i'm marybeth marsden. it happened overnight at a home where several students live, at the corner of university parkway and university place. abc2 news linda so tells us more. >> reporter: it was a chaotic scene overnight. this was shot moments after police surrounded the home where an intruder was killed with a samurai sword. >> it was a gruesome situation in the backyard. >> reporter: police say four undergraduate hopkins students were in this house 1:30 tuesday morning when they heard a noise. one student grabbed a sword and went out back. the suspect tried to get in through the backyard. you can see part of the fence has been ripped up. neighbors say they called 911 after hearing commotion and someone screaming get away from me! police say the suspected burglar was in the garage. the suspect lunged at the student and in self-defense the student fought back, nearly severing the suspect's hand and cutting his body. the suspect died on the scene. >> oh, my goodness. that is horrible. i mean, people nowadays, can't

live safe anymore in their own homes. i think it's ridiculous. >> reporter: daniel pullen says the sword looked like something you see in the movies. >> with a black handle. it had the crisscross, like gold crisscross on it. curved just like you see in the "kill bill" movies. >> reporter: the students were taken in for questioning. police say earlier in the evening their home was broken into. two laptops and sony playstation stolen. police aren't sure if that burglar was the same one who returned overnight. neighbors say the students should not face criminal charges. >> you should be able to defend yourself in your own home. you should be able to defend yourself anywhere you go. >> reporter: in north baltimore, linda so, abc2 news. >> at this point police are not releasing the name of the student but say he is a junior chemistry major who turns 21 this sunday. as for the suspect, all police are saying now, he was 49 years old, with a lengthy criminal past. he had just been reload from a

baltimore county facility last saturday. coming up on abc2 news at 6:00 -- hear from a legal expert from the university of maryland school of law, talking about the self-defense law and what need to know about defending yourself in your home. big news in the fight against the h1n1 virus. health experts approved a vaccine for the swine flu. we have details >> reporter: the information came from kathleen sebelius. the fda approved h1n1 vaccines from four different manufacturers, including one that was tested at the university of maryland. we were there when the first study volunteers received their first dose of the vaccine several weeks ago. it was data collected eight days after the first round of vaccinations that was provided toed fda and used to -- to the fda and used to license the vaccine. vaccine researchers say there's no need to be concerned about the process. >> this vaccine is created in

exactly the same way as the regular seasonal flu vaccine, by the same manufacturers. that make this vaccine in hundreds of millions of doses every year. >> reporter: the trials are still ongoing at the university. now they are evaluating the effect of the vaccine plus a booster shot. side effects include soreness at the injection site, other minor flu-like symptoms. by mid-october the vaccine will be available at 90,000 sites across the country. they will start with pregnant women and young children but eventually everyone will be able to receive the vaccine. kelly swoope, abc2 news. new at 5:00 -- this case is back again. maryland's highest court agreed to hear new arguments in a lawsuit that former baltimore police commissioner kevin clark was illegally fired. the maryland court of appeals will hear an appeal of a lower court ruling that threw out the wrongful termination suit filed by the former commissioner. he was fired back in november of 2004 by then mayor martin o'malley over a domestic

dispute between clark and his girlfriend. reportedly clark's lawyer says the decision means the entire case is open for review once again. baltimore developer ronald lipscomb paid for a political survey for state delegate joe carter. who ran against sheila dixon for mayor in 2007. that is according to court documents filed by defense attorneys for city councilwoman helen holton. carter denies knowledge of the poll saying she doesn't believe in them. councilwoman holton is charged with accepting it from lipscomb. a 17-year-old crofton boy who admitted to raping a 7-year-old girl will be tried as an adult. an anne arundel county judge he would be better helped by intensive treatment until the age of 21 in a juvenile facility. the 17-year-old faces 19 charges. his trial is set for september 29th. now to an abc2 news update.

