>> can we rewind the tape and start again there? >> the reason to be upset for not having power for a week, you know, it's not reasonable for a person to be upset at all. >> reporter: the meeting moved on and later graham asked for a mulligan, the golf term for a do-over, granted, of course, though few here are in a forgiving mood. >> pepco is stonewalling. >> reporter: like emily mince of north rockville who said she and her neighbors went three days in the dark before ever seeing a utility crew. >> they're simply giving excuses and that's what we've been hearing all afternoon is one excuse after another. >> as i've stated, our reliability plan is focused on day to day improvements, not protecting the system from what governor o'malley described as a hurricane with no warning. >> reporter: it all went it from there, blistering criticism, familiar blistering criticism from county council members here and get this.

remember that tomorrow the public service commission is set to unveil its decision on whether or not pepco will receive a 4% rate increase. several council members today said no way. pepco shouldn't get a dime until it gets its story straight. scott broom, 9 news now. >> you always want to feel sorry for tommy graham, about the i got a lot of feeling there's no sympathy. maryland congress member chris van highland released this statement on the response to that storm. it reads, "the company stubbornly persists in a pattern of unperformance that's unacceptable. it is high time the rate payers receive the best in class service they pay for and deserve. the report finds dominion power in northern virginia had more than double the outages at the start of the restoration effort, but it took pepco twice as long to restore power to 50% of its customers and in light of that report his office recommends the public service

commission rejects pepco's request for that 4% right hike. van holland released the findings of the new response to the derecho by our local utility company. >> today we confronted that maryland regulator who okayed billing customers for revenues lost during the outage and tonight 9 wants you to know his response. our investigative reporter russ ptacek joins us now with a look at this rather interesting exchange. >> you're about to see one minute unedited where i try to get public service commission chairman douglas nazarian to just acknowledge the increasing anger about having to pay after having been without power. finally you'll see the clip that surprised me most from the man who signed that billing into law. he has no regrets. >> reporter: mr. nazarian, russ ptacek, 9 news now. we've been trying to get an interview with you for two weeks now about this bill stabilization allowing the utilities to bill the customers for the time they were without power do.

you feel like you explained that today? >> i do. >> reporter: people here were not happy about it. >> were not happy about my explanation or not happy about what? >> reporter: they're not happy about customers being billed to reimburse the company for revenues lost during the outage. >> well, i think i've explained. you're not paying for power that hasn't been delivered. >> reporter: no one said that they were. >> they said utilities are being reimbursed for revenue they're not making and you signed that order. >> we instituted bill stabilization adjustments for most of maryland utilities a couple of years ago, yes. >> reporter: did you get the message today these council members don't like it, the people in this audience don't like it? >> i've heard a lot of different messages today and we're taking them all back. >> reporter: did you hear one person say they liked it? >> no. but a lot of them didn't say one way or the other. >> reporter: do you regret signing that order? >> which order? >> reporter: the order allowing utilities to bill customers for revenues lost during the outage. >> i do not regret pause the

change we made to it in -- because of the change we made to it in january to make it more parent not at all. >> reporter: it stops utilities -- it more fair, not at all. >> reporter: when i asked if he was aware there was a move to get him fired, he said yes. in council chambers today there was not any indication there was support for the way he's doing that job. >> and apparently he didn't really want to answer the question that you posed. >> we've been asking it for two weeks. it's been frustrating. >> thank you for trying to get us some answers. in fairness pepco did do a good job turning the lights back on after last night's severe weather, but storms that hit yesterday afternoon initially knocked electricity out to more than 15,000 customers. by 11:00 last night power had been restored to all but 2,500 customers and as of 6 a.m. this morning that number was

down to just under 1,000 in d.c., montgomery county and prince george's county. topper is tracking the possibility of storms once again in our area tonight and, top, you know what? we could all use a break, us, the utilities, everybody. >> we could. we're getting a break right now, but we can't let our guard down because later tonight some storms are possible and of some of those could be hefty. i think most of us will get home in a dry commute in the next hour or two in the immediate metro area. we're seeing storms pop north of baltimore, north of cumberland down through the south of harrisonburg along the i-81 corridor. we're going to widen this radar out. you can see this line of storms coming in from ohio entering portions of pennsylvania and now central west virginia from morgantown southward. this is the line we're watching for later on tonight. a timetable for this is between about 8:00 and midnight. you have some time before this gets in. will this hold together? i think some of them will. so we'll have the chance for

