to protect them. donald dialed 911 after the smoke alarm goes off in the middle of night. >> what's on fire? >> my house, the entire house. >> are there doors where you can get out. >> yeah. >> leave the house now. >> the house is raging. >> minutes happen before donald answers the operators questions. >> do you have everyone with you? >> yeah, just my wife. >> are you able to take your wife with you? mr. donald. >> reporter: fire investigators say these bars trapped the couple inside as firefighters rushed to the scene. donald is heard one last time in the 911 call. >> help, help. help. >> reporter: seconds later, firefighters arrive at the

patterson home. >> you can't get to him. >> reporter: donald and jenny patterson both died of smoke inhalation. the cause of the fire still under investigation. the home did have smoke detectors that could be heard on that tape. kai detectives say a man's body was discovered this morning. the 57-year-old employee was found unresponsive inside the 27 story building near the inner harbor. right now police are calling this a suspicious death, but they aren't releasing his identity or how he died. baltimore's world trade center contains offices of course, an observatory for tourists, kai. >> the maryland transportation authority are leading the investigation. it's official an ethics

committee will look into representative curry and his relationship with a grocery store. >> reporter: mike millan launched an investigation into whether senator curry committed illegal acts. convincing his colleagues that he acted ethically will be a lot harder. curry will have to plea his case in front of his colleagues who will investigation whether curry acted unethically. when he voted on legislation that directly benefited shoppers and most importantly when he failed five years in a row to report his paid relationship with shoppers on financial ethics forms as required. >> after their investigation, the joint committee made the recommendation to the full

senate which then decide on possible punishment ranging from a reprimand to exposure. >> we feel they are ethical violation of maryland law. and that the senate needs to send a strong message. >> there's two ways to look at it. >> with curry's 24 years in the legislature and friendships he's made there it's possible his colleague may excuse his behavior. >> on the other hand, they may also recognize this makes a general assembly as a whole look pretty bad. >> curry will have an opportunity to testify before the ethics committee with his attorney present. no comment tonight from senate president mike miller on his formal request. derek valcourt, wjz news. >> so far no dates have been set for a hearing on that matter. wall street takes a nose dive over concerns of the trillion dollars debt.

the s & p off 19, the nasdaq down 45. investors are worried that the congressional super committee failed to agree on how to cut the nation's deficit. >> reporter: with just hours to spare, some super committee members headed behind closed doors in search of a last minute deal. congress created the panel of six republicans and six democrats and charged the group with flashing 1.2 trillion -- slashing $1.2 trillion from the deficit. by midday they still had nothing. each party is blaming the other for not compromising enough on one big issue, taxes. >> democrats are not willing to cut a dollar without raising taxes. >> the extension of the bush tax cuts is a huge tax cut for the wealthy. at the expense of the average person in this country. >> reporter: for two months

members of the super committee have been trading proposals and negotiating. the obama administration did not play a direct role in the talks. the spokesmen pushed lawmakers to get back to work. >> instead of pointing fingers and playing the blame game, they should act. >> reporter: most will see their budgets cut by 2%. the pentagon alone will see a cut, cuts that will be damaging to the military. >> lawmakers will have to vote by the end of the year to reveal a tax cut and extend benefits. the university of maryland will cut eight of its popular

sports teams to save money. the school's president approved those cuts today. mens and womenning swimming and diving will be eliminated along with men's cross country, track and tennis. the cuts could save up to $5 million a year for the schools struggling athletic department. we'll have much more on the cuts new tonight at 6:00. a big win for the raven bus there's little time to celebrate because they have another game in just three days. wjz is live at the raven practice complex. mark viviano joins us with the very latest. >> cold night out here in owins mills. good thing if ravens have an indoor training facility. they're getting ready to start their practice any minute now. now the focus is forward to san francisco and the big match upcoming thanksgiving night. >> reporter: the ravens hope to have ray lewis back ready thursday. but the ravens were able to win

