january, a new internal affairs commander was hired by the city police commissioner. part of his attempt to better without misconduct and restore confidence. the department of's credibility took a big hit last year when 17 officers were charged criminally in a telling kickback scheme. the last of them pleaded guilty last week in federal court, but more than a dozen others face charges administratively. march, 100 police officers were off the street on suspension. nearly 1/3 were suspended for possible criminal violations. included in that group, an officer charged earlier this month with attempted theft from a grocery store. investigators say her daughter, a cashier, rang her off at reduced prices. an officer identified by sources as john ward is still off the street while prosecutors determine his role after the shooting of a 13-year-old girl. she was killed when police say two teenage boys were playing with a gun. the gun was later found, sources

say, in officer ward's car. >> the sergeant who was suspended late last week, a department spokesman said internal investigators are conferring with the state attorney's office, an indication more serious consequences may be ahead. >> and then found in an accounting has died from his injuries. police say the 41-year-old was stabbed multiple times in the chest. we are told the suspect ran from the scene, but police say they do have a person of interest in this case. a man who admitted to killing his sister's husband at a bar will spend 60 years in prison. he pleaded guilty back in november 2 shooting martin eight times as he left and in after work in may 2010. further investigation revealed the murder had been orchestrated by martin's wife. she pleaded guilty earlier this year and will be sentenced

sometime this month. >> twin brothers accused of setting it at all on fire in to the nine are headed back to court for a retrial. jury selection is under way. >> more delays today. the trial -- or retrial, i should say, was supposed to start this morning with jury selection, but it was pushed until 2:00 this afternoon where jury selection continues at this hour. i was up there a couple of minutes ago, and this does not look like it is ending anytime soon. jury selection finally. wednesday afternoon in the retrial of twin brothers. judge brown not taking any chances, calling about 80 potential jurors to whittle down to a jury of 12 with three alternates. usually, only 30 or 40 potential jurors are called to a given case, but given the publicity surrounding the first trial of the johnson brothers, a high amount of jurors have the potential to be dismissed.

most may remember it was back in late may of 2009 when prosecutors say the brothers, then 17 years old, set a two- year-old pit bull, later named the next, on fire with an unknown flammable liquid. phoenix would die several days later at an animal hospital. the twins were put on trial in february 2011. prosecutors relied on crime camera surveillance video to identify the twins as well as take conversations. in the end, a mistrial was declared because according to an unnamed juror, there was one who would not change her vote, and the jury was hung on an 11-1 vote. on top of that drama, it has been a long road getting to a retrial which was supposed to take place in may 2011, the november, then december. still, animal advocates who have been in court following every move are looking for the positive, no matter what the potential verdict will be. >> we need to see this through to a logical conclusion,

whatever that may happen to be, and we are grateful for the things that have happened that have lived in a positive direction. >> if the jury is not picked tonight, the selection process will continue tomorrow morning. with opening statements to follow. >> gop presidential hopeful ron paul making a stop in maryland tonight, expected to post a town hall meeting at the university of maryland college park. >> ron paul is expected to or arrive on campus of around 6:15, and a lot of excitement is building around his arrival. when we last spoke to you guys, the line and it right behind me, but i want to show you just how much it has grown in the past hour or so. you can see it curving around route 1 and living around. a lot of folks excited to see ron paul on the university of maryland campus, and a lot of them have been out here since

3:45 this afternoon. according to the campaign, the university of maryland is one of their strongest supporters in the country. students have recorded 2000 supporters for the campaign. it is hard to tell how many students out here were involved in that effort, but i caught up with some students earlier today and told me why they think ron paul is doing so well here on campus. >> i think just having us around and being present and having people see that there is a candidate on campus, the kind of presence on campus has really helped out. there are not a lot of other candidates that have been campaigning on campus. >> he touches on a lot of the younger issues. not just because of his mansions on drug use, but also, he is one of the stronger anti-war people -- not just because of his mentions on drug use. >> this event is expected to start at 7:00 this evening and is expected to last an hour. it will be in town hall format. the congressman will speak for a little bit and take questions

from the crowd. >> thank you. the supreme court continued to hear arguments today on the new health care reform law. at issue -- whether it parts of the law are found unconstitutional, to other parts be allowed to stand on their own. it seems justices are starting to wonder why they are handling this case. >> there are many things in here that have nothing to do, frankly, with the affordable health care, and there are some that we think it is better to let congress to decide whether it wants them in or out. >> there is no way that this court's decision is not going to distort the congressional process, whether we strike it all down or leave some of it in place. the congressional process will never be the same. >> and for complete coverage on the health care reform argument that -- arguments at the supreme court, state and for nightly news beginning at 6:30.

