we've seen. so imagine the surprise of residents here to learn last night that they were erased from pepco's outage map. when one of the residents phoned pepco, he was told, your power is on. clearly, it is not. >> i am appalled, disgusted. angry. >> so how does betty barnes really feel about the communications confusion over her powerless neighborhood? >> i don't need anymore excuses. get the job done. get somebody here who will do it. get them from anywhere. >> the wreckage is extraordinary. snapped utility poles, downed wires, and a neighborhood of 1400 customers who are getting increasingly fed up with pepco's communication failures. >> it's really frustrating because we don't have power. i wish they would get their act

together for that. i am trying to be patient. >> i got a call and the notification on my app that there were no power outages anymore in my area. >> so pam miller and her elderly mother canceled their hotel reservations for the rest of the week. >> i took her back to her house, came back to mine, neither one of us had power. communication in power kills. they are not communicating properly to their public and we need to be dealt with honestly. >> reporter: i just got off the phone with, p epco vice president of customer care. here's how he explained these outages that are being suffered by the neighborhood of silver spring and overs. he says when a piece of equipment is fixed, everyone served by that equipment will appear to be back online. he says those who are still without power are probably experiencing a secondary outage and that will go back into the

system as something that needs to be repaired. now coming up tonight at 6:00, we talk to a woman who tells us she was put on pepco's priority list on saturday morning because of a medical condition. she is still without power. 96 hours later, we also will visit two other neighbors, neighborhoods rather, who say they are troubled by either a lack of communication from pepco or incorrect information that they are getting. until 6:00, we are live from silver spring. andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> their patience is wearing thin and you can understand why. thank you. derek. >> lesli, the overwelming majority of the damage to this electrical system was done by falling trees and now one maryland state senator is the first in line calling for putting more of those power lines under the ground. tonight, 9 wants to know where the electric companies stand on this growing issue and scott broom is in college park with that. scott. >> well let's start in this

state senator's district and get introduced to him. he has been a fierce critic of pepco just like a lot of politicians over the years. he points out this undergrounding issue has not been studied in maryland for nearly ten years. he also points out, if you happen to believe in climate change, just like he does, a lot has changed since then. >> we have known for years that climate change leads to more frequent, more severe, unpredictable, extreme weather. we may have noticed that here in washington. >> now demanding that the state's public service commission reopen with a new analysis. >> what they haven't looked at, what are the costs to the citizens if you lose $200 worth of food in your refrigerator? if you have to take your mother to stay in a hotel because it is too hot to stay in her house. >> those are all costs that

the utilities aren't counting. look at the cost to the public, not just the cost of the utility. >> it's been nearly ten years since maryland visited this subject. a legislative task force report concluded that underground electric is not all that it seems. yes, it can be more reliable in the short run, but it lasts only 30 years compared to 50 years. it takes longer to fix and it's not immuned to other hazards, like flooding and lightning strikes. pepco has never waiverred. >> i'm asking you this every time we talk. >> thomas graham with 9news now's bruce johnson saturday. >> it would take ten plus years to do that type of project. >> okay. >> the cost would go into the billions and the question is, do our customers have the appetite to absorb that type of cost? >> pepco estimates converting all of washington, d.c. to underground would cost $5.8

billion and add $107 per month to an average bill. they turned out the lights. so they can't have it both ways. >> but senator rosa, pepco points out there have been eight major studies in jurisdictions from north carolina to texas over the last ten years, including a big study in d.c. and all of them come to this conclusion, that the benefits of undergrounding don't outweigh the cost. rosa says if they do the calculations differently and look into other costs that we pay, perhaps it is worth it. he wants the study done again. live in college park, scott broom, 9news now. >> based on what we are going through this summer. that might change the calculation. >> pepco under fire tonight and it's not just from the customers. it's the local politicians. d.c. mayor blasted the power company this morning on cnn and

thomas graham responded. >> the answer we have gotten is that the power will have 90% of the people who are out restored by friday. this has to be put in context. this is not the first time. this happened repeatedly. we had power outage after power outage. frankly the people are fed up with it. >> mother nature isn't something i can control. you can't control the storm, can't control the damage that takes place to our system. can't control the mature trees that crash down on the infrastructure on homes and cars. what we can control is our response. to the extent that we could be prepared, we were prepared. to the extent we can get resources, we have. we have over 2700 personnel working on the restoration for our customers on a 24 hour basis. >> mayor gray is among the local leaders calling for pepco to move underground and will be joined by tommy graham coming

