charges. would you be willing to swallow a gas tax increase if it meant the money would be used to improve roads or transportation projects. lawmakers a banking on that idea. don harrison takes a look at the possibility of putting a lock box on the transportation fund. >> while some legislators try to put on the brakes for new taxes, others are trying to control extra revenue that may come in to the state coffers. the state's transportation fund continues to get raided so money can be moved elsewhere for other projects. >> it was $300 million was taken out of the fund supposed to go to local government. that money was taken out and applied to the general funds. >> the senator is offering a bill that would limit the ability for money from the transportation fund to be moved in to the general fund. he feels they may be able to

accept the increase in the transportation fund is used for that, transportation. >> i think the voters will be more accepting of new revenues if there is a guarantee the revenues are going to go for transportation funding. >> with the so called lock box on the transportation fund, some legislators have trouble buying it. >> with the clause at the front, he thinks this is a way to push the gas tax forward. >> the definition of an emergency is wide open what the legislator could declare. any idea that this is going to keep this money away is a myth and it's a gimmick. >> reporter: other legislators feel there isn't room for tax increases all together. >> lock box should be added if the bill passes. however i'm not real sure nim favor of increasing the gasoline tax at this point. >> reporter: don harrison, abc2 news. a similar bill failed to make it out of committee last

year. 25 people connected to tourism in harford along with the delegation rode to annapolis to push legislation. harford is without a hotel tax and many want to see that changed. their appearance is part of a statewide tourism awareness event in the capital. jc penneys coming to box hill. the store is slated to be 85,000 square feet expected to open in the fall. it's never too early to think about preakness. there is big names. maroon 5 takes the stage for extended sets. looking at 695, things looking pretty clear on the one side, not so great on the other. the weather has been clear. let's check this with meteorologist, wyatt everhart, to find out if the great weather we have been having is going to stick around through

the weekend. >> how about part of the weekend. the rest of tonight, and most of our saturday, things change big time saturday night in to sunday. first temperatures near 50 still. 50 dc. 45 easton. baltimore 48. frederick 46. wider here, a few fair weather clouds drifting south of maryland, we are set except for this, gathering storm to the west, putting down snow in parts of the upper midwest and the southern northern plains, we got rain showers over spreading much of the country's mids section. this slow moving system set to arrive late tomorrow night in to the day sunday. we will get a mix of precipitation out of this one, more on that coming up. enjoy pleasant evening in the 40s, back to you. we are working for you to tonight, with a look at how you can protect yourself. we talked to a self defense instructor teaching women life saving skills and self defense moves to ward off potential

attackers. kuren redmond learns some of the moves every woman should know. >> reporter: this is a state of the art defense facility, trainer bj, is not your average trainer, a former israeli soldier, trained to fight terrorists, fist to fist and gun to gun. he calls the class israeli combat system, reality based fighting. >> there is nothing pretty about what we do. there is nothing flashy. >> reporter: in the class, notice women are some of the toughest fighters. >> it's definitely the real deal. i have bloody knuckles, i come home with bruises and scars. i keep coming back. i love it. we are learning a lot of really important skills. this is a safe place for us to practice. >> reporter: he says all women need to know three important

targets on an attacker. >> eyes, if i can't see i can't fight, throat and knees. just right off the bat for example a woman wants to do nothing else but poke someone in the eye. >> reporter: one of the single most important rules for women to learn is how to get out of a choke hold. he showed me how to do it. this was just one important move. all of the moves can be life saving, if you want to be prepared for the best way to protect yourselves, trainers recommend taking a class like this one, the real deal to prepare for real fighting in a real attack. pikesville, kuren redmond, abc2 news. dc launched a free app that gives people with smart phones the option to report a crime without calling 911. they can send text, pictures

and video to police with the push of a button. a huge fight, why police say table of diners attacked their waitress. and a high speed chase ends violently. a look at the incident caught on video.

