caused a rumble of thunder at the studio. if you're headed to nebraska or wisconsin avenue, you'll run into some heavy downpours. now the storms are on top of us. we'll zoom back out again and see a pretty good storm toward potomac, intersection of river and falls and the storms go back to leesburg and further west. got big storms around upperville. see that area there above the l in upperville? that's rainfall rates 1 1/2 to 2 inches per hour and again, they're not moving much. so flooding is possible with these storms and also lightning. see how they're just slowly drifting off to the north and west kind of a counterintuitive direction. they're moving north and west. look at all the lightning and remember a lot of lightning around rockville with this storm up toward potomac and downtown. when you hear lightning, take cover. you can be struck by lightning. you need to go indoors and take

lightning seriously. we'll come back and keep track of these and look ahead to the holiday weekend. we do have a warning tonight about some fake ids that young people in our area are purchasing from a very popular website. it's known as id chief and people under 21 are going there in droves to buy those fake ids so they can buy alcohol. >> but 9 wants you to know buyers under 21 may be getting a lot more out of the transaction than just an identification card. >> this is a story you'll see only on 9. andrea mccarren is here to explain all about it. andrea. >> if you're in high school or college, there's a pretty good chance you've heard of idchief.com, but if you're a parent, you probably have no clue. teens say it's an easy way to get a fake id not realizing their real identities are stolen in the process. >> we're located in a safe country. your info is safe with us. >> that's part of the sales pitch behind idchief.com, a

wildly popular china-based website that appears to be doing a booming business in fake ids. the ids feature hollow grams, en-- holograms, encrypted information and are able to -- encrypted information and are able to pass through scanners at liquor stores to buy booze. >> when you scan the driver's license it, will come up with valid information on the front where in the old days they didn't have the ability to do that. >> unsuspecting teenagers may be buying more than access to alcohol. they're being targeted for identity theft. >>id chief is selling their information and kids are now finding out that they have thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt. >> according to law enforcement, the chinese scam artists are heading to students facebook pages to call additional information to further their scheme. >> it's not like you could file a police report for your bad

fake id. >> remarkably the site even warns buyers to beware of fake id scams. with the help of montgomery county police and sarah, a police intern, we ordered a fraudulent pennsylvania driver's license. we uploaded her signature and photograph and as required, wired $200 via western union. in the last 24 hours our fake ids arrived. ed this made the 8,000-mile journey from -- they'd made the 8,000-mile journey from china to gaithersburg. they even passed the black light test often used by police to detect fake ids in dark places like bars or nightclubs. >> i wouldn't consider this fake at all. i wouldn't even think twice about this id. >> we were really interested, derek, to see exactly how that id came today. first look at the packaging. right here it says bracelet under contents.

we opened it up. inside we were surprised to find a gift box. opened that up and sure enough, there's a bracelet. we thought something must be wrong here. take out the padding, the packaging here. a plain white piece of paper wrapped up inside two fake ids and once again, kids are ordering these ids, having absolutely no idea their identities are being stolen in the process. >> now let's say i order one of those fake ids that says i'm 29 years old. what's going happen to me under the law? >> here's what's interesting. anyone under the age 21 caught using a fake id can lose their driver's license for up to a year. it can also impact the cost of car insurance. both of those things, very harsh punishments in the world of a teenager. >> what you're saying is it's just not worth it. >> it just isn't worth it. it apparently works, but this isn't worth it. >> andrea mccarren, great story. there's a new study just

into 9news that may have women rethinking what type of birth control they use. the findings show longer acting options for birth control are much more reliable than short term contraceptives. 26-year-old med student kimberly kasten switched from birth control pills to an iud because of health concerns. >> i care about the level of hormones that are circulating throughout my body because i know that it affects my brain. >> a study out in the new england journal of medicine finds intrauterine devices and hormonal implants are 20 times more effective at preventing pregnancy than short term contraceptives like birth control pills, the patch or ring. >> there's a one time placement and doesn't require any sort of daily administration, weekly or monthly administration. >> there are two kinds of iuds. both are inserted in the uterus. the hormonal iud is approved for five years. the copper iud is approved up to 10 years. hormonal implants which go in