heavy storms and perhaps some locally severe. we'll keep you posted. that's the timetable. you want to put your umbrella down, turn your table upside down and bring small items inside. 92, doesn't sound great, but it was 101 yesterday, so we lost about 10 degrees, 93 in manassas, 91 leesburg. we'll come back and talk more about those storms and the frontal boundary which will play cat and mouse with us through the weekend. more than half of d.c. voters now say mayor vincent gray ought to step down, the result from a washington post poll just out today amid all this continuing campaign corruption scandal. kristin fisher joins me now. i know you caught up with the mayor earlier today and you've been going through polling numbers. how tough is it? >> this is about as bad as any poll could possibly be for any elected official. last week we already had three d.c. council members call for his resignation and now according to this poll, 54% of his constituents say it's time for mayor gray to step down.

>> thank you very much. >> mayor gray gives a glowing report card on the state of dna and hiv in the district, all as and bs. later he's swarmed by reporters. we want to know what he thinks of his report card. mayor on, a personal level when you hear these kind of poll numbers, does it bother you? >> of course, it does. >> reporter: especially when this poll shows that your own political base is turning on you. 48% of the african american voters polled say it's time for mayor gray to step down. do you think he should resign? >> yes. >> reporter: why? >> because he's hurting the city. >> but mayor gray says look at how he's helped the city. crime and unemployment are down and just because three of his associates have pleaded guilty to felonies, the mayor says it doesn't mean he's guilty. >> i haven't been charged with anything. i haven't been convicted of anything and i would urge

people to strongly ask them to allow the full process to play out. >> but this poll shows more than half d.c. voter don't want to wait. 61% of the people polled say he's not honest and trustworthy and 63% say he's not running an ethical administration. >> a lot of their opinions i think have been colored by this investigation and this campaign issue and that's not unusual. i think that happens to a lot of people. >> problem is he's not a lot of people. he's the mayor. >> you can't hire people with ethical standards that you can trust, then there's a fundamental problem with you as an administrator. >> i spent a lot of the day talking to d.c. voters like the one you just heard from. hear from both sides coming up at 6:00. unfortunately it wasn't just bad for the mayor. it was bad for the city. 74% of people polled say this is just a sign of bigger problem in d.c. government and this scandal is not an isolated

incident. >> you can only hope the mayor perhaps can ride this thing out and the city can do the same thing. than you. we want to note coming up -- thank you. we want to note coming up at 5:30 bruce johnson will be here talking to page of political d.c. insiders about whether or not mayor gray can hang on and still govern the city even as this insider corruption scandal continues on. syria's president made his first public appearance and a deadly attack on his top lieutenants. the latest from the united nations where a u.n. resolution aimed at his country was rejected. >> reporter: syrian television showed a split screen of president bashar al assad as the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. criticized a failed diplomatic effort to end the fighting in syria. >> the security council has failed utterly in its most important task on its agenda this year. >> reporter: assad was swearing in his new defense minister the day after three members of his inner circle

died in a bombing. he had not been seen in public since the attack. it's unclear when or where the video was taken. at the united nations russia and china rejected a resolution that threatened nonmilitary sanctions against syria. it's the third time both countries have blocked the measure. >> two permanent measures are willing to defend assad and protect him to the bitter end even if it would seem logically not to be in their interest. >> reporter: ambassador rice said the u.s. will now work outside the united nations intensifying its efforts with the rest of the intent community to confront assad and help the syrians. fighting raged on for the fifth straight day in damascus. rebels used machine guns against assad's heavily armed forces who are trying to keep the capital from falling. >> the white house says russia and china are on the wrong side

