the maryland transportation authority imposed $1.50 a month fee, and began charging $21 for the easy pass trans ponders beginning in july. but maryland state legislators have been getting a free ride. they re not being charged for the easy pass transponders. maryland politics watch, a blog that has 25,000 readers a month, says the public is complaining about this pitical plug. anytime when politicians cut benefits to go to poor people, and also raise taxes, special live the sales the state sales tax, then why are they holding out for their own perks? and we got a lot of traffic on this. a lot of people were worked up about it. they said, hey, what s going on in annapolis. reporter: this letter was send out by maryland legislative leaders. we felt it was very important that we weren t getting the benefit the rest of the general public wasn t getting. we ve asked the legislators to turn their responders back in, if in fact they want to purchase it like any other marylan
accounts of this disaster are startling. it happened so quickly the shaking ground was the only alert many people had according to a tsunami warning official. a samoan official said we heard the roar and sat down and prayed. and one television executive said, everybody scrambled to get up into the hills, and many didn t make it. we ve lost everything, but at least we ve got our lives. officials in our area are closely watching this disaster, and even though samoa is thousands of miles away, the impact of the devastation is not lost on people here, who are pulling together to rush aid to the islands. jane is here now with more on the story. jim, local american samoans with relatives on the islands say the news is not good. villages are flattened and communication is spotty. they are bracing for a catastrophe. an island paradise crushed by a tsunami. following tuesday morning s deadly tsunami, powered by an 8.3 earthquake. this capitol hill worker was in samoa over the weeken
high-level meeting at the white house today, it s about u.s. strategy in afgnistan. a massive tsunami that crashed into the samoan islands have left villages flattened there. dozens of people have been killed. good evening. that tsunami was triggered by a powerful earthquake yesterday. the quake was centered in the south pacific about 120 miles away from samoa and neighboring america samoa. america samoa is a u.s. territory. rescue crews from around the world are scrambling to respond to the scene, as those with ties to the islands hope for the best. jane watrel is here with more on the story. doreen, about 90 members of the hawaii national guard plus a navy friget are heading to the recovery and rescue effort. the quake hit about 2:00 yesterday afternoon, with the tsunami following almost instantly. the capital city of samoa in shambles, following tuesday morning s deadly tsunami powered by an 8.3 earthquake. this capitol hill worker was in america samoa over the weeke
i am eun yang in for keith garvin thi morning. we are going to take a look at the top stories in a moment, but first a look at the weather. for now everything is very wet outside. not much in the way of rain coming down, but mist and drizzle and rain overnight left morning. a few more scattered showers moving on the parts of the shenandoah valley. we won t see anything like the heavy steadyain we saw overnight last night. most neighborhoods picking up between an inch and inch and a half of rain. and it s a milder start outside first thing this morning compared to yesterday. we will have many more dry hours to come and then a chance of a brief passing shower today. most of the afternoon will be usable for outdoor activities. thank you, chuck. police say they are trying to figure out what led a father to kill his family. he murdered his wife and two children before killing himself. one of the kids, 14-year-old,turely, was a junior firefighter. and darcy spencer has more.
our other top story, counterterrorism warning for the transit system expanded on the heels of the arrest and charges in a suspected bomb plot in new york. there is a new bulletin from federal officials today about how other crowded areas that include stadiums, hotels and entertainment complexes are vulnerable to terrorist attacks. chris gordon is at nationals park where preparations are underway for tonight s baseball game. reporter: the gates open here at 4:30. fans have been arriving ever since. families with children. nobody appears too concerned about this new terror alert. the first alert was made public yesterday and it targeted transit systems. metro riders it may have appeared to be a police response to the alert issued monday by the department of homeland security and the fbi. after the arrest of a terror suspect in colorado. but this kind of random inspection is now the norm. we have no specific information from our intelligence sources that say our system or an