freeze warning and that's nect until 9:00 this morning as well. hopefully you brought in that tender vegetation and those potted plants you planted a little bit early. right now temperature coming in right around 40 degrees. good morning, arnold, you're at 45 degrees and 40 in colombia. the winds, oh, yes, nonexistent for the most part for this morning. it will be a little breezy in the afternoon, about five to 10 miles an hour, but we won't be seeing anything like we've been seeing with those gusts up to about 30 miles an hour. those are all over. the dry weather, though, is still with us for today as we look at maryland's most powerful radar and we'll talk about our next chances for some much needed rain in the forecast. that's all coming up. but right now let's get a check of that traffic with angela. good morning. reporter: good morning, lynette. we are live this morning in front of the jones falls expressway, i-83, giving you traffic updates, but also preparing you for what's going to take place. the jfx will close lanes beginning tonight at 7:00 and these lane closures will last approximately two months, maybe even longer. we have some emergency repairs for collapsed drainage pipes that is going to take place. the important thing to remember that, of course, about 110,000 per day travel the jones falls expressway, so you can expect some major, major backups during morning rush hour, afternoon rush hour and even during the evening and at night because once the work starts, there may be some adjacent travel lanes and possible full lane closures of the expressway during those times. now, of course, we have alternate routes set up on our website. go to abc2news.com, click the traffic tab and you'll see those alternate routes. we're also advising people transit options, mta operates metro subway as well as light rail through that area, and those are the not affected at all by traffic conditions. so contact mta as a possible option for you there. again, these closures will begin tonight at 7:00 and will stay that way for approximately two months. let's go ahead and see what's happening outside right now for the friday morning commute, here's the beltway. we're moving along just fine. a live look at 695 and green spring avenue. as a matter of fact, the entire top side of 695 is doing okay as you pass i-83 coming from i- 95. now, speaking of 95, this is where you're going to see some backups traveling through elkrimg right now, a live look at 95 north of maryland 100, both northbound and southbound moving a little slow. the northbound lanes do pick up past the beltway and a little slow as you head to the fort mchenry tunnel. let's send it back to the studio. if you're just waking up, two new stories to tell you about on this friday morning, taking a look at a raging fire near modesto, california. it broke out in an apartment building overnight where a suspected gunman is believed to be inside. this story has many layers. also new this morning, a deadly shooting at a cracker barrel restaurant in northeast ohio. authorities say the gunman killed a woman and teenaged girl and wounded another person. investigators believe this all stemmed from a domestic dispute. police say the suspect was shot and killed when he refused to surrender. george zimmerman made his first court appearance and is now awaiting arraignment. if convicted, the florida watch volunteer who is charged with killing trayvon martin could spend life in prison. abc 2 news' linda stow is here with what's next in this case. linda. reporter: megan, we've learned zimmerman's attorney is hoping for a bond hearing in the next couple of weeks. but for now a judge has ordered that he remain in custody. the 28-year-old made his first court appearance on tuesday for the shooting death of trayvon martin. he pled not guilty to second- degree murder charges. zimmerman turned himself in to police on wednesday after florida's special prosecutor announced charges against him. a law enforcement official says zimmerman went for hours his first night in jail. he was isolated in protective custody and under constant watch. >> he's tired. he's stressed. again, he has in effect been isolated for several weeks and that's got to take a toll. reporter: zimmerman's arraignment has been set for may 29th. his attorney says he's worried about getting a fair trial in sanford. linda stow, abc 2 news. on monday sentencing will be taking place for george huguely. the university of virginia la crosse player who was convicted for killing his ex-girlfriend and cockiesville native yeardley love. sentencing is set to begin in charlottesville 9:30 monday morning. a jury recommended huguely receive 26 years in prison. abc 2 news will have complete coverage for you at 4:30 right here on "good morning maryland." police need your help finding three people they believe are involved in an assault and robbery that happened here in baltimore. it's been months since this video was posted online. the attack happened near the mitchell courthouse. the victim beaten to the ground, stripped of his clothes and robbed. authorities say they are looking for two men and a woman in connection with this case. the picture is right there on your tv screen. an update this morning on a church fire we first told you about tuesday night and again wednesday here on "good morning maryland." arson is believed to be the cause. investigators say the people who set it up may be responsible for another church fire. this week's fire at the pleasant zion baptist was in a shed behind that church and a fire at calvary baptist church a few weeks ago destroyed two buses. both churches are trying now to move forward. >> the blessing of it is we just keep going on. >> you just can't give in to things like this. there's too much hatred in the world as it is and the fact that they would do something like this apparently to another church now just goes to show the lack of respect the people have for one another. >> the congregation of pleasant zion baptist is also moving forward while the repairs take place. they'll be worshiping at the shiloh baptist church in nearby edgemere. you can see the address there on your screen, also at abc2news.com. will lawmakers be called back to annapolis for a special session, if the house passes a budget at the close of day on monday. that means the doomsday with $12 million in cuts and no tax increases will start in july. the only way to change that is if the governor calls lawmakers back to annapolis. well, o'malley says he's going to do that, but only if there's a consensus on how to make up the money. 