montgomery county as well. phillips had served on the staff of former alaska senator ted stevens who was killed in the crash. four passengers on the plane from our area survived. 54-year-old sean o'keefe sr. and his son kevin. o'keefe is the current ceo of a company. today, a helicopter from the military district of washington, the eads chief operating officer acknowledged that they understand the rigors, about what it was like to get to the plane crash victims. >> to be the individuals like you are. who risk your lives to go in to places that other americans never see. >> reporter: jim morhard survived the crash. today his sister-in-law will us by phone from virginia how she reacted when she heard he was in the crash. >> horrified. i mean, immediately, not shock that he was there or involved. just so scared that we would lose him. i guess that's it. the more i thought about it, i was praying for him because i was finding out what he had been through during the crash and after the crash. just -- >> tonight a spokesman for the family of sean o'keefe issued a statement saying, during this time of tragedy, our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go to the family and friend of senator ted stevens. his passing is a profound loss to sean both personally and professionally. as far as sean and kevin, their injuries do not appear to be life threatening and we are confident that they will have a full recovery and return to their family. back to you. >> chris gordon. we have some breaking news. air force 2 with vice president joe biden on board has been involved in a very minor accident at a long island airport. no one was injured. an air force spokesperson speaks a small private plane was knocked over by the jet wash from the vice president's plane. this happened as air force 2 was taxiing to take off this morning. the left wing of that piper club small plane was damaged. two men from maryland were killed in a plane crash in massachusetts. this happened last night. it started at tipton airport on the way to maine. ted johnson was at the controls. his friend jay was in the passenger's seat. both the men are from ellicott city, maryland. they have just taken off after refueling at an airport in orange, massachusetts. when the planes went down in some woods. the investigators say weather may have been a factor there. a serial kill here has been going around stabbing black men may be responsible for yet another attack. he is already stabbed 16 black men in flint, michigan. five of them died. police now are looking into whether he is also the guy who stabbed a man near a hospital there. that attack happened saturday morning. on that same day, the killer stabbed another man in toledo, ohio. police think he is also responsible for three attacks in leesburg, virginia. the violence has stopped for now. but police are still on guard. jane watt develop in leesburg with more on this. >> reporter: this is a community definitely on edge. this serial stabber put two of his three victims in the hospital for over a week. the first victim, a 15-year-old boy, was just released today from serious stab wounds. a 67-year-old man, his condition, according to leesburg police, is deteriorating. he is now in guarded condition. leesburg police stay surveillance video shows the alleged serial stabber on friday. as he drives toward a victim, he plnz to attack with a hammer. he drives out of frame but a second camera captures what happened next. >> the male suspect getting out of a vehicle and swinging an object at another suspect standing by the vehicle. and you see the motion of the swinging and striking during. >> reporter: the leesburg police are working the fbi to try to enhance the attack caught on tape. they're not making it public at this time despite intense national interest. this is the sketch of the serial stabber who authorities believe is a white man, bent on attack african-american or dark skinned male. since may, his racially motivated stabbing spree has resulted in 16 attack in flint, michigan alone. with five of the victims dead. last week he was in leesburg where he attacked a 15-year-old boy jogging on this stretch of sidewalk. and a 67-year-old man sitting on the steps of his apartment building. both survived. the brother of the older victim said the community is in fear. >> the sooner you get stepped, the better. >> reporter: since leesburg police went public on monday, hundreds of people have come through. the hammer attack happened on friday. on saturday, the serial stabber allegedly struck again in toledo, ohio. michigan police are also looking at another stabbing case on saturday as well. but since then, the trail has gone cold. police stay white hot media spotlight may be too much for the killer. >> i think it tightens the noose, for lack of a better word. the net is cast and it makes it that much harder, i think, for the suspect to operate. to be driving, to be walking, to be seen anywhere. and i think