america." sean: now on "daybreak" a former belknap deputy faces charges. erin: new details about a deadly tent collapse. the safety violations now facing the circus company. kevin: a chilly start to your friday morning with three chances of snow in your seven-day forecast. all of the detail and an update on your weekend ahead. sean: paying respects. thousands of people are expected to file past the casket today at the

>> no one covers new hampshire like we do. now wmur "news 9 daybreak." erin: good morning to you on this friday. thanks for waking up with us. i'm erin fehlau. sean: good morning. i'm sean mcdonald. you probably noticed a little bite to the air. kevin: certainly temperatures are going to do the same thing this morning. single digits and lower teens this morning. we have a fairly light wind and a lot of sunshine to enjoy. eventually later on today and in to this evening, we're going to have a system approaching. it could bring light snow. temperatures in the single digits to lower teens. highs later on this afternoon up in to the 30's in most locations. by later on today with a light wind, the clouds up. much more with your forecast in a bit. we want to look at your

good morning, deb. deb: good morning. we're going to start off with a nice quiet ride. no major problems from the northern part of the state to the state line with massachusetts. 293 is moving well from the upper to the lower split with 93. 101 and 111 is moving along with no delays. on 95 it looks good between exits two and one through the construction zone. it is moving well through the hampton tolls. this report is brought to you by autofair. from the traffic network, i'm deb davidson for 95.7 wzid. sean: topping our news a former belknap county sheriff's deputy is behind bars accused of sexually assaulting inmates. erin: ernest blanchett has been indicted on nine counts. because this is an indictment, there's no mug shot available. ray brewer join us from outside of the jail in

explain where the alleged assaults happened. ray: prosecutors say the allegations against ernest blanchett involve a total of nine inmates. yesterday he was indicted on nine counts of aggregated sexual assault and one count of felonious sexual assault. in three cases he coerced the inmates and then watched them have sex with each other. blanchett is also intercourse with two female inmates. too. some of them have been office. they are victims too. in this case, vulnerable victims. ray: he was indicted in october for an inmail he was taking to

$100,000. live in laconia, ray sean: thanks. a circus company faces more than a dozen serious violations after a deadly tent collapse last year in lancaster. two people died and dozens were hurt when a microburst knocked down the circus tent at the lancaster fairgrounds on august 3rd. according to a new report, walker international events, failed to build the tent properly and ignored seven severe weather alerts. osha sited several other violations that put employees at risk of electric shock, burns, and cuts. >> no enforcement action that we take will bring back the victims to their families in the communities. going forward we want to make sure that we send employer and other employers that they need to follow proper procedures. sean: walker international

we tried to contact the company. we could not reach them. osha says it will meet with them next week. erin: a rochester man is due in court today. matthew temple was accused of burglarized a home in portsmouth. he broke in to homes in dover during the day looking for jewelry. they are still looking in to four other break ins. police say 49-year-old carol koehler stole items over the course of three years and sold them online. officers also found several of the stolen items in her home. sean: there will be extra police in kingston today after student made a threat directed at the winter carnival pep rally. as we reported earlier this week, district officials say the school but is cooperating with police. the school also says that any students who

concerns over the threat will be given an excused absence. a mother and 5-year-old girl are in the hospital with life-threatening injuries this morning after they were hit by a car in boston last night. a neighbor ran to the scene and started cpr on the child. police say the driver stopped immediately and tried to help. both victims suffered serious head injuries. the cause of the crash is still under investigation. erin: the next votes in the race for president will be cast tomorrow. republican donald trump is now responding to comments made by pope francis but says he is not in a fight with the pontiff. hillary clinton and bernie sanders were in las vegas. reporter: good morning. it's been ten days since the new hampshire primaries. they are fighting for their political lives. the stakes couldn't be higher. the presidential hopefuls hot on the campaign trail.

