about today. >> police are digging deeper into the shooting suspect's past. mike hellgren investigates his ties to the area. >> reporter: this has raised concerns about hate groups in maryland. we first reported yesterday about a group called label 56 that distributed some of payge's music nationwide. the label has since denounced the massacre. we went looking for their founder today with no luck. several watch groups say this was wade michael payge's album of hate. he performed in baltimore and a maryland based record label distributed it. >> tattoos he was wearing were sort of his badges proving that he was part of this violent neo

nazi skin head world. >> reporter: payge has brought attention to the under ground hate music world. >> the hate music is a way to recruit young people to anti semitism. >> reporter: the attacks have maryland's sikh's community on alert. >> he seeked out the six with the turbans on. >> reporter: he spoke of a racial holy war but the suspected gunman's exstepmother says that's not the child she knew. >> what changed him we don't know. he had hispanic friends and he had black friends. >> reporter: some believe the government is not doing enough when the warning signs are

there. >> because we made it politically unpopular to watch out for these people and do something about it we've left ourselves vulnerable. >> reporter: payge was dishonorably discharged from the army 14 years ago. it's unclear how many times he visited maryland. mike hellgren. >> investigators believe payge agented alone. we have breaking news to tell you about. a tornado the sighting. >> reporter: we have these warnings although when you look at these storms they certainly do not look as severe. we have one storm near prince fredrick another one near leonard time. but they did issue a tornado warning for both of those areas. we have this one near prince fredrick not everyone showing up that severe. but the one near leonard town looks to be stronger.

if you're in that region take shelter. also further north the one not too far really southeast of aquasco extreme south eastern portions. just to the south was a severe tornado warning. just a short time ago the man responsible for the shooting free that injured giffords was in court. >> reporter: laughner was in court today he pled guilty as part of a plea agreement. it will allow him to avoid the death penalty. the 23-year-old went on a shooting spree killing a judge

and a 6-year-old girl. >> doctors say laughner suffers from schizophrenia, he's been forcefully medicated for more than a year. captain jeff long with more from the sceneover an accident. >> reporter: route two remains closed at route 10. this is richie highway, the accident occurred in the southbound lanes. that tanker truck that you see on the shoulder there, the tanker separated from the tractor, headed up on the shoulder and it was leaking so the maryland department of the environment was called along with the police department. the fire department, it appears as though they had the leak stopped, they transferred as much fuel as they can could from this 8,000-gallon tanker into another tanker. and now they're working on the

clean up process. two tow trucks hit the tanker. right now lanes remain closed that also affects route 10 southbound is not getting on to richie highway. reporting live from sky high chopper 13, captain jeff long. drying up, that's what's happening to a number of maryland streams as a new drought warning is issued for much of the state. wjz is live with complete drought watch coverage. bob turk is tracking our weather. but alex demetrick has where the drought is hitting hardest. >> reporter: now the drought's affects are only intensifying. >> reporter: in drought streams are like the canary in the coal mine, and hydrologists monitor them for signs of trouble ahead. the survey finds most streams

running lower and some extremely low. >> we've got four streams that set monthly records lows over on the del marla. >> that is up a drought watch to a drought warning for kept, queen anne, caroline, summer set and woster county. >> it's not only dry it's been excessively hot. >> it was just like being in a blast furnace. that's scorching from the heat and the wind. >> mother nature hasn't been very helpful with any weather this year. >> reporter: water pulled from the ground by wells or from streams but when rain doesn't fall it really comes down to one critical source. >> and there's water in the stream a lot of that is coming from ground water. it's not just coming from upstream it's comes in through the banks, water will find its

lower level. >> reporter: a less serious drought watch remains in effect primarily because reservoirs are full. >> expect for the people that have wells they might want to be careful and just be very conservative. >> reporter: because the stream flow drops so does the ground water supplying those wells. >> reporter: a drought warning means that people on the eastern shore are being urged to conserve water because the next stage is a drought emergency and mandatory rationing. mary. >> alex, thank you. complete drought watch coverage continues with bob turk who's updating numbers. >> take a look at the statistic. 18 straight months of above temperatures. we're looking at rainfall deficits of more than 8-inches as you can see now locally we have some severe thunderstorms, a tornado warning right now for portions of the southeast pg

county. a little bit of the cal better county area and also around leonard town. two separate cells with a tornado warning officially until 6:30. somebody reported the possibility of a tornado on the ground near hollow well point. let's get the exact location for you. golden beach and holloway point. we will keep tracking this. i've had no other confirmation about these storms. they don't look so severe but someone reported a tornado. that's where we have the warnings going on right now. southern portions of the region until 6:30. we'll have an update for you. >> for updates log on to wjz.com. a former honors student at the university of maryland

college park pleads guilty. alexander song admits to threatening a shoot out at the campus. >> reporter: song pleads insanity for threats. song entered a guilty plea in exchange he will be required to have a 9:00 curfew, perform 200 hours of community service and be on supervised probation for three years. some call the punishment a slap on the wrist. >> it's real sickening and real crazy we shouldn't have those type people on the street. >> reporter: the honors student let his fingers do the talking. typing quote i will be on a shooting rampage, stay away from the mall tomorrow at 1:30. hopefully i kill enough people to make it to national news.

