here we go again, the first real blast of snowy weather hits the region, sending kids home from school, causing a traffic headache. >> we think this is the blizzard of february the way people are driving. >> will the roads be clear for the morning commute? hello everybody i'm denise koch. here is what people are talking about. after a year of digging out of back to back blizzard's the snow is back. with the ground so cold it took no time before it started sticking to the roads and

making it slick out there. the conditions made for an absolute mess on the roadways in southern maryland. you can see this car slid off the road. the driver was not seriously hurt. there's still plenty to clean up. but the snow was fluffy which made it easy to clear out of off your cars. >> reporter: the first snow of winter caused fender benders and even closed schools early. >> the worse is probably coming. >> reporter: private contractors are back to winter work. >> it's hard to plow, it's not

enough snow the plow but it's dangerous enough to where you have to get some snow down and keep the doors open. >> i know but it's all frozen. so put some salt down real quick. >> reporter: accumulation stuck then melted throughout the day. 1,500 salt trucks have been out all day. they'll continue through the night. >> salt is effective to about 20 degrees or so. we're combining salt treatment with salt brine that actually makes the salt more effective to negative 16 degrees ferenheit. >> i'm a little paranoid because i fell and broke my arm a year ago. i don't take my chances with the ice anymore. >> i actually was coming from basketball practice and there all the snow was. it was kind of wild.

not really ready for it yet. >> reporter: you're not. >> no i'm not. >> reporter: a little too soon. >> a little too soon, let's wait till christmas eve. >> reporter: state highway administration will be out up until the morning commute to put salt and salt brine on those heavily traveled areas to make sure the commute is as smooth as it can be after that first heavy snow. >> thank you kelly. let's go over to bob turk to find out what went through. >> in case you were asleep, about 11:00 it just kept coming for a couple of hours. right across southern maryland, and by late afternoon, 3:00 or 4:00 most of the storm has moved through the region. how much did we get? the most will be down to our south. fredrick got a little more than two, st. mary's county just a

little under two. columbia about 1-1/2. here on tv hill, just a little more than 1-1/2. at vw marshall they only had .4, there's potential for more snow this weekend. i'll explain that in my full forecast coming up in about 10 minutes, stay with us. thank you, bob. right now there is one school advisory, tolbot county schools opening about 40 minutes late tomorrow. we'll have the updated forecast and live doppler radar there. he says he isn't a hero. but you might disagree. mike jones is the security guard who stopped the gunman at that terrifying shooting at a florida school board meeting. he tells mark strausman he was just doing his job. when clay duke held an entire

school board hostage, mike jones suddenly faced a nightmare. you can see the security guard, off camera on this video. >> i'm a school safety officer. >> come on in. >> you have a real gun there. >> come on in. >> he probably doesn't have a gun. >> jones tried but failed to get duke out of the room. so he went to plan b. >> plan b was i went and ran outside to my car, which is parked right outside the back door here. grabbed some clips, 40 caliber, i had my 38 on, grabbed my bullet-proof vest, came back to this door. >> but he slowly opened the courtroom door. >> please don't, please don't,

please don't. >> he started shooting at the school board members, and that's when i shot. >> i thought, okay i'm fine. >> reporter: miraclously, the school board chairperson was okay. >> i saw him come over the chair and i fell to my knees and thought, he's all right. >> jones wasn't even supposed to be working that day. because of the cold snap in florida, his boss asked him to stay in case there was a main break, no security guard was scheduled for a shift that day. and h are -- parents come

up to the school today to pick up their children. but they get a letter about an assault on a children. it's believed the stranger slipped in with a crowd of school children entering early this morning. >> i'm sure he was scared to death and i have a son who goes to this school. he's in seventh grade and it concerns me a lot. >> reporter: luckily the boy escaped unharmed and the suspect was quickly arrested. >> a school member heard the child yelling, went into the bathroom to investigate and found the suspect in. >> reporter: children are usually buzzed in, but today the doors were left open because of the snow. two people, a staffer and a school resource officer confronted the intruder, told him that they shouldn't be in the building and that they

