>>parts of healthcare reform kick in today, the changes you will see immediately. your tax ollars at work. how much a government official spent to redecorate his office during tough economicctimes. and payythe price for a -ough ride. how much more you you're spendig because of bbltimore's bumpy roads. ,3 good morning. it's thursday, september 23rd. you're taking a live look out ú%er baltimore from federal hill. a beautiful shoo as the city is all lit up and people are up and outtgetting ready for the day. good morning..3

i'm patrice harris. let's get ready ffr our forecast to see what kind of weather we have as we are heading out. meteorologist steve fertig is here. and this is it. >> this is the first day of fall. and it's going to feel suumer-like, because the 90s are back. -omorrow. we got into the 990 yesterday, and lightning strikes last night that left us with a little moisture, nough that we may see some fog in places. 60 degrees is what we got starting out and mild and 70s in other spots. downtown 74 degrees, and 77 in d.c. and 68 in salisbury and hagerstown and oakland at 64. stormy weather moving out of delaware and into the a atlantic ocean. to the wft a couple of showers in pennsylvania but that won't bother us. the heattmay bother, and you humidity will be climbing too, winds shifting at 5 to 10.

take a look at the weekend forecast in a few minutes, but ú%ght now lauren cooke has the good morning, lauren. >> reporter: good morning, steve. while we start the day on trouble att 95, where we are dealing with a crash at you approach interstate 95. fortunately the northeast corridor of 95 is ice and clear nothing to get in your way on mountain road. you'rr looking at a 5-minute ride with an average speed of 55 miles per hour. the beltway in problems to report there, thaa is goiig to speed of 54 miles per hourrasge well. 795 to 95, therr you're look the an 11 -- excuse me a 12-minnte e ride with an average speed of 55 miles per hour. two dogs are dead after being shot by city policcú officers trying to serve a

warrant. it happened just before 5:00 at a home near west veil street near myrtle avenue. two pitbulls came when an officer tried to serve a search and seizure warrant. they found a laage amount of heroii. police say there have been 8 robberies at the mall since the beginning of the year. the most reseptember happened oú hundrrd. the suspect managed to get away with hundred hundred thousand $f >> there's a group of suspects. that pass notes. others go in pretending o buy watches and produce some type of storr. >> pplice have identified suspects in the cases and they are working with mall officials to increase the number of security patrols and the number of underrover officers on hand.

29 years old brandon lunney according to a letter from the academy superintendent he was nine of coalition members killed. he was commissionnd as an intelligence officer but was later redesignated as a navy seal. testimony in the ken arris murder trial is expected to focus on the dna evidence today. yesterdayed prosecution continued to chip away at the three suspects all accused of measuue letter. murder. the homicide detective that responded to the scene described the defense questions thee detective's handling of the crime scene. >> this is a complex crime scene which is something i have

maintained all along. it seems to me that detective beale should ave had the assisttnce of aa least four or five other homicide detectives. >> the trial is expected to last at least a month. a man accused of taking part in a murder for hire plot strikes a deal before headed to trial. matthew brown pleaded to first-degree murder, prosecutors say he helped to plan thh death of william porter who was fatally shot outside f his towson gas station in march. a sentencing day has not been scheduled. the case of a teacher accused of sexually assaultiig a student is in the hands of a judge in morning. karl walker wrote 45 llve notes to an 8 years old girl while working at the eeementary school. his lawyers argue that there wasn't any physical abuse, but the law covers emotional aabse as well. he is now guilty. a verdict is expected omorrow.

investigators say they have linked two more paaients to a new jersey octor accused of performing illegal abortioos in maryllnd. in wasn't cases dr. stephen brighhm is accused of receivvd a an abortion of nearly full term fetus. court documents allege that the dr. brigham started the procedure in new jersey and had the patient drive herself to maryland to finish. prosecuttrs are tryiig to have the doctor's licenseesuspended. two maryland physicians accused of helping him have already suffered the same fate. the nation's new healthcare llw brings new consumer protections, help that kiiks in megan gilliland is live at federal hill on whaa ttis means for you and wwy some are so opposed to it. >> good morning, megan. hundreds of thousands of americans set to get some relief today and it sounds pretty good but ome areeworrieddwho is going to for this all.

