i'm darci strickland that we begin in richland county where the ship has released more information about a shooting that took place yesterday and southeast columbia. the man killed has been identified as the suspect in a 2014 murder case out of houston, texas. we're following this story. we're live with the details. >> reporter: that is right. the biggest thing we learned is the name of the homicide suspect wanted out of houston for killing his ex-girlfriend back in october of 2014. his name is damon james. he was 42 years old. the coroner says it points to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. the columbia police department did say that -- that the suspect fired first. it all started from a tip from the task force in houston that came just a couple weeks ago. of course, that led to the shootout that happened yesterday in front of the byron road apartments.

who believes the task force did act appropriately. >> the folks they attended to apprehend -- are the worst of the worst. momoy -- many times these folks do not want to be apprehended. as our personnel -- is focused to -- as well as the personnel that belongs to the local agency. they do extensive training. they train together. because they are going to be working together. >> the u.s. marshal says the investigation continues. e things we do not you -- do not know yet is what led him to south carolina and what led the task force to these apartments. our partner station in houston, texas did speak to the victim's family. when i say the victim, the ex girlfriend that damon james is accused of killing. they are happy that they finally

back to you. >> live outside the richmond county sheriff's department. thank you so much. another cold start in the midlands this morning. many of us woke up to temperatures in the lower to middle 30s. we have warmed up. we have warmed up a lot. fifty-five at newberry. winnsboro, 55. orangeburg, 51 -- 61 degrees. in columbia, 64 degrees. wind out of the southwest at 11 miles per hour. a lot of clouds coverage in place. we may see a peek of sunshine. otherwise the wind continues out of the southwest. temperature around 66, for the high. overnight tonight, we could see a sprinkle. down to 49 degrees. tomorrow, not as warm at 54. wind out of the north, northeast. and likely rain throughout the palmetto state. we will look at the seven-day forecast in a few minutes. the state fiscal

by governor haley approved the sale of a dilapidated apartment up -- mental health building early this morning. the development agreed to purchase the 16-acre psychiatric institute as more than -- at more than $200,000 per acre. the department of mental health has been transitioning the children who were formerly using the facility to another psychiatric hospital. the governor says she supports the private sector buying up some of the 10,000 state owned properties to stimulate the state's economy. >> these are buildings costing us more to maintain than not. we're getting out of that. we're looking at something that is better quality for the public servants who work there. but doesn't have to be downtown. doesn't have to have the high payment rates. so you're going to start to see us get rid of land -- get rid of those buildings. because it is better than the private sector.

we can do things like this . >> the determine a public health sold the majority of this. this was not included in the sale. this would be the last of the property to be sold to the private sector. columbia mayor steven benjamin will give the state of the city address at a 6:00 time at city hall tonight. there will be a reception after the address. stay with news19 for complete coverage of the state of the city address. law enforcement is searching for an inmate that walked away from a rock hill prison. the department of corrections says that 26-year-old zachery reaves walked away from the catawba center -- he was serving eight year sentence o o a burglary charge. he has a tattoo of an angel on his shoulder. he was last seen wearing a part -- a department of corrections uniform. if you have seen him, call crime

the prosecution and defense of those arrested in the trials of jack parker and douglas taylor -- the stand. the jury is expected to begin deliberations later today. parker is the father of brett parker -- the man convicted of killing his wife and gambling partner. the two face to several gambling charges in 2013. but the court of appeals because of prosecutorial misconduct -- sending his case back to district court. the south carolina unemployment rate ended 2015 at 5.5% -- to the same rate as in november. an appointment was highest in marion county at 9.3%. charleston county was lost at 4.2%. nationwide, the unemployment rate held at steady in december at 5%.

