controversial $823,000 las vegas gsa convention. >> not only were they giving out an incredible and inordinate amount of bonuses but those who got them, for example, were some of the abusers. >> reporter: congress member eleanor holmes norton ordered the inspector general of gsa to investigate the bonuses and to compare them to other of agencies government wide. at the capitol, 9news now. >> there is also a gsa conference being held right now in nashville at the opry land resort. the official who testified before congress says she couldn't answer many questions about the current conference. she would only say the conference is required training so employees know how to manage their credit cards. members of congress wanted to know if gsa employees while they were at this are in suites or whether or not they had a social plan on a showboat as well. this is fax pair money. in campaign 2012, president obama and mitt romney will be on the campaign trail in

usually battleground states. the president will go to florida. he'll also make a stop at leesburg high school in virginia. governor romney is scheduled to campaign in colorado. a new cobbs poll -- new cbs poll shows the president is in the lead in ohio and pennsylvania. romney has a slight lead when asked the question who is better equipped to handle the economy. several roads in leesburg will be closed today for the president's visit to loudoun county high school. the event begins around 7:30 tonight. the road closures are set to begin at 2:30. shuttle buses will be provided to the high school from loudoun county fairgrounds. mitt romney is expected to be in virginia as part of a bus tour next week. house republicans have pushed through a bill to extend all of the bush era tax cuts. the president has promised to veto the bill if it reaches his desk. the cuts are scheduled to

expire at the end of the year. congress is going after iran. both chambers overwhelmingly approved a bill which puts tight sanctions on iran's energy, shipping and financial industries. the legislation penalizes any companies which help iran sell or transport its oil. the bill is designed to force iran to give up its ambitions of nuclear power. president obama is expected to sign the bill. and maryland is clear to enforce its gun permit law while it appears a ruling which over turned part of it. the u.s. fourth circuit court of appeals reissued a stay in the case. the original ruling in march found the law's requirements for people to show a good and substantial reason to carry a gun was unconstitutional. arguments in maryland's appeal are tentatively set for october. a maryland man accused of threatening to carry out a mass shooting at his former workplace could wind up with just getting a slap on the wrist. yesterday in upper marlboro, 28- year-old neil prescott was charged with telephone misuse

which is a misdemeanor and carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison. lenot face any charge with the arsenal of 25 guns that police found. all of them were purchased eggly is why. >> unfortunately maryland does not have a law that makes it expressly illegal for a person to communicate generalized threats over the telephone. >> they plan to lobby state assembly members to pass a law which would make a shooting threat like this a felony. prescott remains hospitalized. he's under psychiatric evaluation now. 4:33. we are learning of a weird twist of a fatal hit-and-run case in herndon, virginia. a person of interest in that case was found dead last night. the body of 32-year-old fitsum gebretatios was found lying in a creek not far from the accident scene which was on center street. it all started just after midnight wednesday morning. that's when police were called

to the scene. they found a woman's body in the 600 block of center street and it turns out that was fitsum gebretatios's wife. investigators say she was killed in a hit-and-run involving a black toyota camry. the driver of that camry also hit several parked cars before running away from the vehicle. now police are investigating to see if these two events are connected. they say if he was driving that toyota camry, key have possibly been injured -- he could have possibly been injured crashing into parked cars. they have three children who are now in protective services. here's a look at some other things making news. republican mike leah attached an amendment to a cybersecurity bill that senators are considering this week. it would ban abortions in the district after 20 weeks of pregnancy. it's -- it basically has the same wording of the house bill which failed tuesday night. the amendment is expected to meet the same fate in the

democratic-controlled senate. click filet is gaining a -- chik-fil-a is gaining its share of supporters. on wednesday thousands flocked to the restaurant in show of support. >> and they bought food in support of the c.e.o. of chik-fil-a who announced he had opposition to same-sex marriage and said donations to the company would go to opposing it. >> reporter: this restaurant chain is really now at the front line of the same-seax marriage debate after the owner's controversial comments. >> i believe a c.e.o. should have the right to express his convictions and his commitment to men and women who eat chicken and are faith friday married. >> reporter: -- faithfully married. >> reporter: gene is protesting people like mayor vincent gray who said on twitter, given my long-standing support for the rights of marriage equality, i would not support hate chicken. that's the hash tag that's

