at its lowest since january 2009. state officials are pleased with the numbers and it seems the warm winter is spurring job growth. state officials say traditionally january is a low month for construction, but the mild weather has caused you delays, allowing builders to move forward. state figures show during 2011, 39,800 jobs were added. 32,600 of them in the private sector. in a statement, governor o'malley says the steady progress in job creation is a positive sign that maryland continues to move forward. maryland has now recovered 69% of the jobs lost during the bush recession. there is more work to be done. the labor secretary agrees and says this is a good sign of recovery. >> this is the best december in

january we have had since 2007. we were up across the board. things continue living in the right direction. we would like everything happen faster, but trends indicate we are moving in the right direction. >> at the end of this month, the labor secretary will release the job and unemployment numbers for the month of february. >> thank you. one economic market that is not so positive -- gas prices on their way up again, and some places around the viewing area are hitting over $4 a gallon. according to aaa, the national average of the price of gas is $3.81 a gallon. it is a penny more for the entire state of maryland, and economists worry that rising prices could impact the economic recovery. >> as you pointed out, according om, the averagem

price for a gallon of gasoline around the state is $3.82, but we found a number of stations where they are at or above $4 a gallon, and analysts tell us it will only get worse. it has happened once again. gas prices in certain parts of the channel 11 viewing area have reached about $4 a gallon for regular unleaded, raising concerns from consumers and business owners. >> i am is small business owner myself. gas prices are going to hurt everybody. unfortunately, we have to pay them. we need to get back and forth to work. but it really does hurt. >> now the question is just how high those prices will go. >> my sense is prices will continue to creep higher. >> this economist says there are a number of factors pushing to get to drive prices higher, from tensions in the middle east to speculation. the fear is if prices continue to climb, our fragile economic

recovery will slow down once again like it did last year. >> the price of many things goes up, not just gasoline, one price goes high. the longer prices stay high comedy what impact that has on the price of goods. i am quite concerned. this is one of the things that could cause this economic momentum we have been seeing really could be crippled. >> right now, the tendency is to remain at this level and perhaps a little higher. >> those in the petroleum industry agree, pointing up prices will likely climb into the summer months as summer grade gasoline comes on line, causing a 10 cents to 30 cents a gallon drum, further hurting the consumer. >> consumers have to drive to work. that out of pocket money is not -- they are not replacing that. incomes are not going up. i think that definitely has an impact on people and on our state goes the economy. >> there is the threat of increasing the governor as a gas tax as the governor will be testifying on wednesday to raise prices 2% a year over the next

three years here he won the thing about the recent climb in prices may be that legislators have cooled to the issue as the senate president told reporters tuesday it might be better to hold a special session later this year to take up new revenues for transportation to get gas prices a chance to drop. >> everyone is always looking for a good deal. if you want to take some pictures of some very high or very low -- i do not know how low they can go -- gas prices, we would like to see them. log on to our web site, wbaltv.com, and post them there. >> thanks. our crews are not taking pictures around the area, showing you connect gas prices. if you know about a deal, you can take a picture and share it, as he said. >> turning to session 2012, the house gop caucus unveiled a balanced budget plan that does not include any tax or fee increases. the budget alternative to the

one the senate is working on now maintain services while rejecting the ship at teacher pension to the counties. david collins has a copy of the proposal and joins us now live from annapolis and has details for us. >> cuts and a spending freeze is how they do it. the gop caucus says this is not a doomsday budget. >> this is the total -- >> armed with a battery of charts and graphs, house republicans illustrated how the alternative budget is achieved through a freeze in spending. >> less spending will be a brighter future for maryland families, merrill and small businesses, and maryland's taxpayers. >> the gop alternative calls for an across-the-board 2% spending cut for agencies, which would save $12 million. discontinuing stem cell research grants would say $10 million. eliminating sustainable community tax credit would save $7 million. there would be an $8 million savings by eliminating the biotechnology tax credits. a freeze in higher education

