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i'm j.c. hayward. well, firefighters in california are facing another day of scorching heat and low humidity as they struggle to contain at least 11 wildfires. dozens of homes have already been destroyed. thousands more are threatened. teri okita has the latest now from acten, california. >> reporter: a massive wildfire doubled overnight and is heading toward a vital communications center for the los angeles area. firefighters say they are powerless to stop it. >> not a matter of if, but when it will reach the mount wilson communication site. >> reporter: the so-called station fire is threatening transmitters for more than 20 tv stations. communications equipment for firefighters and hundreds of homes. >> you can see the smoke there covering the main tower there at the highest point of mount wilson. >> reporter: it is one of a dozen wildfires burning in california, fueled by scorching heat, low humidity and bone-dry trees. thousands have been forced to

evacuate. >> the highway patrol told us that we have at least a half hour to get out or, you know, we could burn. thousands of firefighters will be on the lines today, all with heavy hearts. two firefighters died on sunday when their vehicle rolled down a mountain. >> please, prayers for their family of our two brothers that we lost. >> reporter: north of sacramento, an out-of-control blaze roared through the town of auburn, destroying dozens of homes in a few hours. >> our house is gone. >> are you serious. >> i'm standing right there. the whole block has been leveled, our block. >> reporter: firefighters are making progress in some areas but the fires remain very dangerous and more could double in size before they are brought under control. teri okita, cbs news, california. sky 9 was over the scene of a townhouse fire in frederick, maryland. officials say that one person

is in the hospital for burns. the house went up in flames an 7:00 this morning. and right now, fire officials are at the scene and in the 100 block of victoria square searching for a cause of this fire. well, it is back to school for students in howard and montgomery counties today. kristin fisher reports there was a pep rally atmosphere in one montgomery county high school. >> reporter: it is the first day of school for 1800 students here at quince orchard high school in gaithersburg. 400 of those students are starting their senior year, and this morning the class of 2010 made a loud and very spirited entrance in to the school. the quince orchard high school drum team rolled up to the school this monday morning. >> i'm excited to see everybody. not excited to work but other than that it will be fun.

>> i'm a little scared and nervous but got to go through it. >> reporter: most seniors say their big worry is where to go to college, but for many parents and teachers their top concern is the h1n1 flu virus. still the superintendent of montgomery county public schools says the district is well prepared. >> we know how to cleanup. we know how to work together. we know how to communicate with all of our parents. >> reporter: another challenge facing montgomery county schools at the start of the school year is budget cuts. employees have already given up $90 million worth of wages, and they still had to cut some services. >> what we didn't cut back is what is happening in the classroom. we didn't cut back on expectations. we didn't cut the class size. we did everything we could to preserve it and hopefully things will get better so we don't have to cut there. >> quince orchard high school is one of the schools that opened this morning in montgomery county. in total, 200 schools in me montgomery county public school system opened their doors to

students this morning. in gaithersburg, kristin fisher, 9 news now and wusa9.com. not all of the scheduling issues within the prince georges county school system have been worked out because as of this morning, more than 400 students still had problems with their schedules. last monday, on the first day of school, 8,000 high school students either had no schedules or were missing classes. school leaders say glitches in a new computer scheduling system is to blame. school districts in our region are taking steps to try to combat the rising trend of truancy and our friends at the washington examiner say the total number of students who are skipping school is difficult to determine but it is estimated to be in the thousands. in fairfax county, school officials have a new policy where they notify parents by phone and by e-mail about each skipped class. prince georges county officials

are asking any adults who see a truant to report it to police. montgomery county uses a computer warning list which allows schools to highlight at- risk students before they reach truant status. a university of maryland student is recovering after falling four stories from a campus parking garage. this happened around 2:00 a.m. yesterday. university my police are not confirming whether hole come was involved but several witnesses quoted this the campus newspaper say the 20- year-old man was intoxicated. >> definitely. >> maryland is a big party school but you wouldn't expect something of this magnitude to happen. >> that is crazy. i hadn't heard about it until now. >> reporter: students say it is hard to believe someone could fall out of a window with rails on it. we have a 9 news followup to tell you about. the man charged with killing a security guard at the holocaust memorial museum is scheduled to be arraigned later this week

federal court. 89-year-old james von brunn was indict on seven counts including first-degree murder, bias motivated crime and filling killing in a federal building. four charges make him eligible for the death penalty if he is convicted. former vice president dick cheney is not mincing words when it comes to investigating the cia. cheney called the investigation dangerous. the attorney general announced it is planning to investigate the cia's treatment of detainees. the goal of the investigation is to determine whether interrogators broke the law by using such tactics as mock executions, death threats and water boarding. >> it is an outrageous political act that will do great damage to our capacity to have people take on difficult jobs, make difficult decisions.

