Speaking at the U.S. Naval Academy commencement ceremony, Obama urged new graduates to exhibit honor and courage in tackling incidents of sexual assault as they assume leadership positions in the military.

A Pentagon report estimates up to 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year and that thousands of victims are still unwilling to come forward. Obama says he is determined to stop the problem, saying sexual assault has "no place" in the military.

Obama also vowed to maintain America's "military superiority," even in an era of budget cuts, and promised to provide troops with all of the resources they need.

The worker hurt in the incident is in critical condition but is speaking after being freed from the rubble.

Montgomery County Fire officials say a 50,000 pound beam fell at an angle just after 1:47 p.m. at a parking deck near Macy's. The beam fell from the third floor to the second floor, where the two workers were.

Assistant Fire Chief Scott Graham says rescuers have confirmed there are no other people inside the structure.

The parking deck was under construction at the time and was closed to the public.

There were about 20 workers at the garage at the time of the collapse.
Video footage from the scene shows a large rectangular section of one of the garage's top deck at least partially collapsed.

According to a mall release, construction on a new, 16-screen movie theater was underway on top of the parking garage, which sits adjacent to the mall's food court.

It was expected to reopen this fall.

This is a developing story. More to come.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

The Capital of Annapolis reports that court records show Leopold paid the fine late last month. He resigned in February and served 30 days in jail and two weeks of home detention for two counts of criminal misconduct. Leopold forced members of his security detail to perform campaign work and another county employee to empty his urinary catheter bag.

As part of the sentence, Judge Dennis Sweeney ordered Leopold to pay a $100,000 fine to the state, or a $75,000 fine to the county.

Leopold is completing 400 hours of community service at the Anne Arundel Food Bank.

“It was a no-brainer,” says Chris Johnson, the founder of Heroes for the Homeland. “We have to go.”

That was the initial response for Johnson, a local police officer, who also heads the non-profit organization.

“It’s terrifying to know that this magnitude of storm can decimate an area,” he says.

Moments after the Oklahoma tornado touched down, group members began organizing resources and supplies for victims and fellow first responders.

“We’re trying to help the first responders there so they can get back on their feet faster and turn around and help their community,” Johnson says.

The local volunteers are no strangers to tough times, including Betty Mints, a retired Prince George’s County Police captain. She remembers what happened during 9/11.

“I was with the Special Operations Division,” she says. “We were sending people out to take care of the public, but the officers who were going out had to leave their families to do it.”

When the group formed in 2012, they were first put to the test when Sandy destroyed parts of New York and New Jersey. This time the plan is to stay longer, arrive later, and help with the recovery.

“They’re going to have a lot of donations immediately,” Johnson says. “It’s the weeks, two weeks, three weeks after… when those start depleting and they’re going to need other supplies.”

The items are starting to come in, but donations are still being accepted.

“Chainsaws, generators, extension cords, anything like that,” he says. “The smaller items, work gloves, trash bags, cleaning supplies.”

A full list of other items can be found on their Facebook page and website.

On Thursday, the group will be holding a fundraiser in Crofton at the Irish Channel. A portion of the sales will be donated to the recovery efforts.

It is the state’s fourth casino and will feature about 550 slot machines and 10 table games. The hotel is also revealing a new lobby, hotel rooms, restaurants, and renovations to the 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course.

Lakes Entertainment, Inc. owns the casino and offers gambling 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Rocky Gap is located in Cumberland, Md.

Del. Luiz Simmons worries the state is failing at keeping guns of the hands of convicted criminals. In Maryland, anyone found guilty of a violent crime must surrender the weapon, but enforcing that law is where he says the trouble lies.

“If I bought a gun in 1990 and then yesterday I was convicted of domestic assault, how would the State Police or anyone else know to come and take the gun away?” he asks.

It’s a question Del. Simmons of Montgomery County isn’t comfortable leaving unanswered.

“One day we’re going to have an awful, awful tragedy and discover the person had a gun that they should have surrendered a long time ago,” he says.

Maryland law requires gun owners convicted of violent crimes to hand over their guns, but the technology used for making sure this happens has a bit of a glitch.

“This is incredible, but true. In Maryland, we have two computers that do not speak to each other.”

State Police have another computer listing gun owners by social security number and date of birth.

