the transportation secretary ray lahood will announce more than $470 million will be immediately available for transportation improvements. the transportation department initially set aside that money for special projects. under this plan, states have to identify how the money will be used by october 1st. >>> 4:36 now. 73 degrees. ahead on "news4 today," the storm's moving in. that could put a damper on your start to the weekend. >>> attention all baby boomers. why the government wants you the get tested for hepatitis c

you don't agree with ray lahood, the transportation secretary.ou don't this that the surplus or the transportation department stimulus was a success, right? >> well, when i asked him that question he said that out of 48 billion dollars, that they spent, 65,000 jobs were created, at $738,000 per job if you do the math and that means the government spent $738,000 for one job being created for every single job, and so, and he's proud of that, but you know, the issue with this stimulus, they're temporary jobs, when the money goes away, when the project ends, the job's lost. >> are you going after ray lahood? he's had a few gaffes over the years. are you going after him? >> well, at first i asked him about the unspent earmarks that the obama administration is sending down to the states. so, the interview was framed around that and i asked him about that, what's going to be done with that money and he said we're send it go down to the states and the governor's can apply, from different states, and spend that money on infrastructure and it segued into m

. >>> some of another stories making headlines, transportation secretary ray lahood is warning people overseeing the dulles rail project to shape up n a strongly worded letter, leaders expressed concerns over recent reports the board spent lavishly on air traveling meals and wine. they also expressed outrage at reports of nepotism and of lucrative contracts going to former employees. >>> verizon will form aally hand over its 911 failure report today to the metropolitan washington council of governments. the report details the company's emergency line failures during the derecho storms. verizon says it will improve communication between 911 directors and auditors. >>> a montgomery county man accused of killing his stepdaughter is expected to learn his fate today. david hang is charged with stabbing 12-year-old jessica wynn 45 times back in may of 2011. detectives tracked him down using dna found at the scene and cell phone records putting him in the area at the time of the murder. the jurors got his case last night. they will resume dlib rigs this morning. >>> a judge has denied a requ

ray lahood made the announcement today. projects such as the repair of crumbling roads and bridges. >> you will be spending a little more on your weekend getaway thanks to an increase and gas prices. the national average is now $3.72. that is up one a nickel from last friday. prices in d.c. are higher at $3.93. >> the first lady michelle obama is hosting a unique steak dinner. she has invited 54 children to attend the first kids state dinner at the white house. part of the let's move initiative starts -- aims at stopping child obesity. i hope the weather is good for them. >> they should get out and run around the white house. >> it will be better than today. >> today was not a bad day though. >> it was a little on the humid side. >> a little bit of a breeze. i do not think there will be any real nasty weather. tomorrow will be a little chilly compared to today. it has been a hazy day. temperatures outside today were into the 90's. i know who likes the 90's. our high-temperature today 94 degrees. this was the 48th day this s

. >> reporter: an animated secretary of transportation ray lahood insisted the three aircraft were onifferent altitudes and different headings. the faa administrators say at no time were they in any danger of ever colliding. >> it is important to point out the planes were on different headings and at different altitudes, so they would not have collided. >> reporter: the question now, were proper procedures for reversing the direction of reagan national airport used and, if so, how could this happen? >> turning around in a major airport is one of the toughest things you do. >> reporter: bill voss is a former air traffic controller and now heads the flight safety foundation. >> the on board alert systems in the aircraft didn't go off. we got down to 2 miles separation which isn't great, but it's not alarming. >> reporter: the faa said the plane that was landing came within 500 vertical feet and 1.7 lateral miles from the one taking off and 600 vertical feet and 2.8 lateral miles of the second plane. faa requires a spraying of 1,000 vertical feet and -- a separation of 1,000 vertical fee

