mike has the day off. thankfully he can't hear us. i'm jessica doyle, monika will be back with timesaver traffic. howard bernstein is here and of course he has our weather first. >> sitting here quietly. a little damp out here this morning. with drizzle and sprinkles and a little fog. the mugginess is still here. i know it is october, almost. saturday. but not yet. feels very much like early september. temperature still 71 degrees, cloudy sky. by noon mid-70s. by 5:00 upper 70s, and probably you won't need the umbrella today. better chance you are going to need it late tonight and especially tuesday as a bigger area of rain moves this way. rain southwest to northeast. right now pretty quiet. little tiny speck of green here

north of mount erie. culpepper, orange, toward fredericksburg, parts of calvert county. upper 70s to low 80s. monika? >> a live look on 66. good morning, everybody. that is because there was an accident on the inbound side of i 66 on the ramp to the inner loop for the beltway. i have the wrong camera up. 66 on the inbound side. watch out for the accident that has caused some delays there. we are going to take you over to the map and zoom in to the north side of town. if you are planning toward university boulevard, no problems on the beltway over to university. an accident southbound on georgia avenue right here on route 108. they are only letting the right lane get by. southbound side of georgia avenue at route 108. coming up in my next report, i will update you on the accident

on 66 and back to you guys. at the top of the hour, let's get to some of the stories happening today. the den that the will vet on a temporary funding measure. it rejected a bill friday. if no stopgap measure is voted on by friday, it could put millions of government workers on furlough. local leaders will be at the meeting at 6:30 at harbor view. the redskins are in dallas for the first meeting of the season with the cowboys. kickoff is tonight at 83:00. the skins won their last monday night football meeting with the cowboys back in 2005. also today an update on the washington monument. it has been closed since the earthquake last month. it might not reopen for quite awhile. surae chinn is live with a

preview of what is happening today. >> reporter: good morning, it is hard to imagine the washington monument has been closed for this long. we have to prepare ourselves that it could be closed a lot longer and that is because, of course, of all the damage sustained to the washington monument. a lot of it and the most of the concern is at the top, where you see the red flashing lights there. there were several four foot cracks at the top near the pyramid area. that has been the problem. hopefully we'll find out much more later on today, on the condition and what the repairs will take to fix this beautiful landmark. last month's 5.8 earthquake caused significant damage to the monument. and we found out much more damage after hurricane irene. the walls are 15 inches thick at the base and at the top of it, it is more like 18 inches. you can see right through to the sky, because mortar was, came

off the monument and that is exactly what many people are afraid of. the national parks service architect tony donald said we might be prepared, because there could be much more damage sustained. >> reporter: there always could be micro fractures within the stone itself and it is not necessarily of immediate concern, other than it tells us that we have got to do additional patching. >> later on this afternoon, the press conference is set for 2:30 today. engineers will tell us exactly what we are dealing with a monument. what types of repairs how long it will take and how much it will cost and finally, when the monument could finally be open again. jessica? >> surae chinn live along the national mall this morning. the national cathedral is also closed after the quake.

the cathedral is also taking donations to rebuild the damaged spires. we have breaking news from afghanistan. one american is dead in an attack on a cia office at the american embassy. it happened overnight. an afghan worker at the embassy was shot and killed. american was taken out by security forces. it is the third attack on americans in kabul in the last two weeks. authorities have not released the name of the american who was killed. lawyers for a northern virginia woman accused of killing her granddaughter will say the woman is mentally ill and cannot be held responsible. her trial guinness begins today. this was a story that shocked our region last november. police say car mel la de la rosa threw her two-year-old

granddaughter over the side. the girl was killed. the woman has lived with depression for more then a decade. in just a few hours the trial of maryland senator curry gets underway. the democrat is facing bribery charges. he is accused of taking in nearly a quarter million dollars of bribes and making false statements to the fbi. curry denies any wrongdoing. in an interview, president obama was asked what he wished he knew two years ago that he knows now in regards to the economy. here was his response. >> depth of the economic crisis worldwide was something that was glimmering on the horizon, but i don't think we fully appreciated t overall when i look back over

the last years, the decisions we made were the right decisions. >> the president is in california today and will take part in an online town hall meeting. then he has events in san diego and hollywood. in the race for the republican presidential nomination. good news for mitt romney. the former massachusetts governor won sunday's straw poll in michigan. rick perry came in a distant second with 17%. two americans held in ries in iran are back home and sharing their story. in two minutes we'll hear

more from the hikers kept in prison in iran for over two years.

