let's -- berkley. this storm in calvert county is moving into the bay right now. that's a pretty hefty one. also along 235 south of mechanicsville and the shenandoah valley. again, all sorts of warnings going for the next 30 minutes toward frederick. we'll be watching these storms all afternoon for you. thankfully nothing tornadic but some strong thunderstorms will affect us for the next several hours. back to you. >> see you in a minute, howard. breaking news out of riverdale where six children have been taken to the hospital after a car ran into a house. this happened after two cars collided along 57th avenue. our school broom is live on the scene with more on whammed. scott? >> reporter: -- what happened. scott? >> reporter: a terrible accident. it was five children that went to the hospital and two adult drivers who were involved in this. these were children who were playing in a fenced yard behind me. take a look at some of the pictures we got just as we arrived here today. this was to suvs, one overtaking another and they

collided, sending the red suv into this yard. it crushed a fence, went over a hedge, and ran over a kitty pool with at least three or four children inside before coming to rest. i talked to a witness, a teenage girl who was in one of the vehicles involved in the accident. >> i guess she didn't press the brake. the kids got injured. >> reporter: how many kids? >> i only saw two kids that were injured. >> reporter: where were the kids who got hurt? >> they were inside a pool. >> reporter: the children in the pool were run over by the car? >> yes. >> reporter: how fast was that other car going? >> it was speeding, fast. >> reporter: again, the updated information is that there were four children in the kiddy pool who were injured.

the two vehicle drivers also went to the hospital. the children who were injured were ages 4 to 10. at least one of them left the scene here in critical condition. police are now investigating to try to figure out exactly how these two vehicles could have crashed together on a residential street like this sending one of them completely out of control. a terribly serious incident here. reporting live in riverdale, scott broom, 9news now. >> scott, thank you. three years to the day a deadly metro crash. the city unveiled a plaque honoring the nine people killed and the first responders who worked tirelessly that day. it's located right near the crash site along the red line. our bruce leshan was there for today's ceremony. >> reporter: lots of tears today from the families and also a strong, clear warning that metro needs to pay attention to the safety problems that continue to hit the system. >> this is my baby, my cousin right here. >> reporter: for the extended

family of veronica debow, the plaque overlooking the tracks where she died is tangible evidence that people still remember. >> the city cares. that's the main thing. >> reporter: but it is still just a plaque, not a shoulder to lean on. >> i would come over 2:00, 3:00 in the morning because i just need to talk, you know. she would open the door. didn't care what time it was. >> reporter: this woman's stepdad? >> he's doing okay. i'm just here. just to be here, to be honest. >> reporter: seemed unsure if metro has done enough to keep it from happening again. >> i'm pretty sure they're working on t. they're working on t. hopefully it will get better. >> reporter: metro has installed the new general manager. it's replacing the circuits that let one of the trains disappear into a black hole. and it is buying new more crash worthy cars. but the n.t.s.b. chair says she is concerned about a series of recent

problems. doors flying open, parts of brakes falling off. >> those events are very significant. metro needs to pay attention to them because those are warning signs. >> reporter: metro says it is paying attention, that safety is a never ending process. the ntsb chair herself rides metro at least once a week. >> we're trying to get people out of automobiles, but they've got to be able to feel safe. >> reporter: subway systems across the country need federal oversight and senator bashry mikulski of -- barbra mikulski is part of the transportation reauthorization bill which is in a congressional conference committee right now and there are signs today, wonder of wonders, that it may actually get out and get passed and signed into law. lesli. >> while the federal investigators didn't have to go

far from home. this was the tragedy right in the n.t.s.b.'s backyard. earlier this week, i sat down with chairman hersman to talk about the safety culture that existed within metro and the progress they've made now. >> that was a very real experience for us like everyone else in the community trying to understand what happened. >> reporter: she wasn't the n.t.s.b. chairman yet. but on the day of metro's deadliest crash, hers was the voice leading the charge to find out why train 112 barreled into the back of a stopped train number 214. >> we saw that they had many opportunities to catch this failure on this particular track circuit. >> reporter: the n.t.s.b. determined the crash occurred because the automatic train control failed to detect train 214 as it sat on the tracks near fort totten and directed train 112 to move ahead with full speed. since then the n.t.s.b. has issued a list of

