budget cuts are coming to counties across maryland. top officials warn that could impact police departments, colleges, and area roadways. good sunday to you. i'm craig melvin. maryland governor broke the news to county officials at a conference in ocean city this weekend. the ts are expected to add up to about $250 million. darcy spencer is live in the studio tonight with that story.

>> the governor says he actually lost sleep the night before making his announcement. his administration is not providing any details on the cuts so far. but officials say they will be painful. maryland governor martin o'malley says more cuts are coming and they're going to affect state aid for health, police, community colleges and highway maintenance. the cuts will total $250 million. they're meant to help close a huge budget gap. >> a lot of tough decisions. we may see cuts to community colleges, local health departments, aid for law enforcement. these are some tough times not unique to maryland. it's part of this national recession we're in, a global recession. >> reporter: for some jurisdictions, state aid is major source of revenue for their budgets. some are predicting more furloughs. >> i think raising taxes will make it worse. if the choice is cutting services or raising taxes, unfortunately they're going to have to cut services. >> all of the state governments

have to make economies to meet the current financial crisis. so i think that to spread i around is probably the best way to do it. >> reporter: the head of the prince georges county police union says more cuts would hurt law enforcement. officers are already being furloughed for two weeks and hundreds of officers will be eligible to rereti ien n th nex th a additionals c tuto any local police rt.al things are very tight. we are having members leaving in droves right now, end quote. so far, o'malley has avoided slashing funding to k through 12 education. some are concerned about how the cuts will affect community colleges. >> that impacts a population that is - is aspiring to become a four-year college education. so it's, again, hurting the least -- the weakest target in our society. >> reporter: the governor is expected to make his recommendations for the cuts to

the state board of public works later this month. back to you, craig. >> darcy spencer tonight, thank you. one day after helping to free an american prisoner held in myanmar, virginia senator jim webb is expressing hope for better relations with that country. he flew to bank dock with webb today. he was sentenced to seven years in prison for swimming to the lake side home of oppositio leader aung san suu kyi. >> what he did was regrettable. i believe that it was hurtful to the person that he thought he was trying to help. i don't think he's a mean spirited human being. >> while in myanmar webb also met with suu kyi fighting for democracy in her country. she was nearing the end of her house arrest but will now serve an additional 18 months as a result of the stay. back here district police continue to search for suspects after seven people were shot at a bus stop yesterday.

it happened near the minnesota avenue metro station in northeast. investigators say at least one gunman walked up and opened fire on a huge crowd at the bus shelter there. many of the people had just come from a go go party a couple of blocks away. all seven victims are expected to recover. in wisconsin tonight, a man is under arrest after allegedly attacking the mayor of milwaukee with a metal pipe. it happened as the mayor left the state fair last night. that's when he heard a woman screaming for help. bartlett, who was hit on the head with the metal pipe had to call 911. >> we seen the guy -- one guy down on the sidewalk in a pool of blood. and then we told the police, we think that the other guy jumped over the fence and headed that way. it was a domestic thing. and it was the mayor of milwaukee. >> yeah. i didn't know that at the time. that's a shock. gl mayor tom barret is expected to be okay.

the 20-year-old suspect ran away after the attack, but police arrested him early this morning after an intense search of the area. again, the mayor expected to be okay, but he is recovering from some head and hand injuries. the first tropical storm to hit the u.s. mainland this year is heading toward florida. tropical storm claw de trop it's packing 50 milper hourinds. not expected to cause major flooding or wind damage, though. chuck bell is going to have a little bit more on tropical storm coming up in our forecast in a few minutes. president barack obama is vacationing with his family, but he is not taking any time off from pushing for his health care plan. the president argued in favor of his plan in "the new york times" this morning. but he still may not win republican support. >> reporter: taking a day off from his western swing, president obama visited the grand canyon. it's a fitting metaphor as he

tries to bridge the chasm in the health care debate. at a rare weekend down hall meeting in colorado on saturday, he tried to explain his plan and knock down the rumors. >> things like, we want to set up death panels to pull the plug on grandma. i mean, come on. >> reporter: he insists, he's not pushing government-run health care. in a "new york times" op-ed piece, he writes, i don't believe anyone should be in charge of your health care decisions by you and your doctor. republicans say if there are misunderstandings, it's because democrats are rushing the process. so i think when people can't get a copy of the bill to read, they may come up with ideas and say, gee, what does this really mean? i think some of this is so poorly put together and written that it can lead to different conclusions. conclusions. >> reporter: some democrats are now talking about going it alone. >> it appears to be that the republicans are just not going coto cooperate no matter what. >> reporter: but others say an issue this important needs a

