hit. tropical storm karl may strengthen to a hurricane. igor, julia, in the atlantic. there's a look at karl, working in through the open waters of uh, the bay of campeche. we'll talk about that one coming up. for us, cloudiness overhead. two-degree guaranteed high taking us out of the 60s this morning to 84 and cloudy this afternoon. check on that traffic right now. see how it's rolling with kim brown. >> good morning, everyone, the only incident that you may see on the roadways this morning is coming out of glen burnie. we have fire activity at baltimore annapolis boulevard, mountain road. aside from that, traffic is really off to a fantastic start, no problems here with drive times on the 895 uh, harbor tunnel thruway. seven minutes between the split and 295. no problems southbound 95 between the beltway and route 32. that'll take you about 16 minutes, outer loop, southwest corner of the beltway. as we look right now at our camera, you'll see traffic moving very well. light volume on the beltway,

harford road. it's looking good on the west side as well. >> a minute after 6:00 right now, we know it's a close race. we know who's leading right now but this morning we're still waiting to find out who will be protecting baltimore streets, starting today, votes will be counted to determine who will be the next city state's attorney. linda sow is live with details on what's taking so long. linda? >> reporter: a spokesmen for jessamy says they're concerned about the integrity of the results and a lawyer is looking into the situation of reports tla there were problems at polling centers, some polling centers opening late, voting equipment that malfunctioned and other problems. right now gregg bernstein holds a narrow lead over jessamy with about 1300 votes. both are waiting for absentee ballots to be counted. city election official says there are 2100 absentee ballots and provisional ballots that still have to be counted. jessamy's campaign and her

supporters are frustrated with the delay. >> this is just not fair to the candidates, not fair to the voters, and it's not fair to the process. the last thing we need to do is take the integrity out of our political process by having something like this occur. >> reporter: election officials will begin counting 9 absentee ballots, starting at 10:00 this morning. 6:02, after a nasty expensive campaign, kamenetz and his opponent, joe bartenfelder waited all night for the results. bartenfelder called to concede the race. kamenetz will reach out to bartenfelder to help heel the divide. >> there's a winner and loser in every ball game. it's not a reflection on either team. someone has to win, someone has to lose, but everyone gave it

their strongest effort. at the end of the game you shake hands and you say good game and you move forward. so my hand is out and extended to joe and when we meet in person-- >> close your eyes, he sounds like basharti. abc2 news sherrie johnson says crooks picked the wrong corner for crime, right, sherrie? >> they sure did. witnesses say it happened so fast. a soccer coach is being hailed a hero. a security officer fired at two men trying to rob a liquor store at northeast baltimore shopping center. it happened at the corner of loch raven boulevard and northern parkway.

right across the street the soccer team was preparing for a big game. the coach of the team, also a baltimore city police officer went into action, tackling one of the robbery suspects. >> we were getting ready for our game, we heard the first gunshot, we didn't know what it was. we were like "it's no big deal." there were three more. we didn't know how serious it was. >> got the kids up to the school and secured the area. >> reporter: now the suspects ran away from the scene. one suspect was caught and arrested and police are still searching for the second suspect. in the studio, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. former baltimore raven shannon sharp's in a little bit of trouble here. the great tight end was off the air dealing with a sexual assault investigation. he was handed a temporary restraining order by a woman who claims that sharp forced her to have sex with him. sharp is currently under consideration to enter this

year's hall of fame class. five minutes after 6:00 right now: a fourth witness has taking the stand in the murder trial of former baltimore city councilman ken harris. he was shot and killed. harris's female companion, monica foreman robinson testified on monday she was cut by flying glass, but other-wise not hurt. baltimore police union continues to let people know exactly how they feel about all the pension issues and changes going on at city hall. the most recent billboard reads baltimore police and firefighters stand by our oath to protect you and your families despite city hall turning their back on us. the billboard is on the east side of interstate 83 south. the changes in the pension system were put into place last month. the unions have filed a lawsuit

in federal court to challenge legality of those changes. the police union's previous billboard read "welcome to baltimore, home to a mayor and city council who turn their backs on the police and firefighters." all right, well, one stevenson university student is in stable condition this morning at an area hospital with a suspected case of bacterial meningitis. according to a statement issued by the school, other students who have been exposed and identified, have been treated preventatively. bacterial meningitis can be contagious and deadly if it gets to you. after 12 straight losses, the orioles couldn't beat toronto this year. last three, no problem at all. the orioles won again last night, final score was 3-1. adam jones, again, connecting here. brad ferguson pitched a complete

game. the final again, 3-1. the orioles have won nine out of the last 11 games. the yankees come in this weekend. you're saying winning brings the crowd out, wait until this weekend. >> i can't wait to see what happens, especially with the yankees, it'll be fun. coming up: she was sent home for breaking a dress code at her school. >> her pastor is stepping forward in defense for her. we'll explain why. do you want a more fashionable baby than suri cruise? what defines a family? it's a question experts asked. >> adams family maybe? >> we'll look at how it's changed. it may surprise you what's uncovered. before we go to break, we want to remind you if you're without a job or looking for a new one, we'd love to help you.

