>> you made some calls, didn't you? >> you have a lot of hair. >> my goodness. >> you're a cutie. you're a cutie. >> that's unbelievable. all right. >> more celebrations to come. >> that was priceless. wait until i see jamie. got to love those cheeks. happy birthday, buddy. enjoy the popcorn. a baltimore county woman competes on "jeopardy." a live report coming up on abc2 news at 6:00 which starts right now. baltimore city police want to alert you of a scam. good evening, i'm marybeth marsden. police are looking for at least one man coning people out of hundreds of dollars but posing as a city worker and threatening to shut off their water. brian kuebler spoke with one victim. >> reporter: the latest scam is as simple as it is clever. baltimore city police are warning that a man dressed up as a city employee is telling

residents to pay up the exact amount of their water bill or they will be shut off. >> we learned about this, actually -- end of last week and yesterday we found we have our potential first victim. >> reporter: we spoke to that victim by phone today who tells us the man was dressed up like a city worker and knew exactly how much she owed. he asked for the money in cash, she paid the $500. we're convinced this victim was -- hop on the baltimore city web site, click on "look up water bill" information, type in an address and there's the outstanding balance. a fairly new feature but one also useful to crooks. >> there are instances where people do have notifications their water would be shut off but it doesn't operate that way where you get a call and you hand over cash to somebody. >> reporter: the city department of public works is

warning people not to fall into this trap. the water department does not deal in cash and no one is going to come to your door. a message now echoed by police who have launched an investigation after hearing of the scam's first known victim. >> any utility company is not going to come to your house and is not going to ask you for money. as we're going through tough economic times people are coming up with clever scams to trick unsuspecting citizens. >> reporter: a warning of a digital twist on an old scam. in baltimore, brian kuebler, abc2 news. >> police are concerned there might be more victims. if you have been scammed you're asked to call baltimore city police. it's being called toyota's largest recall ever. the automaker is recalling nearly four million vehicles including some lexus models. officials say there's a problem with the removable floor mat it. could it enter veer with the vehicle's -- it could interfere with the vehicle's

accelerator and cause a crash. drivers are instructed to take them out on the driver's side and not replace them. for more on the recall go to abc2news.com. baltimore city council came closer today to dealing with laws on smoking. one would ban candy-flavored wrapping papers in the city. the other would mandate that cheap cigars be sold in packs of five or more instead of singly. supporters say it would help curb teen smoking. opponents say it's unfair to adults. >> whether you like it or not adults can legally, lawfully smoke cigars. and what you're doing is you are dramatically inconveniencing adults, your adult constituents. >> not to prohibit the sale of the cigars but to mandate them to be sold in packages of five or more, to remove the easy access, to our teens and all from getting these products. >> a third measure to ban smoking near hospitals was tabled by the committee for

further study. a maryland soldier and three others are accused of running a sex trafficking business. federal prosecutors say 23-year-old craig cory who lives at fort meade was arrested today along with three men from ohio. the four have been indeed for a -- indicted for allegedly running the business out of a millersville apartment. prosecutors say they used on-line classified ads and networking sites to solicit prostitution. and quarantining midshipmen with flu-like symptoms. officials are trying to slow the spread. there are only seven confirmed cases but the number of midshipmen in isolation changes daily with as many as 7of them quarantined -- 75 of them quarantined at one point. a u.s. naval academy midshipman faces larceny and forgery charges. christopher rivers is a

sophomore. the spokesman says the alleged activity happened mainly at the school. baltimore city police need your help identifying this man. he's wanted for questioning in a rape that happened september 20th on homer avenue near virginia avenue. if you have any information you're asked to call the department's sex offense unit at 410-396-2076. a burglary in baltimore county. and what the suspect stole could be extremely dangerous. two world war ii-era grenades were taken. the dark green pineapple-shaped japanese style grenades taken along with several guns in a home in the monkton area. >> we don't know whether they are live or not so they could cause serious injury or death. >> reporter: baltimore county police say if you see the grenades you should call them or 911 immediately. a man and woman are critically injured in a shooting at a strip club in southeast baltimore. happened around 2:00 this

morning at the el dorado lounge on east lombard street just before the place closed for the night. authorities say the woman was shot in the wrist and chest. the man shot in the back. both were taken to the hospital. so far no arrests. an off-duty officer shot during an attempted robbery outside of his home last week has taken a turn for the worse. 39-year-old detective aaron harris has been downgraded from serious to critical condition. he was move today to shock trauma from sinai hospital where he underwent five surgeries. two 16-year-old boys charged as adults were denied bail. baltimore city police are searching for a driver who plowed into at least four people early this morning and then took off. it happened just before 3:00 a.m. at the corner of charles and 20th streets. that is in charles village. four victims were taken to the hospital to be checked out. they are expected to be ok. we have a warning tonight from the baltimore city health department. they are urging you to avoid this product.