the upper arm can last three years. iuds and implants have the lowest failure rate, but they aren't very popular. one reason? many women can't afford the up front cost which can be more than $500. the studies showed when iuds were offered free, 75% of women chose them. older iuds were linked to pelvic inflammatory disease, but doctors say current ones are very safe. >> women clearly do not have an increased risk of infection and also are not at risk of having problems getting pregnant in the future after having the iud removed. >> kimberly likes the convenience. >> i don't have to worry about getting my pills every three months. i really don't have to think about it at all. >> and she won't have to think about it for another four years. about 3 million pregnancies a year in the u.s. are, in fact, unplanned and past studies showed about half are the result of contraception failure. in a stunning turnaround d.c. mayor vincent gray is refusing to respond to

questions about the federal investigation of criminal wrongdoing in his past campaign. the mayor's new position comes after a second campaign staffer made a deal with prosecutors. our bruce johnson has been on this story breaking news from the very beginning. what's the mayor saying now? >> it's a really big deal. the mayor isn't saying anything because we now have two staffer, one very close to the mayor, who have entered deals with the prosecutors. they're looking to cut their lengthy prison terms down, so they'll be cooperating with the investigation. the mayor is listening to nobody but his attorney stopped talking about this case. >> any way you look at it looks bad. is there something you can say at this point to us? >> there's an ongoing pending investigation, bruce, and i'm really not going to comment on it at this stage. >> d.c. mayor vincent gray back from a city business trip to vegas in time to learn today a second campaign staffer, howard brooks, has been charged with a felony crime for helping get

cash from the gray campaign into the hands of minor candidate sulaimon brown. yesterday gray's assistant treasurer thomas gore pleaded guilty for his role in the scheme aimed at helping gray defeat incumbent mayor adrian fenty. >> did you know of this activity, what they were doing? >> again, i'm not going to comment. we'll let the investigation play out. >> today howard brooks like thomas gore yesterday is looking at serious prison time not because of their original actions of giving money to sulaimon brown but because of the cover-up and the information filed federal court today the document says brooks told fbi special agents he never gave candidate b or candidate b's campaign any cash, money orders or other types of payment. he lied. sulaimon brown in a statement today called on mayor fray to resign from office. he charge -- gray to resign from office. he charged he was given money orders, cash and a job in the administration in exchange for

his work on behalf of great campaign. brown was eventually fired for alleged incompetence. mayor gray has steadfastly denied any knowledge of illegal payments and promises. you said you had nothing to do with it. do you stand by those statements? >> bruce, we're going to let this investigation play out. you all would like to talk about the shopping center convention we just came from, i'd love to talk about that. >> maybe we can talk about shopping centers down the road. we were the first to report several weeks ago howard brooks is the first to go into the feds, cop a plea, agree to wear a wire and howard brooks recorded conversations with thomas gore. we should also point out we've learned today that the amount of money while not big is bigger than what was reported. there was close to $1,800 we're not talking about five money orders. we're talking about 10 money orders. >> from 600 or so up to $1,800. >> and howard brooks will be in

court tomorrow. he entered a plea to plead guilty to making false statements. it's a felony, looking at five years. there are new allegations today of sexual misconduct among those secret service agents during a congressional hearing. senator joe lieberman noted 64 additional allegations of misconduct in the agency have come down over the last five years. >> investigators are looking into the prostitution scandal that erupted after a dozen agents were accused of hiring hookers in colombia. the head of the secret service apologized and said it's not representative of the ethical standards of the agency. >> i am am deeply disappoint -- i am deeply disappointed and i apologize for the misconduct of these employees and the distraction it has caused. >> both democrats and republicans on the committee expressed support for director sullivan but still aren't convinced what happened in colombia was, in fact, an isolated incident. day four and still no

verdict in the john edwards corruption trial. the former presidential candidate's accused of concocting a scheme to use about a million bucks in campaign contributions to hide that extramarital affair with rielle hunter. now edwards is facing up to 30 years in prison after pleading not guilty to six campaign corruption charges. an update on those deadly hazing arrests at florida a&m university. a defendant says band members were ritually beaten because it was a sign of respect to survive the encounter. robert champion died after being kicked and stomped and punched on a bus last year in. a deposition a band member said champion had asked to be part of the ritual all season but his parents say their son was a vocal opponent of the hazing in the band. the college student pleaded not guilty today to threatening president obama on facebook appearing in court in miami this afternoon.

