the sentence came after the tamly delivered emotional pleas. >> reporter: cut down two days before his 24th birthday steven had his mother on the phone when john wagner took his wallet and then took his life. gwen told the court it is a senseless tragedy taken by somebody who is more evil than human. she went on to say we lost a huge part of our life senselessly. steven's sister also fought back tears when she said our family has been shattered. the family i used to have isn't there anymore. prosecutors pointed out wagner had a long criminal history and was on probation for two prior crimes when he stabbed pit karen in the heart. >> they have to move on with their life. it is a tragedy. it is obviously tough to move on with your life after something like this. it is a long healing process

like it is with any murder victim's family. >> wagner's attorney appealed to the court for understanding based on the convicted killer's upbringing claiming his father who was an alcoholic physically abused him as a child once knocking him out with a baseball bat. but any argument may have rung hollow when he stood up to address the judge and claimed he wasn't even there when pit karen was murdered. >> wagner received a life sentence for the felony murder and an extra 20 careers for conspiring to rob someone with a deadly weapon. opening statements began today in the trial of walter bishop. he is accused of killing the owner of a hess gas station. hired bishop to kill him back in march. the trial was moved to hartford county at the request of the

defense. she is reported to go on trial for her role in the case. investigators remain on the scene of an apparent murder suicide. inside they found an 84 year old woman and an 85 year old man who had apparently died from gunshot wounds. investigators did find the note and aren't releasing names at this time. three students face charges tonight. the two boys and one girl are accused of committing a sex act in the auditorium during class on wednesday. the school's principal called police yesterday. investigators say rumors that the video was made are untrue. two students from two different universities were both killed when their cars collided thursday night. it happened at the corner of bank and broadway. 23-year-old julian benson of morgan state was killed when police say his suv collided

with an eclipse. benson was mr. morgan a year ago and very popular on campus. crumpton was just beginning her college career and was hoping to be a pediatric nurse. >> six or seven weeks into the semester and into the beginning of her college years. >> tremendous. you check social networks. you hear student feedback. it is heartbreaking. >> police say benson's suv was traveling northbound on broadway when it hit the eclipse. witnesses say the suv was speeding. detectives are looking into whether or not benson flew through a red light. fredrick police arrested justin morgan yesterday. wins told police that morgan illegally entered memorial hall and went to the woman's

bathroom. he is being held on $25,000 bail. remember that earthquake back in august? it shut down two nuclear power plants in virginia. now those plants are ready to restart. a power official says neither one suffered any damage. the energy company is seeking approval to restart them. the nrc said the quake caused damage that was greater than what the plant was designed to withstand. weatherwise going into the weekend on a fall like note. passing cloud cover coming through the state right now. no rain with these clouds. these are fair weather clouds. it has been breezy as the area of high pressure blows them out of the west. 19 rock hall. gusted to 21 in columbia and 22. temperatures cooling now. we have a few 60s on the map. most spots down into the mid

50s out there. for the rest of this evening we'll fall through the 50ss and fairly quickly to the 40s. upper 40s late this evening. looking to your saturday. sunshine. temperatures around 60. we'll talk much more about the outlook as we go into sunday and beyond. dozens of young girls and teens had their own professional development day called the equipped girl's leadership conference. the girls talked about things from dating and nutrition and self-esteem and career development. >> i have three girls of my own and figured i would do something positive. i have always been drawn to girls. there is definitely a need in the community to empower girls and equip them for their future. >> i want to learn how to be the best girl i can be. i want to feel like i count. >> the girls said more than 20

teen related work shops and learned about an essay contest that could win them 2,000 bucks. in tonight's scam alert an old scam is making rounds again. the scammers call them up claiming their grandchildren are in trouble. one person in howard county was scammed out of nearly $3,000 by someone claiming her grand son was being held. you can ask the caller questions that would be hard for an impostor to know correctly and report all speccing calls. and as our parents get older we begin to wonder when it is time for them to give up the keys. aaa talked about that. the keeping keys program is an ongoing initiative to provide resources. >> another thing we tell seniors is maybe it is the time of day. rush hour in baltimore can get