“We need a systemic way for the State Police to take the 400,000-plus gun owners in Maryland and run them through the Department of Corrections database.”

He’s petitioning for Gov. O’Malley to put up $300,000 for new software, linking the two databases, plus another $40,000 or so for an operator to keep daily tab on convicted felons so they surrender their guns. He says the law is only enforced now through tips.

“Regardless on your position on gun control, whether you believe in the Second Amendment or you don’t believe in the Second Amendment, all of us should be able to find common ground with the proposition that convicted criminals and domestic abusers should not have guns,” Del. Simmons says.

Maryland State Police and the Department of Corrections have not commented.

Read more about Del. Simmons' proposal

In a court filing Monday, the company says George W. Huguely V declined requests for questioning under oath. The company wants to be released from defending Huguely or paying damages in a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the family of the slain Yeardley Love.

Huguely was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2010 beating death. He is serving a 23-year prison sentence. The Virginia Court of Appeals has agreed to hear Huguely's appeal.

AIG's Chartis Property Casualty unit filed suit in federal court in Greenbelt, Md. Chartis says Huguely's refusal to cooperate constitutes a breach of contract under his family's homeowners policy.

No one knows that better than Priscilla Mayo. Even in muggy 87 degree weather, Mayo has a kind word for everyone. There are hundreds of athletes competing this year and she knows many of them by name.

The single parent says this is her support system and her son Jerome’s social circle.

“This is his friends, this is his second family, so he loves it,” she says.

When Jerome was 2 years old, doctors diagnosed him with autism and told Mayo he would never walk or speak, let alone compete in the Special Olympics. For the last two decades, Mayo has made it her mission to beat the odds.

“My thing to the doctor was ‘Are you God? If you are not God you can’t tell me what’s going to happen,’” Mayo says.

Now Jerome is gearing up for the 100-meter dash. Mayo is crossing her fingers. Last year, Jerome didn’t finish. He quit about half way through.

“I guess he was just like forget it. And I said ‘It don’t matter if you come in first, second or third, just keep going. It’s having fun,” she says.

But this year Jerome didn’t stop. Now he has a 4th place ribbon to prove everyone wrong.

This year’s games run through Thursday, but Mayo says she and Jerome are already gearing up for next year.

It happened shortly after 2:30 p.m. at the intersection of Darnestown Road and Shady Grove Road in Rockville.

Police say Jason Alexander Estabrook, 42, was jogging through the intersection when he was struck. He was taken to Suburban Hospital with potentially life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the bus, Tugjnyam Bavaa, was not injured.

No children were on the bus.

Sharon Kalaha watches news of the Oklahoma tornado with tears in her eyes.

“I wish I could go to them and say it’ll be OK,” she says.

Lucy Thompson says her heart aches when she sees video of the damage.

“Because we know exactly what they’re going through,” Thompson says.

The neighbors understand the plight of the Oklahoma victims better than most. They are survivors of the historic April 2002 F-4 tornado, which tore through La Plata and their homes.

“You know, probably was 20 seconds, but that’s all it took and everything was gone,” Kalaha says.

Thompson nearly lost her husband as her roof tore off.

“The wind picked him up, carried him down the hall, back up the hall, and slammed into the floor in the dining room,” she says.

The La Plata twister with winds in excess of 200 mph was on the ground for 24 miles in Charles County, killing three people and doing more than $100 million in damage. It crashed through the heart of the town, flattening everything in its path. Most say the town center has been rebuilt better than before.

With a lot of help, most of the homes in the Quailwood neighborhood were restored within months.

“The Red Cross was amazing to us,” Kalaha says. “They came, brought food, or somebody would come by with just water.”

You can still see damaged trees and an empty lot where a home once stood. Thompson says the Oklahoma survivors are in for a long struggle.

“I’m not whole yet, and it’s been over 10 years,” she says.

Photos of the La Plata tornado

With high winds and cooler coastal temperatures, few expected Ocean City to be busy this week.

“Being this early in the season there’s already a lot of people here,” says Jackie Grady of Short Gap, W.Va.

The city’s newly-renovated boardwalk was busy with early Memorial Day vacationers.

“I just kind of figured because of Sandy it would be easier to come down here,” says Melanie Tooma of Allentown, Pa.

Businesses in Ocean City may get a bounce this weekend and throughout the summer. The aftermath of Superstorm Sandy has some fearful of travel to Northeast beaches.

