that is the plea from the cbs producer trying to extort millions of dollars from david letterman. as drew levinson reports, david letterman admits he had sex with female staffers and someone was blackmailing him to keep it quiet. >> reporter: and robert j. halderman was trying to blackmail david letterman. >> we will not tolerate that. >> reporter: the cbs news producer was arrested on thursday. the 51-year-old robert j. halderman demanded $2 million from letterman in exchange for not exposing intimate details of the man's private life. the scheme forced letterman to

come clean on his show thursday night. >> i have had sex with women who worked for me on the show. >> reporter: the cbs news employee involved in the investigation has been suspended. here at the ed sullivan theater, audience members were not sure if letterman was telling an elaborate joke. tom and his wife were in the audience. >> everyone was in shock. they were trying to figure out what happened. >> reporter: letterman does not plan on commenting further about the situation. >> a very bizarre experience. i feel like i need to protect these people. i need to certainly protect my family. >> reporter: it is not sure when he had the relationships with the staffers. in new york, drew levinson, eyewitness news. a crew from baltimore is

making a discovery today. vic is in the newsroom with what they found in the sewer. >> reporter: workers were about to enter a manhole and they found the body of an adult white female. chopper 13 was over the scene near the belvedere shopping center. the body was found 15 feet in the sewer and in five feet of water. verizon workers pumped all but one foot of water out. units put on masks and air suits and were lowered to the bottom. kai, back to you. >> an autopsy is pending to determine the cause of death. suicide public service announcements were made before

steve mcnair died. the psas are being released this week. in one psa, steve mcnair states, live to see better days. the search continues for the drivers who police say dragged a police officer five blocks with a car. this is 27-year-old rickey hughes. he is the suspect police were trying to stop yesterday afternoon. another officer fired shots at the vehicle. the officer being dragged fell from the car. his bullet prove vest likely saved his life. uncertainly and worry across maryland as we wait for the h1n1 vaccine and hear about new cases every day. in our flu watch, we explain the emergency plans under way at hospitals across the state. >> reporter: from emergency rooms to schools to parents at home, marylanders are

scrambling to get ready for the h1n1. some worry it is not quick enough. as maryland prepares for the h1n1 flu outbreak, the non- profit group warns there may not be enough hospital beds to go around if the strain spreads rapidly. >> if the virus spreads quickly and hospitals are overcome, what do you do? >> reporter: medical facilities are checking resources daily to keep track of what is available. we have partnered with the state, local health departments and other agencies to make sure we have the beds and medications and supplies we need to deal with any significant outbreak. concern is growing. a second student has contracted h1n1 at this elementary school. this is after destinee parker became the 9th marylander to die on tuesday. the state is racing to bring in

the h1n1 vaccine. >> we don't want to create a sense of panic. we want to roll this out in a methodical way. >> reporter: the nasal spray will arrive first. it is available for healthy kids from ages 2 and up. >> i will get it as soon as it arrives. >> reporter: as the state continues its preparations, the governor urges individuals to do their part by getting a seasonal flu shot. this could free up valuable resources at hospitals. reporting in downtown baltimore, weijia jiang, wjz 13 news. >> wjz is always on. stay with eyewitness news for complete flu watch coverage. for updates on the maryland cases, log on to wjz.com. cloudy end to the week, but right now we have mild conditions with cloudy skies.

we have weather and traffic together. here is tim williams in the weather center. >> we have the gray skies. it is a tradeoff. the rain that brought the gray skies has moved north of the area. we have a large slug of moisture moving up to new england and past buffalo. humidity at 64% and the temperature is 70. as you get down around maryland, we do not see much by the way of rainfall at all. much of this is moving in from the west apparent breaking up as it -- and breaking up as it hits the mountains. after this moves out of here, we are looking at improvement with a chance of rain in some form or fashion in the overnight hours. we will have details coming up. thank you. let's check on the roads right now with sharon gibala in the traffic control. >> the big problem this afternoon is going to be at the harbor tunnel. you want to watch out for that.

