really will be. high thin clouds this morning, they may thin out from time to time. do expect to have at least some partial sunshine for the first half of the day. that sun will be fading behind more clouds and move in during the course of the afternoon. temperatures this morning ranging from 46 in dover and easton. 42 spot here in baltimore. 35, chillier up towards york, pennsylvania. overall we expect temperatures to jump to low 60s by lunch time. clouds thicken in a hurry this afternoon. we'll gather high temperature of 67 degrees as our 2 degree guarantee. don't set your clock to it precisely, but around that time and afterwards, expect the rain to start moving into the area. right now it's 6:30. you can set that to perfection, let's see what's happening on the roads with troy. >> no incidents on the beltway, but we have heavy traffic to report this morning. wilkins avenue, build-ups on the outer loop, take a look at that. as we expect, around this time,

traffic builds up some. drive times this morning look like this. 95 southbound, white marsh boulevard. 695. 8-minute ride. shawan road to 695, 7-minute ride. owings mills boulevard to 695 is six minutes. we have an accident downtown baltimore calvert street northbound at eager street. want to take a look out for that. also, an earlier incident at west lafayette, pearl street. two left lanes get by in that area. would you raise taxes or cut 600 jobs? >> mayor stephanie rawlings blake has made the decision, let's go live to linda sow, live outside of city hall with where the cuts are going to hurt. >> reporter: the mayor has made it very clear. these cuts are going to be painful, but they are necessary to balance the books. the baltimore city fire department and police department make up about half of the city's budget. if there's major cutting to be

done, that's where much of it will come from. the mayor's proposal includes getting rid of about 200 police officers and 100 firefighters. more than half of the city's rec centers will close and the city's bulk trash pick-up program will be no more. >> could end up in allies, street corners. they can't trace them back. >> reporter: now we should learn more about the proposed budget cuts coming up at the next city council meeting on april 12th. we'll learn what will be final, what will stay, what will go and also if taxes could go up in the city. live at city hall, linda sow, abc2 news. >> log onto our proposed website, abc2news.com. look under the links mentioned on the air. we'll connect you up with the city's website. topping our news around the nation: drivers dodge all kinds of things during traffic and rush hour, but they don't

usually have to swerve out of the way of an airplane. >> the single engine plane made an emergency landing in california last night. the pilot was flying from long beach when he reported engine problems. no one was hurt. two lanes of the freeway were closed for hours before the plane was moved onto an air field. a pennsylvania jury will begin deliberating today in the case of a woman accused of offering to trade sex for world series tickets. prosecutors say the 44-year-old put an ad on craigslist saying she needed tickets and the price was negotiable. but an undercover officer set up the meeting and she was arrested for attempted prostitution. this woman is happily married and police misunderstood her intentions. she faces up to a year in prison. fire officials are scrambling in ohio to try to find out what caused a fire at this farm. the fire took over a storage

building was attached to five chicken houses. it may officially be spring, but effects of the winter still lingering. coast guard had to send boats out to free the trapped crater . >> it's cold most of the year in michigan. your mail could soon have a 9:00 to 5:00, monday through friday gig. >> the push to cut back on delivery is one step closer to becoming a reality. >> those baby slings are very dangerous. >> 6:34. it'll turn out to be a nice day. start off at 42 degrees. we have a few clouds in the sky. more clouds this afternoon, warm afternoon as you follow our wake-up window at the bottom of the screen. we'll talk about that rain coming up in just a bit. 6:34 on the clock, here's troy with traffic.

>> traffic is uh, of course, looking uh, starting to build up, 695 in wilkins avenue. look out for that. also, let's see, we have your map going on here. we have accidents downtown, at uh, at uh, at uh, i can't find it. the west fayette and pearl street, there we go. just west of green, look out for that. there are a couple of rain closures as well. keep an eye on that. with your mta report, we have mark jones. >> shuttle buses still in place on the northern end. stops between timonium and hunt valley. metro subway looking good. marc trains right on time. showing number 21 with diversion southbound at caroline and madison. number 11 bus northbound with diversion at bosley and chesapeake. for the mta transit team, i'm mark jones.

