Kids of my own. I definitely do not want to get sick and i do not want my kids to get sick. I will be traveling a lot for work. Airports. I keep hearing how bad it is. [indiscernible] a bandaid. The past couple of weeks have been kind of slow, but this week yes, today, we have noticed a high increase. I did not get one last year. I held off on its. I decided, better late than never. Go in sick. The health of the certification says this flu strain is becoming a big problem. Is pretty bad, isnt it . Will of the two last season, it is starting earlier. Is different. It is different. They have 43 centers throughout the states of maryland, virginia, and also pennsylvania. They tell me in most of the centers, the number of cases of the flu doubled when you compare the numbers to last year. Reporting live, rob roblin, wbal tv11 news. If you have not gotten the flu shot, there is still time. We can help you find one near you on our web site wbaltv. Com. Click on medical alert. And we have breaking news right now out of anne arundel county. Lets go to sky team 11 and captain roy taylor for the latest. Northbound ritchie highway. They have fire crews as well as police on the scene. All lanes are shut down except for one, causing a major back up going northbound. We do not know how many people are injured. We will get you that information. Reporting live, at sky team 11. A teenager will go to jail for the rest of his life for a deadly shooting on halloween. Sterlin matthews was 17 years old when he shot and killed dequan burks. He learned his state this afternoon in a Baltimore County courtroom. 115 years behind bars. At 25yearold bellaire woman remains behind bars. New details on the subject of a Lengthy Police Pursuit caught exclusively by skycam 11. Lowell melser joins as. We learn that she has a connection to Law Enforcement . It is striking how long the rap sheet of the suspect is when it comes to traffic violations. She has been identified as 25 yearold Alicia Hoffman of bellaire. We are learning more about the man the police say is her grandfather. He is retired lawenforcement and his car may have been used in this chase. Skycam 11 catches the tense moments of a more than 30minute police chase that began in Baltimore City and ended in Baltimore County. According to investigators, just before noon wednesday, two female district officers busted a drug deal when a woman identified as 25yearold police shot hoffman of lead in a great vehicle, striking the two Felicia Hoffman fled in a great vehicle. The car was stopped on joppa road. Hoffman was pulled out and subdued. Of Baltimore County officer was somehow injured. 11 news visited the residence she provided police in the 800 block of albion place in belair. Neighbors say that she was staying with her parents and her grandfather was retired Law Enforcement. Just normal, tony and his wife. That is it. Nice guy. I think he was a Police Officer at one time. A check of realestate records reveal that anthony and celia own the home and the car used in the chase belong to the couple. Records confirm that anthony was a retired sheriffs deputy and city Police Confirmed the car had fraternal order of police tags. She was driving a vehicle that had fraternal order of police tax and has no affiliation with the Baltimore Police department. Court records indicate dozens of traffic charges, many that were never prosecuted. She was also in trouble with the law just days before the chase. We have contact with her a couple days prior when she was arrested by a Baltimore Police for a drug offense. She is being charged with a controlled substance possession, not marijuana, and two accounts of seconddegree assault on of Police Officer. The good news is all the officers injured in this case, they have been released from the hospital in good condition. Lowell melser, wbal tv11 news. All right. Thank you. Late breaking details on the helm in nation in Howard County. On a Home Invasion in Howard County. It happened on the 600 block of our road in mount berry. Police workg, o serving a warrant from Howard County. He pulled a gun on them. Officers responded with gunfire. He was shot and killed. In tonights education alert, for the fifth consecutive year, maryland ranked the no. 1 School System in the nation according to Education Week magazine. Tim tooten has the story we first brought you today. This is getting to be old hat, isnt it . Martineau mallee Martin Omalley taking on critics of the schools success. We students show our appreciation by working hard. It was a celebration of the states new ranking at the jones elementary school. That is when governor Martin Omalley showed up to celebrate. As a result of our top choices, maryland Public Schools have been named for the fifth year in a row the number one Public Schools in america. Maryland received an overall grade of bplus. An a for transition and alignment, which tests College Readiness and childhood education. A b for maths. Among other grades, a b for k12 achievement, which tracks all students perform on national tests. A b for standards, assessments, and accountability programs. It is just wonderful. Is it is historic for our educators. Maryland is among those celebrating the numberone ranking. We know day in and day out how committed maryland is. That is a big part of living here. The governor is confident the state can remain in the top spot. Maryland beat out massachusetts, virginia, and arkansas for the top spot. You can see that in our Education Report just log on to our web site. Click on education alert. Live in the newsroom, tim tooten, wbal tv11 news. We are two days away from