blocked by road work heading into the city. the travel speed is 51 miles per hour, not bad, 13 minutes to get from the beltway to the 14th street bridge. and the outer look crossing over the american legion bridge, your delays continue to the dulles toll road. barbara, balk over to you. >> thanks, danella. we'll continue to follow this story. right now man accused of killing a tourist by attacking a hammer is awaiting his court hearing. the 19-year-old is also charged with two other hammer attacks in the petworth neighborhood in the district. news4's megan mcgrath is outside d.c. superior court with more. megan, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, barb raxt the first of two court hearings was scheduled to get under way at around 9:30 this morning, but things have been pushed back a little bit. we're expecting all the parties to enter the courtroom pretty soon, probably sometime after 11:30. now michael davis is charged in the murder of tourist gary deed rick and is charged in two other hammer attacks and a suspect in other attacks, davis was due in court for a murder charge. later today he has a second appearance on an assault charge. he's accused of going on a violent rampage in the metworth neighborhood last month. police say davis beat gary ded rimpb ric everyone h in the head. there were several more attacks over the next few days, in the same petworth community. including one where a 19-year-old woman has witness had the head with hammer. police actually spotted davis running from that scene. as he ran, they say he tossed a bag. police picked it up. inside they found a bloody hammer. police were able to chase davis down on the scene. he was taken into custody. arrested and then later charged. now davis's mental state is being debated in all of this. we may learn more about that and an evaluation. again, michael davis, due in court, probably some time after 11:30. we'll continue to follow this and bring you the latest when it happens. reporting live from the d.c. courthouse, megan mcgrath. >> thank you, megan. a maryland state trooper who died in the line of duty will be honored this afternoon. state police will unveil a memorial highway sign in honor of trooper first class shaft hunter in the area where he died. he was killed in a crash on interstate 95 near the laurel rest area last may. police believe hunter was chasing a speeding motorcycle when his cruiser hit a tractor-trailer. for those of you who live in montgomery and prince george's counties, your water bill is going up. the country council has approved the 7.5% rate hike. so that will add $5 a month to the average water and sewer bill. wssc says the new revenue will go toward water and suer reconstruction and inspection. the new rate begins july 1st. taking a look outside now, the sun is shining, it's nice out there. a little cool, though. storm center 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us with the first forecast. >> it is a gorgeous morning. i just was out walking around, sniffing the air. a wonderful, wonderful morning under way. it's not warming into the 60s, all of these areas in green are in the 60s it includes a huge area. all of virginia, maryland, the eastern shore, and into the shenandoah valley and the mountains, where this morning, temperatures dipped down to the upper 30s, we've had quite a warmup since then. the strong may sun, we can thank the strong may sun getting higher in the sky for warming things up. there's the view from space, a big area of high pressure pushing in, giving us this beautiful blue sky. for the rest of the day, for the afternoon hours, we'll have plenty of sunshine. a little bit of a light breeze out of the northwest gusting to around 10 to 20 miles per hour. by mid afternoon, highs should reach low to mid 70s. just a perfect spring day under way. and a cool night tonight. i'll have the latest on that, we'll look at the mother's day weekend and look in next week. that's all coming up in a few minutes with your seven-day outlook. barbara? >> thank you, tom. right now, some virginia lawmakers are touring a brac site to see how the military move is affecting traffic. congressman jim moran is leading the tour of the what's known as the brac facility on falls church. he wants to know how brac has been impacted. if there's alternatives for commuters and if there's a way to reduce noise and light pollution in the area. more than 3,000 federal employees began moving there last month. jts and more bad news for the second phase of metro's silver line. funding is in limbo and most virginians say they don't support the project. a "washington post" poll found only 32% of virginians think the project is extremely or very important. 