mike hydeck. beverly farmer is in for monika samtani. she'll have traffic in a moment but we start with your weather first and howard bernstein first. >> thank you. another muggy morning again for the umpteen t time this summer. here's a look outside. still quite dark. 6:16 by the way. that's when we have our sunrise this morning. so we have a ways to go here. mostly cloudy skies. 78 now. 87 by noon. we're going to warm up pretty quickly and see highs in the low 90s. there will be a stray shower or thundershower. like yesterday anything that forms could put down heavy downpour or two. lots of clouds still streaming in from the southwest. as we look closer in on the doppler radar, south of town we're seeing a couple of showers down here. there's one timey guy in toward prince william county. you can see it. there it goes toward dale city. this heavier one west of fredricksburg may make 95 in about half an hour.

beverly farmer is in for monika. she has a look at timesaver traffic. better news for drivers that normally travel the gw parkway south of the beltway in alexandria. overnight crash was on the southbound lanes of the gw parkway south of morningside lane near coolingwood road. the southbound lanes reopening, at least some traffic able to get by and northbound has been open past the scene to help up past the beltway to old town. this is a live look at 270 southbound getting past 109 hyattstown. looks good toward the beltway which is great news for you. in virginia if you're making that drive on 66 as you make your way east into manassas, fair oaks, vienna, all the overnight road work pulled out of your path and heading into falls church. also if you're making the 95 drive, let's take a look at that drive. northbound any volume building heading in toward quantico is light. the pace heading towards springfield and on to 395, left side of the screen is northbound traffic, looks good to get to the beltway and to 295 and the 14th -- 395 and the 14 street bridge.

back to you. >> thanks, beverly. upset pepco customers are calling on government regulators to force the power company to make improvements. >> maryland's public service commission has kicked off a series of public hearings about the response to this summer's derecho storm. 9news now reporter delia goncalves is in our satellite center with more. >> reporter: good morning. you can say they asked for it. they wanted customers' input and they came out to that meeting swinging. >> my comments are directed at the butcher of montgomery county also known as pepco holding. pepco is a joke. >> reporter: yikes. and that was the very first of about 100 witnesses at last night's meeting in montgomery county. customers are fired up over pepco's performance during the derecho which left thousands in the dark for up to one full week. pepco said it performed well considering the force of the storm crippled much of the infrastructure but customers complained the power company's

lack of maintenance over the years led to those failures. >> my wife grew up in the former soviet union. they had communism but they had power. it's badly designed, badly built, badly regulated and it's not working. >> we had neighborhoods of over 1,000 residential units that were out from friday night until the following friday afternoon and this is all underground. >> reporter: a little humor there at last night's meeting but you can see a lot of those frowns on people's faces mott very happy. and to make matters worse, i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but pepco is requesting another rate hike. i'm going to have much more on that coming up at 5:30 and find out who else was feeling the wrath of customers at last night's meeting. see you in a half-hour. back to you. >> all right. asking for another rate hike after that is a risky business. thank you, delia. arlington county police are calling the deaths of two men suspicious. a maintenance worker at an

apartment complex on north culpeper street founded bodies. 31-year-old carl moten was a restaurant worker. 59-year-old kikispriggs also lived at that paper. they were friends. in the last two weeks there have already been two murders in that community. the man charged with kidnapping two girls from the same place has confessed. both girls were taken from the value village thrift store in maryland. the 6-year-old victim was abducted monday. an off-duty police officer found her with the suspect at a nearby park. investigators say 25-year-old charles amofa lured the girl out of the store and sexually assaulted her. he's also accused of luring an 8-year-old girl out of the same store last month. the future of horse racing at rose kroft raceway could be decided by maryland lawmakers. that's because the new two-year

