electricity since the early 1990s. >> we've not had a distribution increase on the electric side since 1993. that is 17 years ago. 17 years ago the ravens weren't here. 17 years ago we didn't have dvd's. inflation has risen 50%. since that time. >> reporter: bge says the proposed increase will be set off by the decrease in the actual cost of electricity and gas but those commodities fluctuate from year to year. customers know this proposed delivery increase will stick. >> i'm quite sure everybody needs money, but they don't charge that much. >> reporter: vanessa cornish may be just one person bge hears from, as the public service commission holds hearings for residents to speak out. a chance for the public to weigh in on the $50 a year the utility wants to charge. not much money for many but a real difference for some. >> it's like everything going up. like nothing, it doesn't matter

that you're getting a little more money here and a little more there. but it's not -- where it's really needed. >> reporter: the utility says it does need it as its costs continue to rise. a message bge hopes to convince people of through a series of public meetings. in baltimore, brian kuebler, abc2 news. >> the public service commission will hold its first public hearing on the proposed utility hike at bel air's town hall in harford county. for a list of dates and times for meetings in your area log on to our web site at abc2news.com allegations of unnecessary medical procedures at a baltimore county hospital prompt more than 100 lawsuits. former patients say the procedure was unwanted and potentially harmful. they have sidestepped efforts to establish class action lawsuits in this case to have their own day in court. attorneys announce the actions against st. joseph medical center today after settlement negotiateses broke down.

an odenton man behind bars after police say he attacked officers. police say steven weiss appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol when he sat on another person's car. police say wise resisted and began fighting with them. he faces several charges including resisting arrest, and assault on an officer. 11 people were arrested today in southern france in sweeches against sus-- sweeps against suspected militant networks. it's believed militant groups are planning commando-style attacks across europe. amtrak is holding training sessions for security. along the nation's transit routes. chilly day across maryland. bottom line. kind of gray and just feeling like late november. maybe we can get a day or two like this in early december sometimes. bottom line, cool weather.

and these numbers dropping literally by the minute. we'll probably be in the low to mid-50s at the top of the next hour. dc a little warmer, they've had more sunshine today but most of us look like this. socked in with the thick cloud cover, at least the rain has mercifully stayed away. so we have not had that chilly pelting rain though there was some morning drizzle especially up towards the state line, northern baltimore county and up towards york. this evening, 50s, cloudy, chilly conditions. it does stay breezy out there. this weather pattern holding tight for about another 24 hours. we'll talk about when things really get nice around here coming up. a little girl is reunited with her family tonight after being kidnapped. it's all thanks to swift action by a good samaritan. diana alvear has more. >> reporter: so little, her feet dangle above the crowned. alyssa cardenas survived a terrifying ordeal. she was snatched from her front yard monday night.

back home thanks to this man police are calling a here grow. >> he was -- hero. >> he was hiding her, pushing her down. >> reporter: victor perez recognized the truck from news reports, saw the driver and moments later her head popped up on the passenger side. then perez sprung into action. >> he maneuvered his vehicle in front of the suspect vehicle causing the vehicle to stop. the suspect actually opened the passenger door and pushed alisa out of the car on to the roadway. >> reporter: the truck took off. the suspect, 24-year-old gregorio gonzalez, was arrested a short time later in this parking lot. alisa was taken to an area hospital, reunited with her mother. police say she's in good condition. neighbors are celebrating her safe return. all thanks to the watchful eye of a good samaritan. >> i thank god he put me here to help out that little girl. >> reporter: police say gonzalez had exposed himself to some little girls just prior to kidnapping alisa.

he's facing charges of kidnapping and sexual assault, more charges could follow. abc news, los angeles. the two freshmen charged with invasion of privacy in the rutgers university voyeurism case may not be inasmuch trouble as first respond. a prosecutor explains there may not be enough charges to upgrade them to a hate crime. they were charged with invasion of privacy for allegedly using a web cam to spy on a classmate's sexual encounter with another man. that classmate later jumped to his death. they could get probation to five years in prison if convicted. a performance gone wrong caught on tape. a lion trainer attacked as the crowd looks on in horror. other workers sprayed water on the two lions trying to stop the attack. the audiences was filled with families and young children. many scramblebled for the exits during the attack. the trainer was take -- taken to the hospital for treatment and listed in stable condition

tonight. higher standards and closer look at whelm. the -- -- how your new cars performed. we'll show you. and why bedbugs and stink bugs are not the only pests causing problems for many people. scam artists, too. dentures are softer than teeth.

