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Michelle-hankinsFourth-avenue couple of days, 90 will feel better. currently 77 degrees at reagan national. there's the humidity on its way down. the humidity is out of here for a couple of days. 54% as our winds have shifted out of the north at 12 miles per hour. so the frontal system that caused all the damage yesterday now serving us with some beautiful weather as we are expecting bright sunshine and again these cooler temperatures are for the next few days. satellite radar very quiet out there. our frontal system that caused all the problems now across the carolinas, you can see it petering out overnight and we are left with high pressure building in. so bright sunshine today and a very quiet weather pattern. if you've got to get outside and do cleanup, no problems with the weather forecast today as it should be a quiet one. lots of sunshine, cooler, best part a little less humid than it's been with a high temperature of 90 degrees. winds out of the north here at about five to 10. more details on the forecast, generally a good looking workweek, i'll have those details coming up in just a couple of minutes. allison, tony back to you. >> thank you. thousands of residents across the area are waking up without power and it's creating a tricky commute for drivers. >> pepco is reporting about 237,000 customers without power. mostly in montgomery county. dominion has more than 10,000 customers in the dark, majority are in northern virginia and in maryland, bge has more than 35,000 outages at this time. fox 5's sarah simmons joins us live from rockville with more. sarah. >> reporter: well, tony, i can tell you here in montgomery county the traffic signals are the big issue with the power outages along rockville pike most of the traffic signals this morning have been out and where we are here at nicholson lane and rockville pike, we actually have officers who are here directing traffic right now, there's about 270 traffic signals that are out at this point in montgomery county. now, these officers arrived when they heard about the fact that there was a random citizen. if you take a look at the video, there was a random citizen who showed up here earlier directing traffic and he showed up right after a small fender bender took place at this intersection. of course with it being a four way stop, not everybody was heeding that and there happened to be a fender bender at that point. he was out here during that time until officers arrived, showed up and then they started directing traffic. i spoke with the man right after he finished up. here is what he had to say. >> you know what's amazing? i'll bet you 30% of the people either smiled at me or waved at me, people were very careful and i never felt like it was real dangerous. >> reporter: what did the police officer say to you? >> he said thanks a lot. >> reporter: and he said that he also happened to be a defense attorney. he knows the officers as well but just thought he would help out at least until montgomery county police could get here. but they are telling us, police are, they do not recommend folks get out in the middle of the intersection and direct traffic. that of course is the officer's job, but obviously it did help because traffic has been flowing through here much better since directing traffic has been going on here but of course there are so many traffic signals that are out today. people are going to have to remember to heed the four way stop rule. back to you, tony and allison. >> and be patient. thank you very much. that's just one intersection causing a chaotic morning commute. there are traffic lights and accidents all over the area. >> lauren demarco is keeping track for us this morning of all of that and it has been a problematic morning, lauren. >> reporter: it has. you know, great information from sarah, 355 just one of the roads really affected at this point. also route 1 in belleville, 29 and silver spring, georgia avenue and river road. we have been having the issue of not only the traffic signals being dark but the traffic cameras are out in a lot of cases so sky fox has been very helpful. they were over the scene earlier, river road at falls road. we had some powerlines down and trees down reported in that area and also the traffic signals were dark, so here's a look at that. we have got delays on river road, actually in both directions and i can tell you, you know what? it's actually affecting traffic on the beltway as well. we take a live look from traffic land right now in virginia the inner loop of the beltway it slows from the dulles toll road all the way across the american legion bridge into montgomery county because of spillover traffic for these delays at river road. we are seeing a similar story on 270, southbound, heavy and slow from father hurley boulevard all the way down to the split. a lot of that due to spillover traffic because of the traffic signals being out on 355, also there was a wreck reported at the split, that's now off on the left side of the roadway. want to mention it's not just montgomery county in the district, we also have a lot of roads, benning road, minnesota avenue, connecticut avenue, wisconsin where you find the traffic signals are dark so please be sure to treat that as a four way stop. that's a check of your fox 5 on- time traffic. >> thank you very much. the district was hit particularly hard when it comes to traffic light outages. over 20 intersections of signal problems in d.c. has received hundreds of reports of damage by trees. >> ddot director gabe klein joins us live from the reefs building with more on the -- reeves building with more on the repair effort. where are you now in your progress? >> good morning allison. yeah, it's been a hectic evening. our urban forestry administration, who handles all of the public trees, has been out now since about 3:30 yesterday dealing with the cleanup throughout the city as well as our traffic signal team and all of our contractors. right now we are actually up to about 50 intersections that are all out from 20th, pepco actually powers down before they bring power back up, but we've touched -- we had about 275 locations with either trees or major branches down and we have assessed every single one and now we are in the process of cleaning it up. of course, when you have live wires involved in a lot of these situations, you have to wait for pepco and to be honest, pepco is a little outgunned at this point by the storm particularly in montgomery county. >> i want to make sure that we heard you correctly and that we don't just skip over what sounds like new information. now, 50 intersections without lights and that's part of the process of bringing the power back up; is that right? >> reporter: that is my understanding. we do have all way stops, deployed -- stop signs deployed at many of these intersections, we have traffic control officers at these intersections. we have also deployed mobile generators, so they are out, but the general public will see generally some sort of mitigation at the intersection. >> gabe, we are seeing dramatic video here of a huge tree down in northwest. looks like just missing a car there parked. was this the other big part of this as far as the downed trees? what else did you have to deal with? >> reporter: well, yeah, there are trees down all over, particularly in northwest, but also into northeast as well. some of them are very, very large and they have fallen in some cases on people's homes, or on their porches. many are public street trees and also a good many are private trees. now, when they come into the roadway, we treat them as public and we clear it. but there's quite a bit of damage on private property that will have to be assessed and dealt with in the next few days by, you know, residents and businesses. >> i know you have a lot of work ahead of you. thanks for taking time to talk with us this morning, gabe klein with ddot in the district. thank you sir. meanwhile crews have restored power to wssc's river road plant which provides 75% of the water to prince george's and montgomery counties. mandatory water restrictions still in place to make sure there's enough water pressure to fight firefighters. the customers are stopped to -- asked to stop all outside water use, want you to limit toilet flushing and oil run your washing machine or dishwasher when they are full. lots of destruction left from yesterday's storm around the region this morning including roofs ripped off of buildings like this one on cherry hill road in college park. uprooted trees, high winds damaged 16 apartment buildings there. 