♪ oh, what fun it is to... get in the spirit with dunkin's holiday coffees and lattes. try peppermint mocha, gingerbread, or new cinnamon swirl today. >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. welcome back to 11 news today. i am lisa robinson. >> i am mindy basara. ava marie has a look at the

forecast. >> it is very mild. 40's and 50's right now. that sounds warm for december. we will not see the temperatures move to much into the afternoon. there is a chance for some rain south of 95. pretty isolated in nature. most of the day we will have dry weather. rain chances in the seven-day forecast. >> the familiar voice of reason that we have heard for over 20 years has been silenced. >> ron smith passed away last night, surrounded by is a family in his home after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. this morning we spoke with this friends and families and talk about his life and legacy. >> he was a good man. i have been many places across the world.

many people -- ron smith was a good man. he was a good man. >> after 27 years and known for many of those years as the voice of reason to say he is irreplaceable is a given. who knows what will happen next with those hours he used to fill? they cannot be duplicated. he leaves a bar said way, way up there for all of us to face every day. >> he told listeners what the doctors told him days prior to his announcement. he said he would fight it the best he could. he gave it the best shot he could. i will take away from that fight restraint encouraged that somebody could face.

ron smith taught us how to live. he lived well. ron smith taught us how to die. >> funeral arrangements have not been announced. there is a link on our homepage to leave your messages. >> joining us is congressman dutch ruppersberger who would often debate ron on this program. good morning, congressmen. >> it is an honor to talk about ron. he cover me when i was on the council. he is -- he was a true professional. he asked good questions and listened to your answers. he wanted to inform his listeners that he wanted to inform himself. he would investigate even if he would disagree. he was respectful of people's opinions.

he was presumed to be slanted to the right. he spoke out against the war and the stuff to was guns. he was straightforward and no nonsense. that's why he was called the voice of reason. this is a sad day in baltimore for the entire region. for his wife that he loved and he did something he truly loved and something he was good at and we will miss ron smith. >> will was like to debate him on the radio -- what was it like to debate him? >> you better be prepared and do your homework. he would always challenge you. that made a lot of us and that made me a better representative to my constituents because he raised the issues and he would always challenge you. you have to think about what you're going to say before you went on a show. >> is there one particular

memory or issue that stands out in your mind? >> we would have heated debates and i believed in his philosophies. he would get emotional and i would tease him about he was getting so emotional and then he would scream and yell and say, i respect you for coming on the show. i respect anybody that will come through the questions i will put you through. he always respected you. he might not have to agree with you but the respected that you'd go one-on-one with ron smith. what a debater at one of the most intelligent people in the media at. >> i will agree with you. thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> the usual holiday bus at towson town center was thrown into a frenzy after a deadly shooting. rob roblin is live from outside the town center with the latest

on the search for the gunman. >> it was a frightening experience. it happened last night and police have made no arrests and have no suspects. >> like five or six gunshots all at once. and then there was a pause of like two or three seconds, and then two or three more gunshots. >> the sound of gunfire brought the holiday rush to a shocking halt outside of towson town center. a man was gunned down outside of the mall just after 6:00 pm yesterday. police blocked the access to the garage as detectives searched for the shooter. >> they immediately went inside the mall, began canvassing the entire mall, looking for someone who may look panicked or suspicious. >> investigators failed to arrest anybody after the shooting. the mall remained open and many shoppers did not find out about the murder until they left and drove past the crime scene. shopperrs tried to come to grips with the sight of the victim's

body on the sidewalk. -- shoppers. >> it is shocking because it is in my backyard. >> this give you a wake-up call that it is not safe. >> it is not clear if the victim was the target of a robbery or a personal dispute. the shooting dampened the holiday spirit for many who came out to do their christmas shopping and found themselves in the midst of a murder investigation. >> towson is a good area to live. when people hear this, they're not going to want to come to the mall. they're not going to want to do their things in towson. >> police have not released the name of the victim in this case. >> day five of testimony in the preliminary hearing of private manning. defense attorneys say the information leaked to wikileaks did no significant damage to national security. they plan to call three more witnesses before wrapping up their case.

>> move over, at yankee stadium. camden yards is getting a monument park of its own. bronze sculptures of jim palmer, a murray, and cal ripken -- eddie murray. those sculptures will be unveiled after a series of renovations that will be made to oriole park. the sculptures will range from 6 feet to 8 feet tall. >> now traffic pulse 11 and insta-weather plus together. >> good morning. kim dacey checking on your morning commute. we do have a situation on southbound 95 approaching eastern boulevard. we have a crash reported and that is off to the left shoulder.

all trouble lanes should be open. something to be aware of. the major roadways are looking ok. a slowdown on 795. 55 on the harrisburg expressway. up to speed on the inner loop on the west side. 10 minutes on 95 northbound from 32 to the beltway. looking good. this is the northwest corner of the beltway at old court road. it looks pretty good so far. this is the j.f.x. in the area of old pimlico road. southbound traffic is looking good. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. ava has a check of the forecast. >> good morning. you cannot have the sun glare this morning. many clouds in the sky. that has produced a couple of showers overnight mainly south of 95.

