last day you can file your taxes, i'm charley crowson. we got a lot we are working on for you today. sherrie johnson is here to tell us about a plan raising funds for the fire department. she will tell you about that. megan pringle is on assignment, live outside the post office. and a live look at the inner harbor. live to lynette charles with more weather wise. record set back in 2002. it was too hot for me, the 70s are back. we are getting that this morning and continue in the afternoon, another very mild morning to start off, it's dry and fair, that's the part that we don't like so much. we need the rain. maryland's most powerful radar is dry with all five sweeps on. we are not dealing with rain. we will have to wait for a while to get that. if we check out hour by hour for today.

4:00 p.m., 76 degrees, it's going to be a wonderful day to eat the lunch outdoors. i'm going to send this to angela with a check of the traffic. good morning to you, good morning, everyone. on the roads for tuesday morning commute and what will you find, traveling in the city, police at north avenue and maryland avenue, had an earlier collision, they've moved that over to the side. also if you are traveling on the city, through the inner states, looking good, towards the tunnels. topside of the beltway, no crashes out there, as you can see, it's crystal clear, inner and outer loop, topside at bel air road. harrisburg expressway, you are okay, jfx, this is the live picture of the work zone, i-83 north avenue, leave early to avoid delays from the construction on i-83. take st. paul street to head in to downtown. back over to you. procrastinators, time is running out, tax returns must

be postmarked by midnight today. megan pringle is live with last minute tips for you last minute filers. >> reporter: right now it's early in the morning , the post office is quiet. you better believe a lot of people will be coming in and out, dropping off taxes. you wait until the last minute, that's how it goes. a lot of times you say who waits until the last day? a lot of us do. not all post offices are going to have late hours, but here at the main post office in downtown baltimore, they will have late hours. that's a good thing to keep in mind. you can go to certain tax preparers and take information. a lot will say, it is best to file an extension. that is an option for a lot of you out there. if you are going to go to a tax preparer, bring all your important documents, bring your information, your receipts, your income history, and all sorts of information so they

know. comptroller is going to be here this morning talking to us, letting us know what is going on with his office. they will have extended hours. we will ask him your questions, what you have been wondering about if i did wait until the last minute, what do i do. you have a few hours, but not a a lot of time. abc2 news is always working for you on tax day. we got filing tips for you as well as a list of places offering discounts and free goodies. arbys is giving away curly frys and banana public is offering a 30% discount. we have a list on abc2news.com. members of the american postal workers union and mail handlers union will be happening out information in the city. layoffs of hundreds of

thousands of wkers as well as the closure of more than 3000 post offices. union members will be happening out leaf lets of information on why they don't think this should happen. house republicans here are going to explain about the doomsday budget. they plan to hold a press conference at noon talking about the possibility of a special session and what taxes could be imposed if the governor doesn't call the session , the budget will go in to effect july 1 stand includes steep cuts to education, layoffs, cuts for state services. the only person aired in the st. patricks day beating has bail reduced. parsons is facing charges including assault and robbery. bail set at $1 million, his lawyer calls absolutely ridiculous. >> $1 million bail? come on. it's ridiculous. this is a 20 year old, no

record, never had handcuffs on him, he surrendered himself once told there was a warrant the same day. >> the bail has been dropped to half a million dollars. parson's next hearing is set for may. police are looking for these people in connection with the beating. you are asked to call police if you recognize them. a councilman come up with an interesting way to save the fire companies, corporate sponsorships. could be a solution for part of the budget problems. sherrie johnson is here with more. what going on with this? >> pete welch is hoping corporate america might be willing to pay the bill to keep three fire companies open. this idea is from the closing of 3 fire companies announceed by the fire chief this month. councilman welch wants to keep them open, sponsorship is just the way to do it. ladder truck is a is one of -- 15 is one of three set to

closed. truck 10 in west baltimore is set to close. fire crews started a petition to keep truck 15. you have to be creative in keeping people safe. >> i'm open to new ideas. councilman welch did say all proceeds from this would go to the fire department. lord knows we do need that. >> councilman welch says in the bill goes in to effect a committee would be formed, where they would go and how much money the city would charge. he has six cosponsors, one short of a majority. investigators are trying to determine what caused a fire on smallwood street. look at the photographs. everyone made it out safely. firefighters were able to keep it from spreading to homes. the fire is under

investigation. time for sports in game two. guests of the white sox, last night, cardiac kids had to go an extra frame before winning. a 10th inning grand slam lifting baltimore in come from behind fashion. it was a career first. first pitch for game 2 the tonight is set for 8:10. video you don't want to miss of the sun unleashing one of the intense solar flairs. and when it comes to salt, which country has the biggest love affair with the seasoning? we will tell you about that in a bit. it's warm this morning. cool down is on the way. i will tell you when that arrives coming up. we've looked at the overnight work zones, and how will that impact your morning drive. details coming up next.

intense eruption, this happened before 2:00 yesterday afternoon, that storm the not the strongest of the year from the sun, but photos and the video captured by nasa spacecraft revealed an eye popping display of what is referred to as magnetic plasma. we call them solar flairs. it's warm. reminiscent of yesterday. it was hot. today, though, i'm not forecasting that. we are forecasting the 70s, we are starting in the 70s in gwen oak. 69 annapolis. this means you do not need a coat whatsoever for example you want to step out the door, outside in shorts, it's going to feel nice to you. the winds are on the calm side. they will pick up through the day and also we are on the dry side right now. we do need the rain, it doesn't look like it's we are going to

get any. the rain is well to the south. that's space shuttle discovery takes to the skies this morning. it won't see the roar of the rockets. it's going to ride shotgun. we have a live report later. a stressful home life can affect your child's weight even as young as 5 years old. the effects on one group of kids maybe more than others. a honor for charm city. why baltimore maybe the place to be. good morning maryland continues in a few moments. you know chase freedom gives you 5% cash back

at grocery stores this quarter. thank you. happy shopping! activate your 5 percent cash back at chase.com/freedom. and now, new cardmembers get 100 dollars bonus cash back after they spend 500 dollars within the first three months. visit chase.com/freedom or your local branch today.

