i'm not taking that chance ever again. it's not worth it. over a dumb text message? >> reporter: todd said he totaled his brother's car while texting. the phone now off limits while he's behind the wheel. >> i just take my phone out and put it in the glove department. so i don't even care about it. or turn it off. >> texting while driving is more distracting behind the wheel than any other activity, so says a study that seeks to ban it. you could be fined $500. now that you have the law, how do you enforce it? are police officers now going to be on the extra lookout trying to catch people texting as they drive down the road? police departments are gearing up for the new measure. for the first 30 days or so they will be handing out warnings. after that, tickets. >> we've informed their officers, given them a copy of the law and advised them to focus on this violation. >> reporter: for the state police enforcement will be like watching for drunken and

impaired drivers. look for erratic driving. >> the individual in fact, weaving, driving off of one lane, on to the shoulder. observations made just like that, at which point we would have to pull that vehicle over for that violation. and make it a term -- make a determination as to whether or not they were texting. >> reporter: law enforcement says this law gives them a new tool to use because they don't want people to find out the hard way that texting while driving can kill. >> oh, you're dead! >> reporter: in arnold o, roosevelt leftwich, abc2 news. the issue of texting while driving is taking center stage on capitol hill. the transportation department is holding a two-day summit on the issue. right now 18 states and the district of columbia prohibit texting while driving. according to the governor's highway safety association. the transportation secretary says he would like to ban texting behind the wheel nationwide. a new law goes into effect tomorrow affecting teen drivers in maryland. specifically. the waiting period will

increase by three months to get both the provisional and full license. also teen drivers with repeat moving violations will see tougher penalties. we have another law to talk about. speeding is another concern for all drivers, especially in school zones. now, tomorrow, baltimore's automated speed monitoring program begins. dozens of speed cameras are going up around the city. in fact we saw one installed today at the almeida and 33rd street in northeast baltimore. for the first month drivers who exceed the speed limit by at least 12 miles per hour will get a warning in the mail. after that you're subject to a $40 citation. in other news -- a baltimore middle school decide diagnosed with the h1n1 virus has died. just a week before the state is expecting its first shipment vaccine. her family returned to montebello academy today where the eighth grade student, destinee parker, first reported she had become ill last week. family members say tests at the university of maryland medical center confirmed she had

contracted the swine flu. >> they say this is about the ninth person. another couple lost their daughter. she was 14. >> state health officials say destinee parker had no apparent underlying medical conditions. this is the second pediatric fatality tied to the virus in maryland. the federal government gave state officials the go-ahead today to order the vaccine for the h1n1 flu. when will it arrive and who will receive it first? abc2 news kelly swoope joins us with more details. >> reporter: the vaccine is ready to be shipped, according to maryland secretary of health and mental hygiene. it should be delivered by the middle of next week. today state officials plan to order 31,600 doses, the maximum amount that was allowed for today. initially, the vaccine will be available in a very limited supply. >> it will begin with a very small amount and gradually ramp up, we hope to have, by the end

of october close to a million doses here in maryland. >> reporter: secretary of commerce says they had five immediate target populations, pregnant women, children over 6 months all the way through young dumghts through 24 years of age. health care workers, people who live or work with children under 6 months and adults 25 to 64 with pre-existing health conditions. the secretary also says there are 2.9 the million marylanders that fall in that target population. kelly swoope, abc2 news. >> thank you. for a look at how the swine flu affected maryland, you can go to abc2news.com. click on "health watch." look on the left side of the screen. you'll also find tips on how to help guard against the virus. a major development in the scandal investigation at city hall. mayor sheila dixon must now prepare for two separate trials. her lawyers decided to defend the two indictments against her separately. dixon faces charges including theft for allegedly stealing gift cards intended for needy

families. she also faces two counts of perjury. dixon is accused of lying about gifts from her former boyfriend, a real estate developer. a sign of just how serious the drug problem has become. drug related deaths outnumber those from car crashes in a growing number of states, including maryland. that is according to new data from the government. calculations show that drug-induced deaths outpaced vehicle-related deaths in 16 states in 2006. that is the last year the cdc has finalized data. but, overall in the country car crash deaths still outpace drug-related deaths. the numbers for 2006, the most recent available, show about 45,000 deaths from car crashes and roughly 39,000 that were drug related. [sirens] video you'll only see on abc2. police say the driver of the red van led police on a pursuit through four districts last night before final hitting a

car and crashing into guard booth at johns hopkins hospital. two people were hit but escaped serious injury. the suspect darryl lee smith was arrested, running from police because of an open drug warrant. he will finally face that charge as well as multiple traffic violations and evading police. a bit of a scare this morning at a school in anne arundel county. corcoran middle school in glen burnie was evacuated shortly after 8:00. apparently the crews were doing some work on the roof when chemical fumes got into the ventilation system and spread throughout the building. students complained of adaches and nausea. >> transported a soalt of 16 students to -- total of 16 students to local hospitals, all with minor injuries, complaints of headache, nausea and vomiting. a student was released to the parent early, refused medical treatment. all the work on the roof ceased at this time. the ventilation system has been shut down. >> crews vend laid the -- vent laid the system and an hour and a half later kids let back in and classes resumed.

