this is wjz tv, wjz hd and wjz.com, baltimore. >> from the city, to the counties, to your neighborhood,

now it is complete coverage. it is wjz, maryland's news station. >> caucuses countdown, a shake up in iowa less than a week before the race for the white house heats up. and voters head to the polls. hello again, i am jessica kartalija, here is what people are talking about today. just five days before the nation's first presidential caucuses are held a new candidate is on the rise in iowa. terrell brown reports for wjz and has the very latest from washington. >> reporter: michele bachmann hits the campaign trail in des moines without one of her top organizers. her iowa campaign manager kent sorensen defected to ron paul. >> in 2010 when i was running for the state senate, congressman paul came and actually did three events for me and i felt like he was by my side and i had to separate now it is my duty to be by his side. >> bachmann fired back, calling

the move a sell out. >> kent sorensen personalitiy told me he was offered a large sum of money to go to work for ron paul. >> reporter: the latest poll in iowa puts ron paul in second place in the race for the white house. and even bigger surprise, rick santorum surged to third place, the former pennsylvania senator has campaigned in iowa more than any other candidate and he says he knew his ship would k34 in. >> it shows we have made progress and the people of iowa are getting down to making the tough decision as to who they are going to support. the new poll shows mitt romney at the top. he has been drawing big crowds including this morning at a restaurant. >> i get the impression by and large decided i am a pretty good one. >> as for one time front runner newt gingrich he has plummeted to 4th place. terrell brown, wjz eyewitness news. >> republican presidential

hopeful john huntsman is focusing on new hampshire. the nation first primary will be held there january 10th. deadly highways, swarm of emergency vehicles respond to crashes in just a span of 12 hours, four were killed including a five-year-old baltimore boy. wjz and weijia jiang are live now with more on these investigations. good afternoon. >> reporter: good afternoon. the weather was clear and two of those crashes happened during the day so police are still trying to figure out the causes as several maryland families are grieving. >> it is believed to be very critical. >> reporter: just days after the christmas holiday a south baltimore family is ripped apart after their car was rear- ended on the jfx, turning the northbound lanes into a, page lot well into rush hour. it happened just before 3:00 wednesday. siblings, 5-year-old jake owen and his sister alexandria were flown to the john hopkins children center, an hour later jake died, the parents were

also taken to the hospital, all four were wearing seat belts, state police identified the driver of the suv that plowed into them as a 23-year-old man from baltimore county, treated for minor injuries, the accident is one of three deadly crashes on maryland roads in a pan span of 12 hours. a metro bus collided with a pickup truck, killing the driver. >> i felt the bus kind of sway and then it was just like bang we just hit it. >> reporter: a dozen passengers were treated at the hospital. a few miles down the beltway around 3:00 a.m. thursday two young women were killed on silver springs university boulevard. 22-year-old denise richards and 19-year-old tamara johnson. her uncle was at at the scene. >> she works and going to school and just graduated from high school, thinking about going to college. >> police their car was the

only one involved, it is barely recognizable. they are working to find out how all three happened. right now it is closed, police are on the scene to investigate and unclear how long they will be there. we should mention the little girl and her parents are all in stable condition. reporting live in baltimore, weijia jiang, wjz eyewitness news. >> thank you. police have not determined whether they will file charges against mcceefer. they believe that speed was a factor in that crash. baltimore city detectives are investigating the 196th murder this year. a man was shot last night in a house on the 2800 block of west garrison avenue, a few blocks from sinai hospital. he died at the scene. police have not released any more information about the shooting at this time. city police released this video hoping it will help them identify a man wanted for a triple shooting in the charles north community. it shows the person detectives want to question about the shooting december 9th outside

club envy. a 26-year-old and two 24-year- old men were shot, marking the anniversary of a teenager's death with a call for justice, phylicia barnes family makes a plea to police. mike hellgren has the latest. good afternoon. >> reporter: good afternoon. it has been one year and one day since she went missing. she was visiting her sister when she vanished, they found her body near the dam. they held a vigil last night. in the past year police have said little about this investigation. at one point the f ba fbi was investigating as which would pornography but it didn't appear that lead anywhere, last week they said they were making progress but offered no details. back to you. >> her family plans to set up a memorial scholarship in her name at towson university, a school she wanted to attend. stores in montgomery county are reprogramming their cash registers days before new fees open shopping bags take effect.

