taking a stand together, a state house republicans and democrats putting aside philosophical differences, coming together on five significant pieces of legislation. >> basically, we just want to show a contrast to what is happening in washington. >> one measure protects family farms. exams up to $5 billion in estate taxes. many families and of losing their land to developers because they are land rich but cash poor. >> and the best development we can have is anything that enables the farm to be profitable. this is one of the best land preservation tools we have. >> another measure is to beef up civics in schools. a task force found that focus on reading and math reduced focus on other subjects. >> if you do not understand how your government works or the rights you have the citizens, it is hard to have a free republic. >> if you fail to learn your history, you're doomed to repeat

it. >> legislators vowed to do more to protect children from identity theft. >> 1% of the adults in this country -- i guess in this world -- have identity theft. 10% of children do. sometimes it is even babies, five months old. >> they are also backing in income tax credit to help offset the cost of getting a security clearance for federal jobs. >> they're extremely expensive, and those who are able to obtain those clearances are a huge competitive advantage. >> they support a scholarship program for veterans. >> this bill says thank you to the veterans. quite some members of the house but mostly members of the senate and raise the public display of political unity. -- embraced the public display of political unity. because of that, the likelihood

of these bills passing is said to be very bad. >> you can keep a pulse on the action that effect -- very good. quite you can keep a pulse on the action affects you and your family. go to our website and click on politics. >> the gop presidential candidates returned to the debate stage again tonight. we're live in washington with the previous -- with a preview. >> this is the second debate this week and the candidates are on the attack again. >> i need your help. >> of plea followed by a punch. >> the message we should give up mitt romney is we are not that stupid and you're not that clever. >> newt gingrich rationing out the rhetoric. >> we are not going to beat barack obama with some guy who has suisse bank accounts, cayman

island accounts, owns share in goldman sachs to be foreclosed on homes in florida. >> in an e-mail, mitt romney's camp responded to and mitt romney calling him mr. newark and dr. hyde. >> if you really think you need somebody who has been part of the culture of washington for the last 35 years to go there and continue to be in washington, there are other people you can choose. >> the latest poll shows mitt romney with an eight point edge over newt gingrich, followed by rick santorum. >> others of not been as consistent in standing up for the principles of our country. >> ron paul has been slow to gain momentum. more fireworks are predicted tonight in the debate. >> he will go after gingrich

again, hit him hard again. gingrich was a little passive in the last debate. he suffered from a lack of audience response. i think he will be more aggressive this time. >> this will be the last debate before florida's primary, now five days away. reporting live tonight from washington. >> president obama is bringing his state of the union address to maryland. the president and vice president are expected to speak at a retreat in cambridge tomorrow. congressman steny hoyer says the president will lightly touched on themes outlined during his speech on tuesday. the private meeting comes after the campaign style tour in key battleground states. >> teenagers pleaded guilty to armed robbery. today, one admitted to killing a man at a 7-11 in august of 2010. he also pleaded guilty to killing a man at the mr.

peterson in november. trials are set for later this year. >> the man accused of plotting to bomb a military recruitment center was back in court today. 22-year-old antonio martinez entered a plea in the first attempted terrorist attack. we're live at the federal courthouse downtown with more on today's proceedings. >> martinez spoke quietly and clearly as he is admitted his guilt in federal court earlier this morning. according to a plea agreement in the case, he had every intention of blowing up that armed forces recruitment facility. >> we need to do everything we can to intercept people who intend to commit hostile acts and stop them before they carry out their schemes. >> the u.s. attorney outside federal court after 22-year-old antonio martinez pleads guilty to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

according to the plea agreement , martinez began talking more and more about attacking military targets in the u.s. and actually tried to recruit fellow muslims at a mosque he was attending. a confidential source contacted the fbi agents when he thought of as going too far. with this lead that broke the case wide open. >> from their initial cooperation, we were able to roll our resources in and mitigate this thread. >> in november of 2010, the confidential source and an undercover fbi agent met and devised a plan to blow up the armed forces career center which idea.timately martinez's martinez was presented with a vehicle armed with what he thought was a bomb and taught how to use it. he admitted his intent to blow

up the career center and then carried out his plan. >> he parked the vehicle in front of the building then went to a vantage point with a confidential source to see the effect of what would happen when he actually activated the bomb. he did not do that until he was informed by the undercover agent that there were at least seven soldiers in the building. >> martinez was immediately arrested when the bomb did not go off. >> the investigation documented his attempt, gave him every opportunity to withdraw, and by the end of the investigation, we had recorded evidence in the defense since own words of his intent to -- defendant's own words of his intent to carry out a hostile act. >> as part of the plea deal, martinez agreed to a 25-year prison term. however, the judge could give him a maximum of life in prison. martinez is scheduled to be back in court on april 6th for sentencing.

>> the man is dead tonight and another injured after an accident in baltimore cnty. a 25-year-old was pulling out of the post office around 8:00 this morning. he collided with a car driven by a 24-year-old. both were taken to area hospitals where one later died. the others listed in stable condition. there's no word on which driver was a fall. a car crashed into a home in the 600 block of central avenue west this morning. driver -- the driver lost control of the vehicle. he was treated for non-life threatening injuries. fortunately, no one was home at the time of the crash. alert,onight's education a baltimore lawyer wants the city to regain control over its school system. a state delegate has introduced a bill that would give the mayor

the power to appoint the school board and the ceo. the current city-state school partnership approved 15 years ago allows the mayor and governor to jointly a port -- appoint those positions. >> as i have stressed to my colleagues and others, this is not a knock on the current school board, but it is a way that baltimore city can control the school system and continue the progress moving forward. >> the mayor's deputy says he is not looking for more authority, but more funding for city schools. >> there is much more ahead tonight on 11 news at 6:00. >> johns hopkins expands. that story coming up. >> the baltimore ravens offensive coordinator chuck pagano talks about his new job with the colts. we talk about who is likely to

replace him. >> a warm front moving in our direction. showers and thunderstorms in the forecast. it is 47 at the airport and 49 downtown. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group]

