bedbugs aren't just in the new york state of mind, they're crawling into our city. we have to stop it, we'll find out how to do it. good morning, maryland. i'm jamie costello, welcome in on this wednesday morning. >> wednesday, september 29th. jamie's birthday. >> all right, let's move it along. meteorologist justin -- we've got some mad, bad weather. >> we do need rain. >> see my pin, justin? >> nice introduction, birthday-boy, appreciate it. we have bad weather rolling in.

currently it is located near cuba. the fact that something near cuba of a tropical nature could reach us in a day or day and a half is in and of itself astounding. been really trying to work over all these computer models. there are a bunch of solutions. tropical storm nicole may reach maryland by tomorrow night or sooner. heavy rain will spill out ahead of it. either way you slice it, name or no name, two to four inches a guarantee, higher amounts possible, that's why we have ourselves a flood watch, at least through tomorrow evening. it appears as if we're mostly cloudy, high thin clouds, there'll be sunlight this morning, but the clouds will thicken up. look at the slug of moisture down the east coast. focusing on florida and southbound for what could be tropical storm nicole. increasing cloudy sky and showers arriving late. a high only 71. here's kim brown with a look at traffic. >> fortunately that rain's not

going to affect us for this morning rush hour, unlike yesterday, a complete headache, this morning it's a breeze. we don't have problems on the area roadways so far. no delays as you make your way around 695. 83 looks good pretty much between middletown road, south towards the beltway. 795 is all clear. the entire stretch of the 95 corridor. mountain road towards the beltway. no issues as you make your way towards 495, bw parkway checking in without problems. the eiffel tower had to be evacuated as intel agents around the globe are working on credible, but not specific terror threats this morning. we keep our dukes up over here. emily schmitt is in washington with details on this. >> reporter: in paris tuesday night, officials evacuated the eiffel tower after a caller from a phone booth issued a threat. it was a false alarm, but the

second evacuation in two weeks. there's a new explanation for the cause. a senior u.s. official tells abc news there's a credible threat of a major series of terror attacks on britain, france, germany and possibly the united states. the information comes after questioning a captured suspected german jihadist who claimed osama bin laden personally approved the plot. >> the american authorities are extremely nervous about what is going on. the germans are extremely nervous about what is going on. >> reporter: officials are now looking for other radicalized germans who may have been trading in pakistan for a commando-style raid similar to the attack in mumbai india two years ago. just last week, the head of the fbi testified on capitol hill about increased worries of non-specific new threats. >> despite the significant counterterrorism pressure abroad, al-qaeda continues to be committed to high-profile

attacks, directed at the west, including plans against europe as well as the homeland. >> officials say some of the recruits they're seeking were from the same german mosque where 9/11 terrorists gathered. officials closed that mosque last month after discovering the plot. time now is 5:35. parents and safety advocates are calling on congress to establish federal standards for teenaged driver's licenses. a father who lost his young son after a car crash spoke at the conference at the capital capitol. . >> i wake forestrestled with this for 11 years on what i can do. and if i can take part in this, and it's successful, and it changes, just a little bit, it

helps other folks not go through what i've been through, it'll be a wonderful thing. >> according to the national highway traffic safety administration, crashes claim the lives of more than 7,000 people in 2007. it is 5:36. investigators say weather was a big factor in the death of a veteran baltimore city police officer. officer james fouler was killed when his truck crashed into a barrier in central pennsylvania on monday night. he was on his way to penn state to participate in a training program accident investigations. the 33-year-old vet leaves behind a wife and two children. aan anne arundel police officer performs cpr and gets a 4-year-old to breathe again. her dad says this officer is a life-saver. alan bayne says he knew his daughter wasn't feeling well. she slept in his bed.

she stopped breathing. he called 911 and corporal luke ringler was minutes from the home. he got her to breathe before paramedics arrived. >> he noticed the paramedics, the sound was going away from the house, he immediately called dispatch and told them they were going the wrong way. i'm sure that saved time. >> you just try to react appropriately and do what you'd hope that anyone would do for their own child in that situation. >> brook bayne was diagnosed with croup. she may be release d from the hospital later on today. how about this? b&bs are saying thank you to military members with a free

give-a-way. for a list of participating bed and breakfasts. log onto abc2news.com. click on the story in the national news section. that's great. >> that is great. 5:38 right now. a toddler's birthday bash turns into a brawl. >> there was blood and broken glass. >> more than a dozen people are injured and what police say led to this fight. one of the young men accusing a prominent pastor of coercing him into a sexual relationship is speaking out. here's mta's mark jones. >> so far, so good for travel out there on light rail and metro subway. both operating on time and up to speed. marc train on time for service on the camden, penn and brunswick lines. outside of not just a heavy volume of passengers on 7, 13 and 5

buses. for the mta transit team, i'm mark jones. i'm frank kratovil and i approve this message. the real andy harris. buried in his website - a promise to replace the tax code with a 23% sales tax and eliminate the mortgage interest deduction. a bush tax panel said families would pay $6,000 more a year. a reagan tax advisor calls it a very dumb idea. but that's not his only bad idea. harris was the only senator to vote against expanding the child care tax credit and against the state's cancer treatment program. andy harris' extreme ideas will cost us.

