seeing my 7-year-old handcuffed sitting on the curb was the worst feeling i've ever had. >> reporter: jenny thinks it's all went too far. her son jesse did wrong, but it was how they were punished, the time and experience in juvie that doesn't fit the crime, an experience two of the boys said got scary. >> kids were smacking and everything. >> reporter: all three of you? >> but i think it was much too extreme for three children to be handcuffed together for that amount of time. >> reporter: and now the parents are demanding an apology from the police department and city government. the police say they hold everybody accountable, period. the mayor is supposed to take questions on this later this afternoon. in baltimore, brian kuebler, abc 2 news. >> and we will bring you mayor dixon's comments on the story later on this evening. in the meantime, police say there will be no charges filed against the boys. maryland elementary and middle school test scores jumped up this year.

and some of the biggest changes are right here in baltimore. city elementary students are no longer the lowest performing students in the state. that distinction now belongs to prince george's county. christian schaffer joins us from abbottson elementary. >> reporter: big improvements on the assessment test. let's take a look at why the public officials who gathered here are all celebrating this afternoon. in reading 74.2% of students scored proficient or advanced on their msats. that's up from 67.6% last year. in math, 63.5% of students in grades 3 through 8 scored proficient or advance, up from just 55.6% last year. also, all the leaders who gathered here today were quick to point out that all ethnic groups improved in their percentages as did a high percentage of students who receive free lunches and

breakfasts. the results drew not only city and late leaders here, but also the head of the u.s. department of education, arnie duncan, who praised the progress but reminded the students and teachers here that there is still a lot of work to do. >> this is a huge day of celebration. let's celebrate and enjoy it and savor the moment. but it's now what we're going to do tomorrow, what we're going to do next year. not just for the children here, but for the country. you have a chance to lead the country, with a we need to go. >> reporter: the news conference to release these just wrapped up. so we're going to try to speak with some of the leaders who gather and bring their sound bites in later on abc 2 news at 5. two baltimore city firefighters are recovering from their injuries suffered in a morning house fire. the fire started shortly after 7:00 this morning st. matthews street in east baltimore. there was one person in the home that escaped safely. one firefighter suffered a minor burn on his neck. another slipped and hurt his

elbow, but both are expected to be okay. and now the latest on a woman on trial for allegedly killing her four daughters. a witness says bonita jacks and her boyfriend let two of her young daughters smoke marijuana. the witness says she saw jacks and her boyfriend laugh as her two daughters smoked the drug. the girls were 4 and 3 years old at the time. u.s. marshals found dead girls decomposing bodies when they evicted jacks from her d.c. home in january of 2008. a maryland manny is charged with showing pornography to the children she cared for and then asking them to pose nude. 22-year-old aza hrnjic faces several charges, including child abuse. hyattsville police say the nanny showed pornographic websites to a 5-year-old boy as well as the 10 and 12-year-old girl. she is also accused of telling the boy to stand nude in front of a computer web camera, and having explicit sexual conversations with the children. the children's mother says the

nanny was recommend bade relative. >> it was totally unexpected. i would have never, ever thought something like that would happen. i guess you can't judge somebody by what they look like. she just didn't seem like that type of person. >> it just serves as a reminder to all parents, please don't take for granted anything at all when leaving the children in the care of trusted friends, of neighbors, or of professionals. we can never, ever be too careful. >> the children told detectives they locked themselves in the bathroom to avoid the woman. a jersey city police officer has died after being wounded in a shoot-out with two armed robbery suspects last week. the 37-year-old officer was shot in the face with a shotgun blast last thursday as he tried to capture suspects in an apartment building. the suspects were killed and four other officers were

wounded. detective mark dinardo had been on life support until this morning. new at 5:00 tonight, president obama says he and congress are making some good progress toward overhauling the u.s. healthcare system. but not everyone agrees. so mr. obama continues to attack his opponents, accusing them of favoring insurance companies over citizens. abc's viviana hurtado has the latest. >> reporter: president obama set the tone before walking into a meeting with democratic lawmakers concerned about the eye-popping 1 1/2 trillion dollar price tag for health care reform. >> we are closer than ever before to the reform that the american people need, and we're going to get the job done. >> reporter: but concerns from progressive and fiscally conservative democratic lawmakers have succeeded in slowing down the president's goal of having the house and senate pass health care bills before the august recess. in the senate, a democratic member of the finance committee says negotiations won't be rushed. >> i know that there is such an

