beltway. traffic is moving slowly. you can expect delays during rush hours. there's a bit of congestion. the future of who represents you in congress is being decided in annapolis. maryland's congressional districts are being redrawn in a special session that started today. abc2's don harrison explains. >> reporter: governor martin o'malley and others kicked off maryland's special session. they increased in population. the largest jurisdiction, montgomery county for the first time has more minority residents at 40.7%. maryland is democratically controlled and the party will try to take advantage of that when redrawing the lines.

>> the role and the job and the duty that we have in this special session is to acknowledge as the constitution calls upon us to do that every 10 years you have to make adjustments because of population growth because of population shifts. >> reporter: president miller acknowledges because of maryland's uneven borders, this process can be difficult. >> our state is odd shaped. it's divided in half by the chesapeake bay. >> reporter: many senators feel the process is unfair. >> politics seem to be the overriding concern, not citizen's rights, not communities that come together. >> reporter: the senate will meet tonight and hope to have a proposal by tomorrow. legislators should have

redacting finallallized by friday. >> there will be a hearing on a possible increase to the gas tax. the president wants to create jobs, he says, by increasing the number of road construction projects in the state. right now maryland doesn't have room for those added expenses. that's why the governor wants to look at a gas tax. some leaders in the statehouse agree with the governor. >> we want to put people to work. i think the governor is 100% correct. we also want to look at fast tracking projects and also take a look at any tax incentives that can possibly keep people working in the construction trades. >> the governor mentioned the

possibility of a 15-cent a gallon tax. a public hearing will be held tomorrow. a good chunk of east baltimore is about to get a makeover. the seven acre site near johns hopkins is four blocks wide. abc2 news brian kuebler reports. >> reporter: the 900 blocks of north chester through madera avenue is not a pretty sight. a ghost town of families and lives past. there be perhaps no better pictures that illustrate an urban rotting core eye grew up in this -- >> i grew up in this community over 40 years ago. >> reporter: councilman warren

branch is excited to see what this will look like soon. it's owned by the east baltimore development, inc., charged with redeveloping around johns hopkins. ebdy. bought all these homes at just $235 a piece. the councilman said the property will be worth much more. >> 2016, you'll see an all together different baltimore. >> reporter: it starts with the first new school to be built in 35 years along with a community center a gym and housing, a massive project funded, in part, with private funds to a place where neighbors say is an eyesore. >> vacant, all vacant.

>> reporter: are you hoping they do something good with the plan? >> yes, build the community up. >> reporter: making good on a promise in a distressed community. >> the demolition of all those homes should start within two weeks. right now the company is working to get rid of all the asbestos and lead. they're also harvesting marble and metal. an arrest has been made in one case. there was a violent weekend in dundalk. another one happened at turn per station. when they arrived at main and flemings, three men had been shot. witnesses said a fight at a nearby basket ball court spread out into the neighborhood. police arrested two men outside

the sea horse inn. they're not sure how the fight started. >> we have since identified and charged adam church and he is currently being held at the baltimore county detention center on $1 million bail. >> the two men who were stabbed have non-life-threatening injuries. anyone with information is asked to call county police. the woman whose body was found in disumster in charges -- dumpster in charge village has been identified. police are still investigating the death of the loyola graduate. her body was found in the 2300 block of north charles street. today police searched the

mcgrued der trail for 11-year-old william mcquain. so far that search has turned up nothing. he has been missing for two weeks. another gorgeous day. plenty of sunshine and blue sky. maryland's radar not picking up anything but change is coming but it will not come today. right now, let's bask in the sunshine. 73 at the inner harbor. upper 60s into annapolis and d.c. as we go through the rest of the evening, temperatures will fall into the 60s. we'll see a few more clouds with the light westerly breeze. i'll talk about when the chance

will come with rain. back to you, kelly. today lap long time radio host, ron smith announced he has pancreatic cancer. he has stage four which has spread to his liver, abdomen and lungs. he has been with the radio station since 1984. friends and family said a final good-bye to patricia mo dell, the wife of former ravens owner mo dell. she is known for her role has laura brooks on the prime-time soap payton place. maryland has cracked down on texting and driving but many teens are still driving distracted.

some local teens discovered how dangerous it is. and environmentalists are questioning cell phone safety. plus, a johns hopkins student is learning the awareness of a disease. how she's helping people battle sarcoma.

each year nearly 13,000 people are diagnosed with sarcoma of the bone. it comes from transformed cells and connective tissue. one johns hopkins student is launching a fund-raiser for sarcoma awareness, a disease her father now has. >> reporter: it's practice time for the johns hopkins blue jays.

the team is gearing up for the annual "stick it to sarcoma fundraiser." team member rachel has sar chow a -- sarcoma. >> my father has sar coma. he is my inspiration. >> reporter: she wanted to help her father and patients like him. nearly 13,000 are diagnosed with sarcoma of the bone and tissue each year. they are malignant tumors that come from connective tissue. >> we don't have a lot of federal funding. at johns hopkins we've got some incredible researchers and doctors that are working on different waist -- ways to diagnose it, treat it and help the patient. >> reporter: these days the

prognosis is not good for rachel's dad but she wants to give him a fighting chance. >> it's in his heart. that's a difficult position to operate and treat. if you're talking about radiation or chemotherapy, that's tough. >> reporter: the tournament will be held on saturday, october 22nd. for rachel, her dad has been her inspiration. >> pain, but survival. he never lets it show to his family. he's very tough for us. he almost feels guilty. he's such a great guy. he's very excited about the tournament. >> reporter: as soon has the blue jays hit the field on saturday, they're not only trying to beat their opponent