called miracle chalk. also known as chinese chalk. authorities say it's a highly toxic pesticide that is being sold illegally in baltimore city. the product which is made mostly in china sells for about a dollar a box to help fight roaches. the health care reform debate is back in action in washington and there's been a major development. a key senate committee voted against creation of a new government-run health insurance plan. the maryland congressman and majority leader hoyer says support for a public option is still very much alive in the house. >> on the public option frankly i think the very sigma jort of the democrats -- significant majority of the democrats are ok with it, the issue is how it's configured and we're in the process of discussing that. >> the committee chairman is hoping to push his middle of the road measure to lr-p'el by the ends of the week. lower energy costs may translate into lower heating bills this winter but bge isn't

ready to predict what will happen just yet. crude oil and heating oil prices are down 50% from a year ago and natural gas prices dropped by 80%. bge is expected to forecast what will happen with its rates next week. >> rates for electricity and natural gas are going to be down this winter. they will actually go down and bge and delmarva territories october 1st. not by a lot. the supply portion will go down about 3%. >> but the demand for power could offset the lower energy prices if we experience one of the coldest winters in a decade as many forecasters have predicted based on a weak el nino in the pacific. across the region now no precipitation showing up on maryland's most powerful doppler radar. of course if it can show temperatures it would be all blue because we're way below normal temperaturewise. for the next couple of hours if you're going out look for temperatures to hold in the 60s, with partly cloudy skies. there is a chance that we could see a sprinkle just north of

the pennsylvania line. we'll tell you all about the cool air and how long it will last coming up in a couple of minutes. a special honor for baltimore city public schools today. the school system received the 2009 award for visionary leadership today. from the johns hopkins center for a livable future. baltimore schools are being recognized for offering nutritional food items in cafeterias. and the system also has an organic farm and center in catonsville. >> the great kids farm is a network of school gardens with the ultimate goal of having a school garden at each of the more than 200 public schools in our city. >> we educate our kids early on about the benefits of that, they are going to develop the habits over time. they are going to reach for an apple instead of a bag of potato chips. >> students guest-toured the 33-acre kids farm and sampled

fresh food from the city school meatless monday menu. speaking of -- fighting childhood obesity. coming up, what the governor and ravens are doing to help children stay active. answer jessica hawks of dundalk. question, who is the latest contestant of "jeopardy"? your chance to hear from her before the show airs, coming up. yesterday we gave you the two-degree guarantee of 69. the official high at bwi marshall. 68 degrees. so we did hit that two-degree guarantee. we hit it five days in a row now. our winner tonight from elkton, maryland! jen coleman, congratulations. you scored an abc2 umbrella. we'll be back after this.

a stay at home mom makes her television game show debut tonight. jessica hawks from baltimore county put her knowledge to the test on "jeopardy." delia goncalves spokes with her and is live from dundalk with her story. >> reporter: the 33-year-old says she's always loved watching "jeopardy" on tv. tonight, in about an hour she and a group of friends and family members will watch her performance on the big show. >> this is "jeopardy"! introducing today's contest tabts, a stay at home mom from baltimore, maryland, jessica hawks. >> reporter: and this is a

sneak peek at tonight's episode with local trivia buff jessica. >> what is a zebra? >> zebra is right. >> reporter: she's at home gearing up for tonight's big show. she, her husband, mom and 6 1/2-month-old meg made the trip to california for the taping. she started with the contestant search in may and made it to the big show august 5th. it went by fast but she did take time to prepare. >> oh, i definitely studied. i had flash cards of presidential trivia, and shakespeare quotes, that i was trying to memorize. some history, some geography, like world lakes, world capitals. you're trying to prepare and thinking what if i win? i hope i come in first, i hope i come in second. i just kept telling myself, please don't make a fool of yourself. >> reporter: she has a great personality. a good sense of humor. how did jessica do? you'll have to find out

yourself in about 45 minutes. "jeopardy" airs at 7:00 right here on abc2. live in dundalk, delia goncalves, abc2 news. >> i would have been a wreck. what did jessica say was the hardest part of doing that show? >> we asked her. she studied, prepared, in a short period of time but said figuring out that tricky buzzer system was the hardest part really. but eventually she got the hang of it. she says now she totally has the game show bug so we might see her again on another show. >> thank you, delia. cool. i would be -- there's to way. >> no way. >> they say before alex finishes the answer, if you hit the answer before he finishes it won't work. even if you know it you have to wait until he is completely done until you hit it. that's what i heard. >> it's a race between the contestants to get it out. >> yeah. it's a race with the thermometer. >> is it? >> people deciding whether or not to turn on the heat. we'll show you why. outside now, a nice shot from

our harbor cam, showing some of the boats at rest in the inner harbor. our temperature at bwi marshall has gone down, again, 63 degrees. the humidity 52%. the winds still pretty brisk from the west at 18 and the pressure falling 29.91. there's your tides tomorrow at fort mchenry. you've got low tide just before noontime, 11:29. high tide 4:53 in the afternoon. tomorrow's winds will calm down a little. it will be breezy in the morning but in the afternoon they'll calm down to about 6 to 12 miles per hour. from the northwest. sun coming up at 7:02. sets 6:50. low this morning a very cool 47 degrees, the high today 68. oakland had a low this morning of 43. a high of 46. they went up three degrees. that is some of the cool air that is coming in our direction. we did hit our two-degree guarantee. we've hit it five days in a row now. that's the reason they call it maryland's most accurate forecast and it is.

