former mayor tone d' alessandro. i said what happened to the parades? he said not this year. justin berk has the weather. 5:29. a little wet weather here and we're adjusting that wakeup window at the bottom of the screen because i think we'll see improvement friday but we expect it to be wet today. 61 havre de grace and parkville. 59 westminster. 63 in annapolis. maryland's most powerful doppler radar, and yes, we've had ourselves a little bit of drizzle around town. doesn't show up that well on the radar. go back to the west side of dc, that is the rain trying to head our way. chantilly lace getting a little wet this morning. yeah, we'll get a little wet. showers this morning and the afternoon, light rain, our two-degree guaranteed high of 67. here's kim now at 5:30 with the traffic. >> thank you. aka the big bopper, i hear you with "♪

the chantilly lace♪ >> you got your singing clip. a little traffic. 95 southbound approaching whitemarsh boulevard, no problems to let you know there or at the tunnels, checking in pretty good. we have two fire scenes in the city. that probably has some intersections closed. you'll see a detour at smort smallwood between clifton and walbrook. and franklin between freemont and north schroeder. use caution. jfx and 41st street, traffic is beginning to build southbound but everything looks good so far. back to you. 5:31. what's your poison? diet coke? mountain dew? >> i don't drink soda. >> no kidding. there's a chance you'll have something to say about this. >> there's a lot of tax about taxing soda by the ounce. >> reporter: an idea that is being backed by leading health experts. they say raising the tax on soda will get people to drink less, in turn help you lose weight. the plan is being released by the new england journal of medicine. the group wants to increase the

soda tax by a cent for every ounce. that, experts say would get people to drink less of the sugary drink and cut down on obesity, heart disease. and could help you lose two pounds a year on average. the plan is similar to what happened with cigarettes. helping to curb smoking while raising money for the government. the plan would be the same for the soda tax. all that extra money would be used in health problems. more than 30 states already charge sales tax on soda drinks but generally those taxes are fairly small. in the studio, linda so, abc2 news. >> -- linda, justin just came up with a name for you, linda so-da. >> i've been called worse. should the soda tax fizzle away or if not, tell us -- log on to our web site and you can friend us on facebook and twitter. 5:32.

it's time to do something about animal abuse and this morning baltimore city is trying. you'll remember this case. a story of awful animal abuse. both of them suffered abuse in baltimore city and in both cases the suspects were young. the mayor has formed a task force now to address the problem. members met with the public to hear their concerns and many residents complaining about constant dog fighting and say that police are often turning a blind eye. >> when i called a police officer, i wanted the police officer to responded a not say it's their property, they can do what they want. >> ( indiscernible ) >> normally crimes against animals eventually end up being crimes against humans. >> reporter: members of the panel say a young person involved in animal abuse is five times more likely to commit a crime against a person later on in life. the task force will make its recommendations and report to the mayor. >> that was quite a crowd. here's what's happening today on september 17th --

an annual meeting with local officials and citizens where the state transportation officials will talk about route 32 in howard county. we've been talking about this for days now. come on out to the route 32 hearing tonight. and lieutenant governor anthony brown will be in washington for a fundraiser for domestic violence awareness. acorn now offering an independent internal investigation following those undercover videos showing employees giving advice that amounts to tax fraud. acorn employees in several different cities including ours are seen on tape advising a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute to lie about the woman's profession. acorn's chief executive says the group will name an independent auditor and investigator to examine all systems and processes. an nearby ending to a baltimore county carjacking at towson town center. the times reports that nisha jones was arrested just 10 hours after allegedly stealing

a car from a woman in the mall parking lot. police say jones spoke to the victim briefly, used her cell phone. as the victim got into her car investigators say jones pushed her on to the passenger seat and began to drive away. the woman was able to get out and call 911. a few hours later police got a tip someone tried to use the victim's credit card in easton. p the car was then towed. that's when jones showed up at the police station and asked who towed her car. that's when she was arrested. get ready to enjoy fermented grapes in maryland. and some of our favorite events are being axed. let's get the weather with justin. >> 5:35. we have a little patchy drizzle and showers beginning to move in. at the bus stop looking at low 60s. for most of us, drizzle, showers, and steadier light rain as the morning and afternoon wear on.

here's the commute. >> the commute looks good if your ride is on the metro subway but light rail presently dealing with a northbound delay, 30 minutes late from bwi. on the buses, number 15 with a diversion at saratoga and greene. the 17 still diverted at corporate and international due to construction. 53 and 59 buses diverted at reisterstown and seven mile. a watermain break repair there. for the mta transit team, i'm mark jones. ♪ they make little hearts happy... ...and big hearts happy too. because as part of a heart healthy diet,...

