accused of killing her four daughters. this is wjz and wjz.com. baltimore. complete coverage on wjz 13, maryland's news station. hi everybody, i'm kye jackson. here's what people will be talking about: a system packed with powerful thunderstorms and heavy rain moving through maryland right now. you can see the video we recorded a short time ago. a severe thunderstorm and watch is in effect and you're looking at the rain that fell in baltimore. outside it's raining in most places and it's warm and humid. we are live with first-warning coverage. tim williams is tracking radar and has an update on is situation. we have new severe thunderstorm warnings that have

just been issued. let's get to first-warning doppler radar, new severe thunderstorm warnings for kent, and care line until 5:00 and that's what tim is looking at. we'll have a flash flood watch until 7 p.m. so this is what we have going on. the thunderstorms are racing across the state at 45 miles per hour. so any wind coming out of them can be damaging winds because the storms alone are moving at that speed. possibly some hail coming out of these, it's picking up on the eastern shore. also off to the south of that, this line right to the east, friday evening traffic. a second line over from virginia. no warns at this point, but wouldn't be surprised if we started to see some warnings for this line as it makes its way across. all of this is moving east,

northeast at about 45 miles per hour. there are some thunderstorms behind it, but it's not nearly the strenth as what we see with the initial line that moves through. the thunderstorms right now, but not as strong to prompt the warnings elsewhere. for a wrap up of the watches and warnings to tim in the weather center. the information is changing pretty much as we speak. this line, this this is the newest information, the severe thunderstorms in effect until around 5:00 for the eastern shore. the other areas in the lighter gray, it's the thunderstorm watch. these storms rolling through at the speed, we would not be surprised so see all of those start to lift going west to east across the state as the storms move through. we started to watch the storms, a large mass moved northeast but a large chunk moving in from west to east as it started to bring in some of the moist

air with the front, starting to spin and the cooler air aloft. more and more of these storms starting to come up during the heat of the day. the dew points high and because of that, these storms have a lot of energy to work with. there's some drying, not far away and a will the of -- a lot of the storms are breaking up the winds and heavy rain are taking their toll on power lines. nearly 18,000 power outages. baltimore county just over 9000, harford a little over 7200 outages at this hour. stay with eyewitness news for coverage, wjz is always on for updates, a look at radar, log onto wjz.com. a worker in maryland maybe

part of a scheme to issue illegal licenses to illegal immigrants. he was fired in june and the licenses were revoke. a new law took effect on june first to make it harder. clunker cash, is it gone? the government says its empty. lawmakers are working quickly to refill the program with more cash. >> reporter: when customerred arrived on this lottery, he wasn't sure what to tell them for the "cash for clunkers" program. >> it was on and off. >> reporter: after just one week, the program was running on empty. car buyers flocked the dealers ship to take advantage of $4500 towards a new car for trading in an older gas guzzleer.

>> this stimulus program is working, it's working well. >> reporter: the "cash for clunkers" program was supposed to last through october or until the billion dollars ran out. lawmakers didn't expect it to hit empty so quickly. on friday the house approved another two billion dollars for the program. president obama praised the quick action on capitol hill. >> we're doing everything possible to continue the program and continue to help the autoindustry. >> some conservatives call it a bailout and made fun of the program. >> may we should have a cash for cluckers and pay people to eat chicken. >> some say the plan is no joke, they need it to drive sales back into the fast lane. white house press secretary robert gibbs says the

program will be alive this week but not commenting to any time frame beyond that. comments in a murder trial drop a bomb shell in court. a new witness who claims to have been attacked and stabbed by a man matching the description of the suspect. prosecutors provided an updated list of evidence they say links him to the killing including confessions to other individuals that he and two other members killed levi in rock lake park. he was serving a sentence for crimes against other women. a trial date set for january 27 january 27th. an herb that can be smoked is banned in ocean city.

an emergency vote will take place on monday to ban the herb. it's banned in 10 states including delaware but not in maryland so far. it's that time of the year when you can enjoy some baseball and help the needy at the same time. the food drive benefits people who need to eat. eyewitness news live, gigi is there with more. >> reporter: people go on vacation and may visit a ballpark, but that's the time when donations drop but the need remains. empty shelves, few boxes. >> people start forgetting. >> reporter: and low donations. >> we're scratching the surface. just scratching it. >> reporter: she says the problem is supply and demand.

