>> reporter: after being frustrated from seeing signs stolen or vandalized, hundreds week after week they took matters in their own hands. put a security camera on top of the building. they did get lucky. lucky for some. unlickey for others. the thief got caught. early sunday morning anne arundel county police noticed some signs missing that they had just saw moments ago. they began looking for a possible suspect. at 3:50 in the morning they saw 50-year-old david corrigan of glen burnie cutting down a sign at route 2 in early heights road. corrigan was dressed in a construction hat and safety vest trying to look like a county worker. after checking with mr. corrigan's vehicle the police found 70 more signs. >> this is the actual sign he was flashing. you can see the fraternal order of police logo in the middle. one of our supporters. and what's great about it is the people he was slashing there actually picked him up

and arrested him. >> politicians have been victim to this type of crime before. >> i've had candidates tell me this morning that they have spent hours at night trying to do their own perm stakeout over -- personal stakeote over the years trying to find the people taking their signs. this is just one of those, really, once in a lifetime moments where you not only catch him, you arrest him but we filmed it while he was doing it. it couldn't have been more perfect. >> reporter: in severna park, don harrison for abc news. if you can't make it to the polls next tuesday the deadline to request an absentee ballot is tomorrow. the state board of elections says you can request an absentee ballot in writing. you can also print a request form or request one by phone or in person at your local elections board. if you do request one it must be received completed and signed by your local board tomorrow. if you mail it or drop it off you have until 8:00 tomorrow. if you fax or e-mail you have until 11:59. after tomorrow all be a --

absentee ballot requests must be done in person. you can also vote early from now until thursday at special polling places across the state. election officials on the eastern shore say voter turnout has been pretty good. according to the star democrat, more than 500 people in talbot county voted friday. you can find early voting centers near you by going to the state board of elections web site. stay with us and abc2news.com for the very latest election news. voter information and useful links. you can find all of that information by heading to our web site, abc2news.com. click on news and then click on the political tab. a move by baltimore county leaders could help small businesses save some big cash. today the county kicked off a new stimulus-funded program that offers free energy audits and low interest loans to help businesses reduce energy use. >> this program is a win/win for everyone. it saves businesses money,

helps preserve our environment and should create jobs. >> the pikesville plaza building will be among the first properties to benefit from the plan. the new program is funded through a $475,000 grant from the u.s. department of energy. here's a look at tonight's top stories. baltimore city police, family and friends remember detective brian stevenson, killed in an off-duty fight. police say sean james threw a piece of concrete at him hitting him in the head. investigators say it happened because of an argument over a parking space. according to the latest poll from "the washington post" governor martin o'malley is still in the lead in the race for governor. according to the poll 54% of those likely to vote support o'malley, while 40% say they support former governor ehrlich. that poll has a margin of error of 2.5% to 3%. opening arguments began in the case of chandra levy. an illegal immigrant from el salvador accused of killing

her. her remains were found in rock creek park. there was allegedly a confession to prison inmates. weatherwise today, a lot of changing weather. you can feel it in the air. if you looked at the sky you saw clouds zipping by. things beginning to get more active out there and not much rain but there is some wind that we're dealing with. look at maryland's most powerful doppler radar as we speak. not much going on out there at the moment. in our state at least. we're picking up rain toward, well, areas of pennsylvania just west of carlyle. back across maryland clouds rolled in and are pretty thick out there right now but again not generating showers at the moment. we do have quite a bit of wind coming from the south and southwest around 17 to 23, between baltimore and dc. the rest of the evening into the 60s. it will be on the muggy side. also mild, breezy and mostly cloudy conditions. when might we see more significant rain? we answer that question

straight ahead. checking headlines around the nation now. a house in coastal washington state lost its battle with mother nature. the cabin's owner says the property eroded about 750 feet since july 2009. in fact the washington state department of ecolling says, get this name, washaway beach, three hours southwest of seattle is the fastest eroding area along the u.s. pacific coast and losing an average of 100 feet per year for about a century now. do you remember this girl? three years ago she made headlines because she kept hiccoughing up to 50 times a minute. she's making headlines for another reason, murder. the 22-year-old accused of killing a man. others confessed to the crime as well and are all charged with first degree felony murder. no one expects the big truck to get good gas mileage but that is about to change. how much the government wants fuel efficiency to improve and

emissions to decrease by 2014. do you still use a sony walkman? probably not. why sony says the popular cassette player has played its last song. [ male announcer ] want a better way to track what you spend?

