gregg? >> gregg: pope benedict xvi holding mass in london's hydro park and drawing a very large crowd. notwithstanding fears of a suspected terrorist plot against him. british police arresting 6 men who work as street sweepers under the terrorism act and the threat level is listed as severe during his visit and the pope has been informed of the arrests and no changes to his itinerary are planned. thousands of people opposed to the pope's visit marching in central london earlier today, angry over issues ranging from the church's stance on abortion, homosexuality and contraceptives, to sexual abuse by priests and this was the largest protest of pope benedict xvi's five year papacy of the pope meeting with several people who were sexually abused by priests as children this morning and apologizing for the suffering experienced by the victims and their families. >> julie: the american hiker freed by iran is heading back to the u.s. as we speak. reuniting with her mother, at the airport at amman's

>> gregg: i'm gregg jarrett. >> julie: and i'm jewel rule. toppling the news, a bank teller says three men broke into his home, scratched a bomb to him and forced him to rob the bank he worked at. now, the men are on the run with over $100,000. >> canadian authorities stopping a pakistan plane after an anonymous tip saying the guy was a threat. they have released the man and who they are accepting for now. >> this maneuver has been a sensation on the internet. two navy pilots behind the controls are grounded and under investigation. >> gregg: we begin with a word between democrats and republicans over the pledge to america, the plan calling for a freeze in government spending and tax cuts to boost the u.s. economy. president obama today in weekly address blasting that plan has a repeat of failed ideas. >> many with the very same policies that led to the economic crisis in the first place, which isn't surprising since many of the leaders were among the architects. failed policy. it's grounded in the same warn out philosophy cut taxes for milli

gregg? >> gregg: molly line. of his charisma to barney frank. he hit connecticut and headed to maine. >> reporter: there has been a mix of things happening today, starting in connecticut with the senate race there, richard blumehthal, the attorney general facing off against linda mcmahaon, a well funded candidate, she's funding her own race to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, the former head of world wrestling and then, running tor governor, libbey mitchell and a senate race and a governor's race, a lot of ground covered by the former president. >> gregg: molly line in mass marks molly, thank you. >> julie: president hugo chavez facing a tough political fight on his own turf. a wide changing coalition of opposition groups are banding together in the election, threatening to take a huge bite out of the legislature, that has been little more than a rubber stamp for the chavez presidency. steve harrigan is streaming live from caracas, venezuela, hi there, steve. >> reporter: julie, a great deal of passion in

gregg: u.s. drone missile strikes in pakistan targeting militants plotting terror attacks on european cities, and a senior u.s. intelligence official now saying cities in britain, germany, france, and denmark, all in the crosshairs, in plots modeled after the 2008 massacre in mumbai, india, gunmen storming luxury hotels and killing 166 people. joining us now, peter newman, a terrorism expert at king's college in london. peter, always good to see you. there is word from senior intelligence officials that this was a plot that was hatched by al-qaeda's number three, mohammed kashmirie, who is a pakistani. does that sound about right? >> it could be. it all goes back to a german national that the americans arrest in july and they've been questioning over a period of time, and over the course of these interrogations, it seems like he's revealed a number of plots that he's been instructed to carry out. it would make sense, al-qaeda desperately needs another success in the eyes of their supporters, and

gregg: and i'm gregg jarrett. the top box. the balance of power is up for grabs five weeks from today. president obama is campaigning hard heading to a key battleground state as we get poll numbers on important races. jenna: he's no fan of america and he's best buddies with one of our biggest enemies. hugo chavez is one step closer to getting his hands on nukes, what he says he'll do with them. gregg: strange sightings at military bases across the area what some former air force officers insist they saw. jenna: "happening now" the cia stepping up drone attacks in the mountains of pakistan, launching 20 strikes this month alone. in the tribal region where the world's most dangerous terrorists are believed to be hiding. there is a spike in terror charter targeting several european cities. what are officials saying about this so-called chatter. >> reporter: good morning from chicago, jenna. late last night a senior u.s. official confirmed to me that there has really been a ramping up of the drone campaign in the tribal areas of p

gregg. >> gregg: if you are a parent, you will do anything to get your child back.uite understandable. peter doocy, thanks very much. >> julie: more now on mahmoud ahmadinejad here in the u.s., ironically this morning he'll meet with u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon in new york city and mahmoud ahmadinejad will attend meeting at the united nations general assembly. molly henneberg is live in washington with more. hi, molly. >> reporter: julie, he'll be speaking to the general assembly and you never really know what to expect when iran's president speaks, at the united nations. usually his remarks include attacks on the u.s. and israel and mahmoud ahmadinejad, who arrived in new york today, had said leading up to the u.n. general assembly meeting, that the multi-rounds of sanctions by the u.n. security council over iran's controversial nuclear program have been, quote, pathetic and said, these sanctions will definitely mark a new level of progress in our economy. we have turned sanctions around and created the opportunities out of this. mahmoud ahmadinejad also met

