effects of the government shutdown. it's among the hundreds of national parks and monuments now closed to the public. park workers are calling schools and other tour groups telling them to cancel their scheduled visits. we spoke with a park ranger this morning... who is among the employees at fort mchenry who will be furloughed without pay until further notice. "incue: well, for the short term... outcue: need that inspiration." essential emplolyees and law enforcement will stay on the job to protect the park. the rest of the workers had about 4 hours today send out notifications and wrap up any loose ends before they were sent home. baltimore

county schools superintendent dallas dance has sent out a letter to try to calm teachers and adminstrators who are upset with a controversial new curriculum.... karen parks.. is streaming live from county school headquarters in towson and says.../ . he's... taking... full responsibility... for all... difficulties.. ((take karen)) this common core curriculum has been a hot topic since school starte..... and dr. dance wants his teachers and administrators to know.... he understands the frustration... baltimore county public schools superintendent dallas dance is taking responsibility for the uproar over the new common core curriculum. tensions that boiled over at a meeting two weeks ago. i wanted to ease the playing field as much as i possibly can while also figuring out what additional support and resources i need to be doing to make sure i'm supporting teachers and principals in schools. he sent this letter to

teachers and administrators he says..... "i can feel the high levels of anxiety throughout our organization. please know that i understand what is occurring throughout education is indeed challenging." i wanted to make sure that i work with teachers in bringing down that anxiety level around all the initiatives that are in fact taking place... but will this letter ease the anxieties of teachers who were hit with this new curriculum just days before the school year started? obviously unless its fixed it won't be enough. abby beytin is the president of baltimore county's teachers union. they don't have the materials everything been thrown at them last minute.. its not the way this should be done.... but she says its comforting that dr. dance notices the rising frustration.... unless they bring sanity back to the schools we will not be able to do our jobs well. ((karen)) i asked abby beytin what would fix the problem.... she

says time... county officials... celebrated ...the new... 400--thousand... square foot... "dundalk and sollers point"... high schools building today.../ nats of cutting the... building... replaces the aging dundalk and sollers point school buildings.../ complete with lobby exhibits.../ and... state of the art ...learning spaces... for each school. "i tried to talk to our students about look at all the instructional programs you got think about the collaboration you got with ccbc and technical high school and comprehensive high schoo will all be in one building." the new building... will also include... an... 800 seat auditorioum../ . music suites... and... a... shared cafeteria. what ... began as a search... for a biological mother... turned out ...to be a discovery... of... a different kind. paul gessler was there for an introduction... more than 50 years in the making. paul-- martha stewart

had been looking for her mother for nearly 20 years. not that martha stewart... another one... who lives in edgewater. she didn't quite find her mom.... but her search still yeilded results. martha: "maybe we can play barbie dolls or something.... tea party." the sisterhood bond is perhaps best described... as ageless. martha and dee dee: "yes! that's for sure!" for sisters martha and dee dee... this conversation is certainly that. dee de: "i know. me too. i'm so excited. i don't know what to even say!" martha: "i'm gonna start crying." it started more than fifty years ago. then- named carolyon scott-- was put up for adoption. martha: "all ese years, i always wanted to find my family." when her adoptive mom died in 1995, she set out to find her biological mother. martha: "i hired a private detective and i bought books on how to find people." she found her mother... in the form of an obituary. turned out she died of breast cancer. martha: "i had an empty heart." but... good news soon followed. martha: "i was just like--gave me chills, started to cry. i was so excited." martha: had a sister. martha: "i was like, 'i'm too

young to be a grandma!'" 51 years after dee dee was born.. in their first video chat... the two have a lot of catching up to do. dee dee: "it's like, i would talk about about family, and i would say i have a sister out there somewhere, but you never think that you're gonna see that person." turns out martha's family tree grew by several branches, too. martha: "two step-sisters, two step-brothers, four cousins plus aunts and uncles." a face- to- face is scheduled soon as dee dee has plans to come up from north carolina. dee dee: "we think it's gonna be in the fall! favorite time of year." these sisters have 50- plus years to make up. martha: "i'm so happy now that we can spend the next 50 years together." -or- martha: "bye, bye. love ya!" martha and dee dee connected online a week ago today... they're they talk of facebook... even making the other's picture her own cover photo. we'd like to thank martha's husband, jay... for emailing us her story. paul gessler, fox45 news at 5:30. how are the roads looking tonight? brandi proctor

has our traffic edge report. map greenspring shawan no shawan 395 maps a shocking case of road rage...