baltimore police still have not identified the police officer or the suspect from yesterday afternoon's shooting. we do know, however, the suspect is still in bad shape at the hospital. he was shot by the off-duty police officer after police say that suspect broke into the officer's home and held a gun to his back. the officer was able to get to his service weapon and chase the suspect firing shots. police say the suspect also fired shots. the officer was not hurt. maryland prosecutors say they want a tougher anti-gang law. the state's gang prosecution act went into effect in 2007 and today in annapolis the state's top law enforcement officials including baltimore state's attorney patricia jessamy met with the house judiciary committee. prosecutors say it's too difficult to legally define a gang or its members and punishment is not serious enough. >> we need a comprehensive statewide strategy to deal with gangs in our community. >> prosecutors also discussed ways to prevent gang activity.

the chairman of the federal reserve had some encouraging news on the economy today. ben bernanke said the recession is probably over. but, the most painful part, unemployment, will likely be with us for some time. president obama carried that message to american workers today, in two speeches to organized labor the president said his recovery plan is working and he reminded listeners that health care reform is part of his prescription. here's abc's viviana hurtado. >> reporter: the president told american workers the stimulus package helps save american families but economic recovery is just beginning. >> i know times are still tough for working people. i know too many people are still looking for work or worried they will be the next ones let go. but the recovery act is making a difference. we've stopped our economic freefall. >> reporter: mr. obama was in campaign mode to garner support

for his economic policies including his plan to overhaul the health care system. he targeted workers at the afl cio's national convention in pittsburgh and earlier at a gm plant in ohio. >> as long as you still have an ounce of fight left in you i have a ton of fight left in me. [cheers] i've said it before, i'm skinny but tough. >> reporter: a tough fight for the president turned out to be health care reform. as demonstrated by the summer's rowdy town halls. middle class americans worried about the cost of reform, mr. obama had a message, his plan to overhaul health care and other economic policies will benefit them but the mixed economic outlook feeds americans' anxieties. retail sales figures beat expectations today but the unemployment rate is at the heist level in 26 years and -- highest level in 26 years and expected to rise. >> it will feel weak for some time as many people find their job security and employment status is not what they wish it was. >> reporter: federal reserve chairman ben bernanke said

economic catastrophe was averted because of the government's quick actions. he said more regulations of the financial system is needed to prevent a future meltdown. viviana hurtado, abc news, washington. what a changeable day across the region. sunshine this morning, clouds rolled in. even scattered showers. on maryland's most powerful doppler radar, there's light shower activity making its way through the region. not a big deal but it's kind of a precursor of what is going to be coming over the next couple of days. your forecast for the next couple of hours -- mostly cloudy, a few sprinkles. our temperatures will hang in the upper 70s to near 80 degrees. some heavier rain is on the way. when's is going to get here? how long will it last? the answer coming up. the giant food store at the tollgate mall shopping center closes for good next month. according to the baltimore business journal it will affect almost 100 workers but they will get a chance to work at other giants around the area. there are no other plans to

close other giants this year. the store will close october 29th. still no word on what will go in its place. three cheers for seventh district elementary school in baltimore county. named the national no child left behind blue ribbon school. seventh district in parkton joins 10 other baltimore county schools that got the prestigious award. the program honors both private and public schools that are either academically superior or show dramatic gains in student achievement. the whole list will be on the web site. baltimore county's oldest school building will be replaced. school officials and the governor broke ground for a new carver center for the arts and technology today. carver is a performing arts and technical high school. the new school will be set up to give students greater opportunities in career fields, for the performing arts, for example, they will get a new stage. >> this new theater will give the carver students the venue they need to properly display

their talents and a new atrium will allow for the display of the students' works of art and sculpture. >> county officials say the new carver high should be open by the year 2011. two more new high schools are also planned for baltimore county. angry parents in baltimore county want some answers. they say their kids at ridgeleigh middle school have been learning in hot conditions. what's being done to fix the hot air issues? and as you may have heard patrick swayze lost his bat well cancer. more tonight on his two loves, movies and his wife. and taylor swift tells her side of the story. what kanye west did after she talked to the ladies of the "the view." and let's go to hereford middle school in monkton, we're getting a little rain now. norm coming up with the full forecast.

