from the cities to the counties to your neighborhood, now complete coverage on wjz 13, maryland's news station. >> deadly helicopter crash. four people are killed when the chopper goes down on interstate 70. new information about the investigation and victims. hi, again, everybody, i am mary bubala. here is what people are talking about. federal investigators are trying to figure out what brought that helicopter down last night in western maryland continue to interstate 70.

eyewitness news is live near hagerstown. alex demetrick reports, the national transportation safety board just wrapped up a briefing. good afternoon to you, alex. >> reporter: good afternoon, mary. well, you know this crash has left some crews as to how it may have happened, but it will likely be months before a cause is definitive to be discovered. the helicopter went down in the median in the eastbound lanes of i-7010:30 last night near smithburg. all four people on board were killed in the crash or the fire that followed. there had been storms but visibility was an issue. >> limited visibility because of moisture and fog in the area, especially around the upper levels of south mountain. >> reporter: a briefing at the airport in hagerstown, the national transportation safety board said weather would be examined, as well as overhead power lines. >> based on witness reports given to the maryland state police, the helicopter was flying east over interstate 70.

it impacted power lines that i understand were about 70 feet above the ground before hitting the ground. witnesses reported that the aircraft was flying very low. they saw sparks flying before the aircraft hit the ground and a post-crash fire. >> reporter: the helicopter belonged to advanced helicopter concepts in frederick. it was in hagerstown to conduct fund raising flights for charity and was flying back with three employees and one passenger when it crashed. the pilot was a certified commercial pilot, the helicopter was flying under visual flight rules. it was not flying under instruments, the wreckage itself has been transported to the airport in hagerstown. it will now be moved from here to another facility in delaware where investigators will go over it with a fine-tooth comb. mary, back to you. >> a lot of new information from you, alex, thank you. complete coverage of the helicopter crash continues with meteorologist bernadette woods and more on the role weather

could have played in the accident, the ntsb is looking at weather. >> a couple of lines of thunderstorms that went through last night. show you this radar loop from last night. as we move through the night, one round, earlier. notice the second round that builds up and follows. that is the one that came closer to the time frame they are talking about and ended up being a bigger problem farther east. between the two of them, a lot of problems. a lot of moisture in the air. the higher up you go the closer up to the cloud bases that could have been a problem as you heard them talking about. at this point we are dry out there and this could change this afternoon. a chance of a few showers and thunderstorms. we will have that forecast in a bit. mary. >> thank you. stay with wjz for complete coverage of the helicopter crash. go to wjz.com for investigation, updates and the latest video, the latest on the tragedy tonight at 4, 5 and 6:00. right now coast guards -- the coast guard is searching for a 13-year-old boy from maryland who disappeared in the ocean in south carolina.

sally thorner is live in the newsroom with the latest on this. good afternoon, sally. >> good afternoon, mary. the teen disappeared while he swam near myrtle beach. witnesses say he was swimming with a group of friends when he went under water and never came up, the area myrtle beach was experiencing rough surf over the past few days. search crews said they switched from rescue to recovery mode. they know the boy is from maryland and went to south carolina for a baseball tournament. his name has not yet been released, mary. >> thank you, sally. reporting live in the newsroom. a lifeguard rescued seven other teens in that area yet and brought them to shore. the department of health has confirmed another death from the h1n1 virus in our state. that thank brings the total number of deaths to four. the latest is an adult in the eastern shore with no apparent underlying medical conditions. further investigation into the cause of death is now under way. to date, 76 of cases of the virus has been confirmed in our state. a former field hockey coach

at towson university has been indicted on federal charges for pornography. baltimore county police arrested 52-year-old john kovach in march. at the time he taught in a montessori school and was an assistant field hockey coach. the investigation began when kovach a sexually explicit online conversation with a detective who was posing as a 13-year-old girl. the fight to keep towson university open heads to the court room in just a few hours. a hearing at 2:00 to block the school from closing. supporters have spent weeks raising money to stop keep the school open. the archdiocese said they are closing it because of debt and failing enrollment numbers. the federal minimum wage goes up $.70 from $6:55 to $78:25 an hour. it is long overdue for many of the nation's working poor, but some economists say the pay

