cloudy conditions. 9:00 temperatures in the lower 80s. still muggy at noon. scattered showers and storms are possible. temperatures near mid-80s. 5:00, we'll see showers and storms come through. some could be heavy if not severe. we've got a flood advisory in effect for today. starting at noon, that goes late tonight for the entire d.c. metro area. watch those roads. when we see the storms come through. here is a look at the risk for severe weather. it has been yellow that includes us, the mid-atlantic states, the main threat being damaging wind gusts and heavy rains. it could be potentially dangerous today. highs today because of the clouds, not too hot around mid- 80s for d.c. 80 in mar tinsburg. culpepper warming up to 86 degrees. here's angie with your traffic. >. hello, everybody. welcome to the 6:00 hour. it is friday and outside, we've got the yellow light on. we're dealing with some issues early on. let's begin in northwest d.c. where we do have crews on the scene of a fire. this is out on u street near

13th street. the fire, we're being told, has taken place over at steve's liquor store. obviously a big police and fire rescue presence out there. we're being told obviously they're taking away lanes as needed. asking drivers to avoid this part of u street near 13th. no telling how long they plan to be out there. let's move it over to our maps and show you how other parts of the region are shaping up. we begin in virginia and take a look at 66. eastbound travel is moving smoothly. we are seeing a little bit of that volume around 234. over to the maps again and this time, we'll shift our focus to 95. for those of you making the northbound trip, looking good at it, continuing on to fairfax all the way up to the mixing bowl on to 395 heading northbound. on the outer loop, travel times in maryland from 95 to 27 0, still in the green look at about 10 minutes from 95 to 270. southbound 95, no problems to report at this time to the

capital beltway. d.c. 295, unlike yesterday morning at this time, we're moving to the 11th street bridge. still ahead, the very latest on the fire activity on u street. i'll have that coming up. mike, around 6:10. over to you. we'll see you then. as of right now, the countdown is indeed still on for the launch of the space shuttle "atlantis." a live look. the shuttle is fueled up and ready to go. the launch is right now scheduled for 11:23 this morning. nasa says there is a 70% chance that bad weather could delay things. launch may be pushed back to the weekend or early next week. our kristin fisher is in florida this morning and we will be talking to her coming up at 6:18 this morning. while you slept, a deadly shooting and standoff in michigan came to an end. the suspect -- the suspected killer took his own life. >> when it was over, seven people were dead including the suspect's daughter and another child. >> this all happened in grand rapids, michigan. police say the rampage began at one home and went to another. the suspect is 34-year-old

rodrick dantzler. police say he killed his daughter and ex-girlfriend and phi others. officers hope to end things by taking dantzler into custody. >> at the moment that it occurred, as i said, he threatened people earlier. threatened to shoot. asked officers to shoot him. but at the same time the incident occurred, he was talking about coming out, giving himself up and obviously chose at the last moment to fire the gun and take his own life. >> right now, police still do not have a motive behind this crime. new at 6:00 a.m., it looks like the feds are now getting involved in that cheating allegation in d.c. public schools. this is a story our partners at "usa today" first uncovered back in march. the department of education is now joining the investigation. teachers at several schools are accused of changing answers on standardized tests. investigators uncovered the cheating, they say, by seeing strange patterns in erasure marks on the tests. no students are accused in any cheating. they believe it may be the teachers. the woman charged with

killing a coworker at a yoga clothing shop in bethesda is scheduled to go to court this morning. brittany norwood is accused of killing jayna murray in march. norwood initially said two masked men killed murray inside the lululemon shop. murray was killed after she found stolen items in norwood's bag. the suspected arsonist that hurt four d.c. firefighters is due in court. maurice dues of northeast washington was arrested on wednesday. he's charged with setting fire to a vacant home on 48th place in northeast in april. four firefighters were hospitalized. authorities believe they also set other fires around the district and maryland. >> you've seen them in the district and in montgomery county. now here come the speed cameras in prince george's county, too. "the washington examiner" reports rushern baker plans on jump starting the speed camera program there. at least half will be going in school zones around the county. the examiner reports 55 mobile

