>> it's ridiculous. you know, guns on the street. >> reporter: governor o'malley has asked for a review of the case. but expressed pride in recent improvements of the juvenile system. >> i think we're a leader in the nation when it comes to using gps on young adult. i mean, young people who are at risk to themselves or potential threat to others. and we're going to continue to expand that -- those programs now. >> reporter: the governor says he is in touch with baltimore city police as the investigation into the fight continues. the community around south pulaski has stood together over the past week, speaking out against the violence taking over the neighborhood. including raven's aunt. >> what are we as parents supposed to do? kids can't walk the street. they can't go to school. you know? she was just a little girl. and if we can't take careuf of our-- care of our babies now, what's going to happen to our future? >> reporter: there wasne response why lamont davis was

on the streets. the governor expressed concerns about the number of juvenile facilities. >> it's false to think that the reason that juveniles are on the street is because we have close facilities. >> we had plans to add more facilities. albeit, not of the giant size of the 1950s, but smaller, 48- bed facilities. >> reporter: little raven is still in the hospital. but her family has requested that the hospital no longer give updates on her condition. kelly mcpherson, wjz eyewitness news. >> now, the 17-year-old charged in the shooting remains behind bars without bail. chilling new information on the western maryland father who killed his children and wife before killing himself. court records show that christopher wood left loving goodbye notes near the bodies of each family member he killed. back in april, wood killed his three children and wife francey in their middletown frederick county home, before he used a shotgun to take his own life. new information continues

to emerge on the mindset of the 22-year-old tennessee woman, who killed tennessee ravens quarterback, steve mcnair before she took her own life. >> police continue to piece together the final days of 20- year-old sahel kazemi's life and find she was quickly spiraling out of control. just days before the murder- suicide, kazemi sat down with a stranger at the restaurant where she worked and spoke of her relationship with mcnair and how it was falling apart. later, she told a coworker, she was thinking about "ending it." they also said that she saw a woman leaving mcnair's home but she does did -- did not confront her. >> thank you, sally. mcnair's funeral is tomorrow in his hometown in mississippi. a baltimore police spokesman has been suspended, as the department looks into allegations he inadvertently sent an e-mail with a nude woman.

officer troy harris was suspended this morning. according to our partner at the baltimore sun, he was trying to send a mug shot of a suspect to the newsroom. but instead, sent a picture of a nude woman. the department is investigating. 700 million. that is the projected budget shortfall maryland could be facing. twice as much as previously estimated. eyewitness news is live downtown. jessica kartalija has more on what is going to be done about it. jessica? >> reporter: good afternoon. that's the big question tonight. i spoke with dozens of state workers who say they don't want to go on camera. they're not sure where the cuts are going to stem from. and they're worried about losing their jobs. >> reporter: days into the start of the fiscal year, maryland's $14 million budget is already facing a 5% shortfall. >> it is a daunting and huge challenge to have to find approximately $700 million in cuts or spending reductions in the current year budget. the fiscal year only began july

1st. >> reporter: the governor is asking his budget chief and the heads of every state department to find places to cut. a list will be presented to the board of public works later this month. >> everything is on the table. what we do not want to do in addition to protecting families who through no fault of their own, are hard hit in this economy. the other thing we do not want to do is add to the economic woe. >> we have a lot of things to look at. but it will be challenging economic times. >> reporter: 80% goes toward education, healthcare or public safety. it's still unclear who will be affected. areas targeted in the first three rounds of budget cuts would likely be hit first. >> reporter: still, despite tough economic times, the governor says maryland is actually in better shape than many other states. >> i am encouraged, though when i look around the country and

see how much better maryland is faring, both in terms of unemployment rate that is lower than the national average and one of only seven states that has a triple a bond rating. >> reporter: and we asked the governor specifically whether there may be more furloughs throughout the state. he says at this point he really can't comment. again, they're just not sure where those cuts are going to come from. live in baltimore city, i'm jessica kartalija, wjz eyewitness news. >> all right. thank you, jessic a. now, there is some good economic news tonight. heam -- home sales in the baltimore area rose last month for the first time since january 2007. residents sold 2 -- 375,000 homes last month. that's up 24%. however, average prices continue to fall down 10% across the general area. general motors is out of bankruptcy tonight. the company is promising a leaner and greener operation.

>> reporter: loyal gm customers aren't hard to find in michigan. >> we all need to get together and support gm, instead of turning our backs on gm. because what is gm? america. >> reporter: general motors is out of bankruptcy and promising to stay out of trouble. business as usual is over at general motors. >> reporter: ceo fritz henderson introduced this as new priorities. better cars. new corporate culture and a laser focus on the customer. >> reporter: they received a lot of christ simp -- criticism for relying too heavily on gas- guzzling gms. >> reporter: top of the list is the electric volt. but since it won't hit the market until next year, gm is relying on solid performers like the chevy malibu. and it's creating buzz with the new version of its muscle car, the camaro. more than 9,000 sold in june. and gm says it's the start of a comeback. >> i got a gm product right

