game tonight in plenty of wind and bundle up for the first alert forecast. good evening, i'm jean jadhon. and i'm chris hurst. selection continues in pulaski county for the trial of ashley white. dozens of potential jurors are being told to go home after saying they've either formed an opinion of how noah thomas died or made a comment on social media about his death. wdbj7's justin ward is live in pulaski with tonight's top story. witnesses are expected to take the stand tomorrow. a day later than scheduled. the jury selection process is slow - so far 24 people were put in a jury pool. the judge wants 30 people in that pool before choosing 12 jurors and two alternates. white's sister, her husband, and a friend have been there during this process. at times white

seeming to express her annoyance with how long it's taking to seat a jury. she also cried on several occasions when potential jurors talked about times they met noah and white. a neighbor of noah's grandparents said he talked with the five year old when the boy visited his grandparents house. sheriff jim davis was in the courtroom also throughout the day observing the questioning. mike fleenor, the commonwealth's attorney had no comment on the jury selection process when he left for lunch. he is concerned about how her lawyers are handling the questions. he says kelsey bulger, white's attorney, is asking too many follow up questions that may be inappropriate to the case. both sides disagreed about wording of a question about the parents' role in a child's life. the judge finally decided they could both ask it to jurors with their own changes. the prosecutor's witnesses are now rescheduled to come tomorrow. her lawyers asked their witnesses to come thursday.

forecastwhen you cold outside no matter where you went some of these awesome snow a lot of you did not but everybody was dealing with a pretty chilly day to day wind gusts in the twenty twenty five mile an hour range normally that's not too bad but it is when it's cold and then it drops the feels like temperature that windchill factor below zero a mere ingles field in hot springs and mostly single digits as you run down southwest and central virginia here's a case in point at martinsville right now the winds are coming out of the west at about 15 miles an hour the actual air temperature is 27 but it feels like it's sixteen this can be plenty more of that coming up in the next few days here's the snow showers right now doesn't look like much on the radar does it do when you get down will be

happening bestow showers are quickly blowing across certain communities coding the ground a renowned and everything is cold enough to start sticking it blacksburg right now just north of town is looking it's a pretty decent subversively coming in across a route one fourteen 114 around 11 right now more that again this evening is so because of that with the services that really changed their visors and warning still up for the greenbrier valley and a little bit to the south advisories for everything else just of the west where the season for some time to time that can beell and the man who is accused of killing her. the washington post is reporting that one of lovell's friends says the 13- year-old called david eisenhauer her boyfriend. the friend also says that lovell met eisenhauer online and talked about running away and starting a family with him. eisenhauer who is a virginia tech student, is charged with abduction and first-degree murder. another virginia tech student, natalie keepers, is charged in connection to lovell's death. nicole's father, david lovell, said in

that nicole had recently been grounded from social media for chatting inappropriately online with older men. david lovell said they found out before christmas and took her phone away, although she later got it back. when it comes to social media, many parents want to know how they can protect their kids. the christiansburg police department does regular internet safety classes with students, but classes for parents haven't been popular in the past. until now. investigators say the biggest lesson they teach parents is the dangers phones and apps can cause. (maureen mcclanahan, investigator, internet crimes against children, christiansburg police department) it's not just texting to their friends anymore, it's texting to the whole world and a lot of the apps that are offered to the children are available to be anonymous and if the parents are unaware of that, they don't know who technically is entering into their home just from talking to their children. the next public meeting is february 23 at 7 p-m at the christiansburg recreation center. go to wdbj7 dot com for more

new at six - roanoke county police are investigating a series of purse snatchings across the roanoke valley in the last two days. one woman has been arrested and police are looking for another. wdbj-7's shayne dwyer is here now in studio with us tonight. shayne, how is this happening? jean police say the thieves are stealing the purses out of shopping carts or stealing it directly out of the victim's hands and then running away. the thefts have all taken place during the middle of the day at busy shopping centers and police say they may be connected. the first one happened sunday afternoon at the goodwill on brambleton avenue. the second incident happened less than an hour later at the clearbrook walmart. and the third happened around the same time the next day at the kroger on williamson road. police say the women are taking cash from the purses and then dumping them somewhere else. only one purse has been recovered so far and that was at the shell gas station on plantation road. police have arrested and charged sandra coleman of roanoke with grand larceny. but investigators are still looking for another woman. she was wearing a pink wrap on her head and a leopard fur jacket. if you have any information call

