what can you expect where you live? chief meteorologist norm lewis is here with the first forecast. >> thanks a lot, marybeth. we still have the severe thunderstorm warning for york and carroll, as well as baltimore, baltimore city, and harford county. they have not added cecil county yet. but let me show you what is going on. take a look at our radar, with all the lightning strikes on it. we're going to switch to a little different view which takes the lightning off of it. what is going on, this system, as it came through the city, basically got heated up by all the heat coming off the city, and the leading edge of the storm. right through that region right there is making its way on towards the north and east at about 25 miles an hour. and it will be hitting those towns at those times. should it be hitting fallston right now. one minute to jarrettsville. moncton 7 minutes. 10 minutes to perryman. 10 minutes to hickory. 16 minutes to aberdeen before you get pounded as the system makes its way towards the north and east. very heavy shower and thunderstorm activity.

torrential rain, a lot of lightning. we got hit here at the station with the lightning. put us off the air. your forecast for the remainder of this evening calls for strong storms. temperatures cooling off. right now we're at 71 degrees. we were at 91, just an hour ago. our temperature dropped 20 degrees in less than 20 minutes here at the station. if you live north and east of baltimore, they're on their way to your neighborhood. we'll have more on the forecast, coming up in a couple of minutes. and norm we just checked with bge. at last count, there are about 3600 customers without power. the majority of those are in baltimore county and city. we will continue to follow the storms tonight as the newscast continues. but also in the news, tonight an elderly man is hospitalized, severely beaten in a possible hate crime. authorities say the 76-year-old victim was fishing with his wife at fort armistead wife in south baltimore at about 4:30 this morning when he was attacked. the park is just under the francis scott key bridge, and the couple was packing up their car to leave when police say three white men walked up to

them and beat the man while yelling racial slurs. police tell abc 2 news that the man was either hit with a baseball bat or a stick. his wife was not hurt. fishermen at the park tell us it is normally safe, but they make it a point not to be there at night. >> i never even see police. all i see is the boats coming by, you know, and the police helicopter sometimes. that's it. >> police say the suspects also stole the victims committee car without knowing that it has a lojack car theft police. lojack led them right to an avenue in south baltimore where it led to the arrest of 28-year- old calvin lockner. police say just last year he was arrested for allegedly beating his wife for, quoting here, associating with african americans. in his police interview, he admitted he does not like african americans, and that's what led police to classify this as a hate crime. two other suspects remain at large. police have not identified them. the baltimore branch of the naacp is holding a news

conference to talk about the attack. we'll have a full report tonight on abc 2 news at 11. police in harford county have arrested a teenaged boy on charges that he tried to kill his stepfather with a baseball bat. 15-year-old stan smith, junior, who is preparing to better the 10th grade is now being held at the harford county detention center with no bond. according to charging documents, smith struck lonnie talbert twice with a bat after his stepdad refused to let him spend the night at a friend's house. those closest to smith say he may have snapped after talbert made a threatening gesture with his fist. >> stan is a really good kid. he gets good grades. he has never acted out like this before. he doesn't have any previous charges. i've known him for eight years. he is not this type of person. >> the alleged victim, smith's stepfather, has since been arrested and charged himself with assault in a separate incident involving his daughter.

police in anne arundel county are investigating the murder of a 3-year-old boy. terry owens joins us now with details about the case. records marybeth, 3-year-old charles brandley died on august 12th. police say the child's caretaker took him to baltimore washington medical center and said the boy had fallen down stores at a home in severn. the boy was flown in critical condition to johns hopkins hospital where the staff contacted police because his injuries weren't consistent with falling downstairs. >> officers from the anne arundel county fire department began investigating the case, developed a possible suspect, a 28-year-old male who is the caretaker of the thieve-year- old during the incident. >> authority says the medical examiners ruled the death a homicide. we're told charges are pending at this time. anyone with information is asked to call police. the number 410-222-3453. terry owens, abc 2 news. security, as you may know, is beefed up at the inner

