building volume towards wilkins avenue. a smooth start on all the roadways this friday morning. police are searching for the man they say is responsible for several armed robberies in pharmacies. >> police do believe they have caught on surveillance cameras. kim dacey has details. >> police say this man steals paint medication and is known for apologizing to his victims before taking off. in mount vernon pharmacy was robbed twice. the pharmacist says he has a gun and told them not to hit the panic alarm. he made off with more than a dozen bottles of medication. police believe the same man is responsible for a string of pharmacy robberies since january. two at the mount vernon store and another on light street on january 31 and the harlem gardens pharmacy on march 15 and may 19. the robber has been seen wearing all black with a baseball hat. pharmacists across the city are hoping to catch this guy and soon. >> it is going to have a detrimental effect on the committee if he is not caught. people be afraid to stock certain medications. >> several pharmacists have come together an o

tracee wilkins was the first reporter live on the scene and joins us with more information.d morning. >> good morning. throughout the morning we have watched as more officers have come on board, more detectives here, and now, as you said, the s.w.a.t. team as well. i want you to take a look behind me and see what's going on right now. police have moved us back yet again as they have once again expanded the scene here. for the third time this morning. i want you to take a look over to the right and see what's happening here on minnesota avenue. it is now taped off. you cannot come down minnesota avenue approaching bening road right now. they have it taped off here at s and 17th. let me show you it what it looked like just a few minutes ago as s.w.a.t. team arrived coming down the street to offer support to these officers who have been here all morning long. now, the let me take you back to earlier to morning. just before 3:00 a.m. there was a shooting here at r and 17th street. a man,ed a dull ma ed a dued e killed. as they began to make their way into the apartment house whe

roger wilkins. [ applause ] i have a final question for all three of you. aleta, what would eleanor roosevelt say to us today as we were leaving this conference? >> she would say the last sentence she ever wrote -- staying aloof is not a solution. it is a cowardly evasion and that we cannot leave our problems to the government. we are the government. >> from aleta's book, aleta has a lovely grow the her book from eleanor roosevelt. you are going to live in dangerous world but it will be an interesting and adventurous one. i wish you the currently to face yourselves and your presently disses and when you know what you really want to be and what you really want to fight for, not in a war but in order to gain a peace, then i wish you imagination and understanding. god bless you, may you win. eleanor roosevelt. [ applause ] there's a lovely moment in your memoir where you're there, a young student at the university of georgia. the phone rings. and it is james meredith. and james meredith is in the process of trying to integrate the university of mississippi. an

news4's tracee wilkins is there now live with a preview of today's hearing. tracee?porter: good morning, aaron. after all the courtroom battles and all of the appeals, today we will find out what the highest court in the nation has to say about the affordable care act. the decision is expected today. now, 26 states and a national business group challenged the law's central requirement that all americans get health insurance. so, today the supreme court will decide if congress has the right to make people purchase insurance or pay a penalty. the court may uphold the health care law, strike it down or say the requirement that most americans carry health insurance is unconstitutional. but maybe they'll keep other aspects of the law in place. if the court rules in favor of the affordable care act, it will settle the legal question surrounding president obama's plan but won't guarantee an end to the political battle. if upheld, republicans are vowing to repeal, block and slow down any momentum to make what they've labeled obama care law. on the other hand, some of the nat

tracee wilkins staying on top of that. >> right now, though, let's get to tom kierein taking a look at the forecast. tom, a little chill in the air this morning. >> quite a rude awakening when you step outside. it's really feeling more like early spring or maybe early fall to look forward here. it's unusual for late june to have it down into the 50s. that's where we are now. much of the region in the 50s. and out in fact mountains it's even in the 40s on this june 26th. amazing. there's the view from space. we have shallow high pressure moving down from the north. that's what's bringing in the chill. all those areas of blue are in the 40s. it uncovers much of western pennsylvania right down into western maryland. the hylands in west virginia, the 40s. the areas in dark green are in the 50s. you can see the northern suburb, western suburbs, parts of virginia in the 50s. areas in green are in the 60s. reagan national is at 64. anything right near the warmer waters of the potomac. low 80s, as well as the bay. anywhere around the bay it's a bit milder. away from the waters, eastern shore,

our own tracee wilkins hosted the event in fairfax. students represented several schools throughout the washington region. aaa administers the safety control program. more than 93,000 kids in our area take part. >>> still ahead, it is the hot new ride at six flags. tonight, news4's richard jordan hops aboard the apocalypse to see if maryland's first and only stand-up roller coaster lives up to the hype. >> gross these fresh herbs and make these beautiful dishes and i'll show you how with the help of the ritz-carlton coming up. >>> we have threats of thunder out there and haggerstown that >>> people now get a chance to stand up to their fears at six flags america, the theme park unveiling brand-new stand-up coaster today and boasts steep drops and hairpin turvns. richard jordan gave the apocalypse a spin. >> reporter: here-raising turns and sudden drops. the newest ride at six flags america strives to create an end of the world thriller with shooting fire and explosions. >> it definitely gives you the feeling that something bad and emin