patricia jessamy is up against gregg bernstein. billy murphy is backing gregg bernstein. polls will be open today in all jurisdictions from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. >> coming up on "oprah," the farewell season continues. winona judd opens up today at 4:00 p.m. here is meredith vieira for a look at what is coming up next on the "today" show. >> coming up on a tuesday morning, efforts to free an american hiker hit a snag over night. it is the last major primary day before november's crucial midterm election. we are live with big races to watch. the female reporter who was allegedly the subject of ta

gregg berstein looks poised to unseat patricia jessamy. gregg berstein cast his ballot on tuesday along with 18% of baltimore city residents. it's a big board of elections nearly a full day to release complete returns, making the state's attorney's race too close to call. the tally stalled at 97% of the city's precincts. according to election officials, city election judges forgot to turn in the memory cards from 82 judgment -- voting machines. patricia jessamy spent the day meeting with advisers. >> they have cut expressed some concerns that there were tapes missing that had not been incorporated into the total count. >> officials track down the cards at a dozen polling places. there is nothing suspicious about the slow accounting. >> when you have election night, it is not uncommon to not be at 100%. >> 20 hours after the polls closed, officials released the official results. he had a lead of nearly 1300 votes. still, neither camp is calling the race until an estimated 2200 absentee ballots are counted. >> once we know that the numbers t

hear from both jessamy and gregg bernstein.olice continued to gather evidence after the son of a patient open fire on a doctor inside hopkins hospital. we'll have these stories and >> it's a coin to be beautiful again for just about anything, and the american heart association hope she will spend part of your day sunday taking a walk to help your heart. >> the community is really taking action. jennifer franciotti has more. >> a bake sale in howard county to raise money for the american heart association. >> raising money for a great cause, everyone knows how important raising money for heart research is. we love that we can do it. >> the local firm is one of dozens of community organizations gearing up for this and they start off at centennial park. it raises funds for research to fight heart disease and stroke. >> we will have a kids' area and an area for people bringing in their dogs out. we will have heart health screenings at an area for survivors to come out. >> lisa bell is one such a rubber. she was born with congenital

with 100% of the precincts reporting, patricia jessamy is trailing gregg bernstein by less than 1300 votes. let's go live to the city board of elections for the latest. >> those final numbers from the precinct came in just before 4:30 this afternoon. about 25 minutes ago, the campaign for gregg bernstein issued the following statement -- we are pleased to see the final results are consistent with the voting trends we observe all day yesterday. i again thank all of the volunteers to have devoted so much time and energy to helping our campaign. not exactly a victory statement. we will hear more about that in just a second. but it has been a very long day to get to this point of having all the votes counted. here is what happened. it took a full 20 hours after the polls closed in the city state's attorney's race. but finally this afternoon, election officials reported results from all 100% of the city's precincts. the final round of voting did not change the landscape of the race. gregg bernstein who announced his challenge to pick patricia jessamy just a month ago maintained the lead o

gregg greenberg is a reporter at thestreet.com. he joins us from the nasdaq. >> tom: welcome back to n.b.r., gregg, nice to see you. >> always great to be here. >> tom: what kind of shape is the retail industry in as we head into the fourth quarter? >> well, over the last month, let's call it, retail stocks have outperformed the indices, and a lot of people say this is because you had some good august same store results, which means that the consumer is opening up their wallets, and we need them to open their wallets because it is a big part of our economy. what we'll find out over the next few weeks is which retailers are doing the best, and we'll see that from back-to-school sales, which are a big lead-in to christmas sales, the most important of the year. >> tom: what kind of inventories are stores expected to carry into that christmas season because that clearly winds up on the bottom line when it comes to fourth quarter margins. too many inventory, and odds are the sales margins get pinched. >> we had good inventory sales numb

