fox 5's melanie alnwick has a roundup. >> reporter: for many the mass murder in aurora, colorado, brought back the pain and anguish felt during 9/11. >> i think it's a terrorist that wanted to take a wasn't just from the people that are here but from the country our ability to enjoy life to, go to the movie theater which for most of us is a refuge. >> reporter: colorado governor john hickenlooper appeared on several sunday talk shows. it was said the federal assault weapons ban that was brought up in 2004 should be reinstated. >> they had magazines to take down as many people and the police responded in 90 seconds and yet he was able to take down 70 people. >> reporter: on face the nation colorado's earl pearlmutter said congress won't be able to avoid the issue when it returns from recess. >> i think this is really a congressional issue that has to be dealt with. you know, should we reinstate the assault weapons ban? i think we should and i think that's where it starts. we ought to be taking a look at how this guy was able to accumulate so much ammunition. he had enough ammunition for li

melanie alnwick has more on that. >>> a bizarre accident. a huge tree came crashing down on a car killing the driver. >> this happened on georgetown pike in great falls, virginia. fox 5's melanie alnwick is live at the scene with the latest. >> reporter: it is kind of unusual to hear the sound of chain saws and front loaders at 4:00 and 5:00 in the morning but that is exact lit situation we have here on georgetown pike -- exactly the situation we have here on georgetown pike in great falls. drivers are not able to come through here. the tree workers are trying to trim the very old branches off this close to 100-foot oak tree here. this is the second tree that is in a precarious situation. the arborist came and determined that this tree in addition to the one that fell last night is indeed rotted and in danger of falling and needs to come down. let's take a look at what happened with the other tree last night. that tree came down right about -- right before 7:00 last night. unfortunately, a man who was driving a black mercedes was coming down

we'll have more on that with melanie alnwick. and also schedule changes take place with marc today. you want to check the internet. let's take a look at the roads. trafficland, if you are traveling northbound 95, we had the wreck at the prince william parkway tying up the right side of the road. watch for delays out of dale city. once you get past this, your lanes are open. no problems on 359 leaving the beltway up toward the 14th street bridge and into the district. 66 running pretty well here out of manassas to the private your screen. that is inbound traffic. lanes are open. no problems approaching the beltway. dulles toll road, the greenway, no issues for you heading inbound at this point. beltway also looking good in virginia and in maryland. we did have the wreck, 29 colesville road at 198 so watch for that. that's a check of your fox 5 on-time traffic. >>> our big story, americans kidnapped in egypt. the american embassy in cairo is working with egyptian authorities to get a pastor and another tourist released. the pastor's church near boston turned to prayer yesterday as the

melanie alnwick has the latest. >> reporter: this part of georgetown pike is shut down still at this hour. v-d.o.t. thinks it could be several more hours before they get this stretch of the road open. take a look at the video from last night. you had a tree, a 100-foot tree, 40 tons, seven to eight feet in diameter that fell on a black four-door mercedes. the man driving the car must have heard or seen something because witnesses say he tried to stop slamming on the brakes but the tree came crashing down, crushing the roof of the car. they had to use the crane to lift the industry and it happened just feet from the entrance to a fairfax county fair station and the two men who were driving behind the car were actually with an out of state tree service that was here to remove trees after the derecho. >> i slammed on the brakes. i looked in and that is what i see it. of his deceased. >> the tree came straight down on the car. the car slammed on the brakes. when the tree started coming, they heard something so they slammed on the brakes. >> what you are seeing right now is work that is g

we are not going to let it. >> reporter: melanie alnwick, fox 5 news. >> let's switch gears and talk little bit about sports right now. the washington nats with a big weekend seer ayes. four games against the team chasing them in the standings. >> it is not how out start. it's how you finish. sports breakfast is coming up next and our perfect dream factory'been built. you're feeling sleepy already? nighty-night. [giggling] >>> in sports, the nats wrapped up their series with the atlanta braves. ryan zimmerman kick start the the offense way two-run homer in the first. his very next at-bat, he will do it again. the nat go on to win 9-2 and split the series with atlanta. they're in second place, the atlanta braves. the nats head to new york next to face the new york mets. >>> the baltimore orioles in cleveland. j.j.hardy blasted a two-run homer. the os led it in the ninth inning but jim johnson got the final batter to strike out. baltimore gets the three-game sweep. >>> the final round of the british open. it seemed like the aussie adam scott, had this one in the bag. but he had a meltd

they had the southbound lanes blocked and melanie alnwick reporting live from the scene. she's noticing some traffic using the northbound side of the highway, but without police direction, so it's skeptic now for those on connecticut avenue. be careful. avoid this area is the better bet. traveling along canal road, blocked off between reservoir and arizona. use mcarthur. loudoun county, still a number of signal lights that are dark. we got traffic that's stacked up along route 7 coming in towards wolf trap. at least 70 signals without power downtown. good hope road at 13th street in southeast, first street at florida, and northeast washington, just to name a few. some intersections police out there to help direct you by, others on your own. enterprise shut down with wires across the highway. >>> thank you very much. regular washingtonens deal with the power outages and storm damages, official washington is still reacting to the supreme court's decision upholding president obama's health care law. chief of staff and the senate minority leader faced off on fox news sunday.

