academic address, president obama prepares a speech to school children across the country. >> trying toin dock tri nate our kids into supporting him and the health care agenda.

>> yes, i'm going to have something to say tomorrow to our children telling them to stay in school and work hard. >> tonight, his message to students and why some children will never hear it. >> here's some people talking about tonight. this is controversy tonight concerning president obama's planned speech to u.s. school students tomorrow. the white house says it's all about education. but opponents say there's more to it. eyewitness is outside live. kelly. >> reporter: all boils town to politics. for the last few days, conservatives have been saying that the speech is going to try to persuade students to agree with obama's health care pran. -- plan. they released at speech but still some students will not hear the speech. it was supposed to be a presidential address just dpors students -- for students. >> every chance we have a chance

to change things into a real learning opportunity we welcome. >> reporter: but not everyone wants president obama to speak directlyo our kids. >> trying to indoctrinate our kids and the health care agenda. >> i think there's other issues that are said about, so that's probably why they're upset about this particular thing. >> reporter: the outrage was just fluff for school districts across the country to pull the plug on the tv broadcast scheduled for tuesday. >> yes, i'm going to have something to say tomorrow to tell our children to stay in school and work hard. >> reporter: even the white house released speech on monday, howard county is -- >> i think that's crazy if the rest of the country is allowed to watch it, then hartford county should be allowed to

watch it especially with the politics are out of it. >> reporter: baltimore and arundel counties will make the broadcast available to any classroom that wants it. blrm city and howard county will watch but will be excused if a parent wishes. >> our students need to be aware of what our president has to say. >> reporter: the white house is providing lesson plans on line and that is one thing that changed. previously the president was asking for letters to him about how he could do a better job in the white house and now students will have to write about how they will claef their own academic goals. >> the address will air on c-span and streamed live on the white house website at noon tomorrow and wjz has a transcript of the speech. go to wjz.com and click on the link to this story. today, the president focused on health care. traveling to cincinnati to speak to union members at a labor day

picnic. >> put aside partisanship, stop saying things that aren't true, come together as a nation, pass health insurance reform now. >> president told the crowds he needs their support to help get health care reform plan. many opponents are taking issue for the public option for those without insurance. some believe it will cost taxpayers too much and the president will dlefr his negligence on -- deliver his message. you can see the address on wjz.com. new at 11, a week into the fall semester there are already a dozen of flu cases at maryland's park. more than a hundred students are being treated for flu-like symptoms. 40 are new case frs this weekend alone. right now it is unclear how many if any of these cases are swine flu. federal guidelines advise any student who feels sick to stay home. more police are patrolling a local park after a woman says

she was attacked there yesterday. the park is john downs memorial in passa dena. a 40-year-old woman said she was walking a trail when she passed a teen who fell off his bike. then he jumped her from behind and tried to choke her of she called 9 # 1. the teen ran off. se between 13 and 16 years old. it was a standout at the university of maryland and now a star football player for the san diego chargers but tonight shaun merry man is in trouble with the law. this after his reality star girlfriend chams he choked her and held her against her will. >> reporter: 25-year-old shaun merry man, the former maryland ter opinion turned san diego chargers school. merry man faces two felony charges of battery and false imprim prisonment. he was arrested on sunday after his girlfriend, tv star known as

til:tequila signed an arrest against him. she sefsz she was in the home and tried to leave. merry man restrained her and choked her. >> reporter: the linebacker was the 12th overall pick out of the university of maryland fwief draft. he was getting back in shape after missing much of last season with an injury. >> at no time did mr. merry man assault her. at no time did mer mr. merry man keep her against her will. this will all be borrow out and we're confident it will be revolved without any charges being filed. >> reporter: a lawyer for tequirks la. said she nor her wreptives would publically comment. it's unclear how the accusations will affect merry man's season. there's even been speculation that the team will let him leave when he's eljabl to become a

free agent. merry man did practice with the chargers this afternoon. responding to the charges, he said, quote, i think when it all surfaces it will be be a different swigs. it's over, as a lay day comes to a close so does the unofficial end of the summer and what better ways to spend your last few days than the ocean. hundreds of thousands of people flokd to the ocean city with the sand, board walk and that can make for a very busy on the roads as all those beach-goers go home. here's a live look, pretty clear there now -- now but it was busier earlier today. eyewitness news is there live. >> reporter: triple a of the mid atlanta says labor day traffic is down this time. however, it's good news for drivers, gas prices are also

