bus services. >> many times these clips show an operator doing something, maybe braking hard. avoided a pedestrian. >> he has a point. in this dash cam video, a woman runs out in front of a metro bus. the metro bus driver is clearly in the wrong in this clip. >> being an observant eight hours a day is tough, but we need the tools. they have to do that. they have to train them the best way to do that. >> become a key part of their training. >> we put this system in a year ago. 12 months between 2010 and 2011, we had a 20% reduction in collisions. >> but the cameras have also led to increased scrutiny. metro bus drivers are typically allowed three preventable collisions before they are fired. >> it could lead to a higher level of discipline. >> that doesn't sit well with miners.

>> one chance, that's it. you can take someone's life and you get three chances to take someone's lives? that's ridiculous. >> in washington, kristin fisher, 9news now. >> you may not believe it, but the number of metro bus collisions is actually down. about 20%. police in montgomery county are on a desperate hunt for a man who attacked two women in two days. in bethesda, he invaded a home, tied up three people and sexually assaulted one of them. attacked a woman at gunpoint in her garage. police want you to take a close look at this photograph. it was captured at the atm at a cvs. the police say the man was trying to use the housekeeper's bank card. they say he used the other atm at a bank in oxen hill after allegedly attacking a woman in wheaten. neighbors are horrified. >> i don't know how someone can recover their trust after something like this. it's very scary for all of us

to know we aren't safe. >> after assaulting the housekeeper in that most recent case, he took her keys and her suv. that is a gray 2005 ford expedition. it has maryland tags. 4ae7450. if you see this suv or recognize this picture at all. call crime solvers or the montgomery county police. the u.s. park police charged a father with child cruelty after he left his 13 month old baby alone down at the occupy d.c. protest at mcpherson square. little girl was found all by herself at a tent this morning. they believe she had been there for at least a half hour. dc fire and ems checked her out. she's fine, and now she's in the custody of social services. some surprise talk of taxes from governor martin o'malley that marked the beginning of the general assembly. once again, maryland is facing a billion dollar deficit, but nobody expected the governor to hike the sales tax for the

second time in four years. >> i'm scott broom in annapolis for the opening of the 2012 session of the general assembly where today governor martin o'malley here in maryland surprised everyone by floating the idea of a penny sales tax increase. >> in an address to opening day of the maryland general assembly, previewed a battle on new taxes to come. two hours before he said this. while recording the mark steiner show for baltimore's weaa radio. >> operating budget is roughly a half million. half billion, excuse me, all of which can be addressed for the greater part in the future. >> buy one penny sales tax. >> raising taxes will kill jobs. >> reactions from republican leaders was immediate. the sales tax went from 5 cents to 6 cents in 2007. the problem once again for maryland is, a budget shortfall this year expected to be $1 billion. the president of maryland senate called hiking the sale

tax a nonstarter. others favor waste water taxes instead. and one legislator tweeted, watch your wallet. in annapolis, scott broom, 9news now. >> a grown up of community labor and education activists plan to meet today with state lawmakers in annapolis. the group is called, to save our state coalition. >> we have had a series of meetings during the interim with citizens from all across the state from the western maryland, eastern shore to southern maryland to find out about the impact of budget cuts. and what we found is a very sad story. whether you are talking about teachers who don't have enough supplies or state employee who's have long lines and social services. the economy has had a terrible impact. >> now the group says despite the slow economy, a lot of private companies are doing just fine, so plans to ask lawmakers to make sure private companies are paying their fair share of taxes that will in turn help fund people and fund the services for folks all across the state. >> state lawmakers in virginia

also got down to business today and from transportation to education, the virginia general assembly is facing a slew of issues this session. >> i'm peggy fox in richmond where virginia's general assembly has kicked off with high hopes of legislation sponsored by republicans. for only the second time since the civil war -- >> the house of delegates is now in session. >> republicans control the general assembly and the governor's mansion. that change in balance could hurt northern virginia especially in education funding. >> the governor is trying to siphon 100 million a year from our schools and use it to pave roads. those of us in northern virginia and across virginia who care about education have a real problem with that. >> even springfield republican is critical of the governor's plan to remove funds northern virginia schools use to pay teachers a competitive wage. >> it costs more to live in fairfax county. they want to cut out the cost to compete bonuses in the

budget, which we have to fight tooth and nail. >> in richmond, peggy fox, 9news now. >> tonight, governor mcdonnell will address the general assembly in his annual state of the commonwealth address. he will lay out his spending priorities for the proposed budget. voters in maryland's fourth district have one less candidate to choose from. prosecutor glenn ivey has announced he is dropping out of the race. he was planning to take on donna edwards for the democratic nomination, but ivey was having trouble raising enough money. edwards still faces two other democrats in the primary, but neither is as well known as ivey is. an update over a battle on church property in virginia. a judge ruled today against seven congregations who split from the episcopal church. this started in 2006. those churches want to keep

