you can see, again, not a lot of rain out there. but as we zoom in on downtown, yeah, a heavy dousing there at the stadium, unfortunately. now this particular cell is moving southward at a pretty good clip. where the rain has not let up yet, it will be letting up in short order there is not a lot behind it as we look north. just a couple more scattered showers on and off through the rest of the evening. if you were caught in it, it didn't matter that there wasn't much out there. take a look at the visible satellite. a lot of sunshine out there across maryland this afternoon. it's been a generally pretty nice day of weather. temperatures have been pleasant. i think the rest of the night we're dropping down to 67 degrees, with just a few showers across the area. again, that core shower downtown will move out quickly, and i think we'll be dry for most of the rest of the night. more on when we get hotter weather in just a few. >> thank you, wyatt. families, dignitaries and special olympians have gathered at a cape cod church to attend

a public wake for eunice kennedy shriver. it started at 1:00. it ends tonight at 7. shriver was the sister of john f. kennedy and massachusetts senator edward kennedy. she founded the special olympics and helped change the way americans treat the mentally disabled. >> if people with disabilities live longer, they are healthier, they have access to better health care and health care professors, they directly have mrs. shriver to thank. >> shriver died tuesday at the age of 88. les paul died today. he was 94 years old. paul was an inventor as well as a musician, changing the course of music with the electric guitar and multitrack recording, which let artists sing and record different instruments at different times, eventually blending them together. paul had a string of hits. the hits included how high the

moon. les paul died of complications from pneumonia. now the latest on the the investigation into june's deadly metro train crash. investigators are backing off earlier statements about when past problems with an automated safety problem that is used to prevent crashes happen. the national transportation safety board said it first learned about a march failure just last week, but the ntsb now says a metro employee told them about the march incident the day after june's crash. the march incident did not end in a crash because the train operator used an emergency brake to avoid hitting another train. metro did not make that incident public. swine flu has killed a sixth person in maryland. the patient was an adult with underlying medical problems and lived in the washington, d.c. suburbs. the person's name has not been released. state health officials expect more flu-related deaths, so they urge everyone to take advantage of seasonal and swine flu vaccinations when they become available.

town hall meetings continue to raise voices and concerns over health care reform today. they have also forced a change in some proposed legislation. key senators say they will drop a provision on end-of-life care because it could be misinterpreted or implemented incorrectly. the proposal would have reimbursed doctors for voluntary counseling sessions about end-of-life decisions. critics claim it could lead to death panels and euthanasia for seniors. t.j. winick reports on today's debate. >> reporter: facing a barrage of publicity against health care reform, the white house and its partners are pushing back. >> what does health insurance reform mean for you? >> reporter: a new coalition funded largely by the pharmaceutical industry launched $12 million in television ads today in support of the president's plan. >> it means lower costs, a cap on out-of-pocket expenses, tough new rules to cut waste and red tape, and a focus on

preventing illness before it strikes. >> reporter: also today, the white house sent out its own viral e-mail and video to combat opponents, some of whom claim the bills being considered would allow for government-funded abortions. >> there is an amendment now on one of them that prohibits that. however, when we start looking at the language, it gets a little complicated. and even with private plans that might be subsidized by the government, maybe abortion would be allowed. >> reporter: the administration is even having to fight misinformation by one of its partners. >> we should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma. >> reporter: referring to a proposal that would reimburse a doctor for take talking with a patient every five years about what kind of care they want near the end of life. >> we, again, will hope to quell the misconceptions that are apparently held even by some in the senate. >> reporter: today grassley said the finance committee will drop the provision on end-of-

life consultation on the reform bill. the president had said such a provision could save the country millions down the road. t.j. winick, abc 2 news, washington. and remember this scene in hagerstown yesterday before the town hall meeting with ben cardin? authorities say they had to turn over a man to secret service because he was holding a sign that said "death to obama." the washington county sheriffs captain said the sign also read "death to michelle and her two stupid kids." the secret service agents took him into custody after deputies detained him. and police have identified a woman who was hit by a van while she was riding a bicycle in anne arundel county. 22-year-old cherica fanny baker was hit at college parkway and bellrive drive. she lived on latrobe drive and remains hospitalized with serious head injuries. police say the driver may have

