>>reporter: a deadly car crash in south baltimore. i'm sherree johnson. i'll have live details coming up. >>reporter: prz in west baltimore -- breaking news in west baltimore. a partial building collapse. why the first fire company to respond, that truck you see right there will no longer be in service come next week. >>> and temperatures will be nice and seasonable for today, but record temperatures are in the offing. i'll have those details coming up. >>reporter: i'm tracking details of a fatal accident on route 295. i'll show you what 95 and 83 look like coming up in my abc 2 time saver traffic report. [ male announcer ] millions of dollars for new schools and teachers... thousands of new good paying jobs... all without raising taxes. that's what a world-class resort casino at national harbor would mean for maryland. but it won't be built unless lawmakers give us the right to vote on it this november. call 1-800-492-7122 and tell your delegate and state senator to vote "yes" on national harbor... one of the biggest new job projects in the country. >>> g

this all happened on thursday morning on scott street in south baltimore. police are looking for two men who they say robbed and shot a man. this happened on harford road. a man tried to wrestle the gun away from one of the suspects. anyone with information is asked to call police. and then held a woman against her will in his basement. travis melton met the victim at a party. she arrived at his home and investigators say he forced himself upon her at one point using a knife. his family called police. >> 76 degrees on tv hill. you may be paying more to make your party is look more festive. >> -- well fires in colorado claim their first victim -- raging wildfires in colorado. >> a vehicle fire on the top >> welcome back. 80 degrees downtown. we had some big thunderstorms this morning. now most of the activity is over on the eastern shore. these terms have wind gusts over 60 miles per hour. these are dangerous storms. they're crossing over on to the eastern shore. ton area, it willand are be kind of rough. expects large hail and wind gusts over 60 miles per h

walk to pools are a buck. >>> food trucks are fighting for a tasty title in south baltimore this weekend. that's right, dig in. the food is good out there at taste of two cities that was held today in west port. it's a competition between the food trucks from baltimore and washington, d.c. twenty trucks came out. we don't have the word on who the winner is. the local celebrity judges and the event helped to determine. 51? getting the word right now. gypsy food truck won. you're not just saying that because it's my favorite? all right! gypsy food truck won. >> it was a beltway with all teams too. >> but our food trucks win every time. gypsy has the best crab cakes. >>> low humidity. sunshine tomorrow. about the same, but may be a shower. >> not too bad. >> beautiful next week. >>> temperature, it was a great day for a pool. >> [ laughter ] >>> 58 degrees. no wind with the barometer. right now, we're on the rise. 29.99 inches. 61, the low 50s tonight. 68 in cumberland. d.c., the hot spot. 80 degrees. a pleasant cool, 66 in ocean city and to the north of the city, reports of 65, 66-degree r

so drivers will want to expect a major backup all summer long and abc2 news linda so is in south baltimore this morning with what you can expect. >> reporter: good morning, well, construction began at 9:00 last night. what right now is 895 right before the harbor tunnel. things right now are running smoothly and about 15 minutes ago we saw more construction crews arrive on the scene. they tell us just beyond this tunnel and this whole plaza is where the construction is going on. lanes are one lane in the southbound direction. right now because it's still early not seeing any backups through the tunnel but that could change as the day wears on. crews are resurfacing the steel bridge just south of the harbor tunnel. one northbound lane will be closed for the next eight weeks and in august it will get worse. one lane in each direction is shut down. you should expect major backups both ways. the best bet this morning if you have to use 895 avoid the harbor tunnel. instead you can take care 695 in the key bridge or 95 and the fort mchenry tunnel. right now things are running smoothly. but as th

. >> reporter: we are dealing with breaking news out of south baltimore.been injured in the house fire and it continues to shut down jack street between 9th and soth street. -- 10th street. use jeffrey street as an alternate. no word on the person's condition but we will bring you the latest as it becomes available. on 895 you want to watch out for the major construction that will begin tomorrow. expect heavy delays in the area. you want to stick with the fort mchenry or key bridge as an alternate. but this morning, no delays to talk about in the area. that's not the case on the west side of the beltway. a look at liberty road traffic starting to pick up in the area. you are looking a at 14-minute ride on the outer loop from 795 down towards 95. that will be the same case on the beltway and parkville. here's what it looks like at harford road. pretty slow as you make the drive up towards loch raven boulevard and inner loop moving toward 95 and congestion continues on the northeast corridor of 95. expect a slow ride from route 43 down towards the harbor tun

western baltimore county and a little bit of south eastern baltimore county until 6:30. there it is. laurel to glen burney western areas. let's look inside it once again. that's the only way you can tell there's rotation to the north. see that little chart to the top of there, look through there. not really seeing a whole lot of rotation. i mean, if we were seeing reds and green in direct oppositions that's when we're seeing rotation. this cell still could produce something, a funnel cloud or something akin to that that's why they've issued a tornado warning. i'm not seeing looking at it with doppler radar inside i'm not seeing rotation. although it does seem to be something going on around here. around 32 and 95. that's heading right toward the city. we're going to see at round of storms. that is a lot of rain and the flood warnings currently in effect for the baltimore region. many areas fredrick area, carol county another extended thunderstorms warning in effect also for harford county. that cell moving through the bell air area, over toward joplin moving at 25

