he sparked controversy by blaming a recall of the abuse for fights and disorder at the harbor on the busy weekend. critics wanted an apology. he is not budging. >> it was accurate. it was not meant to attack anybody racially. i know better than that. i know the problems that we were addressing, the street crime and the mob actions and the violence, they are black people. they are kids. >> he wants the state to finance a fund to help the job development, and he is calling on the mayor to get more engaged or resign. >> i will withdraw that request it she does something. the response was to charge racism. >> the mayor's office responded. they say the delegates is now trying to distract attention away from his earlier racially charged comments. the delegates should recognize

the tremendous progress that the police have made in crime reduction. the police are being added at the harbor, as many as 50 additional cops, including recent graduates, that will walk foot patrols at night. >> there is a group of kids that are fighting and rioting in there. >> this past weekend, the problem was in patterson park. >> there are 50 maybe. >> reporting live from downtown, jayne miller. >> and now, to a developing story out of annapolis.

the man that was never charged, not far from the state house, gary giordano. they found him completely naked in the back of an suv with a female companion from tennessee. this incident happened friday evening along the 100 block of orm -- gorman street, and both were taken into custody. >> trying to keep more students in school instead of being sent home. tim tooten is live with that story. >> in just one year's time, more than 65,000 students were suspended from school. those numbers alone cost the state board of education to investigate why so many were missing time in the classroom.

now, possible changes on the way. local school systems will have to do better jobs of reporting, especially when they involve minority and special education students. it also be asked to review long- term suspensions and expulsions. it has taken two years to look at this. >> what we are trying to address is a lot of times, they should not be suspended at all. what we are learning is that there is a large percentage of disciplinary actions that take the form of suspension that should not be suspension. >> comments from more than two -- parents have been added to the news suspension report and will be considered in updating the policy. >> there are some that are supportive and that they are happy the state board is looking at it, and then there are some that we think have a fear that

the sort of changes may compromise the safety of the school. >> in the end, the state board is hoping to craft a policy they believe will address concerns from both sides. >> it will be less punishment and more disciplined, and that will help in the long run, if they realize that this behavior does not work. they need to fix it. it is not, "this is my punishment." we are going to fix it. >> a growing number of suspensions. >> i cannot teach a student if they are not in my classroom. we need to make sure that disruptions are kept to a minimum, but at the same time, we need our students in school. >> they believe that is at the core of any new policy change. >> they are expected to vote on this next month, and after that, school systems will have time to review policies. that is on our website. log on to wbaltv.com and click

on the education alert. live in the newsroom, tim tooten, wbal tv 11 news. >> they say a man has been going around, pretending to be a baltimore police officer, and now they believe he may have been doing that. after an investigation in st. mary's county, they found he had been wearing a badge, carrying a realistic-looking badge -- gun. he has also used other names. anyone in may and had an encounter with him should reported by calling this number. a violin night in baltimore city as police search for a gunman. they say someone shot a 58-year- old man multiple times. right now, they are not identifying the victim, but we are told that he was stabbed. at this hour, detectives are not releasing details of a

person of interest in the case, but anyone with information is asked to contact police. meanwhile, also looking into a drive-by shooting that happened last night. someone in a car carrying a group of people shot at a man. that victim has injuries that are described as not life- threatening. >> the plan to replace gas and electric meters with advanced smart meters, but not all customers want those devices, and they are hoping that the public service will have a say. >> how are you doing? that is right. some customers are not buying into the idea that those smart meters are going to save the money. one big concern, how those smart meters will impact their health. >> i think everybody should have an opt out at zero cost, no cost to us. >> she was adamant.

no smart meters for her. the question is, will she have a choice? technology clashing with concerns about health and privacy. the concern is over the new meters emitting radio frequency. >> they do not know. i do not think they care. they will suffer just like us, because we will be in the equivalent of a microwave oven set at low. we will be an experiment to see how many new cancers there are. >> most of the customers to look at the utility in relationship. they want us to help them become more energy-efficient and to save them money and to restore power as quickly as we can. this would change the entire relationship with the customers. >> the devices, which will replace the analog meters in area homes, are said to pose no other risks. they say the other devices, like cell phones, put out more than these meters.

