warriors in the washington area. >> george w. bush explains his reaction when he was told a second plane hit the world trade center. a stifling summer night and some people forced to sit in their cars to stay cool. i'm jim vance. >> and i'm doreen gentzler. we begin with the debt limit. and two hours after the house passed it, the senate turned it down. >> reporter: two hours after the boehner bill passed the house, senate democrats killed it. >> the ayes are 59. >> this is almost an out of body experience to have -- >> reporter: all eyes on top senate republican mitch mcconnell. democrats say only he can fast-track the debate and make a deal. >> we all know the senate is the way out of this mess. >> reporter: boehner complained he had a bipartisan deal with pot obama for tax hikes. >> i put revenues on the table in order to try to come to an aagreement to avert us being where we are. but a lot of people in this town can never say yes. >> reporter: boehner veered to the right, including a balanced budget constitutional amendment to get the votes of tea partiers. >> i like what i'm hearing and i appreciate the leadership moving that direction. >> reporter: most in the senate said no new amendment. >> this is the most outrageous suggestion. >> reporter: president obama insisted a compromise is possible. >> the two parties are not miles apart. we are in rough agreement about how much spend be cut responsibly. >> reporter: mcconnell is ready to make a deal but only if he can negotiate with president obama. i'm steve handelsman, news4 capitol hill. the gridlock here in washington is taking a toll on the president's approval rating. it is at 40%. that is the lowest it has ever been. we invite you to stay with news4 and nbc news for continuing coverage as the debt deadline approaches. now to the extreme heat which lived up to the warnings today. the temperatures scorched the washington area hitting 104 degrees in some areas. darcy spencer is in greenbelt, maryland where some are coping without air-conditioning tonight. >> reporter: we spoke to one tenant by phone tonight because she is in an area hospital. she is seven months pregnant and has asthma and said she couldn't take it any more inside an apartment with no air-conditioning. humberto is sitting in his suv with his two children because it's too hot in their unit here at the franklin park apartments in greenbelt. the air-conditioning stopped working. >> keep on drinking water and try to stay out, you know, and waiting for the air. they said the air-conditioning. >> reporter: there are signs on several doors say a power surge took down a chiller to the buildings. residents say they have been suffering for hours in the heat. >> when did the air go out? >> around six hours ago. >> reporter: at the amphitheater in arlington dozens turned out for an outdoor concert. organizers gave out fans and cookies. >> free cookies really helps and the fans. and so, and people who know about the amphitheater. >> reporter: for some sweating it out was a necessity. it was their job. >> pating the side of the building at 120 degrees. it's terrible. been here since 8:30 and can't leave until 6:30. >> reporter: monica drove to work instead of using metro. >> the car is too stifle sng. >> and sometimes the a.c. doesn't work. too many people standing up and standing by each other. >> reporter: these two dogs went out for their walk but they made it a quick one. >> they don't like it. that's for sure. they are moving slower than normal. >> reporter: according to signs that are posted on these buildings here, the apartment management is working on getting some parts to fix the air-conditioning system but there is no word on what that will happen. reporting live from greenbelt, darcy spencer, news4. >> thank you. this was, in fact, one of the ten hottest days ever in washington. question is how long is it going to last veronica? >> you needed a church fan today. today was it. the temperatures will start to drop. look at this, folks. today was the highest temperature recorded in 14 years going back to 1997, august 17th. we have gotten up to 104 degrees six times, 105 twice and 106 degrees twice in the history of which we have been keeping records here. that makes it the third highest temperature ever recorded at reagan national. and now with the heat index value in the 80s, it 0 degrees. an hour and a half ago it is not that bad. we'll talk about tomorrow and the improvement for the weekend. metro confirmed to news4 today it has fired at least 20 bus drivers for using cell phones while behind the wheel. the drivers were caught on cameras mounted inside the buses metro installed the cameras last year and the agency has caught speeding, running red lights, and cell phone use. history was made this evening with a new chapter in our history's rich tradition of providing medical care to wounded service members. jackie bensen has a report. >> reporter: they worked tirelessly in the 100 plus degree heat. they guided the heavy gurneys down the steep ramp. >> we mobilize everyone here. we had marines and army and corpsmen. >> reporter: the servicemen and women had been wounded in iraq and flown to a u.s. air base in germany. for the first time they were not divided by injury between bethesda and walter reed. this is now where america treats her wounded warriors where her families gather filled with emotion willing life and strength into their loved ones. >> now, the average length of time for casualties to come here is three to five days. the family knows from the beginning their service member is injuried and as you saw today they will arrive here sometimes before the