a driver accused of being the influence. >> it's crazy that he would be

fined for position of cocaine instead of killing somebody. i don't understand it. hello everybody i'm vic carter. >> and i'm denise koch. here is what people are talking about. >> a driver pleads guilty to killing someone he hit and he only gets nine months. >> reporter: the family tells us that they were hoping for a sentence that would deter other drink drives, but they think serving less than a year in jail is much of a deterrent. >> no matter what was going on, had a little smile on his face. and if you asked him how he was feeling he would say better. >> reporter: this week 27-year- old lorson pled guilty to possessing heroin and driving while intoxicated that night. he will serve six months in

prison. for killing the 16-year-old boy, lorson will have probation for three years. he'll have to go to drug counseling, put an interlock on his car and go to drug counseling. >> it's crazy that you would do more time for possession of heroin than killing somebody. i don't understand it. >> reporter: the family is struggling with the skwrurbl system allowing the driver to plead guilty to the lesser charges and not to fatally injuring the teen. >> the stronger the state's case is the less than want to give up. the weaker the state's case is, the more willing they'll give up something in order to get anything. >> didn't get to graduate or go to college or get married or anything like that. i think somebody that decided to do drugs and drunk and then get in the car and he just did

that for fun and then took my brother's life. i mean i think it should mess him his life to a point that he regrets it. >> reporter: after the six months in prison the driver will be sentenced to six months at home arrest. kelly mcpherson. >> reporter: the family is considering advocating for the laws to change to increase minimum sentences for intoxicated drivers. a major agreement is reached tonight between the city and public school teachers that could impact your child's education. according to our media partner the baltimore sun, teacher pay will no longer be based on their years of experience or number of college degrees instead as a way of improving the quality of education in schools, teacher's pay will be based on students performance. that would make baltimore among a handful of cities taking that revolutionary change.

there's no information that governor o' malley will be pulling ahead. take a look at the results from the latest poll of the washington post. 52 pert of likely voters say they will vote for governor o' malley. polls released over the summer showed the two neck and neck. o' malley's double digit increase comes with controversy. pat warren has reaction from the both sides. >> revved up and ready for a fight, the o' malley and ehrlich campaign battle it out. department e-mails indicate the report was altered. >> i don't know, all i know is what the e-mails reflect is that we can't let this bad news

get out because this is a majorissue in the campaign and it's coming from the top. these orders from coming from the top. >> reporter: governor o' malley says he never saw the results and doesn't know what the top would be. >> it's in terms of who runs the website, i would assume it's secretary sanchez or those folks. >> reporter: it's part of a broader back and forth of who is more eligible of leading in this economy. >> i want jobs, i want businesses, small, big, micro. i don't get the attack adds. you want business people to accomplish in your state. >> the numbers come out every month, we have had the best january through august that we've had since the year 2000 and new job creation. the latest month was i think a

disaappointment to all of us. but we have created 33,200 new jobs since january and that's a very positive movement forward. >> pat warren, wjz eyewitness news. stay with wjz for the latest poll results. and a body was found just before midnight. the man is hispanic, they are waiting for autopsy results to find out how he died. right now there are no suspects or motives. a car crashes right into a building. sky chopper 13 is right over the scene. you can see a car slam right into the brick, partially breaking in and smashing the windows. police are investigating how the driver lost control. no one was hurt. it has happened again, tonight a plane had to make an

emergency landing because only two of its three sets of landing gear would lower. passengers got this video as a delta plane made an emergency landing in new york for the same reason. tonight we're learning there have been three other instances of landing gear problems in planes built by the same canadian company that built the delta plane. the faa is investigating. amtrak announces it's vision for high speed rail with baltimore playing a major roll. it's no idea that will take decades to develop. >> more powerful than a speeding locomotive a proposed high speed train would move thousands of people at hundreds of-miles-an-hour. >> if this mission comes to be we'll save 38 million-gallons of fuel every year. >> reporter: the amtrak vision statement was made in philadelphia. for 220 miles of new track between baltimore and

washington at a cost of $17 million. >> if we can get from here to new york in under two hours. i would go all the time. >> i'm a professor at harvard university so i do nano science research and so, i can travel north and do collaborations a lot easier. >> reporter: but a researchers from john hopkins is not so sure. >> i think studies have been done to do this. i think too much money has been spent on these means of transportations and people don't use them as much. >> we're going to reduce green gas by 27, 27, 27,000 metric tons every year. >> at best it wouldn't be complete until 2040. more claims of bedbug problems tonight in maryland. a howard county couple is now

suing. the lawsuit claims negligence after the apartment unit told the browns that the bedbugs were in a adjacent apartment. wjz is live at the national aquarium where tonight's rally was held. kai jackson has the story. >> reporter: the swimmable bay is very few people would argue the question is how to get to that point. the chesapeake bay is hailed as maryland's greatest natural resource. for years pollution and run off have strangled the bay and the fragile life that's in it. >> we gather today with one clear message, we must restore the health of our waters and