the state of nevada. >> the eyes of american will be on nevada. reporter: both democratic candidates facing voters at a televised town hall meeting answers tough questions on topics like immigration, privacy, and their records. >> maybe it is that senator sanders wasn't really a democrat until he decided to run for president. he doesn't know what the last two democratic presidents did. it is true. it is true. you know it is true. reporter: on the republican side, john kasich and donald trump face to face with voters >> was there a moment you first heard the pope said something about you that you thought maybe for forgiveness. >> no. look, i have a lot of respect for the pope. i would say that i think he was very much

the contests, they show donald trump is still ahead of the pack. in nevada hillary clinton and bernie sanders are still at a statistical tie. abc news, new york. erin: thousands of people, including president obama and the first lady, are expected to pay respects to justice scalia today. the casket will be on public view in the courts great hall from 10:30 this morning until 8:00 this evening. on the same platform on which president lincoln's coffin rested. sean: still to come this morning, are you ready to deal with an emergency at your home? the red cross will soon hand out hundreds of kits to help. erin: this week's hometown hero is flipping and tumbling her way to the top after spending half

sean: the mbta says it could be a nightmare getting in on the commuter rail because of

kevin: starting off friday morning with clear skies. area. it should be a pretty nice day. a lot of sunshine around and light wind which i think everyone is going to appreciate. a little bit of light snow tonight. three systems in the seven-day forecast. we'll talk about them coming up. erin: all right. thank you, kevin. the red cross is teaming up with anthem blue cross and blue shield to help people in manchester get ready for an emergency. sean: they will hand out 400 emergency preparedness kits. it includes water, a pancho, and light. >> it is critical to be prepared before something happens. these kits will give

skills to be prepared before a fire happens in their home or before they have to leave their home because of some emergency. sean: the kits will be handed out this spring when they help install smoke detectors around the time we change our clocks. erin: this week's hometown hero says she even surprised herself. she just won the all around title at the nhi gymnastics championship. tori sipes has been competing since she was four. she is now training four hours every night. >> kind of surprised i won with all of the good gymnast competitors. it was just exciting. it means a lot. it is great to place on individual events. just to know you won the overall is great. yeah. to see how consistent you are on all of the events. you were able to pull together a good enough score. erin: that's what you it. i think she can't

in addition to her gymnastic skills she plays field hockey and has a 3.6 gpa. wow. is she talented? sean: they make it look so easy. they just run up there and do it. right now coming up, it has been a tough couple of months for people who love winter. the state is asking snowmobile clubs to stop grooming trails. erin: mcdonald is trying something new. combining a popular breakfast meal with chicken. sean: bella the bunny is this week's adopt a pet. she's a californian breed rabbit. she will soak up all of the attention you can provide and will hop in your lap. she will even eat treats.

erin: grass and brush fires broke out in kansas and missouri yesterday prompting evacindications and creating the fire tornadoes. look at this. you see them spinning up. the flames and winds fire. no reports of any injuries. they have been able to keep them from destroying any homes. the state senate in kentucky has approved a bill that creating different marriage license forms for gay and straight couples. goal of the legislation is to remove the names of county clerks from marriage licenses after a clerk refused to issue same-sex licenses last summer. critics say having two different forms is unequal treatment. the house is expected to pass its own version of the bill. sean: more than a million walmart employees are getting a

the higher wages will cost an extra $1.50 billion this year. mcdonald is trying out a new menu option. the chicken mcgriddle. it is a fried chicken patty served on a maple syrup bun. it is only in ohio in 11 locations. if the feedback is positive, it could go national. and spaceship two, they hope will take to the edge of space. it can carry passengers to more than 62 miles above the earth's surface. hundreds of people have put down deposits of $250,000 for a chance to fly. it comes with peanuts and pretzels. erin: let's hope so. the lack of snow continues to cause new problems for winter

the mt. washington auto road stopped. and the state sent out a request that all grooming across the state be stopped. >> we received notice from the bureau of trails that they weren't going to reimburse us for grooming. we had to cease all of the operations. erin: they are having a ripple effect taking a cut out of businesses, restaurants, rental properties, and those who work on snowmobiles as well. it would be great to get more snow so people can hit the trails with a lot of great conditions. kevin: it would be nice over some point at the first half of the winter if you had the one up. even if you start to melt a little bit of it, it is there. we haven't had that consistent one big thump of snow. and there are some systems on the maps. first couple of those look fairly weak.