cameras will go in the school zones. if you go 12 miles an hour over the speed limit, you'll be hit with a fine. they expect them to bring in $7.5 million in the next year. >> jessica doyle is not only watching your money, she's watching your time as well. >> do you have an insane schedule? she's here to help you fix it. >> who doesn't feel overscheduled? often times this is breakfast and sometimes lunch in the car. a lot of people, too, are organizing their lives on their cell phones. they put their calendars on there but there are advances in paper as well. some people just like to write things down. so, we're going to show you some of the planners that are available. we'll start with this one. it is pretty cool. from who me and it costs about $20. they're perforated little pieces of pape paper. you can write them down, rip them off and in some cases, you can even put this in your kid's

lunchbox. or even i love yous. we're going to move on to this one. this is great. from bob's your uncle. $24. on one side, you have your little schedule for the day. on the other side, you have a to do list. doesn't work for us so well because it starts at 7:30 so off wen wake up much earlier but since it is friday, our biggest to do item would be sleep. this is a lot of fun, too. you can rip it off, take it with you as you go. moving on, sometimes one agenda is not enough. so, you want to possibly customize it. this one is actually a dry erase board on the inside. you can add little inserts as well. this will cost you about $16, the inserts from russell and hazel will cost you about $12 and the nice thing here is you have addresses in here as well. all you have to do is change out the date. this is finally one of my favorites. this is called the mom agenda. it will cost you $20.

what makes it so special? you open it up inside. not only do you have your day that you can plan here but below that is your kid's day which will help you with your soccer lessons, your playdates, so on and so forth. >> seeing it all in one, won't forget what's on the refrigerator. >> i should say you can get all of these at the container store. >> thanks, jess! >> we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] keurig brews more than just hot coffee.

now you can brew over ice for delicious iced coffee or tea. hot or cold, keurig is the way to brew everyone's favorite cup in under a minute. choose. brew. enjoy. keurig.

>> bring out the umbrellas. you may want to change your evening plans. we've got storms coming this way. this morning, no major problems. maybe a shower. otherwise, by noon, scattered showers and storms popping up. 3:00, more storms arriving. some could be strong to severe. temperatures in the mid-80s by then. 6:00, i think the evening commute can be messy for some people. here's angie with your traffic. >> thank you, anny. here is the latest out of northwest d.c. you're going to want to avoid the u street and 13th street area because lanes are blocked by crews responding to a fire at steve's liquor store. still ahead, the latest along with a check on your maryland commute coming up at 6:15. back to you. you've heard it before. it is worth hearing again. early detection of breast cancer saves lives and one of the best ways to do that is with a mammogram. here to talk about the benefits is dr. rebecca, director of breast imaging at sibley memorial hospital. the swedish study found one of the benefits is reducing breast

cancer mortality. >> yes. and for women who start screening in their 40s. it was an important trial. >> that is part of the controversy. what do you see, if you start in your 40s, if you start early, what do you see when you're looking at mammography. >> we look for the earliest signs of cancer which is typically looking like a sprinkle of salt on a mammogram. >> we have slides to show this as well. >> we try to magnify them up. you'll see on the left-hand side, the circle shows a sprinkle of salt. if a woman doesn't present regularly, unfortunately, she may present with a lump you see on the right side which is big, dense area that evolves from the microcalcifications making it more difficult to treat and increasing her chances of dying from breast cancer. >> the visual on the left, is that something a woman could feel doing a self-breast examination? >> not in a million years. they're microscopic. we can only see

micrographically. >> but you've told us mammography is not foolproof. >> honestly, we can't catch all of them with mammography. we can decrease your chances of dying significantly if you present for regular mammograms. >> the importance of the study that regular screening because you can't predict who is going to develop breast cancer and who would die from it. >> most cancers occur in women who have no other risk factors other than being a woman. >> again, when should a woman start breast self-exams, mammograms? >> just start annual screening mammography beginning at age 40 and be familiar with your breasts. certainly frequenting checking your breasts at least by age 30 and getting regular examinations by a healthcare provider is important as well. but mammograms's number one chance of decreasing your chance of dying from breast cancer. >> do you think that study provides the final answer as to when to start a mammogram? >> it should.