every wednesday we put three video resumes on the air. if you'd like yours on the air, send us an e-mail to bestresumes@wmar.com. we put it on our website and onair as well. we'll head to new york and look at the latest business news right now. >> reporter: good morning, we begin your moneyscope report with a jump in the number of americans losing their home to foreclosure. more than 95,000 homes were repossessed last month. the most since the start of the mortgage crisis. the number of homes entering the foreclosure process slowed for the seventh straight month. a fierce critic of wall street came up with an idea for the agency. a computer flaw has prevented many chase customers from logging onto the bank's website since monday night.

the bank says it will automatically refund any penalty fees incurred as a result of the outage. starbucks is bringing the tall back to its drive through menus beginning today. the small size was removed from the menus to simplify them, customers demanded it be added back. that's your moneyscope report, i'm rob nelson.

my commute home to the eastern shore every night only takes an hour but that's more time than congress spends reading massive spending bills, it's crazy. that's why i wrote a law that requires 72 hours to read every bill. i read the big bills and i said no. no to the $3 trillion budget, no to the bank bailout, and no to the health care bill. at home you would never pay a bill without reading it neither should congress. i'm frank kratovil and i approve this message because i'm proud to be ranked one of the most independent members of congress.

man: we need a sofa. something i can stretch out on! woman: ooh... that will go with those lamps my mother gave us. or we could get some new lamps. or we could get no sofa. negotiating, eh? you got it! how about a nice home for our tv? how about doors to hide that drive-in theater? how about a cowhide rug? yee-haw! and the snacks? get their own place. let the marathon begin! in this morning's consumer alert: the consumer product safety commission says fun stuff incorporated is recalling about 14,000 click arm band bracelets. 7900 click click balls and 14,000 boo boo balls. the company says the small balances on the end of the toys arms could detach and cause a

choking hazard for your child. stretchy rubber material with hard plastic balls attached at the end of the toy's arms. the toys were sold with orange, green, pink, purple and blue colored balls. they were sold at beach resorts nationwide. 12 minutes after 6:00 right now. it's fun for parents to dress their kids up in their cute little outfits. we've all seen them before on babies. with fall just around the corner, linda sow brings us the latest fall trends for your little ones. >> reporter: from balls to boots, children's clothes are hard to resist. for all you parents out there, here are five fall fashion trends for your little one's wardrobe. >> moms are always looking for easy care fabrics and something that's always popular are cotton knits. you can wash them, dry them and usually they don't need ironing. >> reporter: the second trend is

one that will help mom and dad's wallet. look for reversible clothing. >> it's simply reversible. flip it. and voila, you have another dress. ready to wear for the rest of the year. >> reporter: as it gets colder outside, don't forget a raincoat and boots. coats are a must-have for the winter as well. >> we've seen a lot of fleece for the children. it's easy, children love the soft feel. they have a lot with velcro for kids to take off and put on themselves. >> reporter: if you have more than one kid, try mixing and matching. >> maybe put your younger daughter in a little matching patch work scort.

children like having the letter of their name on their sweater. >> reporter: linda sow, abc2 news. >> very cute. tomorrow on good morning maryland how fashion is helping in the fight against breast cancer. we'll have that tomorrow. want to talk about the tropics, that's where the real weather headlines are. yesterday two category four storms in the atlantic basin, now at least that's according to measurements. we've only had satellites up for a few decades, so we may have missed a few. igor was up to 155 mile-per-hour winds. that was the farthest east storm measured that intensity recorded by the national hurricane center as well. couple major issues, at least going down into the record

books. igor down to 125, still holding onto a category 2 and category 3 rating respectively. both storms staying in the open waters, igor expected to hit bermuda and just big swells to the eastern united states. other-wise, the main weather threat to land is karl. karl back over water, hit mexico's bay of campeche this morning. hit the yucatan peninsula yesterday. it was trying to ramp itself up. still holding onto integrity. the expectation is that it just runs over open waters and warm waters as it gets back to category one strength, once it makes the mainland of mexico. another problem for mexico, for a second hit of the storm. probably of hurricane status at that point in time. no impact for us across this part of the united states. we're up to 65 degrees. compared to 50s last couple mornings. we can thank the cloud cover for holding in heat overnight. cloud cover will be abundant today. maybe a peak or two of sunshine.

dominate those clouds because of the next weather system bringing rain into ohio. forecast models indicating it's likely the rain will pass towards our north and west and stay there as we head through most of the day. small chance of showers as we head into the afternoon. small chance, better chance after dark, overnight and through tomorrow morning. could wake up with wet roads. because of the movement of this boundary and air mass in place, there may be showers that pop back into the afternoon. our forecast for today, two-degree guarantee, gets us to 84. a small chance of an afternoon shower. the better threat will be north and west, 82 westminster. parkton, we'll take you across the bay to the eastern shore. you should remain dry. 84 expected in easton. better chance of scattered showers or a rumble of thunder overnight. our extended outlook does hold for really nice temperatures. 79 tomorrow and the sun comes back over the weekend. we're 80 on saturday.