giving is low because of the economy and the number of people in need is up. >> people need to understand that people out there are hungry, it's not just people below the federal poverty level, it's middle class, seniors, kids, if you have something you can share, money, food, you need to do it. >> reporter: baseball fans can help and they have in the past. last year the drive raised $30,000 in cash and 9000 pounds in food. since wjz started it in 1994, fans have given 46,000 pounds of food. >> today you made a difference difference. >> reporter: back here live the gates are not yet open but the giving will begin. be a smart giver, check the

expiration dates and try not no give food in glass containers and and check the web site and see what they need, what they really like is cash. back to you on tv hill. thank you. during the weekend's home stand against the red sox, take your food items down to camden yards, they will collect donations at the gate. tomorrow you can meet gigi collecting donations. it's all part of the continuing community commitment. let's check on the roads with sharon gibala at wjz traffic control. how does the weather effect the ride home? >> pretty much if there's a road, there's a problem on it this afternoon. one of the accidentses is on 70 westbound blocking all lanes

and getting a back up to frederic road, problems on 83. a crash blocking the left lane, another problem, a downed tree blocking two left lanes. on the east side at 702, there's a wreck. two in the city. stone river parkway and on 50 eastbound, we have an accident blocking toll lanes 9 and 10. a backup, there's a live look at the backup, you can see the rain drops as well so rain is an issue as well. there's the west side of the beltway. 95 northbound slow, eastern avenue. this traffic report brought to you by the department of agriculture. go to maryland's best and take the challenge. back to you. thank you.

still ahead on eyewitness news. sacred ritual, babies tossed off of roofs and caught with blankets. why parents in india do it. michael phelps says no to pope benedict. we'll explain. a severe thunderstorm watch in effect for a few more minutes, will it be extended? . now, complete coverage

some veterans have a brighter future because of a gi bill. it rolls out saturday just in time to fund fall semester for veterans. in the next decade, $78 million pays fees for universities.

a monthly housing and up to a thousand dollars a year for books. members of the guard and reserve qualify if they spend four months 5:00ive active in war. the ritual is 700 years old and allows babies to be dropped from the roof. they believe if they're drop and caught in a sheet will ensure good health and prosperity for the family. there have been no injuries. wow. >> for the first time, we are hearing from the mother convict of killing her father daughters. the u.s. attorney's office today released jackson's 8-hour police interrogation tape when they found her living in a home with the rotting bodies of the girls. >> reporter: as police and forensic teams scour the home

where they found her living with the rotting corpses of her daughters, she was being interviewed wearing a white jump suit and eating the first food she claim she had in days. she brings up problems with the oldest girl. she says he's a jezebel unhanging and -- hanging out with the wrong crowd. >> she went from being just crazy. >> reporter: prosecutors presented evidence of her anger over her interest in boys. she kept her locked away from the sisters denying her food, clothing and a bed until she died. >> did you worry about her setting a bad impression. >> then an unbeliefability

tale of four girls who just went to sleep one by one. >> what happen to your oldest one? >> the same thing. >> she will be sentenced on october 16th. here's a look at the way wall street is today. good news about the economy fuels some gains on wall street. this was best month in 7 years. the dow was up and the nasdaq down 6. let's go to the money watch update. >> reporter: the commerce department delivered the strongest sign that the recession is winding down.

it sha rank by one percent. obama administration credits the stimulus program for putting the brakes on the recession. we could see economic growth ending the longest recession since world war world war ii. the house voted today to restrict how finance executives are compensate. they're angry that banks gave millions of dollars of bonuses for employees. they say record-low pay raises. the average increase was 1.8%. unemployment expected to climb over 10% by the end of the

year. concerns about honda and defects in their air bags. they're recalling vehicles including some civic models. one death and a number of injuries prompted the recall. for more business news go to cbsmoneynews.com. your smelly sneakers could be someone's kicks. nike has a new program. they're ground into shreds and made into new shoes. nike is using ground-up old shoes to surface playing fields for kids. coming up, a battle brewing over michael jackson's estate . >> reporter: i'm ron matz in little italy honoring a baltimore family who's lived in

the same house for 100 years. their story weapon we continue. the weather moving through maryland. the weather team is tracking it all. we are counting down to the orioles and masn and wjz food drive.

