good morning on this wednesday. i'm jamie costello. >> i'm megan pringle. thank you so much for joining us. it's july 15th. we're going to take a look at the top stories before we get a look at weather. here's what we're working on for you today. a rash of vandalism in one northwest baltimore neighborhood. >> dozens of baltimore county families ordered $150 million because of water contamination face a new challenge. and a witness in her own defense. supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor back on the hot seat today. we have the confirmation hearings just ahead. that and more but first weather. chilly this morning. officially from the top of the hour, 59 degrees.

the official order 57. so we're close. we had clouds roll in overnight. the clouds have now broken up, the sun trying to pop over at least by the treetops. saint stephens school in kingsville down to 54. we had clearer skies north and east of baltimore, that is why on the northeast corner in baltimore county, eastern baltimore county we're looking at 54 degrees compared to the official 59 at the airport and about 69 downtown baltimore. there's that cloud line we were dealing with overnight just trying to break up in the last couple of hours of we got the spread of mid-50s to mid-60s. again that record set 10 years ago, 57 and we could hit that in between the official hourly reports so stay tuned throughout the morning if you're a weather geek like in -- me and in matters. otherwise, what does matter, two-degree guarantee of 87. let's see what's happening on the roads with kim. >> you have a smooth ride from the whitemarsh boulevard area to loch raven. however, we have several road closures, that is downtown,

several of them are going to be for artscape. mount royal closed between chars street and north avenue. and cathedral street closed between preston and mount royal. they remain closed in effect through sundays the 19th. we start a new resurfacing project, between lombard street and mlk. back to you. we're working on breaking news overseas. a passenger plane crashed in northwest iran and all 168 people on board believed dead. an emergency services spokesman says the wreckage caught in flames and it's unlikely anybody survived. we're getting the news now of the plane, iran's caspian airline was going from tehran to the capital of armenia when it went down. stay with us and abc2news.com for all the latest details on this breaking news story from iran. time now 6:33.

your downtown compute could be getting a lot worse. >> construction is going to make driving a whole lot worse. sherrie johnson live with the details. >> reporter: good morning. we're on lombard street in downtown baltimore where traffic is starting to pick up just a bit but it will probably get worse before it gets better. that is because the lombard street improvement project begins this morning. crews have already set up barriers and blockades and are directing drivers in the correct lanes they need to be in. you can see with the arrows there. the improvements were actually scheduled to begin in early spring but it was delayed because of the massive watermain break. since then most of the infrastructure repairs have already been completed. now crews can start the next phase and today crews will work on improvements like milling, resurfacing and sidewalk repairs. during the first phase of the project transportation officials expect to keep at least three lanes of traffic open between light and

president streets. they also have parking restrictions and extended work hours just to try to help reduce the congestion. if you're headed down here today and you're taking lombard street definitely you can expect some delays. this project is supposed to be finished by late fall. reporting live in downtown baltimore, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. a court appearance gone wild. check this out. we had a fight break out in this courthouse in michigan. after a man was sentenced to life in prison for killing the son of a former interim police chief. the fight even spilled out in the hallway before police got it all under control and in the end several people involved in the brawl had to be put under arrest including the defendant's mother. a 911 call that saves a life and helps bring a new one into the world. >> the incredible story of this baby's birth. a simple wedding tradition nearly turns deadly. we'll explain. 6:35. mostly sunny but chilly, 59

degrees right now. we will have a warm afternoon. we have some storms on the way. we'll talk about that next. right now let's see what's happening on the roads with kim. >> a surprising move this morning to the commute. a little slowing on the outer loop near liberty road. right now let's check the buses and trains with mark jones. >> good morning. you'll find on the buses the number 35 working with a 30-minute delay. the 77 running 10 minutes late. the 21 westbound diverted at preston and maryland. and the 17 bus working with a diversion in the area of nursery and winterston due to construction. the 22 with a diversion at university and 40th and university and st. paul. we have a code orange ozone for today. that means we're approaching unhealthy ozone levels throughout the area. to improve air quality it's recommended you use transit or carpool.

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she was in the background. you could tell it was happening really, really fast. she was screaming. >> a 911 dispatcher helps a father deliver his baby at home alone. the father had no idea what to do but heather lynn schreiber remained calm and walk him through the whole process. the baby was born at 6 pounds, 1.5 ounces, both she and mom are healthy. dad still recovering from the shock. from being woke up from a dead sleep, being told i think my water broke. getting her to lay back down and all of a sudden looking down and seeing the top of my daughter's head. >> she was trying not to push but -- she said she was coming. >> they are both champs. can you believe that? an hour later heather lynn met faith and said she was just so happy that she could help. >> they'll have the phone call recorded forever. coming up next on "good morning maryland" - >> more traffic headaches downtown.