fox 5's melanie alnwick is live on the scene with the latest. >> reporter: good morning. we have abeen watching all morning as they've been working on the second oak tree that definitely was in danger of coming down ads well. take a look at the progress that they have made in the last hour or so. they've tape most of the tall branches off of the tree and now they are really taxing that very thick trunk. you can see there is a rope on the top of the tree there and if you can look across the street, jason, my photographer here, if you can follow that rope down being you see there are guys across the parking lot. they are holding another end of that string. their job is once they cut enough into this tree trunk, they are going to give it a big pull. that is the bulk of the work they are having to do to get this tree down this morning. the big problem that started all of this was last newt. take a look at the video of the other tree, the twin 100-foot oak tree. it is said to be about 40 tons, seven to eight feet in diameter, when it came crashing down. we are told that a man

fox 5's melanie alnwick is live in bethesda with the latest. >> reporter: good morning. a big thank you for crews from oklahoma, florida, missouri, even as fur way as new brunswick, canada who are coming here to join in the effort. they didn't get here for the most part until yesterday and so today, they are really making more and more inroads into the neighborhoods. the focus we're told right now is on restoring the feeders. those are the big power lines that can connect as many as 1,000 homes at once so they can get a lot of people turned on with just getting those feeders back together. but we are seeing still some very slow progress in neighborhoods like this one in bethesda where this large tree has come down and the residents say that they've called several times but still haven't seen any tree trimming crews out here. again, it is going to be slow going. pepco says they are making progress. at this point, pepco says it has restored tower to 60% of the 443,000 out at the peak. 2700 personnel have been moblized for this effort including 700 out of state power line w

. >> montgomery county got hit especially hard and fox 5's melanie alnwick is live in kensington with more on that. >> reporter: this is where the traffic is going to be getting back to its normal pattern. this entire southbound lane of connecticut avenue here for several blocks is shut down. you can see part of the rope why. we've got just part of trees tangled on power lines and the scene looked like that literally up connecticut avenue and so what they're having to do is shut down this entire side of connecticut avenue southbound. you can see the southbound traffic now squeezing by in one lane this. you will have to be very careful because the northbound traffic there is coming in the lane right next to you. this is just one of those situations that we are finding all over the area. the good news for pepco customers, i suppose, if there is any good news in this for people that are still without power, that those mutual assistance crews that they asked for are due to arrive today and they are supposed to get out in the neighborhood and start working right away. everyone has said the

melanie alnwick was reporting that. last night, they had at least 240 lights out. that has improved some overnight and into early this morning b57 without power in fairfax and about 55 without power in the district. so if you come up to a signal light that is not working, treat it as a four-way stop. beltway looks pretty good. no problems to report here. hov restricts for those on 270 as well as for those traveling on 66 inside the beltway. if you are traveling 395 at took street, still an easy go. no problems to report at the wilson bridge. that's a check of your fox 5 on-time traffic. >>> it wasn't just the light and air conditioning. friday night's storm also knocked out power to a verizon facility in arlington causing widespread problems with 911 in northern virginia. limited service was restored late saturday. laura evans talked with the county board of supervisors chairman about the problem on fox 5 news at 10:00 last night. >> we are not 100% yet and so what originally was a complete failure of the system, 911 calls just were not going through, now, there ar

but melanie alnwick is reporting live from the scene. between veirs mill road and university, there is a portion of connecticut avenue that is blocked off because of large tree debris that has yet to be cleaned up. we just bumped in with another shot from northwest washington. a number of areas still shut down because of the clean-up t continues right now. the efforts are ongoing. be patient. get out on the roads early this morning. watch your speeds. you just don't know when you are going to lose a lane because there is debris in the roadway. this happens to be the top stretch of the beltway which is running smoothly notch problems to report there between college park and bethesda. 66, hov rules lifted inside the beltway headed in towards the tr bridge. if you are traveling 95, 395, your hov rules are still in effect. 270, the hov rules have been lifted. on route 50 in maryland, you will fine the hov rules are in effect. that's a check of your fox 5 on-timetraffic. on-timetraffic. -- you will find the hov rules are in effect. >>> the po

melanie alnwick is live in bethesda with the latest. >> reporter: good morning. as you know, it is not hard to drive around and find scenes just like this behind me. we are in bethesda. the situation just an absolute mess like we've seen in other places. a very, very larn tree coming down, pulling down the power lines. can't tell back there if there is also a utility pole down. you can see the road is blocked, the power is out and people here are probably like those that will be toward the end of the line to get their power restored. the maryland public service commission says it is monitoring all of the power outages and the utility companies' progress. there are still 292,000 people statewide without power. 50,000 in prince george's county and 81,000 in montgomery county where we are right now. pepco says they have mobilized 2700 personnel including 700 out of state power line workers and 320 overheadline contractors. field restoration crews are focusing on restoring what they call tripped feeders and those are large power lines that can supply up to 1100 custo

melanie alnwick joins us now from upper marlboro. >> reporter: good morning.t a name, right? you have to have a name like that when incorporating all the activities that are going on here. these kids are ready at 8:00 in the morning. this is the first time they've been through this course. joining me is leslie, a board member with the ymca. welcome. thank you for coming in. >> my pleasure. >> reporter: give me a sense of what is going on. what is the goal of thingamajig? >> it started in 1984 as a small project as one of the camps, the summer camps. >> reporter: there's a lot of ymca summer camps. >> started out with about 140 kids, now it's up to 4,000 kids. it's a great interaction between the children and people from the community. it embodies the core values of the ymca, which are youth development and also healthy mind, body, spirit. >> reporter: 18 years, you must have seen so many more sponsors and things coming on board in that time. >> absolutely. now it's become a thing that people in the community want to be involved in and part of it is because the

