i'm like, when he came, i was like, oh, my goodness, i get to see this man! close up. >> reporter: if you would have told darlene daniels a month ago she would get a hug from michelle obama and sit in the capitol for a president speech she would have told you you lost your mind but she did, sitting with the hall of congress just two seats away from the first lady. >> nice hands, pretty dress. and not just, you know, couldn't stop looking at her but i didn't want to be like a crazy person or something. you know? >> reporter: the baltimore woman was there because of her story. at one time daniels with thousands in debt from hospital and doctor bills, now has free health care which helped take care of the bills but for a long time she thought she would be buried by the debt. daniels is hoping that congress can agree on some sort of health care that can help people out with no insurance so they get to go to the doctor without any worries.

>> it was an important speech. i just hope whatever bill he tries to make passed, passes. it's important we have insurance. i got it now and most certainly going to use it and i was fortunate. i just want other people to be fortunate like me, to have insurance. it's very important. >> reporter: daniels was one of 15 people invited to hear the speech from around the country. she says she also got a chance to talk briefly to the prident one-on-one but just didn't talk to him about health care, also asked if she could get a picture with him. her official photo will come in a few weeks. roosevelt leftwich, abc2 news. now for a look at tonight's top stories. howard county health officials are getting a jumpstart on vaccinating people against the seasonal flu. last year people lined up to get their flu shots in november but officials moved the date up to avoid confusion and overlap with the swine flu virus vaccine. that vaccine is supposed to be available in mid-october.

the driver through flu clinic is scheduled for october 4th from 10:00 to 2:00. pigtown neighbors are going virtual to fight crime in their neighborhood. the washington village development association posted youtube videos showing alleged drug dealers. three of the four suspected dealers were arrested and now face charges. the association says it will continue to post videos of known offenders and even use nuisance laws until the criminal element is out of their neighborhood. abc2 wants to help you kick crime to the curb in your neighborhood. each week we circle your area profiling people that police need your help tracking down. abc2 news brian kuebler has this week's crime checker. >> reporter: abc2 is working to keep your community safe. each week we're highlighting some of the most dangerous criminals in your neighborhood hoping to bring them to justice. this week we're focusing on two crimes in anne arundel county. police are still search for a teen accused of assaulting a

woman at john downs park in pasadena late sunday afternoon. a woman walking on the trail noticed a teen riding a bike before he ran up behind her and grabbed her around the neck. she was able to escape with only minor injuries. police searched the park but were unable to locate the suspect. if you have any information on the teen suspect call police. anne arundel county police are also looking for three women that robbed a beauty supply store in late august. the woman shown here entered the j.b. beauty supply store on ritchie highway and asked to see some items behind the counter. they then sprayed the clerk with pepper spray and made off with around $350 worth of beauty supplies. anyone with any information on either of these crimes is asked to call metro crime stoppers at 1-866-7-lockup. don't forget, you can always see more reports at abc2news.com/crimechecker. brian kuebler, abc2 news. he was just 17 years old when his life was turned upside down because of a bad decision.

brandon solvera was a high school senior when he crashed his car, almost died. got behind the wheel after drinking at a party. he wound up in a coma and had to undergo years of rehab. he spoke to students at mount st. joe's about the dangers of drinking and driving. >> brandon made that bad choice that night about drinking and driving. will pay for it the rest of his life physically. college was, all the in the plans. that he ever worked so hard for disappeared that night. completely over. >> brandon and his father travel the country encouraging teens to make the right decision, not to drink. heavy rainfall across the eastern shore. as you can see some very heavy rainfall from ocean city going southward through the assateague area and coastal sections of virginia. also the i-shore and delaware -- joyce shore and delaware

getting pounded. clouds and showers to the east and south and we'll see rainfall later on in the baltimore area. complete forecast coming up in a couple of minutes. economists were on capitol hill today as new numbers are out showing u.s. companies are laying off fewer workers. president obama said last night his stimulus policies have pulled the country back from the brink. the council of economic advisors says the stimulus created or saved more than one million jobs. experts say the recovery act is responsible for changing the trajectory of the economy and adding as much as three percentage points to gdp growth in the second quarter. but not everyone agrees. >> my net impression is that the stimulus act is having a positive effect on the economy. >> the frustration the people are feeling is about the stimulus bill that is not working. budget deficits of a trillion dollars and more as far as the eye can see. >> according to the report only

