bank could land him in hot water with voters. and the city council is give diagnose okay for a controversial housing development. and why the projects keep getting approved despite uproar from residents in the area. and an area charter school is in danger of being shut down. funding, the big reason. we talk to students tonight. some are worried they won't get to graduate if the shut down happens. news 4 at 5:00 starts right now . good evening, everyone. thank you so much for joining us tonight. i'm shelby sheehan. >> and i'm joe hart. the republicans' race for the white house is being royaled by the disclosure that ted cruz used a huge loan from a wall street bank to win his senate seat and did not properly disclose that information. this all comes as the republicans get set to debate tonight in north charleston, south carolina. steve handlesman is there and

us on the campaign trail. >> reporter: the timing is terrible for ted cruz. two weeks until the vote in iowa where he is fighting for the lead. on the day of the debate, in south carolina, where the vote is in five weeks. "the new york times" reports cruz used a half million dollar loan from goldman sachs where his wife worked, plus other loans, do help fund his 2012 senate campaign and failed to properly report that. he's denying wrongdoing. >> it is an inadvertent filing question. the facts of the underlying matter have been disclosed for many, many years. >> reporter: but wall street- based goldman sachs is seen by many as the villain in the 2008 crash. >> he has a financial relationship with goldman sachs. there is no worse brand name for the republican party than that. >> reporter: donald trump is playing born in the usa at his rallies to mock cruz being born in canada. he is calling the cruz finance story a very big thing. >> and i know nothing about it. but i hear it is a very big thing. i hope he solves it.

hope he gets it solved. rears trump and cruz have played nice for months, but at the center of the debaters kthe texas senator stay nice, with trump using the birth issue and now finances. >> if there is a debate question and ted cruz sort of refuses to say anything critical about donald trump now, i think lit look kind of weak. >> reporter: and time is running out for damage control. i'm steve handlesman, nbc news, charleston, south carolina. and it is less than an hour before the main debate starts. news 4 is live at the washoe county republican watch party at man wielding fire. what are folks hoping to hear tonight? >> reporter: well, shelby, with just three weeks until the iowa caucuses, the candidates are working really hard to sway those voters one way or the other, but when it comes to northern nevadans at this watch party here tonight, they say that they have their favorites, but i have haven't given their vote to any one particular

i met one woman who was undeclared before this presidential race, but she has since declared and registered as a republican. she says donald trump invigorated her and while some expect to see him attacking cruz tonight and some saying that he is dividing the republican party, she actually says that trump may be helping the party. >> cruz needs to get this all squared away now. he needs to get it straightened out so that when the election does come, if he is a candidate, the democrats can't pull this stuff out, and so i think trump is actually helping cruz. >> reporter: a very interesting take right there. this debate starts at 6:00 and the watch party is happening here at men wielding fire in reno. the debate is in north charleston, south carolina and it is not far from the church in charleston where nine were shot dead, so tonight's debate,

topics ranging from guns, isis, mass shootings, race and all of the above. it will be interesting to watch that tonight. reporting live in reno, news 4. thank you. the reno city council is giving the okay to a controversial housing development in veer die. this approval comes even though the nearby residents raised a lot of concerns about water and their wells possibly running dry. news 4's terri hendry joins bus a closer welcome at the plans. we're seeing this all the time where the residents turn out to voice their opposition and the projects seem to get approved despite the uproar. >> we do see that an awful lot. if you look at the comments on social media, many people feel like their elected officials simply aren't listening. in there on your side report, we take a look behind the reasons of this decision and other controversial ones regarding development and what you need to know as a home and landowner. the city of renner assistant city manager bill thomas has a background in land use planning.

to projects like this, 237-lot housing development proposed in veer die. he shares with some some of the decision-making process by elected officials to explain why controversial projects like this one get approval. >> the common misperception, i think, in the development process is that because somebody doesn't like something, that's grounds to allow the council to say no. >> reporter: thomas says the development is a legal process, and for electeds, it includes a balancing act, weighing the rights of the residents versus the rights of the developer. in this project, among other things, residents worry about water and wells running dry. >> there are approximately 45 basins in the state of nevada that are over appropriated, meaning there are more water rights on paper than there is water in the ground. >> reporter: and you guessed it, the basin used by these residents among those 45 basins.

because that is a big concern. >> again, one of the misperceptions that the council at the end of the day make as determination on whether or not there is water. we don't. the city of reno doesn't. >> reporter: if the city of reno is not responsible, then who is? we learned it is the state water engineer who relies on science and a complicated system of water rights laws to make the determination that there is enough water. thomas has this advice for resident whose might find themselves opposed to the development project. >> reporter: most frustrating to people is i think lat of times they look at the documents and think they're placed in stone, but they're not. what is really placed in stone is the procedure by which they can be changed and amended. >> reporter: thomas says elected officials can change projects to address concerns, and they do. in this case, the developer lowered the density of the project by 30 lots. the developer also agreed to double the amount of money if promised to pay for school improvements to the schools

