most major local governments closed in maryland, virginia, and d.c. today. >> it may also be hard to get arou around. metro, train, and bus service is shut down for the first time since 2003. marc and vre also closed, and amtrak service in the northeast corridor is shut down today as well. >> a day off for students in our area. all major public school systems in d.c., maryland, and virginia are closed along with most private schools in the area. you can find a complete list of school and business closings at the bottom of your screen and live on nbcwashington.com. >>> let's take a look at the storm team 4 radar, where you can see the path of hurricane sandy as it moves along the east coast. this is hitting the entire east coast with what could be big problems with damage and power

jackie benson continues our team coverage tonight live in northwest 12k3w4r d.c., maryland, virginia, everyone is preparing for this storm. in the huntington section of fairfax county, it's a tense game of watching and waiting. this flyer was hand delivered to every home in the area, which has been devastated regularly by flooding, warning residents to be prepared. as recently as august, residents of this neighborhood across from the huntington metro station were pumping water out of their basements. they're not looking forward to sandy. >> we've been preparing for a couple days. we used to live in florida. >> at twins ace hardware store on main street in fairfax, can you tell what people need by looking at the empty spaces on the shelves. >> it's been pandemonium all day today. everyone's getting everything they can to prepare. >> this space on the second floor held portable generators. almost unheard of for inside the beltway used a decade ago. they're now a hot commodity. many found themselves in the dark for days after this summer's storm, people say they're not taking any chances

all major public school systems in d.c., maryland, and virginia are closed this morning. the same goes for most private schools right now. the federal government also cled. all nonessential employees should stay at home. most major local governments also closed in maryland and virginia along with the d.c. government, and metro shut down all rail services, all bus services for the first time since 2003. marc, vre also closed today. and amtrak says its northeast corridor is shut down. a complete list for you at the bottom of your screen and at nbcwashington.com. >> let's che in with storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein right now. as you take a look outside at reagan national airport, almost all of the flights here at the local airports at reagan national, dulles, and bwi are cancelled. be sure to check your airline as you head out the door. >> breedsy and light rain already falling and getting heavier across parts of our immediate area right now. some of the places that are more to the east are being hit particularly hard already at this hour. now we've got storm team 4 me

d.c. maryland virginia and west virginia and this is the the one thing they all do is they don't pay these women anything so it's just the business model that they operate under and something that's really interesting to me is that you have filed a lawsuit against the house before and you won from what i understand. a judge agreed with you that these women were employees and they should be made paid a national minimum wage and the house had to pay three hundred forty five thousand dollars in back pay to these workers how is this you know already happening again. i would say in short it takes a while before people start realizing that it costs more to violate the law than it does to comply with the law and our job as employment lawyers working with people who come to us is to help make these laws something that can be enforced so when the clubs get it and frankly it's going to take a while because this business model has been in place for a long time it's been very successful for these clubs when they get it they're going to start paying these women according to at least the sub minimum wag

d.c., maryland, and virginia are taking part in the first ever great d.c. shakeout. it takes place at 10:18 this morning. rescuers recommend you remember to drop, cover, and hold on. first drop to the ground, take cover under a sturdy desk while protecting your head and neck, and hold on until the shaking stops. are you going lead us in the drill? >> if need be, i will show you how to crawl under your

this is just what we're seeing all over the d.c., maryland, virginia area. very similar to this. neighborhoods like this out of power. we still see a lot of people out of power. hopefully, it will be turned on soon for them. this area still under that coastal flood warning for a little while longer today. we could see more flooding here perhaps in the next day or so. could get a little bit worse before it actually gets better. live in alexandria, melissa mollet, news 4. >>> 6:38 is your time. 43 degrees. still ahead on "news 4 today," out of control, making it worse, flooded streets. >>> good morning. i'm storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein. sandy out in the mountains. even getting a few snowflakes showing up here in montgomery county. near laytonsville, olney, and across the montgomery county line. you may be seeing wet snowflakes mixing with the rain. else where, all the areas in green and yellow, that is rain. it is going to continue off and on for the rest of the day. it is cold. down to low 40s to mid-40s locally. and down in the 30s where the rain is falling on skyline d

schools closed in maryland, virginia, as well as d.c. metro trains and buses are shut down for the first time since 2003. marc, vre, also all closed today. and amtrak service in the northeast corridor shut down today as well. >> most of the students in our area are also getting the day off today. all major public school systems in d.c., maryland, and virginia are closed this morning as well as all private schools in the area. you can find a complete list of school and business closings running at the bottom of your screen as well as online at nbcwashington.com. >> let's get to storm team meteorologist tom kierein here. what's the latest? >>> we've got moderate to heavy rain about to move into the metro area. be prepared for that. stay inside. stay with us at nbc 4. we'll keep you fully informed. it is still a huge hurricane. taking a turn to the north. all day yesterday it was moving northeast. now taking a turn to the north. it is swinging in heavy rains into the eastern shore, southeastern virginia, eastern north carolina. this has bee

