it looks like that we're going to be going pretty much free from severe weather here in baltimore. but there is still a chance that we could see a shower. but again, a severe thunderstorm warning in effect for st. mary's county until 5:15. here is the metro baltimore forecast. mostly cloudy. a few scattered storms. but nothing like last evening. we'll see temperatures hanging in the 80s for the next couple of probably until about 9:30 or so, then they'll cool off overnight. we'll continue tracking the storm and have all the latest in the forecast, coming up in a couple of minutes. we have new information tonight about the suspect in a vicious beating that authorities say is a hate crime. investigators say the man in custody was one of three white attackers yelling racial slurs as they beat 76-year-old james privett at a south baltimore park. roosevelt leftwich joins us with more. >> reporter: marybeth, we now know more about the one man police caught and how the city is going to respond to the hate crime. authorities say 28-year-old calvin lockner had a history of

violence and tattoos that suggested a connection with white supremacist groups. they say lockner has a hitler tattoo on his stomach and other marks that show his membership in the aryan and hitler brotherhood. charging documents show lockner and at least two other men beat 76-year-old james privett tuesday morning. privot was knocked to the ground and beat when a bat while the attackers shouted racial slurs. >> we have some basic information as it relates to the other two suspects. we are gaining more information, including anonymous citizen tips. >> reporter: today the police commissioner, the mayor and other civic leaders said they were making a stand against this hate crime. they say this type of thing has no place in baltimore, or anywhere else, and that a person, who matter who they are has the right to follow the

pursuit peacefully without being attacked. >> we want to urge folks to use this incident as a wake-up call for us to reaffirm our belief in equality and in justice and allowing people to be respected. >> reporter: the thing that perplexes many folks here is why here. this corner of baltimore city at the anne arundel county line is perhaps one of the most racially diverse areas in the city, and the fishermen that come here reflect that. the crime is shocking, and has left many people wondering about the need to make this often neglected park better. >> especially right here between the county and city line, you don't hear about stuff like that. usually down here maybe stealing cars or petty crimes. >> just for having a guy come down here and get beat up like that, it don't make no sense. >> lockner remains in custody without bail. in addition to a hate crime, he

is charged with attempted murder, theft, assault, and two other charges. the go other suspects remain at large. roosevelt leftwich, abc 2 news. neighbors help police catch a suspect in an early morning shooting in east baltimore. sources tell abc 2 news, a 52- year-old man was shot on homewood avenue around 1 a.m. witnesses led police right away to the man they say did it. the victim by the way is expected to be okay. police have identified a man killed in a baltimore county hit-and-run. authorities say 68-year-old john fetters was walking along hammonds ferry road in lancedown around 11:00 last night when he fell into the roadway. authorities say fetters was then run over by someone driving a dark-colored suv who left the scene without stopping. if you have any information about the crash, call baltimore county police at 410-307-2020. and baltimore police are looking for the driver of this car. we're told the car was traveling on i-83 near the ruxton road exit around a 2:00 this morning when it slammed

into a guardrail, flipped over, and burst into flames. when paramedics arrived, no one was inside the vehicle. police would like you to give them call if you have any information. carbon monoxide problems continue to put residents of one baltimore county community in danger. last night, a young couple and a baby girl at the cove village apartments in essex had to be taken to the hospital after showing signs of possible carbon monoxide poisoning. cove village has had ongoing co problems over the years. in 2005, a family was killed. a month later, nine people were hospitalized. many residents say they are angry and frustrated. >> i have children that i'm trying to raise. and you know, i know they don't to find me dead or i don't want to find them dead because of this. they need to address the problem correctly. >> since covering the story we have talked to a number of people who have moved out of cove village because of the ongoing co issues.

they say it just isn't worth risking their lives for a problem that is taking too long to fix. we received this statement from sawyer realty today. in part, it was determined that an exterior vent was malfunctioned. this was corrected this morning. our residents' safety remains our highest priority. if you have stayed at a radisson hotel lately, listen up. the company says its computer system was hacked. it happened between last november and may. radisson says it has informed custom mothers of the situation. officials say guest information may have been accessed, including credit card numbers. there is no word on how many customers are affected, but guests are advised to check their account statements carefully. unauthorized purchases should be reported. according to a federal judge, prince george's county violated the u.s. constitution when it furloughed 5900 workers to save $17 million. the judge ruled that the county violated the contract clause, which bars states from passing laws, impairing the obligation of contracts.