an oversized load that is blocking two lanes. it is causing a back up to the spur. you can see traffic is moving slowly. in the meantime, a few accidents. one in bel air at sunshine avenue. one more in the city on washington boulevard. 70 east is slow because of an earlier accident at 29 and patapsco river bridge. on the west side of the beltway, you have a slight delay at 795 to 83. speeds down to 24 miles an hour with an 18 minute ride there. this is harford road. there is the look at the west side that is running smoothly at baltimore national pike. back to you. thank you. for the first time ever, a country in south america will host the olympics. today, rio beat madrid and

chicago in the international olympic committee. charlie d'agata reports from denmark. >> reporter: with one envelope, the suspense was over. >> rio. >> reporter: rio cleared the final hurdle. they will host the 2016 summer olympics. in chicago, there is huge disappointment. judges knocked the city out on the very first vote. >> the city of chicago obtaining the least number of votes will not participate in the next round. >> reporter: that comes after the president and first lady teamed up for what they thought was a winning pitch for chicago. >> sports taught me self confidence. >> reporter: michelle obama told the olympic committee of her disabled father's love of sports and how she sat on his knee while watching the olympics. the president spoke after the first lady. >> we know how to put on big events. >> reporter: what has been

called the obama effect did not have the impact chicago supporters were banking on. they saw their city new yorked out in the first round. americans in denmark say everyone gave it their best shot. >> i was moved. i thought it was fantastic. i was proud to call myself an american. >> reporter: president obama is on his way home. the white house says there are no regrets. just disappointment. in denmark, charlie d'agata, cbs news. africa and antarctica have never been awarded olympic games. and ravens maniaca are starting younger and -- maniacs are starting younger and younger. wjz found these fans in ellicott city this morning. the classrooms and teachers and kids are decked out in purple and black. it is a purple friday in charm

city. the ravens get ready to face the patriots in new england. the game is sunday at 1:00. our coverage continues when the game is done. join us for the bmw post game show. it is marty and mary and the bulldogs with the airtran football talk here on wjz on sunday. still ahead on eyewitness news at 4:00, no pumpkin pie? banish the thought. it could be a scary reality this season. frightenly calm. elizabeth smart provides more details about her 2002 abduction. the widow of a small plane pilot killed in a crash in new york talks.

a fatal fall in pennsylvania. a construction worker plunges

100 feet to his death. the 54-year-old man was not wearing a harness when he collapsed or fell from a scaffolding. it is the 5th fatal fall in the pittsburgh area in the last two months. when elizabeth smart was kidnapped from her bedroom in 2002, it drew national attention. she has finally revealed the details of the frightening experience. >> reporter: elizabeth smart is now 21. she was just 14 when she was kidnapped from her home. she told her story in court for the first time on thursday. she said brian david mitchell hiked her up a canyon with his wife. he came and performed a ceremony to marry me to him. after that, he proceeded to rape me. he raped me on a daily basis up to three or four times.

smart said mitchell forced her to take drugs and alcohol. smart testified he would turn to me and say the lord commanded you to do this. you have to experience the lowest form of humanity to experience the highest. >> there were a lot of things i had never heard before. i had no idea what she had gone through out there. >> reporter: smart's testimony comes as the judge tries to determine if brian david mitchell is competent to stand trial. at the hearing on thursday, the u.s. attorney asked smart if he was articulate. yes. could he adapt to his surroundings? yes. >> if this doesn't clinch the issue of competency, our nation is in bad shape. >> reporter: that is for the

judge to decide. ben tracey, cbs news news. on wall street. it ended on an up note. poor job data dragged the market down. the s&p was off 5 and the nasdaq was down 6. let's go to the new york stock exchange for the money watch update. >> more than 15 million americans are out of work. the unemployment is at 9.8%. 263,000 jobs were cut last month pushing the unemployment rate to a 26-year high. if you include laid off workers giving up looking for a job, the unemployment rate is closer to 17%. adding to the weak jobs news, orders to factories fell to the

largest amount in five months. bank of america's ken lewis will have a comfortable retirement when he steps down this year. lewis is set to receive $53 million in pension benefits. that is about $3.5 million a year for the rest of his life. shareholders who bought the bank stock when lewis tookover in 2001 are under water on their investments. nike is denying the endorsement deal with michael vick. the two signed a contract, but nike agreed to supply contracts to him. for more business headlines, go to cbsmoneywatch.com. back to you. pumpkin pie is a fall tradition for many, but bakers are finding it hard to find the

products because of the poor growing season. luckily bakers have other options. you can use frozen or fresh. some stores have limited supplies until mid-december. coming up on eyewitness news at 4:00, using her head, but keeping out intruders with billiard balls. wait until you hear this. all aboard the christmas carol train is in town. although it is october, it is just in time for the holidays. i'm gigi barnett. i'll the details are straight ahead. and the week is here. will it rain on the fall weekend plans? wjz 13 is always on. go to wjz.com for instant updates and first warning weather. go to wjz.com for the latest.

