rate. what the police think is behind baltimore's lower numbers... on fox 45 news at 5:30.3 3 3

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3 police are stepping up patrols man is shot and killed ... during a home invasion. the shooting happened on garrison avenue near pimlico road.. around 10 o'clock wednesday night.police say two masked men approached the victim ... forcing him inside the house and then shot him in the face. the victim's family is distraught. 11:09:19 were asking anyone with information to come forward. we saw that that was instrumental in the yau brothers killing and were hoping as more and more people become involved and come forward to clear these cases that that trend will continue: 32 with only one day left in 2011... baltimore's murder rate looks like it's going to be a lot lower than last year. year.196 people have been

murdered in baltimore city. that compares to 222.... at this time last year.the last time we were this low...was back in 1978... when there were 197 murders in the city. the mayor's hoping to ring in 2012.. with fewer than 200 murders on the books. governor and former altimore mayor martin o'malley is also happy about the news... "to see that 175 mark on the horizon ... all the moms and dads won't be standing by thh graves of their kidscan't be more grattful than that in all serious....can't quibble with 3 god over the timing." timing." the city's annual murder rates were routinely more than 300 ddring the 90's. maryland state police continne to investigate a car boy.it happened wednesday...

on i-83 in timonium just before the beltway... wwen a jeep cherokee diin't slow down for stopped traffic.the impact caused a chain reaction crash involving four vehicles. 5-year-old jake owen was killed... he was a passenger in one of those cars.police say the jeep was driven by.... devin mckeiver. jake was a student at federal hill prep school.his uncle, steve kearney , released thii statement. "this is a very sad day for our family. jake was a preat little guy and it's happened. we'll miss him. jim, - susan and alex are gratefuu for everyone's thoughts and prayers." 333 four teens are facing arson a string of garage fires in urbana. take a look this damage from one of them. the teens shoolifted mariie flares from a walmart in frederick to set the fire.in total they caused more than &p130-thousand dollars in

damage. the teens have been released into the custody of their parents. a bull causes havoc in downtown mount airy... airy... the animal was being delivered to the mount airy locker company to be processed..... when the it arriiee... it managed to get away.... and traveled almost 4 miles... passing a day care center.... then to a nearby field..... after several attempts by carroll county police and frederick county animal control to confine the bull.... shots were fired... killing the animal. outcue: advantage of it. it. no one was injured. the maryland general assembly will consider a bill... that would require parents to notify policee immediatelyyof a missing child. it's called "caylee's law"... &pand it's in honor of caylee anthony... the 2-year old toddler from florida who died

in 2008.her mother... casey anthony... waited a month to report her disappearanceeon thhrsday... delegate kevin has pre-filed the bill for the 2012 legislative session. similar bills have been filed in at least 2 other states. some pennsylvania residents are waking up in shelters today... after a massive sinkhole forced them out of their homes.this was hhescene the ground opened up.according to the town's fire chiee... a broken water main is to blame. the sinkhole also spread into a historic cemetery... threatening dozens of graves. most people love friday... but for folks in one country... they'll have to wait until ánext weeká to enjoy it. it.in samoa... a pacific island nation located between hawaii and new zealand... they're skipping today all together.the tiny nation is jumping right from ttursday... to saturday. and according to the samoaa prime minister... itts an important move because

it puts the nation on the samee side of the line as its key trading partners... in new zealand and australia. "we can now have five workings days a week to continue and sustain our economic and commercial contacts with our business partners in new zealand, and australia, china and japan. presently before the change, we only have four working days out of seven days a week." week."samoa last switched sides of the dateline in 18-92 to better work witt california and other american trade partners. reeord books... when it comes to safe airline travel. according to the wall stteet journal... commercial flights 7-point-one million travelers worldwide.the previous record was set in 2004... with one

death per 6-point-4 million passengees. hundreds of military men and women are back home this morning.. 3--clapping--- --clapping--- at b-w-i several peeple lined up to greet more than 200 soldiers returning from service.from the army to airforce... they've been deployed across the world... some serving in iraq. 3 "we get your commericals overseas...and i know years ago it wasn't like this so it's very awesome" awesome""great to know people do care back home" home""all these people here...means a lot to us, supporting the troops...real good feeling almmst tears...almost ..." the soldiers were also greeted by t-mobile reps ... offering information on employment opportunities. lady gaga will play an important part in ringing in 20.