and a lot of people, when they get a denture, they think the best way to clean it is by brushing it with toothpaste. toothpaste contains abrasives that scratch dentures, leaving microscopic crevices where bacteria can grow, and bacteria can cause bad breath. the best way to go is to soak them in polident. only polident is proven to clean without scratching and kills 99.9% of odor-causing bacteria. i recommend using polident and soak every day. it's the right way to go.

meet pnc virtual wallet. it comes with a calendar that shows you all your finances at once. it lets you know when your money's going out. and when it's coming in. it even tells you when you're running low. we call that danger days. it's built to help you see your money in a whole new light. experience everything virtual wallet has to offer at pncvirtualwallet.com. pnc. for the achiever in us all. ♪ so who is "making stuff up"? the news media say it's bob ehrlich... with attacks that have been called "false" and "misleading." made up attacks bob ehrlich knows aren't true. but here's what's not made up. bob ehrlich's $3 billion in taxes and fees. the $2.5 million he got paid working at a lobbying firm. or the fact ehrlich worked for the casinos to put slots at arundel mills mall. now, bob...that's all true. you could switch for great gas mileage or seats that flip and fold with one hand.

you could switch for up to 600 highway miles on a single tank of gas. or the hundred-thousand mile powertrain warranty. over a thousand people a day are switching to chevy. they're not just trading in, they're trading up. qualified lessees can get low mileage lease on this 2011 malibu ls for around one ninety-nine a month. call for details. the switch to chevy starts at chevydealer.com. homeowners have seen infestations and scam artists have seen opportunity. bedbugs and stinkbugs have been tough to wipe out and the problem can linger even longer if the wrong pest control company gets into your home. karen kafa has tips on how to remove the extermination scams. >> reporter: bedbugs,

stinkbugs, recent infestations have left homeowners desperate to boot them for good. and scam artists have noticed. when looking for help keep these tips in mind. do your research. an exterminator should have the proper training and certification and ideally the better business bureau says be a member of a local or national trade association and be backed by the local pest control regulatory board. read the fine print before you sign any contract. especially if you are afreeing -- agreeing to longterm monitoring for the pest problem or follow-up treatments. also, be wary of the so-called pest control professional who knocks on your door to warn of infestations in the neighborhood looking for cash up front. and beg bud hysteria can get to anyone's head and a consumer who thinks they see an insect or two may not have a problem at all. a good pest control expert will confirm what is plaguing you rather than rely on your

observations. for "consumer watch," i'm karen kafa. a baltimore ravens player gets off the field and into the classroom. how matt birk is trying to get kids to hit the books. another celeb will take the walk of shame with "dancing with the stars." drama on the dance floor. coming up. four years ago, bob ehrlich got fired as governor of maryland. for good reason. first, he protected tax loopholes for giant cable cable companies. then, he let utilities jack up our rates 72%. and for the last four years, he worked as a hired gun for big corporations, even a bank that took billions from a taxpayer funded bailout. ehrlich sides with corporate executives again and again and again

tell bob ehrlich big banks and billionares don't need help. middle class marylanders do.

i'm frank kratovil and i approve this message. the real andy harris. buried in his website - a promise to replace the tax code with a 23% sales tax and eliminate the mortgage interest deduction. a bush tax panel said families would pay $6,000 more a year. a reagan tax advisor calls it a very dumb idea. but that's not his only bad idea. harris was the only senator to vote against expanding the child care tax credit and against the

state's cancer treatment program. andy harris' extreme ideas will cost us. today the government unveiled its new safety rating system for cars with tougher tests, higher standards and closer look at protecting women. as emily schmidt tells us, for the first time one overall rating is assigned to each car to make comparison shopping easier for consumers. >> reporter: the new safety ratings revealed today aim to make an impact as big as the crashes themselves. >> we have raised the bar on safety. so more stars, safer cars. >> reporter: the national

traffic safety administration now adds side pole crash testing to its evaluation. another major change adds female dummies to the crash tests. >> we are also rating a system now, not just for male passengers or drivers but for female passengers or drivers. that's an extraordinary leap for us. >> our concern is we thought they could do more. >> reporter: another group, the insurance institute for highway safety used female dummies in its testing since 2003. after discarding the theory protecting an average-sized man would protect everyone. >> we need to check out how restraint systems are working for smaller occupants and for lighter-weight occupants. >> reporter: most vehicles tested under the old government system earned a top five-star safety rating. not now. just two of 34 vehicles tested with the new standards. the bmw 5 series and hyundai

