y quÉdense verÓnica, por la confianza, me escucha don erik verdad?cias verÓnica. >>> los queremos mucho, lo conocÍ es un hombre encantador. >>> muy optimista. >>> estaremos orando para una pronta recuperaciÓn. >>> hasta maÑana. ♪ . ante amenaza de huracan isaac a la zona del golfo de mexico el presidente pide a los residentes seguir instruccion es y evitar tragedias. se reportan protestas y arrestos en medio del primer dia de la convencion republicana en florida. autoridades revelan nuevos datos sobre lo que pudo haber desembocado en el tiroteo en escuela de baltimore. en los deportes siguen los buenos resultados de los orioles en en camdem yard cielos soleados y despejados para manana miercoles. hola que tal buenas tardes... isaac ya es un huracan de categoria uno y se acerca a la costa del golfo de mexico...y ante esta amenaza, e presidente obama no espero mas tiempo para tomar accion y pidio a los residentes en el golfo que sigan las instruccionde de las autoridades.. isaac se convirtio en un huracan... y sigue su paso destructor... amenazando la

y quÉdense verÓnica, por la confianza, me escucha don erik verdad?a maravillosa familia, y usted don erik, gracias verÓnica. >>> los queremos mucho, lo conocÍ es un hombre encantador. >>> muy optimista. >>> estaremos orando ---una segunda >> noticias >> una segunda persona muere por anta virus >>la ruptura de una cañeria causa estragos en este barrio >> isaac ya es huracán sepa por qué puede afectar el bolsillo del país >> hola ¿qué tal? >> gracias >> empezamos en san francisco una ruptura de cañeria >> hace 5 horas se contuvo el agua, varias casas quedaron dañadas y cientos de

i'm veronica de la cruz. those stories and much more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we begin this morning with another mass shooting. a gunman opened fire at a sikh temple just outside of milwaukee sunday morning, killing six people and critically wounding three before police shot and killed him. the attack is being treated as an act of domestic terrorism. reporter andy roesgen has the story from oak creek, wisconsin. >> reporter: police searched a home where they think the suspect lived, looking for a motive, a background, anything to answer the question why? >> what did we do wrong? was this a madman? was this just a guy who flipped? did he hate us for our appearance? >> reporter: the shooting happened at the twin services at the sikh temple. the gunman walked up to a temple member and shot him, then walked inside and opened fire. people cowered in fear, hiding wherever they could and calling out on cell phones. >> she called us very quick and she whispered. she said, don't come. she

>> yeah, was it two years ago, veronica? >> yes. >> and i'm hoping, veronica, i know that long-term forecasting is not something that a lot of meteorologists like to talk about and tout. so, i'm hoping they're wrong. >> well, there are some pretty good indicators, just like last year we kind of knew that it was going to be somewhere from average to maybe just being a dud for us. certainly didn't help the ski resorts around the area. but average snowfall from here to up around baltimore, somewhere between 15, just over 20 inches. so, we've got, yeah that to look forward to. prior to that, the ragweed this fall is expected to be high. and prior to that, the tropics, they're expected to get pretty active. so, okay, let's talk about the here and now. temperatures out there right now in the 60s, and tomorrow this time might be a little bit of a crisp fall hint in the air. 67 haymarket, virginia, 67 chantilly, 68 in st. mary's, maryland. 91 degrees for a high temperature for today. that's where we're going up to with high pressure

i'm veronica de la cruz.re are some of the top stories making news this morning. 16 egyptian soldiers were killed by masked gunmen at a checkpoint at the border of gaza and israel, as the suspected militants attempted to cross into israel, one of their vehicles blew up while the other was hit by the israeli air force. >>> in syria, government troops are making a push on the city of aleppo, trying to regain areas held by the opposition. and a rebel commander says 48 iranians captured in damascus were affiliated with iran's revolutionary guard. >>> americans who retired today are the first generation of workers who will pay thousands more in social security taxes than they'll get in benefits. the trustees who oversee social security say its funds will run dry in 2033, unless congress acts. >>> jared loughner is expected to plead guilty tomorrow to the 2011 tucson shooting rampage that killed six people and wounded congresswoman gabrielle giffords and 12 others. if the judge decides loughner is competent, the pl

