the history of umuc and its top officer. i'm derek valcourt. coming up. >>> the furor over four loko. i'm mike hellgren. it contains as much alcohol as almost five beers. now maryland's attorney general is saying, a government settlement doesn't go far enough to regulate the beverage. >> what a way to start the month of march. look at that sun. stick around for the updated first warning forecast. >> again, our african sunset. lion king. >>> check in for these stories and all the day's breaking news. >> wjz eyewitness news at 6:00 starts now. >>> history, same-sex marriage. now legal in maryland. >> and the bill is signed. >> whoo! >> tonight, opponents vow to fight on. what happens next? >> hello, everyone. i'm vic carter. >> and i'm denise koch. here's what people are talking about tonight. >> maryland makes history, becoming only the 8th state to legalize same-sex marriage. just a few short hours ago, governor martin o'malley signed the bill into law. pat warren with more. >> reporter: a sweet moment for same-sex marriage supporters. tt

94,000 students. >> reporter: open records show aldridge made about $300,000 a year. >> reporter: umuc has named javier miatis as its interim president. he has been serving as the senior viementd for exactly one month today. >>> a wild brawl, several stabbings. five people are in custody for the chaos that erupted in a normally quiet baltimore community. mike schuh with more on the suspects in custody and a possible motive. mike? >> reporter: well, vic, it was a chaotic scene, after the stabbing. speeding cars. a passenger nearly bleeding to death. and shots fired. and today, police made arrests. >> take a look at ronald williams' neck. see the stitches. that wound nearly killed him. police say he's one of five men who entered this house in owings mills on tuesday. got into a fight and was stabbed. >> police have recovered a weapon. but it's not a knife. they say it's one-half of a pair of kitchen shears like these. >> one of the suspects in the home. and the suspect who was ultimately stabbed in the incident, are old childhood friends. they have known each other a very long time. ther

senate education committee wants umuc to hand over charging documents. senator harkin is asking for records, relating to umuc's enrollment and workplace accusations. he is concerned that susan aldridge face -- forced out dozens, and offered to pay them for their silence. >> umuc enrolls thousands of students, mostly through online classes. >>> two new leaders today. f. dallas dance has accepted the county school board's offer to become superintendent. the 30-year-old is already the chief medical officer. he was also a candidate for the job in howard county. and today, the howard county school board has announced it has chosen renee fiewft. she becomes the first woman to head the school district. >>> take a look outside. it is definitely cooler outside this evening. meteorologist bernadette woods outback. let's first check in with bob. >> hasn't been this cool until march 11th. that morning, we get to 31. this morning, we got to 31 degrees. right now, we're at 54 degrees. briefly this afternoon, we got up to 56. this is very close to average. normal high

senator harkin is asking for records relating to umuc's enrollment and workplace practices. he is concerned about accusations that aldridge forced out dozens of staffers and paid them for their silence. leaders of the university of maryland system also refused to discuss the eldridge case. >> umuc enrolls more than 90,000 students. most of them through online classes. >>> republican presidential candidate newt gingrich brings his campaign to maryland. he ends on the eastern shore in salisbury. wjz is live with tonight's campaign 2012 report. political reporter pat warren has more on the former speaker's visit. pat? >> well, that's right. as you know, the newt gingrich campaign comes on the heels of the mitt romney campaign last week. >> the former campaign speaker's swing through maryland brings him to the state house, where he takes a bow at the state senate, before taking a shot at the government's gas tax. >> there's talk about an increase in the gas tax for maryland. which i think shows political insensitivity as you can imagine. given the effort made to raise the price

since 2006, she has been president of umuc, headquarter the in college park. the school claims to be the world's fastest-growing virtual campus. >> we are now the largest state university with 94,000 students. >> reporter: but in a stunning announcement last week, the head of maryland's system, chancellor william kerwin, announced aldridge had been placed on indefinite leave, offering no explanation. thursday afternoon, kerwin still guarded details. >> i really can't tell you anything that i haven't already said. that she's on leave, for an indefinite period of time. and that javier meheres is the acting president. and that's all i can say at this moment. i -- when i can be more forth coming, i will be. but i just cannot be at this time. >> reporter: here at their location in largo, prince george's county, faculty and staff are being very tight- lipped. >> she's on paid leave. >> reporter: kerwin acknowledges that for now, aldridge will continue to collect or -- her $306,000 salary, while that continues. >> and in a letter, chancellor kerwin said it could be w

