this is wjz tv, wjz hd, and wjz.com, baltimore. >> from the city, to the counties, to your neighborhood, now it is complete coverage, it is wjz, maryland's news station. >> occupying the future. what is next for occupy baltimore after the city forced the group out of the square? good afternoon, here is

what people are talking about today, occupy's next move. the city raided and emptied their campsite but demonstrators say they remain strong. wjz and mike hellgren are live there. good afternoon. >> reporter: good afternoon, don, good afternoon, everybody. this is something i could not do 24 hours ago because it had been barricaded off but as you can see the tents are gone but the square is once again open to the public and the occupy group plans to meet here again tonight. one day after police cleared the square members of occupy baltimore say the movement will continue. the mayor made the decision to raid their encampment so they brought their latest gathering to city hall. >> i maintained my passion and i think hundreds of us have and looking forward to expanding. >> the mayor spoke again about the raid this morning saying in hindsight she did the right thing. >> i am pleased with how things

went, no injuries or arrests, i feel good about the way things were. >> some members of the local movement have told wjz they plan to squat in foreclosed homes, that is a tactic others have used including in california. >> we are all up in their stay and stay up in their face. >> occupy baltimore was formed with dozens of other groups nationwide to protest economic inequality and members say give a voice to those who don't have one. >> it is time to truly occupy baltimore and not the square. we intend on maintaining a presence at the square, maybe not a 24 hours presence. >> once again the group plans to be back here tonight at 8:00 they way on their website. if police turn them away they will again meet in front of city hall as last night. mick hellgren, wjz eyewitness news, don. >> thank you very much, mike. there have been no clashes since the eviction and no arrest or violence as it was

unfolding early yesterday. a local landmark is no more. demolition was completed today on what was the mount washington tavern, the building burned down last month. the owners are hoping to be open in time for preakness weekend in may. the cause is still not released. a high school is back open after more than a dozen students were taken to the hospital. we first brought you this yesterday about the pepper spray inspect at chesapeake high in essex, we know a school resource officer used the spray to break up a fight leaving 16 students in need of medical treatment. one student was arrested. it is something most of us have done, now federal safety officials want to put the brakes on the use of all portable electronic devices behind the wheel. ron matz is live with this new recommendation. >> reporter: the ntsb is urging a total ban on all cell phone use by all drivers even with a

hands free device. a survey finds 1-5 text behind the wheel and more common with younger drivers, here in maryland texting behind the wheel or using a hand-held cell phone is already illegal. but aaa mid-atlantic says a total cell phone ban goes too far. >> the recommendation by the ntsb is something that from our experience and our research has not been met with much public support or legislative support. >> the ntsb doesn't have the power to enforce the ban. it is up to the states to pass new laws, don, back to you. >> a ban on using gps is not included in that federal recommendation. after an out of the ordinary accident snarled traffic on the beltway we are getting a better idea of the extent of damage. on monday the raised arm of a backhoe slammed into the underside of the overpass on the beltway. they found damage to two

support beams, one of which needs replacement. weekly inspections will be done until permanent repairs can be made in the spring. the president takes his first trip to ft.bragg to thank the troops for their service as the war is winding down. the president says he is focused on getting them what they need when they return home. >> reporter: president obama and the first lady took off for ft.bragg, north carolina. they are welcoming members of the military home from iraq and honoring the nearly 4500 who lost their lives in combat. >> we have given the iraqis an opportunity to have a democracy and to be successful. it is now time for us to bring all of our troops home. >> reporter: the president's trip comes as the nearly nine year long war draws to a close. some 6000 u.s. forces left in iraq will be out by the end of this month. but in meetings with their

prime mains prime minister the president promised to help with security issues. one million american troops have served since the war began, with the conflict coming to an end the white house is pushing hard to help the veterans get the help and the jobs they need. >> we have a moral obligation to all of them to build a future worthy of their sacrifice. >> the unemployment rate for veterans is higher than the rate nationwide. congress passed the white house proposal to offer businesses a tax cut when they hire men and women who served in iraq or afghanistan. this is president obama's first trip to ft.bragg, special forces stationed there were among the first soldiers in iraq at the start of the war and helped lead the surge in 2007. tara mergner, wjz 13 eyewitness

news. >> it is home to the airborne. a milder start continues but not much sun but plenty of clouds and we have got first warning weather coverage with you with marty bass in the outback and meteorologist tim williams over in the first warning weather center. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. a mild day coming, well -- shaping up i should say here in this early afternoon on this wednesday. temperatures already above our average. our average high is 46. here at noon we are at 49, cool spot 40 degrees in oakland. 50 degrees on the shore and in easton, so another day with mild temperatures in play. radar tells the story, moisture to our west that we will talk about later. right now over most of the area we are looking for another afternoon with temperatures staying in the pleasant zone. so how is that going to play out in the next few days? for more on that we send it to marty bass.

