weathernet. stevenson, 43 degrees. by the water it warms up a little bit more. sparrows point at 48. despite what you have on the thermometer this morning. we all go to yesterday's high temperature of 71 by lunch time. even higher to 77, two-degree guarantee on a sunny afternoon. 6:29, back to kim brown now for the last on traffic. if you're trying to get an early start to the d.c. area this morning, we had an accident southbound on the bw parkway at route 450. that's been cleared away. delays start at 410. beltway looking really good. traffic moving at speeds. we have moderate to heavy volume building around the area. no problems on the west side. we don't have issues as you make your way uh, really in either direction at 95 approaching the tunnels. as we look at our travel times right now, on the outer loop from 795 to i-70, that'll take you about seven minutes to do

that. southbound on the harbor tunnel thruway from the split to 295, about eight minutes this morning. one solitary crash in the area. police on the scene of an accident in brooklyn park. southbound richie highway, hammonds lane. getting a little rubbernecking attention from drivers this morning. for the most part, we're looking really good. >> we've been reporting on this all morning long. a 1963 letter sent to the vatican about clergy abuse. no one knows for sure if this letter landed in the hands of pope paul, but it indicates that church leaders knew there was a problem. >> reporter: the associated press has released a letter written by the head of the roman catholic order that oversaw treatment of pedophile priests. he recommends removing them from active ministry. this comes as pope benedict xvi

is accused of covering sex abuse incidents when what he archbishop. the vatican denies any wrong doing, but some clergy worry the defensive and defiant tone of the vatican could hurt the institution and turn people away. >> are walking away from the church in droves and the vatican is in denial about this. >> reporter: this letter from 1963 was among several hundred pages of documentation given to the ap by attorneys for california clergy abuse victims. the documents were first made public last year after attorneys pursuing clergy abuse claims in los angeles had them unsealed. topping our look at news around the nation: surveillance video shows a tennessee couple

walking up to an suv, breaking in and taking out the radio. that seems like a run of the mill crime until you see the video closely. a boy and girl under the age of 12 watched the crime happen right in front of them. police have arrested the couple. what are the chances? how many games have you gone to see your son or daughter play and have this happen to you? denard span hits a foul ball and sees it hit his mom right in the chest. she was treated, came back, sat in the stands. denard was so upset he couldn't play anymore. president barack obama receives hundreds, maybe thousands of letters each day, but meet patrick underwood jr.. here's a third grader at a school in georgia. a couple months ago, he wrote to the president asking him to visit his school. three weeks later, a letter arrived in the mail from the

president. >> keep my grades up and stuff like that. >> are you going to listen to him? >> yeah. i want a scholarship to go to college and go to the nba. keep my grades up, stay strong. >> getting a letter from the president is cool, patrick isn't the only one in his family writing to a sitting american president. when his dad was in high school, he wrote to president clinton and bill clinton wrote to him. that's pretty good. a petty thief really just makes him mad. why this woman should be losing sleep over what she stole. 6:34. you want to talk about a big deal, yesterday's high temperature, 71 degrees. we talked about a warming trend. look at 86 in st. louis. 80-degree weather will be close

as we head into the next couple days. more on that in just a bit. let's see what's happening on the roads. >> traffic looks fantastic around the area. looking good as you make your way 83 southbound from shawan towards the beltway. we'll be right back as we take a check right now of the buses and trains with mark jones. >> on the marc train system, penn train 405 working with a 20-minute delay. northern end between timonium and hunt valley. metro right on time. look for 4, 5, 6, 10, 20 and 30 buses running 10 to 15 minutes late. for the mta transit team, i'm mark jones.



here we are, 6:38. we have a brazen thief caught on camera stealing from a donation jar. take a look at the surveillance video from a store. bakersfield california. the woman's getting ready to buy a cup of coffee. when the clerk walks away she grabs the jar and shoves it into her purse. the money was supposed to go to a foundation for terminally ill children. there's debate about whether jack young actually lives in baltimore city. he answered the question by another media organization. he took us on a tour of his home in east madison. the question of whether or not

the president -- the city council president actually lives in baltimore city. joe biden would like to wash his own mouth with soap, but democrats hope it will make him some money. joe biden's words are being put on a t-shirt. you can get a limited edition shirt that says health reform is a bfd. a change of heart from the president. >> supporters are not too happy about it. >> it has to do with offshore drilling. why some say it's a big mistake . a terrible shooting in d.c. leaves four people dead. police say it was all over a bracelet. plus: a conservative talk show host speaks out against a

controversial uh, story here and also answers the prayers of a dead marine's father. listen up: if you're from dundalk or anywhere with stephen king fans, there's a new book coming out.

