the city ended the five-year contract with the baltimore racing development last year after the group had about 12 million dollars in debt. the city's board of estimates meetings starts at nine this morning where they are expected to unveil the new contract. sherrie johnson abc2 news. >>> today the city is expected to announce an extension of the charm city circulateor. board of estimates is expected to approve a plan to use a grand grant from the federal transit administration to buy up for high bread electric buses to extend it to the national monument. it is designed from tourist from the 200 year anniversary of the war of 1812 and star painingeled banner. celebration begins june 13th and the new route need to be up and running by then. >>> the navy says the medical shift the usns comfort will move from maryland to virginia. it is he can sped to move from bolt -- expected to move to nor torque around march of 2013. it provides medical and surgical care for deployed forces andhospital service for disafter the are relief. >>> 5:47. members of the house of delegates will consider a bill to legalize same sex marriage today. legislation pas

proprietarr, and riveledged, so that cannot be released but everything esle will be" be"today the city board of estimates willlvote on the contract. increasing demand by increasing awareness. the mayor is hoping to change the eating habits for ... by simply changgng the t set-up of the menu. joel d. smith s live there now with a first &pit's unveiled in a few hours. good morning joel d. 3 3 your 2012 the healttiest year - yet.the ffx 45.. ccw ballimore... b'more healthy expo innparrnership with medstarhealth.... is saturday maach 17th at the baltimore convention center.learn about exercise, eating rrght... and get health screenings.gooto b-more healthy expo-dot-com for more information. one new jersey couple gets married in a castle.a whiteecas. castle. the couple won their wedding in aaraaio station contest.the prize came with food and drinks for up to inside the restaurant.ttis particular whitt castte has speccal meannng for them.it's where they had their first date six years ago. coming up on the early edition... the questionable connections... between the governor...and a bbg state proje

the failure to build the neighborhood was among the revelations the city's board of estimates today as the city auditor's kick off a half dozen problems with the system for keeping track of how much water people actually use. 38,494 accounts, according to a public works official over billed. in some cases, office says there was no actual meador -- peter readings for 4.5 years. there was little documentation for $40 million in building adjustments. like the street and baltimore county, there were no bills sent to 1000 corporate accounts from 2008-2010. >> that is revenue we are not collected. city comptroller a victim of the problem. rates costsater weight going up, even with all the inefficiencies. >> the ever it thus increasing rates are needed to cover the big-ticket expenses of an aging water and sewer infrastructure. >> , the amount you're talking about is barely a drop in the bucket. >> they blame predecessors for not updating the billing system sooner. automatic meter rink is in the works. more than 1800 people work for the city and se water and sr department. >> think you. meanw

in a few hours , the city's board of estimates expected to approve a 5- year contract with new promoters down force racing. they say the 2011 grand prix was a success but with bad management and brought in $47 million for the economy. the grand prix promoter, baltimore racing development, was the center for lawsuits for not paying the bills. the contract has safeguards to protect the city from losing money under the new contract. the city can inspect the financial record at any time, to check out the group's debt. the contract calls for keeping the races finances private butration organizer says city hall could reveal the information. down force race willing hold racing events on labor day weekend, 2012 through 2016. the vote on the contract is expected today at 9:00 a.m. at the board of estimates meeting at city hall. sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >>> baltimore county council passed a bill giving the trans gender community more protection. the vote was 5- 2, measure designed to prevent discrimination against transgender people, housing, employment, education, financing or public accommoda

the... city.. board of &pestimatee.../ will vote... ck .....when something went terribly wrong. suddenly, the 74 year old grandfather found himself pinned underneath the car. fueled by adrenaline.... the 15-year-old lifted the front &pgrandfather to escape.he says he doesn't even know how he managed to do it. bad day for hillary clinton. apparennly she didn't get the memo for this g20 group picture....she kind of standss out in the stand... the oolyy one not wearing a white button down shirt.hillary's taken a lot of heat over the years for her fashion ffux pax.but i'' piving her a pass on this one. whose idea was it anyway.... to have high level diplomats for a family chhistmas card picture at the beach. good day for scienceerussian scientists say they've grown a floweriig plant from material extracted from seeds deposited in the siberian permafrost 30,000 years ago.the work is creaaing a wwrldwide buzz. previously, the oldest known seed material that has been about 2,000 years ago. 3 it could start to &pfeel a lot like summer over the