up at 6:00. if you think you are frustrated with the power companies, try talking to a silver spring man who says pepco set his cars on fire and nearly killed him. it happened just after 8:00 this morning on woodstock avenue in the forest glenn neighborhood. kristin fisher is live with the latest. kristen, what happened? >> reporter: lesli, these are the roots of a huge tree that fell down on friday. it fell down on two cars parked in the driveway. now the homeowner says he knew it was dangerous when the tree fell down it took out tons of power lines. he notified pepco, but this morning pepco reenergized those power lines. >> it started arking through the cars which initially set the tires of the car on fire and once the tires were on fire, it spread throughout the cars and at this point, they are both burned to a crisp. >> this was exactly what and

andrew has been afraid of. he and his wife, his grandmother, and four cats all got out safe. now they are furious with pepco. >> honestly, i'm very upset. they created a very dangerous, life threatening situation by turning on power lines. >> especially since andrew says he told pepco about the downed lines about the storm. >> we spoke to pepco inspector yesterday afternoon and told him of the situation. >> montgomery county fire crews responded within minutes. it took crews twenty minutes to deenergize the lines. >> if there is somebody near those power lines, they could have been lek tri cuted right away. >> i tried to get answers from a pepco employee who showed up to investigate. >> i prefer not to say anything. >> this could have killed someone. both montgomery fire and pepco are investigating. andrew has his own theory about what happened. >> because of the pressure, they may have rushed things

more than they should. i mean, i'd rather that they took more time and be safe about it than submit to the pressure to get people out faster than they should. >> so i am still waiting for a good answer from pepco about what happened here. i know pepco's president is going to be a guest in our studio. lesli, i'm hoping one of you will be able to ask him what happened here and why? >> we certainly will, thank you. while thousands of folks are anxious to get their power back, many families have a lot more than that to worry about. some have lost their homes. peggy fox joins us live at one home in arlington county where the owners are thankful they are alive. peggy. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. for the thousands of people still complaining that they don't have power, including me, this will give you a new perspective. take a look at this. a 4-foot in diameter oak tree

crashed through half of this house. the entire family was home at the time. two little girls and their parents. not one of them has a scratch. >> it was like a train going through your house. >> i thought tornado. i was like, oh my god, there's a tornado. >> had friday's storm come through an hour later, suzette and michael may not have survived. an oak tree crashed through their bedroom. >> our first thought were the girls. he said stay here and he ran up and i followed him, our girls amazingly were still sleeping. >> the girls bedrooms are upstairs, thankfully on the other side of the house. >> i ran up with no shoes on, breaking glass. >> michael and suzette scooped them up and ran downstairs. they called 911, but couldn't get through. >> i got blankets and took one kid at a time. you open the front door, and

there was an electrical line. >> while their los is severe, they know it can be replaced. >> that's how melissa matthews feels after she narrowly missed getting speared by a tree branch. >> couch is typically right here about 2 feet away from this window and the branch came down, probably about 6 inches from where my head was. >> her three-year-old daughter was crying. >> this is my daughter's window and this until i cleaned it up was one solid mess of broken glass. >> both families understand people are upset about not having power back, but they have a new perspective. >> tell them to come on over. we'll trade places in a heartbeat. >> now both the mcgrands and melissa are thankful for their insurance companies. they have been put up in a new place. they may get a new home out of

this. but they are also thankful for their families, their friends and neighbors who have supplied shelter and food and really made them feel more comfortable during this difficult time for them. so the grands lost their house, but they are thankful to be alive, derek. >> gives you some perspective. thanks. the epic storm is causing some d.c. area communities to cancel their fourth of july fireworks. still ahead, we'll show you how one group of neighbors is pulling together to save their celebration. also ahead, facing a midnight deadline. loudoun county takes that vital vote on the future of metro's silver line. we'll tell you what they did. >> but first, caught in the act. police search for a group of men captured on video stealing computers from a local library. we'll be back.

