framework and a special session with these looks on their faces. >> i am very pleased at the direction. >> the democrat-controlled general assembly could not agree on a spending plan during their regular 90-day session, triggering cuts. >> a cuts-only approach would harm all of us. >> the plan, similar to one hammered out earlier, raises income taxes on individuals making more than $100,000 per year and joint filers making more than $150,000. this is expected to generate $247 million. >> some days, you are the bare, and some days, the bear eats you. >> there is a shot -- shift of teachers' pensions. >> going to 65% in year two,

83% in year three, and 100% in year four. >> to secure votes from large delegations. prince george's sought eight tax formula. baltimore city would have been given the authority to increase its ability to borrow money for construction. the senate leadership expressed disappointment and failure to expand the gaming bill. it would have added a sixth casino in prince george's. they were banking on that to offset fees, and there is the ongoing struggle to wipe out the deficit. >> the conservatives and the public welfare, no additional spending, raising revenues, and making cuts. >> the special session begins at 10:00 a.m. monday. the governor will introduce the bill, and it will then go to the budget committee and then back to the full senate as a vote.

once that is completed, the process starts all over again. believe it or not, it is only supposed to take a few days. david collins, wbal tv 11 news. >> a few hours ago, president barack obama became the first president to support same-sex marriage. he said it was important for him to porcelain clarify his stannic, adding that he came to his conclusion after talking to family and friends for several years about it. the president has been facing mounting pressure to provide a definitive answer. we have more. >> facing mounting political pressure to clarify his views, president obama told abc news that his stance on same-sex marriage has evolved into this. >> at a certain point, i concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and a firm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married.

>> the president said he hesitated to change his stance because he thought civil unions would be sufficient to assure that gay and lesbian couples have equal rights. >> i am sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word marriage was something that evokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs. >> the clarification comes one day after north carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. political supporters said the president's new position could be tricky for his reelection bid. >> those are also some of the biggest battlegrounds for the 2012 election, and north carolina and virginia are kind of the linchpins for the obama strategy. >> gop nominee mitt romney says his own position on the issue has not changed. >> i do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and i do not support

civil unions if there are -- if they are identical in nature to marriage. >> the romney's stance has not wavered. in washington, sally kidd, wbal tv 11 news. >> meanwhile, martin o'malley says he is confident maryland voters would allow gay marriage if it were to come to a referendum. opponents are currently connecting signatures for a referendum that is possible. and charges filed in the st. paddy's day beating and robbery are dropped. it is reported that more than half the charges by the state attorney's office have now been thrown out. the accused face charges of first-degree assault, following this videotaped attack on a tourist from virginia in front of the courthouse on calvert street. so far, 13 of the 24 charges have been dropped. we have contacted the state attorney's office, and they say

after review, prosecutors have amended the charges. >> there is a case being deliberated, and the jury has gone home today but will resume tomorrow concerning a case involving a robo call during the elections that prosecutors say was intended to keep black voters at home. they asked jurors to convict the man for writing the message that suggested the election was over before the polls were closed. he says he is being punished for choosing not to be in a club. >> if you want to be in a mike miller club or a martin o'malley club, i just do not want to be in a club. i want to help people. >> another was convicted on similar charges in december. >> permanent custody of two kids have been awarded to a baltimore father even though he has not seen them in two years.

that is when his ex-wife took them to her native country of trinidad and then refused to send them back. kim dacey has more on the story. >> he is hoping his ex-wife will obey the court order issued today and return the kids to him and end a court battle that has been going on for more than two years. stan says he loves his kids more than anything, with four-year- old gabriel and two-year-old anastasia, they have not been home to baltimore in more than two years. >> i heard for them and m scared for them. >> during divorce proceedings, he says she went against a court order and without his knowledge packed up the kids and moved them to trinidad, her native country. >> it wasn't surreal. you just cannot imagine -- it was surreal. >> he has been working for more

than two years to get them back. a judge approved a contempt order for her, saying that if she does not bring the kids back by june 1, she will be fined $1,000 per day. if she ignores the action, they will have to take further action. >> one would be illegal approach in trinidad to enforce the order. >> in the meantime, he is forced to live without his kids. he has been to trinidad to visit at least seven times but says this access is restricted while he is there. >> i do not know what happened. i took them to all of their doctor visits, and now i am not even told how they are being cared for, so i am scared for their welfare. >> trinidad has signed a convention requires them to recognize court decisions from other countries, but the system to enforce it is not yet set up. he says however long it takes, he will do whatever he needs to

do to get his kids back home. >> i want my kids to know that their daddy loves them, and i will never, ever stop fighting for them. >> all of these legal proceedings cost a lot of money. he estimates he has spent $120,000 or more. to help, you can visit our website, wbaltv.com. >> a very exciting high wire act over the inter harbour took place today. >> nik wallenda went over the baltimore harbor from the new ripley's believe it or not odditorium. >> the good news, everything went smoothly, and that is the good news. right at the end, there was a little slip, and that have everybody go -- including yours truly. it was exciting to see him walk across the inner harbor, a 300- foot walk. his father -- grand -- his great

grandfather did the same walk back in 1973. karl, the great grandfather, and nik made the walk today. no problems. a lot of people walking. everybody had their eyes on him as he made the walk about 100 feet high at times. he says after the walk, it was not as easy as it looked. >> the wire was a little more unstable than i am used to, with the fact that i was hooked at a barge. it was moving. i am sure you could see it moving. at the end, i had a split, which is not fun. my heart jumped into my throat, but i was able to recover. there were a couple of points. you saw in the middle, balancing pole went out. i started to get into a rhythm. i was getting in a rhythm, and i started looking down.

