and online warning for the creators of the tv show south park. in it he wrote they could be killed for mocking the profit mohammed. the charges filed against him are not related to the south park warning. it is 4:31. 83 degrees. a time to look at the forecast. it looks like we're going a little bit cooler. >> it's a little less humid, although still hot. we'll have yet another 90 degree day, but at least it won't be quite as humid. right now on the radar, we are picking up one little shower just to the south of winchester in the northern shenandoah valley. that shower is slowly drifting off to the east and is beginning to dissipate as we get going. it is a little less humid around the region except around the bay and northern neck of virginia, still quite humid there with temperatures around 80. and it's in the 70s in montgomery. near 08 at prince georges county and on the eastern shore. out in the continue mountains, low to mid-70s. we did have a few of it those scattered thundershowers yesterday afternoon and evening, but those have dissipated. drier air beginning to move in today. lots of sun and that should heat us up into the low and mid-90s. and then the humidity returns tomorrow with even more heat. into the upper 90s on friday and we'll probably have a record high on saturday up to around 100. the record for saturday is 96. and it's going to be steamy. just a small chance of afternoon storms friday and saturday. and then it a greater chance on sunday as yet another front comes in. could get some showers in the morning, maybe a passing afternoon thunderstorm with highs in to the mid-90s. now let's check traffic. >> good morning. looking pretty good. we did have one beltway crash a short time ago at route 50 in virginia. that has been cleared, but the construction barrels still along the right side of the roadway here on the inner loop as you pass braddock. i believe they should be getting all the travel lines open momentarily. elsewhere the trip along 270 no early hang-ups. southbound by now you should find all lanes open there. the daily commute can be a mess and at least people with headaches just getting to work. now there is a new report out that finds more people are travelling farther to get to work. chris gordon has the results of the new state of the commute survey. >> reporter: 60% of area commuters are satisfied with their trip to work daily. 40% are not happy with it. those are some of the conclusions in the latest state of the commute survey presented to the national capital regional planning board. the transportation survey has been taken every three years since 2001, using a random sample of employees in the region. >> we're up to 25% of commuters working at least 1.2 days a week. and that's dramatic because it was at 19% last time we did the survey and we did it in 2001, it was at about 1%. >> reporter: the poor commuter who has to face traffic here along 95 at the mixing bowl, or 66, or the beltway every day. headache, anyone? >> i drive it every day to work and it's a lot of traffic and a big headache. why like it. if i ever do get on 66 anytime, anywhere, weekends, after evenings, always traffic. always. car to car. >> reporter: the new survey shows more people are taking public transportation. car and van pooling. riding bicycles. and walking to work. >> i commute from h street area, and i do have combination of bus, metro and walking. really depend gnds on the day, weather, the time. >> i drive. >> reporter: how long? >> 40 to 50 minutes. >> reporter: and then when you get here, you're paying what for parking? >> $95 a month for parking. and then i walk about four or five blocks to my office. >> reporter: the new commuter survey could be used by regional planners who are considering transportation alternatives for the future. chris gordon, news 4. it may not be is surprise that show the happiest commuters are those that live closest to work. mayor fenty is celebrating a small victory this morning in his re-election bid. the mayor won a strawle poll in which more residents were allowed to vote. it took place last night. six candidates including mayor fenty and vincent gray took part pft mayor talked about a reduction of crime in the district during his time in office. gray focused on his head indication plans. ex-usda employee shirley sherrod got an apology from the white house. and now the department of agriculture is offering her a new job. tracie potts joins us from capitol hill live this morning with the latest. >> reporter: good morning. well, this is certainly taking some turns. first fired and now perhaps rehired after the obama administration has a made an embarrassing admission. >> this is a good woman. she's been put through hell. >> reporter: shirley now has had apologies from her boss aunts the white house. >> a disservice was did done for which we apologize. >> reporter: she was fired monday after a conservative blog posted an edited version of what