an unbelievable scene after the deadly tsunami in the pacific. at least 116 people in smois why killed after -- smois were killed after a giant wave sent it crashing throughout the islands. the tragedy hits close to home for a baltimore ravens player, nose tackle haloti ngata has extended family in samoa, and so far no one has been able to get in contact with them. >> we're trying to get in touch with them. to see if we can communicate with them at all. hopefully we hear from them. >> ngata says aunts, uncles and cousins on his father's side are living in samoa. our storm center weathernet is up and going 24/7. take a look at some of the temperatures across the area now. oriole park now, 63 degrees. 60 sykesville. oakland mills middle school 59. 61 perry hall. at perry hall middle school. the cool temperatures are going to be continuing for about

another 36 hours. for this evening, for the next couple of hours, partly cloudy, a few sprinkles are possible. mostly south of us and on the eastern shore. our temperatures will hold around 60 degrees for another couple of hours. then once the sun goes down temperatures are going to take a nosedive. we'll tell you about it coming up in a couple of minutes. more cutbacks due to the state and city budget crunch and because of financial issues the harford senior center on harford road in northeast baltimore is scheduled to close down, at the end of next month. mayor sheila dixon says she's looking to what she can do to help. >> actually, the cuts came from the state and so we are actually -- i'm in the process of assessing the harford center, senior center, as we speak. and so i, at this point, i can't say whether or not we can bail out this center as a result of the cuts that came from the state, but i want to look at figuring out a way to

keep them open. >> we're told it costs about $157,000 a year to run the center. $97,000 paid for by the city, the rest picked up by volunteers of america. but the organization decided last week to end its partnership. as for alternatives we're told that seniors can go to the senior center in parkville or the one in the oliver community. baltimore county is giving a big boost to a local charity and helping to clean up county roads at the same time. october is vehicles for change month in baltimore county. the county executive jim smith says last year more than 1,700 complaints came into the county about abandoned cars. the vehicles for change says if those same cars were given to them for scrap or repair they could be used to help others. >> those cars that are going to the junk yards will generate revenue for us to buy parts and to pay mechanics to do the repairs for those cars who are going to be awarded to low income families. >> in addition to a tax break

for the donor the county is giving up just $75 in gift certificates for groceries, car care, even pizza to some donors. for more information about vehicles for change, go to abc2news.com. and working to get baltimore working. the laborers international union of north america rallied support in baltimore. it encourages companies that receive more than $5 million in tax breaks from the city to hire and invest locally. >> working people and citizens of baltimore. our elected officials have to stand up to the developers and say you're going to sign community partnership agreements for baltimore residents that will be hired. they do it in other states and it's successful. doesn't cost a dime extra to do it. >> the union is demanding that city council pass the agreement. so far they collected more than 14,000 petitions. president obama traveled to the national institutes of health in bethesda today to make a big announcement.

$5 billion in new government grants that will be used to help fight cancer, autism and heart disease. >> cutting edge research all across america to unlock treatments to diseases that have long plagued hue mappity. to save and enrich the lives of people all over the world. this represents the single largest boost to biomedical research in history. >> the white house says the $5 billion in grants announced today will support some 12,000 existing projects and create thousands of jobs over the next two years. now a cosmic change in the auto industry. saturn will no longer orbit general motors. gm said today it would shut down its saturn division after a proposed sale to pensky automotive group fell apart. no word on how soon saturn dealerships will be affected. gm says saturn owners can go to

gm dealerships for service once saturn dealerships are closed. more potential confusion for parents over h1n1. which flu shot should students get first and why? and baltimore city hall is in the pink. a symbol of our local fight for a cure. yesterday, i gave you a two-degree guarantee of 67 degrees today. the high today officially at bwi marshall? got to, 66. which means we did hit that two-degree guarantee. we've now hit it six days in a row. do you live on bank street in baltimore? don, you scored an abc2 umbrella. we'll be right back.

