students forced to stay home local administrators proceed with caution as fears over the swine flu grow. how long some kids will be kept out the classroom. avoiding a potential disast disast disaster. a discovery just in time. the fallout continues after more than 200 d.c. teachers are fired. this morning reaction to all the criticism. good morning, everybody. welcome to "news4 midday." i am barbara harrison. >> and i am joe krebs, and it's wednesday, the 7th day of october. a high school in laurel is closed becse of swine flu concerns. it's the first school in our area to shut down because of the h1n1 this year. five students have been diagnosed with the h1n1 strain of the flu. nearly 100 students say they are feeling sick. kimberly has the latest for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, barbara. parents of the kids that attend the private catholic school were given a letter yesterday and it was posted on their website informing them the school would be closed and cleaned today, and this done without the blessing of the archdiocese or the health department. the chapel saw no class tans, and the gym lays undisturbed, except for one senior that did not get the message. there were cleaning crews instead of students. the school was shut down to scrub every touchable surface, a move the archdiocese and the health department says is unnecessary. >> they spoke and have said what they want to do and what we should do, and he understands education. >> if they can be proactive than keeping my child from bringing it home, i think it's the best thing. >> 500 students were absent tuesday, so the principal made the decision to close. >> we are just going to try and stay on top of it to minimize that from happening. >> reporter: minimizing the swed of swine flu from happening takes widespread evacuavaccinat although they say there is not enough to go around. >> we wish we had more. some people can get vaccinated, and it will also get us ready to get a running start on vaccination come late to mid-october. >> back in laurel, one teacher says it's impossible to know if 1/5 of the student body was out because they were flu. >> they are saying if you don't feel well, don't come to school, and obviously if you say that, they may say i don't feel well because i don't want to go to school. that could be part of it. >> reporter: the wednesday morning bell still bid the students to class, but the sign on the front door gives them all the permission they needed to stay away. there is a child care center attached to the school that way, and another school with kids across the street. those are both open. and we are told by the principal, the school reopen tomorrow morning. barbara and joe, back to you. >> thank you, kimberly. the montgomery county department of health says it receives its first shipment of the vaccine. the flu mist spray is not recommended for pregnant women or people with asthma or people older than 49. 2 million doses of nasal spray vaccine are available nationwide, and those should be arriving at doctors' office around the country. and stay with us for the latest on the swine flu, and you can find the latest anytime on nbcwashington.com. d.c. washington councilman marion barry drove himself to the hospital on tuesday after he started to feel sick. he was admitted after undergoing several tests. his doctors say he is weak and dehydrated and a mild infection. he had a kidney transplant earlier in the year, and is expected to be hospitalized for a few days. 61-year-old stephanie richardson got off a bus, and while she was crossing in front of the bus, a second bus hit her. the metro bus driver has been placed on routine administrative leave, while an investigation is conducted. no charges have been filed. it looks like we are going to be enjoying some sun for the rest of the day. >> let's check in with veronica johnson, and find out what she is looking at on her weather maps. good morning. >> good morning, joe and barbara. yeah, lots of sunshine. it's a windy october day for us. now, it's nice and mild, 72 degrees, and the weather front is coming through, a strong cold front, where temperatures dropped into the 60s. martinsburg and winchester. and the wind picked up too out west. martinsburg seeing high winds through the area today. wind advisories remains until 6:00 a.m., and covers all the viewing area. today, 73, likely to see the high temperature right here during the 11:00 hour. cooling down just a bit behind the weather front. as far as today goes, into the low 70s. tomorrow sunshine. we will take a look at the extended forecast coming up. it will be turning much colder. are you ready? back to you. >> we're ready, sure. >> bring it on. >> thank you very much, veronica. jerry edwards has the latest on theraffic now? >> hello. they are back again, second day in a row. up on 395 northbound, right at the 14th street bridge, far right lane is taken away about mid span. these are the folks coming off the gw parkway to merge to the 14th street bridge. a delay getting past it. wisely, crews waited until the rush hour wound down, and that's a good thing. >> and just after 11:00, we are looking at delays trying to get into silver spring in bethesda. and all delays are a residual of delays this morning. the wilson bridge doing all right both ways. back to you. a montana gpolice officer i montgomery was on the scene of the accident near georgia avenue and silver spring when a truck started barrelling toward her. they say she jumped over a guardrail to escape, and she was injured in the jump and taken to the hospital for minor injuries. the accident did close the end of the beltway for several hours. and more information about the water maine break in bethesda, a pipe even bigger than that almost bursts in college park. >> reporter: who can forget the dramatic video, water rushing down river road, and cars trapped and drivers plucked to safety by helicopters. that was caused by the break of a 66 inch water main. imagine if a larger pipe blew? the crews found a leak in a 96-inch pipe in college park. fortunately the problem was caught in time before there was a major problem. >> water was coming up, and leaks were reported in it that we thought were coming from it. the problem was to figure out where they were. that's what we did. and then we were able to get in and fix it. large pipe inspections were put on hold in 2000 because the money ran out. since then, the water authority has been playing catch up. >> wssc has 77 miles of large diameter pipe, the 96 inch main in college park is one of the largest in the system. it