the divisional matchups in denver that hopefully will keep the ravens on the road to new orleans. Our own Gerry Sandusky will call the game in colorado. You understand why the ravens and of come across have come across as undercoat underdogs. Denver is coming off a by week. Make no mistake. Denver trounced the ravens in december. But now Bernard Pierce has added a new element to the ground game. Ray lewis has returned to the defense. The ravens look like underdogs, but they do not sound overwhelmed. And joe flacco will likely play better this week then in week 15. He learned from that nightmarish experience. Saturday could have a different outcome the most of the country expects. Defense played very well against these guys. We have to go do our thing. I think just as always, our goal is to score touchdowns. You know, obviously, they can score at a pretty high rate. We have to let our defense do their job. They are going to play the game they always play. Pretty good chance the first team to reach 30 points in this game wins. The ravens have a 50 record when they score 30 or more points. The broncos have a 110 record when they scored 30 or more points. Donna . Thank you. We will see you this weekend, we . Prescription sleeping pills like ambien. Ahead, what should be a wake up call for patients. School tomorrow when we come back. We have rain to talk about. Is s students at the park school in Baltimore County should be able to return to class after a water main break. 11 news learns the 10 inchmain burst, and crews are back repainting the roadway. By this hour, everything should be back up and running. Police in Howard County say they have their man in connection with burglaries plaguing the elegant city area. He is charged with at least four incidents over the last four months. It is alleged he hit homes in el cut city ellicott city. He is being held on 300,000 bail. In tonights medical alert, a lot of my coworkers have been six. May be yours have, too. It looks like this it blew out break this flu outbreak will be costly for businesses. This number does not include lost productivity or work peg. The cdc is recommending every 16 months and older be vaccinated for the flu. Million of people take ambien and similar drugs every night. The fda is now requiring manufacturers to lower the dosages of the drug because they are staying in people system longer than thought. The widelyused medications remain in the blood long enough to interfere with morning driving, increasing the risk of car accidents. The levels were enough to impair driving risk in the morning. It is as bad as drinking and driving. How about that . Kind of scary. Regulators want to cut the dose in half for women. That is mandatory because they process the drug more slowly. Now your 11 instaweather plus forecast with chief meteorologist tom tasselmyer. We have only just begun what will be a significant warm up into the weekend. The average is 41. We have a solid 12 degrees above normal for this time of year. Still, the records are impressive. On the other side of the coin, it can get really cold now. 2 degrees below the record low in 1879. At the averages are 48 and 24. Those are the coldest we have had. It is the coldest part of the season according to the climate. You can expect this time of year you will get an arctic outbreak, which we may feel next week. This is the weather pattern of january. You can enjoy it for what. 48 in chester town on the eastern shore. Temperatures cool on the beach around ocean city. Even western maryland, unseasonably mild in the low 50s. We will see some clouds. This will trap the heat we had during the day under that blanket of cloudiness. That means were in for a relatively mild night. In the suburbs, 35, probably near the normal high for this time of year for our low tonight in the city. It will become increasingly cloudy with light winds. There is a storm of dumping water in parts of the country that really needs it, coming out of texas. The Central Plains states experiencing severe drought. Any rain or snow we can get there it is welcome. It will track all this mild air we see in the southeast up into the midatlantic. It is 67 in memphis, 67 degrees in new orleans. All that air being pulled up the eastern seaboard things to this approaching storm. It will reinforce the warm and other the warm weather pattern. Progress. Ng steady this is bearing down on denver, which means it will drag in cold air by the time the ravens get their saturday. Cloudy skies, east wind, and temperatures for the game in its loans. Windchill, 10 degrees. Very cold conditions for the game on saturday. Cloudy day. We will likely see some showers in central maryland. The best chance for rain tomorrow night. The first measurable precipitation of 2013. Sign up friday morning 7 26. In the western maryland mountains, they are just hoping for some snow in the mountain tops. Tomorrow, 47. Saturday, 46 degrees. It looks like unseasonably warm weather will hold their over the weekend. 49 on the eastern shore. 60s saturday and sunday. Just a slight chance of a shower tomorrow evening. Feels like spring with 61 degrees. Mild weekend. 60 on saturday. 