of history by vetoing theu.n. resolution. bulgaria's prime minister said the terrorist who blew up the bus in bulgaria had a fake hirsch driver's license. the suspected bomber had -- michigan driver's license. the suspected bomber has on a baseball cap. today investigators removed the charred wreckage from the airport. the injured are in the hospital and the survivors are going home toys rile telling the horror stories. >> i had no feeling in my legs, two legs broken. >> fire, all the glass is broken, people hurt without legs, without heads. it was terrible. >> we saw all the people running to the front of the bus and we jumped from the window. >> israel blames the bombing on the iranian-based terror group hezbollah and it's promising a

forceful response. iran said we had nothing to do with it. bulgarian investigators are using dna to determine the identity of the bomber. trayvon martin's parents take issue with a statement by their son's killer who says his death was part of god's plan. >> reporter: it's a crime spree that appears to span three states and target harris- teeter grocery stores. i'm surae chinn with the very latest coming up. >> you open up the blinds and there was a tornado and he couldn't sidestep nothing. it ripped the roof off and the walls came down. he was under the one wall. >> the storm that came through here was awful. >> dangerous heat on the way, 9 weather alert code possibly going from yellow to red.

tonight a $50,000 reward out there for info on a couple of crooks that were caught on tape. >> here's the surveillance video. the loudoun county sheriff's office says these two men with masks held up a harris-teeter grocery store tuesday morning at the village center plaza and tonight police are investigating whether or not this robbery is connected to other robberies at harris- teeter stores in virginia, north carolina and south

carolina. >> surae chinn is at the harris- teeter in stone ridge in loudoun county where now they've got a little extra security and late night customers are warned to be extra vigilant. >> reporter: yes. the fbi now is involved. i talked with authorities in north carolina and south carolina. they say they are looking at the strong possibility that there is a link. loudoun county says they're in communication with folks in north carolina. harris-teeter, the 24 hour grocery chain, is upping security and talking with the victims who came face to face with those brazen robbers. >> they said the harris-teeter in aldie. i was like whoa. >> reporter: at 2 a.m. two masked men rushed the harris-teeter in stone ridge. the how down county sheriff's department released this video from inside the grocery store. the pair make their way to the cash registers after pushing an employee to the ground. >> seems like we were a lot safer than that. >> reporter: they headed

straight for the self-checkout and helped themselves to the cash boxes. one of them is holding a handgun and runs off. >> it's going just too far all over it seems like just boldness and people not respecting other things and property and people. >> reporter: it is similar to nearly 10 robberies in north carolina and south carolina. after tuesday's early morning robbery here a charlotte harris- teeter was robbed at 10 p.m. one of the suspects forces a store manager to clean out the safe. the robbers are bold, in some cases firing shots inside the store, roughing up employees including a pregnant cashier. >> there's shots fired. what would you do if you're in the store, you know, buying skittles and shots are fired? >> you won't run out in the middle of the night to buy milk because it might not be safe. >> it just doesn't seem like they can capture them. that's too bad. >> reporter: detectives believe the thieves will slip up at some point. harris-teeter is offering a

very hefty reward. they've upped it from 50,000 in north carolina and south carolina to $75,000 for any information leading to an arrest. in virginia it remains at $50,000. >> those guys really looked like they knew what they came for and how to get it. tonight the parents of an 8- year-old prince william county boy are charged with felony child abuse. the suspects are amy and matthew sweeney of nut hollow court in bristow. police made the arrest after a child turned up at a house on glen meadow lane and appeared to be lost. had he severe bruises all over his little -- he had severe bruises all over his little body. they believe the abuse had been occurring on a constant basis. he's now in child protective services. a small plane crashed near ocean city today. that crash happened in the middle of a golf course this morning. the single engine piper super cub appeared to have engine

trouble after dropping its barney and the plane's wing hit a tree and it crash -- banner and the plane's wing hit a tree and it crashed to the board. a brushfire has been burning for weeks on the eastern shore has been linked to a marijuana farm. about 20 houses were evacuated. the capital of annapolis reports it's believed to have started at the marijuana farm in queen anne's county. the fire is still burning. it's now contained and, topper, no jokes about the fire. >> i'm reeling it in. we got some rain yesterday, big thunderstorms on the delmarva and we had some storms here. we went to code red yesterday, even stronger storms in the boston area. check out what happened when lightning hit boston tv station wbz in the middle of storm coverage. >> it's about to pound this area with some gusty winds, torrential rain, a lot of lightning unfortunately and, of course, people are outside