contract extension stipulates the state's six came -- sixth casino be built at the horse track or the extension is void. governor martin o'malley has released details on the gambling bill. the legislation offers other casino incentives for accepting a little more competition. the special session on expanded gambling starts tomorrow. the most likely candidate for a sixth casino site is national harbor in prince george's county. the time right now is 5:05. i am watching your money. turning to wall street. hopefully the winning streak goes on today. we saw strong corporate profits leading to a third upday in a row for stocks. the dow stands at 13,168 after adding 51 points. the nasdaq rose 26 to close above 3 thousand for the first time since may and the s&p 500 passed 1400 for the first time in three months adding 7 points. the flames at a refinery fire in california are now under control but the blaze is

already heating up gas prices. the chevron plant outside san francisco accounts for more than 10% of california's refining capacity. the post-fire shutdown of this refinery caused a 35 cent spike in wholesale gas prices for that region. and that could boost already climbing gas prices even higher across the country. the summer car buying season is under way but if you're in the market for a new set of wheels, consumer reports is out with its list of popular cars to avoid. these include the honda civic, the jeep liberty, the toyota prius c, the dodge caravan, and ford edge. consumer reports cites the ride, gas mileage, the quality of the interior, and other features as reasons to stay away from these models but they do have some suggestions for what you should buy and you'll find that list on our website wusa9.com. just look under consumer news. interesting to hear advice not

to buy something. it's normally the other way around. ernesto became a hurricane shortly before making landfall overnight. >> now authorities are hoping enough people in the path of the storm heeded warnings to evacuate. that story is coming up. >> ahead in sports, the nationals apparently want to get extra work in houston because they've gone to extra innings for two straight nights. 5:07. we'll be right back. i'll have the $4 everyday value slam with... bacon. wait... yeah... well, yeah, bacon. and my eggs sunny side-up. no, umm, over-easy. the $4 everyday value slam. one of 4 great choices for $4 off the 2-4-6-8 value menu. only at denny's.

grz. welcome back. 5:09. another worm, muggy morning -- warm, muggy morning. watching a lone shore west of fredricksburg. here's a look at the day planner. we are expecting clouds this morning with some sun and a little bit more sun as we get into the later afternoon hours. highs upper 80s to low 90s there. will be an isolated shower or thunderstorm. those could be on the hefty side. i'll be back in a few minutes with the seven-day forecast looking ahead toward the weekend. right now here's bev with timesaver traffic. right now looking at that drive, getting up early and making the trip in from manassas, you have all lanes open 66 to make it past 234, sudley road and for that matter building volume getting toward centreville and fair oaks. southbound to the gw parkway south of the beltway you can get past the crash at coolingwood road. your next check of traffic at

5:17. >> thanks, beverly. making news now at 5:10, jared lee loughner faces sentencing in november for last year's mass shooting in tucson, arizona. after being declared competent yesterday, loughner pleaded guilty to killing six people and wounding 13 others including former congresswoman gabriel giffords. he's expected to receive life without parole. egypt has reportedly launched air strikes this morning in the sinai region close to the boarder with israel. this after clashes this morning between armed men and security forces. the tension has escalated since the weekend when 16 border guards were shot and killed. hurricane ernesto came ashore overnight along the border of mexico and belize. bands of rain from the storm caused street flooding before the eye of the storm made landfall. some resorts and low-lying fishing villages were evacuated ahead of ernesto. are your kids nagging you

about new clothes for back to school? coming up we'll have some types on finding bargains on clothing and school supplies. >> the redskins are one day away from their preseason open gler next at 5:15 -- opener. >> next at 5:15, howard has a cooldown in the seven-day forecast. you'll want to hear about that you're watching 9news now.

welcome back to 9news now. coming up on 5:14 wednesday morning, we're halfway there. more than halfway there looking forward to the weekend and maybe a break in the string of '9s -- string of 90s we've had. >> we have weekend temperatures in the seven-day which are in the 80s. but a front is coming through late friday. out ahead of it warm, sticky with some thunderstorms. friday some of them could be on the strong side ahead of that front. that's what we have to look forward to in the short term. let's start off with the day planner on this wednesday morning. still dealing with a good deal of cloudiness for the first half of today. yesterday we had a good deal of cloudiness. by noon we'll -- we're going to be warm. 87. winds southeast to south 5 miles an hour so they're not going to be very strong. maybe picking up a little this afternoon. could see an isolated shower or storm. 4:00 temperature 91. we're back into the mid-80s by 8:00 so looking a little bit better this evening. but anything that forms could be on the hefty side. yesterday we had those showers