>> veronica, thank you. >>> breaking news now. the ramp from 395 southbound to the little river turnpike is closed because of a deadly accident. news4's megan mcgrath is live on the scene now with more information. megan, good morning. >> reporter: well, this was a very violent crash that happened here this morning. crash investigators are still here documenting exactly what happened. i'll step out of the way so you can take a look for yourself. at first glance, it appears that two vehicles are involved, but actually, that's not the case. this is a single-vehicle accident, but what has happened here is that the impact of this crash was so violent that it literally tore this vehicle, this car, into two halves. you can see one half is lying on the ramp here, that's westbound coming off of 395, the south 395 ramp to duke street. the other piece of the car is on the other ramp. that's the ramp coming from duke on to south 395. so, just a tremendous, violent crash that happened here this morning. one person is dead. there are three oth

. >> good morning to you, veronica. republicans are dealing with two kinds of storms, the abortion storm as well as worries about a possible hurricane that could bear down on florida just as the convention is getting started. call it the perfect storm, abortion and the threat of a hurricane hitting florida during the republican convention. >> contingency plans are in place should a worst case scenario happen, but again, we're moving forward and fully expect to put on a convention here next week. >> reporter: but tampa's mayor says the city is prepared to call it off if necessary. >> if things continue the way they are, we would do something in terms of an activation early saturday. >> reporter: over the past few days, the romney/ryan ticket has been trying to distance itself from the todd akin legitimate rape controversy. that forced paul ryan to clarify his position on abortion for the first time on the campaign trail. >> the president sets policy. his policy is exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother. >> repor

i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with crunch time. after a day of rest, both candidates in the presidential race are gearing up for a busy week on the campaign trail. president obama head to ohio tomorrow while mitt romney and paul ryan reunite in new hampshire with one week left before the republican convention. nbc's claire leka joins us with the details. claire, good morning to you. >> good morning to you, veronica. new hampshire is one of the 13 hotly contested states that will provide some results. it's reunion time. mitt romney and paul ryan pair up again in new hampshire this morning for a joint town hall meeting. this comes a full week before they were supposed to appear together again at the republican convention in tampa. >> they had at one point thought they would split up in the week before the convention but now they're going to be together. the dynamic duo out in new hampshire. >> reporter: both teams are battling it out in the granite state for its four electoral votes. obama won it hand

i'm veronica de la cruz, this is "first look" on msnbc.s right now. >>> today was supposed to be day one of the republican national convention in that arena behind me here. tropical storm isaac has turned it into a day whole sole platform plank is drinking inside this bar. it's "way too early" for this. welcome to tampa, florida, for a special edition of "way too early" live this week at the 2012 republican convention where after a long fight, mitt romney finally will accept his party's nomination. as you can see, some pretty serious wind and

claire, good morning. >> good morning, veronica. new hampshire is 1 of 13 hotly-contested states that will decide the 2012 election. that's why both sides are campaigning hard there, with just 11 weeks to go. it's reunion time. mitt romney and paul ryan pair up again in new hampshire this morning for a giant town hall meeting. this comes a full week before they were supposed to appear together again at the republican convention in tampa. >> at one point, thought they would split up in the week before the convention. but now, they're going to be together. the dynamic duo, out in new hampshire. >> both teams are battling it out in the granite state for its four electoral votes. obama won it handily in 2008. this time, it's romney's backyard. and adding ryan to today's appearance, may push the duo over the top. >> he has a relationship with governor romney that is a very positive one. and they're very good together. and i think people see that. >> meanwhile, both sides want to keep the medical debate front and center. >> whatever chang

veronica johnson is here. >> always here. yes. >> always ready. veronica appreciate you. >> yeah. i know that every time we talk about storms, a lot of folks are sensitive to what does that mean for the day. for us we're not talking about any wide spread severe storms but we will be looking at storm storms and maybe an isolated severe storm or two. so that's kind of the day that we've got. we've got a lot of cloud cover out there right now. we're going to see some breaks in the cloud cover later on. look at the radar. you can see showers moving out. notice the spin there, too. just off the coast. that's an area of low pressure. so some showers still wrapping around, but most of all this that we had around the area early this morning is coming on the and. we're going to get a little bit of a break before more renir fires. on your future weather, picture of clouds and sunshine. a little bit more of a break. sunshine comes our way. we're going to see scattered showersnd storms firing, mainly off to the west, down to the south later today. it will start filling in by the time we goat