some promise. the lack of it needs to be just so. a lot of the maps aren't hinting at that. we have the clear skies and light winds this morning. temperatures have drifted back in to the single digits and teens earlier this morning. a few spots below zero. starting out sunshine lighter wind. tonight. could be a quick one to accumulation. still a couple of snow showers tomorrow morning. a fairly mild weekend. there's going to be a lot of locations above 40. the clear skies and light winds. really nice start to the day. allowing temperatures to rebound quickly and level off in the 30's. the system coming at us is a warm front that approaches the area later on tonight. single digits and teens for most early this morning. still a bit of a light breeze. it is going to be a much lighter wind than the last couple of days. temperatures running 10-15 degrees cooler than yesterday at this time. coldest of the air continues to rotate through early.

beyond this gradually gets warmer through the weekend. high temperatures today just above the freezing mark up in the north country. we'll be in the mid to up every 30's in southern areas with enough sunshine. high clouds will start drifting in after 2:00 or 3:00 this afternoon. there may be a few flurries around western or northern areas late in the day. they are accumulating light snow. it will be after 9:00 or 10:00 tonight and few tomorrow morning. quick one to three inches of accumulation for the northern half of the state. there may be a spotty light coating to an inch. you'll notice we run the risk of a passing rain shower. there should be a lot of drier hours mixed in between. between the light snow early in the day and that chance of a rain shower in the afternoon. mild day for us on sunday. partial sunshine. most areas will be up in to the 40's. this is the second of the three systems. that one looks to slide to the south. it could be close enough to provide southern new hampshire with a little bit of light snow early on monday morning. we're up in the 30's today.

then we'll drift back in the 20's to lower 30's. a little bit of light snow early tomorrow morning. a general one to three warmer temperatures for the weekend. a couple of early flakes on monday. betting on the systems developing wednesday morning would be more it all depend on the track. it is a matter of 50 miles one way or the other. erin: there are some people hoping for more snow. stories. we start off here with ray brewer. ray: a former belknap county sheriffs deputy has been indicted. the allegations against ernest blanchett involve a total of five inmates. she's accused of assaulting while taking them to or from correctional facilities. in three cases he coerced the female inmates, watch them have sex with each other. he's accused of having intercourse with two female inmates.

circus in lancaster last summer faces more than a dozen safety violations in connection with a deadly tent collapse. osha says walker international events failed to build the tent properly and ignored seven severe weather alerts. there will be extra police presence at sanborn regional high school in kingston today after a student made a threat directed at the winter carnival pep rally. that student is no longer in class. sean: coming up this morning, james bond's beautiful aston

sean: there's a new restaurant

hollywood taking you inside the world of harry potter. erin: they did everything to make it look like the pub in hogsmeade. it is ribs, chicken, english bangers, and of course, butter beer and pumpkin juice. sean: butter beer sounds interesting. pumpkin juice? i'll pass. erin: i wonder what it tastes like. sean: a juicy pumpkin. ten fans are feeling like a british spy himself. erin: the jewel was the aston martin d-b10 build for the movie "spectre." it doesn't have the safety features needed to be street legal. the new owner had to agree to modify the vehicle. paid $3.5 million for the car.

street legal as well. sean: licensed to be cool though. that's awesome. erin: that's a sweet vehicle. sean: coming up a dramatic helicopter crash, but everyone

>> no one covers new hampshire like we do. now wmur "news 9 daybreak." erin: good morning. temperatures in the teens. 16 degrees there in portsmouth. we're getting off to a bit of a chilly start. sean: a chance to go sledding. which i often do on thursday nights. it was cold. cold and crisp. erin: the trail is rock solid. sean: hard and fast. kevin will talk weather

a former belknap county sheriff's deputy is waking up behind bars while being accused of sexually assaulting inmates while transporting them. the student of pembroke academy says a student was threatening to do something violent on graduation day were unfounded. and if you are taking the mbta, be prepared for delays and issues. a signal is causing backup. erin: not many clouds. kevin: no. there will be high clouds drifting in. the first of which arrives in the form of light snow. it will be a fairly quick mover. temperatures ahead of that in the 30's. we should be in the 20's. could be a few spots one to three inches of accumulation. erin: mild air. we want to check the roads for think morning.

