on how the trials will work. >> reporter: the latest h1n1 cases sent five students home from the maryland institute college of art. >> a little concerning to me. worried that i was going to get sick. >> my parents called me. they were kind of worried. [ inaudible ] >> reporter: but in the five days since news broke of the mica cases, the state has confirmed nearly three dozen more across maryland, and the numbers continue to climb. >> we have 766 confirmed cases in the state, and three flu- related deaths. and we know that there are many, many times that many cases that are in the community at large. >> reporter: with the traditional flu season just a few months away, and concern that the h1n1 virus could strengthen over time, the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases has turned to the university of maryland school of medicine to test one of two experimental vaccines. the trials are set to begin on

healthy adults and seniors here in baltimore in a little over two weeks. with other trials to follow on young children in both frederick and annapolis. >> reporter: the lead researcher says further studies may target infants under six months of age. but it can be difficult to gauge whether a vaccine is effective in those children. >> another way to protect those infants is to vaccinate pregnant women, and right now the seasonal flu vaccine is recommended for pregnant women. and there will be efforts to do studies in pregnant women with this vaccine. >> reporter: to test the vaccine, researchers here will need about a thousand volunteers. and they anticipate many of them will come from the medical community. in baltimore, jeff hager, abc 2 news. >> and if you're interested in volunteering for the trials, you can call the center for vaccine development at 410-706-

6156. this point, it has not been determined how many participants, actually how participants will be compensated. the budget ax has fallen as the state struggles with a $700 million shortfall. more than $280 million has been cut this time around, including more than 40 million from the university of maryland system. so far, there are only a small number of job cuts. but as abc 2 news roosevelt leftwich tells us, that's not going to last too long. >> reporter: every state department gets a cut. although two got chopped a little deeper than the others in the initial round of cuts as the state grapples with the $700 hole. health and hygiene loses payments to hospitals and nursing homes. and the university of maryland system is losing some $40 million, prompting an emergency meeting of the regents tomorrow to figure out how to deal with the shortfall. >> eliminated of classes, we're going to try to do everything we can to make sure it does not increase time to degree.

there are -- all this -- >> reporter: hogan says by taking such a hit, the university's state-supported fund balance will be low. state treasurer says it may be time to consider raising tuitions, something that hasn't been done in four years. >> you begin to sacrifice the quality of what the students are investing in. with their tuition dollars. and that has to be weighed. >> reporter: there is another $420 million worth of cuts that have to be made by labor day. and state employees won't be lucky this next time around. hundreds will be probably laid off, and furloughs are also on the table. this time around, only 39 state employees lost their jobs. the union says layoff and furloughs aren't the answer. >> they said that's the priorities. they need the services in these times, these tough times. and if we're going to affect a huge group of people, then we don't understand how we're going to provide those. >> reporter: the state officials say pretty much everything is on the table. they have too big of a hole to fill not to consider

everything. >> we're doing what the private sector is doing right now, which is tightening our belt. today it was a couple of notches, and the next time it's going to be three or four notches. >> reporter: in annapolis, roosevelt leftwich, abc 2 news. >> as rosy mention, some departments are going to take a bigger hit than others. we caught up with baltimore mayor sheila dixon to hear her concerns on possible budget cuts for city. >> baltimore city, and it was on the proposal to be cut during the last general assembly that would be devastating to some of our agencies. we rely on that. of course, if we vietnam v to cut any of the teachers pensions, that would be a huge bite. so it's hard to tell. >> the board of public works voted for the reduction. this comprised of governor martin o'malley, treasurer nancy kopp and peter franchot. putty hill liquors is again

open for business after police say the owner was shot and killed last week. employees opened the store late monday afternoon after it was shut down for four days. the suspects are still at large because surveillance video from the plaza parking lot was really of little help. it is why employees are starting a petition to increase security patrols and get some better cameras. >> push the extra mile. spend the extra money to make sure that their vendors, and their vendors' employees and customers are safe. you know, i think it would be -- things would be a lot better. things like this would not happen. >> so far baltimore county police say they have very few leads to go on in this case. maryland fire marshalls have arrested a st. mary's county woman and charged her with arson and reckless endangerment. authorities say that 19-year- old jenny navarro locked herself and her 18-month-old in their lensing on the park home and set it on fire. investigators say her husband and neighborsress sued the

