thursday, april 26th. thank you for joining us and good morning. i'm megan pringle. we are locking -- working on a lot of stories for you this morning. we have team coverage this

morning of breaking news in the phylicia barnes case. linda stow is out live at city police headquarters where an arrest has been made in the teen's murder. sherrie johnson has more on the law named in honor of phylicia barnes. if search for other families and missing children in our state. plus a live look right now at the inner harbor, right no lynette charles -- to lynette charles for the weather this morning as well as the rest of the week. >> all right, megan it is wet out there in some spots so i'm call egg it scows in -- calling it scattered showers in nature this morning and even into the afternoon there's the possibility for a rumble of thunder. but as we zoom in northern baltimore county as of now getting some wet weather there. heavier rain to the north of cockeysville right now. you can see the yellowish and the orange there. all this is sliding off towards the east. and as we continue on our radar tour, you can still see some more wet weather crossing the bay as of now. whit marsh getting in on the heavier rain and all this is sliding over towards betterton into kent county as of this

morning and that will continue as we go through the afternoon off and on. temperatures this morning, are on mild side. so make sure you grab the rain gear and maybe a light jacket as you head out and about. now a check of the traffic now with bill. good morning. on the roadways we are seeing some wet weather but everybody is taking their time. no problems on the roads. southbound coming out of hardford county through white marsh boulevard. just building traffic pretty normal down through the tunnels looking good around the northeast side from bel air road over to the 83 area. looking good. we are seeing some slowing along 83 around warren road through providence road. just because of the rain and heavy building traffic at this point. as you hit the 83 run through the jfx no real problems, the construction not causing any delays at this time. on 795 and 70 all looking good at this point. just a little building as you approach the beltway and 95 to baltimore looking good. no real problems or delays. a little slowing there on 100

heading south. everything looking pretty good so far. now back to you guys. 5:33 right now. her face is on newscasts and on bill words and fliers. -- billboards and fliers. phylicia barnes never graduated or went to college. this morning her family is relieved that an arrest was made. abc2 news linda stow is live this morning outside police headquarters. >> reporter: we've been on the phone with the police spokesperson. a man by the name of michael johnson was arrested last night in connection with phylicia barnes' murder case. he was taken into custody around 11:30 and we're still waiting to hear on what specific charges he's being held this morning. johnson is the ex-boyfriend of phylicia's older sister. he was the last person to see the 16-year-old teen alive police say. phylicia was visiting her sister in baltimore when she disappeared in december of 2010. her body was found months later in the susquehanna river.

johnson is being held this morning on unknown charges. this case attracted widespread attention after barnes from north carolina disappeared. there were several vigils held here in the city. overnight, we spoke with russell barnes phylicia's father, he spoke with our pete o'neal exclusively on the phone. >> it was shocking. it was a disbelief. but naturally you know things came into the fact that hey man, it is what it is. we suspected johnson on day one and we couldn't understand why you couldn't do something for your child when they went missing. >> reporter: her father also says he is now focused on the trial and getting justice for his daughter. we've also learned that later today police will hold a press conference to outline details in the case. we're live at city police

headquarters, linda stow. abc2 news. >> missing children cases and out of it came a law to help protect other children. the phylicia barnes law was passed in the house and senate and it's a bill to draw more resources to immediately search for missing children of all ages. it ensures law enforcement will coordinate with volunteer search groups, post details of the case online and coordinate with mobile state and national authorities within the crucial first hours of a disappearance. now if phylicia barnes law also raises the requirement for immediate police action from age 14 to 17 years old. the bill requires state officials to publish a list of missing children and annual statistics. >> the phylicia barnes case brought to light that we really need to step up efforts when children go missing at the outset to make sure they don't wind up? a situation with the tragedy of phylicia barnes. >> now several laws around the country are named for high- profile missing children but this bill could be the first

named for a missing minority child. sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >> news time right now 5:36. and we were the first station to put this story on the website and we are continuing to update it this morning with more information as soon as it become available to us. so make sure you check out abc2news.com for new details. you can also check your smart phone app if you're on the go this morning. well, the teen who called police after being attacked by a neighborhood watch group says he does not want to testify. in fact he even says he wants fleece drop the charges altogether -- police to drop the charges altogether. eli and avi weber seem are charged with an attack on the teen. the teen was very upset on the stand and at times it was difficult to understand him. >> we simply can't do our jobs unless we have the ability to hear what the witness says so that we can accurately cross examine. >> the prosecution will now proceed in this case without the victim. all right, democracy 2012