64% say it's not. however, when you look at just northern virginia, those numbers are flip-flopped. two-thirds of northern virginians support the project and more than 40% say it is extremely important, the second phase lost significant funding when virginia's general assembly left $300 million for the project out of the budget. neighbors in prince george's county opposed to a controversial town center development are voicing their complaints today before the county council. hearings resumed at 120:00 on the proposal to build the development in riverdale park. it would include what would be the county's first whole foods store. many nearby residents fear the town center will lead to unbearable traffic. they're also concerned about the environmental impact the $226 million development would have on the area. the county council heard four hours of testimony on monday. u.s. stocks are down, the reason? a surprise announcement from jp morgan chase, the largest bank in the u.s. lost $2 billion in the past six weeks. the company says it lost the cash in a trading portfolio designed to hedge against risks the company takes with its own money. we'll have more on this story in a live report from cnbc coming up a little bit later on the show. our time right now is six minutes after 11:00. coming up on "news4 midday," mitt romney, a bully? what the family of one of the reported victims is saying this morning. plus, you've likely seen the picture, now the mom making headlines with this "time" cover is speaking out. and growing fallout over head injuries in the nfl. what former redskins legend is joining the fight for players' he [ female announcer ] safeway presents real big deals of the week. or how to keep from driving all over for the best deals. you don't need to run around. safeway gives you real big club card deals each week. right now, a sweet price on honey nut cheerios, just $1.88. starbucks coffee is only $7.77. that's less than a quarter for a great cup of coffee. and fage greek yogurt is just a buck. real big deals this week and every week. only at safeway. ingredients for life. you can always expect more. like more on demand shows and movies than ever. and more ways to discover them too. plus more speed from america's fastest internet provider. so you can run more devices at the same time. ♪ feel a firework [ female announcer ] and best of all, it keeps getting better. no wonder more people choose xfinity over any other provider. ♪ love can be so mystical ♪ new today, a man wearing an afghan army uniform shot and killed a nato service member and injured two others. it happened in the kunar province onth eastern border near pakistan. a senior u.s. military official says the victim was an american service member. the taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. sources tell nbc news the al qaeda double agent who helped foil a bomb plot is british. u.s., british and saudi counterterrorism officials were involved in stopping the terror plot. the spy was sent by al qaeda to detonate a new, more sophisticated underwear bomb on a u.s. plane. security experts say al qaeda is now recruiting people with western passports so they can get past security checks more easily. mitt romney is facing criticism after reports surfaced that he was a bully in high school. the "washington post" reports romney was quite the prankster at his michigan prep school close to 50 years ago. according to the report, he led a group of classmates in pinning down another student against his will and cutting his hair. that student later came out as gay. romney says he didn't know anything about the reported victim's sexual orientation. >> you know, i don't remember that incident. and i'll tell you, i certainly don't believe that i or i can't speak for other people, of course, knew that fellow was homosexual, that was the furthest thing from my mind in 1960. that was not the case. but as to pranks that were played back then, i don't remember them all. but again you know, high school days that i did stupid things, why i'm afraid i got to say sorry for it. >> a family member of the victim released a statement on this incident, dr. elizabeth lauber said the family of john lauber would like to state that the portrayal of john is factually incorrect and we are aggrieved that john would be used to further a political agenda dlxt will be no further comments from the family. meanwhile, president obama has accepted vice president joe biden's apology for the comments he made last week about same-sex marriage. vice president biden endorsed same-sex marriage on nbc's "meet the press." his comments sparked a firestorm this past week, essentially forcing the president to comment on the issue. the president reportedly told biden that he knew he was speaking from his heart when talking about same-sex marriage. and president obama is heading west to nevada today. he's expected to discuss the struggling housing market in reno. that speech comes a day after his campaign raised a record $15 million in a single event. it helps when actor george clooney is the host of the fundraiser, supporters paid $40,000 each to attend. among those in attendance? barbra streisand and robert downey junior. mothers everywhere are talking about the controversial