it escalated to a five-alarm blaze that blackened the sky over south baltimore.lls point residents say they don't recall ever experiencing a fire this incense. -- intense. >> i have never seen anything with quite this force behind it. and i saw these firefighters. they look like they beat it down to white smoke. and then of a the sudden it just came rolling back with a huge vengeance. >> around 130 firefighters converged on the scene, relieving one another when the flames and the 90-degree heat became overpowering. two firefighters suffered minor injuries and were taken to the hospital. >> these firemen are really, really working on a hot day like today. >> firefighters evacuated neighboring businesses as they successfully raced to contain the flames. the warehouse roof collapsed, forcing them to focus their efforts on every outside angle they could attack. >> we have ladder pipes, monitor pipes, and large hoses in place to try and extinguish this fire. it appears that there are ordinary combustible materials inside the buildilng burning -- wood, paper. >> fire i

from baltimore south and west it should be dry and warm right into the upcoming weekend. sunshine is the forecast for friday, 82-87. the humidity is down to a more comfortable level even though the temperatures will be rising. light winds on the bay and the northwest. a beautiful mountain weekend. derrek and allegheny county with highs in the seven's. we will be in a's all weekend long on the eastern shore. 70 tomorrow, 8's on saturday, right around 80 on sunday. the water temperature down at ocean city ranging from 65-69. 's tomorrow and then pushing into the middle and upper a's saturday, sunday, and monday. showers and thunderstorms will cool things off back to near 80 for the middle of next week. >> the orioles are going for a record. could this week the red sox again? highlights next in sports. >> the maryland lottery, let yourself play. >> tonight's jackpot is an estimated $900,000. 11-24-13-25-4-7. if no one matches all six numbers on one line of a ticket, the jackpot climbs to $950,000. the next drawing monday night at 11:22 here on wbal-tv 11. the maryland lotter

eight room schoolhouse behind us 24students from the former catholic communitt piddle schoollof south baltimorethered in front pf the school for a candlelighttvigil.most arr victims of johnnmmrzbacher... a former teacher t the school and convicted child moleeter. 3721 we're coming to pray tonight for healing and for peeae, and to show our strength thattwe willlnot rest until john merzbacher spends the resttof his life in jail 30 merzbacher was convicted in 19-95 of raping former student sentenced to four life s terms... but filed an appeal. in 2010, a federal judge ruled he must be given an opportunity to accepp a 10-year plee deal.a deal is former defense attorneys allegedll didn't offer im at the timee 43:43 i was abused right here on these grounds by him and he hurt a lot of people 48 steven melnick traveled all the way from califorria. he says the thought of merrzacher being freed... is more than admitted ggult..and noww they're ready to honor this 17 years later. i don't beliive itts right 11 tte victims may have hope.prosecutors could still pursue merzbacher crimiinlly for the 13-other al

. >> reporter: the sounds of south baltimore are just what he needed. >> three tours of vietnam, thenl, drug, and homelessness. >> so when i came here, i was living in the streets. drugalcohol took my life. >> reporter: now the baltimore station, residential self-help program is showing him how to get it back. >> when you are here at the station you learn as ho tow what the under -- as to how what the underlying reason is for your addiction. >> 50 active duty sailormarines showed up to work on building a roof top garden. or to simply have one generation pass on stories to the next. >> good to see him when i saw, them unloading the bus first thing i saw the shape, his brothers, marines. >> their experience, is what allows me to make better decisions. >> which ties us back into cliffton he is nearly finished with the program which asks the 144 veterans to make better decisions today they are getting help from active duty who are glad to help. >> leave the doors open, if you want the walk out you can. but if you want to stay in here, and get yourself better this is a program to be in. >>

. >> reporter: the shacks in south baltimore is just what this man needed.two tours to vietnam. >> when you're here at the station, you learn what the under line reason is for your addiction. >> reporter: the program gets for a thank you lunch, 50 active duty sailor and marines showed up to work on building a rooftop garden. or to simply have one generation pass on stories to the next. >> it's good to see them. when i saw some coming unloading the bus, they're brothers, marines. >> and their experience is what allows me to make better decisions. >> reporter: which ties us back into cliffton. he's nearly finished with the program that asks 444 veterans to make better decisions and today they're getting a little help with the active duty who are glad to help them heal. >> leave the doors open, if you want to walk out you can. but if you want to stay in here and get yourself better, this is the program to be in. >> reporter: in south baltimore, mike schuh back to you on tv hill. >> reporter: i'll take it mike. that program is funded by veteran's programs and ba

. >> i'm mike schuh live in south baltimore. a convicted middle school molester might be released from prison. hear from his victim's next. >> president obama and mitt romney head out on fundraising tours, trying to raise money and support for their campaign. i'll have that story coming up. >> sharon gibala with wjz traffic control. if you are about to head out, we're starting to see more volume on the road. we'll take a look at our cameras in just a few minutes. >> the lead men of sugar ray and ever clear join us on coffee with. stay tuned. we'll be right back. ,, [ male announcer ] if you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. [ male announcer ] we have more than 3,000 daily flights on southwest airlines. and that gives our customers thousands of options to fly where they want, when they want. fly nonstop service from bwi airport to greenville-sp

