fa have you heard about miralax? miralax relieves constipation with no bloating. no cramping. no sudden urgency. announcer: only miralax is clinically proven to work like that. restore your body's natural rhythm with miralax. a develop egg story is topping our newscast. hurricane bill. red flags are already up in virginia beach. hurricane bill is picking up waves along east coast beaches and we can expect some rough surf over the weekend. our meteorologist kim martucci has been watching him closely

and she now has the latest on this storm. good news about bill. while it is a category three storm, as you said, since the last observation this morning it lost ten miles an hour to its punch. instead of winds of 125. it has winds of 115 miles an hour. something to reckon with. it is not near land or islands at the moment. and it looks like with a little luck the track of bill will stay west of bermuda and east of north america until we think of atlantic canada and the timing of that would be toward the end of the weekend. how's bill going to impact us? mainly in the form of our local beach goers to ocean city. as you possession mentioned rip tides and rough surf a big concern if you are heading to the coast and we will talk about that. i want to show you doppler 9000. as forecasted the thunderstorms are developing. they are moving northeast at 35 miles an hour. thurmont they are affecting you

right now. it is north of the border. there's a severe thunderstorm watch for south central pennsylvania and in adams county a severe thunderstorm warning until 12:30. we'll no focus on other areas seeing the thunderstorms developing and i will have the weekend forecast when i see you next. >> thank you very much. well, stafford county woman is facing a felony county mue th sedor fothe drug overdose of foensay that samant ngcaan stole oxycontin may rln i for. ng a for. during a ne dlgevega hedrug to e y tgahe g 18-year-old jessica lynn ea -y18r-old jessica lynn profi and pr-yit eddi dixtnee . mega she is being held in jail without bond. fairfax county police are investigating an accident that left a pedestrian dead. this happened in centreville around 55:50 this morning. according to police, a woman was struck by a honda accord while she was crossing new braddock road near singleton way. officials say the woman was not

walking in the crosswalk. the driver of the car remains on the -- remained on them scene. investigators are searching for the cause of the two-alarm fire in montgomery county the flames broke out in a townhouse in the 2,000 block of featherwood street in burtonsville. investigators believe the fire began in the basement, and quickly spread to the rest of the home. the house next door was also damaged. well, there are a lot of questions surrounding the illnesses of 12 high school players and two coaches on kent island. sky 9 over kent island high school yesterday afternoon. during football practice the players developed cramps and nausea. all signs point toward heat exhaustion. but a brother of two ill players says that the nurses told him otherwise. >> the nurse ruled out it was heat related. she said there is no way that 15 people will react to the heat like that at the same time. so she said they are giving him

an ekg exam that checks your heart and they will take him and spray him and quarantine him to see if there are any chemicals involved in it. >> reporter: four nurses of anne arundel medical center also got sick. for now officials are saying the illnesses appear to be the result of yesterday's heat and humidity. as the school year begins there is an effort in fairfax county to stop under-aged drinking. county police, premium distributors and heineken usa are teaming up to provide retailers with the responsibility tool kit. it includes a small magnification tool that helps businesses pinpoint fake identification cards. >> we are giving them devices, magnification kits that have a blue light to help the server look at the i.d. in a dark location such as a bar or restaurant.

>> reporter: the police chief says that alcohol abuse is one of the greatest danger and risks to young people. the three strikes policy is out. under the rules tunes received an automatic f that they miss three classes in a quarter without a legitimate excuse. but administrator sauces say the policy, one of the strictest in our area was not working so it will be dropped beginning this school year. a group called dc panels of school choice staged a rally outside of the department of education yesterday the group hopes the obama administration will reverse the decision to resend vouchers that would have helped 216 students attend private schools this fall. the white house pulled the plug on the program after congress voted to cut off funding for it. a maryland lawmaker wants the ethics investigation in to delegate jon cardin's marriage

proposal. police staged a fake raid at the inner harbor while cardin popped the question. baltimore county republican chairman is calling for this investigation. cardin, who is reimbursing the state for the costs connected to this stunt, meis a mo. crde at> in>>a modecrat. in virginia, three demos erh are facing child daenngme nten and drug char rd cog topolice, the g n mewo were traveling with five childr in the ck of an unventilated box truck. the women are e all from ohio. they were stopatd d a highway rest stop along i-77 in bland county. the children have been turned over to social services. well, you only have a couple more days if you want to take advantage of that cash for clunkers deal. because the government is scrapping the program next monday. armando trull explains. >> reporter: the cash for clunkers program runs out of gas next monday at 8 p.m. eastern. by most accounts it has been one of the most successful

government initiatives in decades. they offered buyers as much as $4,500 for gas guzzlers and then uncle sam would pay them back. the first part worked fine. a half million new cars have been sold so far. dealers say getting their money back from uncle sam, not so fine. >> i have done almost 1300 and have been paid on five total. >> reporter: five cars? >> five cars total. >> reporter: the bank. >> the bankers are calling and saying how is everything going. are you getting paid on these things so dealers are getting nervous for a good reason. >> reporter: some dealers advancing the money they owe, so they can keep selling as many cars as possible before the wheels come off the cash for clunkers program next week. >> reporter: so this is the last weekend to take advantage of those deals and if you head down to your local dealership with your clunker, tell them honest armando sent you. if i'm liin', i'm diein'. 9 news now and wusa9.com.

