but pepco says not so fast.ox 5's sarah simmons has the story. >> reporter: jackie gets the chills just thinking about last winter in her 1400 square foot condo. she says she kempt the thermostat -- kept the thermostat set between 66 and 6 # degrees -- 68 degrees. you're freezing in here but your bill was what? >> over $500. >> reporter: she says she went round and round with pepco. >> what can you do except pay the bill. >> reporter: she felt something was wrong with letter meter but so did hundreds of other pepco customers. fox 5 has talked with several of them with similar problems over the past year. the people's council for d.c., elizabeth know well just finish -- noel just finished a study on the high meter readings and found problem meters may be to blame in 43% of the cases that they looked at. >> the data suggests that it may be a problem. the meeter is a sensitive subject with pepco because that's their revenue stream but it's alwaysen issue integrity and public trust. >> reporter: 43%-- >> 43% rjs i w

. >>> pepco battle wakings on. d.c.'s office of the people's counsel said that 43% of the high heating bills over the winter were due to faulty meter. pepco is firing back saying it's not true and wants to see the data that backing up the allegation. >> i want to reassure customers the meters used to measure their electricity consumption are routinely tested and over the lastseveral years against a established standard. the tests that demonstrated our meters are accurate in over 99% of the time. >> pepco said the high bills were caused by a colder-than- average winter and the longerbling cycle. >>> -- longer billing cycle. >>> a storm you're watching in the city? >> that's right. popped up in the last 15 minutes or so. we're going to go to max hd radar and givyou an id er ere whti ptharr e th particular thunderstorm is stri the e district. it's noty vaerrgltbue vis capable of dropping a quick half an inch rain. u knyoow n ofrain. you know vi ramongmoving ngt fa either. so, right here in north to isatrn texas of the city

pepco said that the charges are unsubstantiated. the utility company has asked the opc to provide the data used to make the allegation. >> i want to reassure customers that the meters used to measure their electricity consumption are routinely tested. over the last several years against established standards that those tests demonstrated our meters are accurate in over 99% of the time. >> pepco officials say results of the meter test ring provided to the public service commission and every year. and they say people with concerns about their electric bills should call pepco's customer service line for an immediate review of their bill. >> still ahead on "news4 at 5:00," new details about a casino coming to baltimore's inner harbor. >> michael vick's bankruptcy plan. what a judge had to say hours before his return to the ball field. >> major shutdown of what you need to know to avoid sitting in a long backup along i-95. >> i'm not going to answer any more questions about my kids. >> later angry confrontation. more of the mayor's fiery

pepco is bracing for h1n1 virus or swine flu. >> we're monitoring it. sure, we're concerned about the possibility. but we're doing all we can in advance of it. >> a big part of the message from management to employees -- >> stay home if you're sick. >> now federal officials are urging all businesses to adopt the same attitude when flu season hits. >> in america, we love to praise the puritan work ethic and with reason. but this fall, it would serve the country better to praise common sense and responsibility. >> companies must ensure sick leave policies are flex ill and, quote, nonpunitive. >> perhaps waiving policies that require notes and verification from medical personnel. >> also, companies should have plans to cope with high absentee and be ready to cancel nonessential meetings and travel. they should encourage employees to get flu shots. >> finally, keeping workplaces as clean as possible. >> at pepco, signs encourage workers to wash hands and cover their coughs. officials say owe people are bound to get sick even with good precautions. >> there

at this point pepco officials don't know exactly what brought those poles down. >> temperatures were score whiching for the crews trying to put those poles back up. will we coo off overnight? that's the question. steve irwin -- steve with what to expect. >> a slow cooldown easy on the eye looking across the mid-atlantic region but just off to the south and west of us is where the weather is rough. this all part of a cold gronlt that's eesketly going to move across the area later tomorrow afternoon. take a look at our forecast from the weather center. partly cloudy, warm and humid. winds out of the west from 5-10 miles per hour, and another hot day but just wait. even hotter for the upcoming weekend. leon? >> well, steve, the only thing we've been dealing with is the heat but heavy storms caused problems in kyi. louisville was under siege flooding the best known racetrack and placing lives in danger there. a summer storm turned down right frightening in louisville, kentucky. >> i was driving and all of a sudden the water just appeared like i was in a river. i've never been in anything

