down the street. and although there is sadness for the family, members of which arrived through the evening-- >> my opinion is the owner should be charged. whether if it's an illegal weapon or a legal weapon in his vehicle, he should have had his vehicle locked. >> it's still under active investigation at this point. once we determine whether or not there was negligence here, we will -- there are potential for charges. >> reporter: police have not released the boy's identity. nor have they made any arrests. gary nurenberg, 9news now. two men are dead after a murder-suicide in fairfax county. police say they were called to a home on trevor house drive in oakton. inside they found 43-year-old ihap catoba. the shooter alexander rius was found suffering from a gun inflicted wound. he died at the hospital. the man who drowned in the

pond of a laurel apartment complex has been identified. the body of 21-year-old caleb richardson of district heights was found tuesday night. witnesses say they saw him go into the pond around 8:45 but he never resurfaced. rescue crews searched for richardson's body by boat and a helicopter. after searching for more than an hour, his body was found at the bottom of the pond. some reduce dents of a district heights -- residents of a district heights apartment complex are thanking two prince george's county police officers for saving their lives. >> some good news. the officers rushed into the burning building and saved half a dozen people, some of whom didn't even know they were in danger. >> reporter: lieutenant scott ben and corporate richard aide say they will never forget what they found. flames roaring across the back of the building from the first floor up through the roof.

>> when i got here, i could hear screams of people. then i heard these bloodcurdling screams and eueopeners. i wasn't -- and yips. i didn't know what it was. >> the whole building was in flames. >> reporter: lieutenant finn still scorched his hand trying to climb up and toss the pit bull and puppy from the burning balcony. >> the railings were already hot. >> reporter: then the two officers rushed around to the other side of the burning building to get more people out. >> a couple of times when i banged on the door, they asked what i wanted. i told them the building was on fire. they asked me what for. i asked them to stand back from the door which they said okay and i proceeded to kick in the door and told them they needed to exit the building right away. >> reporter: the officers broke down more locked doors, helped an elderly woman down the stairs and went back for

another man who was still sleeping on an upper floor but the officers are still haunted that they were unable to do more. >> there was another dog inside an apartment. i could hear the glass banging. i could see it moving. and i was just hoping it wasn't a person. come to find out there was another dog inside. all of those dogs burned up inside. >> they are not sure what sparked the fire. they do know, however, it started on the outside of the building on the first floor. cal ripken's mother is home and unharmed after a harrowing 24 hours. police say ripken's mother was kidnapped tuesday morning from her aberdeen home as she was walking to the garage. the alleged kidnapper tied her up, put her in the back seat of her car and drove around the city for 24 hours. it wasn't until yesterday morning that anyone knew ma she was missing. someone saw mrs. ripken still tied up in the back seat of her car in the parking lot of a royal farms store down the

street from her home. a neighbor says it seems whoever took her was nice to her. >> he was lighting cigarettes for her as she wanted because she still smokes and stuff like that. they were just talking in general. i don't think he threatened her. she said he was very nice actually. >> police say there was no ransom note. this case is still under investigation. >> so strange. 4:34 now. d.c. mayor vincent gray is scheduled to meet with ward 5 democratic leaders today and they're going to talk about the controversy surrounding his campaign from 2010 and the first part of his administration since he has been in office. despite the calls for him to step down, he released the plan for the final two and a half years of his term. what he did not address is whether or not he will run for reelection. he's under investigation for a

2010 shadow campaign. a scratch in southeast washington yesterday at 1:30. there were reports of gunfire but police haven't been able to find a gunshot victim or any evidence of a shoulding. the university of colorado denver says it received a suspicious package on campus, but it's not saying what it was or who sent it. it's believed it was a notebook for a psychiatrist at the university. >> meanwhile the first shooting victims were remembered by family and friends yesterday. teresa garcia reports from aurora, colorado. >> reporter: investigators say a package from accused movie theater gunman james holmes was found in the mail room of university of colorado denver. the package was handled by a bomb squad robot and x-rayed to check for explosives. the letter was sent to one of holmes' former professors, a

