highs. i've got -- this is what i wanted to show you. 65 now with light rain. 68 by noon. 71 at 5:00. scattered showers and storms. let's show you the big picture with the moisture continuing to flow southwest to northeast. while there is not much around this morning, delaware is quiet. west virginia is quiet. south of town. right over us here west of 95, this is where we're seeing the showers and thunderstorms and some of these are getting to be on the hefty side. there are no severe warnings out but it is a pretty good storm just coming out of northern virginia out of fairfax county. really out of mclean right along the potomac headed toward potomac maryland, rockville, up toward seneca. we'll zoom in and show you that prince george's county, anne arundel, all quiet right now. look at this guy coming here from around mclean to potomac, maryland, headed toward rockville. this will be crossing 270 in the next 20 minutes or so. there could be a little small hail with this. this goes down south and west with rain into parts of prince william and fauquier counties.

a little thunder and lightning there south of folksville and a few showers west of fredericksburg that continue to move north and east. monika? >> if you're planning to head out early this morning, although volumes are light with the wet road conditions, we do have some issues. be aware of that. that's why i've given it the yellow light. no big deals again just take it easy. nice and slow out there. here's what it looks like on the beltway if you're planning to head over to virginia, the maps aren't going to move for me. let's go over to a live picture over on to 395 and 95, here's what it looks like in springfield. no problems as you head up toward the 14th street bridge. you'll be ok into downtown. let's head over to the next live picture of 66 on traffic land. no problems here as you head in from manassas, centreville toward the roosevelt bridge. right now, everything is looking clear. as you're planning to ride trains this morning, i just checked everything out. good to go on metro, vre and marc.

coming up, we'll take a look into maryland. back to you, surae and andrea. >> thank you, monika. we start this hour with the latest on breaking news from overnight. montgomery county police not only have a homicide but an amber alert on their hands. >> police found a woman's body in germantown then discovered her 11-year-old son was missing. 9news now reporter kristin fisher is live at the crime scene with details. good morning, kristin. >> such a horrible story. a mother found murdered. likely in her own home. her son is now missing. now, the woman that was killed, we believe her name is 51-year- old jane mcquain. this started around 2:00 yesterday afternoon when one of her friends called police saying he didn't see her in awhile. they showed up at the seminole knoll apartment house. they found her body in her bedroom. no idea yet exactly how she

died. there was obvious significant trauma to her body. now, her 11-year-old boy is now missing and an amber alert has been issued and he is such a cutie. let's take a look at him right now. his name, william mcquain, 11 years old. light skin. he's a black male, five feet tall, 85 pounds. he was last seen at his home on september 30th. that's 12 days ago! i asked captain paul starks of the montgomery county police department about why it has been so long since anybody has seen him. take a listen. >> we're trying to reach out to other people to see if they've seen him since then and again, this investigation is still very fresh because trying to get information overnight is a real challenge. we hope to be able to contact more people during the daytime hours today and find out more details. >> now, those new details, new leads, may come in the form of

jane mcquain's, the mother's missing car. a black 2011 honda crv with maryland tags 5ag9405. if you see this car or if you see her little boy, william mcquain, call 911 or montgomery county crimestoppers at 1-866- 411-tips. homicide detectives have been on the scene since around 10:00 yesterday evening. it has been going throughout the night. the big questions now, any suspects. any motives. as of now, montgomery county police are now giving any information as to what a motive might be. so, we'll be sticking around here throughout the morning and we should have a live interview with montgomery county captain paul starks coming up at 5:30. back to you, surae and andrea. >> kristin, you just showed a look out for this car. any idea who may be the owner of the car and who might be

with him. >> no idea at this point. you know, one thing that captain paul starks pointed out to me is it is tough to conduct this type of investigation overnight when a lot of people are asleep. they're hoping once the sun rises and it becomes a more reasonable hour, they're able to make contact with some of jane mcquain's friends and get more details as to who may have wanted to kill her. >> kristin fisher reporting live from seneca knolls. >> congress wants the country's top lawmaker to answer more questions about what's been dubbed operation fast and furious. the house oversight and government reform committee has subpoenaed attorney general eric holder and other justice department officials. the lawmakers are asking for holder and the others to supply any records they have about the operation. federal agents allowed guns to be sold to drug cartels in mexico but lost track of the weapons. some of those guns have since shown up at crime scenes including being used in the murder of a border patrol agent. at naval station norfolk, a

