or ask us about the option of no annual contract. is change good? in this case, change is very good. [ male announcer ] visit verizon.com/greatprice. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities that's verizon.com/greatprice. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. fios. a network ahead. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news at noon. >> let the plunging begin. looks like it has begun. you are looking at live at sandy point, as school kids take the annual plunge for the special olympics. it is a preview of tomorrow's polar bear plunge. first, our big story at noon -- lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community received support from one of the nation's most recognize the rights organizations. >> lesbian, gay, at bisexual,

and transgender advocates from around the country are meeting in baltimore to discuss the way to fight for equality in their communities. organizers say it is a coincidence that the conference is in maryland while lawmakers are debating a bill that would grant same sex partners the same legal protection as heterosexual counterparts. mayor stephanie rawlings-blake and first lady katie o'malley shared their support with attendees and talk about the likelihood of the bill passing. >> i think is close. that is why there is a big lobbying effort. hopefully people will see that it is about families. it is about getting over prejudice and about making sure we protect families. >> i think it has a very good chance of passing. i don't know the actual numbers are, because i stay out of all of it. i just hope and pray that the people, the good people of the state of maryland, will come together around this issue and vote for tolerance and equality

in marriage. >> naacp president benjamin jealous was the keynote speaker. he spoke about his transgendered brother and the need to need no discrimination everywhere -- to end discrimination everywhere. >> the organization with strong connections to the fight for lgbt rights. >> he talked about ending school bullying and a voting rights. the biggest applause came when he vowed to help the maryland lgbt community. >> the non-profit sector in the state of maryland, we will be there to make sure that gender identity and anti-discrimination bill is passed. >> wbal-tv 11 news. >> one lawmaker is pushing for baltimore city to begin this fall over its school system. the state delegate has introduced a bill that would return authority to appoint the school board and the district's cdo to the mayor.

right now the mayor and governor to win the support of the board members. he says that it's time for that to change. >> as i have stressed to my colleagues, it is not a knock on a doctor, and so are the current school board -- not a knock on dr. alonso with the current school board. it is a way for the city to continue to patrol the school system and progress going forward. >> mayor stephanie rawlings- blake says she favors more authority to appoint this ceo and board members. go to our website, wbaltv.com, and click on "politics." two people are recovering from smoke inhalation and burns after a house fire in northeast baltimore. the one-alarm fire broke a just brought by 4:00 this morning at ravenwood avenue. fire officials say a child was taken to johns hopkins children's center and an adult was taken to the burn center at the bayview medical center. no word on what caused the fire.

a woman convicted of killing her co-worker at an upscale yoga shop will be sentenced today . she was convicted of killing to an emery inside the lululemon in march 2011. prosecutors are seeking a sentence of life without parole. >> i have got the radar set up now at sandy point beach state park. no radar echoes coming from there. temperatures are still up. temperature is right around 60 degrees. i told the radar back. i wanted to show you, if we could, the rain that was there earlier that caused damage to tents at the beach. most of the rain has moved offshore. i will add the clouds to show

you there is sunshine and the picture this afternoon. west of the potomac river, sunshine is breaking through. here's a look at the forecast now. as far as the protest is concerned, this afternoon, temperatures will start losing ground and overnight tonight, temperatures will drop down into the 30's. partly cloudy skies. sandy point, we begin to increase the clouds in the afternoon. it looks like the air temperatures will be in the 40's into the upper 40's for highs during the afternoon. there will be a south the breeze at that time. it will make it feel more like the 30's. we don't have precipitation in tomorrow's forecast. we are talking about the plungers and we're looking at tim tooten here. what is happening? >> we have over 3000 students this year, double last year's amount. i am not exactly a student aid

is for a good cause, to raise money for the maryland special olympics. the idea is to go in and support your school. a lot of competition this year as well. young man, how are you doing? you went in. tell us what the experience is like. >> as exhilarating, absolutely the best thing. you are here for a good cause. this is not where you want to be. it is cold. >> what school you from? >> vcc high school in chevy chase. it is worth it. >> all the students are excited about going in. some have done it twice. hello, sir, how are you doing? is this your mother? >> i wish i had my mother. >> tell us about your experience. >> it is cold, i cannot feel my toes, but it is worth it. >> what you are hearing from

