mesoto eakisome laevensville, rymaro. stevensville, maryhigh ledohigh overcome by oppressive heat at football practice at kent island high school. sky 9 is above the scene. you are looking right there and we are told by ems crews that four of those high school players are in critical condition. now the fire department says this could be the result of a chemical agent sprayed on the turf. we will of course continue to follow this on wusa9.com and right here on 9news. our other top story, president obama tries to regain

the momentum on healthcare reform. he does it with back to back appeals to different audiences on the left and right. gary listened in. he is in the satellite center with more on his new offensive. >> a conservative radio audience skeptical of his healthcare reform plan got reassurance long time online supporters got a promise not to back down o promise to fight. >> you want to be let out of here, you're welcome to go. >> you don't see president obama getting accosted like members of congress when he holds his town meetings. >> people being respectful, they aren't giving barack obama a chance to disarm them. reporter: jordan lieberman. guaranteed to scream at him. >> i'm live at the white house. >> when the president did the radio show this afternoon, it was polite, the president reassuring. >> keep in mind that nobody is

talking about the government administering all of healthcare. >> reaching out to the right was followed by some fence mending on the left with an afternoon online session aimed at supporters who fear he is abandoning the public option. >> they freaked. they absolutely freaked over the last few days. this is barack obama's opportunity to make it right. >> so -- >> i continue to support a public option. >> and the promise to make reform happen with or without republican support. >> my obligation to the american people says we are going to get this done one way or another. obama urged those online supporters to become more actively involved in the healthcare fight. they helped him get elected last year. he knows he needs them now. >> all right gary. thank you for that. senator edward kennedy sent a letter to massachusetts leaders asking them to change state law. he wants them to allow a speedy replacement if he has to relinquish his seat. right now the law requires a special election to be held and

that process could take place within five months. kennedy is concerned it could hurt president obama's chances to overhaul healthcare. senator kennedy was diagnosed with brain cancer in may of 2008. want that cash for your clunker? you better act fast. the obama administration plans to pull the plug next monday night. ray lahood says it has done its job. it has done almost $2 billion in rebates. the polls are closed in afghanistan's presidential election, but workers are still casting the ballots. this was the country's second presidential election. many voters stayed away, fearing the taliban. he is expected to win. his main challenger applauded the courage of those who voted. >> people are showing courage. >> today, militants launched

rocket and bomb attacks to intimidate voters. 14 polling sites were targeted and several police officers were killed. now to outrage over the release of a killer. today, the bomber was set free. it exploded over scotland in 1988. abdel al-megrahi was the only man convicted. 189 americans were on board. a scottish judge granted a compassionate release to al- megrahi. he was sent home dying from prostate cancer. >> i feel ill. i feel physically ill. that is the most misplaced compassion i can imagine. >> we just released a man committed of massacring 170 people. we have given state sponsored terrorism a victory and the families have to watch this. this is the last sad chapter in this odyssey. >> president obama said

scotland maid a mistake and should not have released him. >> we are now in contact with the libyan government and want to make sure that if in fact this transfer has taken place, that he is not welcomed back in some way, but instead should be under house arrest. >> al-megrahi is now home in libya. thousands on hand to greet him. investigators are hoping for a tip to help solve an arson spree. they are offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads them to the person who torched straw and hay bails and even mailboxes early tuesday morning. audrey barnes picks up the story. >> reporter: fifth generation farmer says 600 bails of his straw at three different locations were torched early tuesday. some of it is still smoldering today. costs for the fire and cleanup,

$100,000. as he surveyed the damage with his seven-year-old granddaughter, family says he is worried about what might happen next. i hope i'm not targeted. if i'm not targeted and it is a random act, i hope it doesn't escalate. >> police released these photos. they have writing on them, which they hope someone recognizes. you could get a $1,000 reward if it leads to a suspect. >> everything is on the table. >> neighbors who had mailboxes and landscaping torched are hoping police catch the suspects soon. >> we feel like somebody took advantage of you and you feel more exposed and a little more vulnerable. >> stanley says all the straw was headed to mushroom farmers in pennsylvania. he thinks he has enough on the farm to meet the demand. covering his losses, that's another story. >> over night vandalism is costing you $100,000. >> yes. we think we are insured, but we'll find out.

