it was a coal train 1.7 miles long that killed elizabeth nass and rose mayr. after mayr tweeted a photo, apparently taken from the railroad bridge. in another picture of the girls dangling their legs over the road titled, levation. the train accident happened a short time later. 21 cars of the 80 car coal train derailed. the two girls were found dead at the scene after one tweeted earlier in the evening about drinking in ellicott city. >> we got some video information that we're down loading and looking at. jim is now leading a team to determine exactly what happened and why and refusing to speculate if the train derailed during an emergency stop, perhaps to avoid the girls on the track. >> a whole lot more than just a hard stop as you are talking about, there's a lot that goes

into it, the length of the train, curvature track, all these kinds of things. >> up on the train tracks, there's no place for them to go when a train comes. >> the tracks are a frequent hangout for kids. >> i used to party at the concrete slab. everybody chilled on and hung out on right over there. basically, get away from all the scenery down here and don't worry about the police. >> the cleanup continues here in ellicott city tonight. you can see a scooter was among the many vehicles crushed as this train rolled over. tonight, investigators still have to figure out how the train derailed and whether or not it was related to the two victims being up on the bridge. in ellicott city, scott broom, 9news now. >> we are also learning more about those two college students killed in this derailment. rose mayr and elizabeth nass were sitting on the rail bridge. they were high school buddies, spending a final night together before heading back to school. i'm andrea mccarren in

harrisonburg, virginia, where the james madison community is mourning the death of one of its students. >> it should be an exciting time for students to come back to school. the loss of elizabeth is tragic. >> a sign paying tribute to elizabeth nass hangs outside her sorority house. >> i know our hearts go out to elizabeth's family and friends. i can't imagine what they are dealing with right now. >> nass and rose mayr, a nursing major were spending a final evening together before returning to their respective universities. nass posted this photo just minutes before their lives abruptly ended on a railroad bridge suspended high above old ellicott city. andrea mccarren, 9news now. >> and that derailment is disrupting verison service. the company says the crash damaged some facilities and it

is affecting the land line services. verison restored some customers by rerouteing lines, but it can't completely fix the problem until the crews are allowed to get to the damaged equipment. we have breaking news for you. a judge released from custody, a crofton man, accused of threatening to shoot up his workplace. neil prescott is being transferred from a psychiatric facility to the custody of his parents. the judge ordered prescott to take his medication and to attend counseling while he awaits arraignment. and police have just announced an arrest in the crash that killed a prince georges county officer and sent another to the hospital. >> i'm bruce leshan in beltsville where police officers are placing black bunting on a cruiser in memory of officer adrian morris. police say he was killed trying to take a couple of criminals off the street. the suspect, a suspect in custody under arrest, kenneth

mitchell, 24 years old, of laurel. >> he loved being the police. >> morris and his partner were out to catch a couple of guys suspected of trying to steal a car at a shell station in laurel. they took off after the suspects who were drivg a gray or green acura. sources say the officers chased the acura down i-95 at up to 100 miles an hour. still unclear, is whether officer morris had permission from commanders to chase that vehicle. a police spokeswoman confirms tonight that officer morris was not wearing his seat belt. in beltsville, bruce leshan, 9news now. >> and maryland state flags now flying at half staff in honor of morris. governor martin o'malley issued that this morning and the flags will stay that way. the maryland court of appeals is altering its con

controversial april ruling. the state's highest court granted a motion today. the court's new ruling stands by the original decision for purebred pit bulls, but extending that to cross breeds was erroneous. out of virginia, a case that involves competing rights. among them, a military vet's right to his free speech and everybody else's right to protect themselves from a man who just might be dangerous. at the center of all this, brandon ralph who served in the marines. he has posted a lot of antigovernment messages on facebook and one shows the pentagon right after 9/11 accusing the u.s. government of firing a missile at the building. other messages warn of a revolution that is coming and i'm here to sever heads, end of quote. the fbi questioned rob and took him into custody for psychiatric evaluation and now a judge ordered rob to be detained for a month for