our numbers right now and the d.c., maryland, virginia area are 200,000 people out of power.'ve got to tell you the winds were whipping through like crazy last night. this is no surprise and, of course, this is something that we're seeing all along the east coast. now, this area, in particular, supposed to get more wind and perhaps more rain, we're under a flood advisory, a coastal flood advisory right now and that extends into the afternoon, but you can just see all kinds of debris here on the ground still crews doing their best to get things out of the way to chop things and move them out of the street so the roads are passable but, unfortunately, still some debris and people going to be out of power possibly for some time. live in alexandria, virginia, melissa mollet for wrc. >> i'm reminded by one of my producers at msnbc that a number of deaths have been caused by falling trees and searle of them were people who were actually inside their homes and so one of the things that officials have been warning especially if you're in an area where the high winds are still going a

d.c./maryland/virginia area got hit. damage to homes like this one on gerald road. the neighbors tells us the problems they have had with overhanging branches and large trees. >> cut up a lot of trees and rented a lift. >> reporter: down the stream, homes damaged by an uprooted tree. this time, no one was home. the damage wasn't limited to falling branches and trees. a downed power line caused evacuations of an apartment building. still to this hour, flooding is a major concern with multiple roadways under water including route 1. traffic diverted as both lanes are cut down. with the rain, many lost power turning to portable generators for electricity. at this home, one family accidentally using one inside. >> they are dangerous equipment. you have to keep an eye on them and keep them. you are not supposed to use them indoors or near windows or any place where ventilation can be sucked through. >> reporter: many of these families and individuals have been taken to shelters or they are staying with family and friends. take a live look. we have prince george's county

d.c., maryland, and virginia are taking part in the first ever great southeast shakeout. it's an earthquake drill that begins at 10:18 this morning. rescuers say three little things could save your life in a quake. first, drop to the ground, then take cover under a sturdy table or desk while protecting your head and neck. and finally, hold on until the shaking stops. i think hardest part is just to remain calm. >> i'm wondering about this desk. i don't know. >> every man for himself, aaron. >> we've got all these lights hanging above us, too. >> oh, man. >> now you know what to do. >>> coming up on 11 minutes after 6:00 on your thursday morning. here's a live look. you see the capitol dome off in the distance and clear skies. >> beautiful start to the day. weather and traffic on the 1s. it's chilly, not cold like yesterday morning. we're generally in the 40s and low 50s. olney, 8:00 a.m., near 50 there and partly cloudy. elsewhere, all around the region, hour by hour, a rapid warm-up. low 70s by mid afternoon. late this afternoon and into this evening is when we could get

d.c. maryland, and virginia are taking part. >> it's a great way for people to realize even though we are not in san francisco, we can still have an earthquake. >> earthquake experts from the usgs and fema are showing students at langston hughes middle school and what to do. >> get under something when you feel shaking. whether it's a desk or table or sofa. protect your head. >> millions have participated since 2008. last year to earthquake in virginia was a recent reminder that we all need to be prepared. >> cover your eyes. >> the ground on the east coast is more stable than that of the west coast, so earthquakes here can be more broad. >> there are faults in the crust. >> last time in virginia, schools were on summer break. there is the potential of another 5.8 quake in this area, if not greater. live in reston, john gonzalez, abc 7 news. >> one man in a hospital after an accident between a motorcycle and a van in the 1000 block of wilson boulevard this morning in rosslyn. they collided at the entrance to a parking garage. the motorcycle driver was taken to hospital. is injuries are no

d.c. or maryland or virginia. this is a similar scene. we have hundreds of thousands of people still without power. who knows if the winds might kick up a little bit later. the rain has been pretty steady. it is colder, i would say, right now than it was 24 hours ago for sure. people here definitely with their fingers crossed once they wake up this morning and see what has happened, thankful the tree has not fallen on their houses but also, i'm sure, hoping the power comes back on soon. live in alexandria, virginia, melissa mollet, news 4. >> the worst of the storm came after it got dark last night. people are going to wake up and go outside and see pretty rough stuff out there. >> that's why we're telling people to stay off the roads. it's so dark. trees could be down, power lines. itted can be dangerous. >> we do have reportered all over the area this morning. cupping up, a look at the hardest hit parts of d.c. teacher: this is west virginia, pennsylvania, delaware. and. every year marylanders spend five hundred and fifty million gaming

