♪ what did we learn on the show tonight, craig? ♪ [meow] craig: well, rosie is gone and i've returned to my normal state. [laughter] she is a lovely woman, isn't she? i wonder if i ever did meet her back in the day back then. it is hard to say because i was

very high. [laughter] but i'm not condoning that kind of lifestyle and i'll tell you why. because legally i shouldn't. [laughter] good night, everybody. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

so the >> calls for action and a promise from the mayor after a hardened criminal hired by the city allegedly assaulted 17 summer jobs employees. plus, metro cops claim the radios they use are hit and miss. if there's an emergency, cries

for help may go unanswered. >> an emergency on the metro, officers called for help on their radios, but all they hear is silence. the radios don't work. that's the claim from many police officers who say their spotty radio resepgs could put ride ersz and them at risk. why the officer's call for help may be falling on deaf ears, ken. >> reporter: the popular internet blog site was forced to put this information out there but tonight, we have confirmed there is, in fact, some serious security concerns when it comes to the radio equipment being used by transit police. it's their main source of communication, but now metro transit cops say they're having to deal with radios that simply put don't always work. it means they're rolling the dice every time they try to communicate an emergency over the air ways and that has metro riders on edge.

>> it's key to public safety. >> reporter: an attorney that represents the transit police officers says the problem is so widespread, officers have to think about twice about areas they have to patrol in and around metro lines. justin keating said, quote, they are careful about going to places alone that they know have had reception problems. the officers are assigned to not work alone and there are other officers close by. metro authorities released this statement, quote, whenever an officer reports a communication issue any time day or night, technicians are dispatched to investigate and make any necessary repairs. we're also advancing projects that are intended to prove rate of communication within the environment. the spotty radio reception problem according to the union is causing a major two-fold deficiency. not only does it jeopardize rider's safety, but the attorneys say officers may not be able to call for help when they need it. >> if there's a situation going on and you call for back-up, you

need to call your buddy. you're not going to catch them. that's the real issue. >> reporter: metro officials wouldn't comment any further on this issue. however, the attorney for the union says no one at metro has fixed the problem. he says they know of it but no one wants to fix it, because no one wants to take responsibility for spending 10s of millions of dollars on a radio system that simply doesn't work. ken molestina, 9 news now. and new at 11:00, right now, dc police are looking for a driver wanted for hitting a pedestrian. the accident happened just before 10:00 in the 3000 block of wisconsin avenue northwest. after that crash, the driver sped off. emergency crews took the victim to the hospital. injuries are described as life-threatening. if you have any information about this crash, call the police. we are learning more tonight about the department of employment services file clerk now accuseded of sexual assaulting a teenager in the

city's summer job program. turns out he's a convicted felon, sentenced to 60 years in prison, hired by the city after his patrol back in 2008, and as gary neurenberg tells us, the city council wants to know one thing, how could this happen? >> reporter: adding irony to the outrage, the incident took place at the headquarters of the department of employment services which runs the summer job program for about 14,000 kids. council man michael brown wants to know how a convicted felon gets an unsupervised contact with a 17-year-old girl. >> we'll have a hearing and will ask some of these questions and hopefully get some answers. the question is once we get some of those answers, the question is how to make sure it doesn't happen again. >> reporter: the accused molester, thomas nelson, did not undergo a background check. >> he is not a supervisor. all supervisors are required to have a background check, which the metropolitan police department conducts. >> reporter: police did check

his record after his arrest. >> and there was nothing in there to indicate this type of an offense in his history that i saw. >> reporter: the mayor wanted some distance. >> obviously, he was hired before we got here. >> reporter: and made a promise. >> we're not going to tolerate the victimization of our youth. >> and that was gary neurenberg reporting. now, when nelson applied for that job, he truthfully answered a question on his application saying he had not been convicted of a felony in the past 10 years. in fact, he'd been convicted in 1988, and patrolled in 2008. there is a tension in the dc government which is trying to give offenders a second chance once they've paid their debt, keeping them off the unemployment rolls and the resulting appeal of crime. the question is, how do you achieve that goal and help keep the kids safe? the question apparently is still unanswered. right now, police are still looking for the man who attacked a speed camera vehicle with a hammer. it all went down along the bw parkway north of 195 this

