[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news at noon. >> good afternoon. i am mindy basara. city residents are being urged to conserve water as the department of public works crews starts today to repair the city's water main. kim dacey has the latest. >> the repairs, after an extensive study in march using high-tech equipment that uncovered a new problem. using high-tech equipment like the type diver at optical cables, inspectors found a

potential outbreak in southwest baltimore in march. >> due to the proactive work of the baltimore city department of public works, we have gotten ahead of a potentially serious matter. >> most of the large water main breaks were caused by a stressed pipes sold to the nation for decades ago. dpw will begin adjustments. they will adjust 3 16-inch sections of the 54-inch main. >> please refrain from outside watering, car washing, until after sunset or during the early morning hours. please do not wash clothes or dishes or do non-essential indoor cleaning using water until late in the evenings or

early morning trade used clothes washers or dishwashers only with full loads. we're asking that you remember that short showers use less water than filling a tub. >> dpw says there is a chance that water service could be interrupted, but using the conservation tips will reduce that chance. kim dacey, wbal-tv 11 as. >> officials are also urging residents of howard, baltimore, and anne arundel counties to conserve water to coincide with city repairs. this year's new maryland school assessment scores are in, and they show improvement at elementary schools. reading efficiency is 88.2% this year. for information on all of this year's assessments course, had to our web site and click on educatio"education alert."

embattled anne arundel county executive john leopold will stand trial could a judge denied a request to dismiss the case. he's accused of using security detail to facilitate dramatic encounters with an employee and using police to gather information about political opponents. a jury trial will begin september 4. there will be no trial for defense of the st. patrick's day attack of a tourist in downtown baltimore. all four suspects have pled guilty, according to the attorney for suspect aaron parsons. parsons, who allegedly threw the punch that knocked out the victim, was sentenced to a year in prison. deangelo carterand shayona davis pled guilty to assault charges but will be released on time served. shatia baldwin will be sentenced in december. investigators said that a 22- year-old victim told detectives she was walking north on july 1 when she was approached at gunpoint by a man who tried to sexually assault her.

we are told the suspect suffered a minor injury during the incident but police have not released additional details. city fire officials are trying to determine what caused an early-morning fire in east baltimore. crews arrived at linwood avenue just after 4:00 this morning, where they found heavy smoke pouring from the home. an elderly woman was treated at the scene for asked not-related problems. -- asthma-related problems. >> there is still enough moisture in the air and if you find the right trigger, you can make a thunderstorm develop. isolated storm activity mostly south of us, but in the middle of harford county, in the satellite and radar loop, and isolated thunder shower -- or shower. thunder and lightning in it as of yet -- no thunder and lightning in it as of yet. i have circled baltimore city just to help you locate things.

that is only a small amount of rain. it is occurring in the south. that is where most of the rain is going to occur today. we will watch for isolated development around our region as well. we will tell you about the forecast for the next few days in a few minutes. >> despite the recent break in the temperatures, the oppressive heat wave has taken a toll on this date, to iclaiming the livf more than a dozen marylanders. there have been 18 heat-related deaths sinc. >> people living at home, their interior temperatures in the evening may not have gone down significantly. they continue to be in this extreme heat even in the ninth time. day after day, they have a cumulative fluid loss, and that becomes a real problem for people. >> health officials tell 11 news that all but two of those who

died were 65 or older with underlying medical conditions. after 10 days of nonstop at efforts to repair the damage from last month but also monday morning's that a strong, bge is taking stock of the utility restoration performance. the company says there is a lot to be learned from these last two weeks. >> we will be looking at the network and looking at where are there a danger trees, trees that are leaning in a bad position and may become a broken. >> the g8 is reminding customers to prepare for more pretentious -- bge is a wreminding customers to prepare for potentially more dangerous weather. scammers offering consumers a $1,000 grant, claiming it comes from the obama administration. it gives consumers a routing number, in exchange for their personal banking information and

social security number. the $1,000 appears to have been deposited in the victim's account, but it is not really there. >> you don't have the deposit that showed up days later. you are bouncing checks, and you have given your social security number who can use that for identity theft in the future. >> cases have been reported in a dozen states across the country, including in maryland. still ahead, a brawl breaks out at a little league game, but it is not the players who need a lesson in sportsmanship. airlines charge fees for just about anything, but could he be paying for inpatients? -- impatience? and carrie engel is here to answer your plant and gardening questions.

>> a downed power line in north carolina sparked this fire, causing big problems for morning commuters. you can see the flashes from the line in charlotte this morning. it closed a major intersection in the city. power crews had to turn off service to several neighborhoods to fix the line. if florida teenager is recovering after having his arm and bitten off by an alligator.

the 17-year-old was swimming with his friends when the alligator attacked him, biting off his arm. officials were able to track down the gator at have retrieved the teenager's arm. doctors will try to reattached the severed limb. two people face charges after a fight at a little league game . it may have started over one parent playing music too loudly and disturbing the other parents. no serious injuries were reported. league officials are condemning the fight. still ahead, it is one of the deadliest diseases for instance, but it can be avoided. >> most of the rain is going to occur to our south. a little isolated thing has popped up and we will talk about that, we will talk about temperatures, and where we are headed in the next day or so. b.w.i. marshall, 86 degrees.

>> the lovely carrie engel from valley view farms is here to answer your plant and gardening questions. email plantquestions@wbaltv.com.