chaotic. you have multiple lanes. therefore we tell people maybe if you are flexible stay off the roads during those times. >> today's program was part of howard county's office on aging 50 plus expo. folks got helpful information on retirement planning. good news on the job front in maryland. a new report from the us department of labor shows the state added 6800 jobs in september. it is the strongest job creation performance since 2005. he said he intends to bring a package of reforms to try to create more jobs. not so good news on the slots front tonight. analysts revised revenues downward. estimates from the two currently operating casinos have dropped about 36 million bucks. the states stand to lose $179

million in projected revenues. tomorrow a great gets a well deserved honor. a bronze statue will be unveiled on the plaza on washington boulevard. the dedication ceremony was set for tomorrow because brooks was part of the 1970s world series team. the statue is a gift to the city. tomorrow's dedication is set for noon. it opened in 1981 and this weekend the national aquarium expects to welcome its 45th millionth visitor. folks think it will happen sometime around noon tomorrow. they will shower that person with a number of cool prizes. the temperatures have definitely dropped off in the last few days and that has many of us thinking about turning on the heat. is there a cheaper alternative out there? we look at the best space heaters for your buck. and why target is recalling thousands of these children's

frog masks. 61 out at pwi for a high temperature today. we forecast 62 on this friday. we do have a winner. donna harrison you get an abc 2 storm umbrella. you won't need it this weekend. we talk temperatures coming up.

in tonight's consumer alert

target is recalling 3400 children's frog masks t. masks present a suffocation hazard. the plush masks were sold at target stores between august and september for about a dollar a piece. if you have one take it back to get your buck back. got a big boost today. the feds signed an agreement with south korea, panama and columbia waiving most tariffs. that means eastern shore farmers will see an increased demand. >> anything that we do passes back to the community because we hire the people. they go to the restaurants and to the businesses and buy supplies. they go to lowe's or home depot and does repairs. >> it looks like today's agreement could mean an extra 280 or so jobs in maryland and delaware. the weather has definitely

gotten much cooler this weekend. and many of us are turning on the heat for the first time and wondering if there is a cheaper way to stay warmer. john takes a look at the best space heaters for your buck so you don't waste your money. >> this cool damp weather has a lot of us turning up the furnace. running the heat is not cheap. some homeowners wonder if it would be smarter to purchase one of the infrared space heaters. >> real wooden mantle proudly made by amish crafts men. >> reporter: most of us are familiar with the amish fire place. now the hot new space heaters are infrared, the most famous is the even pure. all these $300 heaters better than $75 models? consumer reports magazine says pricy space heaters still use

the same 1500-watt electricity and all give off the same amount of heat and that means they will not lower your bills anymore than a cheaper model. consumer reports recommends the long ease electric space heater. it likes several honey well heaters for under 100 bucks. there is nothing wrong with the amish fire place, even pure or other pricy models. they all work. for more reports head to our web page, abc2news.com. it is a big weekend up in hunt valley. the 19th annual susan g komen race for the cure will be held sunday morning. there will be a number of road closures in the area and those will start at 6 a.m.for a full list head to our website at abc2news.com/think pink.

there you will find a list along with touching stories of women who have battled the disease. join everybody in this building pretty much live from 7 to 9 a.m. as we partner with komen maryland for the huge fundraiser. this year's 5k race and 1 mile walk takes place sunday. the show will be streamed right to your mobile phone. now, maryland's most powerful doppler radar and the forecast certified most accurate by weather rate. >> weatherwise mix of sun and clouds through the day. fall-like temperatures. it is chilly out there. you definitely feel the main part of autumn rolling into the state. 55 both on humidity and temperature. winds west at 12. pressure on the rise. there was some sun at times

today. you see the nice blue sky there and still green color on the trees. look at the fall color at german town today. and certainly the cranes out  there working hard. basically one of the scenarios where you have mostly sunny skies and then you see the clouds spill right back in. it was a mix of sun and clouds over the nation's capitol today in dc. and i love to show this shot this time of year. mier'sville maryland towards fredrick county on the appalachian trail. look at that brilliant fall color. maryland's most powerful radar all clear. a little bit of rain north of karlile pa. things are definitely looking dry for us tonight. 61 in southern maryland. 58 at the beach. most of the state in the mid 50s. deep creek lake in oakland you find 30ss. our winds right now still a little breezy out there.

