help maintain the traffic flow there and also provide a lot of facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians and a safer way to travel. >> the plan calls for different styles of roads. sometimes creating a parkway style boulevard or a more urban boulevard in high density areas. >> it needs to be restructured how you get into the parking lots. that's a lot of where the traffic backs up at. where you come out of the parking lot and try to get on to six forks road. >> as development continues along six forks the plan would help guide the things that would be built and adjust speed limits. >> we'd look for a consistent speed limit. >> it'd cost about $2 million for the next step, to design the corridor, the corridor may design land taking to make the road wide enough to handle six lanes at a medium. years.

road is one of the city's higher priorities. how to pay for it, most of that money would come from future transportation bonds. i'm steve, wncn news now. dramatic testimony today in the murder trial of a north hills mother. >> 23-year-old travion smith is charged with killing melissa huggins jones in 2014. >> reporter: there were plenty of tears shed today on the witness stand as people remembered the woman who died and the day her young daughter found her body. a devoted mother who dearly loved her family and god. god. especially her children. the church doors were open. she did everything she could to have her children in church. >> reporter: that's how melissa huggins jones mother described her daughter in court three years after she was killed in her apartment.

blood was everywhere. >> a construction worker at the apartment complex testified about the morning in may of 2013 when her eight-year-old daughter found her mom lying blood covered in bed and came out to ask him for help. he buried his head in his hands as he listened to the 911 call telling the operator it was too late. the young man on trial for the murder, travion smith sat quietly in court. he's one of three charged in the case. ronald anthony pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. sara redden hasn't gone to trial. prosecutors say the group was breaking into cars in the area where huggins jones was beaten to death and says smith was an active participant in the murder. >> they're going to tell you that travion smith is the person who first hit melissa huggins jones. >> his defense attorney insists smith was not to blamed for the

>> ronald anthony is serving a life sentence for the murder of melissa huggins jones is the one responsible for her death. >> if convicted smith could face the death penalty. live in raleigh, maggie newland, wncn news now. people are being told to lock their doors tonight. a man hunt is under way for a man who fled from police after wrecking his car this afternoon on highway 73 in jackson springs. the aberdeen times sent us these pictures, k9 units are searching the area, if you have information, call police. three cumberland county teens are behind bars accused of throwing rocks on vehicles below. >> deputies found three teenagers in a white bmw. they're accused of throwing the rocks on five vehicles. most of them trucks. the teens are being held on $250,000 bond. fayetteville police are searching for three people they say are behind a series of home invasions and robberies. one of the robberies took place

drive when a woman was held at gunpoint inside her garage. police issued warrants for naquan bradley and emanuel jordan. all are from brooklyn new york and have extensive criminal backgrounds. there's no evidence that the zika virus could be transmitted through sexual contact. health officials in dallas say that's how a patient contracted a virus. mosquitoes are the main transmitters of zika virus. but most infected people don't show symptoms. experts are concerned about a link to serious birth defects. a system spawning severe weather across the southeast is headed our way. this is video out of newton mississippi where a likely tornado uprooted trees and damaged a trailer. wncn chief meteorologist wes hohenstein is watching the system because it's headed here tomorrow. >> the rain for sure. the tornadoes likely not. this system will weaken some by the time it gets to us tomorrow

but just a rough night for our friends in alabama, up here in tennessee, there's mississippi, so heavy rain. thunder and lightning with this system. let me take off the radar and put on just the warnings. a couple active tornado warnings west of birmingham and red. the green, those are flood warnings. and the yellow, that's a severe thunderstorm warning. so hail and damaging winds. so a very spring-like atmosphere. , it's going to warm up tomorrow. it's going to get windy. right now things are calm. we expect rain tomorrow. we have both a warm front tonight and a cold front tomorrow night moving through the area. and in between, that's when the storms will arrive. not until the afternoon. tonight we're cloudy, mid 50s at 8:00. we drop to 50 at midnight. but then the warm front comes through. and bumps us back in the mid 50s tomorrow morning. so the morning commute is dry. not so in the afternoon. coming up in a few minutes. we'll walk you through the day hour by hour and tell you what's coming our way. >> all right wes, thank you. two years ago today, north

biggest environmental disasters in our state's history. a pipe burst at a duke energy coal facility north of greensboro spilling toxic sludge 70 miles down the river. >> jonathan rodriguez covered this issue extensively and he's live with a closer look. >> it was actually super bowl sunday when we heard there was a spill. we reported it. nobody realized how big it was at the time and the lasting impacts it would have. february 2nd 2014, a duke energy pipe collapsed dumping tens of thousands of tons of coal ash into the dan river. it took crews nearly a week just to stop the spill. it sparked outrage from environmental groups who worried about the toxic substances found in ash and its impact on water quality, crops, and wildlife. >> we apologize that this incident occurred. >> duke apologized for the spill and worked to clean up the river but could only remove