gregg bernstein has -- the incumbents, patricia jessamy -- leading to the margin at 1295 votes. that's slightly smaller than that was earlier in the day, but it gives the margin to the challenger, democrats gregg bernstein. this has been a long day of waiting for this final umbers, so what took so long? -- final numbers, so it took along. the night came and went with no clear winner. democrat gregg bernstein came out of nowhere to challenge the incumbent and went home before midnight clinging to a narrow lead. it widened to about 1400 votes by early morning but no one declared his victory or conceded defeat. the problem was the vote count stalled at 97% of the precincts. the other 3% or locally lost temporarily in transition. according to officials, judges neglected to turn in the memory cards from 82 voting machines after the polls closed. those machines were spread across 12 polling places from various parts of the city. officials spent the day tracking them down and recording the results. officials say there is nothing fishy about the problem, just some sloppy attention -- so

patricia jessamy is trailing gregg bernstein -- gregg bernstein. 11 news has learned that problems with voting machines are preventing anyone from declaring a winner in this race. we have like team coverage. we began with jayne miller live at the baltimore city board of elections with the latest on the state's attorney's race. >> it would not be called a problem, but the votes have not been counted, that is why no one has declared victory or conceded defeat. here's what is going on at the moment -- if the challenger, gregg bernstein, does have a lead over pat jessamy of 1421 with 97% of the city's 290 precess -- precepts been tallied. we spoke with the city election chief about 45 minutes ago. how many votes do you think are in play in terms of those that have not been counted? >> well, i have no idea. they are from different places around the city. >> there was not a heavy turnout. >> not at all. very disappointing. >> are we talking about a couple of hundred votes were a couple of thousand votes? what do you think? >> it is hard to say with the low turnout. i would think probably no m

. >> patricia jessamy will take on gregg bernstein at the polls today. the baptist ministers are backing jessamy. bernstein picked up the endorsements of a well-known attorney and former judge. pat jessamy and gregg bernstein both spend part of the last day before the primary campaigning. both picked up endorsements. billy murphy publicly declared his support for bernstein. >> considering the platforms both candidates, i think his platform is superior to hers. she had a failed tenure. >> representing more than 200 of the city's religious leaders, they are backing petraeus at jessamy. >> she understands we cannot arrest and convict our way out of our current predicament. this persistent violence that seems to plague every violence. she has been a tireless worker for prevention, for drug treatment on demand. >> both candidates got a last word on what they think needs to be done. >> i think the issues of public safety transcend race and status. >> to create a safer city, there has been nothing offered here relative to how that would be done. >> polls will b

did senator judd gregg make mistakes? >> we have to acknowledge that our federal government has a spending problem. they're just out of control in their spending. are spending at the federal level will increase 35% from where it was three years ago this year. we have to take the credit card from congress and cut it up. it is unreasonable that they are driving us into this kind of debt. the 111th congress has put together the two biggest deficits in the history of our country. this poses all kinds of issues. it is stagnating in our economy and costing us jobs by the millions. this is one of our biggest problems. we have to create jobs. my campaign slogan is jim for jobs. we have to rein in government spending are regulate with a lighter hand, and limit the climate of uncertainty which prevent businesses from investing. >> thank you. i do have a follow-up. would your approach be any different from that of senator gregg? we all know he was the republican point-man on tea party -- on t.a.r.p.? >> i would not have favored t.a.

gregg bernstein says he understands crime, patricia jessamy says you need her experience. tonight you decide who is the best person for the state's attorney job in baltimore city. we begin with christian schaffer who is live in south baltimore with the patricia jessamy camp. chris? >> reporter: that's right. i'm at the baltimore rowing club where supporters of patricia jessamy will gather tonight. she's on the -- optimistic in the final hours of voting. right now they are traveling around the city. she hopes to visit about 50 polling places today. she's been at that all day talking to voters and trying to gauge the opinion out there but again turnout as rosy said is very low. some precincts around here i checked, i checked four precincts in south baltimore, they were all around 9%, 10%, 11%. really low turnout. i asked the spokeswoman about that. she said -- she gave me a statement. the spokeswoman for patricia jessamy said the public is smart, low voter turnout indicates they are pleased with the representation they have. she goes on to say they are smart enough not to tu

at jessamy camp is trying to overcome challenger gregg bernstein lead in the race. they only lost ground with the absentee count. >> we have 795 bernstein, jessamy 727. bernstein had increased his lead when it was finished. lawyer warren brown called on pat jessamy to concede. >> most people are looking for some finality associated with this, so we would hope that ms. jessamy would just go ahead and concede, and recognize the inevitability of her loss. >> delegate kurt anderson suggested the race is over. >> at this point it seemed certain that mr. bernstein is going to maintain his lead. >> but jessamy is not budging. her lawyer late this afternoon by a request with election officials for specific documents about tuesday night's vote, an indication of possible legal challenges in the works. >> gregg bernstein release the statement. we are pleased to see that the absentee results continue to be consistent with the final election day results, and look forward to the certification of the election. i thank all the well-wishers and supporters who have contacted us over