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because when it's pancakes everyone's in it together. you're can tunk russ -- cantankerous this morning. >> thank you. >> cantankerous? >> sweeney todd. good morning to you. outside, temperatures low 60s across the board, cool, we have a breeze from the east. that east wind actually may pile up some slightly higher than normal tides on the west side of the bay. so there's a little bit of potential for minor flooding in areas that tend to get flooded out when we have these easterly wind events. 59 york, 54 oakland, low to mid-60s for most of us. we have a little bit of wet weather. i say that because there's

intermittent drizzle that doesn't even show up on the radar. steadier rain now showing up west of dc from rockville up towards damascus and montgomery county, it's heading in our direction. we're likely to get at least some light rain in the morning rush hours. as we head through lunchtime and this afternoon, lighter rain but nothing too heavy, enough to keep the pavement wet. our two-degree guaranteed high stuck well below normal at 67. 5:40. let's go back to the roads with kim brown. >> traffic is off to a really good start so far on your thursday commute. no real problems to let you know about on the major highways as we peek at 95, the southbound lanes, starting to see a little increased volume towards the whitemarsh area. tunnels checking in good, so is the beltway. but we have two fire scenes in the city that have intersections closed, north smallwood closed between clifton and walbrook because of a fire at a building. use caution also franklin street between freemount and north schroeder also closed, fire equipment is on scene. use caution. back to you.

time now 5:40 a.m. stay with us because we're talking about the president in maryland today. we'll tell you his message, when we come back. ♪ ♪ ♪ cycle, waitinr? the flowers are blooming. the weet and zyrtec® starts... relieving my allergies... 2 hours faster than claritin®. my worst symptoms feel better, indoors and outdoors. wi ztec®, the fastest...

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you should not drive or operate machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. could your pain be caused by fibromyalgia? ask your doctor about lyrica today. 5:43. today president barack obama has one goal when he comes to

college park, that to speak to the university of maryland reaching young people. and more than 600 students have come down to with the h1n1 virus. that is the talk these days. they are trying to recover after coming down with this about three days ago. here's the deal at college park -- the white house says that the president's going to target voters younger than 30 to help sell his reform plan to a more skeptical general public. the university is setting up a rally at the comcast center. >> that rally starts at 11:00 this morning. it's open to the public. there are no tickets. seating will be on a first come/first serve basis. yesterday in washington the senate finance committee released its version of the health care reform bill that will cost more than $850 billion. it doesn't have the support of republicans and doesn't include a government-run insurance. instead it proposes nonprofit insurance cooperatives. some of the harshest criticism is coming from fellow democrats.

>> how can we give all of these new consumers, to the health insurance industry with no accountability, no competition? and no real challenge for them to honor the reforms we have in the bill? >> there's going to be attempts to make changes to the proposal from both sides of the aisle when the committee takes its votes later on next week. here's what we're going to be really interested in, here in the state today, because former maryland governor robert ehrlich is going to have what we have a pre-buttal. he will speak before the president speaks today in college park. should we take this as a hint? the republicans will give a pre-buttal and the rnc picked the former governor to give it. no secret he's been thinking of a rematch with governor o'malley. he will take part in this 9:30 conference call with national reporters. of course o'malley will be with the president today in college park. the celebrations have been going on in our area forever. we hate to say it but the

city's columbus day and thanksgiving day parades have been cancelled. the columbus day parade has been around for more than 100 years. i think it's the oldest continuous columbus day parade in america. the city funds the thanksgiving parade but the mayor says money is just too tight. in recent years attendance has been down and the mayor says the city will reconsider bringing the parades back next year if the economy gets better. some good news, though, the christmas parade that runs through hamden will not be cancelled because it attracts thousands a year. you don't have plans this weekend? how about visiting maryland's wine country? state officials toasted the opening of the piedmont wine trail. the trail combines the wineries of baltimore and harford county. so baltimore county executive jim smith was on hand for the event in harford county. >> wineries generate over $40 million in economic activity and $12.7 million in direct revenues from wine-making and associated activity.

>> 293,000 people visit maryland wineries and wine festivals a year. famed actor burn reynolds has been released from a florida drug rehab center. the star was being treated for an addiction to painkillers. the 73-year-old is best known for his roles in "deliverance." 73. where did the years go? looks like right winger tom delay's feet want to go to the left. former house republican leader hurt while rehearsing for "dancing with the stars" but delay says it will take more than a foot injury to keep me off the show. the debut is monday. he's partnered with check berke who already won twice on the show. here's some dramatic prior video from arkansas. this five-alarmer destroyed four historic buildings right in the city of morelandton, just outside of little rock. crews say the entire building collapsed in an hour after catching fire. no one knows how the fire started. it was home to the e.e.

