it will be fast, furious and with a roar never heard before on the streets of baltimore. good evening. i'll roosevelt leftwich. indy car racing is one lap closer to happening in baltimore city. bill fink was at today's announcement. >> this race will change the way the world sees baltimore. >> reporter: city approved a

five-year agreement with ball racing development, which will bring a sanctioned indy streetcar race to town. baltimore grandprix . it would be similar to indy car races in long beach and st. petersburg. >> it puts this city on the map for a right reasons. it is time for a new story to be written about this city and incredible charm. >> they have the harbor and camden yards. >> reporter: it will make its way through the heart of downtown. >> when i looked at the photograph of baltimore it was like i hit the lottery. >> reporter: hitting the lottery is how the city will feel. they expect it will create 2,000 jobs. $11 million in revenue and attendance of 100,000. >> we believe we'll build a huge race in baltimore. we are looking to track in people are northern virginia, d.c., new york and philadelphia. >> this is amazing. >> reporter: with the excitement revving up. >> i can't wait. i'm waiting for my spot to know the routes so i can get my chair and drinks and everything

and watch the race. >> i'm in. >> reporter: even council president jack young could not turn down the chance to slide into the drive's seat. coming august 2011 baltimore's first grandprix . in downtown baltimore abc 2 news. >> the city will use $8 million in state and federal grants to make road improvements along the course. indy racing league still needs to sign a sanctioning agreement. that still needs to happen. voters have taken matters into their own hands. they decided to go with the mayor's decision to put in speed cameras. out of the 500 ballots. this came after 400 signatures were collected. governor martin o'malley is in change receiving an award for bio technology for

promoting the industry in state. the group noted the governor's tax credit as one of the reasons why they chose him. maryland is home to 50 bio center companies. the governor says he's made bio technology growth one of his top priorities. now for a look at tonight's top stories. two people are dead in north baltimore after using a portable generator to power the lights inside the home. the landlord reported he had not seen the couple for days. when police arrived at their house they found the couple dead. police are waiting test results but they suspect they died from carbon monoxide poisoning. baltimore's department of public works wants to raise water and sewer rates. they say the 9% increase is used to fix the water main breaks like the one in dundalk last fall. board of estimates will hold a public hearing in june. after the car bomb scare in

new york city over the weekend, the tsa isn't taking any chances. effective immediately airlines must check the names of passengers on a no-fly list after a new name is added. big oil spill in the gulf of mexico. british petroleum has tapped one of three leaks from a sunken oil platform. it is the first step to stop the flow of oil polluting the waters. bp suggests it may be 60,000 barrels of oil a day. >> we are all about getting this closed down. stopping the flow. enemiesing the impact and keeping the public informed. >> as the oil in the gulf of mexico threatens five states one nightmare scenario has scientist fearing the gulf wind could carry the oil around

florida and up the atlantic coast. we hope to get it capped soon. right now across maryland all clear. we expect it to stay that way through the rest of the evening. tomorrow looking good. temperature wise not bad. 79-80 degrees the last hour or so. humidity levels absolutely pleasant. 34% relative humidity. baltimore 29%. d.c. 37% relative humidity. we are staying clear dropping in the 60s dry and mild. there are a few tweaks to the forecast toward the weekend. we'll show you those in a couple more minutes. today is cinco de mayo a mexican holiday widely observed. opponents of arizona's new immigration law are turning it into a day of decent. this cinco de mayo rally in sue son is showing the immigration law. they are suing concerning the costs of enforcing the law and what effects boycotts might have on tourism. >> i worry about the impact

just as we are beginning to come out of the economic problem for the past two years. >> phoenix suns will denounce the law by wearing los suns in tonight's playoff games against the spurs. lawmakers in oakland is starting a boycott to punish arizona. unless it is repealed the law will go into affect in late july. it is the people versus the police. why a financial problem is causing tensions to rise in europe. why some of baseball's heavy hitters spent some time in aberdeen.

it is the people versus the police in athens greece. more than 25,000 workers are on the streets protesting new government spending cut. officers responding with tear

gas and all the arrest surprised greece is paying for a bailout loan from the international monetary fund. no cut backs no loans. >> we have not got any choice. it is a mark of what other european workers will be facing. >> right now there are no flights in or out of the country. bus routes have also been suspended. hospitals running with minimum after. teachers, dangers and lawyers have all walked off the job. >> people are not dressing to impress like they used to. consumers bought less clothing and footware last month than a year-ago. however they opened their wall hes for electronics and appliances. a harmless dare turns into a daring rescue. how these college students literally ended up the creek without a paddle. another person sent home with abc's dancing with the stars. [ male announcer ] it's a price that starts low and stays low.

