be part of the story. colonial williamsburg. next on fox 45 morning news. i will take my lumps, but i won't stop fighting to bring back jobs here. president obama in baltimore. why he will be in charm city today. take the plunge. we're live at the annual polar bear plunge. this is crazy. i don't know whether to look at my own reflection or you, that is how beautiful you are. >> when in rome. >> a sneak peek of the films hitting threaters this weekend. that is in the low down. good morning. it is friday, january, 29th. i'm patrice harris. we're happy to headed into the weekend but it's friday. there's something else new going on. it means that it's your turn to sound off on our facebook page about whatever you want. what stories you liked or didn't like, something going on in your neighborhood or something you want to get off your chest. just let us know and your response could air in our phase book segment. the first fox 45 fans to post our code work on 4 facebook wall will win a great prize. with will reveal that code word later this morning. stay tune for your chance to win. go to facebook.baltimore to become a fan. today we have someone who has put her thoughts on here later this morning we will read that. first we will go to meteorologist steve fertig and see what is on his mind and hopefully it's not a lot of snow. the cold air is not in my mind. i'm thinking of joel d smith. >> he has a strip out of all of that. >> he is getting ready to do the polar bear plunge. >> poor him. >> it's going to be frigid. he is probably running around right now that would be a good idea to keep the body temperature. we're 92 between temperatures i. we are keeping an eye on the system that is headed our way. we think it's going to be bring us snow overnight especially. as you saw the blue swath moving to the south thanks to the high pressure center. how much snow will we get out of it? we will take a look at how much snow you can expect in just a i a few minutes. right now we will look at what is happening on the roadways with candace dold, the traffic edge. >> reporter: thank you, steve. baltimore is in the spotlight. we are utile at the to talk about. that is leaving you with two road closures. alexan der street is blocked down and this is expected to be shut throughout the entire morning rush. we will continue to keep you up-to-date. another thing in baltimore is president barack obama visit and unfortunately that will cause unannounced temporary road closures between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. it's all around lombard and pratt street. if you can avoid that area altogether. we want to show you what it looks like on the main lines. traffic right now, 95 at 395, a comfortable stretch all the toward the beltway. that's a look at the morning commute. patrice, back to you. 6:04 fox 45 morning news. president barack obama will visit baltimore today for the first time since he took office. this afternoon he is expected to address a group of republicans. megan gilliland is joining us more on why the president is here and some delays the president's visit is expected to cause. >> reporter: president obama is expected to walk into the hotel around noon but we will feel his presence earlier. here is what we're dealing with already. in front of the hotel we're seeing a number of secret service vehicles, really just guarding this area. across the street, there's a large parking lot, already a lot of national t.v. stations and local as well claiming their spots there and taking up a number of spots maybe workers downtown are used to having. pratt street, we are told they should be expecting a lot of delays here with a lot of folks in and out of this area. expect if you are heading down here to give yourself a little bit more time. that is what is happening outside. inside, president obama is expected to talk about a whole different kind of pain, unemployment. we are told house republican baltimore chose to host today's event to raise awareness on the growing unemployment here in our city and in cities around the country. right now baltimore has a 10.8% rate. the president says getting americans back to work will be his top priority this year. >> so longs i have the privilege of serving as your president, i will not stop fighting for you. i will take my lumps, but i will not stop fighting to bring jobs back here. >> before the president speaks to the house republicans this afternoon, he is expected to swing by chesapeake machine company to talk to some workers there and outline a new job creation proposal. again, this is president obama's first visit to baltimore since he has taken office. when he came last year, his approval rating was 70%. he now stands at roughly 49%. live downtown this morning, i'm megan gilliland. fox frief 45 morning news. a woman accused of faking cancer to get money from friends admits it was all a lie. she says she has a good reason. she is speaking out for the first time since being arrested for fraud. thebill beinged 2 women out of $12,000 claiming she had terminal stomach cancer and a few months to live. she lied to cover up abuse from her husband. >> people questioning why i'm bruised up all the time. it was easier than saying pat threw me or pat did this or my daughter had to save my life. it was just easier. >> leoni said she took the money because her money made her to use it to pay bills. he is named in the indictment. leoni is charged with theft and conspiracy. if you had a good layer of fur like polar bears do, you might be better able to deal with this freezing cold weather, but there's folks who look nothing like polar bears but who are still taking a plunge this morning in the chesapeake bay. it's all for a good cause and joel d smith is one of those people who will be taking the plunge. and joel, you got the earmuffs, the scarf, two or three coats, i'm sure and you still look like you're cold. you will have to strip out of that pretty soon. >> my smile is overcoming the obvious cold factor here. yeah, i will be taking it off and we will be be dunking in a half an hour or so, at 7:30 i will be going in. set the dv ares, set the tivo's. >> you have a nice big coat on. >> a little padding. >> a little padding. you know in every year as well. do you ever get used to it. >> yeah, it's become a kind of a pleasurable experience. we will go 250 times over a 24 hour period. you will start that pretty soon. you will show us how it's done. >> we have folks coming for the super plunge rate. right now we have raised $80,000. michael is coming down. you get used to it. the colder the water, the most authentic the event. we are going to get snow, that's powder sugar. we admonish. patrice has done it. nothing to it. get out here. it's the biggest winter festival that we will enjoy in the entire region. it's a great time for athletes and but it's a great time to come out and have a wonderful time with us. >> how much money are you hoping to raise. >> our goal is he $3.5 million. and we are about a half a million dollars. try to make the decision, we appreciate, every year coming down and supporting us. >> that's right, we're here. we're going in and it's going to be soon. i'm getting pumped up now. tom is getting me going. he is going to go 250 times. i got to go once. >> i will go with you. >> we will hold hands. >> did he hold your hand, patrice. >> no, he didn't hold my hand. tom said patrice did and she knows it's nothing. i did it, but it is something. i think he has just brain freeze of having gone in so many times. >> she says you have brain freeze. you might have forgotten. it was something for her, it wasn't nothing. she still remembers to this day. anymore facebook on my side here, patrice. >>now that you mentioned it, we do have more facebook. listen to what folks have been saying. we have been asking do you think that joel d should take the plunge? ana on face book says i think you definitely should go for it. it's for a great cause and a lot of people will admire you for it so go, joel. we have another one, and that one says, dunk! dunk! dunk! , so there you have it, joel. i think you are going in. >> you can post your comments on facebook of whether joel should go in or not. as you can he see we are passing all of the comments along to joel. coming up most people have cats and dogs for pets, find out the other animals though, you can get for pets at this weekend's pet expo that is coming up next. and at least joel d smith doesn't have to worry about snow this morning. there's snow coming up on the way for us tomorrow. focusing mostly to the south but with the cold air in place, it's definitely going to be a @ whether they got fur, scales or feathers pets of all kinds will be taking over maryland fairgrounds. it's the world of pets expo. we are live with the details for this morning's hometown hot spot. good morning, jeanne. >> good morning. >> tell me what is happening at the expo. can people come there empty handed and leave with a pet. >> they can. we have all kinds of rescues. >> i'm sorry. i didn't mean to interrupt. i saw something behind you on the ground, was that a kangaroo i saw? >> yes, there's a red kangaroo hopping around here right now. >> i wasn't sure that's what i saw. that caught my attention. let's talk about the guy with the snakes, because that scares me? >> well, yes this is danny with his albino python. he bought the snake a few years ago at the expo and look at the size of it now. >> i would rather not look at it if i don't have to. snakes scare me, but that is one of the many animals that will be out there this weekend, people can see all types. >> birds, cats, reptiles. >> i'm sorry, the kangaroo is on the move. what did you feed the kangaroo this morning, some 5 hour energy. >> we have everything here for the pet lover, hundreds of vendor booths to shop. >> all right. well, jeanne, we're going to check in with you throughout the morning because we want to see more of the these animals and hear more what is happening. there's the kangaroo on the go. we will check back in a little bit. the world of pet expo is at the maryland fairgrounds from 2 to 8:00 and tomorrow from 8 until 8:00 and sunday from 8 to 6:00. and steve, that was pretty funny. you want to get around today and move quickly because it's going to be a cold one. 20 degrees in baltimore. 16 in hagerstown, how about 1 degree in oakland. we have a north wind at 5 miles per hour. it's going to be cold and it's going to feel like temperatures are well below zero at the western part of the state. it's feeling like 11 below zero in oakland. and 8 degrees in baltimore. it's very cold indeed. we do have a windchill advisory for garrett county. everybody is going to feel the chill. we have a winter storm watch down in st. garrett's county and further points south as well and that is because of the winter system that we have been talking about for sometime. as you can see, the watch areas are to the south and that is where we expect the focus of the energy to be. taking a look at the sky watch hd radar, we're not seeing a whole lot over us right now. to the south and virginia, snow is falling there. that could be bringing us snow, especially for the south. a lot of cold air in place that we know and that is one of the ingredients that we need. we're going to have to deal with the high pressure bringing all of the cold air our way. it's going to rush down to the south. that is going to keep the low pressure center to the south, we that would be the case. and it's going to keep it most concentrated. who gets most snow, it's going to be the southern part of the state. things can change in weather. the low pressure center is moving further toward the north and then of course, we're talking about con ve concentrate heavier snow further points north. that first scenario is what we're thinking. we're looking for 1-2 inches to the north, and maybe a coating to an inch to the northern extreme part of the state. 3-5 for the southern part of the state and with you go further toward the south, west virginia, we are looking to 5-6 inches of snow some some places in that direction. 10-15-mile-an-hour wind and partly cloudy skies there before the clouds roll in. the clouds are beginning to roll in quicker for the central part of the state, we will climb to 15 degrees for the high. we will make it feel like it's in the 20s instead. and tonight, 19 degrees with partly cloudy skies and a north wind at 5-15 miles per hour. that will make it feel like single digits tonight. bundle up tonight. 15 degrees, we get thereby hitting a midday temperature. and 28 degrees by 6:00 p.m., 25 degrees and again that snow coming in tomorrow morning. we saw it on future scan by 8 or 9:00 in the morning. 