recommendations for the transit agency. among them, to develop a system to monitor those track circuits in real time, to replace the oldest trains in the fleet that offer little protection in a crash, and to conduct a top-to- bottom safety analysis, all things metro has done or in the process of doing right now. >> they are responding in a way that they hadn't responded in the past to ntsb recommendations. >> reporter: metro has a new general manager and it is starting to replace the cars that have been in the system from the beginning of the the chairman says it will go a long way toward rebuilding their culture. >> we saw changes in their management structure. we saw improvements made as far as their staffing and their safety department. we saw the board take a more hands on role with respect to safety and oversight. >> reporter: but chairman hers p.a.n. says metro still has -- hersman says metro still has work to do to avoid the kind of tragedy that struck the system on june

22. she says the agency once scolded for being too lax with safety is no longer tone deaf. >> i have to say i think they've gotten a brand new hearing aid and eight working better and they -- it's working better and they are listening. >> she says they're listening but stresses change within the agency will take a lot of time, a lot of money and other resources. one the more important items on metro's list to address are the signal problems on the rail system which also fall munged during the -- malfunctioned during the crash. that is also a work in progress. >> man charged with making changes at metro is chairman richard sarles. we took the safety questions directly tom. here are his responses to all of our questions in his own words. >> today again reestablishing the fact that we have to focus on safety as a first priority. we've been doing a lot of work on improvement safety culture. more work has to be done and we'll continue to do that work. that's the best way for us to

honor the folks that were in involved in this. and some of the n.t.s.b. recommendations including installing a monitoring system. we've installed the monitoring system. we're replacing the track circuit pieces of equipment that were implicated in that so those things have either been done or under way. one of the major recommendations that's outstanding is to replace the 1,000 series cars with the 7000 series cars. we've placed an order for that they've been designed. they're beginning to manufacture them and we expect to see delivery of them so that was one of the the major outstanding recommendations. it just takes time to get there to complete that we doubled the size of the safety staff, the safety department. we have also made sure that our -- all our employees understand the need to have safety as the number one priority. that's when you get to really good safety culture when everybody has a personal commitment to that be ever vigilant on safety and make this place a safer place every day. we wanted to honor the folks who were lost and their

families by vowing to make safety the priority and doing everything possible to get this to be a safe place. it's a significant challenge for awfully us at washington metro and we've been working very hard time prove the equipment. we've done that we've made significant strides. we have a lot more to do. >> what do you think of metro's track record when it comes to safety since that deadly accident? join the conversation on our wusa9.com face -- wusa9 facebook page. jurors in the jerry sandusky sex abuse case are deliberating right now for a second day. this morning they reheard testimony from to witnesses, including mike mcqueary. he is the former penn state grad assistant who testified he saw sandusky engaging in a sex act in a penn state locker room shower with a young boy. sandusky, the former penn state assistant football coach is accused of sexually abusing ten boys over a 15-year span. he denies all the allegations. an alexandria man linked to

a suspected bomb plot at the u.s. capitol pled guilty. amine el khalifi was arrested back in february. he was wearing what he thought was a suicide vest provided with explosives. he had plan to blow himself up inside the capitol. a local marine veteran who fought in iraq is stuck in limbo tonight after what he considers a failure of the gi bill program. as peggy fox reports, a breakdown in the system has put his life on hold and left him with mounting college debt. >> reporter: donald would rather be in college today than thinkerring with his jeep. but northern virginia community college won't readmit him or give him his transcripts until he pays a $2700 bill for the last semester. he enrolled under the gi bill and says he was told it was all covered. >> he said don't worry about that he circled it saying