the city's board of estimates is expected to approve a 5- year contract with new promoter down force racing. the 2011 baltimore grand prix, was a success, but had bad management. it brought in $47 million for the economy. and the former grand prix promoter, baltimore racing development was the center for lawsuits for not paying the bills. the contract has safeguards in place to protect the city from losing money. the city can inspect financial records at any time to check out the group's debt. the contract calls for keeping the races finances private but race organizers say city hall could choose to reveal the information. down force racing will hold events if baltimore on labor day weekend, 2012 through 2016. the vote expected today at 9:00 a.m. at the board of estimates meeting at city hall. sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >>> senate committee scheduled to hold a hearing on a measure that could expands gambling in maryland. allowing table games, blackjack and casino to be bill in prince georges county. the bill would put a referendum following maryland voters allowing voters to have a s

where is the action by workers on the city board? additionally, there have been people murdered in san francisco on the buses as a result of criminal negligence by the mta management. they are putting on bus drivers without proper training. for you supervisors that want to reform you me, part of that is having confident management that does not put drivers on a line where people get killed as a result of the mismanagement. we are talking about criminal negligence, and the sport has a responsibility to address these accidents, which are caused by the mismanagement of the mta. and it's to be an independent investigation into why drivers who have not been properly trained are being put out upon driving jobs and people are killed as a result of that. who pays for that? the person killed? the driver was concluded and the city of seven cisco has to pay these lawsuits, which adds up stew -- san francisco has to pay these lawsuits, which adds up to a lawsuit. stop the deaths in san francisco caused by the mismanagement of the mta and manageme

. >> the city board of estimates has released a much of a cost taxpayers for the mayor's business trips. there is a police security detail who travels on the trips. nearly $4,000 were spent on officers accompanying the mayor on recent business trips to chicago, boston, and five days in aspen, colorado. if you received your property tax assessment in the mail recently, chances are the value of your property has dropped. tonight, the councilman had a hearing to give residents a chance to get vital information about the process. we are live at city hall with details. >> this was an informational meeting, a chance for council members and residents to hear from property tax assessment experts and ask questions. it is a sign of our economic times. nationwide, new home sales hit a record low in 2011. property values of homes dropped 20% in the last three years. >> some believe the assessment is uneven, which translates to unfair. >> as chair of the economic development committee, he has heard from dozens of baltimore residents concerned about property tax assessments. >> that are calling and s

of the year of 2011 was the first meeting of the board of supervisors this year on january 8, leading to the vote that we first cast for the first asian-american mayor in the city county of san francisco. this was a vote that came about because you, the people of san francisco, elected four asian- american to the board of supervisors. and not just three chinese representatives, but the first korean-american representative, and i am so honored to represent the four of them, to welcome you here to this celebration. we have decided to implement a new yearly award, with each of our district supervisors recognizing a 11 awardees representing the best, brightest, most impact low in our community we will be honoring as part -- most impactful in our community we will be honoring as part of apa heritage month. in district 1 -- in district two, alexander ong, district three, mr. byung, district four, the store manager of the sunset district good will, martin lamb, in district 5, rodney chen, district 6, steven lee, the leader of aspire, district 7, a longtime democratic activist, district 8, the founding executive director of the chinatown community development center go