i'm veronica de la cruz. those stories and more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we begin this morning with a storm threat. tropical storm isaac is still hundreds of miles away from the u.s. coast, but the possibility of a direct impact has florida officials urging residents to prepare now. nbc's kurt gregory has the latest. >> reporter: wind and rain in puerto rico, a glancing blow from tropical storm isaac as the system meanders across the caribbean. warnings are in effect for the dominican republic and in haiti, where aid groups are mobilizing to assist the thousands of people still struggling in makeshift shelters 2 1/2 years after an earthquake destroyed the capital city. >> the next 24 hours will be very critical for the population of haiti, and the international red cross is extremely concerned. >> reporter: concern is spreading throughout florida as well. the latest projection map shows the state feeling the storm's force as early as sunday. in cape coral, firemen wasted no time in s

>> entonces que vengan cien p palom palomas. >> pero vamos con verÓnica ¿ya se limpiÓ?. una elefanta dejÓ con boca abierta a turistas que pudieron grabar eso. >> dale elefanta. >> dale duro y la patineta estÁ caliente, y vamos a conocer a niÑos sobre la tabla callejera. >> nunca lo he podido hacer. >> y hoy tenemos mascotas exÓticas. >> no lo digo por jonhy, no el reino animal disfruta de nuestro show. >> decide ¿con cuÁl se quedarÍa?. >> vendrÁn ser pendientes. >> disfruta en miami como lo vio junto a sus niÑos, lo que nadie se imaginÓ lo que se atrevo oe a decirle a los paparazzis. >> (♪). >> eso jenifer!. >> mira eso!. >> (♪). >> ♪ () ♪ ♪ () ♪ ♪ () ♪ ♪ () ♪ ♪ () ♪ in ttÉntalo verÓnica. >> date, date que tÚ puedes. >> al centro jonhy, al centro. >> (♪) eso es seÑores. >> sabe que en pocos minutos vamos comentar el video del dÍa que ha llenado las redes de manera impresionante. >> pero antes hay que darle las gracias a dj África!. >> (aplausos). >> (gritos). >> que nos estÁ poniendo a gozar esta maÑana, pues dÉjeme decirles seÑores, esto es un duelo de vida o muerte. >>

>> right now, veronica, still tracking the situation on i-95 northbound in virginia. so if you're trying to get to the beltway, the inner loop of the beltway, here's the view from chopper 4. crashes along the right side of the roadway. it is block that right lane. you are able to take the exit. you have to stick to the left. let's talk about delays. delays are significant. i'll give you a look at lorton. just hitting the brakes. i'm checking speed sensors in this area. you're at about 13 miles per hour. not very good. and the delays are growing. again, i-95 as you get closer to the beltway, that's where that crash is. back with a look at metro. we had delays. i'll let you know if they are still going on. eun? >> danella, thank you. >>> breaking news. at least three people were hurt in a bombing near a hotel in syria. that explosion rocked the hotel in damascus earlier today. u.n. observers were staying there but no u.n. staffers were hurt. >>> maryland governor martin o'malley will sign a hotly debated gambling expansion bill into law. the general assembly passed it e

. >> ahogada, aahogada, verÓnica bastos. traigo y encantada de la buena vida y empezar la maÑana bailando en "despierta amÉrica," oigan mÁs tarde como si le fuera poco lo que les llegÓ, llegarÁ tania de "el gordo y la flaca" porque les tenemos tremendo chisme el dÍa de hoy, asi que seÑora se sienta en su asiento y el veneno va a correr el show habrÁ de todo. >> pero vamos a pasar aparte queremos invitarlos a ustedes para participar con nosotros en las redes en este programa le queremos hacer una pregunta a usted. >> seÑores, deberÍan las lineas aÉreas decirle a usted como se viste a la ahora de viajar. >> no nos dan ni comida. >> mÁs adelante estaremos hablando de este tema pero hay muchas cosas ocurriendo en el mundo y ya estÁ lista lourdes para contarnos. >> la muchas cambios. >> ahora la tormenta tropical isaac, ahora deja a cientos de residentes sin electricidad en medio de ciudades llenas de lodos nos dan un panorama del paisaje desolador muy buenos dÍas adelante. >> ¿quÉ tal? muy buenos dÍas desde new orleans amanecien