d.c. police on the lookout

for five thieves caught on tape stealing computer equipment from a library. last thursday, francis gregory library, police say these guys took six computer monitors. here's the surveillance video. five people with hoods on. they broke in through a glass panel in the back of the place, library had just opened for the first time on june 19. the debate over metro silver line is finally over in loudoun county. they voted 5-4 to dulles airport and into eastern loudoun county. today's vote came just hours before the midnight deadline. >> this project is necessary for the health of this community. going forward, as i've mentioned, there's no ability to add capacity to the network going eastward. and this is viable for the future economic health of this

community. >> loudoun's board faced increased pressure to vote in favor of the rail line. the governor is among those who have pushed for the extension. >> our current heat wave is blamed for the death of three people in maryland. two of the victims, senior citizens who lived in the county and baltimore. now the heat is also blamed for the death of a 59-year-old man in rockville. high temperatures are expected to go on throughout the week. the state health department is encouraging people to take advantage of the cooling centers open around the state. an update on the most destructive wild fire ever in colorado. the waldo canyon fire now 70% contained and more people are being allowed to go back home. that still leaves 2100 foams waiting for word when they can get back to their houses. they'll have flames fully contained by a day after tomorrow, july 5. but they are still on edge. >> just as early as yesterday, you see people drive by, flipping cigarette butts out the window. i know you are all shaking your

heads yes. it's never okay to do that. but right now, it's almost unconscionable. >> insane, whatever you want to call it. increased concerns led to a july 4 ban on all fireworks in colorado springs as well as in the city of denver. so they aren't playing around. >> that's right. apparently a lot of communities around here that aren't doing the fireworks. it's hot. >> there's no red flag warning out, technically, but a lot of dry soil out there and dry underbrush. >> a lot in my front yard. >> we're looking at temperatures again in the 90s. it was not humid today. the bad news, it will get humid, don't worry. let's start with a live look outside. our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son. 96 right now. dew point 54. look at the -- the dew point in the 50s. that's a bargain. that's worth paying for. look at the humidity. only 24%. winds out of the north. so, dew points in the 50s,

really making today bearable, if you will. look at the radar and satellite picture. we have showers and thunderstorms to the north of us. north of hagerstown and cumberland. and that's going to duck down to the south of us. a couple of showers between winchester and harrisonburg. and some showers beginning to approach breezewood. we have thunderstorms in the forecast. all night tonight, and some of those could be heavy, some could be severe. 96 downtown. 93 in manassas. 91 in leesburg and 93 up in frederick. pick a number, we'll pick national. factor in the humidity, stays at 96. earlier today, it went down a little bit. stays at 93 in manassas. heat index 95 in frederick. so, the humidity is not adding any heat, any discomfort to these testimonies, which is rare. normally the heat index is a higher number. heat continues all week, not quite as comfortable tonight. a thunderstorm possible

tonight. thunderstorms possible tomorrow. during the fireworks, sorry about that. and some storms could be heavy and some could be severe. for tonight, partly cloudy and warm with a thunderstorm possible. everybody holds in the 70s. despite those dew points in the 50s, i think more moisture is going to roll in here. by morning, partly cloudy, hot by noon. a late thunderstorm possible. even in the late morning, a storm is possible. 75 to 94. by afternoon on the fourth, partly cloudy, very hot, and thunderstorms. some heavy. some severe. high temperatures 94 to 98. we will break it down for you. early, 70 to 80 in the morning. 88 to 94 by noon, and 94 to 98 by evening with a couple of storms. next three days, we'll keep it code yellow. 97 tomorrow. 100 on thursday. wow. 99 on friday. next seven days. hope to see you tomorrow bright and early, 7:30, 8:00 at the potomac library for the autism 5k. we appreciate you coming out.

99 on friday. then 100 on saturday, and finally perhaps a brief end, some light at the end of the tunnel. low 90s on saturday and upper 80s into monday and also tuesday. we have a best shot for you. this sums up everything. this is john's picture from laplata. that is off the ground. he had a will the of damage. a lot of trees down and no power. >> that's ugly. >> here we go. you want to send something to us, go to our website at wusa9.com. click on weather and be sure to include your name, location, and description. also got an e-mail from someone about pets. they can't sweat, got to cool their nose down. put cold water on their nose or put them in the shower. >> really? >> sure. cool them off. not hot shower, mind you. if you have city water, i have power. i can shower all i want. i come out of the shower and

sweat instantly. coming up, the first home hiv test gives instant results is about to hit the store shelves. >> some high-tech safety features and new cars keeping drivers safe and insurance claims down. we'll tell you about them up next.