old gibbs canning company. today these factories are full of dot com businesses. and now my job is helping maryland create new economy jobs. training new math and science teachers investing in our institutions of excellence pioneering new cyber security jobs and giving an old gm plant a jump start building electric motors. i'm barbara mikulski. i approve this message so you'll know i'm fighting for you. there are only 87 more days until christmas. and white house officials aren't wasting any time when it comes to finding that perfect

christmas tree. they're out at the crystal spring tree farm in carbon county pennsylvania near scranton. they finally settled on a 19 foot douglas fur that will decorate the white house blue room once the holiday season kicks into gear. good morning, a quiet and cool morning and we'll be talking about the big storm that will arrive tomorrow, so enjoy what we have right now with the calm weather and basic clear sky and high thin clouds mixing in we have a temperature down to 54 in westminster now, 56 in norrisville and elkton. we stretch down the eastern shore, northeast and centreville, actually at 63 degrees. i know northeast isn't officially on the eastern shore, they're kind of there. tucked in the north corner of the chesapeake. five sweeps of maryland's most powerful doppler radar.

we're aiming for increasing clouds in our two-degree guaranteed high in the lower 70s, the official forecast from the storm enter here is 73. i'm going for the lower limit of that at 71 and then showers arriving by mid-afternoon through this evening, spreading from south to north. let's see what's happening on the roads right now, here's kim brown. >> traffic-wise, we're off to a smooth start this morning, we don't have reports of accidents and hardly any delays out there on the roadways this morning, as we look at our drive times. you'll see moderate volume, six minutes from 70 to 95. four-minute ride between white marsh boulevard and the beltway. six minutes from the split towards 295. only one thing working in brooklyn park. utility incident blocks the right lane and shoulder on the southbound side of richie highway. at 4th avenue. traffic is able to get by smoothly to the left. linda sow has the latest details on one of today's top stories. a girl stops breathing and a

cop comes to her rescue. the girl's father speaks to us exclusively about how his daughter was saved. >> reporter: baltimore city health officials fight against bedbugs today. i'm sherrie johnson, coming up, i'll show you how you can get some answers.

5:47 right now. we hear stories of police officers doing amazing acts of bravery every single day. the cop you're about to meet says he was just doing his job. however, the family of the 4-year-old girl he saved says he's a life-saver. abc2 news linda sow joins us in the studio with details. >> reporter: the family says if it weren't for the cop, their daughter wouldn't be here today. 4-year-old brooke bayne stopped breathing. turns out brooke had pneumonia and croup. brooke's dad called 911 and it happened that corporal luke ringler was a minute away from the home. as the father of two young kids himself, it was tough to put his emotions aside, but he did what he was trained to do. >> i'm glad he was there. i owe him a lot. >> life is fragile. you have to love them while you have them. >> the corporal says everyone should take time to learn cpr.

meanwhile, brooke is recovering at a hospital in baltimore and could be released as early as today. it is 5:48. evidently bedbugs can travel, they can crawl down the jersey turnpike from 95 from new york and baltimore though, is pulling up the welcome mat to crush their plan. sherrie johnson is live with the meeting of the bedbugs mines. >> reporter: baltimore city health officials are trying to be proactive in the fight against bedbugs. they're holding a meeting here today at noon at the war memorial building in downtown baltimore. the goal is to map out a strap watch in the fight against bedbugs and answer the public's concerns and questions. the blood-sucking critters known as bedbugs turned up in a frederick county library, a worker returned books, found bedbugs in a pair of children's books. the county hired exterminators to make sure all of its libraries are free of the

insects and in howard county, a couple has filed a $500,000 lawsuit over a bedbug infestation in an ellicot city apartment. the couple says they were forced to move out of their apartment and throw away most of their possessions. they filed a lawsuit on friday in howard county circuit court saying their apartment was never properly treated for bugs. that meeting as far as -- starts at noon today at the war memorial building. reporting live in downtown baltimore, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. democracy 2010 coverage this morning: former president clinton is expected to attend a fundraiser next month for barbara makulsky.