and storms that were falling across southern maryland. areas in st. mary's county had almost 3 inches of rain in some of these downpours and they really need it. drought conditions are bad. the eastern shore is looking at a lot of drought. we're just looking at the shower here well south of town which has sort of fallen apart n. is weakening quickly. i don't think it's going to make 95 at this rate. it's just falling apart. a little sprinkle just to the west and northwest of woodbridge. your temperatures this morning, they're up there. 73 in college park. 78 downtown with baltimore at 72. we do have a couple of upper 60s well north of us there in lovettsville and laytonsville. springfield, alexanderia arlington all checking in at 75 degrees. still quite dark. another hour until sunrise. we've got 78 on our michael & son weather camera. good visibility. humidity high 87%. look at dew point well in the 70s. it's some kind of sticky out. with the humidity around, the

low level moisture, any storms, any showers that pop on the futurecast this afternoon and once again looks like south and east may have a better chance of north and west. those could be locally heavy downpours. quiet tonight. tomorrow we're going to pop more showers and storms in the afternoon. scattered about the region. then on friday here comes the front. you can see it lining up here from columbus toward cleveland early in the morning. as it moves off toward the east, we'll see more source and storms popping for the afternoon and evening hours. some of those could be on the strong side. here's a look at ernesto. came ashore as a hurricane last night. now over the yucatan as a tropical storm but it's going to get back into the gulf of mexico, likely strengthening to a hurricane before making another land fall near vera cruz thursday evening. our forecast today it is going to be hot and humid with an isolated storm, 92. tonight we're dipping into the 70s, mid-70s in town.

70s in the suburbs. 94 tomorrow. storms in the afternoon. anything that forms today, tomorrow, friday could be hefty, especially friday. scattered storms 89. the weekend looks better. maybe an early shower or storm saturday, 86. sunday 86. warmer but still not too bad on monday. 5:16. let's check in with beverly farmer. right now not too hefty on the roadways. building volume but no real big deals. 95, 395 corridor pace is still good here in landmark heading up toward the 14th street bridge. if you're traveling on the beltway in maryland, that's a good ride. each way between the tysons area and 270 across the american legion bridge, pace has been good. no early problems 270 out of frederick. volume still light heading into hyattstown for that matter. the bw parkway have checked in all right. the ride from cheverly to new york avenue if you're heading into northeast early on should find all lanes open. heading toward bladensburg into the work zone, florida avenue

into the tunnel volume light. only signal light delays to report. south of the beltway alexandria, southbound lanes able to get by now, at least single file. the wreck at coolingwood road. your next traffic comes up at 5:24. back to you. >> thank you. the way last night's nationals game ended is going to make a lot of highlight real. >> a reds skins veteran talks about tomorrow night's first preseason test. stay tuned for sports. >> we want to take a look at the question of the morning. a recent survey suggests a majority of women think this is the most romantic thing a significant other can do is it a, a candlelight dinner, b, a random text or calling her beautiful, c, a surprise weekend getaway. >> they all sound great. here's a look at a response you posted on the wusa9 facebook fan page. tony wrote b, he's so busy at work that when he sends me a text, it makes me feel special

because he took time to send me something. >> i like that. log on to the wusa9 facebook fan page and post your response. we'll reveal the answer during the 6:00 hour.

