. fighting an outbreak. breaking news in the battle against the deadly swine flu signs flu. how maryland will play a key role in fighting the flu. hi, everybody oar i am sally thorner. we begin with break news. the university maryland school of medicine will play a key role in the battle against the

so-called swine flu. they are going to be degrees vaccines against h1n1. signs there live. mike hellgren has the latest on the vaccine and why it is so critical. mike. >> reporter: good afternoon, sally and everybody. the school says they will quickly be able to get a large number of volunteers for human testing of a vaccine. there have been more than 37,000 cases reported nationwide. and that number is expected to grow as we head into the cold weather months. the university school of medicine will be one of the nation's leaders in the testing of vaccines for h1n1, also known as swine flu. it will begin evaluating vaccines that could protect people across the country and across the world from the vicious flu strain has claimed three lives in the state and killed 211 people nationwide. that major announcement follows the world's first human trials of a h1n1 vaccine in australia earlier this week. >> we are pretty clear what the

usual dose and what we call the schedule of vaccination is, but because this is a novel strain of influenza and sometimes we can get result that are a little different than the normal seasonal vaccine, we are going to be running a trial to -- to confirm the dose. >> reporter: although the severity of the outbreak appears to have gone down, health officials are bracing for a second and even more serious outbreak of h1n1 later this year. >> the potential for a significant outbreak in the fall is looming. >> we want to prepare for a worst-case scenario because these things have social, medical and economic impacts. >> reporter: federal government is spending $1 billion on a new vaccine and the university of maryland school of medicine is one of eight federally-supported testing centers nationwide, the federal government expects to approve a vaccine hopefully by mid-october.

the illness right now is widespread in more than 20 states. report be live in n baltimore, mike hellgren, wjz eyewitness news. >> mike, thank you. all three peoples who died from h1n1 swine flu in maryland had underlying health conditions. a tough battle ahead for governor o'malley as he seeks to close a $700 million budget shortfall. now he is proposing to keep the cuts as painless as possible. ron matz live in the newsroom with more on those plans. hi, ron. >> reporter: hi, sally. the governor has outlined plans to cut a little less than half of that deficit. first he said the state will get relief from the federal government as they boost medicaid funding by about $75 million. that is thanks to the state's unemployment rate. money for stem cell research will be cut, as will the state's lottery budget, but one of the toughest cuts will be for state workers, 40 of them will be laid off. the board of public works began meeting a couple of hours ago to discuss these budget cuts. sally, back to you. >> thank you, ron. funding for health care providers serving medicaid patients will also see their pay decrease. and when it comes to health

care reform on the national level, president obama taking his pitch to primetime. he is hoping to convince the american people that the problems with his plan can be worked out, but as joel brown reports from washington, many lawmakers remain skeptical. >> reporter: president obama will go primetime with his push for health care reform. aides say he will use tonight's press conference to urge congress to work faster and counter charges he is working too fast and spending too much money. the president told katie couric he will not sign a bill that increases the deficit. >> we are moving in the direction that by the end of the day when we have a bill on floor we will be able to aunequivocally that this will bin laden the cost curve. >> reporter: even some democrats agree with republicans who say that the process is moving too quickly. republican senator jim demint took it one step further accusing the president . going on a spending spree and saying someone has to put the brakes on him. president obama will try to take control of the political

debate tonight. he wants a chance to speak directly to a national tv audience in an effort to increase the pressure on congress. >> and i think that if we keep working, then i am confident that we can get this done. >> reporter: but leading republicans aren't buying it. >> health care reform is too important to rush through and get it wrong. >> reporter: the president has told members of congress he wants to see a final health care reform plan on his desk before they leave for their august recess, but it is looking like at best, he will have to settle for a little less, a bill passed by the house and an agreement among senators on how they will move forward in the fall. in washington, joel brown, wjz eyewitness news. >> the president's proposal was dealt a major blow last week when the congressional budget office said it will significantly increase the country's budget deficit. you can watch the president in his primetime news conference airing here on wjz 13. an explosive debate on

capitol hill as gun ownership plans to extend their rights. proponents want people with permits in one state to carry their hidden weapons into other states. opponents say the measure forces states with strict procedures to compromise their own laws. 60 votes are needed to pass the measure. the problems with the washington d.c. metro system may be more widespread than originally thought. "washington post" is reporting that at least six track circuits aren't reporting the presence of trains. that is the same problem that likely caused last month deadly train crash that killed a number of people. the ntsb is trying to find the exact cause of the deadly crash. turning to weather, it is shaping up to be another sticky day. a live look outside. a mix of some sunshine and clouds. eyewitness news is live with first warning weather coverage. meteorologist tim williams is in the outback, but we begin with meteorologist bernadette woods in the first warning weather center. hi, bern. >> hi, sally and out there.