their buildings and land, but the judge ruled today the episcopal church should be restored as the owner of all the churches involved. that same judge sited with the seven congregation, but the state court disagreed. make sure you have an umbrella or raincoat. the heaviest rain is just getting started. >> it looks like it will be with us until midnight across the metro area. it led up, but we'll start with live doppler. plenty of rain to go around. north of baltimore, but more heavy activity south of fredericksburg, inbetween, it's light to moderate rain. it's not going to end any time soon. temperatures aren't going to go anywhere really tonight. in fact, it may go up after midnight. a couple of 30s in frederick, winchester and cumberland. still 32 in oakland. we have no reports of any major problems with the sleet out there. so for tonight, mild with heavy rain. tapers to showers after

midnight. low it happens in the 40s. southeasterly winds become southwesterly at 10. we'll tell you when the arctic air rolls in. new video released of the japanese tsunami as it hit the shoreline and devastates that country. but first, an effort to recall mayor vince gray becomes official who he says is behind all of this. that's up next.

one man's threat to oust dc mayor from office is now official. frederick butler filed a notice of intent to recall gray and dc council chairman, kwame brown this morning. in that notice, butler said the two men have, and we quote, betrayed the public trust. they are under federal investigation for their 2010 campaigns, but both say they have done nothing wrong and today gray was down playing recall effort. >> these are people who were supportive of the previous mayor. one of them, i know, was involved in this write in effort that took place last november. >> gray is referring to adrian fenty, whom he beat in the 2010 election. he and chairman brown have ten days to submit their formal responses to the recall and after that, butler will have 180 days to get the signature frs 10% of registered d.c. voters and that adds up to more

than 45,000 people. no one has successfully done that. recall a mayor or council member in washington, d.c. the supreme court heard arguments today in a kiss that could affect state employees. it all stems from daniel coleman's lawsuit. he was wrongly fired for taking ten days of sick leave. coleman sued, saying maryland violated the federal family and medical leave act. lawyers from maryland argue that state are protected by the constitution from being sued for monetary damages. >> all right, coming up, we'll talk about whether or not the rain is going to wash us all aworry tonight. we know it's going to be heavy. topper will tell us what to expect a little later on. >> but first, breast-feeding on sesame street? an online push looks to bring the practice back to the children's show. didn't know it was there, did you? we'll tell you all about it coming up next.

a mom in indiana says she is at her wit's end with her son's bad behavior. after the 14-year-old child had several run ins with the cops, the mother took matters into her own hands. >> she broke the law and only gave him a few hours of community service. i decided that we were going to wear a sign. we're going to get you attention. >> all right then, her son was out on the street for an hour this morning and an hour in the afternoon and he even says wearing that sign will make him

change his ways. but there is an online push to bring breast-feeding back to sesame street. thousands signed a petition to do just that. what some of you are saying ability it. >> what are you doing, buffy? >> i'm feeding the baby. >> these sesame street clips were commonly used decades ago. >> i like this the best. it's natural. >> the 90s brought the replacement of a bottle on the children's show. now first time mother and blogger is pushing to bring back nursing to sesame street. >> i think it's a terrific idea. >> thousands signed her online petition. >> given the controversial nature of the subject matter, they will handle it prudently. >> present day shown instances where breast-feeding has been shunned. in the summer, a customer service rep asked the mother to stop nursing at the francis scott key mall in frederick, maryland. a year ago, security guards reprimanded a mother nursing at the museum. >> i would change the channel.

>> it's not the best use of taxpayer money. >> i think it's a good use for public health. >> positive, but a few online oppose the idea. steve 68112 commented, quote, this does not belong on tv or in public. it's gross. and ula from michigan writes, while i agree breast-feeding is important, i don't think sesame street is the place to have it. there are more than 5500 people who signed this petition so far and the author says she is advocating good health and wants to take away the taboo. i contacted sesame street and they say there's no word on revamping those old episodes on breast-feeding. in the satellite center, 9news now. >> thank you for that, surae. should a kid show like sesame street actually show and promote breast-feeding? it's a common practice. 75% of american moms breast- feed their babies.

or, are topics like this better for the adult shows and maybe not quite right for kid tv. weigh in in mcginty's tv. >> francis news agency has put out dramatic aerial views of tsunami. this was shot from a police helicopter. that is when the earthquake struck off the coast of japan. the quake triggered the catastrophic tsunami, which raked the northern virginia pan coastline. >> nothing like that coming our way, thank the lord, but at the same time, there is a lot of water out there. >> yes, it is. it will be with us through midnight. you'll like tomorrow, we'll salvage a decent thursday and then temperature correction is headed our way. >> here's a look at the hail weather cam. this is live. brought to you by michael and son. we are looking at light rain,