“The New Jersey beaches are not up to how they used to be, so I expect a lot of more people from New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania and all those areas to come down,” says Meredith Sole of Ocean City.

And AAA officials say while many are still looking to vacation, the steep federal budget cuts are forcing travelers to cut back and opt for less expensive road trips.

AAA predicts 873,000 area resident will travel this holiday weekend, down nearly 2 percent from last year. The group predicts 58,000 are expected to travel by air, down a dramatic 10 percent from last year.

After what’s been some dismal recent Memorial Days in Ocean City, many hope those numbers will add up to a successful summer.

“The summer is what we feed on, so we’re hoping for more business,” says Dara Pappas, a waitress in Ocean City. “We want our restaurant business to thrive. We want more customers.”

Police spokeswoman Cpl. Cathleen Batton said Monday that the burglary happened between 8:30 p.m. Friday and 12:50 a.m. Saturday. Batton says Rice was out of town for the weekend, but a friend was staying at the home in the 2400 block of Tufton Springs Lane and reported the burglary to police.

Batton says the burglar apparently forced his way in through a rear window and ransacked portions of the home. Batton says surveillance video shows the burglar. An investigation is ongoing.

Without a smoke alarm or working smoke alarm, firefighters warn house fires are often deadly. That was the case in February when a house fire devastated a Glenarden family.

“Four people died in that home, the Price family,” says Marc Bashoor, Prince George’s County fire chief. “We did not find one smoke alarm in that home.”

By 2018, Maryland law requires that residential smoke alarms must be lithium-powered, ten-year models featuring a “hush” option to discourage homeowners from simply removing the battery to silence the noise, which could potentially leave them unprotected.

For Cathy Hedrick, this cause is personal. In 1992, her 19-year-old son Kenny, a Morningside volunteer firefighter, was killed while attempting to rescue a young boy from a house fire. Neither made it out alive.

“By promoting public education on smoke alarms, fire sprinklers, exit routes, the community actually becomes the hero by saving themselves, thereby preventing the firefighter putting themselves at risk,” says Hedrick of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

With a $140,000 grant from FEMA, firefighters in Capitol Heights, Md. are going door to door replacing old smoke alarms with 5,000 long-lasting models. They’re concerned that with more synthetic materials in our homes nowadays, flames are moving faster.

“A fire that used to take three to five to six minutes to expand to where someone can’t get out is now happening in less than three minutes,” says Bashoor.

Fire officials in Capitol Heights say their ultimate goal is to get the smoke alarms into every home in their primary response area.

These are about $5 to $7 more than your traditional battery-operated smoke alarm,” says Neal Zipser of Kidde Smoke Alarms. “However, over the life of the alarm, you should save about $40 on battery costs.”

But while the new smoke detectors might last ten years, firefighters still encourage homeowners to test the battery every month.

Is it an effort in futility or an exercise in teamwork and persistence?

“In there it’s really wet, it’s really sweaty, it’s really slippery,” says Midshipman Rachel Bailey.

It’s a tradition for the plebes, or freshman class, at the Naval Academy.

“For the pride and camaraderie of his class and the service he’s about to do,” says Jerry Casey.

The climb to the top of the Herndon Monument in the heart of campus officially marks the end of their first year at the Naval Academy. It’s been a tradition since 1940.

Bob Hide was a career Navy man and a veteran of World War II. He came with his family from Texas to watch his grandson make the rite of passage.

“He’s a wonderful young man and he’s going to do great things,” says Hide.

The 21-foot statue is covered with lard and as the plebes climb and give each other a foot and shoulder up, water is sprayed to make things even more difficult.

Before they can complete their freshman year, one of the plebes must get to the top of the statue to knock off the Dixie cup that’s there and replace it with an upper classman’s hat. All of them must work together.

It took an hour and 40 minutes for the plebes to reach the top. Pat Lien from Orlando was the one who tossed the hat that stuck to the top of the monument.

“Kind of sat out for a little to get some perspective on what was working, what wasn’t, and just found myself at the top,” he says.

On trial is Harry Easter, who is accused of driving while intoxicated.

Killed in the crash were Eugene Johnson, 53, his wife, Cordelia Roberts, and her sister Gwendolyn Demby, 52. The crash occurred in June 2011 when a car they were traveling in was rear ended by an alleged drunk driver on Indian Head Highway in Oxon Hill.