patricia jessamy is up against gregg bernstein. billy murphy is backing gregg bernstein.olls will be open today in all jurisdictions from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. >> coming up on "oprah," the farewell season continues. winona judd opens up today at 4:00 p.m. here is meredith vieira for a look at what is coming up next on the "today" show. >> coming up on a tuesday morning, efforts to free an american hiker hit a snag over night. it is the last major primary day before november's crucial midterm election. we are live with big races to watch. the female reporter who was allegedly the subject of ta unts by the new york jets speaks out in a live interview. the high school football player that died and was brought back to live. that is all when we get started on a tuesday morning right here on the "today" show. >> it sounds like an amazing story. >> we will check weather and >> we will check weather and traffic togethertr everyone knows a fee is a tax. you raised some taxes during that period, particularly the property tax as well as a lot of fee increases. as you know, there

gregg bernstein leads by 1421 votes. early on, patricia jessamy supporters tuesday evening were keeping a positive attitude about the race. the race swung back and forth. when she showed up to thank everyone, she said she was feeling pretty confident about the race. the bernstein campaign was enthusiastic and costcautiously optimistic about the results. many took the day off to support bernstein. bernstein talked a little bit about why he was able to make such headway in such a short time leading up to the election. >> it gets to the level of frustration people were feeling about living in one of america's most dangerous cities. i do not know if it is a question of what patricia jessamy did or did not do. it was pants up frustration. >> bernstein did when the primary for city-state's attorney position. he told 11 news he did not have any plans for today pending the outcome of the election. we'll see how the day unfolds before hearing from bernstein himself. jennifer franciotti, wbal-tv 11 news. >> the vote is still out a

. >> reporter: helen roy has known the gregg family to nine years. she describes the mother and youngest daughter as perfect. >> she was student body president, she was a musician, she was an actress, she was very active in the drama program. she also danced ballet and she was just absolutely stunning and a beautiful person. >> she loved everyone. she was considered everyone's friend. >> reporter: friend julia says janessa's role as student body president meant everyone in the 600-member school knew her. the principal says her father, james, and 16-year-old gabriella were at a game and parent night at st. ignatius. mom and dad were texting each other for updates, when suddenly they lost contact thursday. they later learned mother and daughter did not survive the blast. >> i want to tell gabby and mr. gregg that my heart goes out to them and i'm very sorry and we'll remember janessa for the rest of our lives. >> reporter: there will be a vigil for the greggs on thursday night at st. cecilia school followed by their funerals on friday. >> all right, vi

earlier today gregg bernstein was casting his vote. he's vying for the city state's attorney in what is one of if not the most hotly contested race today. jessamy and bernstein have been battling this out for months now. it's believed he's run a good race and he's optimistic. >> we're feeling very good. the same energy and enthusiasm we've seen from the citizens of baltimore throughout the campaign. we're seeing as they walk up to the polls. >> reporter: again, those polls are open for another three hours, the festivities in canton won't really get started until 8:00 this evening. reporting live in canton, brian kuebler, abc2 news. >> thank you. >>> maryland u.s. senator barbara mikulski is seeking a fifth term. she face as primary challenge from six candidates and crowded field of republicans is competing for the chance to take on the democratic winner. 11 candidates are running. county commissioner eric wargotz seems to be frontrunner in that race. he's dumped $575,000 of his own money into his bid. >>> we find another packed ballot

. >> it was a close battle between patricia jessamy and gregg bernstein. in the in, bernstein came out on top. jennifer franciotti is live with more on the outcome. >> that race was so close that a lot of the results were not in until 1:45 this morning. all of the precincts have reported in. bernstein has 49% of the vote and jessamy, 47%. early on, patricia jessamy were in a good mood and celebrating the woman and her career. many here were hopeful the city state's attorney would get another term. jessamy was optimistic. >> it has been a pleasure to be out among the citizens of baltimore city. >> supporters of gregg bernstein rallied to watch the returns. he came to thank his supporters. many spent the day at the preccts. they took the day off to support bernstein. he talked about how his campaign was able to gain so much traction. >> i think what made this race become such a focal point was it captains to the level of frustration people were feeling about living in one of america's most dangerous cities. i do not know if it is a question of what patricia