hike could prolong the recession by forcing small businesses to lay off those same workers because they have become too expensive. it is time to turn in our clunkers for some cash. the government's program to give new car buyers up to $4500 for their old gas guzzlers officially gets under way today. alexis christoforous reports for wjz figuring out if you qualify is the first step. >> reporter: government hopes the cash for clunkers program get drivers to trade in their old gas guzzler for new fuel efficient models and offering up to $4500 off the purchase. car shoppers in new york say what's not to like. >> try to, you know, go green a little bit. save everyone a little bit of money. >> any time you can get car off a car, that is always excellent, right. >> read the fine print, there are lots of it. your trade-in has to be between 1984 and 2001. it has to have a fuel

efficiency of 18 miles per gallon or less. you need paperwork to prove of it has been insured and registered to you for at least a year. >> a shot of people who historically have held on to older cars longerrer. now all of a sudden an incentive for them to come in. >> reporter: the auto industry is banking continue to. they say july sales have been slow because people have been waiting to turn in their clunkers. chrysler is sweetening the deal offering $4500 off of chrysler, dodge and jeep models. you get that deal even if you don't qualify for the cash for clunkers trade. if you do qualify, you could get up to $9,000 off the sticker price. dealers say it is worth it. >> we are very excited about the fact it will bring traffic into the dealerships today. >> reporter: government has a web site, cars .gov that lays out the rules. while consumers are doing their homework, dealers are dusting off their inventory.

alexis christoforous, wjz eyewitness news. >> consumers have until november 1 to take advantage of the deal or until the $1 billion in federal funding runs out. wall street is coming down off a rally that left the dow above the 9,000 mark for the first time since january. disappointing earnings news has sent the dow down 26 points. the s&p is down 3 points. and nasdaq is down 22. the crew of the space shuttle endeavour is in the middle of a extra-long spacewalk. they are trying to install new batteries that provide solar power for the international space station. they have to make up work from thursday when nasa shortened their excursion when there were lowering levels of carbon dioxide in one of their spacesuits. it should last an hour longer than usual. m&t bank stadium are hoping for a sold-out crowd as those pour in to watch chelsea and ac milan.

it is supposed to take place tonight in front of a crowd of 41,000 people. city officials have estimated the fans will bring in a much- needed economic boost to the tune $25 million. still to come on wjz eyewitness news at noon. in the midst of controversy. president obama's comments get him involved in a racial profiling debate. the latest on the rest of a prominent university professor. deadly plans. new details of the deadly hotel bombings. what went wrong during the attacks that may have saved lives. another live look outside this noon. meteorologist bernadette woods will be back with our first warning weather forecast.

we have some breaking news out of iran where 17 people have died in a plane crash. officials say the tires of the plane caught fire as it was landing and skidded off the runway. another 19 people were injured in the crash in which the cockpit also caught fire. there were 153 people aboard the russian made plane. the police commissioner of cambridge, massachusetts is assembling an independent panel to review last week's arrest of a prominent black harvard

professor. president obama said police acted stupidly when they arrested henry lewis gates outside his home -- well, inside his home. since his arrest, he claimed he was a victim of racial profiling. turns outs the arresting officer sergeant james crawley taught a course at the police academy how to avoid racial profiling. other officers have defended him saying he followed standard procedure. new information about the deadly bombings at two hotels in indonesia. the suicide attackers planted a third bomb but it malfunctioned and never gone off. if it went tough a would have sent crowds into the hotel lobby where the other bombs were set to explode and did. that information indicated the attacks were to kill seven people who died. several americans were injured. a courtroom outburst caught on tape in kentucky where a handcuffed suspect is tasered

and sent twitching to the ground. >> wow. the incident started when the defendant tried to lunge at the prosecutor's table. one deputy held the man still while another fired the taser. he was not seriously injured. he was in court to face charges that he retaliated against a witness. he won't face any new charges for this incident. amy winehouse is off the hook. a judge has acquitted the british singer assault charges. winehouse was accused of punching a fan who asked for a picture. prosecutors called it a deliberate assault and winehouse said she felt intimidated by the fan who was allegedly drunk at the time. a live look outside. stay tuned. meteorologist bernadette woods will be back in two and a half

we are back with jasmine! >> oh, jasmine! >> such a sweetheart. >> i think if we are both petting her at the same time. >> she is trying to figure out what is going on. >> she is a 2-and-a-half-year- old beagle mix. a lot energy but very sweet. a nice size. >> a very nice size. >> you can find out more information about her on the web site. she has got lots of love. it doesn't taste good. >> we will try to get this weather forecast in here. show what you we have got going on. the storms from overnight getting out of here, but the same storm system is going to affect us today.