that's a positive thing. >> reporter: the stabbings have captured attention of the leesburg public. police say hundreds of tips have been pouring in as to the whereabouts of the male and of his cars. leesburg police say there is a $5,000 reward leading to the arrest of the suspect, and that can go up substantially, we're told, if the fbi decides to help out. reporting live in leesburg, i'm jane watrel. back to you. >> a young soldier from fredericksburg was killed with full military honors today at arlington national cemetery. the army specialist morgan mcbeth died july 2 in iraq. she was assigned to the first special troops battalion of the 82nd airborne division out of ft. bragg. she died in a noncombat related incident. she was 19 years old. some disturbing indications faye the economic recovery is slowing down. and that the housing crisis remains a serious problem. to sum it up, we are selling less overseas. the housing prices are unstable. and there are fewer new jobs. >> reporter: near atlantic, thousands tried for public housing. >> i'm in the process of being kicked out of where i will you have. >> reporter: more families need help because the recover 50 stalled. >> i have no job. my old lady has no job. >> reporter: in today's national june taly, there were five job seekers for everyone position and no increase in the rate of job growth. what is increasing is our trade deficit and that's bad. americans are buying 19% more from china. manufacturing less at home. trying to help president obama today, signed a bipartisan bill. temporarily suspending the duty to feed on raw materials imported to the u.s. to be made into finished goods. >> a bill that will strengthen american manufacturing and american jobs. >> reporter: the administration also made more moves to help homeowners. $3 billion to keep out of work owners out of foreclosure. meanwhile, a quarter of owners who wanted to sell had to cut their price in july. a trend that has gotten worse since march, holding back the rest of the economy. >> stabilizing housing prices is critical to recovery. people simple won't go out and buy things if they feel values of their home are falling. >> reporter: a bad sign, many americans are desperate. the key to recover 50 jobs. a big spurt in employment. so far there is no sign of one. >> that created a big slide. it dropped 365 point. 2.5% loss. nasdaq down 69 points. 3% loss there. and the spb lost 32 points. northern 2.8%. a new poll shows insight into how voters are feeling about president obama. about 12% think he is doing better than they initially expected he would do in office. that it's down 3% from the beginning of the year. but a majority of the voters stay performance has been on par with expectations. the full results of this poll including how voters feel about congress, coming up on "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. the president offered best wishes to muslims in the u.s. and around the world as they observe the holy month of ramadan. this ninth month of the islamic calendar is used for worship and contemplation. they abstain from eating and drinking from dawn until sunset. at night they eat small meals and pray and visit with family. ramadan continues until september 9. still ahead, a sign of hope as hundred of fires burn out of control in russia. find out why a whole bunch of people decided it would be a good idea to jump out of a plane. another storm threatening to move into the gulf of mexico. and chuck has our weather. >> we had another day in the steam bath. temperatures near 100. i don't think it will last too much longer. i'll give you all the details in the forecast. and i'll bet you money, it felt like 100 degrees at redskins park today. >> amen to that. it was steamy out here. two days away from preseason game number one. and donavan mcnabb says he is ready. a mcnabb jersey. stirring up some big controversy at eagles camp. plus, more questionable apparel. we're talking about coach turner. he insisted on sweatpants. dan rostenkowski died today at his home in wisconsin. he had lung cancer. a corruption scandal landed him in jail at one point but he was pardoned by president clinton in 2000. the chicago democrats are 18 years in the house and despite the scandal, friends and colleague say he will be remembered best as a master politician who got things done. he was 82 years old. in the gulf, crews are still on standby. it will likely be friday before the crews can resume. jay gray has the latest will. >> reporter: with the leading edge of the tropical depression already pushing wind and rain across south louisiana, the incident commander thad allen talked about the effects of the storm. >> it is supposed to calm down around friday. probably by friday morning we'll be in a position to do the test. >> reporter: the engineers will be testing to see if they'll move forward with the bottom kill. pupping in more thick mud, then cement. crews drilling are about 50 feet from