tracee wilkins is joining us live from the greenbelt metro station with this. good morning. >> good morning. we are expecting to see the first train that's going to have huntington on it coming from greenbelt to huntington to pull up into the station in just a little bit. this is going to be the kind of morning where folks are really going to have to pay close attention. metro spokesman says rush plus will improve the commute for 110,000 customers on the green, yellow, blue, and orange lines. the red line is not impacted. 21 stations will get more frequent service with six additional trains every hour. during peak periods, orange line will get six additional trains per hour, three in each direction between vienna and largo town center. they predict this will add 2600 seats per hour. although the blue line will lose some trains. for the first time they have travel from greenbelt to franconia will traveling to the dash line. the dashed lines operating only during rush hour. largo to i have aen that. they're hope that line will help with the orange crush. this doe

tracee wilkins live with more. >> reporter: good morning. now that we have sunlights, you can see the markings left by investigators. you can see how far the car went out of the lane, striking another vehicle. we have an update from police. the 6-year-old girl is deceased. and police say that that 6-year-old girl was not properly restrained for her height and her age. an 8-year-old girl is in very critical condition after undergoing a number of surgeries. their mother, a 28-year-old woman, was pronounced dead on the scene. let me show what it looked like earlier in the evening. there was a honda civic traveling east on lee highway, carrying one woman and two children. police say that civic sideswiped an suv on lee highway, then hit a honda van trying to make a left-hand turn to go west. the driver of the van had to be rescued and pulled out of his van. police say the accident ended when the civic hit a median, knocked over a sign and came to rest in the eastbound lanes of lee highway. the driver, the mother, was pronounced dead. she was insi

tracee wilkins is live on the scene with breaking new developments. what's going on?er: let me show you right now where the detectives are positions here. they are about a block away from the house where this shooting happened. they are standing there behind that police vehicle. we have seen some uniformed officers approach the house but let me show you what they armed themselves with just a little while ago before they did that. this is video of tse officers retrieving their rifles before going closer to the scene and going closer to that house. let me explain to you exactly what's happened up to this point. around 2:45 a.m. a man was pronounced dead after he was shot outside an apartment house here at 17th and r streets and southea southeast. now, i spoke to one young lady who was theres that happened. she said that there was a crowd of people outside the house and that a man approached what appeared to be a long black something. turns out that something was a gun. that's what that man used to shoot and kill this adult male who died on the scene earlier this morning

i'm tracee wilkins, coming up, we wrap up >>> the president of afghanistan is lashing out at nato after a deadly air strike. president hamid karzai says 18 civilians were killed and called wednesday's predawn strike unacceptable. villagers say five women, seven children and six men were killed. nato says soldiers called in the strike after they came under fire. they're now sending a team to investigate the allegations. >>> and the nato air strike is one of the issues defense secretary, leon panetta will have to deal with today during his visit to afghanistan. panetta arrived overnight to see how the war effort is going and discuss plans for the troop draw-down, his visit comes a day after a series of suicide bombings left 22 people dead. panetta admits the insurgents appear to be more organized but says overall, violence is down. and the white house is offering up money in hopes of stamping out islamic extremist groups in the war on terror. they're expected to detail a plan to offer up to $33 million in rewards for information about top members of el shabab, a militia movement linked to

tracee wilkins has the details. >> reporter: it's at the sound of d.c. storm season. trees down, homes damaged and power out. system pepco customers have grown tired of days extending into weeks without electric electricity. >> every storm is different. every storm can have a different impact on the system. >> reporter: the preparedness director says is the power company is working to have better restoration times, no matter what mother nature may bring. >> starting last year in response to some criticism on our storm preparedness and response, pepco underwent a significant emergency rest ray improvement process. >> reporter: that means better training for employees, more driving on prevent tiff maintenance, and a commitment to serving customers on every level. >> the processes did exist, there are no significantly new processes, it's simply that our employees and our management are all much more aware of the plans and processes, and participate in our drills. >> reporter: emergency management agencies and the red cross says it's important that you do the same. they w

