>> live, local, late breaking -- this is wbal-tv 11 news at 6:00. >> crews prepare for the big celebration and fireworks show. i am deborah weiner.

the skies over baltimore will be colorful as we celebrate america's 235th birthday. george is live on the preparations. >> tomorrow at this time, the harbor will be more crowded. folks will be getting ready for the fireworks show. today we got some insights into the show. the july 4 weekend can be fun but dangerous. one man on the west coast found out this weekend. >> the fireworks are ready for the celebration on monday and the inner harbor. the crews have been working to get the show in place. >> it will be 18 minutes long. it will have about 1400 shells during those 18 minutes. the soundtrack will be a surprise. >> it is a surprise to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the aquarium. some may opt for a homegrown of

fireworks show. officials want you to be careful. 8400 people nationwide were rushed to the emergency room last year with injuries from our works. in washington state, a 58-year- old man is in serious condition after homemade fireworks exploded on his face and body. authorities say he was trying to make the super firework. before the fireworks begin, boating is another popular way to celebrate america's interdependence -- independence. officials want you to think about safety. >> over eight out of 10 folks with accidents did not have life jackets on. >> another good tip is to have a cell phone on board and a float plan. >> a float plan is letting someone on the land know where you are going, who is on board, and when you plan to get back. if there is severe weather, the fireworks show will take place

on tuesday at 9:30 p.m. live at the inner harbor for wbal-tv 11 news. >> are you still looking for something to do this weekend? on our website you will find celebrations around town. we will have the latest holiday forecast and traffic information. we invite you to shares or celebration with us. you can find it all on the homepage of our website at wbaltv.com. meteorologist john collins is here. you have been very busy. >> we were talking yesterday about the chance of rain today. we do have some storms in the area. they are isolated and covering a small portion of the viewing area. in howard county, a severe thunderstorm warning is in effect. i have circled things to give you a reference point. west of the city in howard county, we see a pretty good

thunderstorm cell moving to the southeast. it is moving towards anne arundel county. it is moving at 26 miles an hour. it will reportedly have some hail. it reaches towards montgomery county and sugar land and on towards northern virginia as well. let's look at the warnings. there is a watch covering our area until midnight. the brighter yellow for baltimore and howard county have a warning until 6:30. the district of columbia has a new warning out until 7:00 this evening. we will keep track of the storms as they move across the area. we will let you know what will happen with the complete forecast in just a minute. >> investigators are trying to figure out what sparked a two-

alarm fire in sparrows point. crews were called just before 4:00 this morning. they were met with heavy flames shooting from the single-family home. officials say most damage was confined to the back of the home. everyone made it out safely. a firefighter did suffer a sprained ankle. there is no word on the cause of the fire. this happened around 12:45 p.m. on south carlton's tree. no one was in the home or hurt. police dropped off to block off the street as a precaution. it is not clear if the home was taken or occupied. investigators believe the 27- year-old victim was shot multiple times around 11:45 last night. there is no word on his condition. the gunman remains at large. anyone with information is asked

to call baltimore city police. we go to florida where closing arguments were heard today in the casey anthony trial. the prosecution and defense have their last opportunity to convince the jury before deliberations begin. we have the latest from orlando. >> the attorneys will now present their final arguments. >> the final day began with a montage of pictures of caylee anthony. the prosecutors outlined what he called a web of lies that led to her death. >> casey anthony maintain her lies until they cannot be maintained any more. >> he methodically laid out the state's day-by-day narrative. >> she knew that night she would be in the arms of her boyfriend and that caylee would be dead. >> casey anthony first shook her head and then turned away and cried as pictures of caylee's remains were shown to the jury

and the prosecution described the scene. >> this is the bag she was found in. i guess you could say this was her coffin. >> after a little over an hour, jose baez got his chance to refute the state's case. >> the strategy is if you hate her and think she is a lying slut, you will start to look at the evidence in a different light. >> he argued the state's case was based on the motion and bias instead of facts. >> the key question that you are presented with is, how did she die? this is outrageous. >> went after several state witnesses. he systematically began to question key elements of the prosecution's case. as the tension and emotion grew in the courtroom, it shifted from legal too personal. he lashed out as ashton left his

presentation. the outbursts and anger again delayed the trial. >> the angry judge threatened to throw the attorneys out of the courtroom and there were any more problems. because of the delay to deal with the issues, the jury will have to wait until tomorrow for instructions from the judge and to begin deliberations. in orlando for wbal-tv 11 news. >> lawmakers are scrambling for answers as the living default deadline approaches. the solution some republican senators have come up, plus the president's plan. and historic baltimore community celebrates the holiday weekend. we will take you to the heritage fair.

>> with the deadline looming, a

key republican senators suggest possible ways to resolve the impasse on raising the debt ceiling. democrats insist they do not want to raise taxes. they just want to cut tax breaks for the rich. republicans want spending cuts. they add there are other solutions. >> jon kyl was in negotiations with the vice president. he said there were certain revenue raisers in other areas that we could work on. >> the government reaches its credit limit in august. without an increase, the government cannot spend. insiders say president obama could use the constitutional cause to keep on paying debts even if the nation went over its credit limit. avoid a sweep in atlanta. pete has the details. celebrating a community and a nation. a look at how some residents are commemorating this independence day. >> we have some big

thunderstorms. the biggest is in howard county. the reach of a way down to the district of columbia and virginia. we will talk about that on the holiday weekend forecast coming up.

