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. >> a change in leader ship for baltimore's catholic community. >> the pope chooses a new archbishop. >> hello again i am jessica kartalija. >> i am don scott. >> here what is people are talking about. baltimore's archdiocese has a new leader, the pope appoints william laurie as the new bishop, alex has more on this major announcement. good afternoon. >> reporter: good afternoon, jessica, william laurie now becomes the archdiocese of baltimore's 16th archbishop. maryland's catholic's new spiritual leader was introduced by its outgoing bishop edwin o'brien. 62-year-old william laurie was serving as bish bishop of bridgeport when he was named, one reason has been his active role in representing the church on hot button issues like insurance coverage for

contraceptions, he arrives as maryland's new same sex marriage law is headed for a refer referendum, a fight they will continue under him. >> not only teaching but working with all of the other bishops and other leaders as the referendum unfolds. >> reporter: william laurie eye installation will be held at the cathedral of mary or queen on our queen on may the 16th. >> we will have more at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00. >> a local soldier murdered overseas is laid to rest at the arlington national cemetery. [ playing taps ] >> a predawn procession of loved ones and kliegs of major robert marchanti took part in the procession today. a member of maryland's army national guard he was ambushed and killed last month following other soldiers burning old

copies of the koran. he leaves behind a wife and four children. >> we are learning more about the u.s. marine accused of going on a shooting spree in afghanistan. ron matz is in the newsroom with the latest on robert bales. >> reporter: he was deep in deep. records show he owes 1.5 million from a fraud case. he is accused of slaughtering 16 afghans, many women and children. yesterday he met with his lawyer john henry brown for the first time and told he has a cloudy memory of the night of the shootings. >> he has no memory of -- he has and early memory of that evening and he has a later memory of that evening, but he doesn't have memory of in between. >> bales could be charged for the afghanistan shooting sometime this week, jessica, back to you. >> all right, ron, thank you. military officials have said bales had been drinking

the night of those shootings. >> amid growing outrage from the public the justice department and the fbi are investigating the shooting of an unarmed african american teenager in florida. trayvon martin was shot and killed by george zimmerman who told police he was following the teen because he looked suspicious. zimmerman says he shot him in self-defense dur aping scuffle. police have not charged him but a local grand jury has been convened to further investigate the case. primary voting isunderway in the polls, mitt romney is hoping to win although a mistake could cost santorum votes. >> reporter: the polls are open, the voters are picking the one they want to challenge the president. it is a show down between mit

roll knee mitt romney and rick santorum. >> i don't care what the unemployment rate will be. >> at a rally romney pounced on his rival's mistake. >> one of the people said he doesn't care about the unemployment rate. that doesn't bother him. i do care about the unemployment rate. >> santorum later admitted unemployment is important, going on to say the nation's economic troubles are symptoms of the government's intrusion into the lives of voters. occasionally you say some things you wish you had you know a do over. but you know what? i think it is important that you try to get a sense of how real the candidate is. you know mistakes and all. >> santorum hopes his method of restoring freedom will drive conservative voters in southern illinois to the polls today, delivering him a surprise win, romney is counting on republicans in chicago suburbs to help him secure a victory and add most of the states 54 delegates to his already big

deal gait lead. randall pinkston, wjz eyewitness news. >> tonight santorum will watch the returns from pennsylvania and romney will travel to maryland tomorrow for a rally. >> around maryland today it is a cloudy start on the first day of spring after days of sunshine, this one is off to a pretty gray start but the temperatures are still nice out there and things are certainly in bloom. will the sun be making a return later on? meteorologist bernadette woods is live with the answers. good afternoon. >> good afternoon, jess and every 1 out there, and yes, hello spring, it started today. we are going to show you radar, things have calmed down, maybe a shower or thunderstorm this afternoon. but let's show you this morning when we had showers and thunderstorms out there, those sort of meandering down south and the clouds will take time to mix but we will see some hazy sunshine and temperatures going up but already this is where we started out the day, we have not moved much but when

