interviewing the people involved. we will get to the bottom of this. >> reporter: lahood said a big part of the investigation will not be just the incident, but why the faa found out about it for the first time from a news reporter. >> that's something they've got to figure out. thank you. secretary lahood went out of his way to compliment the air traffic controller who helped avert near disaster in the sky, but imagine being on the other end piloting the plane responsible for dozens and dozens of lives. kristin fisher spoke with a former pilot to get his perspective and she joins us live from reagan national with that part of the story. >> this was a serious event and it's being termed as a loss of separation which means the aircraft got closer together than what they're normally supposed to do. were they on collision courses? we're not exactly sure at the moment. >> reporter: even if you're not sure, any time you hear the word collision course and aircraft in the same sentence, it's cause for concern especially if you're kevin hyatt, chief operating officer of the white safety foundation. >> i'm concerned but i'm not worried. i would go out to reagan tomorrow with my wife and get on a flight and go anywhere. >> reporter: he's not too worried because he said these kinds of aircrafts are all equipped with bakeup system on board. the traffic collision avoidance system. >> those systems in the aircraft would have been the last fail safe for the airplanes to take some type of maneuver to climb or descend in order to get out of harm's way. >> reporter: but he's still concerned because a near miss is a near miss. something went very wrong or someone made a major mistake. >> technology, human factors, volume of traffic, the nature of the situation was compounded by weather. >> reporter: keep in mind it was just last year that an air traffic control operator in that same tower fell asleep while on the job, but hyatt says. >> these two situations are not connected. >> reporter: a near miss now a wake-up call for the faa, pilots and air traffic controllers. >> one of the things we have to pay attention to in the future is not to become complaint. become-- become complacent. >> reporter: hyatt says if you look at recent accident statisticses there's only been 1.7 accidents per million departure. big picture, our air traffic control system statistically at least is still pretty safe. back to you. joining us now to talk more about this near miss is peter golds, a former manager director of the national transportation safety board and welcome, sir. >> thank you. >> i'm trying to get a sense of how dangerous this was. on one hand we have a picture in our mind of two outbound planes perhaps on a collision course with an inbound plane, but ray lahood seemed to downplay the danger. which is it here? >> well, it was a serious event. was there an imminent collision coming? there was not, but it was a serious event that's got to be taken very seriously by the authorities. >> as they take this seriously, any idea in your head how this could happen? >> what happened was you had planes coming in that were managed by what they call the tracon. that's the terminal radar. they handle planes 30 to 50 miles out from the airport. they hand them off to the tower guys. they handle them when they're about 3 miles in till they're on the ground. they were switching directions. you know, reagan has only one runway north/south. so all of a sudden they had a storm at the south end. they had to switch directions where they were landing from. they switched to the river approach from the north. when this takes place, there is hayneoff. the last plane taking off -- handoff, the last plane taking off, first plane landing. that handoff does not take place and therein lies the problem. >> the washington post said this is a pretty big screw-up for major airport. this is the kind of thing that almost happens all the time. >> it does not happen all the time. this is a big screw-up particularly when you have an airport that only has a single runway, it's important that you get it right. >> this isn't the first time national has had some problems. we heard kristin fisher talk about this, the guy who fell asleep in the tower that's unrelated to this, but there's problems all over the country. how well is the system itself working? >> the system works well. we have the safest air system ever. when you look back at the last few years, we have had no major accidents. the real question is whether the congress is going to have the commitment and the ability to fund the next generation of air traffic control systems which needs to be funded continuously starting now. >> very quick answer, anything need to change because of this? >> they're going to look at the procedures and near going to see how did this -- they're going to see how did this screw- up occur and say all right, whose responsibility was it? and they're going to retrain that person. they're not going to fire them i don't think. they'll retrain that person, look at the procedures and they'll get it right. >> i hope you're right about that last. thank you for coming in. appreciate it. we've got breaking news from arlington county where police say they have a break in the case in the jewelry store homicide. they arrested a d.c. man on unrelated charges. surae chinn joins us live outside of arlington county police headquarters with more. >> reporter: well, lesli, this is the news a herndon family had been waiting for. arlington county police have in custody 52-year-old james sylvester caroline of washington d.c. in custody on probation violations. he has not been charged with the homicide, but he is being held without bond. arlington county police say charges are expected to be brought forward. they said that in a statement this afternoon. police have been working around the clock since 52-year-old tommy wong of herndon, virginia, was killed in his arlington jewelry store off columbia pike last week. surveillance pictures showed a man in a neon reflective traffic vest in the store. a similar description was given in another robbery in june where ken stein of benson's jewelers in northwest d.c. was robbed at gunpoint. stein said he is relieved to hear of the arrest. >> i'm thankful for the family, for me that they did get this guy off the street. he needs to be busted and put in jail. we don't want somebody like that -- we want somebody like that that's carrying a gun off the street. >> reporter: i checked with the courts and he has six pending probation violations all regarding credit card theft, forgeries and identity