psychiatrist. the letter arrived days before last friday's shooting that had not yet been processed out of the mail room. the letter may help investigators learn more about holmes but experts say not to expert closure. >> there's nothing that this individual could say to us that would cause us and the general public to sit back and say, now i understand why you did this. >> reporter: defense attorneys got their first look inside holmes' apartment where authorities say he had planned to kill police officers using a complex network of booby traps, explosives and chemicals. police have finally released released holmes' apartment building from being a crime scene and displaced residents will now be allowed back home. work crews spent the day repairing damage to the building caused during the police investigation. people continue to heal as well. mourners shed tears at a memorial across the street from the theater. earlier the first memorial service paid tribute to 51-year-

old gordon cowden who took his teenage girls to the movies friday. his girls were not hurt. cbs news, aurora, colorado. here's a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning. in san diego, a 4-month-old girl is alive after police say her mother left her in a hot car while she shopped. a maintenance worker spotted the baby strapped to her car seat. he and a police officer forced the window down. investigators say it was 140 degrees inside the car. the mother was arrested and charged with felony child endangerment. the controversy continues surrounding comments made by the owner of chik-fil-a. his comments he's made about same- sex marriage recently. now one person is trying to block a restaurant from being built in his district. the chik-fil-a owner has been under fire since he believes in the biblical definition of the family unit which means marriage is between a man and a

woman. president obama and mitt romney are now talking gun control after side stepping the issue last week. >> not surprising the two have differing opinion abouts what the -- opinions about what the country should do. susan mcginnis has more. >> reporter: mitt romney meets with british leaders in london today, including former prime minister tony blair and current prime minister david cam ron. but while romney tries to beef up his foreign policies there, an issue is making headlines here. both romney and president barack obama are talking gun control. >> we have no greater mission in the country than keeping our young people safe. >> reporter: campaigning in new orleans, president obama embraced more restrictions on gun purchases. >> i also believe a lot of gun owners would agree ak-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not criminals. >> reporter: he said he will

work with congress members to tighten background checks. >> these steps shouldn't be controversy. they should be common sense. >> reporter: while the president embraced the idea over more control over gun sales, mitt romney said he does not believe congress should pass any new gun control laws. >> i don't believe we new laws. we may need a much better effort to identify and deter those people who are deranged. >> reporter: romney pointed out the suspect broke several laws when he booby trapped his apartment with homemade grenades and explosionives. >> the fact it's illegal doesn't mean people -- deranged people don't do these things. >> reporter: as governor of massachusetts, romney passed a ban on assault weapons but says that doesn't mean national laws need to change. susan mcginnis, cbs news, washington. >> you check in but you check out unhappy. coming up, why some hotel customer satisfaction is at its lowest level. facebook releases its first earnings report after becoming

a public company. what will investors find out? we'll see.

4:42 this thursday morning. muggies are back. temperatures are going to be soaring today. we'll see the higher humidity along with temperatures by lunch time in the low 90s. we'll make a run toward 100 before the day is out. a stray storm, could be a strong one, especially north of town. we'll have the weekend forecast when i get back in a few minutes. right now monika with timesaver traffic. trouble on 270. >> it is northbound, north of route 109, right at the montgomery county-frederick county lines. you can see the right side of the road is now getting by. this was an overturned beer truck from overnight. still a lot of equipment on the scene. i'll have more details on this coming up in my next report at 4:47. the time right now is 4:42.

i'm watching your money and your stock portfolio. amazon reports profits later today. its results could provide a glimpse into the mood of consumers. wall street is expecting a slowdown in sales of amazon's kindle fire as consumers wait for a newer version to be released. strong earnings from boeing and caterpillar helped the blue chips to snap a three-day losing streak. let's take a look at the numbers. finally do you up 59 points on the day. the nasdaq, however, was off almost 9 points and the s&p 500 was flat. mark zucker burke will soon find out how much investors like facebook, the company releasing its first earnings report today as a public company. the social networking site is under pressure to show it can deliver profits for shareholders. to do that, it needs to make sure it's nearly -- its nearly one billion users log on as much as possible and interact with brands on the site. facebook has been up and down

since its rocky debut in may. last week we told but jcpenney's decision to get rid of cash registers by 2014 and another store is trying to do the same thing. nordstrom is turning to mobile checkouts as well. more than 6,000 nordstrom salespeople are already using the mobile devices. starting this weekend, all 1100 of penny's levi shops will use ipads for customer checkouts. the move is meant to get rid of long lines. as for people with cash, the stores say as long as there is cash, they're willing to accept it. did you enjoy your recent hotel stay? if you answered no, you're not alone. a survey by jd powers and associates found overall safntion with check in, check out, food and other hotel services has dropped to its lowest level in seven years. some of the reasons for dissatisfaction are charging for internet access and continued staffing cuts during the economic downturn. >> i've had pretty good

experiences thus far. >> my last two have been fine and people have been kind. still ahead, a proposed change in the way one of our virginia waterfronts may actually evolve. but some folks are headed to court over this. we'll explain why. why some are so opposed to the changes.