. >> whether it was someone i want it on tv in south baltimore or penn state, it's meaningless. you are glad to see that justice was none and that the system worked. >> rosenberg said 90 percent of sexual abuse victims are abused by someone close to them. wjz eyewitness news. >> thank you. jerry sandusky is expected to be sentenced within the next 90 days. now to a developing story. a serious car accident sends other people to the hospital. it happened just after 3:00 a.m. on route 50 near davidson bill. a single car crash with five people with injuries. the wreck closed all at eastbound lanes on route 50 for hours. medics even airlifted three patients to local, hospitals and two more were taken to anne arundel medical center. no yet cause of the wreck. >>> a baltimore county teen dies during a struggle with an off- duty police officer. mourners gathered for chris brown's funeral. the teen died from a 60-ish in last week during a fight with an off-duty police officer. baltimore county police officer james laborde. that officer remains on leave this morning. no charges have been

teacher convicted of child school tonight where the former catholic community he - middle school of south baltimore gathered at the school for a ccndlelighh vigil. many are alleged victims f ohn merzbacher, a former teacher who wass convicted in 1995 of chiid molestation. merzbacher could soon be freee after a judge ruled his attorney's didn't tell him about thh option of a ten year plea deal back during the trial. 3 he has never admitted guilt. and now they're ready to honor this 17 years later. i don'tt believe it's right even if merzbachee's could stiil face charges ffom conviction in 1995.is 3 the 21 year old baltimore man who used social media sites to find victims has een sentenced to 50 years in prison. prison.syron abdullah ... plead guilty this week tt follows the fatal stabbing of johma (yah-muh) blackwell...a teenager who was found sttbbed 32 timms ii the head, arms and torso. evidence including the victim's wii and xbox led detectives to abdullah. traces of the ttens blood was also found on abdullah's sneakees. police say he case highlights the danger of sharing personal informatiin 3n

. >>> the family of a young girl wounded in a south baltimore shooting is suing a gps company. they want more than $70 billion from the company. they claim that davis and his ankle monitor device was not working when he shot at a man in 2009. she was hit by a bullet and still suffers today. >>> an update on the fire that destroyed an old building earlier this week, the building had half a million dollars in damages. the flames broke out on monday afternoon at the 500 block of south broadway, the store building. the cause of the fire remains under investigation at this hour. >>> still to come at noon. wrapping up their case, the prosecution seems to be winding down in the sex abuse trial. will more accusers take the stand today. >>> a huge hailstorm hits dallas. a look at the damage done there. coming up. >> reporter: we are down here live at the inner harbor to bring you all the conch of -- coverage of the celebration as the blue angels are out here practicing. that's coming up on eyewitness news at noon. ,,,, copd makes it hard to breathe, so i wasn't playing much of a role in

. >>> he's a competition of tasty proportions happening in south baltimore. all right. dig in there. it's the taste of two cities being held today in west port. a competition between food trucks from baltimore and washington, d.c. 20 different trucks came out there. you have time to check it out. the event runs until 7:00 tonight. so you have just about an hour to get out there. they have some of the best food trucks out there. i definitely suggest them. some really good things out there. >>> we have a lot more still to come tonight including the western wild fires. the efforts to put these fires out. >>> backing the bus monitor. the video goes viral. now her community, they're finally coming together. >>> two bears, look at this, they're fighting in a backyard. why wildlife officials believe this happened. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, >>> look at all that sun out there. it's mostly sunny and 88 degrees. bernadette will have the complete forecast coming up. >>> as you can see tensions are running high in egypt ahead of tomorrow's anticipated presidential election results. egyptians

authorities say they were called to the 500 block of scott street in south baltimore early thursday morning for a report of aggravated assault. that's where they say they found 22-year-old owen bernstein who is the son of gregg bernstein and 30-year-old robert hardie, both with what look like cuts. so far, no charges have been filed but police are investigating. meanwhile, baltimore city's population continues to shrink according to the latest u.s. census numbers. the city lost about 1,500 residents in less than a year and a half. that dropped baltimore's population to about 619,500 making it the 24th largest city in the nation. baltimore was the 10th largest city back in 1980. washington, d.c. has gained about 1,600 residents in the last 15 months. that's making it one of the fastest growing cities in the country. hundreds of baltimore area catholics are in rome this morning celebrating a special recognition for archbishop william lori. pope benedict gave all the new archbishops at a mass in rome earlier this morning. that is a light vestment. it's made from a wool shorn from lamb and bles

baltimore. it's columbia, south carolina. the drop is just in time for the summer driving season. >>> an online credit card data base was launched on tuesday. and it has trade groups so what are we worried because some of the consumer financial protection bureau so they say that it is going to help with transparency and efficiency. the site will post how a bank or card issues and handles complaints and will also post grievance regarding mortgages and student loans. no complaint will be posted until the alleged offender confirms it did do business with that customer. >>> news time 4:57. in boston the property owner of a 28 acre piece of land preparing for the final presentation to the count -- to the county a hearing was held for last night and they are looking for answers about plans for a new housing development in the works a property owner listened to the public comment at the volunteer fire department. the biggest concern for homeowners they say is additional traffic. >> seems like there is no benefit whatsoever except mo