>> reporter: mr. cheney insists the tough interrogations paid off in a big way, but critics say there is little supporting evidence of the documents the cia has released. an service member died in a bomb blast in afghanistan on friday making august the deadliest month for u.s. forces during the entire length of the eight year war. right now, more than 60,000 u.s. troops are in afghanistan. it's all part of barack obama's effort to combat the resurgent taliban. tara mergener has more. >> reporter: august 2009 is the deadliest month yet for u.s. forces in afghanistan, a record 46 soldiers died this month including an american soldier who was killed on friday by a road side bomb. more than 60,000 u.s. troops are in afghanistan, battling the taliban. the top u.s. military officer admits the situation is deteriorating. >> the taliban insurgency has

gotten better, more sophisticated their tactics just in my recent visits and our troops certainly indicate that. >> reporter: they will give a better assessment in the coming weeks. it is not clear whether more troops will be requested but what is clear is the dwindling public support of the nearly eight-year war. the "washington post" abc news poll shows that half of the americans say the battle is not worth fighting for. president obama had hoped that recent afghanistan elections would indicate progress in the country, but it has been more than a week since voters headed to the polls and there's still no clear-cut winner. the candidate must win 51% of the vote to win the election. and happened karzai is leading but abdullah abdullah is claiming fraud. >> i don't not trust -- >> reporter: so far 700 complaints and the fear is the longer it takes to investigate each case the longer it will be

until afghanistan sees a new more stable government. cbs news, washington. >> still to come when 9 news now returns, which is safer for heart patients, surgery or angioplasty? new research might surprise you. and that's coming up next in today's living well focus. on the anniversary of the death of princess diana, we look at how buckingham palace maybe preparing prince william's girlfriend for a role in the royal m chlie d'agata in the story is coming up. fab@fa

this afternoon's living well focus, new research suggests that surgery does a better job of preventing strokes than angioplasty. new studies show within eight years of followup more than 11% of angioplasty patients suffered strokes. compared to 8% of those who underwent surgery. research also shows the surgery to be safer. a simple white oak cross and might martial foot marker bearing senator ted kennedy's name marks his final resting place. the media and the public got a chance to pay their respects yesterday arngton cemetery. the b@gres avngtoar cemetery. the gres. mae llhios cltoe me where his two holder brothers are buried. >> really something special. i have been here before to see john and robert and sadly ted,

but he'll rest in peace. >> reporter: one mourner said she's thankful for everything senator kennedy did, but she said she still has not had a chance to process it all. >> be sure to log on to our website at wusa9.com for more coverage on the death of senator ted kennedy. and once you are there, you should head to our page, remembering senator edward kennedy. kim has our forecast. >> j.c., our morning clouds are fading. we have some sunshine brightening the weather terrace and i have your forecast. if you like autumn you will like what you see. it is coming up next and you are watching 9 news now. no sudden urgency. announcer: only miralax is clinically proven to work like that. restore your body's natural rhythm with miralax. means freshness is always in season.

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the legacy of britain's princess diana lives on even on this 12th anniversary of her death. she died in a paris car crash as she was pursued by the paparazzi and more than a decade later, royal insiders say the palace is grooming a 27- year-old named kate middleton to become england's next princess. charlie d'agata has more.

>> reporter: when princess diana died 12 years ago it was hard to imagine that anyone would compare to the woman known as the people's princess but now kate middleton is reportedly groomed to follow in the late princess ' steps to royalty. >> i don't think that kate will have the shock that diana had when diana went straight to the royal family. >> reporter: sources say people here at buckingham palace are teaching kate middleton how to be a princess. she is learning things like the proper way to meet heads of state, greet guests at social events and thou handle the paparazzi. >> reporter: but critics wonder whether 27-year-old middleton is too common to carry off the royal role. >> if they get married, kate middleton, middle class, will be the queen of england one day. >> reporter: royal rumors are buzzing one day that prince william may be getting ready to pop the question after the

couple spent a romantic holiday at an exclusive resort. >> at the moment, the summer of 2010 and 2011 is clear. either could be potential dates for a wedding. >> reporter: the country and the world maybe ready for a new princess, but the royal family seems determined to make sure that princess will be ready for the world. charlie d'agata, cbs news, london. >> the familiar your of a small thruster made space shuttle discovery's docking at the international space station slightly more difficult than normal, but it was a success. the crew is delivering science experiments and thousands of pounds of equipment to the orbiting outpost, including a new treadmill. discovery finally docked with the space station last night after several cancelled launches last week. >> you know the name of that treadmill, it is named after stephen colbert. he actually got his viewers to write to nasa and they guess they named it after him.