here, on vacation, on boats, et cetera. this is a dangerous. [ audio difficulties ] >> the meteorologist said it was like a missile hit their building. lightning knocked out power to everything in their studios except the monitors. kept on going like a trooper. >> can we get that big screen to watch the redskins on. >> that's really important in the scheme of keeping people safe, right? >> well, keeps derek happy. and me happy, too. live doppler 9000, big storms to the north of baltimore and also now north of cumberland. these are a little more troubling because these are actually trying to form a line in central sections of west virginia. we'll zoom in. the same frontal boundary exists just to our north. it's going to try to slide to our south by tomorrow, but this is the line of showers and storms we're watching right in west virginia coming out of ohio.

they'll roll through tonight before midnight. let me keep the chance of a shower or thunderstorm in all night because we're not out of the woods when the sun goes down as often is the case. right now it's quiet, some storms entering couple land and parts of western maryland. -- cumberland and parts of western maryland. look at the lightning with these storms. a lot of lightning in ohio, weakening a little bit. this is a good sign as it crosses central west virginia. some of these will be heavy and produce strong gusty winds, frequent lightning and heavy rain as they roll through later tonight. 92 right now. that's actually good. it was 101 yesterday, dew point in the upper 60s, barely tolerable, winds east, southeast at 3 and pressure 29.85 inches of mercury falling. 90 bethesda, 91 arlington, 97 springfield, 88 reston, 92 vienna, 94 college park. temperatures on the decline is the good news, shower or

thunderstorm possible tonight, more cloud friday and warm. storms are more numerous tomorrow and cooler and unsettled saturday. we have a lot of clouds hanging in on saturday. tonight partly cloudy, muggy, a shower or thunderstorm possible, some heavy, lows in the 70s. for the morning we're looking at showers and storms, 70s and 80s, could have a wet commute going to work. in the afternoon we could have a wet commute coming home, more storms, some heavy, some severe, 85 to 89. next three days, 9 weather alert codes, yellow, yellow, green. 87 tomorrow, 82 saturday and 88 sunday, an isolated storm, code green. next seven days, warms up next week, mid-90s municipal and tuesday, just isolated storms possible. then there's a very nice wednesday and thursday, partly cloudy, upper 80s wednesday and around 90 on thursday but dry. >> i just knew saturday was going to be green. >> not anymore. coming up next the parents of trayvon martin speak out

after the man who killed their son claimed it was part of god's plan. >> some exciting news on the sunday morning programming front. this fall wusa9 will launch an exciting new talk show to air on sunday morning bloomberg government. peter cook will be the host. that's sunday this fall on wusa9.

tonight the parents of trayvon martin are reacting to an interview with the man who killed their son. >> george zimmerman did apologize, but then he said what happened was all part of god's plan. the rest of the story from randall pinkston. >> reporter: the parents of trayvon martin say the god they worship would not want their son shot to death. >> and i don't think god would have him in his plan to murder an innocent child. >> reporter: martin's parents and their attorney appeared on cbs this morning after george zimmerman sat down with his attorney for his first lengthy television interview. >> i feel that it was all god's plan. >> reporter: in his interview

with fox news channel sean hannity the neighborhood watch volunteer recounted how he called police after seeing martin in his apartment complex last february. he claims the unarmed 17-year- old approached him and started throwing punches breaking his nose. >> he said you're going to die tonight [ bleep ]. >> reporter: zimmerman said he felt his life information danger and that he had no choice but to -- life was in danger and that he had no choice but to use his gun. >> i do wish that there was anything i could have done that would have put me in a position that wouldn't have me had to take his life. >> he's looking to place the blame on trayvon and he's the one that made the decision to get out of vehicle that night. >> reporter: martin's parents charge george zimmerman's story is full of inconsistencies and say they can't accept the a poll because he has no regrets -- apology because he has no regrets. >> i just don't believe what he says and it hurts a great deal. >> reporter: zimmerman faces a charge of second degree murder.