6:07. the deadline to pay your taxes is looming closer. april 17th will be here before you know it. you could be missing out on thousands of dollars for you, though, in tax relief. this morning abc 2 news' sherree johnson is live in rogers ford with some tax- saving tip the out there. sheree, you said you were taking notes as the day goes along. reporter: that's right. i'm taking a lot of notes, a wealth of information. april 17th is just days away. a lot of folks are just sitting down to start working on their taxes and we have some very good information for you. right now this morning i have dwayne henderson with h and r block here in rogers ford joining me live here. first of all, thanks so much for being here this morning and answering a lot of our questions, we really appreciate it. >> certainly glad to be here. reporter: first of all, let's start with some of the folks that are unemployed and out of work. what about this fresh start initiative? >> the program is the result of the irs understanding these are tough economic times. they want to work with you. the key is you must be current on your taxes. if you're not current on your taxes, you're not eligible for these. they'll set up installment programs they'll help you with the lien program, so you really want to be current on your taxes to take advantage of these. they'll reduce or waive some of the penalties to help you, particularly if you're unemployed. reporter: what about the folks that are self-employed, they have their own business, business is down, what about those folks and filing their taxes? >> the irs understands that, many of the businesses are down, particularly for those folks that are self-employed. if you're self-employed you want to be careful with the eic deduction. block can help you with that. if you have a dedicated room in your home, you can qualify for certain deductions, credits, if you have a small business. you want to seek professional advice so you can take advantage of all the possible savings. reporter: what about any type of penalties for people that are out of work or just having a tough time paying their bills and they're not going to make that deadline to pay their -- to file their tax returns? >> first thing you want to do is file an extension. you can come into an h and r block office and you can file that extension for free. it doesn't alleviate the fees vu to pay for the irs, however, you do want to file the extension so we can help you in that process. reporter: thank you so much. take a look at your screen here. here's a list of things that can help when tax time rolls around. first of all, enrolling in higher education, caring for a sick parent, teaching kindergarten through 12th grade students, paying for child care, buying a house, surviving a natural disaster and paying state income taxes. now, of course, we're going to be talking to dwayne a little bit more. we'll talk to him again at 6:45 when we have a few more tax questions for him. reporting live in rogers ford, sherree johnson, abc 2 news. >> thanks so much. women in politics have taken center stage in the presidential race. the comments made about ann romney. >> republicans and democrats alike are now weighing in and the woman who made that comment that you see right there, hillary rosen, she's speaking out as well in her own defense. gel manicures are the newest way to get beautiful nails that last for weeks, but could it be doing some serious damage to your skin. we'll look at that. plus is your baby going through the terrible teething stage? >> yes. >> are they? >> yes. they're getting teeth. >> megan, this is for you, we have tips coming up on what you can do to ease the pain. also easing the pain this weekend weather wise. here's lynette. >> charley, you're exactly right. we do have a frosty start this morning, milder afternoon, but will the nice weather stick around for the weekend? are you going to be able to eat that lunch outdoors? i have all those answers coming up. go ahead, angela. reporter: this morning we're giving you traffic updates live from i-83 this morning to let you know about the closures on the jones falls expressway. a live look this morning at new york city at times square. let's head up there right now and get a look at today's tech bytes. reporter: in today's tech bytes, it's getting easier to read in the dark. a new version of the nook e- reader will have a back lit screen. barnes and noble says the ability to read in bed without disturbing someone else has been a top request from customers. the nook super touch with glow light is going to cost about $40 more than a regular nook and goes on sale next month. sales of video game hardware, software and accessories in the u.s. were down 25% last month from a year, the fourth straight decline. no major new equipment for cell phones such as the new iphone. one analyst calls phone sails in the first quarter the weakest in years. the reason is nearly everyone has one. some of the dumbest excuses why a phone needs to be replaced are that it was run over by a lawn mower, dropped while going to the bathroom. pretty clever. those are your tech bytes. i'm paula farris. have a great day. . so is there life on mars? scientists say they think so in the form of bacteria. researchers took a second look at data collected more than 30 years ago by nasa's biking robot. this