♪ what did we learn on the show tonight, craig? ♪ >> oh, my! [meow] [laughter] craig: we learned a lot tonight. what we didn't learn is that steve, who was on at the start of the show, it is his 21st birthday.

[applause] hey, i'm 50! [applause] [laughter] anyway, here's the thing. steve, all of us got to, the ladies, geoff, the horse, both ends, and me, we got together and we're going to send you and your parents to the great show business restaurant, the ivy in los angeles, where you can eat for free. happy birthday, steve. good night, everybody! [applause] [ male announcer ] it would be easy for u.s. olympian meb keflezighi to deposit checks at the nearest citibank branch. ♪ like this one. ♪ or this one. ♪ or, maybe this one. ♪ but when it's this easy to use citibank mobile check deposit at home...why would he? ♪ woooo! [ male announcer ] citibank mobile check deposit. easier banking. every step of the way.

>> we have new information tonight about a sexual assault near a local pool. one woman was attacked. her assailant is still on the loose tonight. investigators say this happened at green farm park in gaithersburg about 5:00 p.m. this evening. the victim was taken to the hospital for examination. investigators are telling us the attacker was wearing something green.

if you have any information about what happened in this case, please call montgomery county police. get ready to spend more for what you buy online. hurting for revenues in a struggling recovery, state governments are urging congress to make it easier for them to collect sales taxes on anything bought online and shipped into a state. as gary nurenberg reports, congress is listening. gary? >> reporter: this is not just the state, the so-called brick and mortar stores say it's been unfair to them. they have to collect the tax and lose sales to online competitors who can offer the product for a lower bottom line because the online competitors don't have to impose the tax. in the early 1990's, the supreme court said essentially if you don't have a physical presence in the state, you don't have to collect sales tax for that state. >> all we're asking for is for the government to close this loophole, level the playing field and let everybody compete

on price in a free market. >> reporter: state governments say they need the money. >> that can mean more teachers. it can mean more police, more firemen. >> reporter: his group estimated an additional revenue of $423 million for virginia last year, $72 million for the district, had those taxes been collected. but the online industry says if you include local and county taxes, the real unfairness could be ahead. >> nothing could be less fair to america's small businesses than forcing them to collect and remit and file sales taxes for nearly 10,000 different jurisdictions across the country. >> reporter: congress is considering a bill that would encourage uniformity throughout the states. it is holding hearings later this month. >> i don't see any problem with it, considering the fact people would have to pay a sales tax in a regular store. >> reporter: virginia passed a law, not yet in effect, requiring residents to pay. >> whoever is making the decisions about this just needs to make sure that the tax is proportional to what would be

reasonable for each person. >> i believe it's fair to people who are avoiding stores, but people making the purchase. >> reporter: that woman we talked with had an interesting approach saying collect the sales tax online but make it less. states want the money and the trend is clear. anita? >> it certainly is, gary, thank you. more now on the aftermath of those epic storms. d.c. council member tells 9 news she will introduce a bill tomorrow that would force pepco to begin installing some of its power lines underground. the fear is that power outages after every major storm have become the new normal. chase says the time is now to consider underground wires in some areas pepco serves. >> we would place an assessment on pepco which inevitably they'll probably pass on to the rate payer, but create a special fund out of which we could then begin to identify these areas and begin to

underground the wires. >> pepco blames the weather which takes down the trees whichs takes down the above ground power lines. tomorrow is the final legislative session before summer recess. no real action expected on this at this point. to montgomery county. how fed up with pepco are folks there? the county council plans to ask the state for permission to get the electricity from someplace else. today account president briefed reporters on his assessment of pepco's response to the recent power outages. >> pepco's performance on every level was unacceptable. the length of the outages, the appalling communications, the computer glitches and datadistortions. >> he also said pepco absolutely must hire more linemen. if you have some choice words for the utility, here's your chance. montgomery county will hold public hearings in the pepco's performance july 19th. two people are still

