hi everybody. i'm kia jackson. here's what people are talking about. a big shakeup in iowa today days before the presidential caucuses. terrell brown reports with wjz with the latest on the whirlwind 24-hours with the gop candidates. >> reporter: michelle bachmann hits the campaign trail in des moines without her manager. he's moved to one of her biggest rivals, ron paul. >> in 2010 congressman paul came and did three separate events for me. i felt like he was by my side.

>> reporter: bachmann called the move a sellout. >> he personally told me he was offered a large sum of money to go to work for the ron paul campaign. >> reporter: latest poll out of iowa puts ron paul in second place for the race to the gop. >> reporter: even a bigger surprise rick santorum campaigned in iowa more than any other candidate and said he knew his ship would come in. >> i said the same thing i have been saying for months. i will move up january 3rd. >> reporter: mitt romney is at the top. 25% of republicans in iowa said they'd vote for him. the former massachusetts governor has been drawing big crowds, including this morning in a cedar falls restaurant. >> i get the impressions this a good one. >> reporter: as for one-time front runner newt gingrich,

he's now plummeted to fourth place. in washington terrell brown wjz eyewitness news. republican presidential hopeful john huntsman is focused on new hampshire. the nation's first primary will be held there january 10th. a horrible accident in a backyard bonfire sends three baltimore county teens to the hospital. >> fire officials say a group of teens in rose dale were trying to make a small fire on a grill last night. the group was gathered in the backyard of a home in the 6,000 block of shady spring avenue. the teens wanted a bigger fire. that's when one poured gasoline on top. the grill bursts into flames seriously injuring three people. >> the father of a juvenile was inside of the house. i give him credit for his quick response. once he realized something was wrong he reacted quickly, appropriately and was able to help the girl out. >> a 17-year-old girl is now in

crittal condition at johns hopkins bay view with burns from the waist up. another 17-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy were taken to the hospital. they are expected to recover. a gas leak shuts down several blocks in baltimore city. fire officials say contractors were working in the 1600 blocker in penn station when they hit a natural gas main. a stretch of north charles is shut down while crews work to fix the leak. there are no reports of injuries. your eyes do not deceive you. we did see a few flurries this afternoon. here's a look at snow falling on i-83 in baltimore county. nothing sticking to the ground yet. a live look outside. the sun has made a few appearances this afternoon. you don't see any flakes out there. wjz is live with first warning coverage. jim williams is here to tell us if there is any heavier snow. >> much of it moved across the

state through the course of the day. as we moved into this later part of the afternoon we are seeing more and more. that's a sight to some folks. others are saying please go away. temperatures 39 degrees. we are up to 40 at the last check. what you are seeing there on doppler radar showing precipitation moving across the area. just one little batch there. the temperatures are driving what we see across the state. right now we have 40 degrees at bwi marshall. 46 oakland. you have to go north of the beltway toward the state line in north baltimore county. the actual turn of satellite and radar shows the form that's coming down. i'll pause this here. you'll see light snow showers making their way in. they break up getting around the beltway. then they go away as we move through the afternoon. we can still see more out there. nothing thick.

but it is definitely something we did not expect to see necessarily hitting the ground. we'll monitor it for you. we'll have your completed forecast coming up. >> thank you very much. swarms of emergency vehicles respond to three serious crashes in a span of 12 hours. four people are killed including a 5-year-old baltimore boy. we have more on the deadly day on the roads. >> reporter: the weather was clear and two of those crashes happened during the day. police are still working to confirm the causes as several maryland families are grieving. >> it is believed to be critical. >> reporter: days after the christmas holiday a south baltimore family is ripped apart after their car was rear ended on the jfx turning northbound lanes into a parking lot during rush hour. it happened before 3:00 wednesday. a 5-year-old boy and his 9-year- old sister were flown to the johns hopkins children's center. an hour later he died.