cover of "time" magazine. it shows an l.a. mom breast-feeding her almost 4-year-old son. there's also a caption "are you mom enough?" magazine editors say they ran the photo to go with the story about attachment parenting. the program calls for nursing children until they choose to stop. toting young kids in slings to be closer to their parents and to encourage them to sleep in bed with mom and dad. dr. bill sears wrote a book on the subject 20 years ago. the woman on the cover stopped by "the today show." she says she practices attachment parenting because she breastfed herself until she was six years old. >> you know, it's a big commitment and it's not, it's not right for everybody. and i think that that's the big thing is you need to do what's best for your baby. and for your own family. so if this, you know, you can take some of dr. sears' attachment parenting philosophies and maybe not others and it's okay. you're not a bad parent. your child will still be okay. >> dr. sears and other advocates of attachment parenting claim it has many psychological and physiological benefits. the "times" reporter on the story says there's no long-term study this proves the benefits. well baby week starts on monday on "news4 midday." tune in each day for an important bit of information we've got a lot coming for you. on monday we begin the week with planning for pregnancy. and how to deal with infertility. on tuesday, the do's and don't's for pregnant women from day one until due date. on wednesday, we're cooking healthy recipes for moms-to-be and baby. on thursday, what parents will need. and on friday, we wrap up the week with maternity fashions. baby week on "news4 midday." let's take a look outside right now. sunshine, beautiful start to the weekend. storm center 4 meteorologist tom kierein joins us with a look ahead to what we can expect this weekend, tom? >> it is such a beautiful morning now. after a very cold start. we were down in the upper 30s throughout much of the region, right around dawn. but there's the scene over the potomac river now. 66 degrees at reagan national. and a huge 787, the brand-new boeing airliner just took off from reagan national under this beautiful sunny day, beautiful view there i'm sure looking out over the monuments. right now we have a wind out of the north and west at about 10 miles per hour. look at this gorgeous rose sent in by stephanie mosely, mechanicsville, maryland. if you have an interesting nature or weather photo, send it to weather@nbcwashington.com. and later today, back yard pool, this was sent in to us, to weather@nbcwashington.com. make sure that you include your name and your location, paula nocolae, what a great back yard. around our region wlarks a great day to spend outside, we're in the 60s throughout the entire region from virginia into maryland. around the bay, the eastern shore, the bay is the deep blue color with the gorgeous blue sky. water is sparkling and off in the mountains, gorgeous there. everything is greened up. and great day for outdoor exercise or hiking or recreation, beautiful area of high pressure over us now. giving us this clear sky. and it will be in place for the rest of the afternoon. with plenty of sunshine. temperatures climbing into the low to mid 70s. that's right in the comfort zone. just a beautiful day. a little bit of a breeze out of the north and west. maybe gusting around 20 miles per hour. then overnight tonight for your friday evening plans. if you're heading out under a clear sky, it will get cool by mid to late evening, back down into the 50s. and it's going to get chilly again after midnight. probably begin to dip down into the 40s. and starting off saturday morning, probably not as cold as it was this morning. we like lie have our temperatures by dawn tomorrow into the mid 40s. much of the region. afternoon highs on saturday should make it into the upper 70s. another delightful day. average high this time of year is 74. the average low is 55. so the morning lows are certainly unusually chilly. this morning if felt more like a march morning than certainly getting into mid may. then on sunday, for mother's day, looking delightful, morning lows in the mid 50s. increasing clouds, afternoon highs should climb to around 80 degrees. great weather. and then on sunday, late afternoon into the evening, we'll have the clouds thickening up a bit. right now the timing looks like rain not arriving until after sunset sunday night. off and on on monday, passing showers are possible. probably into the 50s in the morning. then afternoon highs on monday, with a few passing showers around. they may climb back into the low 70s on monday afternoon. and then maybe some other passing showers as an area of low pressure does slowly move through. give us more showers maybe on tuesday. small chance of some thunder and lightning. going to be a lot of clouds around. highs again on tuesday, just the low 70s. and morning lows in the 50s. then by midweek next week, it