ray lahood will announce more than $370 million will be immediately available for transportation improvements. transportation department initially set aside that money for special projects. under the plan the state has to identify how the money will be used by october 1st. >>> starting next week, a newly created committee will study the possibility of burying power lines in the district. vin sint gray announced that panel yesterday. he's co-chaired by the city's administrator and pepco holding ceo rig by. the mayor wants the group to figure out what has caused outages over the past decade. how much money has been lost and how much it would cost to bury lines. ray was a vocal critic of pepco after june's bad storms and has pushed for undergrounding the line as an option to avoid outages. >>> 6:07 is your time. 72 degrees. why some airline passengers were asked to give the pilots a little extra cash to make sure they got home. >>> plus, why where you live could be to blame if you drop your cellphone a lot. >>> nice start to the morning but the threat of more storms is but the threat of more sto

ray lahood says there was ever threat of a collision. the controller did her job. the plane away from other plane. >> he says while yesterday's was agreed as, the threat 200 passengers likely was not high. somebody made a mistake. the way itis built allow that to happen. >> reaction today not exactly understanding. deal to me.ig >> of the three flights involved, they were all u.s. planes. released a statement saying with the faa to find out what happened. >> thank you. hall of fame baseball star tell written, jr. will speak publicly since hisrst time was abducted. was -- baseball start cal ripken, jr. will speak for the his mother wase abducted. he is scheduled to appear on america which you see here tomorrow. >> president obama signed a declaration for maryland. -- federalding well come.g will this after he made a declaration the district in parts of virginia as well. an alert by pepco. they're asking customers to as temperatures are expected to soar into the 90's. tomorrow will be a peak savings day. have their air- conditioning cycle of for short periods tomorro

three planes were never on a collision course to hit head on according to transportation secretary ray lahood, traffic controllers had to redirect planes because of bad weather south of the airport. one u.s. airways commuter flight approaching from rosalind for a landing came close to the flight path of two commuter flights that had taken off heading toward rosalind. >> there was a loss of separation. it shouldn't have happened. but because of a well-trained controller, at dca tower who immediately recognized the situation and worked to fix it. >> george novak explains what happened. >> we had two aircraft that had taken off in this direction at the same time we had aircraft to land in a similar direction. and because of a miscommunication among the air traffic controller, these aircraft were essentially to be in the same place at the same time, but it was caught well before anything happened or a any -- a serious incident occurred. >> audio recordings of the communications between the inbound pilot and the controller shows some confusion. >> what happened? >> 3329 standby, we're trying to fi

health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius and ray lahood will lay it out. nearly two dozen kids have died. >>> it is almost that time. back to school. it is just around the corner. tonight rockville is hoping to get kids excited and prepared. the city is holding their annual back to school jam tonight happening from 6:30 to 9:30 at the lincoln park community center. there from a deejay, moonbounce and free food. parents can buy fully stocked backpacks for just $1 as well as receive health screenings and find up for after school programs. it will be the last weekend for summer for unds of students in our area as well. prince george's county schools begin class enon monday. some will be headed to a brand new school green belt middle school opens on monday. it will serve about 1,000 students from grades 6 through 8th. >>> on tantibiotics may be linko obesity in children. introducing too many antibiotics into the body may throw the balance of good and bad bacteria in the stomach out of whack. especially for kids. to see how that worked in real life, the doctor

transportation secretary ray lahood, d.c. mayor and maryland governor and virginia governor all sent a scathing letter to the airport's authority yesterday. they essentially told the agency to clean up its act. they've been criticized in recent months for spending tens of thousands of dollars on trips. >>> a group of firefighters no longer opposing a controversial ambulance fee. the county volunteer fire and rescue association reached a deal with the county that will give firefighters 15% of the revenue those fees generate. the organization had wanted voters to decide if the fee would be implemented. it worried it would discourage people from calling 911. the county says the fee will go right to insurance companies in most cases. set to go into effect january 1st. >>> 71 degrees. a new low for the presidential campaign. the remark by vice president joe biden that has mitt romney so upset. >>> also ahead. the plans for a spectacular fireworks show that went up in smoke. >>> plus, why the much anticipated ipad mini may not look