harbor following a weekend shooting inside the light street pavilion. police believe the two victims from saturday's shooting were gang members. but there were hundreds of other people inside the light street pavilion at the time. commissioner fred bealefeld says officers are being told to identify possible gang members and question them if they come to the inner harbor. >> this isn't brain surgery. they give us clues. we should act on those clues before trouble starts. that's my, that's what i want my cops to do. and i want them to go up, and i want them to say welcome to the harbor. don't act like a jerk here. we want you to have a good time, but leave all this gang stuff at home. >> so far there have been no arrests in this particular case. police in prince george's county have arrested a man in connection with the deadly stabbing here college park. authorities say 45-year-old roberto cruz has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of 28-year-old johnny

gomez. police say gomez and a 19-year- old man were stabbed during an argument with cruz at a home on hollywood road yesterday morning. the men fled to rhode island avenue where officers then found them. police have charged six men with sex offenses in public areas at a maryland park. the arrests by undercover officers followed citizen complaints that the men were soliciting and performing sex acts in rest rooms, on trail, and in parking lots and pavilions at gam grills state park near frederick. a phish concert over the weekend in columbia led to 31 arrests, most of them for drug possession. police say four men charged were selling drugs out of a recreational vehicle. police seized the rv, along with marijuana and $12,000 cash. >> i think that to see people selling drugs openly out of a vehicle like this is not common, but perhaps for this type of show or this type of crowd, that's not so unusual. and that's why we send officers there, to make sure that

illegal activity doesn't affect the people who a not committing criminal acts. >> three other people were arrested on charges of selling drugs, while 20 were charged with possession. two were charged with second- degree assault on a police officer and two with trespassing. heads-up in harford county tonight so you don't panic. officials at aberdeen proving ground say the test center there will create several loud explosions through the rest of the month and september. residents can expect to hear and feel the explosions outside the boundaries of the military installation. the tests are also expected to create nonhazardous smoke and dust clouds in the area. cuts will be made. it's just a matter of where and how deep. governor martin o'malley says he and the state board of public works are still trying to figure that out. roughly $250 million in cuts will be brought to the board august 26th. the cuts are expected to affect local health departments, public safety grants, roads, and community colleges and libraries. if you use parking meters

downtown, you may soon be paying more. the city parking authority has proposed raising the price per hour by at least 50 cents, maybe more. and as abc 2 news roosevelt leftwich tells us, the reason they're doing it is not to increase revenue, but to increase opportunity. >> reporter: think of it as an exercise in thriftiness. brian and his wife have a new reservation at the restaurant. they're already late. >> to pay $9 a day when i'm going to be here for two hours. >> reporter: for a tourist or someone on business who needs to make a quick stop, a fook few bucks at a meter is great, if you can get one. >> they're designed so people coming down here for shorter stays, looking to do business in the city can find a place to park. but right now we do have people parking all day long. lots of people parking all day long. >> city parking authority is proposing a raise and metered parking rates initially to $1.50 in the central business district, an area bordered by

mulberry, president street and martin luther king, keen highway. it would cost $12 for 8 hours, comparable to parking garages so frugal downtown workers would get off the meter. that would turn over more spots frequently to help guys like jackson and other motorists who have a hard time finding parking. >> typically i drive around two or three times to a find a space. i'm going to be in and out, maybe 15 or 20 minutes, it might be $3 as opposed to $20. >> reporter: it's very hard to find a spot. this guy got lucky. but many motorists can't find a place to park. that keeps a lot of people out of downtown and from shopping here. meantime, it's 12:25, and jackson's wife is still out there somewhere, circling. the roast beef and ham are still waiting. >> it was pretty difficult. a lot of the -- i guess a lot of people who work down here, i see a lot of people moving around, but i don't see any cars moving. >> good luck. in baltimore, roosevelt leftwich, abc 2 news.

