it is important for me to go ahead and a firm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> in an interview, one sentence from the president is echoing throughout the country and around the world. good evening, everyone. it is the story that everyone is talking about. president barack obama declaring his support for gay marriage. >> it has revved up an already emotionally charged issue. >> the question is not just how this will affect his reelection effort but how it will affect the future of gay marriage in maryland. >> i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> phones and e-mails were buzzing on both sides. marylanders for marriage

equality has gathered more than 30,000 petition signatures so far. >> our momentum is going. this might push -- put a push behind it. >> he feels personally let down by the announcement but not at all discouraged. >> marylanders are persons who think for themselves and react on their own and not because of somebody saying something, no matter how popular they might be. >> the other side, calling the president's stands a huge plus. >> i think we will be talking about it. it is another strong supporter to have the president on our side along with the governor, members of the house of delegates, members of the maryland senate and a lot of people across the state. it shows our momentum. the momentum is on our side. >> most polls showed voters almost evenly divided with a slightly in favor of same-sex

marriage. the governor talked about the president's announcement in an ounce -- in annapolis. >> the voters always have their prerogative and they have to make their decision. whenever given an opportunity of moving forward, or sitting back, our people always choose to move forward. >> we have statements from groups and organizations on both sides on our website, wbaltv.com. >> also on the home page, you can vote in our poll. we asked whether you would support a same-sex marriage ban. 58% said yes while 42% reject the ban. mitt romney is reiterating his stance. he was asked about the issue during an oklahoma campaign stop after the president directs. >> i have the same view on marriage i had when i was governor and i have expressed many times.

marriage is a relationship between a man and woman. >> he acknowledged the issue as he put it is a tender and sensitive topic. he believes the state should be able to determine the benefits same-sex partners in joint such as hospitalization and visitation rights. he did not criticize the president's newly expressed stance. battle lines over this issue continue to be drawn. voters in north carolina became the 30th state to constitutionally banned civil unions and same-sex marriages. the approved amendment defines marriage solely as a union between a man and woman. this amendment becomes the only domestic union that is valid or recognized in the state. >> the four people accused in the st. patrick's day beating and robbery of a tourist from virginia faced fewer charges. more than half have been thrown out. there were charged for their alleged roles in this disturbing attacke. the victim was stripped and

beaten before being robbed. 13 of the 24 charges were dropped. each was accused of first- degree assault. prosecutors revise the charges following a review of the evidence. jury deliberations wrapped up in ulius henson case. he blamed his cut-defendant for the call. he added he thinks -- is being punished for not being a member of the club. >> if you want to be in the club or the martin o'malley club, i do not want to be in the club. i want to help people get elected. >> jurors will continue to deliberate tomorrow. >> the special session begins on monday but the framework is in place. the governor and officers agreed to a plan. >> the cut -- the cuts would

harm all less. -- of us. raising revenues and making cuts. >> the cuts duran a doomsday budget. this revised plan raises an income tax on individuals making more than $100,000 a year and joint filers earning more than 150,000. the increase and reduction will generate $247 million in revenue. leaders will address the shifting of the cost of teacher pensions. the special session begins 10:00 a.m. on monday. >> several city council members are turning up the heat on the fire chief over budget plans which include closing three fire companies. >> i was you, i would go back to the mayor and tell the mayor that i cannot live with this --

not bare bones anymore maryland. that your leading me and my department. the police department do not accept cuts and you should not, either. >> the plan would end the daily rotating closures we have seen for the last three years. there would be no layoffs. 66 firefighters will be reassigned. the fire chief said this is a reallocation of resources that will increase the stability of the department and would not have a negative impact on response times. >> let's identify the three places in this city where we can cover the vast with other units and close the company -- a company, not a station. close a company promptly so we end this kind of rotating around the city of closures. >> the permanent closures are slated to go into effect july 1. one of the fire company slated for closure dealt with that fire on the hundred block of west lexington st.. it resulted in -- the fire

resulted in two children being rushed to shock trauma. all three teens remain in the hospital but officials say their conditions are improving. >> you may notice more police patrol at arundel mills. they will be stepping up their presence. we have more on this story. >> anne arundel county police said had been planning for the influx of people expected to come to the county with a new casino opens and people who live near say they are relieved. they are excited about their increased patrols. the grand opening of the new casino is less than one month away and excitement is building but not for everyone residents who live nearby and say they are torn about this new edition. >> it will bring in a lot of money for the county. i live 3 miles from here and i am concerned about all the

