that is still very much in progress. the so-called bottle or beverage tax in baltimore city which would put a four-cent tax on most beverages sold in baltimore city is still very much alive despite earlier reports of its demise last week. it was delayed again, a vote that was scheduled to be tonight on the bottle tax was delayed again for the next council meeting which is two weeks from tonight. look behind me. i want to show you something -- a lot of people at the council meeting tonight. the people in green are union members from the city of baltimore. what they've been trying to do here in the past week or so is organize in support of the bottle tax. you've heard a lot of people, ads on the radio, against the bottle tax by the american beverage council and other groups lobbying against it. these people are union members from the city of baltimore who are trying to lobby for it because they feel that if the bottle tax fails they might end up losing their jobs through layoffs in the city. indeed that's what representatives from the mayor

talked about throughout this debate. they are saying if the council passes its version of the budget without the bottle tax that the city could lose about 150 jobs and some of those jobs are things that residents deem important including street sweeping, bulk trash collection and possibly the people from the housing department who board up vacant houses in the city, those are the jobs that the city officials from the mayor's office are saying would be threatened but council members say they don't necessarily believe the mayor's projections that the bottle tax could raise $11 million a year. they are still waiting to see more studying on it and it has been delayed again. until the next meeting but it's not dead. i talked to a council member who is very much against it, a short time ago. >> i never warrant to say that -- want to say a piece of legislation is dead until it's lying in its grave with a stake through it, garlic in its mouth and the cover of the coffin getting ready to close and dirt being thrown on it. it's a bill on second reader.

i'm not aware of a council person that would like to vote for it. >> reporter: that was bill henry who introduced resolutions last week that would have, they say, covered the amount that would have been -- that is being expected from the bottle tax but again those projections are all just up in the air right now with council members and the mayor's office trying to hash out a final agreement. the bottle tax vote was once again delayed tonight so they could consider it more -- and that consideration will take at least two weeks, until the next meeting, from tonight. christian schaffer, abc2 news. also tonight -- baltimore city council president jack young will place a new idea to soak up some of the city's budget gap. he thinks the city should collect money from vacant property owns owners. he says they will no longer get a free pass. it's expected to generate more than $1 million in revenue.

bulk trash pickup in the city could be soon headed to the budget dump. right now you can call the department of public works to pick up old furniture, kitchen appliances and more for free but that could soon be a part of baltimore history. mayor stephanie rawlings-blake is proposing eliminating the service to save the city cash. unless there's a rescue it will be driving down memory lane june 30. the pension plans of the police and fire departments could be impacted. the city has had trouble paying into the plans and the values reportedly slipped to 40% to 50% of their future liabilities. the city and unions acknowledge the current system as broken but haven't agreed on how to fix it with the july 1st deadline quickly approaching. a spokeswoman for mayor stephanie rawlings-blake tells abc2 news -- "under the current pension plan members can retire as early as age 40 with full benefits"mayor rawlings-blake supports comprehensive pension reform because she believes

police officers and firefighters deserve good retirement with you it must be -- but it must be what the city can afford. baltimore-based cordish company is suing the anne arundel county elections board claiming it overlooked fraud in the petition drive to put the slots issue before voters. a citizens group that operates laurel and pimlico are fighting the proposal. the jockey club says the casino will put laurel park out of business. the weather front today, generally cloudy early on. then sun broke out later this afternoon. we're tracking a couple of showers primarily east of baltimore. let's look at maryland's most powerful doppler radar. you can see a couple the showers peppering places like harford county now. we have one little shower tracking just south of bel air moving just north and west of kingsville. probably will move into the northern part of towson if it holds together but as we look statewide you can see there's not a lot of rain. what there is is mainly on the

northern part of the eastern shore. other than that, watching a big storm off to our south and east. well out to sea. more on that coming up. for the rest of the evening just expecting 70s and variably cloudy skies, maybe a shower on a hit or miss basis. more on the week ahead and how the forecast shapes up, straight ahead. all new at 6:00 -- according to new numbers released by the fbi today crime in 2009 throughout the country is down from 2008. abc2 news's brian kuebler looks at the numbers and explains where baltimore fits in. >> reporter: the preliminary numbers are in and according to the feds the country saw a generally positive trend from 2009 as compared to 2008. violent crime decreased by 5.5%, murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults were all down. in the annual report property crimes like burglaries, larcenies and motor vehicles dipped as well by nearly 5%. baltimore city's murder numbers

remained largely unchanged in 2009 as compared to 2008, ranking it in the top 10 cities for murders per capita. but the police department continues to say there was a downward trend in some types of crimes and that is continuing as a steeper clip this year. numbers gathered just today show a current 16.5% drop in homicides over last year, baltimore is also witnessing a 5% dip in all violent crime with a 19% decrease in gun crimes. at the current rate that would place baltimore at nearly 180 murders for 2010. a number bpd has not seen since 1977. a forecast the department hopes holds as the city's crime numbers start to slide in the right direction. in baltimore, brian kuebler, abc2 news. the fbi says this latest report is preliminary. it exiles crime stats from

