outage, pepco president, thomas graham, didn't budge. >> 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? >> indicated under ground cabling lasts 30 years compared to 50 years for overhead. takes longer to fix and it's not immuned to flooding or lightning strikes. >> was this review prompted by your anger? your outrage and comments about pepco and bge charging you for the first 24 hours they lost money because they couldn't bill disconnected customers, is being heard loud and clear. that could change the law. >> that is so unfair summed it up for many, including maryland state senator, brian, from montgomery county. >> i mean, it makes no sense. >> at the maryland state house, a year ago, he lost a

battle to ban billing for lost storm income. he'll introduce legislation again in 2013 to outlaw charging you to make up for utilities lost revenue. >> i can't understand why they should collect for me when they aren't providing me any service. >> bge spokesman said the public service commission should be handling the bill and the charges are actually not profit. they are reinvested in service and equipment. the big story today, bge saying for the first time they are now reviewing the possibility of under grounding. they are considering the entire system. >> any time line on when this might be done? >> they say in this letter that they'll have this within six months. now how long it would take to get this under ground, years and years and billions and billions is what the estimate is so far. >> thank you. big news tonight, we appreciate that. now, we also have new information on what prosecutors dubbed the shadow campaign of

mayor vince gray. the one help fund the 2010 campaign of our current d.c. mayor. tonight, sources say the mayor has not met with the prosecutors on the matter, but investigators still may soon meet with vernon hawkins. sources point to hawkins as the field operations manager. they say the prosecutors are prepared to offer him immunity for his cooperation. metro officials tonight are still trying to figure out what caused that computer glitch that stranded hundreds of passengers over the weekend. and as andrea mccarren explains, the agency has to deal with another problem today. >> it was scary. >> rattled passengers left dupont circle this morning after being offloaded from two trains that were abruptly taken out of service. >> it smelled like burnt rubber. as we get on, it's a packed train. they take us off the train and the platform pulls up and it's

a wall of people. they say please slowly evacuate the station, which makes people feel panicked. >> it comes on a troubled weekend for the rail system. >> it was a long ride. it was terrible. >> on saturday afternoon, and again early sunday morning, a computer software glitch brought 44 trains across the system to a stop. >> took me at least three hours to make it home. >> there is concern on our part. that's why we are working around the clock, 24/7. that's why we are taking the necessary steps to increase our staffing. >> it is still investigating the computer failure that left controllers without the ability to see moving trains on a map and unable to control switches remotely to route trains. >> and metro says that computer crash was not a safety issue. they insist passengers were never in any danger. in campaign 2012, news tonight president obama in ohio today. it is his second trip to the swing state in less than two weeks and a town hall meeting.

the president claimed mitt romney's plan would ship jobs overseas as the expense of middle class voters. >> governor romney's plan would create 800,000 jobs. there is only one problem. the jobs wouldn't be in america. >> so a campaign based on falsehood and dishonesty does not have long legs. >> romney claims the president has his facts all wrong. the former governor spent today raising cash with louisiana governor, bobby jindal. jindal has been mentioned as a possible running mate for romney and romney's vp announcement could come as early as this week. topper shutt is out on the weather terrace. has it gotten any better? >> no, it is still sticky. it's going to get hotter tomorrow and wednesday. let me show you one lonely storm on live doppler 9,000. this is now moving through la

plata. it's going to weaken as it heads toward leanardtown. that's the last storm on live doppler. the rest of us have to wait for tomorrow. 91 downtown. temperatures have gone back up. high was 96. 90 in manassas. a lot of temperatures have gone down after they were rain cooled earlier. you factor in humidity, 98 downtown. 98 in leesburg. that's why we say do not exercise in the evening. exercise in the morning. early thunderstorm possible. partly cloudy, muggy. lows in the 70s. we'll come back and talk about how many code yellows we issued and maybe the triple digits. >> thank you, top. a man is out of the hospital tonight after he was viciously attacked by a couple of pit bulls in arlington county. tonight, that victim credits his son with saving his life. >> i'm peggy fox at arlington animal control where a pit bull is locked up after it and another pit bull viciously attacked a man in front of his

children. the other pit bull is dead after arlington police shot and killed it. >> starts biting me. >> 62-year-old max is covered from head to toe with at least 14 dog bites after being attacked by his neighbor's two pit bulls. >> this is the worse part. >> his oldest son, 17-year-old alejandro heard his little sister screaming and came running to find his dad in the middle of the street being attacked by the dogs. >> they are trying to kill my dad. i have to do something. >> he did what he does so well on the soccer field. he ran. >> i made a quick circle around the house. >> his dad was able to get up and get back inside the pickup. the dogs got off of him because you distracted them? >> one of them tried to chase my neighbor that was right there. >> i thank god that we are here. >> peggy fox, 9news now. >> by the way, an investigation

is underway to figure out what will happen to that surviving pit and whether its owners will face charges. the international red cross declares a crisis in syria is a civil war. and that means war crime prosecutions could soon follow. tonight, we are learning more about last week's massacre. government troops went on a door to door killing spree shooting a lot of women and children. the syrian government insists the military is not targeting civilians. still to come, why the hot weather means some free fuel for some drivers out there. and right after the break, disturbing new charges against george zimmerman.