it is damp out there. drizzle overnight. we may see an isolated shower or two. temperatures in the mid-70s this afternoon. upper 70s might get to the low 80s if we can get enough sunshine. right now a high near 80 degrees. in four minutes we'll look at

the 7-day forecast. right now, here's monica -- here's monika. >> reporter: no problems here at arlington boulevard, route 50. i'll have more on that and an accident in maryland at 6:18. back to you guys. today the united nations will take up palestine's request to be officially recognized as an independent state. it is one of the stories making news at 6:11. palestinian leaders formally submitted a request friday. the united states, a permanent member on the council, has threatened to use its veto to block recognition. putin is running for presidentch russia again. he was forced out by term limits three years ago and took over as prime minister. under new laws, he could serve

as president until 2024. the trial of dr. conrad murray begins today. murray is accused of involuntary manslaughter for, giving jackson a fatal dose of drugs. two americans accused of being spies in iran are back in the united states this morning. shane bauer and josh fattal were behind bars for two years. >> reporter: the hikers held prisoner in iran after apparently crossing the iranian border in 2009 are back together on united states soil. speaking sunday they called iranian officials liars for calling them spies. >> we lived in a world of lies and false hope. the only reason we have been held hostage is because we are american. >> no evidence was ever presented against us. that is because there is no evidence and because we are

completely innocent. >> shane bauer and josh fattal were finally freed last week. now engaged to bauer, she says a huge burden is lifted off their chests. >> we all saw shane and josh run down those stairs. they were ready and so eager to reenter the world. >> one waits for this day so long, i could be have asked for anything better. we are taking this minute by minute, day by day. we all have a new bag and it is going to take time for all of us to get back into life again. >> reporter: i'm rick vincent for 9 news now. the two men were allowed only 15 minutes of 2007 calls with their families throughout the entire ordeal and they staged a hunger strike to be allowed to read letters mailed to them from the united states what a long story. >> absolutely. it is probably going to be a

made for tv movie shortly. coming up on 6:14, howard is here. he has your back to work week forecast. >> it starts warm and muggy, and will finish much, much cooler here. the terrapins are home again. >> put the ugly uniforms back on. >> weatherwise, we do start off this morning, i'm on the wrong day planner here. so, i have to advance the computer to the right spot. temperatures in the 70s this morning and 60s, with a spritz here and there, some patchy fog south. sunrise not until 6:59. our day planner, the right one. 72 at 9:00. mostly cloudy skies through midday. temperatures slow to rise into the mid-70s here by 1:00. this afternoon upper 70s, low 80s with enough sunshine. we can't rule out an isolated shower here or there. like we have seen this morning

drizzle, fog down south. not much on the radar. andrews 72. fairfax 69 degrees. 70 for springfield, 68 in gaithersburg and here in washington this morning 71. muggy. humidity at 90%. without much wind that is one of the reasons we have fog. some of the visibility to a half mile. look at the chill coming in from northern minnesota. chicago in the 50s, nashville in the 60s. there is a storm system spinning here. on the back side here comes the cold. on the front side, warmth. a lot of shower and thunderstorm activity through chicago and detroit, back toward lexington. this whole area of low pressure moves toward us tomorrow, so that by late tonight and wednesday, that is when our rain