been drinking and their investigation is continuing. and as police continue to look for the driver who may have hit and killed 67-year-old bicyclist john yates, a memorial at the scene of the crash keeps growing. yates, an avid cyclist was hit and killed on august 4th while riding his bike on the 28th hundred block of maryland avenue. according to the family, surveillance video shows a truck driver making a right turn was at fault. that video has not been released to the public. but if you have any details on this deadly crash, you're asked to call baltimore city investigators. a 77-year-old man has died in a late-night boating accident. harry ran his boat into the stone jetty just after 11:00 right now. that's on the border of anne anne arundel and calvert counties. he died at anne arundel medical center. police are still trying to determine why he ran aground. and rescuers and several good samaritans saved four people after their boat capsized in the west river last

night. witnesses radioed for help when they saw several people and a dog clinging to the bet's hull around 10:45. the coast guard, maryland natural resources police and anne arundel county fire and rescue, and people on private boats pulled three boats, one child, and the dog to safety. no one was injured. there is no word on why the boat capsized. and since we ran the story of those sweet puppies found in highland town, our newsroom phones have been ringing, and our website buzzing. so look at how cute they are today. we check in on the pups to see how they're holding up at their near death experience. jamie is dining on a dime at we'll call addison's little brother for right now. and a wildfire in the mountains of california is forcing thousands of people from their homes. see the fire that has already grown to more than three miles long. and taking a look at the weather now, from towson 82 degrees. as wyatt would say, we're having pop-up thunderstorms and rain out there.

he'll have the full forecast, and of course the forecast for the game tonight, coming up in just a few minutes.

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you're watching baltimore's station that works for you. now abc 2 news at 5. >> wildfires continue to burn up parts of california tonight. hundreds of firefighters are battling the blazes, and one of the worst is in the santa cruz mountains. more than one thousand residents have been forced to evacuate the area. abc's carla wohl reports that the evacuees pray they have homes left standing when it's all over. a small army of firefighters is mobilizing to fight a blaze that is whipping through a remote area of the santa cruz mountains. thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate. he grabbed his cats and got out. >> when we were evacuating and getting our pictures and stuff,

you could just look up the road. maybe it seemed like a mile or less, and you can hear the fire raging. >> reporter: the blaze exploded overnight, turning the sky an eerie shade of orange, we could see flames and spreading so quickly because the wind was howling. >> reporter: whipped by the strong winds and fueled by dry vegetation, the fire quickly spread, and now threatens hundreds of buildings. further south in the back country near santa maria -- >> a evacuation order is in effect in this portion of the valley. >> reporter: another wildfire threaten morse than 100 homes and ranches. residents keep an eye on the shifting winds. >> yeah, there is a lot of concern, because we could see the flames on this one. so that's pretty close. >> reporter: the terrain is rugged. so the best line of attack is from the air. on the ground, firefighters played defense. >> tried to build a buffer so when the fire comes up out of the drainage, we won't hit the line as hard and we'll be able to hold our line. >> reporter: firefighters say they have the resources they

need, despite california's budget woes. now they just need some relief from the hot, dry weather. carla wohl, abc news, los angeles. now the forecast certified baltimore's most accurate by weather rate, and maryland's most powerful doppler radar. >> yeah, they need a little bit of that rain that we got this afternoon. i'm sure it surprised a lot of people. >> yes. >> you know, it's one of those things we get these widely scattered showers, and of course that same cluster of clouds came over the towson area, didn't drop any rain. and then as it goes into downtown, it hits that heat. if you're out at the stadium, marybeth, you're like what is going on with all this rain. it's not going to be around much longer. highways the good news. it's already actually pushing off to the south. and the odds of another shower, i won't say it's impossible, but it's so widely scattered, we probably won't see a lot more rain downtown. >> and a big game tonight, 7:30. >> preseason game. >> preseason, but it's a regional bad blood there, redskins-ravens. >> and people are fired up for