>> it's scary. you hear about other schools being attacked. >> reporter: it took police three hours to track song. it led to the school then to his dorm room. >> if you see something say something. which happened in this case and led us to the arrest of mr. song. >> reporter: this case as well as recent shootings in colorado and wisconsin encourage law to be changed here in maryland. >> go before the general assembly in january and hopefully they will pick this up and consider legislature which will make it a crime in maryland because it currently is not a crime to make generalized threats. >> reporter: song is also required to continue mental health evaluations. >> thank you very much

rochelle. >> reporter: song will be required to continue mental health evaluations as previously mentioned. a maryland woman is facing abandonment charges. derek valcourt has the bizarre behavior of the baby's mother. >> reporter: the baby is safe and sound after being found outside of this church. was we still don't know why his mother just left him here. josh sullivan could not believe what he found as she showed up to work noon on monday. >> as i approached the building i heard a baby cry. >> reporter: a 2 -month-old sitting in a car seat like this one tucked in a corner near the church's main entrance. a little boy with a blanket and a small amount of milk in a bottle next to him. >> somebody apparently wanted him to have some milk but clearly he cannot feed himself.

so i looked for a note, no note. i called 911 right away. they were there in five minutes. >> reporter: monday had been a hot day so the baby was immediately taken away to the hospital as a precaution just to make sure the baby was not having any problems. patricia finch miller had reported the boy missing early that morning, police begin their investigation. >> at some point it appears the mother abandoned the child, then picked up two of her other children and fled the area. >> reporter: police found the mother and two children who had fled to virginia. the mother now faces misdemeanor charges of neglect. >> i've been praying since i found the baby that he was going to be okay and that somehow it would work out for his betterment. i have no idea what the situation was with his mom, but

i just pray that he's okay. >> i spoke with the baby's paternal grandmother, she says she is going to be asking for full custody. derek valcourt, wjz eyewitness news. >> all right, derek, thank you. maryland's safe haven law only allows parents to leave their child at a safe location if the child is less than 10 days old. two men are facing charges, customs agents say they seized 44 pounds of cocaine. drugs have a street value of $22,000. two men from guatemala were carrying the drugs on a flight from el salvador. ernesto reaches hurricane strength. ernesto already dumped several inches of rain in honduras. bernadette woods is out back with more on ernesto for us. bernadette. >> ernesto is 100 to 150 miles

offshore moving off to the west northwest at about 12 to 14 miles per hour. winds are estimated close to 80 miles per hour. so that's a category one hurricane. along the track it will make two land falls, the first one either extreme northern tip of belize or the southern part of the yucatan peninsula which is mexico. it will move over land, lose strength but possibly regain strength before it makes a second land fall on the mainland of mexico. so a lot of area still in the path of this storm. and you can see in the forecast models all of them take it in the same direction off to the west northwest. so this is the storm that's going to produce a lot of rain unfortunately since flooding in areas that don't have the best infrastructure, something we'll continue to monitor. at home that tornado warning is in effect. extreme part of st. mary's county, charles county, calvert county and extreme south eastern sections of pg county. it looks like it has weakened but the law enforcement in the

area did spot a tornado so they don't want to mess around. anyone in this area or anyone who knows anyone in this area will want to act quickly. war of words, supporters of extended gambling are spending more than a million dollars to influence the impact of this week's special session. >> reporter: attack ads target this week's special session of those for and against extended gambling call each other out. >> why is the state electture rushing to build a casino at the harbor. >> good paying jobs, better schools that's what a world class resort casino at national harbor would mean for maryland. >> the legislature and casino special interest don't want maryland taxpayers to know they are being played. >> i won't happen if the special interest get their way. >> tell your legislator, no bail outs for casino special interest. >> it's up to you.

