upside down splits, give us props for that. . >> lots of action there. that's what's making news in america this morning. now, good morning maryland at 4:30. the owner of a gas station was murdered. the man accused of murder handgun him is in court today. could we see an increase in gas prices? i'm sherrie johnson, coming up, lawmakers consider a possible gas tax hike. >> it's tuesday, october 18th. good morning maryland i'm charley crowson. let's get to justin berk with a check of the weather forecast. things could be changing the

next few days. >> a lot of action down from the gulf of mexico. leading edge of the storm complex, high clouds mixed in. patchy fog trying to form. we will be dry today and cooler than we were yesterday. we had the boundary push through that cleared us out with the sun. 48 is where we sit now in baltimore. 52 easton. 50s southern maryland. 50s and 40s to the north. skies will give way from early morning sunshine, increasing clouds, a bit breezy this afternoon. aiming for 71 degrees. we will talk about the storm coming up. let's go to the roads. traffic with tanya. a broken down car, 50 west at the bay bridge. downtown, an accident in the clean up stages, sarah to ga at charles street. this is 795, light traffic in

both directions. no incidents. things are running smoothly. 93, 395, south, overnight construction between russ spell the beltway. they will clean that up before 5:00 a.m. it happened in march of 2010, day the trial will begin for the suspect accused in the shooting of a gas station owner. the long awaited trial will start in harford this morning. linda so joints us now in towson. >> reporter: this gas station is where ray porter was shot and killed. he owned the place and working here the morning where he was murdered. the man accused will go on trial today. jury selection will begin this morning in circuit court in harford. the trial got moved to harford because it was such a high profile case. walter bishop is accused of killing ray porter in a murder for hire scheme. he faces the death penalty if

convicted. he confessed to killing ray porter and says porter's wife promised to pay him a couple of hundred bucks. carla porter is facing the death penalty. she goes on trial next year for her murder for hire scheme. walter bishop's trial in maryland is the first to go to court to be tried since the law got revamped here if the state. jury selection set to begin this morning in harford county circuit court. linda so, abc2 news. a judge turned down gary giordano's bail. his lawyers argued there is not enough evidence to keep him behind bars. the judge rejected the request for a second time, gary's attorneys say they will file

again when the 60 day order expires. frederick police say a burglary suspect called them asking for a ride after he spent five hours in the cold. he and three others stole copper from a construction site saturday night. officers caught the men but debars remained on the loose. he is held on burglary and conspiracy charges. harford, police are looking for two men who robbed a chick-fil- a. it happened around 5:00 a.m. saturday. police say the manager and morning crew were walking in the building when two men pushed through the door. the suspects forced the manager to open the safe. they drove off in a dark chevy cobalt. anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office with any information. a man is recovering after jumping through a window to

escape a fire. the man jumped out of the second story window and was taken to shock trauma and listed in serious condition. a graduate was found in the bottom of a trash chute. that part is creepy. it's the second time it's happened in a year. kuren redmond is outside the apartment complex. police are calling this an accident. >> reporter: people who live in this building say they don't believe that one person could accidentally fall down the trash chute. they are convinced there is more to the story because it's the second time that it's happened here. police got the call sunday morning when a body was discovered in the utility garage of the upscale park charles apartment building. the victim is emily hyles. her address was pennsylvania, 30 minutes outside of

pennsylvania. this is the second time in a year that this kind of incident happened here at the park charles apartments after another victim died after falling in to one of the trash chutes in the building. his death was ruled accidental. residents say this accident is hard to believe because the chutes are waist high and 18 inches wide and no more than 2 feet tall with a spring loader door that closes by itself. >> accidentally? it's really small. kind of a pain to open up, too. it takes a lot of force to open up the door. >> reporter: there was a private mass held on the campus last night of the university for the victim. police are awaiting the results of an autopsy before ruling anything in this case. reporting live from downtown baltimore, kuren redmond, abc2 news. if you live or work in baltimore county, listen up. the county is trying to save

money by eliminating jobs. 200 people will be retiring and positions won't be filled. the county will save $500,000 a year. the goal is to lose 200 jobs, an estimate right now. check this out, the owner of the ski resort filed chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. it's filing is giving them breathing room as they seek investors. the filing stems from the partners default on $30 million in loans, to build a golf course community. the gm expects to be open november 25th. a dust storm blinding people in parts of texas. a closer look at the storm and telling you about the damage you can't see. that's coming up straight ahead. lawmakers consider a gas hike tax for maryland. i'm sherrie johnson, hear why the governor says it's necessary. you are watching good morning

maryland, first and only at 4:30 a.m. a live picture at the gaza strip, a israeli soldier is exchanged for hundreds of palestinian prisoners what the connection is between that large group and this one man when good morning maryland continues.

