Transcripts For WMAR News 20091202 : vimarsana.com

this morning. i m megan pringle. i m jamie costello. we re looking at a chilly start this morning. low 30s once again. big difference today. not going to see the abundant sunshine in fact. winters mill high school, westminster at 40 right now. 3 miles per hour wind in the last couple hours. we have more wind and a lot of rain on the way later today into tonight. you can see the swath of precipitation across dixie extending as far north as deep southwest virginia. heading toward the coast of the middle part of the day. 54 today, cool cloudy conditions giving way to rain tonight. let s get a check of the morning roads with mark jones at mta. or me, i ll do it too. no problems. traffic is looking very nicely around the beltway at liberty road. traffic is beginning to build a little towards the route 70 interchange. we re looking good on 95 and also on the bw parkway. quick heads up, southbound on the 895 spur at the 297 richie spur, you ll see debris reported in the roadways. use caution there. south charles street, east hamburg, that intersection will remain closed as crews continue water main and road repairs. as we check at the jfx cold spring lane, traffic is moving nicely in both directions. abc2 news exclusive this morning: we re taking you to fulton avenue in the western part of the city. an officer was involved in a car crash. this happened shortly before 1:00 this morning. injured two other people, i guess, who were in cars. the officer suffered neck and back injuries. investigators aren t saying what the cause of the crash was. we ll stay on it and keep you posted. the jury found her guilty on one of the five counts, now the fate of mayor sheila dixon is in limbo this morning. sheri schersherrie johnson has more. reporter: the jury convicted mayor sheila dixon on one count of misappropriation. the judge declared a mistrial on sherrie the sixth count. with all the attention on this high-profile case, jurors said they had a tough decision to make. it was very difficult. we had a hard time you know, you had people in disagreement, you know, nobody was on the same page at one point in time, but it was very, very hard to come to a decision. reporter: now when asked whether the mayor would step down, her attorney said all things are being considered right now. so far there s no word on a decision today. the comments are flooding into our newsroom as you can imagine. particularly online. we ll share two viewers had to say this on abc2news.com and our facebook page. i hope this ends. god is merciful to all of us. we re going to continue to follow this story onair and online. remember that there are still motions ahead. a sentencing has to happen. that s at least one more trial in mayor dixon s future for the perjury case. 5:33 on this wednesday morning. there s been a set back for the developers of the clipper mill project in baltimore. part of the development is going into foreclosure auction next month. bb&t bank is planned as a community of contemporary two and three-story homes. developer says the foreclosure has no affect on clipper mill. the auction is set for december 17th. we re getting relief on our bge bill. residential customers can expect a one-time $100 credit on their bill. february bill. bge customers usually see their highest winter bill in february. let s take a look at what s happening today, december 2nd. there s going to be an h1n1 injectable vaccine for high-risk groups from 9:00 to 4:00 at 7178 columbia gateway drive in columbia. maryland military leaders will break ground for a new fire station at the war field airbase which is at martin state airport as 10:00 this morning. stay tuned for that. federal funds are paying for the new facility. to serve and protect. that s what officers do to keep us safe every day. overnight: one baltimore city officer needed more protection after she found herself in an ambulance. now she may need a masseuse this morning. also this morning: they have little clothing on while protesting in the inner harbor. they hope these folks have shoppers to pass out their message to. looking to wyatt for the weather. let s send it to wyatt. sorry, what happened? uh. yeah it s actually chilly outside this morning. cold numbers for you. 34 degrees right now. veterans in ellicot city and uh, 32 in poly inin baltimore. the commute start is a good one if your ride is on light rail or metro subway. on the buses you ll find diversion activity in the mix. working around a water main break repair on charles between hamburg and cross. look for the 23 bus eastbound between saratoga and cathedral. heavy passengers on 7, 13 and 5 buses. commuters on camden, pen and brunswick line services. for the mta transit team, i m mark jones. (announcer) it s what doctors recommend most for headaches. what doctors recommend for arthritis pain. in your hands. knees. and back. for little bodies with fevers. and big bodies on high blood pressure medicine. tylenol works with your body in a way other pain relievers don t. so you feel better. knowing doctors recommend tylenol more than any other brand of pain reliever. duracell batteries. and if you think all batteries are the same, consider this: these batteries are going. to the mattel children s hospital, u.c.l.a . because here they use the most. technologically advanced equipment for the healing. and the play. and to power all those toys the people at duracell. packed up a truckload of batteries. because nothing s better than powering a smile. duracell. trusted everywhere. crafted to be exceptionally smooth. decadently rich. delightful. chocolate. bliss. hershey s bliss chocolate. crafted for bliss. let s take a look at our weather this wednesday. i guess we ll break out the coats for good for now, right? chilly start this morning, rain later today and tonight. mild sunny day tomorrow. we re back and forth here. that s how it goes sometimes in early december in maryland. temperature-wise, 34 right now. bwi, plenty of traffic trying to make its way in. right now we have rain pushing in out of the south and west. going to be mean a wet one around here. starting about mid-day. winds will pick up tonight. pretty nasty little storm here. it s a quick-mover. it ll be out of here by probably mid-morning tomorrow. 