child. the fbi needs your help tonight identifying a suspected serial bank robber. we're told the man has already hit six banks in the area since july 2. authorities say during the robberies, the suspect displayed a demand note and implied that he had a gun. a court reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest. now if you know anything, you're asked to call the fbi bank robbery task force at 410- 265-8080. tonight president barack obama will deliver his health care reform message to the american people. meanwhile, the debate continues in washington over the plan. former maryland lieutenant governor and current republican national chairman michael steele had this to say: >> candidate obama promised change. president obama is conducting an experiment. he is conducting a dangerous experiment with our health care, and with the quality of our lives. >> now if the health care bill does not get passed in august, some fear it will be shelved as some lawmakers are facing mid

term elections. here at home, many eyes are going to be on the president tonight as he continues to push his health care overhaul agenda teaches a course called the introduction to u.s. healthcare system. herring says the president's handsoff approach letting the senate and house craft the bill could be making the debate even more complicated. >> when there is tricky issues about how are you going to pay for this, are you going to tax employer benefits, what would the public plan look like, these committees in the house and senate need some guidance from the president. and there has been -- there has been concerns raised by them that they're still uncertain about just what to do on some of these more controversial issues. >> dr. herring says it was more confident about a month or two that this reform would actually take place. president obama will take his argument to the american people tonight in a televised prime time news conference. you can watch it live, right here on abc 2, starting at

8:00. and do you feel like you understand the health care plan enough to even decide if you're for or against it? there is room for your two cents on the right-hand side of the home page on our website at abc2news.com. throughout the afternoon here in the baltimore area, we had pop-up showers. they have all moved up into southern pennsylvania, and we've got some heavier rainfall occurring from, well, just to the east of pittsburgh, across through the -- well, just north of hagertown, through gettysberg, york and harrisburg. redding getting some shower and thunderstorm activity. but again, some pop-up showers could occur at just about any time because of the warm, humid air massment your forecast for the next couple hours, cloudy skies, scattered showers, humid. temperatures will hold int the upper 70s for the next couple of hours. and what about tomorrow? what about the weekend? well, let's put it this way. summer time is. coulding back. we'll tell you all about it. >> all right, thank, norm. if you plan on taking a trip down south, you better make sure you use a bathroom before you hit the road.

today virginia closed 18 of 42 rest stops due to lack of money. signs on the side of the road are being covered up with new ones. travelers like charles roberts say they're disappointed. >> have to find a restaurant, pull off somewhere. i mean, these are so convenient. and when the wife and kids or myself, when you got to go, you got to go. we like these. they're convenient. and we feel they're safer than pulling off in some unknown town, especially when we're from out of town. >> rest areas closed because of potential $2.6 billion deficit. baltimore city will retain control of the historic theater. no one bid the mortgage. one person did bid $800,000. the auction took place outside, and actually was quite heated. >> yet to hear, or maybe they can explain it. >> sit done and let everyone chill out a little bit. and let the auctioneers do what

they have agreed to do. >> clearly this is rigged! this is bull! >> the senator was just one of a handful of independently owned single screen theaters in the nation that still played first-run movies. but that waned in march because the theater had taken on too much debt. baltimore ended up purchasing it. it is listed on the national registry of historic places. a big honor for the green turtle sports bar and grill. it was named among restaurant and institution's top 400 restaurant chains. the ranking is based on sales from the previous year. the green turtle, which opened in ocean city in 1976 currently has 22 turtle locations in maryland, delaware, and washington, d.c. the chain ranked 362.