is so large it would come about aoot up to that yellow bar. and engineers recommended that such manz be inspected every five years. they hope to meet that goal by 2013. the utility is also using new technology to locate problems. one such gizmo, a smart ball was used for the first time to find the league in college park. >> new technology the size of a softball wrapped in styrofoam. and that bounces waves off the wall and you pick up where there may be problems. >> reporter: inspections and new technology costs money, and that's bringing up possible rate increases. >> no, no, the rates are already too high. >> these times, people are lean and nobody wants to pay for anything extra these days. but i guess sometimes you have to bite the bullet. >> reporter: the officials stress it's the beginning of the budget process, while more money is needed nothing has been set in stone. megan mcgrath, news4. the search is on this midday for the suspect or suspects who attacked two women in prince william county. both incidents happened yesterday in manassas. one yesterday morning in the block of cover stone drive, and then the other one last night on the block of krem sun court. the suspect grabbed one woman and punched her and tried to sexually assault her. she was taken to a local hospital for treatment. and the suspect in the attac on krem sun court, he opened the car door and punched her and tried to drag her out of the car. she was able to get away. prince george's county police are looking for a man that they say robbed the same 7-eleven store half a dozen times, and each time he steals cigarettes. he told the clerk he had a gun and then jumped over-the-counter and stole a large quantity of cigarettes. if you have any information about him, you are asked to call prince georges' county police. 11:11 is our time. 72 degrees. still ahead, students continue to protest the decision to fire more than 200 teachers. coming up, d.c. schools chancellor, who is in the study, responds to the criticism. and why president obama is getting pulled in different directions from both sides. d.c. school administrators are facing heated protest over their decision to fire more than 200 teachers. the layoff is supposed to help close a major budget gap. the decision was tough but they say they stand by their decision. many were upset by the teachers were escorted out of their classrooms last friday. and counselman marion barry drew attention when he said michelle rhee lied. and she fired back at the claim. >> i think counc member barry has an interesting interpretation of things. i am certainly willing to ask any questions the councilmember has, but being accused of lying, i don't think that is right. we have been as straightforward as we can with the public and with the school staff about the situation that we were facing. i know these cuts are incredibly difficult in a lot of ways, but we tried to manage the situation as best as we could to make sure it had minimal impact on kids. >> students and teachers are planning about protest tomorrow at freedom plaza. and presint obama's ratings are beginning to rise. people are starting to feel better about the president's hanling of the economy and the proposed health care over haul. and the poll is still leaving pessimistic feelings about the direction of the country, though. and the president is reviewing the strategy for afghanistan. congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle sat down and discussed to see if more american troops should be sent to stabilize the country. and many democrats oppose troops in afghanistan, and most republicans want a troop surge as soon as possible. >> there are fewer than 100 al qaeda people in afghanistan. >> every day that goes by, the troops that we do have there are in greater danger. the senat passed a funding measure last night that would bring the total u.s. tab for the war in afghanistan to $300 billion. we are looking for a beautiful day, and it did not start out that way, did it? >> no, it didn't. for all the people that don't like too much wind, it's not that great. >> i am looking at the video, and all i see is blue sky. >> we are seeing high gusts through the area. just to the west of our area -- there it is, you can see it bouncing right now. and we have gusts across -- >> i would hate to be trying to land a plane. >> yeah, and the gusts will be picking up. temperatures outside, low 70s. 73 degrees, and just over the last few minutes, we just dropped to 72 with the weather front coming through. 54 degrees, the dew point temperature. and the winds are south-southwest at 13 miles per hour, but gusting at 22 degrees at reagan national. and then off to the west, elkins is 55 degrees, and cooling to 55 from the 60s early this morning. 67 in hagerstown. and 72, here. again, cooling down as well. we will drop a couple degrees with the weather front moving through. we had the rain early on. the weather front has been lagging to the west of it, but coming through the area right now. turning windy throughout the area. the next drops of rain showing up on doppler, not until friday. so we have to wait just a little while here. thurma, maryland, wind gusts there. and the big storm that is out west, that is the big story for us, because it's a strong weather front. the next one that will really cool us down for the second half of the weekend. windy conditions today. winds will start to settle later tonight. and all the cold air over the rockies where there is snow accumulating, that's on the move headed to the east. it arrives across the east early sunday morning. temperatures are going to be feeling a lot like november the first part of next week for columbus day. the wind advisories not just here but up into boston and buffalo. and there are delays from new york to detroit right now. because of the high winds in the wake of the weather front moving through. high pressure continues to move in nosing its way, and we will have clear skies tonight. and then a few clouds building throughout, i think, the back part of the day tomorrow. rain not expected again until friday, and probably early morning showers with more rain coming through during the afternoon on friday. wind yea conditions. gusts 45 to 55 miles per hour. temperatures ranging from 68 to 75. again, we have seen our high here at reagan national, i think. windy for today, but calm for tomorrow. should be settling down with plenty of sunshine across the area. the high again about 73. friday, more showers coming through. there is a 30% chance right now. and then just a little bit of warmth on