it is significant. it is proven. it is accurate. >> dr. rebecca, thank you for being here with us. you can get more information on breast cancer at wusa9.com. click on the buddy check page. mike? >> thank you, andrea. weather time now. we're talking some serious possibilities of a severe weather alert later today. starting in the 4:00 hour. >> the critical time will be 4:00 to 9:00 which means the big evening commute on friday. it could be a mess for some folks out there. here is a look at your day planner. in the morning, no major problems. mostly cloudy conditions. temperatures close to 80 degrees. by noon, around 84. mostly cloudy. a chance for showers and storms. by 4:00, we'll see storms. a lot of locations. by 8:00, it will be more widespread and numerous. satellite radar picture showing us right now, it is dry. but look out to the west. we've got all of this energy coming through, also a front kind of stalled right now and slowly, slowly moving south late tonight. here is a look at live doppler 9000 hd, it is quiet around the

immediate d.c. metro area but late today and evening, that will change. currently, temperature around 77 in downtown. leesburg at 72. hagerstown coming in at 68 degrees. still muggy out there. be prepared for that. now, storms are more numerous today compared to yesterday. we have a flash flood watch in effect for this afternoon and evening. some heavy, severe thunderstorms possible. the heaviest will be from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. the mid-atlantic states, we're at risk for severe weather for today shaded in yellow. the main threat is the damaging wind gusts and heavy rain. the downpours expected in some of the storms. we have a flood advisory in effect. it starts at noon and goes through late tonight floor the entire d.c. area. never pass a flooded street by car or by foot. buy some batteries in case the power goes out with the damaging wind gusts.

here is our future cast. scattered stuff to the south of us. by late this afternoon and in the evening hours around 4:00, 5:00, we'll see more showers and storms going through again. some could be severe. again, watch for damaging wind gusts and some even hail. this model here saying late tonight, it will be fairly widespread. these are not fast-moving systems. downpours is a definite possibility. highs today around mid-80s. it won't get that hot. 86 also for leesburg. 80 in martinsburg. annapolis near the mid-80s. here is your seven-day outlook. once we get through the storms today, we finally get a break in the humidity saturday and sunday. maybe a morning shower saturday. otherwise becoming partly cloudy, near 90 and then sunday, we're storm free. lower 90s. get ready for the heat monday and tuesday with more scattered showers and storms possible monday and tuesday. here's angie with your traffic. good morning. >> good morning, anny. >> happy friday, everybody.

15 minutes after the 6:00 hour, yellow light stays on. we want to show you what's going on out in northwest d.c. this is live from the scene. you can see that we have police officers on the roadway. this is u street near 13th. we're being told, drivers are being asked to avoid the area because of the heavy fire and rescue presence here. we've got crews responding to a fire at steve's liquor store. they're taking away lanes as needed. it is pretty much impassable here at 13th and u. only response crews getting by. avoid the area. we'll continue to keep you posted throughout the hour. let's move it out to sky 9. show you the view from above. a report of a car fire near 202 on the inner loop. as you can tell from our live picture though, it looks like traffic on the inner loop and the outer loop is flowing freely here. no real problems to report as far as speed is concerned. on the outer loop, we're picking up volume. around new hampshire over to

