what people are talking about tonight. >> pope benedict xvi makes the surprising news this morning at a meeting with bishops. anna matranga has the latest. >> reporter: pope benedict xvi stunned the public saying he no longer has the strength to do the job. church leaders express their sadness. >> it's like watching your own dad get old and admit that he's not up to all the duties of being the lead of the family involves. >> reporter: postseason benedict became the head of the catholic church in 2005. he tackled the priest abuse scandal apologizes to victims

and acknowledging the church's mistake. there's several contenders but no clear front runner. >> who among this body has the qualifications, the characteristics, the spiritual gifts to fill that chair. >> reporter: pope benedict xvi appointed half the cardinals who will choose his successor. anna matranga, wjz news. >> so how are arch arch bishops and catholics responding to this announcement? >> reporter: like many people across the world right now they're very surprised and parishioners are calling this unexpected. parishioners attending afternoon mass are saddened to hear the leader of more than a billion catholics pope benedict xvi is stepping down. saying his reason for doing so is due to a lack of strength

mentally and physically. >> the only thing i'm thinking is maybe he's sick. >> reporter: it's been more than 600 years since a pope has stepped down. >> he is a man of prayer, humility, reflection and wisdom. >> reporter: just six weeks ago the city of baltimore was in the pope's mind and heart when he spoke with him in rome. >> his holiness expressed great reflection for the archdiocese of baltimore and he expressed his appreciate for the history of this archdiocese as the first and the oldest in these united states. >> reporter: with the pope stepping down, the focus is now turning to who will take his place. >> i do have a feeling that this time it'll be a younger person who's been kind of waiting in the wings, for this sort of period to resolve. >> reporter: and the pope will step down at the end of the

month. i'm rochelle richie, back to you. >> the vatican hopes to have a new pope in time for easter at the end of march. another developing story, wjz is following tonight. three people are dead following a shooting inside a delaware courthouse stunning people arriving for court this morning. jessica kartalija has the latest on the investigation. >> reporter: police are still trying to determine a motive behind this shooting. dellware police are still trying to figure out what led to an early morning shooting inside a willmington courthouse. >> reporter: a loan gunman walked into the area and opened fire. >> reporter: it happened at 8:00 in morning. >> i heard some shots and that's when i reacted and turned around and just ran out of the building. >> reporter: two women were killed, one believed to be the suspect's ex-wife. police are now saying it stemmed from a domestic dispute. >> this was not a random act of violence.

preliminarily this was the result of a custody dispute that has lasted in our court system for several years. >> reporter: two capital police officers were also shot but were wearing bullet-proof vests and are expected to survive. the suspect was also discovered dead at the scene. >> we're still investigating whether that would as a result of the exchange of gunfire or whether that was a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. >> reporter: the new castle county courthouse was evacuated and police searched all 12 floors of the building to determine there was not another gunman on the scene. >> i have talked to them several times yeah. and they were moved to jury services and i believe they were searched. my judge's secretary was escorted out of the building she was in the tenth floor. she was escorted out of the building by a s.w.a.t. member. >> it happened on the same day that willmington's police chief was expected to attend a round

table conference with vice president joe biden. >> police are not releasing the identity of the victims. a car crash claims the life of a teacher. it happened just before 7:00 this morning in westminster. devin spence died at the scene. spence ford focus slammed into the bus. there were several students on the bus but they were not hurt. the body of a baltimore city woman found tied up in the basement of her burning home. police now say the suspect met the victim online. wjz is live in northwest baltimore, megan mckor mccorckel live with more on this case. >> reporter: she worked with aids and hiv patients but on friday she was found dead inside the basement of her burning home. a horrifying discovery inside this northwest baltimore home

the body of 32-year-old jennifer conyers tied up in the basement of this house as it was up in flames. authorities say she was suffering from blunt force trauma to her head. police are accusing monte carter. police say carter attacked her in her home, tied her up, took her into the basement of her home and lit the house on fire. >> everybody in the city was looking for that mustang. >> reporter: behind the wheel of that mustang was monte carter who authorities say was covered in blood. >> he confessed to partying with a friend and taking drugs.

