reaction this morning from the interim president of the amateur athletic union over sexual abuse allegations. find out what the organization plans to do today. >> keeping your family and yourself safe for the holiday season. a preview of everything you need to know. and southwest airlines looking to upgrade its service. we'll let you know what that air carrier is planning to do on this wednesday, december 14th. good morning, maryland, i'm charley crowson. let's head over to meteorologist justin berk with a check of the forecast. >> good morning. morning stretch. we're going to try to figure this out. we have the satellite and radar composite, been watching this rain band extend to the east/southeast. i just have to follow the upper level winds, you can see reflected in some of the bright clouds. the computer model not handling this that well. we will survive the trip across the mountains. i have to assume some of this stuff might reach its way into central maryland later this morning through midday. no big deal, just a matter of

whether or not you get wet. temperatures this morning, still 34 degrees with more cloud cover here. dropping back to 32 in ocean city, 40s to the south and west. we'll go back to 50 sometime late morning, midday and early afternoon. there could be showers. this thing keeps creeping in. take an umbrella. look to the skies. there may be some drizzle. we're getting to 52 this afternoon. a 5:31. the roads now. >> looking pretreported an acci hall, it's been cleared, so nothing to slow you down on old york road as you make your way past route 23. in the meantime, on u.s. 29 at maryland 108 southbound lanes, we are picking up in volume there. but still nothing to complicate the drive there. around the beltway, pretty good at liberty road here. on the west side keep in mind we are starting to see a little more activity on the southwest

corner between wilkens and frederick. but as we mentioned our drive times looking pretty good for the most part coming down 83 from shawan road to the top side of 695. it's a five-minute drive. back to you. the amateur athletic union is set to announce plans in changing its policy. this comes after sexual abuse allegations and an investigation in tennessee. centered around that group's former president. abc2 news' sherrie johnson has an update on that story. >> reporter: the aau has called a news conference for today in its headquarters in orlando. it's expected to announce the formation of two task forces to look at the organizations internal protocols for athlete safety. memphis police say investigators are trying to follow up on allegations that the ex-aau president bobby dodd molested children 30 years ago but haven't yet received a formal victim complaint. investigators received information from the aau about accusations but are not saying whether they are investigating one or several. the interim president of the

aau spoke about what the organization did after reports first surfaced on espn. >> reporter: the 63-year-old bobby dodd retired last month. aau says he has colon cancer. sherrie johnson, abc2 news. the marine corps is apologizing for sending purple hearts to the family of the fallen instead of those marines wounded but still alive. the package contained a letter addressed to the fallen hero and information about reconditioning. a spokesperson says there's no excuse for what happened and accept full responsibility. more than 9,000 packages were sent out but 1,150 went out to families of marines who had died. news around the nation -- this is something you don't see everyday. a police car vertical on a utility pole. look at this! this is early tuesday morning in miami. the officer apparently had been reaching down to get a dropped pen, wasn't paying attention and you see the results. the officer was fine but as you

could expect he was a little embarrassed. a pregnant horse fell down a hole in pueblo, colorado. rescuers pulled it out unharmed. the hole was seven feet deep and the mare is pregnant. however, veterinarians kept an eye on mom and baby as the crews were able to pull it to safety. she's now back home and resting. fourth graders in minnesota are now learning the true meaning of the holiday season. they are donating their toys and giving them to the needy. the classroom turned into a santa workshop as students cleaned up the toys to give them away. >> i just keep thinking we're going to make someone else happy. >> they are serving and they are having fun cleaning and playing with the toys and making sure everything is good to go. >> they will be taken to another store. parents there can shop for free for chas gifts for kids. christmas gifts. there are less than 10 days remaining to help in the annual it's kindertime toy drive.

it's from now until december 21st, you can donate new unused toys and even drop off used musical instruments. for information go to abc2news.com/toydrive for all the information you need. a florida man's holiday lights are taking on a special meaning this season. the extra mile he's going to, to make sure our troops know how much we appreciate them. new information about charlie sheen's firing from a cbs sitcom. and something you may not know, just what was that man with the adonis dna and tiger blood up to the whole time? let's go to new york for "tech bytes." >> reporter: a call to ban phones completely while driving. the national transportation safety board says hands-free is not enough, any use of a cell phone while driving is dangerous and the ntsb wants

if you see what seem like suicidal comments in a friend's facebook messages, you can alert facebook and the friend will get counseling by e-mail or chat. and "the wall street journal"'s katie beret says twitter is making it easier for new users to get involved. >> there's a section called browse interests. you can see all sorts of different categories and things you like. if you like music, they will suggest different people to follow. >> twitter has been growing rapidly since it became part of apple's new operating system in october. those are your "tech bytes." i'm rob nelson.