>> dozens of folks in baltimore county celebrated at dundalk heritage fair. the offer food, vendors, and patriotic monuments. any money -- eddie money will perform tonight. >> here is your insta-weather plus forecast with john collins. >> keep an eye on the sky. we do have storms in the area. north of the city, we have clouds this evening. to the south, there is

thunderstorm activity. in eastern howard county, we have a strong thunderstorms sell producing the potential for hail and heavy rain. this is just one hour of movement. the storms are moving rapidly. they reached into montgomery county just coming into the district and portparts of northn virginia. let's look at what happened today. there was early morning rain. this moved through the region. we can find out what happened today. 93 was the high of the airport. 98 and the inner harbor. just over 1/3 of an inch of rain was measured overnight. temperatures right now are willing to the 80's and near 90.

the yellow is the 70's. the 60's are the green. as you move west because of the rain activity and clouds, temperatures are cooler. the hottest readings are around 90. easton is 90. it is 77 at frederic. the rain knocked the temperature down a bit. a lot more rain has been falling in new england. part of this cold front is moving through. they are getting more rain than we are. the front comes through eastern pennsylvania and into western maryland. there are more thunderstorms beginning to come into western maryland. we could see more activity later tonight until the front moves to the south. it will stall just south of us. tomorrow baltimore will be on the north side.

the drier air could be unsettled tomorrow. we will partly cloudy skies tonight. 68 to 72 will be the overnight low. the pink area west of the bay is a watch area. the warnings cover baltimore city, howard county, and towards the district of columbia. here is the 7-day forecast. it is calling for 90 tomorrow. thunderstorms south of us. the celebrations should be dry. we will have a dry day on tuesday with more storms at the end of the week. it is still warm. >> we know who is going to be the orioles all-star. zach had a heck of a celebration today. celebration today. we will check [ female announcer ] gold bond ultimate healing foot cream. 7 penetrating moisturizers and vitamins, 'cause foot skin's 20 times thicker. this stuff really works.

>> a year removed from the [unintelligible] he is an all-star. he was a surprising hit by washington. his development behind the plate as one of is not the best defensive catcher in the american league is properly rewarded. he has thrown out 23 would be based trends. the former first-round draft pick felt the weight of the expectations. he was told they had not progressed enough. that makes today's announcement that much sweeter. >> it is something i have been dreaming about since i was a kid. i was extremely excited. it makes you very proud of all the work you put in in the past. it has been able to pay off to get to an all-star game.

>> many believed adam jones would add to his all-star appearances this season. jones may still make his way to arizona for the mid-summer classic. he joins alex gordon, victor martinez, and others as the final five in the american league. one will make the team because of online voting. good to orioles.com to vote. the contest runs through thursday. the team has the issue of the five-game losing streak. they contended today indeed. in atlanta in the bottom two. the shot off of britton. he is already proving useful at the plate. he goes a step further. bye bye. the first home run for an orioles pitcher since 2006. 1-0.

he remains focused. he had another hit. 3-0. in the bottom of the sixth, they battled back. atlanta takes the lead. in the seventh, thor gets all comic-booky. in the bottom of the seventh, mccann hits it and thinks it is gone. he does not run that hard. it is off the wall. nailed, threat ends. collet strike three. there is no complaining about finally getting a break. the birds when, 5-4. the predicted matchup of rafa and novak djokovic.

djokovic control the match most of the way. this play was symbolic. he was tired and resorts to desperation. it is a no go. in the fourth set, match point. djokovic, is punishing groundstrokes is too much. long. hits l novak djokovic wins the title.

>> let's take a look at the radar. that is a strong thunderstorms cell. there is a thunderstorm warning until 7:15 this evening. you can see the map showing the yellow shaded areas for the warning the region to the district. there's a warning for the larger area of the day until midnight. tonight, scattered storms. tomorrow, around 80 and pleasant. there will be thunderstorms south of us on monday afternoon. south of annapolis and washington, there cod be some thunderstorm activity. for the fireworks tomorrow night, it looks pleasant.

the rain chances are highest south of us. it looks dry in baltimore and in the 70's. >> that is it for 11 news at 6:00. we will see you back here tonight at 11:00. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] >> this is an editorial from president and general manager dan joerres. >> july 4 brings to mind patriotism and pride for all our country stands for. it also begins the height of

summer travel. it is the time of year when families pack up and take off for parts unknown. we encourage everyone to make this summer about points well- known but perhaps not often visited. maryland has it all. there are mountain trails and ocean bordelaise. -- ocean boardwalks. set sail from annapolis and spend a day on the day or get a look at the past during the historic naval academy. if he travel to st. mary's, even spend the day at the state's first permanent settlement. add in the hundreds of miles of waterways or state parks to be explored, and there is something to see in every direction. this summer, we encourage everyone to make a point to make maryland the destination of choice. to help plan your summer escape in maryland, we invite to log on in maryland, we invite to log on honey, why aren't youck onck playing with your friends?

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