balancing act. state jobs and state programs are walking on a tight rope as maryland faces a budget shortfall. >> of course we're concerned. we eased had had had to take three, five, seven furlough days the past year. >> tonight the cuts the governor is prepared to make and the state workers fearing their job is on the chopping block. hello, i'm vic carter. >> i'm denise koch. here's what people are talking about tonight. it's the kind of treasure hunt that comes with treasure. hundreds of millions of dollars. that could mean furloughs or layoffs. eyewitness news live outside the state offices on preston street in baltimore. kelly mcpherson spoke with workers concerned about their jobs. >> reporter: earlier this month the governor told us he was going to have to make some difficult decisions and tonight we get the first glimpse into what those cuts may look like.

to close a budget deficit the governor is going to have to cut. >> is everything falls on us for the deductions. >> i'm an administrative assistant, so it's kind of scary to think about what if. i could be out of a job really soon. >> they need to ask the ones with the money to cut back a little bit, that's what i say. >> reporter: the first rounds for fiscal year 2010 is 280 million, including 75 million slashed from medicaid, 34 million from state healthcare, and getting rid of 39 filled and 18 vacant positions. more cuts will be announced by labor day. >> there's progress that we would like to be making at a faster rate than we're going to be able to and it's because we have to maintain fiscal responsibility. >> reporter: this is a list of how maryland's $33 billion budge set already allocated

this year. and the governor has made it clear any one of these lines could face cuts except for education. >> which is really the foundation of our economy, right? the skills, the talents, the education of maryland's workforce. >> with a majority of funds going to education, public safety, and health, workers are assuming furloughs are in the future. >> of course he they're concerned. we've had to take three, five, seven furlough days this past year. >> you do what you gotta do. can't change nothing. >> i don't like them, either, but i don't dislike them as much as having to laypeople o. >> reporter: and the governor promises no mass layoffs so far. just the 39 announced tonight. other ways they will be saving is through stem cell research and cutting back on state contracts. kelly mcpherson, wjz eyewitness news. >> the board of public works will approve the $280 million cuts tomorrow.

and anger and outrage from the moth verse two elementary school boys who were handcuffed and hauled off to jail. the boys admit they were caught stealing but as suzanne collins reports some believe police ended up in the wrong. >> reporter: it was an experience that seven-year-old jessie will never forget. he was arrested after he and two friends, eight and 11, admitted they took a scooter, a go cart, and a wagon from a neighbor's yard. the boys were all handcuffed and taken to the juvenile jail. >> they called the paddy wagon and put handcuff on us, and when the paddy wagon would stop, my face would hit against the metal. >> reporter: jessie's mother says the boys need to learn that theft is wrong but that the boys were given rough treatment when they were held for hours. >> if they did something wrong they need to be punished. i think it was too extreme. i think maybe if they would

have put them in the police car, taken them to northern, had had a nice little scary talk with them. >> reporter: jessie's eight- year-old friend was also arrested. his mother says it's outrageous that police arrested her son at 7:00 p.m. friday despite her protest and she wasn't able to get him released from scruff file jail until after midnight. >> he said, i don't have time for no investigation, he's going to jail. i stated, my son is eight years old, and at that time my son grabbed me, hugged me, i don't want to go to jail. >> the family of the third boy, who slech, had had no comment. police defend their actions saying they must divert young people from a life of crime. they cite cases of rowdy teenagers at that time inner harbor and a teenager charged with shooting a five-year-old girl. >> police were following their policies. now if you ask me, i might have handled it a little differently. i probably would have written a report up at home since they were with their parents. >> reporter: the man whose

belongings were stolen says does he not think the two younger children should have been put in metal handcuffs. he says a scary warning from the police may have been enough. what lesson did seven-year-old jessie learn from his experience? >> that i would never want to do it again. >> why not? >> because i would get arrested again. >> suzanne coul lips, wjz eyewitness news. >> now, the department of juvenile justice since the booking area is run by city police, although juvenile workers recommended he they not be held. >> tonight there's mounting opposition to president obama's healthcare plan, not from republicans but from fellow democrats. house democrats called off a critical work session today on capitol hill to deal with the building momentum against the president's overhaul plan. at issue, how to pay for the 1 trillion program. some democrats also don't like the proposed tax hike on the wealthy. tonight president obama spoke to cbs evening news, katie couric. >> my working principle has been, number one, let's make

