the politically explosive plan from the white house. >> reporter: president obama positioned himself as a middle class warrior challenging congress to immediately renew bush era tax cuts only for americans who make less than $250,000 a year. >> right now our top priority has to be giving middle class families and small businesses the security they deserve. >> reporter: with middle class taxpayers around him, the president said they could be hit with a $2,200 tax hike next year. >> that would be a big blow to working families and it would be a drag on the entire economy. >> reporter: the president will take his push for middle class tax cuts to iowa tuesday. he will try to convince middle class voters in the battle ground state that his republican challenger mitt romney is a protector of the rich. romney blasted the president's plan calling it a massive tax increase. >> we just saw a terrible jobs report just last week and now

to add a higher tax on job creators and on small business is about the worst thing i could imagine to do. >> reporter: romney and congressional republicans say the bush era tax cuts due to expire the end of the year should be renewed for everyone. with no compromise in sight both republicans and democrats expect to battle over taxes for the remainder of the 2012 campaign. danielle nottingham, cbs news, the white house. >> president obama and mitt romney both held campaign fundraisers today. the president's was in d.c., romney's in colorado. in the last few minutes the national weather service declared a microburst and not a tornado hit part of fredericksburg during sunday night's storm. several buildings were damaged and one was destroyed. peggy fox has been talking to survivors inside those buildings when the storm hit. >> reporter: more than 20 people were inside this building when it came crashing

down with that microburst. there was cheerleading practice going on, two parents remain hospitalized tonight with broken bones. the owner of this building and this studio could have sworn it was a tornado that brought it down. >> if our parents had been in there, wouldn't have made it out. >> reporter: connie allen is the owner of cheer fusion. >> that's when i saw the funnel cloud going like that and i screamed for the kids, everybody get in the dance room. as soon as i did that, it went black. >> reporter: she along with some parents, coaches and 15 cheerleaders were in the studio at a practice session when the storm came. >> it's just the wind, the gush of it, it was like a big vacuum that was holding us back, but we managed to get all in. >> they were just yelling everybody get in the dance room and that's when we all ran in there. >> reporter: all the children made it to the safety of the dance room, but two parents were badly injured. one mom was thrown by the winds and a dad was severely injured by falling cinderblocks.

the dance room stood protecting everyone who made it inside. next-door the studio's roof blasted into the home of the bettis', a couple in their 80s. >> it was horrible because everybody was down the road and nobody was focused on this house 'nobody thought anybody was in it. >> reporter: the bettiss were fine, though pretty shaken after a terrifying experience. >> the house raised up, dropped and we fell in the floor and then the ceiling started falling in. >> all i know is they got out and that's the most important thing. i know. he's got guardian angels, but you take care, john, and you come over any time. okay. god love you. bye. >> reporter: now these are dozens of trophies that the cheer fusion cheerleaders have won both state and national. there are even more trophies inside they cannot get out. the building will be demolished. it's, of course, destroyed. they're not sure, the cheer

fusion folks, where they're going to go. they don't own this property, so they're going to have to figure it out because it's a studio that definitely is on the move and has a lot of girls and boys who want to take part. i'm peggy fox reporting live in spotsylvania, back to you. >> microburst or a tornado, the results all the same. now to capitol heights maryland where regina bowie is still dealing with the tree that fell on her house back on june 29th. it brought down a power pole with it and the lines were live until wednesday she says. that's when a pepco crew came out to shut them off. crews restored power to the house, thought about tree and the pole, still there. sunday's storms also brought more power outages, some in areas already hard hit from the weather the friday before. tonight dominion is down to 951 outages. pepco has 686 mostly in prince george's county, all but four of bge's 203 outages also in prince george's county.

novak has 15 customers with no power. first energy reports fewer than 30 outages and appalachian power say all of their customers have been restored. pepco bore the brunt of most of the criticism after that derecho storm last friday in june and now there's talk of opening up some competition for the you. it. >> reporter: i'm andrea mccarren in rockville where the montgomery county president was extremely critical of pepco's performance. >> pepco's performance on every level was unacceptable. >> reporter: berliner says pepco needs to hire more linemen immediately. >> i've been told by numerous sources that pepco has only between 120 and 130 linemen full time. >> reporter: that makes it harder for pepco to get aid from other parts of the country. >> if you are not able to provide mutual assistance to them, then you get less in return. so we do get less crews because

we have less to offer. >> reporter: storm debris across the area serves as a reminder of what happened and what's likely to come again. so montgomery county plans to ask the state legislature for permission to seek public power elsewhere, an issue that would be ultimately decided through a referendum. andrea mccarren, 9 news now. >> one good thing about our most recent round of storms, it helped break our string of days with temperatures above the 95- degree mark, many in the hundreds. topper is on the terrace with more on the forecast. >> it is really nice now. the frontal system is to our south. we're getting a fantastic evening, fredericksburg northward. let's talk about the radar. a couple showers fredericksburg south. what you see around town, don't worry about that. fredericksburg south showers and that's it for now. keep you posted. temperatures, man, 86 downtown, 82 manassas and andrews, 84