one man says he believes consumers should have the right to opt out, but according to be ginny, those would have to pay additional costs. -- according to the utility, those would have to pay additional costs to opt out. >> there is a cost to have meter readers. there is a cost to have trucks to start service and stop service. >> many are glad they are listening, including the state delegates and sponsored a bill against smart meters. it died in committee. his message to commissioners? >> smart meters are dangerous. they are interested, and the only benefit the monopoly utility corporations. they do not benefit the consumers. >> now, the to the company claims that the smart meters will save consumers about $2.50 billion over 10 years. they just listened to public comment today, and there will be a decision at a later date. reporting live, barry simms,

wbal tv 11 news. >> breaking news right now out of baltimore county, captain roy taylor. what is going on? >> in northern baltimore county, an accident here with a personal injury, two vehicles involved. the problem is, there is only one lane that is able to get through, so if you're trans versing working your way, expect delays. reporting live in skyteam 11, i am captain roy taylor. >> the start of the summer travel season is just about here, and if you want to reach the beach, aaa's says there are two things you need to keep an eye on, traffic and the price of gasoline. thousands are expected to be traveling, and most of that will be on the road, 646,000, they say, and that number could spike if gas prices continued their

downward trend, so where are the cheapest gas prices? if you are planning to go to dover will be cheaper beaches, the cheapest is $3.52 on the eastern shore in salisbury. i always say to get your gas down there, where it is a few cents cheaper. >> aaa officials also say that air travel is on decline, largely because the airline fees are on the rise. another thing that could impact congestion is the weather. more people are inclined to take a road trip when the weather is nice. >> it looks like we will have some good memorial day weather, maybe even a little hot, with the first heat wave coming for saturday, sunday, and memorial day monday. the clouds are thinning in a few locations, and that is triggering some scattered showers. most of the storms to our west,

with not much activity. there are some scattered light sprinkles popping up in and around the region. in baltimore, where the orioles are playing the red sox again, it looks ok, and yesterday, they got the game and without a drop. let's hope and holds that way throughout the evening. temperatures should be in this 70's and settle back into the 60's overnight. again, that memorial day weekend looks pretty good. details and just a couple of minutes. >> a big advance tonight in cancer research. >> blood and urine research that is 100 times more sensitive. >> but get this. it was developed by a 15-year- old from anne arundel county. >> but first, a church struggling to pay for destruction caused by vandals. when we come back, someone is stepping up to the plate to help out.

>> and anne arundel county board is injured in a fireworks

>> we have an update tonight. a company steps up to help, donating a security system to

the methodist church. members there are still clearing up after discovering damage to a church sign and several broken windows sunday night. the church says they have been repeated victims of vandalism since last year, but they do not believe those incidents and the one on sunday are connected. well, the kids you are looking at here could maybe save your life. five children have been singled out from across the state, who have stepped up. last april, noah fell off of his bicycle, and the other called 911. >> what is interesting as -- is that this was his first-ever new cell phone. he had just got it for his birthday. he was not going to leave his friend. he took care of him until the

e.m.s. providers got there. >> nice job, nice job. all right, the maryland e.m.s. officials say it is important to talk to your kids about what to do if you are faced with an emergency. make a list of emergency phone numbers. make sure they know who to call and what to say and make sure your address is visible from the street. there are other tips available on our website at wbaltv.com. >> we begin tonight medical alert with what could be a huge event in cancer research, and it was developed by a 15-year-old from anne arundel county. he won the largest high school research competition for developing a urine and blood test for pancreatic cancer with 90% accuracy, which is huge. it is not only 28 times cheaper, it is 100 times more sensitive. >> really, the only way you can

do this is the through a blood test. and this could detect pancreatic cancer for about 3 cents in five minutes. >> how smart is he? he received the international science and engineering fair award for his ground-breaking research, plus a $75,000 prize. he beat out 1500 students from 70 countries. we will have much more honest willie mays and story tonight at the 11:00. all sending tonight, if there is no access to new medication, it is now in violation of a lot. they will keep this drug called epinephrine on hand. it is a hormone used in any normal -- in many normal reactions. they were previously allowed to

