severe weather and flootding tonight. we're on the scene checking the damage while topper is checking another round of potential storms. our investigation into the gsa is ready to drop another bombshell. a bizarre horse racing accident at rosecroft. >> a seven-horse pileup sends three harness racing drivers to the hospital. this all happened at rosecroft raceway in maryland. >> reporter matt jablow is live outside the racetrack tonight. what the heck happened, matt? >> reporter: derek, it was near the end of the fifth race during tonight's harness racing at rosecroft when a half dozen horses got piled up, went down in a tangle and through their drivers to the track. three of the drivers lad to be taken to the hospital, two by hospital. we spoke a few minutes ago with the track director of operations. >> do you know how serious the

injuries are? >> we have not received a progress report on them at this point. the medical staff that was here on on the scene, we had medical staff here, they responded immediately, and then p.g. was brought in to transport. >> reporter: once again, three harness racing drivers here at rosecroft raceway sent to the hospital after a seven horse pileup. we are told none of the horse herself involved was injured. anita? >> that is lucky, indeed. matt jablow, thank you. also tonight, bracing for floods. people in prince william county keeping a close eye on a swollen river that may spill over its banks washing on to their streets. now, as the clock ticks toward tonight's oncoming storms, neighbors just out there hoping for the best. ken molestina is live out there in manassas with them. ken? >> reporter: derek, we're out here at the lake jackson volunteer fire department. the rescue crews are standing

by, ready to go in case they get calls of water emergencies tonight. everybody out here is keeping their fingers crossed hoping the next round of storms is a little more forgiving than the one that smacked them late last night. overnight rains forced creeks to as well in the lake jackson dam to overflow pouring into neighborhoods. neighbors like this woman were stranded at their front door because of the high water. the dam has been raging with fast-moving water all day long and the banks of its creeks have dramatically overflowed. >> this is the highest i've seen it in 18 years that i've lived here. >> i hope it holds. down on the other side here, there's a lot of houses that sit much lower. >> reporter: those who live out here say they've never seen the water in this dam so fierce before. take a look for yourself. you can see how strong the current is. the concern is now all of this water headed downstream will endanger those neighborhoods that sit down below. >> it was pretty crazy, kind of scary. >> reporter: jacob lives downstream from the dam.

he spent the day waiting for the flooded water outside his home to recede. he's glad it's gone but is worried the water currently flowing over the dam, coupled with the expected rains will flood him out again. >> we'll be leaving to my aunt's house. >> you're not staying here tonight? >> i doubt it. >> reporter: people aren't the only ones being displaced. it forced wildlife out of their own habitats. rescue crews and those who live near the area are bracing for whatever the overnight hours may bring. >> we actually have two boat crews operating right now, so we have one that will be the primary and then the second is a backup crew for the first crew. we have people to run them all night. >> reporter: fire officials say right now the dam is not in any danger of breaking or breaching. they say the concern is that it's overflowing. right now it's seven feet higher than what it normally is supposed to be running at. if those rains come tonight, it's going to make it a lot worse. people keeping a close eye on the dam and on those water levels and only time will tell what will be expected and what

we will see out here tomorrow morning. we're live in prince william county, ken molestina, 9 news now. >> i think you said the key question, if the rains come tonight. chief meteorologist topper shutt is with me to answer the question. >> more bad news than good news. the same area is under a flood watch until 6:00 a.m. the storms earlier west are creeping eastward. the flood watch includes some of the same counties that got hammered last night. loudoun, jefferson, clark county, prince williams until 6:00 a.m. this is a flash-flood warning. so if you're in this area, you don't want to cross a flooded street by foot or by car. last night we saw the heaviest access of rain essentially right about here. now we're seeing a tremendous amount of heavy rain south of hagerstown back west of fredericksburg. this is the same area that got hammered earlier this evening. it has pushed off to the east a little bit. we're looking at the potential