georgia avenue. bringing the sun shades, not a bad idea. interstate 270, drivers still doing ok down to germantown. we're also tracking your travel times. good morning, virginia. 66 if you're traveling eastbound out of fairfax still moving at a great pace. only about 11 minutes, the inner loop, no problems from 395 to the toll road. toll road itself is smooth sailing from the greenway all the way to the beltway. still ahead, the very latest on the fire on u street at 6:25. now back to you. we're counting down to the final launch of the space shuttle program. a live look from the kennedy space center. about five hours to go now. there is a good chance, however, the weather could be scrubbing today's launch. >> that would be bad news for the thousands of people who have traveled to florida for the launch of atlantis. >> which includes 9news now reporter kristin fisher. she joins us live from the kennedy space center. her mom and dad are astronauts. kristin, i'm so excited for you. are you having fun? >> you have no idea how exciting it is here.

i have been up all night long. i got about 30 minutes of sleep, maybe an hour of sleep at the absolute best. and i did that because for two reasons, one, i didn't want to go to my hotel room because of all of the crazy crowds of people expected to come here. could be the biggest turnout ever for a shuttle launch. but also because i did kind of think it would be cool to spend the night here at the kennedy space center the night before the last shuttle launch ever. so, it was a very cool experience. but i have to say, i'm wondering how i'm going to be doing during my evening live shots at 5:00 tonight provided that this launch is a go. >> so, what are you hearing from nasa about the chances it could be delayed at least? >> you know, they're still saying that 70/30. there is only a 30% chance that this launch will, indeed, happen today.

right around 11:30 this morning. the holdup is the weather. the shuttle itself, all of the technical components are operating just fine. the shuttle's tank is now fully fueled. that happened about two hours ago. really, everybody is just holding out, hoping that mother nature is going to cooperate. just a matter of rain showers, heavy cloud cover, wind not too much of an issue. it is really just the clouds, the rain, everybody here just pretty much saying it is going to be down to the wire decision. but during a nasa press conference earlier this morning, one of the managers said that i know a lot of people must think that we're a little bit crazy, actually deciding to play out here in the rain. certainly, there is a sense that it likely will not go but a big hope it will go. >> one last quick question, of course your mom and dad are both astronauts. are they there and how is your mom feeling, being that she's

the first mom in outer space. >> unfortunately, my dad could not make it but my mom is here. i'm going to be watching the shuttle launch with her. over at banana creek where all of the other space shuttle astronauts, former astronauts and current astronauts will be watching this shuttle launch. and you know, first let me say that it is an experience to watch a shuttle launch with my mom. she goes absolutely nuts i will be filming it live provided that the shuttle does indeed launch. but you know, she's really just feeling bittersweet at the moment. sweet in the sense that she's proud to have been a part of this program. hubble, the international space station, all of the spin-off technologies. but it is certainly -- you know, i know there is a slightly bitter taste in her mouth simply because there is no vehicle ready to replace the space shuttle so for the next few years, we'll have to rely upon the russian soyuz to get

american astronauts up to our own space station. a mixed bag of emotions this morning. >> great insight. i'm so excited about your upcoming reports. kristin fisher looking fantastic with the big nasa logo over her shoulder. >> she gets slightly closer than howard. >> give our best to your mom. >> she did tell us that she's also part of the future as to what will happen to the next generation of astronauts. so, dr. anna fisher still very involved right now. of course, we'll have live coverage if it happens of the morning launch. it is still scheduled now for 11:23. next in sports, a great night turns pretty ugly at nationals park. >> right now, time for our question of the morning and a recent survey, what did most women say was the most annoying thing about their husbands? >> our facebook friend kimberly says definitely c, without a

doubt. the seriously most annoying thing a grown man can do is stay on the flipping video games all day and all night. several consecutive days at a time. omg! >> leave your comments by visiting facebook.com/wusa9. we'll have the answer at 6:48. 