Johnson, who was driving, worked for the government but had a true passion for magic and hypnotism. His moto in life was “be the best” – a phrase that meant so much to him that he had it on a vanity

His wife, Roberts, worked for the Fairfax County. Demby worked as a web publisher and graphic designer. Her husband, Tim Demby, was also in the vehicle at the time of the crash and sustained serious injuries. He was recently released from the hospital.

Easter reportedly stayed at the scene of the crash, as his vehicle was disabled. He was not hurt in the crash.

Students in the area, who are not accustomed to receiving low academic marks, are now part of high failure rates that were consistent across five school years in Montgomery County for a countrywide, uniform math exam, The Washington Post reported.

Now, elected leaders are asking why 62 percent of their high school students failed their geometry finals in January, 57 failed their Algebra 2 exams and 48 percent failed on their pre-calculus finals.

Parents, students and some teachers offered a possible reasoning for the low scores, according to The Washington Post: They say that Montgomery has had a longtime push to accelerate students in math, which has moved too many students too quickly—leaving them without a firm handle on the subject.

"It is a concern that they aren't being taught,” says parent Anginette Ballard.

Montgomery County Superintendent Joshua Starr admits the numbers are unacceptable but says there are likely multiple factors.

School officials are quick to point out, test scores have not impacted course competitions. For example, only 39% of students earned a passing grade on Algebra one exams across the board last semester, but 81% passed the class.

The HHS report, which determines the median income for a family of four for every state in the union for Fiscal Year 2013-14, estimated that Maryland's median family income will be $105,348. New Jersey will have the second-highest median at $103,842, while Connecticut's $103,173 came in third.

At $90,179, Virginia's median family income is the 7th highest in the United States. Just behind Virginia is the District of Columbia at $87,902.

America's lowest median income for a family of four, a predicted $56,944, is located in Arkansas.

The Department of Health and Human Services uses these estimates to determine a threshold for who is eligible for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. One of the criteria for qualifying is earning just 60 percent of a family's home state median income.

You can see the full report at federalregister.gov.

Of course, I want to start by thanking President Bernim for that very kind introduction, for this wonderful degree, and for his outstanding leadership here at Bowie State University. I also want to recognize Chancellor Kirwan, Provost Jackson, Executive Vice President and General Counsel Karen Johnson Shaheed, Vice Chair Barry Gossett. And of course, I want to thank the BSU Madrigal Singers -- they did a great job -- the university choir, and DeMarcus Franklin for their wonderful performances here today. You all are amazing. I just wish I could sing. Can’t sing a lick.

I also want to recognize today’s Presidential Medal of Excellence recipient, Professor Freeman Hrabowski, who’s a for-real brother as well. (Applause.) And I want to thank him for his tremendous work as the Chair of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. He has done some magnificent work, but we have so much more work to do.

And let’s take another moment to thank all of the beautiful people sitting all around us today -- the folks who have loved you and pushed you and put up with you every step of the way. (Applause.) Give another round of applause to all the family members who are here today. (Applause.) Yes, indeed. This is your day, too.

But most of all, to the Bowie State University class of 2013, congratulations. (Applause.) Oh, congratulations. You don’t know how proud we all are of you. Just look at you. We’re so proud of how hard you worked, all those long hours in the classroom, in the library. Oh, yeah. Amen. (Laughter.) All those jobs you worked to help pay your tuition. Many of you are the first in your families to get a college degree. (Applause.) Some of you are balancing school with raising families of your own. (Applause.) So I know this journey hasn’t been easy. I know you’ve had plenty of moments of doubt and frustration and just plain exhaustion.

But listen, you dug deep and you kept pushing forward to make it to this magnificent day. (Applause.) And in doing so, you didn’t just complete an important chapter in your own story, you also became part of the story of this great university -- a story that began nearly 150 years ago, not far from where we all sit today. As you all know, this school first opened its doors in January of 1865, in an African Baptist church in Baltimore. And by 1866, just a year later, it began offering education courses to train a new generation of African American teachers.

