well employment actually went down in the city, office vacancies went down also. according to the annual state of downtown report put out by the downtown partnership of pa baltimore, things are improving for the most part. >> more people want to work downtown and more people want to live downtown. those are trans the were not seeing a decade ago. >> the report looks at an area within a 1 mile radius of pratt and light streets and highlights several key economic areas. the only negative came from the employment picture. the city lost more than 10,000 jobs when comparing 2010-2011. a 9.4% drop. however, office vacancies fell year to year from 19.2% to 17.7%. and retail vacancies also fell from 6.8% to 5.7%. the downtown partnership says

that despite the employment numbers, city companies are telling a different story. >> what we are seeing and hearing from companies themselves is that they are optimistic about the year moving forward and they expect to continue hiring. >> the report also looked at how many people are living in staying downtown and those numbers are pretty impressive. apartment occupancy rose from 95.5% to 97.2% and hotel occupancy climbed from 61.6% to 63%. mayor steffy rawlings blake told 11 news that she is not swayed by the employment numbers and thinks things will improve in 2012. >> overall, the message is positive. we're working hard. the city is weathering the great recession storm well and the forecast is for stronger growth. >> the report does give the city a lot to cheer about. however, the employment and office occupancy numbers are a little curious given that they should go in the same direction,

which is a little concerning. >> it is really mysterious. often when you find these kinds of results it is because people will identify and major employer or two major employers who really downsized. that did not happen. it is hard to explain where the 10,000 jobs lost came from. >> as far as employment numbers are concerned, baltimore did a lot better than some other cities including san francisco, denver, san diego and phoenix. >> we have an update tonight in the investigation of a triple stabbing in baltimore county. investigators say that the men who should be appearing on your screen -- there they are, were all involved in a fight in which at least three people were stabbed. their ages range from 18-21. this happened tuesday afternoon. police tell us that the men pulled up in a car, got out and started fighting. the car was shot at one point

and police are still investigating that shooting. an assault investigation is now underway in howard county. this footage of the brawl posted on the web is now spiralling on the internet. a man in a masked approached a student on campus and tried to assault him. that is not shown on this deal. instead, it is of the student hitting the man and knocking him to the ground. we are told the football player was defending himself. >> there was some situation earlier this week in the cafeteria where there were some french fries from. we do not know if the individual is the father of the girl involved or not. we have been unable to figure out what that relationship is. >> i think it is ridiculous that an adult would come up and have a confrontation with the student. that should be taken up with a parent or the staff here at the

school. >> the man lying on the ground is somehow related to a 15-year- old female student at the school who is now being charged with assault. police may file charges against the intruder. the police chief is refusing to comply with a subpoena for his testimony against john leopold. the state prosecutor contends the chief took no action after officers on leopold pose a security team expressed concern over illegal directing them to conduct a campaign activity. he had been directed to report to the council in an open meeting next monday night. in a statement, his attorney said a subpoena was invalid in a public criminal trial because he cut it and up disclosing relevance police information on the pending trial. the debate on the budget in the house took a slight detour today as republicans started to rev up amendments. a protest broke out on the street and the noise could be heard inside the chamber.

david collins joins us now. he has the very latest on this story for us. >> protesters literally drove their concerns to the statehouse steps. [honking] a small but loud caravan of protesters literally drove their message to the state house. get your hands out of my pockets. taxed enough already. no new budget taxes. some delegates left their seats to watch. capitol police diverted the road rally toward north street a block away but they stopped one driver to give him a $60 traffic citation. >> i could run around here and scream. maybe that is still legal in this state. we chose to use our horns instead because it is hard for them to hear as. >> the court of public opinion also tried to make its case on

the house floor. >> tax and tax and tax and tax. when does it stop? the house voted against several amendments. one would have reduced funding to last year's level. >> two hundred thousand here, 200,000 there, pretty soon it adds up. i would suggest to you that this is supposed to be a work product of the house, not just the committee. >> at the end of three years, local jurisdictions would play -- would pay one third of teacher pension expenses. they also close a loophole to avoid fully funding education. they voted to require mass transit to raise fares to keep pace with inflation. another failed amendment would have withheld money from agencies if the state's auditor fines repeat problems three years in a row. >> if you're going to have the trust of the public, we need to