but to beat sarcoma. >> the tournament will be held on saturday october 22nd. you can call to make a donation or log on to hopkins sar chow a-- sarcoma.org. e've had several days in a row of sunshine. the harbor is gorgeous. the temperature is at 71. the humidity is at 40%. the winds are out of the west at nine miles an hour. the barometer is rising. so it was blue skies. that was the name of the game. we had a few clouds trying to move. all in all, it was a nice day into baltimore and into mt. airy. blue sky. you wouldn't know the difference there. all in all, we did have a little

bit of winds gusting just like we did yesterday so very familiar to with we saw and felt yesterday. 22-mile-an-hour gust into baltimore. reisterstown 26. parkton at 19. rock hall at 19. annapolis right around 20 for a high wind gust today. maryland's most powerful radar, we have -- are staying dry and will see some change. our highs today came in right around 67 degrees into york. frederick around 70. so that's the pattern that we've been used to. that's well above what we should be. around 66 now. the weather pattern looks like this. this cold front moved through. left us with breezy conditions, also dry conditions. it will move back as a warm front as we go into tomorrow.

we're dry now. i'll zoom out. i want to focus on this disturbed area of weather pushing some of that wet weather into florida. this will be our weather maker as we go into wednesday. it will dump heavy rain across the area. future trend showing you what's going on as we go through the rest of the evening. we start to see clouds pushing in from the west. there we go as we go into wednesday. tuesday looks like it will be dry. it will thicken up the clouds. this is what i was talking about on wednesday. you can see that in the red, maybe around lunchtime and get a little bit of a braifnlgt then we'll see -- break. then we'll see another cold front but thing also dry out. 53 as we go through the overnight. patchy clouds. so we can take that. 71 tomorrow, increasing clouds

but dry. tomorrow night temperature around 57 degrees. showers are possible overnight but not as cool because we'll have more clouds. this is your seven-day forecast. wednesday we have the heavier rain around 68 degrees. thursday will me we not -- will we not only cool down but windy. it will be a lot cooler with the temperature around 58 for a high but plenty of sunshine. cooler but nice as we go into sunday, the race day. not so bad but chilly in the morning. >> as long as we don't have the freezing rain like a couple years ago. >> none of that. if you're not in the habit of wiping down your cell phones, a new study shows one in six phones is covered in fecal matter. researchers in london found 16% were contaminated with the e.

coli bacteria, which comes from waste. most cell phones had some kind of bacteria contamination on them. that is awful. another report out about phones. it found cell phone users, especially children, are being exposed to a far greater level of radiation than first thought. >> reporter: how slave is your cell phone? according to a new study not as safe as the government says. there's a new report from the environmental health trust a group of doctors and researchers that promote awareness of environmental risk. government tests might underestimate the, posture. the tests are done on plastic mannequin heads like this. that corresponds to a 6'2" man. 97% of the population, these tests are inadequate.

>> the standards have been developed based on hold science -- old science and old models. >> reporter: this shows how deep the radiation penetrates an adult male. a 10-year-old, 150% deeper. a 5-year-old even deeper. there are no conclusive studies that cell phones cause cancer. >> the radiation from x-rays is ionized, the same type from a microwave oven. there's no good evidence that that causes cancer. >> reporter: so what can you do to limit your exposure? first, limit the amount of minutes you talk on a cell phone. second, use a hand held device. third, text instead of talking. it doesn't look at how radiation affects other parts of the body.

>> we'll be right back after a break.

race car drivers and experts are asking tough questions today. among them, could this accident have been avoided. we have the latest from los angeles. >> reporter: they were five of the hardest laps they've ever driven, five laps in honor of their colleague, dan wheldon. just a few horrifying seconds, a chain reaction with devastating consequences at las vegas's

pinned -- indy. it crashed into a fence, bursting into flames. >> wreckage, carnage, terrible. >> reporter: wheldon was racing to win a $5 million purse. a two time winner of the indy 500, hes what no -- he was no rookie. >> open wheeled cars are not like stock cars. they can't touch each other. when two tires touch, what started with a lazy spin turned into the most horrific accident i have seen. >> this is not a suitable track. we've seen it today. can't get away from anybody. >> reporter: as the racing world struggled to determine how it could have been avoided, wheldon's family is struggling to cope with his loss. >> we've touched so many in the

world. it's a better place because of dad. >> reporter: before the race wheldon post add blog about his tough practices and his concern help wouldn't get speed he needed to win the race. low birth rate babies are apparently five times more likely to develop autism than normal weight babe -- babies. 5% developed autism. previous research indicated links between low birth rates and problems with motor and cog niive skills. this is the first to show that low birth rate children are also at an increased risk for hot. adhd is the most common neurobehavioral disorder in children. the american academy of pediatrics have new guidelines

for the diagnosis and treatment of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. they recommend doctors evaluate children as young has four and as old as 18. for children diagnosed at four, the academy recommends behavioral therapy, not medication. this involves teaching parents skills and tools to help the child. for teens, doctors recommend both behavioral therapy and medication for treatment. too many of us note feels, constantly going over your cell phone minutes. now there are rules to give customer as heads up before they get hit with extra fees. plus, blackberry is trying to smooth things over after that worldwide service disruption. what freebies you can get for your cell phone starting this week.