to lancaster county. $3 million is being invested to renovate a building near i-77. the company makes cushions and pillows for indoor and outdoor furniture. the plan is expected to be in full operation by the spring. the jobs are expected to be created over the next five years. hire oil prices and positive earnings news from u.s. companies are helping to send the stock market higher in early training. energy stocks are leading to early gains on wall street as the price of oil rose 1%, up to $30 a barrel. yesterday the dow dropped more than 200 points. if you see smoke in columbia today, don't be alarmed. before to jackson is conducting another controlled burn. thisisconsists of 292 acres near leesburg. and crew throughout the east coast are still clearing roads from the weekend blizzard.

the federal government are still shut down. street parking is all but nonexistent. the subway system is close to being fully operational. in new york, the mayor says that lessons learned from the 2010 storm helps improve communications between the city and the state. at -- at least 44 people have died as a result of the storm. two antiabortion activists who promoted an investigation into planned parenthood are now facing criminal charges themselves. a texas grand jury handed down indictments yesterday against them for allegedly tampering with a government recording. the pair were behind a secretly recorded videos allegedly showing planned parenthood employees trying to sell fetal tissue for profit. with less than one week to go before the iowa caucuses, polls to show that donald trump is starting to edge out of lead over senator ted cruz. the democratic race is even closer with hillary clinton and

tie. nine candidates are campaigning in iowa today. gop front-runner donald trump will be in lexington county tomorrow. he will be at the tree farm off of highway one at 7:00 p.m. the public. don't forget the deadline to register to vote in the democratic presidential kind -- primary -- is tomorrow. the democratic primary is february 27. so if you have moved, make sure you are ready to vote by updating your voter registration card. or if you moved from one county to another, you must register in your new counties i the deadline to be eligible to vote. the republican voter registration deadline was last week. the president ever are -- the president of iran is asking pope francis to pray for him. the two spoke at the vatican today. the four day european swing is to position them as a player in middle east peace efforts.

visible in the world stage after the nuclear deal with western leaders. that how a band are claiming responsibility for today's attack at a police checkpoint in southern afghanistan. a provincial spokesman says that an afghan policeman turned his weapon on fellow officers while they were sleeping in their quarters, killing 10. the gunmen fled the scene taking all the weapons and ammunition. ford is recalling nearly 391,000 ranger pickups because the driver side airbag insulators can explode with too much force and cause injury. the recall covers trucks from 2004 until 2006. this is inin the u.s. and cacada. this comes days after the government announced that a south carolina man was killed when an insulator exploded in december.

welcome back. we have a beautiful day in store for us. cool this morning. but it is warming up nicely. >> i could not believe it. a second day in a row starting out with really cold temperatures. and we start to warm up. it was cold this morning. i'm pretty sure that nobody walk outside without a jacket. it was in the 30s. it should be in the 30s. but a lot of us were below 30. in fact, only 28 degrees in camden. sumter, 32. saint matthews and manning, a chilly 30 degrees. as well as saluda. all of us are in the 50s. some in the 60s. lexington, 61. as well as saint matthews in orangeburg. camden, 54. newberry, 55 into winnsboro. here in columbia, it is 64 degrees. very strong south, southwesterly wind at 11 miles per hour. a lot of cloud coverage in place. a little bit of sunshine trying to peek through.

radar, a lot of clouds streaming in. a bermuda high well off to -- into the atlantic has been pumping and a lot of moisture into the south carolina coastline. highs today -- generally in the middle to upper 60s. it is going to be a very warm day. here at columbia, 66 degrees. we already have the cloud coverage. we could see sunshine. probably not much. overnight tonight, we will get down to 49 degrees. on the onset of light showers. all the lows tonight will generally be in the middle to upper 40s. with some communities getting as high as 53 degrees for a low in orangeburg and 50 and saint matthews. outside of all of the cloud coverage, it is an event of this cold front that has been moving through. this cold front is going to be moving through rather quickly. the models have considerably changed from route -- from what it was this morning -- to what we are expecting. a lot of cloud coverage into the afternoon and evening. as we get into the overnight, we could see a sprinkle or two.