a display, one man paying tribute to our soldiers, specifically wounded marine corps members and the funds go to help them. this is in tallahassee, florida. it's for an incredible cause. and one oregon family decided they couldn't compete with their families. they put up a simple light display that says "ditto." people come from all over the region to see the lights. this one in particular at this house. the owners hand out hand-painted decorations and have the music play. the family says this is a tribute to their neighbors' hard work. i bet you justin they didn't help them put up the lights. >> what they said. that's classic. ditto on the utility bill as well. >> probably not. the models i think cut short this rain. we were trying to go over some

of the data and it appears as if the rain not only has advanced farther to the east as the models suggested but we had to account for the mid-level winds trying to carry that moisture. you can see that cloudiness, there's moisture back there. if anything we cloud up and turn mostly cloudy to overcast. it's a dark morning, makes it seem a little colder than it really is even though we're not as frigid as the last few days the moisture back here i don't think will be substantial by the time it reaches us but i suspect -- we got a look that may very well give us at least something falling from the sky late morning to the afternoon. a couple more ripples could make it interesting this weekend as we get colder air but 34 is now for baltimore and easton. and anywhere from late morning through midday and early afternoon could be possible showers. a mild high of 52. we'll look at the weekend forecast coming up at. here's traffic. >> we're seeing an increase in volume on some of the major

roadways. if you're planning on taking mta this morning, marc, light rail, bus and subway are on schedule. i-95 southbound at maryland 32, again, moving well through the columbia region all the way down towards the capitol beltway. and for those of you traveling on u.s. 50 this morning, here's a look at 50 both east and westbound lanes moving well between the bay bridge and i-97. our heaviest area of traffic on the west side of 695 here at wilkens avenue. back to you. a diamond ring given to elizabeth taylor by actor richard burton sold for $8.8 million at an auction in new york. the ring was part of christie's sale of the jewelry and other items from the collection from the late actress who started "national very well -- starred in "national very well velvet." and chuck lorre says charlie sheen was fired from the sitcom earlier this year because he and warner brothers

were afraid the actor may die. lorre said he and the others were concerned about sheen's addiction for some time. lorre said he also offered to quit last winter after his relationship with sheen became toxic. sheen admitted he was out of control before the firing and has gone on to issue a series of public apologies. if you have last-minute shopping there's no excuse now. what big-name retailer is keeping the stores open for three straight days? and hot gadget gifts for the season. some you can still get your hands on. you're watching "good morning maryland." we'll be right back. thank you for starting your morning with us. a live look at the nation's capital.

the case against former assistant penn state former football coach jerry sandusky will go to trial. he waived his right to a pretrial hearing yesterday. he pleaded not guilty to the charges. two men who say they were sexually abused by assistant basketball coach at syracuse university are suing the school

and the head coach boeheim for defamation. they say they were molested by bernie fine. he denies the accusations. fine has since been fired from syracuse. things are looking up for southwest airlines. the company placed an order for more fuel-efficient boeing planes. it's boeing's biggest order ever. the hope is to address southwest's biggest challenge, high fuel prices. the planes are expected to be arriving in 2017. shoppers, start your engines. macy's announced it's going to keep more on that a dozen of its stores open for three consecutive days in the days leading up to christmas. most of the stores are along the east coast and midwest. the fun starts december 21st, if you want to call it fun, 7:00 in the morning, ends at 6:00 on christmas eve night. plenty of time for procrastinators to get the last-minute gifts.

closest to us, macy's in tysons corner. employees can rat out managers for bad behavior if the conditions to do so are right. the survey was done at a business and securities law firm. more than 3/4 of the people reported their bosses of wrongdoing if they could remain anonymous. more than a third of those polled said they already knew there were shady practices going on in the workplace. the holidays are full of excitement but decorations can provide hazards as well for adults, and especially young children. abc2 news' sherrie johnson with more on this developing story. >> reporter: a demonstration by the consumer product safety commission shows just how dangerous holiday decorations can become. this video shows a tree with dried branches and open candle flame or electrical fire sparked by damaged lights all hazardous conditions.

a holiday celebration can turn into a holiday tragedy in less than 30 seconds. child safety organizations advise keeping kids away from burning candles that can be tipped over. >> the four things we see in terms of an injury list, candles, christmas tree lights, dried-out christmas trees that cause fires and decorations. >> reporter: experts also say be sure to extinguish any candle before going to bed or leaving the home. also unplug lights on the tree so your holiday festivities don't go up in flames. sherrie johnson, abc2 news. wondering what to get those tech geeks in your life for the holidays this year? there's no standout gift but five things techies are asking for, these may be the most sought-after gifts. number five, the x box, been around for a while but still very popular. and when it comes to tablets, the i-pad reigns supreme. for laptops, all about the mac book air. tv sets are still number two.

and a lot of people want to go through these. you may want to keep that in mind. and number one, smartphones, the number one tech gift for the holiday season. [coughing] i knew that would happen at some point. in democracy 2012 news, donald trump bowed out of his own gop debate. he said he will bypass the debate because he may still run for president as an independent candidate when his show at nbc ends in may. he says he wants the right republican candidate in to beat president obama but if he doesn't like the gop nominee he'll start his own campaign. newt gingrich and rick santorum are the only two candidates who agreed to attend trump's debate. stephanie rawlings-blake will participate in a demolition at 11:30 this morning. part of her plan to remove blight in the city and build more affordable homes.

