good evening and thanks for watching. i'm judi gatson. i'm charles molineaux. the state of our state is bent but not broken. that's how governor nikki haley began her state of the state just hours ago. our chad mills joins us with a recap. some described it as a different kind of speech after a 2015 marked by three distinct tragedies. however, the governor did touch on some policy too. it was a speech praised by both republicans and democrats. "i mean, i appreciate the tone of her state of the state." "everything that she brought up was very emotional, not just for her as you could tell, but also for everybody else in the body, because we were all touched by it." with the late senator clementa pinckney's family in the gallery, haley remembered the tragic

shooting that took his life. she recognized the survivors too. "these two women and the precious little one who was with them that night are proof that we have angels living on earth." her state of the state, which hit on themes of unity and healing, also reflected on the police shooting of walter scott and the deadly october flood. "this year, was something neither we nor the weathermen could have ever imagined. rain at unbelievable levels pouring from the sky for hours." but haley's speech included some policy too. she called for more prosecutors to protect domestic violence survivors; legislation to dedicate up to one-percent of the state's bond capacity to help impoverished, struggling school districts; and ethics reform. "our two main priorities haven't changed: requiring public officials to disclose who pays them and having independent investigators oversee legislators." measures the house has passed

so the governor called for an impromptu vote on the issue to see where each senator stands by having them stand. "i think most senators stayed in their seats, you know, unless you had a urge to stretch your legs or anything." "i was one of six or seven senators that stood up to say that i supported independent oversight of legislators in terms of ethics reform and also in terms of disclosing our sources of income." finally, roads. the governor said she stands by her plan to fix roads. a plan that would be revenue-neutral and not increase taxes. of course, some democrats said that's not realistic and that revenue will have to be raised to fix roads. senator tom davis of beaufort, however, said there's already more than a billion dollars available to help fix roads without raising taxes. as far as flood relief, that wasn't a topic in the speech tonight. haley only spent about a minute or so talking about the october flood. flood relief for farmers was also a topic absent

so what were some of the big takeaways from the governor's speech? first, in education ... the governor wants to aggressively start recruiting teachers to rural districts and incentivizing them to stay there. under her proposal, if a student agrees to teach in a challenged district for eight years, the full cost of their education at a state university would be covered. if recent graduates agree to eight years, the state would repay their student loans. and career educators who teach in challenged districts, could have their graduate coursework covered. the governor went on to say, children cannot learn as well when the wawas of classrooms are crumbling around them. so, she wants to permanently dedicate up to one percent of our state's bond capacity to k-12 education facilities. the governor says the plan would start with a complete evaluation

buildldg standards ... and there would be restrictions on local governments. the governor also revisited her road funding plan saying she will not sign any bill that raises taxes. she called on lawmakers to pass legislation that cuts taxes, reforms the transportation system, and invests in our roads. in response to the governor's

tonight, the state's democrats took aim at the governor's policies the past year...including the inability last session to find solution to improve state roads and bridges. tonight, representative mandy powers norrell of lancaster delivered the democratic response...saying the gridlock lies within the republican party. "why haven't we passed a bill to improve our roads and bridges? i remember hearing my republican colleagues say over a year ago that that was the most important thing. lately, you've heard governor haley call for unity, and i agree. we need to start working together to get things done. but what she hasn't told you is that the fighting is within her own party. republicans in the senate actually filibustered their own roads bill last summer until it was dead for the year. and while republicans are fighting amongst themselves, our citizens

dangerous bridges." we'll have more state of the state coverage coming up. you can also read the governor's full address up. you can also read the governor's full address and the democratic response by going to the homepage at wistv dot com. time for a check of your overnight forecast. meteorologist von gaskin is in the first alert weather center with the latest conditions. a brief wintry mix is still possible this afternoon and tonight as a weak system moves into the state. cold showers will develop tomorrow associated with the next system. cold rain could again transition over to a brief wintry mix friday morning before turning back to cold rain. wintry mix accumulation is not expected in the midlands. friday night and early saturday we could again

sleet/snow showers before winding down mid/late morning. little to no accumulation is expected. a major new development project in west columbia has g gten a major green light from city officials. after several earlier delays--tonight, the west columbia city council approved a

the area near state and meeting streets to be developed into commercial real estate. the project, known as brookland, would include shops, restaurants, and 235 new apartment units to be built. there are still several steps that need to be cleared before ground can be broken. tonight's vote to rezone comes after some public concern about the project, which caused a delay in the vote. tonight, we're hearing for the first time from a greenville county deputy who was shot in the head while responding to a robbery call in december. deputy dave dempsey was released from the hospital today. back in december dempsey was responding to a robbery call at an apartment in taylors. investigators say a man inside shot dempsey. another deputy shot back and killed the gunman. this morning, a number of greenville police and deputies came together to show dempsey their support. "the whole thing could be life changing because i am used to getting out and driving and being out with these guys...its just ." a release from the sheriff's

bullet penetrated and fractured dempsey's skull. doctors had to cut out part of his skull to give his brain room to swell. six people are facing charges tonight for human trafficking across four midlands counties. the suspects are all under the age of 25 and face charges ranging from trafficking and criminal sexual conduct with a minor, to conspiracy to commit trafficking. richland county sheriff leon lott and south carolina attorney general alan wilson say the arrests are the result of a state grand jury investigation. they say this is the first set of state grand jury indictments for human trafficking across county lines. lawmakers are again in debate over the confederate battle flag that was removed from the state house last summer--this time, whether its proposed display will be visible enough to the public. legislators on a house budget-writing panel say the flag's proposed display in the confederate relic room and military museum is too hidden within the state museum to attract visitors. the museum is looking for more