looks like we'll begin to dry out. morning lows in the 50s. afternoon highs climbing into the mid and upper 70s. but what a wonderful day under way. great weekend coming up. enjoy, and the flowers are looking beautiful. and we're going to be talking flowers here pretty soon, too. can't wait to see that, barbara. >> beautiful flowers, great weekend for mom. going to check on the midday traffic now. danella sealock joins us with the latest. >> still watching as you're making your way right now, north capital street, the closure between g and h due to an accident involving a pedestrian. please use alternate roads, jump on new jersey avenue or massachusetts avenue. for now, this road is going to be shut down. thinking of traveling down south, heading out of town for mother's day weekend, slow trip. this is a live look right now at 123, traveling i-95 southbound, it's very slow. in fact on the beltway to quantico, you're driving at about 22 miles per hour, taking over an hour and your delays actually last all the way through to stafford. barbara, back over to you. >> thanks, danella. our time is 19 minutes after 11:00. still ahead on "news4 midday" -- now that the april showers are gone, how to bring some color to your garden with may flowers and some mother's day gift ideas, too. she lost both of her legs protecting her children from a tornado. this morning she talks about her remarkable recovery. first, a look at what's hot on nbcwashington.com. [ male announcer ] are you paying more and more for cable and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for second best. upgrade to verizon fios tv, internet and phone for just $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years with a two-year agreement. act now and we'll add a special bonus: $250 back. but hurry, this offer ends june 2nd. unlike cable, fios is a 100% fiber-optic network that delivers america's fastest, most consistent, most reliable internet plus the best tv picture quality. why keep paying so much for cable? switch to fios for just $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years with a two-year agreement -- plus your special bonus: $250 back. save $600 in your first two years. but hurry. this incredible offer ends june 2nd. call 1.877.707.fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities that's 1.877.707.3467. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. or visit us online to save even more. fios. a network ahead. are you looking to add color to your garden. are you a mom's gandenner yard for mother's day. right now is a great time to find beautiful blooming pants for roses and high draydrangeah. mother's day is this weekend, a lot of folks trying to figure out what candy or bloom. >> appliances. >> all kinds of things like that. you know and i know that that's not what mothers want to get. one great thing for them would be something for the garden or patio. >> absolutely. >> you talk about roses, always a good idea. are they a good idea for our area? >> it's come that roses have come a long way in terms of the propagation and breeding of them. it used to be a it was a little bit too hot and humid in d.c. for roses to last through the season. but there are a lot of roses that do well throughout the rest of the summer. >> tell us about the varieties. >> this is called a knockout rose, these have been on the market for ten years. they don't have any fragrance but they're really beautiful. they bloom all summer long. they're very disease- and pest-resistant. if you're looking for something for mom that she wants a beautiful rose, but she doesn't want to go through a lot of work and maintenance on it it's going to be a knockout rose. >> the next one is a drift rose, it's a small shrub rose, only two feet tall, two feet around. they bloom all summer long. the thing that's most important with roses when you have the ever-blooming varieties, to keep cutting off the spent blossoms when they're finished. and then that way, it will keep them blooming. the rule of thumb for roses is when you prune off the spent blossoms, you go down on the plant to a set of leaves that has five leaves on it. and if you do five leaves and cut above that. you'll continue to get blooms. if you cut above one that has three leaves, you'll only end up getting more leaves on them. >> these can be grown in either in the ground or in pots, right? >> yes, roses do really well in contain he is, what's most important for them is to make sure they get full sun. that means five hours of full sun a day. southern or western exposure is best. >> this is a beautiful rose here, this is scented rose. this is a florabunda rose, it will continue to bloom throughout the rest of the season. if you continue to maintain cutting off those blossoms, they'll do really well. >> you've got a pretty rose here. this pink. >> that's a beautiful rose, that's a david austin english rose, they've come on the market about five years ago here in the united states and if you smell tha