as sandy pushes closer to the u.s., a state of emergency has been declared in d.c., maryland and virginia. so what can we expect in our region? let's get back to gary for an update. >> a lot of heavy rain, a lot of high wind and a lot of power outages and a lot of coastal flooding out of this. that's what we can expect initially. we will get more detailed into that, especially as the storm gets closer to us, we start with radar here because i want to show you we are already getting these storms now coming off of sandy and again miami received a bunch of rain yesterday, now places all the way as far north as orlando and even eventually jacksonville will be getting these very, very heavy rain bands off to the western side of hurricane sandy. switching over to tropical models we call these the that g.e.t. -- the spaghetti slots and models. look how tight that is. that's for the next 48 hours or to the future, look and see what's happening now. much like yesterday, just about all the models take it a little bit out of sea and then make that left turn towards the coastline, whether it's the mi

barnes and noble didn't find evidence of hacking in its d.c., maryland, and virginia stores, but it did find it at stores nationwide. >>> the cost of higher learning is getting higher as well. state tuition at public universities climbed $400 this fall. the college board calls the 5% increase modest compared to years past. on average, tuition runs about $8,600 with room and board averaging that are more than $17,000. the college board shows only about one-third of full-time students pay that published price. >>> the baby panda at the san diego zoo still does not hav

. >>> if u plan on voting in maryland, d.c. or virginia in the upcoming election and haven't registered to vote yet, you only have a few days left. in virginia you have until monday. in maryland the deadline is next tuesday and in d.c. your only option at this point is to register in person at the election boards headquarters, but you only have until friday, october 19th, to do that. if you need more specifics on voter registration, you can find it at www.wusa9.com. look under our campaign 2012 tab. it's going to be an exciting night here tonight. again our coverage with the wusa9 team as well as usa today. we'll have it all for you. >> before i let you go, i know you're our health expert and i know we get a kick out of what we asked surae chinn to do today because i just know you. she went to shady grove adventist hospital in rockville to meet some of the first babies with today's unique birthday. so think about it. in shorthand october 11th, 2012, becomes 10-11-12. do you like that? the first baby born on this day at the hospital entered

. >> dave martin years since the today marks 10 years the sniper attacks in maryland, d.c., and virginia. lee boyd malvo and john mohammed were linked to crimes in other states as wellm. is serving a life sentence in virginia. told the washington post used truly sorry. >> occupy dc protesters planning events today, marking the 1-year anniversary of their movement. their holdings and occupied the administration march outside plan to rally on 15th street and pennsylvania. there was a protest at k street monday morning, causing traffic allays. >> the first presidential debate coming up and both candidates preparing. obama practicing in just outsidemney denver. monday, mitt romney told voters thinks the debates will be than justthing bigger appears to emerge as the winner. the president's advisers are on trimming his lengthy alm anations and look c romney.y criticism from >> now linda bell joins us from t bloomberg. >> we have heard from a a bunch retailers laying out their holiday plans. there has been an increase in t emp hiring by as much as 5% this year. it's more than 238,000 jobs that

. >>> if you plan on voting in maryland, d.c. or virginia in the upcoming november election and have not registered to vote yet, you better get going. in virginia you only have until monday. tuesday is the deadline in maryland and in d.c. your only option at this point is to register in person at the election board headquarters, but you have only until friday, october 19th, to do that. for more information on voter registration go to our website www.wusa9.com and look under our campaign 2012 tab. >>> still ahead tonight a followup on a story we've been tracking for you about a teenager attacked while speaking out about bullying. >>> a followup tonight on the brutal beating that left a capitol hill man in the hospital. today a judge ordered two suspects held without bail in the beating and armed robbery of thomas maslin. that judge said he could find no circumstances under which it would be safe to release sunny kuti and tommy branch back into society before the trial. >>> today criminal charges were filed against the maryland teen accused of

. >> residents of maryland d.c., virginia, and other states taking part. it is at 10:18 a.m. some local schools will participate in the drill. drop cover, and hold on. this comes after the first anniversary of the magnitude 5.8 quake on the east coast. >> back to normal on 270 after an four-vehicle spill in bethesda. a tractor-trailer started leaking fuel and that led to some lanes being shut down nearly three hours during the cleanup. >> in business news, d.c. college students are deep in debt. >> american airlines is in hiring mode. ellen braitman joins us from bloomberg in new york. >> good morning. market's pretty quiet this morning. earnings season in full swing. we will get a corporate report card on chipotle, google, microsoft, verizon, southwest today. american airlines is looking to hire 1500 flight attendants. surprising because the company is trying to trim costs. it has not hired flight attendants in over a decade. the current attendance had accepted a voluntary buyout. gallaudet continue to be on the rise -- college debt continues to be on the rise. students are