mitchell furniture company for maybe years but most recently used as a flea market and storage facility. get your orioles, your crackers, whatever you like to dip in your milk, we're heading to belgium. >> farmers there dumped almost 800,000 gallons of fresh milk on to fields. in protest. they claim the low milk prices are pushing them towards financial ruin. i bet this carpet smells just as pretty as it looks. you won't believe it when you look at it at first. but it's made of 500,000 flowers. this flower carpet is made in commemoration,, and now being laid in an elaborate pattern. more than 100 volunteers, took more than seven hours to assemble it. one british singer proves hands down it's never too late to make a name for yourself. today 92-year-old dara lynn has good reason to raise a glass.

you may remember her, she had a hit single and it was during world war ii. recently the record label re-released recordings of her songs on the 70th anniversary of the war. her single shot to number one in the u.k. charts, went like a bullet. even surpassed the re-release of the beatles. way to go. let's go to justin. ok. >> that guy always cuts you off. >> hello, it's like hdtv. i can see everything. >> good thing i shaved this morning. kind of. yesterday, while we're joking around we went to one of the newest schools in baltimore county, had a good time there. there is science, technology and math focus school and check this out. listennum. listen up. >> good morning. my name is ofray -

>> reporter: that was yesterday but those are the nowdges they do in the -- announcements they do in the morning. 52 televisions in the school. melissa daniels, head of technology says she just shows them the instruments. you saw them directing, they do everything themselves. it is really neat to see that. what a great experience yesterday. thank you to everybody. coming up, if you can stick around for a few more minutes the class i spoke to, the fourth graders, mckinley broome teaches science. and he raps. and his rap is inspiring to the kids. and they have some tremendous results. stick around. we'll shoi show you that in the next half-hour. 63 degrees in baltimore. 50s in western pennsylvania. a sign of cooler but drier air trying to nudge in. it will get in by the weekend but we've got this moisture laden across the area because of this easterly wind warchgd

up against the mountains. there's clearing on the other side of the mountains but because of this moist flow and old stalled frontal boundary we have the rain moving in. so the surface winds come from the east but the actual radar and rain bands are coming from the southwest. all connected to this upper level system off the edge of the screen that continues to plague most of the deep south. we're going to take some of these bands of moisture, run it over the old boundary, surface winds from the east, combining on top of baltimore for a wet day. not a complete washout. we won't have a full soaker though could be a few heavier showers, generally, today, cool, wet, two-degree guaranteed high of 67 degrees. that will come with developing drizzle, light rain and periods of rain, maybe a heavier shower at lunchtime or this afternoon. tonight, 61. and tomorrow morning clouds give way to -- at least a clearing afternoon at 76 degrees. stick around. we'll have the weekend forecast in a bit. or you can see it as the our wake-up window at the bottom of

the screen. here's kim brown. >> traffic is beginning to pick up around the area, especially southbound 83 approaching the away >> the -- approaching the beltway from the timonium area. and southbound 95 from the whitemarsh area, a little building volume on the southbound lanes. but no problems to report this morning at the beltway or tunnels. but we have fire activity in the city, that has a couple of intersections closed. north smallwood between clifton and walbrook, a fire there that has that intersection closed. another fire at franklin street between freemount and north schroeder, use caution this morning. jfx at 41st street, traffic is light and building very slightly in the southbound lanes but no problems or delays at this time. back to you. they want to be known for more than just having a pretty face. the football league that turned heads last year but hopes to score points in the win column this year. and new at 6:00 on "good morning maryland" -- he popped the question, then popped the car head on. the kiss that ruined his day as well as five other people.

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welcome back to "good morning maryland." we told you about this story earlier this year but i guess,

you know, any time you can run video like this we're going to. >> are you ready for some lingerie football? the lingerie football league, the players for the denver dream hit the field yesterday to practice for their upcoming game. don't get offended, these women say even though they play in their underwear they are athletes and work to stay in shape and be in prime condition to play football. but let the denver dreams wide receiver tell you she's not just a pretty face. >> i love sports. i played rugby in college, i love tackling, just any kind of physical sport. i love football. i've played ever since i was 4. >> the dream team will take on the los angeles testimony takes tomorrow in -- los angeles temptation tomorrow in denver. >> you all right? >> notice i didn't watch that. >> it takes place in denver. way to go. >> ad lib toss to weather.

>> just -- justin was watching. >> did you say something? >> no. quick peek at the forecast for the weekend. rain today but i wanted to highlight this. we've got sunshine coming out for saturday. cool day, 7p 2 downtown. outside the beltway north and west, could stay in the 60s but could be a pleasant feel to the air. sunday morning we hit 48 degrees, back to 74 as we head through sunday afternoon. again, rain today, 67. clearing tomorrow, low 70s over the weekend. more showers by early next week. we got a lot more to come including the science teacher rap from wood holm in the next half-hour. we'll be right back. for arthritis pain... in your hands... knees... and back. for little bodies with fevers.. and big bodies on high blood pressure medicine. tylenol works with your body... in a way other pain relievers don't...

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last february he rallied for your vote in college park. today he's back in maryland trying to revive his health care plan. the naacp comes outs to praise