show you maryland's most powerful radar as of now. and this is what we're watching as we go through the morning. not a whole lot, maybe just a few flurries and the flurries are in darker blue color, so we're talking right around valley brook and also around chapel hill this morning and around kaid valley, so light flurries floating around, nothing sticking whatsoever, you don't have to worry about that. this will be in and out. sunrise looking much better. 35 degrees as we go into lunchtime today, and as we go into the afternoon, 37 degrees, so we're talking around 3:00, that's very cold, that temperature below average when we should be at 45. we will get that sun/cloud mix, but 37 is going to feel more like we're in the 20s for today. let's get a check now of the abc 2 news time saver traffic with lauren cook. good morning. >>reporter: good morning, lynette. we are certainly off to a cold start and we are dealing with emergency construction in downtown baltimore. it's right near the transamerica building on south charles street. expect heavy delays, two lanes are now blocked from pratt street to lombard street. now, if you are traveling on 95, here's a live look up in white marsh at route 43.

traffic is moving right along. no delays heading downtown. it's going to take you just 15 minutes southbound from the beltway all the way into the city. and here in parkville, conditions will remain nice and clear on 695 here at hartford road, no problems on the inner loop and the outer loop you're looking at the typical 11 minutes from 95 up to 83. and over on the west side 11 minutes as well on the outer loop from 795 down to 95. megan and charley, over to you. south african olympic sprinter oscar pistorius is in court this morning for day two of a bail hearing in the death of his girlfriend. pistorius arrived at the court building in a plark, covered in a blue blank -- in a police car, cover inside a blue blanket. this was a few hours ago. we're follow town hall meeting minute by minute at smith in africa. throughout the morning prosecutors have been outlining what they claim to be a chain of events that led up to the shooting involving pistorius and his then-girlfriend, reeva steenkamp. she was a model, and as you can

see a stunning woman. , at 29 years old. now this event has now come into today, where this is day two of that hearing. the prosecution and state laying out their case while the defense is refuting their claims. throughout the course of the day, david smith, once again, a reporter for the guardian has been updating us on the testimony and cross l of one of the investigators -- cross examination of one of the investigators on the scene, the investigator saying he found reeva steenkamp's body at the base of the stairs and he began working through his investigation and he found what he believed to be steroids and a syringe and also the broken out bathroom door and also four shell casings saying he saw steenkamp had been shot in the head, the arm and the hip, all of this coming to us, once again, by david smith. smith in africa is his twitter handle. they adjourned court for lunch until 1:30 p.m. keep in mind they are seven hours ahead of us our time, so

they've just now returned to the courtroom for continuing testimony back and forth. so we'll continue following this for you throughout the morning. there's been no tweet update from smith that they are back in the courtroom yet, but once they do, we'll update you throughout the course of the morning as everything going on once again in south africa. megan. 6:33 right now. the man convicted of strangling 16-year-old felicia barnes wants a new trial. her attorney -- his attorneys feel that the verdict should be thrown out. abc 2 news' kristin schaefer is here to explain why. >>reporter: he faces 30 years in prison for killing 16-year- old felicia barnes, now michael johnson is pinning his hopes for a new trial on this man, james mccray. during the trial mccray, a convicted criminal testified that he saw felicia barnes' body in michael johnson's apartment, that johnson admitted to raping the teen and even that johnson asked him how to get rid of the body. after the trial johnson's defense attorneys said they believe without mccray's testimony the state could not

have convicted michael johnson. >> despite his incredible testimony that was just all over the place, wrong date, wrong time, wrong apartment. >>reporter: their motion for a new trial also claims that prosecutors improperly emphasized that testimony during their closing arguments, saying "the state on three separate occasions was able to argue fact that is were not introduced in evidence in an attempt to bolster the credibility of their sole eyewitness ." >> you cannot argue the facts are not snefd. the court of appeals has said it numerous times and admonished prosecutors. >>reporter: the defense says even with mccray's testimony, the evidence was not strong enough to warrant the guilty verdict, but the city's top prosecutor tonight remained confident that the conviction will stand. >> we are not at all surprised they file add motion for a new trial and we will respond to their motion in due course. >> that was christian schaefer reporting. if that motion for a new trial is denied, the next step would be sentencing for michael johnson.