tracy wilkins reports. >> i saw no damage at all. >> reporter: when he got to where he lives, he found a large tree leaning on his house. robert kuehne grew up in this house, it's more than 100 years old. he sudden that sturdy construction is what saved his home. >> the porch was rebuilt about five years ago and much of the wade of the tree is being supported by that very sturdy porch. >> reporter: i don't know the exact number of how many trees down we've had, but most of the damage from the storm was tree damage. >> myra opal says pepco knew a storm was on the way, but didn't expect in magnitude. we had trees uprooted like this one, trees on wires, trees on cross arms, even that broke and snapped our poles. >> additional linemen were brought in from as far as new jersey to help with restoration. >> yesterday, for example we had about 700 personnel out working to clean it up, and 150 personnel supporting those guys, so we've had crews working around the clock since the stormed moved through. >> and as for robert's downed tree, he says it won't be missed. >> actually it provides too mu

i'm tracee wilkins, lives from the gw parkway.ive to daniela with a look at other traffic. >> good morning. a lot of wet pavement. maryland at 216. rain fogging up my camera travel lanes open connecting to the beltway. not an issue as far as volume or accidents, just wet roadways. ing traveling on the outer loop no accidents on the out every or inner. 55 miles per hour at 495. that speed not bad, but give yourself extra time this morning. and taking the rails, no reported delays. a good way to go this morning. metro, marc, çóvre, all looking good. >>> still use a paper card for metro? the agency is making you an offer hard to refuse. starting september 1st, worker who's buy smarttrip cards, they will get a $3 rebate. meaning you pay just $2 for the card. registering also means you will be able to use an auto reload feature in the fall, which will add money to the card when the balance drops to a certain level. metro says it will have smart trip vending machines at stations by september. >>> hollywood has turned into hockeywood. >>

in fairfax county, tracee wilkins, news4. >>> i have to say it, that guy looked like abe lincoln. >> don't think he hasn't heard that before. of course, the beard could get hot out there. >> it was very sticky today. >> a little soon for washington weather to be hitting us. >> normally we get some days -- a lot of folks after last week, as cool as it was, as refreshing as it was said, wait a minute, i didn't want that. we're going to get a chance to cool off. we already have a few rain showers out there as we take a look. the sky has gotten dirtied up. they'll be lowering over the over night period. we're at 87 degrees right now, reagan national airport. the dew point temperature is 61 degrees, get it over 60, it starts to feel humid, especially if there's not much wind. a pocket of higher temperatures here, including there in d.c., and we're at -- it's down here where some rain has been making its way from the southwest to the northeast. take a look at the heat down south. jackson at 92 degrees, 91 degrees in jacksonville, florida, even some higher heat in texas. you're getting the

tracee wilkins describes why. >> as it stands, some fairfax county high school students are getting toheir bus stops at 5:45 in the morning, so they'll make it to school by 7:20. some parents say it's too hard on the kids. >> getting up so early, they can't concentrate. they get sleepy during the day. >> last april the fairfax county school board agreed that it would be better for high school to begin after 8:00 a.m. that's where the discussion ended. no actual changes were made. >> this is a matter of the health of our teen students. >> school board member sandy evans is a strong advocate of later school times, now is leading the charge for the board to actually implement them. >> two thirds of our teen students get 7 hours of sleep or less per school night. they should be getting 9 hours of sleep. that is major sleep deprivation. >> today board members were presented research showing how our school districts were able to make it -- >> the question is how do we make that happen? how do we do that in a way that ensures where you don't harm any of the other things we care deeply about.

"news 4's" tracee wilkins is live on what turned into a very hectic night.e, good morning. >> reporter: it was down the road, down the bw parkway. this was an amazing crowd. all i could think as i was looking at this, wow. >> it closed at 2:00 a.m. they had to start turning people away at 1:00 a.m. this is just a few hours ago. now, the parking lot was packed after traffic getting in here backed all the way up to the bw parkway and beyond. if you actually made it to the casino, the line stretched beyond the casino's property. when police started turning people away, we're told that everyone was very orderly. but this was the scene. well into midnight and into the earlymorning hours as well. last night's vegas-style opening included red carpet, dancers and all kinds of cool stuff. it also includes some popular restaurants like celebrity chef bobby flay's bobby's burger palace and we're told more will be coming soon including prime rib and more live entertainment. they're expecting this place to generate $400 million in revenue. all of that will be going to ma

news4's tracy wilkins is live along memorial circle now with more. >> yes, this is where it all comesher. you have your bikers, your drivers, and also your walkers. i've done it all. i was just driving through here the other day and missed my xilt. and i brought my bike around here and also has issues as well. you can take a look here and see how it can be a little confusing for some folks to walk and cross in this area. so, the national parks service has a plan. national parks service actually oversees this bridge and is commissioned to study reveal that a number of changes need to be made. so expect to see more and clearer signs explaining where you are going and how fast you are allowed to go. there will be additional arrows painted on the roads to select proper lanes before reaching the opposite side of the memorial bridge. and additional signage along the mt. vernon trail. expect shifts in trails and sidewalks and addition of rumple strips installed to alert drivers to upcoming pest industry an walkways. officials explained yesterday why there's a need for all of these changes. >