>> and the proposal still has to go to the city board of estimates for final approval. now we would like your two cents. do you think the real goal of increasing parking rates is to move cars along or make money? log on to abc2news.com and look on the right side of the home page to vote in the online poll. well, it won't be long before youngsters are heading back to school. and today hundreds of baltimore county teachers gathered in randallstown for new teacher orientation. sherrie johnson was there as the teachers got their assignments for the new school year. >> reporter: it was the educators who stepped off the yellow school bus, heading to a new teacher orientation at randallstown high school. state superintendent of schools dr. nancy grasmick was also on hand to greet teachers. >> we will not tolerate low- performing schools. we will insure that those schools will change on behalf of the students, that we will insure that we have high standards, and that we're

teaching to those standards, and that we're assessing the progress of children so we have accountability in education. >> reporter: more than 500 new baltimore county teachers filled an auditorium to hear plans for the new year. and soon dr. grasmick discussed the four assurances, increase teacher effectiveness, establish college and career data. make progress towards college and career-ready standards, and turn around schools for restructuring. goals that dr. joel hairston plans to help teachers carry out. >> we teach the children whose schooling is of interest to us. and i would like to see our adults to take a deeper interest and establish a level of trust with our children. and i'm convinced that our children will respond. >> reporter: many of the teachers are excited, and a little bit nervous about the upcoming school year. but one thing is for sure. these teachers want to provide the best possible education for students. the orientation provided up to

date information on h1n1, public charter school growth, fewer teacher shortages, plus a new after school supper program. so much going on, teachers can't help but have big plans for students. >> it's a priority. teaching the high school, it's a high school assessment. the students take it very seriously. and they're achieving on those, not only goes on the transcript, but it's required for the education. >> reporter: and with these educators at the helm, they're sure it can succeed. sherrie johnson, abc 2 news. >> and baltimore county public schools opens monday, august 31st. what did you have for breakfast this morning? coming up, why you may want to eat more cereal. the possible new health benefits. and heading out of town any time soon? major carrier out of baltimore is cutting fares. how low those prices will go. yesterday a twoarnd for today of 90 degrees. so we've got to be within 2 degrees of the 90. our high today 92. so we did hit that 2-degree guarantee, seven days in a row

now. >> great. >> our winner this evening from a town that i have never heard of for as long as i have lived in maryland. her name is lori rourke, and she's in fishing creek, maryland. congratulations. you have won an abc 2 umbrella. we'll be back with umbrella weather -- well, maybe not. it's too severe for that. we'll talk about it coming up. >> don't hold up a golf club. >> watch abc 2 news on channel 1le

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in 2 your health tonight, breakfast cereals and popcorn may be healthier for us than we once thought. new resources show the whole grains provide disease-fighting antioxidants. >> reporter: research has shown that eating whole grain foods reduces the risk for heart disease, obesity, and certain cancers. while these health benefits were originally thought to come

from high-fiber content of grains, a new study shows that antioxidants like those found in popcorn and breakfast cereal might be a more important ingredient for fighting off disease. researchers looked at the total levels of antioxidants in common breakfast cereals and snack foods and found many of them contained a surprising amount of an antioxidant known as polyphenols. while polyphenols are best known for lending disease- fighting power to foods like chocolate, wine and coffee, researchers discovered that many of the whole grains common to the american diet also contain significant levels of this antioxidant. breakfast cereals made with wheat or corn had the highest levels of polyphenols, and among snack foods, popcorn was the best source for this antioxidant. with this medical minute, i'm dr. timothy johnson. now the forecast certified baltimore's most accurate. here is chief meteorologist

norm lewis and maryland's most powerful doppler radar. >> our live camera shot from downtown shows a much better picture than what we had just about an hour ago as the storm came pounding through the region. temperature at bwi thurgood marshall has fallen to 76 degrees after hitting a high today of 92. the pressurizing 29.99. there are your tides tomorrow at fort mchenry. sunrise and set. tomorrow's winds from the southwest, 6 to 12 miles per hour. the low this morning was 70 degrees. the high 92. but the temperatures have fallen right off the chart because of the rainfall that has come through the area. york is down to 70. 76 in downtown. easton is still pretty hot. they haven't had the rain over there yet, and over in dover. the whole system is making its way towards the north and east. we'll show to it you in just a second. a severe thunderstorm warning remains in effect for baltimore county. they have cancelled it for baltimore city. it remains in effect for harford county, adams and york county up in pennsylvania. they'll probably add in cecil county a little bit later. down in the atlantic, we're waving hurricane bill as it trudges its way across the

