couples, could it lead to something else. the spouses of same sex couples will now be eligible for full health benefits like any other couple. it's a step many hope will lead to a change in the law. roosevelt leftwich joins us with more. >> reporter: next week when lawmakers go back into session they will square love against those who are against it. it's a repeat of last year. supporters hope the recent ruling will give them more ammunition about protection granted through marriage. a new beginning means new hope. that's what they had hoped for. after 20 years of raising two children together that they could get married in massachusetts. she thought it would make it easier to add colette to her health insurance but when it came time for enrollment that didn't happen. >> i work just as hard as

others. some are married. their spouses have the same benefits, health benefits. i just wanted, not anything more, not anything less, just the same. c5"ti p"vice and filed a grievae against the county andñi it went toñr anñi areq a bittor. theñiñi arexdw3 açóqfñ bi!tor'só only fullxh1q!ñi benefits but this went one step further. they will be able to get the same family benefits that every other family gets in baltimore county, effective january 1st. >> you're the same as everyone else. >> reporter: with such an important milestone, they hope this will give some added momentum to the cause of legalizing same-sex marriage. it would have to be repeated in every maryland county without this law. >> you can imagine trying to get

through the maryland counties to do that. in one fell swoop we can pass a marriage bill on the state level. regardless whether you're in washington county or maryland county a spouse is a spouse is a spouse. >> reporter: although the paperwork hasn't caught up with them yesterday, they're still waiting on their insurance. roosevelt leftwich, abc2 news. we're paying attention to this one out in california. one of them has to do with car or booster seats. children under the age of eight are now required to ride in one of those seats. right now it's out in california. the big question is whether this could be coming to maryland. the new booster seat law also spells out what happens to parents caught not using them. the booster seat law in california is just the latest. 30 other states have similar

laws but so far there's no word on whether maryland will join them. the law stems from research from safety experts who found that children who don't ride in car seats have a greater risk of organ or spinal damage in an accident. the reason for the age recommendation is height. in young children standard car safety belts sit too high hitting a child's neck instead of the chest. >> as long as it keeps them safe, it's a little bit more work but we do it. >> legislators estimate 1 million kids in california will be subject to the new law. if parents are caught violating the law, they will be ticketed $470. that's out in california. one change that will be going into effeç(8 in our state -- $2çóok powerball tickets. the newxd priceçó will start ond juie 15th. they said theñi goal is to entie moreñrx:zez you to geta5ñi inti game.

you have to go back to 1977 to see a murder rate better than the one baltimore posted. the city pd shutter -- shattered the record. still, 196 stories of pain and loss. murder victim number three happened one year ago today. he was a 38-year-old autistic man who was shot dead right in his front yard as he was taking his dog for a walk. wilson's murder remains unsolved. 2011 murders. >> the statistics are great, tblawp doesn't help my family having some type of closure on what happened to my brother, don't give me no closure. that's great for the city of baltimore and statistics, but what does it do for my family. >> if you can remember anything

about this murder, police say the family could use your help. call metro crime stoppers at 1-866-7-lockup. a 13-year-old boy is in the hospital in critical but stable condition after he was shot in the 500 block of oakland avenue at hold york road just -- hold -- old york road just before 6. police have no suspects but they are asking anywith information to call them at 410-396-2455. a man has been charged with setting fire to a women's room on washington boulevard. police believe that barry murphy started the fire after a fight with a woman. fire investigators are still trying to find out what caused a fire in canton yesterday morning on south golden street. eight row homes were damaged. 14 people were not able to go

back to their homes. and abc2 news continues to lead the ways in news offerings. visit abc2news.com/mobile and check out hour growing list of apps. you'll get the latest information and live streaming video right to your device. all right. baltimore city officials said the code blue program is in effect tonight and tomorrow, so emergency shell der -- shelters in the city will have emergency hours has temperatures are expected to drop below freezing. we'll check in with wyatt everhart. the most impressive cold snap of the season into tonight and really into tomorrow and tomorrow night. a few flurries flying across the state but not much. most of the flakes not hitting the ground. what we are feeling is the wind chill factor. the rest of this evening 330.