without their leader. thanks in great part to rookies like tory smith who set a record with 165 receiving yards including a touchdown. >> we have young guys stepping up making plays. and that's what's going to carry us going forward. jimmy smith, three rookies made big plays. jimmy smith, tory smith and you look at mcfee. >> reporter: the bengals had a rookie qb and he brought cincci within one score. rookies and veterans alike, players know their march is an unpredictable lead. >> you never know how a team is going to play you. you have to come out and play week in and week out. >> the ravens now get ready for a 49ers team with a record of 9- 1. we ask you with our fan cam, do you think the ravens can

beat san francisco on thursday? >> yes, i think the ravens can beat san francisco. >> we're certain will we'll beat the 49ers. >> i'm definite we'll beat the 42-17. >> we'll see if ray lewis is back out there today. harbaugh refused to give an update on the health of the middle linebacker. >> just a reminder the terps hope to end their season on a winning note. see their last game next saturday against nc state live right here on wjz13. it is a damp dry day around maryland. let's take a live look outside. it's a cloudy start to your workweek. bob turk is tracking live

radar. >> there's more rain coming in, take a look at radar right now. just west of the baltimore there's rain. nothing really heavy but it's going to be damp tonight. before it begins to clear out on wednesday morning. the good news is, by wednesday afternoon we're drying out with sunshine. so for travel later in the day wednesday should be just fine. and thursday friday and saturday drier and becoming milder by the end of the week. which means great weather for thanksgiving and great for shopping on friday and saturday. mary. >> bob, thank you. >> damp and dry. >> it all works out. still ahead on wjz news at 5:00. a terror suspect stops just in time. a new look at plans to blow up

postoffices. why an fbi leader is joining the investigation. >> landmark road, i'm mike hellgren on m.d. maryland's first all electronic toll road. i'll tell you how much it will cost you to travel the road and how it will benefit the region. >> we're hoping for an improve in time for thanksgiving. as bob talked about, i think we're going to get it. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

a terror suspect is being held without bail in new york city. he's charged with targeting police and soldiers returning from iraq and afghanistan. ronald pinkston has the story for wjz. >> new york city officials describe terror suspect jose

pemental as a lone wolf who sympathizing with al-qaida. officials say he was making at least three bombs in a manhattan apartment. >> the guy was actually ready to assemble the bomb, whether they went off deliberately or accidentally, people's lives were in jeopardy. >> reporter: police released a video of a bomb they constructed to show how much damage pemintel's bombs would have caused. pemintel sped up his plan after the death of alankwali. >> pemintel talked about killing soldiers returning from iraq and afghanistan. >> reporter: the naturalized citizen was also targeting police cars and postal service facilities. the man lived with his uncle and aunt. >> i'm talking about what he did it, i didn't tell him to do

this. he did this by himself. >> reporter: his mother says he made a mistake and now must face justice. >> if it's my son or somebody elses son, everybody has to pay. >> reporter: the case against the suspect is not as strong as everyone might think. the fbi reportedly declined to pursue the case against him until the agency concluded he did not have the ability to carry out the plot. >> if you're waiting for someone to get home, let's check on the traffic. >> it's quite a mess out there. especially on the beltway as usual. another 20 minutes over to the harrisburg expressway. 25 minutes on the west side from 95 to security boulevard. if you're traveling 70 we had

problems in both directions. eastbound sluggish as you make your way down the beltway and westbound just jammed up there by 29 to merrit's road. on the northbound direction, stop and go to the beltway. and a couple of new accidents out there, millford mill on slate avenue. washington boulevard on commerce drive. let's now take a live look on the beltway just west of york road. you can see all the traffic there and the congestion 70 at 29. this traffic report is brought to you by bill's carpet and laminate. back to you. >> christie, thank you. our area and maryland's dc suburbs are about to be connected like never before when a new multi million dollars toll road opens tomorrow. mike hellgren explains the intercounty connectors impact

on baltimore. >> reporter: this road is historic as the state's new all electronic road. there's no stopping to pay the toll. just roll on and the state charges your easy pass. the east toll way connects 185 with i270 the last section opens tomorrow and you enter south of the howard county line. it poll lows decades of headaches and fighting. lawmakers believe it'll be a critical link. >> this highway is really going to open up the baltimore region to the washington region. i know that the airlines at vwi are very, very excited about it. >> you won't have to slow down or stop at all. you can use the easy pass system which is used all up and down the east coast. >> but there were boos at the ribbon cutting by some who feel it's too expensive and are upset that at least one politician used the event to push for a gas tax increase.