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first things first, let's check on the weather. >> justin berk? >> good morning, 6:44, 43 on the official thermometer in baltimore. when we get generally clear skies and light winds on your location. high in the hill, the higher better rain in reisterstown. they're looking at 51. dune in the valley of ellicot city, we've got 43 degrees. veterans elementary, that's a, that's a big spread over a very short distance. hilltops, cities and around the bay. milder this morning. this is what we normally expect on april 1st. typically 38 in the morning. we're already above that mark in

most local lo -- -- locales. high thin cloud deck towards the west. old storm, well off the coast. we've got high pressure in control. that will pump a west, southwesterly wind. we begin the warming trend today and it gets warmer for the next couple days. i showed this to you a couple minutes ago. 71 degrees, yesterday's high temperature in baltimore. we should get to that by lunch time. 77 in chicago. 86 degrees, that was yesterday's high temperature, st. louis. a sign of the 80s, trying to spread its way north and east. should get here by tomorrow. today though, 77. our two-degree guarantee. light wind out of the southwest, 5 to 10 miles per hour. we'll slip back to about 48 degrees overnight. still well above normal. temperatures close to 20 degrees above normal. as we aim for 80 tomorrow. let's see what's happening on

the roads now. 6:45, here's kim brown. >> no april fooling this morning. traffic looks fantastic. we don't really have too many problems. nothing here on the beltway. pretty much wide open, all lanes moving at speed. you look here on the west side at wilkins avenue. as you make your way southbound on 95, little heads up. there's a disabled vehicle off to the shoulder past 395. not really causing too many problems this morning. as you take a peek at travel times, looking good up to 395. that'll be a 9-minute ride. 29 southbound, volume picking up slightly will take you 11 minutes to do that. now, if you're trying to get an early start heading to d.c. this morning, heads up if you're traveling on the bw parkway. now we have a new accident, just past uh, the beltway at 495, blocking the left lane. give yourself a few extra

minutes. 6:46 right now. now to a developing story we've learned all new since 11:00. a letter decades-old shows the vatican was aware of clergy sexual abuse in the united states. sherrie johnson has more information on this this morning . >> reporter: good morning, yes, there's new information that has surfaced in the catholic church sex abuse scandal. the associated press has obtained a letter written by the head of a roman catholic order that oversaw treatment of catholic pedophile priest. he recommends removing pedophile priests from active ministry. pope benedict xvi has accused of covering up sex abuse cases when he was archbishop in the 80s. this letter from 1963 was among several hundred pages of documents given to the ap by attorneys for california clergy

abuse victims who found the document during litigation. the catholic church is fighting back, defending its actions. >> no one has been more vigorous in cleansing the church of the affects of the sickening sin and crime than the man we now call pope benedict xvi. >> the vatican has attacked the new york times for coverage of the sex abuse of children, asking reporters to stop the attacks on pope benedict xvi. in the studio, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. the president broke with 25 years of government policy saying he will allow more offshore drilling for oil which includes the mid-atlantic coast. the current ban has been allowed on the gulf of mexico. >> given our energy needs, in order to sustain energy growth, produce jobs and stay

competitive, we'll need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up renewable sources of homegrown energy. >> the president is laying down the foundation for republican support of future legislation. in a new poll last month, nearly 2/3 of americans say they favor allowing more offshore drilling for oil and gas. 11 minutes before 7:00. you know there's a ban on the books there should be no drilling on the bay, but what about off the coast of ocean city? what will we see first? oil rigs or wind mills? linda sow with reaction this morning. >> looks like you'll see oil rigs. the president wants to expand offshore drilling all along the east coast. it's a decision upsetting environmentalists in management -- management -- maryland. will baker says a better cleaner

option would be an offshore wind farm. >> there's been a lot of discussion about developing those very same waters for offshore wind. good jobs, good economic benefit, clean energy. that's what we oughta be pursuing in that part of the ocean. >> just last year, president obama issued an executive order dedicated to cleaning up the bay. baker says the decision to expand offshore drilling does just the opposite. in the studio, linda sow, abc2 news. and we want to know what you think about this. we want your two cents. do you agree with expanded offshore drilling, despite environmental concerns for maryland? go to our homepage and click on the poll. police are looking for a fourth suspect in a drive by shooting in southeast washington, d.c. that left four people dead and hurt five others.

