next on fox 45 early edition. >> the roads are going to be slippery. you're waking up to a morning mess. how the winter blast is affecting your commute. we lost 30 to 40% of business in the last year. billions of dollars spent on the economy stimulus where did all of that money go. could the mile high city hit some high notes, the most memorable denver american idol auditions. good morning. it's wednesday, february

3rd. i'm patrice harris. we're taking up to more winter weather this morning and fox 45 is bringing live triple team coverage of the snow. joel d smith is out there and jessica starr is right here in the city. all of them have the latest on the current conditions out there. we're going to get to them in a few minutes. first we want to start with school closings and delays. charles and montgomery county schools are closed today. frederick and harford county schools on the other hand, are opening two hours late. and just remember, whenever severe weather hits, be sure to tune to fox 45 morning news, our morning news ticker will have the latest closings, traffic delays and conditions. the ticker updates automatically and it even runs during commercials. so just make sure you check it out before you head out this morning. let's check on the roadways. candace dold is here with the traffic edge report.

>> reporter: thank you, patrice. of course, it's going to be that ice and slush that we have to deal with. we want to show you what it looks like out there. here it is rogers forge. people are digging out at 5:00 in the morning. we have the mess that i has accumulated on the road. it's going to cost you extra time to get in your car and then get on the roads. that's the secondary roads, but then let's check on 95, it looks clear, no problems to report, inner or outer loop lanes. it's really the secondary roads that you need to be aware of. that's a look at the morning travels. patrice, back over to you. all right. let's take a look at the sky watch hd raid and this is what we're looking at. snow moving out of the area as far as the intense part of the snow, but there could be flurries left over. back to the eastern shore still seeing snow falling in spots but

really decreasing quite a bit in intensity. a little bit of mix mixing into the southern part of the eastern shore. and up slope mountains could see snow continuing there. that is the only place we expect it to continue for the afternoon, everybody else drying out for now. for now, because there's changes on the way. the winter storm warning has been discontinued although it was supposed to be until 7:00 a.m. that is an improvement. there's still a winter weather advisory for the eastern shore, but that has been discontinued an indication that there's improvement. 4-6 inches of snow for the southern part of baltimore county through the city and points south and west toward d.c., a 3-5-inch snow for the northern part of baltimore and toward the carroll county and on the down side of the chesapeake. on the eastside of the chesapeake bay, 2-3 inches. there's a spot that i will show you a while from now. that shows the heaviest snow fall not in that picture but in the state of maryland.

a northwest wind at 5-10 miles per hour. patrice, back to you. the same day punxsutawney phil declared six more weeks of winter, we were hit with another winter blast. this morning folks across our region are waking up to more snow. megan gilliland is live in baltimore county with a look at how things are shaping up in rogers forge, good morning, megan. >> reporter: good morning, patrice. that groundhog is right. it's a winter wonderland at rogers forge. very quiet this morning, not a lot of folks up and at it. if you take a look at the side streets at rogers forge, this is where we are seeing a lot of the snow caked on the side roads. a little bit of difficult as you get out. we could feel ourselves sliding and the turning lanes dealing with a lot of ice and left over snow from overnight. once you finally get to your car here this morning, you can see a lot of these cars have not been brushed off just yet.

the good news is it does come off very easy this morning. no ice just yet. if you get out quickly, you won't have to scrape too much. these are the side roads but on the main roads you saw a car pass, not too bad. the salt trucks have been out this morning and the roads are very clear. if you can make it through your neighborhood, you should be just fine getting out there. again the turning lanes were the only difficult we saw on the major roads as we were coming out to rogers forge. we will keep an eye on the conditions here in baltimore county and let you know how things are shaping up as the morning continues and the morning commute as well. rogers forge, megan gilliland, fox 45 morning news. joel d smith is keeping an eye on the conditions at westminister. joel, how are things at carroll county. >> if you are on the main road, you're in good shape. we have 140 behind us. this road is wet and everybody coming out here, it's just wet. if you can get to the main roads

you're in good shape. the thing the side roads are not quite done yet, and that kind of looks like this. we have one of our favorite plow drivers here. he says this is the heaviest snow he has seen so far, real rough on the equipment and rough on his back, too as he is trying to move things around. he has been working since 11:00. i guess [ inaudible ]. >> to figure out where the ankle is on you. i'm figuring about 4-5 inches, you know of a pretty fluffy snow. it packs real easy. as mike said, it's one of the heaviest snows. [ inaudible ] they're not done yet. they're getting out and about that.