he is free on a $1 million bond. >> now zimmerman also said he can't imagine what martin's parents must feel like and that he prays for them every day. philadelphia's mayor called him a sick man. he wanted him off the streets and tonight police say he is. coming up an arrest in the attempted abduction of a 10- year-old girl that was caught on tape. >> but up next we'll be joined by page of city insiders to discuss whether or not -- a panel of city insiders to discuss whether or not mayor gray can effectively lead the city with a shadow campaign investigation hanging over his administration. ?gw?qyjw

as we told you earlier, a new washington post poll finds that more than half of d.c. residents say mayor vincent gray ought to resign. >> according to the survey, 54% of the residents say the embattled mayor should resign. 37% say he should not and 9% have no opinion. >> at least three d.c. council members are calling on gray to resign in light of that $650,000 shadow campaign that helped him get elected. however, gray supporters say hey, he hasn't been charged and he shouldn't resign since he claims he didn't know about the shadow campaign. >> but the real question is can the mayor still lead the city effectively and our bruce johnson is joined by a panel of d.c. insiders to delve into

this issue. >> with, let's ask this question. of course, it will put more pressure on the mayor but to do what? joining us right now, terry lynch, a community activist. terry supported former mayor adrian fenty last election. nikita stewart, veteran washington post reporter who covers the mayor and has broken a lot of stories about the scandal and also reverend graylan hagler who is an activist and supporter of mayor gray, but he has been known to criticize the mayor. what does the mayor do in light of this poll? >> it's not clear about what to do in terms of this. one of the things we got to remember is usually a poll is also a snapshot of a news cycle. they change all the time. so basically report after report, question after question that's been put out there. the fact is people respond on 60 second news stories, 45 second news stories, 90 second news stories and that forms opinion in the moment and the opinion is different the next day. >> you don't think the mayor

should resign? >> of course not. the investigation need to run its course. whatever the conclusion is of the investigation will be what the conclusion is. >> nikita, what are they saying in the washington post newsroom? what stands out in your mind about this poll? >> it stands out when i talked to people who responded to our poll, i did some one on one's with them yesterday and what i found was they were most upset the mayor has not said anything. so they have drawn their own conclusions. they're like surely he should have known or he knew. >> 37% think he shouldn't resign. so he could improve those numbers perhaps if he came out and said something if he can come out and say something? >> i think he could improve his numbers, but unfortunately it's been a long time since he said anything. this has been dragging on since march of 2011. now here we are in 2012. he still really hasn't explained what he knew, how much he knew and i think once

he says something there's still going to be those folks who don't believe him. >> until you believe he hasn't said anything because it's indefensible, his position. >> yes. he's in a no win position because his legal situation is keeping him from resolving his political situation. the only possible answers are either he knew it or he didn't and those are both bad answers politically because you should know what your campaign is doing or you did know and didn't tell people. so he's in bade place with nowhere to go. he's in a camp 22 and that's probably why he -- catch 22 and that's probably yes should resign. >> let me throw this out. the mayor does sound on occasion, if not quite often, who is more concerned about getting indicted and perhaps even being incarcerated than the guy worried about his political future at this point. is that a fair assessment? >> i think when you're under a gun like this and the fact is it may lead to some kind of charge or indictment, you're going to be go guarded because

you're under legal advice -- to be guarded because on under legal advice. >> i think he's sort of caught in the amber situation. he's paralyzed. we saw this with council member thomas to some extent, chairman brown. they're not getting the best advice. >> where is his crisis management team? who is the person that should be speaking for the campaign, for his legal side of this?  where is that person in all this? >> right now he doesn't have that person. my understanding is that the team around him, they're kind of scrambling trying to figure out who could speak for the campaign, who they might bring in to be a crisis management person, but that just hasn't come to fruition. >> what about his attorney, robert bennett? he represented -- >> they're on the payroll. he needs somebody who is not on the payroll whether it's his lawyer or somebody who he hired. he doesn't have that. that's why he's not getting independent straight advice. >> go ahead. >> we also need to stop the

filing on and we need to in a sense be caring and when i say caring is that everybody deserves some due process. everybody deserves some takeness and the fact is the investigation -- fair is and the fact is the investigation will say whatever it says and then you face the cons of that. the fact is -- consequences of. that the fact is we need to stop the political grandstanding and all the speculation. >> if there's a special election, who is likely to be next mayor if gray falls? >> if gray falls, i think the leading politician would be muriel bowser, possible someone from the outside could come in. >> nikita, what names are you hearing? >> we've reported before that council members wells, evans and bowser have made, you know, some moves where people have encouraged they to get in the race. >> do not all of the council members have some problems now?