diet food is recalling three varieties of pedigree pet food. it contains some small pieces of blue plastic which could really choke your pooch. the product slot codes are from 209 to 212 and a best date between february 24th, 2014, and march 23, 2014. if you have any of these, you want to throw away any unused portions and take your receipt to giant for a full refund. it turns out those adaptive

headlights and automatic braking systems are a good thing for us on the road. a study by the insurance institute found that vehicles have those warning systems have fewer front end accidents. and claims for cars with the front end warning systems were 14% lower. researchers report even those adaptive headlights reduced property damage claims up to 10%. but not all of that high-tech gadgetly is paying off. insurance claims increase for cars with devices that warn you when you drift out of your lane. the first over the counter rapid home hiv test has been approved earlier today by the fda. the oraquick test can detect the presence of hiv within 20 minutes with the use of a mouth swab. other tests were approved, but these are the first home hiv tests that you don't need to send into the lab for the result. hiv testing is one of the best ways to slow new infections, which are right now at 50,000

per year. baltimore orioles legend is auctioning off some of his most prestigious awards. two of his four gold. the former pitcher is a tv analyst for the orioles and he doesn't need the trophies anymore. pal mer plans to use the money from his grandchildren's education and provide for his autistic stepson. all right, coming up, protecting yourself from power surges. we'll tell you some things you should do in your home before the lights come back on. >> the 911 and power outages in northern virginia are not stopping the fourth of july in this tight knit community. i'm jessica doyle and i'll have that story coming up. utility companies chip away at hundreds of thousands of power outages from the midwest to the mid atlantic. i'm danielle nottingham in arlington, virginia. i'll have the story coming up.

jth m from here in the mid atlantic, tens and thousands of people still without power after friday's storm. >> at least 23 deaths now blame on that storm. and danielle nottingham say authorities are concerned the longer it takes to get back to normal, the more vulnerable people are. >> utility crews in virginia are battling down trees, oppressive heat, and upset

customers. >> it is a huge mess. we don't have any work being done in the neighborhood to cut up the trees. >> at this call center, customers want to know how much longer they have to sweat it out. >> all of our customers are asking for updates std morning and trying to get to the mall. >> virginia is one of seven states along with washington, d.c. where more than a million homes and businesses are still in the dark after friday's storms. >> this whole job here is five or six hours. you multiply that by thousands, it takes a lot of man hours. >> not only are downed trees a headache for utility crews, they cut off neighborhoods with temperatures in the 90s, those with special medical needs and the elderly are at risk. >> this is when our senior citizens are most vulnerable. >> in west virginia, stores are giving away ice and water. dan says his crews are working 16 hour shifts and longer. >> they are getting out on the

job and at 10:00 at night, it's not done. we are saying you have to come back. no, we are staying here until we get those people's lights on. >> still, many may not have power back until the weekend. danielle nottingham, cbs news, arlington, virginia. >> district opened food distribution sites for residents who still have no power. there are six food distribution sites at recreation centers around d.c. and they'll be open until 9:00 tonight. the locations include guy mason, emery, takoma, and the reck centers. >> debris on the move. many of us are taking the mess from friday's storm to area weigh stations like this one in montgomery county. you don't have to drop off your limbs and left overs to reclaim your home. most local governments will pick up that debris right from your curb. to find out more, go to our

website, wusa9.com. >> all right, if you just got your power back or waiting for the lights to come on, you need to protect your appliances. turn out all the lights with the exception of the refrigerator and the freezer. keep a lamp on so you know when the service is back. wait 15 minutes after power is restored to use your appliances and make sure you use your surge protectors to protect your electronics. they will keep them protected in the event of a power spike. derek. >> the epic storm is causing a lot of communities around our area to cancel their plans for fourth of july celebrations. but one group of neighbors in northern virginia is pulling together to put on a big show. jessica doyle brings us their story. >> cheese balls, chips, water, check. barbecue grill, check. even the birds and bees are excited for the fourth of july. but mother nature has thrown a monkey wrench into independence day celebrations this year. some towns have canceled