. >> and melanie alnwick has the latest. melanie? >> reporter: look at the building behind me and as you look to the front of it, come around to the side. when you look at the side, that is when you get a sense of the damage. i will walk slow here. look at this and there is nothing left. this used to be a dance studio. the national weather service is going to send a team here on to monday. the strong thunderstorms that ripped through the area on sunday evening. can you see the damage is severe and we're on fleming street in fredericksburg and there is nothing that looks the same. a home is off of the foundation and this brick warehouse looks like it's cut open like the cardboard box and this is that dance studio with 25 people inside and that landed on an elderly couple's home. >> and some people, we had to kick the door in. >> and they were not seriously injured but had some broken bones and some children had minor cuts and bruises and there is that nearby chiropractor's office and some building inspectors. i don't think there is an

. >> fox 5's melanie alnwick has the details. >> reporter: good morning. after dodging questions for months, mayor vincent gray is expected to finally address the controversy at his regular weekly press conference this morning. yesterday, u.s. attorney ron macheh said eugenia harris' guilty plea shows the 2010 mayoral campaign was compromised by back room deals and secret payments. harris, a paid consultant to the gray campaign, admitted to the off the books payments in federal court tuesday. the plea agreement says an up named co-con smir are to funneled $653,000 in illicit funds through her public relations firm that she then spent on campaign materials, consultants, supplies and other expenses. harris also pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy for straw donations to gray's 2010 campaign and some federal campaign in 2008. >> it is $653,000. that is the minimum from recorded checks that were not recorded. that is there was a campaign that spent $653,000. they never reported these contributions. how could the mayor not know? and the u.s. attorney all

melanie alnwick has the details. good morning, melanie. >> reporter: and prosecutors say that eugenia harris used two of the companies to funnel mean and that she has close ties with jeffrey thompson, who has been under investigation by the federal authorities for several months now and according to federal documents, harris is charged with violations of some federal and local election laws and tax fraud, including two counts of conspiracy and in connection with illegal contributions andy that say he got friends, family and employees to make contributions and they would be reimbursed for the money. $44,000 in 2010, and all of them reimbursed by the businesses owned by co- conspirator one and court documents describe co- conspirator one as someone who has a close friendship and repra -- relationship with harris and harris was paid to do some work and court papers are an information document and that can not be filed without the suspect and that is -- and that is not the way it goes. and that is not their request. basi

melanie alnwick has th roundup. >> as a corporate raider he shipped jobs to china and mexico. >> the obama outsourcing attacks, misleading, unfair and untrue. >> reporter: outsourcing became the flash point this week. the obama campaign says mitt romney was in charge of bain capital when some 0 the companies -- of the companies the firm invested in sent job overseas. >> my opponent in his private business was investing in companies that the "washington post" calls pioneers of outsourcing. >> reporter: romney says he was on leave during the time in question. but the war of words didn't end there. >> either mitt romney through his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his position at bain to the s. e. c.s and a felony. >> reporter: on "face the nation" obama, cutter had to defend her use of the word felony. >> no one is suggesting that mitt romney isn't following the law. >> you were saying he wasn't following the law. >> no, i didn't suggest. >> to label him a felon? >> no, we saw the transcript right at the beginning of the show. what i said exactly i'm happy to repeat

that is where we find melanie alnwick with the latest this morning. melanie, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, allison. building inspectors arrived a short time ago taking a look at what used to be the cheer fusion dance studio. you see the yellow sign there, danger. this building, as you can imagine has been condemned. take a look at it. there is practically nothing left. there were about 25 people inside. students, intructors and parents, when the half dollar size hail rained down. people said it sounded like an explosion as the roof tore off and the cinderblock walls collapsed. the roof landed about 300 feet away on top of a home. the house was knocked off its foundation. people rushed inside to help the elderly couple out. we got video of the front of the fleming center that got hit first by the strong winds. there is a mat stress store, beauty shop with daylight where it shouldn't be because parts of the roof are missing or collapsed inside. now, the owner of the hair salon and her daughter were inside the building. they managed to run to

melanie alnwick has the latest. >> reporter: david catania was the first yesterday to call for the mayor's resignation and then muriel bowser and mary cheh also came to that same conclusion saying that the time has come for mayor vincent gray to do what is best for the stow and ten down. the mayor said, while he was very concerned, he says he does not reflect on his work as mayor and said neither he nor his administration are corrupt. mayor gray still couldn't speak relatively freely about the corruption inside his 2010 campaign citing the ongoing investigation. he said he never knew about the illegal fundraising or shadow campaign taking place behind the scenes. tuesday, long-time friend and campaign consultant jeannie clark harris pleaded guilty. >> this is not the campaign we intended to run. we started from nothing. i thought we had raiseed a sub assistantial sum of money during that campaign. >> reporter: we also heard yesterday this from sound sill chairman phil mendelsohn. we asked that mayor gray asked meant ellison to heat him in his office late wednesday night and soon after that

