for the long weeken the rain is coming down in the midlands, making for a wet start to the long weekend. here is how it looked a while ago in the heart of downtown columbia. good afternoon. thanks for joining us. i am in for darci strickland. we begin this afternoon with a quick look at the forecast with meteorologist efren afante. the rain is coming down. >> it has been coming down. since 9:00 this morning. a lot of rain moving through. right now, a break in the action. as far as the western and southern portions of the midlands. a lot of heavy rainfall. especially right here at the

it is 50 degrees right now. wind, at 18 miles per hour out of the east. it is a cold feeling out there. we will continue with more rain this afternoon with a high of 52. and mostly cloudy overnight tonight. a low of 41. tomorrow, we will have sunshine in the afternoon with a high of 62 degrees. we will look at the seven-day forecast coming up in a few minutes. governor nikki haley releasing her spending plan today. her proposal calls for a 2% tax cut which she says the state can afford with a budget surplus. the only pay raises in the plan would go to prison officers. haley also said she wants all motor vehicle sales tax going to road funding now as opposed to the general fund. under her plan, $20 million would go to leasing and buying school buses. we will have more on the executive budget proposal tonight on news19. plunging. the numbers were down in the

the dow lost about 400 points in the first 10 minutes. the price of oil wind below $30 a barrel today. trading at the lowest level since 2003. the slump in crude has slashed the profits of energy companies making it much harder for them to pay off debt. in orangeburg county, two men wanted in connection with what deputies are calling a violent crime spree, have been arrested. they are 18-year-old derek james and the skipper pressley. deputies say on january 4, several men reported being shot -- being shot on mango street. last wednesday, they say it's a truck driver reported being robbed at gunpoint. both men are charged with armed robbery and attempted murder. . around the nation this afternoon, two marine helicopters collided off of the hawaiian islands. the coast guard says the accident happened just before midnight. and each aircraft had six people

field has been spotted two and half miles off the coast. no word of any survivors. the gloves are off this afternoon between donald trump and ted cruz. the two leading republican presidential hopefuls dominated last night's debate with fiery exchanges. donald trump continued to argue that ted cruz is not eligible to run for president because he was born in canada. ted cruz criticized donald trump are having what he calls, new york values. the gop will hold another debate on january 28 in iowa. meanwhile, senator lindsey graham announced today that he is endorsing jeb bush for the gop mination. lindsey graham launched his own presidential campaign last summer but dropped out of the race last month after gaining little traction in the polls. the obama administration will announce a moratorium on any releases on federal land. the administration wants to complete a comprehensive review

mining companies provide a fair return to american taxpayers and reflect the impact on the environment from coat -- from coal. michigan governor rick snyder is asking the white house for help in dealing with the water crisis in flint. he has asked president barack obama to issue an emergency and major disaster declaration. he is also asking for additional federal aid. flint's drinking water has been contaminated with lead since this would be -- since the city switched to water supplies in 2014 to save money. the health ministry of france is one person is brain the hospital after taking part in a botched drug trial at a clinic. prosecutors have opened an investigation in the case. the patients who got sick had reportedly taken a painkiller in the first stage of the testing. walmart is closing 269 stores.

10,000 of them in the united states. about 150 of the locations are smaller number of express store is in the u.s. the rest are spread throughout latin america, mostly in brazil. actor sean -- sean penn sits down with charlie rose about the rolling stone interview with wanted drug lord 'el chapo' joaquin guzman. authorities say the meeting helped lead to his capture. sean penn spoke at length on this weeks edition of 60 minutes. >> the mexican government -- they were clearly very humiliated by the notion that somebody found him before they did. nobody found him before they did. we are not smarter than the dea or the mexican intelligence. we had a contact upon which we were able to facilitate an invitation. >> do you believe that the mexican government released this, in part because they wanted to see you blamed and to

>> yes. >> they wanted to encourage the cartel to put you in the crosshairs? >> yes. >> you can watch the full interview this sunday at 7:00 right here on wltx.