recovering from serious injuries tonight after a vicious storm tore through a northern virginia town. in fredericksburg, 15 girls were practicing their cheerleading stunts yesterday inside that building as the micro burst unleashed its fury. the teens say they saw the building start crumbling around them. when the owner of cheer fusion made a decision that may have saved lives. >> i saw the funnel cloud going like this. i screamed for the kids to everybody get in the dance room. as soon as i do that, it went black. you couldn't see kids. you couldn't see anything. >> that dance room stayed intact. after the storm cleared, the main area reduced to rubble. seven people were injured in all. two parents are recovering from serious but not life- threatening injuries. a showdown expected tomorrow in the d.c. city council over a bill to require a minimum fare for car services. matt jablow joins us to explain. what's going on, matt? >> reporter: one high-tech company says if approved the bill would stifle growth for

car services and limit options for consumers but the bill's author says it's a matter of fairness. a san francisco bay company thaentered the washington market. it makes a smart phone application that matches high end car services with customers. >> this is a realtime view of where our cars are right now. >> reporter: she says the technology is a win win win. car services get the ride. ubear gets the cut of every ride and customers get easy access to the car services. the company's d.c. general manager says everything was going great until the city council proposed a bill that establishes a minimum price, 15 dollars for every ride. >> having it isn't the right thing for the customers. >> reporter: even though they already have a $15 minimum, the company says a mandated minimum could affect their ability to charge lower prices and offer the service to less affluent

services. >> that doesn't create open competition. >> reporter: but d.c. councilwoman who introduced the bill calling for a $15 minimum says they're trying to have it both ways. >> this is not a sneaky way for them to take over the taxi industry. >> reporter: they want to reserve the right to compete with taxis. >> i will be going forward with the legislation tomorrow. i think it's sensible. >> reporter: chase says that's simply not fair. >> you can't have less regulation and a preferred position and claim you're a premium service and then want to undercut the taxis that are out there. >> despite uber opposition and the e-mail campaign they started, chase says she's almost certain the legislation will be approved tomorrow. anita? >> matt, also tomorrow another public airing of d.c.'s dirty political laundry. that's when a district public relations executive goes to court to answer felony campaign

finance fraud charges. gene clark harris, who also goes by the name eugenia harris was an associate of jeffery thompson, a permanent businessman and contractor who's already being investigated for his ties and contributions to several local politicians, including d.c. mayor vincent gray. it's a video that went viral. a beating in baltimore. now four people have pled guilty. they were videotaped hitting, robbing and stripping the clothes off an intoxicated tourist from northern virginia last st. patrick's day. the four defendants have pled guilty to charges ranging from robbery to assault. one got a year in jail. two others were sentenced to time served. the fourth will be sentenced in december. when you invite out of towners to come see the sights in d.c., keep them in mind. the ride all the way to the top of the washington monument might be off limits until the year 2014. you'll recall last year's earthquake did some significant damage. today, the national parks service said it's in the process of taking bids for the

repairs, and those repairs could take a year, maybe a year and a half. >> we're hoping to get it done sooner, but i think we have to be honest and say that it could be 12 to 18 months, and if it is the 18 months, that would take us into 2014. >> here's part of the reason why. to do their work, crews will need to build scaffolding all around the monument. as for the price tag, right now an estimated cost is $15 million to fix it. in campaign 2012 news tonight, president obama will be in the swing state of iowa tomorrow. he's campaigning on his new push to extend the so-called bush era tax cuts for the middle class and smaller businesses while letting them go for higher income americans and businesses. but as reporter danielle nottingham explains, republicans are calling this a tax increase. >> reporter: president obama drew an election year battle line over taxes. he wants to extend cuts for

middle income americans, but thinks those who earn more should pay more. >> let's not hold the vast majority of americans and our entire economy hostage while we debate the merits of another tax cut for the wealthy. >> reporter: the president is calling for a one-year extension of the so-called bush era tax cuts, for households earning less than a request million a year, and individuals earning less than $200,000. they're due to expire at the end of december. this will cost taxpayers $150 billion in 2013. >> folks like me don't need a tax cut. we can go ahead and go back to the breaks under bill clinton. >> reporter: but republicans say what the president is really doing is raising taxes and they have a different plan. the gop wants to keep all the bush tax cuts, including those for households earning more than a quarter million dollars a year. that will cost taxpayers an additional $850 billion over