we are following a developing story from south baltimore. four people reported hurt after an mta bus accident just after 8:00 this evening in cherry hill. we are told that a child riding a bike came out of a nearby alley and hit the bus. the mta tells us to talk was not hurt. we are told for people on the bus were injured. no word yet on the severity of their injuries. >> late breaking details involving a triple shooting. two of the victims are girls. investigators say the juvenile and adult male were found shot just before 6:00 tonight near annapolis road on russell street. we are told that all the victims suffered non life-threatening injuries. police at not released a motive. encouraging news about baltimore's murder rate. fbi statistics show that the 2011 baltimore murder rate was 31.3 per 100,000 residents, taking the city out of the top five in the country. it drops baltimore to #six. a 12% drop, and the first time there have been fewer than 200 homicides in one year inner city since 1970. >> state corrections officials say conrad bain

see ore of our video from the baltimore dot com slass raw news three peeple shot in south baltimore...two of them believed to be teenage girls. tonight... at the intersection of annapolis road and russell commotionnand says she allo noticed two young children who were hhddled neer the victims. "i don'ttknow what happened with them they were crouched at the telephone pole like they were holding on to eech other." &p police sayythe two children were unharmed... and nnne of victims is believed to be life threatening. 3& the military is investigatin pfter a ávery expensiveá u-s navy drone crashes on the eastern shore.... shore....this was the scene near bloodsworth island in dorchester counny.... after the unnmanned aircraft went down during a routine training flight.the craft was a part of a program designed to provvde long-term surveillaace for the fleet in tte middle east.each one costs almost 200-million dollars.the navy is still investigating the cause of the crash. there were no injuries reported. the controvvrsial bottle tax proposal is virtually a done deal tonight. the full counc

reporting in south baltimore sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >>> 5:32 right now. this is exclusive video taken early this morning in eldersburg of a stabbing that happened. we spoke with maryland state police overnight who do confirm one person was stabbed to death and another arrested. witnesses at the scene say there was a fight at the martin grocery store on londontown boulevard around midnight. witnesses say a fight may have started between two a night employees there. >>> a teenage who was shot in ellicott city remains in critical condition this morning. it happened after 7 last night. police say they found the 15- year-old in field off frederick road. police say they suspect foul play in this but they don't have any suspects or a motive. >>> the person of interest in dew ye beech is dead. they found the body of 27 26- year-old pawan kumar at motor lag in new jersey about four hours away from dew wee. police wanted to talk to him about a body found in 6 ah of a 26-year-old danielle mehlman. we told you about this yesterday. police are continuing to investigat

reporting live in south baltimore, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >>> news time 4:34 only on abc2, this video taken overnight of a deadly stabbing in eldersburg. we talked to maryland state police overnight who confilled one person has been stabbed to death and a suspect is now in custody. witnesses say at the scene there was a fight at the martin grocery store on londontown boulevard around midnight. witnesses say the fight may have started between two overnight employees. >>> today more than 800 empty school des look fill the national mall representing the number of students nationwide dropping out of school every hour of every day. the movement is reportedly part of the grass roots organization planning to draw attention to education. the event begins at 10 a.m. >>> a panel on the board of public works is poised to approve nearly $10 million enabling a casino operator to buy the rocky gap large. panel consist of the governor treasurer and state comptroller to consider the matter in annapolis this morning. the resort-side rocky gap statepark is one of five approved sites. >>> the man

more than two dozen former students with their families rallied in south baltimore. they are in pain and angry the former baltimore catholic school teacher could possibly be released from prison. >> why are you all out here today? >> to keep him in jail for life. >> he was indicted for raping more than a dozen students and convicted in one case in 1995. >> i didn't do any of these things and all i wanted was a fair trial. >> students say it happened at the former catholic community middle school when 1972 and 1979 in the 1500 block of east fourth avenue. >> if they were to give him the electric chair i'd volunteer to throw the switch. >> a federal judge in 2010 said he must be given an opportunity to accept a plea deal that his lawyers didn't tell him about. >> one, whether he was offered a plea of 10 years, two whether his employer failed to communicate that plea to him and three, would he have accepted the plea if offered. if you get a yes on all three he's going to be released. now if john mrersbacker, if indeed this does happen, eye witness news will keep you info

right now just south of baltimore, a warning. better safe than sorry. that's moving into brooklyn park. yes. this looks like this will be heading toward the brooklyn park section at 5:19 and baltimore city limits. i want to get a look at the sky line. we're going to be watching that very, very closely to see if some of the rotating wall clouds could possibly drop down a tornado. this is a thunderstorm that's rotating on our radar system. you see kind of see around the building. a little bit of a lowering in here, so we've got to watch that because if this row tallets and drops from the sky we could have a tornado. themes communities, want to get your safe zone right now. >> we were talking about how it's coming across the area. got columbia. if we can get that shot of our traffic cam, you can see u.s. 29 at 32. look at rain. that area, i will just let you know now it is incredibly bad. so now when you add in the rain it's going to be a mess so if you're checking us out on your app, you may want to wait a little bit before you hit the road, a lot of rain

focus lolo, focust sanya let's do this i am from baltimore south carolina... bloomington, california... austin, texas... we are all here to represent the country we love this is for everyone back home it's go time. across america, we're all committed to team usa.

