threw items off store shelves. buildings as far away as tokyo shook for a full minute. the damage fukushima nuclear power plant evacuated its workers, but reported no new damage or injuries. officials said they were relying on just one power line to keep up with cooling operations. >> is the one remaining power system enough to continue? yes. >> japanese authorities issued a tsunami warning and orders communities along the coast to evacuate, move to higher ground. 90 minutes later, the warning was lifted. but less than a month after the mega quake and tsunami killed an estimated 25,000 people, this latest trembler has rattled japan all over again. charlie d'agata, wjz eyewitness news. >> the aftershock hit just after 11:30 p.m. thursday night in japan. >> reporter: well, mary, this earthquake hit just around the same exact spot, roughly the same spot as the one that hit last month, march 11th. this one, however, registered at 7.1 magnitude. roughly 9 on the magnitude scale. this was at a depth of just around 30.34 miles. and triggered roughly a 30.6- foot warning. this is around 205 miles north/northeast of tokyo. and again, this is in generally the same area. but that tsunami warning was lifted shortly after, after it was realized that the waves would not be more than 1 feet. it did not go as far over as hon lulieu -- hon honolulu or hawaii. again, this was nothing like the one from last month. but definitely in an area that is already battered from these types of storms and tsunamis and other types of problems. they don't even need a 7.1. that's still pretty large on the scale. >> stay with wjz for complete coverage of this disaster in japan. for complete coverage, pictures and video, log onto wjz.com. >> new information today in the search for phylicia barnes. mike hellgren was at city police headquarters for an announcement in the case. >> reporter: police are conducting two searches, one in a secret spot, led by city police, with help by the fbi. and a number of other agencies. and another at the place where felicia banished -- vanished. and they need volunteers for that. >> reporter: more than three months ago, teenage other honor student, phylicia barnes, disappeared from her sister's apartment in northwest baltimore. and police just announced they are launching a massive search in a heavily wooded area. >> through our investigation, we identified this as an area of interest. it was associated with one of the people that we talked to, one of the 30 individuals that saw felicia. and this location was identified as an area that we needed to search. >> police are also looking for volunteers to help them canvass the area around reisterstown plaza, where the teenager was last seen alive. >> we are putting tremendous resources behind this effort. we're going to have roughly 200 members of the community, canvassing, going door to door, putting flyers on cars, trying to generate as much intelligence as possible so we can properly investigate the case. >> reporter: barnes was visiting from north carolina when she went missing. police suspect foul play is involved, despite gaining nationwide publicity, doing hundreds of interviews and serving dozens of search warrants, they are no closer to finding felicia now than they were the day she vanished, seemingly without a trace. >> that homicide squad that started this case is still actively researching this case. and they expand and contract based on the intelligence needs. -- investigation needs. >> they are posting information on facebook and twitter. reporting from city police headquarters, mike hellgren, wjz eyewitness news. >> more than 35,000 dollars in rewards are being offered. anyone with information is urged to call the 24-hour tipline at 855-223-0033. wjz will continue to follow the search for phylicia barnes. for updates on the case, log onto our website, wjz.com. the trial is around way for a man accused of murdering a baltimore police officer in canton. police say sean james struck detective brian stevenson in the head with concrete. the two were apparently arguing over a parking spot. today, jurors heard testimony from several witnesses. the defense attorney argued that james felt threatened. but the prosecution is calling it a senseless killing. a young father and police officer is dead. today, the investigation takes a big step forward. denise is live in the newsroom with an important update. >> the january 9th shooting outraged the city. baltimore police fired 41 bullets outside the select lounge nightclub, as they tried to break up a fight. plain clothed officer william torbit, jr., was killed. now, the board of estimates has approved $75,000 to fund an investigation into his death. the board also approved the cost of his funeral. sean gamble was also fatally shot. >> okay, denise. thank you. an independent board has been appointed to review this shooting. 