33 degrees on sunday with drier conditions then. 40 on monday, 39 on tuesday, a possible wintery mix then, 42 and 44 for your wednesday and thursday. fox 45 sky watch weather is now at your finger tips. iradar is available at foxbaltimore.com. you can use fox 45's powerful doppler radar to track incoming storms. the interactive tools will let you see when rain or snow will be over your house e go to foxbaltimore.com and click on iradar. candace dold has the answer and the traffic edge. >> reporter: steve, not bad for a friday morning commute. we are checking the actual speeds and take a look at these numbers, we're loving them. 59 miles per hour traveling on the beltway moving through kaystonville and at 58 moving through security boulevard. that stretch is looking good. we need to talk about downtown this morning, two road closures because of utility work that shouts down a less a alesandro o you will want to use an alternate route. expect major delays in downtown baltimore and throughout the afternoon because of president obama's visit and that congestion is expected to start at 11:00 a.m. and stretch to 2:00 p.m. just be aware that there will be a lot of cars around lombard and pratt street with temporarily unannounced road closures there. as far as the main lines traveling right now the jfx is going to be a pleasant drive, not a lot of activity, southbound stretch or the northbound lanes heading toward the beltway. if you're going to visit joel, you maybe want to see him take that plunge at the sandy point that plunge at the sandy point state park, no oh, no! yeah, oh, no, i got to go. oh, can you make that to-go? these days, nobody has time to get sick, but minute clinic makes it easy to get well. our nurse practitioners can diagnose and write prescriptions for everything from strep throat to sinus infections, with no appointment necessary, so you can feel better in no time. you guys want to go to the park? yeah! yeah! minute clinic -- the medical clinic inside cvs/pharmacy. find one near you at minuteclinic.com. sell-off of tech and banking stocks he led the market lower on thursday. the nasdaq took a big hit losing .9%. the senate voted to a second term for fed chairman ben bernanke. some blamed him and the reserve for not doing enough to protect consumers, others praised him for saving the country from another great depression. the recalls affect both u.s. and european models with sticky gas pedals. toyota says it's close to a new design for the pedals. meanwhile a vis, hertz, are removing the recalled toyota cars from the fleet. ford is profitable. ford says it benefited from cost-cutting, debt reduction and popular vehicles like the fusion and escape. it also is the only u.s. automakers not declare bankruptcy. ford expects to turn a profit this year. for business brief, i'm stan case. coming up president obama state of the union speech gets praise and crticism. let's meet our responsibility to the citizens who sent us here. let's try common sense. some say it might have been a mistake. this is crazy. i don't know whether to look at my own reflection or at you, that is how beautiful you are. thank goodness, it's friday. the movies opening in in his first state of the uniyous address, president obama said that his top priority to job creation. some were arguing that the president was spending too much time on healthcare and not the issues that would turn the economy around. now that he has made jobs his number one concern is that enough to satisfy the critics. our politic commentator, armstrong williams joins us, good morning, armstrong. >> what is the feeling about the president in washington about what the president had to say on his speech. many wanted him to jump-start the economy and get it moving. was his speech enough to to make them happy? >> it's politics. but anyhow, the president said that they would cut capital gains taxes for small business owners. there's a possibility of extending the bush tax cuts which means, taxes on the average americans will not soar 20%, because there's no way you're going to create jobs and stimulate the economy by raising taxes. the president is going to baltimore i think today. >>yes. >> to speak at the republicans conference, something he has not done before. the president is making an effort. not everything the president says he is going to agree with. i think what is disheartening is that the president spoke about transparency and that the president spoke about the american people want to get back to the job. the president single handily removed healthcare out of the top, and made the job and the economy the top focus. the treasury secretary the next day set meetings and the lobbyist, and briefing them on the state of the union and asking them for donations, go figure, less than 24 hours later. you believe that the president is sincere, that is politics as usual. that is what the american people, patrice, find absolutely baffling, contradictory and hypocritical. >> let me ask you this, you mentioned the president that the is here to talk to house republicans at the conference they are having downtown. how much blame and bhaib tha mas not the right word. how much is on the republicans. are they really interested in reaching out a hand to the president and let's work together and get pass some of these issues. >> reporter: i think some of them are. i think some of them smell blood in the tank and see it as an opportunity to gain more seats in the fall. they don't have a message and they don't have an agenda. and if the president's politics were not failing they would still be in the wilderness. the american people are not celebrating republicans. if the republicans think they that are the game in town, they too will be fired just like the democrats are being fired right now. armstrong, thank you,. coming up more and more states are approving same-sex marriage. how gay marriage may soon change for couples here in maryland. i'm joel d smith at sandy point state park where it might as well feel like the north pole. the polar bear plunge is to thanks for coming back out. sure. i think you might have hooked it up wrong, though. yea, we're getting way too many channels. no, no. that's -- that's standard. fios also comes with 11,000 free movies and shows on demand per month. ah, standard. gotcha. a certain somebody says "thank you". tell him "he's welcome", but it's still standard. he's happy to be back with his friends. is he? [ male announcer ] hundreds of channels, thousands of movies, and three times more very satisfied customers than comcast. this is beyond cable. this is fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v. and so we started having these pizza parties on friday night. i learned how to make pizza dough. and we'd have friends come to our house. we know saving money is important. shop with your giant card and you can enjoy thousands of weekly specials and real deal savings, like clementines, now $4.88 per box, and starkist solid white tuna, 10 for $10. this week only. when i look at my receipt and it says, "you saved $26," that works for me. only with your giant card. 6:31 is the time. welcome back to fox 45 morning news, i'm patrice harris. it is friday and that means it's your turn to talk to us on our facebook page about anything you want. let's talk about some the stories we have covered this story. did you like some of them? did some of them get your interest? did you not like what happened in the story? is there something going on in your neighborhood or do you have a good thought that you want to share? whatever you want to talk about, put them on our facebook page. and it could air on the facebook segment. if you have something 91n funnyo share, share that, too. >> the first fans to post the code word will win a prize. we will reveal what that code word is later this morning. go to facebook/baltimore and become a fan. we need to check in with meteorologist steve fertig. i'm a big fan of his whenever he is not talking about snow. by the way, just don't tell us to forward the 10 people to have bad luck. here is what is happening here. here is the thought on my mind. we have cold air for today and the next couple of days. 20 degrees in baltimore. the temperatures in the single digits up to the north and west. there's single digits throughout the northeast and we're going to feel all of the cold air and with the winds feeling chillier, not worried about snow right now. we're talking about the potential for snow into tomorrow morning, thanks to the moisture headed in our general direction. we will take a look and see who is going to get the best chance of seeing a little bit more than others. breezy and cold and today and tomorrow as well. winter storm warning in place. we will get to that and it dries out by sunday with more sunshine then as well. let's see what is happening on the roadways with candace dold who has the traffic edge. candace. >> reporter: thank you, steve. it's a friday morning, is that usually means a pretty busy ride. we're checking in on exactly what is happening. we have trouble on the rails, that is correcmarx train penn ls canceled. that leaves us with details between baltimore and washington this morning. this will definitely affect a lot of people. we will let you know when they have the determined amount of time as for that debay. de-- delay. here it is on liberty road building conditions both the inner and outer loop lanes making the trek down toward 70. the entire stretch on the outer loop direction from 795 down toward 95, running pretty normal, just a lot of volume. 12 minutes, 55 miles per hour. southbound 95, traveling through the city right now not too much to complain about, from the fort mcheny tunnehenry toward the be, 55 miles per hour. patrice, back to you. president barack obama will be in baltimore today. he is expected to tour a baltimore business this morning and later this afternoon address a group of house republicans in town for a conference. now that is happening at the renaissance hotel at harbor place and megan gilliland joins us live from downtown with more on the president's visit. good morning, megan. >> reporter: good morning, a patrice. president barack obama will walk into the hotel doors around noon today, but his presence already felt here in baltimore in terms of traffic headaches. take a look at what we're dealing with already this morning. you can see all of the vehicles in front of the hotel. those are security officials already here in preparation for president obama's visit. across the street there's a large parking lot that a lot of workers downtown usually use, but this morning already a lot of national news vans, and the spots, and some local news vans as well claiming their spots in preparation as well. this is pratt street right in front of us here. they are expecting a lot of delays this morning here. not too bad so far, but from 11:00 to 2:00 that is when you see that peak up. that is what is going on outside. inside, president obama will be talking about a different kind of pain, a growing unemployment rate that stands at 10%, the same that it is in baltimore. republicans chose our city to host today's event to raise a pairness of the alarming numbers here and across the country and the issue that the president says is now the top priority. >> people are out of work, they are hurting. they need help. i want a jobs bill on my desk without delay. before the president speaks to house republic thi republicas afternoon, he is going to swing around the chesapeake machine to talk to workers and outline a new job creation proposal. this is the president's first visit to baltimore before he took office. the last time he came, his approval rating was 70%, when he comes today, it's dropped roughly down to 49%. megan gilliland, fox 45 morning news. it feels a little like the nortnorth pole this morning, its fitting that it's time for the polar bear plunge. joel d smith is ready with a group of plungers getting ready for the plunge i know they are getting started today but you will be the first one to go into the cold, icy waters of the chesapeake bay. >> reporter: we are getting there. i have worked all of my mental issues. i'm telling myself that it's 80. the sunrise is beautiful. it's inspiring, and somehow, we're going to get in the water in about an hour. i got greg shiply here. we actually have -- okay. you have done this before? >> yes. >> okay. >> many times but not super plunge. i'm one of the support groups, but i do plunge every year. >> so you do go in. >> your first time do you remember it was like? >> terrifying until you got in there and got back out. it only hurts for a little while but it's for a great cause. >> it's for a great cause. does that take you through or you are like great, great cause and you go in. >> there's this crowd thing, where you get and go in, this really hurts for a few moments. when you come out, everybody is high 5ing and everybody is having a great time. >> they are making a lot of money. >> it's all for the special olympics. there be a number of athletes that will be super plunging. they will be going in once an hour for 24 hours. there will be athletes from around the state. talk about inspiration, all you have to do is follow them into the water. >> i'm going in at 7:30 ask tomorrow -- and tomorrow there's all kinds of athletes coming here. >> i have been there and done that, i'm not sure that i will do that. i where the special olympics a check, i'm good with that. if they really needed me, i would be out there. what are you going through in your mind to get you through this? >> reporter: i'm going to think about the cause and i'm going to think about the heat tent. we go out and end in the heat tent. that is going to be calling my name the whole time. i will take it in and be a polar bear for a day. >> we have been getting facebook responses about people encouraging. one person says drink a lot of coffee. there's another person who thinks think miami beach. there you go, i hope that helps. we want to know what you think? should joel take the plunge? it sounds like he is. go to facebook.com or send us a tweet. coming up mel gibson is back in threaters this weekend. >> i made an observation that you're armed. how the hollywood star is returning to his old ways in his new movie. we're about to approach the morning rush and we do want to show you what you will face when you hit the roadways. here is 895 merge and all of the cars are already here comes the bride, wedding in it a week sponsored by fox 45, wedding wire.com and the baltimore bridal show is back. one lucky engaged couple will get an entire wetting on us. to enter tell news 100 words or less why you should win. send those entries to wedding in a week. actually bring those introa ento our station. you can also log on to fox baltimore.com to enter and you can read the official rules there. just remember to include a photo with your entry. the reason i say don't send it but bring it is because you only have until today at 5:00 p.m. to enter. that is because we will meet the four finalist all next week and next friday we will announce the grand prize winner, whoever you have chosen. then you also get to vote on the details of your wedding from the dress to the food to the honeymoon. all of that will be up to you to decide and then we will put the wedding together in just one week. if you need ideas for your special day, you can get it at the baltimore bridal show, february 6th and 7th at the baltimore convention center. let's check in with meteorologist steve fertig. when you said bring it. i thought you meant the cold. bring it on, come on, we can handle it. sky watch hd radar. we will look at that in a moment but the windchill advisory for garrett county remains in place. meanwhile the temperatures are definitely cold. only 3 degrees in oakland where the wind is blowing and making it feel like temperatures are much colder still. take a look and see with the 10-15-mile-an-hour wind up to 15 miles an hour. it's going to feel like 11 below. 