atlantic. bill has increased today to a very strong storm, now packing winds of 110 miles an hour. moving towards the west northwest at 14 miles an hour. national hurricane center still feels like the storm system is going to be curbing on towards the north and to the north atlantic, and it should not bother the continental united states. we might see some high tide and some rip currents and things of that nature along the seaboard, but the storm does not look like it's going to hit the continental u.s. the satellite picture throughout the day, lots of sunshine, lots of heat and humidity, giving rise to shower and thunderstorm activity. there is that system pulling through the area. it gave us some torrential downpours in the downtown area. now right now maryland's most powerful radar, that's where it's indicating the heaviest activity right now is right on the baltimore county-harford county line, going up near black horse, right up in this region right up in there. that's where the heaviest activity is. now what we're going to do is outline exactly where that storm system is, and as you can see, it's got kind of a little diplomacy doodle there. it is moving towards the north

and east, at 25 miles per hour. in fact, let me shift the map down so you can see ate little bit better. should be in to port deposit about now. delta, pennsylvania about five minutes. millers, rising sun, pylesville, it's a very severe storm. let me show you how much lightning we've had in the storm system as it made its way through the downtown area. it just exploded into lightning all over the place. over 2500 hits at one point in time. and let's see. let's get a current lightning count on it. it got up to -- well, over 3,000 lightning strikes just in the past 45 minutes. as it makes its way north and east. if you live up in this region in harford county, cecil county, be prepared for a very strong storm move booing the region. it's going to be brief, but very strong. the system continues to move on towards the north and east. during the day tomorrow, again, more afternoon shower and thunderstorm activity because of heat and humidity, will bubble up once again, and again on thursday, the same kind of a situation will occur. so your forecast for tonight.

mostly cloudy, showers and storms. you just saw them on the radar. 73 for the overnight low. during the day tomorrow, it's going to be a scattered shower and stormy day. hot and humid with a high of 89 degrees. and the extended outlook, that hot and humid weather will continue the afternoon thunderstorm activity for thursday, friday, saturday, and sunday. but as you can see, saturday and sunday starts to cool off a little bit. and then monday and tuesday, partly cloudy, and 83 and 85 degrees. strong storms making their way up the 95 corridor into northern baltimore and harford county. if you live in that region, be prepared for sudden and violent storms. we'll continue tracking them. anything you need to know, we'll have it right here on abc 2. >> norm, thank you. well, you might want to start your christmas shopping now. sony has announced today that it's slashing the price of the playstation 3 by $100. it will no cost $299. the price on the 80 gigabyte playstation 3 takes effect immediately. sony is also launching a slimmer, lighter model in early september that will cost $299. the company hopes the price cut

will boost game sales ahead of the holidays. here is another chance to save money if you're flying. southwest airlines is cutting fares. we're told some seats could sell for as little as $59 each way. but be washed. the lower prices don't cover many days around the thanksgiving and christmas holidays. tickets must be purchased by november 3rd. we've still got some menacing clouds, but by and large, the heavy clouds downtown have stopped. norm will be back with another look at the forecast, because it is storming in other places, and traffic is a little heavy there on 695. we'll be back in a moment. (announcer) carefree introduces protection, times ten.

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[ closing bell ] >> after a big decline, stocks bounced back today. analysts say it may be due in part for second quarter earnings from home depot and target beating wall street expectations. the dow jones closed. the s&p closed up 9. every thunderstorm continues to roll through the region. right now approaching northern portions of harford county, going up into cecil county. extremely heavy rainfall. lots of lightning with the storm systems. a severe thunderstorm warning does remain in effect for harford county. we'll keep you posted as things develop throughout the evening. >> all right, norm, thank you. that's all for us on abc 2 news at 6. i'm marybeth marsden. thanks for joining us. we'll be back here tonight at 11. we hope to see you then.

have a great evening. stay safe from these storms. click weather on abc2news.com. >> maryland's most powerful radar. baltimore's most accurate forecast. >> any time, anywhere. customize your weather by zip code. run the interactive radar. zoom anywhere you like. get your daily forecast hour by hour. the most powerful radar. the most accurate forecast. guaranteed. try getting weather when you want it, how you want it. abc2news.com. click and see what works for you.