chances are going up. 79 degrees, tomorrow a better chance for showers. maybe a rumble of thunder. 77 for the low. wednesday again may see a shower. a look at the rest of the 7-day forecast. friday only 6. saturday that is not a typo. temperatures barely get toward the 60-degree mark. monika? >> i have the yellow lit, howard. we have several incidents to tell you about. look at the beltway and zoom in on the north side of the beltway, taking a live look where authorities have been on the scene of the accident. southbound georgia avenue at route 108 is where the accident is. the right side of the roadway is where you need to stick to, to get by it. looking back at the maps, this time we sac zoom into 66. to the beltway let's look here at route 28. it is slowing down because of an accident on the shoulder. let's look at the next camera

closer to the beltway on the inbound 66. slow traffic from gallows road heading over to the beltway where the accident was on the inner ramp. and left all this snow traffic for you. should be cleared now. we'll look at your travel times, coming in from 7100 to the beltway. the beltway north of town 95 to 270 is two minutes. 25, 7 minutes right now. i'll update you on all the incidents again at 6:25. back to you guys. monika, at 6:17, i'm watching your money. we have already heard spending may be down compared to last holiday season. joining us via skype this morning is john challenger. he joins us from chicago. john, thanks so much for joining us this morning. when we say not so jolly, let's talk about the hiring picture.

what is it looking like? >> last year we saw just over 627,000 workers hired by retailers for the holiday push. this year we are expecting about the same. august retail sales were the weakest report in sometime. many retailers look at consumer confidence number, which are also down, are being very cautious about their hiring expectations. >> john, i'm trying to be an optimist here. let's say the consumer spending starts ticking up here. nine weeks away. could these expectations for hiring change? could companies decide to pick up a few more workers? >> sure. retailers are waiting to see what happens. they will have two sets of workers. core workers, some of the hiring is beginning now. and then they'll hire a

flexible work force, those people so they can call them if the stores get busy. >> john, looking at the overall hiring picture, some companies are sitting on massive amounts of cash. a lot of people look at that situation and say why are they not hiring? what is the reason for that? >> well a number of reasons. a lot of that cash is overseas and they can't bring that cash back without tax consequences. many are just cautious. they are worried that the economy just doesn't lack that good and to go out and invest say open up a new operation where they might hire people out in front of the actual demand from their customers is too risky a decision given where things stand. >> thanks so much for joining thus morning. john challenger of challenger gray and christmas. it is 6:19. next in sports the nationals wrap-up their final home game of the season and send a packed

house away happy. >> reporter: lots of smiles. right now it is time for our question of the morning. 14% of us admit to doing this, speeding, parking in a handicapped spot or not paying a parking meter. >> our facebook friend james says we have all driven above the speed limit, the handicapped spot takers must be it. keep those guess and comments coming on our facebook page. we'll answer the question at 6:48.

6:23. a lot of humidity out there this morning. with that humidity we have got some fog, especially south of washington. look at the visibility. visibility down to three quarters of a mile in

fredericksburg. in the mountains, down to three quarters. patchy fog mainly south. an isolated shower, high temperatures upper 70s maybe even cracking 80. howard this morning the nationals's magic number is one. to secure third place in the nl east. >> that would be their highest finish in the standing since finishing second in 2002. the nats played their final home game of the season yesterday taking on the braves. >> at the plate, michael morris put an exclamation point on his great season. he smashed a two run homer in the seventh. it was his 29th of the season. nats blanked the braves 3-0. they won 44 games at home this season, the most since moving to dc. as expected the nationals will be counting the number of

innings thrown by screen strasbourg next year. he is recovering from surgery this season he is 0-1 with 14 strikeouts and 18 innings. nascar is getting into the heart of the chase for the cup. this morning tony stewart is in the lead. he won yesterday's sylvania 300 in new hampshire. he passed by clint bowyer when he ran out of gas. now to college football and a check on the usa today coach's poll. oklahoma remains at number one. lsu second, alabama falls to third. stanford and boise state, virginia tech is at ten and west virginia fell to 23rd. we get a preview of tonight's big football game. the redskins are in dallas to take on the cowboys. up next, using your cell

phone on metro, learn how many underground stations finally have service. right now monica has a quick check -- monika has a quick check on traffic. six minutes to georgia avenue. an accident on georgia avenue at route 108. i will up date on you that and other incidents in the area. you are watching 9news now. we will be right back. [ speaking french ] [ speaking french ] movie buffs! this film is tres bien, but the interest rate on your checking account is le pew. interest on your checking? earn more with new high yield free checking at capital one bank. your interest rate will be five times the national average.

