en pacarin was murdered and today johns hopkins honors his life. and bge has mass not asked for a rate increase in 17 years and some customers say get it from the top executives and ceo. a rate increase meeting is heating up. and it's walk to school day, a chance to help the environment get healthy and there will be a horseback escort for those kids walking to school. >> how fun would that be to have a horse escort. >> don't walk behind the horse good morning i am jamie

costello. >> i am megan pringle. only you would think about that. did you walk to school? >> i did too. >> goit my liesents a 14. after that our meteorologist justin berk with a look at the weather. >> yeah. good morning. some of us had showers pass through and pasting of off toward the east there's the threat of on and off rain today we are about 3,000 feet near the snowshoe area and they have had snow overnight and we have show you know video he from lake tahoe and it's creeping a little bit close your but won't -- it won't reach us. maryland's most powerful doppler radar and we have light showers in downtown baltimore up outside of the white marsh and crossing into the border of harford county and near rock hall essentially on and off showers

this morning. >> reporter: it's national walk to school day. so please keep an extra eye out for the kid. no problems on the 95 look here at 195. you will see the road wet andn some spots but not causing too many issues. no traffic problems or accidents to let you know he about right now. megan and gamey back to you. >> 35:32. steven was about to sell brace his 24th birthday and he had so much to look forward to and it was takein away. he was a victim of a terrible crime an example of how mean baltimore streets can be. sherrie johnson is live with how the community is coming together to remember him. >> reporter: good morning. that's right. today family friends and the johns hopkins community will come together to remember steven. he is the man that was trying to become a doctor when all of a sudden his life was cut short when two people stabbed him to death one walking home -- while he was walk home from penn station and he was a couple

days before his 24th birthday. two people accused of stabbing and killing him will stand trial in january. today a slide show presentation will begin at 3:45 p.m. and the service will begin at 4 p.m. in the school of medicine turner auditorium on the east baltimore campus. now in june of 20 09, he joined johns hopkins as a lab technician and was promoted a year later to research technologist. the memorial scholarship fun has been established at the school of medicine and you can send contributions to the memorial scholarship fund school of medicine development and alumni relations office that is at 100 north charles street suite 21 baltimore maryland 21201 and a reception will be held after the memorial. reporting live, sherrie johnson abc2 news. 5:34 let's look at numbers. crime is down in baltimore county lowest it's been since 1975. and police say the county saw

lower crime rates in the first half of the year and the most significant drop came in the number of murders. murders went down 44% this year 10 occur in the county between january and june of this year in comparison to 18 in the same time period of last year. vehicle thefts dropped 22%. >> 5:34. a popular fells point restaurant is expected to be open in a few days following a fire. crews were called to pazo in the 1400 block of of alice anna yesterday morning. it was contained through the rope roof and didn't spread to the restaurant. no one was hurt and they say they should be open and running soon. howard county executive joins the men and women of the savage volunteer fire company for the ground breaking of the new fire station. once complete they will have apparatus days and individual sleeping waters and a physical fitness training room. and among all other amenities, a lot will go on there.

he is excited about how savage has gotten the response time which is down by one minute. time he says could make a difference between life and death. >> we are a great community for a lot of reasons, schools and parks and libraries and nonprofits in the community. but we are a good -- a great place because we are safe and nothing else matters unless we are safe. and the fact together we have been able to drive down response times over the last year by over a minute means that we have come together to work to work cooperatively. >> he is a. [audio not understandable] >> yes intern. >> construction will begin in november and the station is expected to open in the fall of 2011. providing quick and easy access to routes 1 and 32. >> i told him to get out of the news business and get into politics. >> he has you to thank. democracy 2010 coverage. we are learning more about the president's visit to maryland tomorrow. a spokesman for the o'malley campaign says president barack obama will campaign with the

governor. the president is expect to rally supporters at the campus of bowie state university and mr. obama says o'malley made tough decisions to prioritize education, safety and job creation during difficult financial times. and it's one of the moments the president won't soon likely forget e was speaking to fortune magazine's most powerful women summit in washington last night. the seal on his podium fell off. take a listen. >> we cannot sustain. oops. was that my -- oh, goodness. that's all right. all of you know who i a . [ applause ] >> super glue next time. the president added but i am sure there's somebody back there that is nervous don't you think. the seal was picked up and taken back stage after he finished

the speech. remember when the teleprompter broke? a meltdown at car wash. >> a driver outraged what change machine doesn't work. his tirade all caught on tape. also ahead this track is not an ops cal court a sink hole opens up and the race to get it fixed. >> wow. >> let's go. we have got a race to work here this morning. here mark jones with your mta report. good morning, mark. >> reporter: good morning, dealing with wet roadways slowing buses up some so allow extra time for getting there traveling by bus. number 7 bus with the diversion at fate construction zone. number 35 with a diversion at wilkins and brunswick due to water main break repair. light rain metro subway and marc all operating on time. for the mta transit team, i am mark jones.