only administered to students who had a prescription, but it now requires that people know how to identify and treat certain reactions. >> not a bad day overall, a live look platted to start, a couple of scattered showers from time to time. these have had a dry day today, although a bit on a cloudy side, even a bit unit. there is still some cloud cover hanging on, not a bad looking evening and that of us. downtown baltimore near camden yards about 75 degrees, 76 degrees at this hour, and it should be fairly comfortable with no rain in the immediate vicinity. good news for the baseball. there are some showers drifting through, but the bulk of the thunderstorm activity for now holding off in amounts to our west, where there are some pretty big storms -- holding off

in the mountains to our west. the 48-hour precipitation totals do show quite a bit of rain falling. a persistent line of showers is in hagerstown down to northern virginia, and it down quite a bit of rain. that orange dot gets you up over 3 inches of rain in the last couple of days. look at all of that heavy rain offshore. and then the big thunderstorms on the border of virginia. some light showers for central and eastern maryland. this weather pattern can produce rain at just that any time, but so far, not a lot falling. there was enough to wash shopaholic, and today one the count was taken, no tree pollen to find. a total pollen count of one. a strange locale of the season when it has been raining hot. almost 80 degrees at the inner harbor right now, 75 in cockeysville.

there is a " sea breeze. look at that impact. the winds coming off of the ocean. ocean city staying in the 60's. it will be cooler right on the beach. scattered showers and a thunderstorm in some areas tonight, but they are very scattered, as we have seen on radar. otherwise, just some clouds and fog. this area of the pressure has been stalled over us and is beginning to fade away. this line of showers to our west is the real rainmaker. most of the storms are in the western mountains. lined up along this front, which may not ever really clear our region. it will dissipate, really fade away, as high pressure builds over the top of it, and when this high pressure area begins to strengthen, we will have a bit of a heat wave for the memorial day weekend. again on thursday, just because the atmosphere is so unstable,

and friday, hit-or-miss storms. basically, a little drier and harder for the weekend. 77 to 82 tomorrow, a light breeze on the bay tomorrow, 5 to 10 knots with waves around 1 foot. it looks like summertime. we will climb into the upper 70's to low 80's, very close to 90 degrees for saturday, sunday, and memorial day monday. >> all right, tom. thank you. are you getting spam on your cell phone? >> you are not alone. they shot up. you can make them stop. in consumer alert, we will tell you how. >> a new poll shows the presidential race tightening up. presidential race tightening up.

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>> and with a cannon blasts, screening navy freshman

attempted to cover -- to climb a slippery statue. this was the traditional sense. they created a human tower to get to the top. the goal is to replace the dixie cup at the top with a freshmans hat. this year, one from oklahoma -- first, and tradition says that the person who reaches its first will become the first admiral or general. that was fun to watch. >> it is. >> a flurry of voter surveys out show that mitt romney is moving up. >> and not just overall. steve handelsman has the numbers and how they are changing the advertising war. >> it is a super close race. barack obama just slightly ahead of barack obama is and three new polls. the president backing gay marriage made no difference to

62% of voters. the rest were split in today's wall street journal survey. what matters most is still the economy, and the pro-romney group led by karl rove goes after him in a campaign. >> i have always loved watching them play, it even though things have changed. they cannot afford to get their careers started, and i cannot afford to retire. we are all living together again. >> voters now say mitt romney understanding the problems as well as the president does. to counter that, team obama is putting up two advertisements, saying his company fired workers at a steel plant. and at a paper plant. >> mitt romney, they did not

care. they were looking at the mighty dollar. >> some democrats object to that campaign, but the president says it reveals that romney did not focus on jobs. >> if they succeeded in portraying mitt romney as a corporate raider who does not care about people like me or you, that will hurt mitt romney. >> which could make a difference and a race right now that is close to even. the new anti-mitt romney advertisements are harsh, but the mitt romney advertisements are not, because they found that the voters said they may vote against the president still like him. steve handelsman, wbal tv 11 news. >> it was back in march when millions watched a viral video about brutality in a gondola. >> and now, there may be a break. details coming up. but first --

>> yes. >> imagine calling 911 and ca -- hearing a snoring dispatcher on line. a woman's frantic call turns even more desperate. >> and a serious injury and a firework a

