dr. dallas dance is the new superintendent of baltimore county public schools. he's already hard at work, working to make it one of the best school systems in the country. with his proactive approach and the help of the staff and the community, he said team bcps can get job done. >> our academic indicators point that that. i hear from my parents in hour community, they want a great school system. they want to be nationally known. >> reporter: although dr. dance officially started on july 1st. he's been hard at work before then. he traveled to the school district meeting with teachers, faculty and students on a listening tour. he's a man with a plan and it's called blueprint 2.0. he plans to improve curriculum development, growth and communication. he wants people to understand the message of where baltimore county public schools is going. >> our district's goal is to become the best school system in the country. >> reporter: he comes from houston, texas, where he was chief middle schools officers of the independent school district. he distinguishes himself as a

dr. dallas about the upcoming school year. sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >>> one of the world's most beautiful phenomenons. we will show you what storm chasers saw dancing in the skies and a delight to many around the world. >>> what teens say about the way movies effect smoking and their decision to follow suit. we will tell you what they told a group of researchers. >>> showers and storms popping up this morning. i will tell you how long those will last, coming up. [ snoring ] ♪ [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] introducing zzzquil sleep-aid. [ snoring ] [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] it's not for colds, it's not for pain, it's just for sleep. [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] because sleep is a beautiful thing. [ birds chirping ] introducing zzzquil, the non-habit forming sleep-aid from the makers of nyquil. ♪ this time lapsed video of the northern lights began sunday, display was brief. they danced around the sky for half an hour. that never gets old. >> it never gets old. it's beautiful to look at. the satellite and radar, pickin

dr. dallas, the new superintendent for baltimore county public schools. welcome, your second week on the job. we had the severe storms, knocked out power. it threw you in. >> it's a part of the job. today we get our own report card. how did we do in our goal to make sure our skids are meeting the benchmark. we are excited. >> reporter: in this upcoming school year, what are your goals? what can students and staff expect? >> we have four goals, we have two major ones. the first one is building the strategic plan. we are calling that blue print 2.0. we want to make shiewrs folks understand where we are coming up. it's important that everyone understands the baltimore county message. >> reporter: a great school system. one of the top ones in the country. off lot to tackle. what is the first thing you want to look in to? >> we have a great system. i want to listen. travel community, hear from students and parents and fact you will the -- faculty and staff. >> reporter: thank you for talking to us, we appreciate it. thank you. once again, those 2012 ms a resul

dr. dallas, joining me live. the new superintendent of baltimore public schools. second week on the job. this is the first superintendent to be live with me at 5:45 in the morning. what are your goals for the upcoming school year. we have four goals to get accomplished. the two most important ones is making sure our communication system is in place for our public internally and externally and develop the five year plan, which we will call blue print 2.0. >> reporter: what are you going to takeel first? >> i want to listen. i've had an opportunity throughout the month of june, to talk to parents and students and different fact you will the i and staff members. i want to hear what they feel is the story, what we have done well, what are things we need to focus on. >> this morning, they are going to release the ms as, how important are those? >> we want to make sure kids are progressing in reading and mathematics. be-8 we will see how we did last school year. it gives us the opportunity to see what we need to focus on. >> you are coming from houston. we had a hot wee

dr. dallas, a brand new superintendent for public schools. so exiting to have you here this morning.k you for being was. let's talk about the ms a results. how important is this for the school system? >> it's really important. our goal is to make sure the kids are moving ahead in reading and mathematics. when the state releases the results, we will see how baltimore county is fairing. >> reporter: you are new here. let's talk about our vision or plan. >> baltimore county is a great school system. the two most important goals is making sure we develop our new plan, blue print 2.0, we will develop in collaboration with the community. the second goal is to make sure communication wise we communicate timely, effectively and efficiently. >> reporter: what do you want parents and students to know? >> i'm assessable but i like to listen. i've spoken to parents and students and faculty and staff to figure out what is the story? what are we doing well, what to we need to improve upon? >> reporter: i'm already impressed. u haven't had many superintendents that have come out with me at 6:00 in

dr. dallas dance on his first day of the job listen to the students. >> they gave me the ins and outs ofelt was working in what was not working. >> he is the father of a 3-year- old son who says it shaped his view of education. >> when he was born, i think i became reasonably impatient at that point. we need to make sure everyone gets the same level of education you want for your own child. >> that is why you can expect a high-tech superintendent, one who is already tweeting on the job. live in the studio, tim tooten, wbal-tv 11 news. >> here is a look at some of our other top stories tonight. we now know the identity of a man who died shortly after being found outside the lobby area of the royal in friday morning. police say richard george ball lander suffered trauma to his upper body and -- bohlandeer. a man suffers serious, life- threatening injuries after being struck by a vehicle while riding his bicycle along ridge road in anne arundel county. that incident happened early sunday morning. police say it appears the 64- year-old named stephen eugene shenefiel was struck by a creek 199