all eyes were on state environmental regulators. >> our goal was to get to the clean up issue as quickly and expeditiously as possible. >> duke, the department of environmental quality and local environmental groups have spent the last two years battling various lawsuits in court. the lawmakers and duke energy agreed the millions of tons of coal ash stored across the state has to be cleaned up. six months later the state passed the coal ash management act giving duke energy until 2029 to shut down and clean up every one of its ash ponds. today at the dan river facility, duke ramped up the removal of coal ash taking out thousands of tons by train each week. wncn investigates has been there every step of the way. we've taken you inside the facilities. researching the science to separate fact from fear, uncovering violations, holding all parties accountable. and even traveling to south carolina to see how ash can and is being recycled. the work is far from over. and for duke energy, it's now a

and two years later, the state has still not fined duke energy for the spill. there's major concern about how duke will clean up the ash. but we'll keep covering it as north carolina tries to figure it out. wncn kept you informed about the coal ash situation as jonathan just showed us. you can find more of his reports on wncn.com. we're five days away from super bowl 50. next at 7:00, hear from the panthers players about their preps. plus a science project sent into space. what duke university students hope to accomplish with their weather balloon experiments. here's a live look at i-40 and harrison avenue.

we're coming right back. well some cloudy but rather calm weather here in central north carolina today. not the case for our friends in the south. severe storms there tonight. in fact, we just got some

i'll show you those in on air, online, wherever you are, this is wncn news now at 7:00. the panthers dream season will come to a head this sunday when they take on the denver broncos in super bowl 50. the game will feature two of the nfl's top defenses. it will also pitch rising star cam newton against future hall of famer peyton manning. today newton spoke about the

>> there's a lot of things that peyton has done, is doing, that i wish i could mimic. but i can't do it like peyton can. only he can do it. but i try to translate not only the things i learn from him or have saw him do, but other quarterbacks in the league, and i try to apply it to my own. >> las vegas has the panthers as a six point favorite over the broncos. the rush is on to buy panthers merchandise in the area. >> with the excitement comes a warning. bo minnick explains why some state leaders are urging people to do their homework before making a purchase. >> yes, all of us have to have a panthers' shirt. >> betty cruz means it. panthers gear for every member of the family. >> i want my niece and my great niece a shirt. >> she's shopping at prosports in briar creek. the owner says the anticipation before the big game has been incredible. >> this is phenomenal. it's just absolutely crazy.

panthers stuff. >> even north carolina secretary of state elaine marshal has her panthers' gear. she wore it to the council of state meeting and brought with it words of caution. >> my job is to tell the public, please don't buy from these folks. >> she's urging consumers to watch out for counterfeit merchandise. >> i looked at my wife and said hey, how about we order a couple jerseys for the end of the season. >> wncn rate cn investigates showed you how chris ordered jerseys online that turned out to be counterfeit. a lot of times it's hard to tell the difference. one way would be to look at the price. here's an authentic jonathan stewart jersey selling for $100. if you find a similar jersey online selling for say $30, that might raise a red flag. while counterfeit goods may be cheaper, the secretary of state tells us -- >> frequently it's organized crime that gets it here. it's organized crime that sells it. they enlist street people to help sell.

says only the authentic stuff will do. >> this is a special occasion. and yes, i want it to be the right logo. >> bo minnick, wncn news now. >> the state of the state's office tells us there can be ties to funding terrorism through counterfeit goods. attorney general roy cooper says there are scams out there for people wanting to get tickets to the game or travel packages. we have much more about the panthers and super bowl 50 on wncn.com. tonight, the head of north carolina schools is responding to lawmakers concerns about its use of money. senate president's protem phil burger wrote a letter to state superintendent jen atkinson. burger is worried state money he budgeted for literacy training is being used to fund administrative costs. the general assembly cut funding for the area in this year's budget. >> the general assembly

public construction to cut $2.5 million out of its operation budget. we are doing that. and we will provide the necessary documentation as to the positions that we are cutting. >> doctor atkinson says the money is being used required by the budget. some students are taking design skills to space. they launched weather balloons in hillsborough. wncn meteorologist kristen has the story. >> three, two, one. >> we launched two other balloons into the lower atmosphere. >> a huge accomplishment for one group of engineering students who began with one goal, to collect weather data from high altitudes while learning to work as a team. >> the whole purpose of the class was to have different subgroups and our team of twelve people working on different parts of the project. >> the team work paid off and