the point where they will expect. the workers will ride out the weather on the water. staying in place so they can resume drilling on the relief well as quickly as possible. fishing boats have been pushed back to shore but for the first time in a long time, it was the weather. not the oil. 5,000 square miles of gulf waters were open for both commercial and recreational fishing. the storms though, forgs fishermen and so many others along the gulf coast on day 114 of this crisis to wait a little longer. this evening the forecasters say the storm is losing some of its intensity. great news for crews at the spill site. if there are no further delays, they could intersect it. meanwhile, grass and other vegetation are starting to grow back in areas that were once coated in oil. scientist say this is a sign that the delicate marshes are starting to heal. a man from minnesota says he is putting his family first now that he is out of jail. his name was lee. he was sentenced to eight years in prison for a deadly crash that happened back in 2006. three people were killed. two of them children. lee's toyota went out of control. he said he stepped on the brake about it didn't work. he spent 2 1/2 years in jail. he missed the birth of his youngest daughter. >> i can't back to my family. i can't redo my daughter's birthday and hold her hand. lee was released because of the investigation into toyota's problems with sudden acceleration. the judge said he should have a new trial. the prosecutors have dropped the charges against him. ella rose might make a good comedian someday. she has impeccable timing. she was born two days ago in cincinnati. her birth date is august 9, go 2010 so many numerically she was born on 8/9/10. she came into the world at 11:12. that makes her 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. when the obstetrician looked at the clock and noted it was 11:12. in about 30 minutes she asked the mom if she wanted to slow down to try to hit the mark. the mom said, oh, no, let's get this done now. she came in her own sweet time anyway. >> i can imagine her mom said more than oh, no. >> i wouldn't want to do something that feels good for 12 hours. >> the emergency space walk. >> the firefighters narrowly escape a dangerous situation after running into live power lines. more than 100 dare devils jumped 15,000 feet. they want to beat the european's free fall formation that was held by 90 sky divers. today's participants trained for two days them couldn't get into the position fast enough. they will give it another try tomorrow. you think you had a rough day. two astronauts are taking a second crack at repairing the international space station's cooling system. douglas and tracy were ready to finish the job on saturday but a toxic ammonia link halted their work. if all go as planned, one more walk could be needed and that could be early sunday. so we didn't hit 100 take but it felt like it. >> it did feel like 100, yet again. it didn't make 100 and we did not get near the record which is 101. more than 100-year-old record. that didn't change that it was still another day above 95 degrees. everybody outside today, walking extra slow up the sunny sidewalks in the washington area. people taking their time. taking it easy. that's the best thing to do when you're stuck in a summer like this one. drink your extra water, your iced tea, find your friend's hammock and sit in it. 97 today, our high temperature. that was not only our 51st day above 90 but the 20th time this summer that we've been 95 degrees or higher. last year, we had only five days above 95 degrees. in the summer of 2004, we had only 12 days above 90. how thing have change. 96. that's the current temperature downtown. the dew point is at 63. the humidity, relatively low at 34%. so it is not quite the steam bath it was out earlier today but still 99 in frederick. 90 in annapolis. a little hint of a bay breeze coming in. that's helping. 93 in leonard town. 88 degrees culpeper. the heat indices. right around the immediate washington area, there are a couple of showers here along the blue ridge into the shenandoah valley. one or two rumbles of thunder. not too far from tomsbrook. we'll be keeping an eye on that. no severe weather on that. near washington, virginia, a couple showers toward charlottesville. had a thunderstorm go rolling but most of the action is still further back out to the west. for the most part, it will fade away. a few showers around between now and 9:00 or 10:00. most of us around metro washington will be staying dry. across the gulf coast, what was tropical depression 5 is now losing its center of circulation. so the hurricane center does not think this storm will reach tropical storm strength. we'll continue to monitor it. no matter what it does, it should be on shore by about this time tomorrow. and then it will start weakening down. the good news is it is coming into the base of this best of my knowledge ever big ridge of