800,000 jobs at risk. the federal government is just over 24 hours away from running out of money, unless congressional leaders can agree on a budget, government services will come to a grinding halt. danielle nottingham will report for wjz. >> congressional leaders have made three trips to the white house in the last 24 hours for talks with the president. but there's still a lot of distance between democrats and republicans. >> we continue to have productive conversations. you should all know they're polite. they're to the point. but there is no agreement on a number, no agreement on the policy issues that are contained with this. >> i'm disappointed, we haven't been able to get something done to this point. but i am pleased we're still working on getting there. >> reporter: president obama thinks there is still time to reach an agreement on how to fund the federal government before saturday morning's deadline. >> and we're going to keep on pounding away at this thing. because i'm absolutely convinced that we can get this done. >> reporter: democrats are angry that republicans added $12 billion in new cuts and abortion restrictions to a stop gap bill that would extend the deadline by a week. >> but the republican majority in the house was large enough to pass the bill, which would also fund the military until the end of september. the gop says defense spending should not be part of the debate. >> i hope the senate will find a way to support our troops and to keep our government open. >> the white house says it will veto the temporary bill because of the restrictions in it. and is now preparing for the worst. officials sent notification to 800,000 federal workers that they may be furloughed first thing saturday morning. danielle nottingham, cbs news, capitol hill. today, governor o'malley is gathering details on how a federal government shutdown would impact maryland. nearly 263,000 workers live in this state. health concerns. today, it is concerned that ringling brothers and barnum and bailey will be in town. they have been attending events in the city like the annual lexington market. but a veteranar -- veterinarian cannot pass the inspections to people. typical spring weather around maryland today. outside right now, it's calm and comfortable with plenty of sunshine. we have weather and traffic together. kristy breslin is at wjz traffic control. but first, bob turk has the updated numbers from first warning weather. >> a very normal day. beautiful. lots of sunshine. very pleasant out there. look at radar. nothing around here. but when we open up, out to the west, our next weather maker is a front that will approach our region with some rain, beginning early in the morning. looks like it would be with us most of the day on friday. at least a half inch expected. it probably will linger a little bit into saturday. the end of the week will be cool and damp. we may not even get out of the 40s tomorrow. but we'll talk about warmer air coming our way. we'll check in on our roads right now, with kristy breslin. well, some trouble out there on 795, in the northbound direction. we do have an accident at owings mills boulevard, involving a motorcycle. right now, the best way to get around that would be to take reisterstown road as the alternate. north side outer loop closed from perring parkway. average speed about 40 miles an hour. and congestion from 795 to the jones falls expressway. same situation on the southwest side of the inner loop. you're looking at, at least a 20-minute delay from frederick to liberty. and as far as city accidents go, brun wick street to south benedict. and also, an accident involving a fuel spill. east pulaski highway. as far as drive times go, 95 southbound to the whitemarsh beltbay. let's now take a live look. you can see not a good situation there on the baltimore national pike. this traffic report is brought to you by the cochran firm. if you or someone you know has suffered a personal injury, call 1-800-the firm. take joe on the go. dunkin do nuts and the ravens' quarterback joe flacco teamed up to raise thousands for animals in need. today, they presented a $9,000 check to the baltimore humane society. the money was raised through the sale of travel coffee mugs, featuring flacco's picture. they will use the donations to find new homes for the animals. >> just been doing a lot for the community. nice to see him afterward. still ahead at 4:00. more people filing their taxes online. but is your personal information safe? the extra security steps you may need to take. growing concern over synthetic drugs. they're dangerous and easy to get. the undercover video every parent needs to see. alex demetrick. coming up, back from the dead to say thanks. that story as eyewitness news continues. a beautiful spring day. but will showers ruin your weekend? the answer in first warning weather. ,,,, [ grunting ] [ lawnmower running ] darn joneses. surprise! [ screams ] darn joneses. ahoy neighbor! hi! darn joneses. hey, are you ready for your fios? oh yeah! darn