opportunity to find a strategic steel buyer that would run the plant properly. >> reporter: the 1700 union workers account for 4% of the steel production until the united states. even if hillco sells off the assets, they can be sold to someone who will use them here. >> we have one of the best coal mills in the world, a great toting line, a lot of assets that are the best in the world, so this is kind of a symptom of the american manufacturing being hollowed out. >> reporter: hear leaders are not throwing in the towel. kevin kamenetz says a lot could still happen here. >> this who still be dependent

upon the bankruptcy judge approving the sale. it was a very low bid. that being said, we're united with our steel workers. we don't think this is over yet. >> reporter: now at this point it is a waiting game. rg steel was sold to one near pittsburgh and another near wheeling, west virginia. >> where did everyone go to the point for vacation. they went to ocean city. here we are on the -- as the boats are starting to come back. this is the third day. we'll check the results for the 11:00 news. here's wyatt now. the radar right now, maryland's most powerful radar showing a couple showers mainly east but not enough to impact

the big open at the beaches. cloud cover has been abundant and widespread from baltimore eastward and has been down here toward the yucatan peninsula of mexico. ernesto moving back over the waters and the southern gulf of mexico at the bay of campeche, could strengthen back into a lurk. yomp night we're talking 70s into the upper 80s. we'll talk about how things develop straight ahead. how about this. we have an angry store owner. masked men armed with knives rushed into the convenience store demanding mony. he grab add stick and went right after the robbers. look at this. the convenience store had just been hit by thieves a week ago, so the owner was fed up. police arest offed one of the guys and charged him with armed robbery and assault. the second man is still at large. students and teachers at a

kentucky school returned to class after a tornado represented through their school. the f3 storm slammed into the building. this was destroyed, and a janitor caught inside was injured. the classes are now being held in renovated warehouse. surveillance video captured this 76-year-old woman shopping in walmart when she passes out in a motorized scoot are. she's a diabetic and had a bad reaction to medicine. a man walks by and takes her purse. the woman had $300 in there along with the medication she needs. the thief is on the loose. all right. kelly swoope is at our school drive. >> my friend marisa is helping

me pack the backpack. >> 31 years ago the national aquarium opened up. what a gem for us here in baltimore. >> don't forget, on your mobile device, whether it's a droid or iphone, this does not mat are. check out our abc2 weather app. it's all at your fingertips.

tax free shopping starts on sunday and plenty of parents and kids will be out there. tonight abc2 is working for you to make sure children around the area will have everything they need. we are teaming up with the press on it mitchum foundation and celebree learning center. >> reporter: tell us who will benefit. >> if you go to abc2news.com/school supplies, you'll see a list of organizations we're supporting from boys and girls clubs to area schools from baltimore county to carroll county. >> reporter: the need really is great. >> the need is great. we were talking about the cost

of supplies. on average it's about $30 to $40 to make sure a kid is ready for school. a lot of the families don't have that. >> you can get involved and drop them off at celebree learning center. now what are you guys doing. >> children that can't afford it. >> do you think this is a good idea? >> yes. >> tell me why. >> some people can't afford it and they cran get a better education. >> thank you, kevin. this will be going on through august 24th. you can drop them off at any of our celebree locations. we have the information primarily on our website. they're looking forwide ruled -- for wide ruled paper, backpacks, pens and pencils.

we're going to be out here tonight until 6:30 blue you can still drop -- but you can still drop them off. we're working for you to help our kids in the community get ready to head back to school. >> all right. thank you. it would have been a great day to cut loose from work and spend the day up at conowingo dam. we'll show you this trick when we come back.

tell me, you say the kids spearheaded this effort. >> exactly. we have 20 locations.