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fans, friends and family are remembering patrick swayze tonight. both for his screen career and his battle against the cancer that killed him. the 57-year-old actor died last night in los angeles, diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about a year and a half ago. abc's carla wohl looks back at his career. >> reporter: the flowers on patrick swayze's star on the hollywood walk of fame paid tribute to both the actor and the man. as once decent and defiant in the face of terminal pancreatic cancer. >> i just think it's so sad. he was one of my favorite actors from "dirty dancing." >> reporter: as the sexy dabs instructor, johnny castle in "dirty dancing" swayze seduced jennifer grey and the nation. she remembers his amazing grace, calling him a real cowboy with a tender heart. swayze melted hearts everywhere in the movie "ghost."

co-star demi moore says his light will forever shine. and whoopi goldberg who won an oscar for her role in "ghost" choked up on "the view," remembering how swayze got her the job. >> because of patrick swayze i have an oscar. and, yeah - >> [ applause ] >> reporter: in his autobiography due out later this month swayze talks about his battle with cancer and the love he shared with his wife of 34 years. barbara walters interviewed the couple last year asking whether he ever thought about his most famous line from "ghost." >> it's amazing, molly. the love inside, you take it with you. >> its all you can take with you. i think it validated that one thing for all of us. the only thing you can take with you when you die is the love you have. >> reporter: there was so much love and respect for swayze. one director saying simply, i

hope he had the time of his life. carla wohl, abc news, hollywood. >> tonight at 10:00, abc news will air barbara walters special "patrick swayze, last dance." the previously scheduled primetime sequence will now air tomorrow night at 10:00. still a great day but you say a little rain is coming in? >> you live in baltimore, wait 10 minutes and the weather will change. beautiful skies this morning, lots of sunshine, warm temperatures. all of a sudden the clouds came in, scattered showers around, we told you they were coming. >> you said we had a day and then it would change. >> yes. it's in the process of going down now. let's look outside now, show you the baltimore area. downtown. it looks kind of ugly -- it looks worse than it is. our temperature at bwi marshall now 78 degrees. 62% humidity. wind currently from the east at 7, and barometer 29.92.

there are the tides tomorrow at fort mchenry. low tide exactly at noontime. high tide in the afternoon at 5:13. sun coming up tomorrow morning at 6:49. you're not going to see it. will set 7:13. you're not going to see that either. it will be cloudy and overcast most of the day. hagerstown now at 83. 79 york. 78 downtown baltimore. over on the eastern shore in ocean city, an even 80 on the boards. as far as what's been happening throughout the day, there's the sunshine that we had this morning. as we went through the day and into the afternoon lots of sunshine, then the clouds rolled in. here come the little bit of scattered showers moving into the region. i'll show you what is going on when we look at the larger satellite picture. as you can see the sunshine this morning, then the clouds this afternoon, then a few scattered showers. the majority of the rain lifts back in here. here's what's going on, a frontal system, a cool front right through this area here. up in central pennsylvania. that's going to sag in our direction, get right about to here and become stationery.

a little area of low pressure going to break out of the system, travel along that front and that is going to bring in the shower activity that we're going to see tomorrow. and thursday. and for a portion of friday. but the good news is that the big area of high pressure in back of the front will win out. it will continue to move on down and will clear us up and right now looks like a really nice weekend on tap. right now maryland's most powerful doppler radar indicating some scattered showers making their way off the aberdeen area. some scattered showers here, just south of damascus making its way towards the rockville region. as we go through the evening, just pop-up sprinkle-type showers but the heavier rain holds off until tomorrow. westminster 79. 78 reisterstown. mount airy 78 degrees. olney reports in at 75. 76 dundalk. edgemere 78. 76 fallston and northeast now 76. live data only available here on abc2 from our storm center weathernet. as far as our forecast for this evening -- clouds are already here, a few light