the 20-year-old miami-dade student pleaded guilty to one count to threatening to harm or kill the president. his lawyer says his client never intended to act on those threats. he now faces a possible five- year prison term. 9 wants you to know montgomery county's team court program is now celebrating its 15th anniversary today. back in february 9 news now was granted unprecedented access to the program in which teenagers serve as a jury literally of their peers to other teenagers accused of alcohol, drugs and other low level crimes. teen jurors decide the penalties. if the teen accused completes the charges requirements in 60 days, the charges are dropped. since 1997 about 4,000 cases have come through the court and many of those participants are expected to speak at a reception tonight in rockville. facing felony charges for alleged inappropriate contact

with minors, prosecutors say both of lee's female victims were under 18 when he had inappropriate sexual contact with them. the incidents reportedly happened at a springfield studio and the instructor's home between 2003 and 2008. the indictments were handed down earlier this week. fairfax county firefighters investigating. they're trying to catch an arsonist tonight. it happened yesterday evening at kohl's department store in herndon. firefighters found a clothing rack in flames in the women's clothing section. the store was evacuated. no one was hurt no, word on the extent of damage to merchandise. an update on last night's serious accident at the horse track. the leader in the fifth race stumbled and caused a chain reaction crash involving seven of the nine horses in the field. three harness jockeys were

hospitalized. incredibly no horses were hurt. egyptians went to the polls today in the first democratic presidential election in that nation's history. this election comes 15 months after hosni mubarak was forced from office this that well known uprising. the military counsel assumed military power. 13 candidates are in the running and in the front runners, amir mussa. dozens of homeowners outside reno, nevada, are advised to leave their homes because of a fast moving while. two houses have been destroyed, but as many as 200 homes are threatened. the fire broke out yesterday afternoon possibly after a controlled burn, no reports of injuries. a tornado crashed a wedding in hartford, kansas, and the newlyweds have the video and photos to prove it. justin caleb and candace prince were finished saying their vows

at the family farmhouse over the weekend. the photographer turned his attention to the tornado right there touching down in a wheat field 8 miles away. you could even see the couple walking back down the aisle with the twister in the distance. that tornado made for some spectacular wedding pictures. the photo not only captured the special day they say but the essence of kansas. hundreds of thousands of people will hit the roads this memorial day weekend. aaa projects it to be the busiest holiday get-away in five years with the majority of travelers in our area trying to reach the beach for the unofficial start of summer. those beachgoers will find plenty of surprises to see and do in ocean city this year. that's where we find scott broom with the details. this is the best time of year, what summer is right on the cusp. >> reporter: it is so nice and it's so sad most of us have to work, but hey, i got down here early. things are great and ocean city

dame through a remarkably mild winter. that means now the beach is -- came through a remarkably mild winter that. means now the beach is in unusually good shape and acres and acres brand-new boardwalk have been laid down. millions of bare feet now safe from splinters for seasons to come. >> this is some of the nicest wood i've seen on this boardwalk in a long time. >> reporter: the boards here in ocean city so fresh -- >> it smells like a lumberyard. >> new boards are smooth. they're nice on a bike. >> reporter: it's a project that will cost about $6 million when it's done. this is the first phase from the north end of the boardwalk down to 17th. next offseason they'll finish the rest of want .5-mile walk. meanwhile -- of the 2.5-mile walk. meanwhile on the beach there are hardly any signs of erosion. the lifeguards come out saturday at 2 p.m.