and every hot spots program collected items for children in the community in need, so it call started with our hot spot students. they are best out of everyone, able to understand and best to understand the need and they encourage their parents and other people also to bring in those books, composition books, rulers, markers, all kinds of things to fill all our boxes in every location. >> they got the signs up. you're seeing the information. we'll be here throughout the newscast, august 24th, the deadline. here we are in the middle of

summer. grabbing his fishing rod, heading to the conowingo dam. you stop at the susquehanna and get some lures. it's a scene out of a movie. abc2's tony marsala said it's not what you can see that's posing a threat. >> let's go down to the river. he'll probably be -- i'll probably be there. it's good for the soul. >> good for the soul. >> not good for the cash register but good for the soul. >> i ran into dave near the conowingo dam and he knew how to catch fish. >> people would randomly come in and think they will catch fish and buy them. that's part of the appeal in fishing tackle. a lot of it is eye candy. >> reporter: it's full of eye

candy, miles of great fishing but above the dam. >> for years it has trapped sediments and pollutants. recent research has shown that's pretty much done. >> reporter: sediment sits trapped behind the dam. the dam is almost at capacity. >> the sediment is sitting there. when we have a major storm event this will scoop out, scarp out and get dumped into the bay. >> that's bad news causing algae blooms, suffocating crabs and oysters. it's a study being studied. also taking part in the study is the exelon corporation, the owner of the conowingo dam. mary helen marsh said sediment is a susquehanna water issue with a wide range of stakeholders. we're also working with community groups such as trout unlimited and the resource

council to support their efforts to stop erosion along the streams that feed into the susquehanna river. >> let's turn it into lightweight aggregate, turn it into something that could offset a cost to taxpayers. >> reporter: dislaif is hoping someone can do the right thing for his favorite fishing hole. >> it's the how many ber one resource -- number one resource into the chesapeake bay. that needs to be coddled and handled with kid gloves. >> the task force leading some of the studies has been having public meetings to discuss the problem. the next one is coming up in late october. all right. they're part of the national aquarium's 31st birthday. the four-day celebration continues tomorrow. today's treat a snake in a cake.

tomorrow a free movie with general add michghts the 31st will prove to be a big year as the back tip reef will be added. maryland's most powerful radar crystal clear. we could still use some more rain and it doesn't look like it's coming tonight or early in the day tomorrow. cloud cover was steady and tough throughout the day in ocean city. same thing in manchester. we did get a little late day clearing at manchester valley high. baltimore mostly cloudy throughout the day. what a warm afternoon in the city. temperatures 88 at the airport but above 90 in the city with the humidity feeling more like

the mid-90s. cooped of a repeat story here. we've seen it through much of early august, temperatures near 90. the heat index in the mid to upper 90s. that's still hanging tough across our state. as a result feeling like the mid-90s, frederick, baltimore and the humidity is the culprit. take a look at the overall pattern. rain showers and storms over north carolina. more rain coming up the east coast. it's a relatively active pattern. we're in a little bit of a lull. at the month it's drier and more pleasant toward west virginia, kentucky and ohio but the circulation south of us and the stalled frontal boundary all adding up to cloud cover and yes, some showers. you can see that sharp cutoff in terms of moisture. it's hotter north of the front. where the humidity has dropped, the air heats up more rapidly and more sunshine. where we continue to see the

sun, let's look at our future trend model as we project ahead. we think we'll see basically the possibility of a few showers tomorrow afternoon but better chances as we get a new system diving south out of the midwest and diving south. we may get to friday and early evening okay. then i think this line will be arriving into friday night overnight and perhaps hanging up and keeping the showers going into early saturday morning. also, ernesto keeps going from the yucatan peninsula to the cancun area north of belize to the bay of campeche. it will get back to hurricane status as this makes a second landfall status moving west at 11 from brownsville, texas. ernesto a double and fall --

lnld fall -- land falling hurricane. let's check the seven-day forecast. the better chance for showers, slight chance tomorrow night but a better chance friday night into early slat day. some of those showers will linger. we'll see what happens. temperatures not so bad for the dog days of august. >> dog days. puppy days. >> sort of small dog, yes, small breed. >> all right. democracy 2012. i'm telling you right now, getting nasty out there. yesterday the romney campaign blasted the obama administration for what it calls the end of the welfare to work program. today the white house is firing back. tory dunnan joins us from washington oar all this started with a white house memo from back in july. here's what it said.