you're 100% covered. >> reporter: he dropped out of his first year of college after 9/11. he was 19 and determined to do his part. it's what his dad always told him. >> those who can have a moral obligation to help. >> reporter: he joined the marines and was in iraq in a matter of months. he still tries to block out the horrible things that happened. >> it's hard to think about because -- you just think about your friends. >> reporter: you lost friends? >> yes. >> reporter: he left the marines and joined the california highway patrol and last december moved to northern virginia where his wife had a job lined up. he decided to go to college under the gi bill and enrolled at nova. >> if i owed anything, they would have had to collect it then. they gave it back, stamped. he said okay, you're good to go. >> reporter: the vrchts a. paid the in state tuition. then a few weeks ago when he went to enroll for the summer, he was told to pay up. and then sent this letter which says if he doesn't pay by today, they'll refer him to a

collection agency and then tack on another 30% to his bill. when he enrolled here at nova back in january, it's possible the billing people didn't know about the big change to the gi bill. that change would save the program money by only paying in state tuition. >> i feel like i was lied to. >> reporter: peggy fox, 9news now. >> that change in the gi bill occurred last august, five months before he enrolled at nova. a nova spokesperson says they're looking into the case to see if they can help. we have more information on that federal safety investigation that could possibly lead to nearly two million late model jeep grand cherokee vehicles being recalled. i'm kristin fisher. two d.c. public school teachers are about to be fired after they were caught helping students cheat on the annual standardized tests. i'll have more on what this means for students and their test scores coming up.

now a major development in the fourth resignation of teresa sullivan. she was the. of the university of virginia. governor bob mcdonnell has just sent the board of visitors what amounts to an ultimatum. he says clear this mess up fast or you're all getting the boot. the board plans to meet tuesday to consider whether to reinstate sullivan as

president. the governor says if the board doesn't reach a final decision on tuesday, on wednesday he will ask for the resignation of every board member. the governor says the way this forced resignation was handled was, quote, deplorable. new information about the case of that bullied bus monitor up in new york state. tonight police say they are stepping up patrols around the homes of the seventh graders who taunted karen klein because the kids are getting death threats. four kids videotaped their verbal assault and that video went viral online. a fund raising site has raised half a million dollars for klein to take a vacation and retire. the 68-yard says she's -- 68- year-old says she's touched. >> they say i'm such a great person and love me but they don't really know me. >> she says she does want an apology from the students and she thinks they should be banned from riding the bus for a year.

bullying was also a key item on mayor vincent gray's agenda. he signed the legislation that establishes an antibullying task force. the task force consists of agencies and community advocates. >> every day one in five children are bullied in the nation, not just in the city. 20% is a huge number and that's probably conservative. those are just the incidents that we know about. >> so the goal of this youth bullying prevention act is to really create a comprehensive city wide plan to prevent this kind of activity. the act also provides protection from retaliation for reporting bullying. d.c. public schools firing two teachers after they were caught helping students cheat on the annual cas test. this comes after an ints investigation into the system- wide -- independent investigation into the system- wide standardized checks. kristin fisher has been

following this. >> reporter: any time you have teachers helping students cheat, it's bad. but the good news here is the problem is not nearly as widespread as then people had feared. you may remember a little over a year ago our partner "u.s.a. today" found an extremely high rate of changed test scores from 2008 to 2010. the fear the wrong answers were being replaced with the right answers. that report prompted the city's inspector general to launch an investigation which is still ongoing. today, this morning in fact, the office of the state superintendent released the results of their own investigation into this year's cas test. for the first time they hired an independent third party to conduct the investigation. it centered on 70 classrooms in 38 schools that were flagged for possible testing violations. the schools include d.c. public schools and public charter schools. here's what they found. 14 of those 70 schools had no issues. 11 had minor issues. nine schools classified as moderate. that means no tech tampering or

academic fraud but there were violations like test administrators using cell phones. then there were three schools classified as critical. those schools are martin luther king elementary, public charter school perry street prep which was formally known as high leadership and langdon. students tolding investigators their teacher pointed out correct answers. same thing at langdon. there the principal said a procter and assistant test coordinator erased stray marks on student answer sheets that could have lowered scores. not good. the chancellor of d.c. public schools puts it all in perspective. >> i am so pleased that this investigation confirmed what we thought all along, that there is no widespread sheeting in d.c. public schools. in any system, you have a couple of people who choose to break the loose. out of 1100 classrooms tested to have only two classrooms