funding reduces the budget by $31 million. a freeze in k-12 funding instead of shifting the cost of teacher pensions saves a whopping $104 million. >> the republican caucus is against the shift in a vengeance. i know there are some radio ads currently playing accusing all legislators of supporting that. we don't believe that is a good idea. >> the plan cuts the cost of education and experience $125 million with help jurisdictions fund education with the cost of living is higher than other areas of the states. the gop caucus says freezing spending at this year's fiscal level makes tax and fee increases unnecessary. >> it is a level that it idea. it is time that our government lives within its means. >> the house gop's as these examples and others at up to $511 million more in cuts than the governor's original budget proposal. >> it is not a revenue problem. we have an out of control spending problem. we spend and we have to tax to

backfill. >> the gop caucus will try to get the proposals included in the budget through the amendments in committee and here eventually on the house floor. and the david, thank you. the westboro baptist church, infamous for picketing military fiddles, met with opposition in glenn burns today. members of the controversial church shows glenn bernie high school at the location to protest same-sex marriage, but when some people in the community got wind of the plan, that put together their own counter protest group. members of the church say they oppose gay rights and the growing except it's of homosexuality in mainstream society. members of the counter group did not agree with the decision to protest, and the church apparently picked the high school at random to target the state of maryland as a whole. >> nancy grasmick returns to her

education of its. and look at her new position. >> the gop race for the presidential nomination hinges on a couple of high stakes primaries in the south. >> as loyal heads out on the road to the final four as an underdog, one of the big day for debate negative surprise. this will definitely impact your office pool. you will see why. >> the warm summer-temperature is producing a few isolated showers. we checked the seven-day forecast coming up. [ female announcer ] with xfinity,

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>> there are make or break primaries in the deep south. voters heading to the polls in alabama and mississippi to choose their party's nominee. sally takes a look at what is at stake. >> polls show extremely tight races in both states heading into today's primary. it is all riding on the south for newt gingrich. >> the reason i stay in this race is it is about more than right versus left. it is about being smart, understanding the modern world. >> he has been blitzing across alabama and mississippi, staking his comeback on victories there. mitt romney has already moved on to missouri, which holds its caucus on saturday. >> we will cut federal spending and finally balance our budget. >> vix and form hopes to boost his status as the alternative to

romney and push gingrich out of the race. >> we want to make sure that we had a candidate go up against president obama. >> at stake -- the delegates in atlanta where polls show a dead heat between romney, gingrich, and santorum. ron paul has been -- has not actively campaigned in either state. and that if mitt romney wins in alabama or mississippi where, as he himself says, this is an away game for him, he looks a lot stronger among the republican base than he has so far. >> political observers say it could be a game changer. and if he says he can win in the deep south and's can be a strong general election candidate against president obama -- we do not know. anything can happen. >> hawaii and american samoa also vote today. delegates will be awarded proportionally in all four

contests. in a national survey shows a statistical tie between the president and either mitt romney or rick santorum. you can see the numbers and get a look at the polls close from wbaltv.com. >> she is that eight months that to rest, reid, travel, may be organized her closet, and now the longest state superintendent in the country is headed back to work in higher education. she will head to towson university be heading up the campus wide effort to not only prepared teachers, but train educational leaders as well. then the people may ask why -- bam of people may ask why >> people may ask why towson. the lessons i learned on this campus are lessons that have

guided me through my career. >> the new program that dr. grasmick is heading up is being paid for in part by private donations. >> like a warm summer afternoon. you see some clouds build up. the potential is there that some could grow into a brief little thunderstorm. so far, we have not seen any lightning strikes with the isolated showers that have popped up, but crossing into the eastern shore, one has the potential to cross over. just out of that, another is tracking east toward st. michael's, and that is about it for right now. there was one earlier this afternoon in northern hartford and cecil counties. that has apparently fallen apart. these showers are very isolated,