[ jared ] uh, michael? you know... big game... that was sort of supposed to be for all of us. [ slurping ] [ male announcer ] give 'em what they love. subway! giant subs, sandwich and cookie platters. and big-time value. subway catering. order today! [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> 11 news at 5:00 in hd continues now. >> a teenager from glen burnie

is recovering after suffering an accident with fireworks. he is still lucky to have his right hand after a fireworks exploded faugh -- in his hand yesterday. >> kim dacey has the story. >> he has his right hand bandaged tight, but his mother and doctors consider him lucky. he and his friends found some fireworks and lit it outside. >> it did not go off, but it turned out to be one that was a big explosion. it was a loud boom, and my ears were hurting a little bit, and then i looked at my hands, and it was messed up, so i just ran home. >> the neighbors had run outside to see what happens, including his mother. >> i said, "what is it? " he opened his hands, and blood

started moving out. i am not one that panics. i just grabbed him and started moving. i am a nurse as well. >> they called an ambulance, and he was taken to the hands center at a hospital. they say his fingers were broken and nearly severed, but doctors were able to reattach them all. amazingly, there was no nerve damage, after therapy, he is expected to make a full recovery. he said he did not realize that what he and his friends had found was an m 80. >> they are illegal in maryland. >> it is said this should be a warning that firehouse should be treated seriously, and the child says he will never touch one again. >> leave them alone. >> the chief says the owner of

the fireworks could be facing charges because it was illegal, but now, the investigation is ongoing. >> no more fireworks. here is a look at some of the other top stories. concerns about safety. wanting the state to help find people with job development, and he is calling on the mayor to become more engaged or resign. last week, he pointed the finger at what was called black moms, which he says are responsible -- black mobs, which she says are responsible for crime. and some major policy changes. looking at the reason why the number of school suspensions is going up. a large percentage of disciplinary actions are said to not warrant suspension.

they want more discipline that will help in the long run and policy on the books soon. and a man that was associated with the disappearance of a woman in aruba has been arrested. they say they found gary giodano naked in the back of the van after sexual activity. he and the woman he was with were charged with indecent exposure. her license was registered in tennessee. >> and the cause of a woman were met by a snoring dispatcher, and she said it became even more dire when her husband was suffering chest pains and was turning blue. >> following protocol, and 911 worker entered the fun and send it to dispatch, who was supposed

to send an ambulance. >> hello? hello? hello? >> realizing something is not right, the original call taker breaks in. >> hold on. i will try to get someone on the mine. >> that light snoring you here is the original dispatcher, who has fallen asleep. the sonora's get louder as a new dispatcher tries to help the woman. >> put one hand on the forehead and another on his neck and tilts his head back. >> yes. >> the employee was immediately removed from the floor by his supervisor that night and was placed on administrative leave with pay, pending the outcome of the inquiry. >> it is said that the sleeping dispatcher is an experienced, uniformed firefighters, who was 17 hours into a 24-hour overtime shifts. it was found that montgomery

county dispatchers were twice as long than other dispatchers in our area. >> it actually works very well. >> while it might seem like a long shot to somebody not used to that work schedules, it is something that is just normal for a firefighter to work. >> they say this is the first time someone has fallen asleep during the 24-hour shift. we counted at least 18 snores on the recording before the dispatcher finally wakes up and does not realize the woman has been on the line up for more than four minutes. >> he has stopped breathing. his chest. the address?t is >> wbal tv 11 news. >> luckily, the patient was transported by ambulance to the hospital and did not suffer any consequences from the incident.

this, just as it is found that surgical residents are sleeping for at least half of their day, and that could affect their work. they analyzed the sleep cycles of about two dozen residents, and the results is that the average amount of sleep for them is just five hours, and that has them functioning at all the 80% for most of their day due to fatigue. some were more likely to be sleep deprived. >> and sleep deprivation is no joke. that is serious business. you should know. >> you know that. >> coming up, violence after a playoff with the lakers. >> they say it escalated into an all-out brawl in shooting. >> as the governor signs the new tax increases into law,