it's going to be a little hot. maybe a record breaker. throw some humidity in there, too. >> had a great day yesterday. today we're back in the fire so to speak. >> did you seal your driveway? >> i haven't sealed the driveway. it's just one of those days cue have gotten it done. >> i mowed. >> i did, too. >> we mini golfed. >> today it's going to be tougher. starting at noon, we have a heat advisory -- this camera --

a heat advisory which goes into effect for the entire region. got to go into the mountains to get out of the heat advisory. it goes noon to 8:00 p.m. heat index could be up around 105, 109. 103 is the record at d.c. 101 baltimore. they're probably safe. that 98 in dulles, we'll make a run for that. there's no way we'll get close to the 1 on 7 in martinsburg. -- 107 in martinsburg. that one will be standing just final. upper 70s by 8:00. by noon we'll quickly be in the low 90s. by the time we get toward 4:00 p.m., we'll be near the high for the day 99. winds southwest at 15. they could be gusting 20 or more. it will get a bit breezy as well. isolated stray storm, especially north of town. those could be strong. a temperature at 8:00 95 degrees. this cluster of storms has popped from eastern ohio. it blew up across southwestern

pennsylvania. may clip morgantown. anybody watching in far western maryland, parts of west virginia panhandle, a slight chance this will drop down towards you. 70s most places this morning. culpeper is 66. cumberland 64. we've got 75 at pax river naval air station. gaithersburg 70. other readings 68 for rockville. a few 60s here like reston and great falls and upper marlboro 69. a much mugger morning than what we saw yesterday. outside on our michael & son weather camera, good looking visibilities this morning under clear skies. 75. but a lot more humid than yesterday. we had humidity levels in the 30% range yesterday afternoon. now it's 71% as dew points have climbed from the low 50s to the middle 60s and the humidity continues to pour in here. change on the weather map. remember we had the big ridge for several days in the middle of the country? that's not there this morning. what's replaced it is this line of showers and storms bringing a little relief to those folks

and much needed rain. probably too little to help a lot of the farmers and the crop situation there. these showers and storms extend up toward chicago pushing toward detroit and into upstate new york. again we watched that cluster coming from southern ohio into western pennsylvania. this will get a little close. especially some of our far northern suburbs but i think most of it stays north of 70. there's a severe weather threat especially from ohio, pennsylvania, southern new york state, western areas of massachusetts and connecticut. moderate risk there. we're under a slight risk for severe storms from the storm prediction center so damaging wind gusts, isolated tornadoes of the gern the worst of it will -- the worst of it will stay north of the mason-dixon line. watch what happens in the afternoon and evening hours. you see showers and storms erupt here, come across the region. we may see an isolated shower or storm overnight. then on friday we're going to see more showers and storms pop in the middle of the day and the afternoon. we'll likely do the same on

saturday. so the forecast today 100 degrees. heat advisory, yellow alert for the heat. isolated storm but any storms that pop could be strong to severe. that would be north of town. 75 to 80 tonight. much mugger than it has been with the stray storm. 95 tomorrow, scattered storms in the afternoon. again a yellow alert. saturday again a yellow alert because there will be a few more thunderstorms. highs in the low 90s. on sunday about 90 degrees. monday chance of a storm, 89. then mid- to upper 80s with a few more storm chances tuesday into wednesday. it is 4:51. monika samtani, what do you have for us? >> i'm lamenting because it's going to be hot as you're saying and look at this accident on the northbound side of 270. >> the rubber neckers southbound of course. >> the reason we're lamenting is it was a beer truck. no injuries so it's okay to lament but heavily damaged tractor-trailer and only the right shoulder is getting by here. northbound 270 north of route 109, all that beer, oh no. the cleanup is going to take