that is from gregg bernstein tonight at the conclusion of today's round of absentee balloting. the certification in this election is set for september 27. we would just have to wait and see what else may transpire in the meantime. >> there is more news ahead, including the rest of but suspected murder suspect and has been on the run for several days. >> cincinnati now has two top receivers waiting for the ravens. hear what terrell owens has to say, later in sports. >> a few strong or severe thunderstorms in the region. we'll check out where the storms are headed, and the forecast is coming up. right now 69 at >> tonight the search is over for a man who escape police custody with his pregnant girlfriend. they were arrested without incident by u.s. marshals yesterday in washington state, about 40 miles south of seattle. police say palmer, charged in a stabbing, made up a medical emergency in order to escape. he now faces additional charges. a man whom police accused of fleeing the scene of an armed robbery in northeast of war is now in custody. authorities say two men held a of p

. >> gregg bernstein came out on top over patricia jessamy. that ends her 15-year run. let's go live to jennifer franciotti with the latest. >> the race has not been officially called, but with 290 precincts in, gregg bernstein leads the race by 1421 votes. this is for the democratic primary. patricia jessamy supporters were feeling pretty good tuesday night. they were keeping a positive attitude about the race. she showed up to thank everyone and said she was feeling confident about the race. the bernstein campaign was cautiously optimistic about tuesday's results. poll workers spent the day at the precinct. they took the day off to support bernstein. bernstein talked a little about why he thinks he was able to make such headway. >> it came to the level of frustration people were feeling about living in one of america's most dangerous cities. i do not know if it is a question of what patricia jessamy did or did not do. >> it is important to note these numbers are unofficial. the bernstein campaign has 49% of the vote while the jessamy campaign has 47% of the vote. repo

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pitting incumbent pi jessamy aaainst gregg bernstein.ernstein s expected to be later today. ú% reporter: an hour until the polls open up here, and still a lot going on. inside the poll workers are setting up and the outside the media is lining up. and the signs are lining a where their decision. will be making the big race, he state attorney's race. bernstein the underdog facing jessamy, a 15 year incumbent. ú%rnstein has come on stronn recently gaining big endorsemeets like the baltimore sun, the city police union and now billy murphy, he is a long time criminal defenss attorney. at 7:00, he will be making his ú%yyinside the cros country elementary school to greet voters. he came out of nowhere in this primary giving jessamy,,perhaps the toughest battle she has encounse!!encountered. she was appointed back in 1985, and voters returned her to this timm around she has picked up an endorsement from he baptist minister's conference..3 in the final hours leading up to made their inal campaign pitches. >> violent rime as decliied by 59%. >> w

. >>> challenger gregg bernstein is ahead, but two days after the polls closed, the baltimore city stateney's race is still too close to call. joel d smith is live at the %-count begins today for more tn 2,000 absentee ballots. joel s that enough to make a difference here. >> reporter: yeah, it definitely is. good morning, megan. good morning, everybody. special when you consider the incumbent, a fitc 15 year incum, is only down about 1300 votes. with 2 outtthere and 1300 behind -- 2,000 votes out there and 1300 behind it's a big deal..3 talkkng to election officials,3 they say 3600 democrats applied for these absentee ballots. about 2100 have been returned so far as the counting begins at 10:00 aam. bernstein these are the final -esults but heeis not claiming victory. the jessamy campaigg ii far from claiminconceding as well. as of yesterday only 97% of the -respress irchght!press inkprec. >> it could be human error. they leave it at the pooling place, they puutit in a supply bag.ú that is why the process is not complett until we get to the 100% mark. >> reporter: a lot of matter what t

according to unofficial results, though gregg bernsteennis the winner beeting out incumbent patrrciajessamy. megan gilliland is at the war memorial downtown where jessamy is expecteddto meet with her staff later this morning. good morning, meggn. >> reporter: at 7:00 this meet here at the war memorial with her staff of 300 people. true, it coold be a sad day for these ppople thaa have beee here for 15 years. if she comes here this morning, she coold say she is choosing to fight those results. as it sttads right now all ball lott in the 2900pres 220 precins the city are in. the election has not decleered bernstein this morning. it's a toughest battle that jeesamy hassever faced. she was appointed to the ciiy %-1995 byythe city court judges. voters returned her to office three imms after that. this year bernstein a mighh hhve ended her streak. underdoo.nsideredded the as the campaign heated up he snatched big endorsements. last night both candidates watched at different locations -s the results started coming in, both feeling confident at the time. >> we have run a very %-are ready for