now the two sides have been ordered to discuss how employees will be repaid. county official says the rule willing mean massive layoffs, and they do plan to appeal. expect delays if you're doing any late-night driving on interstate 95 between baltimore and washington. that's because crews are working on the inner county connector, the icc. the closings on i-95 between route 198 and laurel and route 202 and beltsville begin this week. new tonight, the government announced new guidelines for dealing with the swine flu in the workplace. it is the latest move to fight an expected resurgent this fall of the virus that has affected millions worldwide. lindsey davis tells us, sometimes the best common defense is common sense. >> reporter: be sure to wash your hands. sounds like something your mother would say. but today it was u.s. government officials giving the same advice to ward off swine flu, or h1n1 at the workplace.

>> this fall it would serve the country better to praise common sense and responsibility. >> reporter: government officials are calling on u.s. businesses to help control the spread of swine flu. they say businesses can help by letting their employees know if they exhibit flu-like symptoms, they should stay at home. encouraging employees to frequently wash their hands and cover their mouths when they cough and sneeze, and have contingency plans in the event of the spread of the virus, perhaps incorporating telemarketing or tag staggered shifts. >> the vaccine we know is one of the best strategies to immunize the population against this brand-new flu strain. so getting employees prepared to receive a vaccine is important. >> reporter: just this week, the cdc announced they're at least a month behind schedule producing the vaccine. >> because of this delay, it's more likely that this virus will cause more illness, more hospitalizations, and even more deaths in our country that we pated. >> reporter: the hope was to have 120 million doses by mid-

october. instead, there will only be 45 million, with another 20 million expected to arrive each week after that. officials predicted up to 2 billion people will become infected worldwide. swine flu appears to be about as deadly as the regular flu which kills about 36,000 people a year in the united states. lindsey davis, new york. and coming up at 5:30, we'll take a look at how local schools are preparing for the swine flu as students soon return to the classroom. a pioneering journalist, best known as a creator of the news magazine "60 minutes" has died. don hewitt passed away at his home today. he had been battling cancer. hewitt not only created "60 minutes," he also produced the first televised presidential debate between john f. kennedy and richard nixon in 1960. don hewitt was 86. a soldier with maryland ties has been killed in afghanistan. 31-year-old sergeant first

class william woods, junior lived in chesapeake bay peek, virginia, but he was a member of the 20th special forces group in glen arm in baltimore county. the department of defense announced today that woods was shot august 14th in ganzi. he died sunday at a medical center in germany. and at least 95 people have been killed, and more than 400 wounded in a wave of baghdad bombings. it is the deadliest coordinated attack in iraq this year, and come amid fears that iraqi government troupes are not ready to provide security. >> we understand the foreign ministry in baghdad sustained serious damage with multiple deaths and injuries. an attack on a diplomatic facility, and all those working for peaceful relations through dialogue and diplomacy is an attack on the entire international community. >> reporter: officials say the attacks are most likely coordinated by al qaeda, but there is no hard evidence at this time there are no reports

of american casualties in this morning's attack. there is word tonight a decision has been reached in the case of the lockerbie bomber. an official announcement is expected tomorrow, but sky news citing unnamed sources says abdel al-megrahi will be released from prison on compassionate grounds. the 57-year-old has terminal cancer. he was the only person convicted in the bombing of pan am flight 103. the jet blew up over lockerbie, scotland, killing 270 people, including 8 from maryland. milwaukee's mayor is recovering from his injuries, and talking about what happened when he helped a woman who was being threatened over the weekend. mayor tom barrett was attacked when he tried to help the woman and her 1-year-old band from daughter. barrett and his family were walking through a neighborhood after leaving the wisconsin state fair last saturday when they heard the woman calling for help. as the 55-year-old mayor called 911, the attacker turned on

barrett and hit him with a metal pipe, cutting his face, shattering his right hand and knocking out some teeth. barrett says he was just doing what any good citizen would do. >> overall, what i want to stress is how -- i've been in situations in this community my whole life. and i can't think of a situation like this where people would not have responded the way i did. when someone says call 911, you call 911. it's that straight forward. >> a 20-year-old man is under arrest. he see the 1-year-old girl's father. mayor barrett has gotten a lot of calls from well-wishers, including president barack obama. important news tonight for consumers. credit card changes go into effect tomorrow. what you need to look out for. plus parents, you know just how costly back to school shopping can be. we have some more tips to help you save some money. and devastating storms sweep through texas. a closer look at the damage they caused. and taking a look at the

temperatures from fallston, 86 degrees. they had a high of 91. norm is coming up with the full forecast.