. complete forecast and the first warning of severe weather. let me see if i can phrase it this way, the good news is, the storms have been rolling through fast, the bad news is, the storms have been rolling through fast. >> we've seen them really, their damage was incredible. but as you can see, the sunshine already returning behind them. what we're going to do is update you on the warnings because they're still causing some problems. along this line, strong thunderstorms on the eastern shore, they're starting off around cecil and kent county. the damage into delaware. heading south, it will start to

let up a little bit. we'll be passing, denton, starting to pick up but all of this is racing to the east at about 45 miles per hour. all of these counties in yellow, those are the severe thunderstorm warnings we ha had them for kent. cecil county. we haven't seen any warnings but this line is a strong line also making its way to the east and we could see some severe thunderstorm warnings. another thing, this is why we brought tim in, we've seen some damage reports coming in with how fast they're moving through. here's tim. as you mentioned, there's any number of smaller damage estimates around. give you an idea of things happening. some reports of homes and barns damaged. homes and trees uprooted in

caroll county. some roof damage coming through in caroll county and reports of 75 mile-per-hour winds over in crest wood middle school and this is a sampling of what we're getting in. we'll monitor the damage reports. for now, over to you. >> that's why we're trying to keep the warnings because that's damage these storms can produce. here's the warnings in place right now and they're going to continue as the line makes its way through. the storms themselves, they have had some power to them. we have seen damaging winds an and making their way to the east. temperature-wise, we've dropped from 86 degrees to 70. another thing to take note of. 87 degrees out there, there's the warmth to fuel the storms.

the dew points are high with this system going through. a lot of energy for these storms to work with and that will be the case until they clear up. here's a line of storms making its way across the state. it will be leaving us and by tomorrow, it's already off to the east. there is the slightest chance for a shower or thunderstorm and the chances pick up into sunday again. if you're heading down to the ocean, something to keep in mind, it will be later in the day, we think there's going to be time to be had this weekend. be careful of this line coming through. we're not done yet. >> just a reminder, tune into prime time lineup at 10:00, it's another episode of numbers . the orioles host the red sox, you can see the birds take

on boston saturday night at 7:00 p.m. here on wjz. katie couric has a preview of what is coming up on the cbs evening news. the most detail view of where the economy stands, the product numbers are set to be released today. we'll have a report card and a reality check on if the worst is over. that's tonight on the evening news. behind bars, police say she's involve in the kidnapping of a baby from a woman's womb. the government warns unsafe trucks and buses are still driving on america's highways. we'll update your forecast on the violent weather when we continue after this.

this is wjz and wjz.com. from the city, to the county to your neighbor. complete coverage on wjz 13, maryland's news station. hello everyone, thank you

for joining us. here's what people will be talking about: weather is posing some threatening conditions in the state and parts of the state have been under severe thunderstorm warnings. here's a live look and you can see it's cloudy in some areas with sun peeking through here on tv hill. we are alive with first warning coverage and tim williams. >> it's been a wild afternoon. we're seeing sunshine in the city. let's see where the storms are because they're on the eastern shore and we have some new warnings because of that. summer set until 5:15. that's our warnings for kent until 5:00. for this line of storms, two separate areas we're tracking. the purple is pretty much the worst of it. possibly hail, some damaging

winds, reports of over 70 miles per hour. that's bordering hurricane strength on these winds, nothing to mess around with here. they're moving at about 45- miles to the east and will clear you quickly. thunderstorms around cambridge, but this line prompted a line of warnings because it's just picking up. if you know someone outside, bring them inside. it will be making its way down to the beaches probably in about 15-20 minutes. for a wrap-up on the watches and warnings we're going to tim williams in the weather center. these storms are rolling and as we are watching them, the way they're proguessing because the rain is moving across maryland, they're flash flood in effect. it's starting to settle in in the areas in cecil and the

northeast. for the middle portion of the eastern shore, until about 5:30 or so, another hour or so, these showers are rolling through. the entire rest of maryland, they're severe thunderstorm watches in effect until 9:00 tonight. we're watching the storms rolling through, heavier amounts in the northeast portion of the eastern sea board and we had a long system through the afternoon, some heavy thunderstorms and some gusty winds and now starting to see some drying out as the trailing edge of this is moving into central maryland and the sun is breaking through. much of it is broken up around virginia and into southern maryland. we'll keep you updated on the storms. let's go to sky chopper with a live picture in caroll