. >> if you plan in voting in maryland, d.c. or virginia in the upcoming november election and you haven't registered to vote, you only have a few days left. in virginia you have till monday. maryland tuesday is the last day to register. d.c. it's friday, october 19 and you have to do it in person in d.c. for more on voter registration, go to wusa9.com and look under campaign 2012. >>> another d.c. lawmaker is being accused of ethics violations. it's all related to a bad real estate deal. the washington metropolitan area authority said jim graham allegedly said he would support a project if the developer agreed to pull out of a metro development project on 7th and florida avenue. graham was a sitting board member at the time. the allegations come after a four-month long independent investigation. >> regardless of whether council member graham's moifers were good -- motives were good, whether he thought he was doing something to help metro, whether he thought he was doing something to help the district, regardless of those motivations, the f

that includes maryland, d.c., pennsylvania, virginia, west virginia. tickets will then go on sale to the general public at 2:00 p.m. at our website, you can catch photos of excited fans and the le bird.d -- the oriokl buckle up. ship pitches with us by tapping u local on the wbal app. >> a baltimore -- firefighter is insulted -- accused of assaulting two teenage boys. >> the alleged incident happened in may and june of this year. police found out about it recently. based on what they have learned, they think there might be other victims out there. anthony maurice cottle is behind bars, accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy. >> one of the victims came to police last week and reported he had been sexually abused by this man. sometime between may and june of this year. >> police say anthony maurice cottle stayed with the boy's family and the incident happened inside of the family's home. police would i give an exact location in order to protect the victims identity. but the boy told us he'd witnessed one of his friends who was also a 14-year ol

. >> maryland, d.c. and virginia have already declared states of emergency. d.c. officials will be giving out sandbags from 10:00 in the morning until 6:00 tomorrow at the tacoma park recreation center in northwest. we haven't heard yet from maryland or virginia. joining us right now by phone is mayor sam cooper. mr. mayor, thanks for joining us. i want to ask you, what are you expecting from sandy? flooding, wind damage? >> certainly the winds will be the big news story i think here. a lot of beach erosion. i don't expect a lot of tidal flooding but potentially from rainfall if we get the worst of that. could be an issue on some of our streets. >> mr. mayor, tell us about this evacuation. how many people are we talking about and what parts of the beach are we talking about? >> yeah, the governor issued a limited state of emergency along with an evacuation order at 5:00 today. they set the line at 3/4 of a mile back off of the ocean. i don't think people in rahoba should probably focus directly on that line because it would cut through properties and stuff. but it'

it ranked number one in maryland, virginia and d.c. according to a new list by the social security administration. it breaks down the most popular names by state. mason topped the list for boys names in maryland. william ranked first in virginia and in the district. in west virginia, madison was number one for boys and isabella was the most popular girl name. all good names. very nice. >> yes, we've agreed on those. >> i know all kids will buy those names. >>> the silicon valley giant that could be coming to southeast d.c. >>> plus, the source of a deadly meningitis outbreak that spread to maryland and virginia. >>> also police putting girls in one local neighborhood on alert this morning. the repeat offender they're looking for. >> just enough to reach for >>> talk about ruffled feathers. >>> and now, from washington's leading news station, this is news4 today. >> deadly outbreak. the source of the rare disease that has spread to patients in virginia and maryland. >>> and a sight to see. a local couple back from vacation with a vacatio

the bank will waive or credit the fees for customers in d.c., delaware, maryland, virginia, new york, new jersey, pennsylvania, and virginia. the fees include overdraft protection transfers, extended overdraft, returned items and insufficient fees for deposit accounts, and also late fees on credit cards and business and consumer loans. >> wells fargo has a similar thing going where they'll try to forgive those fees, including mortgage payments that may be late for the next couple of days. >>> next at 6:00, how sandy even damaged a space shuttle. >>> and we will head to west virginia where the hurricane brought out the snow. anncr: which do you believe? what mitt romney's tv ads say about women? or what mitt romney himself says? mitt romney: do i believe the supreme court... should overturn roe v. wade? yes. and it would be my preference that they, that they... reverse roe v. wade. hopefully reverse roe v. wade. overturn roe v. wade. planned parenthood, we're going to get rid of that. i'll cut off funding to planned parenthood. anncr: no matter what mitt romney's ads say. we know what

hundreds of thousands of people are left in the dark this morning in d.c., maryland and virginia.e are the current numbers, believe, right now. dominion still by far with the most with just under 120,000 customers out in northern virginia. pepco right now dealing with about 25,000 outages. bge has 86,000 out. 86,000 out. the power is out at your house too. >> yes, unfortunately. >> ?ts. >> yes, but i'm he hoping to have it back later today. >> so are a lot of people. >> wishful thinking. >> didn't you report is it six million or five million people up and down the he on eastern seaboard. >> without power you are talking about? >> isn't that right? >> i can't remember but yes you're -- >> they have to do all the assessments. >> one of their issues is going to be the winds. they can't go up into the buckets unless the winds are under 30 miles per hour. we're still getting some gusts out there. we will this morning. here is the good news. things will get gradually better today. we are not quite there yet. we've still got some rain across the area. the wind will lighten up here during