ray lahood says he has serious questions about how the inlaws board is operating. all this after a recent audit found questionable spending and contractor deals. the hood tells the washington post he met with the maryland governor, martin o'malley, bob mcdonnell and vince gray about possible changes to that board. >> virginia's attorney general has filed a legal brief in a maryland gun case. that brief is in support of a federal court ruling that struck down the maryland gun control law. that law grants permits only to people who can prove a good and substantial reason that they face a specific or imminent threat to their safety. argues the maryland law is too restrictive. the state of maryland is appealing the decision that struck down that law. >>> up on capitol hill, the house filed a lawsuit against eric holder. the lawsuit demands that holder produced records related to the botched gun tracking operation, known as fast and furious. holder and the house republicans were sparring over holder's refusal to turn over documents and lawmakers then voted to hold holde

but transportation secretary ray lahood disputed reports that the jet gnarly averted a midair disaster. >> the controller did exactly what she should have done and these planes were not on a collision course. they weren't. >> reporter: now, the collision warning systems aboard all three planes did not go off, another strong indicator that in the end, the incident was more frightening than actually dangerous. still, officials say this kind of conflict must never happen so f.a.a. investigators, scott, are taking a very hard look. >> pelley: thanks, bob. a blown tire caused a deadly bus crash in illinois today. the double decker plowed into a support pillar along iex-55. the bus heading from chicago to st. louis had 64 people on board. one is dead. at least 25 others are injured. a teenager at the strf a tragic death gets a second chance. a program to protect chemical plant has been in place for years, but the man who ran it says it's failing. and the duel in the pool-- phelpss versus lochte when the cbs evening news continues. a party? [ music plays, record skips ] hi, i'm new ensure cle

. >>> transportation secretary ray lahood and southeasterly local leaders are warning those people overseeing the dulles rail project to shape up. in a strongly worded letter to the washington airports authority, transportation secretary lahood, governor bob mcdonnell and martin o'malley as well as mayor vincent gray expressed concerns over recent report the board spent lavishly on air travel, meals and wine. they expressed out rage at nepotism. the head of the employees against government waste says lahood shouldn't have to do a crackdown like he did. >> it never should have come to such a strongly worded letter. anyone in a private organization that conducted themselves like the airports authority would be fired. a private company simply wouldn't stand for the kinds of abuses with expensive bottles of wine and last-minute travel. >> the washington airport authority has oversight of the construction of the new metrorail silver line as well as the operation of the dulles toll road and reagan national and dulles airports. they responded to the letter saying, among other things, they have resiz

the transportation secretary ray lahood will announce more than $470 million will be immediately available for transportation improvements. the transportation department initially set aside that money for special projects. under this plan, states have to identify how the money will be used by october 1st. >>> 4:36 now. 73 degrees. ahead on "news4 today," the storm's moving in. that could put a damper on your start to the weekend. >>> attention all baby boomers. why the government wants you the get tested for hepatitis c sweetie, you have to scrub it first. no you don't, honey. yes, you do! don't! i've washed a few cupcake tins in my day... oh, so you're a tin expert now. is that... whoa nelly! hi, kitchen counselor here. he's actually right... with cascade complete. see cascade complete pacs work like thousands of micro-scrubbing brushes to help power away tough foods even in corners and edges. so, i was right, right? i've gotta run. more households use cascade dishwashing detergent than any other brand. seen this? mitt romney claiming the president would end welfare's work requirements? i

. >> secretary of transportation ray lahood and the faa says the three aircrafts were never in danger of colliding saying the planes were on different altitudes and different headings. >>> at least one person dead, more than two dozen others hurt after a mega bus crash in the midwest. shawn yancy is everywhere at 11:00. >> the packed double decker bus blew a tire and slammed into an interstate bridge support pillar. it happened today on i-55 in litchfield, illinois. the crash crumpled the front end of the bus. rescue crews had to climb ladders to reach the passengers trapped inside. the bus was on its way from chicago to kansas city. >> construction crews in oregon have begun demolishing debris from the japanese tsunami that washed up nearly two months ago. the large concrete dock has been a big tourist attraction since coming ashore in june. part of the dock will be kept as a memorial and teaching tool. >>> police in spain arrested three suspected members of al- qaeda who may have been plotting attacks in europe. spanish news reports claim the men had explosives and poison and may ha