>> hello, good afternoon, everybody. we are going to go back to first warning doppler weather radar. what you have to understand is those returns you see that appear to be over pittsburgh and western maryland, that is a slug of moisture that is going to give us clouds and slide really harmlessly by the area. it is the action out over milwaukee and chicago that is going to set the stage for a very seasonal and frankly very pretty weekend leading us into christmas week. let's take a look at a graphic. a mild flow today but talking but a boundary coming into the region with showers on thursday. indeed that is going to happen. be hinged it on friday, yeah, breezy if not windy, temperatures start to fall but by the weekend the weather is going to turn around and be absolutely lovely with a generous amount of sunshine but colder. how much colder? meteorologist tim williams is going to have those details shortly. now we throw it back inside. >> thank you very much, marty. a temporary reprieve for the 10 baltimore area post

offices scheduled to close. the postal service will delay the closing of those 10 and 4000 others around the country until mid-may, the hope is congress will come up with more funding by then. the mayor is supporting the plan to allow private companies to take over six rec centers around the city. earlier today the board delayed a vote saying it still needs fine tuning. the plan has drawn sit simple from those worried bought the impact on the young people who also the centers and, of course the young people who still lose a center. the choir gets an opportunity of a lifetime. [ singing ] >> about 20 members of the choir are giving two performances today at the white house, altogether there are 95 members of the choir. in the past they have performed in france, italy and carnegie hall. still to come on wjz's eyewitness news at noon terror

in belgium. the search for answer after a man opens fire and throws grenades in a busy square. speaking now, two men accusing the former syracuse coach of sexual assault have a message for other possible victims. and an overcast start to the afternoon, find out if those clouds bring us wet weather. your complete first warning weather forecast is still coming up. >> complete coverage continues with don scott, jessica kartalija and first warning weather with marty bass and meteorologist tim williams. it is wjz, maryl,,,,

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♪[ music ] police in belgium discover the body of a woman inside the garage of a man who terrorized the city. investigators say he murdered his cleaning woman yesterday before killing others. he also shot and killed himself. authorities have ruled ruled out terrorism. they are suing the coach. they say they hope it will

encourage others to speak up. >> i want to help children who have the courage to tell adults, their families, their teachers, their coaches and the police if they are sexual abused, i am filing this lawsuit because i don't want them to be afraid. >> the prosecutors say the allegations seem credible but they cannot press charges because of the statute of limitations. from the middle east to right here in maryland 2011 was the year of protest now time makes it official. it has named the protester as its person of the year, they credit the protesters a the driving force behind change. each year the magazine chooses a person of the year to recognize who shaped events that year for better or for worse. and still ahead on wjz's eyewitness news at noon, take another live look outside and stick around, your complete first warning weather forecast now just two and a half minutes away. first a look at the midday stocks to be followed by last

night's megamillions numbers. ,

now first weather, complete forecast and the first warning of severe weather. >> looking pretty nice outside. you know when we started at 5:00 this morning marty and i it was 10 degrees warmer than the same time yesterday. >> yeah, you know temperature- wise we can't complain it has been so mild. you figure we are now heading

into roughly a week before christmas. >> uh-huh. >> temperatures are still in the 50s, that is still above the normal high, the normal high is about 45 degrees. we are in the 50s now and going up. >> doesn't winter start next thursday? >> yes, it does, so you know santa might be doing flip-flops in the hawaiian shirt. >> hey. >> you never know. we will see, we will see. the long-range forecast not quite in just yet but it does not look like we have any bone chilling weather heading into the next week or so, so while we may not be quite this warm heading into the holiday it is not far off so we are not looking at necessarily a white christmas, at least not shaping up that way right now, we will continue to keep you posted, this is maryland, things change quickly. 49% humidity, temperatures right at 50, calm winds, barometer high, high pressure even though we have the clouds out there, high pressure still holding on, control in our forecast. 40 oakland, 42 in cumberland, 48 in elkton, 51 on the shore,

51 easton and around the immediate area temperatures range from the mid-40s, from westminster to belaire and rock hall, 47 in those locations, 49 in annapolis and 49 on kent island. we talked about the calm winds around the state but a bit of a southerly component around dc and haggerstown, that is going to still continue to bring in the milder air ahead of a front that is going to move on through. a warm front followed by the cold front and the low driving it all is moving south of the great lakes, it is all going to move into this region, we will see more and more cloud cover and also cloudy out there now but the farther east you go the more sun you see until these clouds take over the entire state. this low is going to move through. the mild air stays through tomorrow but the cooler air comes with the front that will take us down a few pegs in the temperature department heading into the weekend. the trade-off however is while we do get rain maybe tomorrow evening into friday the cooler air comes in with clearer skies

and by the weekend we dry out and clear up gain, so again so we look for a nice weekend although chilly, sunset 4:45, wednesday at five knots, tonight 36, cloudy skies, tomorrow with a chance of showers we will get up to again about 60 degrees before it is all said and done so we will have your five-day-forecast with marty in a few moments. >> all right, still to come, a new tool in the fight against the flu. a treatment that could lead to fewer deaths. remember wjz is always on for you, here is some of the stories we are following on your website. for constant updates of all this day's news and that first warning weather forecast go to wjz.com. ,,,,

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♪[ music ] in today's wjz health watch, statins may be able to do more than lower your cholesterol, a new study finds they can help people hospitalized with the flu, they found people that take them reduce their risk of death from the flu, studies suggest they lower inflattings inflammation and keep them in check. they found that, about 1- 160 pregnancies in the u.s. end

in still births. you want to be sure to check back in with us today at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00, occupy baltimore have been e eviblghted, here where they are going to meet and the president will meet with the troops, join us for these and more right after dr. phil at ,,,,

martin has the 5 day. >> let's go ahead and look at the graphic. i want to focus on the weekend. friday is windy, temperature i am going to guess that 53 is early in the day with temperatures falling through the afternoon. but look at that weekend. 44 degrees with the winds calming, sunshine both saturday and sunday, monday up to 53. we are getting indications at least through midweek next week may be mild. back inside. >> thank you very much marty. >> sounds good to me. tonight's line up includes at 10:00 the original csi, followed immediately by eyewitness news at 11:00. you can check this out, a black bear causes a stir in vancouver when it takes a ride on top of a garbage truck, after the big into the city police were called in as it drew a big crowd as you might think. they tranquilized the creature

and the crowd cheered us it fell safely into a sling. can you imagine that, here is a motor home for me and the kitchen is stocked with food. >> you know. >> thanks for watching have a ,,