here's justin berk with the weather. >> good morning. i want to take you back to a little time lapse of yesterday. as we take this full screen and show you how we started cloudy and occasionally it looked threatening across the inner harbor, yesterday was a day that actually turned out dry for most of us. a lot of places i went people were saying where's the rain we keep hearing about? this is an environment that doesn't promise rain, doesn't guarantee rain but it can produce some spotty showers in the afternoon. if you don't happen to have one at your location, whether you work outside or not, it doesn't mean that you are going to not have it some place else. 65 degrees this morning at roland park. looking at one shower pass to the north side yesterday, dime-sized hail in northern baltimore county. that is out of here. patchy fog this morning. 20% chance of a thundershower popping up this afternoon. so just keep the umbrella handy, two-degree guaranteed high of 86. 5:30. let's see what's happening on the roads with kim. >> traffic is running very smooth and light around the beltway for your wednesday commute. no problems to let you know

about southbound on 95, as you make your way southbound on 795 out of owings mills, traffic is flowing freely there as well. 83, a smooth ride from the mount carmel area through to about the 695 area and as you make your way from northern parkway through to about the downtown baltimore area, things are running smoothly at this time as well. take a quick look at the cameras, 695 at the bw parkway. you can see traffic is flowing freely at this moment. no problems to let you know about in either direction. back to you. 5:31. a maryland nanny is charged with showing pornography to the children she cared for and asking them to pose nude. 22-year-old asa hernchek faces charges. police say she showed web sites to a 5-year-old boy and 10 and 12-year-olds girls. also accused of telling the buoy to stand nude in front of a computer web cam are a and having explicit sexual conversations with the children. the children's mother says the

nanny was recommended by a 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 are of so-called professionals. you can never ever be too careful. >> the children told detectives that they locked themselves in a bathroom to avoid the woman. time now is 5:32. the latest on three preteens who claim they were handcuffed and then put in a police car and taken to jail. this all stemmed from a call to police on friday night. in the medfield neighborhood off falls road. police say the three boys ages 7, 8 and 11 were caught trying to steal a go cart and scooter

from a neighbors's yard and were arrested. the kids' parents say arresting them is one thing, locking them up is another. >> it's horrible. seeing my 7-year-old handcuffed sitting on a curb was the worst feeling i've ever had. but i think it was much too extreme for three children to be handcuffed together for that amount of time. >> no charges were filed against the boys. a group of maryland teens quarantined in china are free from confinement this morning. tarver shimek is one of them. this is video of the towson high schooler, a volley player, attending a 12-day training camp in china when her group was quarantined after a passenger on their plane came up with the h1n1 virus. >> they were given the choice of either staying at the hotel where they were and never going out of the room or moving to a special quarantine hotel. they chose to move to the quarantine hotel where they can get out of the room and do

things. >> the mother texted her daughter and said on monday she received a message that simply stated "i'm out." she will be home saturday. for years the release of the maryland state assessment test scores brought nothing but disappoint to baltimore city. but not this year. look at the numbers here. citywide 72.4% of third through eighth grade students scored proficient or advanced on the reading section of the msa and in math the percentage was 63.5%. that is up from 55.6% last year. this is a victory for city schools ceo alonso. the improvement means the city is no longer a part of the state's corrective action status. >> adult dysfunction gets in the way of student achievement. what you have here is adults working together on behalf of children and that's what accelerates the rate of change. >> we posted a link to the state's 2009 report card which

contains the msa data from all maryland counties and baltimore city. that is on our web site at abc2news.com. i know you've heard about the new cash for clunkers program where you can trade in a gas guzzler and get a government rebate toward a brand new car. >> it's a little confusing. how does it work? brittney gordon has some answers. >> reporter: after years of big gas guzzlers coming off the assembly lines the government is trying to get more people driving fuel efficient cars. just how much of a deal is the cash for clunkers program? it's a program that president obama has been pushing, it's for to you bring your gas guzzler into a dealership and get up to $4,500 in a rebate. if you have a vehicle that is a 1984 model or more that gives 18 miles a gallon or less, is drivable and you own it you can get the rebate. but you have to purchase a new

vehicle priced less than $45,000. that gets good miles per gallon. the catch? by taking the rebate you don't get the trade in value of your car because it's going to get junked for scraps. the plan will not work for everyone. >> i would be better off skipping the tax credit and buying a 3-year-old car with 25,000 miles on it or 3,000 miles on it. by that time the sticker price will have dropped quite a bit and the car will last a long time. >> reporter: with the program, you must get a car with 22 miles a gallon or larger vehicle that gets 15 to 18 miles a gallon. brittney gordon, abc2 news. it could become the longest lunar eclipse any of us will live to remember. >> more on today's astrological event and how people halfway around the world are celebrating. i know you're having your own eclipse because you have only one eye open. 70 degrees as we start our wednesday morning. for a check of the trains

and buses let's check in with mark jones. >> reporter: good morning. the commute is a good one now if your ride is on the marc train, no delays or problems on the camden, penn, brunswick lines. light rail and metro subway looking good. 13, 36 diverted at north and greenmount due to a watermain break. look for the number 50 bus, diverted at mannasota and erdman, watermain-break related. heavy volume on the 22 and 5 buses.

ie-or ...i-can-get-him-a- math-tutor" button. it's my "save-so-much- on-school-supplies- he-can-stop-using-his- sister's-old-backpack" button. it's my "save-so-much- i-can-get-a-binder- for-every-day- of-the-week" button. there's no school on saturday and sunday, genius. don't ruin this for me. (announcer) staples equals savings on everything for back to school. staples. that was easy.