for more flooding tonight. very heavy activity between hagerstown and winchester. we'll zoom out here. this is talking about rainfall rates one to two inches per hour around winchester and charlestown. and up toward martinsburg. in some cases even a little bit more than one inch per hour. so some very heavy rainfall going on. the good news is nothing in terms of hail or anything. no reports of hail anyway. and no reports of some strong winds. so we'll come back, we'll talk about where these storms are going to move overnight. we'll have to deal with that perhaps in the morning and also a little bit of fog as well. we'll have more on that as well. anita? >> thanks, topper. new at 11:00, they were fired over a scandal involving hookers in columbia. now according to the washington post, four of the five secret service agents are fighting their dismissals. they want their jobs back. the agents say they're being held accountable for long- tolerated behavior. secret service director mike sullivan is expected to appear before congress tomorrow. gary giordano has been

charged with indecent exposure. he's the gaithersburg man linked to the unsolved disappearance of robin gardener. she vanished when the two vacationed in aruba. he was arrested in annapolis on a totally different matter. a parking garage manager called a report in of possible sexual activity in a vehicle. police arrested or rather police allegedly found gary giordano and a woman naked in the back of his suv. he destroyed evidence and lied to federal investigators. now a former campaign agent, d.c. mayor vince gray, is facing at least a year in prison. thomas gore admitted in court that he illegally diverted gray campaign funds to minor candidate brown. the plan was to have brown stay in the race as long as possible and launch political attacks on incumbent mayor fenty during the 2010 campaign. a judge has found richard kim guilty of selling alcohol to a minor. now, kim owns the town square

market on mcarthur boulevard and northwest. 9 news now has been investigating that place since last december. we witnessed dozens of alcohol purchases made by teenagers who said they were as young as 14. kim will be sentenced next month. in campaign 2012 news tonight, it's not much more than a formality, but gop presidential candidate mitt romney has a couple more wins under his belt. the presumptive republican nominee claimed victories in kentucky and arkansas tonight. the obama administration is attacking romney's record in the business world. he helped start a company that made.com knees pizza profitable but shut down others like missouri steel. the president's team calls romney's time at bane fair political gain. >> he's not running on his record, because he hasn't on his record in massachusetts. he's running as a businessman who can do for american what he

did in private equity. >> i'm proud of the fact working in the private sector we were able to build in many cases successful enterprises that continue to grow and add jobs. >> democratic newark, new jersey mayor's criticism is now a romney ad. he's backed away from his objection to the bane ad. remember the conference out in vegas, the one with all the swanky hotel rooms, fancy food and the worker videos making fun of the excessive spending? investigative reporter has uncovered over half a million dollars in new bonuses, several of them going to senior officials in charge of that very conference. russ? >> reporter: even if you had analyzed, scrutinized the database we revealed last week, you still wouldn't know the gsa's unreported bonuses or their link to that controversial las vegas spending spree. ♪ [ music ]

>> reporter: long before this now infamous video mocked gsa cash bonuses. ♪ [ music ] >> reporter: and lampooned loose spending, $833,000 vegas convention, bonuses we tracked through freedom of information requests revealed big payoffs that never showed up on a public database. looking at 2011 bonuses awarded in december 2010, we identified a bonus of $15,500 reported as only $3,200. a bonus of $10,000 reported as only $1,900. and a bonus of $9,800 reported as only $900. don't look fora benow's -- for a bonus answer here at the white house. it was obtained by our sister publication through a freedom of information act with the office of personnel management. when we asked why the new numbers don't match those

numbers, they referred us back here to the white house. the white house referred us back to our sister publication, the asbury park trust. they said i don't know why gsa totals would be off, emphasizing gsa provides the data to opm. >> i think it's a classic case of passing the buck. >> reporter: james shirt is troubled even more by bonus money we uncovered for fiscal year 2012. >> very disturbing is these performance bonuses, supposed to be performance bonuses apparently weren't. >> reporter: after our own record request, gsa released this list of high ranking officials splitting more than a half million in bonus money in december 2011 or january 2012, almost all between $8,000 and $10,000 apiece. >> very large bonuses for going to terrible performers. >> reporter: he's talking about jeffery nealy. >> congratulations. proud of what you've done. >> reporter: the gsa official