patient does. >> reporter: also the nurses and doctors. >> the doctors went and picked up the patients and provided care where they hand off the care to the icu. >> reporter: in bethesda, jackie bensen, news4. still ahead, flames from underground as firefighters rush to manhattan. george bush talking about his real feelings when he learned america was under attack. tropical storm don just came ashore. ashore. and shaquille o'neal that's amazing. you know what else is amazing? how easy it is to save money on motorcycle, boate with geico. geico, saving people money, on more than just car insurance. up in new york citytoday flames shot out of the ground and into the air today. a fire started in a trench at a construction site on the east side of manhattan. it quickly spread underground and shot above ground through the manholes. several buildings were evacuated and gasolines had to be shut off but known was injured. in a new interview, former president george w. bush said his stoic reaction to the news of the plane hitting the world trade center was a conscious decision. he was visiting an elementary school class in florida when andrew card told him a second plane hit the world trade center and america was under attack. my first reaction was anger he said. who would do that to america? and then i focused on the children and the contrast between the attack and the innocence of the children. so i made the decision not to jump up immediately and leave the classroom. i didn't want to rattle the children. i wanted to project a sense of calm. president bush went on to say he could see the news media getting the news on the cell phones and realized that his reaction would be seen by the entire world. still to come, the remarkable story of a boy who awoke from a nearly comatose state after 18 months and remembered everyone he met. and later, a dog that every so often manager happens in the medical world that doctors can't explain. tonight the story of one young boy with severe brain trauma who awakened from a near comatose condition. stephanie bergmann has his story in from oak city. >> reporter: our national anthem is bradley's victory cry. the boy who sat silent for months sings every word loud and proud. >> ♪ and the home of the brave ♪ >> reporter: his joy and excitement a rebirth of sorts who nearly died. the crash killed bradley's mother and left him with severe brain trauma. bradley would spend the next year and a half a at a pediatric hospital barely moving or making a sound often with a blank stare. >> you knew something was going on inside but he didn't show any expressions. >> reporter: the therapist never gave up hope for bradley's recovery even though the odds were against him. >> but one day a couple months ago in this hallway bradley started talking. >> he just started saying the color of things. >> reporter: from a vegetative state, bradley had woken up, people and places that had sparked no reaction to the boy now seemed familiar. >> i wanted to hang out with my friend. >> he may have been receiving a lot more than he could see because he could not demonstrate what he was understanding to us. >> reporter: bradley's doctor believes that after the crash, the boy's injured brain could still take in information but could not act on it. many months of healing allowed the brain to rewire it's and it woke up bradley's muscles. he's learning to walk and use his muscles again. his family is planning to bring him back to lincoln next month to reunite with his two younger brothers. >> it was just an answered prayer. >> ♪ home of the brave >> wow. what a story. so we set some records today? >> we set a lot of records today. >> not the kind we would like to set. >> it has been an exhausting summer. >> and it's not even august yet. >> exactly. and the temperatures are going to be slightly above average. we could wind up with the hottest her on record. we have the season's first land-falling tropical system. scott gordon is down there with the system coming in. what can you tell me about the conditions down there right now? people are just glad for the rain? >> reporter: it's all but over tonight. don was a dud. more of a tease than a tropical storm. it made land fall just to the south of us two hours ago and it all but fizzled as it made land fall that amounts to not much more than a thunderstorm right now. we got just a few drops of rain several hours ago. we have gotten wind gusts but that's about it. this is a huge disappointment for people in texas who are suffering from the worst drought in decades. they won't be getting help from this tropical storm. >> we'll look at the track here. the system will make it is way quickly over the southern part of the state throughout the day on saturday. as far as what we can expect around here, a day that is not going to be as hot as it was today. 