$151 billion of the original $787 billion has been distrint tributed to american consumers and businesses in the form of tax cuts. tonight we put health care reform in focus. who stands to gain the most if health care is reformed? who will get the leasbang for their buck? and dining on a dime for a good cause. how you can help, too. first, we'll head across the bridge, take you over to ocean city. the emergency management agency there where you can see they have just been dumped on this afternoon. 1.8 inches of rain. winds are gusting, the temperature, they reached a high today of 68. the current is 65. hey, i'm worried about mrs. lowenberg next door.

why? i don't know, she's running around the lobby, yammering about fios tv, internet and phone all for $79.99 a month? seems crazy... actually, fios customers get that price for 6 months. it's like getting three services for the price of two. so am i the one that's crazy? no? (announcer) now get three amazing fios services for the price of two. tv, internet and phone for only $79.99 a month for 6 months. plus a free multi-room dvr for three months. record shows in one room-- watch them in up to six other rooms. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v

before september 19th, and get fios tv-- ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction by j.d. power and associates america's top rated internet-- now even faster, and crystal clear phone service. all for just $79.99 a month for 6 months. plus, a free multi-room dvr for 3 months. that's an overall savings of $240 dollars. hurry, it's your last chance to get this incredible deal. 3 great services, for the price of 2. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v today this is fios. this is big.

stocks surge the for a third straight day. a new york landmark files for bankruptcy. owners of tavern on the green, the famous restaurant in central park are filing for chapter 11. the action comes just four months before the 75-year-old restaurant is to hand over its license to another operator. the owners blame the financial crisis and new york city's decision to give the tavern license to a new operator. tavern on the green's building dates back to the 19th

century and used to house sheep. two baltimore county gyms have closed their doors for good. the towson fitness center, formerly gold's gym in towson decided not to renew their lease. the memberships have been transferred to gold's gym in parkville. the gold's in timonium is also closing those members will be heading to parkville. jamie is taking us out to dinner tonight. how about a cold beer, a refreshing salad? andd a side of charity. and after dodging space junk the shuttle and its crew are heading home. but will they land tonight? i'm jamie costello. we continue to work together in these tough economic times. want to invite you to abc2news.com. on our "financial survival guide" page, today you'll find out how you can get debt collectors off your back. you know the law is actually on

your side? we'll show you how to take advantage. plus, babies can be expensive but you can be wasting your money if you buy these eight things. all waiting for you now on the "financial survival guide" at abc2news.com. come join us. i'm jamie costello. explain. oh yea, well for 6 months, customers get all three: fios tv, internet and phone for just $79.99 a month. oh, all right, see...

you're just moving your fingers aren't you? i've gotta cut my nails. (announcer) now get three amazing fios services for the price of two. tv, internet, and phone for only... plus a free multi-room dvr for three months. record shows in one room- watch in another. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v before september 19th. and get fios tv - ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction by j.d. power and associates america's top rated internet-- now even faster, and crystal clear phone service. all for just... plus, for a limited time, a free multi-room dvr for 3 months. that's an overall savings of $240 dollars over six months. it's your last chance to get this incredible deal. 3 great services, for the price of 2. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v today.

president obama is hoping his call to action will finally push health care proposals through congress and into law. one thing is certain. it won't be all things to all people. abc's john hendrin has that story tonight. >> i won't stand by - >> reporter: president obama says americans as a people will win with his health care reform plan. >> it will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. it will provide insurance for

those who don't. >> reporter: but as with most track -- dramatic whaings that emanate from washington, there are winners and losers. the uninsured are clear winners. for those who already have lavish health care plans, not so much. >> people who have very generous gold plated insurance plans provided by their employers are probably going to end up losing some, either paying much more for those benefits out-of-pocket or having them scaled back. >> reporter: then there are seniors on medicare. >> i'm one of those throwaways we've heard so much about. >> reporter: president obama hopes to cut medicare payments to hospitals to help pay for reform. >> so seniors are feel that the cutbacks -- fearful that the cutbacks and amounts of money going to medicare will help pay for these particular benefits. >> reporter: drugmakers might have to accept lower prices, insurers might have to end