the wind chill in the 30s. when will this cold stuff relent a bit? we answerñi that coming up. alert, a trip to europexdqñr vclp som% costingñi youw3 more. and around europe are now liable for carbon emissions and airlines will have to buy carbon credits. it could cost them more than $100 million this year alone. the airlines aren't happy about the change but customers won't be either. the extra cost will be passed on in the form of higher ticket prices. we've seen the commercials for hybrid vehicles promising great gas mileage. one woman who bought a hybrid is suing. she said there are five class

action cases against honda accusing them of false advertising but she is not happy about a proposed settlement. if she is successful, she could get an award for $10 harks p--- $10,000. it's a new year and a lot of new year's resolutions have to do with weight loss, financial experts want you to banking resolutions. last year banks rolled back fees and there was a day dedicated to changing banks. experts say it's not too late to begin better banking. tally up the fees from overdraft protection to atm fees. use cash when you can. using cash helps small businesses avoid paying banks to

process dared -- debit card transactions. think of a better pin to make sure no one can steal your identity. last, make saving automatic. if you set up an automatic transfer you probably won't notice. by the end of the year you could have an emergency fund. are you excited? the first contest of the 2012 presidential race is one day away. all of the candidates were on the campaign trail hitting as many spots in eye want although he was the front-runner, recent polls show that newt gingrich has slipped. mitt romney and ron paul have surged. gingrich feels negative campaigning against him has made the difference. >> the shear volume of antigingrich ads run by romney's

pac. >> the caucuses kick off tomorrow night in iowa. then he will face -- they will face off in new hampshire. we have a fever going on. last week we got the game ball. yesterday we got our wish. now fans are geared up for what they hope will be a run towards indianapolis. here we are. fans couldn't wait to get their hands on more ravens stuff. they found paradise. it comes in purple and black. >> spent an our looking through the whole store. they are so overwhelmed by everything. >> the owners of poor boys say they have been calling in extra help, making orders and keeping the shelves stocked so every stan outfitted -- fan is outfitted. season ticket holders will be getting their tickets soon. the others will go on sale

tomorrow morningxd at 10:00. youñr cv>ññrw3 call ticketmaste. the game willx"oçó belpñrt(xd y januaryñi 15th at 1:00 in the afternoon. last week we put together a list of the people whose bad behavior we have been tracking all year long. weight loss and exercise is great but experts agree that a full night's sleep is the best resolution you can make. 46 was your high temperature early today but, of course, temperatures falling into the afternoon, no two-degree winner. if you think it was cold today, wait until you see what the second blast will do towards the middle of the week. that's coming up. ♪

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♪ ...there are no sick days.

♪ vicks dayquil. defeats 5 cold & flu symptoms. [ snoring ] [ indistinct talking on tv ] [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] vicks nyquil cold and flu. the nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold...medicine. ♪

you know, last week we told you about the scammers that mate our naughty list because of their bad behavior in 2011. joce sterman highlights the scams. >> reporter:xd when we can, weçó callxd outjf scammers who take advantage ofw3 you andq name nae but many carry itw3 out in secrt so all we can do is warn you about their game. when it comes to stealing money and information, there's no one they won't try. >> it's unbelievable to me that people are this low, that they're that desperate. >> reporter: people so low

they're willing to prey on seniors. they're a big target for scams. seniors got calls from scammers cold enough to call claiming to be their grandkids. some got away with thousands of dollars. shady contractors scammed marylanders when the weather got frightful this fall. >> those are the businesses that come from all over the country. they literally follow storms. >> reporter: those bad operators followed in the wake of hurricane irene and tried to pull a fast one on marylanders. from bad roofs to shoddy work, they added misery to the pain they were already feeling. victims got fooled in a power

