this is wjz tv, baltimore. >> from the city, to the counties to your neighborhood. now it's complete coverage. it's wjz, maryland's news station. counting down,. >> the clocking is ticking towards billions of cuts from the federal budget. >> is it too late to reach a

deal? >> hello again i'm jessica kartalija. >> and i'm don scott. >> and here's what people are talking about today. there are three days left before automatic across the board spending cuts kick in. the president is taking his message on the road while republicans in congress are accusing him of using scare tactics. >> president obama is visiting a shipyard in new port news virginia today. he is warning that civilians who work on navy ships could face layoffs if $85 billion in budget cuts kick in. military leaders talked about how challenging the cuts will be at a congressional hearing this morning. >> if we do not have the resources to train and equip the force, our soldiers are the ones who will pay the price potentially with their lives. >> with the clock ticking it's small businesses like this communications contractor that are already bracing for the impact of the cuts, especially hits to the defense department.

>> for us it could go into the millions of dollars. >> pedro alfonso employs 120 workers. his business relies on contracts with government agencies that will see their budgets slashed. >> we'll have to put plans in place, who do we cut, how do we cut back. >> the main sticking point between the white house and congressional republicans is taxes. republicans agreed to raise taxes in the fiscal cliff deal last month, and they say that's enough. they're also criticizing the president for taking his message on the road. >> he's traveled over 5,000 miles the last two weeks, and we challenge him, mr. president travel a mile and a half up here to capital hill. >> business owners like pedro alfonso say it's easy for congress and the white house to criticize each other. they're not the ones facing layoffs and pay cuts. in washington danielle nottingham wjz eyewitness news. up a pew research poll

shows more than 6 out of 10 americans think it will have a negative effect on the economy. marylanders are reaching for their rain gear. taking a live look outside right now where we're already seeing overcast skies out there, and later on we're expecting rain and lots of it. marty is in the outback. i hope you have your umbrella, meteorologist bernadette woods tracking the storm on live doppler radar. let's start with bern. >> this is what we've got going on. out west this is starting as a mix. that cold air is trapped in the valley, sleet and freezing rain around cumberland. you can see that band crossing over the maryland border and temperature wise we're going to get to that in a moment, but there is still a chance this could start briefly as a sleet mix before changing to rain and taking over as rain. these are the temperatures, it's above freezing t. it's 39 in baltimore, the dew point is 29 degrees. that's below freezing.

that's why we could see some frozen precipitation. the warmer air is going to win out. now for more on how this is going to play out we'll send it out to marty. >> no rain right now. we're doing good on tv hill, get your rain gear out. you're going to need it. an inch of rain between now and midnight. some scattered showers overnight. look at this graphic. we have got in fact a flood watch in effect for central maryland. when you get out to western maryland the obvious is going to be wintery weather, then a winter weather event in garrett county itself. tomorrow we're going to see this low start to pull away. we're going to have lingering shower activity overnight. the barometer still may have a couple showers around tomorrow, directly a beam to our north before it gets out of here. it's going to be a slow clearout, temperatures in the upper 50s tomorrow but it's going to come with clouds and windy conditions, probably feeling more like the upper 40s which frankly is the normal feel as we move into late

february. so it's not going to be a quick hit and run storm. we're in it for a while. what comes in for the first few days of march behind this low, well, you may want to find your winter coat as we approach spring. meteorologist bernadette woods with those details coming up shortly. the teenager who opened fire inside perry hall high school will spend the next 35 years in prison. rob is in the newsroom with more on the sentence handed down. >> good afternoon ron. >> gladden pleaded guilty to attempted murder charges in exchange for a lighter sentence. before sentencing witnesses testified about the day gladden walked into the perry hall high school with a shotgun and opened fire. he shot one student before teachers wrestled him to the ground. if that had not happened gladden told police he had planned to keep on shooting. >> as many as i could and then kill myself. >> so you wanted to kill as many people as you could in the school? >> i didn't really have any one person that i was trying to kill. i just turned to the side and

shot. >> gladden also admitted he'd been plotting the attack for months. the student he hit daniel borowy has recovered. >> gladden will be 50 years old when he gets out of prison. a teachers aide in hartford county is facing charges he's been sexually abusing a student. 24-year-old anthony farris was carrying on a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old at bel air high school. they believe they engaged in sex on school grounds. farris has been fired but is free on $50,000 bonds. the army private accused of giving class fewed documents to the web site wikileaks is back at fort meade. he's to attend a four day hearing to dismiss the case because his right to a speedy trial has been violated. his offer to plead guilty to reduced charges on 10 of the 22 counts against him may be discussed. calling for changers thousands of baltimore families rally in annapolis demanding more funding for city schools.