leesburg. i'm just not buying that 90 in frederick. tonight mostly cloudy, comfortable, run the risk of a shower, a thunderstorm possible south and blows 66 to 72. we'll come back and tell you how long we can start a new streak with the 80s after ending the streak with the triple digits. visitors from out of town won't be riding to the top of the washington monument any time soon. we're told replayers might keep the landmark closed until -- repairs might keep the landmark closed until 2014. today the national park service says it's in the process for taking bids for repairs which could take more than a year. >> we're hoping to get it done sooner, but i think we have to say it could be 12 to 18 months and if it is the 18 months that, would take us into 2014. >> crews will need to build scaffolding all around the monument. the price tag for the repairs? right now we're looking at a

lost of $15 million. >> in 2014. tonight at 7:00 on 9news from derecho to drink, how the storm led to the latest aftermath creations in a local brewery. >> remember the loss of jobs and saving a life? he gets honored. >> first where the investigation into natalie woods' death may be officially reopened. ?gw?qyjw

30 years after the death of actress natalie wood the l.a. county coroner's office is changing her death certificate. cbs news reports the document now classifies her cause of death as undetermined rather than an accident. you might recall woods drowned in 1981. the l.a. sheriff's department said it will not comment on investigation leaving several legal analysts to interpret that as the case is officially

now reopened. a federal judge tossed a lawsuit filed by bicyclist lance armstrong. with that lawsuit armstrong had asked the court to block charges that he used performance enhancing drugs. the u.s. anti-doping agency recently filed the charges. armstrong said it's a vendetta and in his lawsuit he argues the agency has no jurisdiction, so it was violating his constitutional rights. remember that lifeguard fired last week for leaving his post to save a man's life? well, today tomas lopez was honored by the mayor of hallandale beach florida and given a key to the city. lopez lost his job because the rescue apparently took place outside his lifeguarding zone in violation of the company's policy. six other lifeguards who were fire order quit for supporting him were also honored today. still ahead on 9 news now at 5:00 new pictures of the red planet that are causing quite a stir tonight. >> we're in chicago which has seen an explosion of gang violence. what will the mayor do to stop

the killing? we'll put the question to him tonight on the cbs evening news. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] virtual wallet can help you be that person who's good with money. see what's free to spend. move money with a slide. save with a shake. feel good about your decisions.

a consumer alert, isuzu is recalling more than 11,000 rodeo sport and amigo suvs. rear suspension parts can rust and breakaway from the train. the recall affects amigos-month- old years 1998 to 200-- model years 19the 98 to 2001 and rodeo sports model from 2002. isuzu will notify owners by male. a new jersey firm recalling 300,000 pounds of frozen meat that may have been contaminated with listeria which includes beef and chicken sold under the mama isabelle ra, dirusso -- isabella, dirusso and civil lake brands. the -- silver lake brands. the whole listing is on www.wusa9.com. now at the end of the meeting with the virginia

watershed they declare they're on track to clean up the estuary. today's assessment is based on the two year's outline of goals to reduce the amount of runoff from farms and cities into the bay. today was the volunteer clean-up at arlington national cemetery, but this year they were facing more than the usual beautification project. >> reporter: i'm kristin fisher at arlington national cemetery where there are still big trees down after that storm 10 days ago. >> three or four were some of the older bigger trees in the cemetery that are 200, 225 years old. >> reporter: these huge trees dating back to -- dating back to before the civil war came crash down on tomb stones. local crews are continuing to clean up which could take weeks. at least today the rest of the grounds are tended to by 400 members of the professional land scare network. they've come here from -- land

care network. they've come here from all over the country and this is the 16th year they've donated materials, manpower and equipment from their annual renewal and remembrance project. >> we come to arlington as a people to heal around green plants. as the grass grows, we heal a bit better. for us it's a giant green blanket that's covering our heros and comforting their families and once a year we get to come here and tuck them in. >> reporter: kristin fisher, 9 news now. >> since that storm hit a week and a half ago there has been a lot of debate over whether to bury the region's power lines. there has been an online petition to give support for that plan and mary cheh plans to introduce a bill that will force pepco to start setting aside money to move at least some of those lines underground. >> we know that process will cost an awful lot of money and be disruptive, but unless we begin to do it we'll never do it. >> the only things that

corporations of pepco's size respond to is the threat of financial loss of penalty. >> but as we told you last week, there are still plenty of voices who don't think burying the power lines is the answer. you can join the conversation on all that on www.wusa9.com and our facebook page. nasa's calling new photos from mars the next best thing to being on the red planet. check out this from the opportunity rover made up of 1,876 pictures the explorer took over four months. nasa says some of the colors are shown in a way to emphasize differences in the planet's surface. the red planet, we're always fascinated. >> we'll start a new streak today. we had iatric of 100s four days in a -- a streak of 100s four days in a row and we'll start a new streak of temperatures in the 80s. want to show you the northern lights, don't see them too