>> once again, a liftoff, but this time, it was bought a

private company. the first attempt at launching the rocket was scrubbed at the last moment due to a computer morning. spacex is the company founded by the paypal billionaire elon musk. this is part of a change following the end of the shuttle program. if all goes as planned, it will reach the international space station as early as friday. >> won an obama city listed in critical condition after a group of men opened fire on a group of women near a popular nightlife area. one in critical condition, the other seemingly fine tonight. the shooting happened just blocks away from where the playoff games between the lakers and the thunder had taken place. >> and sse it may be put on trial if enough information is found. captured on may 12, meet

highest army member -- the highest army member they're found. the country has given up thousands of former members and of cooperated with authorities, and it is reported that the defense minister in you gonna said that that man could be one of them. because they say he must face charges. >> the best teachers in the state all in one room. >> what they are doing there and why. coming up. plus, checkmark fun? you may have a text. nevermind. it is just spam. ahead on our consumer alert, how to make those annoying messages disappear. >> some storms on hd doppler, >> some storms on hd doppler, and we will see if any of

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>> coming up next, nearly three under bills were signed into law today, and the most significant raises the income tax rate. and the debate over violence continues to grow, as does criticism towards a delicate and comments about african american kids. thos

>> two dozen lucky maryland school teachers have been recognized and invited to a big banquet to this coming fall. 11 news education reporter tim tooten tells us that at that

banquet in the fall, one of those educators will be named tops in the state, and they will go on to compete for the national teacher of the year title. >> one of the strongest, most devastating tornadoes that claimed 161 lines in joplin, missouri, since then, and yet been struggling to recover. we have more on how the people there are observing this anniversary. >> the morning began with lanterns filling the sky, as those who lived through last year's tornado recalled have changed their lives. >> when the storm hit, i was on the ground floor. i was struck by something, most likely a cinder block from the wall next to me. i suffered severe head injuries, including a split chin, a severe concussion. >> he was one of nearly 1000 people who were hurt on this day

last year when a category 5 tornado went 3 joplin missouri, but they were the lucky ones. in just 30 minutes, the mile wide tornado that killed more than 150 people and damaged or destroyed some 10,000 homes and businesses. >> we turned on our radio and found that they had been hit. st. john's. the announcer's voice had the fear infant, that we knew it was really bad. >> today, the scars are still everywhere, but new homes keeps springing up. on this anniversary day, the city broke ground on three new schools, and the spirit of joplin is stronger than ever. >> the generosity and the love and care that the people of joplin showed has defined us as a city.

we are joplin, and i pray that we never forget the magnitude. >> a highlight among the anniversary events is a walk. thousands of people are taking a four-mile walk through the city that was most affected by the tornado. in joplin, missouri, wbal tv 11 news. >> and more breaking news this time. let's go to the scene with captain roy taylor and skyteam 11. what is happening here? >> fisa crews responded to a house fire at this location. when they arrived, they have a lot of smoke coming from the detached garage from the house. right now, we do not know if there are any injuries, but the road in shot down in both directions. reporting live in skyteam 11, i am captain roy taylor. >> now, your 11 insta-weather

plus forecast with meteorologist tom tasselmyer. >> we saw temperatures warm above normal, 82 degrees at the inner harbor, and it is one degree above normal at bwi- marshall. that continues to ease upwards, the normal. eric holder 35 in 2002. -- a back-to-back highs in 2002. 75 in sykesville. out towards the west, it is a little bit cooler, and more clouds and showers are keeping temperatures in the upper 60's. in baltimore tonight, a little bit of fog will likely form. we have seen some sun breaks through, but the clouds will dominate the sky cover, and there may be some patchy fog with some light winds and some moist ground. this band of cloudiness

stretching to north carolina, that is a cold front that is slowly inching towards us. it is 70 in chicago. we are in the 70's to near 80 here. this will begin to dissipate as high pressure builds over the top of it in the upper atmosphere, and right now, there is the mississippi river valley, clear skies and comfortable temperatures, but it is going to heat up. as we get into the memorial day weekend, it will feel like summertime. a couple scattered thunderstorms in the area tomorrow afternoon, again on thursday. friday, there is still a slight chance. i think we will see the more sunshine during the day on friday before we get into some really summer rainy weather. mostly cloudy, more clouds and sunshine. the south wind at 5 to 10.