74 apartments had to be evacuated. another 10 buildings at an apartment complex on edmonton road in greenbelt also damaged. as you've seen this morning with very little notice, the severe weather can turn anyone into a victim. a falling tree just missed one woman by just inches. not only did 1450e survive but -- she survive but she also learned firsthand how quickly strangers will come to the rescue. here's roby chavez with more. >> reporter: the fierce weather blew in with little notice, 75- mile-per-hour winds throwing trees down all along river road. this one blocked the entrance to the beltway diverting traffic. >> it kind of blew in from out of nowhere and then, you know, winds were swirling. i didn't see any funnel clouds or anything, but bad wind as we can get around here. >> reporter: marsha crowley was driving on river road and dodging trees. one came crashing down and just missed her. >> i was driving and i saw the tree start to fall and i slammed on the brakes and apparently it fell and hit my car. and but it missed me by about 3 inches. it was very windy and it was pouring rain. >> reporter: the tree blocked river road for nearly an hour. motorists say the tree fall on the car and ran to help the woman inside, then used saws to help remove the tree from the road. chris sellwood was one of those who lent a helping hand. >> everyone was great. we were taking turns with the saw. i came down here, there was probably already a half dozen, maybe eight people helping her out. it was nice to see. >> reporter: it's a lucky day for marsha crowley but not her car as she stood in the middle of river road, she recalls the howling wind. >> i am feeling so lucky. i'm trying not to look at the dent in the car that's that far from where i was sitting. it looks like it cracked the windshield, took both of the side mirrors off and dented the front hood. >> reporter: roby chavez, fox 5 news. >> the fox 5 viewer news force has been out in full force sending us pictures and video of the storm and the damage. >> take a look at this. the storm as it passed over leesburg virginia yesterday afternoon, you can see the trees whipped by the winds and hear that rain pounding on the windows. this was posted on our website by james 78. we thank you, james. college park uploaded this picture of a massive tree across a driveway in her neighborhood. it's a scene likely being repeated in hundreds of places across the d.c. region. thanks for sending in those pictures. keep them coming. we'd love to see the damage in your area. >> uh-huh. hundreds of d.c. teachers getting the ax. why the chancellor is handing out pink slips at this point. plus we will be joined in studio by the washington teachers association president for reaction. also leaked classified documents have the white house and the pentagon on damage control. what those documents contain next. keep it here. we are back right after the break. it's 9:12. looks like our competitors for the raid deathcathlon are rearin' to go. first a spray of hot shot for one team, and fast-killing raid for the other. and they're off! 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[ music ] see the difference? pillsbury toaster strudel, the one kids want to eat. swimming is♪ y favorite thing. and only two things can get me out of the water. pruned toes... ♪ and totino's. ♪ we're the kids in america guys remember, we're a solar system. mars is down...and... um, it's only 10am. who hasn't had their jimmy dean breakfast this morning? mmmm! now lets orbit i feel awesome. you're all awesome. jimmy dean breakfast sandwiches, fight the morning fade. hundreds of d.c. teachers getting the ax. more than 300 teachers and staff members are being fired. schools chancellor michelle reid says they tested low during new staff evaluations or failed to get certified. they evaluated under a new method, it's called impact, which looks at test scores and the academic growth a student achieves under the teacher. >> quite frankly, we have to move away from the system that prioritizes the desires and needs of adults over what's in the best interest of kids. >> chancellor reid says hundreds more teachers could also be fired next year. the teachers union is appealing the firings and washington teachers union president george parker joins us this morning with his response to these terminations. good morning to you. good to see you again. >> good morning. good to see you. >> what is the initial reaction from the teachers union? >> number 1, we are going to have to do everything we can to protect the rights of those teachers, but i think a bigger issue here is not the firings of the teachers, it is the process by which those teachers were fired and that this new document, the impact that is being used to evaluate teachers, we certainly have a lot of issues with it. we surveyed our teachers and even those teachers who have received outstanding and satisfactory ratings, 80% of them all say this is not the right document to evaluate our teachers. so i think the bigger story here is not assuming that's because these teachers were fired. some kind of way chancellor reid it's actually cleaning up the school system, the issue here is whether or not the document that was used to fire these teachers and the evaluation process was one that truly identifies whether you have quality teachers in the classroom and that has not been validated yet. >> it's called impact. when we hear this, for those of us not in the school system, what is this exactly? who evaluated the teachers? >> let me give you one of our concerns. >> okay. >> number 1, let's say you and tony, would you think your evaluation should depend upon what tony does? in this evaluation, 5% of an individual teacher's evaluation is dependent upon what the teacher next door is doing. that does not make sense to me. that does not seem fair. >> you asked that this pilot -- or this program be run through a pilot system. >> yes. >> you asked that chancellor for this -- to test this method. >> yes we d because number 1, it is -- yes, we did because number 1 it's very, very important document. there is more training. teachers themselves need time to train to know how to respond to this instrument but this instrument was put into place without any policy and i think the results we have here is that we have teachers being fired but i think that it's important that the public understand because these people were fired does not mean that you did not have some outstanding teachers that were being fired because the chancellor did not take the time to implement this document as a way to ensure that you kept your best teachers and that the only teachers who were being separated were those teachers who didn't immediate the standard. >> she has said that these teachers did not measure up during their evaluations or did not get certified. is any part of this statement in your opinion valid? were some teachers that have been let go under this not effective teachers? >> let me say this. the certification piece, there's not a lot because teachers are to be certified. i think that clearly i can't sit here and say that out of the pool, that some of these teachers were teachers who should not have been terminated. but here is the key. the problem is we can't say that we know or not because the evaluation instrument under which these teachers were evaluated has not been validated and it has a lot of flaws. >> you