. good morning: 5:50 a lot of stuff to talk about this morning. we have ourselves a little clearing overnight. still high thin clouds. we're holding 55 double nickels in baltimore. 49 towards allatoona. hugging around the coastline. philly, 69 new york. muggy 72 in norfolk. that's important. close to that boundary, ahead of the approaching storm, there's warm, tropical air, you can see leftover moisture off the coast, on down to southeast virginia. heavy rain near raleigh, durham, all that stuff spreading in our direction. we'll continue to have that flow pushing to our north, it appears chilly this morning. clouds will thicken up throughout the day. we continue to watch the slug of moisture extend through the carolinas and push through florida and cuba and the caribbean. that's our general focal point. the upper level low, core of cool air continues to spill its

way in. will surge to the north. indications that a developing tropical storm that could get named today as nicole races to the north and could be across the chesapeake bay, by tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening. let's bring it home and check out our forecast models here, rain returning this afternoon. the bulk of the rain moves in by daybreak tomorrow. heavy rain across central maryland and towards d.c. indication of heavier moisture. that red shading could see half inch or inch for our rates with this tropical range of rain. that could be spreading across central maryland from the chesapeake into the mountains. slug of heavy rain hugs the chesapeake and del marva tomorrow evening. we'll try to push the rain out of here from west to east overnight. we head through friday itself. we have to focus on a flood watch, at least now through thursday evening, could be extended, depending on how much rain we get. also have to focus on the chesapeake bay with the surge

from the south. high tide, fort mchenry, 11:57. thursday morning, just before midday. friday morning, this is actually just after midnight at 12:44. we'll be watching the potential for some flooding. 71 today, increasing clouds, showers south to north. then we're looking at rain tonight. could be heavy towards daybreak. flooding rains tomorrow. mid-70s, drop drier in the mid-60s over the weekend. here's kim with traffic. >> i have the best traffic report ever. there is no traffic this morning. we don't have any problems. no delays either. you'll see minor congestion as you approach the fort mchenry toll plaza. aside from that, we're looking good. no delays on the harbor tunnel thruway. looks good from the beltway to howard county. 6-minute ride between i-70 and 95. looking at our cameras, anne arundel county, 97 and route 100. traffic looks good in both directions. more good morning maryland will be right back after this. it's a beautiful day inside

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in ohio a toddler's birthday party became a nightmare when a brawl erupted involving about 75 people. a toddler's birthday party. police say the fight was between the birthday girl's father and her mother's boyfriend and was fueled by alcohol.

it quickly escalated into a huge fight where police say there were broken beer bottles and there were more than a dozen people injured. >> i talked to one or two of them. they was asking me, uh, help them moving some things for the parties and they seemed like nice people. >> officers arrested the father for disorderly conduct while intoxicated. children's services is conducting a separate investigation since there were kids at the party. one man accused of luring another man into a sexual relationship told a tv interviewer he'll always love the pastor, but thinks he's a predator. >> there's no physical evidence

and any time in a sex case that you don't have physical evidence, it's very, very difficult to prove. >> bishop long is vowing to fight the allegations. all right, it's 5:57 right now as we continue to think pink all week. >> this morning we have tips for you on how to help a friend or loved one diagnosed with breast cancer. the music is back, we're going to take you to the grand ole opry. my dad is the supervisor of a train station and my mom's a teacher. my dad's an auto technician. my mom's a receptionist. i'm not sure i would have been able to afford college without the tuition freeze.

while tuition in other states is rising out of reach... governor o'malley made the tough choice to freeze tuition. he made my dream of going to college into a reality. i'm the first in my family to go to college. my brother and i never would have been able to afford college. even though times were tough... governor o'malley kept his promise. there's never a doubt... there's never a doubt whose side he's on. martin o'malley... moving maryland forward.

if you run into or you know this corporal luke ringler, give him a hug, shake his happened, pat him on the back. he's a hero. a gang member is sentenced to life for taking another life. what are we going to do to keep the bedbugs out? we'll find out today downtown at the war memorial building. >> i'm megan pringle. >> i'm jamie costello. >> jamie's birthday, september 29th. >> that's it. >> happy birthday. >> thank you very much. >> giant ribbon in celebration. >> no, this is think pink week. >> it looks good, we'll have more stories on breast cancer awareness in just a bit. before all the news, let's get to weather. it'll be nasty. here's meteorologist justin berk. >> we're holding off the nastiness until after jamie's birthday. we have ourselves a changing