seen here congratulating the fish official of the spending video. he also organized the vegas conference with large hotel rooms and got more than 9400 in bonus money after the inspector alerted the gsa to the company. >> he's attorney for the group that represents secret government workers. he says they're the exception rather than the rule when it comes to federal workers. >> my knee jerk reaction is these numbers are quite low for ses performance awards. >> he says policy awards as high as 20% of annual per man's but the bonuses we reviewed were 6.5% or lower. >> i think some of them should be higher. >> reporter: but the heritage foundation points to another official who mocked overieght into gsa spending, foley. >> we're not going against the obama administration about

executive pay and incentives. >> reporter: he got more than $9,500. among the bonus recipients we identified three other vegas conference leaders on administrative leave with similar bonuses and under the eye of the inspector general or the gsa, the hold high g. >> i'll never be under oig investigation. >> reporter: a gsa official says the new acting administrator was already aware of the bonuses and the payouts to those five top officials with las vegas links. the agency says it's become part of his top to bottom review. a spokeswoman tells us many senior officials at gsa received no bonus at all. >> i want to get this straight. the folks on administrative leave got bonuses? >> in fact, the folks on administrative leave got bonuses. they are still getting paid while they're on administrative leave. one person on leave after a little bit of discipline is back in the work force. >> we thank you.

>> you bet. well, now, still ahead tonight on 9 news, this writes itself. the politician campaigning topless. which happens to be a perfect segue to. >> 9 wants to know, is congress getting dumber or is it really us? that's coming up.

a promising new vaccine for a lethal disease. that is tonight's health alert. doctors at case western reserve say phase two trials of a pancreatic cancer vaccine showed 62% of patients who got it along with standard therapy were disease free for a year. one year survival 86% against a malignancy that can sometimes kill in a matter of months. the team hopes to have the vaccine through clinical trials and widely available in a couple of years. we all know public perceptions of congress aren't always so great. a disapproval rating this week of 74.8%. >> there is evidence tonight that that may be because of what happens when the members of congress open their mouths to speak. gary nurenberg is here with a new study that they are just

sounding dumber and dumber. gary? >> reporter derek, it is from the people at the sunlight foundation who measure the lengths of words and sentences in the speeches in congress. on average, those in congress were speaking in 2005 as if they were halfway through the 11th grade. this year, they're speaking at a full grade level lower as if they were halfway through their sophomore year in high school. this is no longer the congress of the shakespeare quoting robert byrd. >> they're speaking in shorter sentences, and using shorter words. >> reporter: back in the day. >> we looked at the declaration of independence which is at a 15th grade level. the u.s. constitution is at a 17th grade level. >> reporter: again, this congress 10 1/2 grade level. >> does it mean they're dumber? >> no, not necessarily. there's no value judgment placed on using big words or speaking in longer sentences. >> reporter: from the

washington area, maryland representative roscoe bartlett is among the 20 lowest grade levels when he speaks. gerald connally of virginia among the highest 20 when he speaks. but so what? the historic i have a dream speech? >> it's about a 9th grade level. >> reporter: the gettysburg address. >> state of the unions are historically a tenth grade level. >> he's a great orator. >> he may also be an effective communicator and speak simply. >> reporter: liberals and conservatives? >> it's the most conservative republicans who speak at the lowest grade level. the most liberal freshman and sophomore democrats speak at the leest the grade levels compared to the more moderate democrats oi. the downward trend has been consistent the last six years. >> if the trend continues will we be at a kindergarten level in 20 years?

in. >> if it continues, but i don't expect that it will continue to that level. >> reporter: well, we can always hope, but remember, although there may be fewer speakers on the hill these days, it doesn't mean there's less persacious insight because there's a more parsimonious approach. it could lead to less gascinating. perhaps makes it easier to do business in less confusing, more understandable terms. remember, the shorter the words and the shorter the sentences, the lower the grade score. remember, you're watching tv news where the most common sense is back to you. >> as is so often the case, gary, we have no idea what he was talking about. however, if you run over to our website we put up definitions for the crazy words he just used. no fancy meteorological terms, give it to us straight. we want to know about rain and