serious weather video. coming from lubbock, texas. winds and a dust storm blue through monday night. dust storm is no joke. the city activated the eoc. there are downed power lines, damaged buildings and roads blocked. airports damaged as a result. this is serious video. winds straight line or tornados is no joke and shouldn't be taken lightly. the meaning for a dust storm? do you know the meaning?

haboob. this haboob, talking about the local weather, good morning to you. 50s by the water. edge mere 53. cool skies. maybe patchy fog. clouds starting to stream in. they will thicken throughout the day. we will wind up with a mostly cloudy sky. this is connected to a larger system. that storm back there is essentially what helped to extend to texas, kick up the winds and bring in problems. we will talk about that in a few moments. 71, mostly cloudy this afternoon. 4:41 on the clock. let's go to the roads. wrapping up an accident downtown, sarah to ga. let's look at our traffic cameras, 95 at 175, a smooth

ride, if you are heading from elk ridge to lorel, no problems to report. 895 south, this is the southbound traffic, smooth ride here as well, making towards the tunnel. no issues to report. from the state highway administration, work will begin soon on the guardrails headed in to ocean city, on october 23rd. between u.s. 113 and maryland 528 near ocean city. the work will take place in two phasees and last two months. be prepared for delays and detours. most of the work done between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. we've heard about the occupy wall street protests and heating up during the past four weeks to the point where there is an app for protesters. what it will do may surprise you. a colorado man hits the casino looking for a jackpot but found a different kind of

treasure all together. you are watching good morning maryland. a live look at baltimore inner harbor, back in a bit.

officials from epa and department of health will join selfny rawlings break in celebration of health month. spirit halloween program raises funds to help keep the hospitals less scary for the kids and families. president barack obama continues 3-day bus tour discussing jobs and the economy in north carolina and virginia. joe biden is going to make stops in york and philadelphia. the sign of the tragedy for the sugar land fans will be dug up this week as part of an investigation trying to figure out what caused the stage to collapse in august. items will be taken to a warehouse where they will be

examined. wal-mart's lay away program is underway. items must cost a minimum of $15 the customers must spend 50 bucks in the store. you must pay everything off by mid december. monday kicked off the first day of special session. lawmakers will be hard at work for a tax plan but it seems not everyone is happy about this. sherrie johnson joins us from the interactive news center with more on what we can expect today. this is something a lot of people voicing concerns about. >> there is talk in annapolis of a possible gas hike. one group will hold a rally at noon in annapolis speaking out against it. gas prices dropped $0.40 in the baltimore area in the past six months. drivers could see higher prices. lawmakers in annapolis are looking at a proposal to raise gas tax by $0.15 per gallon. drivers paying $0.15 a gallon over the next three years. this means increase of five

cents each year. martin o'malley is considering a state commission's preliminary recommendation to increase the tax. he says it will help with job growth, if more money is raised to improve the roads. families will have to pay another $500 per year if that gas hike is approved. >> we will do everything in our power to create and save jobs, support employers and create an environment in which they can create and save jobs. >> it can't be about jobs. if it was, governor o'malley would do the one thing he ought to do, cut spending and take taxes off the table. the taxes scare away businesses. >> if the gas tax is approved, maryland will not be too far behind new york and california. there are meetings scheduled for today on the hike. head to abc2news.com for more information on this proposed gas tax including a link with

the cheapest gas price location. sherrie johnson, abc2 news. big button issue in annapolis , the redistricting we told you about yesterday. o'malley defended the map on monday saying it was balanced and fair, republicans criticized it as brazen attempt to oust one of their own. one a committee on redistricts so-4 to send the plan to the senate which gave the plan an initial approval. rod smith, announced he has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. in 1984 we started listening to him on wbal radio. on monday his words pierced listeners ears,. >> he said you have grade 4 pancreatic cancer that's

metastized to your liver, your abdominal cavity, lungs, and so on. >> he said he will fight and still be on the air as the vis of reason on -- voice of reason on wbal radio. juliana, 36-year-old says she has breast cancer. her fertility doctor insisted on a mammogram which showed a tumor. she will have surgery followed by 6.5 weeks of radiation. in honor of breast cancer air wareness month, channel 2 is sporting pink. we will be broadcasting live at 7:00 a.m. in hunt valley sunday, going to be on the air until 9:00. the race starts at 8:00. come out and show support in