d.c. area braces for heavy rains, whipping winds and flooding. the district, maryland and virginia have already declared states of emergency. thanks for joining us tonight. i'm brian bolter. >> i'm shawn yancy. forecasters fear sandy will turn into what they are calling a frankenstorm, a monster combination of wind, rain and maybe even some snow. sue palka begins our storm coverage with the latest on sandy's track. >> yeah, you look at the picture behind you you were showing radar and you wouldn't think this looks like that kind of a monster storm, but, in fact, we do believe it's going to pull some cold energy, winter-like storm that's coming from the west into itself and become that mega storm that everybody has been talking. about so it will go from a tropical storm to a very strong almost nor'easterlike storm here in the next 36 to 48 hours. now it's still tropical with winds of 75 miles an hour making it a category 1 hurricane. it doesn't look very good, wouldn't be surprised when we get the new track at 11:00, maybe it's tropical storm sandy. it's moving very slowly, but the

we have states of emergency issued in d.c., maryland, and virginia. >> with the storm approaching on the weekend that means a mad rush on supplies. brace yourself for long lines and empty shelves at grocery stores. >> you'll be hard pressed to find power generators. some hardware stores have already sold out. power loss could be a big deal with this storm. >> let's find out the latest on the storm's track with meteorologist chuck bell. it's been downgraded a little bit. that doesn't mean we're in the clear. >> don't be fooled by the fact it is no longer a hurricane and moving down to tropical storm. that has absolutely nothing to do with how big of an impact that storm is going to have on us. we all knew all along it would not be a tropical system by the time it got this far north because the water over the ocean is so much colder this time of the year. that is causing the weakening. it is still going to be one heck of a storm as it gets into our area. temperatures early on your saturday morning mild and kind of clammy outside. temperatures upper 50s and low 60s. no rain showing up.

virginia governor bob mcdonnell says most people were not ready when last year's 5.8 magnitude quake hit. on thursday morning, d.c., marylandvirginia are getting together for what's being called the great southeast shakeout. at 10:18, people taking part in that drill are supposed to drop to the ground, cover their heads, and hold on to what they can to simulate a large earthquake. >>> many basketball fans will remember last night's wizards preseason game for years to come. that's because it was the first game the nets played at their new home in brooklyn. this is a look at the brand new barclays center. the nets open their new home in style winning 98-88. the wizards are now 1-3 on the preseason. they'll take on the raptors in toronto and open the regular season two weeks from tonight in cleveland. >>> imagine if they lost. some new york giants football players had their cars burglarized, and one was even stolen while the team was in san francisco. the players usually leave their cars in a secure parking lot at the stadium before heading on road trips. police say the players' car doors were unlocked and the thieves broke th

some combination of d.c., maryland, and virginia? a local company stepped in to cover the cost. the blog, greater great washington did investigating about where those fans take metro after the game. so this is a map made by matt johnson. one of the blog's contributors. the larger circles represent the busiest stations after a game. he sites metro as saying the ten busiest stations after a game are gallery place, vienna, pentagon city, shady grove, springfield, u street, dupont circle, columbia heights, and crystal city. >>> the consolation prize one airline is offering if the presidential election doesn't quite go your way. >>> i'm armando trull in rockville where a new technology has been deployed to help victims of domestic violence. that story is coming up. >>> but first, mothers milk can be a staple of life right after a baby is born. should milk be a permanent part of kid's diets? one argument as to why not? it's controversial and it's next. weeks of this campaign... and more ads. you, in your living room or... what i'd say. losing nearly eight hundred... mired in iraq. nat

morning rollout for pepco crews as the threat of hurricane sandy makes its way closer to the d.c., maryland and virginia region. crews stocking up on supplies and heading out for inspections on problematic areas that would be most affected if sandy hits. >> the preparation going on is with management. management is watching sandy closely. everybody up and down the coast. everyone wants to know which way is the storm going to turn. is it going to go left or right? >> reporter: hurricane sandy, if it makes land fall is expected to have a severe impact. pepco put 400 contractors on stand by to deal with power problems quickly. also included in the management plan, request for mutual aid and assistance from other power companies. >> they come together and wherever a storm hits and it does the greatest damage, utilities try to rally and release crews. >> reporter: no matter how fast pepco and other power companies work, there's the possibility you may be without power for an extended amount of time. with sandy possibly making land fall by sunday, many residents are hitting stores today to make sure they don'