plan to appeal this. what does that entail? >> certainly. >> what does this mean? >> number 1, we will take all the legal avenues that we have, we will challenge it through our arbitration procedure and i think certainly some of these will be overturned and i want to say that our issue here is not that we believe no teacher should be terminated. the issue here is that you're only going to improve the school district. if the instrument that is used to evaluate teachers is one that is sound so that when a teacher gets a certain rating, the public and everyone else can feel assured that this is really accurate, that you're getting the best teachers and only letting go of those who can't make the standard and we don't have that today. >> hundreds more could be fired next year. what does this leave the process of these children, our children being educated? >> well, i think that there's a lot of turnover, number 1. i think that there is a misconception maybe among the public that these firings and that these teachers who are fired are replaced by better teachers. the reality is some of these teachers who are being fired are already great teachers and so i think that to assess what the impact will be on our children, i think we are going to have to see what the end results are but i certainly don't want anyone to be under the false impression that this automatically means that we are going to have only high quality teachers in the classroom because we don't yet have ab evaluation -- an evaluation, a process in place to really identify accurately whether we have high quality teachers in there and certainly the results of these last firings we cannot depend on the certainty and accuracy of whether or not we really fired teachers who were not meeting the standard or whether we just have teachers being fired for media sake. >> mr. parker, the president of washington teachers association, surely this story is not dead. we will be seeing you in the future. >> i'm sure you will. >> thank you, george parker. >> thank you both. meanwhile, the white house and pentagon are working damage control this morning. doug. >> reporter: one of the biggest leaks of documents in u.s. military history. i'm doug luzader in washington. we will have more on the potential damage coming up. that plus holly is out learning a new art form this morning. holly. >> reporter: i am. i'm learning several art forms tony as we are focusing on budokai this morning, japanese martial arts, multiple disciplines. i know you've heard of judo but have you heard of jodeau? we are going to learn about that and watch it in action later. >> thanks, holly. before you send you off to break, what island -- on what island are 1/3 of the world's languages focused? new guinea, bora bora or sri lanka. the answers coming up but more on our facebook. much more ahead, so keep it right here. coming up on 9:25 now. both the white house and the pentagon are scrambling to control the damage from leaked classified documents. the 91,000 pages of sensitive records paint a disturbing picture of the war in afghanistan. fox's doug luzader has the details from capitol hill. >> reporter: the white house is not mincing words here, a lot of anger about these leaked documents and the organization that leaked them, wikileaks says more may be on the way. with the war in afghanistan entering a critical stage, the leaks provide a troubling back drop. the group wikileaks turned over the classified documents to at least three newspapers weeks ago and they quickly made their way online just yesterday. these are raw bits of intelligence. the taliban are planning to carry out an attack on the indian embassy in kabul, that from july of 2008. others point to secret special forces operations and the challenges in dealing with next door pakistan, a u.s. alley whose intelligence service may have assisted the taliban. the white house was angry about the leaks. with national security advisor sore general jim jones saying they could put the lives of americans and our partners at risk and threaten our national security. this isn't the first time wikileaks has released troubling information about u.s. war efforts. this cockpit video of an attack in iraq back in 2007 blindsided the pentagon when it was released in april. >> what this illustrates is the incredible amount of trust we place in even our most junior men and women in the uniform. >> reporter: the leaked documents about afghanistan aren't exactly new. the most recent is from december of last year, but they paint a troubling image of the war and they may further complicate the u.s. mission there. these newspapers were given the documents several weeks ago but agreed not to publish them until yesterday. in washington, doug luzader, fox news. >> and in afghanistan this morning a massive search continues for two missing americans. they are with the navy. the taliban claims they killed one of the sailors in a gun fight and abducted the other. afghan officials say the two navy personnel left their base on friday but never told anyone. the pentagon says it's doing all it can to get the missing sailors back. there are mixed reports ottoman who first led the gulf oil spill cleanup. bp says no final decision has been made about possible management changes including the chief executive tony hayward. there has been talk he would be replaced as early as today. he's come under fire for his handling of this crisis. bp's board has scheduled another meeting for later tonight. our area not the only spot dealing with rough weather. a look at what heavy rains did to parts of iowa over the weekend. hi. i'm jim perdue. in case of everyday emergencies... guys, go get changed! ...or soccer practice, it's important to be prepared for dinner. that's why i've prepared my perdue perfect portions fresh chicken breasts. they're individually wrapped, so you can cook what you need and store what you don't. we're not playing helicopter now. ready when you are, they're trimmed of fat and consistently sized to cook in just 10 minutes. life's not perfect. that's why there's perdue perfect portions. [ male announcer ] perdue perfect portions. ready when you are. it's 9:30. our area is not the only place dealing with wicked weather. take a look at this scene from del hi iowa, churning waters from pouring rains punched a 30- foot hole in a dam. those rains raised the water level of that man made lake to never before seen levels. had water rescues here yesterday, folks stuck out there. >> did we really? >> yes. >> yeah. tony hates the term but man it felt like it yesterday. >> it was rough. >> it was rough. >> wild. >> the other piece of it, we forgot to mention, the record heat we have had around here the last couple of days. 101 on saturday, upper 90s, 98 yesterday? >> 99 at reagan national yesterday but 100 at some of the other area airports so -- >> on stan irk heat -- astonishing heat. this is a good looking forecast. should be a fine afternoon for cleanup in your yard today. best part less humidity as well. so we will take a look at our current temperatures. we are going to start with a temperature trend. watch this trend. this trend is actually rather benign this week. average daytime high is 89 degrees and look at the next couple days, highs right about where they should be, about 90 degrees. we will warm up a little bit here wednesday and thursday, up ahead of a cold front, but believe it or not by next weekend, our temperature is going to fall back again only mid to upper 80s around here as we get into friday and saturday. so generally speaking this will be a quiet weather week for us as the patterns change just a little bit here in the past 24 hours. temperatures are warm but you know, not too bad. 79 at reagan national now, 73 in gaithersburg, fred dicks the hot -- fredericks 81. 