pepco and the fire department are investigating. >>> the agent for the football player trying to make the ravens football team says that racial profiling was to blame for his arrest. he was hoping to join the team as a backup linebacker. he was arrested this weekend after police were called to a restaurant in the uner harbor. a security guard thought he saw the man pass a handgun to a friend. turned out to be a cell phone. he became belidgeant and he shoved the officer. the officer was aggressive and that fein was only approached because he was a black man wearing a sweat suit and a hoodie. >>> howard county police are investigating the county's first murder of the year. authorities were called to an assisted livincommunity to investigate an assault. the home is located in the 6300 block of cedar lane in columbia, maryland. the suspect, 87-year-old earl wilder, is a resident of that home. he was sitting outside the facility when he began hitting a fellow resident. the victim, 91-year-old james brown, died over the weekend. today wilder is in custody. he's charged with second-degree mu

power map. 9news now and pepco keeping you prepared. r for just $399. our most dramatic offer ever: both pieces, just $399. while supplies last. from jennifer: you don't have to spend a lot to havgood taste. >>> and now, 9sports with sara walsh. the best sports in town. >>> 24 hours from now we are going to have a much better idea of how good this edition of the burgundy and gold can be because while teammates can push you in practice it is tough to really get fired up when the guy you square off against is wearing the very same jersey. that won't be a problem tomorrow night, however, when the redskins open their preseason schedule against the ravens. their up the road rivals. sure to be a quick but important glimpse at what the team's starting units can do and while we know the game's outcome won't matter the ability to measure up weighs heavily. >> it is an opportunity to go out and see where we are at much the ravens were in the afc championship game last year so we know how good of a football team they are. it will be a great challe

pepco responded to the scene to try to keep the lights on after the tree knocked down power lines. >>> delegate norton it visited a site in northwest this morning where traces of mustard agent was found. there was a flask found that contained mustard agent. horton says the digging us continue until all chemical weapons are removed. we are hearing from the 14-year- old girl who was shot by stray bullets inside her southeast home. she was shot in the back with twa zero of the six bullets fired from a gun early yesterday morning. they pierced the walls of her room at frederick douglass place. >> i thought i heard a firecracker, and that is when my mother called 911. >> tia now insists on sleeping on the floor of her mother's wrote. it has been a violent summer. patrols had been stepped up. >>> d.c. police say the victim found inside a pizza shop is the co-owner. the body of shahabuddin braha was discovered inside a pizza market on fourth street yesterday. police are treating this as a homicide. the virginia tech counselor who took home the medical records of a gunman had been fired follo

an update from pepco, 37 people are without power in their homes this afternoon. it is expected to take until about 9:00 to get all of these five poles repaired and then electricity for everyone is expected to be on about midnight tonight. it will be a hot evening indeed in this neighborhood. one bit of good news, d-dot tells us they have the traffic lights back up and running so that should relieve some of the congestion. rabbi chavez, fox 5 news. >> thankfully no one got hurt either. >>> the homeowners without power are struggling in the steamy weather. sue palka is in the cool. >> i would suggest that they try to find a place to go to t out of the heat. we haven't had this many days that hot in washinon. today is the 11th day we been at in enort aor above 90. e are cle soto t cle sthe theg rkma e eg . rkma reagan dropped down to 89 officially. bad enough the humidity was t traemhes tupe elfehelikeke they are in het m- 90s. ae res artaken in the hese shade. it's hottein r ful lnssu. lvseem. av otwe emselves. we have a lot moreahet on the weather map building. we