5:40. welcome back to "good morning maryland." >> let's look at the weather now with justin berk. good morning. >> good morning. 5:40. we're watching maryland's most powerful doppler radar. across the border in through virginia. the only thing we can really find this morning, this lone shower that seems to be running its course north of fredericksburg and passing south of dumfries. maybe sprinkles will be left over in portions of maryland when it crosses the potomac. otherwise not much action going on. we had a big storm in northern carroll and baltimore county last night with 40 mile-per-hour winds and some large hail. those areas we have fog to deal with. right now 64 degrees in laurel. 63 towson. 62 westminster. in between let's show you a little bit of patchy fog.

stevenson university 65 now on the northwest corner of our beltway. so we could have patchy fog, mid to upper 60s this afternoon. 86 is our two-degree guarantee. we're just a 20% chance of a thundershower. here's kim with a check of roads. as we check around the area not many traffic incidents to let you know about. i am looking but that's a good thing for commuters. we're going to take a quick look at the tunnels. baltimore and fort mchenry tunnels, earlier overnight construction projects have been wrapped up, all tunnels and tubes now open at this time. no problems to report around the beltway. top side looking good as you make your way down east side through providence to the harford road area, no problems there. 83 is looking good, this is the jfx, northern parkway through to about north avenue, running smoothly with no problems. 95 southbound as you make your way through the whitemarsh boulevard area through to the 695/895 split, all running incident-free at this time. looking here at the cameras, 695 at the bw parkway.

you can see not much volume, not much going on out there. looking good at this hour. back to you. 5:41. with a $745 million hole in the budget looming. >> are massive layoffs heading to maryland? >> which areas received the largest bug cuts and layoffs? that information coming up. oh, what's this? breakfast. it's kind of early, buddy. you've got to need to take some cholesterol off you.

honey, have you been reading the cheerios box again? he got that off the box. (announcer) cheerios is made with 100% natural whole grain oats to help lower your cholesterol. that was very thoughtful of you. very early, but very thoughtful. (announcer) cheerios. good for the heart.

5:44 now. millions of dollars will be out of the state budget, cut from it and the governor says those cuts are needed to save jobs all across the state of maryland. sherrie johnson joins us with the story. >> reporter: today governor martin o'malley will propose $280 million in cuts to trim a $700 million budget deficit. some departments took a bigger hit than others. the biggest cuts? stem cell research with $3 million. also higher education like colleges and universities, with more than $40 million. and the maryland lottery promotion budget cut by $5.5 million. 39 people will lose their jobs and 18 open jobs will not be filled. the state decreased budgets and cut programs to put money back into the general fund. every state department was touched except for one and that is education. >> one day there will be a recovery. when that comes our ability to capitalize on that, to compete not only nationally but globally will depend upon the

job we do to protect the priority of education in the here and now. >> reporter: a spokesman with the budget and tax policy institute says layoffs and tax increases will be hard to push forward with an election coming up. sherrie johnson, abc2 news. parents, if you have a teething child there's an important recall to tell you about. martins food markets and giant food stores have removed all varieties of cottontail teethers from their stores. they are being recalled because there's a gel in them and it may be contaminated with bacteria. this is serious. the recalled products include cottontail's ice gel teether keys and cottontail's fun pals teether. the bacteria can cause stomach pains, vomiting and diarrhea in children with weakened immune systems. if you have one, throw it out immediately. take the receipt to the store for a full refund. the head of the consumer product safety commission says manufacturers must comply with new rules aimed at keeps children's products safe or

face the potential of big-time fines. cpsc head eye nez 10en balm says her agency will get new tools next month and plans to use them to protect consumers, especially children. in august the maximum penalty the agency could impose for violations increases significantly from $1.8 million up to $15 million. and let's look at some of the other stories we're working on for you this morning. baltimore's historic senator theatre goes on the auction block today and loyola college he is is said to be eager to put in a bid. college officials won't say what they are going to do with the theater if they get it but their main campus is only a mile and a half away. baltimore city bought the senator's mortgage last may with plans to foreclose and sell the property the os could finally be leaving fort lauderdale. there's some thumbs up for that in the studio. the sarasota herald tribune is reporting that the os reached a tentative deal to move the spring training to sarasota. it's a 30-year deal and city officials meet today to discuss

