it'll last coming up. over the years there have been several accidents, several people have been killed, several people have been injured. >> persistence pays off this morning for one baltimore woman after a two-year fight to make her road safer. and wegman arguably the best grocery store around, how they now plan to save you money by keeping the costs down on 50 popular products. details on those coming up on this friday, january 6th. good morning, maryland, i'm charley kraussen. let's head right over to meteorologist justin burk now for a check of the warming forecast. it feels more like april instead of january. >> something like that, and something is wrong and something's gotta give. hang on. hang on. a few more of the weather geeks are starting to come online and talking about the changing weather pattern. we're just a week or two away from starting to generate real winter. we'll call it winter 2.0 around here. it's going to happen. we got ourselves some clouds this morning, little

disturbance east of the mountains. it'll shift the wind helping this thing to flare up. that's a setup for the view of the sky. temperatures up to 29 right now, 36 out towards ocean city, richmond and norfolk. temperatures in the 40s on the other side of the mountains from pittsburgh to charleston. a sign of what we really do expect. a big surge despite the flareup of clouds, we should break some sun a little bit. we'll at least mix it in today and we'll work our way up to 56 degrees. that's about 15 degrees above normal. we are entering the time frame, the second and third week of january are typically the coldest time of the year, typically. it's not always the case, but we should be working our way back to the coldest temperatures. and if we really get this surge of arctic air that's been building, it will come at us and there will be a second part to winter. so don't get lulled by this. 5:31. let's go to the roads with angela. reporter: thank you, justin. good morning, everyone. getting ready for the friday morning drive. it is friday and it's going to be a good one. so far very quiet out there, especially for those of you coming in from the north on i-

83, the harrisburg expressway clear from the pennsylvania state line all the way to the top side of 695. now, if you're making your way on route 29, you are good to go northbound and southbound coming all the way from yieft through the colombia -- i-70 through the colombia region and 108. as we look live at 698 and liberty road, early motorists on 695 west side having an easy time also, the west side outer loop we are clear from 795 to i- 70. we do have a traffic advisory for those who live near or travel on the beltway in southeast baltimore. get ready for some driving challenges. abc 2 news sherree johnson is here to explain more on the curtis creek draw bridge project. reporter: thanks a lot, angela. starting on saturday the first phase of a $14 1/2 million project will begin to repair the curtis creek draw bridge. now, the inner loop of the draw bridge will be shut down to replace the bridge decking and steel support beams. this means drivers can expect one lane of traffic in each direction on the outer loop. the speed limit will be reduced

from 55 miles an hour to 45 miles an hour. the inner loop bridge opened back in 1977 along with the opening of the key bridge. now, the outer loop draw bridge opened two years later. >> it's going to detour us around other areas, and, of course, make it all cluttered everywhere else to get into these places. and, you know, with trucks, it's hard to get around as is, even when it's not closed. >> yeah, it's going to delay traffic. it's not good. >> it's about time that the state actually gives up some money and fixes the roads and bridges and everything. well needed. well overdue. >> we gotta do what we gotta do i guess. reporter: it'll take about 10 weeks to finish the work on the inner loop and then work begins on the other side of the bridge. the entire project is expected to be completed by early spring. sheree johnson, abc 2 news. a new light is up in northwest baltimore this morning, thanks to one tenacious woman. cynthia larkin was fed up with watching a number of accidents right outside her home.

so for two years she constantly called 311. >> and every time there was an accident, i would call 311 and let them know there was an accident on the corner of wabash avenue and hillsdale. after so many calls, i can't tell you how many, a lady told me, she said, miss larkin, please stop calling. we're going to send someone out to assess the traffic, assess the scene and see if a light is needed. >> the city said yes and with the flip of a switch ms. larkin got what she had been fighting for for so long. it hasn't been just her battle, though. >> my father would have loved to have seen it because he was the first vice president of the west arlington improvement association for 10 years. and he tried to get a light and it just didn't happen. so i'm the daughter, only