we got together with the city, the board of supervisors, with the leadership of david chiu, eric mar, got together with the board of directors and, of course, a big thank-you to ben rosenfield who helped us all to figure out with the mayor's office, how we could put together a real state of financial support and strength to make sure the that the asian could move forward. they responded. not only with an agreement going forward, but with this idea of branding which came out of the number of ideas of how the nation can make sure it is appealing to an even broader audience, making sure that its wells, richness, not only in this place -- we have a lovely room like this for actual performances that are consistent with the asian culture. as you know, some 20,000 kids get invited to come through these halls to learn and see the exhibits. i am very excited about the next exhibit. i know the bali exhibit here will have international flavor. with this opening, with this brand name, i want to think the board of directors, the foundation. jay hsu and your work with the city. the supervisors, cha

the structure of s.f. citi. i am going to be the chairman of the governing board of s.f. citi. the governing board members initially will be representatives from salesforce.com, zynga, and jawbone. there will also be an executive board for other companies to contribute donations to s.f. citi for the day to day operations. everyone in the tech community could not be more excited than our vice chairman of s.f. citi, none of them heather hardy, a folk hero. [applause] >> she is already standing, so we cannot get her to stick out. heather was ceo of techcrunch, the company that announced 90% of these companies -- they announced their existence. techcrunch is the fabric of technology here in san francisco. heather just less rigid left the company and agreed to take the volunteer position as vice chairman of s.f. citi. before that, she was at news corp. and went to harvard business school. we are not holding out against her. in the meantime, we have an executive search going on for an executive director. in the meantime, it is important for everyone here to know that we have five peop

would also note by the way that the new executive director of the fort mason center foundation, a former city employee, is now on the city's board of appeals so that may create the appearance of some convoluted mode of access and i want to be clear they know mr. selna a little bit, he's a fine, fine fellow, and my comments are not about his character but about the nature of the request that's before you and the approval process for a waiver, having been through this at many past meetings. i don't believe in this case that the criteria were met. i don't believe you should grant a broad waiver in the way that's being proposed. i don't believe that you have enough facts for a specific waiver and so i would recommend, following further discussion, that you not act on this tonight but lay out some conditions perhaps for this to come back to you and if it's so warranted, the usual practice is that the individual leaves city service, lines up some other opportunity, either starts with that without communicating to city folks that that person is at that time unable to communicate with and then seeks the waiver and, if granted, is able t

am is about to enter -- during such time as i hold the office of -- member of the board of supervisors -- and transportation authority -- for the city and county of san francisco -- congratulations. >> thank you. [cheers and applause] >> please welcome the newest member of our board of supervisors, supervisor for district 5, christina olague. [cheers and applause] >> wow. thank you all for coming out here. most of you i have known for a long time. and, you know, i feel really overwhelmed right now. i am a little nervous. i did prepare a speech, because i was afraid if i did not write things down that i would stumble over my words, but i do want to thank everyone here that i have known and worked with, tenants, activist, and other people that are here. and i also want to thank, of course, mayor lee, for giving me the opportunity to serve and to work with you on the board of supervisors. [applause] i really feel proud to be here standing with you at this moment. so thank you. so, i guess i will go ahead and start my very, you know, i do not know, contrived speech. i hope it is not too contrived. but it is the best i can do. and linda

for us, and what we are doing for ourselves, joining the whole city and region in celebrating asian-pacific portage month. i am so grateful to the boardsupervisors for this whole four months of leaving this great city. i will say once again as i have said through many corners of the city, whether it is a town hall meeting or just your regular family association dinner, the hundreds i have been too -- i really feel proud of our asian community as a whole for allowing me to serve this great city and for all the years of struggle and coordinating and push to keep the doors of government open and to keep opportunities for many generations of asians to serve this wonderful city. thank you. i continue to thank the board of supervisors for this historic vote that happened in january. saying that, i want to kick off the celebration by doing the appropriate thing, signing the declaration that declares this month asian pacific american heritage month. i would like you to join with me the fantastic group of council generals here. if i can call up to join me -- the council generals from canada, china, japan, korea -- please join me. please come u