further evaluation, held against his will, even though no charges have been filed. here's rob's mom. >> our views are very strong because we are patriots. when we lose the right to be able to stand up and state how we feel no matter what it's about, i think that we need to be concerned. >> you heard how his mother feels, how do you feel? his behavior is unnerving, but why are they holding him against his will. with these days and times, can we afford to take any chances? take a chance and write me your thoughts. the address is mailbag@wusa9.com. d.c. cab drivers could be on the hook. the taxi cab commission sent a notice to drivers they may have to pay the $500 cost for the

meters. the district had a $1.3 million deal in place, but last week, council member marion barry filed a disapproval resolution on the contract, which puts it on hold. the taxi cab commission has to look for alternative funding. smart meter installation is set to begin tomorrow. you sure can't get much better weather for august with temperatures in the low 80s today. but top, who should we send a text to? >> to me, of course. we have one little shower. we had talked about this at 6:00 over the mall in the downtown area. let me show you live doppler. it moved to north and to the east. good rains moving through college park, around 4:10. headed up toward bowie and headed up the bw parkway. that's the only shower. the good news is, it is north of the stadium, nats should be fine tonight. 77 in gaithersburg. even 76 down toward fredericksburg. they also had a shower just to their south. so for tonight, a shower or

thunderstorm possible. mainly south, comfortable. check this out. 58 to 68 for lows. winds easterly at 5 to 10. we will come back and talk about the tropics, they are heating up. we have a brand-new tropical storm, isaac. we'll tell you where we think he is headed. venal still to come, diana niad back on dry land. she tried to swim from cuba to florida again. but first, the president heads out on thcampaign trail and launches a new attack. his message to the young voters. that's up next.

young voters played a big part in president oh bomb many's win and he is appealing to them once again. the president used a rally at capital university in columbus, ohio, to shift his attack on republican mitt romney. there he told the crowd the gop would cut billions and he slammed romney for telling students to find loans to pay

for school. >> the best thing i can do for you is to tell you to shop around. that's it. that's his plan. >> instead of education, the republican ticket tried to convince voters that their plan for medicare is the best option. vice presidential candidate, paul ryan, took the plan to task. >> $3600 cut in benefits for current seniors. nearly one out of six hospitals and nursing homes are going to go out of business or stop taking medicare patients. >> congressman ryan and the republican campaign will swing back through virginia tomorrow. he is scheduled to hold a rally in the morning at roanoak. topper tells us how long this cooler weather will stick around. you know it can't last for ever. that forecast is coming up, but first, grandpa comes to the rescue after his granddaughter begins to choke. it's a heroic tail of saving a little life. that story is up next.

up in delaware, three daycare workers under arrest. dover police say the workers actually video taped the fight between three-year-old kids and they are heard encouraging the kids to punch each other. the three women now face assault and other chges. >> a grandfather is now a hero. he saved his granddaughter's life after she stopped broughting while she was eating a piece of cantaloupe. he wants other parents to learn from their story. the lesson is, everybody ought

to know cpr. little lalin was eating a piece of cantaloupe. she started to choke and her family strang into action to save her life. >> probably the most terrifying thing i have ever experienced in my life. she turned blue. >> lala is back to playing with her toys in her arlington home. on sunday afternoon, she gave her family the biggest scare of their lives. >> what should we do? she's turning blue. >> okay, can you look in her mouth and see if you can see anything. >> lala's dad called 911 on sunday afternoon during lunch. he relayed instructions to his father who had cpr training as a boy scout. >> tilted her mouth up and did a couple of quick breaths and didn't get any reaction and did a couple more and she started choking and hacking and breathing on her own. >> lala ended up missing her

birthday party, but she's happy to be healthy again and able to celebrate later. in arlington, anny hong, 9news now. >> after almost two years of construction, the lincoln memorial reflecting pool is about to reopen. the crews are working refilling the landmark on the national mall. if you'll remember back in 2010, the reflecting pool underwent this huge rehab project. all kinds of cracks and leaks and needed to be redone. the newly designed pool should be open to the public by the weekend. the weather is going to be nice. diana back on dry land after she ended her latest attempt to swim from cuba to florida. she is 63 years old. she was making a good go of it, but had to get pulled from the ocean. there was a thunderstorm going on at the time. plus the fact that strong winds, powerful waves, not to mention jelly fish stings, hypothermia. she told supporters she is disappointed, but not much she could have done differently about it. this is try number four.