>> tolls are being raised across the system partly to pay for the inner county connector. now they're going to come back and ask for a gas tax increase? >> reporter: it'll cut the travel time in half but not without a price. it's $4 to travel the distance on peak times with a pass, and more if they have to mail it to you. >> it opens at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, you can drive the icc for free until december 4th. the mpa is providing bus service down the icc core door. >> sort of like an outer beltway. at least a portion of it. we had wet weather on the roads tonight and tomorrow.

51, northwest winds at nine. the barometer currently holding steady. come back and take a look at that tuesday and into thanksgi,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

damp, it's a monday. better stay in bed. take a look at radar, we had drizzle from time to time with fog a lot of low close. there's a batch of rain moving from northern maryland to northwest of martinsburg. two hagueers town approaching the city as we speak. we'll see some of this light rain in the next several hours. we'll see more in the morning. we're down to 51. 55 ocean city the warm spot. 58 down in pax river. and the dewpoint is 59. there'll be some fog overnight. 54 up in rock hal and 50 up in bell air. right now temperature wise not going to change much because these northwest winds continue to bring in moisture and these low clouds, temperatures will not drop a whole lot. maybe a few more degrees. but the east northeast winds

will continue tonight and tomorrow. keeping us in the lamp side. and with another batch of rain developing, way down to our south and southwest right there a little low pressure. kind of a low, this is like a stalled frontal system. much milder in the 70s. we're in the 50s and 40s there's a contrast right there there and that's where the moisture is developing. this high pressure is going to head into our region within the next 24 hours. the rain should be down by noon on wednesday. we do have that rain to move in. a lot of it may just stay south of this for a while tonight before it kind of evolves into a period of steady or at least occasional rain tomorrow into wednesday. the good news is, let's say it's going to be out of here by wednesday afternoon, low pressure that moves through the region. the winds will move back into the northwest behind that. it'll be cooler wednesday afternoon and wednesday night. low to mid-50s on thanksgiving which is close to normal.

a cool thanksgiving night back in the 30s. by friday, the winds go back to the southwest again and another warm upcoming in our direction. temperatures getting back above normal. there'll be some showers yes. east winds at bay. five to 10 knots. east winds keep us in that damp air that would continue into wednesday morning. sunrise 6:57 sets at 4:57. some of the shortest days of the year as we head toward the first day of winter. that will be the shortest day. drizzle, fog, 46, it's not going to drop a whole lot. doesn't warm up that much. 53 with patchy fog, frigid rain. temperatures holding in the low 50s. so not a great looking tuesday, wednesday will be getting much better in the afternoon. >> we're all thinking about thursday any way. thanks bob. thanksgiving is just a few days

away. volunteers at begady are preparing for their annual thanksgiving feast. >> reporter: it's a charm city tradition. b gaddies thanksgiving feast is the biggest in baltimore. now just with a few minutes to go, last minute donations are pouring in. >> we provide medical care throughout the year. doing something special like this brings our company together in a very special way. >> named for the farmer city councilwoman b. gaddy started the traditional 40 years ago. they served thousands many with nowhere to go. >> bgaddy was an institution here, when she passed away there was a threat this was going to go away. >> reporter: we're starting to pick up today. so we're cautiously optimistic that we're going to be able to

make my mother's 3 0th thanksgiving dinner. >> reporter: they're still running low on corn and potatoes. but they're hoping people will step up with donations. b gaddy died of breast cancer but people hope that she will continue the tradition she started many years ago. jessica cartalia. >> for more information or if you would like to make a donation log on to our website. still ahead at 5:00, peaceful protesters, police use pepper spray on a group of students how they're fighting back and who is being punished. >> i'm alex demetrick. coming up a massive search for a missing 75-year-old man. that story as eyewitness news continues. >> compared to last thanksgiving there's a big difference in gas ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