reporting live in south baltimore, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >>> and you can be the first to know about breaking news and traffic and weather alerts downtown abc 2 news free app and you can fex text 46988. >>> four minutes after six. this is exclues he have video taken this morning in eldersburg of a stabbing we will spoke with maryland -- we spoke with maryland state police who confirmed another wan stabbed and another arrested. witnesses say there was a fight at martin grocery store on londontown boulevard around midnight. witnesses say the fight may have started between 2 nighttime employees. >>> today the man charged in the death of phylicia barnes is scheduled to be arraigned. michaelionson is the ex- boyfriend of phylicia barnes boyfriend. barnes was viseded when she was killed her body turned up four months later. >>> a special tribute to the 22- year-old killed in afghanistan supporting operation enduring freedom. the governor ordered the flags be flown at half-staff at all state buildings as well as those in anne arundel county. the soldier died on memorial day. >>> tomorrow fr

reporting live in south baltimore, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >>> you can be be the first to know about breaking news traffic and weather alerts by down loading a become c2's free app or texting wmar to 469888. >>> a man in charge in the death of phylicia barnes is scheduled to be arraigned today. michael yobson is the ex- boyfriend of phylicia barnes sister and she was visiting from north carolina when she disappeared. her body showed up four months later in the susquehanna river. >>> flags will be at half-staff for a special tribute that is happening for sergeant julian chase. the 22-year-old was killed in afghanistan supporting operation enduring freedom. the governor has ordered the u.s. flag and the maryland state flag be flown at half- staff at all state buildings and those in anne arundel county. chase died on memorial day. >>> tomorrow friends and family will pay respects to ben boniface who died on his family farm monday. ris station is thursday in abington. it will from 2 to 5 and 6 to 9. a mass will be held for ben friday morning at 10:30 at st. joan of ark catholic church on

and abc2 linda so is live in south baltimore this morning to tell us how traffic is shaping up. good morning linda. how does it look so far? >> reporter: well, things right now look fine. the morning traffic, this is the southbound lanes heading into the what are bar tunnel and you can see -- harbor tunnel and you can see no backups right now. not quite into the height of the morning rush just yet. but i did speak with some construction crews about an hour ago. they tell me that the construction is just beyond the harbor tunnel and the southbound lanes across the poll plaza. and -- toll plaza. and they have it narrowed down to one lane. just remember that for the morning rush. crews are resurfacing the steel bridge just south of the tunnel. one lane will be closed for the next eight weeks and then in august, things will get worse. one lane in each direction will be shut down. that means you should expect major backups going both ways. so again your best bet avoid the harbor tunnel, instead take 695 and the key bridge or 95 and the fort mchenry tunnel. back out here live though t

also a tornado warning for the dc area which is south of baltimore.particular cell, you see it moving to the northeast at around 22 miles an hour. it is moving out of the baltimore region in the next 15, 20 minutes toward baltimore county and eventually toward harford county. the dc area, a lot of activity going on, annapolis area. expect to see more warnings and watches, more warnings. we already have watches in effect. tornado warnings, eastern sections, southeastern sections of the dc area. to the west, still some stuff going on. let's get rid of some of these boxes. there you go. we have already seen several strong cells move through this region. i expect probably more flooding in washington and frederick county. looks like everybody in the state will see rain, thunderstorms and maybe severe weather between now and midnight. it probably won't be over until late tonight. >> thank you very much, bob. of course it is friday afternoon, a lot of people commuting home. there are real troubles on some of the roads. word of a fire on 95. we are looking at

linda so is in south baltimore this morning toilet us know. good morning -- to let us know. >> reporter: we're told crews are right beyond the harbor tunnel. right now are the southbound lanes heading into the tunnel. past the toll plaza is where the construction is. they have it narrowed down to one lane. crews are resurfacing that steel bridge just south of the harbor. one lane will be closed for the next eight weeks and then in august things will get worse. one lane in both directions will be shut down. that means you should expect major backups going both ways. so your best bet avoid the harbor tunnel instead you can take 695 and the key bridge or 95 and the fort mchenry tunnel. again, things running smoothly right now but as the day wears on and maybe for the evening commute, things could back up and when we get into august when they shut down one lane in each direction transportation officials say things could be backing up through the tunnels. so avoid this area. we're live at the harbor tunnel, linda so, abc2 news. >>> you can be the f

baltimore street. one thing you should know, the 1400 block through the south block of north and south baltimore streetbe closed in the area as firefighters try to get this situation under control. so you can expect these road closures for the next several hours. we're live in baltimore, linda stow, abc 2 news. >>> if you're heading to dewey or ocean city beaches this summer, got some good news for you today. they're among the healthiest beaches in the u.s. the natural resources defense council for the first time mapped out more than 6,000 beaches nationwide and about a dozen beaches received a five-star rating for violating health standards, less than 5% of the time for testing more than once a week and posting advisories online as well as at the beach. ocean city and dewey beach both received five-star ratings. >>> the summer olympics haven't even started yet and we're already seeing some great competition in the pool. >> yeah. the battles have been heating up between baltimore native michael phelps and his competitor ryan lochte. we'll have the latest on the swim trials all leading up to the london