the board may hold a meeting where there is a vacancy. in such instances, the board may overrule the action of a department by a vote of three members. we are joined tonight by deputy city attorney barnes, who will provide the board with any needed legal advice. we are also joined by representatives from some of the city departments that have cases before the board this evening. scott sanchez is here. also represented the planning department and planning commission. the senior building inspector is here. a representative from the bureau of urban forestry and a representative of the public works division of st. use and mapping is also here. at this time, if you could go over the board's meeting guidelines. >> the board requests that you turn off all phones or pagers so they will not disturb the procedures. carry on conversations in the hallway. the board's rules of presentation are as follows, appellants, permit holders, and department representatives have three minutes to present their cases and three minutes for rebuttals. people affiliated with these parties must include their comments in these periods. members or not affiliated have up to 3 minutes to address the boa

the city will announce a new five-year plan which will replace the old deal. the city board of estimates will vote on a finalized contract on february 22. a teenager accused of gunning down his father will be tried as an assault. a grand jury indicted robert richardson iii. according to police, sgt shot his father -- rich and shot his father -- richardson shot his father. the man who escaped from custody will spend a quarter years in prison. he escaped a holding cell after asking a guard for toilet paper were. he faces first-degree sex offenses in north carolina. the prosecution could wrap up its tryout in the case against george huguely. medical experts described yeardley love's injuries. lowell melser has a look at what we can expect today. >> as we now enter the eighth day of this trial, six days worth of testimony, we're nearing the finish line for the commonwealth. they made it clear to the judge that they would be wrapping up their case sometime today. we ended with dna evidence last night. today we will hear more of that dna evidence as the commonwealth wraps up its c

pleasure of working with her and the city administrator, ed lee, when the society was engaged in working to have the city adopts a slavery disclosure ordinance, which the boardsupervisors did adopt. it is on the book. the ordinance would require certain entities that do business with the city to disclose whether their origins -- where they have their origins historic plea, and whether they are in any way related to slave trade. we worked closely with ms. kelley in that regard. the skills, expertise, and commitment she brought to that challenge was unswerving in terms of its implementation. at the board of supervisors last week, we were there when the announcement -- when she was before committee with regard to her nomination to become the next city administrator. i got up and made a few comments. somebody got up after me. i said to that after him, "i wish i had said what he said." he said we talk about the fact that naomi kelly, hopefully next tuesday, will be approved by the board of supervisors to become the first african- american, first woman as city administrator. we all hope for that. not just because she is the first african american. not just because

city hall. as you know, yesterday -- first of all, let allthank all the members of the board of supervisors that are here today. it is really great day for our city and san francisco. i want to thank the members who are here, and even those who have not made it here, they have already registered. there certainly here in spirit. yesterday, you heard me talk about our unique opportunity to unite the city and move it forward past old political labels and focus on all of our shared priorities for the city. that is what has been on my mind as i consider this very important appointment to the board of supervisors. as no, i have worked hard to set a new tone of civility, and i said yesterday that ever decision that i make will be in the best interest of all the people of san francisco. that has been my standard and i expect that of any one that i appointed the board of supervisors to also have. that is why i am extremely excited and proud to announce today might appointment of christina olague as district 5 is supervisor. [jurors and applause] -- [cheers and applause] i have talked to her quite a bit,

your response about the need for additional real-estate for other services that the city provides, realistically, if the board in the city decides not to continue the city justice center, we are still looking at another two years? it is not as though in need that exists today will be a need that we have at the end of the year 2014? he said you are searching for four term leases. how realistic is that in terms of getting these urgent need leases that the city has? >> quite realistic. frankly, we are surprised. we did not think we would be able to negotiate those. in the civic center, a lot of things are queued up and a lot of activity will happen over the next four years that will change the rates. lots of people said they have taken rates and they would rather have someone in there, paying them something, but they foresee a time in the near future where the rates will go up substantially, if things progress as currently planned. i am not sure that that never really happens, but that is the plan. supervisor kim: what about something that could come up on cue, at that moment? >> there is nothing in particular,