all the students here is many of them are coming down, they have gone in twice. they are still going in. it is an exciting time. this is the third year there has been in the cool schools challenge. double last year, 80 schools, offer a good cause. >> -- all for a good cause. >> of course, a is a great cause and the air is a little bit warmer this year. send text messages for infringement, -- for encouragement. your message could appear on 11 news saturday morning. the ravens season may be over but they are still making news. as expected, the team has announced they have decided to promote the keys to defensive coordinator, replacing troyer pagano -- replacing chuck pagano, to accept it head

coaching position for the indianapolis colts. still ahead, autism is typically diagnosed in toddlers. now researchers are seeing signs of a condition in infants. plus, they are popular among children and teenagers, but one pennsylvania school is banning uggs. details on the controversy. first, six months ago for the london all the big games. --

>> we are six months away from the start of the summer olympic games in london. everything is expected to be completed on time. >> it is the final push to the biggest sporting event in the world. the main venues are finished, on budget and on time. among the highlights of the $11 billion project, a sleek i dome, and aquatics center, and the centerpiece, the main stadium that will hold 8000 cheering fans. more than 200 countries will compete, with 15,000 athletes, 9

million tickets up for sale. expectations are high after beijing. that city's opening ceremonies in 2008 captivated the world. london is hoping to do even better. it gives oscar-winning director danny boyle everything he needs for the performance, including lots of money. >> this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase the united kingdom. billions will be watching. >> the london games will at a secret weapon, familiar and much of the royal faces -- much-loved well faces. the opening ceremonies will begin with the ringing of a large bell. the island is full of noises, sounds, sweet airs that give the light but fear not. it sounds pretty british to me. >> still to come, detecting

autism. feeling makes and pains after a long flight? how about a little downward dog? and airport just opened a yoga room for travelers. >> sunshine is coming into the picture, but colder temperatures are on the way. from sky team 11, ec all the action at sandy point. here at b.w.i. martians, 63..

>> now your 11 insta-weather-

plus forecast with john collins. >> we are starting our weathercast with the weather news story. tents were blown down by thunderstorms that went across the area. all gone now, but they still have to straighten the tents out. that is the damage that was done by these strong winds that came through the little thunderstorm bursts that moved through the area a short time ago. a little bit of recovery and weather use this morning. we are beginning to see clearing coming behind this. still overcast at sandy point. just to the west, sunshine beginning to break through. most of the rain is along the coast offshore. again, a couple of lines of strong storms in this, storm cells, some producing a little lightning. that is pushing out. coming behind it, colder air eventually.

by now the temperatures are pretty nice. let's look at some of those meetings. we will see what we have. 63 at b.w.i. marshall and. 54 at parkton. in annapolis, 53. you see this little burst of warm air right in here. " fred is right on it. behind it, temperatures cool down. hancock, 51. 32 in oakland. you can see where we are headed with this. more air right along the front. the fund goes through -- the front goes through, and with the dow slipped wins, temperatures start to tumble. here is an in-class satellite picture. have this class right along the beach area -- heaviest clouds right along the beach areas.

we will begin to notice this mid-afternoon or so as we feel the effect of the down slope winds, which tend to heat up the atmosphere a bit. i pressure comes in and bricks the weather up. there will be a disturbance in minnesota moving across the great lakes. it will throw clouds in the area by tomorrow afternoon. insta-weather futurecast shows the activity moving offshore right now. our forecast for today, morning showers have gone away except for a couple of places along the shoreline. eventually, partly sunny skies during our highs are in the mid- 50's, mid-60's, but that will begin to back off during the afternoon hours and be down into the upper 20s away from the city and near the shore, about 38 for the morning lows tomorrow morning. insta-weather futurecast shows us clearing out. here is one of the little clippers. might be a sprinkle or two off to our north. sunday evening, maybe a couple