with confirmed cheating tells me that our teachers, our administrators, our school staff are doing right by our young people. >> reporter: the test scores have been invalidated in the three classrooms that were classified as critical. as i said before, two d.c. public school teachers are in the process of being fired. they say more terminations could be coming. >> let's talk about that. is there a clear pressure for these scores to keep going up year to year? >> there are so many things tied to the test scores lug in a lots of school systems, d.c. in particular, their pay. >> merit pay. >> reporter: merit-based pay so there's a huge incentive to get the scores up but you can't help students to cheat to get the scores up. >> thanks for that update on this investigation. back to you. let's take it right on over to howard because we have a severe weather alert alert day to talk about. >> we're right in the middle of it. we're looking at many warnings north and west now.

earlier it was south and southeast of town. want to start you off with a look at big picture as we've been watching the storms over the past six hours. lots of lightening as well with this. some heavy downpours. these have been slow moving storms. i've seen doppler estimates in spots of two inches of rain. that's a lot of rain in a short period of time. i know we've had some ponding of water. happy to say that while we've got strong storms down into calvert and st. mary's counties, nothing severe there. still, you could have some gusty winds. what i want to focus on is this area to the north and west up into northern maryland. all the counties lit up in yellow from frederick to hagerstown, down 81, woodstock, all of these are severe thunderstorm warnings till 5:30. we're talking about some storms here that could have winds in excess of 06 miles an hour. look at this guy south of thurmont. caroll county a severe weather

warning till 6:00 p.m. in the winchester area, you're getting hit pretty hard. looks like there's wind potentially coming out of stephen city with this storm. the storm is moving to the southeast at 20 miles an hour or so. places like waterloo, 5:51. the hail size on this could be anywhere from half to an inch on that. so we're looking at a lot of heavy rain and the winds as well. so a lot of things are going on north and west of town. just want to make one more stop a little farther south down the shenandoah valley to show you the storms that be affecting south of woodstock headed toward luray. middletown getting hit hard. anyone going out 66, this is going to be tracking toward you. looks like we have a few new warnings that have lit up also to the east of stephen city. toward berryville and down we'll be watching all of that. it's in effect till 9:00 tonight for the entire area. anny is here with the rest of

the weather snore. >> thanks, howard. we're looking for the cold front to go through this evening that will fire off showers and storms. temperatures in the lower 90s. cloudy conditions in downtown. feels like 91. once the front comes through and storms die down, we'll see temperatures cooling off tomorrow and less humidity. it's 84 in manassas. in fredricksburg, you saw lots of rain. you've already cooled down in the upper 70s at this hour. future cast showing us storms going through tonight. again some will be strong. some will be severe and overnight we're looking at the chance of storms to really diminish after midnight. may see lingering showers and storms to the east, maybe southern maryland, out toward the east bay and also the shore. but we're looking at some really good conditions by tomorrow morning to kick off your weekend. here is a look at your next three days. temperatures a little cooler tomorrow. less humidity. we're looking at mostly sunny conditions, highs near 90. sunday near 90 once again. some late afternoon, evening ietion lated -- isolated

thunderstorms possible. on monday we're giving it a code yellow alert today because the chance for more scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon for monday. high of 87. but cooler tuesday and wednesday, in the low to mid- 80s. plenty of sunshine. at&t national looks pretty good. temperatures there in the low 90s and partly cloudy conditions. back to you guys. >> okay, thanks, anny. still ahead tonight, rain, sleet, snow. the elements don't stop the mailman but what about our web footed friends? >> but first, all but one lane of the outer loop are closing this weekend. we'll tell you when and where up next.