transportation secretary ray lahood disputes reports that the jets nearly missed each other. he said the planes were traveling on different headings and would not have collided. one woman is dead after a passenger bus slammed into a bridge on interstate 55 in illinois. the bus had 64 passengers on board when it blew a tire and hit a pillar. >> the july jobs report is set to be released this morning. most analysts expect 100,000 jobs created for the month. more in a live report later this hour. >> 5:11. two communication giants are teaming up to offer more. >> step away from your gadgets. that can make your vacation more relaxing. >> your morning commute is looking pretty good at the moment. we will >> now traffic pulse 11 and insta-weather plus together. >> good morning. sarah caldwell checking on your morning commute. the friday morning commute looks good. we have closures in the city. light street is closed between baltimore and lombard. sinkhole repairs continue along monument street near patterson park. everything moving well along kirk avenue. if you travel south on 97,

ray lahood disputes earlier characterization's of the incident as a near miss. the indiana state fair opens one year after strong winds caused a stage to collapse. the attorney general's office said most of the victims of the stage collapsed have agreed to accept part of a $13.2 million settlement offer. >> it seems apple is getting closer to unveiling its new iphone. sharp is expected to build new screens. the new iphone is expected to go on sale in september or october with a larger screen. no comment from apple. executives at volkswagen prefer to hire fast-food workers. most of the workers on their plant in tennessee are from the fast-food industry because they note standardize work. they want to avoid hiring assembly line workers that may have developed bad habits. the magic kingdom got more magic with free wifi. american airlines is ready to bring you to your destination and to bring your bags to your home. jane king has the bloomberg business report. >> american airlines is looking to give you a full service when you fly. how does baggage delivery sound? y

secretary ray lahood could make todayouncement later transportation spending in the millions. brianne carter, abc 7. >> relatives of victims of the tech shooting are g answers from the presidential candidates. 77 delma members send letters to president obama and mitt asking what they will do background checks. student who killed 32 people and himself past two background state agencies never shared his mental health records. >> virginia governor bob will speak at the republican national convention. among six headliners addressing the convention. is chairman of the party's platform committee. begins august 27 tampa. stay with abc 7 news, your station, for updates on the race. also find information wjla.com. >> the family research council shot in chinatown recovering and is now speaking out about his ordeal. leonardo johnson spoke to us by e from his hospital bed. describes the moment floyd into the lobbying building and id he was coming for an internship. >> my instincts just over, not feel right to me. when i saw the weapon, my natural reaction was to attack if. said floyd cork

secretary ray lahood expected to announce in funding to help with crumbling bridges and roads. >> a with abc 7 news. your election station for on the presidential race. wjla.com for more information on the race for the white house. >> thousands of law enforcement officers from around the heading to tampa to help with security for the republican national convention. but top republicans will in less on the town than two weeks. tampa bay police have been preparing for more than a year now. success hinges on the build withp they other law enforcement. e are specific procedures in to protect the event's own get out to do if things of hand. preparations underway in charlotte, north carolina, for democratic national on labor day weekend. local law-enforcement officers have spent weeks training for duties and patrol work around the convention areas. we have an alert for passengers at the takoma meo station. police looking for a man who phone hiding in a backpack to record video under a woman's skirt. could be more victims. jummy olabanji is live this morning with more on the story. suspectact th

transportation secretary ray lahood believes that the stimulus package was great for america . >> we put 65,000 to work and 15,000 projects in two years with no problems. i am proud of that. >> you may be the only man proud of the stim tim package. 862 bucks and all we got was t-shirts with solyndra on them? come on. i agree to this point with secretary lahood. true infrastructure is a valuable investment and one of the things that government could do. and individuals can't build their own roads and bridges. and sewer systems. and airport run ways. all of this is true. and it was not the job. and the fact is when you are going to invest in infrastructure. it can be done because of the politics of the project and merit of the project. and the number of people that are served. we need those what we don't need is a bunch of money to make people winners and losers. and new york bloomberg talked about the shooting of the empire state building on friday. >> the murder victim and thank god no one else was seriously injured and they will recover. and once again there is it a lot of guns out