they did not find evidence of hacking in d.c., maryland and virginia stores.hey are warning customers to check for unauthorized transactions and to change your p.i.n. numbers out of safety. >>> let's check in with courtney reagan for the business headlines. >> hi, keith. today is a welcome day for investors after tuesday's 243 point drop on the dow. the dow is up by 27 points. the tech company nasdaq is slightly lower. earnings from boeing and facebook are bringing stocks up along with positive housing data. september new home sales rose to the highest level in more than two years. the federal reserve wraps up a two-day meeting this afternoon. they are not expected to make major changes in policy. >>> college loan debt. it's an issue. we know about it heavily around the united states. the cost of higher education continues to rise. the college board says in-state tuition rose $400 this fall or 5% to $8,655. that's up modestly from years past. if you include room and board, the total is $17,860. the price tag for a private school, $39,518. a third of students p

all major public school stps in d.c., maryland and virginia are closed this morning. the same goes for private schools in the area. as for the federal government, all nonessential employees should stay home. most local governments are closed. metro shut down all rail and bus service for the first time since 2003. mart and vre are also closed. amtrak service in the northeast corridor is also shut down. you can find a complete list of closgs at inthe bottom of your screen and online at nbcwashington.com. >>> we want to head across to virginia now. melissa mollet is standing by. what are conditions like where you are? >> reporter: we had to come over from alexandria, it was just getting way too windy. so we came over here. we're at this higher point here in arlington. you can see, it has gotten really windy here. it is so much colder than it was just a little while ago. you can see the pentagon there in the distance. folks traveling both ways on 395. traffic not bad at all. we're hoping lots of people are staying home. it is only going to get worse over the next couple o

and home, up $3.82 in d.c., maryland, $3.51 in virginia,.mney is putting a binder company in the spotlight. >> and good news for dish customers. bell is at bloomberg headquarters. millions of dish network amc networkw have back. finally reached a that dish over claim network is wrongfully terminated .he contract the settlement also brings back sundance.uch as republican presidential y brought mitt romne funding back into the spotlight. last week's presidential debates an officepublicity to supply company after mitt romney aid that he received at to fillfull of women cabinet. dozens of the products are website.n amazon's a diamond company is cautiously on sales heading into holidays. 2012 may not be a booming year for diamond sales, but pretty decent considering the economic .nvironment we are in live at bloomberg headquarters, linda bell reporting. back to you. >> thank you. 5:50. >> jacqui jeras? >> did you guys enjoy the weather this weekend? >> i loved it. >> i went apple picking with the kids. we want to see your pictures of your weekend

d.c. area offices. all nonessential employees should stay home. most major local governments also closed in maryland, virginia and in d.c. of course. metro, metro shut down. all the rail and bus service. first time that's happened since 2003. mark vre also closed today and amtrak has closed service along the eastern corridor today. you can find a complete list online at nbcwashington.com. >> we just showed you the winds whipping up in ocean city. meteorologist tom kieran has been tracking the path sandy. we want to know how bad it's going to get. >> we look closer to the center of circulation. there's a buoy about 50 miles east of ocean city. this buoy is reporting waves of 23 feet and wind gusts to 60 miles an hour. and that's only going to increase as we get into the afternoon. and those 60 mile an hour gusts, they're getting closing to the coast here shortly. right now, the peak gusts generally from louis, delaware, down to acoteague. the peak gusts will increase as we get into this afternoon. the center of circulation is over 400 miles away, but here we are feeling the effects of sandy in the form of heav

. >>> people in d.c., maryland, and virginia will test their earthquake preparations as part of the first ever great southeast shakeout. we'll have much more on those stories throughout the morning. but first, good morning to you. i'm eun yang. >> and i'm aaron gilchrist. a live look at the washington monument this morning. 55 degrees here in the district. another cool but not chilly start to the morning. tom kierein has your forecast. >> beautiful start to the day. don't have any weather problems, traveling off to work and school this morning, other than maybe a little bit of fog in some of the rural areas. right now looking at temperatures -- all those areas in light blue are in the 40s. don't have any 30s around what we did yesterday morning. little areas in green, that's where it's in the 50s. right around the beltway, it's generally in the low 50s. in the district of columbia, throe mid 50s as well as southern maryland. it's dipped into the 40s, much of the rest of virginia and into western maryland and eastern west virginia. a few showers in the midwest down to the tennessee valley,

barnes and noble did not find evidence of hacking at its d.c., maryland, and virginia stores. the company warns customers to check for unauthorized transactions and change your pin number as a precaution. this all happened last month, but investigators asked the store to wait to make it public. >>> a high school student in oregon has his bus driver to thank for saving his life. last week nico deutsche was joking around with his friends in the back of the bus when he accidentally swallowed a plastic ice cube. his airway was completely blocked. you can see him there on the right of your screen. he motioned for help, but at first the other kids thought he was joking. >> no, that's something you don't joke about. it's not funny. like i had this blurriness, like i'm covering my eyes like starting through my peripherals and like i couldn't see anything but like a blink light. >> that's when the bus driver came to his aid and did the heimlich maneuver dislodging that plastic ice cube. he then lectured all the kids on why they should never eat or drink on the bus. >>> eating beans can