she says this is try number end. not going to happen again. >> she did 50 miles and had to go another 53. i can't imagine swimming 50 miles. >> and swimming 50 miles through shark infested, and a thunderstorm, just too much. we had one little thunderstorm, we'll show you that on radar. the tropics are heating up. we have tropical storm isaac. we may have another storm behind isaac. we'll focus on isaac for now. this is the national hurricane track of isaac. it takes it right through. there are tropical storm warnings in effect. there are watches already in effect in puerto rico. the storm will dip to the south of puerto rico and head toward cuba and get into central cuba as we get into sunday. now, that said, it could move across cuba. remember, cuba has mountains. it will cut it down and could restrengthen and get into the

keys or around the gulf of mexico. we'll see which way it goes. go to our website. it's free, go to wusa9.com. we put this into motion. this was a heavy storm. now it's weak, but it is still producing rain as you go up the bw parkway toward baltimore and also just north of bowie and out toward 3 and also up toward 32. so a little bit of light shower activity. see how big it was at one time as it pulled across the beltway. now a little bit weak. it is north of the stadium. game should be fine tonight. live look outside to our live weather cam. it is returned partly sun gnu downtown, brought to you by michael and son. dew point 62. comfortable relative humidity. pressure is steady, 30.04 inches of mercury. temperatures are a bargain for this time of year. this is what derek was talking about. it's 77 in bethesda. 72 in college park. that is rain cooled, but we'll take it. 78 in laurel and 78 also in

springfield. we're looking at, it should stay dry for the nats tonight. isolated showers possible. we've seen that. storms mainly south. still comfortable tonight and wednesday, looks okay again. so for tonight, shower possible, comfortable. 58 to 68. tomorrow morning, we're in great shape. partly sunny, mild, temperatures in the 60s and 70s. maybe the kids might want a sweater early in the morning at the bus stop. some kids are in school already. by afternoon, partly sunny and warm. shower and isolated thunderstorm possible, but again, mainly south. high temperatures around 85. winds easterly at 5 to 10. we'll keep it as code green, green, and green. 86 on wednesday. 87 thursday. a slight chance of a shower on friday. temperatures go up a little bit, but nothing crazy hot. 89 on friday. next seven days, saturday and sunday, i know this is counter intuitive. i also have nights. it will be nice.

you don't need to change your plans for a shower. not a big deal. upper 80s saturday. and 91 on monday and 90 on tuesday. pretty good chance of showers late tuesday as a cold front heads our way. >> drop, but nice. >> a little weird. >> that's going to lead into the weird news. we all know that even in the age of the internet, there's nothing like being there, right? well, maybe. to singapore, where they came up with a machine that will transport a kiss. call it the cyber smooch. you can see it right there. you have special lips complete with special sensors. when you put your mouth on the lips, whatever you do is transmitted via the web to a second set of robo lips and we kiss. it's call the the kissenger and not ready for prime time. with any luck, it won't be.

it's creepy, and you know where this is going. >> we aren't going there. we want to hear what you think. send your e-mails to mcginty's mail bag. mailbag@wusa9.com. 9news now will be right back.

todd aiken says he is not dropping allot out of the race. kim from silver spring says that's too bad. todd aiken needs to resign or drop out of the race. because he is either too gullible, too ignorant, or too knowing to repeat lies. does he believe a woman's body knows when she is being raped or was he willing to repeat anything factual or false supporting his antiabortion position? and todd aiken should remain in the race because his

outrageously stupid comments are in keeping with the rhetoric associated with the party. larry says fair is fair. i find it quite two-faced, while all but making apologies for biden's comment regarding putting folks back in change. don't forget who our vp made in front of. bottom line, the congressman should drop out of his race right after the vice president does. and we got similar sentiments from karen. while equally offensive remarks. could it be that racism is alive and well in this country and the black vote is presumed determined and taken for granted? women is considered up for grabs. just asking. personally, i found the vice president's comments silly and pandering. over the top, certainly. deeply offensive, not to me. plainly, you don't see it that way. still, people are arguing about

how offensive biden was. aiken managed to offend just about everybody. bring your comments to mcginty's mail bag. mailbag@wusa9.com. that is our report. i'll be back at 11:00 along with anita and topper. you can log on any time to wusa9.com. have a great evening. we'll see you later. bye bye.

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