we will go to sky chopper 13 for breaking news. >> reporter: martin luther king boulevard and west chase street. a vehicle has collided with a hospital entrance way. it happened just a short time

ago. no word on injuries at this point. as you can see, there is substantial damage in the rear portion of the hospital on the martin luther king boulevard side. it is no word from police on how this accident occurred. police are on the scene conducting the investigation. back to you on tv hill. >> thank you, mike. let's check in with tim williams for a look at the weekend weather. >> good afternoon. you know, we take you to first warning doppler weather. we have a good bit of cloud cover out there, but the sun has made its way through the clouds. throughout the afternoon, there have been breaks. as you move in garrett and allegany counties, you see showers. accidents over to grantville. cumberland is reporting light showers. in the wider scan, we don't see much of this south of the mason/dixon line.

we have a 30% chance of showers through the afternoon as much of this will break up. the rest will start moving across the region. we have 70 at bwi. the relative humidity at 64%. winds south at 9 miles an hour. the barometer at 29.84". we have 76 on the shore. everyone else falling between the two with temperatures in the mid-60s. we have a 9 9-mile-an-hour winds at bwi. we have 14 14-mile-an-hour winds in easton. the edge of the frontal system is now starting to move across the area. in the bigger scheme, this extended from the great lakes down to the eastern shores of texas and into the gulf. most of the moisture lifted to the north. we are dealing with a bit of a break up and as you see, there

is not much more to deal with out of this. we will see the clouds stay with us and this moves through late tonight and tomorrow morning. as it starts to move out of here, we see the improvement quicker than initially thought. we stay in the 70s. we are looking at high pressure bringing us clear skies saturday into sunday. we have a small craft advisory for saturday night. the sun will set at 6:46. with that said, look for a chance of showers tonight. 59 degrees is the overnight low. mostly cloudy. 75 degrees tomorrow. a bit of morning rain and if you are going to on the sidelines like i know you will with the team, partly cloudy and breezy and 1:00 for the kickoff. they will have the same forecast that we will have. a nice day in new england. >> except the patriots don't want to think of it as a nice day. >> let's hope they don't. a reminder, tune in to

prime time. "numbers" at 10:00 here on wjz 13 followed by eyewitness news at 11:00. lots more ahead at 4:00, a week of destruction continues in the south pacific with the typhoon threatening. flying and the flu. what the airlines are doing to keep you safe in the air. and the surprise

it is 4:28. 70 degrees and mostly cloudy. i'm denise koch. casey anthony was charged with murdering her 2-year-old daughter last year. the defense is now questioning some of the evidence. >> reporter: attorneys for casey anthony are questioning the evidence in the case. this gas can does not match the

tape found wrapped around caylee's skull. dna on the tape does not match anyone in the family, but matches an fbi lab technician. >> that is a critical piece of evidence. that is bad news. >> reporter: prompting anthony's attorney to demand the first-degree murder and abuse charges to be dropped. taking the death penalty off the table. caylee's remains were found five months after casey said she was left with a babysitter. there was the presence of chloroform and evidence of human decomposition. there is a lack of evidence implicating casey in her daughter's murder. >> the trial was supposed to start this month, but has been pushed back to january, 2010. a tennessee newborn is

snatched by a fake immigration agent. we have sally with the important warning from the newsroom. >> reporter: the mother waits for word. his mom says a woman came to her home posing as an immigration agent and stole the baby by knifepoint four days after he was born. experts on infant abduction say this is not the first case of this kind. people should ask for a photo identification for people claiming to be from a federal agency. back to you. in today's flu watch report, travel is becoming a greater risk as fears of an h1n1 outbreak mount. can you protect yourself from swine flu in the close quarters