it may not be what everyone wanted, but thomas says, again, it is a balancing act. shelby? >> thank you so much. well, the reno police department is rolling out a new app today. it is calledmy r. p.d. the app aims to better connect police with people in the reno community using the convenience of their smart phones. you can use the app to do things like file a police report, view a map of crimes in the area, see missing persons or even find the nearest hospital. one of the officers who spearheaded making the app says he hopes it usuals people to communicate better with police. >> when we look at community policing, we feel like this is a gray area. we weren't hitting. we can offer web solutions. we can offer a walk in to the station. here is this platform that we feel is really untapped locally, so we wanted to have a presence there. >> reporter: and the app is available to down load right now for both android and i known users. to learn more about how the reno city council plans to use the app, watch our full report

nevada prison officials say they're adding more guards and training officers how to use rubber bullets in an effort to end deadly shootings behind bars. they have defended the presence of shotguns in prisons during a meeting today. the state is currently facing lawsuits over prison shootings, including one at the high desert state prison take left an inmate dead. the prison officials say new tools reduce the need for lethal force, but it remain as valuable and potentially life- saving last resort. the chart irhigh school may be shut down by the end of the month. the main reason? a lack of funding. we sat down with students and teachers to hear how this will affect them. >> reporter: rain h shadow community charter high school will potentially be shut down by the washoe county school district due to a financial problem. the 113-student school was given a year to turn things around, but unfortunately it hasn't turned it around enough. the administration doesn't want

>> and the superintendent davis said it. you want to graduate from your home. your want to graduate from your school. and for a lot of our seniors, this is their home. this is their school. >> reporter: the majority of the students that go to rain shadow felt that they didn't fit in at any other school, especiallily those who struggle with anxiety. >> i am on track to graduate this semester, but if the school closes, i don't know what i would do. i might try online school just to finish it out, but that would be very difficult. i might have to move again just to make sure i can graduate. >> reporter: since the student population is so small at rain shadow, every teacher knows their class on a personal level. >> there are student whose can't have their needs met in a larger school setting, and that's why we're here. and if we get closed down, when, if, whatever the case is, there will be students that don't want to go back to what they came from. >> when i come here, every teacher shows me like different

and they say like things that i'm not really good at, and they go from improvement from there, you know. >> reporter: a big burden on the school is having the pay for the rent of the building on top of everything tar heels a school needs to provide. they're hoping that the district will give them a chance to finish out the school year so that their senior cans graduate. >> i've learned that i can be myself and like really -- i just learn more about who i am really. >> it is a heart break really. my heart feels like it is breaking half the time. >> in reno, news 4. timers understand that if a school stays open until graduation that they may not receive their june and july pay or benefits. they say that their main priority is their students. the next school board meeting to see where the school stands will be on january 26. have you heard? the san francisco 49ers picked autopsy new head coach, chip kelly today, who was just let go by the eagles.

kaepernick's career as a quarterback? our sports team is weighing in on that tonight. plus, with plenty of snow in the mountains mnorthern nevadans are breathing a sigh of relief that the drought might be over, but is that being too optimistic?

track welcome back, everyone. driving around town, we're seeing something we haven't seen in the past few years. the mountain peeks -- peaks covered in white. >> it has certainly been a

and at a critical time following four straight years of drought. tonight's news 4's bill frankmore covered the drought extensively this summer and we hope to turn the page to what we hope will be an extremely wet winter. >> reporter: you cannot only see this winter's snow pack is off to a great start, you hear it. the first snow survey of the year at mount rose was in stark contrast to the sights and sounds of the final snow survey last spring. >> it was historically low that was the lowest snow pack we had seen in 100 years of measurements. >> reporter: the usda high control gist jeff anderson has been on both sides of the survey. last spring's pitiful measurement and this year's encouraging one. >> right now we're at a sort of a turning point. if we can get through january with the average precipitation, that would be fantastic for our water supply. >> reporter: it has certainly been a fantastic start to the year for ski resorts after dismal seasons before this seem

>> last year i hardly got to ski at all. the year before, very little. >> reporter: the bigger resorts made do with snow making equipment working overtime to provide what mother nature couldn't. but some of the smaller resorts like tahoe donner simply had to close down. >> mother nature does drive some of our benefits, and also some of our hardship. >> reporter: after three tough year where is they had to close up shop early here at tahoe donner, they knew they had to do something, some type of an insurance policy, and you're looking at it. they purchased brand-new snow making equipment. they have tested it. it works, but fortunately they haven't had to use it yet. >> it is like health insurance. we do have it, and in case we need to use it, we'll have it in our back pocket now. >> and hopefully in the pocket is where they'll stay. the downhill resort has already had record sale this is year thanks in large part to several photoof snow. and the cross country center was able to open before thanksgiving.