93. kevin: we're joined live by deb deb: good morning. matter where you are in the state from the northern part down to the state line. we are seeing some snuggish volume northbound around exit 13. give yourself extra time. we're not seeing any problem on 111 getting across the state. at the time the spaulding turnpike is traveling at the posted speed limit. this report is brought to you by autofair. from the traffic network, i'm deb davidson for 95.7 wzid. erin: well, this morning a former belknap county sheriff's deputy is facing nine counts of aggregated felonious sexual assault. sean: all of his alleged victims were inmates. details of the former deputies indictment. good morning, ray. ray: good morning.

blanchette waking up behind bars after being accused of alleged sexual assaulting inmates. >> it is particularly disappointing when you have somebody in a position of trust and position of authority where they are supposed to be protecting the public. ray: former sheriffs deputy was indicted thursday on nine counts of aggregated felonious sexual assault and one count of felonious sexual assault. the cases involve five victims. all of them inmates. blanchett is accused of assaulting those inmates while transporting them facilities. >> the allegation is transporting the individual, he engaged in sexual contact with two of them. specifically they were alleging he engaged with intercourse with two inmates during the

ray: in three other cases, he is accused of watching inmates have sex with each other. he's now facing five different trials. >> inmates are people too. prosecuted by the office. they are also victims. in this case, very vulnerable victims. ray: blanchett's bail is set at $100,000. since this was an indictment and not an arrest, authorities do not release the mug shot to the media. reporting live in laconia, ray brewer,wmur news 9. sean: thanks. the superintendent says a supposed threat that unfounded. some students and their parents signed a petition alleging that another student threatened to do something violent on graduation day. they believe that student was allowed to stay in school. the superintendent says they did investigate. after numerous interviews with students, including the

determined it was all a rumor. >> we had 100 students absent. that's why we called the police immediately and thoroughly investigated the threat. we couldn't substantiate anything. >> the kids did what they had to do. they spoke up and talked to us. it was a good working relationship and environment over there. sean: an alert was sent to parents to let them know about the investigations and findings. erin: you should be prepared for long delays. amtrak is keeping all of the trains out of south station. workers have been trying to fix the problem leaving many passengers frustrated. >> this is disgraceful. there are people up there screaming. there's no cops. this is absolutely

>> it is total chaos. i don't see many emergency personnel directing people. erin: a spokesperson is apologizing noting the problem is with equipment that's operated by amtrak. sean: lawmakers are considering a new way to fight the drug crisis. they are proposing to create a registry of drug dealers. after three offenses, dealers would be put on the list. they hope it will create a new tool to stop drug abuse. >> it needs to be a two-pronged approach. do what do we do about the supply chain while we're reaching out and to taking care of those who are caught up in the clutches of the monster? sean: the new hampshire aclu says if the names are openly published, it could make it more difficult for those people to rehabilitation and find gainful employment. erin: jeanne shaheen is hearing

the drug crisis as she prepares to present a plan to combat the issue to congress. yesterday she spoke with program leaders and recovering addicts. her plan would provide $600 million in emergency funding to first responders and treatment centers that handle drug overdoses. >> what the legislation would do is provide support to programs that we know have been working to help address treatment, to help law enforcement as they are trying to put them behind bars to help with drug courts, prescription drug monitoring, so we can track what's going on. erin: the senate is scheduled to take up the bill next week. at the state house today, a hearing is hampshire's death penalty. the bill adds acts of terrorism and civil rights to the capital murder statute. a person convicted of

destruction or caught the death of a person could face the death penalty if the measure i passed. sean: firefighters in berlin came to the rescue of a deer that ran in to some trouble. it was struggling to stay above water in the androscoggin river. the doe was suffering from hypothermia. after ten minutes of being warm, the deer perked up and was later released back. they think the deer was stuck in the water for about an hour. doing just fine now thanks to the firefighters. erin: i know. all of the training comes in to play many times. coming up, a dramatic scene in hawaii. a helicopter caught on camera crashing. everyone on board survived. sean: the french government is attempting to give workers the good excuse to leave their jobs at the office and wants to implement a rule that gives employees the right to disconnect from their e-mails when they are not at work. kevin: cooler air continuing to move through this morning.