it's 5:29. 59degrees and cloudy with drizzle. millions of americans are hitting the roads for their thanksgiving weekend. despite a change at the gas pump you should expect more traffic than last year. wjz is live in north baltimore, adam may is there and breaks down the troubled forecast. >> reporter: this year that holiday weekend travel is going

to cost you more money. 38million americans will take a road trip this thanksgiving holiday weekend. >> we're heading to leesburg virginia. then we're heading over to cambridge. >> we're going to boston to visit family. >> driving? >> driving. >> reporter: while gas prices have dropped 11 11-cents last month, a gallon of gas was cheaper last thanksgiving. despite that punch to the wallet. aaa predict as 4% increase in turkey day traffic -- predicts a 4% increase in turkey day traffic. >> people are willing to make whatever financial sacrifice they need to to spend time with family and friends. >> reporter: most drivers agree. >> spend it and move on. >> reporter: now most analysts believe that gas prices will continue dropping over the next couple of weeks. of course that's good news because the christmas travel season is also just a few weeks

away, right around the corner, kai. >> i can't believe it. i have to get your gift for you adam. >> yes, i expect a really nice one from you this year. >> yes, you will get one. >> reporter: more people are also planning to fly this year. right now police are still searching for a murder suspect who was accidentally releaseed from jail. prince george's county police say 24-year-old fredrick scott was mistakingly offered a $75,000 bond which he quickly paid and was set free. police are calling it a clerical error. scott is accused of fatally shooting a man outside a nightclub. anyone with information should call police. new fall out about peaceful protesters doused with pepper spray. vic has the story. >> reporter: two officers are on administrative leave pending an investigation.

the officers were accused of dousing protesters with their hands linked. faculty members are calling for the school's chancellor to step down but she has resisted. kai back to you. >> the district attorney's office says they will investigate the police department's use of force. penn state's board of trustees topped a former director to lead the investigation of child abuse against a former coach. >> reporter: former fbi director lee says he will lead the lengthy investigation. >> we will make a recommendation to the board of trustees which will ensure that we rectify and controlled environment that allows anyone to prey on children with impunity. >> reporter: the board of trustees put together an

investigation. sandusky sexually abused eight boys. two university officials face criminal charges for allegedly lying to the grand jury. >> we are committed to leaving no stone unturned to get to the bottom of what happened. who knew what, when, and what changes must be made to ensure this doesn't happen again. >> reporter: the university's president and legendary's coach joe paterno was fired. >> we will also look at internal controls. >> reporter: the trustees investigation is one of at least four underway. two of them criminal. >> no one is above scrutiny. including every member of the administration of the university, every member of our board of trustees, and every employee at penn state university. >> reporter: sandusky denies all the charges he will be back in court december 2nd for the

first time since the scandal made headlines. manuel gallegus. the alleged sex abuse happened in campus showers both before and aftersandusky retired. new details tonight about the u-haul truck that slammed into tailgaters over the weekend. one woman died from her injury, another is listed in critical condition. so far no charges have been filed. the white house shooter makes his first court appearance today. ortega-hernandez is accused of shooting an ak47 at the white house living quarters quarters, no one was hurt. alex demetric reports,

dispile -- despite a long search, it was too late. >> his body was located 3/4 of a mile from his vehicle. >> reporter: the mystery is why james wilson entered the woods after last being seen at a gas station. for some reason he left the interstate for this road. then drove off the road. >> the vehicle had become stuck. it could have been sitting there for days. >> reporter: a stream downhill from his car may have drawn wilson into the ravine. >> residences have been built

along the water way. he succumb to the elements. >> alex demetric, wjz news. >> police in maryland learned of it after entering james registration into a national data base. a lawyer for private first class bradley manning says a military meeting has been set to determine the fate of manning. how a trucking company with multiple violations through the

