next on fox 45 early edition. we're in uniform and we see' robbery in progress. >> they chose to rob in the wrong place at the wrong time. why there were dozens of cops at scene of the crime. we have auction to the highest bidder. own a piece o baltimore history. where you can bid for dixon's property. a look at what it would take to give americans another option.

good morning. it's thursday, march 11th. i'm patrice harris. we need to get a check of our forecast because rain is in it. meteorologist steve fer fertig s here with details of how that rain is factored. yesterdayed the rain was the at airport and nothing downtown. today we get it, but probably again not until later into the evening light showers and steady rain but the rain is coming. it starts off rather mild, 47 degrees in baltimore and the same for d.c. a very mild start indeed. and the temperatures will end near the 60-degree mark once more before we're done. ment sky watch hd radar is showing the showers trying to move into the western counties, otherwise the clouds and the rain continue to build for later on tonight and into the rest of the weekend. we will talk more about that and how much rain you can expect in

a little bit. for today 61, and rather mild before again the rain moves in for later. let's see what is happening on the roadways this morning with candace dold. she is here with the traffic edge, good morning, candace. >> reporter: good morning, steve. we are checking on 95 moving through baltimore county ask whitemarsh and it's going to be a pretty picture on the northbound and southbound lanes scooting along just fine all the way down toward the beltway. as for southbound 95 through baltimore from the fort mchenry tunnel to 695, we're looking at a normal minute, 8 minutes at 55 miles per hour. once you're on the beltway the outer loop lanes from 95 toward 83 we're in the green 11 minutes at 54 miles per hour and it just gets down to 53 miles per with r with an 8 minute 35 at 53 making the push toward 895. patrice, back to you. items want to owned by

baltimore's form he mayor are up for sale to the auction's highest bidder. sheila dixon's item hit the internet. megan gilliland with the gifts that keep other giving. >> reporter: good morning, patrice, if you take a look they're up for sale at ebay right now. take a look at what the bids are going at $125 for the mink coat that she owned and $540 for the persian mink coat. these are gifts given to letter by ronald lip lips come. her exbox console hit ebay earlier this week, items she allegedly bought with gift cards meant for the poor. the x box is going for $7 four

times the normal price. dixon surrendered these items after her conviction of embezzling gift cards intended for the needy. accepting the deal end the perjury case against her. >> we are moving on to something else. if somebody wants to come into the office if there's a high bidder and wants to pick them up we will be happy to accommodate them. >> reporter: all of the proceeds will go to a youth program that helps kids find summer jobs. if you go to find one the jackets or the gaming systems. if you look closer and zoom in tighter, you will notice there's a red tape of evidence on all of these coats so you know they were used in trial and they did belong to former mayor sheila dixon. megan gilliland, fox 45 early edition. two men try to rob a woman

outside of lexington market yesterday but just yards away, about 40 police officers were on a training mission. they spotted the two men, and immediately responded and took the would be robbers down. police say it just goes to show how much their presence is needed in the area. >> we're in uniform and we see a robbery in progress. you know what, that tells you there's a problem. we have to attack that problem z baltimore police began their special community training program two years ago their goal is to talk to residents and address their concerns. a 3rd suspect wanted in connection with a stabbing of a man during a pub call in federal hill is now in custody. joseph burr was arrested on monday. he is suspected of stabbing 25-year-old michael couser. he was in federal hill taking part in a fundraiser for his wife's footbal foot football tes

attacked by burr in a bar. prosecutors drop charges against a -- in january police raided the home of nicole caruso looking for drugs. inside they found several animals and evidence of what appeared to be a dogfighting ring. causo who work as a dog groomer and three others were charged but the charges have been dropped. all three are facing drug and theft charges. repair crews finally restore water to thousands of homes in baltimore county of the a 36-inch watermain break was fixed yesterday near ahead of schedule. 15,0015,000 customers who had bn without water have service once again. some people reported brown water when the water came back on, but public works said the problems will clear up. >> i'm happy that this has been

made and hopefully, it's not going to happen again. >> i guess the lesson learn from this for everybody is please plan for at least three days of water which is the fema guidelines of water and food and emergency supplies to be without. >> 11 baltimore schools were closed for the last three days because of the water problems, but according to the county website, all schools are operating on a normal schedule today. low test cores are to blame for -- scores are to blame for the closing of five schools in baltimore city. officials say it will give parents, students better choices and enter schools. joel d smith is at johnson middle school. good morning, joel. >> reporter: good morning, patrice. in a way we knew this was coming. it was back in january when ceo dr. andres alonzo listed the schools due foreclosing due to the low testing and attendance. now the school board has a