they took money from jeffrey thompson, also. kwame brown, tommy wells. >> everybody has problems, but the paradigm has not changed. one of the things we need to talk about is really the election rules and laws and whether they can be altered to create a level transparent playing field. >> to be continued, thanks a lot, really appreciate it, good discussion. back to you. come up the cost of getting the kids ready to go back to school. >> but up next a wrong-way driver causing terror on a busy highway. >> don't forget we are always on at www.wusa9.com.

some really scary moments for drivers in mississippi. this was video shot last week by a drive going north on the school -- a driver going north on the collins highway. see that other driver also going north on the other side of the road? witnesses tell police he was going the wrong way for miles and miles, whoa, until he smacked into somebody. that was kind of nasty. the suv is what he hit. the woman and her passenger in that suv walked away from the crash. the wrong-way driver went to the hospital with nonlife threatening injuries. he told the cops he just doesn't remember anything. still he faces charges of reckless driving which would seem to be the minimum. also tonight police arrest a man they say was caught on tape trying to grab a 10-year- old girl right off the street. >> it is remarkable video. philadelphia police released it today. this is what happened tuesday. it was an attempted abduction shot from a neighbor's home. look that the circle there. there was a girl walking with her little brother to the mother's house when a man comes up from behind, puts his hand

over the girl's mouth, picks her up. the girl struggles. both kids scream and the man eventually gives up and runs away. tonight police say they have that 33-year-old man in custody for the crime. >> thank you and to the public thank you and to the media for getting this information out and once again demonstrates the power of social media and certainly also outdoor video surveillance and having clear video gives us the kind of evidence and information we need to get these cases solved as quickly as possible. >> the girl's father says that she's doing okay, but she's certainly still a little shaken up. >> but those kids knew just what to do. >> good for them. check out this. it's a 3-year-old boy missing for an entire day. they found him in a sewer in northern columbia yesterday. his family reported the boy missing tuesday night. apparently he disappeared while playing with his brothers at a construction site. crews suspect he fell in a

hole, but an initial search of the neighborhood and sewers didn't turn up anything. fortunately, though, searchers found him during a second sweep of those sewers. he was taken to the hospital, but he's going to be fine. >> that is 1 lucky the guy. sheriff's deputies in one virginia county fight over who gets the new cruiser, but it's not for the reasons you might think. we'll explain. >> but first cashiers will soon be a thing of the past at one major department store. we'll tell you where and when you might be ringing up your own stuff next. [ male announcer ] where did all the obama stimulus money go? friends, donors, campaign supporters, special interest groups where did the obama stimulus money go? solyndra: 500 million taxpayer dollars. bankrupt.

so where did the obama stimulus money go? windmills from china. electric cars from finland 79% of the 2.1 billion in stimulus grants awarded through it went to overseas companies. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

capital one will take a big hit to the wallet. the credit card company has to pay a $210 million penalty to customers and to the federal government. the consumer financial protection bureau said capital one pressured and misled 2 million credit card customers into buying additional products like payment protection and credit monitoring when they opened their accounts. directv customers still won't have their mtv, their comedy central or other popular channels. they were pulled after the satellite tv operator could not reach a payment agreement with

viacom to carry them. viacom claimed in a blog post directv has no intention of working through their issues. meanwhile customers are caught in the middle. j.c. penney wants to boost its bottom line by getting rid of cashiers. the ceo says the company plans to automate the checkout counters with machines similar to the ones used in grocery stores. to make the purchase process faster, the barcode on the price tag will be replaced with an rfid chip. the move is part of the struggling retailer's effort to return to profitability. the phaseout is expected to be completed by 2014. school bells will be ringing in several weeks. while the kids may not be excited about heading back to school, the retailers sure are. they've got a more optimistic outlook for what is the second biggest shopping season of the year and here's what it could mean to you. for most kids on summer break the thought of going back to school is a downer, but things