i started calling it, and it threw me off a bit. >> but it was a success, a great walker, and this is his last walk before the legendary, distort what that he will try, walking over niagara falls on june 15. it was something to see. reporting live, rob roblin, wbal tv 11 news. >> it was something. last night, olympic athlete michael phelps says he is sleeping in a special type toxic chamber -- a special hypoxic chamber to simulate an environment near 9,000 feet. it helps with oxygen. it raises the hormone level in your body, creates red blood cells, thereby increasing your body's ability to carry oxygen. >> once that goes up, then you

theoretically would be able to increase your exercise capacity. >> and doctors say that kind of training can actually make the difference between a few hundredths of a second, in which and swimming is big, huge. >> without question. students with out of school suspensions. >> we take a look at the numbers and try to tackle the questions as to why this is happening. >> and hitting the track for the first time at pimlico, talking about the pressure that will build over the next couple of weeks. >> hd doppler shows some rain. some more wet weather tonight. for the rest of the week. for the rest of the week.

>> experts say children as young as four or five years all are being disciplined out of school at an even alarming rate. >> how young is too young to be suspended from school? this is a preview in our special report. >> data from the state board of education shows that 751 students, ages four and five, were given out of school suspensions for being disruptive in class. >> she is upset that her son has been suspended several times since the start of the school year. he was diagnosed with adhd, a disruptive behavior disorder. >> temper tantrums when he is

not given his way. >> school administrators and medical professionals have determined that he belongs in a mainstream classroom, but when he or another five-year-old acts up, should they be suspended? >> i think this is harmful and not very effective. >> this is during debate on a state and local level. tonight at 11:00, the 11 news i- team looks at why this happens and how the growing number of experts believe this is a bad idea. >> now, your 11 insta-weather plus forecast, with chief meteorologist tom tasselmyer. >> it looks like the orioles and the rangers will have to be dodging raindrops. light showers approaching the area, downtown baltimore, and so as the evening wears on, more and more of the showers are likely to cut across the downtown baltimore area. mostly light rain, but more substantial areas.

you can see the strikes coming up from the richmond area and parts of virginia, also in the mountains to our west as well. the weather pattern in store for the night, and we do need the rain. the orioles are probably not all of that excited to see rain coming their way. about one-tenth of an inch of rain at bwi-marshall. 76 to 78 degrees. at 5:00, there was a trace. this appears to be the latest in the season we have had officially had snow, in the 1920's. there was maybe some hail with some thunderstorms moving through. this looks like it was snow on may 9 in 1923, so with that on the books, we are now officially done with the snow season. tree and grass pollen still in there, but a total pollen count of 20. that is a little lower than

recently. even with showers approaching, we are in the mid 70's in baltimore. 60's north and west of town, and there is some cooler air coming in behind this rain as it makes its way across. the skies began to clear as we go towards morning. then, the temperatures are going to dip. probably some 40's north and west of baltimore by dawn. isolated, spotty sprinkles or brief showers into the afternoon, but i think we're going to see some sun tomorrow, and maybe breezy and a little cooler. showers are likely overnight, and then maybe low 60's. factoring in the wind, it will feel cooler. wins on the bay guesting to 25 knots, with a small craft advisory. there is a cool front going through, a secondary front coming in past ohio. this will ensure in cooler air

this will bring us some really fantastic weather for thursday afternoon and a special for friday and saturday but this will turn cooler. chicago to detroit, and to northern michigan, that is where this will be coming from. many struggle to get into the low 50's, then about 60 degrees with sunshine. the rain goes through tonight but clears up tomorrow, 70 on friday. ocean city, princess anne, 70 tomorrow, 71 on friday. some really nice spring weather behind tonight's raid. less than 20% chance of precipitation tomorrow, 70 on friday, 41 degrees saturday morning, and then a nice, beautiful, sunny afternoon. costs -- this will linger into monday and tuesday. >> some the susquehanna -- from the susquehanna sports center --

>> the orioles will try to avoid a loss to texas. they may want to consider these three important words in tonight's strategy. walk josh hamilton. he pounded his way to the record books, hitting four two-run home runs, only the 16th time ever they have hit four homers in a major league game, the second time in baltimore, ironically. it was rocking with the indians at memorial stadium. not something you see very often. after hitting four at camden yards last night, not something josh hamilton will ever forget. >> i have never hit three in a game before. what a blessing that was to hit four. it was just an awesome feeling. i saw how excited my teammates got. it reminds you of when you are

in little league, a little kid, and just the excitement and why we play the game. >> within little league though, there are normally nine errors in a home run, not just sailing over the fence. and hoping its strategy and lead to finishing first, the kentucky derby winner. horse racing has gone 34 years since in its last triple crown winner. they hope to end that this year. when asked about a possible triple crown, the trainer proves that even a cliche sounds good with an english accent. >> we never want to get too ahead of ourselves. it is always in the back of your mind. day-by-day. it is in the back of my mind somewhere, but what comes along.

>> tiger woods failed to make the cut last week in the wells fargo championship. tiger has withdrawn once and missed a cut. tiger has more people questioning his game than buying his video game these days. the championship game in florida. >> if you are a player, we have all gone through this. you are not going to play well every week. there are times when i have felt awful, and i am still somehow won a golf tournament. that does not mean i am comfortable, but somehow i will figure out a way. ♪

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>> hipaa is a look at what we are working on for tonight. president obama changes its stance on same-sex marriage, who and when the slots open next month in anne arundel county, public safety will be a top priority. we will take a look at what is planned. that and much

>> we will check the weather. what is going on? >> a whole lot of rain. strong gail-force winds. isolated showers. a beautiful day tomorrow. lots of sunshine friday and saturday. some rain arriving late sunday, into monday. another week down the road, that is what we are looking for. 75. >> we will put you on the roof. >> ok. that is a look at our news. thanks for joining us. "nbc nightly news with brian