agreed. now the parents and teachers know that this is one of the schools that won't be open for classes at the end of the year. four middle schools and a high school in iyad allawi becaus alw performance for attendance. the school board had months to review dr. alonzo recommendation and this week finally agreed to that decision. mayor stephanie rawlings-blake says she supports the move as well. >> i know that dr. alonzo and the school board have an aggressive plan to create options for school choice not just for students to attend high school, choice but to attend middle schools of their choice. >> reporter: the board voted to remove the charter, but student groups saw a decrease in test scores in math and reading. the last time that they met the

target score was four years ago. what does this mean now? parents have to look at other options. for some of them they will have to look at other closer schools and some of them will look at what programs exist, school choice is one of the things that dr. alonzo wants parents to look at so he this can head to schools where they are better equipped for particular students. joel d smith, fox 45 early edition. could cardinal gibbins become an independent run school. parents who don't want to see it closed say yes. the diocese says no. cardinal gibbins is one of the catholic schools and the only high school slated to close but the community is not giving up hope. they are looking to raise money to run the school independently of the archdiocese. parents say they raised that possibility on monday and were told by one of the bishops that all kinds of possibilities were can be considered, but the

archdiocese says it's not being considered and raising that kind of money necessary by the school community is not realistic and altamounts to false hope. a maryland lawmaker is proposing a bill that would make it illegal for the state to recognize gay marriages from out of state unless there's legislative approval. senator nancy jacobs approva a l would overrule john gensler's recommendation. >> our law prohibits same-sex marriage in the state of maryland and for him to come out and say we're going to basically allow something to happen in maryland that we did not allow, i think it's upsetting an awful lot of people. >> tuesday marked the first official day saying same sex couples could marry in washington d.c. dozens of partners quickly tied

the knot. same-sex marriage is legal in connecticut, iowa, massachusetts, new hampshire and vermont. the baltimore county's state attorney wants state increase the evidence that can be used in death penalty cases. scott shell less than berger told a senate panel that a pictures linking a defendant to a murder should be acceptable as evidence for prosecutors seeking the death penalty. last year they limited the death penalty cases to biological evidence, dna videotaped evidence of a murder or videotape confessions. opponents say neither fingerprints nor photographs are scientifically strong enough to ensure an innocent person won't be put to death. coming up in at early edition singing for survival. ♪ ♪ trouble, trouble >> how the top eight guys fared

on last night's a american idol. with a cloudy sky we start with cold air.

the top eight guys took to the stage on american idol last night in hollywood singing for your vote. >> trouble, trouble ♪ ♪ trouble been dogging my soul since the day i was born ♪ ♪ worry

>> sounds pretty good. alex lambert sang "trouble" but did his performance keep him out of trouble with the judges. >> you're consistent, every single week you get better, and better. what i love about you too, is i love your innocence that you can see how sweet and vulnerable and honest you are. don't lose that. you need more confidence, but don't get cocky. don't become a cocky banana, nobody likes that. >> you can post your reaction at facebook or twitter page. you can also follow candace on her idol blog as she takes us behind the scenes all season long. just go to foxbaltimore.com and click on american idia idol unde entertainment section. you can watch american idol today here on fox 45. meteorologist testify fier tisteve fertigis here with us.

you predicted rain and rain coming, but don't become a cocky banana. ellen is right. and we have nice days earlier this week so don't complain too much. there's showers in the east trying to make their way into the eastern shore. that's a disturbance rolling through there. however, the heavier rain will be from a system that is not quite in the midwest. this is one is slow-moving and coming our way, it's the tail end of this system that is going to swing through here and bring us heavy rain as we get toward the deeper part of the weekend, well, meaning friday night into saturday, and even parts of sunday night it looks like. there's the low pressure center moving in our direction, and it will as a say bring the heaviest rain for friday night into saturday when we do have flood concerns and here are the factors. we will have low pressure moving up the eastern seaboard. it's going to get a strong wind so a strong surf as well and

with the winds bring the moisture onshore looking at a significant amount of rain. here is a look at the rainfall totals we expect to see as we move through the next couple of days an anyway ask this will anw you we will pick up as much as an inch on 2 inches of rain and even 2.5 in the western most part of the area. keep in mind that is only until saturday early. we will continue to pick up more rain on saturday. we could see isolated cases of more than that rain, so for the snow melt we are overly concerned about the possibility of flooding atop of the rain that is coming our way. the western counties especially concerned. we have an aerial watch there for what allegheny and on 7:00 p.m. on saturday night wemplet going to keep those areas in mind and watch for the potential of flooding there especially. 47 degrees for the temperature right in baltimore. rather mild over the clouds we have. 47 in d.c. and 54 in salisbury.