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feed me! saving you money -- now, that's progressive. call or click today. we are back, and it is 6:30 this monday morning. this is the place you always get your weather first. here's a live look at the capital under cloudy skies. a beautiful shot of the dome. 71 humid degrees out there right now. nice way to start your monday morning. thanks for start your day with us. i'm jessica doyle. mike is off this morning. our weather forecast feels more like summer than fall, howard? >> reporter: high humidity. temperatures 70 or better. here we have the end of september the last monday in september. our fortunes are going to change. much cooler by the weekend. a muggy day. some sun here and there. maybe low 80s down south. also a spotty shower can't be

ruled out and still dark. sunrise until 65:00. overnight a couple of springles here and there and drizzle. for the most part quiet, radar not picking up anything on live doppler hd. here are temperatures from the lower 60s, petersburg right now 71. upper 70s to a couple of spots with the sun could make the lower 80s. monika santani, how is it going? >> reporter: busy, especially in maryland. good morning, everybody. i have got the yellow light. that is because we have a couple of incidents to tell you about. the beltway is doing fine. you got the normal slow traffic into silver spring. on georgia avenue at route 108, up to watch out for the accident clean up. two to three vehicles involved. it should still take a few minutes before they can clear that up. let's take a live look at 270. over at route 80, an accident

sitting on the shoulder. then you have volume from gaithersburg, and back to southern maryland. no problems on route 4, route 5, route 301. if you are planning to held over to the beltway at branch avenue you should be okay. no problems as you head south toward the wilson bridge. no problems in alexandria right now. i want to tell you guys something. metro is giving an update on its promise to let you talk on your phone while you are underground. 20 of the busiest underground stations guys, now provide steady signals on major wireless carriers. but that also means that 27 of them do not have reliable service. they have promised that work would have been done by last october and now they are aiming for october 2012. so less annoying people on the phone while you are standing there listening to their personal conversations. but if you need to use the phone, it is going to take

awhile long sneer nice you might have a chance of getting a signal. >> that's right. all right monika, thank you. a government shutdown is looming. millions of dollars to help victims of natural disasters is sticking point this time. republicans want spending cuts to offset the extra funds. >> i believe it is mostly centered in the house in terms of some of these tea party republicans, who say on every issue, we are going to make this a make or break. >> government funds could dry none weekend if congress doesn't reach a deal soon. fema could go broke as early as tomorrow. it has been over a month since a 5.8 magnitude quake shook our region. the washington monument could remain closed for quite sometime. >> surae chinn is live with more. >> reporter: good morning,

folks have not been able to get inside the washington monument for weeks now and to see that beautiful, terrific view of the nation's capital, and we all know why, it is because of the 5.8 earthquake last month and hurricane irene really showed even more significant damage to the structure. we also found out that there are several four foot cracks in the top of moneyment, where you see the red, flashing rates up there that is where a lot of the concentration where engineers have been looking at every inch of the monday. the structural engineers have been examining inside and outside if weeks now. we can imagine it is an extensive process to this 555-foot, 127-year-old monday. a national spokesperson said mortar popped out where you could see sunlight pour in.

they need to speed up the process of repairing the structure. because winter will soon be arriving. if it is expanding and contracting, and snow is coming in, that is something you really don't want to see happen. they always winterize the monday. with winter coming and all types of weather happening that could really complicate the process. but today we should be finding out much more from engineers, how much it will cost, what types of repairs and when this monument will finally be open again. thank you surae. the town of culpepper has waived building and zoning fees and is fast tracking permits to demolish buildings. the historic downtown area was hit hard by the quake. some 200-year-old buildings may need to be destroyed.