>> we're looking at pretty impressive storms that could potentially come through the area late this afternoon and in the evening. as you're getting out the door today, this morning, looking at mostly cloudy conditions, still muggy. temperatures in the lower 80s by 9:00. the noon hour, around 84. maybe scattered storms by 5:00, definitely stormy conditions. we'll go to mike and andrea. good morning you guys. >> in sports, the nationals welcome the colorado rockies to town. they begin a three game series tonight. >> last night, not such a good one nats fans. they had seven

runs. capped off by roger's rbi single. at one point, d.c. led 8-0. then chicago mounts the comeback. cubs score 6 in the 6th. then tied at 9 in the 9th, darwin barney hit a double to right. that proved to be the game winner. nationals lose 10-9, snapping their three-game winning streak. >> check out this first pitch thrown in boston. tom willis was born without arms so he threw the ball with his feet. tom is raising awareness for people living with disabilities. tom is a local guy, grew up in takoma park and he graduated from the university of maryland. 6:26. still to come, we'll check in with all of the fools who are running with the bulls in spain. >> sounds a little editorial there. >> expect a lot of attention on maryland in november 2012.

voters will decide a controversial illegal immigration issue. >> before we head to break, quick check of traffic. angie? >> we're taking a look at u street and 13th. they still have part of the roadway blocked off as they respond to a fire at steve's liquor store. still ahead, a look at your district drive when 9news now returns. keep it here. what makes the sleep number store different?

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act. stronger teeth and fresher breath in every bottle. good morning. time now, 6:31 on your friday morning. i'm meteorologist anny hong. all right, mild and muggy out here to start your day. we've got some storms coming this way by the afternoon and evening hours. and we're concerned about some flooding. here is a look at your day planner for today. storms are possible by the noon hour. temperatures only in the mid- 80s because the cloud cover and i think it can impact definitely the evening commute for a lot of folks out there. we're concerned about flooding. that's why a flash flood watch is in effect from noon until today through late tonight for the entire d.c. metro area. we're concerned about some locally heavy rain because the downpours and also some damaging wind gusts. you can see the entire mid- atlantic is included in the risk for severe weather for this afternoon. your highs in the mid-80s. 84 in gaithersburg. 82 in winchester and

fredericksburg, 86 degrees. if you can, maybe even leave work early today or work from home, i would deaf do that. your evening plans -- i would definitely do that. here is a look at your traffic with angie. nothing too bad going on. we do have the yellow light on though because we're following some new crash activity out in fairfax station. we have hampton road closed off between henderson road and ox road. please use caution out that way. a wider view of the area reveals other place are checking out all right. we do want to moo it in a little bit closer into d.c. as promised. here's what district commuters have in store for them, especially if you were coming out of rosslyn traveling via the key bridge. live shot reveals still very nice and quiet. drivers making their way into georgetown on to m street. northeast d.c., a much different situation. inbound and outbound new york avenue looking pretty clear from the times building to

bladensburg road following early morning police activity. we're also checking on your rails and the train report reveals that metro, vre, marc, all lanes running on time. still ahead, we're taking a look across the region. that's coming up in a complete report at 6:46. now back to you. right now, part of u street northwest is closed because of a two alarm fire. >> surae chinn is there live. what do we know so far about this? >> a passerby noticed flames shooting from this building. it strikes down there. you can see the fire trucks and the fire personnel also dealing with this fire here at this business. there were actually several businesses inside this one structure. we had d.c. fire, spokesperson here to tell us what happened. >> well, when firefighters arrived on the scene literally, the firehouse a block away. they had heavy fire conditions and smoke. they called for a precautionary second alarm. this is a pretty large building. it is very long as you look from the u street. pretty significant fire in the first level which is the wine