season, i think and ready for it. >> everybody is ready for football. >> that's right. >> let's look at a shot of the stadium. a lot of people already heading down to the stadium. the game isn't until after 7. i tell you, dousing of rain. it's slick there. some of the seats plenty wet. 81 the current temperature at bwi. humidity 67%. we've got an east breeze. that will make it feel a little better, because the humidity is up. and as we take a look at the current radar picture right now, there is that pain in the butt cell we'll call it. it just tracked right over downtown baltimore. and again right over m&t bank stadium. it is moving steadily off to the south. that's the good news. as we take you out to a much broader process set, the one cell went over the stadium. the numbers. some good news for us. temperature-wise 81 the normal

high. and that's where we topped out today. the normal actually about 86 degrees. so we're liking that old records up in the 100s. nowhere close to that. 83 and 85 and the current right now at towson. and as we look at some of the low temps this morning, it was muggy out. we didn't get much below 70 degrees to start off the day. eastern shore where there are some flash flood watches up right now, no active rain. but again, the ground is soaked across easton and into the caroline county. so there is a flash flood watch in that direction. and temperature-wise, muggy stuff only into the 70s for lows this morning. same thing coming tonight. 81 right now. that's about as hot as it has gotten today. 82 in easton. and as you head toward philly, even cooler. 75 degrees where it is cloudier. the forecast, a pretty good day to get out on the water tomorrow. looking at a high tide, just about 1:00 tomorrow afternoon. low tide just about 7 p.m. light east breeze through the day. and the water temp right now still about 80 degrees. so it is warm out there in the bay waters.

look for sunset just after 8:00 tomorrow night. satellite radar pictures close in view here. again, if you look closely, there is not a lot of rain. some really isolated pop-up showers. but of course the biggest one passing right through the heart of downtown as everyone gets ready for the game. that's how it goes sometimes. hey, at least it's blowing out in time for kickoff a little later this evening. and your satellite broad picture here showing really the most active weather is actually offshore, out over the atlantic ocean right now. we have a broad area of high pressure back across the upper midwest. and you do see the showers basically lining up from hatteras, north carolina right offshore right now. the boating interests off ocean city really, the biggest threat for any kind of bad weather. right now the forecast area keeps us pretty dry for the next 24 hours. a possible shower at any time overnight. not much rain. and then as we go into the day tomorrow, we'll see a mix of clouds and sunshine. maybe a late-day scattered shower or storm. it looks dry as we go into

saturday and sunday, but also hotter. temperatures begin to push much closer to 90 as we go into sunday. you'll see that in a second on the seven-day forecast. 67 tonight. mostly cloudy. watch out for a few showers. maybe the rumble of thunder. not expecting much, but really hit and miss widely scattered activity. through the day, some blue sky mixing in with the clouds. it will be a bit warmer. i think we'll top out closer to the mid-80s tomorrow, and increasing heat as we go into the weekend. as we push towards sunday, about 88 degrees. on monday we're going to call it 90 even. and then i think we'll say in the upper 80s as we go into the middle part of august into tuesday and wednesday next week. >> thanks, wyatt. you know, you know that a good night sleep is important in 2 your health. but how much do you really need? a new study finds some people might be genetically programmed to need less sleep than others. researchers have found a rare mutation that allows some people to get by with six hours of sleep a night. the mutation is so rare, that

most still need a good eight hours a night, even though the average american gets less than 7. the war against cancer is far from over, but there is good news. while health officials expect cancer to surpass heart disease as the number 1 cause of death in the united states next year, the number of people dying from cancer is actually dropping. reporter melissa long explains. >> reporter: according to a new report in the journal "cancer research," the number of cancer deaths across america has declined steadily over the last several years. the research factors including prevention, early detect and better treatments have helped make huge gains in the fight against the disease. investigators looked at cancer mortality rates in the u.s. based on age, and found among individuals born after 1925, every age group has experienced a decline in the number of cancer deaths. people under 50 had the steepest decline in cancer deaths at 25.9% per decade. those over 50 saw about a 6.8%