5:21. we are looking mild and muggy this morning. isolated shower has been down toward the fred rigsburg area. -- fredricksburg area. generally low to mid-70s. as we head toward 9:00, we'll

be getting to 80. a little bit of sunshine. the high clouds once again muddying up the sky. lunch time 87 still with lots of high clouds around. isolated showers and storms this afternoon. highs upper 80s to low 90s. so watch out for that. jess and andrea. >> thanks, howard. the nationals played an 11- inning game last night against the astros. monday night. >> but that just wasn't enough last night. in the top of the 12th, danny espinoza gets an rbi hit giving the nats a one-run lead. but then houston got two men on base in the bottom of the inning and the batter at the plate hit a line drive but washington's roger bernadina makes a great leaping catch bringing the nats to victory. here's kristen berset with the rest of your morning sports. good morning, everybody. i hope you're ready for some football. they've had months off and endured almost two weeks of hot, sticky two a day

practices. we saw the fatigue and frustration play out saturday at redskins park when several players started jarring with each other. now they get to let out that frustration on somebody else other than their own teammates. the redskins kick off preseason thursday night in buffalo, new york. the starters of course will only play a couple of series but they are anxious to see all their hard work and if it paid off. >> there's a lot to be proven in practice but when you get a good player, when you get guys that you want to have playing for your team, it's in a game situation. that's when you want guys to perform. >> now you get a chance to see how they do it under pressure. that's part of the evaluation in the preseason games, try to find your best 53 players. >> the baltimore ravens on the road thursday as well. they held their final practice in their indoor facility pumping in music trying to simulate the georgia dome in atlanta. so what are the ravens' expectations for this thursday?

quarterback joe flacko responds with a pretty simple answer. >> i haven't figured out how long i'll be playing. my expectations would be we get the ball, whether it's to open the game or, you know, once they turn the ball over on downs or whatever happens and we go down and score a touchdown and that will be a good day. >> pretty straightforward there. that's a quick look at sports. i'm kristen berset. have a great wednesday. upset pepco customers tell state regulators to fix their utility provider. that story is coming up. >> plus, we've got some ideas on how to save on your back-to- school shopping in my next your money report. beverly? >> right now the drive on 95 is light volume. we like hearing that on a wednesday morning northbound as you head past quantico, up past the prince william parkway. we're looking good. a complete look at timesaver traffic comes up at 5:29. you're watching 9news now. we'll be right back. stay with us. ♪

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good morning. welcome back to 9news now. i'm andrea roane. i'm jessica doyle. mike hydeck is off today. thanks for joining us this morning. beverly farmer will have our traffic in a moment but we're going to start with howard and your weather first. >> it's wednesday. halfway there. good morning. we're glad you made it and we'll make it all the way. just got to get through some heat, humidity and storms through the weekend. the payoff will be the weekend. so hang in there. let's get you started with a look outside this morning. we do have some clouds out there but it is dry. good visibility here in northwest d.c. looking up toward bethesda to the north. temperatures running very mild once again. sticky 78 in town. 87 by noon. this afternoon a little bit more sun later on but there will also be the isolated shower or storm like yesterday. so once again we're going with that yellow alert sort of day, upper 80s to low 90s with

isolated showers and storms. yesterday, boy, they caused heavy downpours, 3 inches of rain in spots and even a water spout toward benedict on the patuxent river. this morning not much on the radar showing up. a little bit here in the dell ware bay. lots of -- delaware bay. lots of clouds. this guy trying to hold together but doing a poor job. we've seen the showers sort of fall apart as it approaches 95 with a couple of sprinkles increasing their intensity in eastern prince william county toward woodbridge headed toward 95. a quick look at temps before we go. mid- to upper 70s. we do have 568 in martinsburg -- have a 68 in martinsburg. beverly farmer is in for monika samtani. good morning. good morning. wednesday ride we're looking pretty good. not much on your radar or mine which is good news for you if you're traveling on southbound 270 coming out of frederick. making your way into hyattstown still don't see much in the way of brake lights there or here at shady grove road. if you're traveling in on 66, that's been a pretty good ride,

too. no early problems front royal headed for manassas, fair oaks, vienna and inside the beltway as you make your way past falls church. i-59 coming out of fred -- i-95 coming out of fredricksburg headed for quantico, heavier volume but the kind of stuff that's dropping to the speed limit. heavier volume in dumfries getting into the hov lanes on the left side making your way into springfield and on to 395. everything has been open now. your just timesaver traffic -- your next timesaver traffic comes up at 5:40. the outpouring of sympathy over the wisconsin temple shooting comes to the white house tonight. one group is planning a vigil against religious intolerance in lafayette park. >> and the foundation of america temple will hold a vij nil tonight at 8:00 -- vigil tonight at 8:00. another temple held a service last night for the victims and their families. hundreds of sikhs, their neighbors and friends joined together to pray for peace and tolerance. >> i really like the fact that