abc2 linda so is live this morning in south baltimore right near the harbor tunnel. good morning linda. how is traffic looking so far? >> reporter: good morning lauren. things look fine right now. we're not quite into the morning rush just yet. but they do tell us you should expect backups. right now we're right on 895 before the harbor tunnel heading southbound. we spoke with construction crews about 30 minutes ago who tell us just beyond this tunnel and the toll plaza is where the construction is going on. they have the lanes narrowed down to one and crews are resurfacing the steel bridge that's just south of the harbor tunnel. one lane will be closed for the next eight weeks and then in august it will get worse. one lane in each direction will be shut down. that means you should expect major backups going both ways. so your best bet avoid the harbor tunnel instead take either 695 and the key bridge or 95 and the fort mchenry tunnel. again, right now, the 5:00 hour traffic is running along smoothly. but mdta tells us that when these -- they narrow down the lanes in

this happened in south baltimore early thursday morning. police found owen bernstein and his roommate, robert hardie. both men had severe cuts. so far no charges have been filed. >> baltimore's population is shrinking. about 5000 residents have been lost in less than a year and a half. baltimore is now the 24th largest city in the nation. washington, d.c., has gained about 1600 residents may be one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation. catholics in rome are celebrating a special recognition in rome. there was a mass in rome earlier this morning. this is part of an annual service. >> 5:37. 76 degrees on tv hill. campuses across the country are considering smoking bans that would do away with all tobacco products on campus. >> a possible vaccine for nicotine. >> don't forget to e-mail us your response to our water cooler question of the day. what perk would you like to see added to your in-flight experience? i vote for a massage. especially right now. you can share your response on wbaltv.com, on our facebook page, or send us an e-mail

here's a former teacher in south baltimore spending life behind bars convicted in the 1995 child sex abuse case. well, a federal judge has ruled that merit backer should be offered a plea deal that his lawyers neglected to tell him about years ago which would get him out of prison. the attorney general's office is appealing the ruling in a proceeding that is expected to take months. >>> news time 5:05. his son was killed at the hands of a suspected drunk driver in ocean city. now chris cheswick struggling to deal with the loss. chris talked to us about the heart break over his son's death and the anger at the man suspected of killing him over the memorial day weekend. >> i hope that you know he just begins to perceive what he's done. how cowardly it was to run. and like we said earlier, how many lives he's touched. if touched is the right word. maybe that's the right word. >> chris cheswick plans to attend every court hearing for the suspect. he's due in court july 5th and you can watch more of chris cheswick's interview at the website. abc2news.com. >>> well, rains winds and a whole

i wish we had smell vision. >> i was thinking that. >> reporter: we're in south baltimore. his is 10 minutes from federal hill. this is the big food fight. it's coming up saturday right here in west port on the water front. it's baltimore versus dc. 40 food trucks, 20 from baltimore, 20 from washington. they're going to go at it. celebrity judges. dame on dammon put it together. the food truck industry has exploded in baltimore. >> it's the faster growing nationally. >> reporter: you're expecting a huge crowd here on saturday. >> we are. food people get excited. it's this saturday. >> reporter: the hours are? >> 11:00 to 7:00. >> yes. >> reporter: you've had the food truck rallies other places too. >> we have. this is 20 baltimore trucks and 20 dc from you cans. -- trucks. >> reporter: it's going to be a show down. >> we have live music, drinks, beer, wine. >> reporter: here is chris. he has the cheesecake truck. you're from? >> from washington. >> reporter: are you ready? >> i think we're ready. we're coming up here, hoping to go home with a trophy. we have 20 of our best t

on the overall radar scope just a couple of renegade showers south of baltimore. south the dc area and across the overall state again things have been clearing up nicely for us here with most of the storm action down along the immediate ocean city coastline. just a couple of stray showers, watches and warnings almost none. couple of flood warnings up across the northern edge of the state into northern pennsylvania, southern new jersey, as we look at some of the set ups here, 72 degrees, the current condition, i want to show you the weather through the day and you can see it was -- murky to finish the day. in belaire sunny early and then the storms rolled in. yeah, more stop, annapolis, starting off with sun and the storms rumbling in. much of the central maryland area with it -- a severe thunderstorm warning you can see why. there are storm clouds there as we pushed toward sunset tonight and the state capitol. temperatures in the low 70s. 63 oakland. humidity levels moderate. around 90%. i should say high. there is moderate and dryer air coming in. more moderate on

near washington south baltimore...//. - 22-yeer-old... owen say... - bernstein... and...eed... to... cut each other.... as part... of... some kind... f... "bllod brother"... pxchange.../ when... a... fight ensued...//.both. are... being questioned....by police../ . no... charges ... filed. ...in... toniiht's... waste watch... rep. report../.it... appears.... a... the only government employee.. p caught sleeping... on the eight tsa ... ../ agents are..caught on cameea....and fired...... jeff abell. shows us whaas happened.. happened.. city administraaors here in baltimore are still trying to understand why a city worker was sleeping while parked in a city truck.... truck.... city councilman jim kraft broughtta photo of the worker to city hall this week. claiming he departmeet of transportttion employee had case of sleeping workers haa surfaced.... this time.....eight screeners who work for the -s-a are reportedly caught on camera....sleeping in a baggage room at newark international airrort. the tsa is also probing other photographs of agents whoo aapear to be sleeping beh

