3 snow flakes are falling in the mountains... this is a live look from our hotel indigo camera in asheville. and the winter weather is causing some school closures and delays. yancey and mitchell county schools are now closed. haywood, jackson, and graham counties are on a two hour delay, no buses on icy roads.

3 those closings and delays are all scrolling across the bottom of your screen. you can also find them on wlos dot com. we have live team coverage of the winter weather and its impact this morning. we begin with ingrid allsteadt in the sky watch weather center. good morning. here is a look at current conditions across the region. your day planner shows temperatures warming by noon. coming up, i'll show you our 7-day forecast for both the mountains and upstate. 3 3 3 3 3 more snow is falling in madison county. news 13's zack green continues our live team coverage of the winter weather. zack, how are the roads? 3 3 news 13's lauren brigman continues our live team coverage of the winter weather with the latest on the roads.

3 i just checked in with dispatchers about 10 minutes ago. an intersection in leicester remains impassible due to fallen power lines. it is at the intersection of noland hills drive and icenhower road. this is in the north turkey creek area. turning to swain county... highway 441 is closed between cherokee and gatlinburg, tennessee... due to the weather. no accidents are reported right now in the mountains... but black ice is a concern for your morning drive... especially in higher elevations. i'll update you on the status of that intersection in leicester... coming up at 6. i'm lauren brigman with this on-time traffic report... brought to you by the wired mouse computer solutions. 3 3 3 the severe weather that rolled through the south and northeast left a trail of damage... and death. at least seven people were killed, including four in virginia. the youngest victim was a 2- year-old boy. the storm system unleashed more than a dozen tornadoes across virginia, florida and north carolina. 3 3 3 happening today, closing arguments are schedule to begin in an emotionally charged murder trial in

o'shields faces the possibility of life in prison for the 2011 killing of toby mathis. prosecutors say he shot the victim five times to avenge the death of his son, joey. a psychologist testified p-t-s-d and the effects of a stroke impaired o'shields. because of that, he does not think o'shields was capable of planning the murder. 3 the ability to make plans would still be severely impaired with ptsd and by his depression and cognitive problems, he would not be able to think of alternatives. he was having trouble thinking of the consequences3 o'shields' brothers also testified that he withdrew from his family and drank heavily after his son's death. 3 3 the asheville police chief updates her time at the department so far. during a luncheon for the 'leadership asheville forum,' chief tammy hooper said a-p-d has made key improvements to the evidence room. she also says the issue

has been resolved . hooper says a new recruiting plan has also put two-dozen new officers on staff. 3 36:30 at different point people are just curious about where we are in those processes, so i'm always happy to come talk to folks about that. one of the big focuses for this coming year is to definitely crank up our community engagement so any opportunity that i have to come out and talk to groups, i'm happy to come do that. the chief says a-p-d's to-do list is largely based on a study that was commissioned by the city before she was hired. it zeroed in on shortcomings within the deparment. 3 3 the investigation into the polk county sheriff's office evidence room is moving forward. district attorney greg newman tells the carolina public press an audit has been completed. he will review a written report, after it is finished next week. the deputy who ran polk county's evidence room, sergeant chris byers, was fired. authorities say byers came forward saying he had a substance abuse problem and admitted to violating procedures for handling evidence. 3

reporting' of sexual assault and rape in north carolina... was launched here in buncombe county. 'our voice' of asheville now offers a first- of-its-kind option for victims. they can file anonymous complaints through the crisis and prevention center. for details on how to report a sexual assault anonymously... or to get help from "our voice"... go to "news links" at wlos-dot-com. 3 3 one deputy is dead and two others hurt after a shoot out in colorado. in this morning's headlines, we are learning new details about the suspected gunman. 3 3 investigators say "martin wirth" opened fire as the deputies were trying to serve an eviction notice. wirth was shot and killed, but it is not clear if it was by the deputies or by his own gun. in 1994, he was accused of shooting his neighbor to death in a drunken argument over a chess match. but, it is not clear why he was not convicted. and in 2014, wirth ran as the green party candidate for a state senate seat in colorado, and lost. 3 more than 600 animals were seized from a farm in farmersville new york. they

turkeys, chickens, sheep and dogs. animal cruelty investigators say they were living in deplorable conditions. and it is not the first time their owner has been accused of neglect. the american humane association, s-p-c-a and state troopers are now working to care for the animals. 3 members of the fundamentalist church of jesus christ of latter-day saints in utah are accused of running a mult- million dollar fraud scheme. they were arrested after a federal raid this week. one of the people charged is "lyle jeffs," the brother of polygamist sect leader "warren jeffs." the group is accused of stealing welfare money intended for poor families.. and using it to pay for a john deere loader, a new truck, and nearly 17-thousand dollars in paper products. 3 3 3 we have another early bird gets the win giveaway this morning! we are giving away a one-hour silk peel facial from "derma blue dermatology" valued at 100 dollars. go to facebook dot com slash news 13 to enter. we will announce the winner just before 7 this morning. 3 3

brewery makes a major announcement.coming up, the new partnership, and where you will soon be able to find the local brews in other parts of the state.