it was very integrated and a lot of people from the outside were here. it just gives me hope that america is on its way to kind of becoming more unified with its minorities. it gives me a lot of respect. i like it. >> sikhs say they were happy to see people from many faiths at the service and expressed hope the attention of this tragedy will lead to more religious tolerance. the maryland public service commission can expect to hear more outrage about pepco's response to the derecho storm. at a first public hearing in rockville, tonight the psc heads to largo to hear from utility customers. delia goncalves is in the satellite center with that story. >> reporter: the psc, they wanted these meetings. they have a series of them till the end of the month and they may be regretting regretting it because they really get beaten up at these meetings. customers are not happy and the

psc is not exempt from feeling a little bit of the heat. >> fix it soon but not on the backs of our ratepayers. >> reporter: more than 200 people spoke out, attended last night's meeting in montgomery county. many of course furious at pepco but also blaming the psc. maryland's public service commission fined pepco $1 million last year for its unreliability but customers say that did not have any impact. pepco has, though, launched a $910 million five-year plan to improve service but continues to ask for rate hikes. the psc a month ago just granted pepco an $18 million rate hike instead of its requested $68 million, but the power company still not pleased. they want to ask for more money from their customers. >> you are buying their promises. you are giving into their lies. you do not question them. but you give in. constantly. >> instead of finding -- fining pepco for below acceptable

levels of service, you have rewarded them year after year after year for failing to maintain the power infrastructures in our communities. >> reporter: if you have something to say about pepco's performance and missed your chance last night, no worries. there's another hearing tonight at 7:00 at the rennie forum at prince george's community college in regard low. we'll -- in largo. we'll have a closer look again at 6:00. back to you. >> thank you, delia, delia goncalves live in our satellite center. an autopsy will be performed to determine exactly how a young d.c. mother died. but police are searching for a killer after finding a body in a creek in fort washington, maryland. this week the victim was positively identified as 22- year-old chavon philips. security video shows her alive on july 30 dropping off one of her children at a day care in

northeast. her body was found days later. an investigation is under way into what caused an escalator accident at metro's l'enfant plaza station. during yesterday morning's rush hour, a metal side panel ripped off possibly after a bag or piece of clothing snagged it. five people were gashed, three had injuries serious enough to send them to the hospital. all are now recovering. one escalator expert suggested that a worker could have forgotten to screw down a metal panel. the faa is now suspending the airport procedure that led to last week's close call at washington reagan national airport. investigators say the three just got too close because of miscommunication while traffic was reversed at the airport. the agency is stopping that practice till it develops a national standardized plan for changing the direction of takeoffs and landings. the time right now is 5:34. and i'm watching your money this morning. we're talking about ways to save on back-to-school

purchases. >> there's no questioning around it. you're going to -- there's no getting around t. our going to have to spend a chunk on school supplies but it's getting easier to do comparison shopping. joining me now is tray. you crunched some numbers. what are we spending this year? >> we actually found that most parents are anticipating spending up to $500 per child for their back-to-school needs. >> that's a lot of money. what are some of the most important buys, the must dos on the list this year and i imagine technology will be involved in that as well? >> yes, that's a great point actually, especially for parents of older kids, middle schoolers and high schoolers. schools are often e-mailing homework assignments so at the very least, you need to have some sort of little home office set up with a computer and a printer. some schools are asking for kids to have e-readers or laptops for kids to bring to school to do their homework in the library and things like that. so while that's not really a