concerns at a baltimore county school. coming up, trailers some say are located too close to the road. what is being done to address the problem. and what are the hottest stores on the website? we'll take a look, just ahead. talking about hot today. i gave you a 2-degree guarantee of 87 degrees. our high today officially was 87 degrees. >> right on the money. >> exactly. we've got a winner for our 2- degree guarantee. thomas murray of bel air, congratulations. you scored an abc 2 bobblehead. we'll be back with our forecast, right after this. >> watch abc 2 news any time on channel 1 with comcast on demand.

they have alzheimer's and heart disease, diabetes and cancer, and they've heard that biomedical research offers hope -- that it could control, maybe even cure, their disease. senator barbara mikulski understands the importance of innovative biomedical research for patients, their families, and our economy here in maryland. call senator mikulski today. tell her thanks for protecting the promise of biomedical research and the maryland jobs it provides. it's not just the future. it's life.

well, some changes are being made at a baltimore county school after concerns were raised about children's safety. the issue centers around two portable classrooms that were

placed too close to a busy road. as abc 2 news linda so report, the trailers now be moved. >> reporter: it's all about location, location, location. but some parents at pretty boy elementary don't like where two new trailers are located on school grounds. >> parents have been concerned since they heard that the trailers are coming. >> reporter: due to increasing enrollment, the school had to bring in four new portable classrooms. two of them went in the back, the other two out front, right next to middle town road. it didn't take long for parents to speak out. >> speeding, whether it's for a truck or car has been a factor. over the last several years we've had at the school call the county police and say would you please position a police officer and monitor the speed. >> reporter: parents were so concerned about the location of the trailers outside because they're literally feet from the main road. a road that is heavily traveled by cars and trucks. >> in the past few years, we have had incidents of trucks

veering into the corn fields and taking out power lines. >> reporter: children's safety of utmost concern for parents like laura thibodaux. one week after the trailers arrived, the school board and the principal are responding. >> you know, the location of the trailers would impact the safety of the children. that's important to me. >> reporter: on wednesday, the decision was made to move the two trailers to a safer location. one will go out back next to other portable, and one will go in these handicapped spaces. >> the initial decision was made by our department of facilities. so when they were placed here, i was actually on vacation when they were placed here. i was in europe. but i received e-mails from there and began to address the issue from there. >> reporter: parents are relieved about the change. >> moving the trailers to a safer place. >> reporter: in freeland, linda so, abc 2 news. now the forecast certified baltimore's most accurate, here is chief meteorologist norm lewis, and maryland's most powerful doppler radar. >> outside right now a very

sticky, humid evening at bwi, 85 degrees. 50% humidity. wind from the southeast at 12, the pressure falling 30.04 there interest tides tomorrow. tomorrow's winds come to us from the south at 6 to 12 miles per hour. the sun comes up at 5:59. we'll set at 8:26. the high today 87 degrees, which did hit our 2-degree guarantee. and the temperature right now has cooled off to 85. 76 in york, because they had some shower and thunderstorm activity. it's 88 over in easton, and 82 on the boardwalk in ocean city. throughout the day, we had sunshine this morning. then some clouds moved in. with some scattered showers. but as you can see, most of that is pulling towards the north. but as we go and look down to the south a tiny bit, an area of low pressure forming off the carolina coastline is going to be making a beeline northward, bringing some very heavy rainfall to the eastern seaboard, and then up into new england, and during the day tomorrow. these two systems kind of coming together. as this one moves north, this one moves towards the north and east. we'll be caught right in between, which means we could

see a better chance for rainfall during the day tomorrow. the radar indicating thunderstorm activity has now moved up into pennsylvania. but as we go through the evening, don't be at all surprised to see one or two showers pop up around the region because of the heat and humid. and don't forget, you can always go to our website, to abc2news.com to check out our interactive radar. that's what it looks like right now. we see one little shower right here, heading up into the cecil county area. but for the most part, things are looking pretty good here in the baltimore area. and again, you can access this yourself at home on your own computer at abc2news.com. here is your forecast. the heavier rainfall out to the west. will pull on up to the north. during the day tomorrow, a decent day again, no general rainfall. but a better chance for rain during the day tomorrow. than what we've been seeing for the past couple weeks. tonight cloudy skies, some fog after midnight in areas that have gotten rain. showers and storms are scattered through the region. 68 for the low during the day tomorrow. a cloudy day, scattered showers and storms. again, not raining everywhere all the dynamic time. but it's going to be 82 degrees.