the next ten years. republican presidential candidate mitt romney case the president's plan is bad policy. >> 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: count on taxes being a top issue at the presidential debate. danielle nottingham, cbs news, the white house. >> by the way, mitt romney has a fund-raiser in colorado tuesday. u.n. special envoy says a plan is in place to bring peace to syria, but president says he is staying put. opposition forces are claiming for him to step down, claiming he's responsible for the violence that claimed the lives of 17,000 people. secretary of state hillary clinton says the days are number for the regime in syria. authorities on the hunt for four more suspects in the death of a u.s. border patrol agent

that happened in 2010 and involved assault rifles linked to the botched fast and furious gun trafficking operation. brian terry was shot when he and fellow agents attempted to catch a handful of gunmen south of tucson arizona near the mexico border. >> we are here today to support the terry family. we are here today to provide you with information about our investigation, the prosecutetive efforts and we are here to bring justice to brian terry and his family. >> a $250,000 reward is being offered for each of the four men who face add slew of charges including murder. two other spujts have already been arrested in connection with that killing. still ahead on 9 tonight, rated r for smoking. we'll show you why some experts want to regulate cigarettes on the big screen. plus a health alert. when people use artificial sweetener, they assume it's better for them in some cases

and help them avoid gaining weight. 9 has a new report that puts sweetners under scrutiny. topper? we broke our triple digit streak of four. we broke it with the 80s. your wakeup weather, there will be clouds, generally dry. mid-60s to mid-70s by 5:00. in the 70s by 9:00. come back. we'll tell you if any showers may creep in by afternoon and i'm here to prove that mini babybel cheese

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so how does a 5-hour flight turn into a 19-hour nightmare? here's how. a spirit airlines red eye leaves l.a. for fort lauderdale. somewhere over texan elderly passenger loses it, kicking and screaming. to complicate matters, he's partially blind and speaks only french. the pilot makes an emergency landing in houston. by that time, the crew can't fly again, because of federal work hour rules. and spirit doesn't normally use that airport, so it takes hours to fly in a new crew.

so the 5-hour flight finally gets to florida 14 hours behind schedule. >> it was terrible. it was unreal. it was painful. 19 hours. 19 hours, we were in this mess. >> oh, yeah. spirit airlines has apologized and prom mess to give -- promises to give all those passengers a refund. probably a good idea. in today's health alert, millions of americans lose artificial sweetener to lose weight. the american heart association is weighing in on if they work. >> reporter: masters starts his day with an iced coffee, a splash of cream and a couple packets of splenda. >> it will taste the same, just as flavorful and yet a fraction of the calories so why not do it. >> reporter: the american heart association says substituting artificial sweetners for sugar added to food and drink may

help people reach a healthy weight and maintain it and help diabetics maintain their blood sugar levels. >> they save 150 calories for every diet soda they consume. >> reporter: the jury is still out on whether sweetners are an effective long-term way to keep calories and sugars in check. >> they say i can have that piece of cream pie because i put artificial sweetener in my coffee. >> reporter: it has helped him cut down on calories. >> every single day i have sweetener in my coffee, and probably once a week i'm making something or baking something with artificial sweetener. >> reporter: he's also cut down on carbohydrates and butter and getting more exercise, a lifestyle change that helped him drop 114 pounds. now, the heart association recommends women eat no more than 100 calories per day and men no more than 150 calories per day of added sugars. that's hard to do.

again, the trap is also avoiding the thinking that okay, i used splenda or knew tra sweet over -- nutrasweet over here, i can eat more over here. life does imitate art. after years of testing they determine teens who watch movies with cigarettes this in them prominently are more likely to smoke themselves. the study's author says requiring an r rating for those movies would help decrease teen smoking. you can imagine the movie industry may not want to do that. the lower 48 states set a new heat record and it doesn't take into account last week's heat wave. according to noa, the u.s. set a record for the warmest 12- month period since record keeping began in 1895. the agency says the average temperature in june was 71.2 degrees, a full the 2 degrees higher than the 20th century average. a couple of things. put this in perspective for us. >> we're measuring temperatures