was 1976. the video shows animation of nasa's curiosity rover currently headed for mars and scheduled to land there on the re planet in -- on the red planet in august. listen to that. pictures of some hail, a hail storm in a country just southwest of china earlier this week. about 25 people were injured, two were badly hurt. power facilities were damaged, causing electrical outages. time now for a check of our forecast. we had some hail about two days ago. nothing at all like that and what we really need right now is some rain. >> exactly. we definitely need the rain across the area. about 4.3 inches below this time of the year. we need the rain so desperately. i'm keeping my fingers crossed, you need to keep your fingers crossed as well. we can see where the rain is. it's back across the middle of the nation, across the plains, working their way into iowa this morning and also missouri. some more severe weather is definitely possible as we go into the afternoon. here, though, things definitely looking much dryer. like i said, we desperately do need that rain. so as we go through time, we are really hoping that we get that rain in the forecast. we do have it. i'm going to show you that in just a second. right now we're just dealing with a few clouds. but you can see the clouds are slowly but surely trying to get out of here and that's all courtesy of an area of high pressure that's working its way in. now for temperatures, they are cold this morning. they are on the frosty side once again. 33 degrees right now in towson, good morning to you. 32 in westminster, good morning to you there. parkdon 44 degrees. 36 in chestertown this morning, centreville 41 degrees and darlington coming in right around 39. so we can see we're on the chilly side once again. these temperatures are below average, but there's that area of high pressure that's going to do its thing and bring more sunshine into the forecast as we go into the afternoon. and future trend picking up on more of the same. we're pretty much bone dry for the rest of today, and then tomorrow it looks like a little bit of a change in the forecast, but this rain that's forecasted here could miss us. it's not a lot of rain. we need some soaking rain across the area and that will come more on your tuesday and also wednesday. so sunday evening or saturday evening, rather, into sunday morning, there is a slight chance for some showers in the forecast. but like i said, it is very slight out there. most likely we'll just get more clouds to come into the forecast. today right around 67 degrees. this will be above average, and we don't have the winds to contend with. so that's definitely some good news, something that we like to see. but your seven-day forecast does have a warmup in here. if you like the 80s, that's exactly what we're going to get as we go into monday, tuesday and we also have the chance for some much needed rain in the forecast. we'll see how that pans out. let's get a check now of the traffic with angela. good morning. reporter: good morning to you, lynette. good morning, everyone. we're bringing you your traffic updates live this morning from i-83, the jfx. and of course we are here because starting tonight at 7:00 a semi permanent work zone will be set up blocking one lane both northbound and southbound on i-83, the jones falls expressway. that's going to be in the vicinity of 29th street and druid park lake drive. this is done to repair some needed emergency collapsed drainage pipes under the jones falls expressway. the big story it is going to cause significant delays along this expressway. now, especially for those of you who travel the jfx during rush hour, you may want to alter your travel plans. we've been advising people all morning plan ahead now to leave a little early and, of course, stay a little late because this closure will be in effect for approximately six to eight weeks. so that's going to be quite some time. also keep in mind there are transit options with mta available and if you go to our website, abc2news.com, check the traffic tab, we'll have more information about alternate routes. now let's go ahead and see what's happening out there for your friday morning drive. a live look at the beltway and we are moving quite well here at liberty road, as you can see. no accidents or incidents to slow you down as you make your way around that west side heading to cadenceville. now a live look at 95 at 295 and 395 heading into downtown, friday light for you. no delays or accidents. we are moving well on most of our major thorough fares. back to you, charley. our free sample mama has got you great deals you need to check out. not only are these available for you at abc2news.com, but they're also available on our ipadad app. i'm going to load that up for you this morning. it takes about five seconds to do so. and there's a theme for this week's freebie friday. we're talking about tax day, we're talking about food, massages, coffee, whatever you have as the ipadad app is opening up real quickly, i want to know some of the appetizers you'll have at your disposal, you look at the story there, tax day freebies, chili's is offering some goodies for you today, an appetizer if two or more people come with you you'll get a free appetizer. print out that coupon and redeem it by the 30th of may. they're also going to have a tax day freebie for a free appetizer and dessert, like we said, at chili's that's coming up. and free at panda express, you can get a single serving of the shanghai angus steak. print out that coupon and redeem it at your local panda express. these are available for you as they are every friday, abc2news.com and our smart apps at ipad and the iphone. let's go back in the studio with megan. it is friday, not only free stuff is good news, but alan gabey comes in from the spca. this is a sweety. >> very sweet little dog named daisy. a jack russell mix we think, 2 years old, taken from another shelter. she's very shy, mild mannered, so