let me just reserve at this point senator gregg's time.ds from the beginning given the notice by leadership last night that we are going to have votes starting at the 10:30, 10:45 time range. i just want to thank all of our colleagues were accommodating this last-minute change moving up the scheduled because they gave us the indication that there would be votes on the floor at 10:30 to 10:45. >> thank you mr. chairman and thank you for many of the comments that you made in your opening because we are indeed facing a financial challenge of great import. i have a judiciary hearing at 10:00 so i will have to be leaving and i appreciate the opportunity to make a few comments and ask a few questions presidt obama's budget outlines an appropriate transitionto-- from economic recovery to fiscal discipline you stated in your answers to question, questions on response to the committee. you stated, it lays out a path that brings deficits, annual deficits, not debt, deficits as a share of the economy from 10% of gdp this year to 4% of gdp in 2013. th

challenger gregg bernstein leads incumbent patricia jessamy by nearly 1300 votes. mike hellgren is following it. >> reporter: patricia jessamy's legal team is demanding answers from the election officials. however, they have not filed any legal action. however, there are still 360 or so absentee ballots that have not been counted and more than 1700 provisional ballots, but that hasn't stopped some from calling on miss jessamy to concede. patricia jessamy is fighting back, even after a count of most absentee ballots widened her california challenger rern -- her challenger gregg bernstein's lead. sources say jessamy is not satisfied that votes were properly counted. >> we've will tight races in the past. we've also had races in the past where, according to machine count, we may not get 100%. we definitely don't get it the night of the election. >> reporter: even prominent jest i supporter -- jessamy supporters thy it's over. >> i plan on meeting with him next week. we got to get list legislative agenda. >> reporter: there are still 1765 provisional ballots to be coun

. >>> challenging gregg bernstein is ahead, but two days after the polls closed the baltimore's stateattorney's race is still too close to call. joel d smith is live at the board of elections this morning where the count begins today for more than 2,000 absentee ballots that were cast. good morning, joel. >> reporter: good morning, megan. a big day here. incumbent for 15 years, pat jessamy is behind by 1300 votes. but as you said there's 2,000 close to call so no winner has been declared yet. they say about 3600 applications for absentee ballots were done by the democrats, 2100 have been returned so far. a lost counting to do and it starts later this morning. bernstein says in a statement that he is not claiming victory yet and the jessamy camp s far from conceding as well. for most of yesterday, only 97% of the precincts had been counted so far. there could beemany reasons for that. >> we had 2,000 people do do a it could be human error, they leave them in the polling place, and put them in a supply bag, so there's things, challenges out there and of course, thaa is why the process i

incumbent patricia jessamy is facing gregg bernstein.megan gilliland is ive at grrnt elementary where gregg ii expectee to be there.3 >> reporter: the polls are opening and already -xcitementing building here. there's news crews and the signs lining the sidewalks as enter tte school where a lot of people will be voting today.ú bernstein no doubt the underdog here this morning facing jessamy a 11 year incumbent of the position. bernsteinn truly picking up speed, picking up major endorsements, like the baltimore sun and the city policemen. and a nnw one, billy murphy a long time defenss attorney. this morning, bernstein will be makingghis way to the school. he will be greeting voters all morning ong. the high-profile defenss attorney came out of nowhere in this primary, giving jesssmy, perhaps the toughest battle she has encounteree. jessamy was appointed to the city state attorney positionn3 back in 1995 by the city court judges. voters returnnd her to office three times after that. picked up an endorsement froo the baptist ministry's con

clear winner in the race for baltimore city state's attorney with 100% of the precincts reporting, gregg bernstein leading patricia jessamy by 100 votes but that does not include absentee ballots. that's being counted right now at the board of elections. mike hellgren has the latest. >> reporter: the counting of those 2198 absentee ballots began a little more than an hour ago. we're told they're taking a 10- minute break and will count the remaining 200 or 300. we learn there are provisional ballots. those are where the person's eligible is in question. that's still within the margin. the bottom line is this is far from over. elections officials began counting more than 2,000 absentee ballots this morning. they could make the critical difference in the oh, so tight race for baltimore city state's attorney that has pitted incumbent patricia jessamy against gregg bernstein. bernstein is ahead by 1300 votes. jessamy has questioned the integrity of the election. yesterday the jessamy campaign said anywhere from 6,000 to 10,000 votes were mission but the city board of elections said they have