thanksi'll take the usual. got it. if you're open to choosing your own batter, mix-ins and toppings, come in today and build a stack you'll be proud of. only at denny's.

welcome back. february 24th, the shuttle discovery made the 39th and final liftoff. they got one journey, see the abc symbol, the shuttle leaves riding piggy back aboard a 747. the destination is the nation's capitol that's on display at the space museum.

that was steve lindsey. it's going be retired but throughout the day, it's going to do flyover that's monuments in dc before going to its final resting place. it will not be on the roadways where angela is with the morning drive. 5:16 right now on the roads, we are looking pretty good for the most part. a couple of things here and there, you may have needed to watch for. debris on u.s. 50 at maryland 8. disabled on the beltway at holland's ferry, crews were able to clear that out of the roadways quickly. it is calm and moving without delay. making the drive through glen burnie, you should be able to

maneuver without troubles on i- 97. looking good at maryland 100, as you make your way up to the beltway. if anything happens, follow us on twitter at maryland traffic. for a check of the forecast, over to lynette. good morning, now we are warm, 70 degrees in baltimore, more of the same in dc for example if your travels are taking you northward, mild, 63 york. frederick 64. eastern shore, easton, temperature 63 degrees as of now. the temperatures are on the warm side, they will stay that way, we won't be hot for today. that's good news. we will feel like spring and more like spring as we go in to tomorrow. for now, we are dealing with breezes out there, we can see a cold front working across the area, a dry front, not bringing rain. we desperately need the rain. the winds are sustained, northwest at 5- 15 miles an

hour, we are seeing 13 in winchester. 7 frederick. 9 baltimore. 10 dc, waiting for it to move across the eastern shore. the winds will pick up as well. the satellite and radar, not showing a lot. we have some fair weather clouds this morning, mainly clear, most of the clouds are back towards the east, or the west and to the south of us, they are getting rain across the south. future trend not picking up on a lot for today. i'm going to call ate sun-cloud mix as we go through time. most of the rain stays to the south today and looks like the slight chance for a somehow tore work in through tomorrow maybe your afternoon time frame, all in all, we will be mainly dry until the weekend. here is the hour by hour forecast for you, it's going to be a great day to do golfing as charlie does. 74 for today is what i'm going with. a check of the seven-day forecast for you, looks like this with the wet weather moving in for the weekend. charlie?

>> you say that like it's a bad thing. time for health news, stressful homes for girls may cause obesity. if the mom is depressed or violence in the home, the child maybe using food to self soothe or console. the same pattern may not be true for boys. boys may deal with stress by being more physically active. here is something our country does not want to be known for , the saltiest fast food in the world. a study compared salt levels from six fast food chains in six countries. u.s. sells the saltiest, chicken mc nuggets has three times the level of salt than those sold in the uk. a important event coming up this weekend. race for the cure is being held

in ocean city this sunday. there is time to reg fer for the inaugural -- register for the inaugural 5- k run-walk. find the information on abc2news.com. new this morning, if you are looking for love, baltimore maybe the place to be. kiplinger compiled a list of the best cities for singles and charm city is number four. it took in to account the number of single people and looked at the income and living cost to see what cities had people that could afford to date. average date night here in baltimore is going to run $29, that's a movie ticket and a bottle of wine. no dinner included. michigan topped the list as the best single cities in the u.s. people living in chile had a late night wake up call, a

6.7 magnitude earthquake struck overnight.

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this is cnn chile, evacuation order for residents along the coast was given. no threat of a tsunami. no injuries or deaths have been reported. the quake lasted close to a minute. australian girl was a day or two away from death but now doing better thanks to calls from a minister. lucy was found inside her hem

with her mother's body. she was home alone for five days. neighbors were horrified by the toddler's condition when she was rescued. she as you survived on easter treats. the mother died of a unknown medical condition. australia is safe and sound with the company of its own colony. three people swam with the dolphins and snatched up dirk the pinguin. they released the little guy in to the river. they posted photos of them with him on facebook. sometimes it's hard to get your kids to study. one school might have an idea for a solution to help increase test scores. what is called a controversial plan. a man chooses an interesting weapon at a convenient store he is trying

to rob, coming from arkansas, what the clerk did. with the dry and breezy conditions, we have another elevated risk of wild fires. i will tell you for whom coming up. we are following your commute on the jfx this morning, we will let you know when the delays come in to play.

the emails cummings read and how officials abused their power while partying in las vegas. taxes are due, what you need to know, what you can do before filing. the players on the team might not see it yet, tonight, ravens will be playing when the 2012

season starts. details in a bit on this tuesday, april 17th. good morning, i'm charley crowson. megan pringle is on assignment getting you ready for tax day. over to meteorologist, lynette charles, with another warm day across the state. we are starting that way, the 70s are back in town. another very mild morning is dry and fair, and we want the rain but it doesn't look like we will see that for today. all five sweeps are on, we are dry. that will continue in to the afternoon, we have a slight chance for showers, for tomorrow, but the soaking rain doesn't come until later on, maybe in to the weekend. i will talk about that in a few minutes. temperatures as you head out the door are on the mild side. we are upper 60s, close to 70 degrees aberdeen. more of the same in catonsville. walkersville 66 degrees. the winds are light as of now, they will be picking up through the day. a breezy day on tap for us a