somber memorial. the names of the 17 sailors killed in the bombing of the u.s.s. cole were read aloud on the 11th anniversary of the attack. some of the 40 sailors wounded that day were on hand, along with relatives of those who did not survive. the man accused of carrying out that attack in yemen is finally set for arraignment next month at guantanamo. the so-called underwear bomber stunned a federal courtroom in detroit when he entered a surprise guilty plea on all counts. 25-year-old farouk abdul mutallab read a letter of confession admitting he tried to blow up a jetliner christmas day 2009. his letter ended with a threat. he said the u.s. will eventually pay for what it has done. 5:06 is your time right now. your latest money report of the morning is here. >> jessica doyle is here with today's headlines. good morning. good day yesterday.

>> absolutely. good couple of days on wall street. really liking this week so far for investors. new efforts to turn europe's financial crisis around have paid off with stocks on track for the best weekly gain in three months. as for today, the big economic report will be a check on weekly jobless claims. checking the numbers, the dow standing this morning at 11,518, rose 102 points in trading yesterday. was up by better than almost 200 points at one point in the session. the nasdaq was up by 21 points and the s&p 500 was better by 11. virginia's financial picture is looking pretty decent. monthly revenues for september actually increased nearly 4% over the same time last year. the first quarter of the commonwealth's fiscal year now complete, general tax collections have grown by 6.7%. that's nearly double targets but not always perfect for the unemployment rate crept up slightly in august. speaking of revenue, warren buffett is going into specifics

about his cash. the billionaire investor revealed how much money he made last year. get this. $62,855,000. now, buffett disclosed the amount in a letter to republican congressman tim's camp of kansas who is spireing for his tax. >> nearly $63 million. >> nice chunk of cash. >> not bad. what do you have for us in the next half hour? >> whether or not this baby is working this morning, we're talking about the blackberry outage in the next 30 minutes. >> we're all hoping. >> because you have yours. >> i do, too. we all work on the same system. >> all righty. >> a deadly shooting at a hair salon may have stemmed from a troubled relationship. that story is coming up. >> plus, already sagging from hurricane irene, now the leaves in new england are letting tourists down. we'll be right back. >> also ahead in sports, the

redskins know a wounded bird can be a dangerous bird when it comes to playing the eagles. they do that this weekend. we'll have more.

5:10. watching a strong thunderstorm across rockville at the moment moving northeast at about 25 miles per hour. you can see all of the reds on this, live doppler 9000 hd. containing rainfall rates potentially two inches per hour so we've got scattered showers and storms this morning. we'll have a few at times today. another seasonal day with highs in the upper 60s to low 70s. monika? >> we'll take a look at a map right now. over in virginia, westbound on

route 50 at the beltway. where authorities are just responding to reports of an accident on the beltway itself. you should be ok. into annandale. no problems on 66 coming in from centreville. we'll talk about all of the rain up in rockville. back to you, andrea? >> making news now at 5:11, eight people are dead after a shooting at a southern california hair salon. police stopped the suspect about a half-mile away and took him into custody. friends of the salon owner say the gunman is the ex-husband of one of the stylists who worked there. >> an outbreak of listeria is linked to 23 deaths making it the deadliest known outbreak of food-borne illness in more than 25 years. the cdc says wednesday that 116 people have been sickened in the cantaloupe outbreak while the tainted cantaloupes were recalled, there could be more illnesses since symptoms can take up to two months to appear. >> it is the middle of leaf

peeping season but some visitors are coming away disappointed. wet weather in the spring set off fungus problems in leaves which could be causing the muted colors. however, tourists can find the occasional sweet spot with color. >> the leaves are changing here in our area. and howard says that we can put up with one more day of rain, we can enjoy the fall foliage in our area this weekend. his seven-day forecast is coming up at 5:15. >> we can hold on to that. >> capitals star alexander ovechkin talks about his slow start this season. the latest on the global blackberry outage that's now affecting users in north america. (announcer) icy hot patches. targeted no-mess relief. icy to dull pain. hot to relax it away. pain's no match for the icy hot patch.