>> reporter: he admitted to stealing her credit cards, buying items to exchange for drugs. carter is now charged with murder. a pennsylvania man faces animal cruelty charges for the death of one of his horses in fredrick county. as derek valcourt explains what was discovered on the two properties he leased that has animal rescue groups so upset. animal groups have helped more than two dozen horses rescued from these fredrick county farms but as you're about to see these horses are the lucky ones. on the back of this pregnant mayier a kind of fungus called rain rot. this horse and many others were turned over to rescue groups. the horse's owner faces two

charges after the county found one horse in desperate need of medical attention. it later died. >> the horses were really the ones that were in the worse condition. >> reporter: the laurie went looking for some unaccounted for horses on the two fredrick ranches, she found dead horses. >> as you were walking around and saw the caucuses what went through your mind? >> i really didn't know what kind of person could do that to an animal and just leave them like that. like they were garbage. >> reporter: but there's nothing in the law to stop farm owners from leaving exposed caucuses on their property. they're still investigating for now there's little they can do about it. >> the longer an animal caucus is left to decompose, the

harder it is to make and prove points with terms to animal neglect and animal cruelty. >> reporter: meaning animal rescue may not know how these horses died or the number of horses the owner owned but no one can account for. >> in fredrick county, derek valcourt, wjz eyewitness news. >> houseman was convicted of animal cruelty in west virginia. a rather dreary monday to start out the week. it's cloudy but mild. bob turk and bernadette woods are updating the temperatures for us. >> our normal high is in the 40s. take a look at the numbers they

just jumped one degrees, 53 in oakland. but they had sun. 50 in pax river, ocean city at 54. temperatures right now running 14 degrees warmer than yesterday. 20degrees warmer in cumberland and 23 degrees warmer in patuxin. tomorrow will be cooler but we'll see a lot of sunshine on tap on your tuesday. so how have we done rain wise? >> we're going to bring you up to date on our numbers. for the season we're at 4.6 inches. last season for the entire season, we only received 1.8- inches of snow. the average around baltimore is 20.1-inches and most of us will never forget the record season just three years ago of 77- inches. whether you liked that season or didn't like it. we are way below even our average but we do have two chances for snow coming this

week. we'll have that forecast coming up. back inside. >> keep them small. please. mayor stephanie blake proposes some big changes in her state of the state address. the mayor hazarded the baltimore city council, pat warren has the latest. >> reporter: cutting costs, lowering property taxes and finding new ways for the city to do business. mayor blake provides a broad outline of ways to improve the state of the city. >> reporter: mayor blake got an enthusiastic greeting but her state of the state message had some potentially grim prospects for the city. >> the simple arithmetic and our own denial of it has been the failure of progress. >> reporter: baltimore could face a shortfall of nearly $2 billion over the next 10 years. the city has had to handle a fiscal crisis aggravated by a

weak economy, and employee pension and health care costs. >> we must make our government smaller and more efficient. we need to invest in technology and automation and save our taxpayers dollars. >> reporter: mayor blake's plan falls into the reworking the tax structure. >> i will not allow the structural deficit to be pwals -- balanced on the backs of maryland residents and employees. >> reporter: employee pension and health care costs have been sited as a critical factor. >> baltimore's pension is the

largest pension that does not require employee contribution. that must change. >> reporter: according to the reaction from police and fire unions are concerned, i did speak briefly for the leaders of those two unions unions and they are reserving comment until they find out what the plan consists of. >> and mayor blake told the council, that she has never been one to sugar coat things. the big name who wants to be anne arundel county's next executive in the wake of the leopold scandal. i'm mike hellgren at the arundel center with the full details. >> tax free shopping is coming to maryland this weekend. i'm mary bubala, find out what

qualifies next. a cloudy monday, we'll have a look at your monday morning forecast, coming up.

