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. >> good afternoon. i am don scott. >> and i am jessica kartalija. >> and we begin with today's breaking news, the mega millions jackpot is the topic, state lottery officials just telling wjz moments ago the jackpot has jumped 100 million dollars to 540 million to 640 million, the cash option is now $462 million. lottery officials say the demand is so high for tickets they had to deliver extra rolls of paper for tickets to retailers, that drawing is just after 11:00 tonight and could go higher. in the day's other big news story testimony continuing in the second trial of two twin brother accused of setting a pit bull on fire. wjz and weijia jiang are live outside the courthouse. good afternoon. >> reporter: good afternoon. right now jurors are hearing from the police officer who put out the flames on the puppy

with her sweater, she said the air smelled like burning meat. still the star witness in this case may be a city police camera. video taken from a city watch police camera is considered a key piece of evidence in the trial against travers and trumaine johnson, the 20-year- old twins accused over setting a pit bull on fire in may, 2009. the dog, nicknamed phoenix, was burned so badly she had to be euthanized, outraging many. >> it is something that someplace in my mind is going to stay with me always. >> they have been tried before, but it ended with a mistrial. a single hold out could not be convinced to convict. this week they heard opening statements. their lawyer said they are scapegoats. family members think so too. >> i am surprised this case

wept as went as far as it did. >> the video shows the brothers running away from the scene, several jurors had to turn their heads from the images of a burnt phoenix. within little dogs most of her bodies in flames, screaming, jumping, crying out in pain, left to die in the street. >> they will call an eyewitness to the crime. she is expected to testify she watched the johnsons running away from the scene. weijia jiang wjz eyewitness news. >> the johnsons face felony animal cruelty charges, the maximum penalty for that is three years in prison. >> the family of the florida man who shot a black teenager is now speaking out. george zimmerman's family says he was acting in self-defense despite a history of aggression. randall pinkston has the latest

for wjz from sanford, florida. >> reporter: robert zimmerman , jr., says his younger brother acted in self-defense when trayvon martin atacted him. he said george zimmerman stopped someone from disarming him and shooting him. you return force with force when someone assaults you. he thought he looked suspicious and followed him. robert zimmerman junior said martin confronted his brother, punching him in the face and knocking him to the ground. george was out of breath, his barely conscious, his last thing he remembers doing is moving his head from the concrete to the grass. he says zimmerman pulled out his pistol and shot martin in the chest. but in video taken 40 minutes after the attack zimmerman has no obvious face or head injuries. police let zimmerman go after they determined there wasn't enough evidence to charge him. the sanford community is preparing for another protest tomorrow in support of trayvon martin. there will be a march followed

by a rally in front of police headquarters. the case continues to spur protests around the nation. >> i think it was an insulted -- isolated incident. it happened all the time. >> many wore hoodies, even members of the california legislature. >> a special prosecutor is now reviewing all of the evidence to decide whether zimmerman can legitimately claim that he killed to save his own life. >> here the governor has granted his first conditional commutations, making two prisoners sentenced to life eligible for parole. >> on both situations as well as the 50 or more that i rejected, all very very deeply tragic. >> it is mark grant and tamara settles who have had their sentences commuted and they could be released this year but that will be decided by the parole commission. the governor has previously

said no to 49 or 50 commutation requests. investigators still don't know what caused a blaze at andrews airforce base. it did damage but no residents or firefighters were hurt. >> it has been 10 years since the washington beltway sniper attacks. now new technology could have saved the lives of victims. kai jackson is live with details. good afternoon. >> reporter: good afternoon, police say license plate scanners could have made a live or death difference. 10 people were killed back in 2002 when they went on a shooting spree. police say license plate readers now common would have made the outcome different. montgomery county has 22 license plate scanners in the field. >> thank you. muhammad was found guilty and executed, lee malvo is serving

life without parole. >> the councilwoman caught driving over 100 miles an hour will fight her ticket in court. karen tolls was initially only fined for an improper lane change but after some accused police of preferential treatment she was also charged with wreckless driving. according to nup reports today she will fight that ticket in court later this month. >> a sign of spring is here, the first day of racing at pimlico race track, today marks the first time they have hosted a live race since last year's preakness, the full racing schedule was saved in december by a last minute deal between the state and the jockey club, starting today pimlico will host eight weeks of racing leading up to the second jewel of the triple crown, the preakness on may 19th. >> weather-wise our friday has become real cloudy and remains on the cooler side of what we haved. take a live look outside right now. an overcast inner harbor that has seen recent sprinkles of rain and apparently that is not the last rain we will see so it

is straight over to marty bass and the first warning weather center, good afternoon. >> good afternoon, let's go right to radar, to be quite honest about it we have advanced rain up about six or eight hours, it is an evening event through tomorrow but we are starting to see a warm air mass hit this cooler air that has been over the mid-atlantic through the overnight and this morning. there is your cause and effect. go ahead and take a look at this on a graphic. it is a simple scenario, i want you to notice there is not a whole lot of wind. so let's go back to first warning doppler weather radar, even though this looks like it is trucking along at a good pace it is basically meandering along the leading edge of a stalled air mass. so expect showers the afternoon, steadier periods of rain later, the first warning details shortly but i am going to tell you this betty nothing is going to ruin your weekend

and i have got proof. back to you. >> all right. two english soccer teams are going to kick up their rivalry right here. they will square off on july 28th at mnt bank stadium. it is the third soccer match there. tickets go on sale tuesday and prices range from 36 to 125 dollars, it is part of a 3 city tour that will also take them to new york and los angeles. >> and here is a huge liverpool fan base here already. just go to fell's point anytime a game is played. still to come a huge police raid in france, many suspected terrorists are now under arrest. >> a major recall from honda, we will tell you who is effected. >> and a live look outside on this this great friday afternoon. stay with us the complete forecast is coming up. >> complete coverage continues

with don scott, jessica kartalija and first warning weather with marty bass and meteorol,,,,,,,,