not as widespread, but a couple of showers and thunderstorms are still possible through the afternoon and evening hours. winds are somewhat out of the north. you can see across the board. not cooling us down that much. temperatures are warm outside and the humidity levels are high. 82 degrees already in baltimore. generally 80s across the board. coming in at 72 in elkton and 78 in oakland. so here is the low driving this. this is the line that went through overnight. you can see another boundary hanging out to the west which will come through today. after today, we are going to be done with this storm, but there is another one not that far behind that will come in by sunday. before that happens, it looks like tomorrow for most of the day it is going to be pretty dry out there. but heat and humidity are going to become a big factor tomorrow. temperatures going up to close to 90 degrees. and the heat index will make it feel even higher. so remember this time of year that we do want to take frequent breaks. we haven't had that much around here. take frequent breaks if you are going to be in the sunshine. keep yourself hydrated and make sure you check on the pets and

the elderly too who may need some help. the storm comes in on sunday. hot and muggy ahead of the front on sunday and thunderstorms break out, and this is the pattern we are going to be in most of next week with a pop-up shower or thunderstorm. as far as the forecast for today, 86 for our high. tonight going down to 64. any thunderstorm that does form will be dying down overnight. tomorrow, 90 degrees. a very muggy day out there. and if you are headed out to the big game tonight, because we know that some of us are, and we are very excited about it. >> i am actually most excited to have you the meteorologist standing next to me predicting the rain. >> predicting the weather. >> exactly. >> a couple of thunderstorms. they will be out there and scattered about. we will take you through them during the evening shows. >> sounds good. hopefully the os will have good weather as they head to boston to start a new series against the red sox. masn this sunday. you can see the os battle boston 1:30 on wjz. still to come on eyewitness news today at noon. go to bed!

new research confirmses this a way to get your kids to sleep quickly. something american parents already believe. i think i am ready for a nap myself. wjz is always on. the top stories. for instant updates on all of the day's news and first

in today's eyewitness news health watch, a new study is now confirming what many

parents have long believed, the more active kids are during the day, the faster they fall asleep at night. researchers also found that children who fall asleep quicker tend to stay asleep longer. the findings are particularly important because bad sleep patterns in kids have been associated with poor school performance and an increased risk of being obese or overweight. chinese scientists have made a major breakthrough in a new kind of stem cell that does not involve destroying embryos. they were able to create powerful cells from mouse skin and use those to produce live mice. the discovery is being hailed as a breakthrough. the u.s. government has announced a purchase of 95 million doses of a suspected vaccine for the h1n1 virus also known as swine flu that cost $2 billion. it has been distributed to five countries working on an anecdote. health officials have called for thousands of volunteers to test the vaccine.

tune in at 4, 5 and 6. sally is in the newsroom with more. >> gunshots ring out at the westfield malls just days before christmas. today we learn more about the gang-related shooting and the gunman's fate. you could call it one of the miracles of medicine as a patient receives the first cardiac adult stem cell infusion. join us for these stories and all the breaking news after "dr. phil." mary have fun at the soccer game. >> thank you, we will. the five-day forecast is

welcome welcome back, everybody. five-day forecast. getting into the upper 80s. about 86 degrees. tomorrow, look at that, 90 degrees and for the most part we think the thunderstorms will stay away and they will be returning on sunday. 90 degrees. high humidity both days. going to be a hot, muggy weekend. the chance for pop-up showers and thunderstorms in a very summertime pattern is going to stick around this week and we have not seen much of that. we will see it. >> at the end of the july. >> go figure. >> a reminder to tune into the cbs primetime lineup. another episode of "numbers" and followed by eyewitness news at 11:00. that is our report. thank you for watching eyewitness news on wjz 13, maryland's news station. i am mary bubala. >> and i am bernadette woods. have a great day and a great weekend, everybody. we will be back here at 4, 5 and 6. >> and always on wjz.com as well. >> chance: (chuckles)

i feel like i just walked into a time warp. >> kay: (chuckles)