president obama hits air waves on nearly all the major networks to promote health care reform. the cleanup is just starting after the rupture of a massive six foot wide water main. the second time in a month, firefighters douse flames at a local embassy. good morning. i'm angie goff in for andrea. today is monday, september 21st. patranya bhoolsuwan will have a look at traffic but first kim martucci has a look at the monday forecast. >> good morning. it is gorgeous outside. no rain. a few clouds and a comfortable

feel. we don't mind those 50s. we can break out the suede when they come in, right. here's how it unfolds on the satellite-radar loop. don't worry about the rain. we will be dealing with that tomorrow. as for today, middle 70s for high and partly cloudy at 5:00. patranya bhoolsuwan has a look at your drive in. good morning. several incidents to tell you about in the district with an accident at the third street tunnel. look live there at the tunnel. blocking the center lane. a disabled bus at third street and new york avenue. watch for that. 50 eastbound an accident in virginia at pleasant valley road. right now crews are on the road. westbound all clear. a live look outside and see how 66 eastbound is doing. jammed from 123 to the beltway. give yourself about 22 minutes to go through there and finally the outer loop.

hop on there. good morning, maryland. 95 to georgia. it is jammed 22 minutes, as well. back to you. >> thank you. people in dundalk, maryland, wake up to a major cleanup effort after a major water main break. 100 homes are flooded out there and it is leaving a lot of residents in a messy situation. we turn to alex trevino for more. >> people in dundalk are still dealing with the damage left behind from the unexpected water main rupture. for some people the recovery process is painful. under this pile of de-- debris on their property, ruined christmas ornament and the home has water damage. six feet of water flooded their basement. >> we had a finished basement and our house was up for sale and we were trying to move and now it will be a little longer

before we can do anything. >> reporter: crews from the baltimore county of public works rolled out equipment to clean up. >> we are loading up dump truck and the packer trucks, trash trucks. >> reporter: county workers helped residents clear their basements once the water and debris was dealt with and electricity restored. one caution to point out, scam artists are knocking on doors in dundalk claiming they are doing cleanup work on the county's orders. if you are not sure who's at the doorstep, best thing to do is to ask them to present identification. live in the information center, alex trevino, 9 news now and wusa9.com. >> good advice. thank you, alex. dundalk isn't the only place people are cleaning up from a water main break. instead of a 72-inch pipe, it only took the bursting of a three inch pipe to burst in

upper marlboro. some had to move their cars over concerns the driveway may collapse and they lost a good portion of their front yard. they are urging families with damage to file a claim. new this morning, firefighters are investigating a fire at the gabon embassy. it took out this morning. fire officials say it appears to have started in the base and spread to a portion of the first floor. they say no one was in the embassy when it started. this is the second time fire at the gabon embassy in this last month. a serious accident sent a motorist to a hospital with a life-threatening injury this morning. it happened shortly before 3:00. the accident shut down eastbound central avenue. police in montgomery county are investigating a serious pedestrian accident in bethesda. a driver hit a man in his 40s

on friendship boulevard at willard avenue around 6:30 a.m. he was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. it was wall-to-wall president obama on the sunday television talk show circuit with one notable exemption. one of the key messages, reform the nation's health care system. with me is bet's senior political analyst. >> it must have been a busy morning for you. all of those sunday morning talk shows to watch. what did we learn and. >> this was his message that reform is health care reform includes insurance reform. and people will not lose the insurance they have. he will keep the deficit neutral and he feels everyone should have what everybody in congress is entitled to have, the same health care. >> reporter: do you think we learned anything new from these appearances or listing the

talking points we have heard in the past. >> i wasn't able to watch every one of the shows but i looked at transcripts. there was no new ground broken or new news made. >> reporter: one network the network the president took a pass on is fox in terms of doing a segment, what is the story behind that? >> it may have been a slap on the wrist to fox news because they didn't carry his joint address to congress. they instead played so you think you can dance which is one of their top-rated reality shows and they didn't air his address so he decided not to appear on there but in addition to his sunday rounds he also did -- there was a large audience he was able to garner and going on a spanish speaking network on health care reform was a good decision. >> reporter: he will add to this by doing a taping with the