>> the penalty for these arson fires five years in prison and fines of up to $5,000. audrey barnes, 9news now, wusa9.com. you can make an unanimous tip to crime solvers. the number to call is 1-866-411- tips. take a good look at your screen. this 13-year-old girl is missing and her family is desperate to find her. she was last seen sunday at her home on castle boulevard. if you have seen her, please call police. up next, we'll show you the tool that one neighborhood has to fight underage drinking. plus, new credit card rules go into effect today. we'll tell you what you need to know. topper, tell us more about the forecast. >> a couple storms on radar. we'll take you out with the almanac. you can visit it on the web. here's what goes in the books. 94 and 73.

averages are going down. record high, 101. record low, 50. we will come back and talk more about hurricane bill and more about the potential for severe weather tomorr.

there's a big effort in fairfax county to try and prevent under age drinking. today, county police, premium

distributors, teamed up to provide retailers with a so- called responsibility tool kit. it include as small magnification tool that businesses can use to pinpoint fake identification cards. >> we are also giving them some devices, some magnification kits that have a blue light that help the server look at the id in a dark location. also has a magnifying class that helps the server see the age, the date of birth on the id. >> the chief says alcohol abuse is one of the greatest dangers and risks for young people and he says it is the single most misused substance more than any other illegal drug. in dc today, a group called dc parents for school choice staged a rally outside the department of education. the group hopes the obama administration will reverse the decision to rescind vouchers that would have helped 216 students attend school. congress voted to cut off

funding for the district's voucher program. coming up, it is the picture that caused a fire storm of controversy and tonight, the artist has a message for the president. but first, here's a preview of tonight's cbs evening news. coming up, a grand adventure with heart. how these two young men are rolling across america, building homes for those in need. that's tonight only on e g s s inennews. moms am din to help absorb cal. d

with yoplait kids, trix yogurt and go-gurt, yoplait, the one for kids. go-gurt is spiaecy made to freeze and thaw by lunch time? so kids can have their favorite yogurt in nceilur h box go-gurt. freeze it. thaw it. eat it up.

(announcer) new icy hot medicated roll. for wherever you hurt. icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. the new icy hot medicated roll. with the roll, pain's under control. remember those consumer credit card protections that president obama signed into law back in may? well the first set of rule changes go into effect today. but you may already see some unpleasant surprises in your bill statements. here's what you need to know. >> it's getting harder for credit card companies to raise your interest rates. card holders must be given 45 days notice before their rates go up and if they don't agree to the increase, they can close

the account and pay back the balance at the current rate over five years. the changes offer new protections for consumers. but experts warn there could be other ways companies could make money. so check the fine print. >> we may be seeing fees on cash advances that weren't there before. increased fees. we may be seeing fees on balance transfers and those credit card holders say 55% of americans actually don't carry a balance on their credit cards. they may be seeing fees. >> some credit card companies have already figured out a new way to bring in more money every month. >> banks are raising the minimums dramatically. now in many cases, it's 5% of the outstanding balance. a lot of people aren't able to mapa tt hat enym >> the minimum payment onena $10,000 credit oncard balance edusto be around $200. now it ulcoedd d jump to $500 a month or more. so if you can't make your payment, what should you do? >> go to a national nonprofit consumer credit counseling

agency, because they can get you back to 6% and help you wipe away all thtela fees and over limit charges. >> that was jessica doyle reporting. now the second wave of new credit card reform laws take effect in february and they include restrictions on rate increases on your existing card debt and how companies can market to college students. so, when is a designer coach bag not a designer coach bag? when it's a fake, of course. and police say they confiscated plenty of them during a raid at a fashion store. the store is called luxury fashion accessories. police say an under cover officer recently bought what turned out to be counterfeit handbags. police raided the place and seized phoney merchandise, sporting designer labels. they also arrested 35-year-old owner of manassas. a promotion launched by jet blue is apparently so successful the airline is ending the offer one day early.