but you will see why we're dealing with this unusual one today. 30 degrees above what we would normally expect for this time of year. 53 is the normal. the record high -- 85 setback in 1990, but it is unusually warm for sure. the record amount of snow -- you might remember the superstore, the blizzard in march 1993. about a foot officially at bwi marshall. in western maryland from the march 1993 storm, 47 inches, four feet of snow came down in mid-march 1993. this time around, it is like some time. around 80 at the airport. little bit cooler on the coast where you get a sea breeze, and a little cooler off to the west and the mountains as well. a weak front coming in and out of ohio. it will try to push some of this summer warmth of, and it is the front of and did that, but i

do not have a dramatic impact on to averages. shower activity will give way to clearing skies. slightly cooler air. 53 is the normal high for this time of year. there is the weak front sliding across pennsylvania toward baltimore. it will show some of the summer air out of the ocean for now, but more work than the plants coming our way. for most of this week, heading into the beginning, temperatures will be running above normal. 82 in kansas city right now. 73 in cincinnati. 71 in denver all the way up to the dakotas. it will stay mild. beautiful day amara. sunny skies, low humidity. to produce in the mid to upper 70's. not low 80's like today, but still well above normal. maybe a couple of isolated

evening showers popping up during the heat of the afternoon thursday, but a more substantial chance for rain comes out of the ohio valley into the mid atlantic on friday. that looks like the best chance for rain this week. eastern shore locations, beautiful weather couple of days, in mid to upper 70's. lower eastern shore, sea breeze as the air over the land warms up. cool air over the ocean will slide in theory on the beach, to the jews in the 60's, but inland, sunny and in the 70's -- temperatures in the 60's on the beach. it little bit cooler to wrap up the weekend on sunday. >> by now, you have probably at

least look at your march madness brackets and pondered a strategy, or if like me you submitted your picks, you may want to consider a second submission with a much shorter run for syracuse. today, the orange learned they will not have their star player for the tournament. he cannot play because of what the school calls eligibility issues here earlier this year, he missed three games because of academic reasons. the absence of their stars 74 makes syracuse look like the least likely team to make it to the final four -- the absence of their star 7-footer. here is a trend with no cannot carry over to the regular season. for the second time the spring, it 10-inning tie today. newcomer jason hamel gave one

run, one-hit, and struck out former oriole elf will dilute scott. the outfield prospect john miller trying to get that fourth outfield spot on the roster, continues a strong spring, batting 333 this spring, and at his first home run of the exhibition season. all part of the 7-7 tie in 10 innings today against tampa bay. as expected, ravens have taken a wait-and-see approach in the early hours of free agency, but few teams have done some roster remodeling in a hurry today. chicago bears with a former favorite target, brandon marshall. the base created a pair of third-round -- the bears traded a pair of third round draft picks to acquire marshall. and former colts receiver and many target of ballet does not plan on following manning in the free agent market. he tweeted today he plans to sign with the washington redskins. big money, too. he will reportedly get a five-

year $42 million deal with $21 million guaranteed. as expected, several costs free agents have drawn early attention. a defensive linemen has reportedly begun talks with his former coordinator clinton to visit with the colts later tonight. and the ribbons guard will visit with the new orleans saints tomorrow here it looks like the three players the ravens will have the most difficulty holding onto. it comes down to how many teams are willing to overpay. if you are a player and someone is willing to pay you more money, you're going to go there. >> 7 day forecast in just a minute. stay with us.

>> here's a look at what we're working on for 11 news tonight. the list on the primaries in alabama and mississippi. the final push to improve voter turnout

>> reports that one of these

four people were short survey. >> was not me. >> was not me. >> one of them even wore them to work. >> you? you are the only one who would with them to work. >> what i? it has been known to happen. 75 degrees tomorrow. still short's whether for a lot of folks. i know people who with look flocks all winter. and then some scattered thunderstorms tonight and try it. >> 783 degrees and perfect. 69 on sunday. >> i did not know you were fluid in -- fluent in the irish. >> [inaudible]