sure that this package provides more choices to the american people, gives them more security if they've got a preexisting condition or they lose their job or they're changing jobs. it's got to be deficit neutral. it can't add to our deficits. and it's got to bring long-term costs down. >> the president has said he hopes to have a vote on healthcare by august. will you hear more about the plan tomorrow night in a prime time presidential speech and news conference that will air right here on wjz at 8:00 p.m. nearly two dozen high school students from our region are under quarantine in china tonight after several of them caught the swine flu. the group flew to beijing last week. a third of them are hospitalized with the virus. the rest are under quarantine at a hotel. they're part of the university of maryland program known as the confucius institute. police say it is a matter of safety but others say it is a violation of their rights. tonight a group of demonstrators arrested last

year for protesting say they're getting ready to do it again. eyewitness news is live on federal hill. kai jackson explains why the group feels the need to send out a warning. >> reporter: denise, the antiabortion group defend life says it is putting law enforcement on notice that it plans to protest. the group says it is also going to sue. the maryland state police, the harford county sheriff's office and others for violating members constitutional rights last year. they called it it the face the truth tour. members of defend life, a group of anti-abortion protesters, took their fight to harford county in 2008. >> the participants conducted their protest lawfully, carefully, and respectfully. >> reporter: that fight ended with 16 adults and two juveniles arrested. members say they were arrested because the public was offended by graphic posters of aborted babies. now they announce they're suing

the officials for violating their constitutional rights. >> they denied them permission to call their parents until after midnight and did not release any of them until the following day. >> reporter: in a news release dated august 1st, 2008, police say members of the group were arrested not for displaying graphic signs but for failure to obey a landfall order. and willfully disrupting the free flow of traffic, a county ordinance. >> the charges against them, loitering, disorderly conduct and failure to obey a landfall order had had nothing to do with failing to have a permit it at all. >> reporter: in june maryland state police and the harford county sheriff's office made a motion in court to have this suit thrown out. a judge denied that request, so right now defend life will have its day in court. none of those entities being named in this lawsuit would talk to us tonight. back to you. >> thank you, kai. defend life says plans to have 100 volunteers across the washington and maryland region

display images of aborted babies. >> test results show that maryland students are making gains but all the news isn't good. the news is not all good. middle sceerls need biggest improvements with nearly 82% showing proficiency in reading. that's up between 2 to 3% from last year. but a familiar troubling trend also emerged from the new numbers. wealthier school distribution, this is montgomery county, fared far better than poorer districts, such as baltimore. in nature there's almost nothing quite as dangerous as a mother grizzly bear when she's with her young. a retired police officer learned that firsthand while hike in wyoming sunday. tonight he's in the hospital with serious injuries to his face and jaw. this is how jerry looks tonight lying in the billings, montana hospital. his wife snapped the hospital and sent it to the men and women at that time cockeysville precinct who love him and work with him until he retired and

moved out west. >> he's the kind of guy who will do anything for anybody, one of those guys that everybody in the station will find something nice to say about. jerry was four-wheeling when they stopped to walk to a lake, jerry out front. >> the bear apparently attacked him from behind. he never sought coming. it got him pretty good. apparently it mauled his face, he lost his -- part of his teeth, broke his jaw. apparently he's got three broken ribs. >> reporter: a grizzly's instinct is to protect her young. jerry knew the risk and carried a gun. >> he was able to pull a gup that he carried with him and shot the bear three times. >> the bear was killed. jerry is stable but his friends know he will be anxious to get vought that hospital bed. >> reporter: knowing jerry as you do, do you think this will slow him down? >> nothing will slow jerry down, there's no doubt about that. >> the three grizzly cub year

