>> a ledge's legacy, an icon in

american politics. >> the hope still lives, and the dreams shall never die. >> senator edward condition di remembered. today reaction from massachusetts to immediate m.d., as the long-time lawmaker passes away. hello. people are certainly talking about today that we all knew would happen sooner than later. senator edward kennedy died after losing his battle with brain cancer. we are live from massachusetts. >> reporter: the kennedy family is gathering here to mourn the loss of their beloved teddy who passed away last night. the liberal lion of the senate lost his bat toll brain cancer at his home. the youngest brother in an american political dynasty has unleased a flood of admiration. >> the outpouring of love, gratitude and fond memories to which we have all bourn witness, is a testament to the way this man touched so many lives. >> the unique thing about teddy

was it was never about him. it was always about you. >> reporter: prom the other side of the aisle, the first president bush and former first lady nancy regan said their praise. mrs. . regan said her husband and kennedy could always find common ground and they had great respect for one another. the flag at the u.s. capitol was lowered to half staff in honor of the country's third longest serving senator who put his stamp on causes he held dear, health care, education and civil rights. con coul lens -- condolence calls are flooding into his washington office. >> reporter: two vans left the compound before dawn this morning. there is no word yet on funeral arrangements. kennedy represented the people of massachusetts for 40 years. >> i feel that a great dynasty has basically come to an end, and that he was really a great man. >> for me, this is a season of hope. >> reporter: one year ago at the democratic national convention kennedy spoke of his own illness and the fight for health care reform.

the issue the nation is now focused on. >> the ghost an spirit of ted kennedy is going to be with that health care debate. >> reporter: ted kennedy was 77. his meme what is due -- memoir is due out this fall. cbs news. >> thank you very much. our complete coverage continues now. we have reaction this noon from local lawmakers. good afternoon. >> reporter: good afternoon, don, and good afternoon, everyone. many local lawmakers say it was senator kennedy who paveed the way for them to pursue a career in politics who now inspires them in their work day after day indefinitely. >> maryland lawmakers join the world to remember senator ted kennedy, to celebrate his life long passion for politics an certainly to mourn his death. >> i'd ask for a empty of silence. >> reporter: a moment of silence among baltimore city leaders, one of countless moments dedicated to the senator's impacts on their own

careers. mayor sheila dick one. >> his contribution and making sure that this country is open to justice and equality to all people. he really was a voice and in some cases alone to provide opportunities for so many people and we benefit here in the city as a result of that. >> reporter: in a statement, the u.s. senator spoke about how kennedy effortlessly rolled his perns at with his professional life. quote, he drew people to him because he generally liked people. he brought out the best in those around him. he was the same good-hearted guy whether he was at a bowling alley or meeting with international leaders. congressman shared his thoughts with wjz moments ago. >> senator kenly will continue to be an inspiration to all of us. in my office at home i have a picture of him. he has given visibility to those who have been invisible. he has given voices to those

who have no voice. >> reporter: and wjz will continue to talk to maryland lawmakers all day long. much more reaction to come this evening, including from the governor. reporting live, wjz eyewitness news. >> thank you. complete coverage continues live in the news room with more on kennedy's life. good afternoon. >> good afternoon, everybody. he was born february 22, 1932, in the same state he would live for 77 years. he was immediately part of the kennedy political dynasty, the youngest son of joseph and rose kennedy. he followed in his father and brother's footsteps devoting his life to politics. he first came on the political scene in 1962 to fill the senate vacancy when his brother john became president. along the way he earned the respect of both democrats an republicans. one of his last battles that he never got the see through was health care reform. here he was at the democratic national convention in 2008. >> and this is the cause of my

life, new hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every american, north, south, east, west, young, old, will have decent quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege! >> reporter: his life was not without controversy. in 1969, he was involved in car crash which killed the young woman he was crying. he waited 10 hours to report that crash. doubt and suspicious followed him the rest of his life. don? >> thank you very much. just moments ago kennedy's family announced he will be buried at arlington national cemetery. stay with wjz for complete coverage of senator kennedy's passing. go to wjz.com for more. and tonight, a cbs news special, kennedy, the last brother, a look back at his life. that's tonight at 8:00 right here on wjz 13. turning to the weather,