. >>> transportation secretary ray lahood is reassuring the flying public after reports of a three planer miss incident near washington, d.c. >> at no point were these planes on a head to head collision course. >> reporter: the situation occurred at ronald reagan airport tuesday when air traffic controllers changed the direction of arriving and departing flights due to the weather. three u.s. airways planes ended up flying too close to each other. the faa, national transportation board and u.s. airways are all investigating. >>> united airlines has upped its fairs for the second time in less than a month and other carriers are beginning to follow suit. on tuesday, united increased flights by $10. so far delta, u.s. airways and american airlines have joined the fare hike on domestic the routs. so far southwest airlines has not joined in on the increase. >>> in news of the world tonight, former u.n. secretary general resigned today. he's tried for six months to bring peace of the nation. and had harsh words for the syrian regime saying assad must leave office. and also criticizeed the u.n.

. >>> transportation secretary ray lahood is reassuring the flying public after reports of a three plane incident near washington, d.c. >> at no point were these planes on a head to head collision course. >> reporter: the situation occurred at ronald reagan airport tuesday when air traffic controllers changed the direction of arriving and departing flights due to the weather. three u.s. airways planes ended up flying too close to each other. the faa, national transportation board and u.s. airways are all investigating. >>> united airlines has upped its fairs for the second time in less than a month and other carriers are beginning to follow suit. on tuesday, united increased flights by $10. so far delta, u.s. airways and american airlines have joined the fare hike on domestic the routs. so far southwest airlines has not joined in on the increase. >>> in news of the world tonight, former u.n. secretary general resigned today. he's tried for six months to bring peace of the nation. and had harsh words for the syrian regime saying assad must leave office. and also criticizeed the u.n. secur

transportation secretary ray lahood announcing the money will go to, and stop me if you have heard this before, repairing crumbling roads and bridges. but is anyone looking at the tumbling finances? just the interest to carry this each year, costs us $240 billion. far from address it this year, market wanter craig submit says we are doubling down this year, setting up what could be a bad next year. >>guest: follow the money. you will see this money go to swing states that are very labor union friendly. i suspect this is in different than the run around that the president did on the immigration bill to pander to the hispanic vote, to run around the welfare work requirements and get to the entitlement vote. it is amazing how this president can get away with this. beyond that, hasn't he learned anything from the failed experience of the $800 billion that did not bring us back under 8 percent unemployment? did he in the realize that the wasted $535 million solyndra wasted, and this president needs to realize we need certainty in taxes, certainty in regulation, and businesses will start crea

. >> reporter: transportation secretary ray lahood has fired off an angry letter to the authority expressing outrage at reports of questionable contracts ordering the termination of all contracts with former board members and former employees demanding that the board tighten travel procedures to eliminate wasteful spending and to be more transparent with open meetings. the head of citizens against government waste says some important project could be in jeopardy. >> one of the problems with the silver line has been the lack of accountability, the board's abuses of power and questionable ethical practices. >> reporter: the airports authority has responded in a statement saying we have revised the travel policy for board members and employees to reflect best practices of the airport industry. we are revising the authority's ethics policy to clarify regular layings regarding conflicts of interest. we have ended or are in the process of ending all professional services contracts with former board members and we are committed to working closely with the accountability officer appointed by the tra