Now, just think about this for a moment: For generations, in many parts of this country, it was illegal for black people to get an education. Slaves caught reading or writing could be beaten to within an inch of their lives. Anyone -- black or white -- who dared to teach them could be fined or thrown into jail. And yet, just two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, this school was founded not just to educate African Americans, but to teach them how to educate others. It was in many ways an act of defiance, an eloquent rebuttal to the idea that black people couldn’t or shouldn’t be educated. And since then, generations of students from all backgrounds have come to this school to be challenged, inspired and empowered. And they have gone on to become leaders here in Maryland and across this country, running businesses, educating young people, leading the high-tech industries that will power our economy for decades to come.

That is the story of Bowie State University, the commitment to educating our next generation and building ladders of opportunity for anyone willing to work for it. All of you are now part of that story. And with that tremendous privilege comes an important set of responsibilities -- responsibilities that you inherit the moment you leave this stadium with that diploma in your hand.

And that’s what I want to talk with you about today. I want to talk about the obligations that come with a Bowie State education, and how you can fulfill those obligations by how you live your lives.

So let’s return, for a moment, to the time when the school and others like it were founded. Many of these schools were little more than drafty log cabins with mud floors, leaky roofs and smoke-wood stoves in the corner. Blackboards, maps, and even books were considered luxuries. And both students and teachers faced constant threats from those who refuse to accept freedom for African Americans.

In one Eastern Shore town, a teacher reported to work one morning to find that someone had smashed the windows of her schoolhouse. Other black schools across Maryland were burned to the ground. Teachers received death threats. One was even beaten by an angry mob. But despite the risks, understand, students flocked to these schools in droves, often walking as many as eight to ten miles a day to get their education. In fact, the educational association that founded Bowie State wrote in their 1864 report that -- and this is a quote -- “These people are coming in beyond our ability to receive them.” Desperately poor communities held fundraisers for these schools, schools which they often built with their own hands. And folks who were barely scraping by dug deep into their own pockets to donate money.

You see, for these folks, education was about more than just learning to read or write. As the abolitionist Fredrick Douglas put it, “Education means emancipation,” he said. He said, “It means light and liberty. It means the uplifting of the soul of man into the glorious light of truth, the only light by which men can be free.” You hear that? The only light by which men can be free. (Applause.)

So to the folks who showed up to your school on that January day back in 1865, education meant nothing less than freedom. It meant economic independence, a chance to provide for their families. It meant political empowerment, the chance to read the newspaper and articulate an informed opinion, and take their rightful place as full citizens of this nation.

So back then, people were hungry to learn. Do you hear me? Hungry to get what they needed to succeed in this country. And that hunger did not fade over time. If anything, it only grew stronger. I mean, think about the century-long battle that so many folks waged to end the evil of segregation. Think about civil rights icons like Thurgood Marshall, Dr. King, who argued groundbreaking school integration cases, led historic marches, protests, and boycotts. As you know, Dr. King’s house was bombed. A police chief pulled a gun on Thurgood Marshall. They both received piles of hate mail and countless death threats, but they kept on fighting.

Think about those nine young men and women who faced down an angry mob just to attend school in Little Rock, Arkansas. And that was just the first day. For months afterwards, they were spat on, jeered at, punched, and tripped as they walked down the halls. Their classmates threw food at them in the cafeteria and hurled ink at them during class. But they kept on showing up. They kept claiming their rightful place at that school.

And think about little Ruby Bridges, who was just six years old when she became one of the first black children in New Orleans to attend an all-white school. Parents actually pulled their children out of that school in protest. People retaliated against her family. Her father lost his job. And only one teacher at that entire school would agree to teach her. But the Bridges family refused to back down. So for an entire year, little Ruby sat all alone, a class of one, dutifully learning her lessons.

See, that is the sacrifice that those folks and so many others have made. That is the hunger they felt. For them and so many others, getting an education was literally a matter of life or death.

But today, more than 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, more than 50 years after the end of “separate but equal,” when it comes to getting an education, too many of our young people just can’t be bothered. Today, instead of walking miles every day to school, they’re sitting on couches for hours playing video games, watching TV. Instead of dreaming of being a teacher or a lawyer or a business leader, they’re fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper. (Applause.) Right now, one in three African American students are dropping out of high school. Only one in five African Americans between the ages of 25 and 29 has gotten a college degree -- one in five.