tracee wilkins joins us with more on these changes. good morning to you. >> good morning. that's the best advice. i think for some riders this morning it's going to be like the first day of school and trying to find their classrooms because you are going to have to pay very close attention to what train you're boarding. you're going to need to watch the digital message signs as well. don't board the wrong train. metro spokesman space that metro plus -- or rush plus will improve the compute for 110,000 customers on the green, yellow, blue, and orange lines. the red line is not impacted. now, 21 stations will get more frequent service with six additional trains every hour of rush hour. for example, during peek periods, orange line customers will get six per hour. three in each direction between vienna and largo town center. metro officials predict this will add more seats per hour. although blue line will have delays since they will have less trains and may be it whatting up to six minutes for additional trains. some of those folks may want to do transferring to see if they

tracy wie ae wie wilkins has mo alexandria county race. >> one of the most competitive elections. 16andidates vying for four open seats on the city council and what hangs in the balance is what alexandria is going to look like in a few years. by the end of the night we should know if the majority of the voters in alexandria are for or against the city council's stance on development in the city. questions on where and how to develop around alexandria has many voters seeing this democratic primary as a referendum of sorts on the future of the city. >> this is probably the most important election we had in the city and i lived here since 1979. >> reporter: april burke has taken a staunch position on the waterfront development plan and while she's for developing the waterfront, she's organized a group that doesn't support the council's proposal for how it should be done. one of many issues that have divided the democratic party in alexandria. >> we don't want to see the density and the height doubled, co quadrupled, for example. >> reporter: some challengers have accused the council of

reporting live, tracee wilkins in fairfax city. news4. >> thank you. >>> wisconsin governor scott walker survived a bitterly fought recall effort and will stay in office. the republican defeated challenger tom barrett, milwaukee's dwemocratic mayor. he told supporters his victory is an affirmation of political courage. the recall challenge was the result of governor walker's divisive measure that eliminated union rights for most public workers last year. walker is the first governor in u.s. history to survive a recall election. >>> four minutes after the hour. today the senate banking committee will hold its first hearing on jpmorgan's $2 billion trading losses. jpmorgan acknowledged the loss on may 10. the money was in a portfolio that was supposed to manage the risks the bank takes with its own money. but bank officials say the portfolio turned out to be more volatile than first thought. ceo jamie dimon is scheduled to appear before the committee next week. >>> bad credit could cost the manassas park school system thousands of do

tracee wilkins is live in falls church, virginia, with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. police are still here on the scene. we have the city of falls church and fairfax county police surrounding this house in the 600 block of hillwood avenue. they say this came in as a call as domestic disturbance. a lot has happened since then. they believe there was just one man inside of the househo

tracee wilkins live in springfield.udio. >> thank you. >>> a pedestrian shortcut in fairfax county could cost you $250. starting today, police are issuing tickets to those who don't use a crosswalk at gallows road. many people often use a shortcut to get around construction. it puts them in a dangerous path of traffic. pedestrians will have to take the longer route for quite a while. construction won't be done for another four years. >>> 15 before the hour now. a prince george's county woman lucky to be alive after a car crashed through her apartment. police say the woman was hit in the head by a flying tire. she was also thrown from her bed when they car came crashing in around 3:30 yesterday morning at the chestnut ridge apartments on riverdale road. her neighbor, a nurse, stayed with her until emergency crews got to the scene. >> went to the lady's apartment. she was disoriented, yeah. got an ice pack and put it on her head. >> that woman is expected to be okay. police are trying to figure out what caused the car to

tracee wilkins has the latest. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. show you what it looks like behind me on telegraph road. they are still taking care of repairs there. and now we're watching this connector bus trying to find its way around this mess here. fairfax water authority is handling the water main break that happened here on telegraph road between wilton and sharon chapel road. the road is closed. telegraph, again between wilton and sharon chapel road is closed while they take care of the water main break. this happened a while ago. took time for them to find out exactly where the leak was in this 12-inch water main. and they were doing repairs overnight with the hopes of having it all cleaned up by this morning so that it wouldn't impact morning rush. the work has run over, and it look like it's going to go ahead and impact morning rush. if this is your normal route, make sure that you avoid it. the lanes are closed here, and you'll have to take a detour if you come this way. reporting live, i'm tracee wilkins, news4. >> thank you. >>> shoe