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stocks closed with moderate gains following news of a surprise jump in home sales. the dow is up 31. nasdaq up aleve and s&p 500 up two. at home, sales report is providing hope that sales recoveries are underway. the report is stronger than expected and the two months of rising numbers comes after home sales sank to their lowest levels in about 15 years. trucks will soon be forced to get more miles to the gallon

and still cut down on emissions. the environmental protection agency and the department of transportation have announced the first ever standards for medium and heavy duty trucks. the biggest change of course will be to the really big rig. they need to have fuel consumptions and emission decreases by 20%. it will start with the 2014 model year. it is the end of an era after 30 years. sony has ended production of the iconic walkman. it hit shelves in 1979 and there was virtually no other way to enjoy music on the go. sony told 220 million of the tape players but thanks to portable cd's and mp3s the demand has pretty much vanished. it will continue to be sold in asia and the middle east where there's still a demand. 2010 coverage, democracy 2010 continues. coming up, we heard from a candidate for the congressional

third district and why he says it's time for a change in congress. how getting rid of childhood childhood diseases.

public safety is a governor's most important job. that's why governor martin o'malley has instituted new dna and fingerprinting technology that's reducing violent crime... new, stronger domestic violence and abuse legislation... and o'malley passed new laws to better track and convict sexual predators, with even longer prison sentences. as a father of four, i know there's always more that we must do to protect our children and make maryland an even safer place to raise our families.

to our ongoing effort to have you learn more about the candidates running for -- in our area for some of the big offices, today jamie costello sits down with one of the candidates running for congress. >> it is democracy 2010. joining me now is constitution party candidate alan laroe jr., congressional candidate in the third district. thank you for coming in. what do you see as the single most important issue facing us right now? >> there are many, many issues 1 of concern. it's hard to pinpoint the most

important one, but, the aspect of the federal reserve system not really being part of a constitutional republic. and that most of our electorate are not really clued into such knowledge. means we have to have a greater oversight on the federal reserve system. and have some transparency to it. that's my point of view. points of view of my friends in the the constitution party. this is very important. >> what will you do in office to effect the greatest change and improve the quality of your constituents? >> most people are in a pickle, trying to figure out where their careers are going to go, what kind of jobs they are going to have. can they maintain the job they do have. even if they are getting out of college, what kind of job can they fall into.

the big issue is jobs. this is obvious. the biggest change that we must effect is we must re-establish our manufacturing base in this country. and that cannot happen without some responsible and effective tariffs on imports. this is going to be an issue of increasing importance as time goes by. >> what are the major assets you would like to bring to the office? >> that's an important question. myself, i, for many years worked as an electrician. electronics technician. i have a troubleshooting frame of mind. a message of looking for causes, problems and extrapolating into the future what is going to happen. if you do this or that. from my point of view that is a great asset and i'm proud to be

able to bring that to bear. >> what is the single most important message you would like to convey today to the voters? >> the single most important message that the voters should know about me is that i believe that the missing ingredient right now is involvement of the people themselves. it seems that the government has gone hey haywire for sure. it's easy to complain that the big bad government is doing all this or not doing that. the main problem that this country faces now is the, the need for the average citizen to be involved in the mechanisms of the government. if it's not -- if you're not participating in it how can it be your government?

that's my viewpoint. >> what is one thing voters don't know about you you would love for them to know? >> i have two daughters, and a loving wife. much of my mental activity is devoted to what kind of world are my children, my daughters going to grow up into. and, i would like to have the voters understand that what's best for my kids is what is best for their kids and that's the whole point of being a candidate, is to be able to offer an option. people must make some better choices to what our kids are going to have in their lives. "u alan laroe, constitution party candidate running in the third district for congress. good luck to you and thank you for coming in. you've been watching democracy

2010 on abc2. is that a real 78 i see there on the - >> there is day where we push 80 this week. we were close to 80 yesterday. today in many spots upper 70s. cambridge hit 77 today. warmer than average. by a solid 10, 12 degrees. >> incredible. >> i tell you what, as we go toward the end of the weekend and into the halloween week, a lot of people big plans. >> no rain on the candy. >> that's right. no rain on the trick-or-treaters, and right now it's looking pretty good and more seasonable temperatures for all the ghouls and goblins. >> i like candy corn. >> nothing like a fresh apple. >> i like the candy corn. and the three musketeers bars. that's what i wanted. >> just joking, no one wants to get fruits.