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tonight baltimore is mourning the loss of hall of fameer ernei h harwell. he left after the 1959 season for detroit. he was considered one of the greatest voices of the game. to taze or not to taze. that is the question sparking great debate tonight after a philly's fan ran on the field after a game this week. you can see the 17-year-old zigzagging through police and security until he gets the shock of his life. 50,000 volts of electricity in the outfield. you know it is bad when his mother had to apologize for his

actions. the consequences have everyone asking if advertising tuesdayi advertising is painful. >> the fan plans to write an apology to the team. international sportsman ship came to today to city as they hosted special baseball players. the ripkin academy welcomed guests from iraq. >> reporter: in 2007 when cal ripkin was named for the state department he had this to say about the message he could deliver as a good will ambassador. >> we are appealing to kids and showing them a good example of the great things that can happen through sports. >> reporter: today ten iraqi boys and girls ages 15-17 and five coaches came to aberdeen to partus pate in a clinic put

on by ripkin baseball. >> this is a great thing. >> translator: we don't have the fields or facilities we need. we take them to universities. through an an interpreter say they are feel lucky to be play ing here. >> translator: we have a lot of females with sport potential but due to security reasons and traditions they do not always get the opportunities that they want or deserve. >> reporter: with the opportunity to travel to the united states and play the american pass time language didn't seem to be that much of a barrier.

>> we need to get our hands out in front. everything in baseball is out in front of you. you'll never see anybody catch a ball like this. >> reporter: as feeling drills are run and the language of baseball take over high fives become the norm and smiles break out. none take the opportunity for granted. > >> translator: we don't have channels that show baseball games in bagdad at this point. >> translator: i love baseball. >> reporter: that's the best message anyone can hope for. paul jafey abc 2 news. excitement today in sent rale high school in michigan today. class of 2010 landed ultimate graduation speaker president of the united states. the prize came based on am deem i can achievement and a three-minute video submitted to

the white house. they had a secret weapon, an 18- year-old olds poetry and what it means to be a giant. >> we are where giants thrive. >> okay. runners' up get cabinet secretaries. tonight much of tennessee is still under water after heavy rains. flash flooding reduced this home to an empty stoop. a nearby highway swept up by the raging current was picked up and dropped squarely on to a house. >> if it had been at night we'd never made it. >> the homeowner say they were lucky to survive. take a look at this. it all started as a fun dare. then three people found themselves trapped in strong water currents struggling to hold on. three college students were rescued from the edge of a dam in a rain-swollen creek in

georgia. thankfully no one was seriously hurt. as i said before famous last words are hey y'all look at this. >> maybe not so much where there is a waterfall. not a good thing. >> you do want to walk in the sunshine. >> we had plenty to walk in today. gorgeous weather. there are some cinco de mayo festivities around town. good weather for those. we can hear the trumpet. let's look outside. very, very nice conditions where ever your plans take you. i think we are looking at the water taxi downtown. not a bad day to take the water taxi. 79 degrees. humidity nice and low. 34%. light southeast breeze. we have high pollen numbers in the ai . i think weather will be holding up nicely today.

you can see high on the tree pollen now. also grass pollen is looking quite high. those are our two highiest counts. trees and grass the biggest offenders on the pollen front. let's talk you downtown. also, i wanted to take you through what it looked like at chesapeake beach today. clear skies with a few clouds off on the horizon there. not much. basically a fantastic-looking day. temperature wise we are at 79. bwi marshall 83 from dulles. 79 from the river. 83 winchester. winds gusty out of the west and south. we are getting a warmer air flow. it is still a dry air pattern. we have not much humidity to tell you about. a few clouds in west virginia. high and dry weather up and down the central part of the

east coast. entire mid atlantic in the clear. we have a couple of showers and storms flairing up toward north of the cleveland area. for the most part we are looking good. that's part of a cool front that will come and cool us off for the weekend. in the meantime high pressure will keep us nice and dry and keep sunshine cascading down. forecast model. disturbance passes to the north tomorrow. although briefly through the middle part of tomorrow afternoon we could see a shower or two. i think we are not going to see much. into the day on friday. once again, just a slight chance of a shower friday evening. slight chances here. better chance during the day on saturday. that not looking like a lot of rain. relatively dry pattern. overnight 06. mostly clear. stays mild tomorrow. two degree guarantee is 82 degrees. variably sunny skies. for new clouds into the afternoon. tomorrow night a few clouds. cooler at 50 degrees.

seven-day forecast. here's the trend. not bad at all. thursday and friday just a slight chance of a passing shower. better chance for scattered showers saturday as cooler air punches in. two shots. second round of cooler air will drop us in the mid 60s sunday and monday. >> thank you, wyatt. with a look ahead now to abc 2 news at 6:00 i'm kelly swoop. it may have looked like scrap metal but a car had a powerful message behind it. unfortunately criminals got to the car before the message made it to the school. a single father struggling to keep his family at float has accomplished something he never thought. because you could be paying way too much. stop spending more for second best. upgrade to verizon fios and get tvet and phone for just $99.99 a month, guaranteed for two years with a two-year agreement. plus a free dvr for six months.

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baltimore bank has more green inside than purple and black. m&, the stadium goes state-of-the-art with new turf. bge cut off their electricity and now two people are dead in north baltimore after using a generator to keep warm. good evening. i'll kelly swoop. police say it appears the couple died from carbon monoxide poisoning. jeff hager has more on what happened. >> reporter: she was living the american dream. she came to this country from puerto rico and worked two jobs to rent a place in north baltimore. >> it is so crazy the way she died. >> reporter: her long-time friend says soon after she lost power to r