>> in annapolis, the house is working on a controversial bill that paves the way for a sixth gambling location in the state as well as table games. the senate passed the measure yesterday. david collins joins us live from the house where there are proposals already meeting some resistance. >> there are more delegates and senators who do not like gambling anyway, and then there are some who support table games but think the state may be moving too fast by allowing another location for gambling with the first five are not fully operational. do not bet on the house. according to some delegates, odds on expanding gaming and adding prince george's county as a six gambling location are iffy. >> we are going to look at each piece of that bill and see what we can keep, what we cannot, and what we need to add to the bill. >> the bill allows a casino to operate within four miles of the intersection, but the exact location is still being debated. some prefer national harbour or

rose crop raceway, and there's now talk about using the grounds of the old capital center complex. >> it is an industry we have created just so we can tax it. i do not think it is a good idea. >> there is strong opposition. a prince george's location would be a direct competitor, and so with the proposed casino in baltimore city. as a sweetener, the bill lets slots operators keep as much as 40% of the proceeds. currently, the split is 33%. the legislation also expands gaming, allowing cable games like blackjack and roulette. experts caution that table games are labor intensive. they cite it, the poor economy, and proximity to other casinos as factors. >> i think there will be a lot of resistance. there is more resistance to gambling. there are more questions about opening a new venue when we

already have the established ones. >> the bill also allows the same company to run two casinos in maryland. current law mandates one licensed only for each in the state, and state law requires voter permission to expand gaming. voters are disappointed that a provision demanded by the prince george's county council had to be stricken. >> the attorney general said we could not do it just for prince george's county. that is a problem. >> in the distance -- addition to resistance, time may be a factor. lawmakers have less than two weeks to get it done. >> there were no winners last night, although i think i 1 $2. now that means that the megamillions jackpot climbs to the largest in the history of mankind. >> incredible. also from hair styles and personalities, so much has changed since 1977. we will have upstairs to our sister station at 98 rock as they celebrate a milestone. >> milestone for loyal appear in

march madness turns into let's make a deal. see it looks like the big winner later. >> cold front moving through, storms passing south of us. weather forecast coming up. ♪

[ camera shutters clicking ] ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] announcing southwest airlines nationwide sale, with flights all over the country starting at only 69 dollars one-way. hurry and book now, only at southwest.com. ♪

>> in the celebration on t.v. hill today for wiyy fm.

98 raucous than on the air 35 years. while other stations have tried to replicate 98 rock, they have not done so successfully. -- 98 rock has been on the air 35 years. it has a lot to do with the faithful listeners. we also want to mention the queen herself, sarah fleisher, who has been on since the beginning. >> she is pretty amazing. the megamillions jackpot is at $500 million, making it the biggest jackpot ever. when it gets extremely high like this, it is generally really nice for businesses who sell the tickets. at a supermarket in east baltimore, there was a lot of people buying tickets today and the drawing is not even until friday. when customers come in to buy a ticket, most of the time, they also buy something else, so big jackpots usually mean big business. >> lines will be going into the stores. they will be getting tickets. they will be getting soda. they might get candy and some other things. they will get gas there, so yes, you get a lot of influx into stores, and retailers are

getting 5 cents on every dollar commission every time they sell a lottery ticket. >> for a single winner after taxes, it would be a check for $236.3 million. that is all out of $500 million? wow. >> the drawing is friday night at 11:22 right here on wbal tv 11. there were a couple of $250,000 winners in maryland. here are the numbers -- nine, 19, 34, 44, 51. the megapaul was 24. -- megaball was 24. we have breaking news and captain roy with the vantage point. >> this is that house fire we reported on earlier at 5:00. we wanted to give you an update. bge is on location. they still have flames coming from the gas bank that had ruptured due to the truck striking the house.

baltimore county fire department pretty much as the fire totally under control. just in stand by to assist while they try to get this gas main cap off. we do not have reports of any injuries, and we are still trying to figure out exactly what transpired here. >> scattered thunderstorms rolled across maryland this late march day with mild temperatures, and showers have really fallen apart on their way south and east. some spotty showers down in parts of charles, st. mary's, calvert county and light rain showers pushing towards ocean city. storms more significant as they made their way through the baltimore area a few hours ago. strongest of the storms continue to be well to our south and west in parts of virginia, the mountains of west virginia, and you can see a narrow line of dust storms on to kentucky. we are missing the worst part, taking up a little bit of rain,

but missing out on the strong to severe thunderstorms that are still possible. there is still a severe thunderstorm watch in effect in these areas of western virginia. there is a warning that has been issued for a gusty thunderstorms in the extreme eastern part of west virginia. active weather just to our south and east but only a few scattered showers here. at the airport and downtown, less than 5/1 hundred of an inch of rain, so some spotty showers. we had almost a quarter inch here, so you might have had a heavy downpour. highs today were warmer than normal. the 76 at the harbor is the current temperature, contributing to yet another warm day in march. the all-time list of the warmest march is on record in baltimore -- 2012 looks like it will fall right into that third place slot. 71 at stewards down right now. clouds keeping temperatures down a little bit on the lower eastern shore along with rain