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 the final days of our semi-annual sleep sale, save $400 to $700 on our most popular bed sets.

sale ends march 31st. there are 400 sleep number stores nationwide, where queen mattresses start at just $699. 19 suspected islamic extreme efforts are under

arrest following a raid in france. it led the killing of terror suspect there. they seized automatic weapons during the sweep. no word yet on what led police to those taken in custody. >> firefighters in colorado are still raising to contain a raging wildfire before high winds, record heat and low humidity move in over the weekend. the controlled burn turned wild fire has already charred six square miles. residents of almost 180 homes who fled the wildfire are still waiting to hear when they can return. 27 homes have been destroyed and two people were found dead in one of them. >> we now know the name of the co-pilot of jet blue flight who took over when his captain went out of cool. managers are new debriefing jason dowd, they say he locked the captain out of the cockpit after he started ranting about iraq and a bomb.

he then brought an off-duty pilot into the cock put to help make an emergency landing in texas. right now osman is charged with interfering with a flight consumer. >> in the sciewrp watch a major recall from honda, they are recalling more than 550,000 crv and pilot suvs because the low people headlights can fail. they will fix it at no cost. affected vehicles include the 2002 through 2004 crvs and the 2003 pilots, no accidents have been reported as a result f defect. owners will get recall noises in the mail starting in late april. >> still ahead on wjz eyewitness news at noon, it is friday. and looking ahead to our weekend find out what is in store for us weather-wise. your full first warning weather forecast is two and 1/2 minutes away. >> but first let's take a look at today's midday stocks followed by last night's multimatch numbers. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

talking about the cheese we put on our dog's food. you put cheese -- >> yeah -- >> -i -- i put american -- >> -- dixie is in -- >> -cheese puffs -- >> -- looking at me, i gave her -- all right, this is monkey right here, monkey is 5 months

old now. monkey was just dropped off on the property of the spca, he was all matted, so you can imagine what he looked like. he has been shaved down. he is a poodle mix and as tentative as he is up here, he is shaking right now but he has a pretty good disposition and they are sponsored by mr. basement,they like those cheese balls too. so there you go, ron and i are going to have a bag next time he comes to town. all right, have a good life. let's talk about a little weather. radar shows shower activity in the region and again this not really moving fast. the winds are calm right now so you have got this shower activity meandering across the region and it is the flavor of the day, the night, the overnight and into tomorrow. i think by tomorrow evening, the last day of -- the last

day, the last sunset of march we should start to see skies clearing out and march will go out as it came in, like a lamb. right now on tv hill let's go ahead and take a look at the numbers, 45, 53% humidity, calm winds, barometer at 30.11, 48 cumberland and oakland, 48 haggerstown, 50 elkton and dc, 48 easton, 50 ocean city, 48, 49, westminster, bellaire, 40s greater columbia and kent hall. it is real simple. there is this warm air mass over us and when we were doing the morning show it was 19 degrees chillier than this time tomorrow morning. so what you are seeing is the confluence of two air masses and showers running along that confluence where the warm and the cold are meeting and again that is the flavor of the

afternoon. and by tomorrow evening it is leaving and we get up pretty good and next weekend is just going to be real nice. 63 is your high, 48 tonight, periods of rain, still rain tomorrow again with a high in the low 60s, wait until you see that 5 day. your sunday is going to be a dynamite day. >> all right, i have a question for you, we have that easter egg hunt tomorrow in the city the patterson park, giant one, 9:00. >> i think it is going to be wet. i think there will be showers and wet. >> still to come a study on sleep apnea and mental health. >> wjz is always on, here as >> wjz is always on, here as the top ,,,,

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in today's wjz health watch a new study has found a link between sleep apnea and major depression. researchers with the centers for disease control and prevention studied nearly 10,000 american adults. they found those who suffered severe sleep apnea were more likely to develop depression. it causes snoring and disruptions in breathing while sleeping. >> check back in today at 4:00, 5:00 and 6:00 when we will have more on the new license plate readers that could have changed the outcome of the sniper shooting spree. it is what everybody is talking about.

the latest on the record megamillions jackpot, join us for these stories and all the day's breaking news at 4:00, that is right after dr. phil. >> and stay with us. your five-day-forecast is next. toothpaste is not formulated for cleaning dentures,

the abrasives in the toothpaste actually create those micro fine scratches in the denture, and that's where bacteria can grow and thrive. these are the very bacteria that can cause bad breath. dentists do recommend that you soak your denture in polident. polident doesn't scratch the denture surface, and it kills 99.9% of bacteria that are responsible for causing bad breath. by using polident and soaking your denture every day you can feel confident your dentures fresh and clean. welcome back, let's take a look at that five-day-forecast, we have already covered the potential for tomorrow. low clearing at best, but we

may get a sunset on the last day of the month, april 1st maybe a slight breeze, monday, tuesday sun and essentially 70 degrees all three days. >> thank you. >> the primetime line up includes another episode of blue bloods with tom selleck at 10:00, then stay tuned for eyewitness news at 11:00. >> the internet trick shot masters from the group dude perfect are back and this time they have really outdone themselves. check this out. [ screaming ] >> for their 100th video the guys decided to make a basketball shot from a moving blimp and they were successful. in addition to making viral stunt videos you have to wonder how many times they did it. right? >> -- they -- >> -- has also launched a game for iphone and a new book. >> -- instant -- you know would be billionaires in three and a half weeks, john, our stage

manager, they said really impress me make one of the frost international stays station as it is passing over 60,000 miles an hour. >> a pretty good ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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