74 in hagerown. winds out of the north and the northwest and dew point temperatures now even in the city have fallen into the upper 50s. that means drier air is moving in and you're going to notice the humidity a lot less than it was last couple of days. so it should be more comfortable for you as you're out and about during the course of your afternoon. here's your satellite radar, very quiet conditions, funnel system last couple frames you can see it really kind of falling apart there off the carolina coast so no showers or thunderstorms in the forecast today. in fact, we have got high pressure here off to the north and west and that will be building in for the next couple of days and should deliver a couple nice days around here. here's your forecast and again high pressure today, so nice afternoon and it will be a nice one tonight with overnight lows back into the 60s here for much of the area, good looking couple of days across washington area is well deserved here after all the heat we had. sunshine, less humidity than yesterday, 99 degrees for your afternoon high. five-day forecast, temperatures, we should stay dry until thursday afternoon. another cold front which will usher in even cooler temperatures as we get back into the weekend. that's a look at the forecast. back to you at the desk. >> thank you very much, tucker barnes. we continue to monitor the power outages that we are seeing across the area and we are joined now on the phone by bob haney, who is a spokesperson for pepco to tell us what the latest situation is with them. tell us what the latest is as far as power outages with pepco. >> right now about 232,000 customers out, the bulk of which still in montgomery county, 175,000. 21,000 in the district, and about 34,000 in prince george's county. the crews are working overnight. they have managed to get power back on to about 70,000 plus people as you know at the height we were up to about 304,000 customers without power. right now they are riding up and down these feeders, checking them because they have got to be patrolled before they can be reenergized to make sure we have removed all the life-threatening situations with the downed powerlines. we have hundreds, hundreds of downed powerlines, we have to make sure that the downed powerlines are secure and then also we have to do damage assessment which is essential in guiding the restoration. >> we applaud you on the success so far bob but that number still very high, especially in montgomery county. are you looking at the lights first and the powerlines first before you get to the neighborhood? just trying to get people a realistic picture of what's going on? >> our restoration process is as follows. we do the life-threatening emergency, then we assist police and fire. then we start looking at the big stuff, the transmission and sub transmission areas making sure that we have got the substations up and running but again before we can start sending power out, we have got to make sure that we are not sending power out and putting anyone in a life threatening situation so usually once we can get our transmission up, we are bringing back several thousands of customers at each click and then as we move down through the feeders, the big powerlines, that re stores about 800 to 2000 each and then you get down into the neighborhood. so this is going to be a multiple day event. but we've got crews coming in, we are working. i mean, we had our contract crews, got them out there, got additional crews coming so we are going to be working about 24 hours -- we are working 24 hours a day to get this thing done. >> bob, so it will be a multiple day event for us. some people -- i got to ask you, we are getting e-mails from some of your customers who are saying when they call whatever the phone line is that you set up, that many are getting a recording saying power should be restored by august 10th. is that a mistake? >> no. what happens was initially when the storm hit, the phone system, the computer system it just calculated out, it said okay, okay, okay, we had to shut it off. we shut that off, all those etrs are null and void. disregard that. we shut that off and we are gearing up our actual call center with people and we are asking people still to call 1- 877-pepco-62 to report outages and downed lines especially and stay safe. stay away from those lines. they may not be sparking but they could be energized and they could be a safety hazard. >> are you asking people to call multiple times? just speaking of the customer of pepco, i called the first night to figure out where we were and then i called today. are you asking people to call multiple times or do you know once a call comes through from a phone number, that there is a power outage there? >> once we know you're out. that's good. what we are asking people to do is let us know about the downed lines, the bad life-threatening situations. we are out there working. we have pretty much got the numbers as far as where the outages are so what we are asking people to do is just to report the downed wires or if you haven't called, call about the outage but again, as far as any restoration times, that has not been decided as of yet. >> very good. bob haney with pepco letting us know the numbers are still high but are working 24 hours a day to get the numbers reduced. we appreciate it. but it will be a multiple day event as he says for some pepco customers so, you know, you just need patience in this type of situation with that many people out power. >> all right. coming up, we will turn in another direction. the world's largest comic book convention comes to a close this year. a look at some of the exciting events of the year and some of the last minute deals. does that make sense? >> and some of the people that are there as well. >> it's a wild thing, it's a big event every year. also we are used to seeing the formal pomp and circumstance of the british royal family but up next we have a look at some of their more candid photos. on what island are 1/3 of the world's languages spoken? new guinea, bora bora, fiji or sri lanka. the answer coming up in just a little bit. much more ahead here. keep it right here. [ male announcer ] it's time for more hd than ever before. more hit shows and movies on-demand. your photos larger than life right on your tv... along with facebook, even youtube. it's time for verizon fios. and it's time to save. because now you can get fios tv, internet and phone all together for a super-low $99.99 a month. call today and we'll add a special bonus: the fios tv movie package plus epix -- free for 12 months. save $430 in the first year. and with this offer, there's no term contract required. if you don't love it, you can cancel at any time with no early termination fee. move up to 100% fiber optics straight to your home. get fios tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month with no term contract plus the fios tv movie package, and epix, free for 12 months. call 1.866.699.fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities that's 1.866.699.3467. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. it's time for amazing. it's time for fios. i can teach them to you so that even when you're asleep, your defense is never down. >> a superstar showdown ends with leonardo dicaprio on top at the weekend box office. the mega hit "inception" beat out age joel's salt -- angelina jolie's "saltthe world's larges book convention has ended its four day run in san diego. more than 120,000 fans attended comic-con. ah 90 take on tron, the latest harry potter film,hbo's "true blood" and marvel. the avengers were among the highlights. for some goers the end is a bit of a relief while others are looking ahead. >> it's fun but after usually like end of the day sunday tired, just want to go home. but it's worth it. >> the way i look at it, it's a 360 daybreak so, you know, until the next week. i've already got plans for costumes and stuff. >> harrison ford, samuel l. jackson, robert downey, jr. were among the a list celebrities at the event promoting upcoming superhero films. >> it used to be just for comic book fans and now, you know, all the sci-fi shows on tv and stuff, big event every year. >> true die hard fans. >> yes, absolutely. >> i love that. would you share your private photos with millions of strangers, tony? that's the question. >> no, i would not. >> well, the queen is doing that. >> well, okay. yes, she is. britain's queen elizabeth ii just started loading up pictures to her new flickr account. is she really doing this or some assistant is doing it? one is a rarely seen picture from 1854 of queen victoria and prince albert. that's fascinating. there is another from the 1980s of prince charles and lady di with their kids william and harry. and a photo of the queen on her recent trip to new york city. she has posted 600 pictures on her flickr account just this morning. >> now i believe it. you're right. i suspect she is not actually doing it. >> either that or she didn't have much to do today. >> or she loves flickr. we all know holly is a sharp cookie. but sharp really defines what she's doing this morning. she's up next with how you can brush up on your samurai sword skills. anncr: right now, all over the country discover customers are getting 5% cashback bonus at the pump... and at many of the places their summer plans take them. it pays to get more. it pays to discover. discover customers are getting 5% cashback bonus at the pump... and at many of the places their summer plans take them. it pays to get more. it pays to discover. 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>> no, you can't. we have students who do many different arts. >> reporter: what is the youngest age you can start doing this? kendo, probably 10, 11, 12. in jodeau, probably high school. >> reporter: high school. so it's advanced. it takes a lot, it involves a lot. tell beme jodeau. >> it's a staff art and it was invend as a dueling art 400 years ago to defeat the schwartzman you saw in -- swordsman you saw in the boto thing earlier. for 400 years it's a policing art. first restrained swords man and later to restrain criminals. you don't have to harm them. you can lock them up with the jo, stop them from their attack, convince them not to carry on. >> reporter: you disable them without hurting them? >> exactly. maybe a little pain. >> reporter: might want to enforce a little bit of something in there so they say ouch. explain to me what we are watching here. >> what you're seeing here is two different arts being shown. jodeau is the art. now showing -- the other art is one of the arts that we teach and practice. our teacher says the head of the school and it's a 600-year- old weapon. also used to defeat swordsman. since the sword is the dominant weapon in japan, everything is trying to figure out how to beat a swordsman. >> reporter: how often do you guys practice? >> two times a week formally but everyone is expected to practice for -- practice every day. it takes a lot of integration of body and mind to move right. the sword is a little easier to cut with than a jo is to stop and so it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort. >> reporter: do you guys also go over to japan? >> yes. corey lived there for seven years. i've been going for 16 years. quarry is the other instructor here. everyone else has been to japan and they try to go. >> reporter: do you compete when you're over there or -- >> we do not compete. we go over just to train. if we were in japan full time, yeah, we would compete but no, we just go over to learn the arts. >> and how does this make you? because i know that you kind of find this theme in all martial arts no matter which one you are talking about. how does it make you a better person? >> right, right, right. well you have to integrate your intention, your spirit, your mind, your conception of what's happening and your body and everything has to move as one and so it -- over time it integrates you internally, but it also forces you to always be aware what's going on around you so it also opens you up to what's going o you're awareness opens up. so you're integrated, more aware, it's a good outcome. >> reporter: you can talk the talk but i want to see you walk the walk. i want to see you get in there and i'm going to bring out corey quickly because he's the other instructor so corey, when you're done there, take your time. them using i don't want to -- i'm thinking i don't want to upset these people. tell us why as a younger person you got involved in something like this. >> i had always been interested in swords, weapons things like that from seeing them in movies, things like that, but when i went to college, i started taking ikudo, closer to what i wanted to be doing but not exactly and then i had a chance to start practicing jodeau and some of the other associated arts and i had a chance to go to japan to practice and i took it up and it's been very rewarding. it's very fulfilling. it's not just, you know, going to the gym working out, something like that. >> reporter: and it is a workout. i want people to understand this morning and every discipline we have seen, people are sweating bullets. they are sweating a lot. >> it's difficult. it's more than just moving the stick around. >> right. >> reporter: it's learning how to use your entire body to engage the weapon and at the same time be ready to move in any direction so your entire body should be under stress at all times. >> reporter: you're learning to integrate everything. i learned that -- >> very wise word. >> reporter: i learned that from dan. thank you, sir. myfoxdc.com is our website. we have a link to the capitol area budokai if you want to find out more about all the things they do and how to get started and the different demonstrations that you can see. it's been a very interesting morning allison. back to you. >> yes, it is. be careful out there, holly. i got the sweet little -- you know what? he's active now. now he's clawing me. from the fairfax animal shelter, i am asking folks to come out and meet the cats during an upcoming adoption event. now you want to know where that noise is coming from. many kittens and cats in need of loving homes. here to tell us more about some of those pretty cats is michelle hankins, the community outreach program manager at the fairfax county animal shelter. thanks for coming in and bringing these guys. >> thanks for having us. >> who do we have right here? >> this is the kituation, not a situation but a kituation. we have a whole bunch of the cats of characters are from the persy shore down in fairfax county at our animal shelter, we have the kituation, kitty d, snookedy and jamie owl. they are all going to be there. >> how fun. >> a lot of fun. >> and the mission of course is to get these little guys good homes. >> absolutely. these guys are wonderful. they have all been displaced, either they were -- these guys were born, they came in very, very young, went out to foster and now they are old enough to be adopted and we also have older cats. anything -- we have everything from two months to 12 years. >> right. >> looking for homes at our shelter this week. >> and now correct me if i'm wrong but it's a multi day event, right? >> it is. >> tell us how folks can get involved, what they need to do to come out. >> we are out on west dogs road in fairfax and people can come out to the shelter. for the next five days we are offering a free spay or neuter from every cat adopted from the shelter, cat or kitten, so they would only pay the adoption fee which is $30. >> i love the kituation who is in my lap right now. your cat is so unique looking as well, that color, and you said that color sometimes called blue? >> they sometimes calls these russian blues. it is a beautiful cat. it is a domestic short hair cats and these guys are siblings, came in together, went into foster together and now up for adoption together. >> relaxing in your lap. you brought -- we want to let the folks know at home, you brought in like a lot of cats with you today. just to show that these cats and kittens need homes. this time of year we see a lot of animals in need of adoption? >> absolutely. this time of year it's what is called kitten season so you've got a lot of