of the bay. >> reporter: and now they are asking marylanders to help restore the bay's health with a call for clean water in the state. >> we're here to rally for clean water and we're here to valley who has drawn the line in the sand and said it's time to stop the pollution. >> reporter: floating wetlands like these are being tested. experts say what these have is absorb pollution, run off and other things that kill the water and underwater life. keys is making sure the smaller bodies of water that feed into it are themselves clean. baltimore's interharbor is one of those smaller bodies of water. a recent report card was not encouraging. >> you look at the harbor, we get a big red f. not good. >> reporter: the plan for cleaning up the bay and the

water is due november #. back to you. the epa has praised maryland's plan for clean water in the bay. but there are areas for improvements. coaches caught on tape. what caused this sprawl? the southwest airlines buy out of air tran. i'm adam may at vwi, the real story blind potential air fare increases. a stormy thursday headed our way. i'll have your complete warning forecast coming up next. just drive, we'll get there!

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bob ehrlich pretends to be for the working guy... but he's not on our side. i thought i knew bob ehrlich, but then i found out... he raised property taxes on every maryland family... and business. he increased college tuition... by 40%. 40%. and i thought i knew bob ehrlich. he was against raising the minimum wage. made $2.5 million...

working for a lobbying firm. $2.5 million? he's not really on my side. with this tough economy, we really need a governor on our side. it is 66 degrees, partly cloudy in central maryland right now. the complete first warning forecast is coming up. but first, in southern mexico hundreds of people were evacuated. at least three people died in mud slides associated with the storm. in columbias, dramatic video of a mud slide. rescue workers say none of the 30 people trapped are expected to be found alive. many of them were waiting to change buses on the road below. an ugly incident in texas when a brawl breaks out between coaches in a pee wee game.

it started when a coach tried to separate two players who were fighting. the league has banned both teams from further play this season. one of the coaches is suspended for life. chilling scene at the university of texas, a masked man carrying an assault rifle opens fire. the gunman ran into the library where he fired more rounds before turning the gun on himself. he was later identified as a 19- year-old sophomore named colton tulley. no one else was injured by the gunfire. a shooting and subsequent car crash leaves one dead. police say it began when two people were leaving the funeral of a recent homicide victim. they were shot at while getting into their vehicle. the two men sped off to escape the gunfire but crashed one block later. one person was pronounced dead at the scene.

the shooter or shooters remain at large. police say the incident may be gang related. planning a trip will likely merger between southwest and air tran airways may be good news for shareholders but not for passengers. there could be a big spike in air fares. southwest airlines could soon control 70% of the business at vwi. >> tough to pretty much have a good thing, i wouldn't change anything about it. >> reporter: we found many travelers concerned the pending acquisition could ruin their favorite part of southwest. >> usually when i fly i fly southwest. >> why is that? >> good rates.

>> reporter: which is because of competition. >> if you have fewer competitors the tendency is that i'm going to raise taxes because i can. >> reporter: during the recent disappearance of other airlines like northwest, twa all victims of mergers, the average nation air fare has risen up 10% since 1995. baltimore with two strong low cost carriers bucked the trend. fares dropped here 2%. >> to rely on that as a draw for the customers? >> it's an important factor for drawing customers. >> the airport is continuously working to boost airline presence at the airports. >> reporter: hoping to keep fares from soaring as another airline flies off the radar. >> reporter: on top of the likely fare increases many airlines also predict air

losses here at vwi when over lapping positions are consolidated. adam may. an anne arundel sheriff is being called a hero after saving a little girl's life. corporate luke ringler was just around the corner, he rushed to the house, performed cpr and got the girl breathing again until paramedics arrived. a father himself, corporate ringler says this call hit close to home. >> kind of difficult as a father myself with a daughter this age to distense himself from the call, you just rely on your training and try to react appropriately and do what you would hope that anyone would do for their own child in this situation. >> reporter: it's all understanding the child was suffering from some illness but is now doing well in the

hospital. her father told a neighbor he is grateful for the officers actions. >> way to go luke. >> bob, what's going on in our weather? >> quiet today, quiet most of tomorrow but rain will be headed in by probably this time tomorrow night. let's take a look at temperatures right now. pretty pleasant out there, really is. 66 here, 50 out in oakland. pretty cool out there. 66 in easton. the dewpoint came way down, much drier than it was yesterday. it's down to 54. as far as winds go they've shifted for the to west. that's only for a short time because down to our south it's loading up already. you can see the rain off the east coast this morning, but there's actually kind of a low pressure off the coast of georgia and yet a tropical depression we've been talking about is still south of cuba. that is going to merge with low pressure off the carolina coast to one area of low pressure.

we're going to have a tropical disturbance that may become a tropical storm briefly before it becomes absorbed in this weather system and it's going to move in our general direction on wednesday night and thursday. a lot of rain expected with this particular system. we're talking any where, two to four inches of rain can fall in our region wednesday night into thursday afternoon. likely there'll be flooding across some of the area. it's exactly, it's exact storm track is going to be right now. pretty difficult thing to say, but after of tonight, the weather service has it some where in carolina. if you take a look at this spaghetti track, west of us very wide as you can see by the time it gets to our region. right now, not exactly sure where it's particularly going to ends up. but one thing is pretty sure, we're going to get some rain out of this and pretty heavy.

