jamie costello, abc2 news. the balance of privacy and national security, president barack obama addressed that saying he stands behinds the nsa's program but the jeans agency needs to be more transparties, but it didn't end there. >> reporter: right out of the gate, president obama announced a series of reforms. >> we can and must be more transparent. >> reporter: that include as civil liberties office, a high level commission to review the intelligence program and coordination with congress to review the program that collects telephone records. >> it's in the enough for me has president to have confidence in these programs. the american people need to have confidence in them as well. >> reporter: the president insisted the changes who have taken place even if edward snowden had not leaked the details of the secret programs. >> it would have been less exciting. i think we would have got on it

the same place. >> reporter: but it vindicates him. >> i don't think snowden is a president. >> reporter: if snowden thinks he's innocent, he should return to the u.s. there were other avenues available for those whose conscience was stirred. >> reporter: earlier this week the white house said edward snowden was a factor in president obama's decision not to meet one on one with russian president vladimir putin, but snowden wasn't the plonl one. the president said the u.s.-russia agenda has stalled. it's not personal. >> i don't have a bad personal relationship with putin. when we have conversations they're candid, blurnghts often constructive. >> reporter: the big battle over healthcare and the budget is looming in the fall. a man will spend the next 30

years in prison for trying to blow up the federal reserve in new york. investigators say he selected his target, drove a fan felled with dummy explosives up to the doors of bank. they said he used a cell phone he thought was rigged with a det ton natetor but it bass -- was a fake. the president will not be spending time with prussia. you will be prussia -- the barbecue bash is being held in bel air. wyatt, i need to bring this to light. you're wearing a red shirt. hide the stains. >> i can go with the bright barbecue sauce and should be able to hide it well. that may come into play.

hey, downtown bel air, home of the maryland barbecue bash for 12 years now. this is the 12th annual, the biggest one ever. if you're a barbecue fan in any way shape or form, this is the place to be. i want to bring you george tinsler. you're in the just a competitor and a harford county local, you have written books on barbecue, my friend, you're into this. >> yes, i have. i've written two books about barbecue. one is called starting a fire and my latest is totally cue, a barbecue trivia book. >> reporter: how would you say it's growing? >> for one thing it's the hometown contest, but the other

thing we like about the contest is the amount of people who come here. they'll get 20 20,000, 30,000 people. >> i've always wanted to do the barbecue. is it the rub, the cut of meat, the sauce? >> for me the best tip i could give somebody is to start with a quality piece of meat. if you have a had lower quality piece of meat, no matter what you do with it it will not be good quality at the end. >> one last thought low and slow. the mar jen for error goes up when you have more heat. >> the hotter you're cooking the better to mess things up. go with the low and slow method.

>> low and slow. the new book is ciewled the cue. >> totally cue. >> check it out. we'll be back with much more of the maryland barbecue bash. >> thanks for that. that's going on tonight until 10:00 and tomorrow night. well, night life can be a great way to help a friend who's afraid of the dark but it could be more harm than good. we'll tell you how the lights could be associated with nearsightedness. >> if your cell phone screen is cracked, do you repair it or replace it?

abc2 is working for you. if you're like most people, your cell phone is in use morning, news and night. when it pays to consider repairing your cell phone versus replacing. >> reporter: he relies on his cell phone to help him with his day-to-day activities, but it's been tricky with a broken screen. >> it happened within the same week. one day i dropped it getting out of the car and then i dropped it

in my apartment and somewhere else. >> reporter: a new one can run about $500. a common repair such as a cracked screen, that can often be fixed for less than $100. sometimes fixing isn't cost effective like row placing the mother board. the key is finding someone that specializes in the make and model of your type of phone. the best thing to do to avoid the repair or replacement cost, you can always take care of your phone. >> investing $100 or $50 into a high quality case will be the best thing for you. a lot of people don't like the bulk or the color. the purpose is to protect your investment so you don't come see me. >> or you can have phone since

insurance. if you have a phone case check the company's warranty. video games aren't just a man's game anymore, mike masco. a new report shows women are half of the gamers. they found 45% of players are women and the same amount are the most frequent game buyers. that's a pretty good chunk. the theory includes greater diversity in games, more female games and customizations. we'll bring you over to some of the alerts. this is all the lightning from pools island, sandy point. the thunderstorm moved across the bay bridge f we go to maryland's most powerful radar, it has cleared up but detecting

lightning. it's dangerous on the bay for at least another hour as the storms continue to pivot off to the east, developing into queen anne's. this will head toward the delaware and maryland line has it pushes off to the east. more thunderstorms pushing off. chester town in the clear and another line we'll have to watch during the course of the evening. this is around northern cumberland. so the cold front moving in with the warm steeky air. showers and thunderstorm has good possibility during the course of the evening. future radar showing it through hagerstown around 6:45 and central maryland after 8:00 this evening. we'll take a look at the shot downtown, a ton of rain. right now sunny skies and 82 degrees. dew point makes it feel awful. 73 with the westerly wind coming in at 8 miles an hour.