joel d smith, fox 45 morning news. two people are rushed to the hospital after a home invasion in anne arundel county. police were called to the 500 block of williamsburg lane inned on intone before 5:00 last night. when they arrived on the scene officers found two people in the home. a man in his 20s was seriously hurt and taken to shock trauma. another patient was taken to university hospital with minor injuries. a teenager who stabbed a classmate to death will spend 20 years in jail. 16-year-old timothy oxendine pled guilty in court yesterday. he was facing up to 50 years in the death of martel williams. oxendine told the judge he had been bullied by williams and admitted to stabbing him outside of the school in 2008. a former soccer coach admits

trying to have sex with a minor. the 33 years old sent sexually explicit text messages to a 14-year-old girl and asked her to send some back to him. he also tried making arrangements to meet her alat a royal pond. the parents called police, rodell will be sentenced in may. governor martin o'malley wants to get marylanders back to work this year. jobs were the major focus of the governor state of the state address yesterday. he said maryland will get a big boost with 60,000 new millitary jobs soon. he is also offering incentives to employers who hire laid off workers. they would be eligible for a 3,000 tax break. another bill that is being considered would strengthen laws for families from losing their home through foreclosure. as we move maryland forward out of the recession and into

better times, we're going to have to continue to make the sometime tough but critically important choices necessary to expand opportunity and to strengthen families. >> the governor's job initiative could cost the state $20 million. republicans say o'malley's budget still depends too heavy on federal stimulus money that mayor may not come. you can see the whole state of the state address on our website. just go to foxbaltimore.com and click on raw news. police commissioner fred bealefeld and incoming mayor stephanie rawl rawlings-blake testified in favor of the bill yesterday people would get the same kind of penalties they would have for using any handgun. >> high-powered rifles, machine pistols, assault weapons ask they represent a very dangerous threat to us, and i think that

people need to be held accountable and it will close the loophole. >> those convicted of a felony using any type of firearm would face jail time between 5 and 20 years. coming up on the early edition, the road to hollywood goes through denver. >> today ♪ ♪ i woke up thinking about elvis >> the talent the judges found in colorado. the snow already tapering

we continue our snow coverage this morning with meteorologist jessica starr. she is in baltimore city with the current conditions there. good morning, jess. >> reporter: good morning, patrice. yeah, the snow came down dropped last night and dropped about 5 inches of snow on average. i have a stick and measured it earlier. i'm in canton downtown, and the roads are pretty good but the only concern is the side roads are pretty bad. as long abad. as megan said a few minutes ago,

if you can get out to the main roads you will be okay. you need to plan to get out earlier and dust off your car. it's not a heavier snow, it's a wet snow. i have a yardstick and see how much snow we got in canton. i think we got around 5 inches. let's measure real quickly, almost six inches. we got 5-6 inches here. steve will give us more in-depth on the snow totals throughout the region and around maryland coming up in a few minutes. right now reporting live in canton, back to patrice in the studio. now let's check in with meteorologist steve fertig and he is going to fill us in on all the details. steve, i didn't get as much in my neighborhood as i thought i could have, but i'm happy about that? >> a lot of people got more than others, we will go over the totals. looking at a drier scan for the central part of the state and the western part of the state, but the eastern shore still

seeing icy conditions to the south and east. otherwise, we're looking at improvement not seeing anything as you can he see on hd radar as we get a closer view of the city. there was snow. you see the evidence as you step out of it this morning. as we have been hearing, the main roads looking pretty good, and the back roads still a problem. we will get it from candace and things are shaping up better now than they were overnight. to the east we're seeing more activity still. that is where we picked up the highest. take a look at this, 6.25 inches. and 3 inches and 3 inches toward cambridge and toward pock mow city an 1.33. and in the city we picked up about four inches of snow in the general. up to 4.5 inches. there's been areas, up to 5-inch in spots. and it's 5 1/2 inches in d.c.

down toward the western part of the state, 3.75 inches there. and 3.75 to the east and bel air, too. and almost 3 inches of snow in bel air and jarrettsville, 2.5 as you head northeast and chesapeake city in general. we're looking at snow fall totals that were in the range of 4-6 as you go from baltimore to d.c. surrounding areas 3-5 with less if you go toward the east. with an exception in salse as yo--salisbury as you saw there. 30 in hagerstown, 30 in oakland. the question is what is next as the system pulls out and the following cold front moves toward the east. we see drier air moving in. what is behind this low pressure center, this nasty low down in the gulf coast. i say nasty because this one looks coming up the coast and

heading in our general direction. this low can take two different paths, one it will take it out to sea in which case we won't see a whole lot of it. the second scenario which is more likely is that it comes out, and we get one of those snow storms that affects the northeast from boston, through philadelphia and affecting us as well as d.c. by the way, totals on that right, hard to say, but it's looking like it could be over a foot or more. 41 degrees in the eastern shore, most low cloudy skies 5-15-mile-an-hour winds. for the central part of the state look for temperatures to get to a high of 45 degrees at 1:00 this afternoon. mostly cloudy skies and a couple of up slope showers, and 35 degrees for the high. mainly clear skies, 39 degrees for the high and we did start with a little bit of snow but as you can see tapering off by noon. 35 degrees, partly cloud skies and mostly clear as we head toward 6 p.m.