with a couple of chances forecast.

kevin: friday morning, february 19th. single digits. clear sky and a fairly

sunshine and a start to the they. we'll see high clouds starting to drift in. eventually the chance of light snow later tonight. details on that and your weekend coming up. sean: thanks. maggie hassan will be in the nation's capitol to attention the national governors association winter meeting. live with a preview of that. good morning, nikole. nikole: good morning. president obama is set to deliver remarks at the meeting this afternoon. the vice president will also attend the event. new hampshire governor, maggie hassan, is among several governors in attention. one of the topics expected to be addressed is the ongoing drug epidemic. they are calling on the federal government to take quick action to address the issue. just last month governor hassan signed two bills in to law the tackle the heroin and opioid problem in new hampshire. one strengthening the penalty for dealing fentanyl. the other creates a

use of narcan. it continues through monday. live in the nation's capital, wmur news 9. erin: all right. i'll take it. a teenager is in critical condition after surviving a helicopter crash at pearl harbor. five people were in the helicopter when it crashed wednesday morning. they rushed in to help pull them to shore. the helicopter was flying erratically, white smoke from the trail coming down. >> it was surreal and scary. the helicopter fell down and hit the water 20 yards off shore. thank god he didn't hit shore. i would have hurt a lot of people. there's probably 150 people standing around. erin: an ntsb investigator is going to arrive at the scene to determine what caused the crash.

ptsd. they revealed 40,000 cases and found that many of the troops with ptsd and depression are not getting the minimum number of therapy sessions. the minimum number of sessions after being diagnosed is four within eight weeks. officials blame the mental health professionals. they say the military will turn to therapist who are available through the pentagon contracts. investigating the digs appearance of 100 people whose remains were found in a sewer system. authorities say the victims were inmates, visitors, and people who had nothing to do with the prison. there could be more remains in sewers underneath other jails across columbia. sean: a texas school bus driver is out of a job after a terrifying incident. a train nearly slammed

the cell phone video shows just how close the train was. the district says the driver did not follow standard protocol. bus drivers have to stop 15 feet from the track, open the door, and look and listen before they cross. >> that was close. >> we're all screaming and telling her to move forward. even was freaking out and terrified at the moment. sean: after the incident, the driver brought the bus back. after the incident, the driver was fired before driving too close to the train. erin: an annoying sound is keeping people up at night. no one knows where it is or where it is coming from. >> it sounds like brakes to me. the screeching of -- you

brakes. erin: neighbors say they've been hearing this noise for weeks, mainly at night. local officials have ruled out a water valve, gas leak, and wildlife. the nearest train track is rarely used. some residents say it sounds like the noise is coming from the middle of the street. can you imagine having to deal with the sound all the time? not even knowing where it is coming from. sean: i can officially verify it is annoying. no doubt about it. wow. erin: no wonder they can't sleep. in sports, the bruins took on the predators. sean: the predators had a 1-0 lead. they scored a second time. that was all the scoring in the game. nashville won it 2-0. the bruins play at dallas tomorrow. erin: nascar drivers are gearing up for the daytona 500 which takes place this sunday. the twin qualifying races are set the starting field. they were held last

dale earnhardt jr. won the qualifying race. dale junior dominated for his 17th career win. he will start third in the race. kyle bush won the second race. several contenders crashed. among those were jimmie johnson, matt kenseth, and martin truex jr. sean: olympics of senior curls is underway. 250 curlers from more than ten states are taking place in the national curling championship president the oldest competitor this year is 88. but a sport for the young and old. erin: getting out the brooms. the french government is working out a plan to give employees the right to disconnect from their e-mails when they are not at the office. the new rule is part of the wide range of labor reforms designed to make france more competitive and business friendly while still protecting workers' interest. french unions have long pushed for the

it forces employees to work well beyond the 35-hour per week rule. that rule was put in place in o2000 as a way of encouraging people to hire more people by limiting work hours. sean: hold on. i have to check my e-mail. should i get back to work? okay. a lawmaker is trying to make it illegal for residents to host pot luck dinners. a bill on the books for years makes it illegal for people to host pot lucks outside of the workplace. it was supposed to be written so it was legal to host them at homes, churches, and schools as well as in the workplace. it came up when they ordered residences to stop holding pot lucks after someone complained. erin: i think there's a lot of people breaking the law. sean: surrounding up people with