he kept bob gates as the defense b secretary, he chose ray lahood, a republican, for his secretary ofrtation, jon huntsman, his bofd to china. but then on the downside there at the bottom of the page, his critics say he doesn't socialize with legislators, he spends his weekend on the golf course, but with friends who are out of politics. he doesn't engage in the sort of, you know, golf course negotiating that, say, a bill clinton might have done. and maybe key to this, the guy who was just on screen there, mitch mcconnell, the leader of republicans in the senate and john boehner, the speaker of the house, they didn't get a -- well, now the speaker of the house -- they didn't get a meeting with the president one-on-one for the first two years of his term. >> well, i think that, look, like anything, they did a lot of things right. ray lahood, gates, the appointments, huntsman ambassador of china, and i think, you know, socializing may not be the president's strong point, but he could have probably reached out harder to the, to both baner and mcconnell. but, again, mcconnell saying i wan

talk with the secretary of transportation ray lahood who joins us first on cnbc.e had a chance to look at some of the reserve and technology in these vehicles. how confident are you this is not just a pilot project here, there's real world applications we could see in a year or two? >> this is a big deal. this is a huge announcement, it's a huge opportunity to really use the next generation of safety technology to save injuries and save lives, and when the study's complete a year from now, we will be able to say pretty definitively that this technology can be used in automobiles and lots of injuries and lots of lives will be saved. >> the key is this is real world. this is day in, day out. you've got about 360 of these vehicles where drivers will be alerted and potentially accidents could be avoided so now you can say we know how it works in the real world. >> these are real cars manufactured right here in our country and real people who have volunteered and will be a part of this study for the next year, and have the opportunity to see if this technology really w

. >>> transportation secretary ray lahood said he's not confident in the board of the washington airport's authority. a recent audit found questionable spending and contracting. the board is in charge of the $6 million dulles metro rail project. he's talked with governors mcdonnell and o'malley and with mayor vincent gray about making changes to the board. he does say he supports its chief. >>> the port authority of new york is trying to explain how a stranded jet skier climbed a fence and walked across without being detectived. he easily breached the state-of- the-art security system while wearing a bright yellow jacket. he was arrested and charged with criminal trespass after making it to terminal three without being noticed. it raises a question about reagan international airport. could the same thing happen there? paul wagner joins us live with the story. paul? >> reporter: the entire east side of reagan national airport borders the potomac river. anyone piloting a boat could pull up on the shore lie n. places to prevent you from going further. as we learned by looking through the long

the warning came in a strongly worded letter from transportation secretary, ray lahood. karen gray houston live with what prompted all this. >> this is highly unusual for the federal transportation secretary to become involved in local affairs. the feds are getting tough and they mean it. one of the biggest construction projects in e country hangs in the ball balance. the air force authority has construction. as well as the operation of the dulles toll road and the reagan national and dulles airports. the letter came from transportation secretary, lahood, and signed by virginia governor, bob mcdonnell, maryland governor, martin o'malley, and vincent gray. they express concern about the reports that the board spent lavishly on air travel, meals, and wine, and express outrage at reports of nepotism and lucrative no bid contracts going to former employees. we asked the head of the citizens against government waste if the secretary did the right thing. >> it never should have come to such a strongly worded letter. anyone in a private organization that conducted themselves li

now transportation secretary ray lahood could have his face, he'd replace some of the current members. lahood tells the washington post he has serious questions about the how the board is operating. a recent audit found questionable spending and contracting. lahood recently appointed someone to oversee the board's operations. >>> with the maryland senate already on board the house delegates now considering whether to expand gambling in the state. the debate is still underway. some delegates want to lower the amounts of taxes the casino in anne arundel county and a planned casino in baltimore would have to say saying that would offset a potential loss of business if a sixth casino is built in prince george's county. >> the well is only so deep. if you put four 7-elevens on a corner, they're going to day. >> if you ask 188 lawmakers, i don't think you're listening to the voice of the people. i'd like to see the voters decide. >> if the bill the house ways and means committee does pass it will head to the full floor for debate. >>> a maryland congressman is saying no to a d.c. commuter t

