i think it's a tough time ú%r the police department. how a string of tragedies is affecting the department.ú replacing the maryland medevac fleet. the million dollar deal some are worrieddwill do the state more harm than good. either you work together and everyone is better you and start fighting. a story of survival and triumph, recue workers reveal detailssof the miners wh ccileas were trapped months underground. 3 good morning. it's thursday, october 21st.

and it is a foggy start o the morning, that is the inner harbor if you could see past some of that fog. >> oh. >> steve has his fog hoon going. >> good morning, i'm patrice harris. let's get a cceck with fog horn >> did you like that. >> it did sound like a fog horn if i must say so myself. it's going to be foggy and the winds are going to piik up and drive out some this fog. the temperatures will warm up this morning. temperature wise, bee degree 53n baltimore. and to the north and ike yesterday 40s out theee, oakland at 48, and not the 30s we had yesterday. temperatures warm up in theú mid-60s as opposed to upperú 50s to 60s. and that's part of it the fog. that will give more way to sunshine as we get to the later morning and early afternoon. be caaeful at the bus stop. 50 degrees on average and look ú%r a high temperature off3

-7 degrees. incidentally thereecould be a passing shower in spots, just a slight chance for that in the afternoon because of the we will tall more about that is and the chancee of some kind of we turn to candace dold who is here with the traffic edge. good morning, candace. >> reporter: good morning. use exxra caution as you head as far as the volume is concerned, starting to pick up on the outer loop lanes of the beltway right at liberty road. that is what you will find from liberty all the way down toward 70. from 83 to 795, we're in the miles per hour. 54 miles per hour wwth an 11-minute ride from 85 to 83. anding in to annoy you southbouud traveling from baltimore through the harbor tunnel, to 95, only a 5-minute stretchh 52 miles per hour. that's a look at the morning travels..3 patrice, back to you.

for the first time in less than a month the balttmore city department has lost one of its ú%n. this time officer tommy ports died after crashing his crriser into the ack of a fire engine. joel d smith is at the police department where coping with loss haa become a constant. >> reporter: chaplins are help all of these officers get through this. he was a 9 year veteran of the baltimore police department and a persooal friend of the commissioner bealefeld. no doubt, for the commissioner and everybody else, a tough month what has been a deedly month on the force. it haapened underneath the gilmor strret and look at the impact that crumbled the cruiser and the windshield folded up. the fire engine was there after injured person in the median3

area. after they got there, they asked a film crew there. that is when the squad car slammed into the back of the fire engine at a high rate of speed. police are investigating the crash.ú righh now it's not clear whether he was responding to a call or had is lights and sirens off activated. firefighters had minor bruises from the iipact. and he went into cardiac arrest and was pponounced dead at shock trauma. >> firefighters told me that ú%re here that they didn't hear anything, they just got the impack. we don't really know what led up to the accident. >> it's i tough ime for the police department and a tough time for the men and women on the streets and commissioner bealefeld. >> reporter: this was days after james fowler was training seminar and this paata weekend and brian steeenson who

was off-duty and was killed by a piece of cement that was killed by another man after an argument for a parking spot. and the officer leaves a wife and thhee babies. and he leavee members of the force who are mourning his death but two others earlier this3 month. joel d smith, fox early edition. an a arundel county student is hossitalized after another student put him in a chokehold. a 13 and a 14 years old were fighting when the iicident occurred. the younger boy became incooscious. the 14 years old is facing charges. thii is the second time when a student had to be hospitalized following a fight. an apartment apartment fire in havre de grace claims a second life. helln logan died on wednesday one day after the fire ripped through the home she shared with a companion. initially she had been tablen o

tte hospital for smoke inhalation. her friend, keith, died at the scene. first on fox, man is behind bars his morning after police say he broke into a home in essex. he was tracked down when the nearly nude hommowner chased him four blocks. 40 years old troy james is suspected of burglary and sexual assault. he broke into the home of did hy and his family. he waa able tooget a partiil license number to help police to it turns out that he is a suspect in seveeal burglaries, one at whicc he touched a child. p> he is going through unlocked doors. weeare asking the community to check each and every night andú before they leave the residence to check the windows and doors

and make sure that they are secured. the man is helped at the detention center. a man a admits of tealing of dollars worth of copppr ann larry smith could face uppto 20 years in prisonnfor the scheme. he took cable worth $40,000 and sold to aacompany for $22,000. smith will be sentenced in december. day two of jury deliberations and stiil no verdict in theemurder case of dennis petso. jurors will be back at it again today. on wednesday they spent 10 hours discussing the case. he was charged with murdering his wife racy. she disappeared in 2000 and her body has never been found. ú%osecutors say he killed her becaase she was having an affair. for the first time yesterday jurors got some new evidence to consider.3 >> during the course of a 2-weeú

trial, thhre were hours and hours of audiotape. there were multippe videetapps, multiple exhibits, a lot of testimony, so i'm not thinking along those lines yet. -p>> defense attorneys say there were other leads surrounding tracy's disappearance thaa police failed to investigate and that dennis tetso is more of a forest gump than a criminal master behind. testimony given wednesday suppprts the laims of a former university student that he shot and killed a classmate in self-defense. 21 years old tyrone hall of glen burnie ii accused of injuring incident. hall opened fire at the two men after they lunged at him. a witness for the prosecution, testified that hall fatally shot carroll when he was turning to walk away. they are find if criminal laws were broken by banks.