tonight then clear to partly cloudy. cooler, drier, 58 by morning. tomorrow sunshine and then clouds. 76 the rain comes in about 9:00 tomorrow night. and potential for three to four inches of rain, that will cause flash flooding in some areas. drying out, much nicer 72, cool present weekend, sunshine, 66 and 64, denise. >> thank you, bob. check out tomorrow morning on check out tomorrow morning on eyewitness news starting at i'm frank kratovil and i approve this message. the real andy harris. buried in his website - a promise to replace the tax code with a 23% sales tax and eliminate the mortgage interest deduction. a bush tax panel said families would pay $6,000 more a year. a reagan tax advisor calls it a very dumb idea. but that's not his only bad idea. harris was the only senator to vote against

expanding the child care tax credit and against the state's cancer treatment program. andy harris' extreme ideas will cost us. that's it. that one...right there. exactly how much did the other airlines make off with? ♪ it was like $25. was that one-way? or roundtrip? roundtrip. $50? did you have a second bag? yes. mm! it was $35. that's $120 roundtrip.

[ gasps ] oh! ah! ♪ [ ding ]

[ man ] martin o'malley -- taking on bg&e to stop the rate hikes. [ female announcer ] never happened -- your bill went up 72%. and o'malley gave the bureaucrat who approved the rate hike a huge raise. now martin o'malley promises we're moving forward. the fact of the matter is our economy is doing much better now. [ female announcer ] really? nearly 7,000 marylanders lost their jobs last month. four years ago, martin o'malley misled us. now he's just making stuff up. bob ehrlich. we can do better. we'll still enjoy baseball for a couple of months. >> it's been a while since they've been winners, but they

know now what it's like again. o's manager shorewalter says he wanted his guys to witness what it was like when a team does win. the young lefty did what mathis did to tampa the night before. the o's never threatened in fact, they would have to watch helplessly while the rays would wrap it up. rafael soriano got adam jones for the final out. the rays do celebrate. they are headed to the play offs for the second time in three years. it's a team the o's have said offer the blueprint of how baltimore needs to become a winner. the o's have lost five of their last six games. a dramatic play off clenching moment for the cincinnati reds, at home against houston. jay bruce with the long drive on the first pitch as it cleans the fence, it sends the reds to the postseason for the first time in 16 years. the final score of the central division goes to the reds and that touches off a long awaited

celebration. the yankees also clenched a play off position. two teams accustomed to play off appearances and title contention. the ravens and the steelers headed for the sunday show down. the rivalry is renewed this week in pittsburgh. the ravens have played more game in the steal city than they have in any away towns. we know exactly what it's going to be like. it's going to be tough, it's going to be loud but it's exciting. that's what you get into the nfl for as a coach or player. we can't wait to be a part of it. i think our play is pretty tough too. i think cleveland called three time outs before the ball was snapped because of crowd noise. >> no doubt both towns are loud. pittsburgh gets home advantage. stay tuned when the game ends

our coverage continues. reaction from the team in pittsburgh and analysis on our postgame show. a ravens-steelers sunday we'll bring it to you right here on wjz. >> more trade talk concerning carmelo anthony. this time it's reported the deal has fell apart. anthony was on the court in denver today for the opening game of the nunu ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] mcdonald's new chicken flatbreads. all out awesome combinations of juicy, grilled chicken topped with roasted garlic aioli and a natural four-cheese blend. mcdonald's chicken flatbreads. the simple joy of new discoveries.

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i need to know that when i'm here, the low prices will be too. monday, tuesday, everyday. i'm a big fan of everyday. [ male announcer ] and with thousands of everyday low prices, you'll save all over the store. [ female announcer ] low prices you can count on. at safeway, that's our promise. that's ingredients for life. a group of people in north carolina had a unique size of fun at the airport.

a group of 30 people got together and tried to pull a plane. the winning team completed the task in just six seconds. task in just six seconds. after ,,,, old gibbs canning company. task in just six seconds. after ,,,, today these factories are full of dot com businesses. and now my job is helping maryland create new economy jobs. training new math and science teachers investing in our institutions of excellence pioneering new cyber security jobs and giving an old gm plant a jump start building electric motors.

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bob ehrlich's real record on energy. lobbyists helped write utility regulations. we got stuck with a 72% rate hike. but martin o'malley got tough on bge, forcing them to pay back $2 billion to consumers. and what's bob ehrlich been doing the past four years? he got paid $2.5 million at a lobbying firm, a firm representing special interests and casinos right here in maryland. that's bob ehrlich-- a 72% increase for us and $2.5 million from special interests for himself. nice work, bob. coming up next on the late show with david letterman, john stewart. i'm denise koch. >> and i'm vic carter. good night, we'll see you tomorrow.