. >> they were never on a collision course to hit head-on according to transportation secretary ray lahood. tuesday afternoon, traffic controllers had to redirect planes because of bad weather south of the airport. one u.s. airways commuter flight approaching from rosalind came close to a flight path of two commuter flights taken off heading toward rosalind. >> there was a loss of separation. it shouldn't have happened, but because of a well-trained controller at dca tower who immediately recognized the situation and worked to fix it. >> reporter: kevin hyatt was a commercial pilot for 32 years. he is now with the flight safety foundation. >> well, we had a situation that evolved from a very complex procedure of where you're turning an airport around. which means you're taking off from one runway and you're going to go to another runway. and when that happens, there's a lot that has to take place in a short period of time. and evidently there was a gap in the communication or in something because the investigation is still ongoing to cause the situation to arise. >> audio recordings of the

transportation secretary ray lahood says he has serious questions about how the board operates reagan washington national and dulles airports. that comes after a recent audit found questionable spending and contractor deals. secretary lahood tells "the washington post" he's met with maryland governor o'malley, virginia governor bob mcdonnell and d.c. mayor vincent gray about possibly making changes to the board. >>> it is 5:35. time for another your money report now. >> jessica doyle is back with an unusual way to make money. >> that's right. we all know that recycling is important for the environment. everywhere you go you see the blue recycling bins. we do it at home. what if i told you that recycling certain items could actually give you cold, hard cash? three things you can recycle for cash back or a tax deduction. that's of course like having cash come april 15. number one, gift cards. we've all received that gift card for a holiday gift or birthday present we feel we're never going to use. if you have one of these laying around the house, gift card rescue is a service that will

. >> another issue here, transportation secretary ray lahood says officials learned about this incidenter, not from the air traffic controllers. he says that's a problem and they're investigating. candy? >> you may have just answered my question. i don't know secretary lahood to at least publicly be a testy man but he certainly seemed to be that way in the news conference. >> throughout he was testy, he was combative, he was some say defensive, he was irritated. you got the sense, they were upset with these initial media reports that said these planes were on a collision course. they wanted to basically get people off that notion immediately. they were eager to do that. he got very irritated, but there was something about this whole thing, it's unusual for them to call a news conference with the transportation secretary and the faa administrator, over one airline incident, there's some consternation behind the scenes here over this incident that we don't know yet, maybe it will come out in the coming weeks. >> none too pleased to hear from reporters. >> not really, no. >> thanks so much

. >> transportation secretary ray lahood is demanding the metropolitan washington airport's authority make drastic changes immediately to regain the public trust. lahood's letter included several changes that included cancelling all current no bid contracts with former board members and employees. this comes after a federal audit done in may found the agency too often awarded contracts without competition. it also questioned thousands of dollars in travel expenses from the airport authorities' board. virginia governor bob mcdonald and martin o'malley and vincent gray also signed the letter. >>> a nationwide two-week crackdown on drunk driving is set to start on friday here in the washington region. police tell us they're ready to step up checkpoints, sobriety tests and arrests. tom sherwood is here with more on the story. tom? >> police from all over say they're serious about this. drive sober or get pulled over. 10,000 people die in drunk driving wrecks each year. 70% of them caused by someone who's blood alcohol was more than twice the legal limit of .08. washington area police and

. >>> transportation secretary ray lahood announced a man today he said could create thousands of -- aman today he said could create thousands of job -- aman today he said could create thousands of -- a plan today he said could create thousands of jobs. president obama said the money was earmarked between 2003 and 2006 but the funs were unspent until now. -- funds were unspent until now. >>> still to come i guess it was a craving he couldn't find. you'll find out what -- fight. you'll find out what one burglar did after breaking into a maryland home. >> our look at health code vitals at restaurants actually takes -- violations at restaurants actually takes to us a local hospital. >> but first kids and hot cars are always a bad combination. there is a new push now to capital it from happening up next. -- keep it from happening up next. >>> in tonight's consumer alert kids and hot cars, experts say on an 80-degree day the temperatures can rise deadly levels inside a vehicle in just 10 minutes. we've done this story now three times this summer, but it's important because 23 children hav