54 with showers on monday. Than the temperatures start falling. All right, tom. Thank you. Still ahead, the president of the Maryland State Senate makes a staffing change. He replaces someone charged with the voting under the influence. Delicate don dwyer delegate don dwyer plans to be active this session, despite charges of voting under the influence. He has been moved to the house ways and Means Committee from the house judiciary committee. The republican was at the wheel in august when his boat collided with another and injured seven people. He says he does not plan to seek reelection. President obama has tapped his chief of staff jack lew for treasury secretary. If confirmed, he would replace timothy geithner. It is a less controversial move then chuck hegel, but he does face tough critics. Sally has more from washington. The president says that jack lew has built a reputation as a master of policy and that someone who can work with members of both parties. The president made the announcement this afternoon. Lew served as the chief of staff and in the office of the management and budget. In the clinton administration, he also served in the office of management and budget. I trust his judgment. I know few people with greater integrity. If confirmed, i will work with the people in the treasury who have legendary skill and knowledge. Lew would take the helm of a tough time as the nation faces battles over the debt limit and cutting spending. And the nomination is drawing criticism from Senate Republicans who are questioning lews commitment to cutting spending and getting the nations fiscal house in order. All right, thank you, sally. Once again, shots rang out at the school. This time in california. We have more coming up. New rules on how you can get a mortgage. Details, coming up. You are watching wbaltv 11 news. Live, local, late breaking. This is 11 news at 5 00 p. M. With stan stovall and donna hamilton, your instaweather plus forecast with chief meteorologist tom tasselmyer, and sky team 11 covering breaking news where you live. New tonight at 5 30, steps to avoid another National Foreclosure crisis. New rules detailing mortgage policies at a public hearing in baltimore. Those rules announced by the Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau are part of the governments efforts to stabilize the housing market. But critics say this could present major obstacles for people who want to buy a home. Barry simms to assist with more on the story. Critics believe that many lowincome families will never qualify for a home loan. The inner city was hit hard when the housing boom collapsed. State and federal programs have worked to revitalize the housing market. Mortgage policy becomes the focus of a public hearing. Since the meltdown caused by subprime loans, baltimores mayor says the city continues to suffer. Foreclosure rates in the greater Baltimore Area rose beyond the National Average an increase from the year before. The delinquency of payments 90 days or more are also on the rise. These are Alarming Trends and should cause all of us concerned. The mayor speaks of concerns as the Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau comes to baltimore. America is counting on you to ensure that credit is provided on the terms that are clear, fair, and affordable. But in trying to end risky lending practices, it may be harder for some people to get loans. The bar worst employment status, mortgage payments, and other debts, and Credit History will show inability to pay and bankers will have a socalled safe harbor and be protected from lawsuits. The new rules are causing plenty of concerns. Big banks already have more protection than we do. Every single hopeful sign, when it finally blossoms into reality, the bank is better protected than the bar where bar or borrower. Once in place, to qualify, your monthly debt has to be 45 of your income or less. Wbal tv11 news. Thank you. Here is a look at some of our other top stories at this hour. There are twice as many flu patients in maryland as last year. Health officials are urging flu sufferers to stay home to curb the spread of the virus. They urge anyone who has not gotten a shot yet to go ahead and get that flu vaccine. The flu season could last through the spring. Were learning more about the woman behind this Intense Police chase that began in Baltimore City and ended in Baltimore County yesterday, caught exclusively by skycam 11. Alicia hoffman is now behind bars and we have since learned has a long history of drug violations with the law. She was also staying with her grandfather, a retired member of Law Enforcement. Police say shots were fired around 9 00 this morning at a school in california. A shotgun believed to be used in the attack was recovered at the scene. The victim was in critical, but stable condition. Another act of gun violence made todays meeting between Vice President biden and the nra even more violent. The legislation Vice President biden is looking at the legislation from the president s tax force keeping another swat team at the school. Another shooting incident. The images from bakersfield, calif. Fill the News Networks as Vice President biden said that he would send it to president obama on tuesday a proposal to change on laws. Diminish the probability that what we have seen in these Mass Shootings will occur and diminish the probability that our children are at risk in our schools. Biden met with hunting groups and the nra today. He is expected to propose a new ban on assault weapons and large capacity clips. And what your background checks including gun shows. A mass shooting survivor says changing that is job one. Not taking guns from everybody. That is not what we are talking about. We are talking about making sure that guns do not get into the wrong hands. How do we do that . That is a background check. The best response is to have a good guy with the gun there at the scene. To do that, you need more people who are good guys with guns. That is what the nra says, calling todays meeting with Vice President biden disappointing. Not