some time. let me show you where it is on the ma'am, northbound 270 -- the map, northbound 270. look at all the red. that's causing 5 miles an hour backup. you're not used to that this time of the morning. southbound flow will attract some attention. i'll keep you posted on that situation. we'll go over to another map, this time on the north side of town. outer loop of the beltway leaving 95 toward new hampshire avenue, there had been overnight construction. that should be cleared up now. in the meantime you're looking okay as you head westbound on the beltway toward silver spring. i'll be back with more traffic in a few minutes. but first, metro is getting part of $787 million designed to modernize transportation across the country. the federal transit administration is giving it a $1.5 million grant to improve bus stops in d.c., maryland and virginia. that will cover the cost of things like new benches, bus shelters, ramps and signs to give riders real time updates

on bus schedules. pretty cool. >> sounds good, monika. see you in just a little bit. alexandria's waterfront could be changing soon, but now there's a fight under way about what could be built there. >> three lawsuits over the plan have been filed. opponents are planning to speak out against a planned hotel. peggy fox reports. >> reporter: just south of where those potomac river cruise boats park along the banks of old town the city of alexandria is considering a proposal to build a five-story 121-room hotel right on the water. but a group called friends of the alexandria waterfront is against it. >> it is just too big, too high, too much bulk and it does not conform in terms of its shape with the waterfront plan that the alexandria city council adopted last summer. >> reporter: the developer is carr hospitality. the site is the old cummings warehouse at 220 south union street. while alexandria's waterfront plans allows for hotels, the

zoning would have to be changed because current zoning does not allow for hotels. >> there's going to be a lot of traffic. i just think it's going to be too much for this community to bear. we have brac up the street but even though it's right here on the potomac and next to d.c., it's still kind of quaint and homey and it's going to rob it of that. >> reporter: opponents also say carr is not planning add squat parking facilities -- adequate parking facilities. not all neighbors are opposed to a hotel. some believe it would be a nice addition to replace what they call an eyesore. >> i think it would add greatly to the beautiful indication of the community, an open waterfront where all people can walk. i think a hotel, some small shops, i think this place is right for it. >> reporter: while realtor and neighbor john creager likes the plan, he, too, would like to see it scaled down. >> we requested an interview with carr hospitality but calls we made before noon yesterday

were never returned. question of the morning time. it is 4:54. according to a study, men who do this before work live longer than those who don't. is it a, meditate, b, eat breakfast, or c, kiss their wife? >> i think i know. what do you think? >> i don't know. i would say meditate. >> log on to the wusa9 facebook fan page. leave your thoughts on the answer. we'll reveal the answer in the 6:00 hour.

we are talking interest some serious heat today. about 4:55. we're glad you're with us on this thursday morning. temperatures are running a lot warmer than they have been and

yesterday we got to 89. today we're going to make a run toward 100. heat advisory from noon until 8:00. 93 degrees by noon. 5:00 98. right now just want to point out we've got thunderstorms out in southwestern pennsylvania. this stuff is going to head maybe toward western maryland over the next few hours with a ton of lightning. let's check in with monika samtani. she has a look at timesaver traffic. we'll take a look at the northbound side of 270. i've been telling but this overturned tractor-trailer full of beer north of route 109 where only the right side of the road is getting by. seems like it's attracting attention southbound as well. i'll have more coming up in my next report at 5:00. >> in about for two-minutes. its -- in about two minutes. it's the day before the olympics. new traffic rules. check out the olympic rings in one of the lanes there. they go into effect and participants get a clear passage to the stadium.

they're called game plans, 30 miles of roadblocked off for athlete and v.i.p.s only. the cabbies are a little ticked off about it. it not only adds time to the commute but also it's a $200 fine if you veered into the so- called game lanes. there you have it. >> that's pretty cool. its it's -- it's thursday. we're happy about that you're watching 9news now. i'm andrea roane. i'm mike hydeck and here is monika samtani. >> good morning. >> we'll start with weather. we were talking about the heat that's been building. yesterday it was absolutely gorgeous, one of those mid summer gems. we expected it. it was perfect. a lot of folks did take advantage of it. but today is going to be one of those days air conditioning, indoors and probably by the pool advised given the surge in temperatures we're expecting this afternoon. here's a look at the day planner again with readings -- i want to back up here and show you the day planner