6 degrees in hagerstown not much better in baltimore. 18 degrees here. dress warmly as you head out. we have the winter watch in place for the st. mary's county area and further down of dorchester. that is where we expect the heaviest concentration of know to be as we make our way down. the sky hd radar not looking very eventful right now. we are seeing showers in virginia where we expect heavy snow. that is where the focus of the energy will be moving out of the tennessee valley and out of the gulf coast with the low pressure center headed in our direction from there. here it is the low pressure center headed in our direction. watch the blue area staying mostly to the south as it moves from west to east. that is because the low pressure center is going to be kept further south thanks to the high pressure center to the north. as we move through the morning hours and into the afternoon, you will see there's a sharp cut off at the northern part of the state where we could see very little snow in fact, if this does pan out. however, there's one other seen scenario that the low pressure center comes further and takes a judging to the north. if that happens we start to see more of a con sentrace t concene northern part of the state and we end up with the snow fall hire tore ther to the north. and even around the maryland border maybe a coldin coating tn inch. you go down toward the south in virginia, they may see as much as 5-12 inches of snow down there. can you imagine that? >> 25 degrees for the high temperature in the eastern shore. a 10-15-mile-an-hour wind. the central part of the state getting to 30 degrees for the high, and struggling to get there until 4:00 this afternoon. northwest winds at 10-15 miles per hour. mostly cloudy skies. 28 degrees for the western part of the state and then tonight, 19 degrees feeling like single digits with the 5--mile-an-hour wind. a very cold night indeed. as we move through the day today. that 15 degrees is going to be difficult to reach and gain the 30 by 3 or 4:00 this afternoon, backing up to 28 by 6:00 p.m. the snow that comes in the morning, slower to arrive than earlier thought but in the morning and then into the early afternoon before it's out. 33 degrees with partly cloudy to mostly clear skies on sunday and 40 on monday. a little bit milder, 39 for groundhog day we could see a little wintery mix there but not expecting a lot. 34 for the wednesday and thursday. sky watch is at your finger tips. iradar is available at foxbaltimore.com. you can use fox 45's powerful doppler radar to track incoming storms. the interactive tools will let you see when rain or snow will be over your house. go to foxbaltimore.com and click on iradar. now candace dold is here with what is happening on the roadways. >> reporter: thank you, steve. we're talkin talking about big e troubles on the train penn line. train 509 is completely canceled due to mechanical problems. that runs between perryville and baltimore. the next train is 513 but that is running with a 30 minute-delay. and then to add-on to the headache, train 408 is completely canceled. that is out of washington this morning. and that is because of a lack -- the crew and the equipment there. so obviously this is going to be a big time headache for you, just be aware of this if you are traveling out there this morning. as for the roads, well, it's starting to slow down a little bit now at 46 miles per hour traveling on 95 right through the whitemarsh area, but then it gets much better, traveling on 95 right at 395, 64 miles per hour. we do need to talk about baltimore, though. utility work that completely shuts down alisana and sleet street, that is all right at central avenue. now to avoid that, you will want to use eastern avenue as the alternate route. and expect major delays downtown today between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., that is because of barack obama visit to baltimore. so as the president comes here, expect the extra congestion around pratt and lombard street as well. that is a look at (announcer) let's say it's guy's weekend, and your friend says it's going to be sweet... ...to watch tv, while we tailgate. insane! i love you guys! i forgot the tv... 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(announcer) sears to go, web to store. there's more ways to shop your way at sears. life. well spent. >>five states across the country have legalized gay marriage. washington d.c. will begin performing sam same-sex marriags this year. in maryland is not whether we will become one of next states to make the practice legal, but whether we will recognize marriages here that are performed elsewhere. opponents say no, and have proposed legislation to make sure that marriages are not valid here. >> good morning. >> good morning, thank you. >> why do you think that honoring these marriages is bad policy? >> bad policy. marriage in the state of maryland is in the law between a man and a woman. it has been upheld by the court avenue peals. that is policy. to change that policy by the attorney general in is bad policy. i think sam same-sex marriages e bad policy, economically, politically and socially and educationally. if same-sex marriages are approved here, educationally they're going to have to be taught in the schools. and homosexuality and heterosexuality are going to be juxtapose as equal units or social arrangements and i don't believe that is the case. >> right now it's in the hands of the attorney general. he is responsed to mak supposed. you think it doesn't necessarily belong in his hands to decide? >> no. i don't know why he is weighing in on this. he defended maryland and its law before the circuit court and ultimately the court of appeals. now for him to turn around and make a ruling in this country distinction what he defended is incongruincongrue ease at the m. >> people are passion knelt about how they feel either in favor of it or against it. a lot of people compare to when there was a time when black or white people could not get married. is there an argument for that. >> this was black and white people not permitted to marry, men and women. not men and men, not women and women. it's not the same. i really think that that same-sex marriage this not the same terminology, the same-sex marriage is an idi idio sin crac -- >> we have not heard the last of this we appreciate you coming in to talk about this. we will see what happens with your legislation. >> thank you. president obama tries to win back voters and mel gibson goes back to what he has done best, a bye, mom! we're here! [ giggling ] okay, girls. mom, i don't feel good. me, either. these days, nobody has time to get sick, but minute clinic makes it easy to get well. our nurse practitioners can diagnose and write prescriptions for everything from strep throat to sinus infections, with no appointment necessary. so you can feel better in no time. minute clinic -- the medical clinic inside cvs/pharmacy. find one near you at minuteclinic.com. little bit of magical romance is in the air this week, but it's not in the new mel gibson film. candace explains in the low down, hi, candace. >> reporter: she found fox office success with the film couples with trees. now kristen bell is out to find love. when in rome opens this week. kristen belle plays an ambitious new york. >> she is a workaholic so i can very much relate. >> each one of you's desperate wish for love is ever going to come true? >> during a hectic trip to rome she ends up taking coins from a fountain of love. >> if you do take coins from the fountain, you now have to satisfy that person's wish. that is when beth takes the coins, all five of the people happened to wish for love, she is now the focus of their entire world. >> this is crazy. i don't know whether i should look at my own reflection or at. that is how beautiful you are. >> reporter: when in rome is rated pg13. mel gibson is trying to reboot his career by going back to what he knows best, playing a cop. >> you just rear-ended an unmarked cruiser. >> reporter: in edge of darkness his character investigates the murder of a family member. >> you're not too gar int far it before there's a graphic murder. it's assumed that she is not the target but that her father is because of her law enforcement background, somebody wants to get even or something. he quickly discovers that that is not the case and he didn't know his daughter as well as he thought he did. >> the decorated created team behind this one includes the writing of the departed and the director of casino royale. the film is rated r. after his untimely death, michael jackson's legacy lives on thanks to a documentary "this is it." i talked to the director of the masterpiece, kenny ortega that is coming up later this morning. the tony award-winning story of a small dominican neighborhood in baltimore city is coming to the hippodrome. we were given tickets to give away and the 10 caller wins tickets to opening night on february 23rd at the hope owhippodrome. i'm candace dold and that is the low down. coming up recycling gets a whole lot easier at baltimore county. what next on fox 45 morning news. >> i will take my lumps but you won't stop fighting to bring back jobs here. a visit of the presidential proportion, why president obama is coming to baltimore today. it's one icy dip in the water, one of us takes the polar bear plunge. and beyond no child left behind. the propose the legislation that would take it one step further. good morning. it's friday, january 29th. you're taking a look at a beautiful sunrise over the chesapeake bay and we all think that is beautiful. joel d smith who is out at the chesapeake bay probably thinks the sunrise is beautiful, but what is coming up next is not. he is going to make a mad dash into the icy waters of the comes peaof the chesapeake bay. we're starting something new around here. whenever it's friday, that means it's time for you to talk to us on our facebook page about anything you want. we comment about the stories, we want to hear what you think about them. maybe there's something going on in your neighborhood, something funny or something that you want to get off your chest even. whatever it is you want to talk about, let us know. your response could air in our facebook feedback segment. the first fans to post the code word on the facebook wall will receive a grand prize. we will reveal that word later this morning. stay tuned for your chance to win. just go to facebook/baltimore to become a fan. one more thing we want to pass along. garrett county schools are opening two hours late this morning. i'm surprised no one has talked about the snow, but since we're not going to get as much as we thought, maybe that is why. we are going to put it on the back burner a little bit but not totally, because things can always change. >> we are keeping our fingers crossed for the best, though. >> we do have cold air. that is for sure this morning. take a look at the temperatures. you will see we're at 20 degrees for baltimore. the same for salisbury, and only 23 degrees in oakland. you factor in the winds out of the northwest at about 5 to 15 miles per hour and it feels like 7 degrees in baltimore, 7 in salisbury, 40 below to joel d smith who is going to jump in water there. 10 degrees below is what it's feeling like in oakland. it's definitely a cold start to the day, no matter where you are. we're looking at dry conditions for now but the chance for some of the moisture in the deep south is headed in our direction out of the gulf coast states and bringing us a chance of snow overnight tonight and into tomorrow morning. it will be more of a southern storm and we will get more into the details in a little bit. how warm will is get today? we will we get the snow to follow? that is coming up in a few minutes. right now candace dold is here with the track edge. >> reporter: thank you, steve. we are talking about the problems on the rails. we do have train 509 that is completely canceled due to mechanical problems. now as a result of that the next train is 513, but that is running with a 30 minute-delay, and also farther down, marx train penn line coming out of washington the train 408 is completely canceled due to a lack of crew and equipment there. be aware of the changes this morning if you need to head out the door and hit the rails. as far as the roadways, we want to show you what it looks like on route 40. we are loving this ride, chris l clear, inner loop lanes, and the outer loop stretch from 795 toward 95 that, is pretty much the same deal, actually, just the volume that is starting to increase. 