outside people coming in. >> i like the area because it was quiet. you had the mall here but there was so -- not so much traffic. >> everything else seems to be going great over here. why not? i am all for it. >> the police department has an established presence but they plan to step up their patrols around the new casino when it opens next month. >> we will supplement that with officers on overtime. there will be up to three and that will be staffing shifts up to 16 hours. we will fill the other eight hours. >> police officers will not be inside but they will patrol the areas around it. the department hopes to have a full police detail their within one year. he said the police had budgeted money for their efforts in the 2013 budget but it still has to be approved. >> we will work with the budget

office and our office and do what we have to do to work toward filling in any overtime need. and contingency plans. >> in addition to the plans, state police say they will supplement the department's efforts with traffic control and dui crackdowns. >> that makes me feel better. that is a huge concern. since it is a casino. if that is what they are doing, i would gladly appreciate that. quex aside from a few major incidents including a double lot -- murder, incidents are down at arundel mills. >> now that casinos are hitting the jackpot, casinos continued their rebound. the and/or report notes the state saw some of the biggest gains during its first full year of operation. the numbers are eye-popping. casino revenue jumped from

$27.60 million in 2010 up to $155.70 million. that is a 464% increase. the new report points out americans spent more time at casinos and they did on music and movies and outdoor equipment combined during this past year. >> you may have caught a glimpse of a high wire feet this evening. if you did not come here is another look. skyteam 11 hovered over the harbor as nik wallenda walked the wire. his famous great-grandfather -- grandfather completed the same stunt. to see the video and a close call, can go to wbaltv.com. click on video. >> public school students as young as four years old and five

years old are being disciplined with out of school suspensions at an astonishing rate. >> this is a growing problem and tackles the question, how young is too young to be suspended from school? >> a steady rainfall through much of the mid atlantic. we will see of the weather hangs around for the weekend. 59 degrees at the airport. 62 downtown.

>> did you know that hundreds of

4-year-old and 5-year-old are suspended from school? >> the question is, is that too young to be suspended? we look at the growing social and academic problem. >> he is a big brother. is in kindergarten. >> michele is upset. the 5-year-old has been suspended 12 times since the start of the school year. specialists diagnosed him with adhd and disruptive behavior disorder. >> he has had a lot of to birk tantrums when he is not getting his way. one of his disorders, he is not able to express himself to a level where an adult or teachers may understand him and it frustrates him. when he does not get that across, he acts out. >> although he has a beaver disorder, school administrators and professionals have

determined he belongs in a mainstream classroom. >> when he acts out, should he beat suspended? 751 kindergartens and pre-k students were given out of school suspensions. 467 from the greater baltimore area. the most common offenses, hitting another student or teacher and general classroom disruption. this child advocate is with the open society institute. she feels that suspending kids four years old and five years old is a bad idea. they could fall behind in school work and social skills. >> i think it is probably very harmful and not very appropriate. when you think about a 4-year- old who has been suspended and we do not know how long. let's say it is for three days. by the time the third day rolls around, i have doubts about whether the 4-year-old is connecting that punishment with his behavior. >> wire children so young being

disciplined this way? >> a lot of times it is out of frustration. teachers are busy. it is a complicated classroom as you can imagine. a lot of times they're not dealing with rick causes of why the child is acting out. the easiest option is to remove them. >> if you are suspending a child that is pretty much the last straw. >> when you take a child into school at age four or five and your asking the teacher to provide remedial, i can accept that as a requirement. that requirement needs to come with resources. >> she contends it is not a question of resources. she said the school does not follow the coping plan developed to help him settle himself down. there are 32 students in his class. >> it is hard to reprimand a child like him if it does not happen in a moment. it is an effective tool if it is used properly.

>> the suspensions were not documented. the school called her to come get him. she could not leave her job once. the school called police. >> i left that job due to 10 or 12 calls a day. having to leave work early. having to come in late because i had to have these mandatory meetings before he could get reinstated. >> calling parents and sang come pick up your child, a parent will generally go do it. what i think parents need to know is if the school administrator calls, come pick up your child, this is an improper response. >> stone says schools that do not document suspensions are breaking the law. administrators do not want to leave a paper trail out of concerns their school will be labeled dangerous.