>> road trip! >> reporter: the trip down here is smooth sailing with no major construction to add to the traffic and the big bonus over here is the gas prices are back down and run about five cents a gallon cheaper in this part of maryland. let's talk about memorial day weekend. it is a big patriotic weekend, of course, here in ocean city. on monday at noon they're going to unfurl one of the nation's largest existing american flags on the beach. i'm told it's the size of the inside of a stadium, bigger than a football field. they're going to do that at noon. it's sort of the centerpiece of the big ceremonies on memorial day and also on sunday this weekend ocean city will roll out something brand-new and it sounds kind of spectacular. they're going to project a video and light and laser show onto a huge five-story sphere that i guess it's inflatable they bring onto the beach. they'll be doing that sunday nights premiering this sunday

and going all through the summer. it sounds kind of cool. reporting live at ocean city scott broom, 9 news now. >> laser light show, new boardwalk. thank you. >> topper, what about the weather? >> we're still tracking pretty big thunderstorms and some of these have very heavy downpours. check out this rain at dulles airport. if you have somebody flying in or out of town, in any of the three airports, you might want to check with the airlines. they tend to delay things with the lightning and heavy rain. this will slow folks down. if you're headed home tonight and headed up 270 and out 50 and out route 7, you'll probably have a little tough going with the heavy downpours. we got lucky last night. they were west of us. tonight they're on top of us. let's have a live look outside of our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son. 73 at national, winds out of south at 15, pressure 29.98

inches falling. live doppler 9000, notice most of the activity is in the immediate metro area in montgomery county, fairfax county, loudoun and the district. so it's covering the entire metro area. big storm right around national airport and back down 395. you see the magenta there, that could be a little bit of small hail. so this is going to slow folks down going down 395 south if you're leaving town and again national airport rainfall of 1 inch per hour and up north chevy chase and bethesda and around east west highway towards silver spring and out connecticut avenue out got some pretty big rains here as well. rainfall rates there are about 1 inch per hour. we'll zoom out a bit and go further north. on the east side of 270 we have some big showers with heavy downpours headed sort of toward olney and laytonsville. we also have activity if you're headed out 50. now we're in virginia.

this is very heavy rainfall. this could be small hail, too just west of centreville. these storms are drifting off to the north. in olney you've got storms to the southeast of you heading your way and big storms on the east side of montgomery county. it's going to be a little slow going tonight. right now nothing severe, but heavy downpour is our main concern, so some street flooding and flash flooding is possible. if we have any warnings, we'll keep you posted. also we have lightning with these storms. if you hear thunder, get the kids indoors, no nonsense there. look at the storms moving back to the northwest. that's what's going to happen tonight and tomorrow. we'll kind of break this pattern by the end of the week. 608 bethesda, 78 in ago -- 68 bethesda, 78 in arlington, still 81 springfield, 80 fort belvoir. showers have not reached you yet. still warm and humid, some thunderstorms tonight, some with heavy rain and more showers and storms tomorrow. friday good news, more sun, fewer storms. that will be kind of a nice

change of pace. next seven days and with that more sun friday 85, near 90 saturday, a few storms, 90 sunday, some scattered thunderstorms. on memorial day we're talking low 90s with a few storms, better chance for storms tuesday into wednesday as the cold front pushes through, 90 tuesday. temperatures fall back to the mid-80s wednesday. kind of a busy evening. we'll keep you posted. again some of these storms have heavy rain. take it easy. >> thank you, top. coming up after barely surviving birth two cheetah cub arrive at their new home at the national zoo. >> up next a new study finds calcium supplements used by many women to keep our bones strong could have a negative impact on our hearts. that's a health alert. >> ladies, do you have the newest shade of luminous lip gloss? 9 wants you to know looking good now can have dangerous

consequences later, even cause cancer. that's tonight at 11:00.

women are often advised to take extra calcium to keep their bones strong, but tonight's health alert reveals a downside. a german sudden did i on almost 24,000 -- study on almost 24,000 people shows calcium supplements may increase heart attack risks. calcium from food doesn't seem to have the same effect. they think there is a sudden surge of calcium in the

bloodstream that may ultimately harden the heart. are you constantly licking your lips because they're chapped? tonight on 9news at 11:00, lip cancer, how you can keep it at bay. there was a solemn ceremony today along i-495 in maryland. a highway sign was dedicated in honor of the late trooper wesley brown who was killed off duty a couple years ago shot to death at applebee's in forestville working security. just earlier this month the shooter, cyril williams, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. we got a sneak peek today at two baby cheetahs who survived a rocky entrance into the world. their mother ally gave birth to the first cub in mid-april, but instead of nursing and cleaning him, the mother abandoned the cub. zoo vets later examined ally and heard additional heartbeats. they performed a c section,

