Fiscal cliff negotiations are down to the wire in the Nations Capital and talks continue at this hour. Jennifer johnson as the latest from washington. Cut afternoon, democrats and republicans say they are seeing signs of progress but the deadline is fast approaching and america is hours away from going over the fiscal cliff. The house will be in order. The house and senate are back in session. America faces the fiscal cliff. Americans are still threatened with a tax hike in just a few hours. I hope we can keep in mind our single most important goal is to protect middleclass families. Democrats have agreed to extend tax cuts for people making up to 400,000. It is higher than the 250,000 limit the president wanted. The hope is that instead of a grand bargain, a smaller package gets passed with the real job being pushed up until the new year about this whole thing is a national embarrassment. I think it is an embarrassment to the president and both sides of the aisle and both the house and of the senate panel without a deal, americans will face over 530 billion in tax increases at 110 billion in spending cuts for the military and other federal agencies. Federal workers could be furloughed or laid off. Braindead need acrosstheboard spending cuts to get the same percentage cuts to wasteful and on needed program, another Sticking Point is deficitreduction. Market remains a wild card. If no deal is rich is reached, we face more financial insecurity. Negotiations continue in the house and senate but there is still i lot of doubt that an agreement can be reached by midnight. Thank you. Maryland could lose hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs if we go off the off the fiscal cliff. We have more on how the gridlock in d. C. Is impacting us across the border in maryland. It partisan politics prevail and the cat deal, some say maryland could shoulder a greater burden than some other states. The department of legislative services put together a report that estimates just tell adverse the impact would be. If we fall off the fiscal cliff and automatic spending cuts kick in, researchers estimate maryland will lose 117. 6 million in federal funding next year, money already in the state budget. Economists say to make up for, the state will have to reallocate spending and make cuts. And perhaps raise raise a threshold for any kind of aid that has federal funds tied to it. It will be a challenge to make ends meet than. The report estimates 53,000 full and parttime jobs will be lost in 2013. That number could be much higher. A huge hit in sales and income tax revenue means the state would lose about 268 million in 2013. And another 635 million in 2014. The ability for the state to be the leader in education, Small Business innovation as well as other things the state usually leads in doing so these are tied up in those revenues. Many middleclass families in maryland also end up paying more taxes because of the alternative minimum tax rate. If we go over the fiscal cliff, it will revert to a system not adjusted for inflation. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton remains hospitalized, undergoing treatment for a blood clot. It stems from a concussion she sustained earlier this month while battling the flu. A spokesperson says doctors discovered the blood clot sunday on a followup examination. The 65yearold Hillary Clinton is being treated with anti coagulates. Good afternoon, temperatures are warming up more than what we saw yesterday. 38 degrees at the airport and 40 degrees downtown. This is about where we were yesterday but it felt colder yesterday with a strong wind. The highs should be in the low to mid 40s by the afternoon and clouds are increasing as a storm moves this way. It is producing precipitation off from the midwest. We will track this for you when we come back in a few minutes. If you are planning to hit the town for new years eve, baltimore is ready to put on a great show. Workers are preparing for the new years eve spectacular and the fireworks have been tested and ready to go. Crews set up a far worse yesterday morning on two barges docked in curtis bay. It starts and 9 00 tonight at the inner harbor and the theater. The fireworks are at midnight. More than 2,000 pounds of confetti are in place in times square. Hundreds of thousands will usher in the new year in the big apple. They will see the famous Waterford Crystal ball drop down 141 feet high above times square, lighting up the 2013 side. This years ball club 288 new panels engraved with doves. One of the panels also engraved in memory of the late dick clark to started hosting his new years eve show in 1974. Millions around the world are already saying hello to 2013. This is a look at the spectacular Fireworks Show in sydney, australia. Thousands of people lined up as 7 tons of fireworks were fired off from harbour bridge. Today marks the beginning of the Baltimore Ravens