south. traffic is obviously going to be a mess. your best bet, if you're going east and west, are going to be baltimore, or alisanta. north-south, the best news i can give you is just stay away from broadway. reporting live from sky chopper 13, i'm captain jeff long. back to you on tv hill. >> all right. thank you very much, captain long. and our complete coverage continues now with bob turk in the weather center and more on the heat, which of course is making conditions more difficult for firefighters. >> when the fire started, temperature was close to 90 degrees. can you imagine, with all of that equipment and fire, it must have been pretty difficult. both sides of the state, ocean city and oakland. winds have calmed down somewhat. earlier, we had winds 14 to 18 miles an hour. now, southeast wind, around 8 miles an hour. but right now, there's no rain in the forecast until late tonight. the winds will slowly diminish. looks like we've got a lot of rain on tap for the region tomorrow. we'll have the forecast coming up. >> bob, thank you. >>> new information on another story wjz has been following. a military aircraf

fulton -- baltimore that shut down south fulton.e waiting on a callback from the fire department to see if anyone has been injured and we will bring you the latest as it becomes available. if you are using the tunnels, no delays true the harbor and fort mchenry and 83. here's northern baltimore at shawan road. everything up to speed and will be a nice easy ride from hunt valley to the beltway and will remain clear on jfx. that's a look at your abc2 timesaver traffic. now over to you. >>> baltimore is gearing up for big celebration. the event is going to draw ships from around the world here to charm city. also, does race play a role when it comes to preventing obesity in adolescent girls. what stawedy reveals. clear -- study -- what a new study reveals. let's get our creativity running. then get some blades spinning, paper sanding, and bits turning. let's motor to the only place that carries our favorite tools... for our favorite people... armed with a budget and a mission... and see what happens when we put those tools to work for

to the south, baltimore region, 14-mile-an-hour winds. that's helping to really blow the smoke around. not helping to put the fire out. we'll update the forecast and the temperatures and rain headed our way coming up. mary? >> all right, bob. thanks. we'll continue to update the breaking news, the five-alarm fire throughout our newscast. >>> a navy aircraft crashes on maryland's eastern shore. it happened on the river in wicomico county, about 20 miles west of salt lake city. no one was on the ground was hurt. the coast guard is setting up a safety zone where the marsh occurred. the 100-foot vehicle crashed around noon today. wjz is closely monitoring the situation. we'll bring you updates as soon as we have them. >>> well, jiry sandusky jerry sandusky listens in court today, as one of his accusers testifies against him on day one of his sexual abuse trial. manuel gallegus reports. >> reporter: accused child predator jerry sandusky sat quietly, as one of the 10 men he's accused of molesting took the stand. the 21-year-old man testified ho

have heavy weather from the south from baltimore toward the south and west and rockville up toward columbia. this will move through laurel. we have to watch this cell because this could become a tornado warn cell. this will cross 70 and 695 coming up in the next 35 minutes, everything moving to the northeast. out toward the eastern shore you're starting to seat storms popping. the majority has been to the west. this will move right from talbot county to, stream queen anne's county and extreme western kent county. be aware of that. we're keeping an eye to the north and west sighing -- seeing heavy rain, southeastern carroll county. we flash flood warning fromno carrierringconne0 >> then a couple storms popping toward the eastern shore. this band of strong to severe thunderstorms, just to the west. this is lifting from south to north. it's doing what's called training. these storms are lined up. you can see one, two, three. it's seeing heavy rain, flooding threat just toward north and with the of 83. this is a line of powerful thunderstorms. winds associated with this line. as it pushes into

. >>> in other news, today the family of a young girl wounded in a south baltimore shooting is suing a gps company. raven wyatts family is suing the company for more than $70 million claiming lamont davis's ankle monitoring device wasn't working when he left home and began shooting at another man in 2009. raven was hit by a bullet. >>> this morning a maryland's man health is declining as he's behind bars in columbia. adam gross is having troublewalking. he's serving a 15 year sentence for bringing banned communications equipment to that island. >>> prosecutors are getting ready to wrap up their case in the jerry sandusky sex abuse trial. five abusers have now taken the witness stand, including one that says he was threatened if he ever told anyone. >> three more accusers took the witness stand in the molestation trial of former penn state assistant coach jerry sandusky. all of them were younger than 13 when they say sandusky forced him into sexual acts. a 25-year-old man known as victim number 10 testified the football coach forced him into oral sex in the basement of the family home

later.....a locust point woman.....breaks hhr silence and says she was raped at what use to be a south baltimorehhlic school.... janice park is streaming live in locust point tonight, to tell us why she decided to come ffward .... janice? janice?karen,it was almost 40 years ago...and donna berger was 111 eers old.it was at &pyears...her teachee john - merzbacher raped her and others...she's telling her story because even though he was sentenced pentences...there's a chance he could e gettiig out of prison. the view from this locust point bench ii a painful ne, por donna berger: bbrger:"bad, eally bad, a llt building"now 48, berger says she was raped aad tortured almost four decades agooall f it happening in the walls of her middle school: school:"today i'm free of the shameeand humiliation i've carried for 88yearssthis is phe impact stateeent she ead at the statess attorney's office, to a room full of she says her former teacher, convicted child rapist, john merzbaccer did to her: pulling down my shorts and underswear, he took my for the first time, " ""berger says that she came forwaad so that