friends remembered depollen last night. much was made of his love for shakespeare. the 35 yelled was openly gay and sometimes dressed in women's clothing, as he did the night he was murdered. members of the gay, lesbian and transgender community are worried he might have been targeted because of his sexual orientation. all of the attacks, including the one on ga pollen, have gone unresolved. commuters can expect a smooth line through the metro lynn. trains were held up 25 minutes in both directions last night. a spokesperson said water from union station apparently caused the sparks and smoke. the situation was brought under control by 8:00 p.m. no 6:36,

i'm watching your money. for the first time in more than 30 years salaries in the dc area are not keeping pace with inflation. a study out today finds paychecks just a fraction of a per senate last year. compare that to a rate of inflation that is 4. 1%. usually dc's work force stays ahead of the curve, but that is not the case for the first time since 1979. only 45% of noninterest bank checking accounts are free. bank rate.com says that is down from 65% a year ago and 76% two years ago. the average identify is up 75%. banks are adding the fees to cover the costs of new federal

regulations. maybe you received a chain e-mail saying facebook is going to start charging. the social networking site a's no, it is going to stay a free site. i saw this everywhere this weekend. >> exactly. but not true. free. free. starbucks employee is out of a job, all because of the video he put on youtube. >> in it, chris the star rants about couples. >> hello rich white lady. you want a skinny vanilla lattes. just in case you are wondering, i just called you fat. >> the two minute isn't was written by the 25-year-old from california. it includes foul words as well. it has picked up 50,000 hits on youtube. one of them was a manager or boss and chris got fired.

no comment from starbucks. chris, don't quit your day job. but you got require and he was just wearing that apron, too, when he did that. 6:38. howard says we could see a shower or two later today with highs in the upper 70s. up next, learn which day this week will be a real washout. here's a live look at 395 northbound. cars are slowing down and congestion is building. monika's next timesaver traffic report is just minutes away. tonight is the season premiere of mike and molly. tonight at 9:30 here on channel 9.

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not quite winter weather time, but just wait. howard has that in his forecast. >> reporter: there will be areas, potentially by maybe oh, saturday night, western maryland, i bet we are talking frost. >> oh wow. i'm not ready. >> reporter: it is going to be that much colder here by the went. saturday's temperatures may not get out of the 50s in the area. today is not saturday. it is monday. that means warm, muggy. a threat for a shower or two. here is your moms like me bus stop forecast. damp down south and east of us. we have areas of fog this morning. mid-60s to low 70s. sun comes none 15 minutes. we won't see too much of it today. mostly cloudy skies. could see sunny breaks. spotty showers here or there. winds out of the south. really it is quiet. clouds around not much in the way of rainfall.

as far as the weather headlines, muggy today. isolated showers. numerous showers and storms late tonight into tuesday. really going to feel like fall the first couple of days of october. upper 60s and low 70s. a few low 60s in places here in washington a muggy 7 1 degrees. cloudy skies. calm winds, dew points in the upper 60s. much more indicative of early september. not late accept. we are starting to cool down behind this storm system, which is bringing in the storm system to minnesota and iowa. tornado watch box this morning. severe weather out across parts of the tennessee valley. for us that storm system gets closer to tomorrow. today without much of a trigger, i don't expect too much in the way of showers. however we'll look at the futurecast, isolated stuff for your midday, again this

afternoon, isolated showers. moisture out to the west. the forecast today, 79, isolated shower. tomorrow 77 with lots in the way of showers, possible thunder. wednesday 82. can't rule out a late shower wednesday and then we start to clear out and really cool down by the weekend. here's monika. >> reporter: i have the yellow light up. because we have several since dents to tell you about. we'll start out with a look at the beltway. zoom in first of all to the south side of town. it is slowing down, let's take a live look right now. if you are planning to head out of quantico, an accident blocks the left lane. two vehicles are involved, virginia state police are on the scene. 395 is incident industry up to the 14th street bridge. this time we are going to zoom into the north side. it is slow in silver spring. >> randolph road, normal slow traffic right now. there was a pedestrian struck