30 years is the maximum for second-degree murder. one campus is offering controversial tips to help students fend off a rapist. the suggestions for preventing rape were posted on the university of colorado at colorado springs' website this week. >> tell your attacker that you have a disease or are menustrating. beyond how, like, that would keep someone from attacking you. >> school officials say it was a posting from 2006 from a self- defense class and it somehow resurfaced. the suggestions have been removed from the school's website since it became public. she's 11 years old, survived cancer. now she's being treated for burns she received while in the hospital. >> coming up the very latest on her condition, but why officials say hand sanitizer might be to blame for this mysterious fire. and a woman is arrested after calling calling 911 for help. we'll tell you why her problem was not considered an emergency at all. [ female announcer ] caltrate's done even more to move us.

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[ good morning, maryland. a girl is in serious condition after her shirt caught fire. now some are wondering if hand sanitizer could be to blame. this happened in an oregon hospital. the staff says the 11-year-old girl came running out of her room on fire. they quickly put out the flames. doctors say they don't know how it started an the father in the room was asleep at the time. apparently she used hand sanitizer and when she went to wipe her hands, well, the shirt ignited. >> i've been in medicine, going back to medical school 30 years now, never heard of anything like this and hopefully never will again. >> the girl is a cancer survivor and was in the hospital for an unrelated head injury. a 911 call can be a lifeline to an emergency crew, but you won't believe why one number called the number. take a listen. >> if you're waiting on that [ bleep ] you'll be waiting all

night. >> i'm calling 911 telling them i'm missing cigarette. >> i'll translate. officers say when they arrived at the woman's home in texas, she was intoxicated. they took her into custody. she called because she wanted cigarettes delivered to her house. she is now out of jail this morning on a $1,000 bond. don't use that 911, they'll get you for it. the mayor of baltimore is now making a pitch some consider to be a very long shot. >>reporter: more talk this morning from baltimore's mayor about the city's 10-year financial plan. i'm sherree johnson with that story coming up next. and temperature wise we're in the 20s and 30s this morning, but the 50s are on the way. i'll have those details coming up. >>reporter: bring on the 50s, lynette, maybe even the 60s, that would be pretty nice. traffic slowing down here on 695 at baltimore national pike. i'll let you know where else there's congestion coming up on "good morning maryland."

it's wednesday morning, we're working for you, i'm megan pringle. >> i'm charley crowson. let's begin with a check of that forecast and meteorologist lynette charles. lynette, what's going on out there?

>> we are very cold, charley and windy and that scenario will linger throughout the afternoon. temperature wise this morning, well, we're above average, but with those winds out of the northwest about five to 15 miles an hour sustained, we're feeling a lot colder this morning, so the temperature in chestertown is 31 degrees right now, 28 in fredrick, hereford coming in at 27 but feeling more like we are 31, more like the mid-20s, 28, 27, feeling more like we're in the teens this morning, so make sure you bundle up as you step out and about. let's switch over, let me show you what's going on on maryland's most powerful radar right now. we are looking at some returns on the radar, but none of this is touching the ground. those really dark blues where we're seeing some flurries around carroll county, fredrick county and even into baltimore county, reisterstown, that's all ended. we're not going to be dealing with any more of this as we go through the rest of the day, just sunshine mixing with some cloud cover. this is what you can expect as you plan your day. we've had the clouds, we've had the wind, and we've had the sun and the sun is going to stick with us all day long. so we see that high temperature coming in at 37 degrees, but

this is what you need to be prepared for, more of the 20s for a high because of the winds sticking around all day long. let's get a check now of the abc 2 news time saver traffic with lauren cook. good morning. >>reporter: good morning, lynette. wind is definitely going to be a concern out on the roads. i wouldn't be surprised to see a wind warning in effect for the bay bridge and the key bridge later this morning. if you are heading downtown, we are dealing with emergency construction on south charles street. two lanes are now blocked between pratt and lombard street. expect heavy delays in that area. nothing to get in your way, though, traveling through the fort mchenry tunnel or the harbor tunnel. if you are using 695 this morning, as we check in and take a live look here at the west side of the beltway at baltimore national pike, the outer loop is starting to slow down a bit. right now there's a three- minute delay traveling from 795 down to 70. average speed clocking in at just 33 miles per hour. here in hunt valley, though, 83 nice and clear, nothing to get in your way from hunt valley all the way down to the beltway and it will remain clear as you do get onto the jfx and head into the city. that's a look at your abc 2 time saver traffic. megan and charley, over tou.