the county council approved a 5 cent tax on paper and plastic bags earlier this year and it will go into effect on new year's day and is expected to generate 1 mill million dollars in new revenue. as the season winds down a reminder for recycle your paper and trees. trees can be taken to the citizen drop off center through identity jan. if you can't drop off your tree put it out on your regularly scheduled trash day during january, just make sure all tinsel and ornaments are remove. now a live look outside. not too bad of an afternoon temperature-wise. clouds have been in and out all day too, so what is in store for the rest of the week and the new year holiday? for that answer we head over to marty bass. >> hello, good afternoon, everybody. those clouds as you mentioned at the top of the show, that is a big push of warm air moving our way. let's take a look at a couple of graphics. it is most welcome too because right now it is 10 degrees

chillier than at this time yesterday. we are looking at a temperature on tv hill of 38. we will eventually get to about 44, which this time of the year is normal. but nobody is going to say 38 to 44 is anywhere near mild. it is seasonal. want to take a look at first warning doppler weather radar with those clouds it is coming some moisture aloft. i am not too sure a lot of this is falling and hitting the ground. i mean obviously there is motion, this is doppler, otherwise there would not be reflecting back to our sights but i am not too sure it is hitting the ground. this is an initial push of mild air. let's take a look at another graphic. it is moving our way. at this point in december so far harsh cold is nonexistent. we have not tapped that arctic air yet. but by next year, which is only a few days away, this is going to change. we are going to have some first warning details coming up shortly, jess i throw it back to you. >> turning to sports a play off

like atmosphere surrounding the ravens trip to cincinnati, this weekend they face off against the bengals, ray lewis says the only thing on the team's mind is getting one game at the stadium, something they are guaranteed if they pull out a victory and ray rice says if any team can do it it is this year's squad. >> we got our hands full but we got just the men for the job, we are out there playing you know for our lives as well. >> the game is expected to be a tight 1 with the ravens favored to win by a field goal. we will bring you the action sunday afternoon at 4:00 live right here on wjz 13. and still to come on wjz eyewitness news at noon, an investigation into heart surgeries in maryland hospitals. the changes state official are calling for coming up. and preparations are underway in new york cities a new york city as the clock ticks towards the celebration.

stay with us for your forecast including a look at the holiday weekend. eyewitness news at noon will be right back. >> complete coverage continues with don scott, jessica kartalija, and first warning weather with marty bass and meteorologist tim williams, ,,,,

maryland's healthcare

commission is calling for tougher monitoring of cardiac stint surgeries at the state's 23 hospitals. investigators say hundreds of patients may have been implanted with unnecessary stints but he insists they were necessary. the commission wants it suspended if new standards are not met. the state is getting more money after it met a goal for improving access to medicaid and children's health insurance programs. kids across the country are on break and several theme parks in florida are hitting capacity. universal orlando's islands of adventure, legoland and three out of 4 disney theme parks were so packed they were all forced to close temporarily. disneyland in california was also forced to stop selling tickets after reaching their capacity. new york's times square is gearing up to ring in 2012 with

the party of the year. here you see workers putting the last touches on the new year's eve ball. led bulbs are being used that meet the stricter lighting efficiency standards, more than a million people are expected to stand and watch the globe of lights descend from the flagpole atop times square at the stroke of midnight saturday night. make sure to watch the wjz new year's eve special with complete coverage of the fireworks live from the inner harbor. see the festivities right here only on wjz starting at 11:00 on saturday night. and still ahead on wjz eyewitness news at noon, what is in store for the holiday weekend the details coming up in your first warning weather forecast now just two and a half minutes away. but first here is a look at today's midday stocks and last night winning lottery numbers.