of an airplane. wee have the latest. >> reporter: masks and far away places. an image with a lot of people at logan airport thinking about what to do to stay healthy. like using lots of hand sanitizer. >> every time we touch something, we put it in our hands. >> reporter: despite swine flu fears, dr. bittinger says it is generally okay to travel, but there are considerations. >> when you are in crowds, obviously, you will be exposed to people with the flu. the flu tends to travel in about a three-foot radius. >> most people perceive airline and air quality as bad. >> only someone who is ill within the first four rows in front of you or behind you could transmit something during the flight. >> reporter: if you are booking a trip, it is important to read

the fine print and be aware of your rights. the airline may start canceling flights. that is what happened in mexico. >> if it is a situation where you cancel flights, you will have more rights. if you change it yourself, you have to know you really don't have that many rights. >> reporter: most travel insurance policies will not cover you because you decide a trip is no longer worth the risk. >> there are some policies that allow you to cancel for any reason. keep in mind they are more expensive. if you want to go with the cheaper policy, read the fine print. make sure things that those issues are included. >> reporter: for now, some travelers told me they are willing to rely on common sense. >> wash your hands. >> reporter: that is the right approach. >> every personal contact is an opportunity for disease transmission. we don't want people to be too

fearful. >> wjz is always on. stay with complete flu watch coverage and important information from the cdc. log on to wjz.com. another development taking center stage at logan's airport. they are being equipped with full body screeners. they may replace the metal detecters as the security tool of the future. the aclu considers them a privacy threat. logan is expected to get their screeners this winter and 38 airports will follow suit in the weeks thereafter. the search for survivors continues in indonesia after the earthquake on wednesday. we have a report from one of the hardest hit areas. >> reporter: two days after the latest earthquake, rescuers found survivors trapped under

the buildings. that has reenergized efforts to find more people. most of the damage was in padang, including two hospitals. this video was taken as the quake struck. at what used to be a lounge, crews pulled one body from the wreckage. residents from a disadvantaged house tried to salvage their belongings. this woman is looking for her 24-year-old son who worked at the laundry before it collapsed. i was screaming because when i saw the rocks and rubble collapsed, i thought my son would be killed, this woman says. rescue operations have been hampered by power blackouts and lack of heavy equipment to move large pieces of equipment. line ups for gas is more than three hours long. there is a shortage of other

necessities, too. rescuers found a teenager trapped in the rubble today trapped for 14 hours. another glimmer of hope for rescuers today. they pulled two women an little from the college collapsed into rubble two days after the quake hit. one survivor high-fived her rescuers. a maryland man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for gunning down his wife in a parking lot. >> reporter: pat simmons said -- kevin kelly admitted to fatally shooting his wife in february. driving from new jersey to track down her boyfriend. he tried to convince the jury that the killing was not premeditated, but he was convicted. kelly maintained his wife was unfaithful after he was sentenced. >> thank you.

the sentence was the maximum possible. it has been a rather cloudy friday out there. here is a live look. it is still overcast. we are not seeing any rain yet. what is in store for the weekend? we have weather and traffic together. bob is here with the updated numbers from the weather center. >> we have temperatures in the low 70s this afternoon. it was more spring-like, i guess. out to the west, that is where showers are going on right now. far western maryland, cumberland and oakland, it is not heavy stuff, but move it is moving southwest to northeast. i'm not convinced you will see a lot out of the activity. late, late tonight, i think some of this will move across the mountains and it will probably get to us after midnight. after that, things will get improving for the afternoon and evening. maybe some sunshine by saturday afternoon. much better forecast than we saw three or four days ago. we will talk about the weekend

when we come back. thank you. let's check in with sharon gibala in the traffic control center. >> we have video from sky chopper 13. this accident is a car into maryland general hospital at north howard at west chase street. watch out for that. they will remove that and block some lanes. we will continue to watch that situation. in the meantime, we have another situation that will be there during the rush. 895 at the harbor tunnel. this is causing a back up all the way to the spur. a wreck on 95 southbound at 32 in the clearing stages. you can see speeds in that area are slow. watch for a crash in towson involving a bus at loch raven boulevard. one more on 50 east at rile