full necessity, parents may find their kids clamoring for those devices as well. >> it's definitely something to budget for. what are some other things that can be a big drain on the budget? >> well, i think clothes can really be, especially again for those older kids. it's very important to them to look cool and wear the most current items. so parents are going to probably find some pressure being put on them by those kids. however, i think it's a really good opportunity to sit down with your kids and start educating them about budget. you can even make it fun. sit down with them, make a list and then teach them about managing wants versus needs, give them a little freedom to choose some things on their own so it's fun. if you have multiple kids, have a contest to see who can save the most. there are a lot of fun ways to approach it and to stick within your budget. >> what are some other ways we can save on back-to-school supplies this year? >> i think it's a three-step process. the first step is making a list and sticking to it. and then the second part is price comparison. there are great services that

are free like nexttag and price grabber and red laser that are all online and you can find the retailers that have the best prices. once you narrow down that list, you can go to retailme.com. we have a dedicated back to school page and lots of coupons. that's a great way in your final stop to look for the best prices and the best coupons. we were talking about technology earlier. i found a coupon just this morning for the microsoft store and they're offering $200 off laptops. so if you are buying your teen or tween a laptop for school, that's an amazing savings. >> the coupons really do work. >> they do. >> people ask that question all the people. yes, use them. often. >> but we're hearing 500 bucks per kid and they're putting a lot of pressure on kids to get the coolest sneakers and coolest clothes. nothing ever changes. >> parochial school takes that away. never had to think about it.

>> something to think about. well, coming up at 6:05, i'm going to show you a new high-tech way for guests adds weddings to get to -- guests at weddings to get to know each other advance. dad look, you can get eggs, bacon and pancakes for $4. umm. in my day, you get eggs, bacon and pancakes, and it only cost you $4. the $4 everyday value slam. one of 4 tasty choices for $4 off the 2-4-6-8 value menu. only at denny's.

good wednesday morning. very muggy out here once again. i can't wait for a few weeks when fall moves in and we get rid of this humidity but it's another sticky morning. keep that in mind when you prepare for the day. the day planner, we're expecting the clouds. we have a thin overcast. i can barely see the moon through the clouds this morning. 87 by noon. we'll heat up a lot. upper 80s to low 90s for the highs. isolated shower or storm. could have locally heavy downpours. most of us won't see them with winds south to southeast 5 to 10 miles an hour. we're looking toward the weekend in five minutes. right now, though, we're

looking at the commute with beverly farmer. got a couple of new issues to report in maryland. fire rescue and police responding on the outer loop just a little north of route 50 near the 450 interchange. this is 95 in dumfries where we just have volume but on the outer loop in maryland, new carrollton, a vehicle fire, westbound 50 in bowie near 301 checking for the crash now. your next check of timesaver traffic at 5:45. back to you. >> thank you, beverly. i've been combing through the day's daily deals, e-mails and retailer websites to find you some deep discounts. here are some of my favorites are. living social bringing back beer fest. this is the second craft beer and food fest. you'll get more than 50 craft brews and ten of d.c.'s best food trucks. tickets 25 bucks from now till august 14. there are a limited number of these presale tickets. the event saturday, september 29 and 30.

living social offering sale rates through the website only. get the dirt and grime out of your car. you can get a deluxe interior package at empire auto detailers in maryland. it includes dusting and scrubbing of the inside of your car. you're saving 50% on this deal from the capitol deal. just in time for school, bestbuy.com is offering microsoft office home and student 2011 for the mac. $69.99, 42% off the normal price. this includes word, excel and power point programs with all the latest upgrades. if you have an offer you've seen or you're a local merchant with a deal for our viewers, i would love to hear from you on facebook. andrea? >> thank you, jess. it's 5:42. hundreds of area students got the chance to see just what happens when they text and drive. the all state foundation brought their driving simulator to a student leadership conference tuesday in fulton,

maryland. students who got behind the wheel quickly saw how the distracting of texting eroded their driving skills. then they signed a pledge not to text and drive. >> really good program. a new poll out this morning looks at how president obama is fairing in the swing states considered crucial to his reelection. that story is coming up. >> plus, we show you how one police officer rescued a muse he found stuck in a swing set. >> that doesn't happen every day. let's see who is celebrating a birthday today.