become popular among chik-fil-a opponents but supporters like him say it isn't about hate. it's about protecting free speech. >> no mayor, no elected officials has the right to tell a company, a private company, how to conduct their business and who their customers should be. >> the president of this company has an opinion. they have great food. get over it. >> reporter: kristin fisher, 9news now. >> same-sex marriage supporters in northern virginia held a protest last night at the crystal city chik-fil-a in arlington. tomorrow same-sex supporters are going to stage a nationwide kiss-in. they're asking people to show up at schik filets and -- chik- fil-as and kiss someone of the same sex. temperatures in the low 90s and unhealthy air quality. howard will let us know more about possibly afternoon showers. the federal reserve says the economy has slowed down but not enough for them to take any action. 4:40, jessica is going to take a look at how this could affect

your wallet. whether you believe in climate change or not, one thing is for certain. our infrastructure isn't holding up against the soaring temperatures. we'll examine the problem at 4:50. we're back with your weather first in two minutes.

it is 4:39 on this thursday morning. we are looking rather nice this morning. nice and quiet. still a little muggy. we have temps in the 60s and 70s. going to be a hot day. a stray thunderstorm can't be ruled out. a high of about 94 degrees. we'll come back and look at the forecast checking out the weekend. on the northbound side of 395 be no issues to report as

you head up to the 14th street bridge. all lanes are open leaving the beltway to this point across the river and into downtown. i'll be back with more traffic coming up in a few minutes. back to you guys. 4:40. time for the first your money segment of the morning. >> good morning, jessica doyle. >> good morning to you. investors are focused in on the job market. today we're going to find out how many americans applied for unemployment benefits. the anybodies are due out later -- the numbers are due out later this morning. we'll get the monthly unemployment report. economists expect to see a slight uptick in jobs but not enough to lower the unemployment rate at 8.2%. the federal reserve acknowledges job growth is weak but after a two-day meeting, policymakers took no new steps to boost the economy. wall street was hoping for new economic stimulus from the feds so stocks dipped after that announcement. checking the numbers the dow stands this morning at 12,971 after dropping more than 32

points. the nasdaq lost 19 and the s&p 500 was down by 4. the new york stock exchange says it is investigating a series offer rig trades -- of irregular trades b. 140 stocks were hit with a wave of volatile trading when the markets opened. night capital group admits it had a, quote, technical issue that affected trading in dozens of major stocks. the company told its clients to actually use other brokerage firms to make trades. gives you an idea how bad things were. manufacturing in the u.s. slowed for a second straight month. in july cn reports -- china reports growth slowed to nearly a halt last month. manufacturing has led the global economic recovery but that's been pulling back as businesses and consumers are spending less. you know it's bad when china is saying they're having manufacturing problems. >> wow. that's flabbergasting. >> it's been a slow summer.

>> hopefully we won't be talking about china the same way as greece and spain. we are one step closer to the express toll lane construction beginning on i-95 in northern virginia. >> we're back in two minutes with more on that story. plus, howard's weather first. stay with us.

good morning. welcome back to 9news now. it's 4:44 on this thursday more than. we're looking forward to the weekend but howard is looking at what's happening in the tropics. things should be heating up. it's been a quiet period since the end of june. we had four named storms before july 1 and never had done that before. maybe jamaica, maybe the gulf next week with this storm. we'll take you back 12 hours in time and show you the satellite composite here. we've color enhanced the cloud tops. you see this cluster of

thunderstorms, nothing terribly organized from this satellite imagery. however, there's the circulation, a tropical depression out there. it is moving off toward the west. national hurricane center classified this with winds of 35 miles an hour gusting to 45 moving west at 21 miles an hour. so as the forecast track, -- the forecast track takes it south of martinique and it will continue across the caribbean sea. it's a warm body of water. upper level conditions look more favorable for development as it gets farther and farther off to the west. could be in jamaica overnight sunday night into monday morning and passing south of cuba in a very carable location for -- favorable location for strengthening. could be close to a hurricane by sometime into early next week, tuesday or wednesday. sometimes the forecast on intensities is still lacking but the track looks pretty definite. after that the yucatan, cuba,

florida, the gulf of mexico. still a little too early to say. around here looks like a sunny and hot day today. upper #s on by noon. we'll be -- upper 80s by noon. a stray afternoon thunderstorm. for most of us, we should be in pretty good shape. light winds becoming southerly at 5 miles an hour. we dropped into the 60s out to the west. in regard den -- warrenton right now visibility one- quarter after mile with fog. 68 for cumberland. low 70s to the south of tappahannock, pax river, over toward fredricksburg 71. baltimore 71. as we look outside on our michael & son weather camera, a little condensation on the lens there because it is so stickyout side with the dew point at 7 0. no winds. heat once again a really big problem. oklahoma will be 112. class also 110. tremendous heat there. our 93, 94 ain't looking so bad. weather pattern been like this for a couple of days.