fireworks displays after 911 and power outages. those problems aren't stopping this tight knit beach front community in fairfax county. kevin worked on the pyrotech nicks display for six years. after four days without power, he thinks the community needs a lift. >> the neighborhood is down in the dumps and so we figured we should have the celebration anyway. >> show of hands, who doesn't have power? >> at nearby crews work to get the lights on, these volunteers are working to light the night sky, leaning on each other to move heaven and earth. >> we have a good safety record. nobody has been hurt. we have the arrangements made. it will be out to inspect them once we build them. >> the lake has been through these type of power outages and residents know how to stay cool. >> there's always a dip in the lake. since we have a tankless hot water, the showers are cold. >> forget about the heat,

forget about the storm. forget about the power outages. here, fourth of july show will go on. jessica doyle, 9news now. >> thanks, jessica. and residents tell 9news now, they don't expect to get power back on until the end of the week at the earliest. several of the fireworks displays scheduled to take place tomorrow night have been canceled. they include the ones at montgomery county in rockville. montgomery county fair grounds. einstein high in kensington and maryland soccer plex. you want a complete list of the fourth of july celebrations? log on to our website, wusa9.com. >> the fourth of july concert and fireworks on the national mall and the u.s. capital will go on as scheduled. some of the acts went through their rehearsals earlier today on the west lawn. the events will be hosted by "dancing with the stars," tom

bergeron and featured acts. the public is welcome. it starts tomorrow night at 8:00. fourth of july celebration will also be broadcast live on pbs. well the white house will be the site of another big independence day celebration. country star, brad paisley, will join president barack obama and the first lady for a salute to the military. 1200 service members and their families will be treated to barbecue and they will have a prime spot for viewing the fireworks. the fourth annual salute the military concert will be streamed live on the white house website. and what would the fourth of july be without an eating contest? coney island has hot dogs, we have hamburgers. contestants had ten minutes to see how many burgers they could wolf down. the grand prize winner got down 18 of them. he got $1,000 in cash, $1,000

worth of coupons. >> so gross to watch. >> okay. well the outlook for steamed crab at your favorite maryland seafood restaurant. better stick with the burgers. they say the supplies are variable and the prices are high. the department says its annual winter survey found the crab population rebounded, but the problem is, most of them were under sized juvenile crabs. those crabs won't reach market size until later this summer. maybe even the fall. coming up, a small town gets a taste of big city life with a little help from a popular fast food chain. but up next, a major bump in the road sends an suv into the air and it is all caught on tape. and don't forget, we are always on at wusa9.com. stay with us, we will be right back.

caught on tape. a dramatic high-rise rescue in ecuador. you can see them hanging out the windows. their building is on fire. rescuers scrambled down, others were sprayed with water to help stay cool and sadly, two of the coworkers died in the blaze. we don't know what caused that fire. >> a woman catches a crash caused by this week's heat in wisconsin. she stopped her car on an overpass to take photos of a buckled stretch of roadway when suddenly, an suv goes into the air. it lands hard. it crosses the median and it slides into the on coming lane. the woman says she moved the camera because she went to call 911. people inside that suv were taken to the hospital. that road has since been

repaired. >> our next story takes us to a small town in the wilderness of alaska where the closest highway, derek, is 400 miles away. >> that is a very long way. residents of bethel, alaska, learned to live without box stores and fast food chains. word spread fast when a rumor began circulating that taco bell was coming to town. sadly, it was not true. but when the ceo found out, he flew in the fixings for 10,000 free tacos. the town lined up for the taste. >> there's going to be more tacos inside. >> you don't see this big of a herd. everybody and their dog came out today. >> did they have any chalupsa. the company says they are going to use the footage in upcoming

promotions. that's what i would do. >> we won't go there. still ahead, paying tribute to an american icon and the pride of north carolina. we're taking some time tonight to remember andy griffith. >> tonight, we're taking a look at how industry analysts are rating pepco. the numbers aren't so pretty. we'll have them up next. [ mosquitoes buzzing ]