after losing five more presidential primaries this week, newt gingrich is about to make it official. sources tell cnn that the former house speaker will end the bid for the white house next week. those sources say gingrich will likely hold on to his final campaign event inbackback doc on tuesday. -- washington, d.c. on tuesday. gingrich is expected to support mitt romney from here on out. president barack obama will headline his first re-election rallies next week. an obama campaign official said the president will headline back-to-back rallies on ma5th in ohio and virginia. obama car rayed both states in the 2008 election and will need them again in november if he wants to hold on to the spot in the white house. the president has been headlining re-election fundraisers for several months but the events are the first nonfundraising campaign events in ohio and virginia. news time right now 5:37. bullying can take an emotional toll and a mental toll your honor children but this morning we have new research to show

you about the physical consequences of bullying. >> also ahead, this morning, who tends to be more distracted while driving? teenage boys of teenage girls? and rain drops are falling on your head this morning. >> when you can put away the rain gear and see more sunshine. those details coming up. ♪ str ♪ stream, stream, stream... ♪ strea-ea-ea-ea-eam ♪ stream, stream, stream... ♪ when i want you... ♪ ...in my arms... ♪ when i want you... ♪ ...and all your charms... ♪ whenever i want you, all i have to do is... ♪ [ female announcer ] introducing xfinity streampix.

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thank you for joining us this morning. bullying can have some serious emotional and mental problems for children and now there's research out there new studies that say that bullying can now actually have physical problems too. sigh cattery published a study that says violence can prematurely age children by as much as 7 to 10 years, they are more likely to get diseases associated with aging years before their years. the study looked at children who faced things like bullying and violence. when its comes to dangerous and distracted driving, teenage girls are far more likely to engage in it than boys. a new study finds the overwhelming majority of girls change music on the car stereo can then they play lose -- and then they play loud music while

driving. 83% of teenage girls say that having more than one passenger in the vehicle caused them to lose focus on the road. 95% of teenage boys and girls are aware that drinking and driving is very dangerous on the pose sieve side. a family is dealing with a really terrible unbelievable loss. the loss of a daughter and a mother. however in the face of tragedy, there is a story of hope to come out of this and we're going to share this family's generous gift and tell you about who's benefiting from that it. details from that straight ahead. >> also ahead this morning breaking news in the arrest of phylicia barnes in this case. we have a live report from north carolina this morning, reaction from one of barnes' teachers. that story is straight ahead. it may bthe detergent. add finish power up to boost your detergent and you'll see a huge difference. watch what it can do. look at that sparkle! now that's clean! cloudiness!

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thanksi'll take the usual. got it. if you're open to choosing your own batter, mix-ins and toppings, come in today and build a stack you'll be proud of. only at denny's. we're following breaking news this morning. an arrest has been made in the death of phylicia barnes the teenager who disappeared in december of 2010 while visiting family here in baltimore. she was living in north carolina at the time and that's where we're going to go live this morning. live to andrew dowd from our sister station in monroe, north carolina with new reracks from the arrest. -- reaction from the arrest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, she was a student here when she disappeared for months teachers and students held out hope she would return safely.

at least today they will return to class knowing that a suspect is in custody in connection with her death. barnes was visiting her sister back in 2010 in december during a christmas break when she disappeared. her body was found four months later in the susquehanna river. this morning we spoke to a former theater coach and close family friend charles patterson. he feels relief but not ascensus of closure -- a sense of closure. >> there's something deeply wrong with him. there's a flaw in his character and his makeup. because he's a sociopath. and a psychopath. and a killer. he had no conscience. how can you rape someone, beat them to death, beat them and strangle them to death without conscience? >> reporter: and barnes' sister's ex-boyfriend. michael johnson is now the primary suspect in the case. at this point police have not said what he is charged with. >> andrew, because you're down in north carolina where she

went to school and we just heard from one of the teachers. have you ever heard of anything about what kind of student she was? we know that she was on honor roll but any plans she had had for college or anything of that nature? >> reporter: as you said she was an honor student and did have plans of going to college and we interviewed students and teachers here and every time they always spoke very highly of her. >> one other question for you andrew. this has been such a big story here in baltimore and maryland. it changes the way that the state is going to be looking for and reporting missing children. and i know that there was a huge community effort to find her even though she was not a maryland native. how has the story been down in north carolina? has it been such a huge story there as well? >> reporter: it really has and i think a lot of people in the community and certainly at the school have been wanting that sense of closure and wanting to know exactly what happened to her. there was certainly a sense of relief after it had been four months since she disappeared

when they finally knew what happened to her. now i think people are just probably relieved that they finally know or at least have a suspect in this particular case. >> an true, thank you so much -- andrew, thank you so much. again, andrew is reporting live from the hometown of phylicia barnes. again, an arrest was made about a year after her body was found. continue to follow the story, not only on the air but online. abc2news.com, we are the first station to report this on the website and we are reporting information as it becomes available into the newsroom. of course you can always check the smart phone app on the go the morning. a motion hearing continues today for army soldier bradley manning. he's accused of leaking classified documents to wikileaks. a military judge says that she will rule today on whether to dismiss any of the individual charges against bradley manning. like the charge of him aiding the enemy. now the judge did refuse to throw out the case entirely.