bipartisan solution. >> what we have agreed to is that we are going to be ready when we're ready. and we are working. we hope to be ableo reach a conclusion by the middle of september. >> reporter: and until then, the president will continue his campaign to sell health care reform. and try to bring more americans over to his side of the political divide. the white house is now signaling it may be willing to give up on the so-called public option. the controversial plan that may not have enough senate support to pass anyway. jet ciders collide at a rehearsal for an air show. how two pilots managed to escape that fiery crash. thousands of firefighter seem to be gaining ground fighting the california firefighters tonight. residents are not in the clear just yet. staying home this summer? how about a staycation at the county fair? chuck, it was hot at the fair today, man. >> yes, it was. a couple of thunderstorms up in

the west virginia mountains and down towards hararisonburg. a redskins rookie gets into a tussle with a veteran. the nats josh willingham drops the hammer in cincinnati. news 4 at 6:00 continues. coming up on "nightly news," a triple threat kicks o hurricane season. the president sho se

people including six children were killed in a deadly wedding fire in kuwait last night. another 58 people are still in the hospital. kuwaiti authorities may tighten restrictions on celebrations in tents after the devastating blaze. it took just three minutes for the flames to tear through the wedding tent. the fire chief there suggests that -- he said that guests probably crushed each other in the rush to run through the only

exit. two russian air force jets collided today while rehearsing for an air show near moscow. three pilots ejected. one of them died. one of the jets crashed into houses below. a woman on the ground was seriously injured. the fighter pilots were members of the elite russian knights flying group. they were supposedo take part in an exhe bigs tuesday. preliminary reports blame pilot error. still ahead tonight on news 4 at 6:00. >> are more people taking a faircation this summer? the montgomery county fair. >> it's been a fantastic weekends. what about the workweek forecast? meteorologist chuck bell standing by with

a teenager has a unique summer vacation experience to tell his friends about. david ashby wanted to draw

attention to the nation's 1.5 million homeless children. so the 14-year-old decided to walk from orlando to the district the middle schooler's 1,100 mile journey came to an end today right in front of the white house. he says he hopes new programs will help keep people from becoming homeless. >> i have people, you know, i think of prevention and classes at teaching how to manage money and stuff would really help. so if it's like a requirement in school, that would be great. >> david says he hopes to meet with president obama, but there has been no word just yet from the white house on that meeting. if you're pinches your pennies because of the recession and can't afford a real vacation, why not try a faircation. business is booming at the montgomery county agriculture fair where there's plenty of things for the whole family that won't bust the bank. michael fly went to check it out. >> reporter: with more people being sheepish about spending money these days, the annual

montgomery county agricultural fair is a great way to spend time with the family. visiting with the hundreds of animals here is just one activity that won't break the piggy bank. >> hi, piggy. >> we are trying to cut back. this is a fabulous opportunity to spend some time with the family at a reasonable cost. >> we come out here, spend 20 bucks the whole day. animals, rides, free crafts, all that great stuff. >> reporter: fair officials say there are thousands of free exhibits at the 61st annual fair which started friday. despite the recession and a steamy sunday, the fair is still packing them in. >> we call it a faircation where folks can come to the fair, stay in the community. reasonable prices. >> reporr: you don't have to spend a lot of money to eat at the fair either. i've got this drink and this sandwich for just three bucks. there's plenty of things to spend your money on if you can afford it from rides to games and more expensive fair foods. but it's all up to you once you're through the gate.

>> we're normally here every year. definitely an affordable way in the economy we're in right now. >> reporter: michael flynn, news 4. >> regular admission to the fair is $8 for adults, $3 for kids. however, tomorrow is kids day. that means anyone under 12 gets in for free in 4:00. the fair will end saturday. folks were out there, dealt with some heat. >> oh, yeah. back into the 90s we went today. hadn't been above 90 degrees since last tuesday. we got a couple more 90s on the way before our next real chance at rain showers come in. outside right now, bright sunshine across the washington area. a lot of sun temperatures s tura ttoin into the 90s today. be ready for a little stretch of some hot weather around here. 92 our high in washington after a 71-degree start. back on june 21st our 2009 rain surplus was 4 1/2 inesch it's been dry since then. our rainfall surplus now less than half an inch. we're more than four inches behind average now just since summer started back in the third week of june.