interest in this deadline. it's just a totally not a useful exercise. >> reporter: republicans seem to agree, as was noted by the g.o.p.'s chair on cnn. >> it took us a year and a half to put the medicaid program into place. we want to fundamentally reorient 1/6 of our economy in two week. and that makes no logical sense to me. >> reporter: on capitol hill, they're united in their opposition to the president's plan, g.o.p. lawmakers have now latched on to the divisions in the democratic party on health care reform. >> what we're seeing currently is a bipartisan majority has formed against the current proposal. >> reporter: president is in his second week of public appearances to drum up support for an overhaul to the health care system. this push culminates wednesday evening when mr. obama is expected to make his case to the american people during a prime time news conference. vincent foster jana conference

-- viviana hurtado. >> you can watch the president speak tomorrow night here on abc 2. according to the maryland public interest group, a new report finds maryland small business owners are being squeezed by high health care costs. they also feel left out of the debate over health care form that is taking place in washington. carmen owns the charles village cafe and hopes that one day she can afford to offer her workers health care coverage, but now feels like she is caught in a trap. >> we go for days or weeks sometimes with a nagging medical condition, avoiding the cost of treatment. and that clearly affects my bottom line and my productivity. >> this year as congress takes up health reform, our elected leaders must pass true reform, the works for small businesses.

>> mary pirg believes the health reforms in congress will rein in health costs for small businesses and help save some jobs. more than $280 million will be cut out of the state budget for now. that's what the governor wants to do as he proposed the list of cuts today. at a briefing for reporters, governor o'malley says the biggest losers in this round will be the state lottery, the university of maryland system, and the maryland lottery who will have to give back the money and have their overall funding reduced. the governor says they were able to preserve jobs, but there will be 39 layoffs in 18 jobs that will not be filled. >> that doesn't mean that any of us have to like this. none of us like this. but it's a matter of realizing that we're all in this together, and trying to do everything we can to make sure that we do our part to pull our country's economy out of the ditch and get us moving forward again. >> the governor says they plan on coming up with another $400 million worth of cuts before labor day. this latest round will go

before the board of public works tomorrow. job security is very important in this economy. that may be a big reason why so many defense workers had decided to move to maryland. a lot of defense jobs are moving to fort meade from northern virginia. a new survey shows more than half of the defense workers will move with their jobs. 58% say they will commute at first, and eventually move to maryland. that's a 19% jump from last spring survey. only 13% say they will not move to maryland. the rest are still deciding. across our region right now, we're seeing some scattered shower and thunderstorm activity. but it's way out here in west virginia, south of western maryland. here in the baltimore region, we could see some scattered showers, but not until later on this evening. as those -- and if they make it over the mountains. but at this point in time, it looks like just scattered showers. no rainfall which we badly need. it feels a lot warmer than what it actually is because of the high humidity. sheer the forecast for the next

couple hours. mostly cloudy. humid. temperatures holding right around 80 degrees. showers are likely later on tonight. we'll show you where and when, coming up in a couple minutes. >> all right, thanks, norm. baltimore's historic senator theater might have a new owner by this time tomorrow. and it actually could be an owner from right down the street. the single screen movie house goes on the auction block tomorrow morning, and we're learning now that loyola college might put in a bid. college officials will not say what they would do with the theater, but its main campus is only about a mile and a half south of the senator. baltimore city bought the senator's mortgage last may with plans to foreclose and sell the property. hiding information that may have saved lives. coming up, why some important documents about cell phones and driving were kept under wraps. and new mommies, listen up. why your labor may not be induced earlier than 39 weeks. and the naked cowboy could soon be ditching his skivvies