83 on sunday. low to mid-50s to near 60. we'll hang onto the mild stuff through early next week. at this point, fall rolling in, but it doesn't uh, look like it's going to feel like it. temperatures between 80, 85, tuesday and wednesday. let's see what it looks like on the roads and get the traffic update with kim brown. >> good morning, now is a really good time to get a jump on the morning rush. it's not a lot of traffic out there and no incidents or accidents to hold you up. that's really good news for your thursday morning ride. as we look at our cameras, here we are on the beltway, everything is moving at speed. not a whole lot of volume out there. traffic looks good around both loops and both sides of the beltway this morning. coming down 795, not going to have any problems. five-minute trip between route 140, down to owings mills boulevard. starts to pick up a little bit, volume-wise, but only five minutes from there as you make your way towards the beltway, as we look around the area, very quiet, we did have fire activity

in glen burnie. baltimore, annapolis boulevard and mountain road. right now we're all good so far. traffic no problems on the roadways. jamie, back to you. >> it is time for today's birthdays. michelle, the sister on our great producer ingrid. i rely on ingrid an awful lot, michelle. >> can i ask you a question, it'll only take three hours. ingrid. >> michelle you have a great sister and you have a great birthday, all right? happy birthday, michelle. if you're having a birthday, you don't have to be related to anybody who works here. just be you. we'd love to say happy birthday. e-mail us all the information, including a photo to morningshow@wmar.com. another exciting thing to announce here on air: we're counting down the days to komen maryland's race for the cure. we'd love for you to join us. sunday, october 3rd in hunt valley. abc2 news will be live on the

air to broadcast the whole event. the broadcast starts 7:00 in the morning, two hours of fun, live on the air, we want you to join us, register for the big race, head to our website, abc2news.com. when you get there, look at the top of the page, scroll down to the lifestyle tab and click on think pink. coming up next: i think this video's going to stay with you all day long. it's a toddler smoking pot. there's a story behind it. >> the mother is in a lot of trouble this morning. we'll tell you how this video got into police hands in the first place. mom, dad, two kids, maybe your definition of a family, that seems to be changing. what defines the modern family today, huh?

there is landmark research out there right now.

did you hear about this? that defines the american family? we thought we were part of it, but evidently, maybe it's a different thing now huh? >> absolutely, a wife, a husband, two kids, not too long ago, that was the definition of an american family. divorce, gay parents, unmarried couples with children, that's something we see a lot. researchers are set out to determine how do we define the american family today? >> reporter: with the adams family, the first family, my family and the partridge family, all called families, but what counts as family? >> we find people are moving away from a traditional definition of family and they're moving towards a modern definition of family. >> reporter: the modern family, indeed, comes in many combinations. nearly 100% of us agree, a husband, wife and kids counts as a family. no kids, 92% say that's a family. those kids make a family.

>> reporter: an unmarried man and woman living together, under 40% say that's a family. give them kids, it jumps to 83%. that's up 5% since 2003. a gay couple, 33% say that's a family. with kids? 64%. a 10% jump in just the last seven years. >> people right now are really re-evaluating their views about same-sex couples. >> reporter: what about pets? more than half of us say they're in the family, but two guys living as roommates sorry felix, just 10% say they're family. in the end, when it comes to defining family ties and determining family matters, you might say it's all in the family. because 60% of us now say if you

consider yourself a family, you are a family. welcome and hold on tight. john burman, abc news new york. a police officer appears to collide with a motorcyclist, but you'll be shocked when you see what happens next. >> officers beat the man knocked off the bike. we'll tell you what happens, coming up. a high school coach springs into action to protect a team during a robbery attempt. i'm sherrie johnson, i'll have more on the coach's bravery.

bernstein still leads, but will absentee ballots secure his victory over patricia jessamy? it was nuts on northern parkway and loch raven boulevard. find out how a coach and security guard saved the day. this is appalling. cell phone video showing us how a mom shows her 2-year-old the correct way to smoke pot. it'll have you shaking your head this morning. thank you for joining us, i'm megan pringle. >> i'm jamie costello. >> here's justin berk. >> we have cloudy skies and slightly milder temperatures this morning. chill in the 50s for all of you. we're watching a small chance of showers this afternoon, a better threat through tonight and early

tomorrow. tropical storm karl hit mexico, now back over the waters. strengthening could become a hurricane for a second hit on mexico this weekend. we'll be watching igor, downgraded to a category three hurricane. locally we're talking about 56 in bel air, but not as chilly in some other spots. we're looking at 65 degrees. much different setting in glen burnie. it will turn out to be a mostly cloudy day here in baltimore with a two-degree guaranteed high reaching 84. we'll talk about showers and the weekend outlook coming up, right now, let's talk traffic. here's kim brown. >> there's not much traffic to talk about this morning, which is always a good thing when you're headed out the door. no incidents at this time, just building volume. speeds will be down slightly. as you see, at least it's moving. no issues towards 70. looks good as you continue on