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all right, our wake-up window is open. 42 degrees right now. 6:38. and republicans have found a way to force the health care fix it bill back to the house for another vote. jim manly is the spokesmen for senate majority leader harry reid. the two provisions dealing with pell grants for low income college students will have to be removed from the bill. they hope to vote on the revised bill sometime today. cutting mail delivery back to five days, now gaining some momentum. the postal governing board has agreed to ask the postal regulatory commission for an option of dropping the saturday delivery. postal officials say that this could save more than $3 billion a year. post offices would remain open

on saturdays and express mail would still be delivered. you just wouldn't get it at your door. infantino sling riders are recalled because 14 babies died using the swing style infant carriers. if you use the sling, there's only one proper way, make sure your baby's on its back, chin up, face and mouth always visible. it seems every day we talk about shootings and stabbings and robberies. >> a new effort to get you the front lines to stop this problem. >> reporter: an east baltimore neighborhood mourns of loss of a community leader, find out how a crime summit in sykesville tries to make maryland's neighborhood safer. isn't it 2010? this year's ballot will look a lot like the one in 2006. it was carmen with your

gallon of milk. why they were single in the aisles of whole foods. ñ i'd like one of those desserts and some coffee. sure. cake or pie? pie. apple or cherry? cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream?

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good morning, hope you are going to have a wonderful day today. yesterday the weather was quite nice. while you're looking for your car keys this morning, good old chaps found us in 1964. they lured baltimore. we discovered maryland. >> like a wealth of knowledge. >> baltimore cleaners, of course. the big cleaners in town, they

were responsible. let's get our weather, here's justin. >> lordy, save us. 6:44. good morning. we start off stevenson university. 41 degrees. we will actually see sun this morning. official sunrise at 7:02. we are just minutes away from that. we'll have ourselves a pretty good-looking morning. step out of the way to give us a little perspective here. 49 degrees, little warmer with that light east southeast wind coming off the bay. high thin clouds filtering in across the sky. that'll be of big importance for today, it looks worse than it really is right now on the satellite picture. these high thin clouds, often the first signs of a change of weather. this will hold true to that. allow the sun to slip through in the morning hours. there may be bright hours to deal with this morning. as we head through the afternoon, all the moisture gathering around this new storm system, that will gradually lower and thicken the cloud

deck. the storm itself pumping in more moisture from the gulf of mexico. it's going to be business. rain will be heavier for us. we'll hold that rain off until this evening. by then, with the thickening clouds, we still get into the mid- to upper 60s. rain on our doorstep. it comes in after dark. overnight it could be heavy at times. orange, yellow, shady here across the bay. the back edge of the rain will try to pull through around lunch time. strong north wind will actually cause the temperatures to drop throughout the day. for today, they go up. quite the opposite. the clouds roll in, but the temperatures roll up today. we go up to about 67 degrees. optimistic one, holding off the rain into this evening. rain overnight could be heavy by daybreak, down to about 51. for those plotting on the backyard rain gauges, half inch to a full inch of rainfall when this comes to an end. temperatures averaging near 50, could be falling into the 40s

despite some clearing, gusty winds prevail into friday afternoon. more on the weekend forecast coming up in just a bit. it's 6:46. let's check on traffic with troy. >> heavy traffic and incidents to tell you about as you make your way to work or school this morning. 695 and wilkins avenue. heavy traffic on the outer loop of the beltway. normal build-ups at this particular time of the hour. traffic is definitely slowed up there. let's look at your drive times this morning. 95 southbound. 83 southbound, shawan road to 795 a 7-minute ride. owings mills to 695, six minutes. throw traffic on the outer loop of 795. we also have a disabled vehicle at 895 south of the harbor tunnel. one vehicle involved in both southbound tunnel lanes are closed. back to you guys. you decide to cut back on

shoe-shopping and you buy the discount brands instead of name brands. the mayor decided to cut back on firefighters and police officers. these cuts need to be made because of the budget. abc2 news linda sow joins us live from city hall. >> a lot of people are concerned about that, there's talk of cutting so many police officers and firefighters. whatever happens, the mayor says it's not going to be pretty and cuts are necessary to balance the books. the fire and police departments make up about half of the city's budget. if there's major cutting to be done, that's where it will come from. the mayor's proposal is to get rid of 200 cops and 100 firefighters. more than half the city's rec centers would also close. the city's bulk trash pick-up program would be no more. >> it's a tough time for the city. everybody has a responsibility to step up to the plate and volunteer a little bit more with the neighborhood association. >> we'll be learning more about the proposed budget cuts at the

next city council meeting. we could learn if taxes could go up. we're live at city hall, linda sow, abc2 news. >> all you have to do is log onto our website abc2news.com. look under links mentioned on the air. we'll connect you to the city's website and you can read all the preliminary budget information you need to know. crunching numbers in annapolis. the senate has given preliminary approval to the state's $13 billion budget. one of the largest cuts comes from the fund to help clean up the chesapeake bay. it's been cut from $20 million to $10 million. a 50% cut for stem cell research from $12.4 million to $6.2 million. you better not text behind the wheel, you may also be band from talking when you're driving. one bill being talked about in annapolis will make it illegal to talk on the phone and drive. you'll have to use a hands-free