a woman who was under tin influence of prescription medication plows in to a house with her station wagon. she said she got distracted. impact took out an entire wall in these people's basement. the driver is charged with dwi and reckless driving. police near st. louis are looking for four women who attacked a female server at a red lobster. the fight was caught on camera , the women said their order was wrong. the women ate the meals and the waitress had soda thrown in her face and had her hair pulled and was punched. a suspect was handcuffed following a police chase. the chase was caught on the dash cam video, police say the chase started when the suspect nearly crashed in to a sheriff's cruiser during the chase, the suspect hit speeds

of over 100 miles per hour. deputies ended the chase after shooting at the suspect's vehicle. romney is still riding high after his big win in florida. how is his campaign feeling about chances in nevada this weekend? with the super bowl days away, police are cracking down on counterfeit goods.

a phrase we don't hear enough, good news from the job market. that's what we got this morning as unemployment numbers for the month of january were released. beating optimistic estimates from many economists, economy added 243,000 jobs, bringing

unemployment rate down to 8.3%. only people disheartened by the report were probably republican campaign consultants. >> the january unemployment rate is at its lowest level since the month after president obama came in to office. homeowners looking to refinance or buy a new home are in luck. the average rate on 30 years fixed mortgage fell to record low. the average rate is now 3.87. in denver, expecting record snowfall by the end of the weekend. the powerful storm expected to be denver's worst february storm in a century. two feet of snow dropped west of denver, falling at 2 inches an hour. poor visibility and near whiteout conditions forced numerous road and school 600 flight ross the state. cancellations crippled travel out of denver international airport. some determined travelers camped out thursday hoping to make a flight before conditions

worsened. >> i'm thankful they got me on another flight. >> the bulk of storm is headed for nebraska, kansas and iowa, but it's not done in denver yet. >> now maryland's most powerful doppler radar, and the forecast certified most accurate by weather rate. part of that weather system could impact us as we move towards sunday. we will break down the details in a minute. first a nice finish to a friday here, baltimore. 48 now. on the third day of february. winds are west, southwest at 3. light, variable actually as we have seen them change direction. annapolis, nothing but sunshine today at the naval academy. blue sky day over the severn river and nice finish in the state capitol. nothing but sunshine over the inner har pore. with view from the science center, a look at manchester today, mostly sunny skies and quiet finish up here in northeast carroll county.

maryland's most powerful radar, clear, that holds up tonight and tomorrow. tomorrow night the chance for rain. sunday early the chance for rain and more, wintery showers, snow showers, and just an ugly period of weather from about 2:00 a.m. sunday morning through about noon or so, as we look at the temperatures statewide, comfortably cool, upper 40s, average high temperature is 43. this is still above average day. cooler than earlier this week. wind gone to almost nothing. high temperatures today up above that average by 10 degrees in most spots. annapolis never got out of the 40s today. cockeysville 48. i think 51 ar ar byta. a -- that will be the indication of the new weather maker moving in. see the mid atlantic states showing few passing clouds. as we go through the day tomorrow, clouds thickening up, chance for rain showers

tomorrow evening, and see that building weather make tore the west, that will arrive in earnest sunday. it will come on top of very cool air, i still think temperatures will be just warm enough to prevent any significant accumulation of any kind, even if we get several hours early morning, baltimore and the eastern shores. north and west, frederick, point north, the high country and western carroll county, certainly those areas could get a light accumulation sunday. here is the timing, 6:00 saturday evening, we see rain knocking on the door around baltimore. saturday night, temperatures falling from 50s to the 30s, cold enough to say a changeover through sunday and some of this could change the snow for a couple of hours early sunday, probably not stick that well, except grassy surfaces, lows should be in the mid-30s, above freezing. temperatures will be tricky and key to is 'tis to the system. we will keep track at

abc2news.com all weekend. 30, partly cloudy. forecast tomorrow is fine. 50, yes, increased clouds, maybe a late day rain shower. better chances for rain, changing over to a wintery mix tonight. sundays morning, we could see the snow for a period of time and we think changing back to rain before it comes to an end towards early sunday afternoon. here is your seven-day forecast, looking ahead, after this early sunday event, things quiet down and look good in to monday, tuesday and wednesday. super sunday, as people head out and about for example you are going to drive early, wintery showers, slick spots, it's interesting little wink in the weather. >> good inside football weather. >> that's true. gives us another excuse to eat