the pptient protection and affordable care act goes into %-it's six mooths after the president signed it into laww here is how it breaks down. starting right now insurance companies will no longer be permitted to exclude children because of preexisting health conditionss insurers will also not be allowed to impose lifetime limits on benefits. and children up to 26 years old will now be allowed coverage on their parents policies. it's a step president obama says it's important for the 20 somethings struggling to get a full-timeegig with benefits. >> you're not going to go bankrupt. you're not going to lose your house heaven forbid you end up having an accident and you're able to get quality care that you need. included in these new benefits, colonosccpies, ma'am owe gramedz and immunizations, preventive procedures now covered without co-payments. still many claim that new health law is unconstitutional. in fact, 20 states are suing the

feeeral government over this new law. some have concerned how hey are going to pay for all of this. it seems the mmjority of americans are agreeing wiih that. this is a new rasmussen poll that say thatt61% of americans support repealing this new law, the opposition since last may. megan gilliland. fox 45 early edition.ú first on fox, baltiiore endured a bad budget season, but it didn't stop one ity official from spending thousands of dollars on a new office. these pictures show the reeovated ity officer of publii workers director scott. taxpayers were billed ore than $20,000 for thherenovated office. it includes, a stone office, and a zebra rug.ú he as forccd out of city government this summmr. -he new public works director

carved desk ith a more practical one.3 it's our duty hold our government buil accountable andu can helpp if you see waste call us. also go to foxbaltimore.com and click on waste watch. if you driveein the baltimore area, this comes as no surprise. the area has some f the worst roads in the country. -ut now a new tudy reveals what bad roads are costing drivers. joelld smith is liie in north -altimore with that price tagg3 and i'm not sure if i want to ask, but good morning, joel. >> reporter: good morning, patrice. it's not a good umber. we're used to hearing that thumb thumb as you run over hinges things. take a look at this roadd not the orst road in the area, but still a lot of cracks. here is the number we're talking about.ú every year it's costing drivers more than $600 in vehicle maintenance if you drrve around

a decent portion of baltimore. almost half of them the pavement is in poor condition. the 600 annual is a combination of wear and tear. the study comes from tri pirkk . things will get worse as state worse for the econnmy. %-from 2008 and ii includes the entire metro area not just the city. >> we would say it's ain't fair representation of baltimore city given the fact that we have focused and concennrates on our roadways, very, very, mostty in the last three years and we %->> reporter: and there certainly was a ot of emphasis on that..3 remember a lot of stimulus money went through towwrd the roads. some of that is getting better, i guess. some of the mechanics have been busy working on the axles, and

tires because of a lot of ú%tholes. the u.s. department of transportttion says there will3 be a $189 billion shortfall when it comms to getting roads like these looking a lot betttr. so what is really the worse road arouud? they say san jose, california, their roads are really bad. washington d.c., our neighbors arr the second worst. and baltimore are the 10th worse. jacksonville and atlanta are the best roads. ii weeare going on a road trip, those are the places to go to make sure your cars are not feeling a whole lot of bumps. >> i was in atlanta a few weeks agoo i didn't feel a thing. we don't want everybody to move theee. ú% just want our roads to be creepy crawley critters invade a maryland libraay. they found bed bugs in bookss %-selected ffom a half childrenú

books in the drop of bin last week. those books were baat in the back of a truck. the bugs can't survive in temperatures above 1200degrees. library officials say they are lucky they caught the bugs before they became an infess infestation. ú% we were fortunate because our circulation supervisor who was doing that task usee to work in the hhspitality industry. she was trained for lookinggat that kind of bug. i have been here ffr eight years and i have never heard of them. >> all eight frederick county librarres ave been exterminatt as recaution. stay tuned for continuing3 we will talk with the deputy commissioner of health, homes and community about bed bugs. that is coming up in our 7:00 hourr

two new faces are coming o the american idol judge's table3 it's been rumored for months and now it is confirmed, jennifer lopez and the stephen tyler will noijoin randy johnson for season 10. and if you are wondering who that 4th person is there, right there, it is recording executive jimmy ovine. >> everyone wants tooknow is it going to be the samee nothiig an be the same for 10 years or itts doom to failure. this is an evolution. >> he is going to act as an inhouse mentor and will be behind the stage with the contestants this season. and don't forget that we have american idol here on foxx45. bringing slots to maryland. >> takk a tour through the. casino scheduled to open next

ú%ek. after thunderstorms moved through last night, we ♪ [ monkey cheeps ] [ male announcer ] a bath becomes even more pleasurable when you know that your water is being heated in an environmentally- conscious way while saving you hundreds of dollars on your water-heating energy bill. the geospring water heater from ge with advanced hybrid technology. heating the water in your home any other way is just going to seem primitive. [ monkey cheeps ] ♪ maryland residents can save up to $780 while funds last.