82 tomorrow will be followed by 86 and scattered showers on friday. and then saturday and sunday, the heat and the humidity really come rolling back in with 91 and 90 degrees. ed on monday scattered showers once again, 84. tuesday an wednesday partly cloudy skies. a chance for some scattered showers on tuesday. but for the most part, a very hot and humid summer-like weekend is on tap. we'll see you tonight at 11:00. >> thanks, norm. now some stories that are hot on the web. much of the food and the market has become loaded with fat, sugar, and sodium. find out the 30 worst things to eat. also, when frugal living means spending more money. six things to consider to get your best value. to read these stories, just log on to our website at abc2news.com, and look under most popular stories. you'll find them on the right side of our home page. the rich hill has pitched his way out of the orioles starting location. and jason berken may be next. the o's rookie hasn't won since

his big league debut almost two month ago. today against the yankees. bottom 1, 2 out. bases loaded. robinson grounder. brian robert can't make the play. the inning goes on. it's 2-0, yankees. next up, nick swisher makes them pay. drops in a two-run single to center. hideki matsui and jorge posada score. yanks up 4-0 after one. the o's try to get back in it. top 3, 2 out, ty wigginton, a liner to right, but swisher makes a fantastic running grab. inning over. berken to posada, and hip hip jorge. solo shot, his 12. berken goes 6, gives up 5 runs. adam jones off brian rooney. what a sweet swing. his 14th. a solo shot, went 4-5. the home area double and two runs scored. next up, nick markakis, and the o's go back-to-back. but that's as close as they

get. o's lose 6-4. they're off tomorrow, then play 3 in boston. the orioles are getting closer to moving spring training from fort lauderdale to sarasota. andy macphail and team lawyers are in a meeting right now with sarasota county officials. the o's plan to build a brand- new facility, which will include a youth baseball academy run by ripken baseball. willis mcgahey was at the grand opening of a mobile store today. he accepted a $5,000 donation on behalf of the charity which supports victims of domestic violence. the ravens runningback says he is healthy, but not really excited about training camp. >> camp is camp. nobody looks forward to camp, because it's a grueling process where you're looking at dudes all day, and looking at the same guys for the next month. and it's really not fun, but it's a job. >> who wants to be looking at dudes all day. joe flacco's job will be be to lead the ravens back to the play-offs. clearly flacco made an impression last year, so much

so he filmed 1 of the really cool reebok commercials. >> accuracy is one of the most important things for an nfl quarterback. here is how i like to work on mine. pull! last year was just the beginning. >> awesome commercial, right? the only thing missing from that, a wide receiver. catchers have the same problem. that's your sports. i'm rob carlin. we wrap up the news right after this

tonight at 11, a baltimore city letter carrier pleads guilty to stealing thousand of dollars through mail fraud. plus yet another carbon monoxide leak at cold village in baltimore county. abc 2 has the latest on the ongoing problem. those stories and much more at 11 right after "i survived a japanese game show." coastal areas of low pressure provide the moisture, and the heat is on. and no, my name is not huey lewis. we'll see you tonight at 11. >> thanks, norm. that is it for abc 2 news at 6. i'm kelly swoope. thank you for joining us. we'll be back here tonight at 11:00. have a great evening. >> thanks for choosing abc 2 news at 6. for more news, watch abc 2 news at 11, or go now to

abc2news.com. abc 2 works for you. tonight at 11, cash and collectibles. >> we're holding $800 million of marylanders. >> does the state have your stuff? abc 2 works for you, connecting you with your unclaimed property. is your name on the list? tonight on your set, net and cell. abc 2 news on your iphone. available at the itunes ap store now. be the first to know. forecast, video clips, breaking news, just a touch. download the abc 2 news ap for free.