we could see a couple more sprinkles throughout the day. very isolated in nature. we're in a mild air right now as the storms are off to the west. we are already around 50 right now. we're not expecting to move higher this afternoon. a better chance for rain tomorrow. a chance for rain this weekend. some snow possible in the western mountains. >> 51 degrees on tv hill. a teacher finds out the hard way -- james franco

most inf hollywood's during couples is calling it quits. jessica lange and sam shepard has entered their relationship. they have been together since 1982. she stars in "american heart story." >> a former professor says he was fired for giving james franco a d. he said franco missed 12 of the 14 classes that the talk and the

actor ridiculed him for the bad grade. the professor is suing the school to get his job back. school calls it regrettable that a former faculty member would discuss the student's grade. if you don't go to class -- >> more partisan problems on capitol could cost you in your paycheck. >> with a

>> welcome back to 11 news today. police are investigating -- called in to investigate a pair of shootings in southwest baltimore. police arrived on the scene on a bright streak to find one victim

shot and wounded. -- -- briton street. one of the victims died but it is not clear which one. it is a somber moret as a familiar face and voice has been silenced. ron smith passed away last night. he was battling stage four pancreatic cancer. funeral arrangements have not been made public. >> the house fail to vote on an extension of the payroll tax cut. kate amara has more. >> good morning appeared the house gop members are expected to reject this agreement today. they want the senate to return from a holiday break and renegotiate. the payroll tax cut legislation still not settled, setting up a

holiday showdown on capitol hill. >> we can do this. we've got two weeks to do it. and again, we don't need any more uncertainty. >> house republicans scrapped plans to vote on the bipartisan, senate-approved two- month extension monday night. speaker john boehner now wants to restart talks for a full- year extension. >> we're here. we're willing to work. we will appoint conferees and we hope the senate will appoint conferees, because we're willing to get the work done now and do it the right way. >> senate majority leader harry reid says he won't reopen negotiations until the house passes the deal that is already on the table. house minority leader nancy pelosi says republicans are stalling. >> what we see now is stalling action on the part of those who never really were for a payroll tax cut in the first place. >> the payroll tax cut runs out at the end of the month. if nothing is done, 160 million americans will see more taxes taken out of their paychecks next year. emergency unemployment benefits are also set to expire on december 31. >> congress needs to act, the

house needs to act or else americans are going to have their taxes go up. >> the tax break is worth about $1,000 a year for the average family. in washington, i'm kate amara, wbal-tv 11 news. >> now traffic pulse 11 and insta-weather plus together. >> good morning. kim dacey checking on your morning commute. one problem spot we are tracking on 95 south about approaching eastern avenue. we have a crash. all travel lanes should be open. on the west side, a bit of a delay, a 15 minutes. looking good. four minutes and 95 southbound between 100 and 32 in howard county. this is old court road. you can see it maybe the tell end of the delay. -- you can see maybe a tail an

end. that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> good morning. it looks like the roads are mostly dry this morning. we had some showers in southern maryland overnight. mainly in southern delaware. these are sprinkles. much of maryland has dried out but there is a chance we could see more wet weather. showers in pennsylvania. we can see some of this is coming down as it wintry mix in central pennsylvania. temperatures are cold enough to mix.ce this rain-nomsnow this will be the case through the next couple of days as the mild air holds true. the front is up to the north. cold air across the morplains. these

storms will cut across that line, storm after storm into the northeast. they will stay to our west. that means our temperature will stay warm. any wet weather will be just rain. mild. 50 degrees at the airport. 54 at the inner harbor. 47 in ocean city. these temperatures will hold steady throughout the day. this is as warm as it will get. isolated showers. most of the day we will have a dry weather. mostly cloudy throughout the day. rain chances increase into tomorrow. we stay in the mid 50's into the midweek and into the first day of winter. a new storm moves in this weekend. if it gets cold enough, we could

see wintry weather. we will keep you up to date. >> the search is on for a gunman who shot and killed somebody outside towson town center. rob roblin joins us live. >> it happened yesterday evening. witnesses say they heard numerous gunshots. police arrived and they found a man in the parking lot shot to death. the parking lot of the nordstrom store at the towson town center. police went inside the mall searching for a suspect. they have made no arrests in this case and no suspect -- they have no suspect in this case. this happened around 6:22 last night. it was a frightening situation for people who were here christmas shopping. the identity of the victim has not been released by

authorities. rob roblin, wbal-tv 11 news. >> 51 degrees on tv hill. >> we will come back and check the weather and traffic together before you head out to start your day. stay with us.

>> the roads are very nice. we have a problem spot, an accident southbound 95. that has been moved off to the shoulder. some great news. a bit of a delay on the west side. 60 minutes all the way down the

west side outer loop -- 16 minutes. no problems. this is the northwest corner of the beltway. from old court road, it looks like a delay is not forming there just yet. this is the j.f.x. near old pimlico road. but the good in both directions. >> we're not seeing any weather- related conditions. we could see isolated showers and any point today. temperatures are holding in the 40's and 50's. very mild. more rain tomorrow. another chance for rain thursday night. more rain this weekend. i'm sounding redundant. it is warm enough we're not seeing snow. could be a possibility -- an outside chance of snow. i wouldn't bet my life on it.

>> nothing wrong with some hope. >> looking for more weather and traffic together? be sure to join us this morning for 11 news at 7:00 a.m. on wbal plus. >> you'll find more local news as well as up-to-date traffic and weather information. you can find it all on comcast channel 208, verizon fios 460, and 11-2. >> thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> we will be back with a live update at 7:25. >> have a great day. >> follow breaking news and weather any time at wbaltv.com, and stay connected with us on facebook and twitter.