5:15. kids are bbck in school for lm a mmnth and you know what that means, weather kid wednesday. if you would like your kid to be aapart of the weather kid wednesday program, just have a teacher, counselor send in their nomination at 2,000 west 41st street, ballimore 21211 or go to foxbaltimore.com. %-good morning, steve. we are looking at a hot day ahead and humidiiy will be climbing. right now hd radar not looking as active as it looked last night when we had thundeestorms moving througg. it only brought us 100 of n i

have of rain in spots. now much calmer conditions. we look at the current tempeeature and we're at 74 degreessaa the inner harboo with partly cloudd skies, winds the pressure is at 31.91 and holding sttady. the moisture is there and we could have lingerinn fog this morning, at nstant locations sew beware. mild in baltimore, 73 in d.c.,ú down in salisbury, 68 degrees, and hagerstown, 68 so everyone is beginning with mild temperatures, a frontal boundary that is to thh north. i was going to show you where it's going from here. i got to tell you we got cooler air coming our way, but not until this weekend. we got hot air getting into the upper 80s but alss we goo temperatures thaa will be getting into the 90s omorrow before we cool ddwn this weekend into the 80s and 70s. we ill show you that in the seven-day forecast. meanwhile, tropical depressiinl.

could gain strength again, but it doesn't appear to be coming anywhere near the u.s. mainlandú as far as the forecast which is the mportant part anyway. 88 degrees for high in the eastern shore. northeast skies, and central part of the stateeshould climb to 89 degrees, today, might hit 90 once again, look for plenty of sunshhne this afternoon as the winds shift from the northweet to the southeast. -urther points west, look for a high temperature at yyi 9 degr, and as we move ttrough the day we should quickly climb to 84 degrres by noon..3 mostly clear skies, gettiig up to th the high of 89, at 3 or 4:00 this afternoon and dropping back to 85, still warm at 6:00 p.m. tonight, partly cloudy skies, we will drop toostay degrees, it will be a warm and humid night and as ww look ahead, here say look at the warm temperatures first. 89 today and hot, actually tomorrow, 92, then we cool down and dry out some foo saturday, 82 degrees, it looks like we my

monday. that s good newssif you're going to m&t stadium. this, but it looks like it will be aadry ooe. ccouds later in the day and cooler at 72.ú chance showers of later in the monday on monday. more chance of showers with on ú%esday and wednesday a high of 78 and 75.3 here is lauren cooke with a check on the traffic edge. he laat night thunderstorms left us with several down trees at monkton. one has shuttown the lanes of piney road. and another right on blue mountain road at westly chapel3 rooked to use tte hicks road instead. and another fallen tree as westly chapel so stickkwith routt 138 as an alternate this morning. as we take a live look at 83, no problems to report at warren road. can you sse not maay cars out there just yet, it will be an easy riie as you are travellng south and making your way to the beltway. as we ttke a look at 695, it's

clear in the parkville area, you're looking at an 11-minute ride along the outer loop at 83ú as for the west side of the beltway, here is a look at liberty road, not many cars and those who are, you are loooing at 52 miles per hour aaong the ouuer loop. an 11-minute ride from 795 to 95. we have an accidenn along the route 95 as you approach the back to you. p>> still ahead, could now be the ttme to buyy the numbers that suggest you might want to act now if you are considering buying a homee moving forward with a cecil [ male announcer ] antiques can be nice.

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 county threatened to redaytors opening their casino until a problem iih the cordish company is reeolved. ú%w if looks like penn national %-casino opening..3ead with the >> reporter: there are plenny of bells and whistles, but at the hollywood casino in

perryville, technicians are still tteaking those high-tech slot machines, but the operatorú are growing more excited about next week's opening. >> as far as the producc that is top notch. >> reporter: members of the slots commission are also ootimistic,,they say this casino generate millions of dollars. >> it's veey attractive. it's what people expect to see in one offthese slots facilities worse penn national which owns tte ccsino hhs bben criticized -or its role in trying to defeat the slots referendum at anne arundel mill's malls.ú they claim that pen national has violated its contract noo to enter sphere with another

cassno. he is hopeful that the lingering dispute for the slots referennum at tte anne arundel millsswouldú not impact the opening of this kapcasino. >> we still feel that we made the approoriate decision for an >> reporter: here as kass info hollywooatcasino at perryvy is set forrnext tuesday. why the suspect told police he did it and how much time will he spend behind bars. next osing out this droid has evolved to do even more.

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>>the price of gold hits a record high while home prices fall. blockbuster prepares to go bust. fears over the economy turning more money into gold. the shiny stuff hitting another record high closinggin on $1,300 an ounce. gold up 23% from its lowwhit back in the year in february. to the markets now, the dow down 21 points nd the nasdaq and s&p also seeinn numbers in the red. and home prices falling in july to the lowest level in six years. the gooernment is saying prices ú% june fell more than originally reported. block bublockbuster, preparo bust. it's preparing to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy within days. customers have been moving away from traditional sources like %-services like netflix.eerental starting next week,

anheuserrbusch offering free sammles to try to boost the brrnd's popularity. are off 10% the 55h yearr