financial industry has broken laws in the foreclosure crisis.ú the question is if the banks were acting under criminal intent oo were simply overwhelmed by the housing collapsing industry. they want to see that lenders cut corn ores paper works. the preliminary investigation systematic paperwork problem but he says an administration review hhs discoverrd that some individual banks made mistakes. accountable if the thing that e founddin the process holdup, in our reviews, then absolutely there will be consequences. >> rrporter: attorneys general in all 50 states were also investigating whether mortgage comppnies violated state laws. right now about a 3rd of all home sales are foreclosed properties. the federal and state do not want this paaerwork to stall

those purchases. >> the thing for plor flor i flt foreclosures going again. to make sure that gp morgan and g amc get this going on again. >> reporter: they requiree foreclosure lawyers that verify in writing that all paperwork is accurate. in new york, fox news. the money is rolling in at maryland's first slots casinn. the casino took in over $2 million last month. keep in mind the caaino was only open for four ddys that month. the casino opened on september 27th and with it came the creation of 350 new jobs. it looks like if ballots county voters would be giving

the go ahead to a slots at the mall. 60% of the voters say they would ú%te in favor of thh plan. 45% say they wouldn't, and 8% remain undecided. interested in beating the rest at the polls on november secondd early voting will be available %-the state startingaces across october 22nd. people with cast their ballot any day starting october 28th, except for any renalsterrr!! registered vod to ote can do so. this the first year of early voting. you can get more on the national races by going tooour website at foxbaltimore.com/vote 2010. bge says it expects bills to drop by 5% from november until march. the reason, tte cost of natural gas is down. on averageethat is to save

customers arouud $25 a month. there cculd be a catch. bge is asking the public service commission to raise gas distrrbution rates for next year by 4%. meanwhile bge has a lot of tips to help keep your energy costs down. saving ips, just go to our website at foxbaltimore.com/nnws links. the baltimore skyline gets a new addition that is really lighting things up. st. agus hospital threw the switch on the cross on the ú%ilding on wednessay. it's nearly 100 feet tall with that makes it the biggest illuminated cross in the tate. you can see it from several points downtown. strong winds over the weekend are to blame for taking down the last remaining house on a deserted island in thh chesapeake. this house nnw remains submerged in water after being blown down in high tide.

the island was once home to 360 residents and 70 homes. it's been unoccupied since the year of 1922. it's not too often you see a manatee wimming around the patapsco riier. that is wwy this picture was taken by ryan neil. it's so unusual, the national aquarium is looking to confirm %-the other spotted last weee nr when it comes to news your neighborhood, see it, shoot it, send it, an you up load news to go to foxbalttmore.com and click on the see it, shoot it, senn it icon. you can also up load photos to pics at foxbaltimore.com. edition, more than $70 milliony3 for new medevac helicopters. >> more fuel, you're going to need more personnel. >> the choices maryland had that could have saved millions. and windyytoday, but there's

temperature changes in store for i will let you know whether it's trending up or down next on fox 45 early edition. [ ehrlich ] four years ago unemployment in maryland was under four percent.

today, it's nearly double. and nearly a quarter of a million marylanders are looking for work. in addition, we face a national health care plan that will hurt small business and cost us jobs. so we have to ask, are you better off today than you were four years ago? we're heading in the wrong direction. we need strong leadership. say no to things we can't afford. fix our health care plan.

and refuse to raise taxes. martin o'malley can't do it. i will. 45y edition. let's get aacheck of the forecast. meteorologist steve fertig is here. good morring, steve. %-remain until theewindd pick up and they begin to dissipate. you do see ssme activity to the north, you can see that moving around the great lakes area and heading to the east noo. a couple of showers may turn across our area later today but just a remote chance talking a 20% chance and just a light shower at that. as ffr as temperatures go, we

are at 53 degrees with the fog out there, so it does remain cloudy for the start of the day, with the fog. and 78% relative humidity. the dew point is the temperature, and the that's not too bad, boo degreessin wash -- 52 deggees in washington, typically we drop to the 40s and only 44 deereessin %-saw yesterday.o 30s as we a llght shower, we will have cooler air aloft and thaa is why we get a little instability and thh outside chance of a shower, but that is about it. and a high is going to bring us the wind picking up. the high ressure is going to bring us more sunshine for thee3 weekend. we're lookinggforward to that. and also, we will see warmerr3 into the upper 60s and 70s climb for this weekend. a llt of people, one cool day

