when it comes to fuel economy. jessica doyle is joining us for the living smart focus. who's this? >> pretty soon car buyers could say move over prius there is something even greener coming on the mark and it is an american automaker. gm says the chevy volt electric car can get 230 miles per gallon in city driving. that's four times more than the best-selling prius but the numbers need cob confirmed by federal regulators. it will cost two times as much as the prius as well with the sticker price of $40,000 when it arrives in show rooms next year. car shopper interest in the cash for clunkers program maybe running out of gas.

they report that interest and trading in a clunker has fallen 15% since its peak an the number of people planning to buy cars could fall to me clunker levels by next week. some people are working for their doctors to pay medical bills. they say bartering posts have doubled in the past year. one man in new jersey traded his web designing skills for $1,000 in dental work. i guess if you have a skill, goer if it. why not. >> maybe it should be a part of reform. >> thank you. it is time to focus on virginia's weather and traffic. we start with kim martucci. >> good morning. i'm watching our radar loop very closely. it say cross virginia where we have light rain this morning from the south and west. the weather forecast for today,u of ilatcl woudy. that will hold the temperatures back a little bit. 70 in culpeper. leesburg 77 and 73 at ft. belvoir. as for the afternoon, and what it holds, probably more clouds

than sun and you folks in woodstock, amissville will be the first to see any rain we get today. a little embedded thunder. king george 87 and that's the forecasted high. that's the virginia weather. let's check in on virginia roads with kris. >> the virginia roads are looking rough. route 28 at steriling boulevard two lanes are open. one lane is blocked going southbound. heading over to 66. an accident here at route 28 is moved to the left shoulder. slow at the area and again nutley to the beltway. finally check out braddock road to the beltway. no problems here. you can sigh a few cars on the road. overall a good commute. 9 news now will return after the break with more news, weather and traffic. it is 6:37 and 75 degrees outside. ♪

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year americans buy 6 million-gallon of motor oil. one gallon can contaminate 1 million-gallons of water. so recycling can take natural resources. it can be processed in to electricity so it can be used to cook 24 meals in a microwave or power a television for 90 hours. where would you rather your motor oil end up? to wus sacom 9. to wusa9.com n. click onng vieeligr you can become a fan of living green on facebook. that will get you live alerts on all of the stories. kristin fisher has a look at what's hot on the web. >> reporter: good morning, well, the hottest thing on the web right now is the perseid meteor shower. is the biggest meteor shower of the entire year. this morning people around the world are going on-line to find

out how to if a ynereou on.if n you to space.com because they have got thre gieis v atrswe th is great viewers guide to the meteor have idhave right here of right here of th hat shows you y.ac owthatshs you exactly whtok oo times throughout the night to see ismeteor isorte owshis eractivity until au stth but the peak was midnight toa.m. this morning. d thouclcoveouge in our area, s fortunately peope having a co vihang a tough time seeing it. , le a lookof these of these ft e nge tryitrying gton, is s theo this meteor to find msoping me o a bopost a picture or said they had seen a successful sightisingng but no luck. they are arall negative.

'shemi re nidowhckoto he instarg at the brisy o tost on wa y too bright foeropeopret mtir gh sis. he proper meteor sightings. he blames n omoite buth ont most are blaming the cloud cl cooud cover. anthony writes no pe hower for me little too tecl little too cloudy. i wish i had . od news about tomorr but nei just talked to kim and sounds like the cloud cover will continue until tomorrow. tomorrow is supposed to be another pretty decent day to see the meteor shower but it doesn't look like we will have a chance to see it. sorry about that. andrea, back to you. >> thank you, kristin. we may miss the perseid meteor showers but not russ mitchell. he is in new york to give us a preview of the "early show." good morning, russ. >> reporter: what a tradeoff there. may miss this once in a lifetime opportunity but you are going to see russ this morning. >> we like that. wow. i'm so thrilled. thank you so much for saying that. the battle over health care reform.

arlen specter will join us to talk about yesterday's feisty town hall meetings. pretty nasty invitro fertilization, one doctor says why it may not be the answer to infertility. the marines launch a major offensive in afghanistan. nice day in dc today. >> kim says iffy. >> all right. enjoy any way. >> russ helped to brighten our morning. tell us more about the forecast. >> i like that russ we share the same birthday if i'm not mistaken. every year i remember that. here's the deal. you guys are coming out of the woodwork with garden tips and issues and apparently in perryville, virginia scott tells me his problems are the bear and they love his sweet corn and they tear up all of the ears and you can forget about the corn crop out of his garden. a quarter acre, not bad. great to have you with us. let's get moving.

i have the forecast ready to go. mostly cloudy right now. some showers are creeping in south and west along i-18. and i suspect the cloud cover will keep us cooler today an we will be packing the umbrella for use later this afternoon when we have a couple of showers and embedded thunderstorms building. there you go. instead of 90s we are looking nice in the middle to upper 80s. here's the showers creeping knot ward ever so slowly. the morning commute is not in jeopardy if you are taking 66 or the beltway but in to the afternoon that's when we will notice rain drops, starting be detected check 00 a k econ the numbers. middle 8 -- 70s here. anwer 70s in frederick d inshwa ndshington ry cu lainermb nd , tylary. in cumberland ss thac ssthe bay easton 73 and 74 forburg. saint indigos down to 78. in to the afternoon, we'll focus on highs around 83. off to the west in winchester, 85 culpeper. 87 for the district. 88 frederick and east of town,