the parents were 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 from baltimore county. he was treated for minor injuries. the accident is one of three in a span of 12 hours. in bethesda a metro truck slammed into a car. a dozen passengers were treated at the hospital. a few miles on the beltway at 3:00 a.m. thursday two women were killed. a 22-year-old and a 19-year- old. her uncle was at the scene. >> she works and goes to school. she just graduated from high school. thinking about going to college. >> reporter: police say their car is up against a brick wall. investigators are still working

to figure out how all three tragedies happened. the little girl and her parents involved in the crash on the jfx are in stable condition. at this point it is unclear if the driver will be charged. police reconstructed the accident scene on the jfx this afternoon. they believe speed was a factor of the crash. there were no traces of alcohol or drugs. police need your help in finding two suspects wanted in connection with an attempted armed robbery. terry thomas and lynn ash ford attacked a passenger in a light rail train stop in cherry hill december 7th. if you have any information call police. time is running out for the organizers of the baltimore grandprix to save the race. the city gave the group until saturday to pay the $1.5 million they owe. according tour media partner the baltimore sun, the plan

gives control of the baltimore racing development to a wealthy investor stalled. without a last-minute turn around the mayor will cancel the five-year contract to run the race. if you are waiting for someone to get home from work let's check on the roads in wjz traffic control. >> here's hoping to a better day than yesterday. starting off 95 northbound we have some delays from the howard county line over to 175. north side outer loop slowing from north road to charles street. ten minutes. westside outer loop stop and go from security boulevard over to billion national pike. westside inner loop ten minutes. a couple new accidents in the area. belair route 24 at east mule road. hartford road at mountain vista. kingsville and eastern avenue. let's take a live look. there is a look at 95 top of

the forth mchenry tunnel. not a bad drive 95. as crews get the norbar prep f.d.r. saturday night's party, we have more from what we can expect from the band. >> reporter: their sound is a mix of everything that makes you feel good. >> soul, heavy horn funk. >> reporter: in 2007 kevin started the band. an 18 horn and funk group from

annapolis. >> i'm the horn section. in a way the leader. >> reporter: in a couple of days on new year's eve as fireworks light up the sky at the north harbor, his horns and the rest of the band will be blowing up baltimore's new year's eve bash. >> i'm excited. it will be huge. we played a couple of times before but nothing this big. >> reporter: the lead singer says he plans to belt out some of the bands original songs as well as popular cover. >> we try to do something for the young and the young at heart. >> we'll play funk, soul, r&b, we'll hit a little reagae. >> reporter: the guys don't mind the exposure. >> there will be tons of people in town. people from out of town. >> reporter: thousands of people will be compelled to get funky this new years. >> if you hear us in the

distance you might want to hang with us a couple of hours and maybe dance a little bit and groove a little bit. >> if you are staying in make sure to watch the wjz special with complete coverage of the fireworks live from baltimore's north harbor. you can see festivities starting at 11:00 saturday night. still ahead, demolition derby, a colorado man leaves a quiet neighborhood looking like a war-zone. how the wild ride ended. disaster in the gulf. prosecutors consider first criminal charges stemming from the bp oil spill. who could face time behind bars. detergent danger. household products are often blamed for illnesses. is there really cause for concern? a chill in the air today.

a few snow flurries. tim will let us know what to expect as we close out 2011 in your weather forecast. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

a driver's rampage triggers a domino effect in colorado. the driver plows into one car after another. he slammed in a total of five cars and tried to run over four people. the man was driving on flat tires and a bare rim. - caught after a neighbor heard the commotion. they ran outside to take down the license plate number. talk about a bad way to start a marriage. a man in vermont proposed to his girlfriend with a stolen ring. he stole a white gold solitary ring. officers tracked him down when

his girlfriend announced the engagement on facebook and posted a picture of the $3,000 ring online. investigators don't believe she knew her ring was stolen. household products are often a way to make people sick. california scientist decided to analyst dozens to see if there is a problem. julie watts has the results. >> reporter: there is plenty of citrus, lots of sweets and a mountain of fresh scents in the cleaning supplies. >> i don't like fragrance. >> reporter: this doctor doesn't like added fragrance, either. the scientist from stanford completed a study on scented products. >> i had calls and e-mails from people telling me they were getting sick from common household products. >> reporter: complaints ranged from headaches to breathing difficulties and a loss of conciousness. the lab analyzed 25 popular