shayne dwyer wdbj-7. today we learned new details about what happened before a woman killed her friend last year in danville. in court today, christy beskin pleaded guilty to killing donna hiatt- lanier and setting her house on fire. wdbj7's danielle staub was in court and got reaction from the victim's family. deborah caldwell-bono, beskin attorney "she didn't go there with the intention to kill donna, they were best friends. a long time. " a guilty plea in a danville murder case is what christy beskin's attorney is calling a proper resolution for both families. caldwell-bono "she's being held responsible for what she's resposible for. tragedy all the way around. you have two families that have lost what they should not have lost at this early stage." beskin faces 50 years in prison and one hundred thousand dollars in fines for killing donna hiatt-lanier and setting her house on fire wayne aaron, donna's counsin, "today was of course very emotional for the entire family." hiatt-lanier's family called the guilty plea a touch of closure as

happened that fateful day. aaron "donna reached forward one more time and she hit her one more time. just little things like this, very devastating for the family to hear." and happy that they will not have to sit through a trial. aaron "did not see any remorse. i know that, sometimes looks can be deceiving but at least she has admitted to the crime." in court, after much evidence linked beskin to the murder, beskin's attorneys explained both women had been using crack cocaine and drinking alcohol for about 12 hours before the murder. beskin's attorney says she pleaded guilty because of the evidence against her. beskin will be sentenced next month. in danville, danielle staub wdbj7 a lynchburg man admits he helped a friend beat another person to death. daryl simmons pleaded guilty to felony malicious wounding this morning. prosecutors say he and demarcus twyman killed a man named kevin irvine back in 2014, using nothing more than their hands and feet.

malicious wounding back in december. they both face up to 20 years in prison when they're sentenced at a later date. als was really highlighted about two years ago with the ice bucket challenge, remember that? but there's something about this disease that might surprise you. wdbj7 anchor melissa gaona has been looking into this disease for the past few months. melissa, what did you find? jean and chris, if you served in the united states military, you are twice as likely to be diagnosed with als. its amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or lou gehrig's disease. this is a nervous system disease that weakens your muscles and really impacts physical movements. it's a very rare disease and there are just under twenty-thousand year. there's no cure and five years. one thing's for sure though, no matter what branch you served, combat or non-combat, according to the institute of medicine a higher risk of developing als. "i asked ron, i said

water good, was it purified, we were just trying to piece together." tonight we'll hear from a widow in roanoke who lost her husband to als a year and a half after he was diagnosed. you'll also hear from a veteran in blacksburg who is living with this disease and how he's coping. and of course, jean and chris, we'll talk with a neurologist at the salem va who actually diagnoses veterans. if you served in the military and have been diagnosed with als, you may be eligible for services through the va. we are your hometown news leader, wdbj7 state lawmakers

lethal injection in virginia. and we're following up with a galax business nearly a week after it was vandalized.

penalty legislation this year in the general assembly. in the event that lethal injection is unavailable, the that the electric chair will be used instead. the bill advanced today on the floor of the house of delegates, but not without objections. charniele herring/(d) 46th district alexandria: the bill

corrections director can mandate the method of execution over the condemned inmates method of choice. if you look closely at the bill, it actually will in my opinion expand it to include things like firing squads and hanging. jackson miller/(r) 50th district manassas: that is not a method used here, therefore the good lady from alexandria['s concerns would be unfounded. the american civil liberties union and other death penalty opponents are fighting the bill, but it is headed for approval in the house. an execution is scheduled in virginia in mid-march. a follow up tonight to the vandalism at a galax furniture plant. we learned today that vaughan- bassett may be able to re-open starting next week. a former employee is accused of dumping black stain into the finishing tanks last week. much of the plant has been closed since, but owners expect all employees will be able to return to work on monday. cory dean hodges is charged with breaking and entering and felony destruction of property. . bedford county is hoping to attract bike

new tourism effort. last night county supervisors approved 75-hundred dollars to put up signs for a bike trail at smith mountain lake. the route is 50 miles long and designed to showcase some of the lake's most breathtaking scenery. around 50 signs will be installed at a cost of around 250 dollars each. the project is designed to attract visitors and coincide with the lake's 50th anniversary. there is a change in the air and it's a cold change. meteorologist robin reed is talking about the impact of this cold forecast. here is a look at the highs, lows and precipitation at the regional airports. we are back with the complete first alert forecast after this

showers.ski resorts love this weather wintergreen is no exception not only do we get some snow showers on the time lapse with it's a man-made snow blown down there as well. conditions are just fine cold upon the mount non- solar bubble up pretty well i here's what's going on at the moment we've got thirties twenties and teens on the board is the monitor is measuring it you notice lynchburg and the