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you're watching baltimore's station that works for you. now abc 2 news at 5. >> major cleanup effort is underway in texas after a series of devastating storms hit the area. one construction worker was killed after heavy rain flooded a tunnel he was working in. as abc's jeremy hubbard tells us, a tornado sent shoppers running for their lives. >> reporter: the twister touched down outside the kohl's department store around 2:00 tuesday afternoon, catching shoppers off guard. a worker at a nearby restaurant grabbed his cell phone, capturing this video of the storm's powerful wind, bending trees and blowing debris. >> it went over towards wal- mart there was a car flipped upside down at wal-mart.

>> reporter: it ripped apart the roof of this wal-mart. on the ground shopping carts and debris littered the parking lot. the straight line winds rearranged and overturned cars. >> another car just landed on top of mine. and came in on me. which is very scary. >> reporter: the roof of the kohl's department store collapsed, and several shoppers were injured by flying debris. the victims were rushed to an area hospital. most of the injuries were not life-threatening, but it is surely not the shopping experience they had expected. >> i see a lot of debris everywhere. it looks like a lot of roofing material. a lot of the shopping carts were moved out of this position, pushed across the parking lot. >> crazy to see how random that was. three cars would be fine and one just flipped over. >> exactly. that was in the beaumont, texas area yesterday. and the same storm system has now moved up into the central portion of the united states. but not that much power. we've got some powerful thunderstorms in our region. but it's way down to the south in maryland. at this point in time around

the downtown area, things are looking pretty good. we'll take a look at the camera shot. see breaks looking pretty nice out there. nothing like it was going on yesterday. our temperature at bwi 84 degrees. 67% humidity. wind currently from the southwest at 6 miles an hour. the pressure falling 29.94. there are your tides tomorrow at fort mchenry. 7:05. low tide 1:59 this the afternoon. winds from the southwest at 6 to 12 miles per hour. the sun comes up at 6:23. we'll set at 7:54. temperatures around the area right now, hagerstown 91. however, it's 84 in baltimore because they've had a few showers down near the bwi area. but the heaviest activity has been down south of d.c. over southern portions of maryland, around st. mary's county. let's take a look in the atlantic there is hurricane bill hiding behind the abc 2 logo. bill throughout the past 12 to 18 hours continues to track on towards the north and west. and as you can see, it continues to gain strength. a very marked eye.

it looks like just a dot in the middle of the heavy cloudiness. right now, the eye is about 35 miles wide, and it has intensified into a very strong storm, a category 4 storm right now with winds of 135 miles an hour moving towards the northwest at 17 miles an hour. it's now starting to accelerate, and is now taking that more of a westerly track or northwesterly track. right now 1526 miles to the east-southeast of miami. the national hurricane center still thinks a bill is going to be taking a turn on up into the north atlantic and should not bother the continental united states. however, along the eastern seaboard here, we will see some high tides and possibly some riptides as bill goes by over the weekend. but it doesn't look like it's going to be a major system impacting the united states. as far as our satellite picture, around our region throughout the day, we had some clouds this morning with some sun during the day. and as you can see, the shower and thunderstorm activity that yesterday was right over the top of the baltimore area is now down to the south of us.

from d.c. southward, fredericksburg, virginia just getting pounded with heavy shower and thunderstorm activity. a little bit larger picture shows that system as being fed a lot of moisture coming up from the gulf of mexico. that moisture just continues to funnel up, and that is what is causing the afternoon showers and thunderstorms. but again, most of it right now is now to the south of our region. right now there is baltimore there is d.c. there is the heavy thunderstorm activity. and up until about two minutes ago, we had a severe thunderstorm warning as well as a tornado warning in effect for st. mary's county. but that system is now making its way towards the east. they did not see a tornado touch down. it was just indicated by doppler radar. again, around the baltimore area, things looking pretty good. in owings mills 86. 86 in fallston. edgemere 86. 83 in catonsville, and 88 in the hanover region. for the forecast tonight, the majority of the showers stayed to the south of the baltimore area. tomorrow they bubble up once again. and then again on friday. a chance for shower and thunderstorm activity because of heat and humidity.