preview a great neutral -- welcome back to news19 at noon. starting off this morning at 9:00 -- the rain started moving in. a lot of the -- for the most part, covering all of the midlands. right now, a break in the action. west of downtown columbia to the airport and into saluda county and into the western portion of orangeburg county. the rain has been steady. we have been seeing a lot of rain. but the amounts are not that much. just a quarter of an inch of rain in the western and central portions of the midlands. a little more as we get close to

as we gotoward the eastern and southern part of the midlands -- light amounts of rainfall in the northern part. a lot more to come. although there is a lull in the amount of rain activity -- we do expect more to continue this afternoon. you can see where the area of low pressure is. it is much cooler in newberry at 41. winnsboro, 46. orangeburg, 57. manning, 54. in columbia, the rain continues. 52 degrees. wind out of the east at 18 miles per hour. computer models show, as we go into the afternoon, we will have more rainfall coming through from the central and northwestern part of the midlands into the central midlands. as we get into the afternoon, it will taper off. by rush-hour and into the afternoon -- skies will start to clear. no more rain. just dealing with a lot of cloud coverage. this is from now until the rainfall ends -- we could see anywhere from a quarter of two a

more as we get into the eastern part of the midlands. highs today in the upper 40s and low 50s. when the rain is out of here -- for tomorrow, 62 degrees. a little bit of sunshine in the afternoon. a chance of rain on sunday. a high of 54. next week on martin luther king day, cold temperatures at night. lows in the middle to upper 20s. highs in the middle to upper 40s. and a warm-up as we get into thursday. when we get through today, we will have a little more sunshine. >> we have to get through today. the workshop theater is having a little twist to a comedy classic. we have the director of the new show to tell us a little bit about it. >> good afternoon. >> we have all heard of the odd couple. tell us about the twist. >> the odd couple was originally written in 1965. it was with oscar and felix. the two guys to end of living together.

in 1985 -- the two women. florence and olive. they live in an apartment in new york city. so it is the female version of the odd couple. so we get to see this story played out from the female point of view. >> it is still the same last name? >> still the same last name. just changed the first names. a lot of the lines are very similar. just a twist on the story. the gentleman in the original -- they would get together on friday night to play poker. the women get together on friday night to play trivial pursuit. >> during the break, we were talking about the time this was written -- the female version, had a very significant part with tv -- >> yes. and the 1980s. in the middle of the 1980s, we have the golden girls. we were watching, designing women. it is shows about these women -- a living together, working together -- and all of the things happening in the workplace at that time. sosot is kind of a reflection of

it is enjoyable. good laugh. playwright. starts and the time. >> we open tonight. curtain goes up at 8:00 tonight. we run tonight, tomorrow night -- two shows on sunday. a sunday matinee. afternoon matinee and evening. next week, wednesday through sunday with a sunday matinee. wednesday night through night. >> tega prices. and $70 for military and seniors. and you can get all the information. >> perfect. have a great laugh and stay out of the ring. >> it is dry. we have refreshments. you can sit back.

it is a very dull time. enjoy yourself and have a good laugh. >> we will be right back. .

'-apostrophe, you if you have walked down the transfer aisle in the supermarket lately, you have probably noticed how big it is getting. it seems like every week, there is a new shape to choose from. so how do we know what to use? so pasta like angel hair and others are best with lighter sauces that cling to the pasta without t overpowering them. hardier pasta like fettuccine,

heavier cream sauce like alfredo. elbows and shells get us the flexibility to use whatever sauce we want since it gets into all those nooks and crannies, giving us tons of flavor in every bite. rigatoni and other to pasta are perfect for heartier sauces and baked cheesy dishes like the one we're making today. for that, we toss cooked rigatoni with mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, mushrooms and layer with tomato sauce and bake it. when it is bubbling hot, we finished it with more cheese. mouthwatering, weeknight flavor. and get the recipe for our cheesy have you the next time you need something easy and filling from

i'm howard from the mr. food i want to look at some of the events happening in the remodeling expo is being held this weekend and columbia. more than 100 companies on hand featuring demonstrations. experts can answer questions on kitchen and bath remodeling and more. the event runs today through sunday at the columbia convention center. and it is free. gamers, listen up. today, the 2016 south carolina board players convention kicks off. the four day convention will feature hundreds of board games, and role-playing games -- being held at the medallion center on garners very road in columbia through monday. that seems like a great event for so many people. >> going to have fun. >> you are a gamer. >> i used to be a gamer. have not been in a while.

we hope to see you back here >> dr. dellafield: just run these down to the lab. and bring them back -- >> paul: dr. dellafield. we heard that billy abbott is breathing on his own. >> dylan: yeah. is that true? >> dr. dellafield: you know how this works, guys.