melanie alnwick is live in bethesda with the latest. mel, just a quick question for you. is this the same neighborhood where you were yesterday where they're still waiting? >> no, it is not the same neighborhood but it is not far from there. although we did -- my photographer lives close to the neighborhood we were in yesterday. he said as of this morning, he drove by and still no work had been done there. we'll try to get an update and check on that for you. it is the same situation. these are really difficult situations here. the power pole behind me, see that drum? that is a transformer. that transformer is what is going to be causing some of the difficult clean-up. there i man toxic chemicals inside that transformer. the power company representatives who have been out here take talking to neighbors say the clean00 of that is one those tricky and difficult situations that could be going on for a allot of time. we wanted to let you know also that montgomery county has some things open today that they had not planned on. mid county and white oak r cre. centers open today

our own melanie alnwick is live in kensington. what can you tell us about pepco's reliability plan? >> reporter: that's the question a lot of people have, because as we know, pepco has been under intense scrutiny from the public and from the public service commission, and they had to undertake this nearly billion dollar reliability enhancement slander. they're almost halfway through this five-year plan. and they've replaced transformers and very visible, we've seen a lot of tree trimming going on, those sorts of things. they say those have made improvements to their reliability, but those are intended to address what they call blue sky outages, not deal with situations such as what they're calling here catastrophic damage from these sudden storms. they do say, that they believe some of the improvements they've made, 21 sub stations went out. 21of them went out at the height of the storm. they say that was probably less than would have gone out. they do think that the damage here and the power outages less than perhaps they would have been. but people are still saying pepco is on the

in bethesda, melanie alnwick, fox 5 news. >> and as melanie motioned as of this morning, pepco crews restored 75% of the outages from friday's storm and this is a look at the latest numbers. more than 67,000 customers are without power. more than 15,000 in prince georges county and under 13,000 in d.c. clay anderson, a spokesperson for pepco joins us on the phone with the latest. clay, you think you can get them wrapped up or is it still looking like the end of the week? >> reporter: it looks like we're still close to friday and some folks are getting updated estimated times of restoration or eths and in particular, neighborhoods as we speak and friday evening, we'll continue with that restoring a process. >> the question is, in most people's minds, if you're able to do 75% in four days, how come you can't do the last give% in under three? >> what happened there as we get into the neighborhoods, you get many homes and businesses, apartment complexes that just have the one line from one house to the poll. we call them onesies and twosies. and takes crews to go through the hopes that c

melanie alnwick is live in northwest with the details. >>> good morning.fter these revelations of a shadow campaign and this ongoing federal investigation, mayor vensent gray is now look -- vincent gray is now looking at a 29% approval rating and that is considered dismal in political circles. 54% of the 1002 adults surveyed by the "washington post" said gray ought to resign. 37% said he should not. 9% had no opinion. 45% said city matters are going in the wrong direction versus 40% who believe the opposite. that no, sir where near the depend accounts of the early a 23409 when 70% felt the city was in bad shape. polls on gray's performance in city services and creating jobs, more than 06% said he is not honest or trustworthy or running a ethical administration. >> what the polls showed is that there is this court of public opinion and he is almost like a defendant who just isn't taking the stand in his own defense at this time. and until he actually says something to the public, think you will see his numbers continue to drop. >> gray does have his support

melanie alnwick is live with the latest. >> reporter: good morning.ays there have been no problems reported since early sunday morning. you may remember that there was significant track work going on all five lines this weekend but at this point, metro says it still does not know what caused this particular computer glitch. metro says it will have additional supervisors on hand at key metro station this is morning to be able to respond quickly just in case any of these compute are problems happen to pop up again t does d. happen twice this weekend. this computer malfunction brought trains on all five loon for a stand still. it first happened saturday between 2:10 and 2:50:00 p.m. and again again between 12:0:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. on -- between 12:30:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. on sunday. there is a system that allows controlers to see where the trains are. that suddenly went dark. each time, the train were told to hold their position at the next station but passenger delays lasted as long as 40 minutes. >> it is more just the fact i'm paying so much money f

kensington, melanie -- melanie alnwick, fox 5 news. >> and that is so true.e stood in line for almost 45 minutes, i'm epbear assed to say with my husband saturday morning, and they had it running like a well-oiled machine to get everyone their coffee. >> and it was worth the wait. >> everyone went to the one starbucks that was open. >> no matter ha hot it is, you start the day with traffic. >> and -- coffee. and that is all there is to it. i told myself to be patient on river road with all of the lights being out and anyway, we're going patient, right in look at that. it was less humid today, i hope you noticed. >> did you? >> dy. >> granted temperatures were in the mid-90s, but lower humidity is going to help and you will probably feel it this evening, to. the temperatures will drop off and you will find it. i'm not going to say refreshing is the word but you will notice it more this evening before sunset and after sunset and into some suburbs. unfortunately, the humidity will return and this is washington, summertime. it's going to come back and we'll get a