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we hear a lot of criticism about pepco, but 9 wants you to know where it ranks compared to other utility. russ spent his day getting some answers. >> well, it depends who you ask. last year pepco made its largest investment in infrastructure ever and that's nearly a half billion dollars. tonight, a spokesman says that's just part of the utility's response and critics who said pepco just doesn't stack up. >> last year, business insider.com listed pepco among the 19 most hated companies in america. also at the bottom of the heap was comcast, time warner, and delta airlines. but pepco ranked number one for most hated. business insiders sited a

survey showing 70% more pepco outages than other big city utilities. three years of analysis shows pepco customer satisfaction dropping year after year to last place in 2011 among 19 east coast utilities. even as bucket trucks hit the streets, new complaints tally up. this report prepared for the maryland public service commission identified troubles during 2010 outages. recommending outages including tree trimming, reliable related initiatives. improve estimated time of restoration of service, and improve customer communication during storms. >> a pepco spokesman says the utility trimmed 3,000 miles of trees in response to recommendations and doubled its phone lines and added new technology to respond to customer concerns. pepco tonight, they say they took action and accomplished all the recommendations made in

that maryland report. >> as we can see with evidence of this storm, there is still a ways to go. >> and there will be more state regulation, more state investigation. >> all right, russ, we know you'll be over. thanks so much. guys, back to you. >> let's talk about the weather, top, because folks want to know, are we in for cooler temperatures, b, more storms? >> i think it's the right answer to this question. a severe thunderstorm watch. the counties are lit up and down into tucker county and parts of west virginia. pretty heavy thunderstorms, some hail and strong gusty winds. again, severe thunderstorm warning for garrett county until 6:30 and any storm that rolls through tonight, we'll keep the chance of storms in all night. could be heavy and severe. not organized like it was on friday, but it is still heavy. there's a closer view of the storm. it's going to move through garrett county and into west

virginia and romney. you folks in romney get ready. and storms showing up on the east side of i-81. so, individual storms could be hefty. we will keep you posted. here's our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son. 96 right now. dew point 54. that's really good. when that he has storms move in, it should weaken them a little bit. but our dew points are going to go up, humidity is going to increase. pressure falling, 29.91 inches of mercury. temperatures in the 90s. 93 in manassas. 91 in leesburg. you factor in the humidity, the temperatures really don't change much. it stays 96 downtown. stays 93 in manassas. it's hot, but not humid. dew points in the 50s. heat continues all week. that will not change. not as comfortable tonight. a thunderstorm possible tonight as well. some storms possible during the fireworks. and some of them could be heavy. some could be severe. any time we see storms with temperatures in the 90s to

around 100, they can be heavy and severe. so again, we'll keep you posted. that's why we have gone code yellow. partly cloudy and warm. a thunderstorm possible. lows in the 70s. winds southwest at 10. now tomorrow morning, partly cloudy. hot by noon. we have to keep the chance of a thunderstorm in, in the late morning hours. 75 to 94 for temperatures. air quality code orange. that's unhealthy for sensitive groups. by afternoon, partly cloudy, some heavy, some severe. 94 to 98 and more humid tomorrow, too. winds west, southwest at 10. and yes, some of the storms could occur around your barbecue and right around the time of the fireworks display on the national mall, which is set for 9:10. not unusual. tomorrow put on my blog, history. every two years we have big storms on the fourth. it's not unusual. all right, we'll break it down for you. 70 to 80 to start and 88 to 94. i want to see everybody out at

potomac tomorrow. get there at 7:30 for the autism speaks 5k. 88 to 94 by noon. and 94 to 98 with a thunderstorm by evening. another hot independence day. now the next three days, we are code yellow. wednesday, thursday, friday. 100 on thursday. 99 on friday. all with afternoon storms possible. next seven days. it stays hot through saturday. around 100 on saturday and perhaps some hope. might be false hope. but it's good to put a little lower temperatures on the map. 91 on sunday. and perhaps in the upper 80s on monday and tuesday. still storms, but not as bad. >> when you see 199, 100, you need hope. >> should have kept 100 on there. that would have helped us. >> you think? >> yeah. it would have toughened us up a little bit. >> we'll be going into that severe weather alert day. the nationals are doing

their part. >> kristen berset is live. she has just a glimpse of a home stand that we are going to really enjoy. what do we have in store, kristen? >> this is going to be a groat home stand. lots of activities for the fans out here. starting today, and the stars and stripes series. one of those is honoring these two men standing next to me right here. we have matt, both players on the washington nationals, wounded warrior amputee softball team. a team i got to play against at the beginning of the season and you all kicked our butts pretty good. but first off, congratulations. i want to say, these two guys have been selected to play in a celebrity softball game during the all-star week in kansas city. when you got the news about that, what went through your mind? you had to be excited. >> me and matt took it as a joke at first. i knew last year they tried doing it and it didn't work out. i thought, dave likes to play jokes on us a little bit from