welcome back. we're looking at severe thunderstorms in southern maryland. i said they had weakened back to below severe levels but they have pulled back up severe levels. we're looking at the storms in calvert and st. mary's. new warnings till 6:15 for these storms moving to the northeast. probably some hail there west of hollywood but these storms could produce winds gusting toward 60 miles an hour if not

higher. take cover in southern calvert, southern st. mary's. we'll be tracking the storms as long as they're out there. a commuter alert now for beltway drivers in northern virginia. you might want to avoid the outer loop near the wilson bridge this weekend. that's because construction will close the thru lanes between van dorn street and telegraph road. one local lane will get through between 9:00 tonight and 5:00 a.m. monday morning. metro's navy yard station will close a bit earlier than usual this saturday night. that's because metro transit police will be taking part in a security drill with the f.b.i. and other law enforcement agencies. green line trains will still run through the station but the station itself will close at 10:00 saturday night. shuttle buses will be offered to and from the waterfront station. might soon have to shell out more money to travel along i-95 in virginia. the state's transportation department is proposing a $4 toll for cars traveling in suffolk county south of richmond. the richmond times dispatch

reports large trucks would pay $12. tolls would be collected in both directions but that plan still needs federal approval. still to come on 9news tonight, state government stepping into the battle against breast cancer. what it means for women. but first, this man used to work for chrysler. now he's a whistle blower and says certain late model jeep grand cherokees have a gas tank fire problem and the company knew about it.

9 wants you to know about the federal safety investigation that could probably lead to late model jeep grand cherokee vehicles being recalled. it is focused on rear end crashes in the popular suvs that resulted in a disproportionate number of burning deaths linked to the placement of the gas tank. now nhtsa has expanded its investigation to include the 1993 to 2001 cherokee and 2002 to 2007 liberty models. our lesli foster brings part two of her-year long investigation on the -- her year long investigation of the jeep grand cherokee. >> reporter: nhtsa is investigating 1993 to 2004 jeep grand cherokee vehicles to see if this can happen to you. tonight you'll hear from a chrysler whistle blower who has spoken out widely about these issues and the safety policies of his former employer.

he says the company knew about potential concerns with the gas tank placement in the 1993 to 2004 jeep grand cherokee long before the suv went into production. >> this is one of the most dangerous vehicles on the highway today in terms of rear end collision and fire injury or death probability. >> reporter: paul sheridan spent ten years at chrysler. he was a product planning manager heading up safety leadership for the company. chrysler fired and then sued sheridan alleging he gave away confidential company information. sheridan countered with a whistle blower lawsuit claiming he was demoted and fired for speaking out about safety issues. but court dismissed sheridan's suit and chrysler dropped its suit against him. now sheridan works as a paid consultant in the industry and has shifted his sights to the safety of the 1993 to 2004 model jeep grand cherokees. >> folks don't understand that their fuel tank is hanging out behind the ax below the bumper.

they don't know they're at risk when they drive down the road with their family members in this vehicle. >> reporter: a risk safety advocates say occurs more often in the grand cherokee because of where the gas tank is positioned, behind the rear axle. the nonprofit center for auto safety first brought the issue to the national highway traffic safety administration or nhtsa back in 2009. the center used the government's database to track fatal fire crashes linked to the 1993 to 2004 jeep grand cherokees. they have now tracked 51 accidents where 72 people died in rear, side and rollover crashes where fire was the chief cause of their death. back in 2009, the center for auto safety asked nhtsa to investigate the problem. nhtsa did. last week they expanded their probe. and in this nhtsa document, the safety agency says that rear impact-related tank failures and vehicle fires are more

prevalent in the jeep grand cherokees than in nonjeep peer vehicles. sheridan observed the crash tests you see here. they were performed by a california engineering firm and paid for by the center for auto safety. in this test when a ford taurus strikes the jeep grand cherokee, you see what's called an underride. the taurus bumper is lower to the ground and does not line up with this cherokee's bumper. instead it goes under the vehicle striking the gas tank and creates a fire risk. chrysler takes issue with these tests. they maintain their cars met the federal standard for the grand cherokee at the time it was manufactured, which is true. and that their vehicles are safe. >> it's been known in the industry for many, many decades so when this vehicle was actually delivered to the public, it wasn't that the underride accident scenario was unknown. it was known. >> reporter: sheridan gave nhtsa this once confidential