years managed to keep itself on the road. more on the fall out of cutting several spots at the university of maryland. and tips to keep you from blowing out your budget on black friday. and remember to look for the updated forecast from wjz's morning team. a new maryland law is opening up family planning services to thousands of women and teens. monique griego has more. >> reporter: state senator katherine hughes passed a law that opens up free family planning services to women having their first baby. >> family planning services for your very first child is the most important thing we can do to tackle the chronic and

persistent infant mortality rate in this state. >> reporter: maryland comes in 27th when it comes to infant mortality. this will give new mothers and teens services. >> what could we do without a place like this. >> reporter: in order for this new program to work, health care leaders need to get the word out and they're doing that with a new outreach program. >> we have to make sure that more women know about this coverage and get enrolled. >> digs believes women need to know care is available. >> that you're not alone, that there's some help for you. >> reporter: monique griego. >> according to the officials, --

i know for a fact right now she is not dead. i know that. new efforts to find michelle parker days after she vanishes in florida where police are focusing their search. a professional baseball player is murdered, the surprising suspect in custody in the death of a seattle mariners player. more rain in the way and then we look to clear skies. a new look at the ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

a big crowd turns out for the manic monday melt down. 81,000 people voted to choose this year's winner. >> ♪ is it 6:00 already? i was just in the middle of a dream ♪ >> reporter: the song remain it is same but every year there's more excitement. the egyptian sun dancers made it to the finals. >> it was awesome, putting that dance together and being able to come back. >> reporter: throughout the day the crowd got bigger and bigger and bigger. welcomed by james newman. >> the turn out is great, thank

you all for coming. this is what it's about, people connecting with people throughout maryland. >> reporter: the spirit award went to maryland state head start. >> it's wonderful. >> reporter: and oliver beach elementary. >> we're very happy. we love doing this. we did it to build school spirit and it was a lot of fun. >> reporter: the best of manic monday 2011 goes to the team from deco. >> [ cheering and applause ] >> team deco took home the valentino. >> this is wonderful. we're so excited for winning this award. >> coming together to start maryland's holiday season. >> ♪ just another manic monday ♪ >> ron max, wjz eyewitness news. again nearly 81,000 people voted on wjz.com to choose the winner, if you would like to see a slide show go to wjz.com.

click on photo galleries under quick links. we're dealing with damp, wet monday weather. >> we have some rain, drizzle and fog tonight. tomorrow morning probably dealing with pretty much the same thing and maybe some fog forming as well. low 50s before it's all said and done. temperatures are not going to move much. wednesday some morning showers, 61 then cooler and drier. 38 at night. sunshine for thanksgiving, 53, 60 and 64 by saturday again. mary. >> bob, thanks. today's energy saver, we are going to go to break and go to president obama. he is reacting to the super committee. let's listen in. >> will cut $10 trillion of spending over the next 10 years. part of that law also required congress to reduce the deficit by an additional $1.2 trillion by the end of this year.

in september, i sent them a detail plan that would have gone above and beyond that goal. the plan that would reduce the deficit by an additional $3 trillion by cutting spending, slowing the growth of medicare and medicaid and asking the wealthier americans to pay their fair share. in additional to my plan there were a number of other bipartisan plans for them to consider from both democrats and republicans. all of which promoted a balanced approach. this kind of balanced approach to reducing our deficit. an approach where everybody gives a little bit and everybody does their fair share. it's supported by an overwhelming number of americans. democrats, independents and republicans. it's supported by experts and economists. to their credit, many democrats in congress were willing to put democrats aside and commit to reasonable adjustments that would have reduced the cost of medicare as long as they were

part of a balanced approach. but, despite the broad agreement, there's still too many republicans in congress who have refused to listen to the voices of reason and compromise that are coming from outside of washington. they continue to insist on protecting $100 billion worth of tax cuts for the wealthiest two person of americans. at any cost everyone if it means reducing the deficit with deep cuts into medical research, everyone if it means cuts to medicare. at this point at least they simply will not budge from that negotiating committee. that has kept congress from reaching an agreement to further reduce our deficit. we're not in the same situation that we were in august. there's no imminent threat to us defaulting on the debt that we owe. and there are already $1 trillion worth of spending cuts