54 degrees. cool cloudy weather, rain moving in today. it lasts through mid-morning on our thursday. let s get a check of roads now. kim brown standing by. we don t have any incidents to let you know about in these early hours. just debris in the roadway at the 297 spur. no incidents at the beltway on the west side. coming down from about hartford county line. ongoing water main break repairs at south charles and east hamburg street that has that intersection closed indefinitely. might want to use hanover as your best alternate there. no incidents on the jfx as you make your way at cold spring lane. 20 minutes away from 6:00. they deliberated more than 40 hours. 12 jurors made their decision. what one city council woman and mayor s governor are saying about the fate of mayor shifrn sheila dixon. 5:43 right now. some of our top stories we re following this morning: president barack obama says u.s. security is at stake in afghanistan. he s decided to send 30,000 more u.s. troops there to bring the war to an end. marines will be in place by christmas. the surge is expected to cost $30 billion for the first year alone. senator barbara mikulski is fighting for the health care of women making sure insurance doesn t deny women mammograms or pap smear tests. democrat harry reid says you can draw this debate out as long as you want but if it s not wrapped up by friday, you ll be working throughout the weekend. right now it s 5:44 on this wednesday. guilty on one of five counts. now begins the long appeal process in the trial of baltimore city mayor sheila dixon. sherrie johnson is live in downtown baltimore with more on one of the biggest stories ever to happen in our city that we can remember. reporter: yes, sheila dixon was the first female african-american mayor and this morning, her job is uncertain. after she was found guilty on one of the five counts against her. now the verdict came in yesterday about 12:30 afternoon. she was found guilty on one count of fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary. the judge declared a mistrial on count six. the state has until the end of the week to decide whether to refile the charges related to that count. after the verdict was read, dixon decided to focus on the needs of the city. this verdict proved a person can get a fair trial no matter who the defendant is. any time a city mayor is convicted, it s a sad day for the citizens of baltimore. reporter: when asked whether or not mayor dixon will step down, her attorney said all things are still being considered right now. reporting live in downtown baltimore, sherrie johnson abc2 news. shortly after the guilty verdict on count four was announced, the governor announced: this is a sad day for the city of baltimore and mayor dixon personally. it is important that anyone who cares about baltimore stays focused on reducing crime in our neighborhoods, improving our schools, creating jobs and otherwise serving people who live and work in baltimore. city council president stephanie raulings said it was a sad day for the city. she says my only goal right now is to continue doing my job making sure the people are protected and social services are maintained. i urge everyone to do the same. we need to respect the legal process as we continue to protect and serve the city. comments are flooding into the newsroom. particularly on abc2news.com. here s what two viewers had to say on our facebook page. she s a disgrace to politicians and the city of baltimore. she deserves humility in front of her. another writes: any time a group of citizens can up hold the letter of the law is a good day. congratulations to the jury for their due diligence. we ll follow the stories online and on air. there has to be a sentencing and there s at least one more trial expected in mayor dixon s future. stay with abc2 news for the latest. news time now: 5:47. we have an abc2 news exclusive. we re taking you to fulton avenue where an officer was injured in a crash overnight. this happened shortly before 1:00 this morning and involved two other vehicles. no word on those divers conditioned and the officers suffered neck and back injuries. investigators aren t telling us what caused the crash. a viewing will be held today for a 17-year-old from howard county, a high school student killed in a dui crash. happened early sunday morning in howard county killing steven dankos. friends and family left flowers monday where dankos died. police have charged 22-year-old david erdman ii with negligent homicide. erdman s brother was injured in the crash also. officers could spell alcohol on david erdman s breath and saw his eyes were blood shot shortly after the crash. he s now free on $10,000 bond. funeral arrangements have been set. the viewing is tonight at