chrysler memo that according to court documents was widely distributed throughout the company. it is dated august 24, 1978 and details potential issues with the passenger cars and trucks. it was written months after the ford pinto was recalled over similar issues with the gas tank placement and fiery deaths. in it two development and safety managers for chrysler wrote, there is a concern with vertical height differences that create a mismatch with passenger car bumpers. and where fuel tank location behind the rear axle is that that is feasible, a protective impact deflect -- deflection structure may have to be provided whether or not a bumper is provided. an investigation whether to relocate the fuel tank or provide impact deflecting structures is presently under way. american motors corporation owned jeep. in 1987 chrysler bought jeep and inherited the gas tank

placement design. the design for the jeep grand cherokee changed in 2005. sheridan and other safety advocates say a steel skid plate like this could be just the thing to help deflect the impact of a crash and prevent a fire. it can cost anywhere from $200 to $450 depending on the manufacturer. >> this will completely protect the tank during a rear end collision and rather than making direct contact with the tank, you have protection from this very strong device that bolts to the vehicle. >> reporter: sheridan and the center for auto safety believe a skid plate is one relatively inexpensive fix. chrysler offered skid plates on the 1993 through 2004 jeep grand cherokees as an option for off reading. we don't know how many jeep vehicles have a fracturery off after market skid plate installed. in 2005 the company moved the gas tank ahead of the rear axle

and added the skid plate as a standard piece of equipment. chrysler said it conducted rear impact testing without plates and the 2004 jeep grand cherokee exceeded the vigorous impact test requirements and performance and the overwhelming majority of rear impact fires over the life of the '93 to 2004 jeep grand cherokee were the result of high speed, high energy crashes in which a skid plate would have made no difference in the outcome of these tragic events. >> i would not put a family member in this vehicle without some additional protection to the rear fuel tank system. >> reporter: chrysler could say, you know what? this guy is a disgruntled employee with an ax to grind. what do you think about your speaking out about these potential safety issues? >> well, the priority for me is making sure there are no more deaths and no more serious burn accidents regarding -- with respect to this vehicle. it was once said that someone's

disgruntled x employee is the next person's expert. so i share my expertise in the area of automotive safety and that's my primary purpose. >> in full disclosure paul sheridan is now an expert paid by trial lawyers to testify against chrysler in cases that involve the '93 to 2004 jeep grand cherokees and deaths or injuries that have resulted from fiery crashes. we questioned him very hard concerning his motives, but with the number of documents we were able to find that supported what he was telling us, we decided you needed to hear what he had to say. nhtsa apparently is concerned enough with what they reviewed so far to expand their fire investigation. it now includes 199 'to 2 -- 1993 to 2001 jeep cherokees and 2002 to 2007 jeep liberties. i mentioned chrysler moved the gas tank ahead of the rear absencele beginning with the 2005 models. since then according to the center for auto safety which

was the first to raise teens concerns, there have -- these concerns, there have been no fiery deaths related to the gas tank. this is just an investigation. it is not a recall. >> i know how many months you worked on this and now with this expanded investigation from nhtsa, what if you own one of these things? there's a lot of cars out there. >> what do you do if you have one of these cars. >> exactly. >> if you have a 1939 to 2004 jeep cherokee or a 2002 to 2007 jeep liberty, auto safety experts we talked to say you should try to limit the amount of time you spend in the vehicle. one expert even told us that people with these vehicles should ask chrysler to come up with a fix. but chrysler says there is no fix necessary. they say these vehicles are safe and some of their own employees drive and own these models that are being investigated. but if you're interested in the skid plate we showed you in our piece, we'll have a link to where you can find them on our website wusa9.com. >> great work.

great resources. thanks, lesli. we're going to go to howard now for more wet gler out on the weather terrace this is a steamy night. severe thunderstorm watch till 9:00 p.m. loudoun county, you have a new severe thunderstorm warning till 6:30. we'll break down the warnings and look ahead toward the weekend a little bit later.