lots and lounge around and watch the pregame and the game. >> sounds good to me. i like it. switching gears now to democracy 2012 , the voters in nevada head to the polls tomorrow for the next contest in the primary season. torey dunnon joins us live what are people expecting? >> reporter: people are expecting mitt romney to do very well. if he doesn't it could be a huge upset. one of the driving factors here for voters, is the economy. >> the president managed to simultaneously increase unemployment, while increasing the pain of cost of living. >> reporter: for the republican candidates on the campaign trail, hammering president obama on the economy is as common as walking the rope line. >> a tough time, i know the president didn't cause this downturn. this recession. he didn't make it better, either, he made it worse. >> reporter: the biggest

talking point may not stick. >> shouldn't be that complicated. >> reporter: the labor department report revealed 243,000 new jobs were created in january. almost twice what was expected. the unemployment rate fell for the 5th month in a row, 8.3%, it's the lowest since the month after obama took office. >> now is not the time for self inflicted wounds to our economy, now is the time for action. i want to send a clear message to congress, do not slow down the recovery that we are on. >> reporter: here in nevada people don't see that improvement. the high state foreclosure rate, five years running, 5 8% of homes under water, unemployment rate of 12.6%. the highest in the nation. >> obama care is yet to go in to effect. no question that when that goes in to effect, it will take a hit to the economy. >> reporter: the message should

resonate here. whether it works on a national level is yet to be seen. let's talk about how nevada will be different than florida. mitt romney got all 50 delegates. the delegates are awarded proportionately here. they are vying for second, third, fourth place. the winner, that's the person who gets the momentum. >> we hear newt gingrich made not so flattering comments about mitt romney today. what exactly did he say? >> reporter: remember when mitt romney won in florida, his campaign came out and said all the other candidates, rick santorum, paul, called to say you did a good job, congratulations. one person didn't call, that was newt gingrich. today he is talking about it.

>> i think that doesn't deserve congratulations. that's reprehensible and dishonest, i think it's shameful. >> reporter: there you go. i don't think i can say anything beyond that. >> all right, tough talk in las vegas. thank you so much for that report. love to be where you are right now. rosanne barr jumping in to the presidential race, announced candidacy on twitter. plans to run for the green party nomination and filed paperwork with the election commission according to the la times. coming up at 6:00, new york times is looking ahead to the 2016 presidential race. why the papers pegged martin o'malley is one of the likely candidates and bacteria from a pennsylvania deli causing 35 people to get sick including some in maryland what officials

are warning people about the risk of raw milk. those stories and more coming up at 6:00. now a preview of what is ahead at 6:30.

dow jones closed at the highest point since before the 2008 financial crisis. nasdaq closed up nearly 46 points to highest point in 11

years. sp500 closed up over 19 points. in tonight's consumer alert , the feds are cracking down on could counter fit counterfeit merchandise. >> reporter: registers ringing at the shop set up inside the jw marriott. buy t-shirts to key chains to super bowl pens. all officially licensed. steve goal stopped by to purchase souvenirs for his friends. >> reporter: getting it on the street, or on the internet can lead you to purchasing counterfeit items like the jerseys you see here. federal agents have seized more than 42,000 items of phony super bowl related memorabilia. the dro of u.s. customs immigration and say the counterfeit operations are getting more and more sophisticated. >> before you would go to the corner of 4th and maine to get

something like this, and it would be out of somebody's trunk and for ten bucks. >> reporter: consumers can shop on illegal web sites like this one. agents shut it down. items for sale look authentic but it's counterfeit merchandise. stick to retailers you know and trust. the fake clothing doesn't just affect the bottom line, it has a far reaching effect. >> for local businesses when you see this type of competition, and people are paying to be able to sell licensed merchandise in their stores, it hurts our local economy, it hurts hoosiers. >> law enforcement officials are also targeting fake super bowl tickets, they expect to see counterfeit tickets popping up on the streets of indianapolis as the game day approaches. big news, starting today's, employees at disney world and

disney land and grow beards and goatees. they banned it in 1955 when disneyland first opened. maybe the beginning of the end, when the trial and murder of a lacrosse player begins and how long it will last at 6:00 which starts right now. high speed chase ends in two crashes sending a maryland state troop tore shock trauma. why the trooper says this was no accident. one of the largest supporters changed its course. why komen will be providing grants to planned parenthood. why delays in a state system gives doctors charge