>> i have had dinner outside two nights in a row, veronica.oop it going. >> no. >> well, it's not me, of course. as you mentioned, taking place in alexandria, keep one eye on the sky if you're going to take advantage of that and dining out this evening. 74. clear sky. the air, not too bad at all. later today, hometown forecast for virginia. watch what happens. 67 degrees. hylands moving in. noontime, too. 87, close to 90 degrees by lunchtime today. so it's going to be warmer than it was yesterday. and then by 3:00, 5:00, 88. just around 90 degrees. some showers and storms at 5:00. so this hometown forecast is indicative of many locations throughout our area. storms late so you will salvage a lot of the daytime hours. danella? >> good morning, veronica. >>> if you're traveling northbound i-95. have to show you all the northbound lanes still blocked. just past 395 as you make your way towards baltimore. going to show you what a looks like. you can see the interstate is shut down at this time. you're going tors to be forced off on to 695 to conti

asking price $750,000. >>> i'm veronica de la cruz.s is "early today" just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. >> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. .e're looking at the radar we have mostly dry conditions over baltimore. a few showers in virginia. is the biggestty concern. ocean city mostly looking for fog this morning. most of this activity should be sitting down to the south. we will talkhe temperatures in ju a few minutes. >> 66 degrees on tv hill. the latest on the train derailment in ellicott city. >> 9 people are hurt in a boating accident. thlatest on that accident. >> we have some closures in [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. i'm mindy basara. >> and i'm stan stovall. thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> looking like a nice day today?

i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with tracking isaac. folks from new orleans to florida panhandle are watching and waiting as isaac makes its way into the gulf of mexico. forecasters say by the time isaac makes landfall, it could be a dangerous category 2 hurricane. nbc's jay gray reports. >> reporter: isaac continues to intensify in the gulf. wind and rain thrashing florida for much of the day. >> we're very vulnerable. we're only about two feet above sea level. >> reporter: thousands are without power. officials have reported mandatory evacuations in many coastal communities. to this point florida has only seen a glancing blow. >> a large area at risk here. >> reporter: isaac is a massive storm with wind stretching out more than 350 miles. as the forecast of the storm shifts, so does the focus. governors have declared states of emergency in florida, alabama, mississippi, and louisiana where evacuations have already started. >> it's important to be on high alert. >> reporter: in the center of the pote

meteorologist veronica johnson telling us more about that. in the storm center with more on the late sgles hey, there, aaron and eun. if you're going to be on the road this afternoon, this evening, windshield wipers will be working a little. but for this morning you're going to need your sunglasses. a little bit of everything today. temperatures right now in the dark still, 66 in great falls, virginia. potomac, colesville, 66. lands over maryland and mitchellville right now, good morning to you, 7 1 degrees. sun rise today, 6:22. so less than an hour away right now. you can see on the satellite and radar just how much those clouds are broken up during the overnight period. so should be ample sunshine coming your way to start your day. and when we do, getting some sunshine with clouds increasing as we get on the other side of about lunchtime today. temperature, 86 degrees. there as we take a look at your hometown forecast. annapolis, maryland, 86. 1:00, 2:00, some showers and storms. but tomorrow, uh-uh, it is going to be mighty nice. we're go

asking price $750,000. >>> i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "early today" just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. >>> we are following breaking news. a 17-year-old girl shot and killed in prince george's county. >>> a maryland state lawmakers is recovering this morning after being in a boat accident that also injured four children. >>> and one year ago today, our area was shocked when the ground began to shake. good morning, everyone. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome to "news4 today" for this tuesday, august 23rd, 2012. today marks one year since this region was shaken by a 5.8-magnitude earthquake. here in washington, we're still feeling the effects from the quake. the washington monument sustained serious structural damage. the top of the abalos has several large cracks that need to be repaired, expected to cost close to $15 million. the monument won't reopen to the public until some time in 2014. fema will hold a news conference at the monument at 10:30 this morning to talk about the recovery effo

hey, doug. >> reporter: yeah, veronica, we took the second last flight. so the airport now is essentially shut down. just a couple of cars streaming in here. but we are on one of the last two flights to come in. a big thing for new orleans. this storm is coming on the seven-year anniversary of hurricane katrina. hurricane katrina made landfall on august9th. that's what this storm is going to do. katrina went down to the south and east. this may pass to the west. if it does we would see the strongest winds here. it's going to be flooding from the storm surge first and then you are talking about the rain. this storm is going to sit on new orleans for 24 to 36 hours. and within that time we could be talking 10 to 20 inches of rain. as the storm surge comes up and keeps the water coming down and creates a blooding scenario here. the levies, will they hold? they are going to go through a big test. they think the levies should be okay here. but it's not the strong winds. winds 8 to or 90 miles per hour when it comes through here. but 10 to 20 inches of rain wit