store, upstairs is a dance studio, heavy damage. good thing is nobody was injured. nobody was in the building at the time but we did have about 75 firefighters out here. it was a second alarm. they made some pretty quick work of it. they were able to knock down the bulk of the fire. >> you guys were only a block away. >> all of our stations got here pretty quickly. we were here within moments but even so, when we arrived, we had heavy fire conditions. >> reporter: this is a popular area, popular business, the u street wine and beer. >> it is right in the middle of the u street corridor right at 114th and u. it is a popular area. u street is closed between 13th and 14th. as we start the morning rush hour. cause of the fire is under investigation but the good thing is nobody got hurt. >> thank you so much, pete with d.c. fire and ems. you guys will be here for quite awhile? >> we'll be here mopping up. >> they are just wrapping up, mopping up some of the fire

damage in these businesses and they'll hopefully open up u street shortly. back to you, mike, andrea. >> surae is live in northwest washington, bound to be a couple of -- >> u street in that area still closed right now. >> this morning, authorities will resume their investigation into a deadly crash on the beltway. >> that's because last night, between route 1 and new hampshire avenue, there was a major issue police say a man pulled over on the shoulder trying to change a flat tire. that's when another car came by and crashed right into him, pinning him between the two vehicles then to make matters worse, a third car came by and slammed into them. the man was killed and medics rushed four others to the hospital. >> well, the national safety council has on its web site, the most important thing to remember when you're dealing with a flat tire on the highway. do not stop traffic! get your car completely out of the roadway before you start changing the tire and only change the tire if you can do it without putting yourself in danger. call the police if you need help doing that. >> the northbound lanes of the baltimore parkway are open

after a deadly crash in laurel, maryland, there late last night. u.s. park police say one person was killed, three others were hurt. the car went off the road and down an embankment between routes 197 and 198. construction crews had the road closed until about 4:00 this morning. >> expect a brutal campaign in maryland leading up to next november's election. maryland voters will decide whether illegal immigrants living in the state can receive instate tuition at state schools. it was approved by lawmakers earlier this year. but opponents got enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot. both sides see it as an issue of fairness. we will be subsidizing the college tuition for someone who has no legal presence in the united states while there are 25,000 to 26,000 students that are put on the wait list or told there's no room at the inn at the university of maryland. >> this is about the kids who live in our neighborhood to go to church with your who have ties to maryland who are marylanders. and who are paying tacks.

a -- taxes. >> the law will remain on hold until it is decided by the referendum. >> jessica doyle is watching your money. >> she's looking at the impact, you know, the new warning labels on cigarettes. they have the pretty graphic pictures on them. >> in terms of the impact, the short answer is not much impact. >> really? >> absolutely. >> if you haven't seen the labels, the new labels are pretty gross. that's the whole point. you'll see rotting teeth, a corpse, a diseased lung among other images. you would think the images would be a turnoff to smokers but no. sales of cigarettes for the nation's top tobacco company sales aren't expected to go up in smoke any time soon. new projections show sales could drop 1% in 2013. the most typical smoke 15 cigarettes a day which will cost you $1500 a year. >> a few stats are leaking out about google's social networking site. it is called google plus.

apparently it is a boy's club. social statistics.com reports that 88% of google plus's trial users are male. google says that is baseless. early reviews are pretty good. i got an invite to join the trial period testing. i'll let you know what i think about it next week. no, it is not your imagination. those are back to school sales going up in stores already. some went up july 1st. analysts say back to school sales are getting earlier and earlier every year. our partners at "usa today" report that as of this week, you'll see back to school sales at toys "r" us, walgreens, walmart, staples and on sunday, office depot and target will join the party as well. >> in an unrelated story, august 1st, the christmas decorations come out. >> the clothing for school already in some of the stores. >> i'm not that spectacular of a planner. this is too early for me. >> you have your agenda now. you're ready. >> thanks, jess.