good morning. welcome back to 9news now. it is 5:15. it is still raining outside and heavy in some spots. howard says don't forget the umbrella. >> it is not raining hard. you probably get some drizzle or fog. in sperryville, a lot of drizzle and rain. three and a half inches so far for this storm. national has had about half an inch. .85 from newland down in the northern neck. good for scott. they've had a dry summer. they make up for it. let's get you started with the bus stop forecast. showers, drizzle, fog, even a

little lightning and thunder going on in a couple of spots. temperatures running anywhere from the upper 50s to the upper 60s. sunrise not until 7:15. here's our day planner. mid-60s, upper 60s by noon. winds east to southeast at 5 to 10 miles per hour. not as brisk as yesterday. by 4:00 a.m., still a threat for a shower or storm. that threat will be with us and the scattering of showers and storms. by 8:00 p.m., a couple of showers or storms around. temperatures back in the upper 60s. we've been watching showers and storms on and off since yesterday. somewhat of a lull overnight. this morning, you can see what's happening northwest and west of washington and southwest of washington. the showers and storms are lining up. live doppler 9000 hd, that's exactly where we're finding them. we're going to go into rockville. this is the strongest thing we're looking at. this is a thunderstorm. torrential downpours. 270 from around montrose, up to around shady grove tracking toward olney headed out toward

shady grove metro. you will be delayed and wet if you're not prepared for that. head toward clarksville in howard county probably in the next 30 to 40 minutes with showers in bethesda. still heavier downpours between reston and vienna there in fairfax county. also to the south and west, we'll take you west of manassas down around knocksville and catlet. west of fredericksburg west of wilderness and down here east of thornburg, we have a few showers tracking up through dahlgren here in the next 30 to 40 minutes. otherwise, the other thing i have to tell you about the coastal flood advisory and warnings, the darker green would be the advisories here toward annapolis, highs running a foot and a half above normal. here in town, a coastal flood warning around alexandria and falls church and the potomac. some highs could be running two and a half feet above normal. temps in the 60s here. 70 right now at the tappahannock airport. the scattered showers and storms with us today, tonight,

even into friday. we'll be down again in the low 60s tonight. low 70s on friday. the weekend, we clear out. mid-60s saturday. sunday looks real nice for lots of things going on, low 70s. by monday, still ok. temperature of 75. monika samtani stepping in. we've got a pretty hefty storm going on in rockville. >> we sure do. i've got the yellow light up because of it. if you're planning to head out the door and on to 270, i want to warn with you the rains, you've already got quite a bit of volume there as well. so, take it easy if you're heading out right now. let's take a live look at 270 at falls road and i'm i'll show you what i'm talking about. heading southbound through this area with the rains coming through from rockville up into gaithersburg. be aware of that. getting word of an accident on the outer loop of the beltway at old georgetown road. emergency crews responding to that as we speak. i'll keep you posted. let's go back out to the maps. this time, we'll zoom into the

bw parkway and route 50. inside the beltway, no problems through cheverly through new york avenue and in toward the northeast area. live look at 95 at route 198 in the laurel area. we're looking good down to the beltway. a quick look at the trains, metro, vre and marc, everything is running on time. in my next report, a look into virginia. andrea, back to you. thank you, monica. there is a brand new 21st century replacement for a 54- year-old store in bethesda. i had the pleasure of emceeing last night's grand reopening celebration for the safe way grocery store at 5000 bradley boulevard. last year, safe way tore down the building from 1956 and rebuilt on the same site. in addition to the food sampling displays, the store also had artwork up for auction with the proceeds going toward breast cancer awareness month. and several special guests were on hand including dr. samar, the head of breast cancer research at the johns hopkins cancer center. the theme of the evening was the art of bethesda.