comes tomorrow and things turn much better as far as it warming up for the weekend. here is what we're looking at for tooay. not bad at the eastern shore. mostly clear skies, the winds out of the west at 166to 20 milee per hour ggsting to 30. we will see the temperatures climclimb to 60 degrees, with northwest wind at 15-20, gusting to higher. we will see temperatures ggttup to 63, cooler and a bettee chance for a shower there. winds out westtthere at 5-15 miles per hour and usting higher. 42 degrees the overnight low. the skies clear out. it will be a breezy night with a northwest wind at 15 miiessper -our and gusting up to 35. it should be arounddthat temperature for the overnight low. tomorrow, 61 degrees foo the high, mostly clear, looking very nice for saturday, meanly clear highs and 70 for the high. sunday 72 degrees for the high tempprature if you're headed to3 m and t stadium for the ravens bills game. look for a kickkff temperature

off70 degrees with pprtly cloudy skies. look for more cloud cover later on in the afternoon and then showers holding off until probably at night. the better chance of showers may come on monday and even tuesday, 72 degrees for both days, staying mild through wednesday with a high of 73 then. let's he is what is happening on the roadways with candace dold who is here with the track edge. candace. >> reporter: thhnk you, steve. we,,of course have the fog to warn you about. please use extra caution as you head ouu. keep the low beams onn don't try the high beems. as far as the actual speeds. we like the numbers, 58 milesú per hour on the beltway traveling through catonsville and 59 at security boullvard and 52 right at the fort mchenry tunnel. ú%t's see when it's looking like valley at shawan rrad, a it of a foggy start there but as far as the volume is concerned, just ssarting to pick up on the beltway toward the beltway. once you hit the beltway, all is

clear traveling through charles street and up toward york road. there's an accident iiside ofú towson, though a crash on lock land circle at a neighborhood off gaucco boulevard. just be aware that you will find the activity, no lane or road closures orrdelays around the area. the beltway near parkville and toward 95, so far so good, we'rú in he green. that's a lookkat your morning travels, patrice, back over to you. thank you, candace. still ahead, chrysler issue3 a rrcall of several vehicle numbers. the problem that could start a fire. are you going to save more for jet fuel, two pilots ann more pprsonnel. >> and spending millions on medevac choppers.. the alternatives that criticc3 say could have been better

sex new medevac helicopters ú%e coming to maryland. the state made a deal to replace the injuring choppers. -ohn rye del has more on the deal that some say it too costly. >> reporter: police display their new addiiion to the medevac. >> the new aircraft is more flexibility in our missions.

>> reporter: this is the first of six new medevacs which will replace the aging choppers. two years ago one of thosee3 choppers crashed killing the pilot on board. >> here's no other state thatú does what we do.3 >> reporter: state olice commanders urred the board of public works to approve the 72 million contract. statt comptroller, peter frafn franchot voiced concern that they were the only company to bid on the contract. >> i ssill think that a procurement of this size and significant we can't end up with one bid on the table. %-the state could have savedt millions of dollars by retrofitting the old choppers. but governor o'mallee says safety is the biggest priority. >> e never know when ittmight be our daughter, our wife or husband anddrushed by medevac to shock that you will trauma durn

hourr ú% reporter: four additional helicopters will be delivered within about three years and the state has the option to purchase 6 additional choppers. >> that means an awful lot more to the citizens of maryland, for safety and employees afety. >> reporter: they sayythis contract will pay for iiself saved.time a person's ife is edgewater, john rye del. the current helicopters were coming up later on the early gay milliiary rrcruits won't be able to serve just openly just yet. a ruling made by the federal

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there would be more smoothness, more creaminess, more rich just-for-me-ness, more hershey's bliss-fulness. hershey's bliss. it's not just chocolate. it's bliss. got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru. mange strollerrrecall, plus a newwfed announcement on

-he state of unemployment. robert gray has more in oday's business report. >> reporter: sttcks rock as big companies roll out big time profits. the dow gaining 129 points. it's now up 6.5% on the year. -raco recalling 3 millioo strollers, the govvrnment saying four infants have choked to death after getting trapped inside the strolllrs were sold and 2007. chrysllr recalling 23,000 vehicles, power teering fluid could leak and cause a fire. it includes ram pickup trucks and t rim cars. the federaa reserve saying the conomy is growing but the growth is too sluggish to drive down the unemployment rate. apple competing with apple. the tech giant unveiling new maccook that has software similar to the ipad. it weighs 2 pounds and it costs $1,000 and apple saying a

%-i'm robert ray.minn. they're back and ready to go another round. the debate going on between3 governor o'malley and forrer today.or bob ehrlich going on today.or bob ehrlich going on a police officer is dead it's fall. so right? break the rake! fall is the best time to feed your lawn. and leaves are good food. rich, organic nutrition. so mulch those leaves right in. then use scotts winterguard. it provides a fall feeding while helping those mulched leaves break down faster. for an extra nutritional boost. and a stronger, thicker lawn next spring. ♪ you got it! so break the rake, mulch leaves and use scotts winterguard. save $5 at scotts.com.