morning. police say the man walked up to the jeep and began to tap on the back window with a gun. the contractor inside got scared, honked his horn, and that's when the man walked to the front of the jeep and started to hit the wind shield with a hammer. then he began to yell something incoherently and walked off into the woods. the search for that suspect forced both sides of the parkway to be shut down and, of course, drivers got some major headaches over that. >> oh, you're kidding. >> no. >> wow. >> the story is a loose cannon. >> i think he's a little bit nuts but i want to get back to work. >> i don't feel threatened. i feel inconvenienced. >> late this afternoon, the parkway was back open and moving. he never fired the gun and the contractor was not hurt. why'd he do it? who knows. the mother accused of leaving her son to die in the family minivan is back with her family tonight. karen murphy made bond after turning herself into the police

today. prosecutors have charged her with felony murder and neglect in the death of her 2-year-old son, ryan. she forgot to take him to the daycare and went on to his veterinarian job. he was left in the van seven years and that killed him. she faces 40 years behind bars if convicted. lauren giddings family got the news they were dreading. investigators have determined that a body found last week in georgia is that of their loved one. word is giddings' body was found feet away from her apartment. the 27-year-old has just graduated from law school and was studying to take the bar. her neighbor is a suspect in several burglaries and is now a person of interest in her case. no matter what happens, my brother is still dead, tonight from lila hunt willingham on the fate of major hasan. jason dean hunt was one of the victims killed in the deadly

rampage at fort hood. we learned if convicted of that attack, hasan will face the death penalty. he's accused of opening fire at the texas army post in 2009 and he is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. bombs surgically implanted inside people. well, that's the latest terrorist warning to the airlines from the feds. a law enforcement source tells cbs news al-qaida in the arabian peninsula wants to recruit a surgeon who can implant explosives into suicide bombers to blow up an airplane. the safety administration has warned all airlines and told passengers to expect more security delays. however, they emphasize there is no evidence of a specific plot. >> this is not a new theory. it's not a new musing from the terrorists, but with this warning, it seems to suggest that there is more chatter.

>> the tsa says the increased security measures will vary from airport to airport. they're trying to keep the terrorists off guard and be unpredictable. security personnel have been told to watch out for anybody acting out of the ordinary, possibly in discomfort or pain from having a bomb inside them. the nasa shuttle program, immigration, housing and the economy, just some of the topics covered during today's twitter town hall with the president. twitter users asked tens of thousands of questions but only the most popular among the users made the cut. >> from renegade nerd out of atlanta, mr. president, will you issue an executive order to raise the debt ceiling pursuant to section 4 of the fourteenth amendment. >> i don't think we should even get to the constitutional issue. congress has a responsibility to make sure we pay our bills. >> president obama answering those questions verbally as they streamed in live online. top white house aides say the president sees social media sites like twitter as a way to

connect people outside of dc. kind of muggy and quiet in the thunderstorms department. get ready for muggy conditions. we should make it through the morning dry, but a different story on your way home. we will explain. >> still ahead tonight, when dc cops were accused of beating this man into losing an eye, 9 news now went digging, identifying misconduct since 2010 and it was 20

