millions drawing. melissa gaona.

first on wdbj-7, the trial for ashley white will continue thursday now but without a jury. just hours ago the judge accepted a compromise from the commonwealth's attorney and white's lawyers to hold a bench trial instead of a jury trial. white is charged with child abuse and neglect. her son noah thomas was found dead in a septic tank near the family's pulaski county home. kelsey bulger, her attorney, said it was impossible to seat a jury in pulaski county because so many people know about the case either through media or social media. both sides waived a jury trial. this comes after the court interviewed 66 potential jurors in two days and and filled its jury pool. about 60 percent of jurors were dismissed because they said they had an opinion or had heard about the case. new at 11: police are looking for a man they say robbed a pharmacy in rocky mount. it happened just after 5 at the family pharmacy in the schewels plaza on franklin street. authorities say joshua cundiff took an unknown amount of drugs from the business.

he ran away into woods. local and state police searched the area but weren't able to find him. call police if you have any information. new details into a danville murder case during a guilty plea today. christy michelle beskin pleaded guilty in danville circuit court to arson and murder of donna hiatt-lanier in march 20-15. beskin's attorney says the two were friends for a long time. she says beskin did not go to hiatt- lanier's house with intentions to kill. in court today, beskin admits her actions in the home were not self defense. attorney's continued to explain how beskin brought a juvenile with her to buy lighter fluid and burn down the home with hiatt-lanier's body inside. deborah caldwell-bono, beskin attorney "10, 12 hours of drinking and drugging and putting those things in your system when you don't even know what it is this is the kind of stuff it can lead to. so, many some people out there can take part and stop what they are doing now before they end up like

hiatt-lanier's family tells wdbj7 they are happy this will not go to trial and that beskin admitted to what she did. beskin's attorney says she pleaded guilty because of the evidence against her. she faces 50 years in prison and a one hundred thousand dollar fine. sentencing is set for march. we're learning more about the relationship between nicole lovell and the killing her. the washington post reports that a friend of lovell's says she called david eisenhauer talked about running away with him. eisenhauer is charged with abduction and first- degree murder. natalie keepers is also charged in connection to the teen's death. nicole's father, david lovell, said in a recently recorded episode of "dr. phil" that she had been grounded from social media for chatting online with older men. he said they found out before christmas and took her phone away, but she got it back later. following the death of nicole lovell, parents are asking for tips on internet safety, as social

crime. the christiansburg police department says they offer safety classes whenever they're asked too, and recently they've had a lot of requests. the classes discuss cell phones, apps, social media, and their affects on teenagers. investigators say parents usually have similar misconceptions reguarding cell phone safety for their kids. (maureen mcclanahan, investigator, internet crimes against children, christiansburg police department) they really don't realize that it's a computer that the children are walking around with. they think that they're monitoring the laptop or the computer at home and that the cell phones are not as dangerous but it's actually more so dangerous. the next public class is february 23 in christiansburg. we have much more information on wdbj7 dot com. daystepping outside the door tonight you can feel it right away the wind is still out the temperatures are coming down and it feels very cold outside this is what happens when you combine the

as you can see if you go out underprepared with wind gusts looking like this you're going to be in trouble so running anywhere from twenty five or thirty miles an hour at this late hour and we find ourselves watching for snow showers as well or like snow flurries in some communities the new rivervalley still in line for a track that's bringing it in the broader picture shows that this is a really huge flow coming out of the great lakes. not a lot of moisture. by the time he gets to our corner of the world but upstream where the lakes are little closer by its knowing just a little bit harder this is your wednesday notice that the skies of the partly cloudy notice the temperatures don't have a chance to go up or a much of all the other thing there were monitoring of the wind gusts and as you can the hour by hour they're still running anywhere from a twenty 20 to 25 miles an hour lease bundle up accordingly tomorrow be comfortable and hang and it's no surprise who came out on top. donald trump as the republican winner of meanwhile john

game paid off, earning the ohio governor a second place finish. on the democratic side senator bernie sanders came out on top over hillary clinton. she conceded victory to sanders but promised to keep pushing forward. the next contests will be february 20- th, with a democratic caucus in nevada and g-o-p primary in south carolina. we're following up on efforts to curb speeding through neighborhoods in roanoke county. today, county leaders discussed ways to make the roads safer. w-d-b-j-7's khiree stewart was at the meeting and tells us some of the ways they might put the breaks on drivers. chris, some neighbors i spoke with in south roanoke said speeding is a fast growing problem. "we're concerned about our neighbors. our kids who stand at the bus stop and have to jump back from speeders and our dogs, and because we care about each other." sarah kennedy lives near canter drive in roanoke. she says fast drivers are putting her and her child's lives in danger. 17:29:21 - 17:29:28 "i don't like people doing it because i feel like they're going to go off the road and hit