. >>> the battle with pepco heats up. earlier this week the d.c. office of the people's council said 43% of the high heating bills were due to faulty meters. pepco says it wants to see the data to back up those claims. >>> it may take longer to wrap up the investigation into this mess. last year a water main ruptured turning river road into a raging river. investigators now say that daily inspection records might have been accidentally thrown away, making it harder to determine why the main was installed properly and whether other pipe have similar problems. >>> at least 2,000 people have been forced to evacuate their southern california homes. a wildfire is threatening parts of the area, 20 miles south of los angeles. about 400 firefighters are batting this fire which has burned through 75 acres of land. so far there have been no reports of any damage to homes. >> nasa will try again to launch space shuttle discovery. nasa had hoped for a morning launch but had to put it off to look into a fuel valve problem that delayed another attempt. the missi

it is pepco power cast. pepco.com and when you are there they have an interactive weather map and a neat resource we invite you to check out. imthis allergy update shows the trees and grass are low but mold in the moderate category. a special thank you to lou anne in annapolis. she gave me a ring in the weather center and said she is cloudy and 74. they got quite a bit of rain yesterday which is down for now and our skies across the area are partly cloudy. it is dry for your drive in. our number is 73. the northeast winds are pushing around at 8 miles an hour. the humidity is 81%. here's how the rest of the numbers are coming in to the channel channel 9 weather team. 73 here. 70 andrews air force base and to the north, frederick is 66. off to the west middle 60s for culpeper. it is 73 in fredericksburg where you could see a thunderstorm today. basically south of town and east of town, toward the delmarva. those are the highest odds for getting wet. otherwise a mostly sunny 78 at 9:00 to an 86 partly cloudy f

check out the pepco powercast a great tool. we have an exclusive deal with pepco. they have live interactive map that allows you to focus in on different areas, different neighborhoods. a great tool to look at. a new feature called interactive radar. you can literally track storms down to your street. not just in our area but relatives that live in maybe columbus, ohio and i have my live website and you can go behind the scenes with me. a lot to do at wusa9.com. 75 is our temperature. northeast wind ten miles an hour. the redskins play the ravens tonight in baltimore. 7:30 kickoff and we have partly cloudy skies forecasted, maybe an early storm, not too many. temperatures around 78 at 7:30. >>> we are already working on the middle 70s right now. i showed you the numbers before. 7 quantico. not near the 90 we had earlier. cloud cover to the east and this is where rain showers will be focused. not a great beach day for ocean city if you are out there. maybe you can take in a movie this afternoon. around the district, baltimore, points west, pretty nice, partly cloudy

don't forget, you can check out the pepco power cast at pepco.com.here at wusa9.com we have interactive radar. that's the newest feature in the weather area and at my blog, always going is the live web cast where you can interact and chat with me. winds from the north at 12. humidity 54%. not that bad out there. the redskins are playing the ravens tonight, pre-season football. partly cloudy. kickoff is 7:30. we might have an early storm in this area. mainly east of the area. and temperatures between 78 and easing back to 73. there's the 79 in baltimore. we're at 81 as i mentioned. leesburg 82. today will be a comfortable day. in the middle 80s where we should be and we are not looking a any 90s to threaten the weather. we are going to keep an eye on showers and storms, though, especially if you have plans today heading out to ocean city. be mindful of that. even right on the chesapeake we may have a few thunderstorms that pop up. but most of the western suburbs and around the district we should be dry. checking our the -- checking out the next three

click on the on the pepco cast. 66 to 72, winds northeasterly  at 5 to 10. temperatures right now are warm. 90 up in frederick. 89 downtown. 90 in manassas and 90 in fredericksburg. 70s and 80s. winds northeast at 10. partly sunny, very warm. a slight chance of an isolated thunderstorm. highs in the upper 80s. for the most part, a nice day tomorrow. satellite picture, radar combined, you can see a front right here. eventually it is going to approach the metro area. we are going to p sandwiched between danny to the east and a front off to the west. we'll zoom down and take a look at danny. very tough to figure out an exact location of where the center is. that's critical because where that center is, when the computer models put that in to run their equations, that will determine how far west that track is. very, very critical getting a well defined center. we have a couple days to narrow down the track. we are looking at partly cloudy skies. all the showers and thunderstorms remaining in new england with that front. for us tomorrow, here's your zone forecast

