chris clackum, nbc news. >>> and another painful day today. well, with less than two weeks before the treasury department's debt ceiling deadline, there is still no deal. but word out of washington points to some headway being made on a so-called grand bargain. nbc's brian mooar has the details for us in washington. brian, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. before we can get to that grand bargain, there has to be some horse trading here on capitol hill today. the senate is going to vote on something called cut, cap and balance, which is a constitutional balance budget amendment. it is not expected to pass, but it is an important hurdle to get republicans, especially tea party house republicans, on board with any other compromise. president obama has been working behind the scenes with house speaker john boehner, each trying to bring the outer edges of his party trying a little closer to the center to try to get some compromise. especially the kind that's being worked on by the so-called gang of six bipartisan senators, but the whit

chris clackum, nbc news. >>> speaking of money, dollar coins are costing taxpayers hundreds of millionsllars, really. for almost four years, the mint has been churning out the $1 coins bearing the images of presidents. but the coins haven't exactly caught fire with the public. >> how often the you use dollar coins? >> never. >> nobody has ever heard of them. >> you can't really put them in things like vending machines. >> there is so little interest in the coins that some have ended up at the federal reserve's coin vault in baltimore. in all more than a billion dollars in coins are now just sitting in vaults around the country. the cost to taxpayers? about $300 million so far. so here is how that is calculated. 32 cents to make each unwanted coin plus $650,000, which is what the fed is about to spend on yet a new vault to store them. but ending the dollar coin program will likely require another law from congress. until then, the mint has five years and 20 presidents to go. >>> and now for a check on the weather, rob mayeda joins waus look at some changes ahead. >> well, we did see a co

chris clackum, wbal-tv 11 news. >> how are you tired of your computer wallpaper? some of the amazing u local pictures are available for free. did the coolest background in time add wbaltv.com by clicking on u local. the first server is on restaurants like mcdonald's, burger king, and taco bell. the big guys did not fare so well against some smaller charges. chick-fil-a scored best among chicken chains. >> i hear carlotta's berbers are the best -- burgers. >> in and out. wall street is closed there. but we have a bloomberg business report. >> good morning. you might be hosting a barbecue today or you might be doing some shopping. today is the last day for july 4 bargains for some retailers. retailers try to capitalize on american's urge to get your patriotism on. more than 20% of u.s. consumers have bought or will buy new patriotic merchandise. more gas grills may be heating up as well. the number of adults attending picks rising to more than 64%. that is up from 62% last year. 45% planning to attend a fireworks or other celebrations. americans expected to be 150 m

chris clackum, nbc news. >>> if you spend any time outdoors today, it was another cooker. a hot afternoon. >> doug kammerer joins us to tell us if and when we're going to cool off. >> i don't think we're going to cool off any time soon. we're talking about the month of july in the summer. 89 currently out at the airport. heat index at 92 degrees. dew point in the mid-60s. the wind on the calm side. on a day like today, you'd like a little bit of wind out there. manassas coming in at 93. as well as dune toward culpepper and fredericksburg. out to the east, annapolis, coming in at 85 degrees. around the region, we're not going to see any rain i think today. we're going to see a dry day. the only rain on the radar screen is out toward the beaches, rehoboth, ocean city maryland. there could be more of that shower activity toward the beaches during the day tomorrow. a better chance overall for us to see some rain tomorrow. overnight tonight this is what you can expect. 83 degrees around 9:00. a warm and humid evening. tomorrow morning waking up to temperatures in the low to mid

nbc's chris clackum explains. >> reporter: not even the july 4th barbecue is immune from the dreadedconomic forces of nature. the national retail federation says the cost of the cookout is up 12%. from $54 last year to $61 this year. all the cookout staples are higher, even the charcoal, lighter fluid and propane to fire up the grill. and yes, even the beer. >> you have these raw materials that have to get shipped to the factories to make the beer. >> reporter: then from the brewery to the distributor to the retailer, and finally to the backyard after guzzling a lot of gas to get there. but there is another reason. bad weather in bavaria, germany has caused a worldwide shortage of hops. >> they're talking about one-third of the world's supply of this key ingredient for beer. suddenly either unavailable or certainly available in lesser quantities. >> reporter: prices on fireworks have gone up too. so much that dozens of cities have cut back or canceled displays of the rockets' red glare. but still, this july 4th is expected to offer a lot of pop. chris clackum, nbc news. >>> and no mo

chris clackum, nbc news. >>> lindsay decided today she wab wanted to see herself some tennis, she wentown to the kastles new facility, where world team tennis will be underway soon? >> reporter: it's beautiful out here. it's hotter than two rats in a wool sock. it's so hot. people are so excited to be here, they have 2,600 folks who have come out to see the season opener tonight. it's completely soldout. the kastles as they open their season, they hope to become the team that can win their second championship within the last thigh year three years. venus williams is the main attraction. she's taking some practice rounds with her coach behind her. they play the kansas city explorers, the defending league champions this evening. venus williams most recently lost in the fourth round match at wimbledon venus feels like she has a little bit of something to prove. world team tennis is a big challenge for these pros that come in. it's really about having a lot of fun out here. the last time venus played in the states was the u.s. open in 2010. she says to be here tonight is very exciting. >>