But let’s be very clear. Today, getting an education is as important if not more important than it was back when this university was founded. Just look at the statistics. (Applause.) People who earn a bachelor’s degree or higher make nearly three times more money than high school dropouts, and they’re far less likely to be unemployed. A recent study even found that African American women with a college degree live an average of six and a half years longer than those without. And for men, it’s nearly 10 years longer. So yes, people who are more educated actually live longer.

So I think we can agree, and we need to start feeling that hunger again, you know what I mean? (Applause.) We need to once again fight to educate ourselves and our children like our lives depend on it, because they do.

We need to dig deep and find the same kind of grit and determination that drove those first students at this school and generations of students who came after them. I am talking about the kind of grit and determination displayed by folks right here at Bowie State. Folks like Ariel Williams-Edwards, one of today’s graduates. (Applause.) Yeah, Ariel! Ariel’s mother struggled with substance abuse, and Ariel and her sister were removed from her care and sent to live with their grandmother.

But Ariel decided to draw inspiration from her struggle -- she majored in Social Work so she could help families like hers. (Applause.) Yes! She became a member of the Phi Alpha National Honor Society. And she’s been accepted to graduate school to get her master’s degree in Social Work starting in September. Yes, indeed. (Applause.)

And then there’s Audrey Marie Lugmayer, another one of this year’s graduates. Audrey is the daughter of a single father, and her dad has struggled with some serious health issues. So after graduating from high school, Audrey worked full time for a year, because she couldn’t bear the thought of putting any more financial burdens on her father. She kept on working here at Bowie State, even while juggling a full course load. And today, she is graduating with a perfect 4.0 GPA. (Applause.) Yes. God is very good.

It is that kind of unwavering determination -- that relentless focus on getting an education in the face of obstacles -- that’s what we need to reclaim, as a community and as a nation. That was the idea at the very heart of the founding of this school.

It’s even in the words of your school song: “Oh Bowie State, dear Bowie State, may you forever be the flame of faith, the torch of truth to guide the steps of youth.” And that’s not just a lyric -- it is a call to action. Many of you will answer that call by carrying on the proud Bowie State tradition of serving as teachers, devoting your careers to guiding the steps of the next generation.

But for those of you who aren’t going into education, you’re not off the hook. Oh, no. Oh, no. No matter what career you pursue, every single one of you has a role to play as educators for our young people. So if you have friends or cousins or siblings who are not taking their education seriously, shake them up. Go talk some sense into them. Get them back on track. (Applause.)

If the school in your neighborhood isn’t any good, don't just accept it. Get in there, fix it. Talk to the parents. Talk to the teachers. Get business and community leaders involved as well, because we all have a stake in building schools worthy of our children’s promise.

And when it comes to your own kids, if you don't like what they're watching on TV, turn it off. (Applause.) If you don't like the video games they're playing, take them away. (Applause.) Take a stand against the media that elevates today’s celebrity gossip instead of the serious issues of our time. Take a stand against the culture that glorifies instant gratification instead of hard work and lasting success.

And as my husband has said often, please stand up and reject the slander that says a black child with a book is trying to act white. Reject that. (Applause.)

In short, be an example of excellence for the next generation and do everything you can to help them understand the power and purpose of a good education. See, that's what my own parents did for me and my brother.

See, my parents didn't go to college, but they were determined to give us that opportunity. My dad was a pump operator at the city water plant, diagnosed with MS in his early thirties. And every morning I watched him struggle to get out of bed and inch his way to his walker, and painstakingly button his uniform, but never once did I hear him complain. Not once. He just kept getting up, day after day, year after year, to do whatever he could to give our family a better shot at life.

So when it came time for my brother and I to go to college, most of our tuition came from student loans and grants. But my dad still had to pay a small portion of that tuition each semester, and he was always determined to pay his share right on time -- even taking out loans when he fell short, because he couldn’t bear the thought of us missing a registration deadline because his check was late.

And there is not a day that goes by when I don't think about the sacrifices that my mom and dad made for me. There is not a day that goes by when I don't think about living up to the example they set, and how I must do everything in my power to make them proud of the daughter they raised. (Applause.)

And today, I am thinking about all the mothers and fathers just like my parents, all the folks who dug into their pockets for that last dime, the folks who built those schools brick by brick, who faced down angry mobs just to reach those schoolhouse doors. I am thinking about all the folks who worked that extra shift and took that extra job, and toiled and bled and prayed so that we could have something better. (Applause.)