for up to the minute storm tracking. 9news now and pepco keeping you prepared.her told her to get and for a great deal. she also expects he'll love the sandwich. she expects he'll think of her when he sees the note. so she shops target. gotta have deals on the stuff she's gotta get. target. expect more. pay less. ("whish, whish") here's the solution. (applause) is it a bandage you ask? no! it's famous, drug free breathe right. (squeaky noise) ingenious flexible strips that fit your nose to gently open your nasal passages... (free air/deep breath) ...for up to 31% more airflow. (female) wow! (announcer) you'll breathe better so you'll sleep better! small strip. big relief. bright idea! breathe better. sleep better. breathe right. >>> listen up. dutch are famous for lots of things. cheese. when surveyed about their favorite things in life, what do they value above all? pleasant bathroom visit trumps sex and everything else. maybe it is the gouda. >> a bathroom visit is better than sex? >> i just don't think i'm getting success here. no. >> that's my favorite thing

up to the minute storm tracker and pepco's power outage map. keeping you prepared. b@ ówlaóofa b@ >>> the number of americans 65 years age or older is expected to double in the never few years. they require elderly drivers to take a road test when they renew their licenses. lawmakers in massachusetts are considering the new bill. a group says doctors should decide if an older person should be allowed to drive. >> we know if we improve the medical recording systems there will be a reduction in fatalities. we know if we require in person renewallals there will be a reduction in fatalities. >> a person gets road tested at 16.5 and then never again. that's crazy. >> according to the national highway transportation safety administration by age 80 elderly drivers are just as likely as 17 year olds to be involved in fatal crashes. >>> strong winds fanned intense forest fires in the spanish canary islands. 50 homes have been destroyed, 5000-acres charred. thousands of residents have been forced to flee. investigators say several fires started at the same time. they are now

pepco says they haven't heard from police or fire officials of any accidents that may have brought down the poles. about 50 power customers were affected by this incident. >>> the academic year begins in just a few week at most area colleges and universities. at the university of the district of columbia, that school is tryg to shake off its troubled reputation by revamping its academic and physical campus. tom sherwood has our report. >> reporter: when the northwest urban campus 6 utc, there are few signs of. >> referee: in these hot august days. but inside the building, new life iseing planned i wouldn't be surprised if the total number of students on this campus was approaching doubling. udc president here just a year is about to open the university to about 8,000 fall students in just a few weeks. he's launching the plan to make the school more welcoming. >> there will be radical changes. the plaza which is not particularly nice or useful will be totally green. we'll make sure that this is becoming a place that people want to come to. we'll have a garden cafe, foegs. >> reporter: ba

. >>> many of you out there have your own memories of senator ted o topcy, and we'd like t pepco to wjla.com "talk backed." >>> we want to turn to breaking news in northwest washington where a man was shot and then drove himself to a popular target store for help. jay korff is live in northwest with the details. >> the gunfire erupted just behind me at about 3:30 at the intersection of 16th and spring rd. nw. authorities say an adult male was shot multiple times near the sidewalk on the other side of the street, right in front of an apartment building. residents say it appeared as though someone may have fled on a bicycle. the police say the victim was then driven by a friend, away from the scene, a few blocks later, right around 14th and park. the individual spotted a police officer and a stop for help and he was eventually taken the hospital. the residents are expressing surprise. they say the violence that has ravaged this area over the year has mainly been kept a few blocks away. >> this particular area it does not really have that effect with the street robberies and that type of thing.

