kevin: a little bit of a wintry mix or even snow in spots, but heavier rainfall across the area. we will talk about how long it lasts and the evening commute ahead. erin: plus, snow and ice create more issues. this group more just to get their bob house off the ice. and another candidate announces he has suspending his campaign. lawrence: i am deeply and wholeheartedly sorry. erin: an apology for a man assaulting a child as he fights reduced. [captioning performed by the which is responsible for its visit ncicap.org] like we do.

erin: right now, much of the state is seeing rain, but in some areas, it is fleeting. -- is sleeting. in some areas, snow is falling, and this is causing reduced speed, such as at i-89 and secondary good afternoon. i erin fehlau. we want to check in with meteorologist kevin skarupa. kevin: it is rain through a good part of the state as temperatures climb farther away from the freezing mark. it should continue as temperatures eventually through the afternoon are up into the 40' s and maybe even lower 50' s. you can see the white mountains of the great north wooods. it is all rainfall to our south and west, moving in through the afternoon. some will be locally heavy, and a lot of that centering around the evening commute, which could be a very sloppy one, which continues to pick up out of the

a lot of this winds down through the evening and still mild out there tomorrow before we start to see the cooler air arrive. what that means for the weekend and the pattern beyond that with few minutes. erin: meantime, snow and ice continues to be an issue throughout the state. a bob house and alton bay has to to be pulled out after it broke through the ice. wmur' s kristen carosa has more. kristen: we just spoke to one of the men trying to pull the bob house out of alternate. this group is working -- out of alton bay. this group is working hard in tough conditions. the bob house fell through last night here in the above-normal temperatures as we can have led to poor ice conditions this year, and this bob house was unfortunately located on a weak spots, and it just fell through h. neil: when under last night here we try to pull it out and could not do it. we are trying to do it now before the rain comes.

using planks. they have got wet suits on, and they are doing it right. it is bad. it has been that all year. it has been real spotty. the warm weather last week killed it here you go up lake there. it is dangerous. kristen: fish and game is warning residents about the dangers, especially on large bodies of water where it is not completely frozen. we will have more starting at 9:00. wmur news 9. erin: breaking news this new -- republican presidential hopeful rand paul is suspending his campaign. his senior adviser the center will continue his fight for liberty, and it is was an honor working for him. wmur' s heather hamel has more. heather: a tough day for those who were karen senator rand paul' s manchester office. the office has been open since

staffers were teary-eyed when we stopped by, doing work, but preparing to pack up. his senior advisor, mike biundo, says they are incredibly proud accomplished, saying they were leadership team in the state. s after finishing with less than 5% in iowa. biundo says his status in the eyes of the national media did not help his chances. mike: let' s be honest -- for months and months, a lot in the national media said this campaign was on its last leg. that always hurts. when the national media is dictating the tone and tenor of a race and trying to tell anybody that the candidate is not serious, that has a toll and effect. despite all of that, he fought on and worked really hard and took the first in the nation primary very seriously. i very proud of that. heather: for now, senator rand paul will work as senator, and

will throw his support behind any republican opponents. reporting in manchester, heather hamel, wmur news 9. today is another busy day on the campaign trail. way across the state. marco rubio held a town hall. he discussed a number of topics veterans, rebuilding the u.s. military, and national security. sen. rubio: when i am president, we will have a real war on terror, which means the best intelligence agencies in the world are going to find the terrorists, the best military in the world will destroy them, and if we capture any alive, they' re getting a one-way ticket to guantanamo. erin: rubio is making stops in laconia and dover today. republican ted cruz also has a packed schedule. cruz just wrapped up a town hall in henniker, addressing the fight against isis, securing the

also immigration. on the democratic side, hillary clinton is back in new here is a live look in derry. voters' questions at her get out she has stops in dover, manchester, and then she heads back to derry tonight. bernie sanders has stops in rochester in derry. also campaign today -- republicans jeb bush, john casey cover -- john kasich, chris christie, carly fiorina, and jim go gilmore p you can find out where the candidates will be an win by using the candidate tracker on a website, wmur.com. the republicans will meet one last time before the primary. wmur and abc news is sponsoring debate at st. john'