it's not much of a news story right now, but come this weekend, it could be. take take live look outside at this moment and at another enjoyable summer afternoon. it is gorgeous once again. but there's new action in the atlantic. and eyewitness news has first warning weather coverage for you. meteorologist bern death woods tracking tropical storm danny from the weather center. good afternoon. >> reporter: good afternoon. yes, it is official. it is now tropical storm danny. i want to show you the satellite here t-storm is intensifying, and you can tell that by the colors starting to brighten. you can see the oranges popping up. the other thing that the national hurricane center had to investigate is it has a close circulation. as you can see by the lower levels, it is starting to form that circulation. because of that it is now a tropical storm. now, this path is a very interesting one for us. at this point tropical storm, it taking it off to the northwest at about 20 miles per hour, intensifying as it does so. notice that track. look how close it gets to our

beaches here. right about that point. the national hurricane center is bringing this up to a hurricane right as it passes the mouth of the chesapeake -- chesapeake and that will be early saturday morning if this track were to be true. this is what we're going to be tracking. we'll obviously have effects in our forecast, not only in the form of rain and wind, but also along the oceans we're going to see tidal erosion and rip tides an it will affect another weekend at the beaches. for more of what is going on, we're going to send it out to marty. >> thank you very much. bern death touched on the rip tides, and beach erosion. we've got to bring this in. this is a huge weekend. it is the last hurrah for a lot of folks before labor day, and you just know that we're going to have people going down to the ocean starting tomorrow. they will be there through the weekend. if they have to leave, they'll come back. we are going to have folks trying to play around in the

surf early on friday and again on sunday. understand that we're going to have a few days worth of advisories. there will be life guards on active duty. they will never take their eyes off 2 water, all the way from ocean city up through long island. so you just have to put yourself in a state of mind of heightened awareness right now and start fine tuning that heightened awareness as we start fine tuning that forecast. we'll have it for you as details appear online at wjz.com and clearly when we're on the air, the morning edition, the 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 and the 11:00. we'll throw it back inside. >> thank you very much, marty. there is yet another big story today. lay-off notices for hundreds of state workers and furloughs for the rest of them. political reporter pat warren has more from annapolis. >> reporter: today's board of public works meeting marks the sixth round of cuts proposed here to balance the budget and it is taking its toll. >> i hate these cuts. but i think they're necessary

because the bottom line, you can't spend what you don't have. and there's no way of getting around that. >> reporter: in all, 7 -- $736 million has been cut from the budget. 60% of that coming from state agencies, and 11% from state employees. >> they're not nibbling at us anymore, you know, this governor is taking bites. >> reporter: the state employee process test that 205 people will get pink slips today. >> that's going to hamper services to people in maryland in these tough economic times. this is about priorities. do we -- do we cover the priorities of the people in need right now or are we going to do go down a road of cutting everything in these services that are so vital right now? >> governor o'malley made a case for the cuts. >> all of these difficult decisions, decisions that have to be made right now. to be made right now.(.ecl) that's why we have a government. it is why we elect leaders, to make decision ins a timely fashion and not to put them

off. we have one simple intention, and that is to get maryland through the other side of this recession as quickly as possible with as much of our priorities intact so that we can see a better day. >> reporter: the board of public works meeting here in the state house at this hour voting yes to $454 million in cuts, which includes furloughs for 70,000 state workers for between three and 10 days. reporting live from athat his, i'm pat warren, now back to you. >> thank you very much. eyewitness news will have more reaction for these financial moves at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00. still to come on eyewitness news at noon, one fire set every eight minutes who police to say is to blame for an hour of terror in louisiana. take another live look outside this a afternoon. stick around your complete weather forecast is coming up. >> for all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the

hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.