two governors, two different approaches. even in good times bob ehrlich didn't make education a priority. he increased college tuition by 40%, cut school construction by $200 million, and ehrlich voted to eliminate the department of education while serving in congress. but in the toughest of times, martin o'malley has made record investments in public schools, new school construction, and o'malley froze college tuition four years in a row.

with martin o'malley, our children always come first.

now maryland's most popular radar . and here's mayor land most powerful radar. we talked about having rain come through in the last couple hours. that's why a lot of the road may be wet on your drive in. we have got the time-lapse here going back about 4 hours and you can see the rain rotating through baltimore. we had it in howard county and

passing through reisterstown and towson and locks like it is falling apart a little bit. but we have to deal with this and we will pull back and being see from bel air and it has rain and basically is lifting up to the north. york pa and southern lancaster county. we are looking at conditions like this. perry hall middle school .05 of an inch of rain and more showers as the guaranteed high of of 1 -- 61. after today it will improve and we will have the weekend outlook in a moment. kim brown has a check on the traffic. >> reporter: this morning so far traffic is actually pretty good. we don't have too many issues work. no accidents at this time. no problems on 95 southbound out of harford towards the beltway. the roads could be wet so ease up off the speeds just some. but around 695 traffic looks good. 83, 795 no problems and here in anne arundel county at 97 and route 100 traffic is good in both direction. linda so is standing by live

with the latest details on one of the morning's top stories. >> reporter: they show up at military funerals and shout god hates you. i am linda so. today the supreme court will hear a landmark case that pits free speech against right to privacy.

i'm frank kratovil and i approve this message. the real andy harris. his past attacks have been called deceptive, his new attack, false. harris voted for deregulation increasing our electric bills by 72% it's not surprising, harris always sides with the big guys. he opposes cracking down on wall street and supports tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. harris even opposed making big insurance cover cancer screenings. andy harris' extreme ideas will cost us. more bold flavor!onds! more variety! more value! more of what you want... not what you don't. blue diamond almonds. (play-by-play announcer) it's up and it is... good! more than a snack.

it's a quarter to six on this wednesday morning. all albert snyder was a chance to lay his son to rest after being killed in iraq. never got that chance. his protesters outside said awful and hurtful things. today's snyder goes to the supreme court with another chance to lay this issue to rest. abc2 news linda so with high emotion on the high court. linda. >> reporter: well, it's been a long and painful journey for al snyder and he is look forward to finally getting some closure for his family and his son and all the other military families out there. it started four years ago when snyder's son marine lance corporal matthew snyder was killed in iraq. members of the westboro baptist church protested holding signs that read god hates you and you are in hell. the found irof the church travels around the country protesting military funerals. he believes soldiers are dying as a punishment from god for defending the nation that accepts homosexuality. after the funeral, snyder sued the church for harassment and a judge in baltimore award him

$11 million. late an appeals court ruled the protest were protected by the first amendment and the case pitting free speech against the right to privacy. >> it isolated every day. when i walk past my son's picture, i have to remember how i was robbed. >> reporter: members of the westboro baptist church r expected to protest outside the supreme court today. the court is expected to issue the ruling on the case sometime next spring. in the studio, linda so, abc2 news. 50 degrees and it's 5:47 right now. today, it's walk to school day. it's an idea being promoted as way to help fight childhood obesity but to keep students healthy and improve their environment. those walk or biking to school in the united states dropped from 41% in 1969 to 13% in 2009.

-- 2001. a few dollars a month may not seem like much, but it is for your bge if you a bge customer. power supplier wants to increase electric rates by about $2 a month and add $3 on your gas bill. now a spokeswoman for bge says a request for a rate increase has been made in -- hasn't been made in 17 years. linda says the increases over the years have been the result of rising commodity prices which is the cost of gas and electric. and bge doesn't make money off that. and now the power supplier wants to upgrade the system. customers say the company should look elsewhere. >> you should take the money from the chief executives. take the money from the shareholders. don't take it from us. if. >> if you look at the cost of cable and electric wire, they have increased over 100% since the last time we had a rate increase for quest. other cost have increased tree trimming cost incree increased and meters have gone up 58%.