dollars to expand exhibit space and more than 500 thousand dollars for the flag display itself. last summer, lawmakers voted to remove the flag from the state house grounds and into a permanent exhibit at the state museum. four midlands schools are in the running for a coveted statewide award. the palmetto's finest award is given to schools that offer the best in what the south carolina association of school administrators calls "innovative and effective educational programs." this year, two of the finalist schools are in lexington-richland district 5. they are oak pointe elementary school and dutch fork middle school. bc grammar elementary in lexington district 2 and lexington middle in district 1 are also finalists. "we're big believers in differentiation. i haven't met a box yet that every child would fit into. i was a different learner myself and i want my kids to feel valued just how they are, no matter how they learn." principal cassy paschal at oak pointe elementary

means music playing in the hallways and weekly friday pep rallies to bring the family together as a whole. the winners will be announced march 15th. richland county leaders want your take on how well they did dealing with october's disastrous floods. the county is holding meetings this week to get feedback from the community and plan better for future disasters. two meetings are happening tomorrow-- one will be at bluff road park on carswell drive in columbia. that's from 12 to 2 pm. another meeting will be from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at trenholm park on covenant road. after the break, we'll get your full forecast with von gaskin. plus--millions across the northeast and mid-atlantic are bracing for major winter weather in their path. communities north along the east

arrive later this week. it comes on the heels of another storm that hit parts of the midwest and south today. we get the latest tonight from dan scheneman. winter weather brought commutes to crawl....or a halt. near knoxville, tennessee, one driver was killed as he tried to navigate slippery roads. "if you don't have to be out, don't get out in it." along the eastern seaboard a bigger storm is on its way...... the national weather service warns of heavy.... perhaps "crippling" snow across the north mid- atlantic region.....as much as two feet in some areas. maryland :25-:33 "we're definitely going to have some type of serious snow storm it's a matter of magnitude exactly where the path goes but it's going to be significant and we're going to be ready." along the jersey shore.....residents are ready for beach erosion and possible flooding.... "this right here after three tide cycles will probably be washed away." stores in the path of the storm have been had a run on supplies....some

airlines have warned passengers that flying could be a mess....some carriers have waived change fees.... one traveler happy he's on his way to florida ahead of the storm. "i feel bad for everybody that's staying home." greyhound, the bus service, has already canceled several routes to and from the northeast. dan scheneman nbc news. a brief wintry mix is still possible this afternoon and tonight as a weak system moves into the state. cold showers will develop tomorrow associated with the next system. cold rain could again transition over to a brief wintry mix friday morning before turning back to cold rain. wintry mix accumulation is not expected in the midlands. friday night and early saturday we could again

sleet/snow showers before winding down mid/late morning. little to no accumulation is expected. tonight there's some relief for water customers

state lawmakers there have unanimously approved 28 million dollars in emergency to deal with the city's drinking water crisis. the funding would pay for more bottled water, filters, health treatment, and water testing...as well as helping the city offset unpaid

but flint's mayor says the help is still too little too late. "so a lot of people knew what was going on but nobody came forward in a timely manner. because, like i said, this will be almost two years in april. it took almost a year for us to get that information. and so there's been a lot of passing the buck on this." michigan governor rick snyder said in his annual state of the state address that the 28 million is not his last budget request for flint. he is expected to include additional funding in his february budget proposal. coming up, nikki haley says it is time to clean up the state house and pass ethics reform. tonight, the governor pulled out the big guns and showed she's not afraid to call lawmakers out...but how do they feel about it?

speech has a lot of people talking tonight. will whitson joins us from our newsroom with more on what many lawmakers did not

one nfl team is making history with some off the field news. it's not good for the heart....but close games by the usc women could be beneficial come march. and the carolina panthers are getting ready for the nfc championship. the cats will tell us how they know this week is really special,. sports is next!!! the carolina panthers want to treat sunday's

it's not anything special. but the cats have to admit it's an abnormal week. that tends to happen when you're

for a spot in the super bowl. the panthers were out on the practice field today..bundled up against the cold weather. that's one thing that makes this week different. the cats may have to dodge some sleet and snow flakes over the next couple of days. sunday should be fine for the football game. the tell-tale sign this isn't your typical game week...the number of media members covering the team has greatly increased. here's the schedule for sunday's conference championship games. the denver broncos will host the new england patriots in the afc title game at three oh five p-m. arizona at 6:40 for the nfc championship. cam:only thing that's changed is probably the media outlets . we could have this game in the parking lot..we could have this game in the practice field. we could have this at the nothing different. only thing that changes is probably the media that goes into it. for the people who understand that for the players who understand

roman: the biggest thing is we've got a lot more media. a lot more attention on us. we're one of the four left. everybody's looking at you and that's fine. this is what you play the game the bufflao bills make nfl history. they've hired the league's first female full-time coach. kathry smith will be the bills special teams quality control coach. she just finished her first year with the bills as the administrative assistant to head coach rex ryan. she also worked 12 years for the new york jets. the second ranked usc women put their undefeated record on the line tomorrow...they'll play at auburn...tipoff time is seven pm. carolina is 17 and oh..but they've had some close calls . three of their victories have been by three points or less...including sunday when they were bailed out by an unbelievable late foul by texas a- and-m to set up the winning free throw with less than a second to play. i asked head coach dawn staley if this is a preview of what we could see during march madness.

the mistakes we've made throughout the season. you know, this league is so unpredictable. just getting wins is a great thing. so i think a lot of us will be doing a lot of special situations come this time of the season since games have been pretty

marco rubio. he ran for senate saying he opposed amnesty... then he flipped, and worked with liberal chuck schumer to co-author the path to citizenship bill. he threatened to vote against it. and then voted for it. he supported his own dream act and then he abandoned it. marco rubio.