a lot differently now than 1895. and for a perspective on heat go to our website and check out my blog. >> no one will argue with how hot it was last week. >> no, in the 80s today. maybe four days of temperatures in the 80s. let's start with a live look outside. we're looking at a very nice evening. clouds, yes, but radar is quiet right now. 80 downtown. dew point coming up a little bit. it was really pleasant earlierthis evening. back up to 64. pressure coming up. wind still that's the easterly component to it. east/southeast at 5. that will keep clouds around tonight and tomorrow. satellite picture, radar combined, we'll zoom in. the action is in texas and all the way to the gulf coast area in the southeast. this is the frontal boundary that's stationary and this is where the focus will be. as we go through the week, this will come back to the north as a warm front. we'll be a little bit unsettled, but for the most part this week it stays to the south. that means we stay in the 80s. when it pushes back to the north in the weekend we'll go

back in the 90s. showers and a few thunderstorms primarily to the south. we'll keep it in tonight. i think around the immediate metro area we are looking at a dry commute to work which will be nice. staying below 90 all week. tuesday a few showers are possible. a much better chance south of town. wednesday a little more sunshine. pretty darn nice day on a wednesday. and then on thursday, a few thunderstorms. watch that carefully as to how strong the storms become and how widespread they become as well. overnight mostly cloudy. comfortable. shower or thunderstorm possible. but well south of town. 66 to about 72. again winds easterly at 10. by morning on tuesday, mostly cloudy. but pleasant. clouds not a bad thing. showers maybe a thunderstorm possible. 60's and 70s to start. by afternoon, mostly cloudy, comfortable. shower possible. maybe a thunderstorm south. high temps around 85. that's a pretty good deal. winds easterly at 10. the next three days, the 9 weather alert codes will stay

green, green and green for now. 84 for tomorrow. 87 on wednesday. 87 on thursday. a couple of thunderstorms on thursday as they become more numerous or stronger, we will make that a code yellow. next seven days, friday we hold in the 80s as well. a little better chance of showers on friday. the front starts to go back to the north of us and get pretty close to us. saturday, showers and storms, the front's pretty close to us. then boom, the front goes north of us and we're back in the hot sector. 92 on sunday and 95 on monday. a nice stretch of 80s. we'll concentrate on that. >> we'll keep it as long as we can. >> like 80s. >> the ladies like the 80s. >> that just sounds a little awkward. >> excitement in major league baseball. soundnd a little creepy. a little bit. >> it's topper. >> it's me. >> the all-star festivities continue tonight. it's all about the long ball. home run derby king is crowned

this evening. plus bryce harper soaks in the sights and sounds

>> the pomp and circumstance that is all-star week is well underway. yesterday, it was a celebrity softball game where matt kinsey, a member of the wounded warrior amputee softball team took home the mvp. tonight the attention turned to the power hitters. the annual home run derby featuring eight of the leagues strongest hitters. last year champ robinson not having a good night tonight. he was shut out in the first round. the crowd booing him. obviously not many yankees fans in k.c. tonight. in the end, the two left standing were prince fielder

hit a .476 bomb. in the end he beat out batiste to win his second home run derby. speaking of big bats, tomorrow bryce harper gets a chance to show the nation why he's been so highly touted. he's been the focus of the media today out in k.c. even frank robinson took time out to chat with the youngster before batting practice. >> i was just trying to go into this year and play the game the right way and play it hard. i think going to a clubhouse and winning a clubhouse like we are really helped me out every single day. they made the transition a lot easier for me. it's great. >> and bryce's teammates stephen strasburg and geo gonzalez hung out in the outfield today during batting practice shagging fly balls. all three of them give the national league a fighting chance ever securing home field advantage for the world series. the new capitals head coach today said he had some first

day jitters before he took the ice. and he wasn't even coaching his current team. instead he was working with 45 prospects in this week's development camp. despite it although, so far so good. >> it was good. it was fun. it was a lot of fun. a little butterflies this morning. once we got into it, it was just like old times. it felt great. it's been an exciting last couple of weeks. it's fun to get it going. >> the newest washington wizard took the practice court at the verizon center for the first time today. the wizards mini-camp before summer play kicks off next week. in las vegas he knows he has to go through the formalities of being a rookie but says see chomping at the bit to play some meaningful basketball. i'm actually going to sit down and chat with beale tomorrow and we'll bring you that interview later this week. it's florida gator talking to a florida gator. i'm looking forward toñ'