fix these problems. >> speaker bush, whose voice grew weaker as the hours grew on -- drag on, wore tennis shoes and had a cup of coffee within reach. >> this is a fiscally prudent and socially responsible budget. >> the marathon session began at 10:00 a.m. and as you can see it is still going on. this is how the state's spending plan breaks down. 20% of your tax dollars go to entitlements. 40% go to agencies. another 40% is provided to the counties in the form of grants. >> president obama announced he plans to expedite the southern section of the controversial keystone xl pipeline. the pipeline has been a very hot-button political issue at a time when prices at the pump continue to rise. we're live in washington with more on this story. >> as gas prices go up, the president's approval rating goes

down. analysts say it is an election- year nightmare. the white house just does not want it. the president has been getting hammered by republicans on high gas prices. >> gas prices are going higher and this president is making it worse. >> we're seeing just allow us to turn on the spigot. >> that is the keystone xl pipeline which would carry canadian oils to refineries on the gulf coast. the president delayed approval pending environmental reviews and republicans pounced. >> this whole issue has generated a lot of controversy and a lot of politics. >> the white house is shifting gears. >> today i am directing my administration to cut through the red tape, break through the bureaucratic hurdles and make this project a priority. >> the president is fast tracking the southern section that will carry oil from oklahoma to texas. >> ally has is concerned that people are saying hey, we want

this pipeline built -- the white house is concerned the people are saying we want this pipeline built and the president is stopping it. >> it has already gotten its approvals. this idea that the president is going to expedite this will have no impact on the construction of this pipeline. quite a poll today shows 87% of americans -- >> a poll today shows 57% of americans approve of building the full pipeline. >> today, newt gingrich announced he will be in annapolis on tuesday. he is expected to visit the state house and then take a stroll down main street. no other details are being released. coming up, some local gas stations are trying to relieve the pain at the pump. details next. >> maryland women's basketball team copes of a national

championship collide with the defending national champ. >> one more day dry and warm and then big changes for the weekend. the insta-weather plus forecast is coming up. 71 right now the airport. 71 right now the airport.

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>> gas prices made another jump overnight. some complications have seen an increase of as much as $0.10 in just the past 24 hours. but major deals are going on at some stations.

we're live at nichelle station where you could be saving as much as -- at a shell station where you could be saving as much as $0.30 a gallon. >> the line goes all the way down the road here. what happened is thanks to a church they just dropped the gas $0.25 a gallon and the station dropped it $0.50. in all, the gas here is -- the station dropped 0.05. in all, the gas here is $0.30 cheaper. but the price just keeps going up. it is not uncommon to see gas at over $4 per gallon. >> yesterday evening we changed to four dollars for regular gas. i am not sure they will go up again or not. >> my car requires premium to run efficiently and in paying

four $35 since a gallon. -- paying $four 0.35 the gallon. >> you do not know if you are going to eat or fill up the car. >> for station owners, there is not much they can do. they pay more for gas and pass the increase on to the customers. it is part of the process. >> different areas have lower prices on gas because of the area. in some areas, they get more for it. it gets passed on to me as the dealer and i have to make something on it. >> as you can imagine, few people are happy about paying more. >> it needs to go back down. it is going up and up and up. nobody is increasing their salaries so how are we supposed to a for the gas to get to work? >> i wish it were lower and i do not trust the oil companies.

