now abc2news at 6:30. it is 6:30 on this sunday night. happy new year to you. bill tim more city had the lowest murder rate since 1977. we left our cat and rooftops at a pretty good mood not only to wake up to this, fire visited the 900 block and went down the block, one home right after another. 8 homes hurt. 14 people had to look elsewhere to live. >> there is -- the street was so filled with smoke i couldn't see 2 feet in front of me, so i went back in and i got the cat treats, we have four and i took

the cat treats and got one out immediately. went back in again and they all hid on me and then the fireman came in barelying through the back door and told me i had to leave the house. >> one person suffered minor smoke inhalation. a firefighter twisted an ankle but no other major injuries. this fire still under investigation. a shooting in west baltimore. a man was shot a little after 2:00 on saturday afternoon at the intersection of baker street and keen avenue. still no word on his con is d. >> the sunset o people stabnd a hit by a car all during a fight. a report of a fight starting to get real nasty. when units got there, they found two victims with stab wounds and a woman with a head injury after being hit by a car. those wounded will recover.

>> 40 arsons in three days out in los angeles. this is the worst since the 1992 riot. police don't know if this is one person or a crowd. abc2news brad tells us most occurred in hollywood. >> in los angeles the new year began with a trial by fire. for the third straight night, there was the glare of flames. at least 39 arson fires set in los angeles and west hollywood. >> we have intentional fires that have resulted in auto fires that resulted in the direct exposure of apartments. >> most began in cars but quickly spread to nearby structures. >> that was done while people were sleeping and that is the scary part. >> this man tried to save his neighbors home. >> i got a hose and started to put it out. luckily it was just the car, it didn't get to the house. >> hundreds of thousands of dollars. >> my house, my home, i live

there. i could have died. >> police are trying to catch whoever is hiding behind the wall of fire. >> they are working on hundreds of clues and interviewing dozens of witnesses. they are picking up evidence and working together to try and solve this problem. >> they are urging nervous residents to watch out for one another. >> it is a time for the neighborhoods to get together, report any suspicious activities and, please, please, keep an eye on each other. >> there is a $60,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. authorities are on high alert as another nightfalls. back on our coast now. while reb blers welcomed 2012 in times square, they were at ta standoff. at least one officer hurt. 68 people put under arrest on several charges including

trespassk, reckless endangerment. weather-wise, hey, some rain finally coming in after a very dry sunny and pleasant new year's weekend. temperatures up near 60 both days, but now some rain. breezes coming up. temperatures haven't dropped dramatically. reaching south in and more rain pushing into western carol county and areas north of the frederick county. temperatures around 50 after being up to 60 earlier this day. we'll fall to the 40s. cool and breezy, scattered showers. the chons for very frigid conditions is going up. we'll talk about that straight ahead. >> the des moines registrar has the latest pole and it shows the iowa caucuses could go one of three ways. mitt romney, ron paul and rick san tear rum have the numbers to score a big win tuesday night. even a strong second place in

iowa would be good news for mitt romney. michele bachmann spent the day with christian conservatives. santorum is making this a three- way race and ron paul said he could beat the president, president obama and said ron paul is mainstream enough to win. iowa caucuses are set for tuesday night. i want to introduce you to the first baby of 2012. 37 minutes into the new year and there is jody holding her baby boy and he was born to jody and sean, both from annapolis. happy, happy day. first baby of the year born. besides being friends on facebook, you can find love, you can find lost dogs or strangers willing to give you their kidney. wait until you hear this. he offered to take care of her for the rest of her life.

after the first kiss of 2012. >> we'll take >> look back at the year that just ended. see if you can remember all the big stories of 2011. @ @

well, all of you on facebook wished all the rest a happy and healthy new year and when you see a friend on facebook struggling a little, you offer help but would you help like this? manny tells us how strangers became friends at a life saving time. >> the 26-year-old is recovering from surgery. >> i feel pretty good considering i just had a vital organ taken out of me. she gave her kidney to a man she met five months ago on facebook, a total stranger needing help. the page read simply my husband needs a new kidney. >> we had gone through several people trying in the family.

it was the next thing i could think to do. >> i saw it and i knew that that is what i wanted to do and that was the thursday and by friday morning i was calling and getting scheduled to be tested. >> alley and dan were a match and on wednesday she gave them the ultimate gift, her kidney. she named paul. >> paul is doing excellent. >> so is dan. >> he is doing well. the kidney started working as soon as they put it in him. >> he is very healthy. it started our faithing instantly when it went into dan. >> dan will be on antirejection ms for the rest of his life, but he is healthy and the kidney gave him a future. >> she has given us a chance to have a normal life so now we can plan on taking a honeymoon and have children. >> i'm tired. >> all thanks to a total stranger who became a friend. and that means a lot. >> i wanted to do something and

i think everyone should consider it. now, maryland's most powerful doppler radar and the forecast. >> quiet night out there temperature-wise. you know things have been mild all weekend and we have seen rain showers come in. we have winds variable at 5. a little breezier at times during the evening. we'll show where the rainfall is now across the immediate baltimore areas. some south and wes of the city. some into howard county along i- 95 there. showers on the eastern shore. cecil. seeing some of the heaviest there. that will move out and another line of rain coming in. we'll see a few more bands that could produce wintry showers out to the lake as temperatures