>> three dc metropolitan police officers still facing serious felony charges for their alleged involvement in the beating of a man outside the lotis lounge night club in downtown dc. that case made us wonder, how often are police officers investigated for alleged misconduct in our area, and how often are they disciplined for that? in other words, as andrea mccarren reports, who's policing

the police? >> reporter: the metropolitan police department has 3,835 sworn members, and in 2010, according to mpd, 287 of them faced disciplinary action. we obtained the records of all suspensions and firings over the last year, and the offenses include negligent use or loss of mpd equipment, drug use, making an untruthful statement, and conduct which constitutes a crime. >> have demoted 11 officials. >> reporter: police chief kathy lanier wasn't available to go on camera so she was available by phone. >> i know i have given disciplinary action taken against command staff. >> there isn't a single level high supervisor in this year. >> reporter: police officers and others in the department say the chief hasn't gone far enough in disciplining high ranking officials. >> nobody above the rank of captain has received any

disciplines. you have inspectors, commanders, the highest paid ranking individuals that have the most responsibility, none of them are disciplined. >> the higher their rank, the more they should know better and the more accountable and the impact their conduct has on the department. >> reporter: but the records they gave us which do not include demotions show last year no one with higher rankings than a captain was disciplined. three captains were disciplined, 11 lieutenants, 29 sergeants, and 137 officers. keep in mind, there are far fewer high ranking officials than officers. >> part of their job is to manage people, and if your subordinates are getting in trouble and if they're violating the rules and the laws and costing the taxpayers money, it's your job. >> reporter: she's wanting to facilitate a change in behavior. the paperwork reflects a range of punishment as varied as the offenses from one day to

termination. andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> we want you to be able to see for yourselves the defenses and disciplinary actions involving metropolitan police officers, so we put a break down of all of those records on line, district by district, rank by rank. go to our website, wusa9.com, and you'll see it all. >> there it goes. we got a full roll over and four quarters. >> an important demonstration today on the consequences of speeding and aggressive driving. officers with the smooth operator campaign want to make it clear, not many folks walk away from a roll-over crash like that one. >> roll overs and roadway departures were primary factors in 67% of all fatal crashes that occurred in the state of maryland in 2009. the safety of our roadways and those that travel on them is of paramount concern. >> police want you to know area

officers are teaming up in their smooth operator campaign this summer. they want to catch the reckless and aggressive drivers before, well, that happens. as the comedian once said, escalators never really break down. they just turn into stairs. it's no laughing matter for the metro riders walking up and down those steep steps. the problems just aren't getting any better. there are about 80 escalators out of service, compared to about 103 out in the month of may. officials say the escalators aren't broken, but are actually being rebuilt and are spending $150 million to get the job done. they've put up new signs giving updates and details about the projects. >> they're working on it. behind the wall, all of that's fine. i wish you'd taken the money from the signs and get this fixed faster. >> they say they're working as fast as they can.

rail car reliability is among the worsening problems, including the difficulties with the doors. the good news, the elevator service is getting better and the busses are more reliable. a special birthday celebration here in the nation's capital. his holiness, the dalai lama turns 76 years old today. the first day of his buddhist ritual for world peace. [drum beats] . [chanting] >> people from all over have come to dc to see the dalai laman and participate in the festival. the 11 days of prayer and meditation will be highlighted by the circular colored sand mound made by monks one grain of sand at a time. he spoke to the crowd asking for one very special birthday wish. >> the best gift for my birthday

is that the people here, how you say, make a pledge to now on follow no violence. >> the dalai lama will host a free event saturday morning outside the capitol near the national mall. we hope the weather will be okay. >> i have a shower but it won't be a problem. it's going to be muggy tonight and tomorrow. let's start with temperatures, even at this hour we're just barely under 80. 78 downtown, and mainly in the 70s, 73 in fredericsburg and 72 in manassas. satellite picture, we had showers early this morning about 10:00, 11:00. everything stayed south of us. now we're left with clear to partly cloudy skies. just a couple renegade showers. here's the deal, a warm and muggy morning on thursday, no

doubt about that. hotter on thursday than it was today. a little more sunshine, in fact, and some thunderstorms are possible for the evening commute. some of you will have a wet commute tomorrow evening. friday, more storms. even a better chance of storms, both in the morning on friday and in the evening on friday. here's a look at our futurecast. 6:00 in the morning, few clouds possible early in the morning. annie is in for howard tomorrow. after that, lunchtime, okay, if you want to walk to lunch, no problem. showers start to appear. and by the evening, a lot of showers and thunderstorms, if you're going down 50 to annapolis, chances are you'll have a shower between 6:00 and 7:00 in the evening. the showers linger into 11:00 tomorrow night, especially toward win chester and west of i-81. they kind of come and go, wax and wane, if you will, more showers in baltimore, southern maryland and south of us. we may end up with a wet commute