these are your lows that is still impressive because they are already above our average highs for this time of year so we will have that forecast coming up, don. >> a renewed push to legalize medical marijuana here but the effort may have hit a road block, advocates are calling on the general assembly to legalize it for the treatment of chronic illnesses but the lawmakers say they can't pass a bill that could result in drug charges against federal employees and the governor says he would veto it, but advocates say certain amendments could change his mind. >> i hope we find a way to pass one of the bills and hopefully the governor would sign it. >> there are laws in 16 states and the district of columbia. >> a cancer survivor is joining forces calling for ban on smokeless tobacco. he lost his bottom teeth and

much of his tong and neck from heavy use of smokeless to back organization the state senate has approved changes the tax rate and the house of delegates is set to vote on additional adjustments. >> the maryland's women's basketball team is headed to the sweet 16, last night they took on louisville and both teams appeared ready for a fight but maryland wins 72-68 and face texas a&m in the sweet 16. the sweet 16 on the men's side continues, it is syracuse playing wisconsin then the battle ohio, the buckeyes versus the bearcats right here. >> still to come on wjz eyewitness news at noon a major storm leaves a path of destruction in the midwest. we will have the latest on the

damage. >> a country wide manhunt. are police in france closer to finding the person who gunned down several school children. >> the first day of spring is here and has brought clouds with it. your updated forecast is coming up. >> complete coverage continues with don scott, jessica kartalija, and first warning weather with marty bass, and meteorol,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

a manhunt continues across france today for a serial killer who gunned down several children outside a school yesterday. the president was on hand for a moment of silence for the rabbi, his two young sons and another child shot and killed outside the school. investigators say the same gun was used in attacks on soldiers last week and they believe a series of three shootings are linked and have religious intolerance as a motive. in texas emergency crews are on the ground after a tornado touches down. the town of devon was the worse hit. accompanied by heavy rain and hail, thousands of households are still without electricity but no reports of serious injury. >> a 400 pound gorilla causes quite a scene at the zoo in buffalo, new york, the 24-year- old silver backed gorilla slipped through an unlocked door. the zoo was put under lock-

down, a swat team was brought into help. before it was recant churred it bit it bit a zoo keeper. >> i am sure it was scared. >> they are still trying to figure it out. >> a lot of those have been sold, three million are in the hands of consumers and yesterday they announced a bye back of stock and pay a dividend of $2.65 in july. >> what amazing me is my one- year-old son knows how to use it. still ahead a great day out there. the first official day of spring it is, your updated local forecast is two and a

half days away. >> first a look at the midday's stocks followed by a look at last night's multimatch numbers. ,, medicare. it doesn't cover everything. and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money. that's why you should consider an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. all medicare supplement insurance plans can help pay... some of what medicare doesn't, so you could save... thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses. call now for this free information kit and medicare guide. if you're turning 65 or you're already on medicare... you should know about this card -- it's the only one of its kind endorsed by aarp; see if it's right for you. all medicare supplement plans let you keep your own doctor,

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[ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪ now the weather, complete forecast and the first warning of severe weather. >> welcome back, everybody. starting to brighten a little bit out there. and it is going to take some time. we will see hazy sunshine, limited but through the afternoon it is going to get warmer also. this is what we had going on this morning. all of those showers, even a

couple of thunderstorms drifting around but most have died down. as they have the cloud are trying to break up. the breeze, there is not much of one but will pick up this afternoon mixing out those clouds, visibility starting to improve. earlier today we were down to zero for visibility, zero in easton and ocean city but those are starting to come up. temperatures will respond because of that. 62 in baltimore, 68 in dc. this is already way above our average high for this time of year and we are going to keep climbing this afternoon. take a look at the eastern part of the country, the same idea we talked about the past few days, this is all of the cold air over the west where the stormy weather is and temperatures over the east are just incredible. breaking records right and left. it is 77 degrees already in chicago. we are going to continue to pull that air our way as long as we are in this weather pattern. so you see out to the west this is where we have seen the stormy weather. the leading edge of this some severe weather even during the early morning hours. what is going to happen for us?