hot air. it is taking a little bite out of it. still plenty warm across the middle of the country. the high pressure across new york and new england will take advantage of that weakening in the ridge and push a little back door cool front back through here. that will really take edge off the heat as we go through tomorrow and more importantly, as we get into the middle of the week. 110 or higher through st. louis through wichita. that area of high temperatures is shrinking down just a little bit. this cool front will settle further and further to the south. we'll get more of an easterly to northeasterly front. that will really hold the temperature down. mid to upper 80s and if you get up alongside the bay or going to the beaches, low 80s for high temperatures over the weekend. that will be welcome news. and much better chance for some rain showers around here tomorrow and off and on chances through the weekend. so for this evening, a few showers out. mainly west and southwest of washington. the temperature, mid to high 80s. cloudy in the morning, warm and humid. the temperature will start in the mid 70s once again. and then it will be warm to hot and humid tomorrow. no where near as much as we've been suffering all summer. tomorrow's high, 88 to about 90 degrees. i wouldn't be shocked if we made 90 tomorrow. after that, mid 80s with the clouds for imply for saturday. upper 80s on sunday with another chance for showers. but then 80s all the way into early next week. it will be the longest, coolest stretch we've had since before memorial day. >> thanks. still ahead, local researchers say they have found one way to boost your chances of getting pregnant. a community is mourning the loss of a teenager who was killed on her way home from the store. here we go again. more than 30,000 customers lost power this morning near northern virginia. not that long ago, many families were priced out of an overheated housing market. but the times have changed. get the facts at remax.com. it's a great place to see all the listings in thousands of cities and towns. with lots of houses to chose from and down-to-earth prices the dream of owning a home seems more attainable than ever. find out what an experienced re/max agent can do for you. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. a teenager was hit and killed trying to cross a dark and busy road in prince george's county. now tia wright, friends are making the spot a memorial in hopes that no one else gets hurt there. it happened last night at the intersection of marlboro pike in district heights. aaron gilchrist has our report. >> reporter: it is a sign of affect these teens wish they didn't have to show. this afternoon, notes and stuffed animals were how young people in the holly spring meadows apartment complex said goodbye to tia wright. >> just before 10:00 tuesday, she was leaving the convenience store near her apartment community. she tried to cross the street, prince george's county police say she was not in the crosswalk and was hit by an suv coming around the bend. >> it was a dark area. the teenager was wearing dark clothing and the initial investigation revealed that the likely cause of it was that she couldn't be seen. >> markings from the accident were still visible on marlboro pike below the makeshift memorial, tim mcqueen started. he said it hard to accept that he won't see tia in the neighborhood anymore. >> a nice person. >> she is just a cool person. >> reporter: residents say this could have been avoided. they told us about street lights on marlboro pike them say lots of lights on this road and many of them don't work. the accident reminds kevin crawford of how dark this busy road gets at night. he says some of the street lights work and some don't making a trip across the street a crap shoot. >> men of time i've seen people get halmost hit by a car. they definitely need lights out here. it is real dark out here. >> reporter: police say either alcohol or speed seem to be factors in last night's know. the driver who hit tia didn't leave the scene. the fbi has caught up with a guy they call the granddad bandit who has been on the run for more than a year and a half now. he is suspected of robbing banks. they caught him last night in louisiana. they think he has robbed banks in 13 states. authorities say they think the first one was back in december of 2008. at a sun trust bank in richmond, virginia. prank calls to potential voters are stirring things up. about 100 people in the district have been targeted. the person is pretending to be from vincent gray's campaign. they've apparently hacked into the phone number. when someone answers, they hang up. he says he is trying to figure out who is behind the call. he does not suspect mayor fenty's campaign. >> we are trying to address it. we've asked verizon to look at it. we've asked the metropolitan police department. as you might imagine, our campaign, that's the last thing we will. do call people an