veronica, this path is changing ever so slightly. new orleans to tampa the area of concern. >> thanks for that, bill. >>> in part because of the threat from isaac, delegates at the republican national convention in tampa will begin the roll call vote to nominate mitt romney on monday. that is days earlier than was scheduled. it's earlier than it had been done at previous conventions. officials are also worried about several hundred delegates that are pledged to vote for ron paul during the roll call voting. he has not released his delegates to support mitt romn or anyone else. armstrong will be sipped of his title today. they will ban him from cycling for life and take away his seven titles in the tour de france. armstrong who required last year said yesterday he would stop fighting ongoing doping allegations and what he called, quote, an unconstitution aal wih hunt. he could also lose a bronze medal he won from the 2000 games in australia. >>> a massachusetts woman and her child were nearly dmild front of dozens of subway riders. th

i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "early today." just your next stop of the day on your nbc station. >>> a u knowing bow a constrictor has become a major attractive in poland. hydra has two heads. feeding time can be stressful for hydra's handlers. they have to put two mice in the bow a's tank at the same time to avoid a food fight. yikes! >>> in china, love is in the air, or, rather, in the water. as part of china's valentine's day if he is tifts, seven couples were chosen to compete in an underwater competition at an ocean park. the couple that could kiss the longest won souveniers and a year long pass to that park. sleeping beauties were chosen to lay sleeping for three days. men kissed them trying to wake them. participants had to sign a contract agreeing to marry if the beauty awakened during the kiss. organizers even passed out breath minlts. thank goodness that isn't how we really do things. >> what man would sign a contract that you have to marry the person if they wake? >> all things. >> who came up with that? >> i don't kn

veronica johnson is here to tell us about the change that's going to come. >> yeah. for most of the day, though, it is going to be dry. so really think that we're going to be able to get lot done today. it's during the overnight that we're going to -- where we will see the wet weather and early part of the day tomorrow. 6:24, sun rise for today. rockville, marnds, 65 degrees. district heights at 71. and over in annapolis, maryland, 71 degrees, ocean city, 71 degrees. and on saturday, that's a location where those showers could be lingering. radar right now not showing any rain whatsoever around here. but as we open it up and take a look at southern areas of ohio down through eastern kentucky, central tennessee, showers there. and it's showers that will moving in. again, late today around 5:00 or so. so 8:00 a.m., we're just fine. nice start to us for 70 to 76 degrees. by lunchtime, noontime today, 82 to 89. still dry throughout the area with high clouds moving in. partly sunny for your afternoon. may be a storm or two coming your way from the west. making its way on

right now, we'll send it inside to veronica and, veronica, as we were talking about here, this is really going to be a huge rain producer and a huge rain producer for many parts of the country that really, really do need it. >> that's right. that the midwest. that is exactly where it looks like a lot of this moisture is going to be tracking northward. take a look, though, at some of the rainfall totals that have already been coming into louisiana. harvey, louisiana. close to four inches of rain already. it's a sizable storm with just the northern most part of those bands now making their way through southern louisiana, areas of southern alabama, mississippi and the panhandle of florida still and even a tremendous amount of those tropical rains, some starting to feed through south carolina. here, pretty quiet for our day. we had rain early on, not very much, and 91 was our temperature, expect the temperatures to go down a bit as we cool off and deal with comfortable conditions coming up and then right back up for the end of the week on friday. going to be a hot one. 88 is your temperature

i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with crunch time. after a day of rest, both candidates in the presidential race are gearing up for a busy week on the campaign trail. president obama head to ohio tomorrow while mitt romney and paul ryan reunite in new hampshire with one week left before the republican condition. >> reporter: after a week of personal attacks on the campaign trail, president obama and mitt romney spent a quiet sunday morning in church. the obamas in washington, d.c., the romneys in new hampshire. their surrogates sunday morning spent the day on talk shows where it was anything but quiet. >> the campaign of hope and change has changed to mere. >> mitt romney whining about the tone of this race is completely hypocritical. >> reporter: and the campaign continued to define them. romney adviser continued to press the latest on medicare. >> in order to pay for obama care, he raided the medicare piggy bank. >> reporter: stephanie cutter from the obama campaign. >> president obama through health care reform strengthed medicare.