get in jail right now. kevin: it has -- change the law. simple enough; right? erin: it is always so simple; right? kevin: in theory. we're starting the day to a certain chill. temperatures in the single digits and teens. high clouds drifting in. lighter wind. the last couple of days the winds has been gusting. barely around 5-10 miles opinion hour in to the afternoon. that's mainly in open areas. light snow moving in tonight. could be a quick one to three inches of accumulation across a decent part of the state. maybe a little bit less which may mix with a couple of rain drops. here's a look at it early on. you notice again the big area of high pressure in control of the weather. sunshine through early to mid afternoon. then these clouds start to approach late in the day. west to east. temperatures out ahead of that early this morning. certainly cold enough for snow. we're in the single

the area running 10-15 degrees colder than this time yesterday. beyond that we're looking at temperatures to start warming up. the system moving in with the chance of light snow. a warm front that will start to push temperatures upward for the weekend itself. high temperatures today will be up in to the 30's and low in to the 30's for most. could be a couple of upper 30's only to see temperatures fade in to the 20's. light snow starts to push in from the west. there could be a couple of flurries or light snow showers around during the evening hours. the main show will be early tomorrow. you'll notice down near the freezing mark. it could be a mixture of rain and wet snow. likely all snow. again light snow one to three inches of accumulation. once it moves by, there's the chance of a rain shower in the afternoon. a lot of drier hours mixed in between. temperatures which respond nicely tomorrow afternoon in to the 40's. should also be into the 40's on sunday as well. it will be with partial sunshine.

weekend after we get rid of the light snow early on the day on saturday. traveling conditions should be nice until monday morning. there's the potential of a weak system gliding to the south that could over spread to southern new hampshire. during the much larger system that we'll be watching for tuesday in to wednesday. right now the looks like it could be a mixture of snow initially to rain kind of like the larger system that we contended with. we'll have to see how the tracks of the maps change over the next few days. we're looking at 40's for the weekend with blend of sunshine and clouds after early light snow on saturday. flurries, we're looking at temperatures to continue to fade back. that will be ahead of the next system that arrives on wednesday. that system looks like a which could be likely for us by the time we get toward early wednesday morning. from there, thursday, yet again. beyond that we're looking at maybe another weak system by friday or saturday.

a couple of weak systems that will be tracking. sean: kids are paying attention. kevin: either way they get the snow day on wednesday. erin: there you go. sean: still to come, an interesting sight in hungary. a mobile sauna is rolling along the streets of the country's capitol. now for the u local hot shot. this is mable the pug sitting pretty in plymouth. good dog.

sean: take a look. a bald eagle is recovering after being rescued by firefighters. it was stuck in the tree and left dangling. the bird's foot may have suffered long-term damage. they are hopeful the eagle will heal. it is amazing how big they are in person.

this could be the ultimate way to make a coffee run. in canada, a woman was not going to let a snowstorm stop myrrh from getting her morning joe. he strapped them to the a sled and pulled her to the nearest tim horton's drive thru. she also takes the dogs on the trail. they were rewarded with dog-sized donuts. kevin: if you are up in central or northern canada, tim horton's coffee is good. erin: rolling through the streets of budapest. sean: it was a rolling sauna. kevin: it was built in a van and holds up to six people. it features a wood-burning stove, changing room, and shower, and costs $35 per person for a 90-minute session.

getting some ideas? put that on top of mt. washington. kevin: skarupa is hungarian. i'm horrified. sean: what are you are talking about? sit in there, have your tim hortons, and erin can do "chronicle" on it. erin: i would if it happened in new hampshire. sean: why a circus company is

sean: now on "daybreak," a former belknap sheriffs deputy facing charges. people say he sexually assaulting inmates. erin: the safety violations facing the circus company after the tent collapse last year. kevin: three chances of snow in your forecast. all of the detail and an update on the weekend ahead. sean: thousands of people are expected to file past antonin scalia's casket today at the supreme court. >> no one covers new hampshire like we do. now wmur "news 9 daybreak."