something rarely used to cheetahs. one of the three cubs, a female, died, but the two surviving cubs are being given around the clock care until they're ready to make their public debut later this summer at the national zoo. coming up the mother of all airline delays, only on 9 a traveling musician says the last night he took from d.c. to miami was the worst travel experience of his life. >> husband we're now hearing from the laundromat worker who came to the rescue when two parents put their toddler in a washing machine. >> up next our investigation into gsa bonuses uncovers another bombshell. we'll have a live report from capitol hill coming up next.

we've got some flood warnings to tell you about. topper is tracking the storms on doppler radar in the weather center. >> we talked about these heavy downpours. here are the flood warnings for fairfax and loudoun county that expire at 7:00. we'll go to live doppler 9000. we're looking at a flood warning in effect for prince william county. unfortunately that's where you folks got hit a couple nights ago. this is loudoun county, fairfax county under a flash flood warning and prince william county also under a flash flood warning. remember, do not cross a flooded street by car or foot. it is simply not worth it. just find another way home or wait for the waters to recede. heaviest storms now right around haymarket and this is headed north and west headed

towards middleburg and olney. if you're headed out 50, slow going. downtown through 395, 295 or 7 is slow going as well. loudoun county, fairfax county, prince william county a flash flood warning until 7 p.m. we will keep you posted. do you remember that $823,000 general services administration conference in las vegas? the swanky hotel rooms, fancy food and worker videos making fun of the excessive spending. >> investigative reporter russ ptacek has found out several of those bonuses are actually going to the folks in charge of that conference? >> reporter: we found at least five of those who got bonuses in this payout. i'm just returning, just as it was starting to rain. i was inside the house transportation committee offices where republican chairman john mica issued a

statement calling what you're about to see offensive. you may remember the payroll database released last week. even if you scrutinized that, analyzed it from here to sunday, you wouldn't know the bonuses you're about to see and you wouldn't know about the link to that controversial las vegas spending spree. long before this now infamous video mocked gsa cash bonuses and lampooned loose spending even before the 2010 gsa nearly $823,000 vegas convention, agency bonuses we tracked through freedom was information act requests revealed big payouts that never showed up on a public database. looking at fiscal year 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 a bonus of $9,800

reported as only 900. don't look for a bonus answer here at the white house. the original bonus information was obtained by our sister publication through a freedom of information act with the office of personnel management. when we asked opm why these 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 paper's investigation's editor says 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 shirk at the conservative think tank heritage foundation is troubled even more by bonus money uncovered for fiscal year 2012. >> what's very disturbing is that these performance bonuses which are supposed to be performance bonuses apparently weren't. >> reporter: after our open record request gsa released this list of 67 high ranking officials splitting more than a

half million dollars in bonus money in december, 2011 or january, 2012, almost all between about 8,000 and $10,000 apiece. >> very large bonuses were going to some terrible performers. >> reporter: he's talking about jeffrey neely. >> congratulations, proud of what you've done. >> reporter: the gsa official seen here congratulating the producer of that gsa spending video. he also organized the vegas conference with 2,200 square foot hotel rooms for vip of gsas and he got more than $9,400 in bonus money after the gsa was alerted to the situation. it's said jeffrey neely's trouble are the exception rather than rule when it comes to federal workers. >> my knee jerk reaction is these numbers are quite low for the awards. >> reporter: 20% of the salary

for annual performance are sometime the bonus. >> i think some of them should be higher. >> reporter: but the heritage foundation points to another official who mocked oversight into gsa spending david foley. >> i hope you're not going against the obama administration executive reduction in pay incentives. >> reporter: among the bonus recipients we identified three other vegas conference leaders now on administrative leave with similar bonuses and similarly under the eye of the office of inspector general or as they say at the gsa, the oig. ♪love to the nation. i'll never be under oig investigation ♪ >> reporter: a gsa spokeswoman says the new acting administrator was aware of these bonuses and it has become part of his top to bottom review and has several or many gsa senior officials received