let's go to first warning radar. we got rid of one storm yesterday but another one, here it is off to the west. it will be moving our way for tomorrow. we don't think it will hold with this much rain, but it is bringing us a chance of a couple of showers and thunderstorms today, more so tomorrow, and it will keep these sticky conditions around. for more on the details of this, send it out to tim in the outback. >> you know, bernadette, as you mentioned and sally mentioned it it feels stickier than it has been. we have had this tropical flow of air moving in. and what that does for sus raises our dew point, raises our temperatures, and raises our humidity level. it just feels really tropical. the downpours stay mainly offshore but the storm system that bernadette is talking about will be moving slowly in here by tomorrow afternoon we can see some showers lingering right on into friday before we start to see a bit of a break for the weekend. bernadette will have more on the first warning update in just a few moments. back inside. just moments ago new developments regarding the

auction of the historic senator theatre. baltimore city has bought it back for just over $800,000. the theatre was up for auction today, but no one bid enough to could have the $1 million mortgage. the city purchased it back in may after the owner was unable to make payments. good weather and good art was the winning combination at this year's artscape. ♪ [ music ] >> our media partner "the baltimore sun" is reporting a record 385,000 people turned out for the event. attendance has struggled to reach 300,000 over the past few years. the biggest crowd was on saturday for music acts cake and robert randolph and the family band. still to come on wjz eyewitness news this noon, lawmakers brawl. we will take to you south korea where politicians took to punching to pass tough legislation. fork it over. one of the nation's leading airlines increases its fees yet again. how it will impact you the next time you fly. take another live look

outside this noon. meteorologist tim williams will be back with your first warning weather forecast. complete coverage continues with don scott, mary bubala, and first warning weather with marty bass and meteorologist tim williams. it's wjz, maryland's news

one chaotic scene in south korea as hundreds of lawmakers brawl over a media reform bill. arguments turn into fights as they debated bills aimed at easing ownership of television networks. one of those bills did end up passing. no one was seriously injured. a big meeting later today for president obama. he will be talking with the prime minister of iraq. nouri al-maliki. the president is expected to get a earful of the amount of violence in the country as iraqi forces assume a larger police role. the meeting comes a couple week after vice president joe biden met with al-maliki in iraq as u.s. forces began their withdrawal. an update on a young boy rescued from a burning car in milwaukee. you remember this dramatic video to get a mother and her two children out of the suv, the 4-year-old boy who was badly burned is in stable but critical condition this noon. this morning. his father appeared on "the early show." >> they are heros in my hearts.

god sent them there and put them there, and that's -- the words can't express the gratitude that i owe them for helping my family. >> the 4-year-old boy, david have scheduled to have his first skin graft today, the first of many surgeries to come. meanwhile, continental airlines say they are forced to make more job cuts and increase passenger fees. 1700 people are being laid off after the airline posted a large loss for the second quarter. in addition they are boosting the fees for checking a bag at the airport. it will now cost you $20 bucks for the first bag instead of $13. the second bag, $30. and a staggering loss for morgan stanley. the investment bank says they lost a little more than $1 billion in the past three months alone. they say repaying their bailout loan to the federal government is partially to blame. well, wall street is hoping to hold on to its seven-day rally. doesn't look promising at the moment, the dow is down four points and nasdaq and s&p are up slightly this noon. still ahead on eyewitness

news at noon, a live look outside. stay tuned. meteorologist bernadette woods will be back in two and a half minutes with your first warning weather forecast. but first, a look at last

now first warning weather, complete forecast and first warning of severe weather. >> welcome back, everybody. a little bit of sunshine out there today. we started out with some fog in some areas. we are starting to seat sunshine mix with those clouds right now because we are getting rid of one storm and the next someone moving our way. there had been some showers in