are looking up for retailers. the national retail federation's annual back to school survey finds the average person will spent about $688 shopping for their school age, up $85 from last year and more than 30 billion in retail sales. >> when you think about how much people are spending, a lot of them have tried to make do with what they had over the last several years and they want to make sure that their kids have everything they need to go back to school this year. >> reporter: the bulk of the money will be spent on clothing, about $246, followed by electronics, 217, shoes just over 129 and about $95 on supplies. retailers hope that a robust back to school season will snap a three-month streak of declines in sales, but consumers are still cautious. half the people participating in the survey say they're looking for discounts. retailers say they'll find plenty in the store and online. they want to draw in as many

back to school shoppers during their second biggest buying season of the year. now the national retail federation says despite the weak economy most parents will need to restock their child's back to school supplies after cutting back last year and it is expected shoppers will spend a combined $83 billion. >> it's been a long time and back to school still makes me sad. anyway, d.c. is joining a long list of states that are now exempt from certain parts of the no child left behind law and today the ed case department granted the district and -- the education department granted the district and six other states waivers bringing the total number to 33. that means d.c. will not have to meet the requirement that all students are proficient in math and science by 2014. it's said those requirements need to be changed to make way for true education reform. a controversial bill banning certain abortions in d.c. is heading to a vote in congress.

the house judiciary committee proved it yesterday and sent it to the house floor. that legislation would ban abortions performed after 20 weeks of pregnancy. d.c. leaders have emphatically opposed the bill as an intrusion on d.c.'s self-rule. a new police cruiser is camping everybody's attention in southwest virginia -- catch everybody's attention in southwest virginia but not because it's super fast or a sports car, but instead it's the pink paint. the idea was cooked up by the rock bridge county sheriff's office relay for lifetime and it didn't take long for somebody to ask to drive it. four deputies jumped at the chance. >> i thought it was a good looking car and something that stands out and i enjoy interaction with the community and i enjoy driving it. >> i think it's cool, you know. cancer seems to be very ramp ant. i have a brother going through it right now. >> people are pretty supportive. they keep coming up to the sergeant to thank him for

driving the car. >> i thank top because he's got a pink car and i think it's wonderful he's so supportive. >> on the pga tour bubba watson has a pink driver. >> a what? >> pink driver? when you said driver i was thinking -- >> no, no, think golf. all right. it's warm now, but we're looking at storms off to the west. let's start with live doppler 9000. most of the storms are now north of baltimore, but we're watching the storms that are just entering western maryland up near cumberland and garrett county and oakland. those are the storms we're kind of concerned about later tonight. i think everybody gets home with a dry commute. we'll zoom in on the same frontal boundary we've tracked all week. we talked about this several days ago. it will probably take until tomorrow evening to get this front south of us. when it does, we'll get a little more stable atmosphere in here. in the meantime these are the storms we're watching coming

out of ohio into west virginia and now just entering western maryland. we're in pretty good shape right now. these storm will stay north of us in baltimore and south of us down toward richmond skirting across the lower delmarva, but these storms now moving through morgantown headed toward oakland and elkins are holding together well and the lightning also will be a problem in addition to brief gusty winds and some heavy rain. our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son, 92, doesn't sound cool, but after 101 yesterday we'll take it. dew point in the upper 60s, winds light, pressure steady 29.85 inches of mercury. temperatures, 96 rockville, 90 bethesda, 95 springfield, 97 old town, 93 college park, 88 in reston. that sounds kind of nice, doesn't it? temperatures on the decline. that's good. heavy storms possible by midnight. more clouds friday, just warm. storms more numerous friday, cooler and unsettled saturday. temps go down tomorrow and go

