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hups of thousands without power or heat and a risings death toll after a blizzard in the northeast. >> the cleanup efforts and new dangers. >> good evening. >> 14 people are dead and more than 300 ,000 remain without electricity after a fierce winter storm dumped record breaking amounts of snow. the cleanup effort is expected to be a long slow process. we have the latest from connecticut. >> reporter: nearly half the roads in hamaden connecticut

are still impassable. they're clearing 3 feet of snow from around the homes. >> there's a lot of roads they didn't touch yet. people can't get out. >> reporter: some residents believe the town should have been more prepared. >> there is a time where as prepared as you are mother nature deals you a card that you cannot manage. >> reporter: in new briton, trucks are collecting snow and dumping it in a field. workers have been at this since ten this morning and they won't be finished until the early morning hours. one crew says they'll make about 100 trips before the job is done. >> i dump a load every five to ten minutes. >> there's quite a bit of snow. >> reporter: along the massachusetts coast where the snow and storm surges were a lethal combination residents are returning to check the damage. don and joe anne morrison found their home encased in ice. >> if you want to have this view and be on the ocean like this,

you are just going to have to put up with nature. nature rules. >> reporter: despite the risks the morrisons have no plans to give up their ocean-front home. marlley hall, wjz eyewitness news. transportation officials hope to have most mass transit systems open for tomorrow morning's commute. and more wicked weather to our south. an apparent tornado passes through mississippi. part of a wave of severe storms causing injuries and damage in that area. look at this video of the funnel cloud. the heart of the storm is in hattisberg and petal. damage is still being evaluated. the national weather service says bad wealth er weather will stretch until tuesday. christopher dorner is wanted for shootings of the police officers. we're following the

investigation from los angeles. >> reporter: for the first time since the murders started in southern california a reward is being offered for the capture of christopher dorner. >> this group is posting a reward for $1 million for information leading to mr. dorner's capture. >> reporter: police say the former l.a.p.d. officer murdered three people in revenge for being fired in 2008. in an online manifesto he claims he was fired for using excessive force. charlie beck said he reopened the investigation into that claim and even agreed to talk to dorner about it. >> if he was to give himself up, we would be glad to listen to what he has to say. >> reporter: in big bear california the search was scaled back in the snow. the last clue they have of his whereabouts was tuesday when they found his burned out pickup

truck. a new task force based here at l.a.p.d. headquarters is the hub for information. >> help us to find dorner before he is able to kill again. >> reporter: dorner's victims are now being remembered. a moment of silence at the cal state fullerton basketball game because kwuam should have been on the bench. >> a beautiful smile. >> reporter: dorner murdered her and her fiancie a week ago starting his revenge killings. edward lawrence, wjz eyewitness news. two people are in custody in connection with the murder of an honor student who sang with her school at the presidential inauguration. she was shot and killed two weeks ago. the shooting happened at a chicago park known for gang violence. police say she was not the intended target. investigators are now

questioning two persons of interest in this case. a baltimore county family looks on as their home burns to the ground. the house caught fire today in the 1500 block of providence road. seven people were inside when the blaze broke out. everyone managed to escape without injury. the cause of the fire is under investigation. in anne arundel county three people are recovering after a shuttle bus crashes into a pole. it happened at bwi in aviation boulevard and terminal road. it ran into a pole that supports power lines for the light rail. service was delayed while the damage was repaired. two people were taken to the hospital with nonlife threatening injuries. there could soon be another way to pass your time waiting for a flight at bwi marshal if some maryland lawmakers have their way. we have more on the proposal to bring slots to the airport. derek. >> reporter: the state needs transportation dollars and there are some who say a special slots area inside the airport would be the perfect way to do it.

head to the airport and all it takes is one delay or cancelled flight and flyers get stuck waiting, often with nothing to do. >> nothing. sit around, drink. >> just boring. >> reporter: but some say that boredom could be broken with slots. they would allow 2500 machines beyond security meaning only ticketed players can play. >> that way no one can drive to the airport to play. it is to capture revenue from people who don't live in the state. >> reporter: the bill has been defeated by the general assembly the last four years. but this year the bill earned more support. 44 sponsors in all who say slots could bring in millions in revenue to a state desperate money to improve roads and bridges. >> at a time when people are talking about a gas tax that's to me a good alternative. >> reporter: the bill has had opposition from some who say it might require more security at the airport and others who say