scented products. she won't reveal which ones. they are commonly used. air freshenerrers and cleaning supplies. >> all of the emitted chemicals either classified as toxic or hazardous in federal laws damage the brain, lungs and central nervous system and cause cancer. >> reporter: the labels green organtic and natural contain the chemicals, too. >> i have not found a label that did not have the chemicals. >> reporter: there is no law that requires manufacturers to list the word fragrance, partly because it is considered a trade secret. >> scented household products are safe. >> reporter: fragrance industry is turning up the nose. >> there is a robust process that not only we have but several steps in the supply

chain. >> reporter: there is no evidence scented products cause health problems. however, they have treated patients who reported symptoms from scented products . >> i would not panic. they are carcinogens with low amounts in the products. >> scientist say there is concerned of repeated exposure over a long period of time. study does not claim. >> the hazardous ingrediants cause problems. wall street rallies after a down day. let's go to new york for tonight's cbs money watch update. >> reporter: 15,000 more people applied for unemployment benefits last week after three weeks of decline. with the increase, applications

for benefits remain below 400,000. which signals modest job growth. it looks like good news on the surface. number of americans who sign contracts rose. a growing number of buyers are canceling contracts in the last minute, in some cases the home was appraised for less than the buying price. euro remains under pressure as investors worry about europe's debt levels. it fell after an italian bond auction produced mixed results. this was the best holiday for amazon's kindle e reader and tablet computer. people bought a million kindles each week. apple's ipad is still expected to outsell all of the tablets next year including the kindle fire and barnes and noble's nook tablet. that's your money watch. for more head to cbs money

watch.com. coming up on wjz eyewitness news at 4:00, inspiring struggle. >> there is something that was personal. >> a rising star on youtube shares his personal battle with a life-threatening illness. holiday horror. hear breaking new details on the connecticut family trapped inside their burning home christmas day. overcast in the afternoon. snow flurries stopped. tim will tell us if they'll make a return in the forecast. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

no doubt you are watching us. you are saying what snow? other people are saying i wish i could see some. radar tells the story where the line of snow showers is. the system is moving north of

us. we are on the very bottom edge of this. we have been watching on the radar snow showers moving across the region all day long. much not making it to the ground. in the last hour we are seeing much of it move across north baltimore county, carroll county and frederick and hagerstown town. you might see light rain or the sun out. right now temperature at bwi marshall 40 degrees. certainly not enough to sustain accumulation. 51% relative humidity. south wind. we'll get up to 42 in the next hour. barometer has been falling at 30.00. around the state temperatures ranging from 36 in oakland to 41 toward cumberland. 34 hagerstown. 44 on the shore. immediate metro area 36 wister.

38 belair. we have 40 degrees columbia and rock hall. 43 kent island. 43 annapolis. winds are bringing in a milder flow. chilly. enough to sustain a snow flurry activity. without the help of the sun we'll rely on southerly winds to take us into the low 40s. we could squeeze that out over the next hour or so. much has been evaporating before it hits the ground. in the last hour we are seeing showers making their way from washington county over to frederick and carroll and baltimore county. the two systems we are watching, one behind the other, a quick clipper system moving across. there is one behind it we'll see move through tomorrow. there is another one behind it that will move through new year's day. they are all going to come through breezing by only bringing us as much as you are seeing today. no accumulation. as a matter of fact the one after tonight will be further