gregg bernstien won by more than 13 votes after ballots were counted yesterday. election officials say provisional ballots still need to be counts, 11:00 news has just learned that jessamy will hold a news conference to concede the race within the hour. 11 news live team reporter is live with the details. david? >> good afternoon, that's right. 11 news has confirmed that pat jessamy will concede to her opponent. jessamy called a mandatory eting with her prosecutors at 11:00 this morning. judges excused them from the courtroom to attend the meeting. a source who attended it said it was very emotional. jessamy plans to hold a press conference here at her headquarters at 1:00 to publicly announce that she is conceding. this will be her first public statements regarding the election since election day. as you mentioned absentee ballots were counted yesterday. the count extended the lead by challenger bernstien prompting one of jessamy's strongest spotters, baltimore city delegate curt ander soon to suggest the race is over. 11 news has confirmed that patricia jessamy

challenger gregg bernstein is leadd over the 15 year incumbent, ppt jessamy by 1300 votes but still 2,000tes hang in the balance. joel, it's still far from over. >> reporter: i don't know how far. the counting will start here at countinn all of thhse votes but they still have until the 22nd toocertify everything. a lot of people think it's taking a lot longer than it should. we talked to the board of elections and said there's 1500 absentee ballots ann 2100 of those have been returned. that's how many they have to count. that's enough to hange the outcome of the election, since bernstein's lead is about 1300 right now. he is not ccaiming victory. tte jjssamy campaign is far from conceding as well. some are questioning the accurrcy of the count already in. ffr most of yesterday still only 97% of the precincts had been counted. >> no, no problems at all other than umors, maybe thht things are missing, nothing is missing, everything is accounted for. >> reporter: no matter what the outcome actually is, this is ú% far the most serious challenge pat jessamy since she became the baltimore state

right now democratic challenger gregg bernstein has about a 1400 vote lead over current states attorney patricia jessamy. the board of hecks say the counting may not be finished until the middle of next week. the camps are holding tight and not doing any interviews until a winner is declared. >>> in the democratic primary for baltimore county executive kevin cabin necessary had a reason to celebrate. he won the nomination it came at the expense of a bitter fought campaign against fellow councilman joe bartenfelder. he faces kenneth holt in november. >>> not asmuchh drama with gubernatorial. murphy says erhlich has his full support in the general election against martin o'malley. incumbent martin o'malley easily won over his challenges. as it stands now we'll see a november 2nd remarijuana of the 2006 maryland governor's race. >>> as always abc 2 news.com has you covered with the results. heads over to our web site check out who going to be going head-to-head in your district. we'll have interviews with some of the candidates head to abc2news.com to check it all out. >>> rosie, what a sp

incumbent patricia jessamy is facing gregg berrstein.egan is joining us where gregg bernstein is expecting to be later on. >> reporter: greg bette geeinn is the underdog but recenty he has come along winning big endorsemenns. this morning at 7:00 bernstein will be in here making his way across the grant street elementary school greeting voters here as the polls open. the high-profile defense attorney came out of nowhere giving jessamy the toughest battle she has encountered yet. jessamy was appointed to the city state justice position. voters returned her to office three times after that. this time she got an endorsement from the baptist minister's conference. and in final hour, jessamy and bernstein made their final campaignnpitches. >> the violent crime has declined by 59%. >> although mrs. jessamy is a nice person, the office has stag stagnated. >> throughout the state they're questionnng about jessamy has done enougg to keep criminals of the streets and others questioning if bernstein can do any bettee. it's an answer that voters wil

>> reporter: the challenger gregg bernstein will be out here in 30 minutes, first, to greet voters as they head to the polls at cross country elementary school. let me tell you, this has been a fierce battle. the sidewalk is literally lined with signs. who will it be? that is the big decision voters will make today as they head to the polls to vote for the city's top prosecutor. patricia jessamy will be doing the same, meeting and greeting voters throughout the city. it's the final push in which turned out to be the city's hottest race. jessamy is fighting on to hold on to her 15 years as baltimore's top prosecutors. on monday she got an endorsement from a group of baptist ministers. bernstein also picked up an endorsement from billy murphy, a well known attorney and former judge in the city. this has been a lot about baltimore's high crime rate and which candidate will do a better job at making the city safer and keeping criminals in jail, convicted criminals from getting out. voters, again, will have the final say as they head to the polls when they open up at 7:00 this morning. liv

gregg bernstein got 30,392 votes, jessamy got 29,097. a difference of nearly 1300 votes. but jessamy has not concedeked thed the race. >> we have a ballot count that still has to be done. >> reporter: a jessamy comeback faces extremely long odds. if there are 2100 absentee ballots, jessamy's name would have to be chosen on nearly 1700 of them, about 80%. jessamy has not conceded the race. this evening bernstein's campaign said "we are pleased to see that the final results are consistent with the voting trends we observed all day yesterday." counting all the absentee ball lots will begin tomorrow at 10 in the morning. the spokesman for the jessamy campaign says they're not relying on those absentee ballots. she said there was reports of polls opening late, they've secured the services of an attorney and looking into reports to see if there was anything untoward that went on during the election yesterday. once again, even though 100% of the precincts have reported, we could see another long process before we know who is the eventual winner for the primary for the state's at