run to the super bowl and get ready for the city to be awash in purple. Purple lights will be displayed on nearly every building in Baltimore City and to mark, acre wellpaid city hall and several parts of federal hill in purple and black. The ravens dropped their regularseason finale against cincinnati but most of the ravens starters did not dress for the game and the rest played only a few snaps. The bengals won 2317 and the attention has shifted to the Indianapolis Colts for the plight of game and the ravens know when they will host baltimores Favorite Team to hate. Kickoff is slated for 1 00 this sunday. Coming up next, it has almost been two months since superstar and send it ravaged in the east coast and now an update on how some Eastern Shore residents can receive additional aid to. Several maryland laws will take effect next year and a few of the measure was likely to have a there was a deadly shooting in Anne Arundel County at dietrichs tavern of the east furnace brent road at 5 30 sunday evening and they found a 31yearold who had been shot in the side parking lot. He was pronounced dead at the scene and police said they have a description of the suspect but have not made an arrest. Some maryland residents affected by super storm center will be eligible to receive food stamps under a new federal aid program. Governor Martin Omalley and senators Barbara Mikulski announced the benefits yesterday. President obama designated the county as a major disaster area. Storm victims can apply from january 713 at the county department of social services or at the Disaster Recovery center. As we go into the new year, a number of new laws are set to go into effect in maryland. One of the most highprofile ones allows gay couples to marry as of january 1. Another new law says Baltimore City elections will be held on the same cycle as the president ial elections which means officials will get an extra year in office. A parent or guardian will have the right to freeze credit reports for identity theft. They hope that helps protect foster children who are especially vulnerable. Still to come, time is running out for you to save money on your property taxes and having one glass of bubbly to many could lead to a painful start to the new year and how to avoid a hangover. Are watching a large storm system track across the country and we will tell you why are precipitation chances are pretty minimal. This is a live look out of doors. It is currently 40 degrees a clock is ticking down for lawmakers on capitol hill and you are running out of time to keep extra dollars in your pocket next year. If you own a home in maryland and it is your principal residence, you have until today to file for the state homestead tax credit check with limits amateur tax increase. The loudoun application help you with an access number, you can file the paper electronically on the States Department of assessments and taxation side and you can download the application and mail it in but it must be postmarked by today. For more on how to apply, go to our website, wbaltv. Com and click on project economy. A about his pending to avoid a spike in oil prices. Party leaders and the Agricultural Committee have agreed to a oneyear extension of the expired farm bill which would stabilize dairy prices. There were fears that milk prices could more than double of the government reverted to an outdated pricing policy. The u. S. Agriculture secretary says there could be dire consequences if lawmakers do not vote on this deal by tomorrow. If you like anything made with milk, you will be impacted by the fact there is no form bill because if there is not an extension or a new bill, on january 1, permanent agricultural law goes back into place and that will ultimately ramp up so that consumers will be shocked when instead of seeing 3. 60 per gallon for milk, they will see 7 for milk. No word on if no word on when the dairy deal, for a vote than most economic looks remained shaky. There is one positive sign that may land you in the drivers seat. An economist predicts half a million more people will and their Vehicle Lease agreements in 2013 and that could flood the market with used vehicles and drivers looking for new ones. Experts say it should bring down prices for used vehicles by a few hundred dollars. They see 2013 as the year of the truck which is tied to a predicted increase in construction. Now, whether with meteorologist ava marie. Approaching storm system could bring wet weather our way. For now, we are just seeing clouds. But the biggest storm system is. It is already reaching moisture in the higher atmosphere and extends into the midwest with snow across illinois and indiana and pushing into ohio. It is mostly rain all the way into tennessee. I think it will split and make its way here. We will not really see too much less. Look at the radar. There are already a couple of shadings of green. That is