she considers large classrooms and inexperienced teachers a bad combination. >> they do not have the skills or expertise to manage behavior and they have to turn to the school's administrators or other specialists which and of removing the kids from the class. >> michelle has made an adjustment. >> i found a part-time job with half the pair was making. we make do so i can be there for him. >> the state board is reviewing disciplinary practices. critics want more training programs to better equip teachers to help students with anger management, conflict resolution, and problem-solving. i am david collins. >> the baltimore city school system declined numerous requests for comment. we did receive the statement that says city schools are

committed to correcting inappropriate behaviors and promoting appropriate behavior is. removing a child from the school is an option only for repeated, serious, or disruptive neighbors when intervention and support have been put into place but the vietor continues to escalate. -- behavior continues to escalate. >> a decent rain falling through much of the area. it is not great for baseball. we are running a deficit. a 5 inch rainfall deficit. you can see we're picking up some nice rain in the city of baltimore. the rain is beginning to taper off in western maryland where there were lightning strikes. that should be just about it. once the back edge of the rain gets here, we will be done. also some thunderstorms offshore. the stormy weather is ahead of a cold front. things are getting cooler. the low temperatures, 59 at the airport.

those are the current temperatures. the wind shifted. our temperatures have been falling from the mid- to the upper 70's. a quarter of an inch at the airport. 0.6 downtown. in 1923, a trace of snow in me, may 9, 1923. that is the latest of the season. a total of 20. the rain helped keep that down. as we continue westbound, that temperatures continued to tilt. 46 at oakland. the rain to parts and heads off the coast. the skies will try to clear. the clouds break and the temperatures cool and moist ground may produce some fog. we will see a good deal of afternoon sun. it will heat things up and perhaps trigger some spotty

sprinkles and leftover showers before it clears out tomorrow night. some beautiful weather for friday and saturday. the early morning forecast, a few clouds and patchy fog. the rain is moving away. 49 in the west -- northwest suburbs. partly cloudy during the day. the cusp -- gusty wind will come in behind this front. highs in the mid-60's. it will feel noticeably cooler. a small craft advisory with gusts up to 25 knots and 3 foot waves on the open water. that front is off the coast. trailing behind it, a secondary search of cool air. high pressure as you can see clears those guys out from denver to kansas city down to dallas, memphis, and up to chicago. this is scheduled to give us some great spring weather from friday into the weekend. it is called behind the front. we will feel it here.

on friday, 60. as the gusty winds come in, look for some sunshine. along the coastal areas, the winds will be brisk. partly cloudy and 70. 71 on friday. temperature is about normal for the next couple of days. if not all little below normal especially at night. 44 thursday into friday. 41 early saturday. a nice sunny day. the rain on sunday will hold off until later. most of the weekend looks good. some showers come in sunday night into monday. >> the capitals are on a wide emotional spectrum. see if they can extend their season and resuscitate hope or face the sting of elimination. we will show you next in sports. >> thi is powerball. the jackpot to $97 milln.

think about what you will do with that money because you could be the next winner. get out your tickets and let's get ready to play. your first numbers are 56 and 7. here is a picture of francisco molina. he won $1 million. the numbers are one and 11. the last one is 55. let's check out the pot -- powerball number. when you match this number you are always a winner. that number is 1. once again, here are the winning powerball numbers. powerball numbers. goodluck from all of us here your grilling is still gonna be pretty amateur.

but your deck? that's pro. finish like a pro with cabot wood stains. cabot...that's pro.

>> the orioles probably do not mind giving the night off. rained out of the yard. they did not get so much as a pitch in. a good excuse to get out of work early tonight. a doubleheader at the yard. one ticket, two games. the first game begins at 4:00 05

5 p.m. they will start the second game of the double header. an emotionally crushing loss. helping set the tone, skidding out of the spotlight back into the spotlight. the fifth goal of the post- season. another early strike. four minutes and change. then maybe adding all nerve wracking. they kept the rangers from another last-second merkel. the caps when two-one. game 7 to determine against new jersey in the conference final. they will not take business as usual approach is with their travel account -- triple crown

winner. the derby winner houses in stall number 40. not i'll have another. his and thus did not have him stay in the preakness barn. >> a movie star needs to bed -- coda bed. you do not want a million reporters. and not let him get his rest. we want to get him as much rest as possible. >> the nfl and its players have put a lot of focus on studying head injuries. there are obvious health risks. a study shows playing in the nfl has some surprising health

benefits. the players union commissioned a storstudy. the researchers looked at 3500 players who play for five seasons between 1959 and 1988. the study showed a nfl players have lower death rates in their age bracket than men in the general population. it showed former nfl players have a lower incidence of heart disease and cancer-related death. the study did not address head trauma or alzheimer's. we will be back with a seven- day forecast.

>> did we get enough of the rain we need? >> probably not. we will catch some sunshine tomorrow. maybe a sprinkle. nice weather coming in. especially on friday and saturday. highs in the low 70's. cool at night. lots of sunshine and humidity. shower chances return on sunday and monday. >> that is all for us tonight. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the ♪

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