thousands of law enforcement agencies around the country. tonight police are awaiting word from the medical examiner's office on the exact cause of a suspicious death of a baby in anne arundel county. saturday morning paramedics responded to a 911 call on edge rock way in laurel and discovered a 6-week-old baby boy dead on the scene. investigators must wait on results of an autopsy to determine exactly how this child died. >> at this point it appeared to be somewhat unusual, again, the circumstances, there were items scattered about and broken in the residence. in other words, the house was in disarray. deeming it was unusual at that point investigators from the homicide university took over the investigation. >> the young boy has been identified as joel otude. no word yet on the results of an autopsy. it will be forth coming. a dundalk neighborhood wants answers after one of their own is gunned down outside of his bar. 44-year-old lee martin was shot several times steps from his front door as he locked up his

bar early saturday morning. the neighbors say he ran a clean bar and was always first on scene to help other people. >> senseless. this should never have happened. he's a really nice guy. shouldn't happen to anybody. the way it did. it's a shock to the neighborhood. big shock to the neighborhood. >> right now county police say they don't have a lot to go on now. they are asking anyone with any information to call that number there for metro crime stoppers at 1-866-7-lockup. now with a developing story. baltimore is getting a teacher boost. 170 new teachers from teach for america are headed to high-need public schools. the organization says the teachers will impact more than 20,000 students in baltimore's highest-need public schools, teach for america is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. more marylanders are back on the job these days. new numbers out by the department of labor shows the state unemployment rate has dropped slightly last month, about 7.5%. the department says that is the

first monthly decline in the state's jobless rate since december of 2007. the things are looking so good on the national scale the u.s. unemployment rate rose 9.9%. job seekers today. a company held a job fair at the hilton at bwi. hundreds of job hunters came face to face with dozens of employers looking for help. from automotive to the tsa, there were several opportunities for everyone. >> you're thinking outside that box a little bit. just because you've never done it doesn't mean you can't do it or wouldn't like it. >> i think a lot of companies are not looking for younger people who are fresh out of college. they are looking for experience. and with as many unemployed people as there are they've not a great opportunity here. >> for information on baltimore hires and its future career fairs head to abc2news.com. you'll find it in the "links mentioned on air" section on the bottom right side of the home page. while there check out our get

back to work section. filled with all kinds of tips on how to land a brand new job. spring has sprung, so have the crooks. coming up, how scammers use your fantasies, fears and financial concerns to their advantage. if you're all grown up and still sporting art from the teenaged rebellion days new technology is making it easier to start over again. a new way to undo the tattoos. >> a beautiful live picture. looks like a nice sunset. hopefully no rain. forecast coming up. o cares how far your lengthening mascara goes

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spring is officially here and unfortunately, consumer experts say scams are springing up, too. joce sterman looks at the top five spring scams you should be aware of. >> reporter: a beautiful spring day can put you in the mood to travel or just lounge outside the house. an escape is what most people are looking for this time of year but scammers know how to use your fantasies, fears and financial concerns to their advantage. >> you we -- better have your guard uple >> reporter: rick brinkley with the better business bureau says he's used to the complaints. >> be careful of someone who calls you unsolicited and offers you any travel. >> reporter: brinkley says doing your own research and making your own travel plans will always get you the best deals so be wary. scam number two? >> before you buy an item, you hear you can get a tax credit or rebate on it you need to do

your homework first. >> reporter: rising temperatures and big rebate offers tempt many to invest in acs other other home improvement but make sure you qualify for money back. energy saversgoff, it can be an -- energysavers.gov is the one to look at. >> the people were promised things the company knew was not going to qualify for a tax credit. >> reporter: scam number three focuses on fears surrounding passage of the orem health care -- health care reform bill. >> the first thing to do is opinion alert to -- be alert to pressure to do something now. if you want to report fraud to the inspector general >> reporter: cindy lofton is a coordinator for a senior counseling program. she says don't be fooled by scammers trying to rush you into a health care decision >> the biggest elements of the health care reform legislation won't even go into effect for four more years. >> reporter: with scam four, be on the lookout for so-called free grants for the unemployed. you'll find them all over the

web. >> really, when you're rooking for any kind of help craigslist is not the place i'm going to use as my reliable source to turn over credit card information in an e-mail or especially social security information. >> reporter: our last spring scam involves taking the plunge to buy a new pool or hot tub. be careful or you might end up financially high and dry. >> know who you are doing business with. a swimming pool is a high-dollar ticket item. you tonight -- don't want to be left holding the bag on $25,000 because you gave money to someone who skipped town and you could have done you're homework and saved the money before it all even started. >> reporter: joce sterman, abc2 news. >> if you missed any of the "scam alert" or want more information head to abc2news.com. click on the "scam alert" section at the top of the home page or click on abc2news.com/scamalerts.