45 at national. dew point is 42. the winds are still from the east, northeast at 7. eventually after midnight, the winds will turn southwesterly and that will make it warmer. in fact, that will keep temperatures from falling much. live doppler 9,000. we see some more heavy activity to the south of fredericksburg. and that is going to roll in as we go through the nighttime hours. everything else is generally light to occasionally moderate activity with a few breaks toward loudoun county and out toward the i-81 corridor. but it will fill in as we go through the night. temperatures haven't done much. 43 in bethesda and gaithersburg. 45 downtown. 45 in college park. 44 at andrews. off to the west, mild. 43 in reston. 45 in sterling and 43 in leesburg and 45 in manassas. so, we're looking at heavy rain tonight. evening commute is a mess. no doubt about that. heavy rain from now on and off until midnight. and then tomorrow, morning showers are possible. better chance of afternoon

showers. but much milder on thursday. really pretty nice day. want to show you what's heading our way. it's 10:00 right now in bismarck. south of it is mild. 45 in chicago. 50 in little rock. it might be snowing in little rock tomorrow and this arctic air gets to the midwest in parts of the middle mississippi river valley tomorrow and gets to the east coast on friday. all right, by 1:30 tonight, all the rave rain north of baltimore, we're left with light, occasionally moderate rain. rules out pretty fast. by 9:00 tomorrow, very nice. lots of sunshine and mild. now by afternoon and evening, clouds come back and this time tomorrow we'll see a couple showers possible. nothing really heavy. then as the showers roll through late tomorrow night, colder air moves in. they could turn to snow showers. certainly looking at a nice ski weekend with snow west of the divide most of friday. mild with heavy rain tapering

to showers. lows in the 40s. tomorrow morning, maybe a shower north, but really partly sunny and mild. 40s and 50s by late morning and then by afternoon, some showers are possible late, but partly sunny and milder. until then, 55 to 60. winds southwesterly at 10. after tomorrow, temperatures go downhill. the low tomorrow night, 36. the high on friday is 36. so there's your arctic air on friday, saturday, and sunday. flurries or snow showers possible friday and sunday and then monday for martin luther king day, very nice. mostly sunny and 40. rain on tuesday, could briefly end as snow. then looking at another cold snap on wednesday. >> all right sir. let us talk weird news tonight because you don't have to be a 12-year-old boy to appreciate some good old fashion potty humor. nobody wants to think about that at the dinner table, right? you might believe that. but let's go to beijing where a restaurant with a name we cannot say on television has

them lining up to get in, even though they dish up their delicacies in toilets and bedpans. yeah. the name has two syllables. the second is house. the co-owner says, and i quote, we were discussing the worst restaurants we have eaten in and one said it was a real toilet. we decided to make a restaurant that was just one big toilet. end of quote. etch the owners cannot believe how successful this has turned out to be. now folks, talking about opening a chain. maybe coming to a block near you soon. >> doesn't do it for me. >> me either. >> you know i'm pretty immature. >> we want to hear what you think. send your e-mails to mcginty's mail bag. the address, mailbag@wusa9.com. 9news now will be right back.

in the mail bag tonight, passionate response to the effort by some to have broadcast tv and cable subjected to the same restrictions on obscenities. that is almost no restrictions at all. john from lorton, virginia, says the current system is not broken, so why fix it? parents who purchase cable tv have the option of blanking out unwanted channels. they can blank out internet sites. they have the expectation for clean tv from over the air

broadcasts. if that changed, the choice is not whether to block channel 9, but when to block it and that's not a practical solution. why change it so we can't foul language we don't want to hear? and shawn says cable and broadcast tv should be put on equal footing. for me, it's a reflection on our entire society. anyone can cuss, but it takes an intelligent person to not use expletives. but lisa says the real issue is freedom. the supreme court and the fcc are trying to protect our youth. but there are better ways than to interfere with the freedom of expression or the freedom of speech. perhaps we should instead encourage parents to participate in their kids lives and watch television with them and question what they see. so the media doesn't have invisible influence on the kids. the points are good from

everyone. i have one question. that is, broadcast networks are now competing with a zillion cable channels. many of whom do not remember television universe without hundreds of channels. is it a level playing field if they have to hold a decentcy standards? well that's our report. i'll be back tonight at 11:00 along with anita brickman. we'll see you then. bye bye. so, this is delicious

okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. hey, i love your cereal there-- it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way. lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one.

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