even the food was artfully displayed. it will be a green building as well. this is from the old store glass. take a look at this. isn't this beautiful? this is the old glass from that 19576 store, crushed down and made into these beautiful art pieces. this was a thank you gift from safeway. this was created by irwin timbers of washington glass works. when you go to the store, you'll see windows filled with some of the glasses. >> it is gorgeous. >> lots of good food on hand last night. >> probably really convenient for catering. >> it sure was. i wish they had the registers open. we could have done our shopping. >> they're only a quarter of the way through the season but next year's redskins schedule is already out. >> the redskins know the eagles 1-4 record doesn't mean sunday's game will be an easy one. >> let's take a look at the question of the morning. >> it is, according to a new poll, what's expected to be the most popularity celebrity

themed costume this halloween? is it lady gaga, charlie sheen or amy winehouse. here is a look at a response you posted on the facebook.com/wusa9 page. matthew keys wrote b, charlie sheen. >> log on to the facebook.com/wusa9 and leave your response and we'll reveal the answer later this morning. state farm. this is jessica.

hey, jessica, jerry neumann with a policy question. jerry, how are you doing? fine, i just got a little fender bender. oh, jerry, i'm so sorry. i would love to help but remember, you dropped us last month. yeah, you know it's funny. it only took 15 minutes to sign up for that new auto insurance company but it's taken a lot longer to hear back. is your car up a pole again? [ crying ]

i miss you, jessica! jerry, are you crying? no, i just, i bit my tongue. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. state farm.

5:23. live doppler 9000 hd right now, we have a pretty hefty thunderstorm from rockville up toward around 370. this is tracking up toward laytonsville as well. heavy downpours. this stuff extends scattered on and off down past fredericksburg west of 95. we'll be watching this with showers and storms on and off today. highs upper 60s to mid 70. over to you. >> thank you, howard. in sports now this morning, one team is a game away from a trip to the world series. >> in the american league championship series, the rangers beat the tigers 7-3 in a game that took 11 innings. texas has a 3-1 lead in the series. in the nlcs, cardinals beat milwaukee. now, here's kristin berset with the rest of your morning sports. >> here is your first look at sports. coming out of thai bye week, redskins were embarrassed by philadelphia losing 59-29 on

monday night football. the 'skins then went on to lose five more games to close out the season. this week, coming off their bye again, those that remember the pounding have revenge on their mind. they know it won't be an easy task. eagles have one of the best offenses when it comes to moving the ball and spreading the field but the achilles' heel for this team has been turnovers. 15 in five games. the most in the nfl. the redskins say though that the eagles, 1-4 record doesn't show just how dangerous this team can be. >> we know offensively, they're going to move the ball and bring it. we'll have some turnovers. hopefully, be the outcome of the game. we'll face adversity. big runs, big place. we've gotta make sure they don't put any points on the board. >> the nfl season may just be five weeks old but we already know who the redskins will face next year. besides, the usual divisional games, 'skins will host atlanta, baltimore, cincinnati and carolina. they go on to the road to face

new orleans, tampa bay, cleveland and pittsburgh. alex ovechkin acknowledged his poor play after monday night's win against tampa. he has yet to score a goal and in not many words agreed with the statement that he can be better but also a lot of the guys on the capitals team can be better as well. now, despite his slow start, ove's team has confidence it will pick up soon. they take on sidney crosby and the pittsburgh penguins tonight. i'm kristin berset, have a great day. >> today, the high-flying inspectors look for possible earthquake damage. they're moving to a different d.c. landmark. >> plus, it started halfway around the world but now the blackberry outage is impacting users right here. we'll be back.

good morning. welcome back to 9news now this

thursday morning, i'm andrea roane. >> i'm surae chinn in for mike hydeck this morning. thanks so much for joining us on this wet thursday. that's affecting our roads, right, monika? >> it sure is. lots of incidents. tough conditions this morning. >> and howard, you know when it rains so long, it feels like -- i hate so say it but tropical storm lee and hurricane irene. >> we did have some three and a half inch rain totals. an inch and 3/4 out in catlet from charlie. 3/4 down in the northern neck. fog is a problem. andrews air force base reporting half-mile visibility just in the fog. montgomery county, your visibility is down because it is pouring with the thunderstorm and the lightning as well. so, lots of things are going on. here is a look at the day planner. we'll have some showers and storms today. it is not going to rain all day. this is not an all day event but it is a thing where we could be seeing some showers and storms at times today. noontime, upper 60s. 5:00, 71 with highs low 70s in town.