barnes and noble did not find hacking evidence at its d.c., maryland, and virginia stores. the store did disconnect all pin locations nationwide. they warned everyone to check for unauthorized transactions and check your pin number as a precaution. >>> we'll take a live look outside over the nation's capital. if you were thinking maybe you might start packing away your summer gear, pull out some of the winter stuff, no, not yet. >> i know. now you've got to dig out for short sleeves, possibly shorts today. tom, what's going on? >> by later this afternoon. but you might need an umbrella the next couple of showehours. a little area of passing sprinkles. great falls might have a few sprinkles this morning, and by the lunch hour, hometown forecast into the mid-70s. a little sun ought to begin to break out. for the whole region, it might reach near 80 degrees for a brief time. latest on tropical storm sandy and a look at the rest of the week and the weekend, big changes on the way. that's in ten minutes. how affe how's traffic, danella? >>> still seeing about a three-mile backup

washington, d.c., pennsylvania, maryland, virginia, new york and new jersey have all declared states of emergency already. in virginia, warships are tied up to their piers. sailors are getting sandbags prepared and national guard members are already in place and ready for action and along the jersey shore from cape may to ocean city, businesses are already boarding up and sandbagging getting ready for what sandy just might bring. so, further south now, north carolina, also gearing up for sa sandy. a total of 40 counties are under a state of emergency. george howell joins us from kill devil hills. sandy is quite a few miles offshore. we mentioned it's about 355 miles offshore from charleston, south carolina, but making it to your way. we can see the surface kicked up and lots of wind. what kind of preparations are under way there, george? >> fredricka, we are definitely feeling the winds pick up here. we're watching people as they, you know, prepare for whatever the storm has to bring. people are, you know, some people have decided to ride this storm out. a lot of people we've seen he

. >> reporter: chamberlain contractors have been paving roads this d.c., maryland and virginia sincethey're paving a new chapter in the company's history by going paperless. >> you need to find the number and then go up or down. >> reporter: the software the crews now use is for the traditional paper documents. cap vas is an online market but the apps are developed for businesses. >> we wanted to be for the paper data collection what the kindle did for books. >> reporter: companies can choose from thousands of arrests to help them run more efficiently. there is something available for everyone from construction to medical offices. we even found some for dog walking. >> dog walking waivers and pet sitting overnight forms. >> reporter: if you don't find one you leak, you can also build your own app in a matter of minutes. quigley says canvas caught the attention of the organizers ever the olympic games in london. >> the olympic was one of those groups that just went crazy with t they had over 50 different applications. they were doing lots of things with t they were tracking people who

the emergency management offices in d.c., maryland and virginia and up to -- all the way up toking now are beginning to take action in advance of the storm warning the public to get ready. >> we know our area utility companies are preparing for this so-called frankenstorm. both pepco and bge are planning for hundreds of thousands of potential outages so workers on stand-by. pepco says they have 400 contractors ready plus an additional 150 local crews. bg &. says they have 500 contractors ready to go. here are some things that you can do in order to prepare for the storm. might be a good idea to clean up the fallen leaves that are probably already on your lawn right now. they can clog storm drains, making flooding even worse. also, bring in the bikes, lawn furniture, other loose items inside that could become projectiles in high winds and all check smoke detectors. you will need for charge your cell phone, make sure to have a full tank of gas and an emergency kit with batties, flashlights, nonperishable foods, springs and some cash on hand. >> stay with fox 5 as we continue to track thi

hundreds of thousands of people are left in the dark this morning in d.c., maryland and virginia. here are the current numbers for you. dominion still by far with the most without power with 120,000 customers out in northern virginia. pepco, right now, dealing with about 25,000. pge has 88,000 outages in montgomery, prince george's, calvert, anne arundel and howard county. we do expect the numbers to continue to go down. >> trees came down throughout our area because of the storm and that includes a major incident in laurel, maryland where a huge tree fell right onto a house. this was the scene on county road. this massive tree fell from the front yard and landed on the house. no word on any injuries but the house sustained significant damage. the laurel mayor declared an emergency in effect until further notice. >> west virginia now getting pounded with snow. they were yesterday as well. it happened when a winter storm merged with sandy, and a blizzard warning still in effect for at least 14 counties for high winds and heavy, wet snow. the state's high of the el vagues could get

new york has joined d.c., maryland and virginia for declaring a state of emergency. residents and utility companies are gearing up early. crews put large sand dunes along the shoreline to try to stop water from hitting homes, and residents are bagging up and laying out sandbags to try to prevent flooding. power agencies say crews will be in the best positions to handle outages when they happen. >>> stay up to date with us on sandy all night and all weekend, and get updates 24/7 on nbcwashington.com, search sandy, and follow @nbcwashington on twitter. and sign up for breaking news alerts on nbcwashington.com back slash newsletters. >>> the storm is already having an impact on one event in alexandria. they've canceled the parade scheduled for this sunday. there will be events from 2:00 to 4:00, but the parade is canceled. >>> with ghosts and goblins headed to your door soon, it's time to start thinking about how to keep the spooky holiday a safe one. liz crenshaw has her annual eye-opening demonstration. >> reporter: it's the fartherest thing from your mind or your chi