late show with david letterman. you can watch it here on channel 9. what does he hope to accomplish going after this audience? >> it is a different audience, like the spanish language audience this is a different audience. this show particularly covers he jokes about politics a lot. as did jay leno when he was on. i think this is going to the audience that doesn't always learn through traditional methods and reaching an audience that gets it in the evening with a little more levity and lighter and david letterman does very good interviews. hard news interviews in a sense. he is. >> reporter: well -- very well informed so he will probably ask some questions you may not hear a traditional journalist ask but you would really like to hear the answer to. >> reporter: is there a risk of overexposure with all of these interviews? is that really a risk for a president. >> i think there is a

difference with this. we have talked about how he is on every channel and you can't get away from him but two things he's already done. he is a very public president and i think the american public is used to seeing president obama. and the second thing is that he is the best salesman and they figure he's the best person to deliver the message. why have all of his surrogates do it? why call on other people when he is capable of handling it himself? >> we appreciate your insight on the situation. thank you very much. a top u.s. military commander names one key to success in afghanistan. the story is coming up. plus, he can fly through space but the shuttle is getting a piggyback ride across country. keep it here on 9 news now.

three men are due in court today after they found bomb making materials in one man's possessions. a war against insurgents will end in failure without additional forces. the general has been told to pocket the report in part because of the politics surrounding a force change. the space shuttle discovery should return home to kennedy station later today. a modified 747 is piggybacking the shuttle across country from

california to edwards air force base. it landed there because of bad weather on the east coast. look at who's in the house. it is kim martucci. what's up? >> that video always throws me for a loop when i see a shuttle piggybacking a 747. the weather will be partly sunny and comfortable. highs in the middle to upper 70s and a southeast wind five to ten. tonight more clouds roll in. not as many 50s on the map as this morning. lows between 60 and 66. here's how things are unfolding at this hour. we are in the middle 60s inside the beltway. if we take a trip to southern maryland. going for crabs today. 66 patuxent river. to the west cumberland 674. splitting the difference, leesburg 66 and 61 culpeper at this hour. cloud cover is thicker across west virginia. here in the central part of the state where they will likely have rain. folks watching from the eastern panhandle of west virginia,

western maryland may squeeze in a shower before the day's end. the way i see it most of us will be dry and comfortable. autumn begins 5:19 in the afternoon tomorrow. and by then a few western showers here and a better chance of getting wet on wednesday when we reach a high of 79. despite the clouds and despite the rain. here's the slow-moving system off to our west. it will be straddling the appalachian mountains today. in the coastal plains in dc to the tide water and delmarva, a dry afternoon. in the mountains we squeeze in a shower or two but the bulk of the rain comes tomorrow and isolated chances later in the day. we have weak high pressure over new york city keeping us dry. trying to prevent this stuff from moving east. it will lose out and we will watch this rain increase and as we take you hour by hour, starting at noon today you'll notice we don't have any green on the screen. the time line, 6:00. the commute is dry, no

problems. as we head overnight and tomorrow morning it will be cloudy and not raining. over my shoulder we get showers in later in the afternoon and certainly by 10:00 tomorrow night. we will be on the lookout for that and then all of our suburbs have a shot of rain especially on wednesday. seven-day forecast is up. take a look. despite the rain and the clouds here near 80 degrees on wednesday. a few left ourover showers on thursday and then if all goes as planned, friday and saturday are looking fine and feeling like summer despite autumn beginning. peg 2006 over to you. what's for lunch? our next guests have the recipe for a school year packed with healthy lunches for your children. with me is brenda hyde the publisher of family magazine and a nutritionist and author. getting your kids to eat healthy. i struggle with this and i'm not the only one, am i? >> this is common. all moms have this problem.

what can i put in the lunch that they will eat and that is good for them. the number one way is modeling behavior. do it, continue to do it. don't leave that fruit out just because they didn't eat it yesterday. put it in and it will pay off in the long run. they won't always eat it is but they -- >> i'm a big believer put it on the plate. encourage them. i encourage too much, i think. tell us about the new book. >> it is about a health nut that discovers how to eat healthy and he falls off of his skateboard and cracks his shell and visits a nutritionist a who tells him how to crack his shelby eating healthy foods. >> how can we get kids to eat healthy when we put food in their lunch. >> a few things to concentrate on. first, think of whole grains. >> right here. >> whole grains would be.