fraud. he was picked up yesterday afternoon. d.c. police have not said if they expect to file charges soon. i talked with the wong family this afternoon. tommy wong held his funeral today, this afternoon, in herndon. the family says they are so relieved tonight and the daughter says that she is extremely relieved that now her father can finally truly rest in peace. back to you, lesli. >> thank you. we also have an update on a deadly hit and run in herndon. police confirmed a body found in a creek near the accident scene is the victim -- husband. the discovery was made yesterday -- victim's husband. the discovery was made yesterday in the 600 block of center street. police believe 32-year-old fitsam gebretatios may have killed his wife and sped off in his black camry and hit several other cars. he failed to show up for work on wednesday. >> my wife talk about them. he always pick up pizza for them, pick up food for them. yeah, he was so nice to his family i think. >> police have yet to positively connect gebretatios to his wife's death. the couple has three children. an autopsy is being performed on a body found in prince george's county. that discovery was made last night in a creek on bremer circle in ft. washington air. officers could not even determine the -- washington. officers could not even determine the body's sex it was so badly decomposed. police release surveillance video today of two armed robbers in action. the video was taken monday july 23rd at a cookie's corner store in the ladroit park neighborhood. two masked men walk in the store. one cleans out the register while one guards the doorway. if you've got information, police call d.c. police. one year ago today robyn gardner vanished, the maryland woman who went missing while vacations in aruba. family and friends held a vigil for her last night at an art gallery in maryland. they stress this is a vigil, not a memorial holding out hope gardner could be alive. her companion gary giordano was held in her disappearance but never formally charge. olympic victories are sweet but not cheap. we'll tell you the price tag that comes with winning an olympic medal. >> we'll track a couple thunderstorms on live doppler and look at what could become tropical storm ernesto. >> up next president obama and challenger mitt romney trade shots as they campaign in key battle ground states. we'll be back. ♪ i've never felt this way before, but it's a scary time to be a woman. mitt romney is just so out of touch. [ female announcer ] mitt romney opposes requiring insurance coverage for contraception. and romney supports overturning roe versus wade. romney backed a bill that outlaws all abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. there's so much we need to do. we need to attack our problems -- not a woman's choice. [ obama ] i'm barack obama, and i approve this message. president obama and mitt romney, on the campaign trail today in three key battle ground states including virginia. >> both of them are making their pitch to middle class voters. dick brennan has the latest on the presidential race. >> reporter: mitt romney stepped on a stage in golden, colorado, ready to hammer president obama on the economy. the republican white house hopeful is working to win votes in this key swing state where the unemployment rate is 8.2%. he brought along his own report card on promises the president made four years ago. >> all measures he laid out are measures that have gone in the wrong direction. >> reporter: romney is rolling out a new ad criticizing the president for his handling of the economy. >> he focused on obamacare instead of jobs. barack obama, what a disappointment. >> reporter: the commercial is on the air in florida where president obama hit the campaign trail thursday. >> hello, orlando! >> reporter: he told voters outside orlando his plan for boosting the economy is better than his challenger's. the obama campaign is also out with a new ad blasting romney's tax proposals. >> mitt romney's middle class tax increase, he pays less, you pay more. >> reporter: the commercial uses the tax policy center report to suggest romney pays a lower proportion of his income in taxes than many people who earn a lot less. >> they have tried to sell us this trickle down tax cut fairy dust before. >> reporter: both campaigns will be looking to important economic news friday when the u.s. government announces the july unemployment numbers. dick brennan for cbs news, new york. president obama will appear at a loudon county high school tonight in leesburg. he is due there around 7:40. the president won virginia in 2008 by more than 6%. he was the first democrat to win there since 1964. nearly 100 d.c. schoolteachers have been fired. the washington post reports the move came this week after the teachers posted low scores on a key evaluation tool. the 98 teachers account for less than 3% of the school suspect's workforce. the d.c. public school system has dismissed nearly 400 teachers since 2009 due to poor performance. workers at the pentagon's missile defense agency apparently have been told to stop surfing porn on their government issued computers. bloomberg news is reporting the agency's pen active director sent out a memo -- executive director sent out a memo last month about websites transporting messages with sexually explicit images. he said not only does it take away from productful work time but opens up the network to computer viruses. there has been another crash on a low cost mega state bus line. this time a bus crashed into a bridge near litchfield, illinois. investigators believe a double decker bus slammed into a concrete pillar supporting an overpass. we don't know if there were any serious injuries, but emergency crews are on the scene. we've got a commuter alert now if you are one of those late night drivers on the beltway. beginning tonight there will be ramp and road closures near the telegraph road interchange. this is the result of more work on the woodrow wilson bridge project. those closures will be in effect the next few days and will last from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. expect significant delays, folks. crews were called in to clean up a really big mess in northwest d.c. this morning. a large tree fell over and broke apart by the middle of reno road in northwest at the intersection with yuma street. the tree brought down some pepco wires. rush hour traffic was blocked both directions while the crews worked to clear the road. tonight the scene is clear. i the other good news would be if there were -- the other good news would be if there