kind of a dreary day, lots of clouds, looked like it was going to rain but didn't. >> we had some murky conditions early on. some sun in the afternoon and we've seen a few showers tracking across northern and eastern maryland so it just depends on where you are. outside, it would be nice to be at the water's edge. we're not certain but we think this may be the black-eyed susan. 75 now. winds from the east at 10. they've been south/southeast all day. pressure really high, 30.20 but is beginning to fall at the hour. we look at baltimore today -- murky early on, then clouds begin to break up in the afternoon. we see a little blue sky. and then back into the clouds this evening. may see a shower before the evening is done, too. laurel same deal.

cloudy, down south of baltimore. then you see more sunshine into the afternoon. as we push towards sunset clouds thicken a little there as well. more of a billowing cumulus than a stratus deck which is more than what we have in northern maryland. rainfall totals unimpressive. we've seen a couple of widely scattered scat hit and miss showers. 10th inch in rockville. 10th inch in annapolis and clarksville as well. 77 was the high. average high is 76. we've been as hot as 93 and picked up 4/100th inch of rain at bwi marshall. your 2-degree guarantee was 75. that is within two. dave rinner at chestertown, our 2-degree guarantee weather winner. congratulations to you. get your name to us, abc2news.com. we'll try to get you a storm center umbrella. mid-70s now but with the humidity it feels warmer than that. humidities ranging from 100% in dover to 69% at bwi marshall.

73% in pax river. it's a muggy kind of an afternoon out there. and just really light east/southeast wind, not enough to really cool you down much. our satellite and radar view, a couple of things going on. again, a very widely spread jhpeppering of showers and rea more up towards cecil county and northeastern corner of the state. some made it into the bel air area and harford county. south of us, a lot more rain across the carolinas. all kind of part of the spinoff from this large gathering storm at sea. we are approaching quickly hurricane season so we'll see if this becomes anything with the tropical development. right now that looks like a little long shot. in the meantime, as that churns offshore it continues to send the clouds our way. showers south of us and warm humid air sliding up the coast. our forecast model, again, keeping that storm off to the south. i don't see much threat for that to come in. then as we go into the day on wednesday, a boundary comes from the north, actually, may help push that storm south but could bring showers as a

frontal boundary coming out of the north on wednesday. so wednesday a better chance of showers than tomorrow. 62 tonight. what showers we have will end. tomorrow 79, partly sunny. still a slight chance of a shower but i think less so tomorrow. and a little more sunshine in the mix early on tomorrow. then tomorrow night 60 with clearing but i don't think it holds up until the wednesday afternoon period because once we get past wednesday morning another boundary coming in could spark some showers wednesday afternoon. lasting into thursday, even friday. as we kick off the big lacrosse championships in baltimore. temperaturewise warmer from wednesday forward. we're pretty much in the 80s there. it's estimated over 45 million americans have tattoos. that's according to a recent survey by the u.s. food and drug administration. some people show them off proudly while others may have some second thoughts once their tattoos are etched into their skin. what can you do to undo your tattoo? abc's chuck roberts explains.

>> reporter: tattoos can be a work of of art, form of of expression or by-product of young rebellion. jenna had four before she was 20. at 30 she wants to get rid of most of them. >> it was nice when i was younger. i try to be more professional now. >> reporter: with lasers doctors can eliminate some evidence. years ago the only options were to cut out or sand off the tattoo leaving permanent scars. now plastic surgeons erase them with intense beams of light. >> it provides a certain amount of heat which breaks up the tattoo pigments. >> reporter: single-color black or blue tattoos are the ease yeflt to take off. >> the lasers have an easier time picking up those darker colors than the lighter ones. >> reporter: they don't magically disappear. sometimes it takes months, even years for a tattoo to fade away. the procedure is painful, so jenna says think before you use your body as a canvas. >> you should put a picture by your bed of the tattoo you

want, wake up every morning, look at it for two to three weeks, if you're not sick of it by then it's probably the tattoo for you. >> i will see you in four to six weeks. >> reporter: for our "health minute," i'm chuck roberts. a final look at the forecast is moments away. first, here's a live look at the roads, i-695 and harford road. that is also moving. surprise, surprise. we'll be right back. car owner: yeah, here she is. friend: it's uh . . . great. car owner: thanks. friend: yeah. car owner: doors would have been nice. friend: yeah. car owner: they weren't in my budget. friend: no biggie.

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problems with pampers are bringing parents together in an on-line protest. the diaper maker responds after the claim their product seriously burned babies. will the beverage tax be allowed? it's up for debate tonight. we'll have the latest from baltimore city council. >> a couple of showers out there tonight but not enough to really make a big deal. in fact, just a couple of light showers now in northern baltimore county, like from cockeysville up. for the rest of the evening here most of us will just see muggy conditions and variably cloudy. don't cancel the barbecue. >> that's it for abc2 news at 6:00. i'm roosevelt leftwich, thank you for joining us. jamie will be here at 11:00.