kittens being born. we also have a lot of people that are moving or losing their homes, for whatever reason they can't keep their animals so they bring them into us and these are wonderful animals. they just need a new home. >> ah, so cute. i'm going to miss you. i'm going to miss you clawing my legs. i am but now you're all calmed down. clearly i have dogs and i was telling you i'm not sure how to even integrate a cat into my situation put if you're watching and you do -- or you want to bring in a multiple animal, are kittens a good fit? >> kittens are great. even adult cats. there are a lot of adult cats we get that have lived with dogs before and when we have that information, we give it to the adopters so they know what animal mighting the best fit for their home and i have a.org and a cat -- and i have a dog and cat and they both get along great. >> michelle hankins, community outreach manager at fair fox county animal shelter. all the information on the adoption event is on your screen and also we are going to put it on our website of course so you can get a good home, right? >> yeah, i think so. oh, you want to bite me now. okay. michelle, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> allison is coming on the road with us this friday as we head to greenbelt maryland and we are going to tell you more about that when we come back. stay with us. some people don't notice the difference between meat... and mystery, when they enter... the frozen zone. with my perdue frozen nuggets, there is no mystery. just real all white-meat. made with 100% natural ingredients. perdue frozen chicken. all white-meat. no mystery. guys remember, we're a solar system. mars is down...and... um, it's only 10am. who hasn't had their jimmy dean breakfast this morning? 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New-yorkUnited-statesCollege-parkVirginiaJapanAlexandriaAl-iskandariyahEgyptAfghanistanTurkeyGaithersburgMaryland >> couric: good evening, everyone. in just a short while, president obama will address the nation from the u.s. military academy at west point and tell us how he plans to finish the job in afghanistan. with fewer than two out of five americans approving of his handling of the war and after months of deliberation, he's decided to send in 30,000 more u.s. troops, the first of them will be there by christmas. the goal: putting down a resurgence of the taliban and rooting out al qaeda. the president will also say he'll begin pulling u.s. forces out of afghanistan in the summer of 2011. the price tag for his new strategy? as much as $30 billion for the first year. our chief white house correspondent chip reid is at west point. chip, this could be a tough sell for the president. >> reporter: absolutely right, katie. in fact, the president is going to make clear that one way he's going to try to sell this is by saying that he's going to get those troops into afghanistan and out of afghanistan firster than anybody anticipated. we just obtained this interpret from the speech. the president says the 30,000 additional troops i am announcing tonight will deploy in the first part of 2010, the fastest pace possible. before and audience of west point cadets and officers, the president will announce he's ordered 30,000 additional troops to afghanistan. the three combat brigades and one training brigade will bring the total to about 100,000 american troops. the president wants them all in place by next summer, a faster timetable than any option initially presented by the pentagon. some combat troops will begin to come home after just one year, in july, 2011, after turning over responsibility to newly trained afghan troops. the president will not, however, give a timeline for bringing all troops home. the pace of the withdrawal will be determined by conditions on the ground and could take years. one senior official tells cbs news significant numbers of u.s. troops will likely still be training afghan forces into 2016 the last year of the obama presidency if he serves two terms. the president will invoke 9/11 to remind americans why u.s. forces are in afghanistan, to prevent al qaeda from returning and setting up a base for future terrorist attacks. but that won't be easy. in afghanistan he'll say it means keeping the resurgent taliban from returning to power and next door in pakistan, the u.s. must step up efforts to defeat extremist elements waging war on that government. earlier, the president and top advisors briefed members of congress at the white house and before he even left for west point, critics were already on the attack. republicans object to a timeline for beginning to bring troops home. >> the way that you win wars is to break the enemy's will, not to announce dates that you are leaving. >> reporter: and many liberal democrats say it's time to bring all troops home. >> the president has said he wants to send in additional troops to finish the job. i say-- and i think american people the say-- what job? >> reporter: well, we are told that the president will make the job very clear tonight, that the job essentially is to make americans safe from another attack from al qaeda. katie? >> couric: and, chip, the president is clearly getting it from both sides already, as you mentioned. how concerned is the white house about the political fallout from this decision? >> well, they're dmrnd two ways, katie. first of all, of course, in congress they've got to get congress to authorize the money for this surge. and even more so from the american people. the american people have forgotten about this war, they don't like it, it's unpopular and the president himself has said "you can't fight a war without the support of the american people." it's a real uphill battle, katie. >> couric: chip reid reporting from west point tonight. thank you. so here's where we stand. eight years after the u.s. drove the taliban from power, they once again control large portions of afghanistan. their strongholds include helmand province in the south and there the east, the area near the pakistani border. most of the new u.s. troops will be headed to those regions to try to defeat the taliban one town at a time. as david martin reports, it's the extension of a strategy that's beginning to show results >> reporter: 17 americans were killed in afghanistan in november. less than a third the number killed the previous month. it's only one measure, but it suggests things are no longer getting worse. as long as as august, that's what general stanley mcchrystal, the commander there, told his staff. >> i do think that we probably have bottomed out in terms of that. >>. >> reporter: that's because earlier this year president obama ordered 21,000 more troops to afghanistan. ask captain paul shepherd what a difference made that made in a town south of kabul. >> we've seen a complete 180 and we've seen that because i think we've, one, flooded the area with soldiers. we've gone from 500 to 5,000. >> reporter: despite pockets of success, joint chiefs chairman mullen overall thinks conditions are deteriorating. it's a fine like but as michael o'hanlon of the brookings institution points out, if after eight years you can't tell who's winning and who's losing, something's wrong. >> you could simply say right now it's too close to call and that's not a very good place to be in. >> reporter: some of the most successful operations have been commando raids against insurgent leaders, like this firebrand in western afghanistan. but this is a war the u.s. cannot kill its way out of. american soldiers and marines must clear out enemy strong points, hold thater theish to, and build a better life for the afghan people. >> we're doing pretty well on clear and hold, pretty lousy on build. >> reporter: as a result, much of the population is sitting on the fence waiting to see which side can offer them the better deal. call it a stalemate at best, but with 30,000 more troops, an aide to mcchrystal says "we are going to turn this quickly and seize the initiative." david martin, cbs news, the