automakers saw early mixed results for cash for clunkers. last month, ford saw its sales up 2% compared to the year before. while chrysler sales fell 9% and general motors dropped 19%. subaru sales climbed 34%. while hyundai gained 12%. however, sales for toyota, honda, nissan all fell double- digits. if you like to get around on the train, then amtrak has a deal for you. a ticket between washington, d.c. and new york city is now just $49 and the deal is good until december. amtrak has decided to extend its price cuts on the northeast corridor and its acela service. discounts are up to 25%. there will be a lot of disruptions on metro this weekend. on the red line, there will be no service to the fort totten station. so trains will run between

glenmont and takoma and brookland to shady grove. major work done at the pentagon city this weekend and that means the blue line will run in two parts. from largo town center to rosslyn and then king street to franconia-springfield. it also means that yellow line trains will run once every 36 minutes. and on the blue and orange lines, trains will single track between eastern market and stadium armory. so, you can add another 30 minutes to your commute there. you could hire a chauffeur if you win the megamillions lottery beus drawing is worth $207 million. you can buy tickets in maryland and also in virginia. of course, now, your odds of winning the big jackpot are one in 175 million. you can watch the drawing on the here during 9 news now at 11:00. still ahead, on 9 news now,

the politics of fear. former homeland security security chief tom ridge says he was pressured to raise the terror alert level. we will have that story when we come back. she looks like a baby and acts like a baby. how this stimulator replicates real-life medical emergencies. i'm teriar okita in florida. that story is ahead. just as we promise 100% fresh produce... and rancher's reserve beef, guaranteed tender 100% of the time. at safeway, we now promise something new. something big. a commitment... to thousands of new everyday low prices. so you can get what you want. when you want it. at the price you need. today... and tomorrow.

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tom ridge say he was pressured by the bush administration to raise the terror alert before the 2004 election. ridge says the pressure came from defense secretary donald rums fields and attorney general john ashcroft. in the end, the terror level was not raised and ridge resigned. his revelation is contained in a book that is actually coming out next month. a naked passenger forced a southwest airlines flight to make an emergency landing. this happened yesterday on a flight from oakland, california, to st. louis. according to police, the 21- year-old man showed himself to a female passenger, actually punched her in the face, and then took his clothes off. passengers say it happened very quickly. >> the flight attendant was like sir, you have to sit down.

and he kind of -- he had no clothes on. he had a baseball hat and socks. >> reporter: the crew and passengers were able to subdue the man. the flight returned to oakland. the man was arrested and it turns out he was wanted on an outstanding drug warrant. the woman that he punched was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital. a medical center in southern california is welcoming a bouncing bundle of joy to its hospital staff. and the new arrival won't ever get a day older because she is a high-tech baby dummy. teri okita explains [ crying ] >> reporter: if baby samantha stops breathing the staff can figure out what to do. >> she is turning blue and doesn't have enough oxygen. so i will give her more oxygen. >> this simulator named

samantha can do many things a real baby does does and it is used to help them practice worse-case scenarios on infants. >> it is a way to make mistake and learn from them. >> you can hear the heart beat, take blood pressure or pulse. this 7-pound baby can have seizures, wheeze, renn react to overdoses of medication and it is caught on camera. >> we can show participants afterwards what they did. >> it is a way to make our hospital one of the safest around by having this kind of training. >> who would actually use it? we have novice nurses and many medical professionals. >> reporter: they hope anyone from anesthesiologists to physical therapists can learn from it. word spread fast as baby samantha's arrival and many curious staffers rushed to the lab to see her. workers even threw a baby shower to welcome their new

addition. it is a big day at nationals park because the team is welcoming this if first round draft pick, stephen strasburg, 1,000 tickets priced at $1 each went on sale at noon. fans are being welcomed to the stadium at 2:00 p.m. to attend the press conference and can stay for the game tonight against the brewers. all right, stephen strasburg will conduct his first live television interview in washington during the evening's 5:00 p.m. newscast. don't want to miss that. still to come on 9 news now at noon, brew at the zoo. we'll tell you about a unique fund-raiser held last night. kim has the forecast. speaking of brewing, that's what thunderstorms are doing at this moment across loudoun county and frederick county, maryland. i'm tracking them on live doppler 9000 and i will have the weekend forecast ready to go, including a look at the

beach weather, too. you are watching 9 news now this pacific noon. we'll be right back. oh, hi! welcome back to progressive.com! how's that car insurance? great! just bought a house... and you just heard progressive offers homeowner's insurance. yeah! i also heard i could save a bundle -- because progressive already insures your car. yeah, and i like -- one-stop shopping! right. i know! anything else i should know? yes -- make sure you stay away from shag carpeting. getting your auto and home insurance all in one place -- now that's pb@essi call or click today.