we will have the complete coverage begin with a special edition of news 9 at 5:00. today, a new hampshire man sentenced to 22.5 years to 45 years in prison for sexual assault on a child is back before a judge. lawrence cook was sentenced in 2000, and now he is asking that the remaining years of incidents be reduced. wmur' -- of his sentence be reduced. wmur' s ray brewer is lit. ray: both the prosecution and defense agreed that lawrence cook has been a model prisoner in his nearly 16 years in prison. while the defense is arguing nothing more will be served by having coke remain in prison, the prosecution says this is about justice. now 62 years old, lawrence cook apologized to his family, the court, and the victim' s family for sexually assaulting a little girl. lawrence: i pray to god to find

prison has changed him. lawrence: i humbly come before you having learned from my my rehabilitation. ray: in march of 2000, cook, who was a member of the new hampshire national guard, was sentenced for salting the grill for years, beginning when she was four -- four assaulting the girl for years, beginning when years old. s ability to testify about the seriousness of his crime and help others is a reason for him not to spend the next six years in new hampshire state prison but in our community helping others. ray: the county attorney noted cook' s friendly and friends as reduction. understand what the violation of trust and mediation goes with abusing a child for so

ray: tom velardi says when cup was sentenced to a minimum of 22.5 years, the state made a promise to the victims. reducing that sentence would a letter. tom velardi: "i want to speak up for my daughter. it is amazing that he, mr. cook, gets a chance to be released early, which technically equates to a reduced sentence." ray: among those watching today is cook' s wife, who sat in the front row. the judge says he takes this matter seriously, once time to think about it, and will release his ruling next week. reporting live in dover, ray brewer, wmur news 9. erin: all right, ray, thank you. today, a keene man is due in court on a sexual assault charge. michael lang is accused of sexually assaulting a child under the age of 13. officials say additional charges are anticipated as the investigation continues.

officers were called to an apartment at 8:45 last night and found a 24-year-old man injured. the victim told police a group apartment and took some of this stuff. he was taken to the hospital injuries. day. charges against comedian bill cosby? virus. experts say the virus can be spread not just through mosquitoes. kevin: we have the rain for a less than ideal evening commute, and from there, we are cooler for the next two days. a new pattern that sets up coming up. erin: in cook' s corner today, we dream. it is called seafood sophia, and includes lobster, sure, and it a

erin: a decision to throw out criminal charges against bill cosby cod as early yesterday. me -- could come as early as today. testified yesterday that he agreed to not prosecute cause be, but the current da says no agreement was ever signed. cosby is charged with drugging

the zika virus is spreading rapidly and now just not by sexual content. health officials in texas confirmed a case of the virus sexually. zik has been linked to causea head. creating a vaccine for this virus. follow that story for you. outside, we are seeing a bit of rain and a mix in some spots creating tricky travel. kevin: you did this morning, for sure, and now we turn it over to a wet wednesday afternoon, and from there, cooler air making its way in. erin: ok, your forecast after the break. and we will show you had a make

>> now, meteorologist kevin skarupa with your stormwatch 9 forecast. kevin: certainly not the most pleasant of wednesdays out there, even in the north country, where you are looking for quite a bit of snow, it is changing over.

sleet, freezing rain, and plenty of rain for southern areas. through the afternoon, we will continue with that theme. still a few more agrees to go, and as a matter fact, our highs today may not occur until this evening, the 40' s, lower range of the 50' s. breeze that will continue to go at times over 20 miles an hour through the remainder of the afternoon, while the most focus through the evening commute. there may be lighter patches of rain at times, the rain will also be heavy at times through the remainder of the afternoon, and then starts to let up through the remainder of the evening. the coldest of the air is in the central plains. that does not get here until late tomorrow evening or early friday. tomorrow will be fairly mild. you will notice that we continue with the pockets of heavier rainfall and the mixture that continues up north with some wet snowflakes continue to be mixed in as well to her some spots of an inch or two of accumulation,

the theme is for the warmer air to overspread the area and temperatures eventually peaking around 7:00 tonight and holding s later on tonight, setting up that proverbial running start with a tomorrow. obviously, the evening commute areas. plenty of rainfall, lower visibility, but as it stands now, it has been a slow, stubborn climb from the s we have now. winds continue to turn from south southeast to south southwest, and that will push into the milder air through the reminder of the afternoon. some spots may hold in the upper 40' s through the afternoon. as i mentioned, fairly mild out there tomorrow before a true cooler air joins behind the system works its way in tomorrow night. rainfall tomorrow.