>> crews start working on a resurfacing project in downtown baltimore. i'm sherrie johnson. what you can expect, coming up.

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good morning. i'm jamie costello >> i'm megan pringle. it's looking to be a gorgeous day. let's look at the top stories. breaking news. an airline disaster in iran. word that exxon heads back to court this morning hoping to throw out or significantly reduce the awards given to thousands of baltimore county families. and nasa tries for a sixth time to launch endeavour. justin tries to get out of bed six times before he finally made it. he has the forecast. >> but i'm here, to talk about the chill. good morning. 6:44. we had a band of clouds come in overnight. that actually prevented our temperature from falling too much around the southwest corner of baltimore, especially where the airport is but north and east, we remain clear, got chillier, 57 pylesville. 58 bel air, compared to 64 by the bay in havre de grace. baltimore county now, 57 degrees, up a little bit at stevenson with the sun up right now so we've already bounced off the bottom compared to 69 degrees in downtown.

a wide spread of temperatures. there's that band of cloudiness just off the west side which clipped the airport, which may have held our temperature just above the record low but we're going to try to get that in between the 6:00 and 7:00 reports. we're looking for clouds to try to roll in this afternoon, storms in the mountains may reach us by daybreak tomorrow, more storms in through tomorrow afternoon with a warm humid day. so enjoy today. we'll get back to our two-degree guarantee of 87. but there will be a chance of showers and storms rolling in after midnight tonight through tomorrow morning. let's check the roads with kim. >> we have heavy traffic on southbound 95 between whitemarsh boulevard and the 695 split with just slowing, no delays at this time. but we have road closures downtown for artscape. mount royal between charles and north avenue also, cathedral street between preston and mount royal. lombard street starts a new resurfacing project, expect rolling lane closures between president and mlk. sherr will tell us more about that. 695 at the outer loop. that will be slow to about the

baltimore national pike with just some slowing but no accidents or incidents at this time. back to you. more breaking news from overseas. a tsunami warning has been issued by the u.s. geological survey after a major earthquake happened off of new zealand. the quake measured 7.8 and hit just off the southwestern coast. we are trying to get more information on this breaking news. we'll keep you updated throughout the morning. attorneys for dozens of baltimore county families awarded $150 million in a lawsuit against exxon now say the oil giant is going back to court to fight the verdict. in in past march a baltimore county jury found exxonmobil liable for damage caused when 26,000 gallons of gas seeped into groundwater from a site in jacksonville. but now lawyers for the residents affected say exxon wants to throw out or bring back the amount of damages awarded. the post-trial motions hearing is set to begin 9:00 this

morning at the county circuit court in towson. driving downtown about to get even longer. >> sherrie johnson live to tell us more about a roadblock in your morning commute. >> reporter: good morning. these are not so bad now on lombard street in downtown baltimore but later on today we could see congestion and that is because the lombard street improvement project begins today. crews have already blocked off the street here with several lanes to start work on that project. the improvements were scheduled to begin in early spring but it was delayed because of a massive watermain break. since then most of the infrastructure repairs have been completed and now crews can start the next phase. since most of the work has been completed, crews will start work on milling, resurfacing and sidewalk repairs. transportation officials are going to keep at least three lanes of traffic open between light and president streets. parking restrictions and extended work hours will be

used to reduce congestion so basically as drivers head downtown this morning you basically want to definitely be patient because there will be some delays and this project is expected to be completed by late fall. reporting live in downtown baltimore, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. 6:48. neighbors in northwest baltimore say their teen neighbor woke them up early this morning and now their property is vandalized. pete "on the street" o'neal caught the damage on tape. people living on bealer avenue say they heard banging around 2:00 this morning. they came out and allegedly saw their 17-year-old neighbor damaging cars and mailboxes. in all about 10 cars were hit. the boy is now in custody. federal investigators say metro signaling system continues to fail periodically in the area where a deadly train crash occurred. national transportation safety board member desby hersman said yesterday that several pieces of equipment are being replaced

to stop the problem in the area where the accident happened. covering breaking news from overseas. first, new zealand with the big earthquake. now a passenger plane crashes in iran. 168 people on board now feared dead. stay with abc2 news and abc2news.com for all the latest details. it will be one of the top stories on "good morning america" just minutes away. the national transportation safety board still trying to figure out what caused a hole to open up in the body of a southwest airlines jet bound for baltimore forcing emergency landing. it happened monday night on a flight from nashville to bwi marshall airport. passengers described hearing a pop and then seeing part of the cabin ceiling being sucked to the top of the plane. people sitting in the back of the jet could actually see outside through the football-sized hole that was created. the southwest plane made an emergency landing in west virginia. no one was hurt and passengers took another jet to baltimore. southwest checked its other 737s before allowing them to get in the air yesterday. an incredible scene caught