>> sure. today, day two, running of the bulls. producer dan's favorite activity this week. part of the festival in pamplona, spain. day one was yesterday. two people suffered minor injuries. no goring as we report just about every year. running and drinking lots of sangria will go on for eight days total. looks like fun to me. on the sidelines. >> time now, 6:39. anny hong says we could get slammed weatherwise this afternoon. she'll get a time line on what we can expect. >> northbound 395 past duke street, the regular slowdown, it is building. not unmanageable. angie's next timesaver traffic report is seven minutes away. >> here's what's on tv tonight... ú

weather first, time now as we come up on 6:44. ok, we have the potential for severe weather, potential at this point. for severe weather coming up this afternoon. afternoon commute is the issue. >> i think between 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. those are the critical hours where we can see the worst of the storms. so, looks like we're going to see some downpours at times. i don't think everyone will get downpours. it will be localized but we do need the rain. we might get too much too fast is the problem. heading throughout this morning and driving into work, no major problems. mostly cloudy. maybe an isolated shower. by 1:00, we'll see scattered showers and storms come through. because cloudy conditions, temperatures only warming up to the mid-80s late this afternoon. by 3:00 and 5:00, scattered storms out there. here is a look at the satellite and radar picture. quiet around the d.c. metro area. look out to the west. we've got some storms. that mess coming this way. by late this afternoon, early evening.

currently, temperatures around 77 in d.c. leesburg, 73. winchester, a little cooler at 68 degrees. yes, it is still muggy out there. storms are more numerous today compared to yesterday. the flash flood watch goes through all this afternoon and tonight. heavy, severe thunderstorms are possible. the heaviest, again being between 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. impacting the evening commute for some folks. now, the severe weather outlook does include the entire d.c. area and the mid-atlantic. main threats being damaging wind gusts also a possibility. power outages not out of the question. of course, the heavy rain. we had the flash flood watch in effect starting at noon today going through late tonight. the entire d.c. metro area. so, if you do come across flooding, here's what you should not do. never cross a flooded street by car or by foot. make sure you have flashlights and batteries also in case we're dealing with power outages once again today. here is a look at the future cast. throughout most of the day, may see some scattered showers and storms. cloudy out there. now, late this afternoon and

into the evening, gets a little more active. more numerous. it is not quite widespread according tho this system. by late tonight, i think a lot of us will had definitely get the taste for rain. slow -moving. 84 in gaithersburg. 82 in winchester. 86 degrees in fredericksburg. because of the cloudy conditions out there, it will limit how hot we get. saturday, some scattered showers are possible. otherwise, becoming partly cloudy and drying out upper 80s to low 90s. sun looking storm-free in the lower 90s. once we get through the storms, the humidity will get a break from that this weekend. here is a look at your traffic with angie. >> good morning, good friday to everybody. hope you're off to a great start. we're 14 minutes away from the 7:00 hour. we continue to follow a couple of times slowing our drivers

down. a live look out northwest d.c. this is where we have crews, heavy fire response, responding to the fire at steve's liquor store in northwest d.c. we got a live report from surae chinn a little bit earlier. looks like they're still blocking off the roadway. u street remains closed between 13th and 14th street. they continue to investigate and so you're definitely going to want to avoid the area here as you can tell. police out there directing traffic. >> let's move it to another situation. this is out in virginia actually. fairfax station to be particular. hampton road is closed between henderson and off road. no incidents to report out on 66. tracking the eastbound trip, still looking really good from 50 over to the beltway. we're seeing a good amount of volume as drivers make their way toward 495. stacking up here past seminary. the outer loop, north of the district, no incidents to

report. definitely using those brakes from 95 or actually new hampshire over to georgia that, delay is growing. still ahead, your top traffic stories of the morning. coming up around 6:58. over to you. we have a commuter alert. news for metro riders this weekend. track work time again. it will affect riders on the red, blue and yellow lines. let's start with the red line. starting at 9:30 tonight, trains will single track between the grosvenor and twinsburg stations as well as between takoma and forest glen. add 20 minutes to your travel time. then at 10:00 tonight, work begins on the blue line. trains will single track between stadium armory and addison. then on the blue and yellow lines, add 20 minutes between braddock road and huntington. all of this work will be done by monday morning. metro is showing off the look of its new train cars. check this out for yourself by visiting wusa9.com. delia gonsalves reports under