let's go live to tracee wilkins. >> reporter: good morning. me show you what it's looking like here on telegraph road. they still have the road closed between wilkins and sharon chapel road here in alexandria. so if this is the way that you come, know that they do have telegraph road closed here as they continue the teamwork try and repair a water main break. now, this water main break happened a little while ago. a 12-inch main. they were hoping to have this wrapped up by the morning rush. as you see, that's not going to be the case. with more information on how to get around this, we're going to go back it the studio with danella. good morning. >>> good morning. the good news in that area is that there are detours in place. i just want to urge you to approach with caution. okay? so let's head down to i-95 in virginia. other problems in virginia are really along i-95. in fact, jammed northbound at dale city. you're driving at 11 miles per hour. very slow. but then it's pretty much stop and go as you continue your commute. here's a live look f

tracee wilkins is there live with the latest there. good morning. >> good morning, barbara. as you can see here behind me, police are still here on the scene and still barricading more than six blocks here of hillwood avenue and falls church. as you said, yes, this situation has been going on for some time and we are quickly approaching the 24-hour mark. police say an armed man who's barricaded himself inside his home is communicating with them, but refuses to leave the house. and is still a danger to his neighbors. the only real movement in and out of the six-block barricade zone has been from officers relieving other officers. many people who live within this community were not allowed to return to their homes yesterday evening and they stayed somewhere else. today they came back hoping to get in. >> have to go inside my house to get my prescription for high blood pressure because yesterday i didn't take it. >> reporter: her grandson was left at the barricade while police escorted her to get her medication. she was one of the few allowed inside the hot zone. >> it's a litt

tracee wilkins is live on the scene with the very latest. good morning, tracee. >> this is deal for folks who live in this neighborhood. they have six blocks of hillwood avenue and some side streets closed off. people who are effected, they know who they are because they have not been allowed to leave their homes. police are really concerned about this safety of the people who live here. so soon we'll be approaching time for folks to get up and go to work. police will be offering escorts to get people out of the neighborhood and to where they need to go. so people are going to have to coordinate with police if this situation continues. now, the house is actually right past those lights, about four houses down there on the left-hand side. the s.w.a.t. team responded to the house on 600 block of hillwood avenue around 4:30 yesterday afternoon, after a call for domestic disturbance. now, police are not releasing exactly what happened with that domestic disturbance and how they knew about the domestic disturbance and who else was involved. at th

tracee wilkins live on the scene for us now with the latest. tracee? >> good morning.is still going on right now. and, in fact, police are saying that what they need to do now is close more of the streets around this area because they have cars that are coming down to these streets that have been closed off and making u-turns so they are concerned about the traffic pattern and they're going to go ahead and close some more streets surrounding this incident. now, we're here on hillwood avenue. and this happened in this sixth block of hillwood avenue. police were called there for -- in the 600 block of hillwood avenue. police were called there for what they're calling a domestic disturbance. it started at 4:30 yesterday afternoon. they belief the man inside was armed but alone in his home. now, at this point several shots were fired inside of the home. police say that no one outside of the house was injured. at 9:00 p.m., they threw a chemical substance inside the house to try get that man to come out. it did not work. at 1:00 a.m. they made contact with him and have been

tracee wilkins joins us live outside the supreme court with hundreds of others who waited for the bigouncement. tracee, tell us about the mood outside the court right now? >> well, good morning, barbara, we still have a crowd of hundreds gathered here outside the supreme court. take a look at these folks. some people down there. some people heading down there just to be a part of history and folks were out here and, let me tell you, when the opinions were read, whether they were for affordable health care or not, people in front of the supreme court instantly started focusing on the next step. there were hundreds of demonstrators, both for and against affordable health care who gathered in front of the supreme court this morning. some people had been camped out since yesterday, waiting to hear if the justices would decide affordable health care was constitutional. after all the courtroom battles and appeals, the highest court in the nation decided that affordable health care law could go forward with its aim of covering more than 30 million uninsured americans. the court found problem

in fairfax county, i'm tracee wilkins, news 4. >>> well, you may notice some changes today if you use the memorial bridge in or out of the city. the park service has begun tweaking dozens of signs and adding roadway markings to try to make memorial circle a little less confusing and a lot safer. it also plans on movesing one of the crosswalks further away from the circle to keep pedestrians and bicyclists safe. park police say they have had to deal with a number of accidents at this circle, which many drivers consider one of the most confusing traffic spots in our area. >>> and speaking of traffic, let's check in with danella sealock on this friday morning. any problems out there? >> heading down i-95 in virginia making your way southbound, you'll start to see delays by route 123. pretty slow past the occoquan and this is what it continues to look like and it looks better for you along i-95 in virginia. let's look at route 50 in maryland this time. from the capital beltway as you make your way out to annapolis and even to the toll plaza. no accidents or major delays. if you're thinkin