veronica? >> today may have started out a bit lousy with high humidity and cloud cover and even some showers, but it is quite delightful out there now. 89, still warm, but, oh, the humidity has really dropped from earlier today and even some nice breezes out of the northwest coming through. there is the front early part of the day 7:00 a.m. as it made its way through. not a lot of rain at all, only a few hundreds of an inch of rain and now all about the dry air a until we get to this labor day weekend. and until we start talking about that stuff that will be moving in. and right there where that storm system is swirling just to the northwest is exactly where meteorologist doug kammerer is, hey, doug. >> yeah, veronica, still right down here in the heart of new orleans, right along the river front here. you can see the city out there behind me and the trees blowing in the winds and winds reported upwards of 53, 54 miles per hour as far as the wind gust was reported and that was earlier out at th

storm team 4 meteorologist veronica johnson with a look at impact for our area. we'll head back to new orleans and doug with more on high wind and rain lashing the crescent city. doug. >> yeah, guys, we are watching the storm right now. once again. here on bourbon street central new or leans, bourbon street and canal street. wind starting to pick up. watching the latest band come close to our area. expecting wind to pick up. as they were earlier. 60, 70 miles an hour. show you the radar. the storm has been making its way to the northwest. also a little jg og to the west. computer models going farther west. the national hurricane center track. that will be the case. passing new orleans, tomorrow during the day, by just off to the west. that does put us in toward the potential for not only flooding. but the potential for tornados tomorrow and very strong wind. this thing has become a lot org. a ragged tropical storm the last couple days. take a look at wind we are seeing across the area. wind gusting upwards of 60 to 70 miles an hour. we have seen some gusts, 80 mi

we sent veronica out today. she just had a little pulled pork a little bit earlier and right now, veronica, you're standing by the grill. that's not fair. >> reporter: well, i'm sorry, i will bring you back some. i will do that even though you don't do that to me. okay. earlier during the 5:00 show, you had a chance to meet shirl gardner, we are in mt. vernon area of alexandria, now it's clay's turn. say hi. >> hi, how are y'all? >> reporter: what do you have on the grill. >> few hot dogs and bratwurst, and just having a little feast here. >> you said you were going to -- this is batch one, you've got batch two coming up later. >> that's correct. >> do you have any other secret recipes you need to tell us about? >> no, we're not going to do the tenderloin tonight, i don't think. but that's one we like to put out here on the grill occasionally. but this is it for the night. >> reporter: okay. dogs and pulled pork. that's what we'll be bringing back to the station for you. earlier, doing the 5:00 show, i got soake

veronica johnson is in storm center 4 with the forecast. >>> that's right, aaron, eun. i'm telling you about seizing the day today, nice one for today. outside right now we've got a clear sky, and your temperature's running about two to four degrees cooler than yesterday, and we've got less humidity, too. rockville, maryland, now at 67 degrees, silver spring, too. we've got 67 also at great falls, virginia, ft. belfour at 64 degrees and 71 degrees currently camp springs, maryland. again, with lower humidity around the area. now, temperatures are going to be warming up quite nicely today. by noontime, 85 degrees with only a few scattered high clouds around the area with that dry air. 90 degrees by 3:00 p.m. i think we'll hit 91 today, so a warm one for us, but that's comfortable warmth for late summer, 88 by 6:00 p.m. as we look at your four-day forecast here, 91 today, could hit in some spots down to the south, 95 tomorrow. right now i'm going 93. and yes, tomorrow there will be some clouds moving in, and that is some rain posted there, showers and thunderstorms for the

veronica knows what to do. she uses hairspray, too. >> sorry, aaron. >>> let's look at what we're going to expect today, folks. yeah, go with the extra hairspray today. look at this shot here. live shot from damascus there. you can see the sky filled with some clouds. we have the early morning rain showers come through. those making their way to the north in east. know that later today you will want to keep a watchful eye on the sky. likely to be showers and even storms developing again. your wind out of the west at six miles per hour. we had the rain come through, lingering showers here up to the north. off to the east now. making their way out. there are some rains but it's after about noontime, 1:00, 2:00 today we are going to see the whole area refire with more areas and storms. clouds, too, left around the area. mostly cloudy sky. you saw that. leesburg, your hometown forecast, 81. at noontime today, again, afternoon, there, the showers and storms, could be frequent lightning with these. low visibility. an