cloudy and 53 degrees in maryland. a big political name wants to take the job of executive. >> reporter: she says she wants to restore integrity and

confidence in anne arundel county government. maryland's former first lady kendall ehrlich tells wjz she wants to be the next anne arundel county executive. >> it's a unique circumstances for which i'm uniquely qualified. >> reporter: mrs. ehrlich says she just wants to serve for the rest of the leopold's term and then leave. >> you don't have to worry about raising money, voting on this, voting on that. which supporters aren't satisfying. if the voters could vote on this i think i would be very strongly the favorite. so i'm hoping that the council will hear that message. >> reporter: the job will be given to the person who gets the vote of the majority of council members. several of them are vying for

it too. it must be filled by a republican. those interested must complete a questionnaire by this friday. >> it's not that i'm totally autoristic. i'm putting my name forward. let's get the job done, let's put the county back in. i love this place. wrap it up and send it on to the next person after there's an election. >> reporter: the council plans to make a decision on february 21st. another maryland lawmaker is seeking recognition for hariette tubman on a national level. carten says he will join various groups wednesday in washington to support the bill. it would create parks in maryland and new york.

it's back, a chance for maryland consumers to save money and help save the environment. mary has more, mary. >> reporter: for the third year in a row, sales tax will not be collected on energy star appliances this weekend. other appliances are on the list of tax free item that is will save money. >> if they buy one of these star energy products this weekend they avoid the 6% sales tax. some of these appliances are $1,000 that's a significant savings there. they then save in the operation of the appliance because it's an energy efficient item. >> reporter: this year it'll be held saturday february 16th through monday february 18th at stores throughout maryland and

consumers will find president's day discounts which really add up. >> it will give you 100 to $250 on dish washers, washing machines. >> reporter: expect major savings on air conditioners, furnaces, dehumidifies, refrigerators and cfl bulbs. >> it's a great boost for the business. it's not our busiest time of the year but it's a nice boost and it takes us through into the spring. again the dates are february 16th through monday february 18th. vick back to you. >> okay, mary. thank you. for a list of items that will be tax free head to cbsbaltimore.com and look under local news. bob is talking some snow. >> possible, winter is not over yet. we've had one of our biggest

snowstorms in 1942. >> i missed that one. >> i remember it physically because my aunt was actually married that day. and there was like 27-inches of snow. 53 southwest winds. the barometer 2970. we'll take a look

here's a live look outside

right now. we can't see the sky because it's kind of dark but bob says it's clearing out. >> we will see some stars tonight and temperatures will get back into the 30s. it won't be quite as mild as this afternoon. take a look at temps in the region with this clearing sky. a little cooler to the west. oakland at 47. still 60 at pax river and 59 in oakland. they had a lot of sun west. they had a lot of sun this afternoon with boosted temperatures 60 there. ocean city at 56. dewpoints coming down it's drying out. 46 up in bell air and 48 in westminster. low 50s down by the bay right now. southwest winds here a little breezy and later tonight they go more to the west, northwest. that will bring in drier air and the breeze will pick up. in south western maryland, garrett county and some of those mountain areas do have a wind advisory through tomorrow morning. wind gusts up there could get up to 45, 40 miles per hour. for us it'll be breezy but nothing like that.

some snow and rain. it's dry down here but up there they're getting some rain activity. rain offshore from boston to cape cod. boston is 40 degrees. they had some melting where all that snow fell. you can see the high pressure, big spin there you can see it. snow across that region. this was the blizzard two days ago in the dakotas it dropped from 10 to 12-inches of snow. it was blowing around with 40 to 50-mile an hour wind and much colder temperatures. moving to the great lakes. a lot of rain continues around the deep south. some of that will head in our direction as low pressure expected to develop along that stalled front. we think wednesday afternoon it'll be close enough to the region. maybe bring us some rain. if it's cold enough. if we get enough cold air once this storm passes we get the winds out of the northwest. we could see snow on wednesday night. maybe a small accumulation kind of hard to tell at this point but we'll have to keep a track on that for you. where it sets up is pretty hard