>> a homeless man is under arrest in louisiana charged with going on an overnight arson spree. the police say his targets included an arts build manager the city of sleeveport. he is accused of setting seven fires. police say he may have been upset because he was akicked out of a homeless shelter. >> a high school teacher is called a hero after he tackle as student armed with pipe bombs. this is the san mateo. the teacher said he was just getting to work when he heard the explosion and saw the student coming toward him. >> i recognized the type of vest. it is a military-style vest. i didn't sigh bombs, -- see bombs, so he was not following my direction, and he had this -- this tactical vest on. so that's when i decided to do what i did. >> reporter: the police say the student was also armed with a chain saw and a sword. two bombs did go off, but no one was injured in san ma tear

owe, california. >> take another live look outside and stick around. your complete forecast is just two and a half minutes away. first, we're going the take a look at today's midday stocks to be followed by today's megaapproximatelies numbers. nobody had all six of those. we'll be right back.

>> it is pretty nice out there once again right now. 85 degrees is where we sit. the humidity is on the rise once again and so are the temperatures. 91 in ocean city at this hour. still a comfortable 74 degrees in oakland. big changes are coming our way, and it is starting today with a warm-up. this is not the big deal, but today we will be warmer than we were, and still dry. after that, this will come in front the northwest maybe giving os chance for a shower or thunderstorm. but after that, this cold front is going the stall out just over the mid atlantic on friday, and that's going to continue into saturday. during this time the humidity is really going to start to build and we're also going to see some tropical moisture come into play here. yes, the tropics are acting up, just when we have our new tropical system, tropical storm danny. by friday, with this front stalled out, we're going to start to see some of the moisture from the south. it is really saturday we're pinpointing along the mid atlantic for the potential of this system coming very close to us. at there point it is a tropical

storm. you can see it starting to get its act together. it is starting to have that rotation come together. notice the bright colors getting a little more impact. that's how it is coming together. as we head out in time, the national hurricane center is bringing the storm to a category one status just around the mouth of the chesapeake and look at how close that is in. even if it doesn't make landfall, it is looking like this storm will affect us getting close enough that it is going to kick up our wins. it is also really going to kick up the rain. we're talking about potentially heavy rain during the day on saturday. and also the waves with some erosion and very incredible rip tides along the coast. e -- eventually this is going to raise to the northeast. today's forecast, we're looking at 91 for our high today ahot one, but still a pretty quiet day. tonight going down to 67. tomorrow, just a chance for a shower or a thunderstorm, that's it. after that, that's when things start to change. it is more so friday into saturday take that we're really

pinpointing here with now what is tropical storm danny. it could become a lower level hurricane danny as it passes by. obviously this is not something we want to mess around with. a lot of people have plans outdoors and heading down to the ocean. stay tuned. >> you have pli attention. pre-season football tips. on friday night it is the new england patriots and the washington redskins. that is friday night at 8:00 only on wjz 13. don't go away. health watch is coming up next!

>> in today's outlook health watch, we take a close look at brain cancer ted kennedy was fighting. >> the cancer he had was a very common form of brain cancer, very difficult to treat. what is brain cancer? how is it treated? there are two different type ? primary tumors start in the brain and the others start somewhere nextel cup series the body and then move to the brain. now, there are some common symptoms that you need to be aware of. among the most frequent, headaches, seizures and clumsiness. some people can have difficulty walking or problems with vision or speech. you should talk to your doctors if you experience any of these symptoms. treatment is highly complex. the team of doctor also come up with an individual plan. most people undergo surgery to try to remove the tumor. many people also require radiation their pee to destroy tumor cells. chemotherapy is also being

used, although it is not as frequent as radiation. there are also a number of clinical trials that are available as well. we should also note that not all brain tumors become cancerous, but surgery is usually required to remove them. >> never an easy operation. certainly more reasons to check back in for eyewitness news at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00. >> it is called the film that will stop you texting and driving. see the new public service announcement that is sparking controversy around the world. and it is like cash for clunkers for recalled baby items. we'll tell you about the toys r. us great trade in. join us today at 4:00 right after "dr. phil." back to you. >> stay with us. the five-day forecast is coming right up

>> welcome back to our noon news. we are now indicating on today's, potential tropical problems in the area friday and saturday that's what you fled to concentrate on. there is usually a quick clear- out after hurricanes. sunday should be okay, but before that, problems m