boulevard. we have a slowdown because of an earlier wreck at the patapsco river. there is the live look at 95 and 32. here is the look at the west side inner loop which is slow from 40 to security. from is the top side. delay from stevenson to delaney. this traffic report is brought to you by the 2010 ford mustang. visit your ford dealer today. back to you. thank you. disney's christmas carol train pulled in. as gigi barnett reports, they use the timeless tale on this train and bring it to life. >> reporter: carols fill the air. christmas trees line the streets and folks never stop. disney's train is at the band

orailroad museum. the moving exhibit shows how disney combined the story with cutting edge technology to make the characters in the movie come to life. >> our brains saw it differently. >> reporter: there is a face-to- face with the characters. >> we also made some advancements on the motion capture technology. it makes it look more life like. >> reporter: the train tour started in may in los angeles. by the time it reaches new york next month, it will travel 16,000 miles and see just as many visitors. >> i got to see how it turned into a cartoon. that was cool. we are watching it dance around. >> reporter: baltimore is the train's 32nd stop. although christmas is a couple of months away, some say it is on time. >> it is not hot. >> it is the perfect storm. the trains and holidays, disney

and dickens. >> reporter: in baltimore, i'm gigi barnett, wjz 13 news. >> the disney christmas carol train heads to atlanta on sunday. the movie hits the theaters on november 6th. i'm not thinking about christmas. we have more breaking news to tell you about. mike perry is over south baltimore. >> reporter: we are along ford avenue and key highway where mta police were called and city police were called for disorderly teenagers on a bus. the bus was traveling across ford and key avenue and the bus stopped and the teenagers kicked out one of the emergency escape bus windows in the rear of the bus and fled the scene. the city police and transit police are investigating for the destruction of property. there is no word of injuries on the bus. the people on the bus were transferred to another bus. as you can see, the police

continue the investigation. >> thank you very much. straight ahead on eyewitness news at 4:00, a father tattoos his son with a gang sign and a judge's ruling shocks everyone in the california courtroom. a somber anniversary three years after girls were gunned down in a lancaster city. and it is the first weekend in october. will the weather cooperate? we have bob updating the forecast when we come back.

a member of a polygamist sect has pleading pleaded not guilty. raymond young will be tried next month. this week is a somber

anniversary for a lancaster, pennsylvania community. a gunman shot 10 girls and killed five of them in the amish town. >> reporter: in this town, much is different, but much is the same. the same amish children in nickel mine still play in the school yard, but at a new school down the street. the old school yard where the nation's focused three years ago is just now a field. the communityhass recovered remarkably. jonas byler would know. he was called to counsel the families of the victims. five girls killed and five girls wounded. >> they were shocked when they realized. >> reporter: but the very same terrible day, the amish planted the seed of forgiveness. some took food to the gunman's

wife. byler said seeing their ability to forgive, he decided to write a book called "think no evil." >> it comes from what a grandfather saying to his grandson. we will think no evil. in today's world, that is hard to comprehend. >> reporter: but forgive first and you end up helping yourself. >> peace comes from being able to do that. >> reporter: there are few signs today that the shooting ever happened. the life here would appear to be back to normal, but it has not. they have forgiven, but they don't forget. >> you have to go through the grief process. >> reporter: brad also worked with the families. >> they recognized and were surprised that the message they gave about forgiveness was different from what the world says about forgiveness. >> reporter: one benefit from one terrible day. >> no one knows exactly what

motivated the gunman. clues indicated he was driven by unresolved pain by the death of a daughter. and a california man tattooed his son with a gang symbol. rickey gonzales was arrested in april for tattooing a bull dog's street gang symbol on his 7-year-old son. a texas woman drives off a pair of burglars by pelting them with billiard balls. the mother of three heard two men whispering outside her house on tuesday. she filled her son's bike helmet with billiard balls and hit the men until they ned. we have a woman who is suing the operator of the tour helicopter.