20-12.lady gaga nats nats not only will she perform in times square on ew year's with pushing the button to ed - signal the famous ball drop at exactly 11:59 p-mmthe pop star is in oon as a special guest of mayor mmchael bloomberg.his office says that hile the mayor has never met lady gaga... he's found her to be a great entertainer. it's friday and that means it's your turn to sound off on oor facebook page about anything you want. want.let us know what's on your mind-- and your response could air in our "faceeook feedback" segment. segment.just go to facebook dot com slash foxbaltimore to become a fan and join the conversation. coming up on the early edition... 2011 was nn stranger to scandals... 3 " we await the opportunity to present our side." we take a look at the top scandalous headlines.. of the past year.

&pyear. 3

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3 go shopping... on us! us! today we we will give away our álastáá1-hundred dollar wal-mart gift cards. so if you want to enter... go to our facebook page... facebook dot com slash ffx baltimore. click on the inside fox45 tab nd fill out the entry ffrm.we'll draw today's winner later on this morning. coming up... sandusky... hermain cain...ann the federal government... all embroiled in scandal this year... nobody in the justice department has lied." lied."we'll look at the top scandals of 2011... and later in spprts... the ravens beat the bengals without their top target...how they plan to

"and what's your name?" "oh, it's flo." "and what do you do?" "oh, i sell insurance like no one else." "oh, that's nice." "thank you." now, that's progressive. call or click today. ((break 2))

3 &p 2011 was the year in scandals....in this morninn's cover story... jeff barnd looks at some of the top headlines ... the good.. the bad.. and bizarre... over the past yeer. year. it is a scandal thaa shocked the entirr nation. jerry sandusky.. former penn state assistant football coach.. charged with sexually

abusing several boys he says he was mentoring. await the opporttnity to present our side." head coach joe paterno... and other school leaders... were fired.. for failing to alert police after an assistant told them he saw sanduskly molesttng a child. shortly after that syracuse university basketball coach bernie fine was fired.. after men came forward with pccusations that he too molested them s boys. washington wasn't safe from sex scandals either. democraratic presidential candidate john edwards...indicted on charges he used illegal campaign donations...to hide his pleading not guilty. cain says: " i am not going to be silenced and i'm not going away" republican candidate herman cain...suspending áhisá presidential campaigna"a&afte r denying sexual harassment allegationsa"aa&ann infidelity. new york congressman anthony weiner resigns...after tweeting lewd pictures of himself to women.

a hotel maid accuses the head of theeinternational monetary fund, dominique strauss-kahn, of attempted rape. prosecutors later drop thh case...calling the woman "not credible." some scandals cost peoppe their lives.in "operation fast and furious," federal agents lost track of more than a thousand guns they intended to trace...from their illegal purchase in arizona...til they reached drug cartels in mexico. but two lost guns were found back in arizona...where a u-s border patrol agent died in a shootout. sensenbrenner says: " what are you gonna do to clean up this mess?" holder says: " nobody in the justice department has lied." attorney general eric holder calls "fast and furious" deeply flawed...bbt he says hh knew little about it while it was underway. holder's boss... pressdent barack obama.... is embroiled in a growing scandal.his administration lost half a billion dollars investing in the now ankrupt solar panel

company... solyndra.the company's leader... a big obama supporter.the white house is fighting a subpoena requiriig it to turn over all of its documents on the company.a phone hacking scandal spelled the end of a newspaper.after a 168 years in print... "news of the world" printed its final issue. murdoch says: "i'd just like to say one sentence. this is the most humble day of my life," rupert murdoch shut down the tabloid... when the paper was accused of hacking the phones of celebrities.. voicemail of a murdered teenager.folbaum says: "two

coming up in ouu 6 o'clock hhur... basketball legend... michael jordaa is back in spotlight... but not for his ssorts skills.. the big news.. .he's announcing to fans. fans.a great moment at ravens praatice thursday... three fans receive game balls...the emotional thank you from a life long ravens fan...next in sports. ((break 3)) 3

let's take a peek inside out purple pride photogallery... vashay sent us this picture of two adorable girls.. getting ready for a ravens game!

and eet "lucy".she's an 11 week oll bbagle pup... and for ravens jersey. aad these are future ravens rookies!can't you tell?this iss camryn and jalil...thanks to jennifer for sending this in. show us youu purple pride. ou can upload photos and videos to us through purple -at -fox baltimore -dot- com. and you can see those pictures on our "see it shoot it send it" page at foxballimore dot com. or you can go to our facebook foxbaltimore... click on "inside fox45" on the left side of the screen. coming up in ur 6 o'clock hour... headed to the inner harbor for new year's celebrations?find the preparrtions in pllce to keep you safe.. and ensure you have a great time. time.nats: ahh chebena baynecha a waw wawand it's the coming of age

story of an african cub...we give you an exclusive behind the scenes look at "the lion king".... playing at the hippodrome... right