to say. there's a chance we may get a little snow here late in the day on wednesday. another chance looks like coming in for the weekend by the way. it'll be breezy tomorrow advisory up to 25 knots. the bay temp around 28. partly cloudy down around the upper 30s, mid-30s. tomorrow up to 48 with partly sunny skies and breezy day. certainly cooler than today but it will be a nice really nice february day. >> okay. looking forward to it. still to come tonight on wjz's eyewitness news. big reward, the latest on the man hunt for christopher dorner. >> digging out residents in the northeast are still cleaning up if a major blizzard. a look at the hardest hit areas. >> you don't have to look far for a good deal in college. i'll explain how one local university is being considered the best bang for

it is 6:29, 53 degrees, partly cloudy in central maryland right now. here are some of the stories people are talking about

tonight. the man hunt for an accused killer continues. >> reporter: 600 tips have come in since the police department issued a $1 million reward for christopher dorner. but dorner's whereabouts remain a mystery. >> officers from l.a.p.d. came out here they surrounded the lowe's they locked it down. >> reporter: agents are stopping every car crossing the mexican border and the man hunt in the big bear area east of l.a. has been downsized. dorner's burned down pickup was found in the ski town last week. >> they opened all the doors and looked in places that a person could be. >> reporter: investigators have been on dorner's trail since the killing of a police captain

last week he's also accused of killing a river side officer on tuesday. the largest man hunt in l.a.p.d. history has the department stretched thin. dorner vowed to shoot police officers and their families as revenge for his firing from the l.a.p.d. five years ago. >> to have your family targeted because they are related to you, that is absolutely terrifying. >> reporter: authorities are providing round the clock protection for 50 officers and their families. edward lawrence, wjz eyewitness news. >> and the l.a.p.d. says the money for the $1 million reward is not just from police, organizizations, corporations and private donors also contributed. developing information in the murder of haydia pentelton. >> reporter: two suspects are being questioned in the teen's murder. the two suspects are both adult

men. police are also once again talking with witnesses. the family of hadiya says they are not getting their hopes up until there are actual charges. pendelton was seeking cover from a storm with friends when witnesses say a gunman opened fire. congressman emmanuel contacted the victim's mother personally to express his condolences. first lady michelle obama also attended her funeral. the president is preparing to give his first state of the union address of his second term on tuesday tomorrow. the speech will search as a bookend to his inaugural address. presidential watchers say we could see new policies on

issues. three days later and people across much of the northeast are still digging out from a historic blizzard. some places getting more than 30-inches of snow. michelle miller reports for wjz from smith town. >> reporter: this is what a 32- mile stretch of the long island expressway looked like for much of the weekend. car after car buried under the snow. >> there were hundreds of residents literally who were within miles of making their way back to their houses when the snow just swallowed them up. similar scenes unfolded across long island's roadways. even emergency vehicles were left stranded. >> if they would have had a plow we would have been home already. >> reporter: drivers huddled inside their frozen cars for warmth. many couldn't be freed until saturday.

>> it came to a complete standstill. >> reporter: pricilla arenas was stranded for days. she began to write what she thought was a goodbye letter to her sons. >> reporter: what is the first thing you're going to do tonight? >> hug them, kiss them. >> reporter: an armada of trucks rumbled up and down the highway breaking up the ice caked on to the expressway. >> you have an historic amount of snowfall and it doesn't go away in a matter of minutes and we need not just patience but corporation. >> rain and warmer temperatures are moving into the region which could begin melting some of that snow. also, the weight of the snow could add pressure to the roofs and cause them to collapse.

mississippi's governor has declared a state of emergency. the university of mississippi suffered some major damage. several buildings are beyond repairs. officials are now assessing the damage. if you and your college bound teenager are looking for the best deal for college, you don't need to look far. christie alleto explains how one local university is considered a steal by a national publication. >> reporter: it's a deal senior pete says he had to take. >> when i found out that i was going to pay for half the tuition as out of state i knew this was where i had to go. >> reporter: the unc campus in chapel his an been named one of the best -- chapel has been named one of the best campuses.