>> delaware has now joined maryland in banning bath salts. you may recall our investigation last summer revealed they could be ingested, inhale, smoked or

used to mimic the lsd. maryland passed a similar ban in october. >> in april, johns hopkins will open its new state of the art patient care facility. today, the prestigious institution offered a tour. >> larger than a football field, this will be the new main entrance to the johns hopkins hospital. the $1.1 billion facility will have 560 private patient rooms. >> this will actually allow us to give better medicine, to make it more patient and family centered. where medicine is headed now, is we know we have to accommodate parents and families on a 24- hour basis. we no longer to let families visit their children.

>> robert hicks knows how important these new private rooms are. he had a son here five years ago. >> if i leave my child at this moment, when i come back, will he still be alive? when you are a parent, you are scared to leave your child. you have the ability now to order food and have a brought to you so you do not have to leave your child. >> when it comes to medical technology, hopkins is always on the cutting edge. here are two operating rooms that will be able to share one mri machine. >> to have the ability to do an mri midstream and say, do we need to take another 5 millimeters here or another centimeter there is really important in terms of getting the best outcome for that particular person. >> this modern facility will be the beginning of a new era for johns hopkins hospital. >> it will enable us to be much more patient and family centered in our approach to rendering care.

if he were to go through the older facilities and then come as you're going to go through the tour today through the new, it is like night and day. >> the dedication of this new facility will be on april 12th and patients will move in on april 29th. >> now, your 11 insta-weather plus forecast. >> the rain in the area today probably slowing down the rush hour a little bit, but nothing like a year ago today. in the 26th of january, was the rush hour snowmaggeson. a burst of thunder storer -- thunder snow came through and dropped 5-10 inches of snow from four o'clock in the afternoon till 6:00 in the evening the resulted in absolute gridlock. it took hours to get home instead of minutes.

that heavy thunder snow came through right rush-hour one year ago today. by the time the day was over, 16 inches of fresh snow were on the ground. 9 inches here and 8 inches down at the airport. 50 today, so no snow today to worry about, just rain. so far the rain has been fairly light, but it is going to pick up in intensity. i temperatures -- well, we may not have reached the height just yet. some of the warmth down here, mid-fifties in cambridge and saw ellsbury, starts to move north. as the warm front moves through, it will generate these showers and as temperatures climb, some of the thunder that has been down to our south may move in overnight tonight. here is the rain early morning.

perhaps a line of showers even thunderstorms. by early afternoon, this is moving off the coast. skies are going to clear your but the cold will return to the mountains and change the rain to snow. 30's right now in most spots, rising 450 as we head toward morning. -- rising toward 50 as we head toward morning. temperatures will start falling back to the upper-40's later in the day. that changes the rain to snow in the mountains tomorrow and snow showers will linger in western maryland on sunday. and the eastern shore, thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow morning, partly cloudy on saturday. temperatures will stay above normal through the first part of the week. mid-50's on saturday turning a little bit chillier on sunday. there is a small craft advisory. waves are two-3 feet.

they water temperatures right now around 40 degrees. this storm drags wet weather and mild temperatures through. then a new front arrives saturday and another one on sunday. the second one will dragon some chillier air. saturday, 11:00 a.m., the family skiesd, partly scabcloudy around 40 degrees. temperatures will be above normal. a south wind will produce a little bit of a wind chill and the water temperature will be right around 40 degrees. seven-day forecast, colder weather arrives sunday with a flurry. partly cloudy and chile on monday, only 38. we are right back into the low- 50's in the middle of the week. >> from the susquehanna bank sports center, this is the 11 sports. >> the ravens tradition of great defense has come in part from

transition. they have never gone outside the coaching staff to replace a defensive coordinator. that may change with the replacement of chuck pagano. today, the indianapolis colts introduced chuck pagano as their new head coach. it signals a major departure for the colts and the way they go about business. pagano will be coaching the team most known for its defense. >> words cannot describe the emotions that i am going through right now and the feelings. coming off probably the most devastating loss that i have never been a part of in the afc championship game, the last

thing i ever expected came across my table, and now here i set at an all-time high. >> some clear signs of progress for the turks. they named gary williams scored -- the former coach every bit as emotional as you would expect. the crowd was into this one. duke still knows how to put the game away. they had some big moments including the howard layup, but those moments would not last. austin reversed with a leg up. duke pulling away. 74-61, blue devils. for all he did for his school,

sports and program, the late joe paterno deserved a memorial unshrouded by controversy. a crowd estimated at 12,000 gathered on campus to honor the late paterno today. the nike chairman and several former players spoke. it the most winning coach in college history died with a heavy heart over his handling of investigation of allegations of sexual abuse by his assistant coach. >> he always deflected praise, never thought he was the shadow -- the show. today, my teacher, you have no

choice. today, we're going to show you how much we love you. >> stay with us. we will have the seven-day forecast r

>> coming up tonight at 11:00, thousands are competing for the largest gathering of lesbian and gay rights activists. plus, could a career as a navy seal be in your child's future? we will take you to an event at the boys and girls club. the boys and girls club.

>> is looking like spring again, almost 60 tomorrow morning. a little colder over the weekend, maybe even fleury's coming. >> thank you for joining us. the nightly news is next.