dr. jon lapook. and... >> from dallas, texas, the flash apparently official. >> pelley: ...anthony mason reports on the moments that americans call the most memorable in television history. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. gunfire took down three more people last night in chicago. homicides in america's third- largest city are up 38% this year. almost all of them casualties in the gang war. but the victims are not all gang members. innocent children are being shot. monday mayor rahm emanuel said this: >> you got two gang-bangers, one standing next to a kid. get away from that kid. take your stuff to the alley. don't touch the children of the city of chicago. don't get near them. >> pelley: the gangs didn't get the message. last night three children were shot-- a 12-year-old girl, a 14- year-old boy and 13-year-old tishona poke. she was shot in a leg in a city park. crime is down in chicago in all categories except this surge in homicides. what's driving the violence? we asked dean reynolds to help us find out. >> almost all of the vi

dr. jon lapook. and... from dallas, texas, the flash apparently official. >> pelley: anthony mason reports on the moments that americans call the most memorable in television history. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. gunfire took down three more people last night in chicago. homicides in america's third-largest city are up 38% this year. almost all of them c

dr. sanjay gupta. >> your own bishop in dallas said conception is sacred and god's greatest gift.you wrestle with that? >> you have to be willing to speak your mind. i have to be able to say to me the contraceptive piece is not controversial. my roots, part of why i do what i do in the foundation comes from the incredible social justice upbringing i have, this belief in that all lives have equal value. we are not going to agree on everything but that is sokay. >> if you are meeting with the po pope what would you tell him? >> if you believe in helping poor women and children living and thriving i think this is a necessary tool in this day and age. >> another charge from catholic bloggers that birth control amounts to population control. is this population control? >> no. i think that's where we have gotten ourselves also in trouble on this issue. deciding about a family is a decision that needs to be made inside of a family. the population is coming down in countries where there is wide spread access to contraceptives. you have to start at the bottom up. to hear a poor woman say t

dallas are uninsured. nearly a third are on medicaid, the federally sponsored insurance program for the poor. dr.runs the clinic. >> who are these people that you're seeing? >> people with health insurance in texas are the people who work at low-paying jobs. the people you would expect to know that the people who work by the hour who work in restaurants, who work in yards, who work in daycares. >> two million more low-income texns would be covered by the medicaid expansion prescribed by the affordable care act. but texas is refusing to participate, joining wisconsin, florida and louisiana, texas would be eligible for $164 billion in federal aid to pay for the expansion through 2020. but lieutenant governor david dewhurst says texas' share would be a heavy burden. >> quite frankly, the medicaid system is broken and by simply adding a million and a half to two million more people to medicaid will not solve the problem. >> texas will also be the largest state to refuse to create the state-run health care exchanges that would allow people to shop for affordable coverage. in a letter to the obama admi

dallas are uninsured. nearly a third are on medicaid. the federally sponsored insurance program for the poor. dr. seuss and briner runs the clinic. who are these people that you're seeing? >> the people without health insurance in texas are the people who work at low-paying jobs, the people you would expect, you know, the people who work by the hour, who work in restaurants, who work in yards, who work in day cares. >> reporter: two million more low-income texans would be covered by med kaid expansion prescribed by the affordable care act but texas is refusing to participate. joining wisconsin, florida, and louisiana. texas would be eligible for $164 billion in federal aid to pay for the expansion through 2020. but lieutenant governor david dewhearst says texas' share of $27 billion would be a heavy burden. >> quite frankly, the med kaid system is broken and by simply adding a million-and-a-half to two million more people to medicaid will not solve the problem. >> reporter: texas will also be the lurchest state to refuse to create the state-run health care exchanges that would allow people to shop for affordable coverage. in a le

dr. michael merchant, has never seen thi manhis >> a lot of insects have gotten a running start this year because we had one of the warmest and wettest early parts of the year. >> reporter: in dallasally do. thpopledie mosquito-borne west nile virus. a california woman was stung 100 times by a swarm of bees. there are the grasshoppers. look how they invaded this town last month. they're not just a noisy nuisance. grasshoppers ate so much of texas rancher aaron colter's grass he is out tens of thousands of dollars. here is some more bad news for america's farmers and ranchers, these insects may have shown up so early this year, entomologists worry they will have time to reproduce, we can all be stuck with second, third generation of these critters well into the fall. ryan owens, abc news, ponder, texas. >> i can't tell you how many cockroaches i found at the apartment. they look like they're on steroids. my shoe won. i sanitized it. it was like -- >> they're hard to kill. >> i got it with the heels. it is gone. >> thank you for covering my stain with the mike. i can hardly see it. >>> here is your wednesday cityher, everybody. nobody notices. pop-up showers in the south. thundersto