right now, just a cloudy scenario. sun setting, temperature 74. humidity 66%. it's pretty muggy and it feels warm. through the day today not a lot of sun to be had. towson middle school, you see our weathernet camera capturing mostly cloudy skies, that will be the scenario again tomorrow. i think a similar-looking day but instead of just breezy it tomorrow. down at the beach things looking a little more stormy as well. from our weathernet camera in ocean city. nearly empty beach. wind gusts have been pretty stout at times. a peak wind gust in westminster 37. gusted to 24 in glen burnie and 29 in colesborough. on the eastern shore. so fairly windy, not much rain out there at the moment. maryland's most powerful doppler radar perhaps a little bit of drizzle here in southern dorchester county. renegade shower possibly just showing a few drops here in

northern cecil county like north and west of elkton, then a stray shower out towards hagerstown but there's not much rain out there at the moment. winds though pervasive at the moment, gusting to 25. the winds pick up tomorrow by the way and stay rather stout through wednesday as a front blows in. temperature-wise, this is very warm stuff. 68 at the beach. 74 in baltimore. you have to get out towards deep creek lake to find temperatures in the 50s. that is unusual for late october. highs today pushing the old record values, 75 at the inner harbor. old record about 78. not too far off the all-time records. your neighborhood tomorrow, hunt valley 72. cloudy day. maybe a few peaks of sunshine and also the chance for a stray shower or two and watch out for morning fog toward arbutus. our satellite and radar trend, cloudy conditions, that is going to be the story tonight. there's a lot of rain down here toward virginia beach, norfolk, tidewater. a lot of this will clip the eastern shore but i think it will mainly be the lower

eastern shore, in fact through the beaches. then more rain is developing now out into western west virginia and that will possibly bring in a few showers through the overnight period here into the baltimore area. cloudy and very active weather brewing all across the east now. this is just sort of the opening salvo in a couple of rounds of active weather. a big storm system swirling out toward iowa. this is going to deepen and become more and more powerful as it goes over the great lakes. severe weather possible tomorrow in the upper midwest. that will likely bring us rain and certainly a lot of wind as we go forward in time. in fact, wednesday, a line of showers and thunderstorms. some of these could be packing pretty gusty winds late wednesday. but overnight tonight, just a chance for a few showers, cloudy, 58. tomorrow, morning fog, watch for that, 74 for your high. windy, mild conditions. then tomorrow night still a few showers around as conditions stay breezy out there. in the mid-60s. temperature change-wise, it doesn't really come in until probably friday. high upper 50s and still

windy. it will be a breezy and much cooler halloween weekend around here for all the ghouls and goblins. tonight a woman is fighting to stay alive after being set on fire. we'll hear from close friends who watched in horror as she was set on fire. who police say is to blame. charles street is fast becoming one of the most happening corridors in the area. how the streets that connect the city to the county is becoming a national landmark. those stories and much more coming up at 6:00. first, a preview of what is ahead on world news at 6:30. >> coming up -- one week before america votes, this week the world news team will head west and an exclusive interview with california governor arnold schwarzenegger. two candidates duke it out to replace him.

imagine denying a pregnant woman the choice of health care providers. only one senator voted with big insurance over pregnant women:

andy harris. protecting our bay? harris was the only one to vote against cleaning up toxic waste sites. he always sides with the polluters, one of the worst environmental records in the senate. and harris was the only one to vote against extending education for special needs kids. no wonder his republican colleagues think he's too extreme. we can't afford his extreme ideas. i'm frank kratovil and i approve this message

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in entertainment news, it's about stars giving back. media mogul ted turner announced today he will give $80 million to the united nations to help fight childhood polio and measles in nigeria. he says it will finish the job on polio in this country of 150 million people. of the $80 million, $60 million goes to buying vaccines. and hollywood heart throb and abc star patrick dempsey was in texas yesterday to raise money and awareness in the fight against cancer. the "grey's anatomy" star was among a sea of cyclists in the ride. dempsey's mother has been fighting ovarian cancer. he was part of the radio shack cycling team. the electronics giant gave

lance armstrong a $1 million check sunday to help the armstrong foundation. with plenty of football left to play the reference are named one -- the ravens are named one of the favorites to get to the super bowl. it was all about the team that won super bowl 35. most of the team returned to m&t m&t stadium. the biggest ovation went to oj bergantz who continues to fight als. the veterans say they were glad to be back. >> they look the same. the dudes look the same. nobody's put on too much weight. nobody's transitioned that way. at the same time, it's just good to see everybody. >> i understand that we're together again. in 10 years, it's been a great time. >> those work at home offers promise you can make thousands

of dollars without walking out your front door. many are too good to be true. that and more on abc2 news at 6:00 which starts right now. tonight police in howard county charged a man with attempted murder for setting his friend on fire. the couple is homeless. good evening, i'm kelly swoope. the alleged attack happened at a wooded campsight in laurel. where jeff hager has the exclusive details. >> reporter: she has abandoned the place she called home after melissa mccully looked on in horror as the homeless man at her encampment off route 1 allegedly set her best friend on fire. >> her eyebrows were all burnt and hair all burnt. skin hanging off. it looked like, you know when a candle melts? the wax drips? that's what her body looked like. >>