could make it mid-70s south of washington and holding in the upper 60s in places like frederick and winchester today. montgomery county, even showers and storms developing southwest and southeast of fredericksburg. this is the heaviest stuff north of us right now. we're seeing the showers and storms especially from rockville north and east now. through gaithersburg, the shady grove metro area up toward the airpark. laytonsville only the west side of you. it extends down toward potomac and northern virginia. they had hefty thunderstorms about an hour ago. we'll go farther off to the south and west. you see into prince william county, scattered showers there. down toward fredericksburg, got some other showers and heavier showers developing, too. monika? >> as howard said, you want to be especially careful on the beltway right around branch avenue and andrews air force base where he's saying there is about a half a mile visibility. be aware of that on the southside of town. let's take a look at the beltway. overall on the northside right now, you're ok except for the rain coming down and on the

south side, you'll find some volume now building on 95 as you head around the occoquan river beyond that in springfield and up on to 395, the green cars. everything is moving at speed. we'll take a live look at the beltway in alexandria here at the eisenhower area. no problems between the wilson bridge and 95 here. this time to the west side of town at the american legion bridge, everything is incident free. no problems on route 7 or the toll road. a quick look at the american legion bridge where there are no problems across the bridge span here. if you're planning to head over to the dulles toll road, expect it to be looking ok in from hunter mill. no problems on 66 or the beltway north of town. coming up, we'll take a look at the rain. back to you guys. >> thank you, monika to the latest now on this morning's breaking news story, montgomery county police are looking for a missing 11-year-old boy from germantown. >> they're also investigating the apparent murder of the boy's mother. her name is 51-year-old jane mcquain found dead in her home

in the seneca knolls subdivision. police there are calling this a homicide. the missing boy's name is william mcquain, he's 11 years old. here is more from montgomery county police captain paul starks. >> we're trying to reach out to other people to see if they've seen him since then and again, this investigation is still very fresh because trying to get information overnight is a real challenge. we hope to be able to contact more people during the daytime hours today and find out more details. >> jane mcquain's vehicle is missing, a 2011 honda crv with maryland tags 5ag9405. lightning at the crime scene is interfering with our live shot. we'll bring you another live update when it is safe for our crews to be on the air. this morning, an investigation is underway into the cause of an apartment fire in beltsville, maryland. prince george's county firefighters got to the complex

in the 11300 block of cherry hill road. the fire started in a kitchen but threatened some of the surrounding apartments. some people have been displaced but no one was injured. the consumer product safety commission has a new way to show americans about the dangers of fire. cpsc staff members showed off their new testing facility in rockville, maryland. they demonstrated how easy it is for certain items like an older mattress to catch fire. they also showed how easy it is for a cooking fire to start in your kitchen. house fires kill nearly 2400 people a year and many of those fires happen in the fall as people start using their furnaces and heaters again. by the way, today, the same team that climbed the washington monument earlier this month will start work at another d.c. landmark. parts of the national cathedral damaged in the quake will be removed. a crane will pick up the two ton pieces from the southeast grand pinnacle of the central tower and that will make the pinnacles and central tower

more stable. clearing the way for more stone work repairs and just like at the monument, specially trained engineers will rappel down the side of the cathedral to look for more damage. congress has approved free- trade agreements with south korea, columbia and panama. ending a four-year drought in the forming of new trade partnerships. it is also a small sign of cooperation between the white house and capitol hill amid all of the bickering about job creation. the passage is well-timed since south korea's president is addressing a joint session of congress today. at 5:35, it is time for another "your money" report. >> jessica is back with a look at blackberry service or lack thereof this morning. >> that's right. for millions of users around the world, these things right here, the blackberries only good as a paperweight for the last couple of days, right. here is the latest. service outages for blackberry users have a lot of folks seeing red. the good news here this morning, operator research in

