plus your choice of either no annual contract or a two year price guarantee. call 1.866.solutions or visit verizon.com/solutions today. hurry -- this offer won't last long. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 1-800-974-6006 this is wjz tv, wjz hd, and wjz.com baltimore. from the city to the counties to your neighborhood. now it's complete coverage. it's wjz, maryland's news station. >> it's sentencing day. the woman convicted of killing a coworker in bethesda is

expected to learn her fate as the family makes a final plea for mercy. >> here's what people are talking about today. the woman convicted of killing her coworker is learning how long she'll spend in prison. but not before her family makes a plea for mercy. good afternoon andrea. >> reporter: good afternoon everyone. life with parole, that's what brittany norwood's family hopes the judge will grant her. the prosecution hopes she'll spend the rest of her life behind bars. the murder of jay in a murray -- jana murray. >> i know the trauma our family has been through. i want no other family to go through this. >> she was convicted in march of killing murray after murray accused her of stealing

merchandise. she initially said they were attacked by two men. but evidence shows she endured stabbing, cutting, beating, and choking wounds before she died. it took a jury one hour to find norwood guilty of first-degree murder. now the family is asking the judge to show mercy by sentencing her to life with parole. her father earl norwood said i know brittany is a good person and will do everything in her power to make amends if given a chance. i love my daughter and i know she's worthy of a chance. the victim's family say she is beyond rehabilitation and should spend the rest of her life locked up. if a judge does allow the possibility of parole, under maryland law, she would have to spend 25 years behind bars before she's eligible. >> sentencing is scheduled to

begin at 1:00 in rockville. wjz is in the courtroom and will bring you the latest at 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00. a guilty plea for a man charged in the murder of the pizza shop worker. he is expected to be sentenced in april. he also faces the possibility of life without parole. >> there's a $10,000 reward for information about the murder of gregory sears. anyone with information is asked to call 8667 lockup. >> a storm you start to the friday. the rain kept most people inside. and we hope you had an umbrella or a raincoat with you. now a live look outside. there are still lots of clouds around and it continues to be very warm for this time of year. and marty is in the first

warning weather center. good afternoon. >> hello, everybody. i want to take a look at doppler weather radar. very interesting. this cluster of showers just to the east of the outer harbor. within the past 15 minutes, it popped up over the bay. otherwise, we're not looking at any rain. look off to the west and clear skies. it's 19 degrees warmer right now than at this time yesterday. and with the sun coming out area-wide over the last hour and a half. that 63 is easily jumping to 66, maybe 67 degrees. or the sun gets out quicker, slightly warmer. that's the beginning of the story. look at next week. we don't have arctic air coming our way from across the border. what's coming our air is milder air from across a southern border. we'll have the first warning details coming up shortly. it's all good. an investigation is

underway into a fire in northeast baltimore. it broke out at a home on ravenwood avenue. an adult and child were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation and burns. no word on a cause. an eastern shore town is preparing to welcome the president. he'll be making a stop in cambridge where he'll join house democrats for their retreat. the president will wrap up his tour in michigan. and after a lively debate in jacksonville, the republicans running for the white house are focusing on immigration ahead of tuesday's primary. here's randall pinkston with the latest. >> reporter: mitt romney and newt gingrich are back on the campaign trail, shaking hands and trying to win the backing of florida's 1.5 million hispanic gop voters. both candidates are speaking at a hispanic conference and bracing for questions about the exchanges in the debate.

>> is he still the most anti- immigrant candidate? >> of the four of us, yes. >> reporter: the former massachusetts governor struck back hard. >> my wife's father was born in wales. the idea that i'm anti- immigrant is repulsive. >> gingrich has slipped 9 points behind romney. president obama is keeping his focus on the economy. he's on the final leg of a three day, five state swing, visiting the university of michigan. he's pushing a new plan to make college more affordable. >> reporter: the bottom line is that an economy built to last demands we keep doing everything we can to bring down the cost of college. >> reporter: his campaign appears ready to challenge the presidential hopefuls on their economic proposals. at the white house, randall

pinkston, wjz eyewitness news. rick santorum will put his campaign on hold and head home to pennsylvania to file income taxes. he admits the fight to win florida has become a two man race between gingrich and romney. the governor's new smoking proposal would impose a 75% tax on tobacco products. local businesses say the increase would just send tobacco buyers to other states and hurt maryland retailers. breaking sports news. the ravens introduce a new man in charge of the defense. ron is in the newsroom with more on that. good afternoon, ron. >> good afternoon, don. head coach john harbaugh officially introduced dean -- as the team's defensive coordinator and announced that cam cameron will return. he's coached the linebackers for the defense in the run to

the afc championship. he was the patriots coordinator before he came to baltimore in 2010. he's replacing chuck pagano who took the job with the indianapolis colts. jerry rossberg will return to the ravens. that's the word from the castle. now back to you. >> thank you very much, ron. we'll have much more on wjz eyewitness news at 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00. we want to show you an early look in johns hopkins. the million dollars expansion features 500 private rooms that can accommodate patients' families as well. it's equipped with the latest technology. the new buildings are set to open at the end of april. cruise ship compensation, how much the passengers on board the costa concordia should receive. dozens are killed and more hurt after the latest act of violence in iraq. and the weather outside should be getting better after

a stormy beginning to the week. your complete forecast is coming up. complete coverage continues with don scott, ♪ ♪ we were skipping stones ♪ and letting go ♪ over the river and down the road ♪ [ female announcer ] at nature valley, we know nature comes together in amazing ways. that's why we bring together natural ingredients, like dark chocolate with toasted oats, or sweet golden honey. perfect combinations of nature's delicious ingredients, from nature valley. ♪ ♪ i was thinking that i hope this never ends ♪ [ female announcer ] nature valley granola bars, nature at its most delicious.