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good morning. welcome back to 9news now, wednesday morning. it's 5:47. it's the same old forecast. sticky, muggy, hot, 90s. >> a chance of storms. >> allergies are being upset by this forecast. >> but-- >> suffering this morning. >> i'm so sorry. >> thank you, howard. >> by the weekend we'll dry out and cool down a bit. >> hang in there. >> all right. a couple more days. >> there's hope for the weekend and there's even hope for today. we'll see the isolated storm. it's going to be hot and sticky and more sunshine, later this afternoon more than this morning. we start with mostly cloudy

skies across the region. 80 degrees by 9:00. we'll see temperatures well up in the 80s. even by 11:00 85. winds becoming southeast less than 5 miles an hour. they'll be south to southeast this afternoon. by 3:00 91. we could see an isolated shower or storm. the concern today is that anything like yesterday that does pop, there's a lot of low level moisture around so it could put down a heavydown pour there. by 5:00 a little bit more sunshine still right around 90 with a high today expected 92. yesterday we did hit 90 in washington. looking at a few showers this morning west of fredricksburg falling apart. had another one here in prince william county. it's trying to get over toward lorton. let's see what's going on with live doppler 9000hd. other than that blip of green south of lorton which may mean one or two drops on our windshield somewhere, that's it. a quiet morning. a sticky morning. it's 72 in baltimore. 70 winchester and hagerstown. a little cooler in the

mountains. the air is a little bit drier so they've been in the low 60s. a much more pleasant morning there while we're looking at 78. outside we're in tysons corner this morning. about a half an hour before the sun rise so skies starting to brighten just a bit. 78 degrees. mostly cloudy at reagan national on the hour with a dew point of 74 giving us a relative humidity at 87%. feeling more like 80, 81 already with the heat index. high clouds still streaming in from the storms in the carolinas. you can see them coming across the region. you're also making a little bit of eastward progress so it's going to take a while. maybe later in the afternoon when we'll start to see more sunshine than this morning where we're still dealing with clouds in many areas with some sun through midday. a little more afternoon sun with the spotty shower or thunderstorm, especially south and east of town. tonight quiet and then tomorrow we're going to pop the showers and storms in the afternoon. probably see even more on friday ahead of a cold front so the storms on friday could be on the strong side. in fact, strong storm here.

this is ernesto which was a hurricane last night when it made landfall fortunate of belize city into -- north of belize city into the southern areas of the mexican rivera. the yucatan peninsula. a tropical storm now but it may eat veracruz as a hurricane again as it gets back over the open waters later today. our forecast here in washington. we're in the low 90s today. spotty thunderstorm, a little more sun later on. tonight 70s for lows. 94 tomorrow with the afternoon storms. 89 on friday. maybe some strong to severe storms on friday. then saturday could have a lingering shower or storm early turning partly sunny, mid-80s through the weekend. beverly farmer, take it away. got a few problems in maryland on the beltway two separate crashes on the outer loop between landover and greenbelt. near 450 new carrollton the crash and outer loop of the beltway just north of kenilworth avenue along the left side of your screen close to the greenbelt metro.

that moved to the shoulder. coming in on 50 the crash near 301. fire department came and went. they said nobody hurt so everything should be over on the shoulder with just the flashing lights with the distraction. you making the trip on 95 northbound heading up into springfield, northbound delays were only brief getting through woodbridge, briefly in newington. pace good into springfield on the left side of the screen to head to the beltway or 395 as you make the trip north of the beltway and up through landmark headed for the 14th street bridge. no incidents reported, just volume delays there. 66 has been good. the gw parkway southbound after the beltway coolingwood road, crash has been cleared. everything reopened. your next timesaver traffic coming up the at 6:00. >> thank you. there's a new campaign 2012 poll that's out this morning. it's from cbs news, "the new york times" and quinnipiac university. >> this survey focuses on voters in a few key states