on tuesday, they attended a meeting of the board of supervisor's to work towards a solution to the problem. some of their options include raising the fine to 200 dollars, adding speed humps, and more signage. another idea is to use a policy in place in henrico county. 18:09:32 - 18:09:47 "henrico is a stepped approach. they start with enhanced fines and if it goes unsuccessful, they consider physical engineering improvements to the roadways like speed humps and other things to help slow traffic down." howard hall is the chief of police for roanoke county. he says speeding is probably the top complaint they hear from residents. 18:12:01 - 18:12:15 "no one thing is going to be a perfect solution. there are a series of options our board has to consider at the end of the day, we'll work towards the policy decision they'd like to make." some supervisors had concerns on whether raising the fine would actually speeding. neighbors said otherwise... 18:04:01 "people need to stay

the real concern and that's safety, lives. someone is going to recover from a 300 dollar fine in their life, a lot faster than is they injure someone." either way, kennedy says something needs to be done quickly. 17:29:36 - 17:29:50 "i worry about my kids and i worry about my neighbors and we just want everyone to be safe, we're not trying to penalize anyone, we're saying 'lets all follow the law and respect each other and try to create a safe environment to everyone in our neighborhood." i'm told it's too early to tell when the issue will go in front of the board again. you can read more of the recommendations presented to board by clicking on this story at w-d-b-j-7 dot com. khiree stewart, w- d-b-j-7. general motors is recalling more than 400-thousand trucks and s-u-vs because of a brake pedal problem. the car company says the brake pedals can loosen and fail to work properly. this recall covers certain 20-15 and 20-16 chevy silverados, g-m-c sierras and tahoe police vehicles. g-m says so far there have been no reported crashes or injuries. dealers will inspect the brakes and retighten them if needed. gm says the recall should begin shortly. president barack obama has signed

help upgrade cybersecurity in the u-s. this after several data breaches hit agencies including the department of justice. the president wants to increase cybersecurity spending by more than 35-percent from last year. a republican- dominated congress will need to sign off on the proposal. the president says he's hopeful that the cybersecurity initiative will pass. the court martial of sergeant bowe bergdahl is officially on hold. the judge is waiting for an appeals court to make a decision about whether classified evidence should be shared with bergdahl's defense team. bergdahl is accused of desertion, after his capture outside a us military base in afghanistan in 2009. his captors released him in exchange for five taliban detainees. a follow up tonight on the water crisis in flint, michigan. flint's mayor has proposed a 55- million dollar plan to replace lead pipes in the city's water system. she announced the proposal as a way to fix the water crisis as quickly as possible. first priority would be given to the most

meanwhile michigan governor rick snyder has turned down an invitation to testify at a congressional hearing tomorrow. his spokesman says the governor has to deliver a budget presentation to state lawmakers the same day. the virginia house has okay'd a bill that would let students schools switch to a different one. under that measure, the state would identify 12 schools and give to transfer. some critics are concerned about what would happen if a lot of students wanted to switch to an already overcrowded school. the bill now heads to the senate. the timetable for building a new school in bedford county is being pushed back because of diagreements about the project's cost. school board members say they want to start construction on a new bedford middle school this year. contractors have indicated the cost for both the school and a new gym at nearby liberty high school could exceed 50 million. county supervisors aren't willing to spend that much. last night they delayed a vote to

the project, which is frustrating the school board. gary hostutler/school board chairman: "education is changing. here is our chance to do it right and build a school that is going to reflect well on the community and last a long time." the board of supervisors will vote on a funding resolution at their next meeting. they will likely commit 44 million, based on recent discussions. if you don't like grocery eggs you can now get fresh ones straight from the bird. the company is called rent the chicken. wdbj7's noell saunders tells us how to get those eggs. rent the chicken was started in 2013 by a husband and wife in pennsylvania who loved the idea of providing a food source closer to their table. now the company has 24 locations across the country, including two in virginia. i spoke to a local affiliate today whose been doing this for one year. you may have heard of a company called rent the chicken. there's two of them in virginia. "something our

being able to provide our own food" lindsey crook and her husband own a local rent the chicken affliliate in thaxton, virginia. up to four egg laying chickens can be rented for six months at a fixed price. "with four hens that runs around 600 dollars. with a smaller coop that we have that is two hens and that runs around 400 dollars" the company's concept is from the "yard to the table" it's a way to provide fresh homegrown eggs to families. " of course they are going to be very different then what you get at the gorcery store. ours are cage-free. you know you let your birds out in free range and they're able to get more of the ground. they're able to get bugs and things. you know what you are putting into your bugs versus what goes ito those at the gocery store" each chicken can lay up to 7 eggs per week. all of the chicken coops are portable and come with a full supply of items. "we bring you enough food to provide for them the whole time. they also have a food and water dish