12 minutes at 53 miles per hour. and a nice and calm ride through baltimore now, the southbound lanes of 95, fort mchenry tunnel, all the way down toward the beltway, 8 minutes and 55 miles per hour. that's a look at the morning commute. patrice, let's turn it over to you. 7:05 fox 45 morning news. president barack obama will visit baltimore today for the first time since he he took office. this afternoon he is expected to address a group of house republicans in town for a conference at the renaissance hotel in harper place. megan gilliland joins us live with more on why the president is here and some delays his visit could cause this morning. i'm sure he is drawing a lot of attention, good morning, megan. >> reporter: good morning, patrice. president obama will walk through the hotel doors at noon today, but you are going to feel his presence right now. take a look at what we're dealing with already this morning. a slew of secret men lining up around the building. with when we got here around 43:00 this morning, there were three of them, they have multireplied about six of them. we are looking at t.v. stations from across the country setting up here. as far as pratt street this, is what is going to be an issue for you guys. a lot of traffic delays, and sudden block roads, and peak hours should be between 11 and 2:00. that is what is happening outside. inside of the hotel president obama is expected to talk about a whole different kind of pain, unemployment. we are told house republicans chose baltimore to host today's event to raise awareness on the growing unemployment rate right here in our city and in other cities across the country. here in baltimore we're dealing with a 10.8% unemployment rate. the president says getting americans back to work will be his top priority this year. >> as long as i have the privilege of serving as your president i will not stop fighting for you. i will take my lumps, but i won't stop fighting to bring back jobs here. >> reporter: before president obama speaks to house republicans this afternoon, he is expected to swing by chesapeake machine company to talk to some workers there and outline a new job creation proposal. remember, this is president obama's first visit to baltimore since he took office. a little bit different of a situation than the last time he arrived here. about a year ago his approval rating was 70%. he now stands at roughly 49%. live downtown this morning, i'm megan gilliland, fox 45 morning news. an assessment of the damage in haiti reveals that the re-construction efforts to come will be massive. the nited nation reporting that 75% of port-au-prince will be need to be rebuilt. an international fund will be needed for the re-construction effort. officials believe it could be beneficial in helping the country overcome decades of poverty and turmoil. they will be getting help from 2 dozen university of medical staff members. a team of 22 nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals left for port-au-prince yesterday. they will be there for a week operating out of haiti's oldest hospitals. if you have a good layer of fur like polar bears do, you might be better able to deal with this freezing cold weather, but there's folks who look nothing like polar bears who are taking a plunge this morning at the chesapeake bay. it's all for a good cause. joel d smith is out there and he is going to take the plunge. and joel, not to scare you or anything, but we have been talking about i did this a couple of years ago. i went in the water, and i came out of the water and my legs were bleeding. i couldn't figure out why, but they said it's all of the chunks of ice. >> thanks for you to wait until now toe mention t that -- now to mention it. it's not as bad as the super plunge. let me show you how ice hey it really is. my theory is that the water cannot be as cold as the air. i'm going with that theory. i have one of the super plungers. we know you from the 98 rockers super plunger. how are you feeling? >> right now i'm warm. believe it or not, i'm warm at this point. it's going to be very cold starting at 10:00 a.m., and i'm going to be cold for 24 hours. >> reporter: you do it once every hour. >> yes, we raise the money for special olympics. but we have to jump? once every hour, 24 times every hour. >> reporter: do you get used to this? >> no, you don't. it's never routine. it's not just the cold water, it's the fatigue of having to be up and getting wet every hour and getting dry every hour. it's a long night. >> reporter: do you have heat tents. >> sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. we had one side of the tent and the wind kept on blowing. >> reporter: the heat tent is ready. i'm as ready as i'm going to be, patrice. >> everybody that is on our facebook page seems to want you to do it, most everybody. one of them says joel should run in and do a cannon ball something to think about. others say just do it, it seems like everybody wants you to do it. we have somebody who swroat -- n the page. can we bring that up? someone wrote into the newsroom and said, don't do it joel d when you go on top of the ravens, you don't go out and make tackles so leave it to the experts. this one is suspicious because it's signed jd smith. i wonder who that could be? >> jermaine dupre smith. >>it could have been me. anyway, it's over, i'm going in. i'm going to get prepared. half an hour, we will see you there. set the dvrs, everybody. all right, joel. we will be here watching, waiting, can't wait. joel is about i'm going to get warm or do something, get the camera off of me. post your comments at facebook page. send us a tweet at fox baltimore. we will make sure that we pass the comments over to joel. i think joel is crying. that is why he ran away from the camera. thinking to add to your house he hold. if you are thinking of getting a pet, stay tuned to learn more about the pet expo. and we are talking about cold air the possibility of snow moving in overnight tonight into preparing us for what lies ahead. down our next road. be part of the story. colonial williamsburg. make sure you don't bark up the wrong industry this -- tree this weekend. the world pet expo is taking over the maryland fairgrounds. good morning, jeanne. >> good morning. >> tell me about the expo and all of what we're seeing behind you. it looks like there's a lot going on. >> we have for entertainment this weekend, we have classic canine, they will be doing multiple shows and high energy shows. should this one of their dogs that is going to be featured in the show. we have various entertainers. the wild world of animals will be performing. we have over 200 vendors to shop and it's a great place to be this weekend. everything is in indoors and heated. >> if i bring my dogs, can they run that agility course like that? >> well, no. these are dogs that are trained for the show, but in the south end of the building, we have a dog a jill hety tria agility tr. >> truth be told, i couldn't get my dogs to do that. the vendors what kind of vendors are we talking about? >> anything you can imagine for pets, clothing, food, anything and everything. some things you never imagined you could find for your pet, hundreds of vendors. >> it sounds like a great time. we are going to check with you once more the morning is over. thank you for joining us and the doggy is very cute. the pet expoe is at the maryland fairgrounds. favorite event, patrice, we are dealing with cold air out there. it's 20 degrees. temperatures made for -- 20 degrees in washington d.c. and the same for salisbury. 16 hagerstown, 3 in oakland. of course, sled dogs like snow. so do we see any around here? we're going to talk about the cold because the wind will make it feel chillier. 9 miles out of the north making it feel chillier. 8-mile-an-hour winds in oakland, 14 in salisbury. look at what it makes it feel like. 7 degrees in baltimore, 2 in hagerstown. you may not want to see or hear this, 10 degrees below zero is what it feels like in oakland, with all of cold air coming from the north. with the cold air certainly the possibility of snow headed in our direction if the moisture creeps north enough. what we are seeing here is where we have the winter storm watch. notice it's focused to the south. and until noontime for the st. mary's area on the west side of the chesapeake bay into virginia where we expect the flow of this storm to be moving in. check on sky watch hd radar, no event right now but that is changing. question is how far north will it move? a lot of cold air to the north. we got that. we need that for snow. we have a high pressure to the north and west and that is going to bring a northerly flow of air. that northerly flow of air is going to help to push the low pressure to the south. that is why we will believe it's going to track to the south. however, if that low comes further up to the north, all bets are off and the area that gets more snow tends to be the north. the first scenario is more likely. 1-2 inches to the north and maybe just a coding around the mason dixon line. 2-3 inches for the central part and virginia seeing the heaviest heaviest snow. 6-12 inches for the folks down there, which is not the common scenario that we typically see. dry for the meantime, mostly cloudy skies, for the snart part of the sky we struggle to get to 30 degrees. a northwest wind at 10-15. that 10-15-mile-an-hour wind will make it feel like you're in the 20s. 10-15 nile an hou15-mile-an-hou. after the 15 of today look for a high of 25 tomorrow. in comes the snow about 8 or 9:00 in the morning and stays with us for the afternoon for the southern counties especially. 33 for the sunday's high temperature with mostly clear skies, 40 better on monday temperature wise, a little bit better still as we move into next week, though there could be a little rain-snow mix for groundhog day. 42 degrees on wednesday, 44 on your thursday. and of course, fox 45 sky watch weather is at your finger tips. iradar is available at foxbaltimore.com. you can use fox 45's power powel tools to track the incoming storms. go to web and click o foxbaltimk on iradar. here is candace dold with the traffic edge. >> reporter: we are talking about the penn lines. right now train 509 is completely canceled due to mechanical problems. the next train is 513 running with a 15 minute-delay. as far as penn line in washington, train 408 is completely canceled due to a lack of crew and equipment there. this is going to be a big time headache for us. if you're heading out and hitting the roads, not doing too bad on the main lines just starting to slow down a little bit. 56 miles per hour traveling through catonsville and given near security boulevard. we do need to talk about baltimore this morning. utility work completely shuts down alisano street at central avenue and sleet street at the same location. use eastern avenue the alternate route. expect major traffic troubles if you're headed in downtown baltimore. it's due to president barack obama visit. that will cause congestion between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. this morning around lombard and pratt streets. as far as the main lines of the jfx, it's going to be problem-free. we do want to show you what it looks like on 83 farther up, smooth sailing there, northbound and southbound lanes. one mr thinone more thing to teu about. an accident on charles street. use york road as the alternate route. that say look a is a look at thg travels. you are watching fox 45 morning news, all local all morning. disney on ice celebrates 100 years of magic. it will be at the first mariner arena starting on wednesday february 3rd through sunday february 7th. tickets are available on ticketmaster and you can win passes. the 10th caller at (410)481-4545 wins a family baltimore county line wants its residents to recycle. right now only about 1 out of 4 things that could be recycled are. but single stream recycling could change all of that. we are here to tell you about the new program. >> good morning. >> this is going to make it easier for those who wanted to very cycle but couldn't. >> it's recycling made easy. you put the bottles in the can and the papers all in the same container. you put it out every week. you have one trash day a week and you have one recycling day a week. the one thing we want to stress with people. previously you put your bottles and cans a plastic bag. you cannot do that. you cannot use plastic bags of any color. you can use recycling containers, 34 gallons or less. >> where do you get those? >> you get them at a hardware store. >> not anything that is given by the county. >> we looked at that and it's $3 million. >> you can have a trash can that is for recycling. you can get stickers at the libraries or senior centers or you can have cardboard boxes. you the cardboard box will go, too, so you have to one every week. don't use plastic bags. most grocery stores take the plastic bags and recycle them. >> there's new materials that you can recycle that you couldn't with the old system so that is good. what are those? >> the narrow plastic bottles with numbers 1-7 on them. wide mouth plastic containers like your yogurts and butter tubs. the rigid plastic flower pots, and drinking cups. >> right. >> i'm looking at the whole list. >> aerosol cans, emty aerosol -- empty aerosol cans. it's a lot more things that you can do. >> and this is in place now? >> it's in place monday. >> february first. >> put it all in together, put it out every week and we will take it, save money, it's a great green effort. >> yes. >> so it's just a great thing for everybody. >> thank you for coming in. i'm excited about it. i live in the county, so it's good to know. teaching the nation's children where some educators say the focus should be. next, president obama talked next, president obama talked about the healthcare and the oh, no! yeah, oh, no, i got to go. oh, can you make that to-go? these