all over a stolen bracelet. three suspects in custody. one of them a 14-year-old boy who drove the car. one of the suspects could have been behind bars last week, but police didn't have enough evidence to arrest him. >> i'm a police officer, i'm frustrated when i can't take somebody off the street when i want to take them off the street. >> community neighbors and leaders had a candlelight vigil last night. also new this morning: police are looking into who shot a 17-year-old in the face in west baltimore. the shooting happened around 3:30 yesterday afternoon in the 2,000 block of harlem avenue. officers aren't saying what kind of condition the teen is in or the move behind the shooting. our news time now: nine minutes before 7:00. bill o'reilly of fox news has offered to appeals costs for the father of a fallen marine. >> an appeals court ordered

snyder to pay more than $16,000 to his church to cover their legal costs. o'reilly says heals pay the supreme court costs for this and he can still overturn the decision that will get the case back on the books in the fall. >> i have no doubt in my mind that i'm going to win this. there are limits to free speech. >> more on this story, you can read the e-mail comments that some of you are weighing in on, sharing your opinion if you like. look under most popular stories on our website and you'll also find the support al snyder facebook page as well as a link to support the legal costs. a woman and child are hospitalized after being splashed with a dangerous chemical. it happened monday night. the acid-like liquid burned the 25-year-old woman and her 3-year-old daughter. police believe is this a domestic-related incident and they're looking for a suspect. >> she said "it's on me and it's

burning." >> she was worried about her daughter because you know, she did know what was going on and she did know how much stuff they got on her. >> the mother suffered burns to her eyes, face, neck and legs. family members say the child was burned under the eye. the two remain hospitalized. investigators are trying to identify the chemical right now. all new here this morning: another airline option for you if you want to fly out of d.c. out of reagan national, jet blue will start offering flights in november. jet blue will also offer flights out of national east coast cities. of course at bwi thurgood marshall airport. all of us that flew to sarasota to watch this game yesterday, nearly 8,000 turned out to watch the red sox play the orioles and the red sox beat the orioles 14-6. jason burkin got roughed up. five runs in two images. bocce ball scores of little

italy are more important than spring training games. three more games and then they head to tampa to start the season. all right: the ravens are out with their pre-season schedule. here's the way it looks. thursday august 12th, they take on the carolina panthers and friday or saturday, august 20th or 21st, we'll go to redskins, fedex field and then friday, august 27th, saturday 28th, the ravens will battle the giants and then thursday, september 2nd, the rams and ravens tangle. a book called blockade billy will be published by cemetery dance publications. blockade billy tells the tale of a major league player who has a dark secret. stephen king has been working on the project for more than a year now.

king signed copies of his last book in a wal-mart in dundalk, the store that sells more of his books than any other story in the country. >> i hear the lion king theme at the maryland zoo now. >> hakuna matata is playing everywhere there now. here are the new parents of two new male warthogs. they already have fur and teeth. they look like miniature pigs. you won't be able to see them for several weeks, the staff has to baby proof the enclosure. looking for that this summer. we'd also like to say congratulations to the agistini and nolan families. murphy patrl nolan was welcomed to the world yesterday.

he weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces. 22 inches long. he is just perfect. >> came out walking, i hear. right? >> he's gorgeous. 6:56. problem-free fossphilosophy. i was paying attention. 77 degrees today. our two-degree guarantee. we're down into the upper 40s overnight. we'll go for 80 on friday and saturday. 20 degrees above normal. sunshine will give way to a few clouds, still mid- to upper 70s. >> thanks, justin. we have reports of a crash in parkton. york road, we're looking pretty good traffic-wise. in weather's looking good. traffic's looking good. april 1st. have a wonderful day. >> hey murphy, what we do now is send it to new york, good morning america, and we come back at 9:00. see you then.

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