of snow flurries in the forecast. in between, the weekend looks generally partly cloudy. it will be colder on sunday. upper 30's. on saturday, upper 40's. today, citizens 60's. next week, debitors are fairly close to normal -- -- temperatures are fairly close to normal. >> in the "medical alert," children's brains may show early signs of autism during infancy. british researchers monitor the brain activity of six-to-10- month-old babies as they look at pictures of faces looking at an away from them. babies, who were officially diagnosed with autism, were more likely to have different brain responses from these social interactions than those who are not autistic. although the research is not under% accurate, researchers believe it may be the first steps in detecting autism in as

young as three months old. in san francisco airport, it will not help your flight to arrive on time but it will help you chill out a little bit. >> you practically have to be a contortionist to fit into the cramped seats of today's airplanes, so why not have a place where you can relax and stretch out before getting into the back of that bus for a nine hour flight to somewhere? you are looking at sfo's brand new yoga room which serves american airlines and virgin. they are asking people to remove shoes and respect the silence of the room. passengers can get in the zone before hopping on the flight. >> dimly lit, blue lighting space. >> this all came about because of passenger happened to mention it to you? >> that's right. i have also been practicing

yoga for 18 years, so i have learned some of the benefits. >> having some opportunity to do five or 10 minutes when i have time and have to wait is nice, very nice. >> what a great thing, considering how stressful flying can be. parents and students are up in arms after a pennsylvania middle school gives a popular style of foot where the boat. administrators are saying that it is not the issu -- the shoe that force them to make the call but what students are hiding in them. >> not only are they warm, but it is a barely a great place to stash assault on. -- it is apparently a great place to stash a cellphone. >> it is distracting the class and stuff. >> the distraction of the cell phones and food aid and in uggs boots was so bad that the district decided to ban them

from class. >> the situation of having items in classrooms prohibited is clearly to maintain a positive educational environment. >> the district already mandates that cell phones and electronic devices have to be left in lockers. under the new ban, kids can wear the shoes to school but must change into other boots for class. >> they where a school uniforms. they to just go as far as having shoes. >> my daughter doesn't have a lot of the issues. i cannot afford to be buying her a whole bunch of shoes to be changing every day. >> some say that you can hide a cell phones in basketball shoes just as easily b. >> they were trying to get all the girls to wear all of their ugg boots to make a point a

statement. >> coming up next, your maryland lottery numbers, and we will get another check of the insta- weather-plus forecast, as we if you a live picture from sandy point state park. first, it looked at wall street.

we know everyone's looking for ways to save. why not save on car insurance? [ coin drops ] [ high-pitched voice ] thanks. [ normal voice ] you're welcome. get a free quote at progressive.com. >> tonight at 5:00, baltimore

county officials have announced ie theater.k mov we will learn more about the project and what it means for a local jobs. we take you live to sandy point state park where energy and excitement are taking off. finally, it is called the miami songless and is taking the nation by storm but it has women injecting fat into their rear ends. and now the maryland lottery numbers. >> the maryland lottery celebrates purple friday all season long. >> purple friday, and all of us at the maryland lottery say thank you for a great season, ravens. now your pick 3 numbers.

the final ravens cash fantasy drawing is tonight. season tickets for life and more. moving over to the pick four game, bob diamond has the pick four numbers. ravens cash fantasy scratch-off is 90% sold out, but still less ttwo top prizes. >> bad stuff is moving out, and temperatures will stay up for a little while. tomorrow, temperatures will only be in the 40's. >> thank you for joining us. >> follow breaking news and weather any time at wbaltv.com, and stay connected with us on facebook and twitter. here's a friendly reminder.

it's your last chance to get verizon's reliable high speed internet and phone for small business for only $84.99 a month. call 1.866.solutions now or visit verizon.com/solutions. only $84.99 for high-speed internet and phone.

plus your choice of either no annual contract or a two year price guarantee. call 1.866.solutions or visit verizon.com/solutions today. hurry -- this offer won't last long. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 1-800-974-6006