ridge in the south central plains here. that's why we have the tremendous heat. thunderstorms up and over the ridge with a scattering of showers and storms across the deep south, the great lakes and even in our neck of the woods. as we look at the future cast, it really is fairly quiet for today. expecting the pop-up thunderstorm or two. less activity than we've seen so should be pretty good day for most of us. just hot. tonight a quiet night. clear to partly cloudy skies. a little muggy. tomorrow with the afternoon heating we'll top a -- pop a few more showers and storms. looks like we'll do about the same for saturday and sunday. by early next week, i think a front will come through but we're kind of stuck in a little bit of a front right -- rut right now. i'm going code green. the storms will be fairly isolated. just a hot and humid day. tonight in the 70s. mid- to upper 70s in town. low 70s north and west. 95 tomorrow with a chance for the afternoon storms. same saturday. yellow alert days. by the way, the air quality today is unhealthy for

sensitive groups. that is code orange. 93 on saturday. by sunday 95 again with the afternoon storms. front comes monday with a better chance for some storms at 90. then by tuesday maybe we'll have a completely dry day with a high of 89. 4:47. here comes monika samtani to talk about construction earlier. any other things? we had a busy morning yesterday morning. so we're hoping that it's just the construction this morning which is normally cleared up by 5:00. no major incidents right now or hopefully later. southbound 270 is looking great. all lanes are open out of frederick down to clarksburg and the point where the lanes divide. we'll go over to a live picture right now and show what you it looks like here at falls road. you can see that everything is moving well, although quite a few cars out already here in rockville as you head down to the point where the lanes divide. let's go back over to the maps and this time to the other side of town. no problems on the bw parkway route 50 through cheverly into northeast. all of the eastern stretch of the beltway in prince george's county is incident free. now we'll take a live look in

virginia northbound 395. it looks great at duke street to the 14th street bridge and into downtown. i'll be back in a few minutes with more traffic at 4:55. first, construction on new express toll lanes along interstate 95 in virginia could begin in the next 30 days and they could be done as soon as 2014. governor bob mcdonnell signed the bill yesterday. it will create 29 miles of express toll lanes from garrisonville road in stafford county north to the beltway and edsall road in alexandria. it will create new commuter lots. the price tag $925 million. >> thank you, monika, monika talking about the roads. it's been a hot summer in the washington area. not only for those who live here but for the roads and rails that get us where we need to go. >> after commuter nightmares connected to the weather, more are saying it's time to improve

our infrastructure. >> reporter: so far this summer here in washington there have been 33 days of 90 degrees or hotter, 50% more than normal for june and july. the intensely hot weather has been tough on d.c. area residents b two -- residents b two million of them who had no power during the derecho. earlier this month, the extreme heat buckled four eastbound lanes of route 50 in bowie and kinked a rail track in hyattsville, maryland causing three cars of a metro train to derail. >> global warming is happening. >> reporter: vicky is the executive director of the georgetown climate center here in washington. she says given all the recent examples of climate change negatively affecting everything from tarmacs to roads to nuclear power plants. >> you can't get enough cool water. >> reporter: much more attention needs to be paid to adapting the area's

infrastructure. >> our infrastructure has been built for conditions that have been relatively stable for a thousand, 10,000 years. but those conditions no longer are with us. >> reporter: in the long-term the country's infrastructure will benefit from a worldwide reduction in the amount of greenhouse gases that are produced. >> we're likely to see more intense storms. >> reporter: in the short term she believes local governments in the northeast have to fundamentally change the way they build roads and bridges and railroad tracks, essentially anything made of concrete or steel to meet the demands of a warmer world. >> we really have to look at our electricity infrastructure. we have to look at our transportation infrastructure and recognize that the future is going to look different than the past and plan accordingly. >> that was matt jablow reporting. the average temperature over the past 100 years has gone up about 3 degrees in washington. 2 degrees in maryland and a little more than half of a degree in virginia. insurance companies must now offer women eight new health care prevention services