saturday before, again, those november-like temperatures hit us for the weekend. starting out sunday morning, at about 50, low 60s for highs on sunday. and then it will be hard-pressed to hit 60 for a high on columbus day. kind of cold. fleece-type weather for us around here. >> yeah, like a lumberjack, get your plaid out. let's go to jerry edwards. any problems out there? >> roadwork and power outages around the area. we will turn our attention to the capital beltway. this is the virginia side as you come up with the gw parkway towards the american legion bridge. on the inner loop it's the far right lane taken away. not too much of a delay at all. and the outer loop i moving along. and power outages, which, of course, translating into some issues with traffic lights. k in parts of bur win heights, we areetting reports of power outages. be aware as the wind begins to knock out the traffic lights around the area, crews are doing what the can to take care of it. be careful at the enter sinters throughout the day. >> thank you, jerry. the calm oasis for some changed when a car crashed into the door. a camry crashed through the front of the business. the car travelled through the busy parking lot and across the sidewalk barrier. the elderly woman driver was seriously hurt. the redskins are trying to tackle their struggling offense. meet the man they think will be right for the job? >> and plus, do you know how to spot a terrorists? the video authorities want you to see. first, we show you what is hot on nbcwashington.com. well, with the redskins offense struggng, the team hired lewis as a consultant. the redskins think his exsuper tease will help. lewis and zorn worked under the same coach, the former packers' offensive coordinator has been hired as, quote, another set of eyes, to help zorn jump-start the offense. baltimore major, sheila dickinson asked for a soccer stadium for d.c. united. they have been looking to move home games to a soccer only facility for several years. most recently, they were thinking of building a $195 billion stadium in prince georges county which was voted down by the council. and kevin payne is out of the country and could not comment and we don't know if they would change their name to the baltimore united. and the american planning association recognized the historic hilton village in newport news as a great neighborhood. the group says the neighborhood has not changed much since it was planned and built during world war i. and then in williamsburg, a street was recognized as a great street. it's an authentic re-creation of the 18th century capital. and then the boardwalk was named as a great public space. >> it's all great. >> it's all great. 11:27. 72 degrees. still ahead, while one of your utility bills will likely be lower. plus, the surprising spots in your house where germs may be lurking. and plus, foods that could be dangerous to your health. plus, we have a lot of wind out there. me here is a look at the stories we were following right now on "news4 midday." d.c. council member marion barry remains in the hospital. the doctors say he is weak and dehydrated and a mild infection. barry had a kidney transplant a few months ago, and his aides say this is not uncommon among people with transplants. we are learning workers narrowly averted a break in college park last fall. this pipe was 66 inches wide, and the one that almost ruptured in college park was 96 inches. crews did emergency repair work before it busts completely. and michelle rhee is firing back at critics after the firing of teachers. she said the police did not escort teachers out of buildings as some claim. the efforts were made to minimize the effect on students. students at a private high school in maryland are off today as thechool tries to prevent an swine flu outbreak. five students were diagnosed with h1n1 and another 100 students say they are feeling sick. the school will be scrubbed down and disinfected today. health and human services, kathleen sebelius, insists the vaccine is safe and is made the same way the seasonal flu vaccine is made in the past. >> we have the right vacne for the right virus. we have myths and facts there that people can check out for themselves. this definitely is a safe vaccine for people to get. >> the first doses of the swine flu vaccine are now arriving in our area. new research says that last year's seasonal flu shot may have protected some people from the swine flu. researchers looked at data on 240 patients on h1n1 patients in new mexico, and the people that did not have swine flu likely had a flu shot the year before. and they say it's unlikely this year's seasonal flu shot will also protect against swine flu. ay with ns4 for the latest on the swine flu, and you can find information at anytime on nbcwashington.com. and the man accused of drowning his three children in the bathtub, his lawyers argued to suppress his confession to police. the hearing continues today in baltimore. they caught the man that murdered a fairfax county woman in july. they arrested danny kim where he worked. he killed chung ah. surveillance video from near the crime scene helped the investigation. it shows an suv pull up to the house. and her family says they finally have now some closurclosure. >> the person that did this, did such terrible things, and i hope she can have peace and rest. >> police have not revealed the motive for the killing or a possible relationship between the two. and do you know how to spot a terrorists? this video was debuted by some of the top law enforcement officials that are in denver for a police conference. debra sherman has the story. >> as colorado's governor and the nation's homeland security secretary talks about terrorism, video was played of the worse terrorists attacks, car bombs and suicide bombers. >> the threat san francisco terrorism. it's anywhere. it could be new york and also denver. >> reporter: now they released a training video for the public to recognize eight signs of terrorism. >> this video will empower citizens with the knowledge they need to protect our communities our state and our nation. >> reporter: the video asked you to watch out for suspects doing surveillance, or acquiring supplies or testing security. battling terrorism is a shared responsibility. >> you cannot leave it to a state agency to do it or a federal agent to do it. there are practical things that every individual can do that will help minimize the risk of terrorism. >> reporter: the message comes at a time when denver finds itself at the center of a terrorism plot to detonate explosives in n