days, nobody has time to get sick, but minute clinic makes it easy to get well. our nurse practitioners can diagnose and write prescriptions for everything from strep throat to sinus infections, with no appointment necessary, so you can feel better in no time. you guys want to go to the park? yeah! yeah! minute clinic -- the medical clinic inside cvs/pharmacy. find one near you at minuteclinic.com. esident obama's first state union peach i speech speee books. he addressed the nation and economy. he wants to get a job bill on his desk immediately. chris wallace host is joining us to talk about what the president had to say. >> good morning, chris. >> good morning, i'm sure to point out that the president is going to be at baltimore at a closed door meeting of the house republican caucus. he is going to make an effort to reach out to some the republicans and true tr try to m to sign on to some of his agenda. >> do you think he will be successful because he talked about unity and bringing people together at state of the union. will he do that by today's effort. >> he is going to offer and then the republicans are going to have to decide. i think the white house view is it's kind of a win/win for him. there's plenty of liberal and centerrist ideas, or tax credits for small businesses. i think he is going to put it out there, and hope genuinely that the republicans sign on, but if the republicans don't then, it's an opportunity for them to paint them as the party of obstruction. either they win in getting things passed or they win in terms of being able to position the republicans. >> chris so much to talk about and unfortunately we are out of time. we appreciate you joining us this morning. >> thank you, always my pleasure, patrice. >> you can see fox news sunday starting at 9:00 here on fox thanks for coming back out. sure. i think you might have hooked it up wrong, though. yea, we're getting way too many channels. no, no. that's -- that's standard. fios also comes with 11,000 free movies and shows on demand per month. ah, standard. gotcha. a certain somebody says "thank you". tell him "he's welcome", but it's still standard. he's happy to be back with his friends. is he? [ male announcer ] hundreds of channels, thousands of movies, and three times more very satisfied customers than comcast. this is beyond cable. this is fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v. why did we call it that? because premium- oh-so-delicious- big-hot n' tasty- piled-high-pastrami- with-pickles-spicy mustard- and-melted cheese... wouldn't fit on the menu. subway. eat fresh. [tv set] hey, i've been paused for 20 minutes. the wasted energy isn't pausing, that's for sure. when i'm paused, i waste energy. as much as $200 a year. enough to buy a few new video games. hit "save," turn off the console and save a lot more than the game. where's the ref? [announcer] learn to speak the language of energy efficiency at bgesmartenergy.com that's a penalty. delay of savings. >>welcome back to fox 45 morning news. 7:31 is the time. we'ring at a beautiful sunrise over the chesapeake bay. that is where joel d smith is and i know he he i is soaking us much as of that sunshine as he can, because in a couple of minutes he is going to take a plunge in the cold waters of the chesapeake bay. we are going to bring that live to us. we have a new thing called facebook feedback. whatever stories we covered this week that you liked or didn't like. you can talk about that. if you want to talk about something going on in your neighborhood, let us know about that. whatever it is you want to talk about the good, the bad and hopefully some stuff that is fun because we're going into a friday and the weekend, whatever it is. send us your response on the face book page. we always have something to give back. we want to start your weekend off right. the first two faceboo facebook o post our code work are going to win a great prize. we're going to h revel reveal te word in 30 minutes. for information go to foxbaltimore.com to become a fan. garrett county schools are opening two hours late this morning. now we need to check in with meteorologist steve fertig and the countdown for poor old joel is on. there's no turning back right now. >> reporter: when we began the broadcast it was 21 degrees. >> and now. >> it's dropped a degree. so we're at 20 degrees. >> having done it, i feel for him, but i still want to watch him do it. >> things could be worse, it could be 19 degrees instead of 20. look at the wind, guess what, it's feeling like 7 degrees out there. it's feeling colder and it's feeling like 7 pretty much in the eastern shore at salisbury 2 degrees what it feels like in hagerstown. if you were jumping into the deep creek, it would feel like air temperatures on 9 below zero. it's chilly to the west in garrett county where we have the school delay it may be because of the cold air. dry conditions but watching that moisture moving out of gulf coast area and headed in our direction. i will tell you where we expect to see a chance of snow elsewhere. it seems to be a storm to the south than it is to the north. candace dold has the traffic edge. >> reporter: it has been a busy friday morning and with the weather, you might just want to stay in this morning, because unfortunately a lot to talk about on the roadways. we have an accident that completcompletely shuts down chs street. police are there directing the traffic but you will want to use york road as the alternate route. we want to show you what it looks like at the beltway moving at the 83, both the inner and outer loop lanes checking in on that area. take a look at this delay on the charles street ramp. that traffic not moving, so obviously this is going to play a role in the inner loop lanes of the beltway and now on the outer loop direction as well. we just can't win this morning. from 83 all the way up toward 795, the volume just increasing 8 minute at 54 miles per hour. look at the west side. beltway, from 795 to 95, 12 minutes, 53 miles per hour. that's a look at the morning travels, patrice, back over to you. 735 on fox 45 morning news. president barack obama will be in baltimore today. he is expected to tour a baltimore business this morning and later this afternoon address a group of house republicans in town for a conference. it's happening at the renaissance hotel at harbor place and megan gilliland has more. good morning, megan. >> reporter: good morning, patrice. president barack obama will walk into the hotel doors around noon today, but his presence already felt here this morning. take a look at what we're dealing in the earl either morning hours. a crew of secret service vehicles surrounding the hotel. across the street, national news organizations like cnn and local news organizations claiming a lot of the spots in the parking lot here in preparation for the president's visit. this is pratt street, it's expected to see a lot of delays as the day continues. roughly between 11:00 or 2:00 is the peak hours of congestion. that is what is going on outside. inside president obama is expected to talk about a different kind of pain, unemployment. we are told house republicans chose our city to host today eas'sevent to raise awareness oe numbers here and across the country. the president says is his top priority. >> people are out of work. they're hurting. they need our help. i want a jobs bill on my desk without delay. >> reporter: before the president speaks to republicans this afternoon, he is expected to swing by chesapeake machine company to talk to some workers and outline a new jobs creation proposal. this is the president's first visit to baltimore since he he took office. the last time he came to visit about a year ago, his approval rating was at 79%. it now stands at 49%. megan gilliland, fox 45 morning news. there's a smash and grab robber. investigators think that the person pictured here is behind four burglaries. they started on january 15 and have taken place in the earl either morning hours in the towson and cockeysville area. anybody with information is expected asked to call baltimore police. a baltimore county delegate expects to lodg lauch launch an investigation into the budget crisis. it has ball looked from the estimated $38 million reported earlier this month. mcdonough wants to a look at what is behind the deficit, the gap has to be closed by june 30th. it feels a little like the north pole out there this morning. it's fitting that it's time for the polar bear plunge. joel d smith is with super plungers who are getting ready for tomorrow's plunge a pelusa. you're getting ready to go in this morning. i'm nervous for you. >> reporter: don't be nervous. i am ready. i got the bathing suit on. you got to keep your shoes. i have learned from the experts. we have my cheering section here [ cheering ] >> reporter: all right. go over here. we started the morning with you. give me one last pep talk. what do you say? >> you are ready. you're psyched, you're ready. hit the water running and you have done a special thing for special olympics. >> reporter: do you remember the first time. >> i do. let's do it. >> reporter: i am going to just drop the mic. i'm going to run in there and talk to you in a half an hour and tell you how great it was. these folks go in every hour and raise a lot of money for the special olympics. the whole time i'm going to tell myself good cause, good cause. you did this before, patrice. >> >> i did i and it's forever frozen in my memory. >> reporter: i'm taking my rings off because apparently my hands are going to shrink. we are preparing. we will leave it at that. what do you remember about that moment when you hit the water. what was that like? >> it was cold. i went numb and i came out of the water and i was bloody because the ice tore my legs up. that is what i remember. >> reporter: you got me so excited. >> you have a lot of support. we have folks writing in on facebook and only one person said joel is absolutely crazy. all to for good cause but leave it on the pros. >> reporter: i can be crazy and still do this for a good cause. i'm ready. >> everybody else said let's go joel. let's do it. >> reporter: i'm ready so i'm going to go and talk to you in a half an hour. stay with me here. >> oh, no. you do it. i will watch [ cheering ] [ laughter ] [applause] [ laughter ] yeah, joel, i'm so proud of him joel went even more down than i did. i got to my thighs. that heated tent never felt so good. oh, my gosh. i know he is excited to be able to warm up and dry up in a minute. we will check with him in a minute and see how is feeling now. let us know what is on your mind including about joel's plunge. leave us your facebook feedback. we might read your comments live on the air. we want to show you what it looks like out there, take a look at the straight stack of cars from the inner loop lanes of the beltway, the delays all store to home. there's more ways to shop your way at sears. life. well spent. here comes the bride. wedding in it a week sponsored by fox 45, wedding wire.com and baltimore bridal show is back. one luck h lucky engaged couplel get an entire wedding on us. it's the last day to enter, so you need to drop that entry at our station, 2000 west 41st street baltimore. you will find the official rules at foxbaltimore.com and just remember, you only have until today at 5:00 p.m. to enter. and then we will meet our four finalists all next week. next friday based on who you have chosen, we will announce our grand prize winner. then you get to choose even more. you will vote on the details of the wedding, from the dress to the food to the honeymoon. all of that will be up to you to decide and we will do all of the work and put the wedding together in one week. if you need ideas for your special day you can get it at the bridal show on february 6th and 7th at the baltimore convention center. take a look we have been in the upper teens and low 20s. it doesn't change a whole lot from here. we struggle to get to 30 degrees for the high before it's all said and done for today. definitely a cold day indeed. we have a little bit of a wind as 5-15 miles per hour. it's feeling like 7 in baltimore right now and 7 in salisbury, 2 in hagerstown and 8 below zero is what it feels like in oakland. we have a windchill advisory for garrett county where we have school delays this morning. as you take a look at the winter storm watch, you will see it con ven 8inconcentrating to the sou. we are expecting snow but the concentration should be to the south. right now not a whole lot doing over the area as we look at the picture and zoom on out, you will see that we have snow in virginia right now. light know but that is where the snow could be heaviest as we move through tomorrow. out of the gulf coast is where the moisture is coming from. that system is going to be coming our way blingin bringinga chance of snow everywhere in the state so far but concentrated in south. the blue area, that will be on our doorstep by about, well, 7:00 tomorrow morning or so and then moving a little further points north but watch as you see the line delineating where the snow is cut off. most of the snow concentration to the south however with the high pressure to the north, we see the low come up further toward the north. that occurs and then the snow totals pick up to the north. right now it's looking like that first scenario and the concentration further south. according to an inch along the mason dixon line. generally to the north 1-4 inches possible. 3-5 inches for the southern part of the state. down in virginia as much as 6 to 12 inches of snow there. that is where the snow will be traveling we do believe. 