to the north. we could experience a light shower friday night into saturday. it could be early saturday morning we'll see a light snow shower. new year's eve looks to be nice. small craft advisory in effect. that will be lifted a few hours from now. 34 degrees tonight. clouds breaking. we are looking for tomorrow's temperature going up to 54 degrees. mostly cloudy. average is 42. we are above that going into the last few days of the year. >> thank you very much. don't miss the cbs prime time lineup tonight. jeff moore has a preview of the cbs evening news tonight. >> reporter: staying healthy as you grow up. we'll tell you about new research that shows it may be possible for seniors to treat their bodies young. that's tonight on the cbs evening news. ,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,

with my friends, we'll do almost anything. out for drinks, eats. i have very well fitting dentures. i like to eat a lot of fruits. love them all. the seal i get with the super poligrip free keeps the seeds from getting up underneath. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs, it's clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat.

a lot of things going on in my life and the last thing i want to be thinking about is my dentures. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. it is 4:30. 40 degrees. cloudy in maryland. hi everybody. thank you for staying with eyewitness news. i'm iran said they took the photos during naval drills and will continue surveillance in the area. the show down could have an impact on gas prices.

>> reporter: the u.s. aircraft carrier spying on war games. iranian military is carrying out a ten-day exercise. the u.s. has warned iran not to interfere with tragic in the strategic oil route. iranian state television quotes a senior commander saying the u.s. is not in a position to tell them what to do. people of teheran say they approve of the military action. this man says you'll know how strong are country is by watching the latest military drill. iran threatened to close the straight after the european union threatened to tighten sanctions over iran over the program. one sixth of the world east oil comes from the straight. any disruption of the waterway will not be tolerated.

u.s. navy is active in that area of the persian gulf. so are warships from several other countries that patrol for pirates. tens of thousands north koreans gather to pay tribute to their late leader kim jong il. the crowd was made up of government officials, military offers and a hundred thousand civilians. mourners wore black winter coats. kim jongwu will take over power for his father gave the eulogy. he'll be the third member of the family to run north korea. the new 9/11 memorial is marking its one millionth visitor. memorial opened three and a half months ago and features two huge fountains that mark the not illegal immigrants footprints of the world trade center towers. a museum should be ready to open next year september 11th.

bad news for bp. the company may soon face criminal the charges in connection with the gulf oil spill. kia jackson is in the news room with more. >> federal prosecutors are consider, charging bp employees in the worse offshore oil spill in u.s. history. those employees allegedly provided false information to regulators about drilling risks. felony charges could be announced next year. 11 workers died in the explosion. it lead to a massive oil spill of more than four billion barrels some far no comment from bp or the department of justice. >> thank you very much. possible charges carry penalties up to five years in prison and a fine. the investigation continues into a deadly christmas day fire in a home in connecticut. five people were killed. two grandparent and their three grandchildren. officials are still looking for answers as family and friends mourn. >> reporter: a week ago it was

a dream home. soon it will be a barren lot vacant but for the memory of the christmas morning nightmare. wednesday they moved charred debris in a dumpster as a worker picked through the rumble by hand looking for anything worth saving. nearby a shrine to the victim's grows. this wreath is from stanford firefighters and a woman visiting from albany stopped by to say a prayer. >> we are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers. >> reporter: fire marshall says they put the fireplace ashes outside near house and that started the blaze. the med rale examiner says they all tied from smoke inhalation. wednesday the city of stanford released blueprints of the home which was being renovated. one of the young twins was found on the third floor. another with her grandma on the stairs leading from the second floor to the third. the oldest girl was in the

second floor back bedroom near a window. her grandfather climbed out on a roof area. it collapsed and he fell dieing from head trauma. stanford's top official said the renovation work included wiring for extensive smoke and carbon monoxide detection system. >> we don't know if the devices were installed or activated. >> reporter: it is not clear if any battery-operated detectors were in place. the homeowner and her friend desperately tried to get the victims out. he was released from the hospital wednesday. his sister-in-law telling cbs 2 michael is doing okay, as best as he can. the family is very sad about what happened. >> a memorial for the victims continues to grow outside of the site where the fire happened. extreme weather out west as