motion says blackberry services have improved significantly. in europe, the middle east, india and africa as well as progressing well here in the u.s. as well as in canada and latin america. the company is blaming the outages on a failed switch and an inoperable back-up system. >> your computer gets infected by a bug. microsoft study says if you're looking to blame somebody, look in the mirror. the software giant finds the largest group of malware attacks occur because of an action taken by the computer user. it may be as simple as clicking on a link or downloading an infected file. ultimately, you gotta blame the scammer. phishing scams using complex trickery are one of the primary modes of infection. budget a lot more for an airline ticket this holiday season. travelocity predicting average domestic airfares will be up about 4%. airline analyst predicts ticket prices will be up an average of

$40 this season because at least five major airlines are cutting flights. he also says you're gonna want to buy now. procrastination will not reward with you cheaper prices closer to your trip. so, go ahead. go ahead and do it. >> make that decision now. >> that's right. >> going back to computer issues, our i. t. guys know user error. it is our fault. >> so often the case. >> some virginia lawmakers have an idea on where to get the money to rehabilitate aging schools. that story is coming up. >> we've got -- we'll show you how a battlefield simulator prepares troops before they deploy to combat zones.

. a heavy mist falling right now more so than a rain. we've got heavy rains as you look at live doppler 9000 hd north of town through montgomery county, moving toward howard county and east of fredericksburg now,

approaching dahlgren, as far as today's concerned, it won't be raining all day but the threat will be on and off. showers and storms at times. upper 60s at noon. low 70s this afternoon. still a threat for showers and storms and a temperature of 70. looking at your weekend in about five minutes. monika has an update on our traffic. >> howard, as you've been talking about, the rain on the northside of town. fog as well on the east side of town. here is a live look at branch avenue and howard has been saying about a half-mile visibility through this area at andrews air force base, be especially careful between forestville and temple hills. we'll talk about the rain on the northside of town in my next report. surae? >> thank you, monica. some virginia governors want to rebuild dilapidated schools using the federal rehabilitation tax credit. democratic senators jim webb and mark warner submitted the legislation yesterday. it was applauded by republican house majority leader eric kantor and governor bob mcdonnell. the bill would end the legal hurdle that have kept the communities from using the tax

credit to upgrade schools. the white house has announced some of the first stops on president obama's three-day bus tour of pretty day important north carolina and virginia. the tour begins monday with stops in the north carolina areas of asheville and millers creek. the president will spend the night in the greensboro area. no word yet on the virginia stop. north carolina and virginia are traditionally republican states that the president won in 2008. the libyan rebels seem to have gained more ground with the capture of moammar gadhafi's family member. >> plus, a couple dedicated to serving the country is asking you to help them win the wedding of their dreams. the couple joins us live at 4:49. >> time to see who's celebrating a birthday today. paul simon is 70 years old. cowboys owner jerry jones, 69. sammy hagar is 64 years old. and marie osmond is 52 today. >> boston celtics coach doc rivers is 50. hall of fame wide receiver and

"dancing with the stars" jerry rice is 49. private practice star kate walsh is 44 and actor sasha baron cohen turns 40 today.

good morning, welcome back to 9news now. it is 5:45. and howard is here with another soggy forecast but the payoff, the weekend. >> we've got some showers out there. had heavier downpours in spots. not everybody has been seeing them. if it is not pouring, you're likely in drizzle or fog. most temperatures in the low to mid-60s with a few 50s far north and west of town. here is a look at your bus stop forecast. another day with an indoor recess potentially. we're looking at some showers and drizzle, some fog. temperatures from 58 to 68.