were no thunderstorms to knock down more trees. >> odds are with us tonight to be all right. actually have a little treat for you. the full moon occurred yesterday. this is pretty cool video taken from sky 9. look at. that it's called the full sturgeon moon. did you know that? >> i did not. >> get out there and cast your lines. that's pretty cool, though, isn't it? >> it looks like it made a trip to the moon. >> sky 9 is pretty good. let's talk about live doppler 9000 because we do have a couple thunderstorms. we've seen heavy activity off to the east of town. in fact, this activity was actually pretty hefty early around annapolis up toward baltimore and severna park, but other than that this particular storm has now gone across the bay into the delmarva, but we do have a couple heavy thunderstorms down south toward the northern neck. you folks actually need the rain down there. we'll zoom in. we had a couple storms earlier in southern charles county going down 301 toward welcome and riverside, moderate rain there but nothing severe just yet. storms will be few and far between the next few days, but that said the ones that develop could be rather hefty. the atmosphere is a bit on the unstable side. let's talk about the forecast models, our little spaghetti slide if you will. most of the models dock ernesto south of san juan and puerto rico and headed toward cancun. a few models try to take it north to the bahamas, but i think the national hurricane center is banking on the southern track. here is ernesto, a tropical storm. it will remain tropical storm strength through the weekend. next monday it could become a category 1 hurricane as it approaches cancun. we'll keep you posted if the track changes any, but right now the favorable track is south of jamaica, south of the d.r. and south of cuba. live look outside, our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son. it's 90 downtown, dew point 67, almost tolerable, winds east, north east at 8, pressure 29. petition 7 inches of mercury. current -- 29.8 inches of mercury. currently bowie 77, 84 college park, 90 alexandria, 91 great falls, 89 in fairfax. here's the deal. closing out the week hot, isolated thunderstorms tonight, even hotter tomorrow. it will be a dry commute again and a few more storms possible tomorrow evening. for tonight an early isolated storm, a few heavy, partly cloudy, muggy. i think everybody holds in the 70s tonight. tomorrow will be hot by lunch tape, temperature 74 to 92 -- lunchtime, temperature 74 to 92. by afternoon highs around 95, a few storms possible, some could be heavy. next three days code yellows through the weekend, 95 tomorrow, 93 saturday, 95 on sunday, all three days hot and with potential for some storms. next seven days, well, it stays on the hot side. we're looking at temperatures mid-90s sunday, cold front approaching on monday. so a little better chance of showers and storms, temps around 90. even in the wake of the cold front that's not cooling us off. temps linger around 90 with an isolated thunderstorm. it's thursday, best shot time. this is a great shot from hedgesville. diana sits and watches the changes in the weather from our porch. you get some pretty good stuff out there in hedgesville, west virginia, just a great picture. that was a storm from the 15th of july. you want to send us a picture? go to our website www.wusa9.com, click on the weather tab, drop down menu, include your name, location and description. right now sunshine in northwest, a few storms to the south and we've got ernesto. back to you guys. coming up days of wet weather caused a sinkhole to swallow a man who was just walking down the street. >> but up next we now know what sparked a brushfire that destroyed a multimillion dollar home. if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. if you've got a business, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. my father's hands didn't build this company. my hands didn't build this company. through hard work and a little bit of luck, we built this business. why are you demonizing us for it? it's time we had somebody who believes in us. someone who believes that achievement should be rewarded not punished. we need somebody who believes in america. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. insuring that stuff must be a pain. nah, he's probably got... [ dennis' voice ] allstate. they can bundle all your policies together. lot of paperwork. [ doug's voice ] actually... [ dennis' voice ] an allstate agent can help do the switching and paperwork for you. well, it probably costs a lot. [ dennis' voice ] allstate can save you up to 30% more when you bundle. well, his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. ♪ bundle and save with an allstate agent. are you in good hands? investigators now believe a brushfire that destroyed at least one house in california was started by a county worker mowing some weeds. the fire known as the volcano fire burned about 400 acres of land and it threatened several homes in riverside county. turns out that worker's mower got tangled in barbed wire and investigators say sparks then ignited the brush. the fire that was burning for hours at a tulsa oil refinery is now under control, but that fire caused a loud explosion in the middle of the night. the flames shot up in the air. the refinery is owned by holly frontier corporation. a spokesman says all the workers are accounted for and nobody shutter. investigators are trying to fig -- and nobody is hurt. investigators are trying to figure out what caused that blast in the first place. look at these flames shooting out of an old factory near utica, new york. the unions once housed union fork and hoe. firefighters from 30 stations responded, no reports of injuries, the carnes investigation. closed circuit camera -- the cause is under invests. closed circuit cameras in tie -- investigation. closed circuit cameras in taiwan caught a man literally falling into sinkhole. rescuers tried to get him out, but it was too late. at least 23 people including the man that fell died as a result of the typhoon's rain. a guy in philadelphia got on a subway is under arrest tonight accused of boarding the train with an ak47 assault rifle, handgun and hunting knife. the man was taken into custody last night thanks to a tip from a passenger. the 28-year-old was carrying pain pills and marijuana. nobody was hurt. the suspect is being held on $100,000 bail on both weapons and drug charges. a michigan couple gets the surprise of their lives. they're asleep in their bedroom when a drunk neighbor wandered into their house and,