the waves are only about 1 foot. a 30% chance on thursday. dreier and warmer weather going into the weekend and memorial day. look for a thunderstorm or two, about a 50/50 shot. it will be warmer onshore going into the weekend. a cool sea breeze kicks temperatures down at ocean city. it will probably be the low 70's. there is a chance for some scattered showers or thunderstorms. upper 70's to near 80, and then at mid 80's on friday, and then we are near 90 through the weekend with only a slight chance for storms on sunday and monday. >> the new republic facebook stock is now in its third day of trading, and let's just say that things are not going as well as planned. here is a look at the closing

numbers. more americans buying homes. these are previously owned homes. back to facebook, those numbers continued to slide. it was down 9% to a price of $31 per share. they basically had their initial offering at $38. well, it's sort of fizzled, and now down below the initial price. they are annoying, illegal, and sometimes expensive. we are talking about unwanted spam texts, joining many of us crazy, including us. but there is a way to make them go away. we explain exactly what you need to do in our consumer investigation. >> you know what that means. >> my staff will texting if i am in the middle of an appointment. >> but what about if you do not want the taxpayers >> congratulations. you had just won a walmart to

gift card. lucky me. it breaks my train of thought, and it is annoying. >> text spam is something we were to try to present. >> it is illegal that they are doing, and we do not want our customers getting that. >> at at&t -- >> customers can afford the text to a number which is spam, and that helps us take a look at who is sending these things and got them from whoever is sending them to you and to other customers as well. >> and there is a block that you can buy. at sprint, there is a number, and you can also register on wanted numbers for free. >> they can go in through sprint and turn off the ability to receive text messages altogether. they can also go in and and limit to they receive text messages from. >> and verizon has something.

you can log on and click on the spam blogging and enter the offending number. all of the major carriers will issue a credit if you have been charged for the spam tax. and by the way, both walmart and best buy say they are not responsible for those texts. they are investigating trying to stop is. >> all right, you probably noticed that susan did not mention t-mobile. that is because it does not have an option, but you can walk off text messages sent by email or create folders, and we have information on our website. >> there are now 300 new laws and the state of maryland. and some are calling governor o'malley delusional. new details and report at 6:00. but first -- >> had been nailed down your memorial day menu? we are cooking with the chef, next.

>> have you come up with your memorial day menu yet? what about crabs? >> the tastiest recipes for your holiday feast. >> it is hard to imagine a memorial day weekend butt out crabs. this shep has been capturing the experience for years, and he invited us to his kitchen for a new twist on the oldies but goodies. he says to stick with the

basics. >> this is jumbo lump crabmeat. there should not be a lot of shells and them. >> ok. >> in a separate bowl, whisk together ingredients, including egg, parsley, and then you add some bread crumbs to the crab meat. >> gently. >> now, it is time to get your hands dirty and shape them into balls. here is a secret to have them hold better. >> let them be in the refrigerator for a few minutes. what that will do is soak up some of the moisture. >> then fried them in oil. >> right into the oven. >> it is crab soup is your thing, the chef has something that is sure to be a hit.

tomatoes sauce and -- >> a little tomato paste. not much, just a couple of tablespoons. >> and that gives some thickness. >> thickness, body. and this is the key, too. >> you put a whole thing in. >> a whole crab. be careful. you will get all of the flavor that is in the shell. that is going to get it an amazing flavor to your crab soup. >> crab cakes and crab soup, but it steamed is your style, that recipe is on our website, wbaltv.com. wbal tv 11 news. >> i am so hungry right now. that is all for us at 5:00. here is what is new at 6:00. >> maryland taxes. the answers, straight ahead. >> i am jayne miller.

critics go after a republican legislator for his comments on the inner harbor. and he says no, he will not apologize. >> and are too many students being suspended? i am tim tooten. this story coming up. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> our big story at 6:00, governor martin o'malley designed to nearly 300 bills into law. perhaps the most talked-about one is about raising the income tax rate. we are joined live from annapolis with more on the new taxes and fees. >> strong reaction today from policy and budget experts. one called the governor delusional and his rosy tax picture in maryland a lie. governor martin o'malley signed nearly 300 pieces of legislation into law. they