the local news tab. virginia congressman is leading the charge for a new museum near the national mall. he says it would tell the story of migration to the united states. it is called the national museum of the american people. go to l'enfant plaza. jim, a democrat, is getting support from tennessee democrat duncan. hear hoping the new museum could be open by 2015. it is 6:49. 77 degrees here in northwest washington. we have a check on the news before you go up next. >> indeed we do. first though, time to answer the question of the morning. there was a recent survey out that asked what most women thought was the most annoying thing about their husbands. the question -- the answers were was it... >> the answer is b, they leave underwear on the floor. >> how about that. >> over to anny. >> thanks, guys. here is your united airlines travel cast for this friday.

69 degrees. cloudy conditions. no problems with visibility. columbus, 78, chance of scattered showers. chicago o'hare, 85. in denver though, mile high city, scattered showers and storms possible. temperatures warming up into the mid and upper 80s. vegas is hot at 96. los angeles, 74 degrees. seattle, bring the umbrella. a little cooler today compared to yesterday. high near 67 degrees with showers and rain likely for this friday. that's your travel cast.

some big storms are possible later this afternoon. mostly cloudy, temperatures in the lower 80s. at noons, scattered showers and storms are possible. i think that evening commute could impact some folks out there with some big storms. andrea, back to you. thank you, anny. today is friday, july 8th. here is a look at the news before you go. d.c. firefighters are on the scene of a two alarm blaze in northwest. this is 13th and u street. we're told the fire began 90 minutes ago in a liquor store. so far, no reports of any injuries. >> the woman accused of killing her coworker inside the bethesda lululemon store goes before a judge today. brittany norwood, you see here charged with murder of jayna murray back in march. today is a pretrial hearing. so far, all systems are a

go for today's launch of the space shuttle "atlantis." but nasa still says there is a 70% chance weather could delay the launch. coming up next, angie will tell you the trouble spots to avoid in our commute. >> will today's storms leave a good weekend in their wake? anny hong looks ahead when 9news now returns.

at progressive, you can bundle your home and auto policies and save. don't worry, tiny people. flo is a gentle giant. bundle home and auto at progressive.com. >> one of the oldest tabloids in london shutting down after a major scandal there. >> exactly. this is rupert murdoch paper and you've been hearing about this where they hacked into the

phones and messages of people who were iraq war victims, a murder victim, a young murder victim and the despicable thing about that with the young murder victim, they went in and deleted messages from her cell phone, giving her family the false hope that she was still alive, that she was actually doing the deletions. >> the paper called news of the world has been around for a century. it is one of the most-read papers. amazing they'll shut the doors after the scandal because they're known for promoting scandals. >> there was an arrest made in this case. a person who was the spokesman for the current prime minister was arrested and the prime minister could be in trouble because he may have known something and turned a blind eye. >> weather time now, this afternoon, could be a big challenge for your commute, anny. >> here is a look at your seven- day forecast. today, the critical time for the biggest storms from 4:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. scattered showers and storms expected. flash flood watch in effect from noon until -- through this evening. temperatures only in the mids

because of the cloud cover. the weekend, we get a break from the humidity. we'll get a break from the storms as well. angie, how are the roads looking? >> still got problems out in northwest d.c. u street remains closed between 13th and 4th street. it looks like the traffic is getting by. as drivers make their way past the scene of a two alarm fire at steve's liquor store. let's move it over to a report of an accident on eastbound route 50. this is near 705. traffic is moving smoothly. beltway in virginia, slow on the fripp braddock road up to gallows while the outer loop is slow from the toll road over to tysons. >> as for wall street, we're holding steady. we're waiting on the jobs data that will be due out. >> "the early show" is next. erica hill is live at the space center for the launch of atlantis. >> i'm back with anny in 25 minutes for your live update on your news and weather. >> get your news and weather by going to wusa9.com. >> have a