we are talking about that all you can fly deal and last week, jet blue announced that you could buy a pass for $599 and then fly all you want for a month starting early next month. those passes are gone. arlington county wants to pour a little cold water on hot lanes. the county has filed a federal lawsuit asking for a thorough review of toll lane projects on i-95. the suit challenges a decision by the federal government. not to subject those projects to normal environmental studies. a richmond, virginia man went on craigslist. he made the massage appointment online, when the massage therapist arrived, so did two friends with a gun. police were able to track them down and arrest them. michael vick's younger brother could be headed to jail. in norfolk today, the judge gave marcus vick 20 days behind

bars that. is for violating his probation. he had been ordered to stay away from drugs. in court today, he said he would test positive if he was given another test. vick is out on bond while his attorney appeals today's jail sentence. now to the poster that created con store si across the country. it portrays president obama as the joker from the dark knight movie with the word socialism plastered underneath. the artist who created the picture is a 20-year-old senior history major at the university of illinois in chicago. he said he has no idea that his work was being used to make a political statement. >> i would like president obama to know i didn't intend for any of this to happen. we are all americans and all rooting for him. he says he has taken a lot of heat for creating this image and the worst of it has come from his mom. his mother was not happy about that. step outside and it is a

little toasty. >> it is. it is still right around 90. not much in terms of thunderstorms tonight, but tomorrow a different story. tomorrow a cold front comes through here and we could see some heavy weather, maybe some severe storms. here's your forecast first. the next three days, one more hot day tomorrow. we are talking about temperatures generally around 90. 91, showers and thunderstorms and they are going to go into saturday morning and maybe bleed into saturday afternoon. high temperatures cooler on saturday and sunday. both days around 85. it should be dry for the game at night, the question is how soon these showers and storms will end in the afternoon on saturday. tonight, leftover shower or thunderstorm. you can access our doppler on the web. also access our interactive radar on the web and you can track storms anywhere across the country. pretty cool stuff. satellite picture, radar combined. if you are watching hd, that is

bill. we are watching a lot of moisture now. a lot of showers and storms from the gulf and southeast and a lot of this moisture, we talked about this earlier in the week. it was left over tropical systems. this hasn't moved through. it is going to pull up a lot of moisture. i think everybody gets a good shot of rain for their lawn. with that comes the threat of severe weather. in the meantime, tonight we are in good shape. we'll keep the chance of a la couple showers or storms. doppler is quiet right now. more storms out in the ohio valley where the funnel system is closer. temperatures, upper 80s, brookville, bell haven, and 88 also in annapolis. tomorrow morning, partly cloudy, very warm, 70s and 80s. winds southwest at 10. by afternoon, partly sunny, hot. showers and storms. some of the storms could be heavy. highs around 90. winds southwesterly at 10. here's a better view of hurricane bill. this is a massive storm. not quite as strong as it was

yesterday. but it is a big storm, no doubt about that. already, bermuda is about to see some of the high clouds from the storm. now let's talk about the win wind fields. how close will it get to shore? the track is consistent and this is -- i'll put this into motion. this is 2:00 on sunday. these are about 40-mile per hour winds and the red is 60- mile per hour winds. generally offshore, close to the cape and pretty close to down east maine and parts of canada. for the most part, it's going to be a miss for us. that said, we are looking at pretty good rip tides as we get into saturday and sunday at the shore. so please be advised if you are going to make another summer weekend swimming dangerous this weekend. next seven days, 91 on friday. storms 85 on saturday. may take a while and mid 80s on sunday. very nice. nice next week. temperatures in the 80s. mid 80s monday, tuesday, back in the upper 80s on wednesday and thursday and maybe a couple