child. reporter: you made it happen. >> i made it happen. >> thanks to those collective efforts, the northwest baltimore community is a little saver for drivers. you can see that starting this morning. in news around the nation today, a dallas teenager who ran away from home a year ago was mistakenly deported to colombia will be handed back over to u.s. officials. since then the girl's family wants to know what, how and why something like this happened. the 15-year-old is a u.s. citizen with knowledge of spanish. the immigration and customs enforcement agency or i.c.e. says following the arrest for theft, the girl gave a fake name and told them that she was an adult from colombia. a gift from a stranger could land a great grandmother in pennsylvania behind bars, but no such luck. she says a man gave her what she thought were flower seeds. what popped out of the ground were instead marijuana plants, seven to be exact, all about four feet high and they're all growing right next to her tomatoes. >> i was waiting to see what

kind of flowers they grew because flowers are pretty. we grow them in the front and then we grow some over there. >> 67-year-old alberta kelly is a grandmother to seven and a great grandmother to three. she says she was on a walk when she met someone who gave her what he called flower seeds. an anonymous tipster told police about the plants and initially charged kelly with possession of a controlled substance but she was found not guilty by a jury. this is the passenger who sat little too long. a washington state man is now accused of using a plastic skeleton as a passenger in order to cruise through the car pool lane. cops stopped the erratic driver, doing about 82 miles per hour. when the trooper approached the car, his seat belt -- well, what he had seat belted in was a plastic skeleton wearing t- shirt. he was ticketed for speeding, unsafe lane changes and h.o.v. lane violations. firefighters work hard to rescue a tiny survivor from a

mobile home fire. coming up a very happy owner this morning and what firefighters did to save this chihuahua. plus it's been almost 100 years since the sinking of the titanic. now we get a peek at some of the artifacts going up for auction in april. details on that straight ahead. but, first, let's go to new york for a check of this morning's tech bytes. reporter: in today's tech bytes, playing hardball over streaming entertainment. hbo has decided to no longer sell dvds to netflix at a discount. the service will have to pay the same prices for the hbo dvds it distributes as any retailer and warner brothers is going to make netflix, red box and blockbuster wait longer for new films. everyone is speculating on what's next for apple. usa today's ed begg says the tech company may introduce a complete new device. >> there's certainly rampant speculation that apple is working on a tv. the late steve jobs reportedly said he cracked the problem of making an easy-to-use

television. reporter: of course, there are lots of rumors about the next version of the ipad. they think it may contain a sharper display and better quality camera. when it could be released best guesses are this march or april. those are your tech bytes, i'm rob nelson.

. a california woman's dog is alive this morning thanks to the quick thinking of some firefighters. they were able to revive her chihuahua. now, a crew pulled mojo the chihuahua from a mobile home after it was filled with smoke. the owner escaped, but mojo was trapped. firefighters used a child's oxygen mask to resuscitate the dog. after 10 minutes she was breathing on her own. pretty cool story, justin. >> mojo got his mojo back.

that is good stuff on a friday. purple friday, even on a bye week. how about we push our temperatures out there. look at this widespread northeast 27, but churchville and norrisville at 33. we're back into the pocket of 20s here from hairford to perry hall, 26 in owennings mills. how about mount airy, 43 degrees down toward the d.c. beltway and 39 in silver spring. you're missing out on the big chill we have here and that is in part because of some cloud cover. the clouds may look threatening because it is morning and i know we've had ourselves a recent bout of flurries and even snow showers, but we are virtually dry. maryland's most powerful doppler radar, five sweeps across the chesapeake. that's a fine mist across central maryland, but the main storm track well to our north and we stay on the warm side. we're working our way from mid- 20s to mid-30s or 40s this morning. mid-50s this afternoon. it is 5:40 on the clock, here is angela. reporter: on the roadways for that friday morning drive, not a bad one so far this morning.

we're looking pretty good. had an early morning incident on route 50, but that's gone. so you're looking good on 50 all the way across the bay bridge as you make your way to i-97. now, for those of you making the drive northbound on i-95, coming in from howard county, no delays or incidents to report. we're moving at posted speed all the way up to 695. let's take a trip around 695. we're on the north side of 695 at providence road. as you can see inner loop and outer loop still very light flow of traffic. if you're traveling on the harrisburg expressway making your way to the top side of the beltway, no delays to report. drive times looking pretty good, as a matter of fact, on 83, as well as on i-95. charley. singer kanye west took to his twitter account to weigh ideas for a new company. during a series of tweets, the musician talks about plans for a design company. he says it will include 22 divisions and produce things that people can afford. during his twitter rant, the 34- year-old also talked about his love of fashion and the passion

he has in pursuing this for about eight years. april 11th will be the 100th anniversary of the titanic's maiden voyage. it will be also a day for the items to be auctioned off for the first time. artifacts include a diamond studded bracelet bearing the name amy and a cup from the ship's cafeteria and a vest from a third-class passenger. all the items are being sold together. they can only be sold to one buyer, they will not be broken up. when you endorse a candidate, it's good you know their names. the campaign faux pas mitt romney's newest campaign supporter made on the campaign trail. good-bye to a neighbor, educator and friend. i'm sherree johnson with more on a fatal fire coming up. ã