slots just don't belong there. most passengers we talked to would approve. >> give people something to do. maybe more incentive for people to fly in baltimore other than the other airports nearby. >> it is a form of entertainment to people even though you are spending money, people need things to do other than sit around here with two restaurants open. >> reporter: so the bill faces some tough odds that's in part because lawmakers have spent a lot of time as we all know over the hast few years de -- last few years debating a bunch of gambling bills and it's unclear how much more time they want to spend debating another gambling bill in this session. and lawmakers are scheduled to hear testimony on the bill march 5th. drivers hold on to your wallets. gas prices are making a big jump, the biggest in february. >> reporter: $4 a gallon is just around the corner. 2013 on track to be one of the

most expensive year to filler' up. aaaa says it's just the beginning. >> the way prices have been increasing over the past few weeks we wouldn't be surprised to see prices approach near $4 a gallon here in maryland. >> reporter: drivers aren't happy. >> i remember when i went to college i could -- it was 95 cents a gallon. >> reporter: would you imagine it would be $4? >> no, no, not at all. >> reporter: u.s. oil production is the highest in years there's not enough working refineries and growing demand for oil in china are huge factors. >> the price spike at the pump is the result of crude oil prices that are trading around the 95 to $97 barrel range. that's about 10% a barrel more than mid-december. >> reporter: many drivers say it's a wake-up call. >> the more expensive gas is the more interest people have of not using much. >> reporter: the average house

hold had spend $3,000 on gas heen this year. that's 4% of their income. . >> an example of growing demand, the number of cars in china has tripled in the last few years. >> performances dominated the grammy awards. some of the acts wowed the crowd along with one big comeback performance. . [ singing ]. >> taylor swift kicked off the night's performances, adele took home the first award for best pop solo performance. miranda lambert, and kelly clarkson paid tribute to patty paige. >> facebook was full of comments, good bad indifferent. the blast and fire that kills a worker in texas.

deadly drill the crew of a cruiseship in spain falls to their death. mardi gras come to a standstill. this is blanket rocketship and he's headed to the westminster dog show. more on that coming up. a cool down coming our way. the complete forecast coming up next. whether you're a ham & cheese at noon a turkey-cheddar-bacon in the afternoon or a tuna salad when the job is done sandwich on your terms with any of dunkin's freshly made bakery sandwiches for just $2.99. america runs on dunkin'.

. it's cloudy, 36 degrees in central maryland right now. the complete forecast is coming up. a plant worker in texas is dead after an explosion and fire. another worker is in critical condition with burns. investigators are trying to find out what caused the emergency at the port facility. a safety drill on a cruiseship kills 5 people in spain's canariy islands. a cable snapped on a hive boat sending it plunging 60 feet in the ocean and trapping crew members underneath. all five people were killed. hundreds of pats jers were aboard -- passengers were aboard the ship. a witness films a shooting on bourbon street that kills

people on mardi gras celebrations. video shows one of the victims arguing with suspects before another suspect joins the confrontation. the crowd is seen scrambling as shots are fired. witnesses say they're having a hard time forgetting what happened. >> i mean, it was chaos. we were lucky to be high up. so many people got trampled. i saw people get kicked and pushed. >> last night's shootings wounded two men and two women. people have been treated in hospital and released. police are looking for three suspects. for the first time in history, nasa gathers a rock sample from mars. the curiosity rover drilled a hole into a rock used its robotic arm this weekend. the rock is believed to be proof that there was once water on that planet. the rover will process the sample over the next few days. the hottest dog show in the country picks off tomorrow. a dog from anne arundel county

is competing in the westminster kennel club. tonight we meet blanket rocket ship. >> reporter: as he sits waiting for his last minute preb he's ready. >> he likes to -- prep he's ready. >> he likes to look good. >> yes he does. >> reporter: to take the westminster dog show by form. >> he has a lot of fun as a dog the day before because he's not allowed to sniff or play with dogs the next day. >> reporter: fluffy, 93 pound bermese mountain dog will be entered in the working dog group. this trip to new york is impressive. it is the first time westminster has allowed a non-champion to compete. >> we a super excited to be there. it's a long shot that he'll win. it's possible. anything is possible. but we have so excited just to be at westminster. it's the biggest dog show in the world. >> reporter: named by his three

human brothers and sisters he's ready to walk the green carpet of westminster. he is the only entry this year from anne arundel county. his potential prize. >> ribbons. or maybe a prestige because there will be a lot of ladies who want to meet mr. blanket rocketship and have puppies. >> reporter: after all it is valentine's week. tim williams, wjz eyewitness news. >> for more information on the westminster dog show go to wjz.com. we have a storm system moving our way and you may have heard about this. but for us for the most part this is going to be in the form of rain. we're going to start off with radar and show you bands coming from the southwest and temperatures are dropping out there. not as much as last night.