limits on pre-existing conditions. even for the losers there are benefits. >> the insurance companies can win as well because they will have more customers paying more premiums. >> reporter: that's up to 47 million new customers. customers who would also drive new business to drugmakers, doctors and hospitals. >> hospitals will make money. they will have less uninsured patients to take care of. >> reporter: not everyone agrees they will be able to take advantage of it. >> it will bankrupt all the major hospitals in the united states. >> reporter: one sure group of winners, the legions of lawyers hired to interpret the new reform law at health care businesses across the country. john hendrin, abc news, the white house. ocean city and parts of the eastern shore are getting pounded, the question is, same system headed to us? >> it will skirt us.

we've been on the edge of it the past couple of days. we've been fortunate. i thought we would see extremely heavy rain. we had heavy rain but it's been just to the east of the baltimore area, mostly on the eastern shore. tonight we're going to see scattered showers, we're going to see breezy conditions but nothing like the 50 mile-per-hour gusts they had at ocean city today. with almost two inches of rain and it's still raining over there. let's look outside now. your shot from harbor cam, overlooking the light street pavilion, temperatures at bwi marshall now, very cool, employment, 68 degrees, 55% humidity, wind currently from the northeast at 18 miles per hour. and picking up throughout the day, the pressure rising 30.29. coastal flood advisory remains in effect for the counties in southern maryland, also around the dc area. we've also got a gale warning in effect for chesapeake bay and also all along the eastern seaboard. because of that storm system that is generating those powerful showers and thunderstorms. right now temperatures across the region, hagerstown 71.

67 york. pax river 66. 64 easton. 64 in dover, delaware. our satellite picture throughout the day, scattered showers here, here in the baltimore area precipitation-free, even saw a little sunshine. but look at this massive bunch of rachel head -- rainfall heading in our direction. pummeling the shores through virginia, the mouth of the chesapeake bay. that system is rotating this moisture into the region. again we're right on the western edge of this. so we will see some scattered showers out of it. i don't think we're going to see the flooding rains they saw on the eastern shore but there's a possibility that some places particularly down in the anne arundel county area and down into charles and st. mary's county could see extremely heavy rainfall. look at our radar, in the past couple hours there's ocean city there. as you see the heavy rain just really soaking that region. here in the baltimore area we're precipitation-free but again this whole system is moving in our direction. so as it moves across the bay it will lose a lot of power. but we're still going to see

showers from it. nothing like what they've seen over the southern portions of maryland. right now in reisterstown 64 degrees. 65 in parkville. fallston 63. dundalk 66 -- sorry, 65 dundalk. edgemere 66 degrees. mount airy 65. over in centreville now, 65. 67 chestertown. northeast 64. the forecast for tonight, scattered showers throughout the region with the heaviest rainfall to the east and south of us. during the day tomorrow, more pop-up scattered showers, again the heavy stuff to the east. also on saturday, a chance for scattered showers but most of it will be down in virginia. here's your forecast for the overnight period -- showers and storms but not as heavy as on the eastern shore. still going to be breezy, overnight low of 61. during the day tomorrow, a mostly cloudy day, a few showers, no torrential downpours. high tomorrow 78 degrees. the next seven days -- partly cloudy on saturday. sunday looking pretty good with lots of sunshine and 81 degrees. that 81 is also going to be repeated once we get along into

the monday region. now as far as what is going to be happening on tuesday, wednesday looks like lots of sunshine around. mild temperatures. thursday a chance for choice and scattered showers. don't forget, you can always go to our our web site, abc2news.com to check our interactive doppler radar. it's in the process of updating. you see part of it cut off down there. but if we actually kind of back out a tiny bit and show you the entire eastern seaboard it's a very small system but getting extremely heavy rainfall. there's also rainfall in portions of alabama, into mississippi and into louisiana but again this is the coastal storm there that we're concerned about. and again you can access this 24/7 on your own computer at home at abc2news.com. we'll be back at 6:00 with more on the weather. if you have not been out on the town in a while next thursday is your night. abc2 news jamie costello tells us about a night to get out and dine and give a worthy cause your dime.