should go right to the main office. apparently they didn't escort him to the door. >> they asked him what his business was, told him to report to the office which is what they are supposed to do. and unfortunately however he did not do that. >> reporter: police say the school officer remained watchful, apparently the suspect entered the bathroom but the officer was close when the boy yelled for help. the suspects name is not being released but we are told he is in his 20s and lives in the dundock area. a judge is keeping records of a murdered student sealed. his lawyers believe prescription drugs could have been a factor in her death. and they want an expert to see her medical records. love did have a prescription for aderol. hughley is due in court next

month. hundreds of passengers stranded in a plane for hours in the hot summer. kai jackson explains what the investigation revealed. >> reporter: that's right, this report here details the problems and solutions but not everyone we spoke to is on board. on a sweltering day in june, mark commuter train 538 broke down. also broken was the system as a whole and rider confidence. >> it's 100 something degrees on the train and it took several hours before police came on and removed the windows. what was mark doing. >> reporter: this report shows marc was not doing nearly enough. it finds a lack of communication with amtrak and passengers. >> reporter: what's their

responsibility to us as passengers. >> to keep us notified, let us know anything that's happening, any kind of change. >> reporter: among the suggested improvements, having shorter trains on hot days. better communication with amtrak staff and a focus during emergencies. this report is 53 pages long, still some riders are not convinced that the mta dug deep enough in the efforts to fix m.a.r.c.'s problems. >> it took them several months to communicate, gosh, wake up. >> reporter: members of the m.a.r.c. rider council met with the nta today regarding the report. wjz news will keep you updated on that event. >> thank you, kai. governor o'malley has yet to respond on the report. the greater baltimore

committee -- the plan includes an 18,000 seat arena with a parking garage underneath. a 400,000 square foot expansion to the convention center and a new 500 room sheraton hotel. and an amazing rescue after a deer got stuck under water. this happened just off the annapolis road. the deer walked out on a frozen part but fell through. one man saw the deer struggling and says he had to help. >> to let an animal die knowing that i had seen it. would you let someone die, i wouldn't. sorry. that's not in my nature. i wouldn't do it to a little kid, if a little kid was in that water would you let him die.

>> emergency crews say they do not advise anyone to go in the water after an animal. and violent attack, a pregnant teenager gets caught up in an argument on the bus. what the argument was all about. why investigating big fires like the one in the block often come down to lab work. that story when eyewitness news continues. one storm is almost gone, but there could be another one this weekend. i'm bob turk, i'll have your complete forewarning weather coming up next. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

22 degrees, partly cloudy in central maryland right now. the complete forewarning weather is coming up. but first police in seattle are calling it a vicious and provoked attack. watch as a melee begins between five teenage girls and a pregnant 16-year-old and her boyfriend. the pregnant girl suffered a cut near her eye. all five teenage girls were eventually arrested. the founder of wikileaks is out of a london prison and can resume releasing secure documents. he will have no restriction on

his internet use but he will have to report with police every day. the search for clues have come up with a cause for a five alarm fire on the block. the microscopic detectivive work found it to be the result of human action. alex demetrick takes a look at the lab that broke the case. >> reporter: the investigation found it's way down this long hall way home of the forensic fire lab. atf fire investigators came to baltimore with chemist. tracking the fire to a peep show booth, evidence was sealed into cans like this, essential for keeping vapors trapped. >> since we live in a petroleum based society. most of the things we have will give off petroleum vapors.

something like gasoline. >> reporter: this is what it takes to do the looking. >> you absolutely need a gas graft to do the looking. >> reporter: what it does is separates the vapors into components. but time as well as fire and water is a challenge. that's because volatile fuel and it's fumes evaporate. finding a telltale trace also comes down to the weather. >> it was cool so we weren't losing things as rapidly as we would in july. >> the atf lab is one of only three in the nation that do intense fire forensics. a comment about wanting to own a dog has renewed debate over michael vick. the eagles quarterback says he thought it would be good for

his rehabilitation. a spokesperson for peta says he should never be able to own a dog. probation does not allow vick to own a dog. tonight the television legend larry king hosted his final show. a line up including barbara walters were among those to bid larry king farewell. and bre gave us this view from her apartment.