hagerstown and 45, we start mild but dawz of th of the clouds the increasing but still not bad. mostly cloudy skies and the central part of the state close to the same, 65 degrees for the high temperature and mostly cloudy skies and rain holding off until this evening and especially overnight tonight. back to the west we look for a high temperature of 60 degrees, not bad there, either with mostly cloudy skies, east southeast winds at 5-10. tonight 49 degrees, evening showers, it's going to be rain overnight. it will be a mild night, though at least with the mild temperatures, we will see nothing but just plain rain. as we move through the day today, 46 degrees starting out. 59 by the noon hour. we will get to a high of 61 degrees right around 1 to 2:00 and 57 degrees as the temperatures back off just a hair at 6:00 p.m. with the showers arriving then and just light showers. the heavier rain tomorrow, 59 degrees with periods of rain on friday, but the heaviest rain overnight friday into saturday.

temperatures stay near 63 degrees on sunday. kn rule out showers on sunday and an isolated chance of shower on with a high of 56. partly cloudies skies and 58 degrees on wednesday with plenty of sunshine then. fox 45 sky watch weather is at your finger tips. iradar is available at foxbaltimore.com. you can use fox's powerful doppler radar to track incoming storms. the interactive tools will let you know when rain or snow will be over your house. fogo to foxbaltimore.com and clk on iradar. here is candace dold with the traffic edge. >> reporter: right now traveling on the beltway through pikesville at 63 miles per hour and 59 on the jfx so nothing to complain about there. as for what is happening on 95 moving through baltimore right now we're in the green so favorable conditions on both the northbound and southbound lanes down toward that beltway. once you finally do approach the beltway moving through

catonsville let's check in on the area on route 40 and here it is getting a bit busy but we don't have brake lights to talk about so we will keep that there, keep our fingers crossed that's for sure. the entire west side stretch that's the deal. cars are moving along up to speed right through liberty road and on 795, nothing to annoy you on the southbound lanes from owings mills all the way downed toward that beltway. that's a look at your morning travels, patrice, back over to you. thank you, candace. still ahead, madonna is heading for a department store near you, the clothing line m she is developing. it's disturbing considering what is going on in the markets. >> unnecessa

first on fox, baltimore city is in the grips of a pension crisis, but that is not stopping members of the pension board from traveling to 5 star resorts. jeff barns take a closer look at who is paying the bill. >> reporter: it's described as one of the most luxurious resorts with the deserts views, nestled in the desert of scottsdale arizona is the

phoenician hotel and for several hundred dollars a night you can enjoy that setting just like two of the members of the pension board did in february. >> they need to be wise enough not to take these kind of travel. >> this is indicative of what is going on in every -- on every level of government where they're just, people just don't care. >> reporter: fox 45 an investigative voice uncovered the 3 day trip to arizona after reviewing minutes from january's pension board meetings, but missing from those minutes is critical information, like who paid for the trip. did the board members use their educational fund which is funded with city money or did they travel on the dime of investment visors which iadvice ors which n of the law. >> it's very disturbing considering what is going on in the and with retirement funds. >> reporter: we shared our findings with city council

president jack young. >> they should for transparency sake, bring their travel before the board of estimates. >> reporter: they require all the agencies to bring the travel except for the pension board. >> employees of the city pay into the fines and they should be subject to the board of estimates just like every other travel. >> we contacted the executive director of the city employment for comment but our e-mails and phone calls were never returned. you can do that by joining waste watch. if you have a story about government waste, can you call our hot line (410)662-4510. new revenue projections for the current fiscal year why the governor says the numbers are a

good sign. but next, changes coming to

another day, another recall for toyota. and the material girl is finally living up to her nickname. elizabeth mcdonald explains.

>> reporter: toyota expanding yet another recall. now dealers will have to fix hundreds nationwide. toyota previously recalled 110,000 of them in over rust issues that can cause the spare tires to fly off the trucks. the job picture getting better. 31 states added jobs in january, only 11 states added jobs in december. michigan leading the pack with an unemployment rate above 14%. out of wall street, the douw gaining two points. panera bread will post calorie count at nation owned stores. panera will be the first nationwide chain to do that voluntarily. and madonna teaming up with fashion house iconnics on a junior's collection. the material girl line will mitt macy's in august. that business, i'm elizabeth

mcdonald. coming up disturbing news out of st. joseph's medical center, how many more people may have gotten unnecessary stints. and former mayor sheila dixon's first on the auction block. find out how much it