go down to freezing overnight, but for most of the state we're mild at the beach. a southerly wind flow. that is helping bring the colder irr a. >> so really depends where you are but today a great day to start 2012 as those temperatures reached up near 60 degrees in many spots. we had sunshine for much of the day and really pretty tough to complain, right? >> well, let's show you how things will shape up. big changes on tap. reality check. just you won't recognize the weather by tuesday as the cold air blasts out of the northwest. that is that colder air wrapping a under rot back side of the storm system so a cold der shot tomorrow that will push out the mild air and makes things blustery and drop into the 40s but there is a secondary cold blast and that is the one with teeth that will

make it tough to get above freezing on tuesday. we'll have a night in the teens tuesday night. you get the idea. temperatures dropping big time toward the middle part of the week. just snow showers for western maryland after this evening rain showers get out of here tonight. so that is the leading edge of the cold air tomorrow. we drop to the 40s. tuesday, partly cloudy, but what you don't see her are the drop in temperatures and blustery wind conditions. not fit forman or boost tuesday, but dry. >> some sun too. >> cloudy, windy, a few showers overnight. 43 tomorrow. that will be a significant drop. winds gusting and getting coder and temperatures dropping like a rock tomorrow night. 24 as we stay blustery and then we get even colder on tuesday. january. you know the first day is january. it is going to come. into the end of the week and

next week, a bounce back to a milder trend so just like december, even when we get these cold blasts they tend to be short lived so far. we'll see. jamie. >> all right why yacht. the ball dropped in the big apple and so did a man's knee before a million and a half witnesses. he decided after three years this relationship reached the cross roads of the word. he asked his girl to marry him and she said yes. >> yes. >> very good. >> 2012 is here but tonight we're looking back at some of the biggest stories of the year. that is coming up. a hunt valley hotel turned into las vegas for a night. the victims of the natural disaster in the philippines.

when you look back at 2011 what are you going to remember, the wedding, the birth of a

baby, the death of a loved one or still massive flooding in your community? remember that? we're taking a look back at 2011. the stories that brought us together, tore us apart and brought us to tears. here is a look back at our local headlines. we celebrated the new year and weeks later joined together in sorrow as mark died in the line of duty fighting a fire at an apartment complex leaving behind a wife and two sons and firefighters in a community that loved him dearly. in february, just a month after honoring a hero, 17 police officers in baltimore city are charged with taking kickbacks from a towing company that paid them thousands of dollars. a black eye the commissioner would mother take lightly. >> i said i wasn't there to give them a speech and that i was there to get back our badge. then in march in what is typically a snowy month we started off with floods, cars

were towed from the penn state garage. >> we said where is our car? i think it is over here. we began to look around and saw the floods. oh, my gosh. >> the new phase of the investigation, a new phase. so there is a lot of work that needs to be done. >> in april the search for her since missing since 2010. it came to a close after searching an area park. she was pulled front river. the 16-year-old was vises ting family when she disappeared and as of now police and family are still searching for her killer. >> closure is great for then and we are happy that at least they are not wondering where she is now, but it is so important for us to find some resolution for this and to find the people that did this. >> in may some inspiration. we told you the story of a woman and you made her day, her week, maybe even her year with gas prices. she didn't have the money to

fill up her van and visit her mother's grave on mother's day. a stranger sarah saw that story and could not let her miss that special day so she helped. >> this was a love story started out one way, but this is the story about compassion and about love. >> it is a boots caring. in june, we had a heat wave, triple digit temperatures throughout the month. the city opened cooling stations by june 9th. schools closed early and that heat wave continued into july but what really got heated was a story of a man who took his frustration over speed cameras out on the camera itself. it was august 23rd the day seemed normal until we got ratted. the 5.8 quakseveral biddings damaged. >> we have a list of vacant

buildings that are structural vulnerable and we're looking at those right now. >> in september the grounds rattled again, but this wasn't a quake. it was the first ever baltimore grande prix. baltimore now among 6 cities to host. the city signed a five-year deal although there is bick ring now over money, but fans say they will be back. >> it is extremely bumpy. and once again in october, we were inspired. >> we really feel getting the service dog will let him live a more independent life and i think with the help of other people we are going to get there. >> we shared william's story as he battled cancer. we told you how badly he needs a dog to live a better life.

they stepped up and so did some area children hoe had never met william and in 2012 we hope to tell you about william's new dog. that takes us to november with all of us going on youtube to see what in the heck the burney dance is. >> ♪ >> the soccer team was out of the game, then back in after doing the burney dance. >> i made the decision to re track my statement regarding the boy's participation in the maryland state 4 a regional semi final competition. [ applause ] >> and in december, families are coming back together. >> i'm just really excited. my mom is going to be home. i'll just glad to see her face before christmas. they were not to come back until january. returning from iraq and to home for those who loved and missed them so dearly. >> now for 2012 there will be new leaders in the grande prix. baltimore city officials are

ending their contract with the organizers. the contract which was a five- year deal was called off friday after one year. they have to pay debts. they had a $47 million impact according to organizers. we'll be right back.

♪ well the bill lodge yo? know the harriott in hunt valley was more like vegas. the organization, this is pretty good. the organization first act hosted a big fund-raiser of the victims of the typhoon in the philippines and some people came out and they had elvis.

elvis turn around. elvis. also the supremes. >> feels so good to be part of the this and leave something like this and to get the community engaged, to get the whole world aware what has happening to our country and hopefully other people will be able to help, as well. >> this group of people has fashion for the arts and commitments to the arts so we will bring our local artists to perform. >> ♪ >> first acts. it was going to raise $400,000. good luck to them in raising their goal. a beautiful sight tonight. still some showers out there. temperatures tonight will be getting cool, but hopefully,

we'll be basking in the warmth of array vince victory. we'll see. >> we'll see. we'll see you tonight at 11:00. have a great night.