lower. as the labor day weekend ends in maryland, summer has also officially come to a close. this video of westbound traffic shows. but this holiday did not see a mass rush of vacationers looking for one last trip. >> every one's in that back to work, back to school mode now for a couple weeks so they're cutting back on trips. >> aa of mid atlantic says -- in maryland, an estimated 693 '2,000 people traveled for labor day. down 14%. some took planes but most vein turdz by car. >> it seems like airlines are seeing a significant hit this holiday. we're looking at a 21% decline again because families aren't taking those long trips that is usually associated with airline travel. >> >> reporter: some admit they didn't travel this labor day weekend because of finances. it is a sign of the tough

economic times. >> gas money is tight. everything's tight. scraped together a few bucks just so i could get gas and pick my daughter up from a sleepover. >> while fewer drivers are on the road, gas prices are also down. the nationwide average is 2.60 a gallon. that was good news for the dorsey family who just returned from deep creek lake in western maryland. >> how were gas prices? >> reasonable. a lot cheaper than here in an ap his. we made high test we paid 2.65 and here it's 2.75. >> reporter: while the number of travelers may have been done on the road, there was a strong presence from maryland state police looking for aggressive drivers and anyone driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. denise. >> all right. thank you. thinking about animals, the food, the rides and the games?

the 2009 maryland state fair came it a close tonight. thousands headed out to the fairgrounds over the past week or so to take part in the tradition. whether it's the food or games, we caught up with two fair-goers who say they like it all. >> the rides, the food, definitely the funnel cake, the fries. >> he won that bear for her lfrment how much did it cost him? $75 but who can put a price tag on the fun and memories and the other opportunity to see that guy dancing with the day. >> $75 bear. cue the scary teem from jauss as beaches are cut down after several sharks are spotted. i do, now get me out of here. a couple finds themselves trapped if a maryland park. dramatic rescue and why they were stuck in the first place. drunk driving claims

hundreds of lives each year but new research is spreading a positive light. more showers this week. i have your forecast coming up next.

. your forecast is coming up. a number of east coast beaches are closed after a number of sharks are spotted. scientists hit the coast off cape cod massachusetts to take a look at sharks. experts say sharks are drawn to the area because they feed off

the large seal population. nine people were killed as a ferry sank. nearby cargo ships rescued passengers. the boat somehow lost power, tilting to the right and causing it to take on water a full investigation a underway. a 6-year-old boy goes missing. two years later he has been found #450iding in a tiny crawl space in a wall. police discovered him in a secret room at his grandmother's house. his mother and grandmother had been hiding him from his father in a custody dispute. they say the child is in good condition. >> surprisingly ricky is in good spirits. for someone who has been isolated in that house with no outside beings, he is very social. >> the child grandmother has accused the boy's father of sexually abusing the boy.

he will remain in the kudz of relatives while the investigation is kuk conducted. on average in maryland between 600 and 650 people will die because of the choices they made by drunk driver. a youfrt of maryland showed -- looks at the attitudes of drivers towards drinking and driving. fewer people find drinking and driving acceptable. no one likes to see this. in fact, a new university of maryland survey shows that 39% of think driving while drinking is a concern. the number of people who actually admit to drinking and driving is dropping of the figure was 13% in 2003. and that is now dropped to 7.5% in 2009. >> i agree with the laws how they're buckling down and doing the road blocks and all that stuff. >> especially when you consider what he's been through. >> unfortunately, i've had a

duifrment when i was 20. >> he said that bust permanently changed his behavior. >> spending a night in jail plus a fine is not not worth it. >> p b and j doesn't mean peanut butter and jelly. it's operation before adjustment and that's what drunk drivers are getting and people by and large are opposed to it. some 56% of us say it is inappropriate. in fact, 58% would like to see a thousand dollar fine after the first conviction, 87% after the second. as a tow truck driver, thomas wilcher has seen the effects first hand. >> you may have a dui car that has to be cut in half. >> 75% say impound it after the second. the survey also shows that using one of these causes a distinct deterioration in our abilities to drive but the survey says