melanie alnwick has >> reporter: good morning. an airport spokesperson has identified the deceased as 79- year-old frank that hit. they say he was working at a flight instructor doing some training here at davis airport yesterday afternoon. now, there has been no official ruling yet on the cause of this accident. but reports from eyewitnesses suggest that there may have been some kind of engine failure. the plane did crash in a wooded area about 40 yards away from a small cluster of homes in laytonsville. the pilot had recently purchaseed a share in the plane, a 1964 beechcraft single engine four-seater and had hired schmidt to help him practice take-offs and landings in a series of exercises called touch and gos. within says they heard something go wrong with the plane's engine. >> then made an attempt to opportunity aircraft around by the aircraft lean the wing over like that and trying to bring it over. what occurred was the aircraft did a -- what is called a tip stall where the aircraft lost lift on one side of the wing, rolle

. >>> melanie alnwick is spending the morning with very talented children.e'll find out how they are showcasing their abilities. >> did you say talented children? >> yes, i did. >> i have three of my own, and they are having fun with derek thomas this morning. i'll check back in with them -- they're laughing, that's a good sign. we'll see how their garden project did when we come back.    this is the plan for back to school. introducing share everything, only from verizon. a shareable pool of data to power up to 10 different devices. add a smartphone like the samsung galaxy siii, so everyone in your family can enjoy unlimited talk and text. the first plan of its kind. share everything. get your student a samsung galaxy nexus for $99.99. friends, donors, campaign supporters, special interest groups where did the obama stimulus money go? solyndra: 500 million taxpayer dollars. bankrupt. so where did the obama stimulus money go? windmills from china. electric cars from finland 79% of the 2.1 billion in stimulus grants awarded th

melanie alnwick has the latest e. >> reporter: good morning. we now know what had been rumored no months that there had been a massive, well financed and illegal campaign to get vincent gray elected mayor of the district of columbia. yesterday, mayor gray says he has no plans to resign but some council members say the revelations call into question the legitimacy of gray's campaign. gray said while he is very concerned about the revelations, they do not reflect on his work as mayor and said neither he nor his administration are corrupt. >> to take a look at what this administration has done, that is why i wanted to make the distinction between the campaign, which we know there are issues with, and governing. again, don't want to recite our priorities but look at where we are with public safety. look at jobs. >> reporter: at-large councilman david catania wasn't having any of that. he was the first yesterday to call for mayor vincent gray to resign. we'll hear from more council members coming up at 6:30. back to you. >> thank you. >>> a look at

melanie alnwick is live at metro headquarters with the details. what happened? >> reporter: good morning. they're still trying to figure out what happened, and i think that's why even though metro says they're taking steps so they won't have additional problems this morning, they don't have 100% assurance, because if you don't know what the problem is, how can you solve it? there was major track work this weekend, but technicians haven't been able to say what caused this particular system to go down. it happened twice over the weekend, this computer malfunction, it brought the trains to a stand still. happened saturday between 2:10 and 2:50 in the afternoon and around 1:00 in the morning sunday. there's a system that allows controllers to see where the trains are on this digital map, and they can also remotely control the switches. suddenly, that system went dark. each time the trains were told to hold their position at the next station. passenger delays lasted as long as 40 minutes. metro says the operators were able to use traffic lights and speed commands wer

melanie alnwick -- i cannot talk this morning.d a little caffeine, tony. it may help you out. if you are celebrating ramadan, caffeine is one of the no nos, one of the things you will be ab staining from during the entire month. we are here at the all area dulles muslim society, a community of about 6,000 families in the washington, d.c. area. i am learning about ramadan. we are going straight to the experts, straight to the source. with me i have imam here. i know it's tough. what is the shorthand version. >> it is the holy month in the muslim calendar where muslims abstain from food and drink from sunset to dawn but also we [inaudible] also muslims open their homes for other friends and other people to come to the home like myself and our wife that open our home to our neighbors to breakfast with us. but at night before the morning prayer that people will eat what they call sohor. >> they eat the immediately before dawn. >> 3:00, 4-7b8g. >> people get up awfully early. >> and they pray late at night, 12:00 at night, take a nap.

melanie alnwick is live in fredricksburg with the latest.hat. >> reporter: that's okay. i know you can appreciate this. let me give you a sense of the storm that blew through. before 5:00 it was 95 degrees here. then within the hour the temperature dropped to 70 degrees. huge temperature swing. then the winds and lightning came. lightning strikes recorded about 249 per minute. sustained winds of about 35 miles per hour. then we had a crazy gust which could be a microburst come through here. we are waiting for the national weather service to give us a final word. take a look. you can see how the wind blew in a straight line all the way through this business park knocking down the exterior walls of this cheer studio, picking up the roof, throwing it on top of a home there and i know it looks like a drapey structure over there but there is major equipment. there are steel beams and on top of that other house there is air conditioner units. you can get a sense that it was a strong wind, powerful. the home that it is on belongs to an elderly coup