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you're watching baltimore's station that works for you. now abc 2 news at 5. >> did government bureaucrats conceal information that could have saved lives? two officials say officials had stacks of documents showing the dangers of driving while using a cell phone. did they keep that quiet for fear of using its taxpayer funding? >> reporter: we now know that transportation department officials kept secret hundreds of pages of research that likely would have discouraged cell phone use by driver and possibly saved lives. the 2002 research conducted by the national highway traffic safety administration is now being made public for the first

time, thanks to two consumer advocacy groups who sued under the freedom of information act. >> if this information were out there, then you would see all sorts of counter measures being taken. you would have public service messages saying don't talk and drive, just like we have public service messages saying don't drink and drive. >> reporter: among the findings, highway safety researchers estimated that in 2002, cell phone use by drivers contributed to around 955 fatalities in 240,000 accidents. >> today's cell phone use is nearly twice what it was in 2002. so that the numbers could be as high as 5,000 deaths each year. >> reporter: the former head netsa claims he was made to hold the research who wanted to stick to its mission of gathering safety data. >> we don't know whether the cell phone industry pressured the government to hide these studies or not. they clearly have an economic interest. but we haven't phone the

smoking gun of the cell phone industry yet. >> reporter: the research also showed that hands free might not solve the problem. that's because it's the cell phone conversation itself, not just holding the phone, that takes the driver's focus off the road. t.j. winick, abc news, washington. now the forecast certified baltimore's most accurate. here is chief meteorologist norm lewis, and maryland's most powerful doppler radar. >> i never thought i would be begging for rain. >> well here is the deal. yesterday i brought my umbrella into the station. and we didn't get any rain. >> so today you didn't bring it? >> today the umbrella is home. >> we're going to get rain. >> we got scattered showers around, and a good possibility of getting it later on this evening. but the big challenge right now is the showers are on the other side of the mountains, west of frederick. you know when you go west on 70? they're on the other side. >> move fast. >> well, they can move slow as long as they get here. that's the main thing. let's take a look outside right now. the shot from harbor cam.

got a little more sun, but it's looking good. temperature at bwi thurgood marshall right now 79 degrees. 62% humidity. ooh, sticky out this. wind currently from the east at 8. the pressure steady at 30.04. there are your tides tomorrow at fort mchenry. a high tide 5:32 in the morning. low tide 1:07 in the afternoon. winds from the northeast at 6 to 12 miles per hour. temperature around the region, 73 york. 83 in hagerstown. 82 in the easton area. it's 84 in ocean city. as far as our satellite picture of the north atlantic, nothing going on. very quiet tropics still at this time of the year. normally we've seen one or two tropical storms. but nothing happening, even all the way back to the coast of africa. along our little bit closer satellite picture shows those active areas of low pressure that we've been talking about the past couple day, moving along the eastern seaboard, giving quite a bit of rainfall to portions of delaware and up into new jersey. here is the windchill of showers on the other side of the mountains. hopefully they can make into it the region a little later on tonight, because we do need the

rain. right now marylands ' moe powerful radar there, but is that shower activity right there, causing some severe thunderstorm watches out in portions of west virginia that appeared and then disappeared. they canceled the warnings as the storms moved through. but again, they've got to get over the mountains, which are sitting right in that region right there. at this point in time, for the next couple of hours, you're going to be okay precipitation- wise. temperature-wise across the area, moncton at 76. 78 in owings mills. westminster 78 degrees. 7 in churchville. rock hall warmer, 82 degrees. as far as our forecast for tonight, there are the showers out to the west of us. now watch what happens over the evening hours. they just kind of wiz by the region. tomorrow will be precipitation- free until the afternoon. showers pop up once again. here comes another one of the areas of low pressure moving along the coast. and on thursday, again, a chance for scattered afternoon showers and thunderstorms. a pretty good chance for some more general rainfall on thursday. keep your fingers crossed. we sure do need it. 67 degrees overnight low. during the day tomorrow a

partly cloudy, warmer day. a chance for storms in the afternoon. but it's going to be a warmer day tomorrow with a high of 86 degrees. so that should boil up some good shower and thunderstorm activity. the extended outlook for the next couple day, a better chance for rain on thursday. a little cooler air. and then 84, scattered showers on friday. and again on saturday, and again on sunday. continue into probably sunday evening, then monday and tuesday partly cloudy skies, 84 both days. still below normal temperatures for this time of the year. we'll be back in a while with more on the weather. >> thanks, norm. 2 your health tonight, doctors have come up with the silver bullet of weight loss possibly? it is called contray, a drug that is used for alcohol and drug addicts, and an antidepressant. medications that help target both hunger and fatigue. some doctors claim it could help obese people lose 18 to 25 pounds a year. experts warn, though, this isn't for weight loss, but it is for obesity.