morning hours -- as the rain moves through. the models are getting a little bit light on the precipitation. we do have rain into the middle of the day and afternoon. but not by much. and it won't last long as we could see a little more as we go into thursday. as far as tomorrow, we have a chance for rain throughout the day. not only in the midlands and central midlands but all of the palmetto state with a high of 54 degrees. and 46 for the high on thursday. as skies clear. any rain would be pretty much into the early morning hours. and in the sky starts to clear out. a lot of sunshine friday with a high of 54. this weekend, in store for temperatures in the middle to upper 60s. a lot of sunshine. even though some cloud coverage by monday -- we're looking at highs of 67 degrees. the southern communities could actually hit 71. >> wow. perfect weather to wrap of january and start off february. who is going to complain about that?

those beautiful weekends. >> we look forward to that. thank you. still ahead on news19 at noon, howard is in the mr. food test kitchen creating an old faster -- old fashion

>> howard is creating an old-fashioned favorite in the mr. food test kitchen. >> here is the test kitchen. we love reading your comments on facebook and on mr. food.com. they help us plan what recipes to create and which ones to feature. and when a recipe stands out with tons of great comments -- like the meatloaf we're making today, you can't bet we will be sharing that with you.

finely chopped onion and green pepper. and we added egg, italian bread comes -- crumbs, some catch- up -- ketchup and black pepper. this will keep it nice and tender. after putting that in a pan, we have -- pat it down. after baking it for one hour, we put the remaining catch-up -- ketchup and brown sugar before putting that back in the oven. the combination creates a -- to die for glaze, that puts this meatloaf in a league of its own. so why not hop on your computer, tablet or smart phone and grabbed the recipe for the old-fashioned meatloaf so you can make this for your family and see what all of the hubbub is all about.

kitchen where today we found a classic comforting way for you to say, ooh, it is so good! >> thank you, howard. stay with us.

the details on what we ar a century-old bridge near pittsburgh was demolished this morning. the bridge stood above the allegheny river for 107 years. a replacement has been built and open to traffic since october. and crews will be on barges clearing up the debris from the water. a 2-year-old bloodhound in alabama went for a walk and ended up successfully completing a half marathon. the dog got out from her backyard and ended up at the start of the race about a quarter-mile away.

best of all, she came in seventh place. she even got a medal. the owner found out the dog was gone when someone called her from the finish line. coming up today on friends at five, are you on lucky in love? laymen on your credit card debt. almost half of merit -- almost half of americans find credit card debt to be a turn off. how will you get your money together before valentine's day? >> that is so embarrassing that a dog to do better in a half marathon -- as opposed to me and a quarter marathon. that is embarrassing. >> anything on four legs will beat something on two. so you shouldn't feel too bad. >> but it is a bloodhound. not a fast though. >> but it has two more legs than you. >> seventh place? >> impressive. he had a goal and he accomplished it. >> my goal is to make sure that we can actually get through this weather.

but not looking very good. it is overcast out there. 64 degrees in columbia. wind out of the south, southwest. continuing out of the south, southwest. tonight, 66. overnight, 49 degrees with sprinkles coming in. a good chance for rain tomorrow. ending by thursday. plan for the weekend accordingly. a lot of sunshine. temperatures in the lower to middle 60s. >> thank you so much. and thank you for joining us for news19 at noon. have a wonderful day.

you again this afternoon at >> victoria: there. that's better. [ chuckles ] >> billy: i'm sorry. it must be the meds. >> victoria: they reduced your painkillers s sterday. >> billy: did i say meds? i meant beds. come on. get up in here. it's cold and lonely in here. >> victoria: i think we'll have plenty of time for that when we get home. >> billy: which should've been yesterday. let's go. >> victoria: dr. shelby's not gonna let that happen. >> billy: dr. shelby doesn't know what he's talking about. come on. let's get out of here. >> victoria: this is our second chance, okay?