people in boulder,colorado are facing a high wind warning. wind speeds are between 35 and 40 miles per hour. gusts could hit 80 miles per hour. we had high wind yesterday. today we had a few snowflakes. wjz has weather and traffic together. we'll talk to christy in a second. tim is here with updated numbers. >> as you saw from the picture parts of the area have clouds. the other parts have sun. depending where you are watching from you'll likely see a little bit of all of it. most of the snow associated with the a quick moving clipper system moving across the northern tier of the great lakes. we are on the bottom edge. most of the snow moves across the area much of the day not making it to the ground. temperatures have gotten up to 40 degrees. where some is making it to the ground we are seeing a mix of snow and light rain. 40 degrees around the beltway.

you have to go north in baltimore county out towards frederick, washington county and carroll county will see some of it. 40 degrees is not going to sustain snow showers. this is what the satellite and radar looks like through the afternoon. some of the snow making it to the ground surprising many. we seen some here on television hill. it is starting to dissipate. we'll watch it through the evening and see if we'll see anymore of it before it makes its way out of here. we'll have your updated forecast coming up. >> thank you very much. let's check on the roads right now. >> hi everyone. we have a couple issues around the beltway. if you are traveling around the topside outer loop we have an accident. it is partially blocking the ramp. as far as north side outer loop goes slowing from york road to charles street. westside inner loop is backed from 70 to security boulevard. northbound 95 a couple trouble

spots. slow from the howard county line over to 175. then we see brake lights for northbound 95 traveling up to the beltway on the northeast corner. as far as accidents go, eastern avenue at tidewaiter lane, hartford road at mountain vista. that's a look at 95 atop of the tunnel. everything is moving along fine. 97 at 178. family and friends of a texas teenager, a rising star on youtube gather at his funeral in austin. as anna warner reports he left behind a touching video revealing the health problems that took his life.

>> reporter: for a year austin, texas teen ben breedlove has been gaining a following on youtube with the wisdom of someone far beyond his 18 years. >> he is the most grateful person i have ever known. >> reporter: before christmas ben made a different video. still funny but terribly sad. ben shared with the world his personal struggle with a life- threatening heart condition and how it challenged him every day of his life. >> at 13 years old a cardiologist did some test. >> reporter: a thickening of the heart muscle makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood. it causes chest pain, high blood pressure and event july

heart failure. ben detailed how he cheated death at age four and again earlier this month. paramedics had to revive him at school. >> i asked him if he was happy that he woke up. he said i guess. he said he was so glad to be back with our family but he was wanting to be back in that peace. >> reporter: shortly after ben returns to that peace. he passed away christmas morning while playing in the backyard with his younger brother. he is family did not see the video until the following day. it was he is last christmas present to them. >> ben's video has been viewed more than a million times on youtube. straight ahead on wjz eyewitness news at 4:00, tangled mess. a 40 car pileup leaves two dead in new orleans . what may have caused the chain reaction crash. turning the tables, three

armed robbers get an unwelcomed surprise from a man they targeted through craigslist. cold and cloudy. it is a beautiful sunset on this final thursday of the year. what to expect in your forecast. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

a gas well explodes and bursts into flames injuring four people in china. one other person is still missing. officials say the gas well blew up during a nitrogen drilling operation. firefighters managed to put out the flames. no toxic gas was found in the air following the blast. investigators are trying to figure out what triggered a fatal 40 car pileup in new orleans . accident closed a major highway in both directions. >> two men in separate pickup trucks died and 22 people were taken to the hospital with

minor to critical injuries. that accident happened at 4:30 a.m. new orleans police are not sure what caused the massive crash. weather was likely a factor. 37 other people suffered minor injuries. one firefighter was treated after he was cut on the face while pulling a trapped person from a vehicle. traffic was backed up for miles and diverted to other routes. >> thank you. police can not say when the highway is expected to reopen jo an attempted murder is batched when he pull out his own gun. he pretended to be interested in the game system but put a gun to his head. >> he put a gun to my head in my house. of course i'm going to shoot you. i'm not going to feel bad about it. it is your fault. >> two robbers are in custody.

police are searching for another man in connection with the crime. it is a dramatic rescue when a dog falls through thin ice in colorado. matt has the report, with the warm temperatures the ice is not thick enough to support a dog let alone a person. >> reporter: a walk around the pond for torre and his best friend. he ventured on the thin ice. fell threw and that's when rescue crews sprang into action. >> ice the thin enough even the dogs fall through. >> reporter: he was 40 feet from the bank treading water but getting nowhere fast.

