with the wind continuing to tear through the midlands, sce&g linemen are working hard right now. the utility has already had to deal with thousands of outages so far today -- and more could be coming as the wind continues. our chad mills has the latest. it's a little more tedious for sce&g in a situation like this, since some of the broken lines are affecting only a couple of homes, rather than a big neighborhood. whipping wind left its mark on the midlands... ...including here at the intersection of laurel and marion street where a toppled tree trashed power lines and took its toll on traffic lights too. earlier in the day, it was a close call for a taxi driver, when a large tree limb broke off and smashed into his windshield on millwood avenue. a home's fence was flattened on patterson road in columbia. over in lexington, joseph hunt's

dodged a pine tree. back over in columbia, this home on gordon street near c.a. johnson high school wasn't so lucky. needless to say, sce&g's been busy. "we've been working since knowing that the storm was coming to get our crews ready." and spokesperson ginny jones says there have been plenty of outages to fix. "there have been a number of particularly hard hit, and we've been working all around the state to try to restore outages as they've come up." jones says the company has re-routed crews from other counties. she says some from sumter will be headed here thursday morning. "what you're looking at is a lot of single incidents at different homes, so some of those outages will take some more time to repair than, jones says that's why sce&g trims limbs throughout the year -- to reduce the damage in windy situations like we're seeing right now. now taking a look at the current outages from sce

showers and a few storms will give way to clearing showers and a few storms will give way to clearing skies and much cooler temperatures this evening along with continued windy

thursday will be mostly sunny and windy with highs in the upper 50s. cooler weather continues through the saturday with mostly sunny skies. the next chance of rain arrives monday. as chad mentioned, it was a close call for a taxi along with continued windy conditions. thursday will be mostly sunny and windy with highs in the upper 50s. cooler weather continues through the saturday with mostly sunny skies. the next chance of rain arrives monday. as chad mentioned, it was a

driver this afternoon. while driving down millwood avenue in columbia-- a large tree limb smashed into his windshield. the driver said he thinks the high winds caused the branch to fall. he says he's lucky he walked away ... because that branch left his cab a wreck. after crews cleared the scene, the car had to be towed away. the storm system is being blamed for the death of one man in darlington county. the county coroner says the man, identified as michael gaines, senior died after being hit by a falling tree branch while he was walking on gilchrist road in darlington. someone nearby called 9-1-1

pinned to the ground by the branch. "right before the incident, the tree broke and i guess he didn't know which way to run and the tree fell on him." darlington county officials say the gaines had stopped along the road near his home to remove storm debris from the roadway when he was hit. that system also caused major damage across the southeast--and three people are dead after a suspected tornado hit virginia. as chris pollone reports, this all comes just one day after the same system caused death and destruction in the gulf states. more death and destruction wednesday from a powerful storm system ratcheting up the east coast. in waverly, virginia. several people died when a suspected tornado hit the small town hour west of norfolk. one of the victims, a small child. "all you could do is look away and the whole time you could see all that fire in it, you could see nothing but electricity in it" the system has affected millions of americans. bringing heavy rain, flooding,

and the threat isn't over yet. the system killed at least four people across the deep south. in convent, louisiana, two people died there tuesday.....160 homes destroyed. "we went from the floor to the ceiling to the wall to the floor" in pensacola, florida, a twister left a two mile path of destruction. taking out an entire apartment complex. the system is dumping snow across the nation's midsection. all fueled by the strongest el nino on record. "the storm is expected to bring heavy rain and wind to new york and new england overnight. with the potential for flash flooding. and damage to limbs and roofs. in raleigh, chris pollone, nbc news. u.s. coast guard crews continued to search the waters around sullivans island and isle of palms today after debris washed ashore. according to coast guard officials, there have been no calls of boaters in distress, but with today's

make sure they haven't missed anyone in trouble. the coast guard deployed a search and rescue boat to scour the area off the coast. but again, nothing found so far. south carolina state workers could be in for some bigger paychecks. today, the house budget writing committee approved a new 7 and a half billion dollar spending plan. the plan would provide 250 million dollars for roadwork, and cut income taxes by 130 million dollars. most state employees would get a 1 percent pay raise. an additional 300 million dollars going to k through 12 education includes providing teachers with a 2 percent cost-of-living pay increase. the committee plans to wrap up its work tomorrow. the full house and senate must approve the measure before the budget takes effect on july 1st. a new initiative by public and private groups across south carolina will work to stop cyber hackers and other threats to state databases. today, governor nikki haley attened the official launch of the "sc cyber" program.