89 downtown at this point in time. 86 in prince georges county. 85 in annapolis. one or two lonely showers in the west region. stanton and southern shenandoah. no rain around here. dry for your sunday evening and monday as well. high pressure in charge of the weather. hot and dry for tomorrow and i think for tuesday as well. all that tropical moisture may gradually begin to play more of a roll in our forecast towards wednesday and thursdays. we'll keep a close eye on that, tropical tomorrow claudette 116 miles southeast of pensacola, florida. moving to the northwest at 12 miles per hour. coming on shore late tonight or first thing early hours of tomorrow morning. raing most of itself out across parts of mississippi, alabama and georgia as well as the western part of florida panhandle. nonetheless, we could still see a little bit of that moisture here as we get towards the later part of the week. the other storm in the tropics,

ana, downgraded to a tropical depression. bill remains a solid tropical storm and is starting to intensify as well. winds up to 65 miles per hour sustained. over the next couple of days it's going to be a long track and a slow one as well. off to the west and northwest, 10 to 15 miles per hour. the hurricane center does think this will reach hurricane strength within about the next 48 to 72 hours. whe it goes, this is 2:00 on friday. a large area of uncertainty at that point in tile. obviously we'll have to watch out by next weekend, especially along the mid-atlantic coast up to the new england coastline as well. bill needs to be watched. claudette may bring us a shower or two later on in the week. for now, clear and hazy outside for the rest of your sunday night. fairly warm as well. a real sizzler coming up on the way tomorrow. temperatures tomorrowes up near5 degrees. so be ready for a very sizly start. for this evening, clear and hazy. warm. temperatures in the upper 80s, now back down to the upper 70

and low 80s by 11:00 tonight. a lot of our western suburbs, upper 50s and low 60s. be ready for a hot day. tomorrow, plenty of sunshine. high temperatures reaching up into the mid-90s arod town. that will be a scorcher for sure. seven-daytorasec here. 95 tomorrow. 92 tuesday. rain chances do finally start to show up for wednesday, thursday and may linger into friday and saturday. you could actually have a couple of days with some needed rain shower coming our way. >> at least the temperatures, you can see them start to gradually go down. >> tomorrow i think will be the worst of the week. up next in sports, the leader runs out of fuel with just laps to go at thisweekas ws

off the field the drama continues with their number one

big. but on the field? >> taking care of business. they're sayi ining hey, steven strausburg, come play for us. $15 million or $16 million isn't enough for him. he still is not a national. if he doesn't sign with the nats by monday at midnight, it will arguably be the most costly balk of his career. meanwhile on the field today, the nats rallied to beat the reds. top of the fourth. no score. josh willingham at the plate with a man on. hammer time. crushes the off speed pitch to upper deck territory in left. it's willingham's 19th homer of the year. nationals take a 2-0 lead. willingham wasn't done yet. foreshadowing. top of the sixth. nats down 4-2. willingham up with a runner on. this time he lines one to left. off the wall. adam dunn, the big guy, scores.

willingham hustling and slides in safe at second. willingham went 3 for 4 on the day. top eight. nats down 4-3. ryan zimmerman pinch hitting for the first time this year sends one to right. chris dickerson can't make the play. adam dunn scoots home. the reds fall asleep. they lob the ball into the infield and willingham heads up races home. here comes the throw. it's high. willingham crashes into the catcher, safe at the plate. the natsake a 5-4 lead on a heads up play. bottom of the ninth. mike mcdougal on to close it out and he does. strikes out joey vatto to end the game. >> josh is just a ballplayer, you know. he hit what might have been earlier one of the best balls he's ever hit in his life. just a great at-bat against a guy that was pitching us tough. and then totally other extreme,

the base running, the aggressiveness that he showed there. heads up play. just, you know, you can't teach that. that was all him. and just -- you know, he's been doing a lot of great things for us. that's just another one that he did. the orioles give up nine runs in the 13th inning and the angels win it 17-8. ouch. this morning at redskins park, a fight or a brew ha ha if you will broke up during practice between wide receiver marco mitchell and deanglo hall. hall tossed mitchell to the ground. this information was available on twitter thanks to the media who saw the fight ve. ironically the redskins have since banned tweeting from the field. nascar now. good old boys up in michigan this afternoon. we pick it up on lap 121. a tight group when curt busch and david reagan get together. spin out of control.

both cars pretty messed up. kurt busch got the worst of it. he would finish 36th. get yourself a cold one. jimmy johnson dominated the race. with three laps to go, johnson runs out of fuel. literally. has to head to pit road. johnson finishes with a disappointing 33-place finish. brian vickers takes the lead. he's given a present, a victory at michigan. jeff gordon is second, dale earn heart jr. finished third. heck of a day for brian vickers who yesterday got in a fight with kyle busch in the nationwide race. pretty good redemption. wnba, 60-59 p b new york