them and with that you do get the coop and your hens as well" your chickens you can adopt them or hatch your own. we'll have more information on rent the chicken and how you can have your very own on wdbj7.com. noell saunders wdbj7. new tonight - canadian pacific plans to submit a resolution on a possible deal with norfolk southern this spring. norfolk southern has rejected all of canadian pacific's offers even as they approached roughly 30 billion dollars. canadian pacific sys combining its railroad with norfolk southern would create a more efficient operation, and cut annual costs. you're watching your hometown news leader, wdbj7. coming up, what we know--and still don't- about a rare disease that's

more than any other. getting in harms way. but what many don't realize is our military veterans are under attack from a completely different kind of enemy. it comes unannounced. nat "i nicknamed it torture" it's deadly. nat "taking away parts of your body." it's called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. nat "no one seems to know where it comes from." you may have heard of it...remember the ice bucket challenge

2014? nat saying "als" you may have also heard the term lou gehrig's disease named after a famous baseball player who was diagnosed. nat "today i consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." it's a neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. and for some reason it's targeting our soldiers. nat of terry with dogs 20:40:20 ?? meet terry colpitts from blacksburg. he was a doctor at montgomery regional hospital for thirty years working in the er. he was diagnosed with als about a year ago. terry colpitts/veteran "it's kinda weird when you're hoping you have cancer or something like that because at least those diseases are treatable." terry served active duty in the coast guard back in the 70's. terry colpitts/veteran "people that are in combat and non combat people have the same increased risk for being in the military, where is the link? the link is unknown but one thing's for sure, those who serve in the military are twice as likely to

you may remember wayne zellers of radford. wdbj7 featured him and his brother two years ago in a story about serving in the vietnam war. zellers passed away three months ago shortly after being diagnosed with als. ronald lewis from roanoke served in the army in the eighties, but never deployed overseas. in 2013, lewis died from als within a year and a half of being diagnosed. his wife patrice describes the disease that took her husband. patrice lewis/widow "the lack of the use of your arms, the inability to walk, the inability to speak, to drink, to eat, to move." doctor "g" is a neurologist at the salem va and when diagnosing veterans the emg is one test that will confirm als. nat of emg machine testing

ask, "how did this happen to me?" dr. gullapalli/neurologist "there is an association with military service with als but still it is not clear what the association is." he says he sees about ten to fifteen new military patients with als every year and breaking the news is never easy. dr. gullapalli/neurologist "most of them are shocked, i've had a few patients who have actually passed out." it's not confirmed, but according to the institute of medicine, factors that might lead into the increased risk of als in veterans are exposure to lead, pesticides or other environmental contacts, tobacco, alcohol, or extreme physical exertion. even though no one can tell terry how he contracted als, doctors do know ninety percent of patients have only two to five years to live. terry retired the same day he was diagnosed. terry colpitts/veteran "i had a retirement plan where we were going to travel the world

derail that." and he didn't. two months after he was diagnosed, despite already having to walk with a cane, terry took his family to key west, florida. a few months later and now in a wheelchair, terry went to the caribbean to scuba dive. shortly after that, cage diving with great white sharks in africa. and just last week, here's video of terry in colorado adaptive skiing. terry colpitts/veteran "are you afraid to die, terry? no, i'm not. "the only planning i've done is put a do not recessitate order." no two people with als are alike or will they experience this disease the same way. research is improving but still there is no cure, just treatments for pain and to slow the process of dying. terry colpitts/veteran "it's not the number of years that a man lives, it's how he spends his years that's important." wayne zellers is the veteran who gave me this story idea after

when i called him to explain i was finally doing the story, it was too late. so, i'm dedicating this story to the life of wayne zellers and all the veterans who have suffered from this disease. if you are a veteran diagnosed with als, you may be eligible for benefits and services from the salem va, even if you've never used the va before. you'll want to contact tammy snyder and we've posted her information on

the complete

after the break mea rather common view today featured plenty plenty of clouds or menominee consists of flurries

use it looks like rain but it was snow and often on today assistance in chile chile chile and it's certainly that way tonight is our 24-hour temperature change is still very robust and will continue tomorrow i temperatures will drop by about ten more degrees for daytime highs were arianna pretty good track right now for very cold evening with numbers in the teens and 20s plaques fur down to twenty one now lexington the twenty six in danville at 29 our first alert doppler radar monitoring some snow showers that are working their way around southwest virginia pretty much that favored pathway into the new river valley and is a drop-down in a place like blacksburg and christiansburg continuing to provide like coatings the storm system itself is ito run the great lakes here powerful system and it is dragging moisture into the normal snow belt areas cleveland buffalo primarily saginaw michigan also catching