more problems tonight for that former neighborhood watch leader, george zimmerman. in a newly released police speer view, a former family friend, known as witness number 9, says zimmerman sexually assaulted her as a child. that woman also told the cops that zimmerman and his family are racist against blacks. zimmerman is accused of shooting and killing unarmed trayvon martin in sanford, florida, back in february. it is being hailed as a brand-new weapon in the battle against the spread of hiv. the fda approved truvada. it is for people at high risk of contracting hiv. those that have the disease to

not take the pill. the most common side effects reported with truvada, abdominal pain, weight loss, and headache. a live look outside right now. topper has the full forecast coming right up. plus, why the hot weather means free fuel for some.

an employee who got in on the ground floor over google is making the jump over to yahoo!.

marissa has been tapped to serve as the new ceo. she will run a company that has been through a revolving door. yahoo! lost its edge. over at google. the first female engineer and she quickly climbed the ranks. >> two young cousins missing since friday vanished. eight-year-old elizabeth cold ins and lyric cook were last seen in evansville, iowa. those are the only clues investigators have to go on. >> no one has come forward and today we saw a person in that area. >> more than a thousand volunteers are looking for those little girls over the weekend, but the volunteer effort has been called off. law enforcement agencies are still looking for clues. gas prices dropped nearly 7 cents over the past two weeks, but the recent slide may be

almost over. the survey publisher says the prices will stop falling because crude oil prices haven't dropped in several weeks. right now, the national average for a gallon of regular, $3.41. that's the same amount right around here in the d.c. metro. >> the summer of 2012 has been scorching hot. the heat at times has been unbearable. but as reporter, monica explains, there is at least one benefit. free energy if you happen to own an electric car. >> if you live along route 355, you may have noticed tall futuristic looking panels along the sky. they are solar car chargers. >> this is the first solar car charger panel in the world that actually tracks the sun. >> the panels move every ten minutes with the sun and stay still at night. saving the stored energy. the charging process is pretty

painless once you find a car charger. >> it's very simple. grab the handle and press this button. pull it out. take the cord over here to the car and plug it in. >> the maryland based manufacture says it's a way for businesses to attract the greenest consumers. >> drivers understand energy. that's why they are driving an electric vehicle. they get it. when they see that they can charge with renewable energy resources, they understand that. they like that. >> to get a sense of what it feels like to try gasoline-free and on the sun's energy, i took a spin with long time ev advocate, dave goldsteen. >> this car is amazing. look at all your controls. when you step on it, it takes off like a rocket. >> the $46,000 for the car is steep, dave is convinced being green and clean is worth the price tag. >> this is the ultimate green. there's absolutely no energy coming from anywhere but the

sun. so you are actually driving on sunlight. it might cost me, for example, $1.30 a day to plug in my electric car. all week long, that's less than $10 a week. compare that to your gasoline bill. >> that's a tad less than my gasoline bill. that was monica reporting. now dave has been an ev advocate. this car has a range of 380 miles. the gasoline engine kicks in after 40. you'll see more of those pretty soon, especially around businesses that want to attract drivers. >> it is the widest drought area in this country since 1956. that drought affecting parts of western great plains. the dry weather is ruining crops. the crops used to feed humans and livestock and now farmers are scrambling, trying to make ends meet. 85% of our country have normally dry and quite frankly, top, it's over. the lawn has died. >> it may be dormant.

but usually it happens in august. we will show you just how dry it is. it is dry across the board in the metro area. not everybody in the metro area under a drought, but it is ab normally dry. the exception maybe up in pennsylvania, adams county, that area. but we are looking at a moderate drought in the immediate metro area, much in montgomery county, fairfax, all of prince georges and into southern maryland and extreme drought, our severe drought across the bay over toward the dell morva. that's bad because that's where they grow the silver queen corn. having problems doing that. they had a dry spring and following that up with a dry summer. all right, a live look outside to our live weather cam. very nice, it's uncomfortable outside. temperatures gone back up to 91. dew point in the low 70s. that's not a good thing. winds calm, pressure steady over the last hour. so at one time, national cooled into the mid 80s, but gone back up. this is a last storm that is

rolling south. it is heading out of charles county into st. mary's county and leanardtown and eventually a second shower down toward st. mary's city. by that time, it will be weak. 88 in arlington. 86 in bethesda. 83 in vienna. 90 in old town and 91 over in college park. factor in the heat and humidity. it's 98 downtown. 96 in manassas. feels like it's 100 in culpeper. we'll have a big time heat index tomorrow and wednesday. so, just going to get hotter. isolated storm tonight. triple digits tomorrow. afternoon storms tomorrow and still very hot on wednesday. we're not out of the woods by wednesday. early storm tonight. partly cloudy, muggy, lows in the 70s. winds north, northwest at 10. tomorrow morning, hot by lunchtime. low 70s to start. mid 90s by lunchtime. winds westerly by 10. thunderstorm possible, very hot. highs near 100. winds westerly at 10.