that street needs to be plowed. now check out the entrance to the boardwalk. i have seen it rain and storm in ocean city, i've never seen it snow. >> it was cold everywhere. ocean city may see some pretty good snow this weekend. >> they have enough. >> they're going to have more than anybody in the state. i'll tell you why. take a look right now. snow in the beach is pretty interesting. 32 now, no wind at all, humidity up to 88%. look out for black ice out there. the barometer on the way back up. 36 down there in ocean city. they got up to about 28. 16, 14, 16, clearing skies to the west. dewpoints 19 which means we'll get down to 18 or 19 overnight tonight. very light winds. so even though it's 22, it feels a lot better than 22 three days ago when the windchill was five to 6

degrees. 22, 22 no winds doesn't show that bad. today's low pressure, there it goes off the coast. the next one in southern california already. it's going to move up the east coast. the question is, or the problem is exactly where does it end up saturday night and sunday. is it out to sea or is it hugging the coast. that will make a tremendous difference in weather we not get any precipitation here on sunday. it'll be cold enough for the form of precipitation to be in the form of snow. but does it get this far from south and west it doesn't get this far. some of the computers have it too far south. a few of them have it a little closer. and that could give us some accumulating snow here. late saturday night, basically sunday morning. keep an eye town to the south. you can see a low pressure that's going to start circulating up the coast.

the model showing precept to the baltimore area. eastern shore, you have the best chance of getting accumulating snow on sunday and monday. eastern new england could see a full blown blizzard by sunday and among. as you see it's a really close call. i think we'll see know a lot more tomorrow and sunday. the bay temps 39, tonight clearing skies, down to about 18, maybe 14 to 15 some call the suburbs with snow on the ground. 34 partly sunny tonight. as we go into the weekend, 38 with some clouds late in the day on saturday. a chance of snow. best chance south and east. clearing out 34 and 36 with partly cloudy skies on tuesday. denise. >> thank you, bob. check in tomorrow morning on eyewitness news starting at 4:55 a.m. for the updated forewarning weather forecast. the ravens talk about room

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ravens getting ready for very big game saturday night. >> the ravens have been labeled a perplexing team. very good record the ravens have but how good of a team are they? they have talent but are they maximizing their potential? that's some of the questions the ravens everyone asked them. still struggling with inconsistencies. getting ready for the saints. preparations inside, ravens players and coaches have been defending their winning record but also point out their need for improvement. it's a play off caliber team. dealing with ups and downs with just three regular season games to go. >> i feel we haven't played our best yet. you know that's a scary, scary but great feeling. you know because if you look at this team and say, wow, they

haven't played their best yet and they are sitting here at 9- 4. that's you know what, that feels just as scary because you don't want it to come back and bite you in the behind. but, at the same time, you know you look at the upside and you say, you know it's a team of destiny. >> reporter: derrick mason missed practice again today but tells us he'll be ready for sunday. mcclain out with illness. ravens and saints sunday at 1:00. and the trotters have tricks and they can shoot, so can running back willis mcgahee, check him out. he will hit a hoop from long distance. willis got a gift team jersey.

to the nba court, john wall out again. knee tentnitis, no help for his teammates trying to win a ball game this season. jordan farmore in new jersey. they never trail after that, in rout to a win. and alberts was the orioles most used reliever this past season appearing in 62 game. but landed in boston today. there'll be a lot of new faces in spring training coming up in february. >> he could have gone to the yankees. that would have been worse. oh, christmas tree. you may have thought your ornamentnt when i saw all the jobs disappearing, i knew i needed to find a better way to support my daughter. [ male announcer ] at age forty, greg flowers went back to school.

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a christmas tree display in the middle east goes beyond tinsel. this 40-foot tree is decorated with $11 million, very dangerous, worth of jewelry. the hotel owner is trying to set a record for the most expensive christmas tree. still not as pretty as charlie brown's christmas tree or sentimental. but it's worth a lot more. we'll be right back. ,, [ female announcer ] safeway talks holiday favorites. i think there are eggnog people and non-eggnog people. and which are you? i'm a fish. on a tree.

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