we have sally with the latest. >> reporter: the crash killed two people in the aircraft. his wife is suing for more than $1.3 million in damages. she accuses the chopper's owner of having a bad history of accidents and the maker of the chopper of installing improper safety equipment. back to you. >> thank you. she plans to sue the federal aviation administration for negligence. teenagers in rhode island who get their groove on could get detention. they are cracking down on dirty dancing known as grinding. the superintendent is supposed to give three hours of detention if they are caught. it is not over until the clock reads zero. a vermont high school football team learned that the hard way.

with just over one second left in the game, the ball is kicked, caught and spiked for a victory dance, but the ball is still in play. the player for the other team grabs the ball for the game winning touchdown. the final score is 20-16. >> we will take that score on sunday as long as the ravens have the 20. >> no question about it. we could use a beautiful sunny fall weekend. >> bob turk has the ñ?ñ?

take a look at that. flying over partly cloudy skies. a dismal brown-gray looking day. >> it has been a nice and mild afternoon in the 70s. a lot of clouds. we have that and maybe some light rain later on. look at satellite/radar out to the west. that is where we see the activity. you see it approaching in washington county. the bulk of it is in cumberland and oakland and in romney, virginia. that is headed south-to-north.

it will take a while to get to the baltimore region. later tonight, we will see the activity moving across the mountains into tomorrow morning. not a lot with this activity. most of the sprengts -- strength for this is moving north. we have 56 in oakland. 62 in cumberland. 76 on the other side of the state. there is a good deal of sunshine. we are clouded over in all areas, as you can imagine. the dew point is higher than yesterday. we were 40-45. it is up to 57. there is more moisture in the air. south winds at 9. brought the warm air in. if you were up at 6:00 or 7:00, we had sprinkles. we had showers. that was a warm front that put us in the southerly flow that is keeping us warm this afternoon.

it is impressive on the satellite/radar. south into texas and up through the central great lakes, a lot of the energy went to the north up through the great lakes. you can see a spin right through there. that is the low pressure. here in the east, we have the winds from the south with some moisture. the front has weakened. we will see showers later tonight and into tomorrow. quickly, it louis farrakhans like we will get to a west -- quickly, it looks like we will get to a west wind. by 3:00 or 4:00, maybe some decent sunshine. the front is moving quickly. you see the energy moving up to the north. up in massachusetts for the game on sunday for the ravens, they will have partly cloudy skies and 70 on sunday. high pressure is building in. a darn nice weekend for the most part. we have a small craft advisory with southeast winds. we hope to see the partly sunny skies by the afternoon. upper 50s to low 60s for

tonight. tomorrow, morning showers and clouds breaking for sunshine. it will be a nice weekend. enjoy it for october. >> let's hope that little bit of rain doesn't drop on me. let it drop somewhere else. thank you. still to come on eyewitness news. >> maryland emergency rooms are filling up with people who are concerned they could have the h1n1 flu. i'm weijia jiang. i'll have that story and my husband and i, we love to go to steakhouses

i can smile, i can carry on our conversation i do most of the talking yes i wear dentures and they fit wonderful super poligrip acts as a seal between my dentures and my gums super poligrip makes eating more comfortable even well fitting dentures can feel more comfortable with super poligrip just a few dabs of super poligrip create a seal between your dentures and gums to make them more comfortable while you eat. i can eat my steak, i just love it. (charlie dullea) try super poligrip.

coming up next on eyewitness news, a blackmail scandal at cbs and david letterman is forced to air his

dirty laundry on national television. and bracing for an outbreak. the precautions the local hospitals taking to fend off the h1n1. eyewitness news at 5:00 starts right now. >> dave: yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. (cheers and applause s it would. especially for the women late show liason exposed. it is no laughing matter for the funny man. i'm sally thorner. david letterman says he is the victim of the extortion plot and the accused is a cbs employee. we have drew levinson reporting

for eyewitness news and the plot puts letterman's private affairs in the spotlight. >> reporter: robert j. halderman pleaded not guilty in the blackmail plot against david letterman. >> new york will not tolerate the extortion of anyone. >> reporter: the "48 hours" producer was arrested outside cbs headquarters on thursday. robert j. halderman demanded $2 million from letterman in exchange for not exposing details of his private life. letterman worked with the district attorney and writing the suspect a phony check. the scheme forced letterman to come clean on thursday night on his show. >> i have had sex with women who worked with me on the show. >> reporter: cbs released a statement that the employee