15 minutes away from 7:00 right now. we have breaking news right now out of northeast baltimore where firefighters are back on the scene of a house fire. they were there for the second time in one night, battling those flames at this home. that's where we find abc 2 news' linda stow. she joins us now with the latest. linda, what can you tell us? >>reporter: still a very active scene here. firefighters are working hard dousing any hot spots. as you mentioned, they were called back to this home when they originally were out there around midnight for a house fire in the 4100 block of greencrest road, that's right off of park drive. you see the firefighters up there on ladder. they were called out here at 5:30 this morning when we're told the fire relit in this home. when this fire originalry broke out around midnight, no one was home, but neighbors do tell us a man lived here, a family lived here, a woman, a husband, their two young children. no one was home at the time, no one was injured. neighbors spoke with the homeowner who says he believes the fire started in the basement, it was an electrical

problem by a single wire. this fire then spread to the first and second floor. firefighters contained it when they originally got here, but, again, they were called out at around 5:00 this morning when the fire relit. and you can see them now working, using a water hose to make sure all the hot spots are out. firefighters are up on ladders, making sure that there are no fire areas in the roof area. they're inside the house throwing items out of the busted out windows, just to make sure that none of them will catch on fire again. so, again, we're here in the 4800 block of greencrest road in baltimore. that's right off maravia park drive. we're told this fire broke out around midnight, but firefighters had to come back out here when it rebit this morning. no firefighters have been injured. everybody who lived in that home, a family, they got out safely. again, firefighters are actively working here to bring things under control. in the meantime you can expect this area to be blocked off, a lot of fire trucks here to

contain the fire. we're live in baltimore, linda stow, abc 2 news. more breaking news to tell you about this morning, this out of kansas city, missouri where investigators are sifting through debris this morning after a massive gas explosion at a popular restaurant. authorities say that they're worried some people may have been killed and they can't find them. so now they have special dogs being used to sniff out human remains in the rubble. at last count two people were missing. there are 14 people who were hurt. investigators believe a gas leak is to blame for the intense fire that leveled the restaurant. and firefighters in ohio tackled intense flames after a large greenhouse caught fire. this happened about 30 miles southwest of cleveland at ohio's green circle growers. firefighters had to deal with some powerful wind gusts and some very cold weather. the green circle growers provides plants to stores like home depot and wal-mart. no injuries have been reported. the cause of that fire remains under investigation. she is called -- he is called one of the most wanted men in annapolis, today clarence eugene johnson, iii is expected to turn himself into

authorities. johnson is charged in connection with a double shooting that left one person dead. his attorney says he wants to defend himself against the charges and clear his name. pension reform, cuts, paying for your trash, those are just some of the ideas the mayor has proposed to save baltimore from financial collapse. today she's going to pitch those ideas to a group of community leaders and abc 2 news' sherree johnson is live this morning to plain wheact what's going on, and more importantly, sherree, exactly whom will the mayor be speaking. >>reporter: today mayor instead instead ofee rawlings blake will be speaking to institutional and community leaders. this is part of the kickoff to change to grow. she's basically going to outline the 10-year financial plan for these folks. hundreds of folks are expected to attend this event. basically she's going to talk about some new initiatives. some of those initiatives include rebalancing the way city employees are compensated with more affordable, sustainable benefits and better wages. also investing in technology on

a mission to increase productivity, also modernize the city's vehicle fleet to reduce maintenance costs and negotiating a new schedule for firefighters with higher pay to increase efficiency and prevent future firehouse closures. now, the mayor says eliminating the $750 million structural deficit protects basic city services like police, fire, santation and recreation from major future cuts. now, this event takes place at 10:30 this morning at the walters art museum on north charles street. reporting live in federal hill, sherree johnson, abc 2 news. abc 2 news investigation is expected inside a maryland courtroom later today. according to state records zachery press didn't have his license renewed by the state board in 2009, but when we found him, he was wearing scrubs inside an office with signs all over it. the state board filed a criminal complain against pratt for practicing without a license. he was expected in court last thursday to answer to those charges but never showed up.