with that baltimore city state's attorney patricia jessamy announced she had telephoned her opponent gregg bernstein and had conceded the race to retain her office of 15 years. the incumbent says she learned a long time ago to let life's turns make her better, not bitter. and she's now prepared to focus upon her future. >> i am definitely not going quietly into the night. i am a public servant by nature, and there is an initiative that i have been working on that i'm going to volunteer initially my time towards and it is that fifth sunday to violence initiative. >> reporter: having spent time putting criminals behind bars she wants to reach out to children to help them grow into solid citizens and not cold- blooded killers. she's asking her supporters to follow suit. >> i'm going to challenge the public. so if there's somebody out there today who is dissatisfied with what happened during this election, my thing is don't let us be fighting for votes. let us join together to fight for the future of this city and that means fight for our children. >> reporter: at a news conference later in th

let me just reserve at this point senator gregg's time. we will do five minute rounds from the beginning given the notice by leadership last night that we are going to have votes starting at the 10:30, 10:45 time range. i just want to thank all of our colleagues were accommodating this last-minute change moving up the scheduled because they gave us the indication that there would be votes on the floor at 10:30 to 10:45. >> thank you mr. chairman and thank you for many of the comments that you made in your opening because we are indeed facing a financial challenge of great import. i have a judiciary hearing at 10:00 so i will have to be leaving and i appreciate the opportunity to make a few comments and ask a few questions president obama's budget outlines an appropriate transition to-- from economic recovery to fiscal discipline you stated in your answers to questions, questions on response to the committee. you stated, it lays out a path that brings deficits, annual deficits, not debt, deficits as a share of the economy from 10% of gdp th

hager has been following the story all day, the matter of counting the votes will continue but with gregg bernstein leading patricia jessamy by more than 1300 votes she's accepted to step down. she takes turns and becomes better not bitter from them. >> earlier i called gregg bernstein and i adviceed him i was conceding and i pledged my support for a smooth transition. i also indicated to him that i am moving forward. >> jessamy says after 15 years of putting people behind bars she'll now volunteer with an intervention program to keep children from becoming cold- blooded killers. we'll have reaction from jessamy's opponent coming up at 6:00. jeff hager, abc 2 news. >>> the primaries now over attention shifting to the general election in november. on abc2news.com you can find stories on voter turn out to the cost of early voting. click on the political link. >>> pope benedict xvi has been marred by a security threat. >> they have arrested 5 men on planning an attack. they aren't saying whether benedict was their alleged target. >> reporter: he waved at thousands of catholic school children

jessamy has conceded to gregg bernstein. pat warren has more on the outcome of this contentious race. >> reporter: this is the same block where gregg bernstein declared his candidacy. and today, he declared victory, ending pat jessamy's 15-year run as state's attorney. >> the nominee takes a bow. >> when we began this campaign, a little more than two months ago, almost everyone said that we didn't have a chance. >> reporter: the incumbent bows out. >> i called gregg bernstein. and i advised him that i was conceding. and i pledged my support for a smooth transition. >> reporter: statecity state -- city state's attorney patricia jisamy said she had -- jessamy said she had a pleasant conversation with her opponent but it's with a condition. an orderly completion of the process. after some ballots were left out of the count. and yesterday's absentee ballot count. during both of which, bernstein has maintained a thousand-plus margin of victory. >> the results showed we attracted a large group of people. people are ready for chang

gregg bernstein remains the leader over patricia jessuand jessamy.rovisional ballots must do recounted, and so far jessamy has not conceded the race. >> there is a growing number of mostly low-income students to start college but failed to finish. >> that has forced the state board of regents to call for some changes. tim tooten is live in the newsroom with that story. >> this is a top priority for the state board of regents. that is why the board has asked for students to put into writing how they would all about helping more students graduate. -- how they would help more students graduate. >> fewer than 20% of students to begin their freshman year actually make it to graduation. that is why the board of regents education policy committee is holding state schools accountable. >> we have an obligation in our institutions, if we admit a student, we have to do everything we can to see that they are successful and get a degree. >> over the summer, they helped review courses for the incoming freshman class to help put them on a track to graduate in four