indiana so the bigger snows of their lesser snows for us but everybody is in this cold weather idea overnight mortar drop a few more degrees from where where we are now and as you can see him it's can be a cold night teens and twenties twenty three in danville and as we watched the forecast model it's the same pattern the winstone change to that flow continues those bursts of snow showers continue this could be harder to get over the mountains because there's not as much moisture available all the cold air is available but there's not much to tap into in terms of providing unique and the continuous snows really were just can be focusing primarily on these wins in these temperatures is partly sunny on wednesday blustery and cold numbers showing highs only in the lower twenties that's the best we can do lynchburg and about thirty five that's when state thursdays can be just another day were we reinforcing cold air which leads to problem on friday little buckle in the jetstream is can it create a pathway for low-pressure to follow right now there's a lot

possibility that we could be looking at snow showers and maybe little icing in north carolina currently were thinking this is going to be a light event because you really know exactly where the low-pressure center is the lineup and how strong it can be but we want to give you an idea of what may be headed your way so the short term wednesday thursday friday we go from flurries. to very low wind chills really given me a cold day and then friday i were dealing with the possibility of the snow showers this saturday sunday the reason we haven't labeled as an impact they look at this overnight lows in the teens and single digits that's in the metro outline areas will be in the lower single digits so she had on out to services on sunday morning keep in mind how cold it will be with a chance of snow returning to charlottesville plus high school hoops from botetourt and much more but first our extra point, north carolina head coach roy williams collapsed tonight in the huddle during a timeout of his team's game at boston college. he was helped to the locker room after a few minutes. williams has seen doctors in

spells but none of the tests have been conclusive. william fleming grad and carolina assistant steve robinson took over the rest of the

beat bc 68 to 65. these lil' chickies and lil' doggies are small, -but they're intense. -oh, yeah. small but intense like my niece, hannah. oh, yeah. and you, uh, take karate? yeah she does. show him how intense you are, hannah. -yah! yah! ah! -(karate sounds) oh, my... hey! yes! now finish him. -bow to her, peter. -i'm not gonna bow to a... bow to her, peter. (gong) big flavor in a little package. new lil' chickies and lil' doggies. and grab a burrito and drink for $3.00 delivered in two minutes-- -guaranteed. -(click) stunned virginia at cassell coliseum. tonight the two got together again, this time at john paul jones arena in charlottesville. the cavaliers are

the last two and a half weeks entering tonight, up to 7th in the polls. they opened the game with a 9-2 lead thanks in part to this anthony gill dunk and that set the tone for the night. chris clarke back in the line up tonight after missing five weeks with a broken foot, and showing up in a big way. the steal and the slam for tech. but the cavs respond. london perrantes dishing it out. first to gill for another big jam. then lofts up the alley-oop to darius thompson. part of a 15-3 run, uva up by 15 at that point. the hokies still battling. zach leday for three to stem the tide momentarily. the hokies trailed by 12 at the break and in the second half, isaiah wilkins knocks in the elbow jumper and virginia cruised to the 67-49 win. here's zac glover to break down uva's 7th straight win. zac glover: virginia tech came in with hopes of a season sweep over the cavaliers, but with a methodical and balanced attack, uva proved to be too much for the hokies to handle. anthony gill/scored 16 points vs. vt: both isaiah and mike did a great job tonight, of really giving us a lift when we needed it. isaiah did a great job of offensive

getting us second chance points. tony bennett/virginia head coach: another guy gives us that kind of output offensively, that really balances our team, and makes us more potent on offense, and harder to guard. buzz williams/virginia tech head coach: i thought we had good juice, i thought our spirit was good tonight. maybe forcing the issue too early. i think if you get beat they way we did from start to finish, i think you should always credit them. justin robinson/vt guard: we know it's never over, and we want to be the toughest team playing no matter what. i mean, getting in the hole was tough, but i'm proud of my team, and us never giving up, an staying through, and just battling the whole time. zac: so with the win, uva moves to 20-4 on the season, 9-3 in the acc, and they've got a huge match-up on the road at duke coming up this saturday. as for the hokies, they've got eight full days off before going on the road themselves, at miami. in charlottesville, zac glover, wdbj7. it was senior night tonight at lord botetourt where the cavaliers hosted william byrd to start the final week of the regular season.

gets things started for lb with the drive and tough finish getting the friendly bounce for two. but byrd then goes inside to devon kasey who scores on the nifty little reverse lay in. then it's dylan gravely knocking down the runner in the lane. the terriers led by as many as 18 in the first half and held on to win 75 to 68. 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 and automatic entry 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,

new investors, more capital to come into the sport and we've done that in a way that preserves a lot of the traditions that are important to nascar, the competition 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 century. 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

team's charter. red lobster claims ever since the singer mentioned them in her new song, it's seen a spike in sales! it says sales were up 33-percent on sunday compared to last year. it could be a coincidence but red lobster is giving the credit to beyonce. for the latest weather anytime, turn to our webpage at sure to follow us on facebook and twitter headlines and more at wdbj7weather. thanks for watching your hometown