the board may hold a meeting if there's a vacancy. the board may overrule the action of the department with the votes of three members. we're joined tonight by the deputy city attorney. she is sitting to my left and will provide the board with any legal advice. we also have our legal assistant. we're joined by representatives from the city departments that had cases before the board this evening. we have this in your building inspector representing the department of building inspection and we have the representation for a taxi services. we will conduct the swearing-in process. >> the board requests you turn off all phones and pagers so they will not disturb proceedings. carry on conversations in the hallway. the rules of presentation are as follows, permit holders and department representatives each have seven minutes to present their cases and three minutes for rebuttals. people affiliated with these parties must include their comments with and those periods. members of the public not affiliated with the parties have up to two minutes each to address the board and no rebuttals. to assist the board in the accurate preparation of minutes, members of the publ

early voting begins illinois chicago cast your ballot each of the 50 wards and the city board of elections downtown. cook county early voting 43 locations county clerk's office check with your county clerk early voting site and cook county 75 bilingual election judges speaking spanish march 20th primary you can make $170 with the day finishing a three hour training session pair of local congressional representative speaking of birth control today. mike quigley and jan schakowsky reporting women speak out for birth control the event pocket impact of contraception on patients' lives and a new national health care law requires employers to cover contraception backing off his stance president coming to religious organizations but a new bill allows exemption for any employer opposed on moral grounds. limiting access to family planning will be rejected by women and men in the room and in this country regardless of religion or region >> encouraging those attending to let lawmakers know how they feel about the contraception legislation >> no compensation the city businesses) and g 8 summit in may

. >>> green flag by the city's board of estimates. >> reporter: the board approves a new contract. controller joan pratt and city councilman opposed the contract. grand prix generated $french mill -- $french mill -- $47 million. terminated after failing to pay $1.5 million it owes to the city. >>> it appears appears that february could be going out like a lamb. it is very mild and mostly sunny. feeling more like maybe late march than february. wjz has weather and traffic together. meteorologist tim williams has the updated numbers and we'll talk to kristy. >>> good afternoon, mary. good afternoon, everyone. it is definitely a very calm afternoon shaping up. temperatures in the 60s. these temperatures, keep in mind, are just about 14 to 15 degrees above average. we are typically right around 47 degrees on this date. right now, we are at 61. 59 in elkton. 50 on the shore. 50 in oakland. and if you keep that in mind, well, we're going to be seeing the same types of temperatures moving in for tomorrow. might not get into those 70s that you see down south. we are going to stay right arou

we're honored to have the honorable city mayor of san francisco, the president of the board of supervisorsayor brown, and other city officials, friends. in celebrating -- this is the second year that we celebrate the filipino-american history month. it is also quite appropriate to announce perhaps that the u.s. senate has passed a senator solution proclaiming october 2011 as philippine-american history month as well. i think it is also appropriate to announce that govern merck -- governor edwin brown announced that he had signed ab 199, school curriculum, social sciences, filipinos in world war ii. i think that all of these events show that the filipino- americans are really coming out of the woodwork and showing themselves as a group that needs to be recognized. as we, this evening, a well recognized quite a number of them. we welcome you tonight. may i also ask you to welcome the honorable mayor edwin lee. [applause] >> well, welcome. welcome to city hall, everyone. it is my pleasure to welcome all of you here to the seventh annual philippine-american celebration heritage month. counsel

it is important that i keep in the back of my head that i sit on the city and county board of supervisorsis a responsibility to the city as a whole. there is no easy way to balance it. you deal with those issued by issue. >> the city is faced with tough budget decisions, including where to make cuts and whether to raise taxes and fees. how will you approach the difficult choices? >> i think the biggest challenge in the budget is the cost associated a city employee pensions and benefits. those are the single biggest driver to our expenses, far exceeding our revenues. i have a single-minded focus dealing with that. for the last few months. we have been sitting down with our various public employee unions trying to come together on a way to balance the city's needs versus respecting the rights of the employees. if we are able to come to some sort of agreement and present the voters in november with a fair proposal, that will address a lot of the smaller budget issues. we are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars. on pension and benefits alone, we will be spending just shy of 1 millio