you probably heard the passengers were sifnging on the titan -- singing on the titanic as that ship was going down. >> but what do you do when an earth quake hits? >> to australia where a tremor hit australia. -- hit melbourne. the cat was motivated to play the guitar. he stop add few times to figure out the rumbling but generally keeps on going and going. some nursing home residents in minnesota are getting some extra with their mail delivery. >> it's just ducky. three ducks arrived with the mailman as he walked his daily route at emmanuel nursing home. now, the ducklings make it over there every couple of weeks. the mail isn't delivered as

quickly as it usually is but the ducks, well, they make a whole lot of people smile. >> they get to interact with them and the residents. so it's a plus all the way around. >> these ducks don't quack. they peep. you can hear them. so the mailman hauls in a peeper and the pets. he might just be the next great sportscaster and's e-- and he's not even able to vote. we'll more on that next after the break.

we're going to close out this week with a severe weather alert day. let's get to howard in the weather center. we've had a few reports of high winds. there's one out of washington county, maryland. just some tree limbs down. took down a few power lines. many thunderstorm warnings are going at this hour. we'll show you the radar the last six hours with the lightning. you can see what's bub:led -- bubbled up with the heat.

coastal storms to our south and storms to our west. they're kind of all over the place. we'll show thu on live doppler 9000hd. also the south watching this one cell here down in calvert and st. mary's county. this guy is headed right toward solomon's, pax river naval air station. looks like it will pass north of lexington park. you see this light purple area. likely a little bit of hail with this as well as it moves southeast at 20 miles an hour. the other areas that we're watching are north and west of us. this one really heavy area which is coming out of the city of winchester. also through areas in clark and warren counties. we're watching that activity move toward loudoun county and they're all lit up till about 6:30 this evening for severe thunderstorm warnings. so take cover. this is just about on top of berryville. watch out upperville and back through strasburg, north of front royal. this is a big storm. potentially winds gusting over 60 miles an hour and in frederick county, want to show you one more stop. we've got the storms pulling out of woodsboro south of westminster.

that means business. a little hail. any of these severe storms have the potential of producing winds 60 miles an hour or more. a severe thunderstorm watch covers the entire area until 9:00 p.m. but as that line out west kind of comes toward us, we may see this watch just chopped off county by county as the threat diminishes. we still have a weekend forecast. we'll tell but that. anny hong has been helping me out all afternoon. she's here with that. >> we're looking at drier air moving in once the storm comes through. we have cloudy skies. you can see some of the cumulous buildup. feels like 90 degrees out there under cloudy conditions. winds already coming in from the northwest at 7:00. we do see cooler numbers. culpeper, orange in the 70s. tappahannock in the upper 70s where you did see some pretty good storms go through earlier this evening. we are 930 in downtown -- 90 downtown. 87 up north. the storms will continue through tonight and then they'll start to kind of diminish closer to midnight, overnight and into early tomorrow may see some lingering

storms out east of town, out toward the bay and eastern shore, maybe in southern maryland. but then the clouds all clear out too by early saturday and we're going to see a really nice start to your weekend with plenty of sunshine. tonight scattered thunderstorms mainly before midnight. some strong to severe. lows mid-60s to 74 degrees. in downtown we should cool down to lower 70s. upper 60s for manassas and gaithersburg. you'll cool down to 68 degrees. tomorrow morning it's a really nice start. you'll feel it. partly sunny and less humid. air quality is moderate code yellow. here's a look at your next three days. high near 90 for saturday. sunday also near 90. maybe an isolated storm on monday. isolated storms possible once again 87 degrees. cooler for tuesday and wednesday, in the low to mid- 80s. at&t national looks really good for golf. in the lower 90s, partly cloudy conditions. we're updating the severe thunderstorm warnings on the bottom of your screen and our ticker so check it out on the newscast.

back to you. >> looks like the weekend is going to be good. thanks, annually. there are a lot of people who want to do what we do. that's true. which means we have to stay on our toes. kristen better set has to stay on hers as -- berset has to stay on hers as well as she explains in this week's high school profile. >> reporter: as a senior at landon high in bethesda, nathan was in charge of school spirit. >> let's go bears. >> i'm the head of like the spirit club. like i've always been trying to get people to come out to games. >> reporter: one day last year the senior class president asked nathan for an update on the sports team. everyone was so entertained, it prompted nathan to create a weekly sports report to share with the entire school. >> i do a lot of jokes, a lot of sarcasm. i took that and put it into video format. >> when you smile like this, i would not call him a captain