she said about helping a white farmer 24 years ago. the clip made her look like a racist when, in fact, she was denouncing racism. today she has a new job offer from her old boss, something unique the government says to help them fight discrimination. >> let me just say i'm recaring at this point. >> reporter: the firing ignited anger and shine as light on how the obama administration dealt with race. secretary vilsack insists the president's not to blame. >> this was something i decided and i have to accept full responsibility for this. >> reporter: black leaders say it's a teachable moment. >> in many ways racism is swept under the rug. >> reporter: now forced out in the open in a very public way. now, the second ended up catching up with shirley sherrod by phone as she was headed to new york and there's no word yet if president obama will speak with her. aaron, back to you. >> tracie potts for us up on the hill. and she'll be live on the "today" show this morning to talk more about the comments she made and the job decision that now lies ahead of her. ahead on "news 4 today," tragedy at a virginia hotel. a construction worker falls from the side of the building. also, a local man killed while going after his dream job. what police noticed in this surveillance video that could help crack this case wide open. and another muggy morning. we'll check your weather and a live look outside. 82 degrees already here in the district. but just like a little breeze going this morning. it actually feels a little cooler. >> and we'll take all the little breaks we can get. >> and i'm sure your hair-omet event r is floiing it, as well. >> my hair is a little poofier. >> and it's a day you will be benefitting from a little less humidity. right now one little dissipating shower there in the blue ridge. elsewhere, temperatures under a partly cloudy sky in the 70s to near 80. near 80 in washington and prince georges county. still steamy on the eastern shore, but should dry out there too, today. we'll have quite a bit of sun and it's going to be hot again up in the low and mid ninth. even hotter with the humidity back on friday. small chance of an afternoon storm tomorrow we also on saturday. near 100 on saturday afternoon. beach and pool weather and a small chance of a thunderstorm saturday. a greater chance on sunday. a look into then week in ten minutes. the traffic is very quiet. there had been a construction zone westbound 66 at sick are a more street inside the beltway. but it looks like they may be wrapping that up. so should be in pretty fair shape. inbound, no worries all the way to the roosevelt bridge. 95, route 1, doing okay. on the approach to the bay bridge, travel lanes are open both directs and i-270, incident free all the way on down. >> sound goods. thanks. 4:42 is your time. 82 degrees. still to come, all eyes on the caribbean just as the oil sdasner the gulf appears to be getting better, a new threat is looming. also, a danger to dogs. a local store owner says somebody's been dumping rat poison outside his shop. >> and next, how police say they tracked down the person who killed an internationally known art expert. police in montgomery county say a 35-year-old man has confessed to killing ale local restoration artist in maryland. how police caught up with the alleged killer. >> anything that is in this world on an artistic level -- >> reporter: in an interview taped for the asian media outlet, the 45-year-old naimi oiz described her love for the arts. after graduating, her mow said naimi spent the rest of her life traveling the word, studying paintings and restoring them for famous clients. but on monday, d.c. police found her body stabbed, beaten with broken ribs, lying in an alley in northwest d.c. >> this this is a heinous, violent act. and this man is off the street right now and that the point we'll continue to investigate it. >> reporter: prosecutors say this man, 35-year-old raymond williams, admitted to killing naimi in her art studio in rockville sunday night and dumping the body wrapped in a blanket in d.c. police linked william to the crime by using surveillance footage captured at naimi's studio. only will yip was seen coming out. >> they were able to use images of the suspect and have him identified by i believe the building owner. and that's what allowed investigators to narrow their focus to the suspect. >> reporter: according to the court document, williams hifed here on dewey road in kensington. neighbors say they saw his multi-colored art van parked out front for the past three months. many neighbors are shaken up. >> you recognize that no matter how safe and secure you think you are, really you're not and you need to be aware of your surround goings maybe more. >> reporter: many who worked with her say naimi will be missed. her mother says she is losing more than just a daughter. it's the world that is losing one of the greatest art scholars of the time. >> i just wish -- >> reporter: the victim's mother tells us her daughter was in the process of finishing up her novel about her travels and the art work she found all over the world. a book that now may never be published, but police say they will continue to investigate and find a possible motive in this vicious killing. reporting from rockville, john slip slippen, new 4/"today." police on the west coast are hoping new surveillance video will help solve the murder of a local man killed while going after his dream job. this is the tape released by investigators. it looks like it's tough to see, but there's man and woman in this video. they are suspects in the robbery and the murder on sunday night. the robbers got away with just $17. nefs california to interview for a job with google. he was married and has three children. police are continuing to build their case against the man they claim will be remembered as one of america's most infamous killers. they're calling the man a person of interest at this point, but he could be charged with a pair of mother/daughter murders sometime this month.subject is already in custody on an unrelated weapons charge. he's also accused of among other things carjacking and sexual exploitation. the mother of the alleged exploitation victim meanwhile is speaking out. she wants to remain anonymous, but she also wants the world to know how her family feels about the case. >> we could have been portrayed as one of the worst victims. >> prince georges county polices say they expect investigators there other jurisdictions to start looking at this h person of interest to see if he's connected to crimes elsewhere. >> a virginia construction worker is dead this morning after falling seven stories to his death. it happened yesterday afternoon at the arlington court suites hotel.man felle through a glass atrium and into the front lobby. it's not clear what he was doing at the time, but crews were working on the balconies above the atrium at the time of the accident. 12 before the hour. this morning there's a new threat with the sights set on the gulf pap storm in the caribbean could strengthen by the weekendnd and impact oil cleanup efforts. this as crews were making progress toward permanently stopping the spill. leanne gregg has more. >> reporter: forecasters and cleanup officials will keep a close eye on the weather throughout the day as the system could move closer toward the gulf coast, once depend threatening to delay efforts at oil containment and killing the damaged well. bp is approaching the final stages of drilling a relief well it hopes will permanently stop the spill. crews put in a storm plug yesterday after suspending some of the work they had plan planned about. >> the reason we did that is with the weather window that we could see at this time, there was no way we could get the casing in, have it cemented, and do all we need to do to be able to move off before we could have tropical storm force winds at the site. >> reporter: officials must also decide whether to keep the broken well capped even if they can't monitor it with underwater vehicles because of the weather. if they reopen the well as a precaution to protect the wellhead, oil once again would flow in to the gulf. more worries for residents struggling for survival of their way of life. and now uncertainty with a new possible threat looming in the caribbean. leanne gregg, nbc news. the submit seasonian is lining up to help the recovery effort in the gulf. scientists are starting to determine the full impact of the oil spill on wild life owing. the smith ownians has the most complete set of invertebrate species. the specimens are stored in maryland. scientists will h use the collection as a starting point to determine what lived in the gulf before the spill and what disappeared. the envertebrates like worms are important for fish, birds and other creatures. >> didn't even think about invertebrates out there. >> it affect as lot of things. here we've got the humidity dropping a little bit i'm happy to say. at least briefly. we'll take anything we can get this time of year. this is our usually highest heat and humidity. and this morning it has turned a little bit worse. 82 at reagan national. less humid on a northwesterly refreshing breeze this morning as a weak area of high pressure has moved in. right now on radar, we did have one little shower just south of winchester. it did move into the blue ridge and now it's pretty much dissipated. temperatures in the low 70s in arlington, prince georges county. near the bay it's near 80, as well as around the eastern shore and the northern neck. and it is still rather humid there, but lower humidity continuing to move in. mountains, a few locations have hit the upper 60s. eastern shore now in the upper southwest. over the last 12 hours, did get beneficial needed rain that did come through with a little bit of thunder and lightning. widely scattered now that has dissipated