sprinkles. during the day tomorrow more active showers but the heaviest rain remains there. there's the scattered showers tomorrow. once we get into thursday and friday the heavier rain moves through but again, it will not be a total washout. just shower activity. for overnight tonight, mostly cloudy, a few scattered showers, an overnight low of 67 degrees. tomorrow, on wednesday, hump day, cloudy, cooler, scattered showers, high of 73 degrees. your extended outlook, more general rainfall thursday and again on friday. friday might be a bit of a -- we might see some sun late in the afternoon on friday because saturday and sunday things start to clear up very nicely with cooler temperatures. you can see the cooler temperatures will linger into all of next week. we'll be back in a while with more on the weather. rude, obnoxious, classless. kanye west's stunt has been called every name in the book. this morning taylor swift had a

chance to speak her mind about it. here's a clip of what happened at the mtv video music awards as taylor was accepting her award. >> yo, taylor, i'm really happy for you. i'll let you finish but beyonce have one of the best videos of all time! >> beyonce was clearly embarrassed and later in the show she called taylor back out on stage to give her back the spotlight she deserved. this morning on "the view" she had the spotlight again. >> taylor, what was going through your mind? >> well, i think -- my overall thought process went something like, wow, i can't believe i won, this is awesome. don't trip and fall. i'm going to get to thank the fans, this is so cool. oh, kanye west is here. [ laughter ] cool haircut. [ applause ] kanye west is here. cool haircut.

what are you doing there? [ laughter ] and then ouch. and then i guess i'm not going to get to thank the fans. he has not personally reached out or anything but if he wanted to say hi -- >> he hasn't called or sent a message or e-mail or anything? >> no. >> do you feel hard feelings about it, taylor or not? >> i'm not going to say that i wasn't rattled by it. >> rattled. >> i had to perform live five minutes later. so i had to get myself back to the place where i could perform. >> kanye called taylor swift after her appearance on "the view" and he did personally apologize. taylor's representatives would not reveal what kanye said but did say taylor accepted his apology and people still have opinions about this. if you want to spout off, you can on our web site, abc2news.com. leave us your two cents. move over, pb & j. how local farmers are teaching your kids to eat a healthier lunch and local agriculture as

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abc2 news at 5:30 is coming up. i'm terry owens. baltimore county parents are hot over classroom conditions. what they are demanding of the school system. no answers yet. why police are withholding information on the cause of death of a popular student at yale. and not everyone is hurting in the down economy. where business is actually brewing. those stories and norm us a up to the minute forecast at 5:30. our news around the nation takes us to port washington where two crewman were rescued from a burning boat. the crew reported an engine fire and called for help. it was a fire all right.

the coast guard used a helicopter to pull the men to safety. the boat was working as a private commercial fishing boat when it went up in flames. no one was hurt. police in milwaukee witnessed an unusual site on an interstate. a man riding along the road on a motorized wheelchair. officers got another surprise when they pulled him over. realized he was drunk. the man told police he drank a 12-pack of beer. thises is his fifth offense. he was arrested. imagine looking outside your window and finding a suspected bank robber, sleeping on your porch. that happened to one man in san diego. the sleeping suspect was arrested less than two hours after he allegedly walked into a bank claiming to have a bomb. police say the man threatened to set off the bomb if the manager didn't give him money but the bank's manager managed to slip away to the vault and warned employees and then called police and the suspect left without any money. some rental car companies are going smoke-free. find out how many hundreds of dollars you'll have to pay up if you decide to light up and

they catch you. constitution -- abc2 news at 5:30 starts in two minutes.

parents of one baltimore county school don't think their kids can learn in hot conditions and are demanding some changes. good evening, everybody, i'm terry owens. about 50 people staged a demonstration to protest what they are calling botched renovations at ridgely middle school. roosevelt leftwich with the latest. >> fix ridgely now. >> reporter: angry parents want answers they say for years the unair conditioned school needed improvement. they thought they were getting help two years ago but instead they say it got worse. >> the superintendent harriston and jim smith choose to believe there's not a problem and number two, they won't come out and check it for themselves. here are two empty chairs. superintende