5, 10, 15. gusting a little bit higher than that. it does mean a bit of a wind chill even in central maryland where it feels more like the 40ss now. take a look. fair weather clouds from the west. a couple of showers north. for most of us right now it will be dry weather. you look west and sight of us. you don't see much in the way of weather systems. it is clear skies that are headed our way as the last of the more active weather pulls out of the northeast. high pressure comes in to replace the whole ball of wax. it is the clear weather to the west. this is going to be our story over the next three days or so meaning lots of sunshine. it will be on the crisp side especially by night. our future trends a few clouds around. as we go to saturday mostly sunny conditions. i think basically brilliant blue skies, not a cloud in them as we go into the day on sunday. the tropics still kind of active right now. take a look at the south.

we have a 70% likelihood that this storm south of cancun, that this thing could develop into a tropical storm so that would extend our season. and storm late october. we have one storm off the coast of the northern coast. so still keeping an eye on points south of us. in the meantime it feels like anything but tropical weather. hort and west of the city, northern baltimore county and towards fredrick we are looking at 40s. tomorrow 60. mostly sunny. on the cooler side but still not bad. most of the day in the 50s but the sun will make it feel a little bit nicer. 41 tomorrow night. cool and calm will be our theme through most of the weekend here. you can see sunshine the story. 62 on sunday. into next week little milder as

temperatures bounce back into the mid and upper 60s. chance of a shower monday. better chances for rain coming wednesday, thursday and friday with our next disturbance. nothing disturbed this weekend. it is all good news. >> plenty of sunshine for the komen walk and race on sunday. that is what people want to know about. dress warmly in had morning. >> i was talking to one of the komen people today. last year this same time almost identical. mid 60s, sunny day but chilly start in the morning. it is good for runners. you are a runner. >> got to love the cool temperatures. the walkers need to bundle up a little bit. the maryland zoo in baltimore is showing off two new arrivals. they are called ocapy. the half brothers arrived on tuesday. they will be kept in the giraffe house. they are natives to the forests

of the congo. there are only about 80 of them in zoos in the us. good deal. here is a look at what is coming up tonight at 11. twins share a lot. they look alike. sometimes they dres alike and they hit sometimes many of life's milestones together. these twins have taken it to the extreme. the life event the twins shared. and a gymnastics accident took away brian's use of his arms and legs. tonight we'll show you tools that give him hope. we'll show you how gifts are allowing him to do it all in his house. ♪

[ female announcer ] who'd have thought that the person you'd grow up to be -- how creative or confident or kind -- was shaped before you lost your first tooth? ♪ the first five years are forever. ♪ that's why pnc is devoting $250 million and ten more years to helping families discover learning opportunities all around them. pnc. grow up great.

not bad. it will be a cool night out there for us. it is fall. we are in the midst of it. >> the leaves are changing. >> can only get the warm, bomby weekends for so long. mid 50s. we are already to 49 at middle

town. most of us in the mid 50s. tomorrow climbing from the 40s to up near 60 in the troop. should be plenty of sun. your seven day forecast showing a trend of sunshine for about three days. i think by middle of next week things will change again. if you like the fall temperatures and golden autumn sunshine enjoy it all weekend. >> sounds like a plan. the big race is in hunt valley. join the whole spiel out there. the rest of the abc 2 news crew live from 7 to 9 as we partner with komen maryland. this year's 5k race and 1 mile walk takes place sunday, october 23. this year if you are in the race you can still watch our live coverage. you might want to listen to it or have a friend hold it if you are going to run. >> just dress warm.

>> that's it for abc 2 news at 6. we'll see you at 11.