time to time and so at first, i didn't believe him. once he was, hey, this is serious. i'm still in awe right now. so i think once we get there, it will set in, hey, you're at the all-star game. >> that's a pretty cool honor. matt, tell folks at home a little bit about what the wounded warrior team is all about. >> we are all injured veterans of the war. we are traveling around the nation right now. playing exhibition games. just showing people the good side of what happens. hopefully we find a lot of motivation of guys getting injured, to keep going. we have all been there. when you go through an amputation or severe injury, you never think you'll be playing ball again. we hope we are giving everybody hope. what we have done, continues to give back. >> you guys are impressive. you only play able bodied teams. the nationals have two teams.

strasburg and ian desmond. how impressed have you been of him? >> he's as advertised. all the hype that comes with being the number one pick, i think he's more than lived up to it. he's had a minor setback, but he is back from it. i don't think there are any ill effects. >> the rookie can make the all- star team. you think the fans will butt him through? >> we need the fans to vote for him. we would love to have him out there. so far, he lived up to all the expectations. he's having a heck of a year. he would be great for the nationals. we hope all the fans come together and get him in. >> he's been fun to watch. good luck next week, have a lot of fun. you guys are truly inspirational, true heros. know you have a lot going on. i appreciate you guys taking a couple moments with us. and rematch next year, matt, we have a rematch, guys. >> matt already said that i still owe him for a nice shot i

had on him during the game. we did have news that chipper jones is actually in the all- star game because matt kemp is out. he's injured. so bryce, one step closer to getting in. fans, vote for bryce harper. thanks so much. i'm kristen berset at nats park. back to you guys in the studio. >> congratulations to them and those tweets are working in terms of getting bryce to the finish line. still ahead tonight, a pivotal vote on the future of extending metro past dulles airport. >> four days after the freak storm, 911-centers now back up and running, but what is being done to prevent the next outage? i'm bruce leshan. the story coming up. >> but first, an expedition to solve one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century. can they succeed?

so, what happened to the legendary pilot, amelia err amelia earhart when she disappeared? they are trekking from honolulu to a remote island where they hope to find wreckage of earhart's plane. this is based on years of research. she vanished while trying to become the first woman to

circumnavigate the globe. when i say andy griffith, what comes to mind? >> it has to be that whistle. >> looks back at the life of the actor who died early this morning. ♪ [ music ] >> who doesn't hear the whistle and remember the andy griffith show? from 1960 to 1968, it was a huge hit. and the star, andy griffith, played the show's man. >> i didn't charge him nothing. >> i meant something for the joy of giving. >> i enjoyed it. >> i love playing straight because you get to see the show and be in it at the same time. >> andy's life parallelled his show in many ways. he was born in a small show in north carolina much like the fictional mayberry and grew up in a poor, but loving home. he was studying to become a minister, but changed his major to music. his breakthrough role was in the film, of faith in the

crowd. years later, he revealed sheriff andy taylor was supposed to be the funny man, until his friend got into the act. >> don called me when he saw the pilot. said don't you need a deputy? >> the rest is comedy history. >> oh andy, you know we couldn't have given the sobriety test to otis last night. >> he turned to drama in the 80s and 90s. in 2005, he was awarded the presidential metal of honor. a working actor. to the end of his life. alexis, cbs news. >> andy died this morning at his home in north carolina. he was 86. this is 9news now. >> down trees are covering cars and roofs and all sorts of things around our area. the number of power lines they

brought down last friday night are still causing problems of their own four days later. the power is back on for more than half the people in our area who lost it during the big storm on friday. >> but that is little comfort to the thousands that are still sweating it out without air- conditioning. tonight, pepco has almost 96,000 outages. the majority of which are in montgomery county, dominion has 63,792. most of them are at arlington, alexandria, or falls church. >> novec has 751 outages and the bulk are in loudoun. >> first energy which has potomac, and allegheny power customers, they have more than 8500 outages. most of them are in berkeley county, virginia. >> and 286 outages in charles county. appalachian power still has outages in virginia and west virginia, none of them are in our viewing area. >> everyone wants their