that most people think that they're doing a fine job, it's the other guy out there, well, they're the ones affected by using this. reporting -- back to you on tv hill rnlgs the survey shows 55% of maryland drivers have had an encounter with an aggressive driver in the past 30 days. a romantic proposal while hiking will certainly be memorable as a newly engaged woman ends up hospitalize'sd. it happened when a woman was proposed to while on a hike. shortly after she said yes, she fell and was injured. the couple had to be air lifted to safety. the victim has since been treated and released from the hospital. now to a couple whose wedding day will forever be remembered that's because the groom flubed his vows. >> do take melissa renee warren. >> to be my lawfully we hadded wife. >> to be my waffly we hadded -- as you see the couple and

all their guests were able to lafr about t video of the couple changing their hows has been a youtube sensation. they talked about it on the today show. >> that's a good way to survive marriage, keep laughing. >> i hope they keep that throughout their entire marriage. we got a little bit of a new tropical storm, not much of one but it's about 200 miles southeast of the cape verde islands. it's not a big storm. they will not be developing, it will not affect our region. we can't even show it to you it's so far away. temperature 69, barometer holding steady. we did have a little rain early on. mes of it moved through but we still have some yet. most of it's in the southern portionings. 72 in ocean city. 71 now.

the airport did pick up about a quarter of inch of rain late this afternoon early this evening as a little batch of showers moved through the region. they pretty much dissipated right now. all because of low pressure. this thing off the coast of north carolina is sitting there. it's got some circulation bringing this moisture from east to west. off to the west, another pressure over southern ohio. if you keep your eyes here or here, you'll see a spin in the atmosphere. that means low pressure. you can kind of see that opinion out there as well. most of this moisture will not get to us. this, however, does have some pretty decent rains with it. and gusty winds on the coast, high tides, all that nonsense. west of the day -- bay, pretty much 95 best -- west, north of the city you will not see any at all. city on south looks like a

pretty good bet for rainfall. in the next 24 hours the computer model will show that low moving offstore where rain expected around the baltimore region and moving off to the east northeast. but that thing could develop winds of 30, 35 mirz. because of the winds coming out of the east on the western side of the bay, there can be some one to one and a half foot above normal tides. northeast winds gusting as high as 25 nots. so tonight, a little bit of rain possible, low 62 tomorrow. most of it soet and east of the baltimore region. high of 71. that's it. normal high is around 80 by the way. 71 tuesday, wednesday, thursday few more hours. maybe some drier air as the sun comes out, there goes the temps, 79 and 80 as we start the weekend. thank you very much, bob and we invite to you check in with

don scott and marty bass tomorrow morning at 4:55 avm. they'll have the updated forecast. the ravens prepare fought season opener. mark was with the team today to get their thoughts. that's next.

. well, it's labor day and the ravens are getting ready to play. >> feels more like football in the air. and it felt that way in owings mills today. was with the team and the players tell me there is a new intensity to their preparation. they hit the practice field knowing the season opener against the kansas city chiefs is 6 days away. the roster of 53 is set. the process of picking those players included the elimination of some draft picks like sever kick returner ya mon figures and running back cedrick peerman who was can cut and claimed by the cleveland browns.

coach harbaugh spoke today about the roster this coming season. >> as ozy said, the dust has not settled an in the next week that's going to schick the out because the people have to put their best team together. we think we kept the 53 best guys at this time that we could. with an eye toward the future also, so you know we were disappointed to lose some guys, that people got claimed but we understand they're good players and we lost them. >> moving toward, steven hush can i haushke made the reality star # roster. coverage kicks off at 1. still unclear is if the chiefs will have their starting quarterback mast castle ready by sunday. he attended their practice today. his first practice since he injured his left knee in a preseason game

august 9th. the coach was noncommittal when asked about castle's status. it will be brady kcoi l if castle is unable to go. college football with indian mascot, the seminoles take the home field to face miami. third florida -- keeps and carries 9 yard score, givers the seminoles a lead. florida state leading 31-24 over miami in the 4th quarter. tennis, the story continues for 17-year-old melanie hudan. today her latest victim nadia petrova. match point for the teenager who wins the final set. she is the youngest american to

advance that far since serena williams and serena was 17 ten yearsing a. fun to see the new blood moving up in tennis. >> another georgia ian. >> but he is out. no more men from america in the semifinal. we got the woman. we got our woman. thank you, mark. it is close to midnight. something evil is lurking in the dark. >> right here on the hill. a thriller on the streets of atlanta. what it

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. and there's still dance togt beat of michael jackson. more than 900 sci-fi attendees dressed up to perform thriller on sunday. the convention go-ers were trying to break a record by having the largest reenactment of jackson's video. they hope to have the achievement verified by the guiness book of world records. takes a better

.