>> in to date's "consumer alert," gas prices are inching back up again. the increase comes on the heels of prices dropping 75 of the previous 77 days, prompting motorists to hit the road last week for for the july. it was a 10-year record. aaa reports the average price in maryland is $3.36, a seven-cent increase in the last week alone.

would you pay extra to get off an airplane faster? according to a survey, 16% of respondents said they would be willing to pay to be at the front of the line to get off of their flight when the airplane lands trade 10% say they would pay $10, 3% would pay more than $20. >> now your 11 insta-weather- plus forecast with john collins. >> here we are in baltimore. some clouds have developed out of pennsylvania towards harford county. we are seeing a few little sprinkles and isolated rainshowers that reached just across the susquehanna, just north of havre de grace. that is the only stop showing up nearby. there is stuff in the south. we will look at in a moment. pollen count is in the moderate range. grass and weeds are dominant.

temperatures? well, we've taken things down just a little bit, and we expect to stay a lot closer to normal, or the average, over the next week or so. we have those hundreds, and we are on average line, 80 degrees. where do we stand, temperature- wise? it has been a warm months. average temperature of 85.5 degrees. it's a little below normal with rain. just more than 1/3 of an inch of rain now. temperature-wise, we're beginning to boom in a little bit here. readings in the mid-to-upper- 80's. a little cooler in the mountains to the west. dew points greetings -- higher dew points are beginning to push north again. 62 in parkton. in annapolis, and 63 in east and played down to 70 and a cabbage -- in easton.

down to 70 in cambridge. the yellow shade you see to the north, have been pushed farther north. southwest virginia, it has been raining down there and it has held the temperature down a bit. here is the rain in harford county. it is kind of isolated. it lot closer to install the front, which is down in the carolinas. that front will stay down at there. something isolated could occur in our area, but still some moisture in the atmosphere. this big area of high pressure is pushing drier air down. it is a battle between drier air pushing in and the waves moving along this front. essentially, we are in a pattern that is much closer to normal, because the jet stream has pushed the drier air out of canada closer by, and that keeps us out of the extreme heat and

humidity. isolated thunder shower, most of this to the south of us today. east and northeast winds at about five to 10 miles an hour. futurecast shows this isolated a variety of rain activity not by us, and south, more significant rains. tomorrow, isolated showers to the north and west of us could crop up during the day tomorrow. we are fairly dry for thursday. on friday, we start picking up more clouds. on our seven-day forecast, we see higher rain chances at higher temperatures. mostly in the mid-to-upper-80's, and closer to 90 at the end of the week. morning lows in the 60's. this is a lot closer to normal, not as extreme as we saw just a few days ago. >> carrie engel from valley view farms is here to answer your plant and gardening questions. i love how weak match -- how we

match. >> this is nice. [laughter] this i first knew as a houseplant, in the morning sun, give it some afternoon shade if you can. i think that while the orioles are doing so well, we need to paint the town orange. >> good idea. oh, i hope so. >> they are nice, but they do not love the full, hot sun we are having . the other thing is that they don't like to be plantedoo deeply. hopefully it was planted high enough. don't put a lot of mulch on top. > all this is kind of the magic date -- august is kind of the

magic date. again, don't let them into deep -- don't plant them to be paid one year i divided them and never got around to planting them. just driving down here today, the mideast thing -- i think it they were awesome. i would go to that. hydrangeas are good but they will walz a little bit in the summer heat. drifter roses are great. >> great to see you. if you have a plant or gardening question --

," aoday's "medical alert study finds that government- provided community health centers often provide better care to patients than private practices. researchers at stanford studied 73,000 patients and found that doctors were equally or more complied with professional guidelines that were private doctors. researchers say this may be due to the best technology provided to community centers. cases of whooping cough have been popping up across the nation for months and it can be deadly for infants. the story of a baby boy and his journey to beat the disease. >> this 10-week-old has spent a month of his life in intensive care. >> we had been baptized, because we did not think he was going to make it. >> he is finally recovering at home. he has whooping cough, a respiratory disease spread when an infected person coughs or

sneezes . other symptoms include vomiting, fever, and diarrhea. he got sick before he was old enough to be vaccinated. >> it can be serious in children under a year. they been developed pneumonia, seizures, death. >> this pediatrician says the best treatment is effective, but teenagers and adults need a booster. she does not know how the baby copy of this but is angry that no one wonder about the disease. > -- warned her about the disease. >> it is good for ob/gyn's to let you know what to do. >> there are a lot whom are not vaccinating their children at all. terrible ordeal. >> up next, your maryland lottery numbers, and another

check of the insta-weather-plus forecast with john.

>> a california neighborhood was on edge over night after bears moved into their community. they were roaming through the town on monday. it was the second bear sightings

in 24 hours. tonight at 5:00, the scorching temperatures have been uncomfortable and dangerous, and we're learning they have been detrimental to local farmers. how the corn prices will affect your next trip to the store. officials said that the drowning of young boys was a tragic accident, but members of the community are not buying it. those stories and more at 5:00. and now your maryland lottery numbers. maryland lottery, let yourself play ♪ >> good afternoon, maryland. your pick 3 numbers are -- in a moment, pick four, but first, july's top 5 scratch-off

s are $2 games. when the top prize now through july 31, and your price will be doubled. a visit mdlottery.com. ready to rock and roll, and your numbers are -- the maryland lottery -- let yourself play. >> john has a final look at the weather. >> in little isolated shower in harford and cecil county. most of the stuff will be south of us today. mid-80's through the bulk of the rest of the week. warmer towards the end of the week. rain chances go up next weekend. >> thanks, john. thanks for joining us.