i'm veronica de la cruz. today we begin with a storm threat. tropical storm isaac is still hundreds of miles away. a direct impact has florida residents preparing now. nbc's kirk gregory has the latest. >> reporter: wind and rain in puerto rico. a glancing blow from tropical storm isaac as the system meanders across the caribbean. hurricane warnings are in effect for the dominican republic and in haiti where aid groups are mobilizing to assist the thousands of people still struggling i make-shift shelters 2.5 years after an earthquake destroyed the capitol city. >> the next 24 hours will be critical for the population of haiti and the international red cross is concerned. >> reporter: concern is spreading throughout florida as well. the latest projection map shows the state feeling the storm's force as early as sunday. in cape coral, firemen wasted no time in securing a storm curtain around city hall. >> to protect the glass and any debris that comes up against it. >> reporter: and along florida's gulf coast. >> i'd rather be early than late. >

i'm veronica de la cruz in the msnbc newsroom. stay tuned. back it to my buddy's house and said, i did something bad. the next day i went to school, trying to make everything normal again. but in reality, it wasn't normal. i took somebody's life. somebody's son, somebody's brother. you know, and thinking back on it, it's sad because that didn't have to happen. that diplomdn't have to happen all, but it did. now i've got to deal with it. in the process of this, i want to try to help somebody else, like a guy that might have three years, make sure he don't come back as a murderer. that's my new life now. >> yeah! woo! >> but, no matter what's at stake in the game, the all-too-familiar sound of an alarm reminds the inmates of whose yard this is. >> why is everybody down? >> there's an alarm so that's just -- everybody in the institution, every time you hear an alarm, everybody gets down, all inmates. sometimes there might be a fight, there might be somebody who is hurt. so they have to press the alarm, make sure c.o.s know what's going on. most

bye for now, guys. >> thanks veronica. >>> geologists are excited about a brand new find, concerning something that happened about 140 million years ago. they say downtown hong kong is on the remnants of an old extinct super volcano. the term "super volcano" is not scientific. experts use it when they're talking to the rest of us. it means a volcano capable of producing an eruption that's so huge it can change the weather and threaten a species with extinction. so back to the one under hong kong. scientists say the remnants are more visible in an island change located in eastern hong con. they became rocks and slowly cracked into patterns. >> that's super. >>> nightly news is

veronica johnson, you've got the answer. hey, v.j.? >> how about part of the -- i wanted to start with today's weather, because it was a hot one if you were out there today. temperature throughout the area, looking back at the calendar today is the hottest day of the month of august since august 5th when he hit 98 degrees. dew point stayed low today, until 60 degrees. 58 is where it is right now, so the air is dry. today we've even had light breezes coming through. for bethesda, you're at 91. good afternoon to river day and heightsville, 94. and great falls now at 91. our skies have been cloud-free, but they won't be all weekend long. you can see the clouds building. the big rain is coming up from missouri out of arkansas. that's the rain left from isaac. we'll see some of that touch into our area during the holiday weekend. that big blob the green will be moving right into our area that means tropical showers for this area idea. humidity creeps up tonight. and as far as your beach forecast, goes, yes, we're talking rouse at the beach

>> thanks, veronica. >>> checking out the roads. in the first4 traffic report, if you're traveling along yut 50 in maryland, head out and check our 2d map together. travel lanes are open in both directions. really as you make your way from annapolis to the beltway, you're clear. inside the beltway no, issues as you connect to new york avenue. i'll give you a live look as you make your way past east west highway. inbound and more volume than outbound. no major delays at all. you are nice and clear. coming back in ten minutes with a look at your rails and look at i-95 in virginia and i-66 as well. aaron, back over to you. >> thank you, danella. >>> after months of a steady decline at the pump, the price of gasoline is apparently going up. it jumped 17 cents in july. right now the national average, $3.50. it is 15 cents more here in d.c. with the average for a gallon of regular is $3.75 right now. in maryland, it's going to cost you $3.53 on average. in virginia, gas is going for about $3.56 on average. >>> penn state suffered the firs

we will be looking at rain chances, but i don't think it will -- veronica, of course, will have the latest when she sees you in just a little while. >>> a former lacrosse player murdered his one-time girlfriend yeardley love. jack jill benson has more.