play from those who said they were from bge. they said they were behind on their bill. another sign scammers were really cold blood this year. joce sterman, abc2 news. >> for more on the 2011 naughty list, just head to abc2news.com and you'll find the scam alerts page underw3xd the moneyçófáñix. all right. takeñiçó açóçó look outside. prettyçó quietw3xd looking but,r thatt(ñr windçóñi whipping arou. west at five and temps 33 degrees, but no question about it, today feeling a lot colder than it has and tomorrow even colder than today. i want to show you some of our weather bug cameras. you can see the speed of the cloud movement whipping across the skies over baltimore as that

wind whipped us on the ground and temperatures continue to drop tonight, a very winter like sky and similar here in gaithersburg where at times we saw a little sun but then again the clouds rolled in. there were a few flurries at points north and west of here. for the most part we didn't see anything hit the ground. temperatures below freezing in oakland. steady winds from the west will keep the cold air flowing in, but really punches us in the mouth with cold air. wind chill factors out there tonight in the mid-20s set to get a lot colder through the afternoon. look at the snow showers over west virginia and up through north and central pennsylvania. there is some snow. for the most part we've skirted that here in our state. as we take a broader perspective, large powerful northerly flow over the great

lakes water. it's pumping reaching down into pennsylvania, new york and the ohio valley. we take a look at the pattern near the setup. the first cold front well offshore. now a fresh cold front on the move. that's a secondary blast that will really drive down temperatures tomorrow, mainly in the 20s. tomorrow night down in the teens, so we'll be getting set for our coldest night of the year tomorrow night. right now you can seeñr theçóñi@ iñr infiltratingw3 it. ñi a&, colder. toe1ñiq tor blusteryxd and absolutely rather cold out there through tomorrow and through the day. tomorrow night, yes, temperatures keep dropping even more frigid but winds finally letting up tomorrow heave in too. a deep freeze but not much of a

wind chill factor. your seven-day forecast, take a look. bottom line is this, a couple real cold days with this blast but like so much of the winter season so far, back in december, 2011, last year, we saw that things would typically moderate after our cold shot. that's exactly what we see going towards the end of the week. this will take longer to warm up out of this one. >> powerball numbers. >> 17, 56. >> they're doing live shots in iowa. see how cold it is. >> hot politics, cold weather. for many people, today is the beginning of a new year of new year's resolutions. lots of people say i want to lose weight or exercise. so we asked you in annapolis if you had made any resolutions. >> just need to make a change in

my life. 40 years old. it's time to get back in shape again. >> no, not this year. i never keep them anyway. >> whether you call it a resolution or not, it's never a bad idea to assess things. i just broke my assessment -- ways to improve your life. one of the resolutions that we don't always follow is getting more sleep. the cleveland clinic put together tips. make sleep a priority. implement a routine and stick to it to get your body used to going to sleep and getting up at the same time. do something relaxing before bed like taking a warm bath or reading a book. put away electronics and don't look at the clock and worrying about the time will stress you even more putting sleep farther away. here's a look at what's comingñiçó up at 1:00 1:00.

christmas bills will start showing up in the mail. take charge in the newçóñixd ye. we haveñr tipsxdxd on paying doñ debt. your new year'sovsñ pounds or stop biting your nails. guess what? there's an app for that i'm kelly swoope. we'll have those stories and more plus wyatt's forecast. get ready for some deli-style delic-ious-ity: the subway big hot pastrami melt. take a moment to ponder tender cuts of pastrami, piled sky high atop your favorite freshly baked bread with spicy mustard, pickles and melt-a-licious cheese. okay, enough imagining how this fresh toasted number would tantalize your taste buds -- it's time to actually experience the subway big hot pastrami melt, built by the sandwich experts the way you love -- to per-fec-tion. subway. eat fresh.

?oo we're getting -- we're getting cold. tomorrow it will be as cold as the frost bumpleght -- frostburg. this will be more intense tomorrow. we never get above freezing. we're in the 20s tomorrow evening, so blustery. >> blustery. cuddle up with the new bachelor coming up tonight. world news is next at 6:30. we'll see you tonight right here at 11:00. >> could this be the most dramatic one?