>> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news at noon. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> good afternoon. let's start with breaking news. capt. roy taylor about a house fire. what can you tell us? >> this is harrison wrote in harrisville. we understand they had a kitchen

fire in this residence here. the kitchen ended up catching fire and burning through the roof of this house. don't have reports of injuries at the present time. baltimore county police have shut down the road in both directions. reporting why with sky team 11, ibm capt. roy taylor. >> now to our big story, the cleanup after the storm. bge crews are not the only ones working to get crews back on at the grid. 11 news reporter nadia ramdass is live at b.w.i. marshall airport. hi, nadia. >> as you can see behind me, this staging area appears to be a ghost town, compared to yesterday when crews were just arriving to start work. 3300 bge and out-of-state

workers are working together to restore power to maryland and they say they are up for the challenge. as the sun started to rise on a hazy tuesday morning, thousands of eager utility workers set out for another day of work, trying to restore power to maryland residents who have been living in the dark since last friday's severe storm. >> i am excited to be here. >> utility workers came from all over the country, even as far north as canada, assisting bge crews since last week and through a mutual assistance network. this worker from the southern california hit the ground running as soon as he arrived. >> i was here by 7:00 a.m. sunday morning, working by 7:45 sunday morning. >> each day, crews are bussed into two staging sites, one in

baltimore county, the other here at the airport. they me for their daily briefing and then go to the work location, putting in long hours under the blistering sun. >> they are working 16 hours a day, putting up a service bowles, restriping wire, and we lifts out there. >> they are making significant progress each day, working as quickly as possible, but stressed that safety comes first. >> it takes a long time, so please be patient with us. we are working 16 hours a day trying to get everybody back on. >> bge will be or footing the bill for each worker's food, lodging, and transportation

expenses. nadia ramdass, wbal-tv 11 news. >> here are the latest power outage numbers. but 159,000 customers are still without power, most of them in baltimore county, baltimore city, and anne arundel county. there are two 29,000 customers without power yesterday morning, 180,000 last night at 11:00. that means crews have restored power to more than 7000 customers in the last 24 hours. in the wake of a friday's dagley it thunderstorms and the power outages, some people are saying there is a way to avoid the blackout mass. michael greenberger says that one key factor is running all utility lines underground. >> having electrical wires above

ground when we have the snowstorms we are having, the hurricanes we're having, and this new weather phenomenon, can put it back up all we want but it will come down again in the next disaster. >> a bge spokesman calls it cost-prohibitive. greenberger believes the government would get back the investment by minimizing mass power outages. the outages are not only taking a role on residents but also on -- >> thousands of dollars, because we cannot do any work. i mean, thousands of dollars. it does impact the business, because if we don't sell, we don't get paid, but we still have to pay the rent. >> in strip malls all around the state, business owners are reviewing thousands of dollars of losses. while many suffer the storm's aftermath, others are thriving.

the hilton hotel in pikesville is sold out. >> i don't see how you can turn down the room when you don't have power at home. yes, it is good business for us. >> we are going out to dinner instead of eating at home, so maybe i.t. is good for the economy. >> after a big storm like this, it is important to keep a lookout for home repair scams and other consumer fraud. maryland attorney general doug gansler says to be aware of those soliciting your home or business. also, those demanding upfront payment or immediate decisions, or guaranteed loans to rebuild your home or business. >> great to hear that the power has been restored to so many

people over the last day. we have to remember those who are still without power right now. a very sticky situation out there. 92 degrees at b.w.i. thurgood marshall. hard to bear without air conditioning. we have a few thin clouds out there. throughout the afternoon, temperatures get into the mid- 90's. a chance for thunderstorms, especially after 9:00 p.m., here in baltimore right now in ohio, this could be heading towards the middle of like it. we will keep you up-to-date a full forecast in a few minutes. >> coming up, scam alert. how you could outsmart criminals tried to charge bogus monthly fees. and carrie engel from valley view farms is here to answer your plant and gardening questions.

>> in today's "consumer alert," with the fourth of july, and tomorrow, fewer americans will be spending to celebrate. 21% of americans plan on

spending and no money on the fourth. those in the northeast will spend at least, an average of $171. the department of consumer protection is warning about a new scam that sounds like it involves the yellow pages, but it really doesn't. >> she has been answering phones and keeping the books for years, but when she got the bill in december for something she never ordered, she thought it would be quick to resolve. >> nobody needed it, nobody ordered its. >> she called the company to clear things up. she says they insisted she had ordered the listing. >> they said they had a voice recording, would you like to hear it? i said yes. >> the call got cut off and the

company never produced the recording and the date she supposedly ordered the listing, she was not even in the state. >> product ordering an invoice scams prey on businesses that have not order products or services but yet get billed for them. >> digging in a little deeper, and they fear that the problem could be widespread. the commissioner is warning businesses to be aware of this practice, especially by companies that have yellow pages as part of their name. >> trying to make them look like the official yellow pages when they are not. >> anyone with similar expenses is asked to report them to consumer protection services. >> still to come, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies is ordered to pay billions of dollars.