25 degrees for the high today. the central part of the state struggles to get to 30 degrees for the high and a 10-15-mile-an-hour wind making it feel like it's in the 20s. back to the west a high temperature of 28 degrees, mostly cloudy with a northwest wind at 10-15. tonight 19 degrees only. it will feel like single digits. a cold night under mostly cloudy nice. after midnight for the central part of the state around st. matte'st. marry's, we will t later at night and sunday, looking at most hel mostly sunn. groundhog day it looks like 39 degrees for the high and a chance for a little wintery mix, a little rain-snow mix but not a heavy-duty winter weather maker. 42 degrees on wednesday, 44 on your thus with a mix of sun and clouds. now let's see when is happening on the roadways with candace dold. she has your traffic. >> reporter: first we want to talk about the rails, because we do have big time headaches on the marx train penn line this morning. train 509 was canceled because of mechanical problems. that leaves us with train 513 as the next train, but the problem is now that is running 30 minutes late. and we also have trouble on the marx train penn line out of washington this morning. train 408 is canceled. that was expected to arrive around now. that is completely canceled there because of a lack of crew and equipment. that is the issue out on the rails. now let's talk about the roads. well, we are checking in on the actual speeds and right now at 46 miles per hour on 95 in the northeast corner and then 45 there on the beltway traveling through catonsville. and baltimore is in the spotlight today. utility work completely shouts down alisano street at central avenue and fleet fee street is blocked at the same location. you will want to use eastern avenue an alternate avenue. between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. is going to be the hot time for a lost cars to be around lombard and pratt street for the president's visit i. they will have unannounced temporary road closures as a result. be aware of that. try to avoid the area altogether if you can. as for the jfx no problems to report, northbound or southbound stretch. we want to talk about baltimore county. we can show you the scene at 695, here it is cars that are just jammed there from the inner loop lanes approaching charles street and that is all because of an accident on southbound charles street. completely shutdown at bolon avenue, use york road, it's a better bet for the alternate route. that's a look at morning travels. patrice, back to you. still ahead, it's friday and we want to know what is on your mind as the week is winding down. head over to the facebook page and leave us your facebook feedback. you can sound off on any topics and we will read your comments on air. just go to facebook we are asking you the viewers to sound off on our facebook page o about anything u want. so far we have had several facebook feedback responses. nicole wants to welcome president obama to baltimore. >> andrea said, here is a thought, how about renewal of vows in a week. my husband and i cannot afford a wedding. we went to the courthouse and it cost us $50. anyway, we keep on saying that one day we will have the wedding we always dreamed of, but we couldn't afford it. you all could enter a wedding in a week contest. >> keep praying for haiti and sending money. for every one person they have found 15 days after the quake, other 20 may still be in the rubble alive. switching over to something completely different. i bought the "this is it" dvd the first day it came out. even though i saw it at the threatheater. the special features gave me a look at the beautiful person michael was. sharon wants to know, and sharon, i'm with you on this one. sharon wants to know why my bge bill has increased by $200 in one month. is it because next month we had a $100 credit. we had a new thermostat installed and have kept the temperature, believe me, because i have been freezing. everyone wants to help the economy, except for bge. >> i know my bill has been high but i blasted the heat because it's been cold. >> tgif. tgif. you get the picture. tgif. we want to start the weekend right. the first two pacebook fans to post the code word will win a grand prize. we will reveal that code in a few minutes at the top of the hour. stay tuned for a chance to win. just go to foxbaltimore.com phase book to become a fan. coming up in the next hour, hear from the detect or of the documentary, "this is most of you are heard are of no child left behind. what many people have not heard of is the reauthorization of the emmeelementary and secondary ac. but many say that is where our focus should be. >> good morning to you. >> good morning. >> when it comes to the no child left behind, a lot of educators say it has failed our students. what do they mean by that? >> what they mean by that is that we need to change the course of no child left behind. it focuses way too much on high stake standardized tests. we as educators believe that the students are more than a test score. we need to quit worrying on a single test on a single day. how much does it take to measure student learning. we want to reemphasize the education of a student not a test score. >> isn't that what the schools are focusing on. you don't have the extra curricular things because everyone is teaching to the core subjects? >> that is one the unintended consequences of no child left behind. we have seen the narrowing of curriculum of across the country not only of the arts and some schools recess. we believe we need to change that. students need a good solid program and it needs to be broad and diverse. that is the part of the change in course we want in no child left behind. >> what is the reauthorization of the elementary and secondary act. i don't think that a lot of people are familiar with that? >> the elementary and secondary education act each time it's reauthorized, they put a name to it. when it was reauthorized in 2002, signed in the law in january of 2002, they called it no child left behind. as we go through the reauthorization of the same law, i'm sure it will have a new name especially not no child left behind. >> especially if that has a bad connotation. let's talk about where the president is. have you felt support from the president when it comes to pushing forward the education initiative that you think will make a difference with students? >> we have had a lot of support from the obama admnistration. he talked about his continued commitment to education calling for the skills in education, which is so important in today's work. he talked about greater affordability and accessibility to collection, especially community college. he mentioned that the greatest antipoverty program is a world-class education. i feel good about his commitment and understanding that quality education is the key to the future from pre-k through graduate. >> we will have to see if that bears out. thank you dennis for joining next on fox 45 morning news. >> i will take my lumps, but i won't stop fighting to bring back jobs here. president obama in baltimore. why he will be in charm city today. it's one icy dip in the water, one of us takes the polar bear plunge. >> and this is it. the director of michael jackson's final curtain call takes us bind the scenes. good morning. it's friday, february -- no it's not february. it's january the 29th. i'm patrice harris and you're taking a live look over the sunrise over the chesapeake bay. it doesn't look all that cold, but i'm sure joel will have another thought about it when we talk with him. >> i tell you, i felt like i had taken the polar plunge. my chin was numb. it's a cold, cold day to take the polar bear plunge. >> it's friday and that means it's your torn to talk with us on our facebook page about anything you want, what stories did we cover this week that you liked, or what is going on in your neighborhood. let us know and your response could air in our facebook feedback segment. the first two fox 45 fans to post the code word of the day at 4 facebook page, wins a copy of "all about steve." and today's code word is. >> polar bear plunge. >> how appropriate? >> go to facebook.com/baltimore to become a fan and write the code word in and you could be a big winner. we do want to pass along a school delay. garrett county schools are opening two hours late. they are letting kids stay home to watch joel take the plunge. steve fertig is here t let s know how cold it was when joel toocame out of the water. better you than us. take a look. it's comfortable in the studio. outside it's 20 degrees. it's definitely cold if you are not jumping into the water this morning. 20 in washington and 20 in salisbury. 3 out in oakland. it's feeling like 7 degrees in balt with the winds factored in. 2 in hagerstown. 8 below in oakland. it's very cold indeed, certainly cold enough for some snow. right now dry conditions, but there's snow to the south in virginia, more of it coming your way as all of the moisture from texas moves in our general direction. the question is will we see much of that snow i'm talking about for tomorrow i will have the answer in just a few minutes, right now, candace dold is here with your traffic edge. candace. >> reporter: oh, man, it's a bad friday morning to hit the roadways. you do have a -- we do have a lot of problems to talk about. one of them includes an accident that completely shuts down charles street at bolona street. you will want to use york road as the alternate route. let's check on the beltway in the vicinity, and the inner loop lanes, it's been a slow go there. now we have the congestion. at least traffic has finally eased up on the ramp to charles street. it's going to be an extra headache for you this morning. you do need to allow yourself extra time. as far as beltway farther back the outer loop lanes from 95 toward 83, that volume is increasing there, 13 minutes now at 44 miles per hour. but then, doing much better from the 83 up toward 795, 8 minutes, 54 miles per hour. look at the west side for a friday morning from 795 down toward 95, 53 miles per hour. we will take that. a 12-minute ride. that's a look at the morning travels. patrice and megan back over you on its thank you. thank you, mega candace. this afternoon is president obama is expected to speak to a group of house republicans. republicans chose baltimore to raise awareness on the growing unemployment rate here in our city and other cities across the country. right now baltimore has a 10.8 unemployment percent rate. the president says getting americans back to work will be his top priority this year and not healthcare reform. >> as long as i have the privilege of serving as your president, i will not stop fighting for you. i will take my lumps. [applause] >> but i won't stop fighting to bring back jobs here. >> reporter: now before the president speaks to house republicans this afternoon, he is expected to swing by the chesapeake machine company to talk to workers there. if you have a good layer of fur like polar bears do, then you might be able to deal with the freezing cold temperatures this morning. there's a lot people that look nothing like polar bears that are taking the plunge into the chesapeake bay on this bi bitte, bitter cold morning. joel d smith is one that jumped in. and joel, your approach was priceless. >> all i have to say is applauds for you, joel. >> reporter: i feel like i can do anything now. >> how do you feel. >> are you warm? >> reporter: i'm warm. i i'm invigorated. of course, you know how the warm tent works. the warm tents are over here. you saw me run away. they got the big heaters blasting in there and trying to make you feel better. on the other side of the tent, the super plungers are here for 24 straight hours going in after hour after hour. are you a super plunger this year. >> i am not. i are h am retired. >> reporter: your first time was it similar to mine? was a shock, a little bit of craziness but you wanted to do it. >> once you came out, you thought this isn't that bad. i think people are looking for extreme sports to do. this is the easiest and most cost-effective way to do it. for $50 minimum, you can come and be a plunger just like you were. >> reporter: to critique my actual style. >> i give you an a for a rooki. you went in and started to splash around a little bit. >> reporter: people can do it if they want to help the special olympics. >> registration opens at 8:00 a.m. you can renalster o register on. you need to bring a minimum of $50. no general parking here so you need to take the shuttle. >> reporter: i'm not a. i did this -- they have stars here that are going to be here tomorrow. ravens and other stars that have done this, like you guys as well. i hope you enjoined it. reliving your path with me here this morning. >> neither of us had the run and the excitement that you had when you hit the water. >> we have been replaying while you were doing the interview. we're seeing it over and over. we even have it in slow motion, so you know, joel. describe the moment that you hit the water. what did that feel like? >> relief. you know we have been talking about this for the entire morning. the actual getting through with it is good. anything else that builds up. folks that have been married and got through that process, you want the date to start and get over with it. once my hit feet, i said, this is really happening. once i'm in, i might as well feel the whole thing. it splashed into my ear, i wasn't crazy about that. once i ran my feet were numb. i felt a pounding on my feet and it was time to get out of there. it was good. >> there will be thousands others that will be doing this. for all of the good cause, it makes it worth the pain and bitterness that you feel on your feet. >>ron wrote on the facebook page. omg! that is great. he ran in like it was 90 degrees outside, lol, but the way he ran out was hilarious. he did a 100-yard sprint for the heated tent. that's one of many. we have a ton of people that wrote sp in and said you rock. another person said go in again, it's for the kids. >> one time. >> all right, joel, great job. >> all right, thanks. >> he is going to warm up some more. coming up, a lot of people have cats and dogs for a pet, but find out the other animals you can get for pet at this weekend's expo coming up next. ♪ >> and it is michael jackson's final hit. this is it, the director of the film takes us behind the [house] wow! i feel like a new house thanks to this quick home energy check-up from bge. feels like i'm at a day spa. [ announcer] learn to speak the language of energy efficiency at bgesmartenergy.com. [sigh] ah... the efficient life is the good life. it is the world pet expo. jeanne is live with the details in this morning's hometown hot spot. good morning, how are you? >> good morning, i'm fine, how are you. >> i am doing great, lots of animals you have right there. >> every pet imaginable. it's all indoors and heated. >> can you have interaction with these pets, what can we actually do when we come out there. >> there's many exhibits where you can interact. as well as there's rescue here. if you are learning about particular pets, and adopt one. >> don't tell me that snake is a pet. >> that snake is a pet. it's an albino burmese python. dan has had him for three years. >> dan is a brave soul. >> thank you for joining us. he we will let people know how to get more information. >> the pet expo is today from 2:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., and again tomorrow from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and also sunday from 10:00 a.m. to six p.m. for more information you can check out your website at foxbaltimore.com/morning. it may be raining cats and dogs at the fairground, but here dry and just cold. take a look at the temperatures, we are at 20 degrees at baltimore. only 23 out in oakland where the winds are strong enough to make it feel like 8 below zero there. it certainly could be worse. 