melanie alnwick has the story. >> reporter: there have been whispers after shadow campaign to elect convince grant for a long time. yesterday in federal court, eugenia harris confirmed it. -- to elect vince gray for a long time. >> harris plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy for straw donations to gray's 2010 campaign and some federal campaigns in 2008. the u.s. attorney says the guilty plea shows the 2010 mayoral campaign was compromised by back room deals and secret payments. >> what made this shadow campaign sinister was how it was paid for. the shadow campaign was entirely off the books financed with secret corporate money so d.c. voter had no idea who was influencing them at the ballot box. >> reporter: no evidence has been presented so far that shows mayor gray himself was involved in the shadow campaign. he would not speak to reporters yesterday but his spokesperson did say the mayor will address the controversy at his weekly press conference scheduled for 10:00 this morning. wisdom? >> thank you. >>> to fauquier county now where the sheriff wants to know who killed a reporter. sa

. >> melanie alnwick is live at metro headquarters in northwest with the latest. >> reporter: good morning. metro says there will be additional supervisors on hand at key locations this morning to be able to respond quickly in case any of these computer problems pop up again. twice over the weekend, the computer malfunction brought trains to a stand still. it first happened on saturday between 2:10 and 2: afternoon and then again between 12:30:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. sunday. metro says the problem was in its rail operations cell center. there is a system that allows controllers to see where trains are and to remotely control switches that. suddenly went dark. each time trains were told to hold their position at the next station. >> hopefully, they will figure it out soon. >> i'm not concerned about my safety. it is more just the fact thaism a paying so much money for the system and it never seems to be working properly or a station is closed or you have to shuttle somewhere. >> reporter: train operators did use traffic lights alongside the traffics. metro says there was radio communication b

melanie alnwick is live in bethesda with the latest on the situation. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we are here in bethesda just up river road. this is nevis road. here is where it will take some time to get the power back on. we have some major trees down behind me. we also have power lines down and there is a large transformer that is also in this front yard. the power liewps are -- lines are snaking all through these trees on both side of the street. you can see why the caution tape is all across this road. this is an area where resident haven't been able to get out by car to do the things they need to do. wednesday night is when pepco, that is tonight, has been telling everyone they will be updating people on the situation where they're going to have weather, they're going to have power through the weekend or not. but i think the people that live in neighborhoods like this, they probably already know that they are part of the unlucky few and the situation as we know is not unique n rockville's manor neighborhood, utility poles are still d

melanie alnwick has the details. >> reporter: in a much anticipated press conference wednesday morning, mayor vincent gray maintains he didn't know anything about the secret money and back room deals that were funding his campaign and said he has no plans to resign but even so, three council members are calling on the mayor to step down saying it would be best for the city. mayor gray still says he can't talk much about the federal investigation into his 2010 campaign. nothing about the three people who have plead guilty to crimes directly connected to his campaign. >> this is not the campaign that we intended to run. >> reporter: but three council members say that is not enough. on tuesday, jean clarke harris, a friend of the mayor's admitted to working on a shadow campaign, all of it illegal. >> his lemignot its massey as mayor is finished. >> the legitimacy of his service is now deeply in question. >> i can't see how the business of government can go forward in the way it should. >> reporter: councilmember david catania was the first to call for gray to resign. >> if i were vince gr

melanie alnwick joins us live from kensington along connecticut avenue. she joins us now by telephone. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. the reason we are joining you by phone is because we are having a tough time finding a safe place to park. we have to be careful with power lines and trees just like any of the utility crews do as well. we are here at the corner of connecticut avenue and it looks like decatur avenue and this is where the beginning of the traffic troubles are really going to start this morning. several blocks of connecticut avenue southbound are completely shut down. the entire southbound lane shut down. just snarls of trees and power lines covering all three of those southbound lanes. what they've had to do is take the northbound lanes and make those into basically one lane coming south and two lanes going north. the drivers will need to use extreme caution in that area this morning. it is just one of the trouble spots that we're expecting to see. today is the day that pepco expects to get more boots on the ground and also

melanie alnwick is live at the scene with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, tony. we do expect that officials from the ntsb and faa will arrive shortly and will begin their investigation around 8:00 this morning. no official cause yet, but there are reports from eyewitnesses that suggests there may have been an engine failure. a spokesperson for davis airport has identified the deceased as 79-year-old flight instructor frank schmidt. he had over 40 years experience and had been hired by friends to take them through a series of practice runs. the pilot recently purchased a share in the plane and wanted schmidt to help him get more familiar with the plane. witnesses say they heard something go wrong with the plane's engine. >> on its approach made an abrupt back fire, whereas the engine's exhaust emitted a loud bang. you normally wouldn't see the engine do anything that would make you think something was wrong. >> reporter: instead of landing the plane, they took off again and crashed into a wooded area about 40 yards aw