st. mark, the evangelist catholic church in hyattsville from 4:00 to 8:00. the funeral is tomorrow at 10:00 at the same church. the mother of a missing 23-year-old woman from cockeysville will join police today in an effort to find her. a family reported jerryell foster missing after she failed to show up for thanksgiving day dinner. she lives with her boyfriend. anyone with information is asked to please call baltimore county. there s a number for the missing persons unit. it s on your screen, 410-307-2020. new at 5:49. we re standing by for a big announcement out of baltimore county that will help police officers. at 11:00 this morning, county leaders will announce they ll install 350 police vehicles with wireless broadband. county officials say it ll give officers easier access to tap into database systems to track down crooks. you have to give it to pita for getting attention. wearing signs that read only animals should wear fur. the fur industry is one of the coolest on the planet. the peta protesters say there are other stylish and warm alternatives around. i don t know how i always end up following that story, jamie. it just happens, right? i ll try to get focused back here on the weather for a second. i think you ll find big changes on the way for us today. chilly start this morning. we re watching this. big shield of rain moving out of the south and west. it ll be wet out of here. probably starting about 2:00, 3:00 this afternoon. triggering pretty windy conditions across tennessee. i was checking surface reports in asheville north carolina. it ll be windy tonight as the storm moves up the eastern seaboard and whacks us. forecast model in detail. we ll put this in motion. stop it right here about 3:00. that s when the initial rain comes down. the evening rush hour may be a mess out there as we work into the evening rush. and then, rain kind of lasting into the night. here s 10:00, as we work into tomorrow. rain quickly moves out. we re looking at a dry thursday with sunshine. actually a pretty mild day on tap. 54 today, cool, cloudy, rain moves out of the west. tomorrow we climb up to 60 or so after scattered morning showers clear the area. probably very early showers, sunny, mild in the day tomorrow. 7-day forecast, trend for dryer weather, but chilly weather by friday. showers ending with flurries saturday late into sunday. now check the roads are kim brown. light to moderate volume in the southbound lanes of 795 as you approach the west side of the beltway down toward the baltimore national pike, you ll see traffic picking up a little bit. we re off to a quiet commute so far for your wednesday morning. we just have a couple things to let you know about. southbound 895, 297 richie spur. reports of debris in the roadway. use caution there. charles street remains closed at east hamburg due to water main and road repairs. expect that to be shut down until further notice and use hanover street as an alternate. russell and lee streets, off the bw parkway towards downtown, traffic is very quiet at this hour. she s 109 years old. but that s not stopping her from slowing down. the promotion she s received from an arizona sheriff. coming up: all new at 6:00. a kitten you can t get enough of. a huge hit on the internet. (announcer) it s what doctors recommend most for headaches. what doctors recommend for arthritis pain. in your hands. knees. and back. for little bodies with fevers. and big bodies on high blood pressure medicine. tylenol works with your body in a way other pain relievers don t. so you feel better. knowing doctors recommend tylenol more than any other brand of pain reliever. she s going to be 109 years old this month. elvin mcketerikc seems to be picking up speed. that s now a volunteer might be of the local sheriffs posse. she is a great example of all the wonderful things senior citizens can do. how about that? sheriff joe arpio giving her a pat on the back. take a look at the weather and then we ll start at 6:00. cool cloudy weather, rain on the move. should be here no later than 2:00 or 3:00 today. we re up to 60 or so tomorrow. after the rain clears the area first thing in the morning, pretty nice-looking day on friday. chillier weather into the weekend. we ll talk about that, lots more news and crazy kitty video on good morning maryland at 6:00. so how long does it take a fresh vegetable. to start losing essential nutrients? not long. in fact, green beans lose. half their vitamin c in a week. that s why green giant freezes them within 8 hours. to lock in nutrients. ho ho ho. green giant oh yes hi. can you put my grandma on the phone please? thanks. excuse me a sec. another person calling for her grandmother. she thinks it s her soup huh? i m told she s in the garden picking herbs. she is so cute. okay i ll hold. she s holding. wha? (announcer) progresso. you gotta taste this soup. this city will continue to run and the citizens will be assured and feel confident that we won t miss a step. this could be debated all over town today. some people she was targeted, some feel she should step down now. you ll hear reactions online about how people feel about our verdict. it wasn t about our feelings. it was based on evidence. i feel we made a good decision. what did the jury say after all was said and done? welcome in. just before 6:00, before we get to all the news and especially the big story of the day, the mayor s verdict, let s send it to wyatt filling in for justin berk. we have one significant difference from yesterday. we won t see all the sunshine