either. >> reporter: he enlisted the help of his younger brother to be his cameraman. they set up shop in the basement of his parents' home. >> i was the first one to critique. if somebody was really bad and he didn't notice, could i stop the film. >> reporter: nathan's videos were an immediate hit. >> when we showed it at school meetings, people were laughing. they were saying oh, that's really fun and really cool. >> reporter: a simple idea turned into a possible career path for nathan so we in the 9 sports department decided to take the budding journalist from the basement to our studio. >> from intern to the man, the washington wizardses todaydowns randy whit p.a.n. will return as head -- whitman will return as head coach. >> reporter: he recorded his own evening sportscast. >> the nationals may still be in first place in the nl east but no longer hold soul possession. >> reporter: getting a taste of what it's like to be a big time sports anchor. >> i feel comfortable talking about sports and it's something that i've always wanted to do. i was more excited than

nervous. >> reporter: kristen berset, 9 sports now. >> keep working at it, nathan. he says he's heading to boston college next year and he's thinking about studying communications. >> as he should. we're getting psyched for next week's at&t national golf tournament. if you're one of our facebook friends, you can win tickets to spend a day at bethesda's congressional country club. click the link on our facebook page to fill out an entry online. ten people will each win two tickets. you can go any day. winners will be selected next monday. still to come on 9news, the clock ticking for loudoun county to decide if it will join in phase to of metro's new silver line and the vote couldn't be any closer. >> plus, an historic verdict in the trial of a philadelphia priest accused of covering up allegations of child sex abuse. >> but up next, a health alert for women who plan to have children in the future. a new blood test could offer vital information on the well- being of an unborn child. we'll be right back.

a discovery that could help moms to be know early about the health of their baby. a protein in the blood of women could likely predict if they're likely to have a fetus with growth problems. moms and doctors know early on if extra monitoring is needed to make sure the fetus

continues to thrive. now we go to the battle against breast cancer. more and more state governments are must haveling into the fight. the latest new york where lawmakers have approved controversial legislation that will provide women with clear information about the results of their mammogram. for some women it could make a critical difference. >> reporter: halle was 39 when doctors told her she had breast cancer. it was already stage four. >> there was evidence that it had spread to the rest of my body. i was now incurable. it was elizabeth edwards stage. they said you're going to be in treatment for the rest of your life. >> reporter: with a family history for breast cancer, she started mammograms at 35. the tests didn't show cancer but her doctor didn't tell navdimar herrera breasts were dense which can make the x-rays difficult to read. instead of sending her for additional testing such as ultrasound or m.r.i., the doctor never brought it up.

her case isn't that unusual. the national cancer institute says mammograms miss up to 20% of breast cancers which is why new york's legislature just passed a bill requiring health care providers to notify women if their breasts are dense so they can discuss other options with their doctors. the medical community is mostly opposed, concerned the legislation could lead to unnecessary testing. they say it's important for doctors and patients to know all the facts. >> knowledge about density coupled with breast cancer risk assessment should be part of the whole conversation about how each woman should be screened for breast cancer. >> i think i get the most emotional when i think of my mother. i don't want my mother to mourn me. i can't think about that. >> reporter: her doctors say she has a one in six chance of living three years. they're trying to find a treatment to help beat those

odds. cbs news, new york. >> new york is just the latest state to get involved. today's heat and humidity is causing thunderstorms to pop up. the whole area is under a thunderstorm watch till 9:00 tonight. so our 9 weather team has designated today a severe weather alert today and howard, what are we expecting those -- when are we expecting those storms to hit? >> the next two or three hours we'll watch what's coming out of the winchester area toward loudoun county that could get toward the d.c. metro area by 8:00 or so. we'll watch that very carefully. do want to talk about the severe thunderstorm watch. it covers everybody from -- they've dropped it there in west virginia but northern virginia, eastern, west virginia panhandle, they've chop add few counties off all the way across the bay toward delaware till 9:00 p.m. we've been watching the storms all afternoon with lots of lightning as well coming across the region. there's the watch bo