sonata received top marks. nissan versa cord lowest, two stars. the top-selling toyota camry got three stars overall. sources tell abc news it's caused by testing procedures, not because the vehicles are less safe. the government says because of the new more stringent rules the 2011 rankings are not comparable to those of earlier years. reading is fundamental or so it is said. that is why ravens center mat birk visited moreiel park elementary school school to get students to read outside of school. >> reporter: if you take the polar express way out to where the sidewalk ends, get caught up in charlotte's web and escape to where the wild things of you might find yourself here. mat birk has a new program called ready, set, read.

>> i would like you to come for a bind the scenes tour. >> reporter: to get the tour you have to read. one of the prizes. >> hopefully kids will get excited about that. and that will cause a lot of kids to do a lot of reading. >> red, set, read! , ready, set, read! >> reporter: it's a gym full of students eager to read. that is the motivation behind ready, set, read. to get kids excited about reading, not just for school, but for entertainment, leisure, for life. >> it's to get kids to read outside of school and to strengthen them as readers. and as everyone knows reading is the fundamental that education is based upon. >> i'm reading about pandas and the lifestyle and how they eat. >> about this girl who, she's in a new school. it's about this boy named jake and he likes computers. >> reporter: a

brand new program with nearly 40 schools already signed up. they bring about 12,000 young readers to the program. i did actually see the sun today. it was there for, like, two seconds but then it was gone. >> in fact, dc, a little more sun there so they were able to get into the 60s. a lot of us stuck in the 50s. chilly today. still cool out there tonight. this weather pattern, kind of begins to lose its dprip tomorrow but we really see a change from thursday into friday. it's coming. harbor cam, bottom line, yeah, a gray sky. we've been seeing this for days now. at least today we didn't have the cold pelting rain. there was some morning drizzle. but for the most part, not a bad-looking evening.

just cool, 58 degrees right now. winds northwest at 10 and so it's breezy and cool too. a bit of a wind chill. take you down to dc. watch closely, murky conditions and suddenly we get the breaks of sunshine. sunny peaks there and then it doesn't last. the clouds thicken back up on us. we have been struggling to see more sunshine. that's the bottom line. some of these temp temperatures, 54 ellicott city, 54 hickory. northeast 55 right now. as we look at the wind gusts, gusting 15, 16, 22. so it actually feels more like the low 50s in many spots right now. winds across the entire state. in fact, have been breezy throughout the afternoon. winds a little lighter in southern maryland and toward easton but most spots still with a 10 mile-per-hour plus sustained wind. right now a look at some of the numbers. 58 baltimore. 41 towards deep creek lake in

oakland. warmer spot, actually at the beach there. almost 60 in ocean city. right now we're at 60 downtown but most spots struggling to get out of the 50s. an early look at tomorrow's forecast -- this is actually the forecast for wednesday. 60 mount washington. 62 harbor east. so we're not going to see the needle move much on the high temperatures. satellite and radar trend, a little bit of rain into western pennsylvania and northern new jersey but we're not seeing much in the immediate maryland area here. still cloudy and the center of circulation on the storm, though it's becoming more and more defuse, really off of new jersey. the wraparound this thing could still bring us scattered hit and miss light showers tomorrow before we get this area of high pressure which will clear the the skies but it's a locked up pattern now. that system stalled out over the northeast. we're along for the ride here on the southern edge of it in baltimore. future weather into the day tomorrow, cloudy but just a hit or miss shower. probably in the afternoon and

evening. then thursday we dry out. we clear out the clouds. your future weather looking better thursday on into friday. tonight, dry but man, mostly cloudy and cool. mid-40s by daybreak. that's going to be cool. tomorrow, 2-degree guarantee 63. or so. but still cool. then tomorrow night down to 48 or so, clearing overnight. let's check out your 7-day forecast. again, as we look ahead here, temperature making a nice rebound into the 70s. thursday, friday, saturday. sunday. good stuff but it will take a little longer to get in here. the competition has gotten stiffer on "dancing with the stars" with a new leader this week. one couple showing they are consistently good. but margaret cho's dancing days could be numbered. she was the low scorer last night. dpoarm -- george has the highlights.