>> they are special interests accusing one another of being special interests and their appealing to our special interest. >> reporter: they're betting the bill to pass the general assembly. one group running support ads building trades rallied at the state house. >> putting folks to work is what they ought to be doing. >> reporter: opponents also sent out this mailer. >> we look at this as almost like one of those earmarks where we're saying that you get a tax break the other guy doesn't. >> reporter: but observers take it all with a grain of salt. >> i doubt it very much that people paying for these ads are self-less humanitarians. >> reporter: i'm pat warren reporting, now back to you. and governor martin o'malley is expected to pass a bill for voters to consider

tonight or tomorrow. when michael phelps returns to maryland as the most decorated olympian ever expect a big homecoming. according to the baltimore sun, planning is still in the making. phelps will likely tour the country first celebrating his 22 olympic medals. >> cannot blame him. >> not at all. the mission to mars, the nasa rover sends back new pictures of the red planet, why engineers say it is only the beginning. swine flu outbreaks in several states have local county fair leaders on alert. coming up the precautions they're taking. >> high profile catholics in maryland come out in favor of same-sex marriage equality. why they could be a deciding factor. >> some severe weather reported, bob is updating the first warning weather forecast.

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it is 85 degrees, partly sunny in central m. maryland right now. the debate over same-sex marriage gets emotional. today parents with gay children speak out seeking support despite religious conflict. adam may has reaction from both

sides, adam. >> reporter: both sides find themselves at odds with their church over same-sex marriage. >> each son and daughter are special. and they deserve marriage. >> reporter: supported by high profile catholics like kathleen kennedy townsend. >> marriage equality is consistent with what the catholic church has tried to teach. >> reporter: the archdiocese doesn't see it that way. >> for someone to claim to be

part of the teachers when they don't have the right. >> i certainly prefer that my church recognize same-sex couples, the referendum does not impose anything on the catholic church or any other. >> i think maryland will make history and say yes, we're for it. >> reporter: despite their opposition to same-sex unions the catholic church the archdiocese they tell me that they will not be spending any money on the political campaign against it. reporting live tonight, adam may, wjz eyewitness news. >> economists estimate same-sex marriage could boost maryland's economy by $90 million a year. bob is back with stormy weather. >> we have storm warnings until

6:30. i expect it to be cancelled any second. we'll take a look at it. take a look at temperatures right now. in the baltimore region we're 85. the barometer falling a little bit. we'll take a look at this activity right after this. ,,,,

here's a live look outside. pretty calm here but down on if

eastern shore they had a few storms come through. >> this isn't southern maryland. actually very close to prince richard area. we had a severe storm issued at 5:56. there's nothing left to it but officially they still have this warning until 6:30 and we did have a report of a waterspout not a tornado. a waterspout over the patuxtin. it's possible although i think at this point it's probably gone because i don't see anything with this cell that would indicate anything of any severity. but i don't cancel the warnings, the weather center does. so there's nothing i can show you. light shower activity earlier. this is what we had and apparently a waterspout did form and move up. so i have no word on whether that waterspout landed on shore in the land and officially

would be called a tornado. we'll have more on that. locally cloudy to partly sunny skies. 85 over on kent island. 87, 70 today. the average is 86, 66. a light east wind right now looks like winds will continue to bring in moisture. humidity will be increasing tomorrow through the next couple of days. a front to our north and west, thursday and particularly on friday as the front gets into the warm humid air. high pressure tomorrow night a terrible day. could be a pop up shower and a few isolated spots. better chance thursday and a much better chance for that front here on friday. variable winds in the day around five knots. the forecast tonight, clear to partly cloudy and will cloud up a little bit later with more humidity down around 70. tomorrow 85 to 90 but more

humidity will make it feel more uncomfortable than this afternoon, a mixture of clouds and sunshine. we'll update that forecast in just a few minutes. >> still to come tonight. a music icon passes away. more on the life and legacy of marvin hamlish. disturbing discovery, a human skull is found, where's the rest of the body. guilty plea, how ,,,,,,,,,,,

it's now 6:31, 85 degrees and partly sunny. good evening everyone and thanks for straying with wjz. the suspect in the tucson arizona shooting that injured congresswoman giffords pleads guilty in court. as karen brown reports for wjz a judge first had to rule that laughner was mentally competent for trial. >> reporter: minutes later laughner pled guilty in the case. tv cameras were not allowed in the court. laughner appeared very different than his booking photo. pail, thin, gaunt. he sat still as a court appointed psychologists testified about his troubled teenage and college years when

he allegedly heard voices in his head and made suicidal comments. the psychiatrist said laughner told a doctor he was remorseful for what he did. he said laughner told his doctor, quote i especially cry about the child. laughner's attorney says that he hopes the plea agreement will give the college drop out a life in prison instead of death. survivors of the shooting came to court, but giffords was not among them. kelly said that he and giffords were satisfied with the court's ruling. since last year laughner has been kept in a psychiatric hospital in missouri.