a quiet home would be best. >> she has been cuddling with you, though. this might be a great companion for somebody who's looking for a dog that will sit on the couch and they can really soothe and comfort. >> yes. very laid back. i wouldn't suggest bringing her to the big event march for the animals, but we are encouraging people to bring their animals out coming up on april 29th. >> if people haven't been, this is your big fundraiser. this is how you care for dogs like daisy. >> it is. we rely on the donations to take care of the animals, sunday april 29th, registration at 9:00, the walk starts at 10:00. it's a big festival at druid hill park. we love it, there's vendors, there's music. we have the disk dogs. frisbees are a great toy to use with your pets. they're doing demonstrations to music. it's a great day. >> it is a great day. it's a lot of fun. it's a time to show off your dogs and dogs are showoffs at that event. it's april 29th, it's on our website or go to mdspca.org. give you a call if you want to adopt daisy or another animals you have. >> we open at noon. >> thanks for bringing her in. she's very sweet. let us know if she gets a home, right? >> absolutely. charley, back to you. >> megan, thanks a lot. time now for a little health news for you on this friday morning. talking about those gel manicures, you know, it's a really hot thing right now, they last up to two weeks, they don't chip, a lot of great upside, but are the lights used to dry your nails, are are they dangerous? some experts are saying yes. they're saying the lights used could be just like the tanning bed lights. it works great for your nails but it could be damaging to your hands. listen. >> see these little brown spots here and here? this is all from the ultravoilet light in those lamps. >> the lamps contain the same ultravoilet light use inside a tanning bed which has been connected to an increased risk of skin cancer. they say the strength of the light is different. dermatologists say to protect yourself wear sunscreen on your hand before you go for that gel manicure. megan, have you ever had one of these? >> a gel manicure, no, i haven't. people really like them. i'm probably not, but only because i heard taking the gels off is a lot of work. >> this is what i'm dealing with. this is why i can't get a manicure, babies, teething. it is a very irritable time in a baby's life, they're in pain so they may cry a lot. abc is working for you this morning with tips to relieve that pain. here's some of the idea, gently massaging the gums with a damp wash cloth, giving your child a rubber teething ring. you could chill by putting in the refrigerator not the freezer. nothing is perfect, especially gps and that's what one texas man is now using as his defense. >> absolutely. we're going to tell you, stick around and hear what happens while he was driving and trying to follow the instructions. also there's a new app helping women feel more secure what they're walking alone. details of how you can take advantage of it coming up. also we want to say a very special happy birthday, 28th birthday to rachel. she is from owens mills and lives in baltimore. hope you have a great birthday on this april 13th. ture, from the wildflower valleys of yellowstone to the serene waters of alaska's glacier bay. it's from these magnificent sources that we found inspiration for our newest scents, so you can experience the spirit of these national treasures in your home. the new national park collection. something in the air wick. news time 6:26. more violence in syria. an activist group says syrian troops are clashing with rebels in the border with turkey. it appears to be the first serious breach of a sapphire that went into -- cease-fire that went into effect at dawn yesterday. they are opposed to the regime of syrian president bashar assad now calling for widespread protests today. we just learned that the u.n. security council has scheduled an emergency meeting today in the aftermath of north korea's failed launch. that rocket launch broke into the pieces within minutes and failed to reach orbit. the u.s. and other countries have condemned the launch as a violation of international resolutions banning north korea from developing its nuclear and missile programs. north korea says that wasn't the case. you've heard them all, now here's a new one for you, a pretty bad crash in texas. you may be surprised at what the man says caused him to have the wreck. the texas man says he made a wrong turn into a light pole because his gps told him to do it. yeah. he says all he was doing was following directions. unfortunately -- or fortunately, rather, no one was hurt. a new smart phone app is aimed at giving women a sense of security while they're walking alone at night. it's called street safe and the app has two buttons. this is how it works, a red one. you press that and it causes street safe operators to call 911 and then they'll pass along your description, your medical history and your exact location. there's also a green button that the company calls walk with me. and if you press that button an operator will call you and stay on the phone with you until you feel safe. the app seems useful, but some experts really doubt that an app can prevent sexual assaults. >> the majority of sexual assaults happen when it's someone you know. it's someone you're friends with, someone you're dating, someone you used to date. >> now, she says that she worries that apps like street safe might give people a misconception about how sexual violence happens and how to prevent it. a small new hampshire town has been shaken to the core following a deadly shooting. >> stay with us this morning. we'll bring you the latest details on that, including who was killed and why the shootout started in the first place. a mayor known for innovative ideas of social mastery and social media, now you can add rescuers to mayor cory booker's list of skills. that coming up in a little bit.