the fight against breast cancer raising awareness and cheering on the survivors. if you want to run in the 5k or 1 mile walk, the information is located on abc2 abc2news.com. fife of the nation's top six credit card issue is say late payments rose in september. with unemployment going above 9% and economists predicting another recession, people are fearing they will fall behind in payments. that's the first time since 2009 that so many companies reported a late payment rate. a sales record for the iphone. it was available on friday in the u.s. and six countries. sprint carried for the first time f. it's faster and has a better 8 megapixel camera and voice activated personal

assistance. a developer created the i'm getting arrested app for android phones. it sends a message to your friends, family and lawyer, letting them know you are off to jail. the prepaid program -- you hit the bullseye and let's everyone know where you are going. three americans freed after being jailed in iran got involved in the occupy oakland movement. iran released shell after being convicted of spying in iran and held for several months. yesterday evening they addressed the crowd of people catched out in front of the oakland, california, city hall. >> to come back and see our country come back to life and see the city coming back to life is really a wonderful homecoming. >> it was a trio's first west coast public appearance since

leaving iran. colorado couple hoping to hit it big in the casino and facing charges for leaving their baby in a car more than an hour. a driver saw the baby and called police. officers waited for the coup couple to get back to the car where they were arrested. otter is learning how to swim. joey is part of the new otters at the play exhibit. he will not be going all the way in to the water. it's believed joey was orphaned before he was taught to swim, staff members are easing him in the water so he can be like the others. all otters need the be the same, don't they, justin? >> push, tough love. talk about swimming, swimming in the southern gulf of mexico. let you know how impressive as this look, yesterday flared up, low level moisture shifting to the east where the center of

low pressure is sitting to the knot of the yucatan. -- north of the yucatan. rain through florida and showing some pull to the north. see that? that's response to this system. that's the storm that kicked up the dust storm in texas. yes, while we are shooting out moisture to the east, bringing this moisture up from the south, watch how they gang up on us. the rain holds off until tomorrow morning. heavy rain through midday. in the afternoon, few inches of rain. it's not going to be a tropical system but a feed for sure and one area of low pressure to the north, back to the west, lingering and keeping us windy and intermitt at the present time clouds. 71, the clouds increasing and tonight, bringing us rain towards day break, 57 tomorrow. a wet day. thursday highs sliding to the

60s and 58 with sun on friday. overnight road work is wrapping up in the next few minutes. clear at 95. other areas trying to get it cleared out of the way. this is the beltway, southwest side, we are incident free through kayton'sville at frederick. lanes are open. topside of the beltway, 695, light traffic. even amounts on each loop. doing okay at tunnels and bridges. a 2 year old is in the hospital in china after zoom some are calling a lack of humanity. plus after a long 11-year walk, one man is sure to be resting. what prompted him to take this lengthy stroll. you are watching good morning maryland. a live look back at the gaza strip. release of shalit. the soldier in exchange for

hundreds of palestinian prisoners. good morning maryland continues.

the israeli hamas priesner swap is moving ahead. the mill at that particular time group has turned over the captive of the israeli soldier shalit. he is in egypt. israel is freeing a thousand prisoners in exchange for the soldier. a girl is in bad shape after video caught two trucks hitting the child in china. it's too disturbing to show. a white van barreled in to the girl, not once but twice. a few minutes later another truck drove over the motionless body. no one stopped to help except a woman who collects trash. both drivers have been arrested. the child is listed in critical condition in a chinese hospital. canadians probably getting a well deserved foot massage.

on his feet for 11 years, he promoted peace and spread the word about children facing violence and made it through 64 countries, 54 pairs of shoes, heavy rains and intense heat, all the essentials he carried in a baby stroller. he plans to write a book about the lengthy adventure. good morning maryland. the gunman accused of killing the man who used to own this gas station goes on trial. why the trial is the first of its kind in maryland. i'm kuren redmond, downtown , the body of a student found at the boot tom of -- bottom of a trash chute. that story coming up. when you are talking about $0.15 more per gallon of gas, that's a different story together. lawmakers are taking up a proposal to raise a gas tax.

that's coming up on this tuesday october 18th, i'm charley crowson. let's get to meteorologist, justin berk w a check of your forecast. temperatures right now ranging from low 50s around the bay. edge mere checking in there as well. bel air 45. 47 in reisterstown. 49 columbia. we had clouds strolling in. we had a chance to develop patchy fog north and west. clouds on the increase, two part system, one to the west and another one to the south. we are in for pretty decent amount of rain and wind. i was asking people what do you think we might be able to do? cindy says wave your magical wand. it doesn't work. we cannot blow this away. we are stuck in an environment with another storm. we will talk about the weekend outlook in a moment. let's see what happening