bronkowskys. [ male announcer ] make your neighbors wish they were you. upgrade to fios, america's most advanced fiber-optic network, for just $99.99 a month for a year. call now and we'll add a special bonus: $100 back. get the ultimate hd experience, plus access to the fastest internet in the u.s., with no term contract required. start saving now. upgrade to fios tv, internet and phone for just $99.99 a month and get $100 back. call 1.866.569.fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities that's 1.866.569.3467. at 800-974-6006 tty/v. fios. a network ahead. fire claims the lives of three young children in chicago. a spokesman says a 4-year-old playing with a lighter is to blame. his mother tried to put out the fire with water, but it quickly spread. several other people escaped. police are searching for a man who posed as a high school student to steal cash and electronics. security cameras captured the man wandering through the school, filling backpacks with stolen goods. a teacher even confronted him, but he was able to trick her. police say he has targeted the school twice. powerful effects that marijuana and cocaine are making some people ill. >> reporter: there's growing concern over the use of synthetic substances to get high. easy to find and in some cases, perfectly legal to buy. >> do you have bath salts here? >> we had no trouble scoring bath salts and fake pot. >> how much is it? >> that's 300 grams. >> reporter: it is having powerful effects on users. >> we're seeing patients who are nauseous, vomiting, getting agitated, paranoia, having to come to emergency departments. >> reporter: this kentucky mom blamed the side effects of snorting salts after she was arrested for assaulting her child. in minnesota, a 19-year-old died and 10 others went to the hospital, after using a synthetic drug, similar to ecstasy. and in iowa last june, jan and michael rozgood's 18-year-old son david killed himself, after getting high on synthetic pot. >> it takes away your reality and puts you in such a terrible place that you'll do anything to get away from it. >> are the hallucinations or agitations enough? >> the use of bath salts have led to more than 1400 this year. and the number of poisonings from synthetic pot is staggering. more than 2100 cases between january and march of this year, compared to 155 cases, in 2010. >> people have no idea what they're getting. they have no idea what the strength is. >> reporter: the drug enforcement administration has temporarily banned five agents used to make pot. >> if youngsters are dying, that's a probable. >> but michael ross got called for a nationwide ban on synthetic substances. >> when we think of something as being fake, we think of something as being inferior. i submit to you that fake marijuana or fake cocaine are anything but safe. >> legislation has been introduced in the senate in the name of david rosga. not a great day on wall street. all of the markets dropped. the s&p up 2. nasdaq down 4. let's go to new york, where alexis christoforous has tonight's cbs money watch update. high gas prices and cold weather didn't stop americans from shopping last month. major retailers all posted better than expected sales results for march. target said sales fell but less than a second. >> a large aftershock hit japan. and the european central bank raised its rates for the first time in years to combat inflation. oil prices are up 29% since mid- february. there's more evidence the job market is slowly i'm proving. 10,000 fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week. that's the third drop in a few weeks. southwest airlines says four planes being repaired for cracks in their aluminum skin will probably be returned saturday. southwest inspected 79 of its older boeing 739 aircraft. after a hole opened in the roof last week, forcing an emergency landing. the airline says that mechanics were replacing an 18-inch section on the plane. the arizona plane will face a longer job. for more money headlines, head to cbs cbsmoneywatch.com. i'm alexis christoforous. coming up on wjz eyewitness news at 4:00. fighting fat. the unusual new weapon in the battle against obesity. i'm ron matz at the mount washington tavern. getting ready for a big grilled cheese cookoff. calm for now. but we're tracking a big change. meteorologist tim williams has the updated first warning weather forecast next. wjz 13 is always on. for the top stories on wjz.com, for instant ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, we're looking at a pretty mild afternoon. our average high is just around 61. leaning more toward 62 now as we get toward the end of this week. that's where we are now. 61 degrees. relative humidity at 51%, with a 43-degree dew point. winds are coming in from the east/northeast at 10 miles per hour. that flows from the north and just off the bay. keeping our temperatures down just a little bit. 30.03. our barometer, which is still pretty high, high pressure brought us these nice, blue skies today. without any real rain in our viewing area. we have 70 in cumberland. 