>> it is hard when you have a kid and a big family and trying to pay for gas and everything else too. >> i think by the end of the summer is going to be $5. i do not know how we can put gas in our cars. >> you can see why so many people are trying to take advantage of this deal. the gas is $0.30 cheaper and it only lasts for a short time. it started at 6:00 and will end at 8:00 tonight. >> show as gas prices where you are. take pictures of the gas prices and then download our free iphone app and show us what you are seeing. >> here is a live look at ocean city. this picture coming to you from the boardwalk down there at the grand hotel and spa. we are looking south along the boardwalk. a nice day.

the shad is getting long as the sun sets. it has been a quiet day, a warm day across the state. let's check out conditions at the beach. a pretty little breeze coming out of the east. upper 60's buzzer to around 70 around ocean city at this hour. atupper 60's to around 70 ocean city at this hour. as we go into the weekend know, we will have to keep an eye on the activity to the west. showers and storms could be the weekend weather coming in. right now, the 22nd day of march, temperatures are warmer than normal. the normal is a 30 year average normalized over the past 30 years. you come up with 56 degrees as a typical temperature for this time of year. today is 76 and it has been like that for a while.

55 was the normal -- 55 was the morning low. it looks like it could be even more tomorrow. if the month were to ended today, this would be the third warmest march on record. the average temperature so far this month, almost 54 degrees. incredible mild weather all the way up into new england. boston, 81 degrees. 83 in columbus, ohio. pittsburgh, 81 degrees. 77 in frederick. there you see a little chilly sea breeze keeping ocean city in the 60's. tonight, high pressure off the mid-atlantic coast. eventually this whirling storm system over oklahoma will make its way east. right now it looks like saturday

and sunday will feature showers and thunderstorms. hopefully, not the severe storms they have had along the gulf coast. we could use a little bit of rain. if we get some shower activity it would not be all bad. there have been downpours in the last 24 hours on the mississippi-alabama border. here, just a mix of clouds and sand, up in the low-80's in many areas. waves about 1 foot. western maryland tomorrow, we're looking at temperatures to reach into the 70's and then some storms on saturday. probably going to hit 80 inland. scattered thunderstorms saturday and on the lower eastern shore another day where the sea breeze keeps the shore cooler but it should be 80 in mind. rain chances go up to 60% and temperatures start to cool off a little bit by tuesday and

wednesday next week. >> from the susquehanna banks fort sumner, this is 11 -- sports center, this is in 11 sports. >> maryland's women's team faced a moment in the second round this year. now the challenge multiplies for maryland. they take on the defending champs, texas a&m, this weekend in north carolina. this marks maryland's first game away from home in this tournament. the team is very much at home when it comes to dealing with pressures and expectations of winning a national title. the coach and her players feel like they're body of work shows they can handle anything on the road to the final four. >> i feel like we are battle tested. i mean, every season is a new team. we are not the same team as we were a year ago.

i am sure texas a&m can say the same thing. we just have great confidence given the fact that our schedule and our conference has prepared us for this moment. >> for the man, march madness resumes tonight with the sweet 16. you would think the 16 teams left would all be wildly excited about still having a shot. some make, but not syracuse. they have endured multiple scandals this season. there were eligibility issues prior to the start of the tournament in the almost became the first number one seed ever to lose an opening round tournament. in may -- it may explain why their coach at the via of an undertaker. >> if i want to have fun i will go play golf. this is not fun. if i was not getting paid i would not be doing this.

i do not think too many of you would be sitting out here if you were not getting paid. i do not think so. >> nothing like the love of the sport at the college level. for the first time this spring, the o's could double digits on the scoreboard, beating the twins' 11-1. second inning, working from the left side of the plate, straightaway center field. bounces it off the face of the wall. three-one, owes. in fort myers today, three hits. here he find a gap in left- center field. he gets it over the fence for a two-run home run. jan continues to be a pleasant surprise this scene -- chen continues to be a pleasant surprise.

he only gave up one run. stick around. we will have your seven-day forecast for

>> here is a look at what we are working on for tonight. an executive order by the baltimore city mayor prohibiting police officers from asking about a person's citizen status. we will have reaction from the mayor. plus outrage across the nation over the shooting death of a florida team and the fact that the shooter has not been arrested. a look at the massive r t

>> 81 tomorrow, kind of muggy after the fog burns off, then showers and thunderstorms moving in for saturday and sunday. cooler next week. >> thank you for joining us. the nbc news with brian williams's up next.

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