here is your forecast for the overnight period. mostly cloudy, a few showers, but most of them will be south of the region, 74 degrees for the overnight low. during the day tomorrow, partly cloudy, showers and storms once again. because of heat and humidity with a high of 88 degrees. and the extended outlook. same caned of a situation continues into friday and saturday. but a bit cooler on saturday. things start to clear up on sunday with partly cloudy and 84. then monday and tuesday, looking pretty good, as well as wednesday with partly cloudy skies. we'll be back in a while with more on the weather. >> thanks, norm. in 2 your health tonight, growing controversy over vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. health officials have recommended gardasil for girls as young as 11 and 12. but problems have been reported in some who have received that vaccine. and as abc's john mckenzie reports, a study is raising new questions. >> it's good to see you. welcome back. >> reporter: it's a dilemma for millions of parents across the country. whether to vaccinate their daughters against a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer.

>> for mere own health, i did it. >> reporter: gardasil, a series of three shots given over six months has been heavily promoted. >> the right time for prevention is now. it's about prevention. >> reporter: so far more than 7 million americans have received gardasil injects. the study out today identifies 12,000 medical problems after vaccination. most are mild, dizziness, headache and fainting. but there are more than 700 reports of serious medical problems including blood clots, autoimmune disorders, and 32 cases of death. >> these are additional reports. and i don't think that we can assume unnecessarily a cause- and-effect relationship as many of these women had other underlying medical conditions. >> reporter: but these reports have already caused some doctors to think twice about the vaccine. >> most doctors i know have stopped giving this vaccine because of the safety issues around it now. >> reporter: as a gynecologist, dr. jacques sees the deadly effects of cervical cancer. he is also the father of an 11-

year-old daughter. >> i'm not going to have my daughter vaccinated right now. >> why not? >> because i think there is other ways to prevent cervical cancer, the old standard, pap smear, and this vaccine, i don't know enough about it yet. >> reporter: many doctors it turns out may not know all they should about gardasil. a separate unusually critical study says major medical associations have been too quick working with the vaccine maker merck to encourage large scale vaccination campaigns. >> i feel that we don't have enough information or data yet to be able to safely say that will prevent cervical cancer. >> reporter: making the decision to vaccinate all the more difficult. more many parents and pediatricians. john mckenzie, abc news, new york. think about somebody or some thing you never want to find at your front door. now imagine if this ended up on your porch. aagghh! one family's unwelcome visitor. we'll show you what happened next. and father goose?

how this gussied up gang of geese saved the life of their leader. >> watch abc 2 news any time on channel 1 with comcast on demand. (employee 1) subject: urgent!! bob!! i need the baker file stat!! reply!! still making changes. circle back later!! what's with the yelling? oh, our internet slows down during peak hours so sending e-mails and large files just takes forever. so, we just yell. ben!!! thanks for the flowers!!! i thought you hated me!!! lol!!! semi-colon! right parenthesis! winky emoticon!

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abc 2 news at 5:30 is just minutes away. hello, everybody. i'm terry owens. new at 5:30, with flu season coming, what you should know is your kids prepare to go back to school. plus, how to get the most out of your back to school budget. and new credit card rules are set to take effect. we'll have the story and norm's forecast all new at 5:30. >> see you then. our look around the nation takes us to florida for a terrifying rescue. a he was hurt while working on a crane over water. firefighters lowered him to a waiting boat. officials credit previous training exercises for this successful rescue.

and this will give you the creeps. can you imagine this 11-foot, 50-pound python slithering on to your front porch? that's what happened to one california family. they quickly called animal control, and even the officer said they were shocked by the size of the burmese python. officials are hoping the snake's owner will call, otherwise the reptile will go to a rescue group. so you wouldn't exactly call him mother goose. but this man dubbed the gooseman probably wouldn't turn down the title of father goose. and these geese all gussied up are called the dirty dozen puddle jumpers. the gooseman from iowa created the puddle jumpers after being diagnosed with a lung illness. his doctor told him he needed to get exercise. five years later and a hundred pounds lighter, he has trained his geese to march with him for up to half a mile. the detailing news at 5:30 which starts in just two minutes.