device. motorists will face a fine of $40 if you're caught. big news about former governor robert ehrlich. our sister station, wjla in washington, d.c. is reporting that he plans to run for governor again. a source with knowledge of the announcement says ehrlich will formally announce his candidacy in rockville. that event will be followed by an event in ehrlich's hometown of arbutus. governor o'malley seemed unphased by the thought of a rematch. >> i enjoyed it the last time, i'm looking forward to it this time. >> ehrlich was elected governor in 2002, he lost his 2008 re-election bid to o'malley. he did not deserve to die on the street like this the way he was killed. >> you're with the hundreds of people who gathered last night to remember community leader and father of two, carlos williams. williams was shot and killed early sunday morning in the

front seat of his comcast van. this happened in the 1900 block of boone street in east baltimore. police are still searching for suspects. friends and family say williams had a passion for helping people and founded several drug recovery programs in his home community. how do we stop this? talk about keeping each other safe at a conference in sykesville today. abc2 news sherrie johnson tells us what this talk will hopefully lead to. >> the crime prevention summit will offer information on good anti-crime initiatives that have worked in the past in maryland's neighborhoods. participants can pick up information on applying for grants to fund their programs. they'll also learn the best way to implement programs tailored for their specific community. the local efforts should address community crime prevention and physical improvements. $200,000 is available under the crime control and prevention program. here's what the governor has to say about the program.

these grants to local communities will enable us to harness the power of citizenship, strengthening our communities and keeping maryland a safe place in which to live and work. the summit will be held today from 4:00 to 7:00 at the maryland police and correctional training center in sykesville. >> 6:52. spring training may be winding down for miguel tejada. the orioles third baseman is facing six additional months of probation time. after investigation determined he misled congress about an ex-teammate's use of performance enhancing drugs. tejada was sentenced last year to probation and customer service. his sentence was set to expire later today, but he hasn't finished all of his customer service. his probation will probably end when those parks are finished. comptroller peter franchot

criticized contractors because there's no money allocated for it. it's important to remember that the state is expecting a big return on the investment. the comptroller pointed out that only two of five potential slot locations are set this year. 6:53 right now. the latest on the investigation into that baltimore county crash involving a light rail train and a tractor-trailer. police tell us that charges are pending against the truck driver. county police tell us that the truck driver drove onto the train's path at a signal crossing in hunt valley. the train operator remains in serious condition this morning. the tracks are closed still north of timonium. if you're taking that area, if you're normally commuting, for now you have to take the mta bus. all new this morning: an annapolis high school student is in critical condition, days after he collapsed during a game of basketball. jeremy blackstone was a stand

out athlete and student. he collapsed on sunday. paramedics sea say he was in cardiac arrest. >> he's a really nice guy in general. you can tell with his friends and stuff. it's really sad. >> everybody's praying for him. supporting him. >> doctors do not know what exactly caused the collapse and haven't figured out what's wrong with him. we'll keep you posted on the story. i heard somebody called and they're waiting for aerosmith to arrive? is that true? no.... >> whole foods, you go there to get your groceries and maybe this too. ♪ [opera singing]. >> singing amongst the strawberries. even have a conductor right

there. can't get any better than this. shoppers inside the whole foods say they were treated to a musical performance by this group. young artist in washington national opera. >> let people know you don't have to be in a stuffy opera house, it doesn't have to be some sort of place where you're going where there are all old people and you're having to wear a gown and lights are dark and you pay a lot of money. we're trying to get across that opera can be anywhere and can be very accessible for people of all ages. >> i love it. the singers will be performing at the symphony orchestra today. performance called hearts, cards and carnivals. very creative. >> all right, 6:55. we had ourselves a beautiful day yesterday. temperatures made it up to 65 degrees. although it looks a little

pessimistic here, let's try to play optimism here with temperatures that will surge to 67 this afternoon. we have sun that will fade behind increasing clouds. rain will be knocking on our door by this evening. rain will be heavy overnight and tomorrow morning. could see a half inch to an inch across the area. heaviest rain will probably be early morning tomorrow. windy and turning cooler on friday with temperatures to about 50 degrees. that'll be a morning high temperature slipping into the 40s throughout the afternoon. even with clearing. 52 after a start near 30 on saturday. and that sunshine will be deceptive. it'll be chilly. looks like sun fades behind another storm system. brings evening rain by sunday. let's take a quick look at your drive times this morning. as you get ready to head out, of course you know back-ups going on. congestion in timonium. 83 southbound between padonia road and 695. 695, 83 to the jfx is three minutes. thank you for joining us this morning.

>> we'll see you back here at 9:00 on good morning maryland. have a great day.