why a driver was mobbed by a gang of bikers.... and what makes the attack even more terrifying. here's a story... ñóñóthat might...

first seem... hard to believe.../. two thieves.. . using their actual names... managed ...to... rip off... almost... two dozen popular discount stores..../ here's... how it happened... and... how... you can avoid being a victim. (v/o) you're looking at surveillance photos of two brazen thieves at a sam's club. they filled out credit application forms using the names of legitimate businesses and included themselves as users on the account. they had photos

taken of themselves and used their actual names and personal information. (carla menendez, us postal inspector) "the most unique thing is essentially how stupid the bad guys were." (v/o) the suspects were buying high ticket items like tv's, laptops and ipads then selling them. postal inspectors say it wasn't hard to catch up with this duo once sam's club fraud investigators tipped them off. (carla menendez, us postal inspector) "going in and allowing their own picture taken in a sams club allowing their own personal information to open these accounts thinking they are just going to get away with it" (v/o) they did "get away" with it for a little while - and that time gap is exactly what the suspects counted on. they would usually use an account for two weeks - then move on. (carla menendez, us postal inspector) "most of these business were very large businesses, therefore they make a lot of money and a lot of purchases." (v/o) in all - there were 21 companies impacted and tens of thousands of dollars in losses. inspectors say most of the companies were unaware of the charges. (carla menendez, us postal inspector) "purchasing a

computer, laptop is related to their business and wouldn't make them question it unless someone brought it to their attention." v/o) inspectors say their advice to businesses applies to everyone--alway s check bank statements and (carla menendez, us postal inspector) "check your credit every year." both suspects... in this case... were sentenced to 12 to 15 months in prison. a dramatic rescue caught on camera... the race against time to save a woman from a burning car. --adblib weather tz--

camera... in new york..../ when... a... man is attacked... by a mob of bikers.../ . with his wife... and two-year- old daughter... in the car. you see... a... biker... pulling... in front...

of the suv... appearing... to slow down. .../ the driver... accidentally bumps the back tire... , breaking the biker's leg.../. then... 30 bikers surround him ... denting the car... and slashing the tires.../ the... driver... plows... thru... the mob,.../ hitting... three more... bikers.../ the bikers... pull... open the door... / but... the driver... gets away.../. eventually... the driver... gets stuck... in... traffic.../ and... a... biker... uses a helmet... to smash... the window. "he is taken out of the car, he is assaulted. he received some stitches at columbia presbyterian hospital, he has been treated and released." police are now looking for the members of the motorcycle group... the... mother... and... daughter... were not hurt. a dramatic rescue in california... after a police officer pulls a woman from a burning car. incue: everybody step back...outcue: give me paramedics over here." dash dam video

shows officer armando rodriguez racing to the scene. he battles smoke and flames as he struggles to free a twenty- two-year- old woman trapped inside the driver's seat. as flames begin to engulf the car, the officer announces on his radio she's safe and assures firefighters there were no others in the car. the victim was taken to a local hospital. - react to story - vytas wx we're saying

thank you to the fans that make our facebook page the most popular t-v page in baltimore. today's facebook fan of the day is jenny baker. you could be a fox 45 fan of the day. all you have to do is go to facebook dot com, slash fox baltimore and click the "like" button. we have a new fan of the day... every weekday... on fox 45 news at five thirty.