including virginia. manuel gallegus reports. >> reporter: president obama is heading to the battle ground state of colorado to promote his economic plan. the president won the state in 2008 but he has more work to do if he hopes to win it again. the latest poll shows mitt romney with a 5-point lead in the rocky mountain state. there's better news for the president in virginia where he has a four-point leadoverrual and in wisconsin -- lead overall and in wisconsin where the lead bumps up to six. the majority of voters say the economy is their number one issue, and on that issue romney has a decisive lead in colorado and a slight edge in virginia. only wisconsin voters prefer president obama's handling of the economy. >> there's not another country on earth that wouldn't gladly trade places with the united states of america. >> reporter: a new mitt romney ad is drawing sharp criticism from the white house. the ad claims that president obama is trying to get rid of the work requirements needed to

collect welfare. >> under obama's plan, you wouldn't have to work and wouldn't have to train for a job. they just sent you your welfare check. >> reporter: the white house says the changes to the law will give states a waiver from the work requirements but only if the state can prove more people will move off welfare with a change. >> this advertisement is categorically false and it is blatantly dishonest. >> reporter: romney defends the ad saying president obama is foster agriculture of dependency. manuel gallegus, cbs news, want. music fans mourning the death of marvin hamlisch. he won three oscars and a slew of other awards for his movie sound track and other tunes. he may best be known for the them from "the sting" and "the way we were." he died in his l.a. home after a brief illness. he was 68 years old. in charlotte, north carolina, firefighters had to

rescue stranded drivers after flash floods hit parts of the city for a second straight night. fortunately those drivers were able to safely get to higher ground. warnings remain in effect till just a few hours ago. you don't see this every day. utah sheriff's deputy had to take action when he responded to the call of a stuck moose. take a look there on your screen. sergeant finishley found the moose tangled up in the swing suit. he went to work with a pair of bolt cutters around the skittish animal. finally the chain snapped and the muse headed back into the wild. -- moose headed back into the wild. gave him a pet to calm him down. maryland's public service commission gets an earful from montgomery county pepco customers. that story is coming up. >> plus, we'll show you how a smartphone app could help keep healthy food from going to waste. h. you made me a sandwich?

no, dunkin' did. but i wrote the note. dunkin' bakery sandwiches are freshly made just for you. grab a turkey cheddar bacon sandwich today. america runs on dunkin'.

welcome back to 9news now. 5:57. the trend of buying local is going high-tech in berkley, california. >> now small farmers can make sure their produce doesn't all go to waste. we show you how a new smartphone app can help the hungry. >> reporter: summer in california means great tasting fruit and the bay area is perfect for backyard fruit trees but there's a problem. >> there's just too much fruit for us to use and so a lot of the lemons that we have just end up falling on the ground

and rotting away. >> reporter: not just lemons, all kinds of fruit and all kinds of yards n. is a terrible waste considering a lot of folks could use the food. but now a new smartphone app may fix that. they call it forage city. teresa and local teenagers assisted by uc students helped create the program. >> there are so many resources disconnected in the community. this app is about bringing together people who want something with people who have something to share. >> reporter: you sign on and post that you have extra fruit and then your location is displayed on a map. to find fruit you simply log on and look at the map of your area. once collected the item is removed from the map. susan thinks it could lead to food trading, too. >> we were just talking about how we'd like to share our vegetables that we're going to have too much of and get some eggs. so if i have a hundred pounds of fruit in my backyard that i can maybe only use a fourth of,

why not share that, why let it just fall. i would love to bring that out into the community. >> reporter: anyone can join in. while focused primarily on the bay area, he hope to take this technology nationwide. don ford, cbs 5. good morning. thank you for watching 9news now at 6:00 a.m. i'm andrea roane. i'm jessica doyle, wednesday. we're halfway through the week. mike and monika are both off today. beverly farmer has traffic in a moment. there's an app for everything including our great weather app. howard bernstein is here with weather first. >> for the android or iphone. all of that. weather wise, we're going to look at a couple of showers popping later. they'll be few and far between. anything that does pop could have a locally heavy downpour. had some heavy ones yesterday, parts of southern maryland 3 inches of rain and a water spawt. 87 -- spout. 87 at noon. perhaps more sunshine later in