and leaving, but she ended it just a few minutes -- well, 45 minutes ago, but she started talking about the tragedy in libya and lives lost including the ambassador to libya. crowds gathered here. many of them were students, volunteers. they all came to hear the first lady speak. students who came like many voters have the economy on their mind and wonder how they'll pay for college and student loans. michelle obama reminded folks there are only 54 more days in the election. she rallied to get out the vote. she touched on her husband's record on the economy saying that they are not done fixing it. they also rallied to talk about social issues. the crowd gave a resound ago plus when it -- resounding applause when it came to women's right to choose to, same sex marriage and also immigration, but before getting down to business she touched on the tragedy in libya. listen in. >> our hearts and prayers are

with the families of those who gave their lives serving our country. i mean the thing to remember, these brave americans and so many men and women just like them, they are the face of american diplomacy. >> reporter: as we've been saying, the commonwealth, such an important part of this election. it plays a huge role in the 2012 election. so you can expect many more of these types of events from both parties in the weeks to come. >> thank you. and the white house today condemned the violence in several middle eastern countries that appears to be the result of a film made in this country about islam. the latest incident came in yemen where protesters stormed the u.s. embassy compound this morning and today libyan officials announced the arrests of some militants now suspected of taking part in that attack on the u.s. consulate that killed four people including the ambassador. we also learned the name of another of those victims, 42-

year-old glenn doherty, a former navy seal serving on the security detail. it was also a hot topic for republican presidential candidate mitt mney during his trip to virginia today and bruce leshan picks up our team coverage on the campaign trail in fairfax. >> reporter: mitt romney did not repeat his accusation that the obama administration is apologiz ing to its enemies, but he did argue that the administration has made the country weaker overseas. governor romney opened the fairfax rally with libya. >> what a tragedy to lose such a wonderful people. >> reporter: and was interrupted almost immediately by a heckler accusing him of trying to score political points during an overseas crisis. >> why are you politicizing libya? why are you politicizing libya? >> sa! >> i would off a moment of --

usa! >> i would offer a moment of silence, but one gentleman doesn't want to be silent. so we'll keep going. >> reporter: in our polarized political culture there are plenty of romney supporters who blame the media for the controversy. >> i think you've been suck- ups. i think you guys got your embroidered knee pads from the white house. that's what i think. >> reporter: bruce leshan, 9 news now. >> mitt romney's campaign is launching 15 new television ads this week running in eight battleground states, three of them right here in virginia taeting voters about the economy, energy and defense department cuts. those ads do not come cheap. in fact, according to the television bureau of advertising, political campaigns and their supporters have spent more than $35 million in the d.c. market just this year. that makes our area second in the nation. the cleveland, akron market in ohio, another battle ground state, is no. 1. tonight we're standing by for the house of representatives to vote on a plan to stave off another threat of a government

shutdown. the measure being considered this time would fund all cabinet agencies at their current level for another six months. the current budget expires september 30th. today the labor department announced the number of americans looking for unemployment benefits is up to its highest level in two months, but the agency also pointed that the 382,000 claims were likely skewed by hurricane isaac. the storm disrupted work, particularly for seasonal jobs for about 9,000 people. virginia's board of health is set to vote tomorrow on new regulations for abortion clinics. in june that board went against attorney general ken cuccinelli and removed a provision from the new regulations that would require clinics to meet the same building standards as new hospitals. many said they couldn't do that, but then cuccinelli refused to certify those regulations saying the board overstepped its authority. a maryland man now facing a daunting choice, get rid of his dog or end up on the street.

now joseph weigel is suing his landlord's decision to evict him for owning a pitbull. he now lives in a low income complex in baltimore. the owners made their decision after the maryland court of appeals ruled earlier this year the dogs are inherently dangerous. this would be the first legal challenge to that law. coming your way on 9 news now at 7:00 residents in a prince george's county neighborhood celebrate the demolition of an abandoned eyesore, plus a look inside the charred remains of a burned ought american consulate in libya -- out american council late in libya. still to come a good-bye to an american hero, neil armstrong. >> the numbers proved the picture perfect day, 81 and 60 the official high and lows, pretty close to average. records 94, can still get hot and cooler, record low 44. we'll come back, talk about a cold front, tell you what that means for your friday night and weekend. >> also up next what

transportation regulators have to say about the electronic train detection system behind a deadly metro crash. heavy load in america. but mitt romney plan, a middle class to $2,000 more a year in taxes. multi-millionaires like himself hits the middle class harder... bigger break. forward for america? this message.

one of the best places in the country for students who want to succeed is right here in our area. prince william county officials say the area has been named one of the 100 best communities for young people and it's the third

time the county received that honor. almost 87% of county students graduated last year. congrats. that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. >> with those words neil armstrong inspired a generation of children and adults about space travel. today 50 years and one day after president john f. kennedy challenged this nation's space program to shoot for the moon and the stars members of the space program gathered with members of the public to say good-bye to the first man to make that landing. they came to the national cathedral here in d.c. for the public memorial to that astronaut. he died last month at the age of 82. looking around the room today was like a who's who of the space program and one of the most moving tributes came from the last man to walk to the moon -- to walk on the moon, astronaut gene surnan. >> he embodied all that is good and all that is great about

america. neil, wherever you are up there, almost a half a century later you have now shown once again the pathway to the stars. it's now for you a new beginning, but for us i will promise you it is not the end. and as you soar through the heavens beyond where even eagles dare to go, you can now finally put out your hand and touch the face of god. farewell, my friend. you have left us far too soon.