flooding. >> here's the deal. we have a flood watch west of town. it does include some of the same areas that got hit last night. fleets let's start with a live look outside. a live weather camera brought to you by michael and son. temperatures still 71, kind of warm outside really. winds are still out of the south/southeast. we still have the easterly component. the pressure is steady over the past hour. here's live doppler 9000, just tweeted about this. here's the deal. this is the heaviest action of rain from hagerstown to winchester to west of warrenton to west of fredericksburg. in the past hour, some areas picked up over an inch of rain. we'll zoom in. the red indicating rainfall rates of about an inch per hour. unfortunately these storms are hanging around for an hour or so. so heavy rains around 40 just northwest of middle town, back through charlestown, and now on the east and southeast of winchester. we'll slide further south. heavy rains, too, from culpeper

over toward gold vain and just west of fredericksburg, a little hail possible in that particular storm. we'll put this into motion. where is this going to go in the next hour? unfortunately, very, very, very slowly off to the south and to the east. so get ready for more heavy rains again in loudoun county,prince william county. here's the deal. areas of fog also possible in the morning, especially the same areas that actually had the rainfall tonight. and m.o.s., more of the same tomorrow. rung into a chance for showers and storms again on wednesday. you still need your umbrella on wednesday. and we'll just kind of jump ahead for a minute. a hot, holiday weekend coming up. it will feel more like the fourth of july than memorial day. overnight the chance for

leftover showers and storms, some with heavy rain and fog as well. low temperatures in the 60s. and winds just almost negligible. tomorrow morning shower or thunderstorm possible. temps in the 60s and 70s. if you're west of town you're coming in from 66 or may be coming in route 7, allow a little extra time to get to work. by afternoon, partly sunny and warm with showers possible. high temperatures again right around 80. the next seven days, each day that goes by we get a little more sunshine. friday a couple possible, but gets warmer, mid to upper 80s on friday and then boom, welcome to summer, d.c. 90 on saturday. 91 on sunday. 93 memorial day with a few thunderstorms, but not a washout. a much drier air mass coming in. >> unofficial start but it will be there. >> did i hear you call bryce harper the boy wonder? >> yeah, remember j. j. from

good times? dynamite. he says take that philadelphia. santana moss one of the elder states man not ready to give up his position yet. he's got a pretty interesting strategy for making more receptions this season. that's coming up in sports next. won't want to miss it.

for the nats, this was going to be a test. philly starter roy holiday is good against everybody but great against washington. since '05, he's 9-0 against the nats. news flash, that's good. this is a new and improved nats ball club. would it be a new and improved out come? bryce harper, they hit him last week. tonight he hit them. go-go gadget is back to the gap. a couple of runs are going to score. it's going topped up a triple. that's his 9th rbi of the season. still in the third, desmond says whatever he had, i'll have some of it, too. nats sent seven guys to the plate.

they were up 4-1. this is a test of the emergency system. nats win 5-2. baltimore looking to stay in first. this game was tight until steve taking control, home run, first of the year. orioles in first place by two games. they win tonight 4-1. all right, defensive secondary, offensive lineman, wide receiver. outside of quarterback, those were the areas the redskins most needed to improve. they got josh morgan and pierregarcon which begged the question, where does that leave santana? moss had a big year in 2010. missed four games last year due to a broken hand. with the competition, he figured he better come to camp in shape so he has, 15 pounds lighter. he says he will not haze rg3. he knows where his bread is buttered. >> i'm one of the guys that got hazed a lot, thanks to the veterans i played with.

i'm not big for that. i'm not sure what the quarterback has for them, but i'll be taking them out. i'll try to get as many balls as i can. check this out, this never happens. check this out. the pitcher hits a home run, first of his career. kingston, the rapper look alike pulls it out. there he is. next batter, next hit, same spot, same guy, same hand. he gets it. shaun kingston look alike pulling in baseballs all night long. >> that never happens. >> it did on sunday. >> who is shaun king stonn? >> you never heard that rapper? >> we'll talk about that in the break.

>> still a question before we leave you, why would anyone vote for juarez. >> she herself could give you two really good reasons. that's her on the campaign billboard. she's running for a seat in the congress in mexico. poll numbers are a little flat, but she found a way to property them up. she took her top off along with some supporters. critics say this campaign ad doesn't do women's rights any favors. men say, be quiet you critics.