2 degrees is what it feels like in hagerstown which is cold enough. salisbury feeling like 8 degrees and the windchill advisory has expired. a winter storm watch in place for the southern county, st. mary's county on the west side of the chesapeake bay. and the eastside from dorchester down and worcester county, too. that will be until 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night. that is because we expect the concentration of this storm we are talking about to be the south. let's take a look at what we have on the sky watch hd radar right now. not a whole lot. for now things are quiet but to the south in virginia where the bullebulk of the snow will be we snow there. it's coming from the gulf coast states and headed in our general direction. we expect to see snow out of this, just not as much to the north as well to the south. watch the blue area indicating snow as opposed to the blue area indicating rain. you see the high pressure center pushing the system to the south. we believe as a result, the snow that is going to move in tomorrow, stays to the south. you see the sharp del nation, indicating snow to the south than anywhere else. if the low pressure center instead comes further toward the north, you know the scenario, instead things change and we get a higher concentration to the north as well. we are loo looking at which thew pressure center moves. we are looking at a result a coating to an inch to the mason dixon line. 2-5, and down toward virginia where we expect the heaviest concentration, 6-12 inches of snow for the folks down there. 25 degrees for the high temperature today. a 10-15-mile-an-hour wind. central part of the state climbing to 30 degrees for the high with partly cloudy with mostly cloudy skies and a 10-15-mile an pour wind which will make it feel like it's in the 20s instead. back to the west we will see temperatures climb to 28 degrees, mostly cloudy with 10-15-mile opinion hour wind. 19 only for the overnight low, 5-fitchmile -- 5-15-mile-an-hour wind will make it feel like the temperatures are in the single digits. in comes the snow in the morning through the afternoon maybe, tapering off a little more, and concentrated to the south but only 25 for the high. another cold. we dry out but stay cold, 40 degrees for monday with mostly clear skies. a snow mix for groundhog's day. 32 and 44 for wednesday and thursday. sky watch radar is available at your finger tips. you can use fox 45 powerful doppler radar to track incoming stores. interactive tools will let you see when rain or snow is over your house. go to foxbaltimore.com and click on iradar. now candace dold ask bac is baca look at the roadways. >> reporter: we want to show you what the speeds look like on the roadways. so far not a bad ride on the several the main lines. right now looking at 59 miles per hour traveling on beltway near security boulevard at 64 moving through the pikesville region and 60 on the jfx. so all in all, those aren't too bad. but we do need to talk about trouble though in baltimore. we do have you'l utility work tt shouts alisano street. you will want to use eastern avenue as the alternate route. expect major delays in the downtown region this morning due to president barack obama visit to baltimore. that congestion is expected right around lombard street and pratt street. you will find temporary sudden road closures between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. so just avoid the area altogether if you can. the main lines checking in on 95 near the stadium at 395, we will show you that. that traffic is flowing freely, southbound and northbound lanes. that's pretty much the deal moving through rosedale and all the way toward the beltway. that's a look at morning commute. patrice and megan, over to you. coming up "this is it" for michael jackson. billie jean ♪ >> the director of the movie tells us why he thinks the king of pop still has it. and it's our all new facebook friday. we want to hear what you have to say about whatever you want, whatever might be on your mind today. just go to facebook.co facebook.com/baltimore to become a fan. we are going to read some of your responses michael jackson has always been and will continue to be the king of pop. even after his untimely death, his legacy lives on thanks to a masterpiece documentary "this is it." the plan behind the movie is director kenny ortega. sony pictures is making him available to talk with us this morning. kenny, such an honor to speak with you. >> hi, candace, good morning, baltimore. >> good morning. we have to get right to the movie. you were the one that crafted this and you were the one that let the portrayed out to the world. what did you want fans to know about michael in the end? >> well, first of all we an extraordinary group of passionate artists that were with me 7 days a week from the time we began until he turned the movie over in october. our hopes were that the fans would have an opportunity to know what michael's goals were for the show. i think we ended up with a piece that was more than that. certainly that reminded us of michael's great genius and the depth of his heart. >> in this movie we do see him dancing. we see him doing what he was born to do, but you truly knew him. what made you think that he still had it and that he can do this? >> well he did have it. [ laughter ] >> and to know him was to know that for sure. michael was fearless. he had been doing this his entire life. >> right. >> if you ever questioned whether or not he was ready to do this, he would just look at you and he would say, of course, we have to do this. he had great reason behind banting to h wantling to go out. he want toed share thied to shas children. and most importantly it was to get out there and through entertaining and music to remind people of the important environmental issues that we all needed to, you know, pay attention to. >> right and to do that, he did rehearse for hours and you have that much footage, but you compiled it into this movie. now it's coming to dvd, will we get to see any additional footage? >> 'yeah, 90 more minutes and over 100 on the blu-rey. we have vignettes and both the dvd and the blu-ray have rehearseles, and michael in meetings. just a greater depth of understanding of what the overall arctic approach for the -- artistic approach for the show would have been. >> we can't get enough of him. we heard him time and again say this is the final curtain call. but do you really believe that this was it? >> i think it was for michael as a live performer. i don't think so that the 50 shows would have been in london. michael's hope was that after the by shows he would -- the 50 shows he would take a break and tour the world. he talked about asia and india. he did want to retire from live pour form answer and wanted to focus -- performance and wanted to focus as a film maker. >> a father and a humanitarian you have bottled all in once. thank you for doing this and keeping his legacy. >> this is it, the did i v trapped in the trance of their shopping routine, some people don't notice the difference between meat and mystery when they enter... ...the frozen zone is it real chicken? or something else? some chicken nuggets and tenders look like they have mystery meat. with my perdue frozen nuggets, there is no mystery. just real all-white meat, made with 100% natural ingredients, no fillers, no preservatives, and a delicious taste your family will love. perdue frozen chicken. all-white meat. no mystery. >>♪ ♪ wedding wire.com is joining us this morning. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> can you hear me? is that better. you were telling me that my mic is off. i think it's on. tell me what wedding wire.is about. >> you can do everything on the site. the second you get engage and you want to start planning as soon as possible, we are there for you. we are there for you to search for your venue, which is the first thing that brides do when they get engaged search for venues and everything of that sort. and building your guest list, building your budget, everything will be with you throughout the entire planning process. >> is that how most people do their weddings online or at least part of it online? >> right. yeah. right now in times like these, everybody is planning online, at least a portion of it. we found that about 95% of the people are actually planning their wedding online. >> you all are connected to the wedding in a week phenomenon that we're getting ready to pull off. what are you going to be doing? >> we have worked on the back end and signing up all the vendors. ought the vendors that are in wedding in a week, are at the website. this is the second year doing it at the baltimore bridal show back to where we started. >> if you didn't do anything online, how much foot work and time would that take to do everything or is it impossible to make it -- >> don't do it, do it all online. >> do everything online. >> you can do just about everything. it's always nice to have face to face time to interact with the vendors you're going to be working with, but we give you a way to initiate the contact. >> let's get into the details for a wedding in a week contest, because there's a lot going on with. if you want to get involved, you have to send us an an entry. our wedding in a week contest is back which means you will get an entire wedding package on us. it's sponsored by the wedding wire.com, and the baltimore bridal show. you can bring that entry to wedding in a week, 2000 west 41st street, baltimore 21211. remember to include a photo with that entry. and you only have until today at 5:00 p.m. to enter, so make sure you get that into us today. if you need ideas for your special date, you can get it at the baltimore bridal show february 6th and 7th at the baltimore convention center. you can get more information about wedding wire, just go to our website at foxbaltimore.com. 8:29 is the time. welcome back to fox phi morning news. 8:31 is the time. i'm patrice harris. it's friday, and this is an exciting day for us. we are starting off the facebook friday. that means you can sound off on facebook about any stories we have covered. >> maybe something that is going on in your neighborhood. we like to have fun around here, send us fun stuff, something we can talk about. just share your life and experiences here with us. your responses to air on our facebook feedback seg men. segment. all you have to do is go to facebook.com/baltimore. garrett county schools are opened two hours late. just got kids very excited thinking it was closed, no no, t it's two hours late. temperatures in the single digits in some places. 