>> you're looking at the first fireproof building built in baltimore in 1905, it's gone through many hands but volcker stewart knew what to do with it, make beer, cook food, make friends. on the 13th sell celebrate 13 years on lake charles. >> between the success of our kitchen and brewery it's been a very successful business. >> reporter: volcker used to work at the reference library with the university of baltimore. his chef dave newman used to work in san francisco. >> the quality of the people i work with, the ownership, the commitment to using local organic sustainable products, our clientiel, there's really nothing i don't like about this place. >> reporter: today they are making a new batch of resurrection beer you'll drink a month from now. what makes it artful, they will donate 60% of your check to

movable feast. >> we say don't feel guilty about dessert that evening, that extra appetizer or bottle of wine, it's going to a good cause. >> movable feast started in a friend's basement. they have grown to 1,000 clients that they take care of everyday. >> we are clearly very concerned going into this year, we didn't know what to expect because of the challenges facing the restaurant industry in particular. >> it's remarkably important for us. movable feast is an amazing thing, by supplying folks who are really in need with meals at home. i think supporting them in that is a very important part of our mission >> reporter: dining for life is the night you can have crab water melon or eastern shore shrimp here. it's beautiful. here's your table for four waiting for you for next thursday night. beautiful artwork on the walls by local artists. i want to take you downstairs. this you've got to see. let the older crowd eat

upstairs. you come down and hang with the college crowd. is this great in remember these? right out of the bowling alley. in a time when every dime counts, brewers art is making the sacrifice for the good of others. >> when people walk in that door and they leave what do you want them thinking about this place going out? >> i've never been any place like that before. >> reporter: so make a toast, have a sip and salad next thursday for movable feast. jamie costello, abc2 news. >> it's a date. last year dining out for life raised $70,000 for movable feast. this year, with your help they are looking to make $75,000 more. it's among one of the 50 restaurants helping out. visit abc2news.com for more information. you can find it under "links mentioned on air." the city is still taking out the number 8 heist at camden yards. police say the suspects were able to rip the monument right out and made off with it in the back of a pickup truck. it was all caught on crime

cameras and the suspects were arrested. now we asked what you think should happen to those suspects. here with your choices. nothing, because it was harmless. lifetime ban from camden yards. or 2,632 hours of community service. that's one hour for each consecutive game played by cal. well, according to our web poll results the community service went out by 81%. with a look ahead to abc2 news at 6:00 -- a mother and son charged with animal cruelty. how the dogs rescued from their home are doing tonight. and, reaction to the outburst from last night as president obama addresses a joint session of congress. we'll have that and more straight ahead. ♪

the amazing always infinity. ♪ it's astonishingly flexible. ♪ unbelievably soft. ♪ and has an amazing material... that's 4x more absorbent than you may need. making fluids seem to... poof... disappear. just like magic. ♪ always infinity. have a happy period.

the space shuttle discovery is on its way home tonight after sidestepping some space junk. the crew hopes to land in florida but the weather might not make that possible. we've got the latest now from abc's kevin oliver. >> we stand by, carefully watching the weather. >> reporter: the astronauts aboard discovery are preparing for a landing attempt tonight even though the odds seem stacked against them. with clouds and winds increasing near the runway the chances of bringing discovery home on the first attempt are diminishing. earlier, the commander had to steer the shuttle away from a small piece of debris that was getting too close for comfort. the unidentified object appeared in the same orbit as the shuttle after the third spacewalk. nasa was concerned if they didn't move the object could strike discovery and possibly damage the shuttle. >> it was just a very slight

maneuver to get us out of the way, make sure there was no issue with that. >> reporter: the crew is wrapping up a 13-day delivery mission to the international space station. they delivered tons of supplies, equipment and experiments. they left behind nicole stott from clearwater, florida, who said she noticed a distinct smell in space. >> it's not unpleasant. i don't know how to describe it. >> reporter: the crew is bringing back buzz lightyear, a disney toy that has been on board for 18 months as part of an education program. it's now awaiting a ticker tape parade at disney world upon its return. >> that was kevin oliver reporting. renewed efforts to collar people abusing animals. plus, an automaker allowing people to return new cars? that and more on abc2 news at 6:00 which starts now. an orchard beach woman and her son are