>> reporter: audrina and her partner waltzed to first place and with a score of 26 they also got the first nines of the season. >> it felt so good because all the judges said they could tell what our emotions were and we expressed the right emotions and felt that connection. >> reporter: jennifer grey and derek huff went triple 8s but not alone. it was a three-way tie. >> week one, 888, week two, 888, week three, 888. we are consistent. >> max is my therapist, too. getting it together. he helped me. >> reporter: this is from my producer. >> is it supposed to come all the way open? you're welcome. ladies. you are welcome. this shirt wasn't supposed to come off at all. >> reporter: a point behind them, kurt warner kept something on for his dance. >> this was kind of our tribute

to all those, because it's breast cancer awareness month. we're thinking about you and hoping the best. >> reporter: warner and anna, tied with kyle massey and lacy shwilmer. lacy and her partner are next. and sealing their number with a kiss. >> that was the spirit of the moment. that was not planned. it felt right to do it. i laid it on her and she reciprocated. >> i laid it back. >> reporter: also tied for seventh, "the situation" and smirnoff followed by bristol palin and mark ballas with margaret cho in last place. michael bolton is back in the ballroom tonight but not to dance. he'll be singing during the results show. but before that show is over, one more couple goes home. in los angeles, george pinocchio qor abc news. organizers of the academy awards want to change the date. they want to move the ceremony up to late january or early

february starting in 2012. organizers say an earlier date could allow the academy to still back some of the thunder from other awards shows and boost tv ratings but any date which has been complicated by the nfl considering adding two games to its football schedule. next year's oscars are february 27th. i'm kelly swoope. from the time we are born we need it, iron. but a new study outlines why some babies may not be getting enough. president carter visits baltimore to show more of a humanitarian side. how he rolled up his sleeves for the city. was crazy feeding in the fall. i always feed in the fall. but, it's the best time. feed your lawn in the fall. the fall feeding makes all the difference in the world. what the fall feeding does is build the roots.. that's when the roots sorta want nutrition. i give my lawn scotts winterguard. it's like a root building machine. it builds your lawn from the roots up.

next year you get this! the stronger the roots, the stronger the lawn. all year long. the best time to feed is when it will do the most good. there's no substitute for the fall feeding, trust me. it is the best thing you can do for your lawn. i use scotts winterguard. but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now, i can join the fun and games with my grandchildren. great news! for people with copd, including chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or both, advair helps significantly improve lung function.

while nothing can reverse copd, advair is different from most other copd medications because it contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help you breathe better. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. i had fun today, grandpa. you and me both. if copd is still making it hard to breathe, ask your doctor if including advair will help improve your lung function for better breathing. get your first full prescription free and save on refills.

jobs over seas. i think we need tax breaks to send kids to college. so i worked for a $2,500 tax credit to help pay for college. fought to get pell grants expanded and insisted that college loans go directly to kids instead of through banks. i'm barbara mikulski. i approve this message. because it's not about the next election, it's about the next generation. right? yeah!!!

finally this hour, take a look at this politician who likes to clown around. literally. he's a professional clown and the newest member of the brazilian congress. francisco silva ran under the slogan it can't get any worse. people apparently agreed. he got a whopping 1.3 million votes. now that is no joke. how would you like to get a boost in the love department? one county in maryland is getting big love from the federal government to keep you happy. find out where this is happening on abc2 news at 6:00 which starts right now. families who are about to lose their homes could be getting a big boost from the government. a no-interest loan just to tide them over. good evening, i'm kelly swoope. president obama signed the law last july that is creating

emergency homeowner loan programs. today maryland found out just how much money it's getting. roosevelt leftwich is back with more on this story. >> reporter: maryland's share of the cash is about $40 million. its emergency money that is designed to help people who lost their jobs stay in their homes while they work to get back on their feet. losing your job is terrible. losing your home is a nightmare. for thousands of marylanders the two go hand in hand. with people who paid their mortgages on time for years suddenly finding themselves on the verge of losing everything. >> these families have lost their jobs through no-fault of their own. this money will help them stay in their communities, keep their families together in their homes, and we'll see the impact that will result when it's distributed. >> reporter: the $40 million loan fund is a stop gap measure to help people who lost their jobs or chunk of their income stay in their home until they can find work but to qualify for the loan the family has to