no bonuses at all. only on 9 tonight a traveling musicians his american airlines flight last night from reagan national was the worst travel experience of his life. a full night from washington to miami or coming the other way should take about 2 1/2 hours. it took nine. kristin fisher has been on this story. it took nine hours? >> this started around 2:00 yesterday afternoon. they sat on the tarmac at reagan about two hours due to bad weather in florida. then they circled miami's airport two more hours, ran out of fuel, diverted to another airport where they weren't allowed to get off the plane. this passenger said, get this, the real kicker was what happened once they finally arrived in miami around 10:30 at night. >> greetings, washington d.c. ted garver here after, let's see 8 1/2 plus hours flight from washington. >> reporter: ted garver is a musician.

he tours and travels, but even seasoned travelers have their limits and yesterday he took to twitter and facebook to vent. >> that's right, folks, the downtrodden and forlorn fellow travelers of ill fated flight on american airlines. >> reporter: these travelers were stuck on a airline six hours longer than expected. >> we were at one point offered a small size bra nole labar. >> reporter: his twitter start -- granola bar. >> reporter: his twitter followers carried on his campaign, but when he got there, there was nobody to get him. >> there's nobody telling us where to go when we get off the plane. >> well, folks, here's the line at midnight. american airlines has come up with a great deal for half off a hotel with shuttle service at only 100 bucks per person. >> reporter: so ted like most of the passengers on that flight slept at the airport. >> good morning. it's 5 a.m. in the airport.

>> what do you have to say, sir, fellow passenger? >> i think it's ridiculous american mailers takes no liability at all about anything. >> here's -- airlines takes no liability at all. >> american airlines released a statement saying while it was certainly a long tiring day for our customers due to bad weather and air traffic control delays in south florida, american airlines did not violate any. the provision -- any of the provisions of the tarmac delay rules. keep in mind while it was nearly a nine-hour flight total they were never on any one tarmac longer than three hours, kind of a loophole. as for ted, i'm very happy to report he has finally arrived in key west where he says he is planning on spending his vacation writing a song called unamerican american airlines. >> oh, boy, after nine hours i can certainly understand that. thanks. >> what an ordeal. >> just terrible. up next on 9news a 3-year- old takes a dangerous spin on his toy motorbike.

>> oh, my. >> we'll look at that video and also don't forget we're always on www.wusa9.com. stay with us. 9news will be right back.

caught on tape a toddler

takes a dangerous drive in traffic. a traffic camera in china captures this. it's a 3-year-old tyke on his little teeny motorbike going for a spin on a busy street early this week. this kid has no fear like 3- year-olds often do not. he's just weaving through traffic. cars are dodging him. a top spots him, leads him to safety -- a cop spots him, leads him to safety and he was reunited with his gran particular grandfather who says i just went -- with his grandfather who says i just went to the bathroom. when i came back, he was gone. a viral video of parents putting their toddler in a front loaded washing machine. >> prosecutors in new jersey want the man and woman to come forward. it shows the father putting the child in the washing machine closing the door. the door locks. the machine starts. the parents can't get the door open. they run for help. the child is tumbling inside the machine. it's filling with water. eventually a worker gets to the machine's circuit breaker and

quickly flips the switch off until the power is cut off. >> i unlocked the machine and pulled that baby out. >> i'm very proud of him. he's a good worker, been with me eight years. >> the worker says the father was both very apologetic and thankful. it was the owner who posted the video on youtube. it has had 6 million views, but they pulled it yesterday. prosecutors say the incident doesn't appear to be a criminal matter, but they would like to connect with this family to find out that the child is really okay. >> you can't prosecute dumbness. still ahead aclastic lawsuit against a popular site for -- a class action lawsuit against a popular site for deals. >> and up next whether or not you ought to be buying and selling in those ipos. >> ladies, are you rocking the newest shade of luminous lip

gloss or maybe bought some sparkling lip gloss for your daughter. looking good news may have dangerous consequences later, even cause cancer tonight at 11:00.