showers. 63 at ocean city, but still 70 in westminster. hagerstown, 75 degrees right now. skies were clear, gusty northwest winds will bring in slightly cooler air. 40's and 50's by morning, but wind will be the factor. high pressure is in the north will bring in gusty winds and cooler temperatures, but it will be a nice, bright sunny day tomorrow. the system approaches rapidly on friday. clouds increase, by friday evening, we might pick up a little bit of rain. looks like some of those showers will linger into the first part of the beacon. nice outside, but noticeably cooler, and a gusty wind, too. small craft advisory on the bay. best moving up to 30 knots, and a decent shot. scattered showers and cooler -- 43 tomorrow on the mountains, and a chance for rain on friday.

storms moving out, sun comes out tomorrow. 59 and 60 with showers, the showers on friday will not arrive until late in the evening. during the day, it should be dry with wet weather coming in friday night. a little bit cooler and a little bit breezy tomorrow. winds gusting to 30 miles an hour. seven-day forecast -- for the weekend, dry, breezy, cold day tomorrow appeared clouds moving in during the daylight hours. man arrives friday night, lingers into saturday morning. send it looks like the warmest day of the weekend. -- grain arrives friday night, lingers in the saturday morning. sunday looks like the warmest day of the weekend. -- rain arrives friday night. >> success has its rewards, and for the loyal a man's best locos, the reward comes in the form of a new contract. he led loyal to its best season ever this year and a trip to the n.c.a.a. championship -- he led loyola to its best season ever

this year. he has a chance to build a regional power that will rock the home court with amazing energy. nfl owners moved today to add two new rules to the upcoming season, both designed to simplify things a little. first deals with overtime. regular-season games will now use the same overtime rules as postseason. no more sudden death. that is gone. both teams will get at least one possession in overtime, and coaches will no longer have to use their challenge flag on turnovers. all turnovers will get an automatic review, the same approach the nfl already uses for scoring plays. mike messina lost much of his fan base in baltimore when he left the orioles and finished his career as a yankee, but he still has a place in the hall of fame. he pitched 10 years with the o's

and 8 with the yankees. he won the third most gains in team history. ryan flared a signals and to write. orioles had the lead. we may see this a lot. the league did not last. there-inning double. -- third-inning double. three runs given up in a 9-3. orioles lost the blue jays. former jets quarterback has officially shifted his loyalty from the reptile family to carnivorous mammals. o'brien has announced his plans to play for the wisconsin badgers. the former rookie of the year also considered penn state and all this after leading maryland early this spring. because he will earn his undergraduate degree this year, he can go to wisconsin as a

graduate student. that loophole enables him to play next year instead of having to set out a season. he has two years of eligibility remaining, and yes, badgers are carnivorous mammals. technically, so is tom, and he

>> right now, we good breaking news in baltimore county where police say at least one pedestrian was hit by a car. >> baltimore county police and

fire are dealing with a pedestrian struck. you can see the medic unit in the process of leaving, fire trucks clearing. we're trying to get more information. they had won a plane shot down southbound while police investigate the accident, but as soon as we get more information on this, we will update you. >> stay with us. we arere

it's oysternomics 101. you start with a u.s. senator named ben. by helping restore thousands of acres of oyster beds, he kept hundreds of oystermen on the job...

which keeps wholesalers in business... and that means more delivery companies... making deliveries to more restaurants... which hire more workers. and that means more oystermen. it's like he's out here with us. he's my friend, ben. i hope he's your friend, too. i'm ben cardin, and i approved this message. >> we dodged a bullet to date. >> yes, the front went through.

big storms coming out of the mountains. we did dodge some hail as well and some gusty wind. severe thunderstorm watch remains in effect for western virginia, but around here, clearing skies. tomorrow, we become a much cooler day. right around 60 going into the begin. rain friday night saturday morning and clears up with partly cloudy skies on sunday. saturday morning, rain could be a problem. trout fishing season opens saturday morning. >> no! >> thanks for joining us. >> nbc nightly news with brian williams is next. >> follow breaking news and weather any time on wbaltv.com and stay connected on facebook and twitter.

girl: i want to tell you about my friend. his name is ben. ben learned about a homeless boy who had an infected tooth, and the boy died.

that made ben really sad. he wrote a law so every kid can see a dentist. we have special dental van that goes from school to school. he even helps make sure we learn how to brush our teeth. he's my friend, ben. i hope he's your friend, too. i'm ben cardin, and i approved this message.