news 4 tracee wilkins is live at the scene and has the latest for us. tracee, good morning. >> good morning. police are still holding the scene here and continuing their investigation. they've been here all morning long, ever since this woman was discovered, but they just ruled it a homicide, literally, a few minutes ago. family members rushed to the scene after they received the news that their loved one was found dead inside the deli she ran for so many years. her son identified the deceased as his mother, 65-year-old june limb. >> a little after 6:00 this morning we got a phone call for an adult female who was unc unconscious at this location. >> discovered dead inside the store after employees reported to work this morning. she was supposed to open the deli, like she always did. people here comes call her grace because of the name of the store. as news of her death spread, there were tears, great sadness and prayers for a woman for people in this community love dearly. >> we call her on the phone and if we call her on the phone and we go in there an

news4's tracee wilkins has more. >> reporter: the scene clear here at the holiday inn express in elk ridge. but last night it was amazing, there were fire trucks and police cars and emergency crews here. because any time that you're dealing with a possible meth lab, you're looking at the possibility of an explosion. folks staying here overnight reacted to the fact that all of this was happening at their hotel. >> i got woke up by the fire department about quarter to 12:00th and they said we had a hazmat situation. come downstairs and later learned there was some kind of meth activity going in a room. >> reporter: it was the most unexpected wake-up call for guests of the holiday inn express and suites in the 6,000 block of marshalee boulevard. someone reported a strong, unusual order coming from a fourth-floor room. >> i didn't personally smell anything, when i come out of the room. i didn't smell anything prik prior to that. >> gene was just a few doors down from the hotel room turned alleged methamphetamine lab. he was one of many guests evacuated from the fourth floor. >> third flo

. >> with this camera, i shoot pictures of people who don't drink wilkins coffee. >> i'm ready. else? >> well, a lot of people don't know that many muppets got their start in television commercials. you know, a lot of actors get their start in commercials, but that's the same thing for muppets. when jim henson started working in television, he got the opportunity to make some television commercials and ended up making hundreds throughout the 1950s and '60s. and some of his characters for those commercials went on to bigger careers. cookie monster, for example, started as a puppet in a snack-food commercial, and rowlf the dog, who's the pianist from "the muppet show," got his start in a purina dog chow commercial. >> these drawings by henson are called "storyboards." they show the dialogue and action in a production before it's shot. the next step is making the puppets come alive by giving each its own unique character. >> a lot of what comes from the puppet, or the personality of the puppet, is not really just in the fabric and the fleece or the foam, it's also the performance,

in reagan national airport, i'm tracee wilkins, news4. >>> d.c. council chairman kwame brown is talking about the ongoing ethics probes that are becoming a big distraction in d.c. and the government here. he spoke to reporters after the council passed a new budget yesterday. brown says he has no plans to resign. he also says he did not do anything wrong in the 2008 election campaign. >> i don't think i broke any laws in the 2008 campaign. and that's all i'm going to say about the 2008 campaign. >> in the past month, the federal judge has sentenced former ward 5 councilmember harry thomas junior to prison for stealing city funds. and two former campaign aides to mayor vincent gray have pleaded guilty in a widening preeb in i the mayor's 2010 election campaign. >>> nine minutes after 11:00. coming up, breaking news on redskins training camp. plus the space shuttle "enterprise" is on the move again today, where it will end up and how it's getting there. >>> strong reaction to the results of the recall election in wisconsin. we'll have the latest on w

news4's tracee wilkins joins us live from the supreme court with a preview of today's ruling. hi, tracee. >> reporter: good morning. more than 50 million uninsured americans are standing by in anticipation to see what's going to happen here and what the supreme court will decide. the question is, is the affordable care act constitutional? after all of the courtroom battles and back-and-forth, today the highest court in the nation will make that decision. 26 states and a national business group challenged the law's central requirement that all americans get health insurance. so, the judges will decide if congress has the right to make people purchase insurance or pay a penalty. if the court rules in favor of the health act, it will settle a legal question surrounding president obama's plan, but it won't guarantee an end to all of the political battles that surround this legislation. some of the nation's largest insurance companies now say, even if the court does strike down the law, they will continue honoring a few of its requirements anyway, like letting parents keep children

reporting in rockville, i'm tracee wilkins. >>> we have breaking news in colorado. a fast-moving fire is threatening thousands of homes outed is of colorado springs. overnight it doubled in size. the waldo canyon fire engulfed more than 24,000 square miles and 24,000 people forced from their homes and already fears that whole developments may be destroyed. those leaving town say it's hard to stay ahead of the blaze. >> packed up two houses, my sister's house and our house and we just escaped with our children and our animals and thought we could stop here at another place and now we're moving on, again. >> on top of battling the flames, firefighters are also battling record heat. temperatures have been above 100 for five straight days. they're supposed to climbi into the 90s, again, with no rain in sight. >>> taking a look outside here in the washington area, beautiful out there. tom, what are you thinking? what is the rest of this day going to look like? >> dry, very low humidity and, as a result, we have a fire danger here, too. we have winds gusting around 20 to