. >> thank you, veronica. your first 4 traffic report right now. we're going to start with road work in virginia. if you're traveling the outer loop of the beltway. work zones set up along 123. right now it had only the left lane getting by. it should be wrapping up soon. also your traveling on 7 trying to get to the outer loop or on the dulles toll road, right now the ramps also have construction on it and it may be blocking your access to get to the outer loop of the beltway. let's head to prince george's county. exit 22, 295, construction there set up on the right side. and in montgomery county on the inner loop at university, had the cones set up. they were blocking the right side of the roadway. they took to be completely gone. if not, they are in the final stages so you should be okay. >>> new overnight. a controversial and hotly debated plan to expand gambling in maryland will be sitting on governor martin o'malley's desk this morning. the general assembly approved the bill in a late night vote. melissa mollet live at national harbor for wha

veronica. so it's better for the east coast of florida but looks like this forecast has gotten worse from areas from new orleans, mobile, biloxi into the panhandle of florida. >> we have to keep our fingers crossed. >>> new hope for fed dollars, weak pc sales take a toll and even in an era about airline fees you still won't believe this one. your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. >>> coming up e another suspension in baseball. a first for derek jeter and pair of hat tricks on the diamond. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. at usaa, we believe honor is not exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so differ

here's veronica. >> still advertising that amazingly nice day, barbara. let's check out the temperatures for today. 86 to 91. and that's going to come with low humidity, so it will feel nice, despite the fact that temperatures will be well above average. then we're clear, quite pleasant for the we think 77 to 83. a light wind for us. and then it's a warmer wind for tomorrow. the high, 93 to 95, showers in late. >> all right. well, thank you. nice to have you today. thanks for being with us. >> nice to be here. >> we'll see you later. and that's "news 4 midday" for today. thanks for being with us and we invite you to tune in for news at 4:00, 5:00, can ha6:00 and t tonight at 11:00. we'll be right back here tomorrow morning for news 4 midday at 11:00 a.m. have a terrific day. [ male announcer ] you paid in to medicare for years. every paycheck. now, when you need it obama has cut $716 billion dollars from medicare. why? to pay for obamacare. so now the money you paid for your guaranteed healthcare is going to a massive new government program that's not for

that's where veronica is right now. no rain over your house. >> no, and i just took a look at the radar. it looks like it is going to skirt just to the north. we just hurried up and put all the food away. i'm in rockville, maryland. i've been talking with larry la. why don't you give us a little bit of a tour. that's one thing we haven't seen about your backyard and what makes it so tranquil. >> we have the pond back there with the water coming through. good luck. and then we have some different flower for different -- the summer and then the spring. >> it smells really good back there. >> and this is a good time to come. thank you for coming. >> and the guests are here. the guests have come out to come and see us. everybody say hi. >> hi, everybody. >> somebody come from new jersey. austria. austria. and silver spring. everybody here. >> as promised come on. we're going to play. you get on at the other end and you have to serve to me. this is what you do after dinner, right? hit it. doug, that's it for backyard weather

>> we'd like to give veronica johnson the credit for that, making it happen for us. >> bravo. >> two thumbs up. >> at least for telling us about it. >> that's right, at least we're winning in the weather department.

. >> veronica, thank you, the span of eye acis so big, and as you mentioned a lot of rescue efforts are under way. >> jay gray is in new orleans. >> reporter: isaac's assault has been relentless, punishing winds, driving rains. i rode out katrina at my home. >> the rush of water came quickly. >> again? >> again. >> reporter: hundreds scrambled to get to higher ground. >> got out the back door with the boat, tried to save my next-door neighbor, which couldn't happen, the wind was so strong, it was pushing it down. >> reporter: floodwaters started to swallow homes. >> everything washed away. >> then entire neighborhoods. >> the water kept coming up, and i got -- i know i got 10 foot of water easily. >> reporter: even when levees aren't an issue, there's simply no place for so much water to go. adding to the mess and misery, trees and power lines sheared by the winds. more than half a million without electricity. the number continues to grow. >> people were saying with it being a tropical storm, it wasn't going to be bad. >> reporter: isaac, an unwelcomed guest refuses to leave. jay gray,