showers on thursday. so again, with this front tomorrow, everybody gets a good chance of showers and storms and it keeps bill away from us. it kicks it out. >> all right, we'll take a little hit tomorrow, but it will keep bill away. >> all right. we're going to head back out to hot and steamy redskins park where the skins are wrapping up training camp and i guess not a moment too soon, right dave? >> that's right, lesli, the dredgely they call training camp is finally over. the skins ending up their two-a- day practices as they look forward to the rest of preseason and in baseball, the nats make a move to slit phi. stick around. ab at y

ur iyonkf lu c er qualifies to be recycled, you can get a $3500 or $4500 government rebate. a us nondand!t unce j if you qualify for the clunker rebate, you may also qualify for 0% apr for 72 months. that means you can buy this 8 a month after a $3500 government rebate ando aydo.wn pntme go to chevy.com for details.

and now, 9sports. the best sports in town. >> hey, what's up, everybody. out here at redskins park for the last of two-a-days. let's start with a little baseball. for the last couple of months,

mike has had the tag interim in front of his name. in front of his title. well it that is no more. today the team making an official announcement about rizzo after 4 1/2 months of serving as acting gm. he was officially given the job today along with the title of senior vice president of baseball operations. it was rumored that diamondback vp of baseball, jerry would get the job, but the nats went with the man who was interim. signing pitcher, steven strosburg. >> this is a pressure cooker job. don't think it's not. it's 24/7. there's a lot of tough decisions that have to be made and there's not a lot of leementing after they are made. to the fans, we recognize and acknowledge their patience and what we are trying to do here. i couldn't be more excited about what we are doing here and the path that we have taken to get her so far. >> now that he is in ple,

want to kn who you think is kn the best . gm vinnie, ernie rumfelled, or mike. you can vote right now on wusa9.com. just click on the sports page. since july 30, we have been out here in the sweltering heat of two-a-days at training camp. today, a camp officially breaking here at redskins park. two-a-days are over and the redskins players couldn't be happier. jim zorn and the team hit the field preparing for the second preseason game. for the players, marking an unofficial holiday. no more early practices and the players couldn't be happier. >> you have no idea. we can go home, sleep in our own bed. that's going to be a big plus. >> i cried last night. it's over, man. >> i'm going to miss those two- a-days. a whole year. i won't see them. i won't have to shower three times in a span of seven hours or whatever it is. it's pretty sweet.

>> quick notes here, chris cooley returned to practice after sitting out yesterday. phillip daniels back on the field today. jim zorn says he expects his first team offense will play a quarter against the steelers or until he sees enough production. we have some sad news tonight involving the washington capitals, the team confirmed that the goalie's two month old son has passed away. the team this afternoon, according to a friend of theodore's. captain george mcafee releasing a statement saying quote, we are aware of the heartbreaking news at this time we ask that everyone respects the privacy of jose and his family. former giants wide receiver accepted a plea bargain in his weapons case. that decision carries a two- year jail sentence. he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of the possession of a weapon. he will be sentenced september 22. final lirks training camp

wouldn't be training camp without rookie hazing. they tied the youngsters to the goal post. that's why they got albert to be the enforcer of the water torture treatment. no body parts left untouched. even the ankles getting all wrapped up. that's some fun stuff there at the end of camp. that's going to do it here. wrapping up two-a-days today. the second preseason game is saturday night at fedex field. back to you guys. >> all right dave. thank you very much. real quick forecast. >> big thunderstorms possible tomorrow evening and tomorrow night. we reap the benefits. we go back in the 80s next week and we'll keep an eye on bill. >> all right. thanks for that. that is it for us on 9news now at 6:00. the cbs news with jeff is next. derek will see you at 7:00 and don't forget, wusa9.com is always on. have a good night.