some new information about a disturbing story from akron ohio. the man suspected of walking into a hospital and shooting his terminally ill wife appeared before a wife today via video from jail. he is accused of shooting his wife barbara as he stood at her bedside in the intensive care unit. wise surrendered to hospital security after the shooting when told he was facing the charge of aggravated attempted murder wise became confused and surprised the courtroom when he asked this question. >> i have one question your honor. this charge of attempted murder, is she not dead? >> the judge did not answer wise but told him he would soon have an attorney who could answer his questions. >> homicide investigation is under way after officers find a

partly decomposed head. a man reported seeing a human skull as he walked along the woods behind a shopping center in pasadena. a team brought in cadaver dogs. they found the rest of the body on roadway highway. national health leaders are urging people to be careful when attending fairs. >> reporter: there have been no reported cases of the swine flu in maryland and people who are showcasing their pigs here at the howard county fair are taking every precaution to keep it that way. a recent spring of swine flu cases has fairgoers on alert. >> it makes me nervous. >> reporter: right now there are no cases in maryland but according to the cdc nationwide

29 have been reported since last summer. 12 of which popped up in the last week of july. in ohio, indiana and hawaii. all of those cases were linked to people who interacted with pigs at county fairs. >> touching the pig, getting secretions from the pig on their hands and touching their eyes and nose and getting the flu that way. >> reporter: dr. wheelerson says the swine flu isn't uncommon and so far no deaths have been reported. >> we're not trying to raise hysteria. >> reporter: at the howard county fair swine farmers are not taking any precautions. >> we're making sure that they're not coughing, if there's anything signs we leave them home. >> reporter: people can protect themselves simply by washing their hands and using hand sanitizer. >> always wash our hands,

always do the safety thing before us. >> use good hygiene and let the kids still have fun. >> this current strain of the swine flu virus is different from the one that caused the pandemic back in 2009. more maryland athletes competed in the olympics today. find out how they did. and a new twist on watermelon, try grilling it. and more on the o's three straight wins. the one ton nasa rover is beaming back interesting pictures from mars. edward lawrence reports for wjz from nasa headquarters in pasadena california. >> the rover curiosity september back the first color photo of the red planet. it shows the crater where it touched down. >> this is the first color

imagine of the rover where it landed. westerly talk about it more in a -- we'll talk about it more in a second. i waited a long time for this to come back. >> reporter: nasa also released a 2-1/2 minute video the seven minute plunge to the surface. a video camera captured the final moments as curiosity floated down to the surface. the rover has an antenna which allows it to communicate with earth. >> i'm confidence there'll be a lot of surprises when we start looking around. >> reporter: next scientists will raise the mast on the rover as it sends back high resolution pictures. >> we can do research now, and in color. >> reporter: it'll be a week before the rover can start making tours around the plant and start researching whether

there was ever life on mars. >> every system nasa has tried on the $2.5 million rover worked without any problem. >> $2.5 billion. they are so glad that thing worked. >> maybe that's why he's crying. >> yes. >> tears of joy for many reasons. >> i get to keep my job. >> yeah. >> still to come, caught in the act. what this woman was trying to steal in a west coast hospital. how this helicopter ended up in a corn field. >> bob turk in the weather center. we'll have the latest on storms headed our way. ♪

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a woman attempts to kidnap a newborn baby from a hospital. and police say this isn't her first time trying. police say 48-year-old griselle ramirez told the baby's mom to take a shower because a doctor was coming. when the doctor turned her back, ramirez put the baby in a tote and tried to leave. that's when the baby's electronic bracelet went off.

>> it locks the doors and prevents anyone from leaving the floor. from what i was told by investigators she made it to the door. she was trying to get through that door and the electronic security locks had engaged and the employeed had come over and stopped her and held her -- employees had come over and stopped her and held her there. two pilots attempted a landing just south of dallas, texas. the over head rotor crushed and broke into pieces. part of the landing gear also broke off into the crops. no one else was hurt. one of entertainment's great composers, marvin hamlish has died at the age of 68 after a brief illness. he wrote some of the most well known stage and screen music of

the last 40 years. few composers have left behind a bigger music legacy than marvin hamlish. háe wrote barbara streisand's the way we were. >> there were dozens more from the family drama ordinary people to the postwar sophies choice. one of his biggest adaptations of chaplain. marvin hamlish composed and arranged 40 film scores but one of his greatest successes was on stage. the long running musical a chorus line. hamlish was born into a musical