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3 it's 5:xx.3 let's take a look at some north carolina business headlines. stocks closed up higher on wednesday after a

up 53 points yesterday, closing at 16-thousand 484. the nasdaq gained 39 points to finish trading at 4-thousand 542. 3 3 banks will pay more than 56- million dollars to north carolina and other states for a bid rigging scheme. that is the word from north carolina attorney general roy cooper. cooper says "natixis funding corporation" and "societe general" defrauded local governments, hospitals and housing agencies. some of that money will go to wake and mecklenburg counties. 3 green man brewery in asheville will hold its grand opening of its new facility on saint patrick's day next month. the 20-thousand square food "green-mansion" is next to the brewery's current operations on buxton avenue in the south slope. inside is a to- floor indoor and outdoor tasting room. on the ground level, there will be a "brewtique", that will have a bottle shop, growler station, and merchandise store. 3 in more "brew news", the triangle business journal reports that asheville's "wicked weed brewing" is expanding its distribution to raleigh. the brewery is

year, 'wicked weed' won a silver medal at the 2015 "great american beer festival" for its "per-nicious i-p-a." 3 3 3 there are challenges especially with radiation between the earth and mars the future of human space travel, and going to mars. coming up, what one astronaut says about the possibility. 3

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3 u-s astronaut scott kelly says humans traveling to mars is quote "clearly doable." he has spent more than 300 days in constant micro-gravity. scientists will examine his muscle mass, blood flow, bone density and body protiens. it will all help decide the future of manned deep-space travel. he spoke with a-b-c news from the international sapce station about the

of humans on mars. 3 46-1:01 from a subjective perspective i think absolutely. i feel great, but you know there are challenges especially with radiation between the earth and mars that we need to work on overcoming but it's something i hope to see in my lifetime. during his extended stay in space and eating nothing but freeze-dried food, kelly says he is ready for a filet mignon. he returns to earth on march first. 3 3 3 here is a look at what you can expect for the next three 3 days. 3

3 the time is now 5:xx. next, we continue our week-long series on the modern pregnancy. the three things this onsie keeps track of on your baby.

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presidential proportions. coming up, which singers honored the legend last night at the white house.

>> holly: the president and first lady honored ray charles. >>

concert last night, it was part of the in the white house performance. >> ingrid: brittany howard and several others performed the music of ray charlings i. will be shown on pbs this saturday night. >> holly: i bet that was a fun event. >> ingrid: that's what i would say. the weather is not too fun. we had rain yesterday, but now we have snow. take a look right now. 36 degrees in asheville. windy as well. i will show you where that snow is falling, coming up in our next half hour. when it stops, and how warm we turn this weekend. >> zack: dot crews out on the roads, what they are doing to prepare folks as they head out this morning. >> holly: a puppy shot with a bb gun is making progress.

and the man who sav >> holly: several counties including buncombe county are under a winter weather advisory right now. multiple schools are closed or delayed this morning. those are running at the bottom of your screen and you can find them at wlos.com. >> jay: of course we continue live team coverage this morning. lets' start with ingrid allstaedt who is standing by in the skywatch weather center, ingrid? >> ingrid: i will show you what's happening while you were asleep. snow falling across some portions of the region. you can see it closer to tennessee, the more likely the snow is falling but even some

cloudy conditions and windy and black ice a concern. winter weather advisory is under effect right now until 7 a.m., not this morning, but tomorrow morning. so, accumulating snow and the higher elevations and all these counties on your screen in purple. notice buncombe county is under this advisory. so, how much more snow will fall? i will have the answer coming up in my full forecast. back over to you. >> holly: although we are seeing only flurries in parts of asheville it is a very different story for folks in other parts of the mountains. >> jay: absolutely. zack green is live in madison county, where plenty of snow has already covered the ground. zack? >> zack: we are starting to see the light accumulation as of right now but we are standing outside the salt bar where dot crews are working across the board, really preparing folks to get out on the roads this morning and right now i'm joined here with chris dee ton, who is the yancey and madison county dot maintenance engineer and what have you seen so far this morning? even driving in, you had to pull over and help somebody on the