between the two, and you can see those sort of getting out of here. today isolated shower and thunderstorm is possible in between the two different storm systems. the chance also go up tomorrow. the next storm does approach approach the area. because of that winds are starting to turn around to the south and that will keep the high levels of humidity in place. dew points are now in the mid- 60s. they will remain there today and tomorrow as it is going to keep it mussy outside. temperatures already warmer today than they had been yesterday. we are at 83 degrees receipt now in baltimore. 84 down at the ocean. still some 70s north and west of the city. we will start to warm it up a bit this afternoon with that sunshine breaking through those clouds. so here is the situation. here is a storm we are getting rid of. here is the next one moving our way. it is stronger right now than it will be when it moves our way, so this wide area of vain not going to stick together. we will see some of it move in our direction tomorrow. scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible because of that. but it is going to lose a lot of energy and start to stall out on top of us. so again on friday with the

front around, the chance of a shower or thunderstorm. but you can see as indicated by all of the green here, that most of that is off to the north. something we are going to be watching for friday also. after that, it looks like there is a break on saturday before yet another storm system comes our way on sunday. so for the forecast with all of that put together, today we are warming up into the mid-80s. warmer than yesterday but still not quite the average for this time year. tonight going down to 68 degrees. patchy fog is possible once again, and tomorrow only 82. remains very muggy. chance for a couple of thunderstorms around tomorrow. and this chance is increasing because of the front coming our way. then isolated chances on friday before we get a break saturday. and then another round comes possibly later sunday. >> okay. this has to be seen as good news at this point. no whining allowed. >> all of these are chances. not all-day rain. summertime pattern where it is scattered about. hopefully we can get something out of it. still to come at eyewitness news at noon.

losing your love handles may be more difficult to do depending on who you are. -- bless you -- we will explain. the top stories on wjz.com

when it comes to those dreaded love handles, some of us may be more vulnerable than

others. kellye lynn joins us with more. like you would know about this. >> woman would be most at risk for this. >> naturally. >> but more bad news for some people. in health watch, black and hispanic women are more vulnerable than others developing that fat around their waistline. this study was developed at waist forest -- [ laughter ] -- wake forest university medical center, and they found that these people can pass on more of this visible, tangible fat, the kind of fat that we all dread, this trend could also possibly put blacks and hispanics at greater risk of developing type ii diabetes. an apple a day is said to keep a doctor away, but now orange juice may get the job done. researchers say it has to do with a compound in oj called hesperidin. improves blood vessel function and lowers risk of heart disease. a new study, obese adults may improve their balance by sheding pounds and boosting their muscle strength. the findings are important because falling is a big

problem for obese people. they fall twice as often as thinner people and falls are the most common cause of injury for obese. adults. we did a story about this with balance and doctors are recommending that anyone over the age of 40 be tested for balance. a really simple test that your primary care doctor can perform. >> you have done a lot of stories about the again fit of stress reduction. and yoga. balance is a big endorsement. >> until you start doing those exercises, you don't know how much you need them. [ laughter ] >> that's true. tree pose. yes, indeed. thanks, kellye. >> okay. tune into eyewitness news at 4, 5 and 6. a convicted child killer gets a chance for defense. saving money on groceries, an unique auction in anne arundel county getting more popular throughout the day. join us for all of those stories and more news at 4:00 after "dr. phil."

welcome back. taking a look at the sun breaking out over the harbor right now, the next five days, tim with the forecast. >> you definitely feel it out here. feels pretty tropical. finally starts to feel more seasonal like we typically do this time of year. temperatures around 82 on tuesday and 84 on friday with a chance of showers in the afternoon each night.

88 on saturday with a potential break in the shower activity, but then another chance by the end of the weekend. looking at 86 and 86. overnight lows down around 70. back inside. >> tim, thank you. a packed primetime tonight at cbs. tonight at 8:00, the president's primetime speech as he presses for health care reform. that will air right here on wjz 13. after that "csi: new york" followed by eyewitness news at 1 is o'clock. finally this noon, the longest solar eclipse many of us will ever see, so i guess we are out of luck unless you happened to be in asia or india yesterday. the solar eclipse lasted more than six minutes. in japan villagers said their cows were confused heading to feeding troughs too early thinking it was time for dinner. solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the earth and the sun. >> pretty cool picture there and i guess it would throw things off a little bit. >> doesn't take much to throw me off. >> thank you for watching eyewitness news on wjz maryland's news station.

mary will be back tomorrow.

>> kevin: jana. jana, >> jana:,