county near caves mill road and you can see the damage that's been done, the roof has been taken off of this house in this neighborhood and you can see crews are there and the debris has been thrown all over the area. another roof rip off. people trying to find out if anyone was injured. no reports of serious injuries but the damage is there. the strong winds that came through with heavy rain a short time ago and people trying to figure out what needs to be done and what can be done to get it cleaned up. we will continue to have the crews out all over the areas and stay with us for complete coverage. remember, wjz is always on. look at live radar and log on the wjz.com. a series of car bombs outside mass killed 2 29

people. the explosions across baghdad hit during prayer time and most of the dead are worshipers. >> reporter: blood-stained prayer mats and shoes lay outside of a mask. five explosions targeting shiites in the capital. this member demanded the government take action and punish those responsible. the city-wide bombing spree happened injurying a hundred people. the wave shattered what had been one of the least deadly months since the war began and it's the worst day of violence since troops pulled out a month ago. they blame iraqi police for not

safeguarding and saying iraq's military is not strong enough to prevent attacks. they warn violence could escalate until elections next january. there's 130,000 troops in iraq and most will remain in the country until the elections are over. president obama members of the juried to pull all troops out of the country by the end of next summer. tonight death toll at 29. the boyfriend of the massachusetts woman accused of kidnapping a child by cutting it from the mother's womb is speaking out. kye has the information. >> reporter: he thought he was the father of the newborn. according to reports, he said she told him she was pregnant after a breakup in october and she gave birth on july 24th. he thought he had a brand new daughter and was surprised when

police approached the couple outside of a sheller in new hampshire. she is being held on $2 million jail. the expectant mother turn victim was found dead monday in her apartment. space shuttle "endeavour" has returned from the space station. space shuttle "endeavour" helped to set a record in space when 7 crew members joined the 6 already on board. it put 13 people up there at one time. the biggest task was adding the third and final piece to the $2.4 billion japanese laboratory. tonight a battle is brewing over michael jackson's estate. it's a role of kathrine jackson in managing the estate and what

the could be billions. kathrine jackson is asking her attorney to challenge. >> why do you believe that kathrine jackson is the only one who has the estate's interest? >> she is most qualified because she was the most trusted. >> reporter: the will names long-time jackson attorney and music executive. >> michael made a choice that he didn't want his mother involve in appling his business affairs. he loved his mother, but that wasn't a role he shows for her. >> he had previously represented the elvis presley estate. >> once they got a chemistry

going, he say i want to be the biggest star in show business. >> there's nobody that knows more than john about his life. >> the two had a falling out and kathrine thinks it no longer reflects his choice. >> for anyone to deny her to be a part of creation and the control of this legacy of her son, that's just unacceptable. >> as for the investigation, police confirming they were searching for the drug when they searched the las vegas home of jackson's physician. police in new york investigating a crash that could be a case of texting while driving. a tow truck rear ended a car and crashed into an inground swimming pool. one of the vehicles struck a

house. if driving while texting caused the crash, it's another example of why the act should be banned. a photo of the bus driver possibly talking on a cell phone behind the wheel. it was taken by a commuter on the bus. if it's proven to be value, it's a first case under the new zero tolerance policy. a number of drivers on the roads with you and me. >> reporter: there among the most horrific accidents on america's highways, crashes involving charter buses, this one killed 17 people last year in texas. >> we have people crushed underneath the bus, the bus is spoking. >> reporter: investigators determined this bus company violated federal laws by using retreaded front tires.

it was among bus companies ordered shut down in 2007 and 2008 for safety violations. they have found 20 of the companies are operating again illegally under different names. they found more rogue trucking companies with a thousand reincarnation. >> you put the clothes on and look a little different but you're the same person. >> reporter: unsafe operators still roll along the roadways because there's not enough investigators to catch them all or penalties tough enough to stop them. how dangerous are rogue operators? the bus association says 50% of fatal bus accidentses involve buses that shouldn't have been on the road in the first place. >> for those of us that spend the money to do it right, it

hurts from the perspective that the impression of the general public is tarnished. >> reporter: he welcomes efforts to strengthen oversight of bus companies, anything that keeps unsafe operators off of the road. according to the national safety administration. let's check in on the roads with sharon gibala in traffic control. a lot of accidents to talk about this afternoon and even bigger delays. first of all one accident on 95 northbound approaching whitemarsh boulevard. on and off delays up to the accidents scene. on 29, two wrecks at 100 and at 29 at 108. one on 70 westbound, that's blocking all lanes, a backup to hoods mill road. old frederic is your alternate.

a downed tree blocks two lanes on northbound 702 at the beltway, a crash there that was reported on the beltway. it's on 702 and as far as backups, there's a look at the three slowest spots on the beltway and 95. 92 on the west side between 795 and 95. a five-mile backup on 50. that's running from richie highway to the bay toll plaza. the west side delay at baltimore national pike. we're counting down to the weekend's food drive part of our

community commitment.