let's go to tracee wilkins on the scene to find out what happened. >> reporter: good morning. police are holding the scene here in southeast. as you can we see, detectives are here, plain clothes officers are also here, along with uniformed officers trying to figure out what happened here. they say an adult male was shot there. he was transported to the hospital. where he was of pronounced dead. at this point they don't have any suspect information. they're still trying to figure out exactly what led to this shooting. they've been on the scene all morning here trying to figure this out. we're going to be here them as they continue this investigation. >> thank you. >>> a major traffic alert for drivers headed to the beach today. the bay bridge will shut down in both directions this afternoon. starting at 1:15 the bridge will close for about 40 minutes. the closure is not for anything happening on the bridge but for something traveling under it. a barge carrying four massive 14-story cranes will pass under the bridge, clearing it by only four feet. transportation officials were

this is wilkins avenue. building in the polo. a nice start on the entire belt light -- building in the outer loop. -- a nice start on the entire beltway. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> maryland live! will be the state's largest casino. it has 4000 soldiers 50 slot machines -- 4752 slot machines. there'll also be six restaurants including a massive buffet. most of the slots and games will be available. >> will have 3200 machines that will be available. we will have five of the six restaurants operational. we will have live market buffet, noodles, the burger palace, and the cheesecake factory will open. >> it is expected to create 4000 new jobs. that brings us to our water cooler question of the day. with the opening of the third largest casino in the nation, do you think maryland should build a sixth casino? you can share your response on wbaltv.com, on our facebook page, or send us an e-mail to watercooler@wbaltv.com. >> police are investigating an early-morning shooting. officers were called to greenmount avenue just

wilkins, because i -- she may be one of the few in the district but my daughter absolutely loves the middle school lunch and would eat it every day if i allowed her to. she particularly loves the new -- the chinese food serving containers, she thinks those are really cool. so you know, kudos to you and ms. reichert. and then i wanted to draw people's attention to a lunch time forum next month that spur is doing. oakland is referenced in the report as having made some innovations, having done some things that are a little bit ahead of us in certain ways. their nutrition director and one of their community partners are going tb to be at spur on june 12 talking about what they have done, that might be a good way for board members or community members who are interested in this to start talking about this. the vision for the future. so you know, i would like to see us move forward in some way to sort of -- and i don't know whether it's a master plan for student knew trig, i don't know if it's tissue i don't know what shape that takes. i know that everyone is in survival mode at this poin

. >> tracee wilkins is on the phone in the northeast. flash flooding there. tracee? >> i'm hoping you guys can see the pictures of the flash flooding we've seen in the northeast. this is right near benning road at blain street and 42nd street. you will see some police cars in those pictures because this is right near the sixth district police station and, so, we had some police cars that were flooded in this area and the water came very quickly. it was very high. ucou you probably could hear off in the distance we have fire trucks moving through this corridor and traffic on benning road is backed up. this is all the way down to benning road and minnesota avenue where we're seeing traffic backed up and that is one of the busiest, if not one of the busiest intersections in washington, d.c. so, this is going to be a nightmare of a commute for a lot of folks. now, when that water started to rise on blain street, it happened so quickly, a number of sixth district police officers ran out to try and move their personal vehicles and, also, police cars to try to just protect

this is what looks like that wilkins avenue. that is the result.know how that evolves. delays out of white marsh. >> today is fairly comfortable. the humidity will be in the comfortable range. that would change to more and senate. mid to upper 90's. heat index will be over 100. >> thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> we will be back with a live update at 7:25. >> have a good one. >> this is a wbal-tv 11 editorial from president and general manager dan joerres. >> the u.s. olympic trials are under way and the excitement has just begun. in the midst of the bicentennial of the war of 1812, independence day this weekend, and the upcoming 2012 olympics, we can truly say we are proud to be americans. the olympics are still the world's stage like no other, with the best athletes competing and representing their countries. you can see the trials and all of the games right here on wbal-tv 11, as world records are broken and new ones are set. join us 7:30 p.m. nightly for the "o-zone" to keep up with all of the action. certainly, all eyes will be on m