dozens are killed in a

suicide car bombing in iraq. the blast occurred during a shiite funeral procession. the bombing is related to a series of attacks that have killed more than 200 people this year. survivors of the costa concordia cruise ship disaster will be compensates $14,000 each. the full cost of the cruise will also be reimbursed. 16 people are dead because of that disaster. 16 others are still missing. and nearly a dozen people in cincinnati are hospitalized after dealing with a disaster of their own. a 30 by 50-foot section of floor collapsed at a construction site of a new casino, injuring 11 people. the concrete was being poured and the floor collapsed. >> hollywood is saying goodbye

to robert hedges. he died yesterday from a heart attack. he was most known for his role as juan epstein along with john travolta on the '70s sitcom. he was 60 years old. and still to come on wjz eyewitness news at noon, looking ahead to the weekend. find out what's in store weather-wise. the weather forecast is 2 1/2 minutes away. first a look at the midday stocks to be followed by last night's multi-match numbers. ,,,, [ mom ] hey guys.

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welcome back. i'm having a moment here with lucy. the great grateful dead song. lucy is 5 years old. she would like to be well taken care of. through one reason or another, her owners had to give her up. and this is one of the gentlest dogs we've had. she's real relaxed and friendly. at the maryland spca and we'll show you the number. walks the walk and talks the

talk. there's the number. here yo go. >> come and see uncle don. >> she's really, really a nice dog. >> beautifully mild right now. you know, our first warning weather computer takes temperatures and constantly updates them. we've dropped a degree. only 18 degrees above what we were at this time yesterday. can anybody feel it? it is absolutely a gorgeous lunch hour. it's going to be a beautiful afternoon. 63degrees on tv hill. we have a mild westerly breeze at 15. 80% humidity. the barometer is going to start rising before long. let's take a look at other temps. almost 60 in el kin and easton. the low to mid-60s around solomon's island. and ocean city, 60, bel air,

63. columbia-- look at the marine influence. it's a little bit cooler on the water than over land right now. 53 in atlas. 57 in rock hall. it's a real simple scenario. the moisture is pressed through the region. we're going to see a wind shift trucking on through the mid- atlantic between 3:00 and 4:30. a 30% chance of a pop-up shower with the frontal boundary moving through the area. that's going to be the only impact. we're going to cool down and if we get in the low 40s after a day in the 60s, it's going to feel cold. the fact of the matter is those are the normal temperatures. and as we move into early next week. we'll see it get quite mild again. not only here in the mid- atlantic, but 3/4 of the united states will go way above normal. today, 66 degrees. we haven't hit our daytime high yet. that's called living large.

mainly clear overnight. and tomorrow partly sunny, knock it back behind the wind shift to 54 degrees. and we'll take look at a beautiful 5-day forecast. january has certainly been an easy month. >> and february is starting out pretty good. >> at least one day of it. only 28 more to worry about. remember, this is a leap year. >> 29 days indeed. new progress in the fight against alzheimer's. what researchers have found coming up in health watch. and remember wjz.com is always on for you. here are the stories we're following on the website. go to wjz.com. medicare. it doesn't cover everything. and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money.

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in today's health watch, a new test could improve the survival rate of thousands of lung cancer patients. the test measures the activity of 14 genes in cancerous tissue. the tests could accurately predict the odds of death. and guide patients to treatments. >> a recently discovered protein in the brain could play a key role in controlling alzheimer's disease. it's very active in the brains of people suffering from memory loss. the hope is to block the protein from reaching the brain. and the number of people with bad hospital experiences

may be higher than reported. many patients don't have the energy to make complaints or believe it won't make a difference anyhow. and some don't know who to turn to when they experience bad service or care at a hospital. check back in today at 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00. we'll have the latest on the sentencing hearing for brittany norwood. and new details on the hostages rescued from somalia. join us after dr. phil and please stick around. the 5-day forecast is come right up. ,, on my journey across america, ,, i've learned that when you ask someone in texas

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dramatic looking skies. can we stop the camera here? >> he's trying. don't reverse it. >> leave it there. that's a great shot and thank you so much. that shower activity that popped up is like this, you know, little fuzzy air mass hitting the bay. and we're getting bay effect rain on the other side of the chesapeake bay. >> i can see it both places. >> go back to that shot one more time. we got time. that's really cool. well done. well done indeed.

that's all moving off to the east. go ahead and take a look at the 5-day forecast. umbrellas in rock hall. the skies are going to clear area-wide the next couple of hours. it's going to be a beautiful sunset. 48 sunday and 42 monday. here's that warmup we were talking about. tuesday, 54. almost 60 february 1st. wow. >> all right. tonight's prime time lineup. 10:00 it's tom selleck and bluebloods. and wjz eyewitness news at 11:00. >> take a look at a shetland pony goes for a jog down the streets of no december to -- modesto, california. eventually, somebody brought hay and the pony chilled out until his ride came. [ laughter ] >> one of the great books i've ever read was about -- a satire

entitled shoot more boys, they're riding shetland ponies. >> thanks for watching wjz eyewitness news. here's a friendly reminder. it's your last chance to get verizon's reliable high speed internet and phone for small business for only $84.99 a month. call 1.866.solutions now or visit verizon.com/solutions. only $84.99 for high-speed internet and phone. plus your choice of either no annual contract or a two year price guarantee. call 1.866.solutions or visit verizon.com/solutions today. hurry -- this offer won't last long. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 1-800-974-6006

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