>> so we are having a series of public meetings that will continue next week in towson and then the public service commission will hear from customers in baltimore, annapolis and columbia. if the hike is approved, customers could see it on the bill by the end of the year. 5:48 right now. r and b star mary j. blige will be in town to make an appearance at the nordstrom at towson town center from 5 until 7 tonight. i bet a big crowd will show up. it's to launch her new melody eye wear collection. glasses range in price from 1 # 5 dollars to $225. we are told customers who purchase a pair of glasses tonight will get to meet singer. now maryland's most powerful doppler radar and forecast certified most accurate by weather rate. we are looking outside in downtown baltimore. rain came through earlier on. it's dark out there. we will get another how hour

and 15 minutes before we get the sunrise and it's going to be underneath a lot of clouds. we may peek more sun out today but we have the threat of rain lingering across the area. cool temperatures 50 in town. and 40 to the south and in virginia it's 46 and in richmon right now and 45 altuna and pittsburgh to the west low 50s from philly up towards new york. at 57. watch the circulation here. this is around an upper-level low that is spinning another area of low pressure and heavy rain on through eastern new england. we have had our safes little rain row -- rain row -- ourselves a little rain rotate through. the pocket of cool air continues to spin. we are north to northwesterly wind. a impulse of energy will slide through enhancing the chill today and we have had snow across the high country of west virginia. can you feel it? can you feel it in the air? all right. it will be out of the air soon. we will get the large circulation. this trough in the atmosphere and pocket of cool air that

helped to enhance the last couple storms really begin to lift on out and while we are underneath the energy today, probably have better chance of showers as opposed to yesterday. warmer temperatures on back towards the west underneath the canopy of clear skies. and that is what begins to move in. basically the threat of rain. you can see the back edge of the clouds band with the trough in the upper level system swing through during the evening. and still a threat of rain on through 9:30. we will get the lifting out by daybreak and watch the clear skies and once we shift the winds and develop sunshine and it's about a warmup through the weekend. today 61. 10 below normal. take that light rain jacket or umbrella because like yesterday, there will be a chance of on and off showers. tonight we should wind that down and we fall back to about 46 degrees. and then check out the extend forecast. because it looks pretty good. we are going for about 70 tomorrow. and that's all it takes is a little sun and we warm back to 70. 40s overnight and 72 on friday with sunshine and how about a nice weekend and warm willing it -- warming it up 75 to 76 and

staying mild and dry through monday. here kim now with traffic. >> reporter: justin, not much to tell about traffic this morning. which is always good news. despite the wet roads traffic is moving well around the baltimore metro. as we look at overview fortunately no issues on the harrisburg expressway. 95 looks good and 695 and no problems on i-70 make your way eastbound towards 695, west westbound is good towards 270. looking at the cameras, traffic is good every where. in anne arundel 97 at route 100, good in both directions. we have more of good morning, maryland coming back after this quick break. ♪

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make news around the nation this morning, one late night driver in texas had a major meltdown at car wash and as you guessed it it was caught on tape as you can see. it seems the change machine was not working. this driver went become eserk and he bent over the plastic cover started to kick it and went from bay to bay beating the electronics with a spray gun and kicking them. >> each one of the electronics that he was kicking is $5,000

each. and he kicked six and broke four. the bad thing is during the assault on the equipment e. keeps look at his shoes to make sure he is not damaging them. >> the car wash owner said that when the tirade was over, the man had caused more than $20,000 in damage. he is trying to find the guy so he can press charges or at least get him to anger management classer. one of the strangest stories you will hear a tennessee family lost their pets and home in fire because fire fight rears fused to put it out and watched it burn. turns out the family didn't pay a $75 fire protection fee for the home. so the family told 911 they would pay firefighters whatever the cost to stop the fire before it spread to the house. but that didn't help. >> what i called i told them mie. grandson called twice and when they i got here he thought coy get something done. >> the home says the firefighters got almost two

hours to get to the house and they came when the neighbor's field caught fire and they payed the fine. some were so upset soon after the fire department returned to the station, somebody went to the fire station and beat up one of the firefighters. nascar has not created this obstacle. look at that. they are trying to patch a huge sink hole in charlotte at the motor speedway in north carolina. it formed on the infield near the back end of the track. a track official says it was likely caused by the rain they had. also, part of the speedway is built on top of a landfill which could have also played a role in this. the 35 foot deep crateer is expected to be patched up by next week bank of america 600. >> look at this. they will get it patched in week? >> that's huge. >> put a steel plate over it is what they will do. we know it's fall, but a lot of you will still be outdoors walk and taking walks and getting ready for this fall right? >> yes. this morning we want to help you avoid poison ivy. we will tell you about some of the places that thechy plant

can grow. can you believe john lennon will turn 70 years old if he were alive a fitting tribute in the works to sell brace his -- celebrate his birthday and who will sng his music? we will find out.

al schneider is driving to dc to fight for his son who fought for this nation. what's at stake is his privacy and first amendment rights. those who taught him studied with him and respected him and cherished him his friendship will gather today at johns hopkins. today we remember the life of steven a carean. >> and in the words of aerosmith, walk this way. it's walk to school day a day to help the environment and get healthy. good morning i am jamie costello. >> i am megan pringle. walk to school day we should ve