manning hasn't entered a plea to the charges and hasn't yet decided on whether he will be tried by a judge or jury. a hagerstown family is finding life after tragedy and in this case two lives. this is a really incredible and sad story but one that has a lot of hope in the end. a 3-year-old named hope died after her family home caught on fire. she was rescued from the fire but she was deprived of oxygen and she had no heartbeat. she lived for a couple of days before her father had to make a very painful decision to take her off of life support. it was then decided that he would donate her organs. >> she gave two other people a chance at life. and we gave two other people hope. >> her organs were given to two boys, one received the liver, the other received her kidney. also, how much money would it take for you to tarnic tim tebow's image -- tarnish tim tebow's image? that's how much the founder of

a website is willing to shell out. they're offering $1 million cash to any woman who can prove she has had sec with the new york jets -- sex with the new york jets' quarterback. he is saving himself for marriage and you can find more information on the website, abc2news.com on this story. all right, time now for a check on the weather. over to meteorologist lynette charles. gorgeous out yesterday. >> it was yesterday but that's a far cry from today. because we do see some showers and some thunderstorms on the satellite and radar as of now. ohio is getting in on that, more of the same in west virginia and even virginia. even the carolinas are dealing with some heavy rain across that area. but closer to home, yes we had a couple of showers try to move in here. this morning. some of these are trying to slide out of the area as of now but still i'm going to call them scattered in nature because not everybody is getting wet this morning. we can see the picture hee and we see the -- here and we see

the showers pushing into cecil county and kent county as well. we can zoom in and well it's crossing the bay and the heavier rain now around betterton and also aberdeen and perryman as well and even another round of showers into bel air. so if you are in these areas make sure dough have that rain gear. take it easy on the roadways this morning. temperatures 52 degrees, you can leave the big coat at home this morning. you won't need that. the biggest concern, the umbrella, the rain gear that you will need as we go through the day. we could be having a rumble of thunder as we go into the afternoon as well. but with the clouds out there, i don't think that anything will become severe and we will start to clear things out with plenty of sunshine as we head into your friday. but for today, the temperature coming in right around 68 degrees. i had to downplay that a bit because i think we will be in the clouds. more sunshine though and the temperatures will bump up a bit. now a check of the traffic with bill. good morning. heading to white marsh mall a little building volume as you head up from white marsh to the beltway. then it opens up as you go to

the tunnels. on the south side of the beltway everything looking good on the southbound run on harrisburg expressway. some slowing because of the rain and just heavy volume of traffic. jfx not really affected right now. everything is traveling pretty much at speed. 795 looks good as you can see over liberty road. no real problems or delays. on the 70 run looks good from 29 to the beltway and on 95 everything is looking good around route 1 hunt some heavy traffic north and southbound but other than that everything is pretty good. the one doesn't we have at the avenue. now back to you guys. right now, some big names are coming out today for a rally in honor of trayvon martin. we're going to explain why celebrities like magic johnson are coming out today in los angeles. >> plus a unique and perhaps controversial museum opening its doors today in michigan. details on that straight ahead.

the naacp and other groups are holding a rally today to honor the lives of trayvon martin and others who have died in controversial circumstances. magic johnson, the reverend jackson, al sharpton, they are among those attending rather this rally in los angeles.

a new museum is opening up today in big rapids, michigan. it's called the jim crow museum of racist memorabilia and it features artifact that is showcase racism in america. like a tea kettle that is painted in a black face and advertisements with racial terms. and finally an arrest in the phylicia barnes case. the family was visiting baltimore when she disappeared. we have the latest on that. her family was hoping that someone would be arrested. and someone has. we have the latest on this developing story. >> frank robinson is a living legend and this morning the city going to honor the former oriole. we have a life report just acred. >> also ahead this morning of all people you don't want to spill something on. the commander-in-chief probably topped that list. we're going to show you how the president handled a clumsy college student's mistake. >> and we have a wet start to the morning. i'll tell you how long the rain lasts coming up. and let's see how colorful an afternoon can be.

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