the agreement. a lawyer for pittsburgh steelers star quarterback ben roethlisberger denies he raped a woman at a tahoe hotel. his attorney says the accuser never filed a criminal complaint when the crime allegedly happened. we're on top of this story all morning long. from the moment the event was announced the issue of who would pay for michael jackson's memorial service sparked controversy and heated debate. now the top prosecutor says city workers may have broken the law. the disclosure two weeks after michael jackson's lavish farewell came when the bill showed up which included more than $48,000 for sandwiches brought in for the police. attorneys for the city are hoping to find a way for taxpayers to recoup at least some of the money. and there's one place in hollywood where visitors are guaranteed to see superstars. it's madame tussaud's "hollywood." visitors get up close and personal with the gorgeous

george clooney, and others. if you want to bump hips with beyonce, she's there too and so is will smith, angelina jolie. last but certainly not least there he is, brad pitt. he can even shoot hoops with nba champ kobe bryant. they look fantastic. they look so real. >> will smith, right on. a fascinating spectacle took place this morning. a long solar eclipse plunged parts of asia into total darkness shortly after sunrise. >> abc's sonia galell reports millions of people have been waiting for this so they can practice their cultural rituals as the moon shifted right in front of the sun. >> reporter: as the moon moved, blocking the sun's rays and casting its shadow, people were excited and participated in rituals going back centuries. since the dawn of time these events have been shrouded in much superstition. in india huge crowds of people

gathered along the banks of the river in india's most sacred places for the country's hindus. people offered prayers and bathed in the river. they believe doing so will cleanse one of sins. they also conducted traditional fire rituals as the sky darkened. one woman was in a stampeed where 200,000 people watched the event. in china excited crowd watched as murky skies gradually darkened and people gathered at beijing's observatory looking at the sun through special filters and telescopes to get a safe view of the eclipse. and, in thailand a more somber mood filled the temple. eclipses are believed to herald times of conflict so worshippers burned incense and prayed for peace. amid the aura of fascination

scientists hope the length of this eclipse provided them an opportunity to discover more about the sun, especially about the gases surrounding it. while eclipses occur twice a year astronomers will have to wait until the next century, in 2132 for the next big one. abc news, london. 5:51. the sun also showing minimum sun spot activity which is what some believe is one of the reasons we've noticed a planetary cooling trend over the past decade. no doubts about that around here. we've had a very cool summer and despite the added sun and so lack of showers yesterday temperatures really didn't make it back to normal. only made it into the lower 80s. now 67. that is a near normal low but we're going to struggle to get back to normal as we head through today. though we'll start off with patchy fog in places that had the strong thunderstorms last night in the north side. we're also looking at the sun

giving way to more clouds. we have clouds from the south, clouds from the west. basically what we have here, very complicated pattern, also a winterlike pattern, disturbed area flaring up and extending its reach in through northern ohio, down through texas and parts of the gulf coast. that system riding the upper level winds and carving out a jet stream that is much like something you would have in the wintertime. we've also got an area of disturbed weather sitting in the northern bahamas, that the national hurricane center is watching. some models are actually expressing some explosive development off the coast. maybe a tropical system as we head on in through testimony night but it will quickly move out of here. the system will increase our chance of rain. 86 today, with the small chance of a thunderstorm. 70s today. notice the chance of thunderstorms continues tomorrow, 80, 84 friday. 88 saturday. kim? i'm getting word of a crash in anne arundel county. that is going to be at ute 408 at southern maryland boulevard. that crash is reported to be on the exit ramp from route 408 to route 4 so use caution if

headed there. also getting word of police activity on the westbound span of the bay bridge. could cause minor delays if you're coming in that direction. quick peek at the beltway, you can see things are looking pretty good as you travel around the west side of the outer loop between liberty road and the baltimore national pike. things also looking good on the east side of the outer loop between whitemarsh boulevard and loch raven boulevard. and the beltway overall as a whole looking clear and running smoothly at this time. looking here at the cameras, thinks 695 at the bw parkway. we have a little bit of increased volume but you can see no problems to report. this traffic report brought to you by baltimore's country station 93.1 wpoc listen to country music from taylor swift, kenny chesney and keith urban. back to you. the white house gets a little bit country. the stars who turned out for an art education in dc. coming up at 6:00, his health care plan isn't getting nearly as much attention as fashion faux pas. what the president has to say about it.

♪ i don't hardly know you but i'd be willing to show you i know a way to make you

smile♪ >> a little bit of nashville in washington last night. president obama hosted several big country music stars at the white house. among those taking part, alison krause, brad paisley and charlie pride. your favorite is not in there, right? >> he's on the road making a living. >> whoa. excuse me. the presidential told everyone there he may be thought of as a city boy but enjoys the cub music -- country music. it was the second series meant to encourage art and art education. we have a lot of news in the 6:00 hour. also about president obama wearing the jeans at the all-star game. >> causing a little bit of an uproar. l. and my dog bailey and i love to hang out in the kitchen... so she can watch me cook. you just love the aromas of beef tenderloin... and, ooh, rotisserie chicken. yes, you do. [ barks ] yeah.

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good morning. 5:59. i'm jamie