all that hoopla not paying off for the folks who decided to run out and invest their money in facebook, at least not so far. today several shareholders sued and the senatebacking committee announces it's reviewing the high profile initial public offering and new allegations there was perhaps insider trading going on. joining me now to talk about that investigation whether or not we ought to invest in these sorts of things, jennifer schoenberger with kiplinger's personal finance. thanks for coming in. >> thank you. >> all this hype and hoopla and talk of billions of dollars worth of facebook and it's been a disaster. what went wrong? >> it's been an absolute train wreck. it's twofold. no. 1, the ipo was not handled very well. no. 2, there are mounting concerns about the actual business of facebook. let me speak first to the ipo. facebook set an initial price range of 28 to 35. when they saw there was so much investor command, they decided to increase the price ultimately to $38 they also increased the amount of shares they were going to offer. that in conjunction with the

nasdaq messing up the entire first trade of the ipo really sucked out a lot of that hype and oh, by the way, the lead underwriter morgan stanley had to tap into a reserve of shares and continually buy shares throughout the first trading session to make sure the price didn't fall below $38. >> we hear the big institutions have said the profits weren't what they said they'd be, so they didn't buy. then regular folks jumped in. is there a rule that if you and i can buy it, maybe we shouldn't? >> if you had read kiplinger, you would have known the cardinal rule for ipos is don't invest the first day. typically it pops and falls. so we typically recommend investors wait up to six months until the price settles in. you get a couple of quarters of earnings. that also is when the so-called lockup period expires which is when insiders are able to sell shares. that sometimes creates a more

attractive entry point, but to your point about facebook's business, i myself have written about this. there are concerns about the actual revenue model for facebook. at the beginning advertisers were jumping on. it was sexy and new, but now they're stepping back and questioning their return on investment. the poster child has been general motors that pulled out last week ahead of the ipo. >> the big problem here for a lot of us regular investors is it always seems the little guy gets screwed over in these kind of cases and once again the big investors and big owners will make money, but if you bought facebook at 38 bucks a share, you're probably going to lose money? >> it's one of those thing where you need to take a long term outlook. yes, in the near term we are concerned. we would wait for second quarter, third quarter earnings. we saw earnings decline 12% in q1. if you look long term, the prospects are optimistic. no. 1, facebook has a huge vote.

everyone and their friends are on facebook. there's no other social network that will be able to come in and steal share. certainly google plus is falling flat on its face. >> a lot of us aren't using as much facebook as we used to. we've got to say good-bye. thank you for your time today. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> topper, you've been tracking a lot of thunderstorms coming through.ed when a big boom a little while ago -- through. we heard a big boom a little while ago in the newsroom. >> we have flash floodings in effect for fairfax, loudoun and prince william until 7 p.m. let's start with our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son. we do have rain down town, temperatures 73, winds dead calm and the pressure is rising a little bit 29.88 inches of mercury. live doppler 9000, here are the counties highlighted. those are the flash flood warning counties. we still see pretty heavy activity downtown. this is going to cause some

problems for national airport. it's now moved a little further west, but right around falls church headed out 66 we're talking big time rains. this red is rainfall rates 1, 1 1/2 inches per sure and the little magenta could be small pea sized hail. go to our website www.wusa9.com and fill out a storm report if you're getting pea sized hail in falls church and help us out. these are pretty big heavy downpours. there's north washington boulevard. that's north lee highway. if you're trying to get out of town and go toward falls church and points past, west, it's going to be a slow going. move back out a little. we do find more activity to the north on the east side of 270, not quite as heavy as earlier, but still pretty good rainfall if you're headed out new hampshire avenue or georgia avenue, rainfall rates in that area anywhere from 1/2-inch to 1 inch per hour. even heavy activity as you get up toward south of i-70 between baltimore and frederick. these are pretty heavy storms,

not severe. rainfall rates about 1/2-inch, an inch per hour. we'll zoom out, take you back to the west now. this is probably the heaviest activity we can find out toward how down county, upperville and aldies. it's going to be slow going. if your windshield wipers are on, your headlights have to be on in most jurisdictions in the metro area. big activity down south of front royal and it's drifting north and west. it's going to take a while to move through and it's moving a different direction than it normally does. it's kind of counterintuitive. look at all the lightning downtown to the west out toward upperville. get the kids indoors. 68 in bethesda, 68 in rockville, 79 springfield and 71 in reston now. the next seven days, good news, bad news. we'll get warmer. as we get into friday, in fact, we're looking at more sun, fewer storms, 85. the weekend will feel like july