>> you become a victim. >> reporter: he was able to shake off this close call. as for the owner a good remind minder of how fast a walk in the park can turn into a scary situation. >> the dog is checked out and doing fine. he'll be watched more closely the next time they are at the lake. a visitor at the los angeles zoo gets up close and personal with the animal . the woman hopped a fence to get a closer look at the elephant . she petted them five minutes before police took them into custody. the woman later admitted she suffered from mental illness and did not take her medication that day. officials say they have no plans to increase security at the zoo. hollywood heart break and cheating stars. mark has more from l.a. >> reporter: coming up on entertainment tonight, hollywood's biggest cheaters

inside the romances that made headlines for the wrong reasons. >> she was america's sweet heart. oscar winning actress found happiness with her bad boy tattooed daredevil who started on several tv shows on his own. >> jesse works so hard all day. we get dressed up in monkey suits. >> the fact he cheated it was the type of women he cheated with. >> reporter: ten days after sandra won her best actress oscar for the blind side news-his detray y'all betrayal broke. jesse stepped uptaking all the blame for the affair in an interview on nbc's night line. >> i have an amazing life and success and marriage and

everything. i threw it away by my own hands. >> also tonight the most famous politicians who cheated from bill clinton with monica to john edwards love child while his love elizabeth battled cancer. only one week left in the regular season for the profootball challenge. jessica is at wjz.com to update this week's standings. >> reporter: it will be a fight to the finish in the leader board after 16 weeks adam and i are tied at the top with 163 points. there is a three way tie for third. marty with 161 points. this week's big winner from dundalk got 14 out of 16 games

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a little sun flurry, some light rain, snow flurries and something that we were watching, but did not expect to see much of on the ground, but it did and off the radar, here is this system that is bracing up. you have to be in the northern part of the state, northern baltimore and fredrick and

washington county to see this activity really. the atmosphere is really dry. most of it on the radar and working its way down on the last hour or so and we saw it on the top portion of 83 and the temperatures are at 40 and it will be pretty to come down and not accumulate where you see it. 28 in the dew point, down from 30 and 61% humidity with a south wind at six. 30.00 is the barometer. the temperatures --

from the city to the south, more of a mild floarks the temperatures in the 40-degrees range. we don't expect to see the snow showers sticking and we have a system moving quick lie over the area near the great lakes and another one behind that and another one moving through on new year's day. each will move far noser to the north to not be in the heart of the activity and the clouds will increase as this moves by with this activity dissipating into the sky before it gets there. this will go back up to the 50s and for the rest of the year, the overnight lows in the chilly 30s and it will be a pretty easy tran cyst, that heading into the new year. high pressure will be in control of the forecast. the sun is up, pretty much right now and the overnight low and the clouds will break and the temperatures will go up tomorrow to about 54 and that

is above the average high of 42. >> thank you. coming up, a horrific scene on the freeway and now a family is grieving. more on that investigation and what the police said about a driver ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

. a child was killed on a maryland highway and will anybody be charged. a dangerous wild fire and it left teens badly burned.

>> in indiana, the mayor and the wrap up and more coming up at the wrap up at 5:00. a deadly pile up, a little boy died when his family's car was struck from behind and now the police return to the scene to see what happen. good afternoon. here is what people are talking about tonight, the accident that killed a 5-year-old boy and hurt the intire family. tonight the police are reconstructing the events that caused it and locking into possible charges. jane, how is the investigat