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♪ [ male announcer ] vicks dayquil. defeats 5 cold & flu symptoms. ♪ welcome back. you know it took less than half an hour for a fast-moving fire on bidle street to take the life of an 84-year-old woman. abc 2 news' sherree johnson is here with more on the fatal fire and a community continuing to mourn. sherree. reporter: charley, everyone called her miss mary. she retired in 1981 as the principal of william pender hughes elementary school. we were told by friends and neighbors that mary lived on

east bidle street in east baltimore for over 50 years. when firefighters arrived on the scene, they saw flames shooting out the door and shooting to the second floor. neighbors say miss mary used a cane to get around. >> she would educate us through bible study. she was a lay speaker. she had a trailblazer award giving students and the schools money to go to school, and she was very, very, very adamant about that. reporter: firefighters say miss mary had a working smoke detector. it'll take some time to figure out how this fire started. mary becomes the first fire death of the year in baltimore city. sheree johnson, abc 2 news. in democracy 2012, a new candidate says they're joining the race for president. a boston university economics professor says he's planning a run for the white house as a third-party candidate. you can look for an official outlook next week. he has never before run for public office but does have political experience.

he was a senior economist for the reagan administration and also served as an economic adviser to former u.s. senator mike grabl. he won't get much help from the boston globe. that newspaper has already endorsed jon huntsman. the new hampshire primary is this tuesday and this one doesn't look like it's going to be close. mitt romney has a big lead right now in that state and a new poil by suvfolk university says he's leading with 48% of the support. ron paul is second at 18% and rick santorum is at third, still hanging around at 8%. it's going to be a tough race for rick santorum. he was booed while leaving a stage in new hampshire. this video from the convention of college republicans in concord. the former pennsylvania senator appeared to compare same-sex marriage to plig in an intense -- polygamy in an intense exchange with the audience. santorum has often been outspoken about his opposition to gay marriage. if you want to hear from

the candidates, abc news a hosting a republican debate in new hampshire. it will be saturday from 9:00 to 11 o'clock. you can catch it here on abc 2. it's the network's only debate before the new hampshire primary. that is set for tuesday, january the 10th. a funny moment on the campaign trail when former republican presidential candidate john mccain had a brief and noticeable slip of the tongue. listen. >> i am confident with the leadership and the backing of the american people president obama will turn this country around. we believe in america, we believe that our best days are ahead of us. excuse me. president romney. [ cheers ] >> president romney. president romney. president romney will turn this around. >> mccain endorsed romney in charleston, south carolina. the arizona senator gave his endorsement to romney on saturday, following the iowa caucus win. events are being planned across washington for the upcoming martin luther king, jr. holiday. january 16th marks the first

king holiday where visitors can celebrate the legacy of the civil rights leader at the memorial dedicated to him. the national parks service will lay a wreath at the site and offer educational programs throughout the day. the national cathedral will hold a special service that afternoon. dr. king delivered his last sunday sermon at that cathedral before the assassination in 1968. wegmans wants to help you save money. the grocery store chain is now releasing a list of 50 products they say will remain at the same price through the winter months. the price freeze goes into effect this sunday and lasts through april 28th. we have a complete list of those products at our website, abc2news.com. just go to the home page. you'll find it in the top story slide show. wegmans is now coming to colombia. that supermarket will open by mid june at the intersection of stotten river and mccall road. they are now looking for workers. you can apply online. this is wegman's fifth store to be opening in maryland. and the girl scouts are celebrating 100 years with a new cookie.