The folks who, as the poet Alice Walker once wrote, “Knew what we must know without knowing a page of it themselves.” Their sacrifice is your legacy. Do you hear me? And now it is up to all of you to carry that legacy forward, to be that flame of fate, that torch of truth to guide our young people toward a better future for themselves and for this country.

And if you do that, and I know that you will, if you uphold that obligation, then I am confident we will build an even better future for the next generation of graduates from this fine school and for all of the children in this country because our lives depend on it.

I wish you Godspeed, good luck. I love you all. Do good things. God bless. (Applause.)

O'Malley's office announced Thursday that a family obligation on Saturday will keep the governor from attending the event for the first time since 2007.

Instead Brown, who kicked off his campaign for governor last week, will present the Woodlawn Vase to the winner on Saturday. The ceremony is usually included in television coverage of the race, which draws millions of viewers nationally.

The field of candidates seeking the Democratic nomination to succeed O'Malley is also expected to include Attorney General Doug Gansler, Montgomery County Delegate Heather Mizeur, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger.

A half-dozen Republicans are also considering a run for governor.

Speaking to about 600 graduates at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center in College Park. Obama spoke of the importance of a good education and their responsibility after graduation for helping others achieve the same goal.

"Be an example of excellence for the next generation," she said, doffing a black cap and gown. "Do everything you can to help them understand the power and purpose of good education.

The First Lady praised the students for crossing the finish line, pointing out that only one in five African Americans between the age of 25 and 29 have received their college degree.

That's why Obama is urging the new grads to serve as role models.

"No matter what career you pursue, every single one of you has a role to play as educators for young people," she said.

Mrs. Obama specifically singleed out Audrey Lugmayer, who pushed through personal adversity to get her degree.

"It's a great honor to have her tell my story," Lugmayer said. "There are so many other stories like mine, so it was great to have her use it as an example of hard work.

Friday marked the second of three commencement addresses that the First Lady will give this spring. Her final speech will happen Saturday at a high school in Tennessee.

Moviegoers have been filling the Greenbelt theater for 75 years. Time has definitely taken its toll, but soon it'll look just like it did on opening day in 1938.

Several thousand moviegoers took her love online, voting in the 8th annual Partners in Preservation competition where 24 historic sites in the D.C. metro area are vied for grants.

The Greenbelt theater tallied up the fifth most votes, taking in $75,000.

"With this renovation, we're going to breath new life into this theater," says Justin Baker, co-manager of Friends of Greenbelt Theatre.

The lobby will be restored to its orginial 1930's art deco style. And the old school movie house is also getting some New Age love.

It's one of the last remaining widescreen theaters still running off film.

"The big studios we understand are going to stop printing the films and they're going to shift to this digital format so you have to have a digital projector to remain relevant with the times," says Megan Searing Young, Greenbelt Museum Director.

Other planned changes include improving handicap accessibility and upgrading the concession stand and ticket booth.

The Washington National Cathedral and Mount Vernon were the top winners of the Partners in Preservation competition, each taking home $100,000 checks.

Alan Gross and his wife filed the lawsuit against the U.S. government and Bethesda, Md.,-based Development Alternatives Inc. in November. The $60 million lawsuit claimed Gross should have been provided with better information and training for his work setting up internet in Cuba.

The settlement amount was not disclosed in a court filing Thursday. The agreement only covers DAI, not the U.S. government.

Gross was arrested in 2009 during his fifth trip to Cuba to set up Internet. He was working for DAI under a government contract the company had.

The Capitals-Rangers series will be decided in tonight's game at the Verizon Center. We got a preview from Tom Threlkeld of The D.C. Pro Sports Report.

The battle royal is shaping up over the right to operate Maryland's next big casino at National Harbor. We discussed the impact of gambling and casino revenue with former Nevada Governor Bob Miller.

And, we talked about the current state of real estate with John Heithaus of MRIS.

Watch today's show below.

Tuesday at 10am: The latest on allegations that the IRS targeted conservative groups.

The federal government recently turned down a request for funding for the Columbia Pike streetcar line. We discussed what this means for the project's future with Walter Tejada, the chairman of the Arlington County Board of Supervisors.

And we talked with Walter Smith, the head of District advocacy group D.C. Appleseed, about the D.C. budget referendum.

Watch today's show below.