68 in york. 62 hagerstown. 61 winchester, virginia. on the eastern shore, ocean city 70. 66 easton. dover, delaware 66. our satellite picture throughout the day, lots of sunshine during the day today but this little trough of low pressure continues to rotate through the region bringing in a few little light clouds and also a few sprinkles. earlier this afternoon, some of the higher elevations out here in west virginia, there was some freezing rain, unbelievable for this time of year. no freezing rain for us but definitely some cooler temperatures as they make take way into the region. nothing showing up on maryland's most powerful doppler radar now but early tomorrow morning up until maybe 11:00, we could see few sprinkles on the pennsylvania/maryland line. one or two could make it into the baltimore area but don't really worry bit. it will be basically a nice day but on the cool side. you can always go to our web site, to abc2news.com, to check out our interactive doppler radar. right now there's nothing showing up on the radar but if we expand it out just a little

bit and look up into portions of new england you see rainfall up there. also we got rainfall over in the southern portion of louisiana and into southern florida they got a few showers near key west. again, it's available to you on your pc at home at abc2news.com 24/7. 365. here's your forecast for tonight -- a few little light clouds but for the most part a pretty nice evening. during the day tomorrow the clouds rotate through the evening, again, the majority of the showers will be to the west of us but we could see a brief sprinkle in the baltimore area. but the big news is that our temperatures particularly the overnight lows are going to be way below normal. for tonight, 49 degrees with partly cloudy skies. breezy and chilly and some of the northern and western suburbs could get into the mid-40s. tonight. tomorrow night, during the day, partly cloudy, a possible brief shower we just talked about. high tomorrow 67 degrees. the extended outlook, tomorrow night into thursday morning the low at bwi marshall 44, which

means monkton, westminster, jarrettsville area, mount airy, frederick, damascus, could get down to, in the upper 30s. as you see we start to warm up a tiny bit. see you tonight at 11:00. the baltimore ravens and governor martin o'malley want children to get active and stay active. the nfl network teamed up with the governor for a big announcement to help kids get fit. abc2 news sherrie johnson headed to corcoran middle school in glen burnie for the announcement. >> reporter: students at corcoran middle school got pumped up at a pep rally. the nfl network and governor martin o'malley teamed up for a big announcement. the school received a check for $50,000 to keep kids fit and prevent childhood obesity. >> this is such a wonderful opportunity for corcoran. physical it will allow us to get some extra special equipment and refurbish some of the older equipment that needed

some upgrades. >> reporter: once the rally was over it was time for students to put their agility to the test. the goal of the program is to get kids to work out for 60 minutes a day. several baltimore ravens players led students through a fitness test and mini camp on the field. >> physical education is important for everybody but especially for young people. leads to healthier young people, leads to healthier adults. i think it's good to get them into good habits while they are young. >> with the budget cuts across the country the first thing schools are cutting is p.e. the more fit a child is the more potential they can have for greater intelligence. >> reporter: childhood obesity has tripled since 1980 and the governor and the nfl believe this kind of physical activity will teach kids how to be healthy and fit. what do the students think about this program? >> it's a good thing for the

school and to help keep the students physically fit. >> i think it's very important because i think it's good to get exercise and stay healthy and fit. >> reporter: who knows? in a few years this activity could produce a future nfl player. in glen burnie, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >> the kids are catching the ball well. corcoran middle school was one of four middle schools selected for the keep gym in schools grant. the money will improve corcoran sports and fitness facilities. the school installed a rock climbing wall and bought new fitness and training equipment. a live look at the nicholas inner harbor -- inner harbor. sun getting ready to set. norm will be back with the forecast. ellicott city now 58 degrees.

indc you

after a big rally yesterday a report showing americans are still jittery about the economy pushed stocks lower today. the dow closed down 47 points. nasdaq dropped 6, sp down 2. we're going to see sunshine the next couple of days but cooler temperatures, way below normal, particularly the overnight lows with wednesday night into thursday morning being the coolest temperature. we'll talk again tonight at

11:00. thank you. that's all for us on abc2 news at 6:00. i'm marybeth marsden. thank you for joining us. we'll be back tonight at 11:00. hope to see you then. have a great evening.

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