friday morning and friday evening. overnight, partly cloudy, muggy. a little patchy fog late. low temperatures 68 to 74, winds southwest to 10. by morning, partly cloudy and warm. 70 and 80, wind southwest at 10. air code guess from yellow to moderate. better than today's code orange today. some thunderstorms could develop, a few heavy and some severe. low 90s, and winds will turn in the afternoon and become more east-northeast earliy at about 10. everybody will be north of the 90 degree mark pretty much. sunshine, 80s by noon and upper 80s to low 90s by evening, and by 5:00, some showers and storms will be appearing. now, friday is cooler -- well, at least temperature-wise. that's because of more clouds, showers and thunderstorms.

still humid. and behind the front, there's the shower early on saturday morning, not a big deal. behind the front we still stay warm, 90 on saturday, low 90s sunday, and down-right hot on monday with mid-90s. more storms tuesday, some of those could be hefty and low 90s continuing into wednesday. it's this time of year when cold fronts is kind of a misnomer. >> not really much cold there. >> not at all. we were joking yesterday about the fact that the nationals got about 500 one game, and last time that happened, a manager left town. >> i don't think he's going anywhere. we know at least not until the end of this season, hopefully not until the end of next season because he's starting to find his stride this season. davy johnson may be 68 but he has the nerve of a 28-year-old. the gutsy move that won the nats the ball game. there's the slip

>> the yankees don't bunt a lot. when you're the yankees and you hit 8 million home runs, you don't need to bunt, but the nationals need to bunt, and even when they screw up the bunt, they need to bunt again. nats and cubs tonight. you won't see ryan zimmerman bunting much because he can do this. vaporizes the fastball homer. davy johnson calls a suicide squeeze, but wilson ra mos misses the sign, swings away, almost kills michael morris coming from third. davy doesn't like it, so what's he done do? calls it again. this time does it perfectly. the nationals 5-4 win it. in texas, os and rangers and,

jeffrey guthry two out and one on. the 0s fall 13-5. really, they've dropped 8 of 9. in the history of the nhl, 2056 players have hailed from the provence of ontario. you know how many came from maryland? four. and only one, jeff haprin lived the dream of playing for his home-town team, is back. he rejoined the team this week signing a one-year free agent deal. he was wrapped by the caps in '99, became their captain in 2005 and returns home to a team he believes is poised to win a cup. >> this team right off the bat is a stanley cup contender, just by writing the lineup on a piece of paper. it's a hard team to play against. i think every night when you go up there, it's a big fast team that's in your face. >> caps also locked up winner

troy brower in a deal worth $2.7 million. on the flip side jason harnet left for st. louis for $2.5 million. the following is a big "if". if the nfl solves the lockout, the preseason begins tomorrow. league sources said today if a deal isn't reached by early next week, that game and others in the preseason are in big jeopardy. speaking of jeopardy, roger cle mens is in some. his federal perjury trial opened with jury selection today. names on the list include mark mcguire, sammy sosa, among others. the matter at hand, whether clemens and his gigantic head lied to congress when he said he never used steroids. match 2 for venus williams and the castles. they were down 17-14 entering

the final set, but they played mixed doubles and pulled it out, winning the set 5-1, winning the match. serena is in town tomorrow night. women's world cup, they lost 2-1 to sweden. they still advance to the quarters and will play brazil on sunday. finally, the old backyard slip 'n slide is one of the summer traditions. she's going to go back to the fence to get a good run up to the slip 'n slide. one thing you want to make sure of. >> what's that? >> that it is wet. i think mom sold her out on that one because she did not turn the hose on for the little girl. >> that is the slip 'n grip. >> very good. i don't think