and we have a weak area of high pressure moving in that will give us the sunshine today. it will be hot, but a little less humid. up around 90 by noon, mid-90s by midafternoon. sunrise at 6:01. the sunset at 8:28. and by sunset, we'll be back down in the 80s. should be good weather for tonight's game with the nationals. and strasburg is pitching, ishl. and we'll have temperatures by dawn into the 70s. and we'll have during the day on friday increasing humidity. it's coming back on a southwesterly breeze as this weak area of awful moves offshore. we'll have temperatures in the upper ninth tomorrow. maybe even near 100 on saturday and still quite humid. both tomorrow and saturday, a small chance of an isolated afternoon storm. then a greater chance on sunday as another front comes our way. highs in the mid-90s. could get showers and storms mainly in the afternoon. after that, a front goes by. ought to be less humid on monday with highs around 90. turns humid again as we get into next week. a chance of storms on tuesday and again on wednesday. you can check the weather anytime, the weather channel on cable. jerry, how is the traffic? doing pretty well. capital beltway close to 210, so far both directions moving along nicely. for you folks up to the north in frederick county, route 340, very close to the interchange of route 180 in knoxville, i know a lot of you folks watch us every morning. word of an accident 340 east near route 80. let's head over and see how we're doing this morning headed for downtown, not a worry this sight. all the an costa bridges, a light volume of traffic. from earth to outer space. a massive star in the gallon galaxy far away. the new star weighs in at a whopping 260 times the mass of our sun. but they say it slimmed down over time. the stellar surprise could rewrite the books about stars. many scientistses first thought large stars were still unstable and would die a huge explosion. this is not the case. this star is about a million years old. it's hard to even wrap your mind around -- >> i'm sitting here trying to and i'm thinking as much as i watched star trek growing up, you'd think i'd be able to sxre behi comprehend that. >> very cool. someones has been dumping rat poison outside a local pet store. also ahead, investigators say he aspired to train with terrorists. how they were able to stop him before he left the country. and a look at damage caused the ntsb wants to talk to passengers on board that united airlines flight that ran into extreme turbulence. born a dozen were hurt and the flight from dulles to los angeles had to make an emergency landing in denver. some on board took pictures of crackses in the plane's interior where a woman hit her head help the ntsb is also going to analyze the flight's data recorder. it arrived yesterday in washington. a warning now for pet owners. watch out for rat poison in the georgetown area. jay hugh runs the dog shop on wisconsin avenue. saturday she discovered neon green rat poison pellets on the sidewalk. those can be harmful to dogs and cats. she knows of three dogs who are have died from rat poisoning in the area this year along. she doubts anyone was trying to do harm, but says everyone needs to know how dangerous this is. >> and i honestly think it's somebody who thinks they're doing a good thing, not realizing how lethal this this is to domestic animals, children, runoff into the river. >> a reminder, it is illegal to put down poison pellets and complaints have been filed with d.c. police. a judge who deflated a woman's tire outside the courthouse? charles county has been suspended without pay. the punishment against judge robert nalley will last for five days.ruling came yesterday from the matter and court of appeals. last august nalley, a circuit court judge, let the air out of a tire of a car parked in his reserve space. that car belonged to a cleaning lady. nalley later resigned as achieved a minute straight difference judge, but he still presides over civil cases. and take a look at this. a thief broke into a convenience store and stole $6500 in lottery it tickets and $7,000 in cigarettes. this happened at the edgewater convenience store. the man broke into it a vacant building next door and used a slnlg hammer to knock a hole in the cinder block wall. if you recognize the man, you're asked to call police. stay with us. "news 4 today" continues right now at 5:00 a.m. home grown threat. a local man accused of trying to leave the country to train to train with terrorists. good morning, everyone. >> welcome to "news 4 today" for this this thursday, july 22nd, 2010. we're taking a live look outside at 5:00 a.m. it's 81 degrees out there. feels a little bit better and tom says it's because there's a little less humidity today. >> brief relief. it's coming back tomorrow. at this hour, the humidity is dropping on a west/northwesterly breeze. it's still quite humid around the bay, the eastern shore, but should be t