that company manufacturing the sweets its introducing the lemon cookie, it's called the savannah smile. the cookie described as a cool and crisp taste with just the right number of lemon chips. now, the sales are going to go to girl scout activities. and, justin, once again, we're teasing the story, we're pitching to you, and we have no samples. >> we have a really good staff of people here. but this is our second producer of the morning that racked this story off and did not give us any samples. chevon, come on, what are you doing to us? i'm esure they're yummy, we just have to assume they are, we can't confirm that, unless you want to give us some samples. we'd be more than happy to taste them for you. 29 in baltimore, and in binghamton and albany, fairly uniform numbers here, it's not that cold and the cold air is retreating off towards the east. buffalo already back up to 40, 43, cleveland, a sign of what's starting to move in. a band of clouds producing some snow across northern new england. and while we have a little band of clouds overhead, there's going to be a push of some

warmer air. as you see the main storm track here well to our north and another surge pushing this arctic air back up in through eastern canada and closer to hudson bay. this will eventually pull and drop back down. we'll get another sampling of this as we head into through the middle part of next week. until then basically this cloud band, actually both of these is what's separating the really cold air versus the winter without a winter for many of us so far. it will come back, but here we go. we're back to the way things were. you know, a band of clouds this morning, we shift those winds to the south and southwest and that's what helps to pump up our temperatures. mid-50s today. how about we do the same tomorrow. look, no complainlts going into the start of the weekend. i know a lot of people say, look, if there's no snow around, it might as well be mild. even the ski areas were able to charge those snow guns with a few days before freezing. they're in okay shape up there, liberty top and white tail. today clouds giving way to some sunny breaks and looking at temperatures about 56 degrees.

we're back down into the mid- 30s overnight. a peek at the weekend, mid-50s again tomorrow. we'll drop into the 40s on sunday. we stay dry, that system doesn't look to generate much but maybe some showers, cooler monday. and then mid-40s with rain that could end as a wintery mix wednesday as we tap back into colder air to round out next week. angela now at 5:51 with traffic. reporter: justin, you know how we've been smiling all morning about how quiet it's been, especially out on the weather scene and on the roadways? we've now got trouble on the harrisburg expressway. unfortunately our southbound lanes are shut down on 83 between bellfast road and shawon road with an accident, southbound lanes backed up solid prior to belfast. you may want to hop on york road to get around this situation. also still experiencing very mild conditions through howard county, on 29 as well as on i- 70 and a live look at i-95 traffic north of maryland 43, southbound lanes picking up just a little bit, but no delays making your way to the top side of the beltway and the mta reporting all rail lines

and buses on time for your friday morning commute. charley. still embroiled of an underaged sex scandal, who the nittany lions are expected to name as their new head coach. an announcement is expected this weekend. after a brief halt due to a court order, bp continues now with its payments to those in the gulf affected by the 2010 oil disaster. you're watching what's new, now and next on this friday, january 6th. good morning, maryland. ãgagagagagagac0c0c0

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it is five minutes before 6:00, 29 degrees outside. five things you need to know, the new england patriots offensive coordinator bill o'brien has agreed to become the new penn state head football coach. this is according to multiple reports reports yesterday, speaking on the condition of anonymity. he will be introduced as the 15th football coach at penn state. an announcement is expected on saturday. the one-year anniversary of the tucson shooting. gabriella giffords will attend a memorial at a mall. january of 2011 six people were killed outside a rampage

the gulf coast claims facility stopped payments a week ago while clarifying a court order ordering 6% of the payout to be withheld to cover attorneys' fees involved in the bp litigation. and martin luther king iii, a noted civil rights will serve as keynote speaker honoring his father, martin luther king, jr. the theme is peace, love and dignity. king's ultimate challenge. the address will be today at noon -- 1:30, rather, at the turner auditorium at johns hopkins medical campus. baltimore county will soon be turning things purple. this is city hall in baltimore city, now the courthouse, the dome there going purple getting ready for the super bowl. part of the movement in the days leading up to the ravens hosting its first playoff game in five years. still much more to get to on your friday morning, including your traffic and

weather. also, may be getting the kids ready to take to school. one mother had her son in the car when it crashed. the two factors that saved this child's life when he didn't have his seat belt on and wasn't saved by airbags. and the factors that are causing the unusual warm spell nationwide. justin will take a look at that as well. if you go out for sushi this weekend, you may be ordering tuna. the price paid for a 750-pound tuna. you're watching what's new, now and next and we continue just a few minutes before 6:00 on "good morning maryland."