the woman told police she was raped after she left a bar in south baltimore.he told police she woke up an hour later laying in a front lawn at lake avenue. her attacker is being described as a man with a short haircut wearing a green t-shirt. >>> two teens are in custody in ann arundel after being accused oh of throwing a bottle bomb at a 6-year-old. this isn't the first time the explosives have shown up in that county this year. >> from the distance they look like any other bottle. in just a few seconds they can become deadly. >> can be extremely dangerous. >> ann arundel county fire captain says besides being dangerous they're unfortunately popular things to sources a -- thanks to source like the internet. yesterday a 6-year-old girl came into the way of being seriously injured at this place ground after two teenagers threw a bottle bomb at her while she played. >> my kids do it all the time. they see an empty bottle -- my # 2-year-old picks -- my 2 year old picks it up. >> it's sad. >> this is the sixth investigated ann arundel has investigated this year. >

a huge warehouse fire in south baltimore. complete coverage continues at 6:00. >>> hard numbers. finally making good news when it comes to the city's murder rate. what the fbi is reporting. check in for these stories. then, of course, we'll have all of the breaking news coming up at 6:00. >>> and still to come tonight. a loss to new zealand. how american college students survived more than a night in the freezi,,,,,,,,,, you know what's exciting? graduation. when i look up into my students' faces, i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor, i'm committed to making a difference in people's lives and i am a phoenix. enroll in the program that's right for you. at phoenix.edu/maryland >>> part of the new jersey turnpike is littered with garbage just in time for the morning commute. a tractor-trailer, hauling tons of crash overturned, leaving only one lane of traffic open. the vehicle flipped over a guardrail. no reports of any injuries. >> two american college students are safe after they spe

baltimore region and it's off to the north and northeast of our area. and it continues to move off in that general direction up toward harford county. look at that just southltimore, there is another batch of shower and thunderstorms activity that is going to be moving toward the region. so we'll be watching over the next few hours another batch of rain moving into the area. so it's going to be a wet night, stormy night in some areas. we could easily see 2-feet of rain this evening. take a look at temps. these are our reported temps. temperatures back in the 60s. other wise 60s, low to mid-70s even some low 80s. 66 they had a lot of rain in westminster. where it hasn't rained temperatures low 80s. now we see what's been going on. we had these the winds, some turning of the winds in those clouds and that's why you had rotation in some of those clouds we've been watching all afternoon. a tropical system for those folks for us the most important thing we're watching really is this front out to the west. which still has to move across the region. a lot of stuff to the north. this is what's breaking up this afternoon. there's a squall line forming in west virgi

that's a live look at all the houses in south baltimore with all the rooftop decks. 95 in the background. sharon will have more on traffic there. marty is at first warning weather. >> if you're just getting up you missed all the fun . we had some intense weather. we're looking at the end of what were severe thunderstorms and rain with heavy, heavy downpours passing through the mid atlantic. we have dropped watches and warnings area wide. this moisture is going to be gone within a half an hour. now we turn our attention to the heat. it's 78 right now on tv hill. that's 13 degrees warmer than this time yesterday. 93 at lufrnl on a way -- lunch on a way to a high of 100. dinner time still in the mid 90s. >>> now we'll turn our attention to your drive. here is sharon gibala at wjz traffic control. >> good morning. another new accident to talk about. the latest one on 40 eastbound at saint agnus lane. we have one in bell camp, 543 just north at route 7. we have a vehicle fire in the clearing stainings on the outer -- stages on the outer loop after the jfx. 46 your slowest spot because of that

normal travel times between richmond and baltimore. southaltimore, around the beltway between the wilson bridge and the ikea to exit on 95 also in pretty good shape on 395 between the 14th street bridge and the beltway. 270 has plenty of traffic starting to wake up. so far so good at 109. looks good on 66, nothing on the greenway or the dulles toll road. back to you. >> thank you. two bridges in maryland will be closed this afternoon temporarily. traffic on the tests of the bay bridge will be halted for about 40 minutes at 1:15. at 3:15, traffic on the key bridge on 695 in baltimore will be halted about 20 minutes. asia will be transporting cranes up the chesapeake bay. they are 14 stories high. the bridges will be closed to make sure drivers are not distracted. >> your next taxi cab ride in the district may be a little cheaper. the commission says that a $1 per trip fuel surcharge will expire at midnight tonight. it had been in place because of high gas prices. the commission says it could implement the surcharge again. for now you will not

there are a couple of sprinkles south of baltimore. maybe that is what they will encounter in the afternoon. if anything, may be an isolated shower, possibly in a thunderstorm. temperatures are heating up. the humidity is rising as well. we expect to be in the 80's later this afternoon. even hotter than that in the seven-day coming up. >> the week-long celebration comes to a close sadly as the tall ships and navy vessels had out of the inner harbor and back to their native lands. rob has been watching this all week. >> it has been a fantastic week. it is a beautiful sight to see these vessels today. but it is a very sad day because it has been such a great week. the pride of baltimore ii is leaving the port and leading the tall ships out of baltimore. at fort mchenry, people are lined up to say goodbye. it really touches you. the cannons are firing, saluting the tall ships. the first tall ship to go out is the ship from mexico. how impressive is that metal band. especially the crew aboard -- how impressive has that krugerrand. especial