state's cyber infrastructure by training government workers, business people, and small business owners about security techniques to protect their systems from cyber attacks. right now, about 23 hundred people in south carolina work in the cyber security field. with three days now until the democratic primary in south carolina--hillary clinton is not taking any lead in the polls for granted. today, she hit up several campaign stops in west columbia, where she spoke to the alpha kappa alpha sorority...and in sumter, where she held a town hall at morris college. clinton told the crowd she wants to unite the country. she also criticized the republican candidates--saying their proposals would take the country backwards. "we're going to go out to talk to people, one on one and in groups, about what's in it for r em to have a president to follow president obama who's gonna continue to build on the progress we've made and to continue to make life better, to make a real difference in how people are

and tomorrow, former president bill clinton returns to the midlands to campaign for hillary. as part of a get out the vote push that will take him from the upstate to the lowcountry, clinton will stop through winnsboro tomorrow. he'll speak at the fairfield middle school gymnasium at 7:45 tomorrow night. his tour will continue on friday where he'll make stops in aiken and bluffton. despite a double digit deficit in the polls here...senator bernie sanders says he is not giving up on south carolina. but today he did leave the palmetto state to focus on several other upcoming contests. sanders was in columbia this morning, then took off for a campaign swing of missouri and oklahoma as he tries to regain momentum after a loss last weekend in nevada. he said today he plans to win some states and lose others--but that he is in the race to win. "we have waged a very, very vigorous campaign. we have picked up a lot of support and we have closed the

but this, from day one, was going to be a very difficult state for us." and on a seemingly unstoppable roll to the gop nomination--donald trump today sent out family members--his adult sons, and his wife melania, to vouch for his character. and trump got more convention support too--with super tuesday looming. steve handelsman has more. donald trump, today, embraced by evangelical icon pat robertson ... after trump took the evangelical vote last night, in his landslide win in nevada. and sent a message ... to his cuban american rivals ted cruz and marco rubio sot: donald trump :17-:22 "46% with the hispancis 46%!! #1 with hispancis!" rubio claims today: he can still win. sot: sen. marco rubio :25-:29 "that if it came down to me and donald trump i'd beat him by almost 16 points" but cruz is not quitting nor is john kasich

:31-:35 "forget about it! forget about it" six days away is super tuesday. donald trump leading in 10 states and focusing on texas where cruz today woin the endorsement of texas governor greg abbott trump played his family card: son don jr saying: the boys grew up with billions, but trump values sot: don trump jr., son of donald trump :53-:59 "education family work ethic, all of these things that are aften lost in children of similar fortune" melania trump says of her husband sot: melania trump, wife of donald trump 1:01-1:04 "he treats women the samew as men" in south carolina, democrat hillary clinton is looking at another win nats: hillary clinton 1:09-1:11 "need your help saturday !!! bernie sanders figures he can win 4 or more super tuesday primaries i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. and tomorrow, our decision 2016 coverage ahead of the democratic primary continues with a live special report right here on wis. we'll have live reports from the liberty tap room, where we'll speak to experts about the

in-depth look at the candidates. our hour-long decision 2016 special starts tomorrow night at 7. coming up--the battle for the next supreme court nominee takes a twist as the president considers his list. plus, check out an emotional welcome home for a midlands mom forced out by the floods. tonight, texas governor rick perry is declaring he's been vindicated after a

in 2014 perry was indicted on charges of abusing his power as governor. he was accused of improperly threatening to veto funding for a corruption prosecution office and then going ahead and vetoing it to force the head of the unit to resign over a drunk driving arrest. today the state court of criminal appeals dismissed the charges against perry and he said that proves the indictement was "nothing less than a baseless political attack." president obama may be ready to push republicans to confirm a new supreme court justice, by picking a republican for the job. he's also changing his tone a little in his back and forth with the senate.

michelle kosinski. one day after top senate republicans decidedly dug in their heels ... saying they will not even hold hearings, won't even meet with the president's nominee. majority leader "this decision ought to be made by the next president." the president launched into a nearly 10 minute impromptu speech on why this should happen. "i think it will be very difficult for mr. mcconnell to explain how, if the public concludes that this person is very well qualified, that the senate should stand in the way simply for political reasons." but while only days ago, the president expressed deep frustration. "we've almost become accustomed to how obstructionist the senate's become when it comes to nominations." today, a strikingly different tone. "i understand the posture that they're taking right now. i'm sure they're under enormous pressure. i am sympathetic.