often, and that would be awesome to see it. we've seen it once or twice but nothing as brilliant as that. this is up in minnesota where it's pretty common and in new england. it's being all disrupted by solar strums. molecules jump up and down and vets solar systems. molecules jump up and down and that's what creates the sight. high temperature today finally back at 87. our average high is 88, pretty good. we should stay in the 80s for a while. it will be unsettled, but i think we'll trade that for really a good comfortable day. live look used with our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son, 86 now, 59 dew point, again very comfortable, pretty dry air mass even though winds are easterly at 7, fur falling at 29.9 -- pressure falling at 29.93 inches of

mercury. there's a frontal boundary to our south extending back into arkansas. this is the focus primarily where the storms will be, but for the most part they'll be south of us tonight, a couple showers in west virginia. they'll probably duck south of us as well. we'll keep a chance of a shower in tonight but primarily south of town. want to walk the dog, i think your odds are pretty good. let's talk temperatures because these are nice. i'm throw being out 91 in rockville, 81 bethesda, 83 great falls, 84 arlington. it's a little warmer out toward college park and laurel in the upper 80s, 80 vienna. an isolated thunderstorm tonight, comfortable in the burbs, maybe you turn off the ac, lots of clouds tuesday and more sun wednesday. so for tonight mostly cloudy, shower or storm possible south of town, partly cloudy skies early tonight, 60 since to 72, clouds coming back in late. by morning mostly cloudy but pleasant, shower or

thunderstorm possible, 60s and 70s and then by afternoon mostly cloudy and comfortable, shower possible, maybe a thunderstorm south, high temperatures near 85. temperaturewise that is a bargain. our 9 weather alert codes, we're going all green, 84 tomorrow, 87 wednesday and thursday, maybe a thunderstorm late thursday. we'll monitor that for code yellow. right now it's code green. neck seven days friday mid-80s, some showers possible as well. saturday we're looking at temperatures in the mid- to upper 80s, maybe a thunderstorm and then can't stay cool forever, i suppose. temps go back in the low 9s on sunday and mid-90s monday with afternoon storms. what hasn't been said about bryce harper? >> phenom, rookie, all-star. second coming of jesus, i don't know. >> that's a clown question. >> that's a clown question, bro. it's all-star week, the pomp and circumstance of the

midsummer classic gets underway here. >> plus two new d.c. sports figures make their debut today. sports is next.

now 9 sports with kristen berset, the best sports in town. >> the mlb all-star week festivities kicked off in kansas city last night with a

celebrity softball game and the futures game showcasing some of the league's best prospects. tonight it's all about the home run derby followed by the big event on tuesday. bryce harper making his all- star debut at the ripe owed age of 19 years old. he -- old age of 19 years old. he found out starting night. plus the nats will be represented by two of the best arms in the league, gio gonzalez making his second appearance and the almighty righty stephen strasburg. >> it's a tremendous honor. i'm excited to go out there and see what the festivities are like in real life. so it's going to be great. >> it's like a dream, definitely don't want to wake up from it. it's one of those things where you can just enjoy if and hopefully you get to spend time with the family. >> the nationals fourth all- star won't be playing. ian desmond pulled out because of a are so oblique, one he's been playing with -- a sore oblique, one he's been playing

with for a month. he's been batting .304 with eight home runs. while your kids are at summer camp so are the wizards. this week head coach randy whitman tolding a four-day minicamp and bradley beal making his debut hitting the court for the first time as a washington wizard. he is one of 13 players invited to camp. several nonmembers fighting for a spot at training camp in vegas and bradley beal says that competition is definitely fair. >> i'm pretty sure all the other rookies are going to come at me hard and everybody is going to be competing. it's a job now, so everybody is taking it seriously and i am as well. it's going fob a great competition. >> also today adam oates making his debut as the caps new head coach working alongside roughly three dozen prospects hoping to impress the caps brass. oates and the rest of the

coaching staff will be working with them all week long. he said his first day, so far, so good. >> it was good. it was a lot of fun. a little butterflies this morning, but once we got into it was just like old times. >> felt great. it's been an exciting last couple weeks, fun to get it going. jay gibbons is retiring after nine seasons in the big leagues. the 35-year-old was once touted as the future big bat of the orioles never lived up to the hype and only made things worse for himself when it was found out i was using performance enhancing -- he was using performance enhancing drugs in 2007. he was playing for triple-a- brewers this season. he decided to call it quits. he's done. >> the nats just got here, top of the division. that's all for fox 5 news at 6:00. stay with us. anita is at 7:00. bye.