overnight hours. any clouds we start with tomorrow will give a way to sunshine, highs in the 40' s to near 50. not anything you would expect that some of your with our normal highs in the low and mid 40' s. from there, fair skies friday but cooler by than with highs in the 30' s to the lower range of the 40' s, which is the air mass that will be in place as we worked our way through the weekend when we look at even cooler temperatures by early next week. rainfall heavy at times of the last of the mix continuing in the north country. breeze continues through tomorrow, and that will push temperatures in the 40' s to lower 50' s before we start to fall back. a lot closer to the averages starting friday into the weekend, we will be looking at even colder air by the time we get to sunday and monday with the next possible system by the time we get to tuesday. let' s head to cook' s corner. erin: we are making a great seafood dish and the news 9 kitchen today. we' re joined by adam parker from fratellos.

adam: we sure do. this is one of our great sophias that we make. i cannot tell you how great it is to represent the homestead and fratellos family can we have mushrooms, lobster, scallops, shrimp, i just added my mussels. now i will add my sherry, a little bit of half-and-half, and then we will add our sophia sauce, which is right here for it. while that is going, we need to get our process in -- our pasta in here. erin: what is in your sophia sauce? adam: cream that is second with sherry, a little bit of paprika. then we season it up with salt and pepper. have you had this dish before? erin: i have not, but it looks delicious. adam: you are in for a treat. it is one of our best selling dishes, and people love it. erin: you want to make sure it is not overcooked. what is the trick?

the trick is you need a trained professional. [laughter] erin: go to fratellos, right? adam: anybody can do it with practice, but i tell you what, fratellos does it right. i will throw it little bit of parsley in. then i am ready to plate this. that did not take as long at all. erin: not at all. adam: i expect to see this on your dinner table soon, huh? erin: i do not know. maybe i will head to fratellos. adam: he will keep me working. right now. adam: absolutely. we have a great couple of places around, and we are looking forward to the primaries. to eat something. erin: [laughs] tell people about the other restaurants. adam: the other restaurants -- one is in bristol, our homestead restaurant, one in laconia,

merrimack, no matter where you live in new hampshire, you can access one of these delicious foods. erin: so you are going to add some cheese on top? adam: parmesan cheese -- big fan. erin: what else are you cooking be stays? adam: just about everything. salmon, we have dishes incorporating different ones in it. we have just about everything you would want. erin: this looks delicious. if you like seafood, this has just about everything you want. adam, thank you for coming in.

here's the truth -- some have proposed to cut social security for the elderly and disabled vets. in fact, not only should we not cut benefits -- we should expand them. my plan for social security increases benefits and cost of living adjustments and raises minimum payments for low-income seniors. can retire i'm bernie sanders,

erin: football fans of all kinds have unique ways of showing support for their teams. one colorado goat rancher is showing support by dressing her goats up in broncos colors. rebecca herberg says the girls get orange and the boys get blue, and it looks like a bunch of broncos fans running around. on sunday, she will be cheering on the broncos with all 14 goats. kevin: wow. in the house?

erin: i don' house. kevin: that would be impressive. notice in the extended forecast after the rainfall this afternoon that makes ending this reign of north, we remain mild tomorrow before starting to cool off, and that flied out continues next week. erin: starting tonight at 5:00, the convicted killer who broke the new york prison learns his sentence for that escape. and roller derby is becoming more popular with women, but one new england law is holding the sport in check. that does it for us. have a great afternoon. the american people can't afford to wait for ideas that sound good on paper... but will never make it in the real world. the grandmother who has to choose between paying for medicine and paying rent... can't wait. the single mom who desperately needs a raise... can't wait. the student with a mountain of debt can't wait.

right now for people and families who need it. p i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. car repairs, home improvements, a family trip ...it's not easy to afford them. what did marco rubio do? he put $22,000 in personal expenses on a republican party credit card. rubio's bad judgment caused a scandal and for five years rubio refused to release the credit card records. marco rubio: skipping major votes... all over the place on immigration... he's just not ready to be president. pnright to rise usa is responsible

(phone ringing) you can't deal with something, by ignoring it. but that's how some presidential candidates seem to be dealing with social security. americans work hard, and pay into it. so our next president needs a real plan to keep it strong. (elephant noise) (donkey noise) hey candidates, answer the call