sunrise not until 7:15. today, leaves are changing color. mid-60s. might not be too vibrant. not going to rain all day. that threat of rain with showers or thunderstorm this morning. 71 degree reading at 5:00 winds east to southeast. we've been watching the southwest and northeast push of these showers and storms this morning. most of it has been west of i- 95. although now, south of dahlgren, a few areas east of fredericksburg which is east of 95 which is starting to develop. here's live doppler 9000 hd. we're going to go north first and then go south because north of town is where we're seeing the heavier showers and storms. been a lot of lightning and thunder with this. as we look at live doppler 9000 hd, boy, you can see from 370 and 270, you're talking 370 down to shady grove, falls road, this is where the heavier stuff is. this holds together, only laytonsville over toward

glenallen, heavier downpours as well over the next 30 to 60 minutes. fairfax, it has gotten less. a little heavier downpour here between midland and east of fredericksburg. this is the next heaviest thing we're looking at. check out this guy going northwest of port royal headed toward riverside, welcome and faulkner and charles county in about 30 minutes. this one may pick up enough to start producing a little bit of lightning. right now, it has been in rockville where we've been seeing the lightning with the heavier cells. until midnight, coastal flood advisories and right inside the beltway there, alexandria, falls church, got a flood warning, high tide and alexandria, for example, at 9:55 this morning, tides two and a half feet above average. that would cause some problems. 64 right now. we've got 67 in southern maryland. 57 though in winchester, hagerstown is 56. at national, rain or mist or drizzle. they're reporting cloudy skies. but it is drizzling pretty

heavily. east winds at 5 here and with dew point, the same as the temp. humidity 100%. one area of low pressure moving away from us. by noon, still the light to moderate showers. scattered showers and storms. front comes through late tomorrow. that will start to clear us out for the weekend. today, we're staying into the low 70s for highs. tonight back in the 60s. tomorrow a few more showers. saturday, mid-60s. then sunday, a nice finish to the weekend. sunny, low 70s. monika is in with an update on a major travel problem. >> it is a pretty major travel problem although it is not a major accident but it is blocking a bunch of lanes. i'm going to show what you i'm talking about. the beltway, we were dealing with all of the rains up on the northside of town and the fog on the south side of town. over on 270, let's take a live look on the southbound side at montrose road. i just got off the phone with montgomery county police, south of this point, three left lanes are blocked. two car accident. they're waiting on a tow truck. no major injuries involved.

it will take a few minutes for them to get the vehicles out of there. keep that in mind early morning for your travel plans southbound on 270. i'll keep you posted. live look now, 95 at route 198 from laurel, everyone still moving at speed with the wet road conditions here. we'll end with a live picture of the beltway at route 4 pennsylvania avenue. again, as howard has been saying, it is the fog that's been the problem in this area basically between forestville and andrews air force base and down toward oxon hill. keep that in mind as well. coming up in my next report, an update on 270. back to you, surae. >> thank you, monica. >> making news now at 5:49, two passenger trains collided at the amtrak station in oakland, california. local media report as many as 18 people are jurisdiction. >> an amtrak spokesperson describes the crash as low impact. none of the injuries is believed to be serious. >> moammar gadhafi's son was captured yesterday while trying to escape the town. that's according to the head of the tripoli revolutionary

council. seen in file video meeting secretary of state hillary clinton was taken in for questioning. rebel leaders say he had been hiding out in the city's hospital. they've had to put up with a little severe weather, most texans are grateful to get some rain. the lone star state has suffered through some of the worst droughts ever with no rain and temperatures well over 100 all of july. now, north texas has gotten heavy downpours twice in the last week. what would you do for love? operation homefront is working with the u.s.o. for the salute to love program. i'm joined by shallen bartlett who is trying to win a wedding in hawaii. she needs your help. we have her fiancee live via skype from his post in okinawa, japan. richard, good morning. can you see and hear us? >> yes, i can. good morning. >> we're excited to be speaking with you. i understand you popped the question in okinawa. tell us about what happened

when she arrived there. >> well, i had a bunch of things set up for her coming out. her dad actually knew i was going to do it because i asked his permission. she came out, we did an adventure park with zip lines and everything and at the very last one, i surprised her with the question. and thankfully, she said yes. >> you gave her a beautiful ring which we can see here. and shallen, how long have you been dating before he popped the question? >> about eight months. we actually met initially first at a u.s.o. event. and then mutual friends kind of arranged a set-up. i still have questions for them. >> so, it would be appropriate if you were to win this operation love with the u.s.o. because you had a relationship with the two of you at the u.s.o. so, tell us how does this contest work? how can we help you? >> thank you so much for having us first of all. it is a contest put on by operation homefront, the outer banks brides and a resort in