family. his first job was as a rehearsal pianist for funny girls. marvin hamlish's work earned him three oscars, four elmies, three emmy's and a tony. hamlish had the satisfaction of knowing that long after the lights went up, audiences were humming the tunes he wrote. >> hamlish was working on a score for a new musical when he passed away. >> he made it look so easy didn't. >> he's just a master. bob sheaffer ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

a look outside at the sun sets on a beautiful day in august. bernadette woods has more on

what we can expect tomorrow, bernadette. >> there still are some thunderstorms across the south. there will be again tomorrow night. tonight what we're expecting for the most part sunshine throughout the day. as we head throughout the afternoon, some of that moisture across the south will spread north ward again. shower and thunderstorms is possible. pretty much any where in the state tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening in particular. that is just the beginning of those upped thunderstorms chances because we have a pretty good front coming our way. for more here's bob. >> we'll see a better chance of thunderstorms here thursday, and particularly friday they could be severe. 91, 87 drying out some what later saturday. a few left over showers. 85, 66. less humid on sunday. mary. >> bob, thank you. still to come tonight on eyewitness news. >> this is mark viviano at training camp in owins mills. training camp is hard work but joe flacco says it's fun because of his teammates. we'll hear from the quarterback and how about the o's and

pitching staff. tillman with a big game last night. night. the latest on,,,,,,,,,,

mark is live in owins mills with the wjz the fan sports report. >> mark. >> reporter: after two weeks of training camp for the ravens it's hard work well they finally get to play.

thursday first preseason game. some of the veterans aren't going to play at all. guys like lewis and reed not likely to suit up for that first preseason game. indoors for the final practice before that thursday night game. now watching these practices it's clear that john harbaugh has his players focused but they're sure to have some fun on the job too. the coaches cracked the whip. some of the players lightened the mood by cracking jokes. >> it's a lot of fun. we have a lot of guys, a lot of young guys so it's very easy to keep your spirits up. and stay, it's just a very comfortable environment that we create around here. i think that's why we've been able to be successful. and i think this year more so than ever. you know we have a lot of guys on the team that they're easy to be around. i think that helps your mind set and things like that when you're at training camp. >> reporter: rookie linebacker courtney upshaw returned to practice. not likely to play on thursday

because he hasn't practiced much. baseball the surging orioles with a half game away from the play off spot. tonight the key to the o's most recent success is obvious. it is their starting pitching. chris tillman certainly delivered last night working into the 8th inning he struck out five mariners, allowed just one run. tillman has earned a victory in four straight starts. that's a career best for him. he's been a boost to a trouble starting rotation since being called up to the minor leagues last month. >> it feels good. i feel like putting in that work in the offseason and carrying it into the on season it's paying off here. we have a will the of work left. >> reporter: zack britton trying to do the same. he's struggled since his call

up from the minors. first pitch coming up in about 15 minutes and you can see the game in masn. a number of maryland athletes are making their mark at the summer olympic games in london. among them is a second generation olympian. he is annapolis middle distance runner matt sentrowitsz who's dad competed in the game 17 years ago. in the men's 1,600 meters, he led for 2/3 of the race but was overtaken by makhioufi who got the gold medal. the u.s. basketball team unbeaten in five games so far. kevin durant led the game to victory over argentina. 126-97 the final over

argentina. the u.s. plays australia in the quarter finals tomorrow. the u.s. needs three more wins to claim the gold. coming up tonight, more from ravens training camp plus oriole highlights as they go for three in a row. >> mark, thank you. and stay with us we'll be right and stay with us we'll be right ,,,,,,,,

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don't miss tonight's prime time cbs line up. what do bears do on a hot summer evening. in california they like taking a dip in a family pool. a pasadena family found that out firsthand. two cubs frolics in their pool swimming and pulling at the pool's vacuum. animals are coming to the city looking for food and water because it's been so dry. the pair swam about 15 minutes and then left back too their trees. >> they're coming to the city for a good time. >> there you go. >> that's it for us tonight. we'll be back at 11:00. i'm mary bubala. >> for bob and mark i'm >> schieffer: tonight, a notorious killer escapes the death penalty. in a deal to save his life,

jared loughner pleads guilty in the attack on congresswoman gabrielle giffords and 18 others. bill whitaker was in the courtroom. gas prices are rising rapidly again. sharyl attkisson tells us this fire could send them even higher. first came the floods, then the drought. michelle miller on the latest crisis for farmers-- sand. and... ♪ memories... >> pelley: anthony mason on marvin hamlisch and the musical memories he left us. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> schieffer: good evening. scott's off tonight. i'm bob schieffer. well, it was the picture that once you saw it you could not forget it. jared lee loughner, the 23-year-old college dropout who gravely wounded