5:48. let's look at the national picture now. while we're cold at 34 and clouds are creeping back into baltimore, a surge of warm air in the nation's heartland and all the cold stuff in the rockies and across the southwest, we had already showed you the snowstorm across flag, arizona picking up a foot yesterday. a lot of action and energy coming off the pacific. 62 dallas. a marked improvement from below freezing temperatures they had last week. all in response to this one storm pattern here. basically you can see how the clouds have carved out the trough, the cold pocket of air across the west coast bringing in some of that pacific moisture across texas and injecting it on no the nation's mid-section, then pushing it all the way up with just a little push of snow, northern wisconsin and minnesota, yet snow in the rockies as well. that is our general storm pattern. we're still focusing on some of the energy coming into the system. a lot of times we get into these storm patterns for a couple of weeks where they almost seem identical.

just little things that are different. this one, again, taking warmer air ahead of it. we'll warm up ahead of this storm system. we're also pushing in moisture ahead of this storm system this morning into west virginia and because this is already ahead of schedule i had to account for some of that to cross the mountains and reach us, just about every computer model is keeping us virtually dry throughout the day with just a mix of clouds, i think we turn overcast and allow at least sprinkles on the west side. tonight there may be a push of showers. this is a warm front that comes through pennsylvania with maybe sprinkles this even and overnight. evening and overnight. then we get a chance to clear out and push a nice day tomorrow. i say nice day because temperatures will surge upper 50s to near 60. the threat of showers will be diminished. just a small ribbon that tries to fall apart for us in the afternoon. the main front crosses overnights. as we head through friday it's ok weather. watching the tail end of the front that is stalled, one wave of low pressure, right now looks like it stays to the south. could be close enough for

flurries at least in central and southern maryland. another colder system from the great lakes. hi to account for the chance it may bring in a chance of snow showers sunday morning, 52 today, a shower possible to the west. we're back into the mid-30s to near 40 tonight. tomorrow 57, maybe near 60, late-day showers, no big deal. 52 friday. we'll have to account for maybe friday night, early saturday flurries. then again flurries saturday night into sunday morning. 5:51. let's go to the roads with angela. >> on the roadways now, you may encounter problems if you normally take i-95 southbound through the columbia jessup region we're getting reports of an accident in jessup on i-95, it's going to be between 175 and route 32. as we look live at traffic flow on i-95 here in maryland 75 we can't see the slowdown but it starts once you get past 175, here's a live look at northbound 32, delay again in the southbound direction, right lane blocked with an accident on i-95.

the iraqi war nearing its end and troops will soon be headed home. and the alarming new numbers out about homelessness. specifically among children. the numbers are coming up when "good morning maryland" continues on this wednesday, december 14th. as we go to break, a live look down at baltimore's inner harbor. traditions are not for keeping. they're for keeping us together. ♪ [ boy ] to dad, love sam. [ mom ] say "merry christmas." [ boy ] merry christmas. [ female announcer ] hallmark recordable storybooks. [ boy ] charlie brown spotted a small, scraggly pine tree. ♪

president obama will visit fort bragg, north carolina. one of the installations that deployed thousands and is helping to close down iraqi military operations by the end of the month. the president and mrs. obama will thank returning troops and all military families for their service. environmental groups filed a suit in federal court tuesday challenging the first oil and natural gas leak spills in the gulf since last year's bp oil spill. the groups allege that the federal government is not prepared to handle a repeat of the april 2010 disaster that killed 11. one in 45 children didn't have permanent roofs over their head last year. a new report shows more than 1.6 million kids in the u.s.

were homeless in 2010 and that was up 38% between 2007 and 2010. the representatives last night passed legislation to extend social security payroll tax cuts and renew jobless benefits for longterm unemployed in 2012. the bill, however, includes the construction of an oil pipeline coming from canada to the gulf. that is already drawing the ire of president obama. and primetime special tonight on abc2. barbara walters will unveil her 10 most fascinating people of 2011. this begins at 9:30. those featured this year include derek jeter, donald trump and the kardashians. is your child getting itchy as the days get colder and you need to get them bundled up. why doctors say you may need to bring outs the moisture riser. and a banner in one new jersey town is causing controversy. why some residents want it taken down. an anonymous donor in nebraska is trying to make spirits bright for the holiday season.

deserving families could benefit. you're watching "good morning maryland." we'll be right back.

for many people your cell phone is your way of life. the government says it could cost you your life. find out about the new campaign on texts and talking. >> and occupy protesters were moved out. where they may take up residence next. and some kids turn their classroom into santa's workroom, to help the needy. we'll talk about that including much more news and weather as well as traffic. good morning, maryland, i'm charley crowson. wednesday, december 14th. time to check the weather and for that we say hello to meteorologist justin berk. >> good morning. we have a temperature range here