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sight and sounds of brew at the zoo. the sixth annual fund-raiser was held last night at the national zoo. more than a dozen microbrews poured frosty ones in exchange for donations and the money goes toward animal care, toward education, and towards conservation at the zoo. and it was a nice night to be at the zoo. little sticky. >> yeah. >> but they had a good time. >> they had nice cold beer. >> oh, yeah. >> good afternoon, j.c. >> how are you? >> i'm well. >> you look gorgeous if that red. >> thank you. >> popping. >> all right. i'll tell you what is popping. the thunderstorms are brewing. let's start with doppler 0dopp90r this noon a get90 down to business. i want to show u yothe scoop. we have thyoemwideadre on e he re. and it looks like we e arargog n nevegot in since i r

thic r,keclon northernnorthern frederick county, that's 'sere the thrsuns todermar 5 rtnoast at 35 g northeast at 3 miles an hour rtdown along rout that's where we have a 7,h tcbac of thunderstorms extending down route 17 and our last stop down ward to2 head52 edtoward culpeper. okay. so wtoha ve keep ke eye on these as they continue to vemo north d stea andtheywill be pushg in ov erhe tbeltway as d weheea htotheae afternoon rus hour. d thanpae for paemth is from th southwest to northeast. that will probably be a training of the radar echos and that may mean some locations will get a lot of rain over and over again. and that's concern for the light flooding let's get to the point and show you the weather forecast. we showed you the storms inside the beltway between 4:00 and 8:00 and they will be here again tomorrow. speaking of tomorrow, ocean city if you are heading there, not a great beach day. a lot of thunderstorms. this has nothing to do with

hurricane bill, by the way. this is from the frontal storm approaching us. sunday should be better but cloudy. may have rough surf at ocean city so be mindful of that. we're at 88-degrees this afternoon. 93 leesburg but already it feels like 95 here with the heat index it feels lick 106 in leesburg. the time lapse tower cam shows our clouds building. i was on the weather terrace and they are growing vertically. those clouds turn in to thunderstorms and we have showed you them. there is more to come with this system. tonight is a tough evening. tomorrow the redskins have a preseason game with the steelers. i think the rain will want to come to an end. i don't think it will be rain- free. here's bill. we showed you this at the top of the show. winds are down to 1 -- 115 miles an hour them path will curve it clockwise to keep it away from least the u.s. north

america may not be spared. atlantic canada, come the wee hours on monday morning will probably be dealing with it. possibly as a category one storm. i will show you the seven day forecast now. we told you about bill. it is not coming near us. only affect maybe rough surf at the ocean city beaches on the weekend. other than that it is bringing storms today and tomorrow and much nicer weather on sunday and in to next week. that's a check on the next seven. our show isn't over. we will be right back on the orside of the break. are watching 9 news now. (announcer) now skating...jim perdue.

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it's friday and we like to focus on something positive and today we are honoring one of my j.c. friends joyce majune. she is the driving force behind the youth organization united to rise. she is being honored next week by ebony magazine but i'm honoring her today, before them, because she is just a force in our community. congratulations and thank you for being on the show. >> thank you. >> let's talk about youth organization, united to rise. what does that mean? >> youth organization united to rise is a collection of organizations under our ak row name for children five to 18. they come in after school, before and after school. we have a journalism program.

>> you do. >> at the university. and we have a program petals to prim rose for girls ninth to 12th grade leadership and mentoring and we have a goal which is great opportunities for abstinence leadership. so it is a collection of programs. >> how many youngsters do you help approximately? >> approximately, approximately each year we serve close to 200. >> oh, that's wonderful. how long have you been doing that. >> before and after care for 20 years and the your community is in the 13th year. >> you could use volunteers and we will put her information on dvm our time.com and you will be able to get in touch with miss mayjune. but thank you for helping our

youngster and congratulations on your award by ebony magazine magazine. and you can them we honored you first. >> thank you for being with us. thank you for being with us. come back at 5:00. have a great weekend. see you on monday. lowe's has just been named 2009 energy star retail partner of the year. with an energy star washing machine, you'll have roughly enough for 16 rounds of golf, 94 movie tickets or 3,382 text messages. cool. (announcer) come to lowe's first for energy star appliances.