what it could mean for you. that is coming up in the "medical alert." >> coming up, we will tell you what this means for your holiday, and good mother nature bring her own set of fireworks? >> and carrie engel from valley view farms is here to answer your plantan

>> carrie engel from valley view farms is here to answer your plant and gardening questions.

always good to see you. it has been awhile. >> this is a perennial. it gets huge, can spread out to 3 or four if th. -- 3 or 4 feet. >> is it like to the he -- does it like the heat? >> it likes it just fine. generally, it is 8 type of fungus. make sure your plants get plenty of air movement. do not put too much mulch on. you might have to treat it with a fungicide. there are organics you can use. >> it is at treatable situation. >> it is, but i would get rid of old leaves in the garden.

generally, most of us fertilize when we put our gardening. it is good to give it another shot. plenty of organic places out there. there are a lot of good products out there to use. generally, black read these are good. for annuals, the old standbys, marigolds and geraniums. there is plenty to choose from. >> thank you, carrie. always nice to see you. if you have a plant or gardening

question -- >> now your 11 insta-weather- plus forecast with meteorologist ava marie. >> it is another hot one out there, so hopefully your garden is doing ok. this is a little deceiving. there are thin clouds right now making the sky and the more m -- making the sky in little more milky and hazy. this is a potential storm-maker from the mid-atlantic. if it moves all the way down, a could cause wind damage. you can see the stationary front all the way down to the mid- atlantic. the big factor is going to be how unstable the air is later

today. on friday, the temperatures were in the low 100's. the same setup today. temperatures are only in the mid-90's, not as hot or you might as well. relatively dry error. humidity is starting to increase in virginia. more humid, unstable air starting to push on in. here is the futurecast. this is what one model is predicting for the storm. they could cross over and move towards baltimore, mainly to its the late evening, 8:00 p.m. on words. that is when we have a threat. tonight, there could be another line of storms. this could produce some damaging winds. we are going to have to keep this in mind. if these storms form, they could

be strong, especially with the unstable air. down to 80 degrees in the city. the suburbs will be dropping down into the 70's. anytime we get a line of it damaging thunderstorms that caused when the damage, there is certain criteria -- we have to get damage of over 240 miles. the storm on friday cost 700 miles of damage, all the way from chicago and. the storm that forms tonight could bring damaging winds. as for your fourth of july, thunderstorms as well. if you are planning a barbecue, keep an eye to the sky. you can check it wbal on the web site, or you can download the app for the iphone. by the time of the fireworks,

most of the thunderstorms should be winding down. just an isolated chance at there. not a major concern. seven-day forecast shows the unsettled weather into midweek. we drop down a degree or so on thursday and friday. still in the 90s this weekend. another chance for thunderstorms late saturday into sunday. >> in the "medical alert," one of the largest pharmaceutical companies will have to pay $3 billion to settle charges of fraud could the justice department says that glaxosmithkline promoted paxil and wellbutrin. the british car maker says it removed employees who engaged in misconduct -- the british drug maker says it removed employees to engage in misconduct.

researchers at vanderbilt university says that more that 800 adults who had heart problems -- about half of all patients had major medication errors in 30 days regardless of whether they had a pharmacist helping them. up next, your maryland lottery numbers and another check of the forecast with ava.

>> we are getting a closer look at some of the damage from the colorado wildfire spis. as you can see, there's not much left except the foundation. nearly 350 homes were lost in the fire. imagine seeing this while you are driving down. police officials say they responded to calls of a tanker route on the highway in washington state -- ofa kangaroo -- of a kangaroo on the highway in washington state. the honor was able to capture the animal safely.

and now your maryland lottery numbers. >> good afternoon, maryland. i am don and 98 rock, and your pick 3 numbers are -- in a moment, the pick four game, but first, the high 5 scratch- off are all too dollar games. -- $2 games. the full list of the scratch- offs, visit mdlottery.com. bob diamond is ready to rock and roll, and your numbers are -- the maryland lottery -- let yourself play. >> ava has a last look at the

weather, with more storms possible tonight. >> we are keeping an eye on this cluster of storms from northern ohio. these could be traveling south, back into western maryland by late evening. not expecting widespread wind damage. at least there is an isolated chance. as we head into the seven-day forecast, and 96 on wednesday, a chance for thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon. >> i am sharing my mic with you -- [laughter] oh, my goodness. >> my bad. >> thanks for joining us. >> have a great day. >> have a great day.