that are locked in. and part of the law that i signed this summer stated that if congress could not reach an agreement on the deficit there would be another $1.2 trillion of automatic cuts in 2013. divided equally between domestic spending and defense spending. one way or another, we will be trimming the deficit by a total of at least $2.2 trillion over the next 10 years. that's going to happen. one way or another we've got $1 trillion locked in and either congress comes up with $1.2 trillion which so far they've failed to do or the sequester kicks in and these automatic spending cuts will occur that bring in an additional $1.2 trillion in the deficit budget. the question right now is whether we can reduce the deficit in a way that helps the

economy grow. that works with a scapel not a gaffet. my answer to to them is no. i will veto any vote for cuts. there will be no easy off ramp on this one. we need to keep the pressure up to compromise not turn off the pressure. the only way these spending cuts will not take place is if congress gets back to work and agrees on a balanced plan to reduce the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. that's exactly what they need to do. that's the job they promised to do. and they still have a year to figure it out. although congress has not come to an agreement yet. nothing prevents them from coming up with something in the

weeks ahead. they can still come up with a balanced plan. i believe democrats are prepared to do so. my expectation is there are some republicans who are still interested in preventing the automatic cuts from taking place and as i have from the beginning i stand ready and willing to work with anybody that's ready to engage in that effort to create a balanced plan for deficit reduction. now in the meantime we have a lot of work left to do this year. before congress leaves next month, we have to work together to cut taxes for workers and small business owners all across america. if we don't act, taxes will go up for every single american starting next year. and i'm not -- >> we've been listening to president obama live from the white house reacting to the super committee's failure to make any progress on the deficit reduction and we will have a full report in our 6:00 hour to give perspective to a

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the search for a missing

monday continues in florida. police found her abandoned truck near her home. relatives think she may have been carjacked. >> i know for a fact right now she is not dead. i know that. she is alive, she is some where scared, somebody has her. and we forgive you, turn her loose. police say parker had a violent history with her exbut he has not been named a suspect in the case. a major league baseball player is killed overseas. seattle mariners outfieldinger greg hollman was found dead. police have arrested his older brother. hollman was a member of the european championship. a movie star on the witness stand. hugh grant testifies at a public hearing into britain's

phone hacking scandal. the parents of a teenage murder victim also testified. >> bob and sally dowler describe how phone hackers gave them false hope their daughter was alive. >> at first we were able to leave messages then her voice mail became full. >> reporter: milly was abducted and killed. but as the investigators were hacking the phone, they hacked into her voice mail and erased some of her voice mails. murdoch apologized to the family and paid a settlement. but the dowellers apparently were not the only targets. several celebrities are set to testify this week in britain's high court about how the tabloid media has invaded their

privacy. first up, hugh grant. grant claims another tabloid hacked into his phone to try to get information on his romances. >> reporter: hairy potter author is also scheduled to speak. a judge will use all of the testimony to recommend changes in the way the media in britain does its job. in london, tina krauss. more than a dozen news of the world journalists and editors have been arrested in connection with the phone hacking scandal. still ahead on eyewitness news. >> reporter: maryland senator took his case to the jury and beat the law but it's lawmakers @póoay have a tougher time ,,,,,

coming up on eyewitness news at 6:00, president obama fires back after a congressional leadership fails to reach a key budget deal. ethics in question, powerful state senator cleared of charges. but euleses curry may still be in hot water.

more than of the frantic final moments of the patterson's. and i'll tell you how much it'll cost you to travel the fcc and how it'll benefit the baltimore region. will rain slow down your thanksgiving trip? for this and all the breaking headlines, wjz news starts right now. hello everybody i'm denise koch. >> and i'm vic carter. a group of congressional leaders set to come up with critical budget cuts say they cannot agree to a deal. that