i want you to know you can now join us at pepco.com for the pepco powercast. partnership with them. it is an exclusive partnership and one of the coolest features we have there is this really neat interactive site. it is the outage map. so you can see what's going on if there are outages nearby and what not. you are sending me pictures from your garden. look at this sunflower, andrea. this is from brenda in leonardtown. how tall do you think that sunflower is. >> six feet. >> her husband is six six. that is her husband reaching above his head and he can barely reach. the sun flowers he is dropping it is so big. a rdenga a garden outside of th studiore weto aesto nd ng matoes and tos peerppright now. tsibility dropped down but er vehaa li ttlehave a lipatc where you had a hy fogtc shower ou had a yesterday. otherwise, temperatures coming in show upper 70s like we were were yesterday morning at this time. i hope you have plans today. if you don't you may want to head to gaithersburg. the montgomery county fair starts at 3:00 and goes in to next week. and you kno

we have an exclusive partnership with pepco where we provide the winds and precipitation forecast and there is an interactive outage map you can click on, too. why not check it out every day. let's get started. you know what is going on outside, i have the allergy update. trees and grasses are low. guess what mold is. >> high, not super but one ailer jen in the air. so if you are sneezing it is likely that mold. clear skies over the district. partly cloudy off to the east. we might see a stray shower a little patchy fog to the west. temperatures in the 60s and 70s. this afternoon a dekennel day. no 90s. gotta like that. northeast winds and you folks east of dc or to the south may get a stray thunderstorm. our temperatures are cooperating. there's 73 inside the beltway. gaithersburg up 270 is 68. 74 fredericksburg and to the west we have comfortable 60s along i-81. that's a 67 in martinsburg. here's the satellite-radar loop. a handful of storms have pushed to the east leading us to a wake of clear skies up 95. good driving conditions. we will let you know about the traffic in just a mi

if you haven't hong konged it out we do the pepco power cast. check it out. this morning partly cloudy and pleasant. 60s and 70s will rise to the 80s and 90s. south wind five to ten. clear to partly cloudy, mild tonight, 6575. tomorrow a lot like today. a couple of clouds this morning. otherwise a quiet morning. times lapse, just beautiful this morning. the sun is coming up. a few high clouds. 72 degrees here in washington. southwesterly winds five miles an hour. the dew point the upper 60s so it is muggy with relative humidity of 87%. low 60s, a lot of spots across northern virginia. culpeper 61. big time thunderstorms in the middle 0 the country and claudette which came ashore. winds 50 when it came ashore. and weakening now that the center is on land and look at the rain across florida. very wet today in western florida southern alabama. around here we have high pressure in control. sunny and hot with a slim chance of a thunderstorm. we also have bill in the atlantic. bill was upgraded to a hurricane this morning looking more impressive on the satellite pr

. >>> pepco is trying to save you money by teaming up with stores to let you buy energy efficient lightiscount. the power company is working with other stores to offer discounts on certain appliances. all of the details that you need are on myfoxdc.com. look under web links. >>> a new television ad running in brazil is using an unconventional way to encourage people to save water. this might gross you out so here is a warning, but here goes. urinate in the shower. >> it shows various cartoon carriers such as a trapeze artist, a basketball player and an alien doing their business in the shower. an environment group says one less flush per day could save up to 1100 gallons of watt every year and it's a playful way to send a message about a serious subject. >>> it might be late to plan a vacation this summer. >> but you shouldn't have any trouble pulling off a staycation his summer. holly. >> reporter: think about it. a month from now, the kids will be in school. that's why we are live this morning at pohick bay regional park where we have signed up for camping 101. coming up, you can't ca

the lights that are on here, the communication systems that are on here, are driven by pepco, old dominion, the local power companies in this region. in fact, about 85% to 95% of the critical infrastructure and i'm talking about our electrical grid, gas, oil, all those different types of things are owned by the private sector. imagine if, for example, again, a significant amount of people could not come to work to make these systems work, what effect would that have on our daily lives? those of you who live in this area, those of you who are visiting here, you flew into all of our various airports at reagan national, you know, dulles, bwi and so on, some of you probably took our metro system and those different types of things. we carry about 800,000 people per day for example on our metro system and that's the transit buses and so on. imagine if 5% of the train operators or the bus operators could not come to work because they were either infected by h1n1 or they had to care for someone who was infected by h1n1. imagine the effect and the ripple effect that that would have on our transpor