>> most people are already packing whole grain sandwiches but these sandwich thins are great. >> they are smaller, less calories. whole wheat bagels make a good staple for a sandwich. sometimes you can do chips with guacamole dip. one thing that is very important when making sandwiches, some people used processed meats a lot. i recommend you use sodium nitrate free meats. you can get ham and turkey. you can put healthy olive oil mayonnaise on a sandwich. >> there's the meat right here. >> that is natural choice so no preservatives in it. >> no sodium nitrates. >> it goes bad faster. >> no. actually it is in there to keep the meat pink. so it has nothing to do with keeping it preserved longer. >> what about goldfish. >> they are a good choice but they are generally made from

white flour but now they have whole grain gold -- goldfish. >> you can do whole week macaroni and cheese, lentil soup. >> give everybody some pointers. whole grain. >> we covered not sodium nitrates. a lot of kids are eating a lot of hydrogenated oils, so get in healthy fats, avocado. >> we will put this on wusa9.com. back to you. we are getting hungry over here. coming up we will look at the weekend box office results and who walked away with hardware at the emmy awards. and we will head to the kitchen for a little taste of southern italy. stay with us.

cloudy with a chance of meatballs took the box office crown this week earning $30 million. sony 3 hd animated comedy was adapted from the children's book. matt damon's "the informant

"debuted in a distant second. a few surprises at this year's primetime emmy awards but the top shows, nbc's 30 rock won best comedy the third straight year and anc's madmen took the trophy. tony collett from the united states of terra and glenn close won the award. you can read more and check the complete list of winners at wusa9.com. check out our water cooler headlines. kim, what's cookin'? >> we have some flavors from southern italy right now in our 9 news now kitchen. we are so lucky have chef antonio here. he is from lorton, virginia. >> good morning. this is great. you are making clams and rice.

it we will start to toast. >> this is the rice. >> yes. >> and this will be turned in to risotto. >> so it is a rice i don't know those things. i think it is a pasta. it tastes so good. >> the trick is to toast it first. >> yeah. >> this is very hot. >> the pan has to be very hot and we start to add the stock, in this case a fish-based meal. >> the rice will absorb anything. now we add the broth and stock and it sounds so good. a traditional meal in southern italy. tell us where you are from. >> i'm from palermo. it is a little town, 3500 people. and it is it is in the mountains, not close to the water. >> but you are a fan of the

clams. >> what is the trick to cooking them properly. are they like shrimp or different. >> they are like shrimp or sweeter. >> they are sweeter. >> everything is in there. we have a minute left. for people cooking risotto for the first time, tell them what to to do. >> toast the rice. if it is not toasted it won't come out as fluffy. and then start to add the stock and butter. >> butter makes everything better. >> of course. >> that sounds great. then when you are cooking the seafood is it possible to over do anything here. what could go wrong or right. >> if you cook them too much they will be mushy. once they turn orange. >> from gray to orange. >> tell everybody when we can come and visit you.

what's a special we can have if we come down tonight. >> actually tonight we are doing dish. we have lamb shank, we have an italian deli where we sell olive oil. we do homemade gelato. >> another reason to come to lorton. we will take a break but on the other side we will taste the clams and risotto. you are watching 9 news now this morning. mmmm. i do. (announcer) pillsbury toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat. until the grands are on the table" grands biscuits. would it really be breakfast without 'em? for money saving coupons go to... pillsbury.com.

now for a look at what's on tap for the rest of the week, tomorrow we'll talk to world- renowned primaologist. and among county executive ike leggett stops by on thursday and our mind over money team tackles financial problems for free on friday. how about free weather. >> anytime, angie goff. a dry one today.

76. we will watch for rain possible tomorrow afternoon and especially on wednesday. so far so good heading in to the weekend. chef antonio, looking delicious. >> before we look at the product a recap of 9 news now around town. i, along with some faithful neil niners scored seats at sneaker ball where redskins chief was the man after winning mascot of the year. a touching tribute to the late eunice kennedy shriver bring the crowd to tears and finally, say cheese, 9 news now get funky at the exclusive foe sew shoot in northwest dc. that's where we celebrated the new line of graphic t-shirts and the graffiti artists worked on a canvas made of t-shirts and 9 news was keeping it cool

and you are keeping it hot in the kitchen. >> come back anytime, please. the finished product that we have. >> prongs and clams and shrimp. >> the recipe is on wusa9.com and we are so happy to have you here. the name of the restaurant means red and wine. we will check you out in lorton. that's the news for this half hour. we will be back at noon to keep you company. until then have a great morning. >>