pentagon. >> couric: more u.s. troops will mean more firepower, but as david pointed out, guns alone won't twin war in afghanistan. that's why there's a new effort under way to persuade members of the taliban to leave their ranks. in some cases by paying them off. from kabul, here's mandy clark. >> reporter: a battle without winners is how one u.s. military source described a fight against the taliban. some commanders admit there may never be enough u.s. boots on the ground to end the insurgency. if a military victory isn't achievable, then ending the war might rely on small victories like this one. this man works to translate the koran into other languages. before 9/11 he was the taliban foreign minister. he now urges talk not war. "in fighting you bleed, in talk you sweat" he says. it's better to sweat. some taliban have come to the table for talks with the afghan government. others have been put on the payroll in a program supported by u.s. tax dollars. the so-called $10 taliban are paid to put down their arms. >> taliban reconciliation, do you think it's a viable option? >> i think it's the only option. i don't think that afghanistan's going to succeed going forward unless there's some political dialogue with the insurgency. >> reporter: you can't buy loyalty here, but you can rent it. afghan commanders have a history of switching sides without stigma. there's even a term for it, "turning your turban." thousands have turned away from the insurgency, but the hard core taliban also estimated in the thousands will never turn. "we know that there are a lot of servants and spies of america under the name of the taliban who take the money from the enemy," he says. "if we catch them, we will behead them." >> reporter: this former taliban member who asked for his identity to be protected wants to unite the country. interestingly, he has the same concerns about president karzai's administration as the u.s. government. "government corruption and in-fighting are stopping more taliban from switching sides," he says. another obstacle to reconciliation to be theen thes of thousands of new troops the president is sending to afghanistan. as one taliban fighter told us "more troops means more war." mandy clark, cbs news, kabul. >> couric: lara logan is our chief foreign affairs correspondent. lara, i was told by a senior white house official that there are 92,000 afghan army troops they consider combat-ready but they want to double that number in a year and a half. what shape is is the afghan army in and is that, in fact, doable? >> reporter: it's going to be very tough, katie. part of the problem is that many afghans don't even read or write so training them you are really starting from zero. and there aren't enough afghan troops from the pashtun tribe, that's one of the biggest problems. so they've got a job on their hands and with the police it will be even harder. katie? >> couric: lara, there's stale war going on in iraq with more troops there now than will be in afghanistan following the surge. what is the status of that and the scheduled draw-down there? >> well, the hope is that any next sumpter u.s. will draw down to 50,000 troops and they will pull all combat troops out of iraq by 2011, by the end of the following year. that's an ambitious plan, but it seems to be on track. it's what's not being said in iraq, it's the involvement of iran that's really underpining that withdrawal and the consequences of that will show itself later, katie. >> couric: all right. lara logan from washington. thanks so much. and coming up next here on the "cbs evening news," the florida highway patrol slaps tiger woods with a traffic ticket and declares case closed. to worry about tonight. tylenol pm is recommended by more doctors than any other sleep medicine. it eases pain... and helps you sleep, in a non-habit forming way. hi, may i help you? yes, we're looking to save on car insurance, even if that means we have to shop all day, right, honey? yep, all day. good thing you're starting here. we compare your progressive direct rate to other top companies', so you can save money! look! we saved a lot! and quick, too. and no more holding her purse! it's a european shoulder bag. it was a gift. mm-hmm. giving you the gift of savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today. but i didn't know that it may have led to my erectile dysfunction. that's why my doctor told me about levitra. 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no. none of his injuries looked like he had been beat up by his wife. >> reporter: state police concurred. >> there are no claims of domestic violence by any individual. >> reporter: also today, the woman linked romantically to woods by tabloid reports strongly denied any relationship. woods' attorney applauded today's developments. the "tiger woods is pleased with the outcome. other than that i have no comment, it is over for us." the only remaining details for tiger woods, a $164 fine and four points on his florida driver's license for the moving violation and healing from his injuries. randall pinkston, cbs news, orlando. >> couric: in other news, the hunt for the suspect in the murders of four lake wood, washington, police officers came to a sudden end early this morning. as john blackstone tells us, the investigation isn't over. >> reporter: in a grim procession, the bodies of the four murdered officers were moved to a funeral home today. earlier, the body of their suspected killer was moved from the seattle street where he was shot before dawn. a police officer checking a stolen car recognized 37-year-old maurice clemens as the object of an intense man hunt when clemens refused to stop, the officer opened fire. >> this is a tragedy no one feels good about any of this. >> reporter: after shooting him dead, police found clemmons had a gun belonging to one of the murdered officers and he had a wound from the shootout. >> he was shot dead center, right here, dead center in the mid-where will we're trained to shoot. >> reporter: investigators arrested three of the half dozen people they say helped clemmons run. >> they tried to do medical aid, they tried to hide him, they supplied him with cell phones and money. >> reporter: clemmons was released on bail just a week ago over thee psychological report in october warned that he was dangerous. he told psychiatrists he had visualizations of people drinking blood and people eating babies. meantime, conservative bloggers are criticizing former arkansas governor mike huckabee for commuting clemmons' sentence in 2000. huckabee fought back today. >> people use anything for a political weapon. >> reporter: among them, the slain officers leave behind nine children. at a community memorial, michelle hankins brought her daughter evelyn to pay their respects. many of the people coming here didn't know those murdered personally but at least one man came because officer tina griswold put him on the right track going up. >> i was bad but ms. griswold is one of the people that made a sour apple good. >> reporter: here at the headquarters of the lakewood police department, the memorial of the four murdered officers continues to grow but for many coming here the death of the suspected killer does little to end the pain. john blackstone, cbs news. like something was stealing him away from us. we wanted to be there for him... to hold on to him. dad's doctor said his symptoms were signs of alzheimer's, a type of dementia, and that prescription aricept could help. it's thought aricept may reduce the breakdown of a vital chemical in the brain. studies showed aricept slows the progression of alzheimer's symptoms. it improves cognition and slows the decline of overall function. 