. >> susan aldridge says it is time to step down as president of umuc. the school still hasn't explained the reason for her mysterious absence. in a statement today, aldridge says she thinks this is a good time to resign. she will remain on administrative leave and will work with the university on special projects at that time. >> umuc serves 90,000 students worldwide, through its classrooms and online courses. >>> new details on the violent fight that terrified an owings mills neighborhood. tonight, police say they think they know exactly what happened. mike schuh has the announcement from detectives. mike? >> well, kai, it was a chaotic scene, speeding cars, a passenger nearly bleeding to death. someone taking shots at that car are as it roared off to the hospital. today, detectives announced arrest. >> take a look at ronald williams agency neck. see the stitches? that wound nearly killed him. police say he is one of nearly five men this tuesday. into the into a fight. and was stabbed. police have recovered a weapon. but it's not a nice. they say it's

susan aldridge has been asked to hand over documents at umuc. at issue is your academic integrity.nd other said aldridge forced out dozens of staffers and made a lucrative severance payments in exchange for their silence. >> a virginia man now looks into a mirror and a different face stares back him. richard norris lost half of his face in a gun accident. after a groundbreaking face transplant procedure, he has a completely new face. just amazing. >> he wanted to see a mirror and see himself. he was there with his parents and family members. it was one of the most emotional moments. he put the mayor down and thanked me -- he put the mirror down. >> the procedure also restored his sense of smell. >> now traffic pulse 11 and insta-weather plus together. >> let's get you up today. not too bad out there. one problem in manchester along the old schoolhouse road. we have an accident. doing well on 70 in towards 29, 58 miles per hour. 50 on the west side outer loop. things are getting sluggish near baltimore national pike. moving well on to the north side over towards the towson region. t

umuc president, dr. susan aldridge, stepped down last week, after taking an unexplained leave. today, the washington post reports, the chairman wants to know why. the post says a complaint filed with the state audit says they fired him and gave september 11thance -- gave severance. >>> after a cold start to the day, we have warmed up this afternoon. but it's a little cooler than it was and has been lately. wjz has weather and traffic together. meteorologist bernadette woods is here with the updated numbers from first warning weather. hi, bernadette. >> hello, kai. and everybody out there. yes, you definitely needed a jacket this morning. that's why you needed the freeze warning. it did get down to 31. most north and west of that, down into the 20s. we're south and east of that. for the most part, we stayed above freezing. now, we'll switch it over and show you temperatures. we've rebounded into the 50s this. is just a couple of degrees below average. not too far off. but compared to yesterday, in general, we're 5 to 15 degrees cooler. there's a little bit of a chill in the air,

the mystery behind what happened at umuc, and top [ dog growls, barks ] bring your dog to work day... our best idea. [ barking ] george! stop it! stop. oh. it was a nice thought. [ male announcer ] some business decisions are better than others. the best decision is switching to verizon. you're good to go. that was fast! thank you. [ male announcer ] speed, reliability, and now with our worry free guarantee, there's no better time to switch. get your choice of terms. no activation fees. a 30-day money back guarantee. flexible scheduling. professional on-site installation. and 24/7 tech support. all for just $84.99 a month. plus you get a $200 value reward card. so switch to verizon high-speed internet and phone, backed by our new worry free guarantee, all for just $84.99 a month. call 1-888-610-8090. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v. that's 1-888-610-8090. >>> coming up next on wjz eyewitness news at 5:00. the mixed marriage bill is being signed into law in annapolis. why there could still be another hurdle to cross. >>> sudden absence o

she has served as president of umuc since 2006. >>> a very foggy start to the day in maryland. the dense moisture in the air may make it harder to get there for a lot of people. here in druid park, the visibility was very limited as drivers took it very slowly and carefully. >>> taking a look outside now. the fog is clear. the sun is shining on another warm spring day. it's beautiful. wjz has weather and traffic together. we'll talk to kristy in a second. but here's bob turk with the updated numbers. >> dense fog, particularly in the eastern shore, where schools were delayed like an hour. even west of the bay, we had dense fog. but the sun has come out. this is the visible satellite. it's like going up and taking a shot. this afternoon, lots of clouds all across central maryland as you can see. but during the day, things begin to clear up. and boom, there they go. now we've got pretty much clear skies. temperatures have really jumped back into the 70s. look at cumberland. 81 degrees. oakland at 73. baltimore now at 72. ocean city, with some sun there at sketch. -- 67. now, tomo