down again saturday. partly cloudy, muggy tonight, showers and storms, some heavy, low temps in the 70s, winds light. by morning even the morning commute could actually have some showers and a few storms, 70s and 80s, winds easterly at 10. by afternoon more showers and thunderstorms. some could be heavy as well, highs 84 to 89 and winds out of the east at 10. we'll break it down for you. we're looking at 70s to start, 80 to 84 by noon, maybe a shower, 84 to 89 by evening and also maybe a shower. next three days 9 weather alert codes, yellow, yellow, green. strong storms tomorrow, big storms possible saturday, just an isolated storm sunday, temperatures in the upper 80s, keep sunday green. the next seven days it gets hot briefly, monday isolated afternoon storms, upper 80s wednesday, great day and 90 on thursday, also a great day. right now we're okay, but watch these storms this evening. if they roll in, it would be

before midnight. well, the golf's season third major is underway across the pond in england. >> kristen berset is here with some news about old tiger woods. how did he do? >> not too shabby. tiger woods said earlier this week open championship is one of his favorites to play. today he came roaring out the gates shooting 4-under on the front 9. woods kept it steady on all but one hole of the back 9 to wrap up a great round 1. tiger woods is searching for his first major in four years. here's his first shot of the day on the par 3 first, what a good 1. look where it lands, nice. he would birdie that hole and then on the 4th long birdie putt here for tiger, but no problem whatsoever. he was doing well with his short game. two holes later there was more flat stick action and another birdie. can't compete with that.

what a great round for him, but it wasn't totally perfect for tiger. in his second shot he finds more rough and bogeys that hole. he finished the round 3 of- under. all in all he was pretty happy with the way he -- 3-under. all in all he was pretty happy with the way he played today. >> i figured a couple under would have been good. i look up on the board and scotty is going pretty low and so is everybody else. so i felt i had to make a few more and i was able to. >> he's talking about adam scott who is in first place pirate now. tiger finishes the day in a seven-way tie for sixth place along with mcelroy and watson. adam scott leads the pack at 6- under, a three-way tie for second and brandt snedeker is holding it down in fifth. the nationals had a matinee as well closing out their series with the mets.

gio gonzalez had one of his worst outings of the year, but could the nationals rally for the sweep? i'll have those highlights, plus more from today's open championship coming up later in sports. coming up more accusations of out of control spending at the gsa and this time it happens right in our own backyard. >> reporter: another wreck involving a superschultz van. i'm peggy fox at dulles airport. -- supershuttle van. i'm peggy fox at dulles airport. >> the nominations are. in find out who is up for the big awards at this year's primetime emmys.

the tv stars and their shows took center stage this morning in hollywood. the nominees were announced for the 64th annual primetime emmys. elizabeth coreydon breaks down the stiff competition. >> reporter: jimmy kimmel was up early on the west coast to announce the primetime nominations. madmen led the pack picking up a total of 17 nominations. boardwalk empire, breaking bad and game of thrones also picked up series nods. when it comes to the primetime laughs? >> the nominations in the comedy series category are the big bang theory, curb your

enthusiasm, girls, modern family, 30 rock and veep. >> reporter: in the reality realm. >> the nominees for outstanding host for reality or reality competition program are tom bergeron, dancing with the stars, cat dealy, so you think you can dance, phil cogan, the amazing race, ryan seacrest american idol and betty white, betty white's off their rockers. >> reporter: kimmel is thrilled with his nomination for his variety series. >> our first nomination. we've been on almost 10 years, so one out of 10 isn't bad. >> reporter: kimmel's variety show competition is the colbert report, the daily show with jon stewart, late night with jimmy fallon, realtime with bill maher and saturday night live.

kimmel will likely trade in his pj's for a tux when he's host. >> hbo led all the networks with 81 nominations. american horror story matched madmen with 17 nods. you can check out the full list right now on www.wusa9.com. >> this is 9 news now. 9 wants you to know there are new allegations tonight that the general services administration, the gsa, has misspent your tax dollars. our investigative reporter russ ptacek has been covering the scandal plagued agency and has some new details. >> how much is too much for a one-day conference? the inspector general is launching an investigation into an award and motivation conference held in november of 2010 by the gsa at the crystal city gateway -- or the crystal gateway marriott in arlington. event took place shortly after the infamous las vegas