4th. it's the unofficial beginning of summer. it's going to feel like mid- summer, 89 saturday, a few storms, 90 sunday, a couple storms possible, 92 for memorial day, 90 tuesday, cold front sweeping through wednesday, morning showers possible, temps dropping a little, back to the mid-80s wednesday. once again loudoun county, fairfax and prince william county, flash flood warning which means flooding is occurring until 7 p.m. the long term effects of multiple concussions, this is a hot button topic in the nfl, depression, memory loss and speech problems just some of the things named in relation. >> but are recent lawsuits by the past players compacting the current state of the game itself? >> kristen berset wanted to know. she talked with some current redskins players for their reaction. >> we've seen the effects of concussions, the immediate effects on nfl players on tv, a guy wobbling to the sideline, another looking like he's lost in his own world.

the current players i spoke with are well aware of the risks they take playing this sport but say in order to protect your brain, you need to use your head. over the past few years the nfl has taken measures to protect their players and their product from concussions cracking down on helmet and helmet hits, moving the kickoff up 5 yards, having a neurologist watch the game and assess whether a player should or shouldn't return after a hit to the head. >> he must for the his bell hung. >> -- got his bell hung. >> they educate us pretty well on if you take a hit to the head, you might not feel as normal as you probably would. >> you can minimize concussions. >> lately thanks to a rash of lawsuits filed against the nfl by former players, long term effects of multiple concussions have come to the forefront. >> when i first came into the league in '98, there was not a

big emphasis on the whole concussions. a guy was tougher if he was able to come back from a concussion. so the whole mine set has changed. >> -- mindset has changed. >> for london fletcher the recent suicide of junior seau has made it all too real. >> it definitely came right home for me and i'm sure a lot of players because this is a guy we can identify with. this is a modern football player, not some of the guys who played years past who have committed suicide. >> but not all current players have been deterred. in a december interview by the associated press, over half the players questioned said they would rather hide a concussion than be pulled from a game. redskins kedric olson said it's better to be safe than sorry. >> it's not like a broken born or torn ligament. you're talking about the next 50, 60 years of your life and being able to function at a high level. >> i know overtime it's going to have the effect. i'm setting us up

generationally and that's part of the sacrifice. it's high risk, but it's also high reward. >> here's a look at concussions by the numbers. from 2008 to the 2011 season the number of reported cases increased 36.5%. however, the nfl says concussions sustained on kickoffs has dropped 12.5% since they moved it up 5 yards. we're continuing the concussion discussion tomorrow at 5:00, this time turning the attention to your children. expert panelists will join me to talk about what's being done to protect athletes at the youth level. >> something so many of us parents are worried about. thanks. still to come, a young man makes his mark on the world's highest mountain. >> reporter: a 100 plus-year- old woman dies and nearly three weeks later hasn't had a proper burial. i'm surae chinn, what 9 want you to know coming up. >> prepaid -- wants you to know coming up. >> prepaid debit cards are popular but offer very little protection up next.

you can buy them just about anywhere. prepaid debit cards are one of the fastest growing financial products on the market, but they don't come with the same kinds of protections that the cards you use to charge your purchases with. that's in part because they are not hinged to a bank -- linked to a bank, but consumer

watchdogs are concerned many people are getting burned. >> you have to really pay attention how you use this card or you could get hit with higher fees on a monthly basis than you would on a traditional checking account. >> the consumer finance protection bureau is seeking your ideas to make sure the funds you load up on these cards are safe and that the terms and fees are clear. for an easy primer how to use these cards, what to look for, go to our website www.wusa9.com. harness your collected buying power lately on groupon? you might get an e-mail about a class action lawsuit this week regarding expired vouchers. you see, some subscribers claim the site imposed undisclosed fees and restrictions on their deals. if you complete a benefit form you'll find on our website, groupon may send you a voucher that allows you to redeem those unused deals if you bought them between november 1st of 2008 and december 1st of 2011.