links were taken and they are searching for a home for them. it's been a cliffhanger, what will happen to the historic senator theater. tomorrow morning the senator theater will go on the auction block. our media partner the baltimore sun reports there's already been some moderate interest from loyola college but no word on how the school would use the theater. the operator of the charles theater is another potential bidder. the auction starts at 11:00 a.m. >> i hope it gets a good bid. that's what i hope. explosive allegations. the star player of the pittsburgh steelers. tonight the serious accusations that one woman is making against ben roethlisberger. is another deadly crash imminent on the d.c. metro? tonight the disturbing findings of a new report. >> reporter: seven years after the research federal findings on how dangerous it is to use a cell phone behind the wheel are released. i'm weijia jiang in baltimore county. coming up, why groups say withholding this information has cost people their lives.

more chances of showers and storms headed our way. i'm bob turk. i'll have the complete first warning forecast coming up next.

it is 73 degrees with some showers in central mtd. the complete first warning forecast is coming up.

but first, serious accusations tonight against steelers quarterback ben roethlisberger. a nevada hotel employee says he raped her. the allegations came out in a lawsuit filed today. the woman claims roethlisberger attacked her last july in his penthouse at the hair ray's lake tahoe resort. no criminal complaints were ever filed. the steelers and nfl commissioner roger goodell say they are looking into the matter. >> the charges are dropped but the anger remains. a prominent harvard university scholar says he's a victim of racial profiling. professor henry lewis gates was locked out of his home and trying to find a way in when a neighbor called police thinking a burglar was trying to break into the home. when officers arrived they say gates argued with them saying he was being racially profiled. that's when he was arrested for disorderly conduct. today those charges were dropped. the cambridge police department says the arrest was regrettable and unfortunate. meanwhile gates told a website he is still outrammed and plans to work on a documentary about

racial profiling. bad circuits on washington's metro rail system could be to blamed in part for a deadly accident but now there are reports the problem could be widespread. a report cites inspectors who have found at least a half- dozen bad circuits on five lines of the. sources tell the post that bad circuits can cause false read vtion where a train is in the. tonight metro's chief denies the post report. nine people were killed, nearly 70 hurt when a metro train crashed had into another one near the fort taunton station. new information about the use of cell phones while behind the wheel. the risk is almost equal to drunk driving. and as weijia jiang reports consumer advocates claim this information has been withheld for years. the national highway safety administration faces harsh criticism after outdated studies surface about dangers of using a cell phone while driving. some of the research dates back to 2002 when many states were

just starting to create distract driving laws. the idea that the federal government can withhold important safety data and its research on public safety is really disastrous. >> two consumer groups filed a lawsuit to have the data released. they claim the cell phone industry pressured the agency to withhold it, and that nhtsa was worried it could cost billions. >> if it's something like that it should have been released. >> reporter: the report found cell phone use sandal by drivers increased 50% from 2000 to 2002 and that driver distraction contributes to 25% of police reported traffic crashes. the agency recommended that drivers not use these devices when driving except in an emergency. while several steafts already banned using handheld cell phones while driving, the findings indicate hands-free devices are just as dangerous. the studies concluded it's the engaging in conversation, knots

the holding the cell phone that distracts drivers. >> while this article is certainly cause for concern, it also demonstrates how complex and how controversial the cell phone while driving issue truly. >> reporter: but many drivers say releasing statistics are useless. >> unless it's a law, people are going to do it. >> i don't think that people care about numbers. people care about convenience and what's important to them. >> reporter: the consumer groups hope the reports will encourage lawmakers to outlaw drivers' phone use altogether. here in maryland authorities say every year 44,000 crashes are a result of distracted driving and of those at least 200 result in fatalities. reporting in towson, weijia jiang, wjz eyewitness news. >> in a recent aaa pole 55% of maryland motorists say distracted drivers are a major problem. a celestial phenomenon has eyes to the sky over southern asia. the longest solar eclipse of the century brought darkness to the morning in eastern india.