students, city leaders and concerned citizens gathered in front of the state house last night to voice their support for the block grant bill, a $1 billion plan to renovate or rebuild 65 baltimore city school buildings. the senate and house are discussing school funding legislation. the hospital ship comfort leaves baltimore for the last time in a quarter century relationship comes to an end. wjz is live. alex demetrick was dock side as the is the ship left. >> that new home is norfolk virginia and logistics and money are the reasons. >> long before dawn, work was underway to get the hospital ship comfort underway. for those who worked the dock and watch over it it was an emotional department. >> i work security and deal with these people every day and it hurts. it hurts to see them go. >> in more than 25 years the defendant comfort has treated soldiers in both gulf wars as

well as civilians and humanitarian efforts and disasters. the comfort and its missions have been a source of pride for baltimore. >> also the ship takes pride, there's a good relationship between the navy and baltimore. >> the reason it's ending is financial. >> the navy will save about $2 million per year by putting the ship in norfolk. >> it will also put it closer to most of the medical staff who are also in virginia. but the navy's savings is baltimore's loss. >> it's bad for our economy. we need them back here. the more ships here the more money it brings in. >> today there was no time to visit a port. only a partial crew is taking the comfort out for sea trials and then home to norfolk. those aboard lined the rail and waved. >> we love you! >> the feeling is mutual. >> it's emotional. >> it's family. >> it's not coming back. >> later this spring the comfort will leave norfolk for ports in south america where it

will provide free medical care to those who can't afford it. that mission to south america is more than just humanitarian. it also involves training to keep the crew up to date. smokers listen up. from now on there will be no lighting up at orioles or ravens game. they're banning smoking anywhere inside oriole park or m and t stadium. previously there were designated areas. now the plan is to allow people to leave the premise to smoke and reenter. we're learning more about the pope's role in the catholic church following his upcoming resignation. officials say the pope will be known as emmer pope or your holiness after he steps down. there had been speculation about his title and what he would wear. the vatican says benedict will continue wearing white. >> interesting. still to come on wjz eyewitness news' news.

a hot air horror, two dozen tourists are dead after a fiery balloon accident. >> high school gunman, prosecutors make a deal with the student behind a deadly shooting rampage in ohio. more details coming up. >> our gray skies will soon equal rain. your full first warning weather forecast coming up. complete coverage continues with don scott, jessica kartalija, and first warning weather with marty bass and meteorologist bernadette woods. it's

. it cloudy and 39 degrees in central maryland. your complete first warning weather forecast is coming up. in egypt 19 tourists are dead after a hot air balloon accident. parts of the balloon caught fire. then the gone la crashed into a field outside luxor it's believed it was around a thousand feet off the ground when it fell. its pilot and another person jumped and survived. for the first time we're hearing the 9-1-1 calls from the night an explosion leveled parts of kansas city's shopping district. >> small building on the corner of 48th and bellevue. it exploded. there's fire and smoke and the gas company or some city employees are there, but i don't see any fire trucks. >> one person was killed, more than a dozen were injured in the natural gas explosion that destroyed a popular restaurant

last week. the blast occurred after a construction crew apparently struck a gas line. we have breaking news from ohio where minutes ago a teen pleaded guilty to gunning down three students inside his high school. the guilty plea to three counts of aggravated murder takes the death penalty off the table for 18-year-old j. t. lane. he admitted to the shooing at the students but said he didn't know why. police say lane took a gun to school last february and fired ten shots at classmates in the cafeteria line. he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. one of pluto's newly discovered moons may have star trek fans to thank for its new moniker. that's because the name vulcan was the most popular choice in an online vote. william shatner suggested the name and it got nearly half of the 450,000 votes. the international astronomical union will officially announce the name later this year. still ahead on wjz's eyewitness news at noon, break

out your umbrellas, you'll need them. our complete forecast just 2 and a half minutes away. first here's a look at today's midday stocks and last night's winning multimatch numbers.