a borderline event. 36 degrees in baltimore and on this map everybody is above freezing. along the northern tier counties going to drop slightly below freezing. this could start as freezing rain before changing over to rain but it is a rain event for tomorrow and for more on that here's bob. >> thanks. as she mentioned maybe a few places north of the city, particularly on the southern p.a. border. a trace of ice in the morning if it gets that cold. 36 right now. dewpoint is below freezing, south southeast winds at 356789 the barometer 30.30 and holding steady. 43/18 this morning 44-26. the record 66, 7 below zero back in 1899. southeast winds that will actually warm us up during the day tomorrow. some spots could get to 60 degrees but we'll have morning rain to contend with.

why, because of low pressure. blizzard warnings over nebraska and the dakotas tonight. this area of the rain with the warm front headed to our region just might be cold in the morning hours but freezing rain or sleet maybe then we get into the warm sector. temperatures jump up close to 60. so a nice warm flow behind it, behind it breezes. wednesday night another system passing to our south just be cold enough maybe for a rain/snow mix. maybe a little snow here by wednesday night. yeah believe it or not. so for monday, mild air coming in ahead of that front to our north, maybe a little bit of sleet, freezing rain for those folks. some snow in maine. they don't need that. southwest, wind gusting at 25 knots, for the overnight tonight, cloudy, rain, touch of ice, i mean a tiny bit.

33. 57 tomorrow, morning rain, otherwise cloudy and rain. 50 on tuesday 41, down to 30, to see rain and/or a rain/snow mix. clearing out. partly sunny skies here on friday. >> we'll be right back with stan and sports.

. stan is here with our wjz

the fan report. >> nice to see you weekday folks here. >> seven days a week now. let's talk college basketball if that's okay with y'all. the university of virginia hungry for victory. tear pins suffering a dingle double digit defense. stinky defense tops in the league. dez wells of maryland had his best shot with 13 points to lead the terps today. virginia's joe harris was a problem. he had a game leading 22, a force to be reckoned with. in fact, virginia uncharacter uncharacteristically shot lights out. as maryland coach laments on how they could guard the cavaliers.

>> lost of couple of players and they've gone small and they have become hard to guard. we couldn't guard them. but we never quite trying to guard them. and give them a lot of credit. >> okay. number five duke in college park saturday. syracuse, southern was back today. and that fired up his teammates. fair out of baltimore walbrook high school. nonetheless syracuse wins. elsewhere, got the pros for you heat lakers, wade knows it takes a thief. tip toes the base line, lebron james, alley-oop. that's flying through the air with the greatest of ease.

he had 32. 30 for wade. heat over the lakers, 107-97. baltimoreans all over the place even outside of baltimore. still a drift in the wild blue yonder. but baseball is back. pitchers and catchers reporting to sarasota florida for spring training tomorrow. the o's vice-president is pleased with the mix of veterans and youth ready for a season of high expectations. >> we have a competitive team and have some other opportunities. my experience with young players is you can be surprised at how quickly they come to the big leagues and with the contribution they make to their team. i wouldn't lose sight of the good young players we have within our organization that could come up and have an impact on the team. >> sea lions getting rocked by the bill wave in pebble beach

today. your pga tournament winner brent snedeker by two over kirk. he shot a 19 under 67 after a shooting a final round 65, sned has six top three finishes. he even won an extra $10 million not long ago for winning the fedex. he's rich beyond compare. >> thanks. >> good if you can get it. still to come a hockey game in california gets dicey. how this vulture gets up close and personal during the national

. celebrations with popping for today's chinese new year at new york city. [ fireworks ]. . >> people gathered to watch fireworks and signify chasing away evil and giving a pop har start to the lunar new year. they ate traditional chinese foods and this is the year of the snake. a california hockey team's special guest steals the show during the national anthem. this is queen victoria, a vulture, and she was center ice at friday's game. she didn't care for that location. she bolted. her wrangler tried to get her but she proved to be a slippery queen. all the drama unfolded in front of the singer who didn't skip a beat. the bird flew into the team's

sergeant michelle garcia served meritoriously in iraq and has the medals to prove it. soon after leaving the navy, lieutenant chris scott found a job, a home, and started a family

of his own. corpsman richard stokely took the skills he learned in vietnam and put them to good use as a paramedic. but soon after leaving the military each of these veterans fell on hard times and faced homelessness. even after michelle lost all her savings... even after chris wasn't able to pay his mortgage... and even after richard battled alcoholism for years... they each reached out for help when they needed it most. a simple phone call put them in touch with a trained professional from the department of veterans affairs. that call got michelle a place to stay until she could afford one of her own... put chris in touch with employment assistance... ...and found richard a substance abuse program. these veterans are success stories not only for how they were able to help others while serving their country, but for how they were able to let others help them. if you know of or are a veteran in need, make the call.