large crowds gathered to view the spectacle and it was shown on national television. the eclipse will last for six and a half minutes. it's only value in asia. >> darn. >> that's incredible. >> that is incredible. >> we've had had some pretty interesting weather tonight. a pool of cold air came in overhead and showers and storms quickly developed to the north. take a look at radar. they're still going on across carroll, baltimore, and southern york and lancaster counties. activity just to the north of the region. we've had had some reports as much as an inch or more. many areas a half inch, three- quarters. westminster, one report of inch and a half of rain. still some showers near day taylorsville. around the city, nothing bough few sprinkles. all this activity continues to move to the north away from our region. we might see a repeat of this

again tomorrow and over the next several days. a little bit of instability. these showers and storms can develop rather quickly. these things really came up fast. take a look at temperatures right now. 73 here with no rain in the city. no rain at the airport. 60s to the north. low 60s out at oakland where they did see rain earlier tonight. around the baltimore metro, where it's rained upper 60s, some spots even as low as 62, 63. so pretty good rain right across the northern tier of harford, baltimore, and westminster, carroll county, manchester, emmets berg, parkton, sparks, phoenix, pretty good rain. annapolis, not drop. kent island, quiet at # 3 degrees. right now winds continue to be vought the east, bringing in some more moisture of the atlantic ocean. that will probably continue for a little while longer. you see the clouds, showers,

one, two, three, moving across the northern section from the city on south, generally clear skies, and they should stay there pretty much overnight. you can see some fog forming. the next system, actually tomorrow kind of quiet, but on thursday this next area of low pressure or trough begins to approach the region, so we have a pretty good shot we think on thursday of general showers and thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. many areas could see some decent rain as that low pressure passes to our west we get into a warm, humid flow, then that weak system comes through. so the risk of showers increases for thursday. probably not as much on friday or the weekend. but still slight chances. south winds 10 to 15, a gust of 20 on the bay. overnight any showers will be ending, otherwise partly cloudy, low of 66. tomorrow sun and clouds, maybe a thunderstorm in spots in the afternoon. some could be moderate. 84 for a high. next five days, temperatures get back close to normal, 86, 86, 88 on saturday, 86 on

sunday. friday and sunday not much in the way of rain. another shower threat on sunday afternoon. denise. >> we can home. thank you, bob. s on car insurance.

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in this year of transition for the orioles you can see young guys coming up, older guys passing through. one of the veterans trying to prove he belongs is rich hill. another shot against the yankees tonight. a rookie fan having fun. if he were aware of the o's pitching problems he wouldn't enjoy it so much. first inning, a base hit. in comes brian roberts. markakis on a hot streak. now to rich hill. the lefty had had control problems. walked five yankees, three of those he put on came in to score. third inning, robinson cano with this shot over the fence in right center. three-run homer, and that is gone. hill will exit in the 4th inning, and as he goes we wonder have we seen him for the

last time. trailing 5-2 are the orioles. brian bass in relief. could have been worse. here's mar kay skills. derek jeter is going to try to score. markakis won't have it. small consolation. o's still lose. series finale tomorrow afternoon. the orioles have reached a tentative agreement to move three spring training home to sarasota florida starting next year. sarasota county officials say they will vote on the deal tomorrow. if completed the o's would leave this facility in fort lauderdale where they've been for the last 14 years. the o's after minor league complex there. former oriole sidney ponson back up with the kansas city royals and delivers one of the wildest pitches you'll ever see. bounce back to the back stop. l.a. wins 8-5. kansas city has lost

seven in a row. tennis news, andy roddick will soon be on a court near you. he will compete in the legg mason event in washington, d.c. two in weeks. roddick has been nursing an injury to his right hip. roddick says he will play on the hard court in d.c. starting august 2nd. good to see him. >> sure l.

some people aren't too high on the newest application for your iphone. that's because it gives you the addresses of medical marijuana stores. it covers all 13 states which

have legalized marijuana for medical -- medicinal purposes. apple says it is just providing a niche service for its diverse users. critics say the demand doesn't justify having its own application.

coming up next on the late show with david letterman, actor kevin spacey. >> thanks for watching eyewitness news on wjz 13, maryland's news station. good night. we'll see ya tomorrow.