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(laughter) >> reporter: the problem for the white house is that this satirical view is being offered from voices that should be in his corner, voices that could both reflect and reinforce a& politically damaging narrative. >> nope. >> reporter: recent weeks have seen a barrage of differently fire. les gelb, the democratic foreign policy expert calls his asian trip amateur hour. maureen dowd compares him to mr. spock, a cover story on the "new york times" detect it is air hissing out of the liberal balloon. and long time writer elizabeth drew reports of growing disillusion. >> there is a critical mass of people who really wish him well, think it's terribly important that he succeed. we're becoming disappointed even disillusioned. >> a bad economy and two long wars are bound to feed discontent. but discontent can lead to other narratives, for instance the idea that he is too much with us or that he's relying on his it with, his intelligence, and his prudence rather than a visceral connection with the voter. >> as we're beginning to understand him more, there are definitely people who feel that it is too detached, too cool, too cerebral and not visceral enough. >> reporter: presidents can fall or rise on such impressions. gerald ford was a skilled athlete whose occasional stumbles became a metaphor for incompetence. bill clinton survived a sex scandal because, while people wouldn't trust him with their daughters, they did trust him with the economy. ronald reagan's clarity on his core beliefs sustained him. after less than a year in office it's far too early to conclude that obama's narrative is etched in stone. >> it's very, very risky and even silly 120-to-say "well, here's how is it now, here is how it's always going to look and be." >> reporter: what can change a narrative? well, a major speech on a war like tonight's can define a president as a strong leader provided, of course, the policy he is announcing works, katie? >> couric: jeff greenfield. jeff, thank you. coming up next, the americans who make up the new surge in afghanistan and the families they're leaving behind. of getting vitamins and minerals. others will try total raisin bran. with 100% of the daily value of 11 essential vitamins and minerals and the luscious taste of plump, juicy raisins and crunchy whole grain flakes. ... ... guess it's all about what kind of crunch you like. how are you getting 100%? visit totalcereal.com and get a coupon. how are you getting 100%? my son's got all that and he's on his first date. well, when he feels the instacool sensation, he'll know that pepto's about to kick in. honey, do you feel... the instacool sensation -- yes, mom. thank you, mrs. wagner. [ male announcer ] new pepto-bismol chewables with instacool. but you can take home that dentist smooth clean feeling with oral-b rechargeable brushes. dentist inspired cupping action sweeps away up to twice as much plaque as a regular manual brush. oral-b rechargeable brushes. starting at $22. oral-b rechargeable brushes. about all the discounts boswe're offering. i've got. i some catchphrases that'llideas make these savings even more memorable. gecko: all right... gecko: good driver discounts. now that's the stuff...? boss: how 'bout this? gecko: ...they're the bee's knees? boss: or this? gecko: sir, how 'bout just "fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance." boss: ha, yeah, good luck with that catching on! anncr: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. they're running the men's room marathon. with lots of guys going over and over. and here's the dash to the men's room with lots of guys going urgently. and then there's the night game. waking up to go. these guys should be in a race to see their doctors. right. those could be urinary symptoms due to bph, an enlarged prostate. but for many guys, prescription flomax reduces their urinary symptoms due to bph in one week. only your doctor can tell if you have bph, not a more serious condition like prostate cancer. when taking flomax, avoid driving or hazardous tasks until you know how flomax will affect you, as a sudden drop in blood pressure may occur, rarely resulting in fainting. tell your doctor about all medications you take. if considering cataract surgery, tell your eye surgeon you've taken flomax. common side effects are runny nose, dizziness and decrease in semen. ask your doctor if flomax is right for you. call 877-4-flomax to see if you qualify for up to $40 off new or refill prescriptions. for many men, flomax can make a difference in one week. >> couric: finally tonight, in eight years of war in afghanistan, 929 americans have died, nearly 300 this year alone. and as the president sends thousands more troops into the war, our chief national correspondent byron pitts tells us their families are already feeling the pain. >> reporter: in south burlington vermont, mike would rather spend his last days offall playing football with his eight-year-old son kevin. instead, this national guardsman is packing for his first deployment to afghanistan and preparing to watch their president's speech tonight. >> i would like to hear from the commander-in-chief a solid vision to solidify the situation over there. >> reporter: 1,500 vermont guardsmen have been training in this mock-up afghan village in jericho, vermont. their mission, train the afghan national army and police. one of the hardest parts of going to war, the mayor says, telling his wife, daughter, and especially his son. >> he took it pretty hard, yeah. but he's a good kid. he's strong. >> reporter: this is the largest deployment of the vermont national guard to a war zone since world war ii. the citizens of this small state know well the high cost of war. but so do many american families. >> the crater was seven feet deep and 28 feet wide. and the striker flipped over and caught on fire and it burned all night long. >> reporter: julie and mark almond got the grim news last month, their son, 22-year-old specialist aaron almond from custer, washington, was killed when his vehicle hit an i.e.d. in afghanistan. despite their loss, they support the president's decision to send more troops. >> if we don't send more troops in now, they're going to continue to pick us off just like they had been doing and we'll lose them one and two and six and seven and eight at a time. like what has happened with aaron's unit. >> reporter: a common question we heard from military families across the nation tonight: what's the president's exit strategy? >> i'd like to hear what the mission is and then what he's going to do to ensure that we can accomplish that. >> reporter: in richland, michigan, barb patterson celebrating thanksgiving with her 25-year-old son david. he's a corporal in the marines serving in afghanistan home on leave. >> he has to get enough hugs to last him till the end of his deployment and i've been trying to do that during the past two weeks. >> couric: back in vermont, beth know it is feeling. >> it's scary to think about him going over there. >> reporter: tonight, like much of the nation, this family will listen to the commander-in-chief and do what military families always do: their duty. byron pitts, cbs news, south burlington, vermont. >> couric: and that the "cbs evening news." i'll be back at 8:00, 7:00 central with live coverage of the president's address to the nation. until then, i'm katie couric. thank you for watching. for the latest news online, go to cbsnews.com. see you again soon. captioning sponsored by cbs from the first local station with news in high definition, this is 9news now. >> right now, we are just an hour away from the president's prime time address unveiling his plans for afghanistan. that will include an exit strategy with u.s. forces starting to leave that nation by july of 2011. that didn't stop protesters gathering outside the white house this afternoon. live from west point, new york, and that is where the president will be addressing the nation. janet. >> reporter: good evening. we are told that air force one just landed very close by, so the president should be arriving on campus within a few short minutes. he is said to be talking about an exit strategy today. one that will start in the summer of 2011. >> bomb sniffing dogs scoured
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