. >> i'm rebecca wilkins. i'm with citizens for tax justice. i think we need to embrace taxmaggedon, or as bruce calls it, tax-majinon. it's almost an opportunity to reset the button and let the bush tax cuts expire, and then do some sensible reforms, come back in january, and decide what targeted tax cuts really need to be made. and everybody, like len said is going to have to pay higher tax rates to address the budget problems. but i find it really frustrating for us to focus, as scott did, on just the federal income tax. when you look at the chart that len so kindly copied up from our report in april, the taxes that people pay, people at the low income range pay huge amounts of state and local taxes. now all of news this room, the federal income tax is the biggest tax we pay, so that's what we tend to focus on. but there is a washington on the other coast where the bottom 20% pay 17% of their income in state and local taxes. and the top 1% pays less than 3% of their income in state and local taxes. now when you go to the store to buy your ki

tracee wilkins is live with more. good morning, tracee. >> good morning, eun.e is still closed off here at 17th. let me show you what it looked like a little while ago as police began to bring people from inside that apartment house and making sure they were safe. we saw a mother exit with a baby and another woman come out with her child. she's are people who live inside of that apartment house where the apparent standoff is happening. i'm tracee wilkins, reporting live in southeast. >>> also breaking news on the >>> good morning. following breaking news on 295, right now we have a crash just past 197. the good news is it was blocking all your lanes and you were only able to pass in the shoulder lane, but right now your travel delays and travel delays are serious. serious. angie, b we gotta sell the car. where would we even start? get the car. hi howard. get in. hi, good to see you. start with an actual written offer when selling your car, no strings attached. carmax. start here. of the humor that made their talk show a hit for 15 years. later this morning for

tracy wilkins has more from the new no-ma/gallaudet station. >> reporter: if you don't know, then youon't know, that for years the neighborhood surrounding the now former new york avenue/florida avenue/gallaudet metro station is known as no-ma. metro officials decided last year the station's name should reflect the community it's in. >> i'm sure some have been using it for years, it will be a bit of a change. then you hear is and go, north of massachusetts, and you get it. >> reporter: today there was an official ribbon-sitting. cutting. the no-ma station was -- but a lot has changed since the opening. >> i think it's something that the district saw, if a station was put in here, development would come around. they put a plan together, thought this thing through, helped fund it, and here it is. >> reporter: writers say the name makes sense. >> it's catchy, trendy, it works. >> as long as you know where you're going, they could name it anything. it's fitting for the area. so, i mean, it's cool. >> though now this is noma-gallaudet u, they'll keep the original name for a while so people

i'm tracee wilkins, news 4. >>> the government added more toyotas to the list of vehicles that could catch fire due to problems with power window switches. 6 6, 000 camryes are in the recall. they are looking at 2008 and 2009 camry's. some yaris subcompacts and all 2008 highlanders. there have been 161 fires so far and nine people injured. so far, no recalls. >>> we are just getting started here on news 4 as police open an investigation. reaction from hollywood to the death of rodney king. >>> jack osbourne reveals he's [ female announcer ] with xfinity, you can always expect more. like more on demand shows and movies than ever. and more ways to discover them too. plus more speed from america's fastest internet provider. so you can run more devices at the same time. ♪ feel a firework [ female announcer ] and best of all, it keeps getting better. no wonder more people choose xfinity over any other provider. ♪ love can be so mystical ♪ >>> breaking news now. a jury reached the verdict in the roger clemens trial. the verdict is expected to be read in a few minutes. we'll have it for you

. >> baseball hall of famers, clyde drexler, and dominique wilkins.s. >> chatting away. >> you don't want to miss it. >> we'll be making our picks, coming up. >> yes. very heated discussions, behind the scenes. >> that's a hard one. >> all right. all right. >>> a reminder, father's day just around the corner, for all of you wonderful guys out there. and expert chef robert irvine is here. he's heating up the kitchen out here and making a feast that will make any dad happy, i hope. >> he has some arms from chopping. >>> you guys remember "dr. doolittle," right? can talk to the animals. it turns out, if you can't talk to them, you can learn something from them about staying healthy. as a new book called "zoobiquity," investigates what doctors can learn from animals. ucla barbara doctor sara matterson rarely makes house calls, except for jake, a chimp at the zoo. dr. natterson has been moonlighting at the zoo as a modern-day dr. doolittle. >> i came here to the l.a. zoo. and there's a hospital that resembles a human hospital. >> reporter: she's been 13r50

morgan state university president david wilkins spoke personally -- spoke publicly about the gruesome murder might alex kinyua. he assured the community that safety was its highest priority. we have confirmed a terrible tragedy, baltimore county man has to son-in-law's were killed and a car accident while visiting england. they died at the scene of the crash monday and oxford. also killed was a son-in-law from england. his daughters remain hospitalized. the family had traveled to celebrate a marriage from earlier this year that took place here in baltimore. >> two women are taking on b g, one from anne arundel county and the other from queen anne's county. they want to fix a dangerous problem that escalated out of control, sparking a fire in the middle of a birthday party. >> this lawsuit against the d e was filed today in the circuit court of anne arundel county. but the landlord and tenant of this home say all this could have been prevented if bge had taken their concerns seriously. she speaks out publicly for the first time about her lawsuit against bge, claiming the energy giant f