>> do you feel like affordability has been at the forfront of student's mind. >> it is. >> just as much so as the program? >> parents want to make sure they can afford to send their children to college. know that they're going to get a great education. know that they're going to be able to eat too. >> reporter: the university of carolina has been climbing the ranks it once ranked at number 28 in 2008. and has been holding steady at number five since 2011. even though -- tuition went up from last year, it's still a great deal. the university says they hope to stay at the top spot while offers prospective students a deal they cannot resist. other schools on the list,

townsend that ranks at 36th. while the university of maryland made the kipinger's list for top value. it did not make the princeton review. how umbc students are embarking on a sparrows point. remember to look for the updated forecast from the wjz's weather team. i was a successful launch to space but the mission is all about earth. alex demetrick reports lansat8 is the latest launch from an

experiment eight years in the making. >> reporter: looking is what this payload is all about. lan8 will take place of seven earlier satellites. >> it's given us the best view of how our planet is changing due to natural and human effects. >> reporter: changes created by massive forest fires or the change in rivers where they swell into floods. and the change in us as cities grow and expand outward. a time lapse covering years and the godard space center. >> the continuity of that data is critical. we have to keep going. we're measuring the rate of change. of our planet at scales that people aren't used to. >> reporter: like its earlier versions the spacecraft orbits the planet from point to point. but new sensors will pick up greater detail with both thermal and visual images.

creating a full look at the bigger picture. >> data is free and available to anyone. it has been used to study everything from climate change to watering crops on family farms. >> that is incredible isn't it. still to come tonight on wjz eyewitness news, saying goodbye. the tribute to a navy seal sniper murdered at a gun range. stranded not a vacation to remember for thousands aboard a carnival cruise ship. who is on the way to help? coming up. >> i'm bob turk at the weather center cooling down once again. i'll have the exclusive five day forecast. >> and wjz13 is always on. here are the top stories at cbsbaltimore.com. for the latest news and

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help is arriving for a carnival cruise ship stranded in the gulf of mexico. an engine fire disabled the cruise. the cruise line says tug boats will reach the ship tonight and begin towing it back to mexico. over 400 passengers have limited access to hot food or bathrooms. the ship is expected to arrive in port wednesday. in texas thousands of people say their final goodbyes to exnavy seal sniper chris kyle. chris's picture and casket were placed on the texas stadium field. a 25-year-old veteran is charged with their murders. kyle's was the deadliest sniper in u.s. history. a woman in florida gets quite a surprise as she walked past her suv. two scary eyes was staring at her. it turned out she had hit an

owl the day before at the florida turnpike and it just become stuck there. fish and wildlife were able to rescue it. >> she felt terrible. i would. >> sure and scared. scott pelley has a preview of what's coming up tonight on the cbs evening news. >> the announcement no one on earth saw coming. pope benedict xvi becomes the first pope in 600

a live look outside it's a mild cloudy monday. how will things shape up for the rest of the night? bob in the weather center and meteorologist bernadette woods is out back. sorry bernadette. let's check with you first. hello. >> no worries. it's a monday everyone understands. we are clearing out tonight and the winds are picking up. temperatures dropping down into the 30s but as we head through the day tomorrow not quite as warm as today but above average. still at 48 degrees with sunshine returning. then tomorrow night the winds start to die down and so do the