melanie alnwick is live from the smithsonian of the americane indian.ters is not the right wordht for these animals. sorry. >> reporter: not exactly, they are truly elegant animals, and what a theme on the plaza, at the national museum of the american indian.ern. as we celebrate kaypi peru, and peruvian independence day.e and so we will talk about some of the natural horses and somend of their creatures here. decree cheers, not exactly the -- creatures, not exactly the word. eric, tell us about the horses. >> we brought her from peru, ann she is my favorite horse. like always to have her with me. many events around virginia. >> you have a farm in warrenton? >> yes, yes. i'm racing horses. i have like 9 horses there. >> why is the horse important tm peruvian culture? >> it's very important because many people in peru, like -- yeah, yeah.ye >> part of life? >> exactly. >> reporter: tell me about the bridle, and this in intricate work. [ indiscernible ] the saddle, too, if we can look at that. >> the guy do all this type of work, he tells me it takes abous

our own melanie alnwick is live in northwest with the details of this poll. good morning, tony. among the results of that "washington post" poll, more than 60% of those asked said they don't feel that vincent gray is honest or trust worthy, and they don't feel he's running an ethical administration. the bottom line is his approval rating is now a dismal 29%. when asked whether they do think mayor gray should resign, 54% of the 1,002 adult residents surveyed said yes. 37% said he should not. 9% had no opinion. half of those who wanted the mayor to step down were african- americans and they were his base in 2010. when it comes to the direction of the city, opinions are a little closer here. 45% say city matters are on the wrong track versus 40% who believe the opposite. >> the mayor has been very consistent in his statements at that he has no plans to resign, that he is staying focused on his administration, that he feels that he is doing a good job running the city, and that this is not a distraction. you know, in some ways he blames the media for focusing on

melanie alnwick has the latest. day two for you on this story. good morning. >> reporter: that's right, allison. things keep coming up. things keep changing. there are so many questions about who knew what when. mayor gray says he did not know about the secret money that was used to help get him elected. after pleading guilty tuesday, clark says she met with gray in january to discuss the unreported spending. gray says ever since rumors of this shadow campaign surfaced, he has been the one trying to find out what really happened. >> this is a continuing investigation. i want to indicate that again from the very beginning if you recall i was one of those who called for an investigation in the first place. there have been at least three investigations thus far. >> reporter: all three of those investigations ending in guilty pleas for illegal activities. the bombshell dropped tuesday when harris admitted in federal court that there was indeed a well financed shadow campaign. gray said he knew nothing about the secret money. but harris revealed she h

. >> fox 5s melanie alnwick joins us live with the latest. and good morning to you. >> reporter: the charges are against harris, known as jean clark harris, the local pr executive who did consulting work for mayor gray's 2010 campaign and has close ties with jeffrey thompson, who has been under investigation by federal authorities for several months now and according to court documents, she's accused of being involved with crime having to do with donating money in the name of people. this is when way have heard in the past. harris has been charged with making those illegal contributions that tocandidates in federal and local offices, including to mayor vincent gray's campaign. meanwhile, you will remember that thompson's home and office were raided in march by the fbi. harris' office was raided on the same day. >> everyone's waiting to see what jeffrey thompson is already retained some counsel and who is the largest contractor in the city and that is over $300 million. it might go to the practices of government. >> and harris did communicatio

we're going to check in with melanie alnwick who is covering this story this morning. we'll have her coming up in a little bit. >>> a bill banning abortions in the district after 20 weeks of pregnancy will advance to the full house for a vote. yesterday the house committee voted to approve the legislation. the measure is based on a disputed claim that a fetus can feel pain at 30 weeks. critics call it a test run to attack abortion rights. the bill will likely fail in the democrat controlled senate. >>> on the campaign trail, a new poll looks at how virginia is feeling about the presidential race and senate race in that state. the survey shows a deadlock between president obama and mitt romney. both getting 44% support. that's important because virginia is likely to be one of those states that could decide the race. in virginia senate matchup, today's poll shows republican george alan has a 2-point lead over democrat tim kaine. >>> meanwhile, a new fox hol shows the race for the white house is a virtual tie. president obama has a 4-point lead if the election were held t

fox5's melanie alnwick has the latest from bethesda.the tree crews have arrived. >> reporter: no. no, we haven't seen or heard from anybody here. it's hard to even get information about where a work crew is and when it will be there. there are other power companies, i don't want to compare, but there are some that are publicizing, dominion virginia for one, where their crews will be. i think that little bit of information lets people in situations like the ones behind me here, at least know their situation is on the docket, that someone will be coming, give them a sense of when they can expect it. the maryland public service commission will be monitoring these outages and a performance of all the power companies in maryland. about 18,000 people reconnected in montgomery county and prince george's county so far this morning from the numbers they had published last night. pepco has 2700 personnel, out of state workers, people that came in from oklahoma, from georgia, from florida, missouri, and canada to help them out. they're focusing on

our own melanie alnwick is live at the wilson building with the latest on this growing campaign corruption scandal that is plaguing the mayor's office and the d.c. government. >> reporter: it does continue to grow, tony. mayor gray says he didn't know about the illegal fund raising activities that were coordinated by his former p.r. consultantant, and allegedly paid for by a well known businessman and city contractor. but the u.s. attorney investigating the case says the secret campaign was coordinated with gray's official campaign and the dominoes are going to continue to fall. three council members are now calling for the mayor to resign after that shadow campaign was confirmed in federal court. at a press conference wednesday, gray says he never knew about the shadow campaign taking place behind the scenes. tuesday, long time friend and campaign consultantant harris pleaded guilty to help fund money into secret donations. harris told the "washington post" she discussed the unreported spending with gray in january. former federal prosecutor paul butler says the pressure is building on th