abc 2 news investigators will be there again today for a scheduled court appearance. caught on camera on a red light camera involving two people working for the water department in missouri. the two men were standing in the middle of an intersection when a minivan approaches, one of the men jumps out of the way, the other is hit by the van. authorities say the injured worker should be okay. the driver of the van did not -- did, rather, stop to help and is not expected to be charged. crashes happy on homestead, miami speedway, but usually they involve cars. motorcycles took to the track and one of the cyclists completely lost control of his bike around a curve. you have to take a look at this video. he flipped in the air before slamming down on the pavement. doctors found fractures on his spine, but his spinal cord remained relative intact. he is wearing a back brace while he recovers. five things to know on this wednesday. former congressman jesse jackson, jr. and his wife are

due in court today. they're accused of spending almost a million dollars in campaign funds on personal items. both have employeed to plead guilty. wife of long-time gun advocate jim brady is going to be in annapolis today. sarah brady will speak about gun violence with the governor. jim brady was partially paralyzed after being shot in an assassination attempt on president ronald reagan. senator barbara a ma cull ski is expected to talk about what the spending cuts will have on the national institute of health. the m.i.a. supports 18,000 johns in the state of maryland. the united states postal service is getting into the fashion business. it's going to start a clothing line called rain, heat and snow. the clothes come from a time when the agency is in dire need of other revenue streams. someone in maryland is now millions of dollars richer, maybe even more. the winning megamillions ticket was reportedly bought in mount airy. the jackpot exceeds $26 million, the cash option would be a cool $19 million before taxes

>> congratulations to that person. well, a preview now of what you can expect on "good morning america" which comes up in just a few minutes here on abc 2. >>reporter: and a -- no, a great wednesday morning to all of you. coming up here a day we have all been waiting for. our dear friend and colleague, you might recognize her in the middle screen, robin roberts is back and better than ever. we do hope you join us for her homecoming. it's going to be a good one right here on "good morning america." >> that is just seven minutes away. and near whiteout conditions in parts of wisconsin caused dozens of accidents along the freeway. take a look at this. the department of transportation says 26 cars in all were involved in the crash as some had multiple pileups. others were cars that just spun out of control. it took hours for police to move those accidents off the road so they could get some reasonable flow of traffic up and going once again. so when you leave, lynette, that message on facebook about

where's the snow, think of that video. >> exactly. we don't want that much. we don't want that much. we're not going to get that right now. we're not dealing with any of that. our thing is the wind for today. temperature wise we're coming in above average. look at parkton at 27 degrees when we should be at 25 degrees now for this time of the year. eldersburg 29. more of the same in laurel. good morning edgemere, you're at 30 degrees and we're seeing that in aberdeen this morning. dulles springs is at 31 degrees but we do have the windy conditions sustained now 17 edgemere, 17 in kent island, so it's making it feel a lot colder out there, more like 19 in edgemere. so make sure you do bundle up as you head out and about today. let me switch over and show you what's going on. as we go through time, we will start to see a change in the forecast. but look what happens, this is the front that moved through yesterday. this is the one that's moved all the way up into maine and it is bringing some snow across that area. but we will be replaced with high pressure, at least that low will. the difference between the two, that's why we're seeing the windy conditions for today. it's called that pressure gradeient and the tighter it

is, the windier it gets as we go into the afternoon and even by tomorrow. abc 2's most accurate futuretrend goes into motion and this is what it looks like for today, mostly sunny skies will prevail, 37 degrees for a high temperature. by tonight we'll be at 21 and much colder and that seven-day forecast looks like this as another wintery mix is in the forecast for friday and saturday. let's get a check now of the abc 2 time saver traffic with lauren cook. good morning. >>reporter: good morning, lynette. it is certainly off to a windy start, and unfortunately, we are dealing with some emergency construction in downtown baltimore. it's right near the transamerica building. it's on south charles street, two lanes are now blocked from pratt to lombard streets. and you will want to expect heavy delays in the area. if you are traveling through the tunnels, no delays whatsoever. everything nice and clear on 95 through the fort mchenry tunnel, just eight minutes northbound from the beltway all the way to the toll plaza. and as we check in and take a live look at 83 just north of the beltway, everything moving right along. average speed 50 miles an hour, not too bad at all. as far as 695 is concerned,

here's a look in pikesville at green spring avenue, no delays here, but it really will slow it down as you make the push on the outer loop from 795 down to 70. right now on that stretch we have a four-minute delay and the average speed clocking in at just 40 miles an hour. that's a look at your abc 2 time saver traffic. megan and charley, over to you. knowledge take a look at this, it's the incredible dunking sea otter. his name is eddie and he lives in the oregon zoo and he's getting up there in age. he's 16 years old and has arthritis in both of his elbows. so to get him more flexible and be more involved, zookeepers told him to dunk. he's got so good at it, apparently he never misses a shot. >> he's taking his talents to south beach. >> he holds onto the rim. anytime we can leave you with happy video, we will, but we are going to go into some happy news this morning. robin roberts returns to "good morning america." that is no doubt going to be the theme this morning during the show there.

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