now. treated real well here. and want to stick with it. >> reporter: plus, the company that was born decades before the computer era, will now sell on ebay. for now, the automaker is down to just four brands. chevrolet, buick, cadillac and gmc. >> we're finally going to have a leaner, faster, better gm. we have been looking forward to this. >> reporter: but it's still dependent on the government, which owns 60% and has pledged $50 billion in loans. gm plan perhaps -- promises to pay it all back. but in a rough economy, there could be some potholes along the way. in detroit, drew levinson, wjz eyewitness news. >> and general motors says it will pay back those billions in government loans, ahead of a deadline in the year 2015. sounds like a broken record. or a skipping cd. but no one is complaining. our string of fantastic days continues. can it last through the entire weekend? we're live with first warning weather coverage. meteorologist tim williams and

bob turk are updating the first warning coverage. for about six hours, we may have showers. that's about it. the rest of the weekend looks pretty good. take a look at radar. nothing around here. we have to go way out to the midwest. around the great lakes. about fort wayne, indiana, eastern kentucky. showers out there. some of this activity will be able to sneak over the mountains by late side night. -- late saturday night. and that's really our first chance of any shower or thundershower activity. by sunday, it will be gone. so looks like for the most part, a pretty good weekend. tim has a look at the pattern after saturday and sunday into next week. more good weather headed our way. tim? >> reporter: definitely looking at the stretch continuing. the difference will be that the temperatures will go up just a little bit. but as the temperatures go up tomorrow, a front comes by and knocks the humidity back down. we're left with temperatures just a little below the average. but again, the stretch continues for july. we nort going -- are not going to complain. bob will tell us, we have a nice run, continuing into the

next week of july. we'll have your complete updated first warning forecast coming up in a few moments. back inside. thank you very much, tim and bob. baltimore is number 2. at least when it comes to the worst drivers in the nation. that's according to a new ranking. the new report finds baltimore area drivers have a significantly higher risk of getting into an accident. eyewitness news is live on the beltway in baltimore county. gigi barnett has more on the rankings. and certainly, they're not talking about you. >> well, if you think that baltimore has some bad drivers, baltimore is not actually the worst. there is one city that outranks baltimore when it comes to bad driving. >> reporter: out of 200 cities, baltimore drivers are second to the worst. that's what a new report released this week by allstate insurance company discovered. >> it's kind of crazy out there. we tried to raise awareness of drivers of what they need to do. why they need to be more aware and drive safer. >> reporter: the insurance company used a number of collision planes planes to rank

the top cities with the most accidents. the only city baltimore outranks is the nation's capital. >> d.c. has been at that level for the past five years. we don't know why. police say it's because it's a crowded metropolitan area. >> reporter: they also found baltimore drivers have an 80% chance of getting into an accident. and the frequency of those crashes are going up every year. in -- 2005, baltimore drivers experienced an accident, on average, once every 6 1/2 years. but now, according to sawl state -- allstate, they can expect to crash an average of once every five years. >> that's just shocking to me. i've driven in other places of the country. they say baltimore definitely doesn't seem to be the worst of the worst. >> reporter: while some drivers may be surprised with the ranking in the study, the state highway administration isn't. it says 93% of all accidents around the state are caused by driver error. and some drivers in the city have seen those errors. >> people cutting off.

not using turn signals. and kind of beefing in and out of -- weaving in and out of traffic. >> reporter: but allstate says the most common cause of city collisions are is distractions. especially when drivers are in a rush. >> pretty basic. but it's things people don't into consideration. they're in a hurry to get somewhere. >> reporter: and the insurance company also says those cities have more people. and you have more drivers, it means more accidents. vic, back to you on tv hill. >> okay, gigi. drive carefully coming back home. >> i will. still to come tonight on wjz eyewitness news. you can't swim here. campers denied access to a pool. was it because of their race? i'm sally thorner. reading, writing, arithmetic. and baseball. back to school with the orioles coming up on eyewitness news. i'm suzanne collins. the number of autistic children in maryland has skyrocketed. and their parents face a

problem. i will have a story about that coming up next. and getting ready for the weekend. stick around for the updated first warning weather forecast.

we have some breaking news now. a car fire on a major interstate. captain mike perry has details for us. >> big trouble. northbound i-95, north of rafael road. this is north of whitemarsh in baltimore county, where it appears a sport utility vehicle was caught fire. north of rafael road. it is on the shoirbled.

however, with the fire equipment on the scene, looks like they're blocking. you're heading back towards the discount. you can expect delays in the area, not only construction. but a car fire, north of rafael road. back to you. some help today for parents of children with autism. an autism summit is meant to guide guide those maryland children and their parents. >> the boys are both autistic. r.j. often talks as if he's reading from a movie script. >> it's a curse. a terrible, terrible curse. a curse that can take 17 years -- years to get rid of.