. >> reporter: it will likely all come down to a vote by the city's board of estimates next wednesday. >> reporter: the deal could change by then, based on public input. >> we are prepared to withstand the financial bumps in the road that are almost certain to happen in ways that we can't necessarily foresee. >> reporter: the contract would run through 2016. the new investors say they're in for the long haul. >> we haven't succeeded until it's standing on its own two feet. >> reporter: so what happens to all of the old money that the old managers, baltimore racing development, owe the city and owe vendors? well, we talked to the mayor about that. and she'll weigh in, coming up new at 6:00. reporting live downtown, mike hellgren, wjz eyewitness news. >> the new group still plans to host the race labor day weekend and thinks the track will be about the same. >>> it is another day without heat or hot water for many people living in southwest baltimore, after construction crews hit a natural gas main in the area. wjz is live at the scene. monique griego has more on the repair efforts and

the city. mike? >> reporter: denise, although it is on track topaz, the -- to pass, the new grand prix is not a done deal yet. it still needs the board of estimates approval. it involves a man who has run races like this across the country. >> reporter: after financial and organizational bumps in the road, baltimore's grand prix is on its way back. and the new managers behind it, a group called down force racing, tell wjz they have learned from the mistakes of baltimore racing development, which ran the race last year and ended up losing its contract with the city. b.r.d. still owes millions millions to vendors and taxpayers. >> everybody realizes that this type of event is challenging to put on. and they can be very fragile, economically. >> they're very complicated contracts because of everybody we affect. >> reporter: among the protections in down force's proposed new contract with baltimore, the city can work close -- more closely inspect the group's finances. down force will pay more fees to the city, making it more financially viable to them. and part of the cost will go to an account supervised by baltimore. taxpayers get thei

the city that we move forward. but without any risk to taxpayers. >> reporter: and this new contract must be approved by the city's board of estimates. >> the vote wille place at the next meeting, which is february 22nd. >>> president obama begins a 3- day campaign trip, arriving on latest news from the cbs new york times poll. bill plant reports for wjz. the survey shows he prefers the president over all of his potential republic campaign rivals. >> this goes to an important swing state, where he'll showcase jobs overseas. then a series of fundraisers in california. and then an appearance at seattle at boeing. the trip finds mr. obama better positioned than he expected at this point. his approval rating in the new cbs news new york times poll is 50%, its highest point since the death of osama bin laden. more good news, smooth sailing on capitol hill, for the president's proposed payroll tax cut, which days ago, had seemed destined for a fight with house republicans. that had the president wearily optimistic. >> you can't take anything for granted here in washington. until my signature is actually on it. >> reporter: even though more americans still

city hall. amidst chaos and confusion, the president of the city's board of supervisors dianne feinstein made theouncement. >> as president of the board of supervisors it is my duty to make this announcement. both mayor moscone and supervisor harvey milk have been shot and killed. >> quiet! >> the suspect the suspect is supervisor dan white. >> reporter: for a city and 14-year-old jon moscone,he world was turned upside down. >> i only remember picture frames of the day. someone sat me down on the couch-- it was my mom's best friend-- and she told me that my dad had been killed. and then i don't remember much after that. >> ♪ amazing grace how sweet the sound. ♪ >> whenever i remember you in my prayers as i do constantly night and day, recalling your tears when we part, i yearn to see you again >> he said the world went silent. the world went silent for a very long time. >> reporter: tony taccone is the artistic director at the berkeley repertory theatre. he's known jon moscone for over 20 years. they are fast friends, but in all that time, the topic of jon's father was always off limits. >> so wh