i'm barack obama, and i approve this message. mitt romney's position on women's health...it's dangerous. vo:mitt romney and paul ryan would get rid of planned parenthood funding. and allow employers to deny coverage for cancer screenings and birth control. we can't afford to let him take away our choices... to take away basic health care. vo: both backed proposals to outlaw abortions...even in cases of rape and incest. i don't think that women's health issues have faced a crisis like this in decades.

you can expect up to 20 minutes of delays on several metro lines this weekend. on the green line that's because greenbelt station will be closed. shuttle buses will be in service around that station and there will be sections where trains will use just one track on the red, orange and blue lines and it's all slated to begin tomorrow night at 10:00. the national transportation safety board made more than a dozen recommendations after

that deadly crash on the red line three years ago and now metro says it's getting closer to those goals by checking another five of them off the list. >> reporter: i'm scott broom with metro riders at the greenbelt station where this news from the ntsb now has metro on a path back to automatic train control for the first time since the 2009 tragedy. the core electronics that make up metro's train detection system are now fixed according to the ntsb. it was the failure of that system to detect a train ahead at ft. totten that caused the rear end collision on the red line that killed nine and shocked ntsb's investigators at how poorly the system was maintained, monitored and run. >> it's good news because we have -- it's a significant step towards automatic train operation again and it's a significant improvement in the safety of this system. >> it makes me feel safer. >> as many times as they give us a rate increase, everything should be working. >> reporter: there's still

more testing to go before metro will go back to automatic train contls. they aren't ready quite yet, but they are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. want some good news virginia? it's in line to get 52 million in federal transportation funds other state didn't use. transportation officials want to use this money to rehab interstates 95 and 85 around richmond and 264 in hampton roads. states are required to return federal transportation funding if there are no specific plans for it. the money is then reallocated to other states who need it and virginia certainly does. tonight is the last public hearing on a plan to raise rates on the dulles toll road. it's already going on at spring hill elementary school in mclean, but you still have time to get there and weigh in. that hearing is set to run until 8 p.m. there's another hearing going on where pepco will be on the hot seat tomorrow and they'll have to explain what went wrong and how to make things better the next time we're hit by a storm.

investigative reporter russ ptacek spent the day in baltimore where regulators grilled utilities about what happened the night the lights went out. >> reporter: we had expected pepco to take the stand today, but they have just broken up. we can bring you in right now to the chambers of the maryland public service commission. this is where two utilities have been on the stand so far. the way pepco and other maryland utilities responded to the derecho, how they reconnected stomers and amassed crews are big parts of evidence covered here. testimony so far indicates pepco only brought in 647 outside crews to help by the third day of the outage which is about half of what bge or dominion power had for similar sized outages. >> why did bge have twice as many first summoners on july 3rd than pepco '-- responders on july 3rd than pepco? >> i think you need to look at the data carefully. if you look at the total

numbers of line crews available on that day, because again people characterize data differently and you have people trying to interpret what that data is, that if you look at it, you'll see when you look at the totals and account for the fact bge is a larger company and account for the fact as they'vtestified that they were able to bring resources in from their sister company, i think that accounts for the differential. >> reporter: so far today two utilities including bge have testified regulators sad when would it take to end major out -- asked what would it take to end major outages instead of the summer's eight days? the answer money. this table is where pepco executives will testify tomorrow. the commissioners from the public service commission will be back here. they'll make the decision did pepco and other utilities follow the requirement in the way they responded to this outage and how can they make things better in the future? in baltimore i'm investigative reporter russ ptacek, 9news.

a bit of a buzz this morning over the front page of the washington examiner. twitter went wild with posts about this headline about capital bikeshare and the picture of the attack on the u.s. council late in libya. there was a -- consulate in libya. critics thought the layout was confusing complaining that it looked like capital bikeshare might have had a role in a violent attack. one person tweeted i used your paper to wipe the dew off my bike share seat this morning, thanks. no reaction from the examiner tonight. you got to make that stuff clear. you don't want any confusion there. >> right. >> it was a little weird. >> i'll give you that. >> 81 today and yesterday which is average and if we get into late summer, early fall average, it's about perfect. it's going to be a pretty nice finish to the week, not as picture perfect as it has been, but very nice.