we should a clear night and a nice pretty day tomorrow. 37 on friday, in comes the snow late, again maybe over a foot, could be more. that is if the second scenario does happen. it does look like we're leaning in that direction at least for now. 36 degrees on saturday as the snow continues through the day. and 36 degrees, and dry on sunday with mostly cloudy skies. and guess what, number 3 coming your way for tuesday, 35 degrees with a chance of more snow then. of course, ch sky watch 45 is available at your finger tips. you is use the interactive tools to let you know when rain or snow will be over your house. go to foxbaltimore.com and click on iradar. candace dold is here with a look at the roadways. >> reporter: thank you, steve. it's the secondary roadways that we're fobbing focusing on. we want to show you what it looks like at rogers forge and the side streets are seeing the

packed snow. you can see the person starting to dig out on this early morning around 5:15. obviously this is going to be the case. you will have to dig out of your car and even your sidewalk. once you hit the roads, again, it's just of the secondaries that are going to be the areas that are concerned. that's in baltimore county, let's check out what it looks like in westminister. this is looking much better at route 40 and angler road. it's going to be wet, no snow packing down. kind of a mixed bag for many people this morning. now as far as the main lines heading out on the beltway this morning, we do want to check on liberty road, you can see none of that white stuff sticking there. slick conditions, both the inner loop lanes and the outer loop directions with the building volume there. a little bit farther down near wilkens avenue, here it is the same scenario there and a few cars that are starting to trickle in on the outer loop direction as well. as for 95, once you finally do approach the exit, let's check

in right near the 95 region, pretty much the same picture. so not he can actually going t a major threat but you will have to spend time digging out this morning and that is the main story. that's a look at the main lines, patrice, back to you. american idol took its search for the next big star to denver last night. that is where me met haley, who said she wanted to be the first american pop country singer. does she have the voice to back the thing? >> i woke up thinking about elvis somewhere in els vegas. >> the judges were blown away by her unique talent. >> what i like about you is you're different. >> yeah. >> you're not coming in singing mary jay blige, therefore you stand out. obviously, you love that kind of

music and i think you are infectious. >> thank you. >> let us know what you thought about last night's show. so far simon gives it a thumbs up. you can post your reaction at facebook or twitter page. go to facebook.com baltimore. and you can follow candace on her idol blog as she takes us behind the scenes all season long. go to foxbaltimore.com and click on the american idol under the entertainment section. don't forget you can catch american idol again tonight at 8:00 here on fox 45. still ahead itching out of the wholesale slump. the number of people signing contracts just last month. people signing houses sign many a papers and that is what happens. >> and residency questions for the leading candidate for

u've got everything you thought would make you happy. a promising career, plenty of friends...and a growing family. but life seems empty. something's missing. only god can bring real meaning to life. true happiness comes from knowing him. discover how god can change your life. watch the

"700 club". >>the man expected to take over city council president is facing questions for claiming two properties as his primary residence. by law councilmembers must live in the city. >> reporter: with just days to he go before a vote is taken to see who will become president of baltimore city council, leading candidate councilman jack young comes under fire. >> i have the votes. >> reporter: at issue young listing two properties as his

primary residence for nearly 10 years. by law councilmembers must reside in the city and district they represent. >> i have two primary residents, one was a summer vacation place where we went whenever we had the chance to, and then, sometimes i very seldom got there, because i had all of my that i was doing in the city. >> reporter: records fox 45 obtained, show where young sold the property in harford county in 2005, nine years after he gained a seat on city council. young's he city address is along madison street in baltimore. >> it's papers that i signed. people buying houses sign many a paper and that is what happened. >> reporter: it has left this veveteran councilman asking why now is this an issue. it comes days before he takes the seat stephanie rawlings-blake is vacating. >> i sold it in '05.

if they knew that, why didn't they bring it out then, why now? >> reporter: a possible smear campaign. some political underrers, told fox 45 that young is not a yes man, and that could make some in political circles nervous. joy lepola. fox 45 morning news. young plans to resign from his state job if he does in fact become city council president. later on the early edition, the american recovery and reinvestment act. you should never waste the prices. one business owner who tried to get some the funds. but

ford and general motors are in the black, while toyota and chrysler the red. guess what news channel is having the best week ever? robert gray has more. stocks on fire in february, the dow gaining 111 points, now up more than 200 points in the first two days of the month. the number of people signing contracts to buy homes strivingg for the 9th month in 10 months. they are gaining by 1% last month. ford and gm sales accelerating in january. ford driving 25% compared to last year, gm sales rising by double digits, but chrysler's

dipping. the massive recall from the gas pedal problems hurting toyota. the japanese auto sales diving 16%. parent news corps, reporting a 30% jump. profit rising, both hitting estimates. cable with fox news channel reporting its best quarterly profit ever. i'm robert gray. coming up a window washer rescued in baltimore how he got stuck 12 stories above the ground. we are shoveling through baltimore county this morning. i'm megan gilliland. how long it's going to take you to get to your car straight ahead. >> reporter: i'm joel d smith, live in westminister where plow drivers tell us this is the

welcome back to fox 45 early edition. 5:29 is the time. you're waking up this morning to more winter