around 84 by annapolis and 86 for the high in patuxent river with more clouds than sunshine. if you are hopping a flight middle of the workweek get you to your destination and show you the weather forecast, dallas 95. middle 80s much like here in chicago and then the pacific northwest a chilly day in the 60s. middle 70s for san francisco. 107 phoenix and denver's forecasted high is 91. all eyes along the mid-atlantic coastline. this is where we have really rain on the weather maps for most of the country, really focused around the middle atlantic areas. we will be watching for rain showers to be moving in here later this afternoon and again with the cloud cover cooler than what we have seen recently in the mile to upper 80s. tomorrow, partly cloudy. i think this will be the best day of the next seven. i think any shower shots we have will be well south of town. starting on friday, we will introduce isolated thunderstorms in though afternoon, 87. over the weekend a little

energy will come through. keeping things touch and go on saturday, 87, 88 degrees and next week that bermuda high, that is in here and we start to get 90s. by the way, tropical depression number two is in the atlantic ocean but i am watching it for you. let's send it over to kris sneed. he is in for angie with the traffic. good morning. good news for drivers. 28 we have two lanes open here at steriling boulevard. delays in the area. give yourself extra time if you must go to that way. over to 66. good news on the accident, as well. as you can see it is moved to the left shoulder. slow past the scene. but then once you clear up to nutley street and slow to the beltway. going over to 395, northbound edsall to seminary is delayed there and clear from the pentagon to the 14th street bridge and slowing down there. if you are heading in to the district, though, no problems

as you can see across from the key bridge in to georgetown along m street. a little volume there but no major problems. finally we will head over to 270, we are slow from 109 to 121. seeing a little volume germantown to 370. no delays there but then you are slow from falls road to the split. andrea, over to you. americans who don't qualify for federal mortgage help are stuck in a tough spot. they want to keep their homes but are close to losing it all. as one local homeowner learned getting through the modified maze is a frustrating task. lesli foster has the story. >> i do photo shoots in the morning. go to the regular 9:00 to 5:00 job and after that we work on our real estate business. this is actually for the front and back deck plans for the foundation. >> reporter: dan is doing everything he can to keep his

house. working and getting nowhere on his loan modification. he got this mail. >> countrywide denied us. >> he has been trying to get help with no luck. >> i have to essentially screw up my great credit and got give the mortgage company 8 to $10,000, which doesn't make any sense to me. >> reporter: this maryland homeowner is one of millions in the same predicament, stuck in the middle of a mortgage mess. 51% of his income goes toward his house payment. >> in july, it was denied again. >> reporter: industry experts say that lenders are reluctant to mott fie some loans because it hurts their bottom line. >> if they write down one loan they may have to write down others and that affects their finances. >> reporter: kiplingers magazine editor says if you are turned down be as pro active as you can. >> you do have to be your own advocate an if you talk to one person at your lending office and they tell you no. ask to talk to their superior. >> reporter: he has an advocate

and he is still getting nowhere. >> my other option is to walk away from the property and i don't think it does this real estate market and the economy any good. >> he plans to push for answers even if it means more work. >> the mortgage companies always tell you to call us first. call before you have a problem. we're here to help. they are really not. they are not at all. >> if you the the middle, keep pu shing. get in touch with the federal government for help, reach out incredit counselors to voad te on your behalf. don't accept no. do what you can to save your home. still to come when 9 news now returns, see how hundreds of dogs and cats found in deplorable condition will soon be a available for adoption. we'll be right back. gó

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here's a look at stories making headlines this morning the search is on for a gunman who shot an killed a tollman. investigator believe the gunman knew both victims. and the driver who crashed this suv in to a home in houston could face charges. no one was hurt in the home but the passenger was killed. they say speed was a factor in the crash. this morning, more than 500

dogs and cats are now in an animal shelter after they were rescued from a puppy mill. the dogs are numerous infections and health problems. the owners of the facility outside of dallas, texas are facing charges. eventually they will be put up for adoption. andrea, grab your umbrella. this afternoon we are looking at light rain and a few thunderstorms moving in. cooler than yesterday. 87 for the high. the time is 6:54. the temperature is 75. the seven-day forecast is next. you are watching 9 news now. hmmm... well... naaa... yeah!

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it's the all new sesame street forest of fun... at busch gardens in williamsburg. with four family-friendly rides... and everyone's sesame street friends. ( elmo giggles ) ♪ big and small! there's fun for all! ♪ good morning, everybody. we are back. we will take a look at southbound accident in virginia. route 28. two lanes are getting by now.

still slow as you approach the scene at sterling boulevard. we're told to avoid the area if at all possible. as you can see on the toll road no problems there. moving to 95 northbound in virginia, we are slow from route 1 up to lorton. about an extra 10 to 15 minutes there and then you slow down approaching the mixing bowl, but no problems in between there. we will head over to the outer loop in maryland. from 95 to georgia. we are seeing that slow down now to 15 minutes and it is building. so if you have to go that way give yourself a little extra time and try to, you know, be a little more patient on the roads. andrea, over to you. actually i'll take it, kris. thank you very much. here's weather kim. seven-day forecast. i hate these forecasts every day a threat of rain but that's what happens in the summer. it is called di rex rnal

heating. -- diernal heating. a threat of a few showers later this afternoon. 80s instead of 90s. feels good and we will get the 90s back next week. quick update. if you go to my facebook fan page and i feel like a dork saying that i'm asking for suggestions on what i should do with my wedding dress. >> i have a great one. >> i know you do. >> the "early show" is next. jessica, what do we have? >> we are looking at a higher open this morning but we are focused on it later today and the decision on interest rates. >> and on the "early show" the late on health care reform tour and more on the death of special olympics founder eunice kennedy shriver. and the project to widen 270 is causing controversy in montgomery county and we are whipping up burgers the kitchen at 10:00 9:00. >> until then go to wusa9.com and you can check out all of our blogs on that site, as well. >> have a great morning. see you at 9:00