. >> and the storm hit fredericksburg, virginia, the hardest and that is where melanie alnwick is live with the latest. >> reporter: good morning, wisdom. as the sun comes up, on quieting -- we're getting a better picture of the damage and that came from that white warehouse building to the street front and the winds came through here, took the wind off and hit the cheerfusion dance studio and look all of the way through and that is where the roof landed on the top of the house and that storm started at 95 degrees and in that afternoon. the temperature dropped to 70, 240 lightning strikes per minute reported at the local weather station with 35 miles an hour winds and then the lights went out and have some twitch people huddled inside the cheerfusion dance studio and that roof landed on the home of an elderly couple and that knocked it off of the foundation and helped each other out of the buildings. >> and when they went to the house, they could not open the door. there was so much debris there and the gentlemen i talked to afterwards said his feeling is in the basement. it knocked hi

melanie alnwick is following this story and is live at the scene with the latest on the on going investigation. melanie? >> reporter: tony, we moved locations from the front of the air strip here to the back of the air field. i want to show you, you can get a better look here through the trees at where that plane went down. you can see pieces of that beach craft plane there. i want to show you how close this plane came down to some of the homes. take a look, right across the street here are homes. this one, and there's another one in the corner there. this is a neighborhood. so definitely could have been a close call here. witnesses believe the men in the plane did try to turn the plane around and basically get it back toward the air field, back toward the runway. they say it ran out of air speed and sky and hit the ground, killing the flight instructor, 79-year-old frank schmidt. he logged more than 18,000 flight hours and friends say he was the go to guy when someone wanted lessons. the pilot, also in his 70s as well, survived. the pilot we're told recently purchased a share in the plane, a

melanie alnwick is live in bethesda with an update, and hopefully there's been an update to the sceneno? >> reporter: i wish i could tell you there were, but no. residents say that is really what frustrates them the most, is the lack of information. we are hearing about the crews and we know the estimated restoration time, 11:00 p.m. friday. but they would like more information about did you hear us, are you coming at some point in time? this morning pepco's president explained part of the reason. >> we had a number of sub stations and the sub stations provides power to 11,000 customers or so. we had some of the supply lines that go into the sub stations to energize them, they were damaged. so we were working behind the scenes trying to restore service, because if those sub stations aren't operating, none of the feeders will be operating either. the first 24 hours we're focused on doing damage assessment, restoring service along the lines and trying to restore service to the sub stations. >> reporter: now the sub stations are back up, the high voltage lines are back up, water pumping

melanie alnwick is live with the latest on this. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. progress again in the neighborhoods is slow coming especially for people here in montgomery county. concentrations in bethesda where we are here, rockville, potomac. these are the people who probably don't need a web site or announcement to tell them they are not going to have power today and probably not through the weekend. take a look around behind me. after he got trees. i don't know if we can see this through the camera. we have a beautiful full moon over this neighborhood. and it is the only light that these residents have had here for some time. in situations like this, there is little hope that these people will get their power back on any time soon. there are now 2,000 out of state crews working to restore power in the state of maryland. they continue to come in from other states. the bulk of the remaining 170,000 outages in the state are concentrated in baltimore, anne arundel, prince george's and montgomery counties. some home owners decided to put their frustrations on pub

. >>> i am melanie alnwick we will get to all developing weather newpower outages first, new this morning, a string of violence, in the district. we just got word of three crime scenes, two people found shot 2300 block. galen street, 2:00 a.m., one victim has died just before midnight someone was killed 5400 block. and deadly shooting 1700 block of 17th street northwest police have not made an arrests. >>> the big story, the svelterring heat, -- sweltering heat. we broke the previous record of 102 in 2010. charm city hit 102, bwi airport, breaking the previous record by 1 degree. a live lookout side right now, from the georgetown waterfront, it might look like a good place to be out there on the water but it is already stifling hot get ready there could be storms on the horizon. we are going to go now to gwen tolbart tracking things from down in the weather center. >> good morning melanie, nice to see everyone out on the water just enjoying it but this afternoon please do not venture out. we have storms on the horizon we have to keep our eyes to the skies. you mention temperature records

fox 5's melanie alnwick is live at the scene with the latest. >> reporter: good morning.here at the airport have identified the deceased as 79- year-old frank schmidt. they say he was acting as a flight instructor here doing recurrent training yesterday. the ntsb and the faa are scheduled to arrive here around #:00 this morning to continue their investigation but according to reports from eyewitnesses, they believe that the engine may have had some sort of failure. plane crashed in a wooded area about 40 yards away from a small cluster of homes in laytonsville. the pilot, we are told, had recently purchaseed a share in the plane. a 1964 beechcraft and had hired an instruct our to help with touch and gos. the plane took off instead of landing. >> then made the attempt to turn the aircraft around to the airfield by the aircraft leap the wing over like that and trying to bring it over. what occurred was the aircraft did a -- what is called a tip stall where the aircraft lost lift on one side of the wing, rolled over on its top. >> says he sped out to the crash area and found