retake romig is dropped to twenty eight twenty three and blacksburg and nineteenth in galax so all of this a westerly component of the wind which is transporting in that colder air we continue to be nine degrees colder than we were twenty four hours ago and you can see back toward chicago memphis it's colder still and that's what's ended our way so we'll be dropping down another ten degrees from where we were today which was right around forty degree marks up it just keeps reinforcing the snow bands are also fun to watch on the radar to does look like much but if you're underneath underneath these things. these things are streaky than their following the wind wind is blowing in there just sort of lowering visibility for little almond and they're gone about it so cold now that everything is coding as it comes through and this machine that creates these kinds of snow showers is likely to stay on for another twenty four hours so we'll keep the clouds in the forecast in the snow showers as well about fifteen and i

martinsville and nineteen in covington clifton forge those of the overnight lows as the temperatures measured in the course it will feel colder than that with the wind blowing on exposed skin which forecast model see how retirement was long streaks of snow and it just continues for the next 24 hours the source region back appear in the great lakes continues to pump down the northwest we went and so will have breaks of sun tomorrow or sunday we saw today that it just keeps getting colder it's an arctic air blast with his compliments of a buckling jet stream and the fact the eastern half countries all caught in this low and it reveals temperatures like this for thursday friday saturday sunday these of the highs wait to see the overnight lows that's really what is causing us to feel like a behind impact on your weekend father sunday for wednesday blustery 32 rona twenty one louisburg twenty four degrees in galax to pretty much have given you that set up there's not really much to talk about in terms of

friday and even then were not exactly sure how does the shape of the will label it as a thirty maybe forty 30 maybe 40% chance for some snow showers flurries on wednesday low wind chills on thursday as we get another wave of the skull there've been reinforced by the time again in the weekend were labeling him impact because of those overnight low temperatures if you're out and about first thing in the morning you are going to know it and you should be prepared for it were also watching the computer models carefully for monday and tuesday an area of low pressures trying to form along the coast and that may bring a little moisture away and of course with temperatures like thirteen and thirty six it would be a snow shower sucked a lot going on there i suspect it's a lot warmer in owners, plus the hokies and hoos renew pleasantries tonight in charlottesville. zac glover checks in from john paul jones arena. coming up on wednesday we'll have your final

hampshire primary. dr. bob denton joins us to tell us what it means for the future of the race. and we talk to roanoke city public schools about the growing homelessness problem going on in our community. plus our next blast of arctic air moves in tomorrow. i'll let you know how cold it will

a.m. on paper, it just doesn't look like a fair fight. 7th-ranked virginia taking on the hokies in charlottesville. but as we know, when these two teams get together, anything

tony bennett, virginia head coach: "we have to play a better basketball game. they're playing good basketball. even some of the games they lost have been right to the wire. they beat a very good clemson team, and certainly have the talent, and they play real hard. they put a lot of pressure on you, with their athleticism and their ability to stretch it. leday is playing well at the four, so it'll take just a real good performance, like it does almost every night out in the acc." buzz williams, virginia tech head coach: "seven of our eleven games have been decided by two possessions or less. so we're teetering on the threshold of you want to go this way, or do you want to go this way? this will be a character revealed game of this team." zac glover: nascar ceo brian france unveiled the sport's new charter plan this afternoon, calling it a landmark change to the business model of team ownership in nascar. it's a nine year deal that guarantees 36 teams have charters

into every race. standards for obtaining a charter were based on participation during the past three seasons four additional spots each week will be set according to normal qualifying procedures, and the fields have been reduced from 43 to 40 cars. the idea is to give the team owners and sponsors some stability and increase team value. brian france/nascar ceo: where we ended up is a very good place because we believe we made the team owner model more reliable, more stable, more open to new investors, come into the sport and we've way that of the traditions that are important to nascar, the level, how we qualify for events, the fact that if you have the talent and the aspiration to join nascar, you can do that in the new model as you could in the old. but in the end, we have a model that fits the 21st

the agreement means that the cars of kurt busch and carl edwards don't have charters, because they are new teams since the 2013 season, but they will buy the two owned by now defunct michael waltrip racing. sadly, despite being in the sport for 60 plus years, the wood brothers don't have one either since they haven't raced full time in 9 years, meaning they'll have to qualify on speed each week, unless they can strike a deal to buy another team's charter. stocks closed slightly lower today after a drop in oil prices. the dow fell 13. nasdaq dropped 15.