welcome back. okay. here's the storm now making its way into maryland. you can see along this line right in here briefly starting as a mix before changing over

to rain because there's much warmer air coming with this storm. out west this is a different story. this is a freezing rain sleet combination right now following garrett county and alleghany counties. we have some watches and warnings to talk about, winter storm warning in effect through this afternoon because of that scenario we just talked about. you can see also winter weather advisory extended in al gay any county but it has been dropped for washington county because temperatures are on the rise. farther to the east what we're dealing with now is a flood watch that goes into effect this afternoon. because when the rain starts to pick up it is going to become heavy at times. temperature wise, it is 39 degrees. it's above freezing, but notice the dew point is still below freezing, so that's why this could still start as a sleet mix. they're pulling that cold air down from the upper layers of the atmosphere. you can see oakland is 35 degrees, but the levels of the atmosphere break down that there are those cold layers

involved. the warmer air is coming. it's going to change over to rain for all of us. that will be coming up from the south. now there's a bit of a wind going on and, and it's going to pick up out of the east as we head through the day. that's going to feed more moisture into the storm system. here's the really snowy side on the northwest part of it. the severe weather side on the south. look how the cold air is hanging on in the mountains. now as we head into tomorrow, the bulk of this tries to move away, but notice that low sort of hangs back. that's going to make for a transitional day tomorrow. sunshine will breakthrough, temperatures are going to jump. that could lead to pop-up showers. when the low swings by on thursday, rain and snow showers are possible with that. rain becoming heavy at times, 45 degrees for our high. tonight still some rain around, staying above freezing at 40 degrees. then tomorrow some breaks of sunshine, a lot of clouds. temperatures will spike in the 50s because of that. could lead to a couple showers in the afternoon, sort after of

a turbulent day tomorrow. >> at least it's warmer though right? >> it will be warmer. >> great hair weather. >> oh yeah. >> thank you. >> still to come enthuses news eyewitness news at noon, parents be ware, could drinking out of certain bottles impact a child's brain development. what scientists are saying. >> and we have today's cold, cough

in today's health watch, researchers have new evidence about the chemical bpa and how it interferes with brain development. it's in plastic containers and cans. a study finds the chemical may disresult a gene that's critical to developing the central nervous system. it raises new questions about whether it contributes to developmental disorders. helping others may be a good way to help yourselves. canadian researchers studied high schoolers in volunteer work. teenagers also showed the biggest improvement in cardiovascular health. be sure to check in with wjz eyewitness news today at 4, 5, and 6. the death toll continues to rise in egypt after a hot air balloon accident there.

we'll have the very latest and hear more from trayvon martin's parents on the one-year anniversary of their son's death. please join us for these stories today at 4 right after dr. phil. and stay with us, the five- day my budget used to be a real downer, even when we needed stuff for the home. i was a negative nancy. but thanks to fingerhut.com now we can shop with low monthly payments. and they've got over 30,000 products from brands like samsung, keurig, fisher-price. two words: mini-donut maker. ah, that's three words. just click on over to fingerhut.com for the credit you deserve to get all kinds of great stuff. [doorbell rings] oh! i hope that's our new espresso machine. and that hot delivery guy. ♪

welcome back. okay. looks like it's not raining out there. >> not raining yet. i haven't melted yet. >> that's good. i don't think you're going to melt anyway. >> we'll take a look at the

that five-day forecast. tomorrow's going to be 57. 48 on thursday and a little bit of mixed precip. friday the sun comes out, 45. 44 saturday, 42 degrees on sunday. as we start march. normal is 48. we slide below normal. >> we can just gauge marty's side burns to see if they're getting more humid, more wavy. don't miss our prime time lineup, it's the series premier of the new show golden boy, and stay tuned for eyewitness news at 11. >> watch our starbucks customers may be driving around in their favorite wi-fi spot. general more tores is teaming up to add wi-fi. the system will be available on chevrolet, buick, gmc and cadillac cars and trucks. no word on how much this new wireless feature will cost. >> you can actually type while

you drive. >> no. >> smart. >> all right. thanks for watching eyewitness news on wjz 13 maryland's news station. i'm jessica kartalija. >> i'm don scott. >> and from marty bass and bernadette woods have a great day everybody. we'll see you back here at 4, i'm only in my 60's... i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan,

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