104 again. one for the record books. beating the old record for today. we're at 88 degrees now. but the heat index is down to 90. and tomorrow we're going to see that value about 5 degrees higher than the actual air temperature. in the 80s throughout our highest spot right there in the beltway at 88 with that 90-degree index reading. now here's what we can expect. on the radar we have thunderstorms and well the line started to break up as it made its way down into maryland. but holding together over northern west virginia. tomorrow we won't be as lucky. we have a chance to pick up showers and a few thunderstorms around here. and mainly to the west around front royal and culpepper as the front sags through. the main thing is cloud cover for the afternoon tomorrow. the temperatures in the mid-90s tomorrow and it will feel more like 100 degrees around here. the sun is up at 6:07. toasty with a bit of humidity. maxing out at it 4 to 97 degrees. not a bad weekend especially sunday with a lower humidity and the high of 95 degrees. the average now is 88 degrees. for monday, a chance of thunderstorms. and very nice conditions for tuesday. the humidity really drops. a high of 93. could get more passing storms on wednesday and thursday. after today, a nice weekend. i think we can get out and enjoy ourselves. >> it will feel good after today. still ahead, a $10,000 glass of lemonade. [ child's voice ] ooh, that looks good. [ child's voice ] can i have some? [ child's voice ] you guys should rock, paper, scissors for it. one-two-three-shoot. one-two-three-shoot. i win! oh, man. [ muffled ] congratulations. [ male announcer ] get your own subway® bbq pulled pork sub. slow-cooked pork with bold barbecue sauce. they say that football players are tough but my foodness practicing on a day like this is that toughness or insanity? >> unbelievable tough to get through this and a lot is going on already. john beck is going to be the starting quarterback but he will have have to win the job. the quarterback competition is open and the best man will win. shanahan confirmed that the team is trying to resign rex grossman. ryan kerr gag hyper extended his knee and will be out for a least a couple days. laron landry is on the physically unable to perform list after an achilles tendon surgery. heat is also an issue. five players needed post-practice i.v.s. more than half of the players are new faces. mike shanahan will fill out the roster next week when the veterans are able to start practicing. and the players are well aware of the revolving door in ashburn. >> the lacquer is empty and where is this guy at? you know, but it's a part of the business. every year things change and all you can do is say bye and move on with it. >> that's the life in the nfl. some of my wife's girlfriends are no longer here but you keep those bonds whether or not they are here or not. >> it puts it in perspective that these are real people with real families. i promised we wouldn't be talking about donovan or albert i'm backtracking on that. albert haynes worth was traded to the patriots and donovan mcnabb was traded to minnesota. today mike shanahan talked about both players for the first time. >> i never saw a confrontation with donovan with any coach in our building ever, anybody ever raising a voice or yelling. you hear all the rumors and speculations and i can't say anything about that. all i'm saying is at the end of the day we made a decision not to resign donovan or keep his contract. and now we go on. and i still think that donovan has a great future ahead of him if he decides to do the little things he needs to do to get to the next level. >> he said that haynes worth would have been released because he wasn't coming to camp this year. the prize of the free agency class signed a five year deal with the eagles. philly has three pro-bowl cornerbacks on their roster and signed vince young to back up michael vick. now down at nationals park. chin ming wong made his first start in two years. the nats hosting the mets. wong getting himself in an early jam down 1-0 with the based loaded. pagan takes the first pitch he sees into left. wong lasted four and struck out two. the nationals struggled with runners on base all night long. bottom of the eighth bases juiced for zimmerman tries to check the swing and can't do it. the nats strand ten on base and drop their sixth in a row. 8-5 is the final. and they have lost six straight. >> it's ugly. >> got to turn around soon. that geek o'neal [ child's voice ] ooh, that looks good. [ child's voice ] can i have some? [ child's voice ] you guys should rock, paper, scissors for it. ok. [ chuckles ] best of three? sure. one-two-three-shoot. one-two-three-shoot. [ scoffs ] one-two-three-shoot. one-two-three-shoot. one-two-three-shoot. one-two-three-shoot. i win! oh, man. [ muffled ] congratulations. [ male announcer ] get your own bbq pulled pork sub at subway®. tender, slow-cooked pork with irresistibly bold barbecue sauce. subway. eat fresh®. take a look at this. a dog named rosie is a star of one of the most popular videos on the net right now. when her friend nips her neck she lies over and plays dead and then gets up and starts playing again. some have suggested that she could have canine narcolepsy. but rosie's owner says she is always doing dramatic things for attention. she's a ham. >> you can look at that a hundred times and love it. even really big basketball stars don't get instant access to the president. shaquille o'neal hoped to meet president obama today without an appointment. he was turned away and posted it on twitter. >> i want to say on the video. they said we can't let you in, sorry. i have to have to wait until next time mr. obama. i still love you, sir. >> he's looking for a pickup game. he is 0-3 in trying to meet the president. >> the president doesn't have ♪ [ woman ] sam begged and pleaded... so i sent him to camp. we'd earned lots of points with our new citi thankyou card... and i put them to good use. he told me about his bunkmates, and how he signs up for every activity. ♪ he even hangs out with the camp director. just like that. [ male announcer ] the new citi thankyou premier card gives you more ways to earn points. what's your story? citi can help you write it. in wichita, kansas, george holland showed up at a lam nad stand with a check for $10,000. it was part of a fundraiser to buy school supplies for kids in joplin, missouri. that will buy a lot of sch