this gets locked up to the west. a few pieces of energy have broken off and that is why we saw showers and thunderstorms today. there is nothing to move them along so with that moisture trapped in place there is again a chance for a shower or thunderstorm this afternoon and again so tomorrow and maybe even slightly on thursday but no real organized storm system coming our way. the big gist of the next few days the warm weather continues. so the forecast looks like this for today, going up to 73 degrees. we will see hazy sunshine through the afternoon. tonight back down to the 50s. a mild one with fog forming again. tomorrow clouds mix with sunshine. a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. back up to 73. the thing is, after we get through tomorrow those temperatures go up. we have already been so far above average and we are going to go up before we go back down again. our average high to this time of year is 55 degrees. >> wow. >> so i heard someone say it was chilly this weekend.

we were still in the 60s, so we have been spoiled and it looks like we are going to maintain the above average temperatures. >> everything comparable to yesterday. >> yes, that is true. >> still to come an unexpected benefit of treating your high cholesterol. the results of a new study coming up in health watch. >> remember wjz 13 is always on for you, here is some of the stories we are following on our website. for constant updates of the news and the first warning weather forecast go to wjz.com. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,

especially the wjz health watch report, people who experience a sudden drop in blood pressure appear at increased risk for heart failure, it occurs when blood pressure falls rapidly when someone stands up from lying down. a new study from the university of north carolina chapel hill says people with this type of low blood pressure are more than 1.5 times likelier to develop hart failure than those without pressure issues. attention deficit hyper activity disorder in on the recognize, research at nor western shows the number of children receiving that diagnosis has jumped 66% in the past 10 years, primarily they

say because of increased awareness helping doctors recognize the symptoms and diagnosis the disorder. drugs meant to lower cholesterol may also prevent pneumonia, they studied people and found those that received statin had a lower instance of it. >> be sure to ching at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00, new details on that investigation of a controversial shooting death of a florida teenager and will bring you the latest on the new archbishop william laurie, join us for these stories and all the day's breaking news at 4:00, right after dr. phil. >> stay with us, the five-day- forecast is coming right up. i was shocked to find out how many couples don't sleep in the same bedroom. but in the sleep number store, we hear it all the time yeah, nine out of ten couples disagree on the firmness they want in a mattress. i sleep on the couch. with our bed, the sleep number setting represents the firmness that you like on your half of the mattress. don't mess with my side because i'm comfortable.

i can adjust mine to my liking and she can do the same. go ahead and switch sides so you can feel what the other side feels like. you're on his side. how does that feel? it's hard. i like my side i like my better, too. side better. this is this is too soft. too hard. why don't we switch back to where you were. i am so glad to be back. oh, yeah. you can have comfort and you can be in the same bed. there's no debate or no squabble because you can have it your way and i'll have it mine. so we save a lot of marriages. discover the amazing sleep number bed, only at a sleep number store where during our semi-annual sleep sale, you can save $400 to $700 on our most popular bed sets. sale ends soon. there are 400 sleep number stores nationwide,

welcome back, everybody. a little bit of brightening but it is going to take time and we will see sunshine through the afternoon, still clouds out there but it is going to be warm. already in the 60s to start out the day. we are going to top out in the 70s, take a look at this five- day-forecast, we only go up over the the next new afternoons, close to 80, then a storm system that knocks down our temperatures once again but the thing is, this is what we were saying earlier, 60s are way above average, so even though they are not the 80s we are talking 25 to 30 degrees above average. that is just how insane this has been.

>> that is good. >> yeah, no complaints from the two of us. >> don't miss the primetime line up, at 10 unforgettable then stay tuned for eyewitness news at 11:00. >> it is of course, the first day of spring and along with showers and pretty plowers come a free italian ice, rita's the nation's largest italian ice company is celebrating spring by giving away free ice. show up for a free regular sized ice of your choice, the promotion runs until 10:00 tonight at most locations, last year rita's gave away more than a million servings of italian ice. >> you think you will get a icy reception when you get there. >> i think you will get a warm one. >> thanks for watching wjz eyewitness news. bern knows me too well. all right. have a wonderful day i am jessica kartalija. >> don scott. >> and i am bernadette woods. have a great afternoon.

enjoy your water ice or whatever flavor or ice or warm that you would like. >> that is italian. the italian people are warm people. >> have a good one. enjoy your first day of spring everyone. >> see you tomorrow. send comments to comments@captioncolorado.com captions by terry jame,,,,,,,,,, ,,