on tape. video from germany. a small plane comes plumbing from the sky, including into the ground carrying a family of three. perhaps the most amazing video. the most amazing part, everyone made it out ok. the entire clip is very popular on our web site. to see the whole thing head to abc2news.com. what was supposed to be a unique way to toss the bride's bouquet makes the happiest day of the bride's life pretty dangerous. the romantic reception was supposed to end with the bouquet being tossed down from a tiny aircraft to a single woman below. the bouquet blocked the engine. brought the plane down. miraculously no one was injured. the bride and groom not in the plane. hopefully the sixth time is the charge. nasa hopes to launch endeavour tonight if thunderstorms don't cancel liftoff again. the shuttle has been plagued

with problems, was supposed to launch last month. a hydrogen leak and bad weather kept it on the ground. in it does launch tonight the seven astronauts will be on board will have a 16-day mission to complete the japanese laboratory. ocean city, a young boy recovering after a close call. happened at the beach near 37th street. the ocean city beach patrol says the boy was digging a pair of holes in the sand when he and some other kids tried to connect the two holes underground. that is when the sand collapsed nearly suffocating the child. lifeguards responded quickly to dig him out. he was reportedly unconscious, no pulse but by the time they got to the ambulance he was awake and complaining about sand in his eyes. good news if you want to take your pet on vacation. pet airways is open for business at bwi marshall. airfares are about $149 each way. the pets flying in the main cabin with trained pet attendants. just one problem, the pets only on the flight.

out of bwi marshall they are booked for two months but there's a waiting list and you can put your pet's name on it if you would like. if something opens up they will call. there could be more opportunities to travel by sea in baltimore. $1.6 million in federal stimulus grant money toens panned the cross -- expand the crass harbor ferry service. it's also for improvements at the key highway area. the money will be used to add a second route to serve canton. you might be a facebook addict if -- this sounds like the start of a joke or something but health professionals say it's a very serious matter. as the popularity of sites grow they are seeing more and more people who are letting facebook become a priority. >> social networking interferes with the other relationships. this is a common problem and we do hear people talk about this.

>> if you're not going to go out on a state or something because you have to be on facebook, you have a problem. a psychologist says there are certain signs to watch for. if you're spending too much time on line, number one. if you're losing sleep because you're on line so much, number two. you always seem to spend more time on facebook than you intend to, number three. you become obsessed with old relationships, number four. you ignore work or responsibilities to surf around on facebook. and the thought of logging off leaves you in a cold sweat. you definitely then have a problem. doctors say it's a good idea to think about facebook addiction as any other addiction, try to figure out how to fit it into your life without completely changing it. you had a cold sweat until midnight. your wait is over. "harry potter and the half-blood prince" opened at midnight to sold-out crowds. people in whitemarsh lined up to catch the sixth installment.

seven screens were dedicated to the film and fans came decked out in full wizard gear. >> we barely got ours on-line. >> i love the books, i love the movies. the excitement. >> the movie is rated pg for some scary images and violence. the seventh book is also being turned into a movie but being done in two parts. part one is expected to be in theaters in november of next year. what would you do, $850 million? that was the question a fresno woman was asking herself when she checked her bank balance and got the shock of her life. >> liz curran says she deposited a $1,000 check but the teller accidently added part of her account number to the amount of the deposit. >> i'm an almost billionaire, not quite bill gates or dell but i'm feeling up there. i'm feeling really good about this. >> occur ran did the right thing and told the bank about the mistake. she said if she really had $850 million she would not go to

disneyland, she would buy it. 6:55 now. the big local story has been whether or not we hit that record low at bwi marshall. 57 is the mark. you'll see 59 in the corner of the screen from the top of the hour. the new update from the airport at 7. we may hit it in between hours because now the sun is up, we're bouncing off the bottom. it will be noticeably cooler north and west. towson, ellicott city 57. and 60 churchville and westminster. milder 66 by the bay in sparrows point and even on the eastern shore. today's afternoon temperatures, 87, our two-degree guarantee, partly cloudy tonight. there could be showers and storms lasting through a humid day tomorrow at 89. a break and 85 friday. saturday chance of rain and only near 80. kim? we're incident-free on the roads this morning. however, we have heavy traffic running from southbound 95, that is from the whitemarsh area through to about the beltway. we have road closures as well,

mount royal between charles and north avenue, cathedral street between preston and mount royal. those are for artscape, remain in effect through sunday. lombard street is doing a resurfacing project, rolling lane closures between president and mlk this morning. remember, "good morning maryland" at 9:00 is after "good morning america." a rare form of leukemia. one local man has it. we'll introduce you to those trying to battle this man battle a.m.l. hear from the team and the man. coming up at 9:00. and "back 2 work" wednesday. optimistic thoughts to get you back on the job. chilly morning. a big warm-up today. we'll find out about the big earthquake and potential tsunami in new zealand and australia.