for free. the most controversial of those is the contraception mandate. this includes access to the morning after pill. some say this is the same thing as abortion. >> to force women who are -- women of religious views and values and certainly pro-life to subsidize whether it's contraception or abortion inducing drugs is wrong on many levels. >> the other covered services arage well visits for women, breast feeding support and supplies, screening for gestational diabetes, counseling for domestic violence and screenings for stds. there's a new study that could change the standard of treatment for women with advanced breast cancer. researchers found combining two drugs instead of giving them separately increases the life span of patients. the study in the "new england journal of medicine" says women who tooked drug -- took the drugs at the same time lived

more than six months longer. researchers say the findings are the first to show that a combination of hormonal therapy alone without chemotherapy increases the survival in advanced cases. more person women are choosing to breast feed. a report card from the cdc says 70% of moms started breast feeding in 2009 which is up 2% from the previous year and the largest one-year jump in ten years. researchers say the so-called baby friendly hospitals have helped thrive the increase in breast feeding. nurses cuts an infant's arrive of infection and describe cieb and even -- owe diabetes and even obesity. a french study found that autistic children introduced to pets have an interestinged willingness to share and give comfort. the improved social behavior comes a few years after the pets arrive. the study suggests that pets can help autistic children improve their social skills at a much younger age. coming up at 4:55, time for

the question of the morning. >> indeed. a recent survey suggests 50% of americans do not know how to do one of these things. is it a, jump start a car, b, drive a standard transmission, or c, program their dvr? >> log on to the wusa9 facebook fan page and leave your response. we'll reveal the answer during the 6:00 hour.

welcome back. 4:56. your weather first on this thursday morning. it's quiet out there this morning. it is muggy as well with temperatures in the 60s and 70s to start. we're going to be in the upper 80s by lunch time. outside chance we'll see a storm or two this afternoon with a high temperature between 90 and 95 degrees. let's go over to monika and find out if there's any more construction to get in the way. i'm happy to say things are good on the inbound side of i- 66 here's what it looks like at cedar lane heading for the beltway on our traffic camera. no problems to report inside the beltway to the roosevelt bridge. ail very more on virginia roads coming up at 5:01.

every u.s. olympian who wins a medal has to pay taxes on their medal. but that could soon change. florida senator marco rubio introduced a bill which would exempt olympic win frers paying -- winners from paying tax on their medals. they take home between $10,000 and $25,000 in addition to the bling. u.s. winners in london will be taxed 35% this year. >> that's ridiculous. 4:57. the cak to be continue wildlife reserve will pay $25,000 to the u.s. department of agriculture for allegations of violations there. in the settlement the zoo located near thursday month neither admits -- thurmont neither admits or denies the charges. the zoo's improper safety programs led to a jaguar mauling a zoo keeper and another allowed a camel to escape and get a quarter mile away. total recall, it's back, returning to the big screen tomorrow with a whole new cast.

>> edward lawrence talks to the stars about what makes this movie different from the original. >> reporter: modern digital effects put a new twist on the remake of "total recall." >> on your feet, sir. >> reporter: colin ferril steps into the roll arnold schwarzenegger made famous. he finds himself on the run after he remembers his former life as a spy. >> this person you think you are now, it's all a lie. >> reporter: he says the story might sound familiar but the movie is totally different. >> there was a lot of stuff in it that i recognized but there was significantly enough different stuff and there were -- the tone of the film was significantly different that it felt more original than some of the originals. >> reporter: his wife is an operative who is supposed to make sure he doesn't remember his past. >> this character is quite lifely in her craziness.

>> reporter: jessica biel comes to his rescue. what was the most fun for you? >> we were suspended on these harnesses moving through the set. at times it was kind of a nightmare but it was pretty cool. >> it was a lesson in trying to maintain some level of composure during extreme discomfort. >> reporter: the producers are promising you'll be on the edge of your seat during two hours of nonstop action. edward lawrence for cbs news, los angeles. good morning. thank you for watching 9news now at 5:00 a.m. i'm andrea roane. i'm mike hydeck. thanks for joining us. hey, monika. >> hey. >> we're talking about dressage. >> and paying taxes on your winnings. >> they're goodwill ambassadors to the united states. don't make them pay taxes for a gold medal. >> it's not just the gold medal. it's the moneys they're getting with -- they're