>> reporter: his parents say if he gets frustrated, he can really lose control. if it's really annoying, i can get antsy. story if i sound a little gory. this has made it very hard for the family to go out in public. when others don't understand. >> i hate to say this, but we're find of in -- kind november a mobile prison alt times. >> the children's mother heads an autism group in anne arundel county and is attending a state summit in baltimore today. the goal is to improve services. which can drastically improve the life of an autistic child. we need to do more on unraveling, figuring out this tragic mystery of autism, what causes it. how can we best identify it? >> reporter: rj and cory's mother says her older child has grown child.

and for a child with behavioral problems, it's hard. >> he's taller than me and weighs over 200 pounds. imagine what that looks like. i love him dearly, but it's raging bull. >> reporter: one of the big concerns is when an autistic child turns 21, many of the services are no longer available. and about 2400 children face that in the next five years. >> they will recommend what can be done to help. suzanne collins, wjz eyewitness news. and you can find a link to many autism resources in the state at geej.com. just chick on local news. we have new information on the spire we first reported on. a woman inside the home was able to escape with minor smoke inhalation. the fire was brought under control, shortly after 5:00, and the cause is under investigation. the former owner of rosecroft raceway will pay more than $10 million to buy back the prince george's county

track. the board of directors approved the sale to developer mark vogel. and the track plans to simulcast live racing and take betting. school is out for the summer. but thanks to a new partnership with the orioles, learning has never been so much fun. >> you must be a power hitter. >> reporter: before he was a baseball manager, the orioles' dave trembley used to be a teacher. and it shows. >> there's a different sound that you hear as it gets up here. as it gets up here in this sweet spot area. >> reporter: in the midst of a stressful season, today's lesson is grounding. >> i think it's a fun part of the job to let everybody know that you care about them. and that you'd like to be part of this community and not just be in your own little area of, you know, camden yards and managing a baseball team. >> reporter: fourth grader parish riley is a believer. >> i always dreamed of playing baseball. because i have favorite baseball players from back when

i was never born. >> reporter: mount royal elementary middle school, assistant principal knows how important this partnership is to her kids. >> the children have learned about the orioles, things that they didn't know about. and for some of the children, it may be the first time that they'll get to go to a baseball game, get to meet a player, get to actually learn the basics of baseball. >> orioles right fielder nick markakis is happy to be part of the curriculum, along with his wife christina. >> she used to be a teacher. makes it a little easier. and takes a little pressure off me. >> reporter: as a teacher, you must have a plan. what do you hope these kids go away with today? >> i hope they can see that the bat and the ball can work together to produce the furthest hit ball. and also they can learn about newton's law, and inertia and movement. >> i hit the 60. >> good job. >> is this fun? >> yes. >> did you ever think summer school could be so fun?

>> yes. >> no. >> we have a split decision. >> reporter: this is an outgrowth of the city school's partnership with the orioles and child first authorities. vic, denise and bob. >> i need to be taught that. >> she doesn't need to taught that. >> uh-huh. >> great day for baseball. great day for being outside. just great weather. and we'll continue a little longer. take a look at temps and conditions right now. still a lot of sunshine. 77. winds south/southeast at 6. barometer holding staid. come back and look at the weekend.

beautiful friday evening. taking a look out at the reservoir. >> another gorgeous evening. >> it's been a fantastic week. and a fant of thetic summer so far. actually, for the weekend. most of the weekend is going to be awfully nice. there is a chance, as i said earlier. late saturday night, into early sunday. of scattered showers and a couple of thunderstorms. and maybe even a brief heavy downpour here and there. watch out for that. i gotta show you something interesting. today's high was 83. low last night was 59. average is now 67 and 86. but this is the all-time record high. it occurred downtown high atop

the custom house. that's like a four-story building. they have since moved that down. that thermometer, 107, the all- time high. many spots in maryland were 105 to 110 degrees, that particular day. this was the year of the highest, worst temperatures ever in this part of the country. 1961. 55 degrees. that stands out as the all-time high record temperature, going back as far back as records can go here. 77. elkton, 77. 73, comfortable everywhere. all in all, very comfortable. tomorrow, i expect the dew point digs like this. because of that, southerly winds for a while. bring us moisture.

and look out for clouds and sun increase. as the batch of showers showers and storms moves in from the south and west of us. and this stuff will continue to head out to our direction. winds a little more south and southwesterly. it will bring us moisture and the risk of showers. behind this is another batch of low humidity. really, we're only dealing with several hours of high humidity and a risk of scattered showers and thundershowers. it's called humid, warm, and behind the system. less humid. coming in for sunday afternoon. and monday of next week. small craft advisory in the afternoon tomorrow. southeast winds, becoming southwest late in the day. bay temp, 77 degrees. we'll see clouds. 72. comfortable again. and a chance of thunderstorm activities coming through the

region tomorrow night. probably after 8:00 or 9:00, until about 3:00 or 4:00 tomorrow night. watch out for the showers. >> less humid in the orchestra. >> yes. still to come tonight on wjz eyewitness news. death investigation. for the first time, los angeles police chief says charges may be filed in the death of michael jackson. i'm monmatz at the towson town center. lucy vuitton opens a store here. in these tough economic times, will it be a success? the latest on james von brunn and when he will go to court. orioles are back home. but but their manager is out on suspension. we'll hear from dave trembley, plus michael phelps. that's ahead when eyewitness news continues.