let's start with a live look outside, our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son, temperatures still downtown loving around 80, dew points up a hair, mid-50s, humidities in the 40s, which is fine. winds are light and the pressure is actually falling a bit, 30.28 inches of mercury. satellite picture radar combined, we'll talk about our next weathermaker. this is the frontal boundary, the area of low pressure developing in the southern plains states this. front will roll through. the good news is it will roll through tomorrow night, not have a lot of moisture with it as we go through the weekend, set the stage for a nice weekend. right now we're looking at clear skies, some of the clouds to the west will roll in after midnight, so skies will become partly cloudy, but that's still nice. temperatures very nice, 77 bethesda and vienna and fairfax as well, 78 arlington, 81 in college park and 76 in bowie. cold front will approach, a few clouds tonight after midnight but still pleasant tomorrow and tomorrow is dry. showers are possible friday

night, although mentioned this on radar. i don't think -- on radio, i don't think it's going to shower on the boss tomorrow. weekend looks nice with temperatures below average a bit. for tonight clear to partly cloudy, comfortable, 56 to 64, winds out of the south, southeast at 10 and by morning partly cloudy, pleasant, 50s and 60s, winds southwest at 10. by afternoon a very nice day, just a few clouds come in ahead of the front, partly sunny and pleasant, high temps low 80s, wind more south, southwest at 10. zone forecast, 74 in oakland, 80 cumberland and a better chance of a shower west of i-81 late morning, early afternoon. even hagerstown, mainsburg and winchester will be 80, 83 culpeper, warrenton, leesburg, manassas, fairfax yancey dry during the day. downtown definitely dry, low 80s, low 80s into southern maryland by the bay even up 270, rockville, clarkbsurg, gaithersburg in the low 80s.

your day planner, 56 to 64 to start, 70s by noon and even by evening it's okay, 79 to yeast 3, a couple clouds coming in -- to 83, a couple clouds coming in late. next three days, green, green, green, slight chance of a shower tomorrow night, nothing heavy, nice saturday, beautiful sun, temperatures in the upper 70s, but grab the umbrella because temperatures will go down, mid-70s monday with rain and showers. looks like a pretty rainy day actually. nats come back into town tuesday, showers, maybe even a thunderstorm, upper 70s, 80 wednesday, leftover shower, low 80s thursday and partly cloudy. so the frontal boundary will time us out nicely for the weekend and get ready for an unsettled beginning of the week. >> we can handle that after a nice weekend. the skins are looking forward. they're moving toward the goal. they've got one win. >> they better move forward. there's 31 teams who could care less about rg3. they want to beat the redskins. statistical evidence why the redskins should fear a trip to

st. louis. it went to be a show me state shoe-in sunday. that's for sure. let's home the redskins . >> and strong word from manager davey johnson on this weekend's series against the braves next.

i'm barack obama, and i approve this message. mitt romney's position on women's health...it's dangerous. vo:mitt romney and paul ryan would get rid of planned parenthood funding. and allow employers to deny coverage for cancer screenings and birth control. we can't afford to let him take away our choices... to take away basic health care. vo: both backed proposals to outlaw abortions...even in cases of rape and incest. i don't think that women's health issues have faced a crisis like this in decades.

and now 9 sports with dave owens.

>> 12-52, that's st. louis' record in the last four seasons. it's a bad time to be a ram. it's a great time to have them on your schedule if you're in washington. they do. burgundy and gold nation, visions of 2-0 dancing in their head. hold on. for those of you with short memories the rams played the redskins tough. in fact, they've beaten them twice in the last four years. they also brought in new coach jeff fischer, a proven winner, and almost took down detroit last week. they only lost by 4. what more do i need to tell you? guaranteed win? no. >> you can already tell that football team is playing extremely hard, three interceptions by their secondary, one for a touchdown, a lot of new players, but the energy is there. >> you can tell the difference in their ballclub this year. seems like they play a lot harder football. it will be a tough game. >> yes, it will. we're also excited to announce a brand-new show here, game on premiering saturday night at

7:00 after the alabama/arkansas game. we'll be wrapping up the day in college football, sec and local and looking ahead to redskins and ravens sunday. thus far 7,000 of you voted in our high school game of the week poll. we want more. we want more. good batch of games. check them out. go to usatodayhighschoolsports.com slash vote. tough news of the world of local soccer, duane d. rosario has an mcl sprain in his knee and will miss the remainder of regular season. this is the final hurdle to the nats claiming the nl east crown begins this weekend. it's not a tall hurdle. atlanta comes to town on life support 8 1/2 games back, 17 to go. it would take about a historic collapse for washington not to take the title. imagine that. but hey, who need stephen strasburg either, right -- needs stephen strasburg either, right? i'm joking.

nats coming home fresh off a gotham city sweep, three straight over the mets. afterwards manager davey johnson was asked about this brave series. normally johnson vanilla. not this time. listen up. >> this is a big series. you know, we need to kind of drive the nail this their coffin over here and come into atlanta in a good frame of mind. finally more orioles magic taking on the rays finale tonight, 7th inning, taylor teagarden, special at the gap, scores two. extra innings, baltimore always playing those late inning games, manny machado. they win it in 14. so how about that, nats, o's, redskins? >> it is good stuff. >> the cbs evening news is next. >> derek is back with our

area's only local newscast at 7:00. have a great night!