decline per decade. doctors say although the rate of cancer diagnosis continues to grow, early detection and effective treatment are cutting down on cancer-related deaths. for health minute, i'm melissa long. most parents of small children have found about the little tykes company. little tykes is recalling now about 1.6 million toy workshops and trucks after an 11-month- old child got a plastic nail stuck in his throat. the boy recovered. the recall involves a variety of toys sold with red or blue plastic toy nails. they were sold on the little tykes website and in stores across the country until last june. for details and how to receive free replacements go, to our website, abc2news.com and click on links for little tykes. caught on tape. we want to warn you. this could be hard to watch. what caused a high-speed chase to end so violently. heavenly intervention? what happened after a nun chased down a man with a gun

near a convent. >> watch abc 2 news any time on channel 1 with comcast on demand. (announcer) back to school means back to busy mornings.

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plus i get two bonus box tops for their school. totino's pizza rolls. the pizza way to snack. abc 2 news at 5:30 is minutes away. hello, everybody. i'm terry owens. a new report is out tonight on the state of the economy. what the experts are saying, and what it could mean for your budget. how far are you willing to go to prepare for your wedding day? it's a boot camp of brides, and we put our sheree johnson to the test. and where the abandoned puppies are now. those stories and baltimore's most accurate forecast, all coming up at 5:30. >> thanks, terry. a check on news around the nation begins with some warning of graphic video from detroit as the driver of a stolen pickup truck dies in a fiery crash. the chase began after a man stole the truck around 6:30 this morning. he led police on a wild chase

through city streets until 7:00 when he hit a minivan and another truck and slammed into a utility pole where the truck burst into flames. there he is hitting the van, and then the utility pole. people in the other vehicles, believe it or not, were not injured. phoenix police have arrested a hit-and-run suspect, thanks to the cash for clunkers program. police say the man tried to trade in his car the same day he struck and killed a bicyclist. the man reportedly told police there was blood on his car because he hit a wild pig. a little heavenly intervention helped police catch a suspected burglar near independence, missouri. it started when two nuns saw a man with a rifle in a field near their convent. they thought he was hunting illegally, so they went up to talk to him. when they started questioning him, he ran into the woods. one of the nuns actually ran after him. she didn't catch him. police found the suspect. he is charged with burglarizing

two homes. and check out this graduation ceremony for penguins. they were dressed appropriately. it's the san francisco zoo's annual march of the penguins. these little guys waddled their way from fish school to the big kids penguin colony. they needed some helping hands to make it to penguin island, but the chicks eventually did make it. organizing a wedding can be stressful enough. but imagine forcing yourself through bridal boot camp to make sure you're in shape mentally and physically. that's coming up on abc 2 news at 5:30. explain. oh yea, well for 6 months, customers get all three: fios tv, internet and phone for just $79.99 a month.

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now abc 2 news at 5:30.

>> a box full of abandoned puppies has brought out the best in people, along with outrage over how the animals could be treated so badly. good evening. i'm terry owens. eight puppies that were left to die at a highland town trash heap are making a remarkable recovery tonight. the puppies are now in the care of an animal rescue group in cecil county. roosevelt leftwich has the story. >> and they're thriving. just hour by hour, you can see them getting stronger and more playful. they're doing wonderful. >> reporter: they simply just ooze cuteness. however, eventually they'll also ooze something else on the carpet, or chew up your favorite shoes. it's all part of the fun of raising a puppy like this -- the cuteness and love outweighs everything else. these are six of the eight puppies that were almost suffocated when someone put them in a sealed plastic tub on one telephone hottest days of the year and left them to die in the dumpster. they were near death, but are now full of -- for lack of a

better word, puppiness. >> all done! >> too much longer, dehydration. if their temperature is high enough for long enough, it can cause seizures. it can cause permanent organ damage. so they're really lucky they were found when they did. >> reporter: the thing that angers rescuers the most is there were so many other options for the dogs. they could have been taken to any shelter which could have gradually taken the puppies instead of taking them to the dumpster and throwing them away like crash there have been several other animal cruelty cases recently. new homes can be found if people just look. >> low cost spay and neuter, contact your local shelter. there were hundreds of other options. humane options. and how they took care of them until they were 7 weeks old and still had the heart to put them in a rubbermaid container on a 107-degree day blows my mind. >> reporter: the pups have another couple of weeks