hard for them." republicans have made much of the president himself joining a filibuster against now-justice samuel alito in 2006, something the white house says he now regrets. president obama today also posted on scotus-blog, optimistically adding ... "as senators prepare to fulfill their constitutional responsibility to consider the person i appoint, i hope they'll move quickly..." now comes word that one of those potential nominees currently being vetted in that big black binder is republican nevada governor and former federal judge brian sandoval. says top senate democrat harry reid ... "i know if he were picked, i would support the man." that's michelle kosinski reporting. a spokesperson for sandoval says despite the reports--the governor has not spoken with anyone at the white house about the supreme court vacancy. a new study by the national institute of health appears to show complications continue for ebola patients long after being declared free of the

a team of neurologists from the n-i-h examined 82 ebola survivors from liberia. most still had symptoms 6 months fater their infection--like headahces, memory loss, depression, and muscle pain. others had tremors and abnormal eye movements and reflexes. the symptoms appear to be related to the ebola virus--but ongoing studies are wowoing to confirm that a single mother whose house was ruined in last fall's floods has a newly renovated home tonight. jennifer gneiser walked into her newly- renovated house in pine glen today. a national disaster recovery organization with local partners called the "rebuild together" initiative came together to fix it up. jennifer says she's been apart from her two teenage sons as crews worked on the house. "i can instill now in my children a sense of giving and that we can move forward as a family with that sense of

jennifer's home is one of twelve homes that the "rebuild together" initiative is working to restore in the wake of the flood. showers and a few storms will

she says their names. trayvon martin shot to death. dontre hamilton unarmed. sandra bland... did nothing wrong. and makes their mothers' fight for justice her own. she speaks for a city poisoned by indifference. we need action now. and stands with the president against those who would undo his achievements. just like she's always...stood with us. hillary clinton.

along with continued windy conditions. thursday will be mostly sunny and windy with highs in the upper 50s. cooler weather continues through the saturday with mostly sunny skies. the next chance of rain arrives monday. a big nba star gets to check along with continued windy conditions. thursday will be mostly sunny and windy with highs in the upper 50s.

the saturday with mostly sunny skies. the next chance of rain arrives monday. a big nba star gets to check off an item on

we'll hear what steph curry has to say about playing golf at augusta national..... that's on a lot of folks bucket lists........ the gamecock men can almost check off something on their to do list...... punching their ticket to the big dance.....usc picks up another crucial victory....stay tuned for the

i think that if one were to look at the qualifications of the candidates and really reflect upon what our country can be, and look at who can best get us to that place. i think it's hands down hillary clinton.

many feel and build on the president's progress, not rip it away. my heart has always been with hillary clinton.

remainder of the regular season will strengthen their case for making the ncaa tournament. frank martin and the gamecocks hosting rick barnes and the tennessee volunteers.... first half...irmo's justin mckie makes a quick move to the basket.... carolina up ten...21 to 11. here laimonas chatkevicius tips the pass away...duane notice gets the ball to mckie for the layup....it's 29-23. devon baulkman drops in a triple...the vols cut the margin to three.....31-28. usc closes the half on an 18 to six run....michael carrera makes it 40 to 31...he finishes with 16 points. duane notice gets red hot...he closes the half with three straight three pointers.....he finishes with 17

by 15 at recess....49 to 34. second half.....mindaugas kacinas rebounds and scores....gamecocks lead by 25....59-34......he finishes with 11 points. the gamecocks win it 84-to-58. they improve to 23 and five overall....ten and five in the sec. the next game is saturday at mississippi state...two-30 tip time. turning to baseball....the gamecocks are off to a five and oh start after blasting the winthrop eagles this afternoon. you can see how windy it was today at founders park. usc scores early and frequently....first inning.... chris cullen raps a single to left center...alex destino scores to make it three nothing...the gamecocks go on to score six runs in the first inning..... sixth inning...t.j. hopkins singles up the middle bringing home jonah bride. it's 11-1... --- the gamecocks keep the bats going in the seventh...l-t tolbert rips one to right scoring two... usc wins it 16 to four....the next game is friday at four as they'll host

finally...an nba superstar plays golf at augusta national..... it was a big treat for golden state's steph curry. he's an avid golfer...and tuesday he got to play augusta national. steph and teammate andre iguodala got to play the storied course as a ggt from head coach steve kerr for winning last season's nba championship. i was great..such an historic

[ cheers and applause ] >> steve: from studio 6b in rockefeller center in the heart of new york city, it's "the tonight show starring jimmy fallon." tonight, join jimmy and his guests -- taraji p. henson, mike birbiglia, musical guest fka twigs. and featuring the legendary