the navy/midshipmen' s game against air force may be cancelled... we'll tell you why the game could be sidelined...... next in sports unlimited... you can believe serious soul-

searching going on today as the ravens spend their one day off.. remember how

losing to buffalo made you feel? multiply that by about a million and you get some idea of what it's like in that locker room.. and it came at an unexpected time.. they ravens handled what was considered a very good houston team last week..and then went at it like gangbusters in the week leading up to buffalo...everyo ne was happy and confident.. so what the heck happened? to the college game... the government shutdown could have an affect on this weekend's game in annapolis... navy's midshipmen are scheduled to play host to the air foirce academy at navy marine corps stadium, but the department of defense has ordered all intercollegiate athletic events suspended.. army's game with

boston college could also obviously be affected... expect an official decision to be announced on thursday... a couple of orioles figure to have busy off-seasons.. that story coming up at 10:50 and 11:30 as sports unlimited continues... a north carolina couple.. didn't walk down the ailse.. it was more like.. "zipped." check this out.../. the couple took advantage of the zipline course... at their venue. ..and zipped to the altar.../. they did run... into a slight hitch .. . and... pulled themselves...

on... the final few feet.../. but that wasn't the only unique thing... about the wedding..../ the bride... is a huge fan of long socks.../. so much so ... she planned the wedding decorations and cake ...around her socks... which she wore during the ceremony. that's all for fox45 news at 5:30. "family feud" is next. and we'll be back tonight for fox45 news at ten -- and the

announcer: it's time to play "family feud"! give it up for steve harvey! steve: hey, come on, let's go, let's go! [captioning made possible by fremantle media]

steve: how you folks doing? [cheering and applause] welcome to "family feud," everybody. i'm your man steve harvey. you know what? we got another good one for you today. this is a great family. returning for the fourth day with a total of $21,620, from fort lauderdale, florida, it's the hatcher family. [cheering and applause] and from lithonia, georgia, it's the boochee family. [cheering and applause] well, everybody's here trying to win theirself a lot of cash and a chance at driving out of here in a stylish ford fusion right there, folks. that's the car. let's play the "feud"! give me derrica. give me diane. let's go. ["family feud" theme playing] ladies, we've got the top 6 answers on the board. here we go. name something a groom would be shocked to find when he reaches for his bride's garter. derrica?

>> alcohol. steve: alcohol, bottle of liquor strapped to her thigh. diane? >> that her stockings are falling down. steve: that her stockings are falling down. audience: ohh! >> i'm gonna say a penis, steve. [laughter] good answer, right? good answer! steve: you just gonna fire that off right as soon as this show gets started? i've been begging y'all, please don't give me-- put off this show. [laughter] it's that thing! [cheering] uh, don? >> i would say hairy leg. steve: a hairy leg. >> yes! >> let's play, let's play. steve: i don't know he deal with that. i'm shell-shocked. i couldn't--they gonna--

wow. all right, heather, let's go. here we go. name something a groom would be shocked to find when he reaches for his bride's garter. >> a chastity belt. steve: a chastity belt. >> oh! steve: chad, name something a groom would be shocked to find when he reaches for his bride's garter. >> a stack of dollar bills in the garter. steve: stack of dollar bills, making a little change, baby, yeah. stack of money up in here, making some change. >> ohh! steve: wow. two strikes, haley. name something a groom would be shocked to find when he reaches for his bride's garter. >> no underwear. steve: no underwear. yeah, man! ♪ you ain't got no underwear on ♪ let's go. >> yeah! steve: miss diane, we got two strikes again. be careful. boochee family can steal. ok, now, why did you want the family on tv? tell everybody. come on.

>> to find heather a nice husband. [cheering] steve: can he have ever been married before? >> sure. steve: he can be married? can he have kids? >> sure. steve: ok, cool. >> but he cannot still be married with kids. [laughter] steve: well, let's go, diane. name something a groom would be shocked to find when he reaches for his bride's garter. >> that she's wearing men's underwear. steve: that-- >> no. steve: ha ha! men's underwear. audience: ohh! [cheering] steve: all right, boochee family. here we go. here's your chance. name something a groom would be shocked to find when he reaches for his bride's garter. >> a condom. steve: a condom? >> a condom, man! i don't want babies yet! steve: you said that, didn't