59 up toward elkton. and the immediate metro area, everyone right around that 60- degree mark. 69 down in the nation's capital. one of the warmest spots. then we have 68 in annapolis. the winds have been coming in very moderately throughout the day. 10-mile-per-hour winds, across bwi marshall. up towards elkton, some of the strongest winds we have out there. everyone else has seen even calm readings throughout the day. calm readings in the cumberland valley as we speak. what we are going to see over the next few days, this north/northeasterly wind is going to come in for the few days. winds stay from the north at a point. but then they'll start to shift from the south and southwest heading into the weekend. and that's going to once again tap into mild air. we see 74 down near mem memphis. 61 here at bwi marshall. and we'll start to see that temperature really struggle. we'll struggle to get up to our average high, come tomorrow. with the high pressure in control, still, what we're watching now. just follow this line right here. this is a stationary front. a line of clouds here, just kind of follow that line. that is what is going to usher in the next low-pressure system. just ripples and waves of low pressure coming in from the midwest. what they're going to do, this almost acts as a highway. allows that low to follow right along. as it gets closer, the rain moves in tonight. and we start to clear out, maybe late tomorrow night, or early saturday. then we start to warm up. again, this trailing warm front is going to come in by the end of the week. it's going to bring temperatures up into the 70s on sunday. and up again another monday, with temperatures close to 80 degrees. your sunset today is at 7:37. our forecast tonight, going down to 43 degrees. increasing clouds. and a shower late. and we're talking after midnight. 50 degrees, our daytime highs. and as bob mentioned earlier, we may struggle to get out of the 40s. we struggle very nicely heading into the weekend. >> don't miss tonight's primetime lineup. it's another episode of the hit show, the mentalist. harry smith has a preview of what's coming up tonight on the cbs evening news. school budget cuts are causing extracurricular activities to disappear. why some kids are now finding refuge in the wing. that story and more tonight on the cbs evening news. danger in the air. we all know pollution can harm your lungs. but does it also cause brain damage? >> a fan fighting for his life after the attack at dodgers stadium. the security now in place.e.,,,, it is just before 4:30. 64 degrees and sunny. hello, everyone. thanks for staying with eyewitness news. >> i'm denise koch. here's what people are talking about. rebel forces are accusing naval planes of hitting their troops. but that's not stopping fighters from continuing to battle leader moammar gadhafi. >> rebel fighters flashed victory signs as they headed to the front lines. they're rolling in heavy equipment, including rocket launchers to reenforce positions near brega. but the rebels face more than the fire power from government troops. they say a nato air strike hit one of their positions. it's the second accidental air strike to hit rebels in less than a week. and nato air strike killed 13 fighters on saturday. >> the alliance flew 200 missions wednesday. and commanders are vowing to keep up the pressure on moammar gadhafi. the libyan leader sent a letter, pleading for president obama to help end what he called an unjust war. the obama administration says it received the letter but shrugged it off. >> mr. gadhafi knows what he must do. there needs to be a cease-fire. his forces need to withdraw from the cities that they have forcibly taken. >> reporter: the state department has also distanced itself from the from the efforts of former u.s. congressman curt weldon, who is taking a shot at diplomacy in tripoli. >> i know the leader. and the leader trusts me. >> reporter: it's his 7th visit to libya over the years. but few are confident he's got the pull to get gadhafi to give up. >> the international air strikes began on march 19th, as a u.s.-led effort. but nato took control last week. nearly a month after a deadly earthquake and tsunami devastated japan, the island nation is rocked by a powerful aftershock. 7.4 magnitude tremors, the strongest of the aftershocks to strike japan in a week. japanese authorities did issue a tsunami warning and ordered coastal cities to evacuate. that warning was lifted 90 minutes later. the damaged fukushima plant reported no new damage or injuries. officials say they were relying on just one power line to keep up with cooling operations. >> a surprising plea in the trial of the man accused of kidnapping a california girl and holding her captive for nearly 20 years. kai is in the newsroom with the latest on the jaycee dugard stace. >> phill