20 degrees in baltimore. it's feeling like single digits everywhere because the winds varying a little bit in speat but obviously cold no matter where you are. dry where we are compared to the south and north of us. dry in virginia, but there's more on the way. for us a lot of moisture from the gulf coast area is headed in our direction. the question has been, will that of coursthataffect us? , i will have that answer for you. the storm affects more of the south getting more snow fall. we will talk about more specifics in a minute. drying by sunday and it becomes milder as we head into the next week, too. all of that coming up in a few minutes, but right no, candace dold has the traffic edge. >> reporter: right now we're talking about trouble in towson. if you're heading out on joppa road it's completely shutdown at bossily avenue right near the roundabout in the towson region. it's completely blocked a becaue of a broken watermain. the good news is there's no problems to report on york road or towson town boulevard. you can always stick with those this morning. as for the beltway, let's check in on the area moving right at the 83 and here it is, actually traffic is starting to flow freely now. it's been kind on and off again throughout the morning but a much better picture, both inner and outer loop lanes. the entire outer loop stretch taking it from 95 to 83, the volume continues to increase, take beintaking a look at the 1e clip. 8 minute clip from 83 all the way up toward 795. that's a look at the morning travels. patrice and megan, back to you. thank you, again. it feels a little like the north pole out there, maybe it's fitting that it's time for the to lar bea -- polar bear plunge. and joel d smith took the plunge. >> you are a rock star according to facebook. >> yes. >> maybe that is why i have the glasses on. i was trying to make it seem like i can handle anything. it's so warm out here. i got to have my glasses on. that's really not case. it's still pretty cold. i thought it was kind of a shock situation. it didn't workout that way. when i finally got in there, the apprehension all morning long was stuff. if you are inspired or want to a challenge like i did. you can still do this, the official polar bear plunge is tomorrow. you can come here and $50 gets you in here and gives you a chance to get. what they say it's an extreme sport. i guess i proved it's an extreme port sport but can be done by your every day joel. it was fun getting in there for a point or 2 and i did splash a little bit around a little bit to make sure i got the real experience. getting out and running away was the most important part. we got inside and warmed up real good. initially i didn't feel like it was that cold, now it's cold again. these guys are super plunger. they are starting at 12:00 today and are going one time every hour on the hour. >> we got a lot of people on the facebook who are going to be out there doing that tomorrow or my son is going to be out there doing that tomorrow. you have inspired them, they said. you have given them a preview and they're excited about it now. good for you. one of them said that her son is going to go on a bikini top and jim shorts. >> we are going to have to raise money for special olympics next year. >> they will do a team. >> fox 45 team. >> for every $5,000 that gets contributed we will jump in an extra time. we will work this out. it could be some good stuff. >> i'm all for it. >> they raise millions of dollars every year besides our help. for this time the first time i'm happy with the way it went. i'm glad that so many people did as well. >> if we can raise money, i'm all foregoing in with you next year and so is steve fertig. i'm going to let him know that right now. all right, joel. it's maryland newest way to make you rich. powerball is rolling into the state. you have brought a friend with you, tell us who this person is right here? >> this is our power girl gym, jen. >> i do not know whether to hug jen or punch jen. >> this is a huge deal. powerball starts, tickets go on sale. we have powerball and megamillions. two jackpot games four times a week. people in maryland are excited to have two ways to win. the state of maryland is going to win, too, because it's going to bring extra sales in maryland. >> a lot of people want to know. >> 90 million for tomorrow for powerball. 144 million for megamillions. we are going to be at towson and plunging tomorrow and sunday we have a big party at martin west. only if you rsvped. >> is it forever? >> forever. powerballing megamillions and all of our other great games are going to be keep on going and we think everybody will be excited, right, jen. >> that is what you're going to be doing if you win. you can get them wherever you get the megamillions. >> all retailers across the state. we're excited. >> are you going in this at the polar plunge? >> yes. >> if you are out there participating, you will see this out there, thank you so much. for more information check out our website at foxbaltimore.com/morning. still ahead, it's a timeless favorite and you can enjoy it for free. when tickets to see disney -- win tickets to see disney on ice coming up. it's our first ever facebook friday. we want to hear what you have to say and what on your mind about a story we have donor wha done,s going on in your neighborhood. some powerful voice right side speaking out on climate change. a panel of retired gentlemens gy it's not a climate problem. the panel members who served as top brass on the american mill temporarmillitary know about the hety threats. these officers urged the transition to a sustainable economy as a way to avoid exploitation of those who want to do us harm. importing oil isn't the only issue and fossil gas makes our economy more volatile to markets. it makes the task of planning and addressing national security problems more challenge. the group also says the consequences of climate change can affect the organization, training, equipment, and planning of the millitary services. i'm jill cortis reporting. to learn more about brighter living go to foxbaltimore.com. we're waking up to a chilly, chilly morning. meteorologist steve fertig is here with all of the details. hi, steve. >> good morning, patrice, megan. i would call it cold. 20 degrees in baltimore and the same for d.c., also down toward salisbury. taking a look at a 20-degree reading. in hagerstown, 20 degrees there. and the winds picked up a little bit, 10-15 miles per hour which is what we were anticipating. that is not going to make it feel any better. it's going to make it feel like the temperatures are cooler. the 23-mile-an-hour gusts in d.c. 2 in hagerstown, 11 below sproa zerzerois what it feels like in oakland. very cold indeed. a winter storm watch is in place for the southern counties for the st. mary's county and for dore chess tore on thdorchestere chesapeake bay. take a guess, yeah, south. you can see where the watch is. to the north we are expecting some snow still, but not as much snow as we were once thinking. that is good news. our hd radar indicates virginia seeing more in the way of snow. right now seeing a little bit but there there could be as much as 6 to 12 inches of snow. that is again where the concentration of this moisture will be heading. we will get something out of this, but it won't be as much as it will be to the south. right now talking about the cold air, certainly one ingredient you need. high pressure to be the north and the west we are looking at a northerly of air that going to come our way. that is sewing go push the system to the south and keep the low pressure center in the southern part of the state or beyond. that instead is going to allow for the totals to be greater in the southern part of the state. so down here is where we are expecting the heaviest total. if the low pressure center comes forfurther toward the north you know the story. the first scenario most likely. a coating to an inch around the mason dixon line. 3-5 for the southern part as i just told you, virginia as much as 12 to 6 inches. partly cloudy skies, a 10-15-mile-an-hour wind. the central part of the state, mostly cloudy skies with a high of 30 degrees, feeling like it's in the 20s for the 15-mile-an-hour wind. that's wishful thinking, 28 degrees for the high, 10-15-mile-an-hour wind out of the northwest and feeling like temperatures are closer to 20. 20 is what we will be expecting for an overnight low. it will be cold with the winds making it feel like single digits under mostly cloudy skies. as we move through the day today, we will see the temperatures getting to 27 degrees by noon and 28 degrees at 6:00 p.m. after getting to the high of 30 at about 3 to 4:00 this afternoon. 25 for tomorrow, the snow in the morning, coming in at 8 our 8 or 9:00 and staying with us and then drying out behind that. 33 degrees with drier conditions, mostly clear on sunday. 40 on monday, partly cloudy skies to mostly clear and 39 on groundhog's day which may include a little rain-snow mix, but it will be a little bit as the di disturbance rolls throug. 34 for wednesday and thursday. iradar is available at foxbaltimore.com. you can use fox 45 powerful doppler radar to track incoming storms. the interactive tools will let you know when rain or snow will be ore your house. just go to foxbaltimore.com and click on iradar. we are start out with the positive news. it's friday and tgif we are loving this commute. 63 miles per hour on the top end of the pikesville at the outer loop lanes. ga58 and 59 on the west side of the beltway, but then, of course, we need to talk about trouble in baltimore right now. we do have utility work at central avenue. and fleet street is blocked at the same location. to get around that use eastern avenue as the alternate route. downtown try to avoid the area. we do have the visit from president barack obama will be here. that will leave us with congestion between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. around lombard and pratt street. there will be temporary sudden road closures in the area. try to avoid that area instead. checking in on 95 near the stadiums, we want to show you that the area and it's going to be a great ride, southbound stretch and northbound lanes up toward the beltway and then on the top end of the beltway, moving right at harper road, let's check that out there. very empty so, this is awesome inner and outer loop lanes toward towson. and then in towson, though, we do have trouble around the roundabout, joppa road and completely shutdown. it's because of a broken watermain. uspatrice, and megan back to yo. coming up it's been a favorite for 100 years and you can see it for free in baltimore. when tickets to disney on -- win tickets to disney on ice. up next it's the brand new facebook friday. it's your chance to tell us what you think of our stories or what is going on in your neighborhood or what is on @ it is time for our all new facebook friday. it's your chance to tell us whatever you want to talk to us about, some of the stories we have donor something that is going on in your neighborhood, we have gotten a ton of comments from you today. >> a lot of good stuff here. we heard from chris a little bit ago. he wrote, more baltimore city schools are closing. it's a bad idea because primary schools mix in with secondary schools. children having to travel miles out of their neighborhood, a major gang problem, increase of crimes, i can he go on an go on. no one realizes the disruption until it's all said and done. >> they say part of the reason for making these transition schools is because they're trying to keep nor kids in high school, because they have the cut off in 8th grade and a lot of them go to high school, a lot of them drop out in 9th grade because it's a new system and new school. there's arguments on both sides of it. >> another new topic. kevin says why do i pass more possibly speed cameras busting people for speeding in a decreased construction zone at 3:00 a.m. when there's no construction until 6:00 a.m. >> that's a huge issue because they're talking about that. lawmakers are talking maybe we should only make it on if it's an active construction area. that could be changing. >> does it get you in the habit of slowing down all the time. >> it doesn't go in your mind, it should be a habit. coming from a lead foot, mind you. we heard from melissa. i want to get something off of my chest. my husband is a state trooper. we're a family of five with one income. my husband has received two pay cuts in the last year while they're the lowest paid troopers in the country. now we have had to rebalance, yet our income is too high to receive any type of assistance with school. she is saying she is froesed -- frustrated there and a lot of things. >> it sounds like she is juggling a lot with the kids and the school. we wish you the best of luck. we have lori. this week there's been a lot of talk of gay marriages. i'm not gay but feel that it's someone's personal preference, then to each its own. since the marriage is between a man and a woman, why doesn't the state make another description. instead of the word marriage, use the word unifiction or a mill gammation. all they're seeking in this free country and the same rights and benefits in society and legally as those who are married and who are we to judge what is righ rit and wrong for them. that's the crux of the debate and you have people passionate on both sides of it. facebook friday. we will have to continue that every week. we gave cut on a code work and the two fox 45 facebook fans to woaft th post the word on thl will win a grand prize? >> this week's winners are kelly gillette and jasmine brown. you will win a copy of "all about steve." if you didn't win, no worries. we will give another great prize next week as part of our facebook feedback. >> megan said she saw it and liked. up next, win tickets i calculate my own payroll. it works... pretty well. right, guys? announcer: there's an easier way. do your payroll with intuit online payroll. just enter employee hours. it calculates all the taxes and creates paychecks. get a 30-day free trial at intuit.com. meet arlene. she needs a home. she is 6 months old and she is a mixed terrier. as you can see she is a lover. give them a call at the spca. you can go to our website at foxbaltimore.com and you will find a link to the spca. we do want to see what is happening the roadways. i'm used to tossing to you, cans das. >> weather wise, let's take a look at the temperatures getting to 30 degrees today. a coating to 2 inches to the north and the south. 33 for the sunday as we dry out and a chance for wintery mix on tuesday for groundhog's birthday. >> i ii do want to say happy eay birthday, steve. >> the world of disney is returning to baltimore. disney on ice celebrates 100 years of magic, not as eeld as - old as steve, though [ laughter ] >> they are going to be at the mariner arena. tickets are available at ticket masticketmaster.