next three day, we're going to make it so it's code yellow because of the heat and also the storms. 99 tomorrow. some storms. 100 on wednesday, some storms. not quite as bad on thursday. a better chance of storms 94. any time we get storms with these kinds of temperatures and atmosphere, it can be heavy, it can be severe. next seven days, we're going in the right direction by friday. afternoon storms with a frontal system, but we're going to hold in the upper 80s, which isn't bad. and weekend looks okay. a left over shower on saturday. not a big deal. upper 80s on sunday. and back into the low 90s on monday. so don't you worry. that grass will come back in september. >> that would be nice. >> let's get to our weird news. because if we needed it, there's more proof that some folks don't have enough to do. to china where they broke the record for human mattress domino. check it out. yeah, pretty cool? no, not really. this is the second time the record has been broken this year. the first was 850 human

mattress dominoes, but this thing in china, they had 1001 volunteers all willing to fall over for a cause. took 11 minutes for them all to go down. by the way, the event was sponsored by a mattress company. >> shocking. >> yes. >> shocking. >> we want to hear what you think. send your e-mails to mcginty's mail bag. the address, mailbag@wusa9.com. 9news now will be right back. 9news now is sponsored in part by nissan.

in the mail bag tonight, we got a bit of a backup as i was away last week. we have to get to this one from craig in king george, virginia. came in wednesday on pepco's problems, which is all anybody was talking about. craig says those who would fix the problem by moving the lines under ground are being foolish. buried lines must be highly insulated. insulation breaks down relatively quickly. overheadlines, contractors, animals, mother nature conspire against buried lines. when the insulation breaks down, innocent people could be lek tri cuted. seems to me it would be cheaper to keep our trees pruned so they could stand the higher

winds. people are frustrated. you can't blame them for looking at some permanent solution. pepco will review the idea of varying power lines and see if it makes anymore sense than the last time they looked at it. and then there was this from dan in rockville. now threatening to bring down the administration. i thought marion barry was the poster child for ethics. however, gray has taken the top spot. this environment, how can anyone think about state hood unless of course d.c. would be a suburb of chicago? well dan, nobody is talking about d.c. state hood at this minute. it's tough to argue that it is fair, even under these admittedly raggedy circumstances. and finally, we got this on the story from last week on the ducks that are roosting on the roof over at the museum downtown. betsy with this on the proper care and feeding of said duck lings. i wanted to inform the

caretakers that in order to grow correctly, they must be fed a combination of cracked corn mixed with sand. the sand is to help them digest the corn. the corn needs to be ground until they get bigger. i raised mallard ducks. nobody mentions the whole sand to help digestion idea. instead, most of the discussion was about getting ducks enough protein, etcetera. also some who said cracked corn is a bad idea for ducks. i don't know. we do hope they do well regardless of what they get to eat. the e-mail is mailbag@wusa9.com. all right, sir, a quick look at our seven-day. >> we'll go code yellow storm and also wednesday and also thursday because of the heat and thunderstorms. 99 tomorrow. put 100 up there on wednesday. had to do it. 94 on thursday. temperatures will go down as a cold front approaches. get ready for big storms and serious heat. >> the day with the best chance of storms? >> wednesday and thursday. >> i'll be back at 11:00 along

with anita. we'll see you then. bye bye.

now, "entertainment tonight," the most-watched entertainment news magazine in the world. >> oh, hi. how are you? i'm sage. >> what killed sylvester stallone's son? the "e.t." death investigation. >> i'm always more nervous for sage. >> what his most recent photo alive revealed. and new details from the autopsy, as we break down the timeline of the tragedy. >> was there any indication that there was anything wrong? >> the holes in the story. could it have been a mysterious illness or was it a drug overdose? >> l.a. medical examiner's office, they are very, very sensitive, following michael jackson, whitney houston. >> plus, where and when the funeral will take place. and the "e.t." video of sage, growing up as an action star's son. >> child actors usually never come through. they never make it. suri and the puppy. tom and katie's little girl, on the brink of tears. the story behind the photo. george clooney's summer vacation with stac