the outer banks. it is for deserving military couple to win the ultimate wedding and if you go to salute to love.com, scroll down, there is a list of couples. we're listed as richard and shalyn. i work for the u.s.o. richard is in okinawa. he has a turpel heart and we kind of have the old-fashioned love story with a modern day twist. >> absolutely. >> we wish you the best of luck. richard, stay safe in okinawa. you did good. >> thank you. >> we hope we can help you win the wedding of your dreams. but otherwise, it still will be a perfect day when you two say i do. >> thank you so much. >> thank you, much. >> you're welcome, richard. we have more information about this and how you can help them on our web site at wusa9.com. surae? >> thank you, congratulations to the happy couple! soldiers working to protect american soil are working overtime. but they're barely moving a muscle to get the job done. we'll explain this after the

break. jessica? >> well, surae, trouble and new findings about your child's booster seat. half aren't good enough to ensure a proper fit with safety belts. i'll have the details coming up. you're watching 9news now.

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we're coming up on 5:56. we've had heavy thunderstorms this morning. some heavy ones that have come through fairfax county through montgomery county, eastern montgomery through rockville and shady grove up through laytonsville moving in through central howard county. weakening a little bit. while that weakened, when they went through gaithersburg, on facebook, they were like these are some of the loudest storms we've heard in awhile. point down here west of dahlgren here headed toward southern charles county in the next half hour. that one not quite producing lightning yet. that may be happening soon. today, we've got a few showers and storms. it won't be raining everywhere all the time. temperatures will be struggling again to get into the low 70s with occasional showers and storms. also watch out for drizzle and fog this morning. that's causing some problems as well. surae and andrea, over to you. thank you, howard. it is an all out fire fight.

shots go off and the enemy ends up dead but the soldiers doing all of the work barely break a sweat. >> ken molestina shows us how a recently unveiled simulator is getting troops ready for war. >> the vendors are showing off some of the latest and greatest in military technology. virtual battlefields are taking a step into the future. >> if it looks like a life-size video game to you, well, that's because it is. its main purpose is for anything but entertainment. >> guys on the roof! [ gunfire ] the expedition di by quantum 3d is the latest in virtual infantry training. >> we've come a long ways from -- you know, close order drill as a battlefield tactic. >> it allows soldiers and war fighters to get experience in combat prior to actually being deployed. >> these troops gave us an up close view of how it works.

the entire system is made up of a headpiece and goggles, a vest and a mock m-16 rifle. all of the pieces are decked out with sensors and a backpack that create a life-like skin air bro to bridge the gap between virtual reality and battlefield reality. >> we actually have a workstation class processor, intel processor and video graphics processor and that's generating a 3d imagery. >> there is going to be a kevlar coming down on your head. >> in case you're wondering, stepping into combat is like i imagined a war gamer's dream. it allowed me to step into a virtual battle situation. equipped with state-of-the-art technology, the objective was to take out the bad guys. all of this gear costs upwards of tens of thousands of dollars. soldiers who use it say it is pretty darn close to the real thing. >> it is a good approximation of what it is doing. obviously there are no bullets flying at you but this is valuable technology that allows people to take the next step in

the learning process to get them prepared to get into combat. >> as of early october, close to 2700 coalition troops have died in battle in afghanistan alone. and with service men and women still deployed in hostile areas, the numbers are sure to rise. this gives many hope that more will make it home. >> this is a tool we haven't had previously that allows people to be that much more ready when they get in the country. hopefully more guys come home healthy and alive. >> i'm ken molestina, 9news now. >> we're the real thing. no simulation here. i'm andrea roane. mike hydeck is off today. >> i'm surae chinn. and monika samtani is going to have our traffic on some wet roads to deal with. >> busy this morning. >> howard bernstein tells us how long we're going to have this wet weather holding on. >> we'll have showers on and off today, tonight and tomorrow. >> is it chilly? >> not too bad. 60 degrees and dampness cuts through you. wher