the state health department is making new remitses for schools and the flu vaccine. urging officials to postpone the seasonal flu vaccine and administer the h1n1 vaccine as soon as it becomes available. delia goncalves is here to explain why. >> reporter: it can be confusing because information about h1n1 is constantly changing but here's the latest -- since h1n1 is the predominant strain of the flu virus some of your children will be getting that vaccine first since they are most at risk. harford county students already brought letters home to parents informing them of the change. health officials there say instead of shots school children are inoculated with the flumist. here's the problem though -- that mist requires a four-week waiting period before you can receive another mist. whether that's the seasonal flu or the h1n1 vaccine. no most cases kids under age 10

need two mists of h1n1. >> that being said, to the extent that these folks will need them four weeks apart, we didn't want to delay that process. in light of the urgency of getting children the h1n1 vaccine. >> i'm pretty confident. we know this virus has been around for a little while. i have trust in the health care system that we have here. in maryland. >> reporter: let's tell you tonight that health officials say they will still administer the seasonal flu vaccine after they get through the h1n1 vaccine. we're told there will still be plenty of time for your children to be protected, since the seasonal flu roughly begins in november and doesn't peak until february. delia goncalves, abc2 news. the state of maryland is ranked fifth in the nation for breast cancer death rates.

one of the things you may notice, city hall will be in to the pink tonight. lit up as a sign of support when it's dark outside. dr. stacey garrett ray from the university of maryland school of medicine talks about progress being made. >> we've been able to focus on the 21215 zin code which has the highest number of new breast cancer rates. and allowing people to realize that early detection saves lives. >> this year alone it's estimated that 810 maryland women will die from breast cancer. the race for the cure is one of the big events to help raise money to find a cure for barnes -- breast cancer and help people in treatment. for more information, how you can take part, log on to our web site, abc2news.com.

our live camera shot outside looking pretty nice. our official temperature at bwi marshall 62 degrees. wind continues from the west at 9 miles an hour. pressure rising 29.93. frost advisory is in effect for worcester, maryland, in garrett andal begany county -- allegany county as well as western pennsylvania. not in baltimore. it will be cool but not that cool, at least not yet. low tide just before noontime at 11:59. high tide in the afternoon, 5:42. tomorrow, winds from the northwest 6 to 12, sun coming up 7:03. sets 6:49. high today was 66 degrees. the low this morning, started out chilly but not as cold as we thought. we hit our two-degree guarantee six days in a row now. 59 york. 61 hagerstown. it's already down to 45 oakland. dover now at 64. 65 in ocean city.

as far as our wind chill, feels a little cooler because of the breeze. but the breeze is going to be calming down throughout the evening. throughout the day today, a mix of clouds and sun, a few light sprinkles. we talked about it yesterday. they came through the region but didn't amount to a hill of beans. on the way to the eastern shore. the clouds in the process of starting to break up. maryland's most powerful doppler radar, no precipitation around baltimore. there's that light shower activity making its way on down towards the eastern shore. monkton now 58. 61 downtown. westminster 59. rock hall now at 65. as far as our forecast for tonight, as the sun goes down the clouds will start to dissipate. by evening, looking at clearer skies, that will allow temperatures to get a little cooler tomorrow morning than they were this morning. on friday a chance of scattered showers but the majority of the rachel will hold off -- rainfall will hold off until saturday. tonight, mostly clear, 46 for the overnight low but cooler temperatures in the northern and western suburbs. during the day tomorrow, a

pretty nice day, mostly sunny, still on the cool side, a high of 67. we start to warm up on friday but a chance for some scattered showers, per chance for shower activity on saturday with a high of 72. sunday looking pretty good, partly cloudy, 7 2. we'll see you tonight at 11:00. the raven were on the practice field in prescriptration for their 1:00 sunday game. the ravens 34-3 victory over the cleveland browns. the players are looking forward to the challenge of facing what they know will be a very good new england team. >> obviously they are amongst the, you know, greatest franchises of any sport. when you win three super bowls, three championships in any sport you're considered a dynasty. >> taylor has been able to run. he gets it again and pounds it in! hardly touched.

>> there's always something about him. that's where you measure where your program is. they are such a great team. they got a great coach. they are very fundamentally sound. >> we're going in there, hopefully trying to do our job, move the ball down the field and continue, you know, some of the things that we have been doing. the last three games. and that's our main goal. >> it should be fun. another game for us. another road game. we got to go on the road and get a win. they are a good team. we expect their best. we come ready to play. >> i hope so. the ravens come into the game 3-0. the patriots 2-1. we'll be right back.

wall street lost more ground today. dow dropped 29 points. s & p down almost four. how your husband's underwear could be signaling a troubling trend for our nation's economy. we'll explain. plus, where things stand now after the deluge in dundalk. those stories and more tonight at 11:00. again, on the cool side. then we start to warm up for friday and saturday but a chance chance of showers. we'll talk again tonight at 11:00. >> thank you. that is all the time we have. i'm marybeth marsden. thank you for joining us. we're back tonight at 11:00.

we hope to see you then. have a great evening.