christmas season as well so it has been incredible snow, incredible facility and a lot of happy skiers. >> reporter: high control gist jeff anderson is optimistic the snow will keep falling, and at the same time he is hoping recent history doesn't repeat itself. you see, this above average start to the snow pack is almost identical to 2013. >> everything was looking bright that year, too, but come january 1, the storm track just shut off, and there was hardly any precipitation for the rest of the winter and that year ended up way below average. >> reporter: everyone is hoping that is not the case this year, and el nino may help in a big way. but anderson says don't look at this winter as a drought buster. >> you just be happy with getting on the right track, i take isn't it? >> i think to get out of a four- year-long drought, it is going to take more than one winter. if we can move in that direction this year, we have to be happy with that and just hope for another big winter next year. >> reporter: bill frankmore, news 4. and so what would it take

anderson says a record snow pack measuring about 230% of normal. if that surprises you, keep in mind we basically lost more than an entire year of average precipitation during the four- year drought. >> well, at least we seem to be on the right track. and with that in mind, we check in with madison corney. we have a very wet pattern as we head toward the weekend. madison? >> we definitely do, joe and shelby. this is snowfall totals from the latest system and mount rose ski. nine to 11-inches there. north star at 10 inches. sugar bowl recording a foot of snow a little less at sierra with just five inches there. we are looking at another system making its way in tonight, and we really have active weather on the entire seven-day forecast. so on live doppler radar, we are still seeing snow hitting the sierra and then we're also seeing storm systems through fallin and making their way towards austin. reno-sparks area, kind of getting skipped over tonight.

spill into the foothills, but otherwise we're looking pretty dry out there tonight. we do still have a chance to see those showers out there. we do have a winter tomorrow warning in effect until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow for the western part of the sierra, and we could see anywhere from six to 12 inches of snow possible there, especially in the counties, and then as we head further east, we're looking at one to four inches possible below 5,000 feet along the sierra and south of the reno area in that purple shaded area. and then we've got a wind advisory in effect. we're rooking at winds out of the southwest between 20 and 30 miles per hour and gusts upwards of 65 miles per hour. and the most wind prone areas, one of those places is the washoe valley area right now. >> in reno, we're sitting at 38 degrees with cloudy skies and the winds out of the south at 25 miles per hour and relative humidity at 68%. around the area, we are below freezing around the lake, south lake tahoe, and truckee sitting at 30 degrees at this hour. as you can see, they are going

snow through -- excuse me, overnight tonight and things not really clearing out until early tomorrow morning. and then the things really clearing up at that 10:00 hour when the weather advisories and warnings do expire. and then by 7:00 tomorrow night, we see the cloud cover making its way back in and then another system hitting us tomorrow night. for reno and sparks, we're looking at 34 degrees. we have a 60% chance to see a mix of rain and snow between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. overnight tonight. tomorrow we're looking at mostly cloudy skies after about the 10:00 hour with winds dying down tomorrow also. eastern nevada is going to see gusty conditions with day time highs in the 30s here. and then the overnight lows down into the 20s. fallin at 33 degrees tonight and topping out at 45 degrees tomorrow so with these warmer day time highs, we are looking at more of a mix of rain and snow at the lower elevations, even around the lake with the warmer day time highs in the mid to upper 30s. even the lower 40s in some areas. susanville looking to see rain,

valley floor tonight, we will dip down into the 30s, just above the freezing mark. some places just below and then the winds tomorrow out of the southwest at about five to 10 miles per hour. as i mentioned, there is a chance for rain or snow every single day on your extended forecast, so we're really starting to see the next system pick up on saturday and then the system after that, monday and tuesday. those chances really increasing for that storm. but as you can see, our day time highs are warmer than what we have seen over the last couple of weeks. as we hit the mid to upper 40s, at the lower elevations we're definitely looking to see rain. at the higher elevations, their day time high is slightly above average as well so a mix of rain and snow possible thereupon. back over to you guys. madison, after weeks of rumors, it is official. the san francisco 49ers have found their new head coach. the niners have hired the former philadelphia eagles and the university of oregon coach chip kelly. he comes after three seasons in philly where his teams went 26-

and while in oregon, kelly was dominant. he wept 44-5, a national title contender on an annual basis. he was let go by the eagle force the end of this season. what is really interesting about this is what does this do to the former nevada quarterback coul inkaepernick and his situation in san francisco? benched by the niners, and the coach who was fired, this happened back in november. and cap is exactly the type of quarterback that chip kelly wants to use in his spread offense system. it is an upbeat sort of offense, and really up tempo so do the niners keepcap? they do have some high draft picks. or do they go another way? >> this could be really good news for him. >> i think it is great news for kaepernick. we did discover hints online today. the 49ers online apparel store, all kaepernick merchandise that was on clear answer? >> it is no longer on clearance. >> and take you what you want from that. >> and it seemed like he might be heading out the door and now all of a sudden this is a great

>> and chip kelly mentioned he wanted to sign colin kaepernick

>> stay with us. we unveil a bland new poll on the presidential race. it contain as big eye opener in the republican contest. we'll tell you about a warning to some where i am travelers about a virus that could be a serious threat to unborn children. and amal clooney in her first network tv interview when we see you back here tonight judgement and then tonight at 6:00, the gop debate is just minutes away. this is the last republican debate before the highly talked about iowa caucus. we'll have a live report from charleston. and coming up tonight at 6:00, the carson city school district recently spent $12 million to install solar panels at five of its schools. so what happens now that the commission is cutting the net

a viewer asked about that and that will be coming up in my ask joe segment tonight at 6:00. >> that's all for news 4 at

we'll see you tonight, the clash in carolina.

collide in tonight's