. eyewitness news continues to follow the news at caroll county. along caves mill, let's go to kye jackson live in the news room to tell us more about the damage. it's pretty significant in some areas in terms of the homes. this is caroll county, several houses as you see along the street are showing a fair amount of damage here. there's a roof ripped off of one of the homes. another one had the roof partially ripped off. there's numerous personnel along the street. there's some damage out there and emergency authorities always warn people to not go out and sight see. make sure they can get to these areas and remove the debris from the roadway. thank you very much. let's bo to the first-warning weather center and find out

more about the storms and she was telling us, they're moving fast. kye is right, you don't want to go out in if you don't know what is going on. you saw the damage, not just there, but a lot of the damage coming in across caroll county with the tornado warning. we have the thunderstorm warnings no keep you updated on for other counties. we have a number of counties with severe thunderstorm warnings in effect, kent, caroll county. this batch that came pup up from the south, this line here about to make its way to the beaches. it will be picking up in about 15 minutes if that. these are moving quickly. you can see 4:48, that's how quickly they are moving.

with everything, it's been the damaging winds. the storms are moving at 45 miles per hour. any gusts on top of it, tack it on and seeing damaging winds. that's the current situation. we'll keep you update through the evening. thank you very much. wjz is always on, for updates a look at live radar and the latest advisories log onto wjz.com. a senator diagnosed with cancer. he plans to be back at work when congress reconvene. he's chairman of the banking committee and playing a lead role in the overhaul of the nation's health care system. michael phelps passes on a chance to meet the pope. he turned down the chance to meet the pope choosing to rest up for his race. phelps will rest after his 3 races today in preparation for

100-meter butterfly tomorrow night. telling you about the damaging weather and severe storms. we'll have your forecast coming up.

. now, complete forecast and the first warning of severe weather. we've been telling you about some damage caused by the high win storms. this is video from caroll county and we have eyewitness news crews on the way to survey the damage as well. let's check in on the weather. there's a lot of damage reports coming in. almost every county that has had a warning today. we've covered some in caroll county, in howard, montgomery and a large tree at green spring and northern parkway. along that intersection. a lot of problems, but the storms haven't come through yet for some people. we want to keep you update on these. let's go to doppler and show

you the warnings at this point. this storm is moving so quickly at 45 miles per hour. still some thunderstorms and we're going to focus on this part of the line here. severe thunderstorm warns in effect for all of summer set until 5:15. talking about winds topping 70 miles per hour as it comes in from the west and it will make its way down to ocean city very shortly. a lot of people down there for a summertime weekend. the same trend is going to continue along the beaches here. the warnings we have in effect, for the central part of the eastern shore, those have just been drop because the storms are moving so quickly. we have a flash-flood warning until 8:00 at cecil county. seeing the thunderstorms in effect right now with the

biggest threat being the damaging winds with the storm coming through. here's how it took shape today. this is the line to the west, how quickly it is moving east eastward. we're now down to 70s. ahead of those storms, 87 degrees in ocean city, still a lot of warmth and action in the atmosphere. here's the line on the whole. there's not much and we will get a break tomorrow but we have to go through the evening first. overall tomorrow, the front to the south the next front comes our way on sunday. forecast looks like this. this is one good piece of news. it looks like most of the storms are getting out there for the orioles game and for everyone going out to donate all of that money to the good causes. we have the strong storms

moving through. we've seen a lot of damage. some of these pictures are not pretty coming up. still to come, tonight the storm damage, sever thunderstorm ripping through maryland causing damage, complete first warning coverage

coming up next, rain across maryland. we're under a severe thunderstorm watch and warning. complete first warning wealth. and out of cash, is the cash for clunker's program out of money. >> and the government's race to save the program. and speed cameras could be coming near you.

where, in baltimore county. we'll soon see the cameras. severe damage and thunderstorms and winds steep across maryland and tear roofs off of homes. tonight, we have the coverage of the storms reeking havoc. here's what people are talking about. >> violent weather moves through maryland today. this is videofrom moments ago in carroll county, you can see the damage from the storms. bernadette woods and tim williams have the weat