. >>> in the meantime, hundreds of thousands of people in d.c., maryland and virginia are waking up in the dark this morning following sandy's arrival. here are the current numbers, dominion reports more than 103,000 customer out in northern virginia, about 21,000 pepco customers are without power, that number is down. bg and e has around 82,000 outages in montgomery, prince georges, howard and dutchess counties. novec, potomac edison and smeco, is that what people call it? are there is experiencing significant outages. >>> if you are headed out today, a reminder that metro is closed again this morning. that includes metro rail, metro bus and metro access. we should find out today when it will reopen. federal government offices are closed again today, so are most local government offices and schools. a complete list of closings is at the top of your screen. >>> well, the superstorm is not just bringing strong winds and heavy rain, west virginia is getting hit with snow and a lot of it. a blizzard warning is in effect for at least 14 counties. the state's highest elevations could get as

maryland and d.c. along with in person absentee voting in virginia. maryland governor martin o'malley has extended the deadline for absentee ballot applications until 8:00 tonight for applications received by mail or delivery and 11:59 p.m. for applications received by fax or e-mail. applications should be sent to the local board of elections. >> opening up at 8:00 a.m. on the remaining early voting days, which is earlier than the usual 10:00 a.m., and we will be extending those hours all the way up until 9:00 p.m. >> governor o'malley says that state resources will help to get early voting running again in garrett county. sandy dumped more than 2 feet of snow in some of those areas. >>> police are investigating a fatal pedestrian accident that occurred in germantown. sky 9 was over the scene where a teenager was killed on germantown road at west tear ya -- ways tear ya drive. the -- wisteria drive. the victim is 15-year-old christina morris ward, a tenth grader at seneca valley high school. the driver of the vehicle that struck her remained on the sce

power and associates ranked us highest in member satisfaction among health plans in the virginia/maryland/d.c. region. we're focusing on the big things so you can enjothe little things. kaiser permanente. thrive. >> of first, the deepening ripple effect caused by a the superstore known as sandy. the other major issue the tens of thousands of customers are still in the dark here in our region. the vast majority is in northern virginia. petco tells us that they have restored many. sandy is blamed for 48 deaths and financial analysts say that the storm is responsible for $20 billion in property damage as well as an additional $30 billion in lost business. we will begin tonight with a problem that is getting worse and could last for days. area wide flooding. we were there as streets turned into rivers in upper marlboro and old town alexandria. >> part of keen street behind me is fine. but look what happened to other parts, under water tonight and it has been under water for hours. you're looking at a block from where the potomac river usually is. it overflowed its banks tonight. you see what happ

virginia beach. d.c.'s mayor and governors of maryland and virginia declared a state of emergency. they also warned it could impact early voting. we'll get to the storm. sue palka has the latest on what you need to know this hour. >> i was just thinking how many flights will be disrupted especially in the monday, tuesday, wednesday time frame. ground and air travel will be very tough. here's the very latest. it's all about hurricane sandy n. is the track. it's a minimal hurricane right now but really that's not as important as the fact that this thing is going to be making a hard left turn sometime monday night into tuesday. as it approaches the coast, it probably is still a category 1 hurricane after going through a weakening process briefly on sunday. then we believe its wind field will expand dramatically as it transitions into an extra tropical system and lingers across pennsylvania, even into wednesday and possibly into the thursday time frame. so we're talking about many days of high winds for many states and also a lot of heavy rain. just to give you an idea of the wind fiel

states of emergency have been declared in virginia, maryland, and d.c.r local ewe tills are already wain

d.c. is 3.71, 3.56 in maryland and 3.39 in virginia. no. work flights are resuming at d.c. area airports following hurricane sandy. it is likely that most airlines will resume operations wednesday. passengers are encouraged to check their flight status before leaving for the airport. no. 1, early voting will resume in most counties across the region in tomorrow. in montgomery county, maryland early voting centers were open at 8 a.m. and voting hours will be extended from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. through november 2nd, same thing in the district. early voting begins tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and that continues through saturday. brian, that's a look at tonight's fox 5 top five. >>> looking forward to seeing the sun tomorrow. >> it will be nice. i don't think it will be a fully sunny day. still chilly tomorrow, too, today only in the 40s, what a departure from the weather we had last week. we're still dealing with the cold air sandy brought into town, the cold side of that storm and it's chilly out there tonight. we will be heading down into the 30s. so it's a chilly start for th