temperatures that's sets the stage for two storms coming our way in the forecast. more for on that here's bob. >> we do have a chance for some precept here on wednesday. maybe in the form of some rain. maybe some moisture. we all depends on the temperatures there so we'll have to wait a little longer before we're ready to commit to that. 45, 47 getting cold over the weekend. may see another little bit of snow saturday night into sunday. but certainly getting colder. sunday's high looked like it'll be only in the 30s. denise. >> thank you, bob. still to come on eyewitness news tonight. orioles pitchers and catchers report to spring training tomorrow. >> stan takes

putting away the purple and pulling out the orange. stan is here with the fan sports report. >> i was looking at national reports online and a lot of guys across the country feel that the orioles were a fluke last year. in fact, they are picked to finish four out of five in the american league east. >> i know a lot of people have something to say about that. in our masn spring training report, orioles manager buck showalter said in a national interview today that he's looking forward to the

competition among the young pitchers on his staff. among those youngsters vying for a prime playing time is jake arietta. he started the home opener last year but finished with 18 starts finishing with a 3-9 record. as the 26-year-old is among many candy candidate for a starting rotation spot he says nothing has changed. jake says this year will be the same as it always has been in the past. >> pretty much each and every year going into camp. you know everybody is in the mind set of trying to win a job and it's no different from any other year i feel like. you know this season it's going to be exciting a lot of comradery and friendly competition there. the only thing everybody is going to put their best foot forward and i think a lot of guys are going to make it difficult to put together a team this year. >> jake has been on the mound for portions of the last three seasons.

elsewhere in baseball today. it was last week when felix hernandez agreed to a monster seven year $155 million year but that contract still sits only table unsigned. the mariners are now concerned about a physical last thursday that revealed possible elbow issue or was it a simple wear and tear or a larger problem? the mariners will probably protect themselves with an injury clause and more than likely get this deal done with feliz hernandez in the next two days or so. despite yesterday's double digit conference loss to visiting virginia, mark sturgen says his terps are ahead of schedule in terms of them developing under his two year watch. a big bump between two teams in the bubble. m.d. m's main problem against virginia yesterday, -- maryland's main problem against virginia yesterday too much

jake harris. the uva out of sync on d. 53% from the line. observers say he better get his kicking game up or kicking in gear for maryland to get in the bubble. second year terp's head coach mark sturgen says yesterday was certainly not their day in that loss to uva. >> i thought we were a half step slow. i thought they were real physical. they held their box out. we didn't handle the physicality early very well. and it was their day. it was their day. it definitely wasn't ours. >> that's the way it goes sometimes coach. and michael vick has

decided to return to the eagles. vick plagued by injuries and inconsistency last season but remember they beat the ravens by one point during the regular season but it appears that vick is equipped to run that offensive up tempo that their new coach will transition from the university of maryland. >> thank you stan. we'll be right back. >> what's next for the catholic church after the pope's resignation. >> plus today's medal of

be sure to watch the cbs prime time line up it's hawaii five-0 tonight followed by wjz news at 10:00. and it was time to strip down. the event raises money for the children's tumor foundation it started three years ago in washington where it's cold but now it's held in more than a dozen cities across the country and this is the one to go to. even orlando's major dropped his drawers to run for a good

cause. >> dropping his drawers means he didn't have any. >> well he dropped the outer drawers. >> that's it for us tonight. back at 11:00. i'm vic carter. >> and i'm denise koch. thanks for watching wjz eyewitness news. don't go ahead, much more to come with scott pelley. a report from va >> pelley: tonight, the announcement no one on earth saw coming. pope benedict xvi becomes the first pope in six centuries to resign. allen pizzey in vatican city with what happens now. mark phillips on who might be next. tensions are high after reported sightings of the most wanted man in california. bill whitaker reports on the dragnet. we now know what a massive tornado left behind in mississippi -- >> that is big! >> pelley: while in new england they're counting the losses from

the record blizzard. and cliff romesha receives the medal of honor. he tells david martin how he earned the highest award for valor. >> reporter: the citation says there were 400 enemy soldiers. >> and we had 52 great americans. didn't seem fair to them. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. when the news