a few isolated sprinkles trying to move through northern virginia. The rate may be falling higher in the hemisphere but it is encountering a lot of dry air over the mid atlantic because of High Pressure. Anything falling as basically evaporates in. It shows the atmosphere trend soaking up the moisture and that is when we start to see a better chance for rain or maybe the snow. We will track and into tomorrow. For now, the moisture is wrapping around a High Pressure center and the front is in the midwest. We will check this out into tomorrow and most of that dies down to our south. Anybody who out who will be out traveling tomorrow, that is good news. If youre going downtown tonight, we will have mostly cloudy skies and temperatures around 40 degrees at dinnertime and 9 00 p. M. , 38, and midnight, 36. It will be called in the suburbs, expect low 30s and dropping into the upper 20s for some tomorrow morning. Theres a slight chance for a sprinkle during the evening hours may be mixed in with the snow flurries. That is so minimal, a better chance for precipitation tomorrow as the storm gets closer. A chance for rain and snow but no accumulation and there will be times of dry weather. It will not run in the entire day and temperatures will range from 4044 degrees. We are expected a drop in the temperatures into wednesday, 39 degrees with partly sunny skies and the winds will not be as strong as yesterday. That will be a cool day but were not expecting it to be to gusty. By thursday, the storm system states to our south and High Pressure dominates for the rest of the week. Not too bad to start off the first week of january. The American Academy of pediatrics is encouraging schools to let kids have their playtime. They say recess offers cognitive, physical, and social benefits to young children. They say it gives kids the opportunity to develop skills that cannot be taught in the classroom. Studies show the kids to have recessed for healthier. Try not to ring in the new year with a hangover. Before you indulge too many champagne toasts, we have to have to help prevent a hangover. The reason why we have angoras is because her body is having a hard time dealing with all the toxins from the alcohol. She says before party in, eat a hearty meal, a drink lots of water, and asparagus has been shown to break down alcohol faster. If you did not plan ahead, set on fruit juice if you wake up feeling sick about fruit juice is filled with photos and a fruitless helps to minimize the high number by pulling out the toxins and processing them for the liver and getting them out of your body. Banana is a Great Hangover food because it is filled with potassium and electrolytes. When you are drinking, youre pulling the electrolytes out of your body. This helps to refill them and refuel you. Co, water is full of electrolytes and poached eggs are a great option for pain relief that eggs are filled with sistine which helps to break down alcohol faster. You dont want to have eggs that are filled with other that is proposed eggs are the cleanest and low fat and best way to have the eggs in the morning. For some reason, people think that having fried, fatty foods helps get rid of the hangover. It does not. It will aggravate your stomach even more. The hair of the dog. Drink more alcohol is deceiving. A bloody mary is spicy and ascetic. Those are two things you dont want when you have a hangover. Some good advice there we could not close out 2012 without some important kim carand baby news. Kanye west and Kim Kardashian are expecting their first child. Kemp kanye west announced last night at a concert. She could be 12 weeks pregnant. A few months ago, she top the list of most annoying celebrities. She has taken that to the bank. Up next, your maryland lottery numbers and we will check our weather again. Here is a look at how wall street is performing. Good evening, this is flo. [laughs] yes, im that flo. Arent you sweet licensed phoneups available 24 7. Call 1800progressive. To night at 5 00, we are monitoring activity on capitol hill. We will have the latest on the fiscal cliff in a live report. A new study takes a look at the relationship between guns and mental illness. Jim miller cracks open what we need to know in the wake of the sandy hook massacre. One year in review from the shooting on the first day of school in perry hall to the stunning performance of Michael Phelps and the olympics. We look at the highest and lowest moments in 2012. Now, youre maryland lottery pick 3 and pick 4 numbers. 832 1103. The pick 4 number is 11 03. How does the years theyve looked . Mostly dry and maybe a quick sprinkle or florid but tomorrow is a 30 chance of a wintry mix. Were not talking any accumulation. It gets colder by wednesday and a mere 44 the next couple of days. So much. We hope you have a safe and happy new year. Thank you for joining us. Be sure to watch again at 5 00. Have a great today