>> the launch itself went smoothly. one of our balloons popped below 100,000-foot. and the other reached over 120,000 feet. >> these students built much of the equipment launched by the weather balloons themselves. spending countless hours perfecting their designs. >> i'd say it was easily over 500 hours. >> and they had to consider many environmental factors as the balloons traveled more than 20 miles into the atmosphere. like harsh temperatures and wind. after the balloons popped. their equipment was recovered. more than 100 100 miles from their launch location. >> this landed in a bog in eastern north carolina. >> and now comes the analysis of the weather data. >> all the data here is 12,000 lines of data that we collected. >> and although it maybe tedious, these students are eager to share findings. >> we set up a website and we're hoping to publish it as

wants to look at the data and use it for any projects in the future. >> and they're excited to continue their research. >> it was fun. the hope would be to launch another one in the near future. >> wncn news now. and now, your wncn weather forecast. >> a beautiful day when she shot that. and the weather balloons. it seems like an ancient technology. it's 2016, but they're very important to meteorologists. because it measures the atmosphere at every level. and we use that to help with the forecast. we feed that into the super computer models. very important even though today you can get your forecast on the phone. the weather balloons are very important. they used them very well tonight in the south. they have severe weather. heavy rain, thunder, and lightning. they've got tornadoes on the ground. they've got severe thunderstorms. they've got flooding issues. and some of this in one form or another is going to be here tomorrow. and tonight, we're just now getting some pictures in. this is happening right on the alabama/mississippi state line. and we have several

tornado on the ground, including this picture, again in alabama, craig got this one off twitter. and brett posted this on his twitter account in scuba mississippi. again some scary stuff there. and the storms are now continuing there as night falls. and that's never ending fun. we're thankful for any calm weather we have. that's what we have today. it was cooler. temperatures in the 50s and 60s. above normal for this time of year. but cooler than highs in the 70s yesterday. and tonight we wait on a warm front. news cast going to mess with our temperatures. -- that's going to mess with our temperatures. cloudy and dry through tomorrow morning's commute. a warm front comes through at midnight. before the warm front, we fall off through the low 50s. the warm front comes through, and then it warms us up. one of the few nights throughout the year that temperatures will actually go up over night, and there is the warm front, right now just on the other side of the mountains. there's the cold front. that will be here tomorrow night. and it's in between where it's kind of a mess. lots of instability.

and lots of rain that will be here tomorrow. in some form of what i just showed you. it's going to leave a lot of the severe aspects behind. we're expecting heavy rain and strong winds. we're dry and cloudy. there goes the warm front passing through over night. and your morning commute will be generally dry and cloudy as well. as we get to late morning, the rain is starting to encroach upon the western parts of the viewing area. the strong line of storms moves in at about 3:00. first into western parts of the viewing area through the heart of central north carolina. through cumberland county and hope county through banson and warren county around the evening commute, 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, it'll clear the area. the strongest of storms at 8:00 or 9:00. then the front comes through. cooler on thursday. and a little bit of left over rain thursday morning before we start to dry out. but one thing we're concerned with tomorrow again mainly in the afternoon, some damaging

remains in a marginal risk. the lowest risk. but a risk none the less of severe weather tomorrow. so it's going to be a warmer day. it's going to be a windyday. but it's going to be wet as we get into the afternoon and evening. and your seven-day forecast takes us from that warm windy wet day tomorrow to a cooler day thursday and then just chilly friday. sunny and 49. we get into the weekend, it stays chilly. keep an eye on the morning temperatures. back to near freezing friday, saturday, and sunday. and then a few more rain showers back in the forecast early next week. but a stormy day. we don't get them often in february. usually we're talking about snow storms. but these are severe rainstorms coming tomorrow afternoon. >> it kind of washes away the 70 degrees we'll have. >> it's going to get cold. >> thanks wes. with iowa in the rear-view mirror the countdown to the next new hampshire primary begins. next at 7:00, we break down the big winners from last night.

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the race for the white house moved to new hampshire tonight. but it maybe a whole new contest one day after the iowa caucuses. it took a few coin tosses on the democratic side to declare hillary clinton the winner. it was that close last night. clinton and bernie sanders were in new hampshire trying to win over voters. it's a state where the former secretary of state faces an uphill battle. >> new hampshire will have to

with the republicans to make sure they don't wreck us again. >> clinton currently trails bernie sanders by 18 points with the primary now just a week away. >> meanwhile on the republican side, texas senator ted cruz hopes his convincing win in iowa will catapult him to success in later states. he took 28% of the votes in the hawk eye states compared to 23% for donald trump and 22% for marco rubio. today cruz took his message to new hampshire trying to continue his momentum. >> sent notice across the country that this election will not be decided by the media.

hampshire and south >> so storms are on their way. >> it was snow a week and a half ago. but it's string storms

a dry start to your school day. heading out the door to work and school. mid 50s with cloudy skies. then it gets windy in the afternoon. we're up to 70 until the storms come through. and those will move through probably after 2:00 and 3:00 and last until about 8:00 or 9:00. and remember, heavy rain, some strong winds, and just kind of not much fun. that's not something you would expect in february. february-like weather will return friday and through the weekend. >> to reiterate, rain, not snow.

we're back here tonight at >> she passed out in my living room, and i made her go home. >> wow. >> announcer: neighbors refuse to get along. >> this lady has used the system, calling the police on us, stating that we're abusing our children. >> announcer: did these parents set a bad example? >> she said, "blue, sic 'em!" and then the dog came up and bit me. >> their older son was shooting bb gun pellets as our children were playing right there. >> judge judy: one of you should go find someplace else to live, 'cause this is not gonna be better.

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