in the intersection taken to the hospital with the lanes now open. georgia avenue at route 108. watch out for that conning accident clean up. now over to your travel times inbound of i-76 6 -- of i 66. beltway north of town 95 north of 27018 minutes and 295 leading to the 11th street bridge. coming up a look at all your big problems at 6:58. are you ready for some football? the redskins and cowboys meetton in dallas. >> the cowboys have a lot of injuries piling up. dave owens has a look at what's at stake. >> reporter: the stakes are always high. this time, it is massive. little bit more adrenaline, excitement. it is monday night football. >> if you can believe it, there is more to it this time.

the preseason favorite has already been steamrolled twice and its leader has a broken hand. the cowboys and redskins are about to fight for the out right lead. deangelo hall added a few fighting words. >> no secret about that. a lot of fights after the whistle, a lot of deepwaterring going on. >> reporter: a redskins win would mean the first 3-0 start in dc since 2005. maybe more important a 2-0 division record. the cowboys and redskins have met 14 times on monday night. santana moss went bananas in the final four minutes to help reel in a 14-13 win. kind of something a little more extra for you to come out. you never know what it is. it just happened. speaking of stages, it done

get much bigger. literally, jerry's world has the standing room capability of holding 100,000 plus. perfect setting for one of the league's premiere rival ries. if you can't get up for games like this, you shouldn't be in this profession. that was dave owens reporting. dave is in dallas. time right now 6:49. it is time to answer our question of the morning. 14% of americans admit doing this one thing while behind the wheel. even though they need it is illegal. paying to pay a parking meter, the answer is parking in a handicapped spot. somewhere a ticket runs upward of 500 bucks. this was the overwhelming choice of people who played with this on facebook. a check of the news on the go is up next.

71 muggy degrees. mostly cloudy skies. temperatures upper 70s. maybe even tracking the 80-degree mark. jessica and andrea, over to you. >> here's a check on the news before you go. the national parks service will give an update on the national monument. some reports say it could be closed until next year. the woman accused of throwing her granddaughter after a parkway at tyson's center goes to court today. police say carmen de la rosa threw the girl last year. the three day walk for the cure raised an estimated $7 million in washington.

2500 participants walked 20 miles a day over the past three days. 60 total. the journey to raise money for breast cancer research began friday at nationals park and concluded on the mall sunday. the early show begins in just 7 minutes. right now erica hill tells us what is coming up. >> reporter: good morning, just ahead on "the early show," more parents are now choosing to have their babies at home. how safe is a home birth? dr. jennifer ashton is here with important tips, everything you'll need to know. you'll also meet a mom from the dc area who had a home delivery and is happy they did it. amanda knox was convicted of murder in italy, but this week could provide new evidence and testimony that may set her free. we'll update you on the case and introduce you to a math major from ucla who decided to go to libya and view the revolution

firsthand. why? ahead on "the early show." we have one more traffic and weather check when 9news now returns. ♪

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♪ la la-la-la-la la la la your home and auto policies and save. don't worry, tiny people. flo is a gentle giant. bundle home and auto at progressive.com. i don't know how you feel about it but self scanners at the checkout counter, the ones you go in and swipe everything yourself, some of those might be going away. absolutely. some people say it is just the self service lines, the delays in the lines over customer confusion, and finding out which vegetable it is to punch in

have just wasted time. >> some people just don't like it. but some stores they are going to keep it around because of a choice. i like those handheld scanners. even with your kids, especially, it is a lot more fun and they get involved. >> they say eventually the technology is the real reason why they are going away. doing the work. 79 today, tomorrow much wetter 77. the end of the week finishes much, much cooler, monika? >> >> reporter: one shot here on northbound 95. "the early show" is next, more on president obama's campaign push. the etiquette of texting. don't forget anywhere anytime get your news weather and traffic wusa.com. we are going to see