it's muggy, going to 76 at 11:00. tomorrow is a drier day with a blend of sunshine and clouds. temperatures are rain cooled from the upper 70s, low 80s. 82 in glen burnie. we're feeling the dew point numbers, close to 80 degrees. that is a nasty feel. the cold front out to the west. we see them on our radar. you can see them popping up over the state at the present moment. out to the west, that's where we're starting to she clearer drier air. that will push into the state by tomorrow afternoon. we have another 16, 18 hours of a muggy feel before this drier air works in. the temperatures, well, we're not seeing big dips but these numbers, upper 70s. that's below average. future trend showing scattered showers moving out. tomorrow is a blend of sunshine. for sunday it's more sunshine than clouds. the pick of the weekend will be

sunday. maybe a passing shower but we're leaning toward a more drier soluon. scattered showers a good possibility. it's a muggy feel. an isolated shower south of the city. the seven-day forecast shows 86, 87 on sunday, maybe a scattered shower or storm but headlining more south. the further north and west it's a sunnier solution. by next week this turns muggier and could be a thunderstorm by tuesday. stay off the bay for at least another hour. these storms are pushing off toward the eastern shore. there was so much lightning with the humidity. the humidity is the big conductor of electricity. >> it was impressive around 4, 4:15 here at the studios. we had the heavy rain. >> it could be another round later on. this is august, right?

summer is still in full swing. >> we're way below average. a classroom assignment and we're weeks away from the beginning of the school year. how to help a child avoid those first week jitters. he jumped out of an airplane thousands of times but it was one in march that nearly ended his life. what went wrong this time. details when we continue on a friday night.

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about a week ago we told you sunlight is good for your child's eyes. studies link night light to nearsightedness. the light penetrates their eyes even when they're sleeping and that can cause elongation. >> the vast majority of people don't recommend night light for children under two to prevent

those mild changes that could occur overtime. >> the same problem could be caused by light from televisions or hand held gaming devices. by now you've probably gotten a class assignment for your school's upcoming year. while they're excited about the teacher or the students, some are getting jitters. getting homework and changing classes can be stressful. the best way to combat it is to get your child familiar with the new surroundings. >> being involved in hope houses, showing them where their locker; especially for the kids who have to transition between classes. >> other ways to help, walking the path with the child when they get their class schedule and meeting face to face with their teacher. >> since the beginning of august we've been teaming up with the preston mitchum foundation as farther of the drive to help

kids going back to school. now the drive runs for another two weeks, so it's still time to take part. for a full list of items and dropoff locations, go to abc2news.com/school supplies. coming up at 6, there's broken glass in a home. >> and a scam targeting people who may need a medical alert device. those stories coming up for you at 6:00. [ male announcer ] you know what's so awesome about the internet? it gets more and more entertaining every day. and once you've got verizon fios, that's when you get it --

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maybe it's on your bucket list. for one man it wasn't the start of a jump that was the first experience but what happened next. here's a preview coming up tonight on "20/20". >> you step into the void, a rush hard to match. there's nowhere to go but straight down, thousands of feet. sky divers get such an incredible buzz that people take plunge 2 million times each year. craig stapleton wasn't worried. when he got not plane last month, this champion sky diver had 7,000 jumps.

he lept out from the usual seat. it was in california, but maybe a minute into the plunge the plan goes horribly wrong. >> i know i'm in serious trouble. three or four seconds it malfunctions and i know i'm a dead man. >> reporter: his paracounty useless. >> i can't see the ground because it's too far away but i can hear the wind. at that point i'm going 60 or 70 miles an hour. i felt i was on mi last one -- sing out of control, and this is it. your brain starts bang through ideas right now. what from you going to do. what are you going to do. as i was getting lower i was thinking about my teammates, my

family. >> reporter: the reserve parachute. >> i pulled the reserve. the paracounty came out. >> that's the reserve, but it doesn't work. it gets stuck not tangled lines. >> i literally looked up and said this is what a dead man sees. >> this is what a dead man sees. >> you can see the rest of that story tonight on "20/20". coming up a new twist on an old crime. people lighting bags of trash on fire. abc2 news at 6 starts root now. suddenly we have to take a lot more security precautions. >> a break-in at one of baltimore's most historic homes. >> i'm scow scow. we have special marine warnings

in the chesapeake. we'll have the forecast coming up. >> no autographed line was ever too long for him. he made sure every man, woman and child came what they received for. >> always smiling, always willing to shake your hand, baltimore said good-bye to art donovan. first, it's the star spangled burglar. someone broke into the flag house and museum in little italy, causing damage and making off with quick cash. >> reporter: the flag house is a national landmark because this is where the flag was made that inspired the national anthem. pretty suspicion stuff but not for the man had decided to break in. >> it really indicate last lack of respect on the part of the city and the part of our

community and that's very upsetting. >> reporter: more than the $200 the thieves stole, the camera from the lost and found, the alarm panel, broken windows and all of that is fixable and replaceable, but it is truly the lack of respect that stings. >> we've never had this happen before. i was shocked to come in here and get this call. normally when the alarm engages it's a branch. >> reporter: as stupid it is to burglarize a national trsh sure, idiotic to think you wouldn't leave fingerprints. the thieves came through a room where people watch a movie about

it. >> we're waiting for a number of different physical evidence. one of those is prints. detectives hope to use that to follow-up on the leads and hopefully it will lead to enarrest. >> reporter: so the flag house cape are may soon be sewn up but for what this museum is and represents, the damage may already be done. >> we're surprised, upset. suddenly we have to take a lot more precautions. >> a reality for a landmark. someone in anne arundel county is reaching into mailboxes and stealing mail. the thieves are only interested in checks, either the ones you receive or the ones you're sending out. they steal the check and write them out to themselves. there are things you can do. >> get your mail has soon as possible. don't let it sit overnight.

if are a-- if you're going to be out of town, have the newberry get it. >> thieves have struck four times in the past 24 hours. art donovan started talking and people started laughing. what a love affair of a plan many of us had and many in baltimore called a friend. jamie costello was there. jamie, it was a shad day but almost uplifting, too. >> yes, this was. it took hart ti 89 years to -- artie 89 years to tell us what he did in 12. running into him at the store, that's where all the laughs come from. >> he was always astounded at how the citizens of baltimore opened their arms and embraced this quote nobody. >> right n