funny stuff happening in space. >> it should encourage us to do a little better. >> oh, you have no excuse sister. today, gorgeous outside. >> it is. >> if you are an exerciser or exerciser wannabe. >> yes. >> today is your day. >> yes. it is nice and the humidity is low and it is not even raining right now over the district. shblvisie visie satellite loop. yl oy works when rk it is dahtigut. so it is a great time owshhtsh you. i will positon the most recent claim and show you the clear slot that is north and west of the district. it is here where the sun is shining brightly and here we will see the warmest temperatures today. case and point we are already at 73 in frederick where they have some sunshine. under thicker clouds in the district, not too cloudy but still some clouds around. 69 down to the south in fredericksburg 68. you have had rounds of rain and

likely have more before the day is done. we will take your numbers to the north and west in leesburg and close to 73 inside the beltway. we can thank morning rain showers. this low pressure system. this is the front that came through over the weekend. now there is a weak low pressure cell just running along it and it is stirring up enough shower activity to affect the chesapeake area, southern maryland and even the fredericksburg area. we will watch for a few of these this afternoon. around the beltway and points north and west you will be in good shape with no rain today but those lows tonight. they are going to be chilly, especially north and west. cumberland in the 40s. we will be managing lows 60 in dc and 58 tonight in leonardtown. high pressure noses in and a gorgeous day for everybody and i mean everybody with temperatures in the 70s. when upper level winds bend south like this it helps canadian air pool in the area and that's why we expect 40s in

the mountain. the middle of the week the jet stream will head back north of canada and sunshine and temperature in the 80s. we can take you hour by hour with microcast nine. notice the skies will be clearing out as we head in to tuesday weather forecast. 8 a.m. no problems. in to the afternoon, i don't see any rain. i can tell you that temperatures will be rebounding not just in the lower 70s but upper 70s. but we will keep the humidity low as we head to tomorrow afternoon. no trouble on microcast nine. i'm sure you are curious to see the seven-day forecast. let me put it writing for you. a couple of clouds and a sprinkle on thursday. think of the labor holiday weekend. for now no trouble at least on saturday or sunday and highs in the lower 80s.

that's my seven-day forecast. the noon program isn't over yet. stay with us. we'll be right back. nyfyryxy0

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their way to success. this is her new book, navigating your way to business success. i have read it. it is easy reading. it really answers a lot of questions. and my question to you is why did you write this book? >> it is a timely book. we are in a downturn in the economy. we have entrepreneurs and business owners that have been looking for ways to get around those challenges they find themselves in and being a small business owner. so it was such a timely manner we decided to write this book so i could tell my story and hopefully encourage other people to do the same thing. >> what i find so interesting about you is that catherine freeland worked in the government for seven years. was passed over for a much- deserved promotion an decided you know what, i'm going to start my own business. there were a lot of challenges that you faced, but what is the big problem that you find that entrepreneurs commit? >> biggest challenge is finding

access to capital in order to start their business. so many people have great ideas and they really want to do something great with these ideas but they don't know how to finance it. they don't have the money available to finance it and now that we are in an economic downturn it is even harder to find that economic boost in order to get those companies going. that's definitely the biggest challenge that entrepreneurs face. >> in the book you give agencies out there that are available, small business administration, score, women's groups that will help you in taking the proper steps to get your business underway. >> that's correct. a lot of resources are available. when we started our business there wasn't as many available but now on-line is a great opportunity people to search it and see what is available. the small business administration is definitely the place to start. >> and you sold your business. >> i did. >> for a lot of money, i might add. the business did so well. >> what was your business, information technology, servicing the federal government. >> she sold it and did very

well and she moved on now. she is president of freebridge publishing. i congratulate you. >> thank you, j.c. thank you for writing this book because it is great. >> navigating your way to business success by catherine freeland. thanks for joining us. come back and visit us at 5:00. have a great day. bye-bye. ♪ the art of getting dirty. the art of getting clean. new powerfully formulated wisk®... is better on tough mud stains than tide total care. wisk®. powerfully clean. perfectly iced

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