basically what it's saying it's let individual states experiment with their welfare to work programs. the real intent is to allow those states to find better ways to get people back to work. here's what mitt romney had to say at a campaign event in iowa. >> he removed the requirement of work from welfare. it is wrong to make any change that would make america more of a nation of government dependency. we must restore and i will restore work into welfare. >> reporter: and independent fact group said romney's claim is misleading. it says the federal government will grant waivers to states on a case by case basis. still, the romney campaign sin sissing today that the president's move would do more harm than good in this instance. >> well three new polls came out. it's clear each candidate has an eye on taking them. what can you tell us about the

polls. >> reporter: let's start in colorado, the state president obama took in 2008. the latest poll numbers shows mitt romney hams the lead 50% to 45%. today the president is campaigning in dhefer and trying to chip away at romney's lead. here's what he is saying. >> the direction you choose when you walk into that voting booth three months from now will have a direct impact not just on your lives but on the lives of your children and the lives of your grandchildren. >> reporter: we also had new poll numbers out of both wisconsin and virginia with president obama leading mitt romney in both states. here's why this matters. we all know mitt romney has not picked his running mate but in va there's governor bob mcdonnell. wisconsin, congressman paul ryan. you have to know that team romney is looking at the poll

numbers and making the decision which is set to come any day is what we're hearing. >> we'll talk to you tomorrow. coming up new for you at 6:00, shattered windshields, smashed mailboxes, jewelry and medications stolen. jeff hager is on this. >> i'm kelly swoope. my friends from swoop are helping me pack this box. >> here's a preview of what's ahead on world news at 6:30. >> coming up on world knew, the gold medal war between the u.s. and china. the u.s. on top until now. so what's the secret? we go inside china's program on world news.

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it's about to get easier to get your cup of coffee in the morning. we have details. >> leave your cash and credit cards at hoeffel to get your -- home to got your coffee. starting this fall it would process all of the coffee giants credit card transactions. customers who download the app will be able to pay with their phone. just show a bar code at the --

of the app to the cashier who would scan the code. this gives the customer another option. eventually the app will go a step further. all you'll have to do is tell the cashier your name. your phone will recognize when you're in a starbucks and notify the store. your name and photo will appear at the register. your payment is processed. starbucks doesn't know when it will hit stores but it's in the works. this should put the young start-up on the national radar felt other companies latch on, you might never need your wallet again. reporting from new york. >> we've all run into those guys. i left my wallet. can you pick up the tab? this weekend shaping up to be a nice one for barbecue. maybe it's also a good time top spice up your normal grilling

recipes. that's coming up on abc2 news at 6:00. i looked outside and couldn't see anything. >> overnight vandals smash and grab items from dozens of cars here in carroll county. >> a potentially dangerous virus turning up in our dogs. what veterinarians say you need to know. >> these backpacksle need school supplies, helping the pmj foundation. >> do they look great. >> let's go outside. it was another hot muggy day. that's a nice little shower going on. let's go over to wyatt everhart. you're getting ready for the big bel air bash on friday night.

>> we're looking at fun, fun times and the national aquarium tomorrow morning. we'll swim. we'll have more on that. a few showers on the radar, not something that's really going to quench any drought but a few showers have been in southern maryland today. the cloud cover is generally off to the east but enough to keep the sky gray. big time storm here. ernesto reemerging over the open waters. tropical storm, we'll talk about that. look for 70s overnight and back into the upper 80s tomorrow. the damage estimates range in the thousands of dollars after vandals smashed dozens of car windows. police suspect kids are behind the crimes, which has the homeowners somewhat worried. >> everywhere. >> reporter: you'll find p