and tonight there is some new guidelines for inducing labor for mothers to be. unless it is an urgent medical situation, women now need to be at least 39 weeks along before they can be induced. labor usually starts on its own, but may be induced if the health of the mom or the baby is at risk. in total, labor is induced in about 20% of pregnancies in the u.s. many of these inductions are nonurgent situations. the biggest change in the new guidelines addresses these nonurgent it situations. the previous guidelines found it was all right as long as the baby was full term, or at least 37 weeks. the new recommendations state that the gestational age of the baby needs to be at least 39 weeks before induction should the proceed. this is for the health of the baby. to give the baby more time to grow in the womb. the guidelines also now warn against doctors using drugs to indees labor in women who have

had a prior cesarean delivery because the possibility of harm to both the mother and baby. the guidelines were created by the american college of obstetrics and gynecologists. a recall of teethers tonight. martin's food markets and giant food stores have removed all varieties of cottontail teethers from their stores. they're being recalled because the gel inside of them may be contaminated by bacteria. the recalled products include cottontails, ice gel teether keys, and cottontails sun pal teether. the bacteria may cause stomach pains, vomiting, and diarrhea in children with weakened immune systems. if you have any one of the teethers, throw it away and take it to the store for a refund. it's going to cost you more to fly continental airlines. coming up, if it's not their ticket prices, then why are they hiking the price up, and by how much? plus, one couple has decided to go trashless. how they have changed their

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with a look ahead to abc 2 news at 5:30, i'm delia goncalves. surveillance cameras watching every move made on mta buses and trains. why you don't have to worry about who is listening. ben roethlisberger accused of a rape that one woman claims happened more than a year ago. what his lawyer says about a possible investigation. rock stars with some serious star power. how these astronauts turned into heroes right here in baltimore today. those stories, and of course norm's most accurate forecast straight ahead on abc 2 news at 5:30. >> thanks, delia. looking at news around the nation. in texas, the owners of a plant store were determined not to let a thief make a monkey out

of them. so they installed security cameras at the plant, and planter store to catch the crooks in action. it turns out it was a monkey doing the stealing. he was caught on tape scooping up as many as 30 to 40 plants and handing them to someone outside the fence. the owner isn't pressing charges because she finds it all too funny. the naked cowboy in new york city appears to be ready to turn in those briefs and toss the cowboy hat into the ring for becoming mayor of the city. robert burk plans to announce in times square saying, quote, no one knows how to do more with less than yours truly. his opponents will be incumbent michael bloomberg, who is running for a third term. an oregon couple wants to see if they can go without sending trash to the landfill for a whole year. and get this, three weeks into it, the trash can is still empty. the pair is recycling and paying more attention to what they buy at the store, buying in bulk and also using reusable

containers, eating veggies they grow and they compost kitchen scraps. >> as long as you approach this from the mind-set that you go to the store, you don't buy something you know will have to be thrown away this the first place, and you buy something you know is recyclable or do without, then it's not really a problem. >> for example, they won't buy potato chips because the bags are not recyclable. as for produce stickers, they're saving them for the artist in their neighborhoods. how safe is your ride? experts have put in cars to the crash dummy test. how well did yours do? abc 2 news at 5:30 starts in just two minutes. [ female announcer ] there are few guarantees in life. here's one for your skin that's clinically proven. olay professional pro-x wrinkle protocol is as effective as the leading wrinkle prescription brand at reducing the look of wrinkles. that's because olay has teamed with a highly specialized group of dermatologists and created a wrinkle protocol that gives you the results

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now abc 2 news at 5:30. >> riders on maryland public buses an trains won't have to worry about who is listening, at least for the time being. good evening, i'm delia goncalves. surveillance cameras are already in place