ray lahood held a news conference today and had this to say about it. >> at no time were these planes head to head collision course. there was going to be no head to head collision of the planes. there was a loss of separation. it shouldn't have happened. because of a well-trained controller at dca tower, who immediately recognized the situation and, worked to fix it. >>reporter: that means they got closer than 1,000' vertically and closer than three miles in distance, nautical miles. this has caught the attention of capitol hill. the chairman of the transportation committee in the house of representatives said this, and i quote, "such a near miss or any operational errors called to action. i'm asking our aviation subcommittee staff and the f.a.a. to thoroughly review what happened." indeed, the f.a.a. is looking at what happen. it is the same airport where last year a controller fell asleep on the john during the all-night shift and planes tried to contact him but in answer. back to you. >>eric: thank you, steve. the t.s.a. and the american federation of government employees reaching

transportation secretary ray lahood, vincent gray, maryland gov her o'malley and virginia governor bob mcdonnell sent a scathing letter to the airport. they told agency the clean up its act. the letter reads in part, we are gravely concerned with the lack of accountability, transparency, and sound judgment that has come to light regarding the board's recent activitys. the airports authority has been criticized in recent months for spending tens of thousands of dollars on trips and handing out contracts to former board members. >>> a family of raccoons is back together this morning after a daring rescue. a mother raccoon and her four babies decided to move into a chimney in an arlington home in july. the family got trapped. two of the babies fell down into the furnace area. humane wildlife services rescued the family but it took four days to reach the little ones stuck in the furnace. experts nursed them back to health because they were dehydrated. then the family was reunited. >>> coming up on 6:37 right now. the "today" show is next at 7:00. let's check in with matt lauer to see what

that's what eric cantor wrote to transportation secretary ray lahood. after bashing the stimulus as pointless waste, here's eric cantor touting the benefits of stimulus money when it made its way to his district. >> we can create a lot of jobs, again, the estimates of job creations are 85,000 to 160,000-some jobs for common wealth. most of that in this area. >> there were a bunch of republicans who did this, and the issue here is not that there was going to be this money laying around and they didn't want that money to be around at all, but as long as it was there, you try to get some for your district. that's not the issue here. the issue here is that these guys were making a public case that this money is bad, that it would hurt the economy. but then privately, they were asking to please get some of that money because of how good it would be for the economy. you clearly don't believe your own public arguments when you're making private arguments alongside them like that. you're just making a totally craven political case that has nothing to do with wh

picture in our mind of two outbound planes perhaps on a collision course with an inbound plane, but ray lahood seemed to downplay the danger. which is it here? >> well, it was a serious event. was there an imminent collision coming? there was not, but it was a serious event that's got to be taken very seriously by the authorities. >> as they take this seriously, any idea in your head how this could happen? >> what happened was you had planes coming in that were managed by what they call the tracon. that's the terminal radar. they handle planes 30 to 50 miles out from the airport. they hand them off to the tower guys. they handle them when they're about 3 miles in till they're on the ground. they were switching directions. you know, reagan has only one runway north/south. so all of a sudden they had a storm at the south end. they had to switch directions where they were landing from. they switched to the river approach from the north. when this takes place, there is hayneoff. the last plane taking off -- handoff, the last plane taking off, first plane landing. that handoff does not take place a

but a defensive transportation secretary, ray lahood, praised the controller who recognized it promptly enough. >> this is a classic case where we had a well-trained controller who did exactly what she was supposed to do. >> reporter: the faa says all three planes were equipped with collision avoidance systems but none was activated by the incident. chris clackum, nbc news. >>> new details now on a story we first brought you last night. the prayers of parishioners at a catholic church in campbell have been answered. the four-foot tall statue that was taken from st. mary's church has been found. a tip led officers to an area near hamilton and 3rd avenue where they found it safely wrapped up. it's now back in its rightful place. police are thinking the community and the media. they said without the story getting so much attention, the statue might never have been found. still, no answer on who stole the statue and why. >>> the number of empty seats at the london games continues to be a problem for olympic officials. tickets sold out minutes after going on sale but many empty seats can be