now first warning weather, complete forecast and the first warning over of severe weather. >> you know it is a nice day, a really good start, good news, this is warm air, it is called overrunning, warm air, lifting up over this chilly pool of air down here on teara firma, as a matter of fact let's take a look at first warning weather doppler again.

i am not too sure this is hitting the ground but there is moisture kind of chugging toward the region and this is going to be the initial push of air mild air. air mild enough we are going to be about that close to 60 degrees tomorrow, so really these clouds, these returns, this time of the year nothing but good news. let's take a look at our deviation from the past 24 hours, now 7 degrees chillier than this time yesterday. this one of my favorite graphics you can really watch the ebb and flow of the right now weather if you will by noticing these temperatures. tomorrow i bet it is plus 10. on tv hill at this time it is 38 degrees, 54% humidity, here is that southerly flow. here is that mild air moving our way. barometer is at 30.06, big dome of high pressure has ridged in, yesterday morning barometer was 29.59. behind that low that brought us all the winds. winds have diminished, high pressure sits right on top of us. 30 degree oakland, 35 cumberland, 32 haggerstown, 35 elkton, upper 30s dc, easton

and ocean city, pax river and solomon island low 40s, 35 belaire, 36 westminster, 38 columbia 37 rock hall. annapolis and kent island at 41 degrees. so once again here is this warm front. this initial push of mild air that is going to define the holiday weekend for us. this means business. the next three days we are easily going to be in the 50s. let's take a look at the forecast for this day. a high temperature of around 44 degrees. overnight tonight it is milder than the past overnight by five or six degrees, call it 33. and tomorrow look at that. up to 54 degrees, but having said that, you know, 44 late. it feels chilly, but it is normal for this time of the year. but wait until you see the five- day-forecast, trust me when i tell you life is changing next week. >> oh. >> yeah. >> ominous. >> you can say that again. >> all right, ominous. >> no, i meant the oh. >> um. >> yeah. >> still to come on wjz

eyewitness news at noon a new study about how your diet can effect your memory, the benefits of eating more fruit and your veggies, wjz is always on, here as the top stories at ,

in today's wjz health watch, a drug used to treat colon and lung cancer is giving women with advanced of any cancer more time. two studies show the drug avastin can slow down the disease for up to six months in some cases, the fda pulled approval for breast cancer after study showed it was not effective against that form of the disease. there is more evidence that eating fruits, vegetables and fish can keep your brain healthy. researchers found people who ate foods rich in vitamins and omega three fatty acids were less likely to develop brain shrinkage and scored better on memory test, people who had a poor diet didn't do as well on those mental tests. and be sure to check in with wjz eyewitness news today at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00, politics get personal days before the iowa caucuses a huge shake up in the race for the

gop presidential nomination, from detergents to household products they ,,,,,,,,,,,,

all right. told you these clouds out there are nothing but news, it is

warm air, that southerly flow and it is going to define our numbers here. that is how we are going to end 2011 and start 2012. i want you to note tuesday, that 32 and 18, that means business, we are going to tap air for the first time in the season out of central canada, and that 32 and 18 may stay around for a good portion of the week. snow. right now there is none in the forecast although could be a couple of flurries meandering about the area, the big issue is it is going to get cold next week. >> marty thank you, don't miss the primetime line up. at 10:00 an episode of the mentalist and after that eyewitness news at 11:00. finally this noon very cute cubs are getting ready to meet visitors at an aquarium in china. they are also the second set of twins for their mom and dad,

experts say it is rare for them to give birth to two sets of twins in the same year. >> only 25,000 polar bears left on the planet, so that is really good news. 25,000 sounds like a lot but if you look at the population 100 years ago it was triple that. ,,