a recount of his race for re-election, several organizations are calling on him to concede. and..what officials are doing to help ease congestion from druham to chapel hill. i'm kathryn brown...lets rewind... good evening ...thanks for joining us... this week.... after making a racial comment a her job back.... raleigh police investigate two deaths on thanksgiving day .... and...thousands of shoppers hit the stores early looking for good bargins. a cumberland county teacher is back on the job after being suspended for making a racial comment. the superintendent says victoria maultsby was talking to students outside of class when she referred to another student as a -- quote -- "h.n." h-n is apparently the initials for "house n - word." - a derogatory term - that refers to a black person who does their best

disowning their own racial identity. maultsby was suspended without pay for five days. the body of a fort bragg soldier found dead in his barracks was flown home to alabama monday. private first class david winchester worked at bragg as a biomedical repair technician. army investigators are trying to figure out how the 21-year-old died. mom "i didn't get a call. i saw the army man come to my door. my heart sank because i knew. i knew what they were going to tell me." 00:05:33...46 funeral services for winchester were held in his hometown of adamsville. duke energy is contributing 1- million dollars to protect a river, lake and wetlands near wilmington. it's a settlement in a lawsuit over coal ash stored at a closed power plant. the southern environmental law center says the utility has settled lawsuits with the group over eight of duke's coal- powered plants. six remain unresolved. the company says the money will

restoration and preservation fund. raleigh police worked two death investigations thanksgiving day. officers were called to western boulevard early thursday morning. they found a man's body in the woods across the street from central prison. investigators say there were no signs of foul play, and they are working to determine how the he died. raleigh police also worked to notify the family of a man found dead off new hope road. someone spotted the man's body in a wooded area off evam indication of foul play. raleigh shoppers were up early friday morning... trying to catch those black friday deals. thousands of shoppers poured into crabtree valley mall hoping to find a good bargain. the deals varied from 25 to 70 percent off... which pulled in customers. one shopper overslept and ended up in a 3- hour line at a pandora jewelry store. roger carpio, shopper:10:53:58 "here i am. last on the list. i talked to the girl and she said there's some people that have been waiting in line for three hours!" runs 8 butt to 10:54:07 "so, i think i'll give it a couple of hours and if not i

early data shows that shopping sales are up. they are expected to grow 15-percent for thanksgiving day... and black friday sales are expected to be up about 11-percent demonstrators in durham took to the streets over a deadly police shooting. sky 5 was over durham, where dozens of demonstrators took to the streets chanting and carrying signs, calling for justice. police shot and killed 34- year- old frank clark. michael clark is frank clark's brother. they grew up in the mcdougald terrace durham police officers to be more respectful to residents. he says many in this crowd feel intimidated by police. the physical contact with the community, how they go about it. there's another way instead of just hopping out, saying put your hands up, searching and patting you down for guns during the demonstration, the family listed some demands that included an independent autopsy; the firing of the three officers involved and a call for residents to file police complaints of any wrongdoing by durham officers working the

protests. demonstrators directed their anger at one of the three officers, in particular. protesters accused master officer charles barkley of repeatedly harrassing residents of mcdougald terrace. we checked -- and barkley was suspended once in the past, but the department won't say why. the other officers involved are officer christopher goss and officer monte southerland. southerland was treated for a leg injury at the hospital and was released he was not shot. the department placed the officers on administrative leae clark was the father of four girls, including a baby born this summer. the mother of his seven-month-old daughter, spoke with wral. jasmine lloyd says she was also clark's girlfriend. she was not there at the time of the shooting...but says clark shouldn't have died. why you just couldn't take him to jail. you see he didn't run. why. he got kids out here. he got a baby. and this was his heart. the durham police chief says

found a gun by clark's body, and the gun didn't belong to police. the sbi is now in charge of the investigation. another group is weighing in on the federal lawsuit challenging some north carolina absentee ballots. earlier this week, the right-leaning think tank civitas filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to prevent elections officials from counting ballots cast by thousands of voters who we learned this week that a left-leaning voting rights group is asking the judge to throw the lawsuit out. the southern coalition for social justice is calling the civitas lawsuit a last ditch effort to overturn the election. this on the same day that governor pat mccrory's campaign officially called for a recount. north carolina law allows for the recount because the margin is fewer than 10 thousand votes. the request was filed before most county boards of election have finished counting the first time. and the state board of elections wants them to

meeting this week. the mccrory campaign asked the board to direct counties to accept its elections protests and to throw out contested ballots. wral's capitol bureau chief laura leslie reports.. the state board didn't agree. the mccrory campaign has filed protests alleging irregularities with dozens of county elections boards - trying to make the case that there's systematic voting fraud in the state. attorney roger knight urged the board to tell counties to throw out any protested ballot. 100334 to do what is necessary.... that the election is fair and without taint, without corruption, without ire but state law requires due process before voters can be disqualified. it also sets out a process and a timeline for that. voting rights attorney allison higgs said the mccrory protests don't follow that law - and allowing them anyway would open the floodgates for future chaos. 647 the county boards will be drowning in these protests and will never be able to have orderly

kevin hamilton added that even if all the protested ballots were thrown out, it still wouldn't change the outcome of the election. 114321 if you add all of them together, they end up somewhere around between 200 and 300 challenges. that's not enough when the margin's 8000 to even come close and i think the county boards of elections know that. 4333 the board voted unanimously to direct protested ballots unless they would change the outcome of a local race. and they did not agree there's widespread fraud, said board attorney josh lawson. 131213 there has been no finding of systemc voter fraud from this board or even at the county level this election 131229 the state board was scheduled to finalize the results tuesday, but that's likely to be delayed. first counties have to finish their counts, and then the recount will have to take place before the final certification. next on rewind...

are your branches, but how lovely are they this year after all the

carolina continued to battle flames. the horton fire in blowing rock is one of the largest burning in the southeast right 12-hundred acres, however fire officials say they're gaining ground in efforts to contain the fire. dozens of families were forced to evacuate just before thanksgiving. investigators have not said what caused the fire - however they have not ruled out arson. the wildfires and drought are impacting a region of north carolina where a festive commodity is raised - christmas trees. north carolina ranks second in the nation in christmas tree production. wral's bryan mims shows us whether this year's drought has caused the crop to lose

footsteps on grass tradition, and a whiff of nostalgia, compel us to go tromping among the leaves so green, and put saw to sap. sawing trunk or if you're mike banaciski and his family, you tailgate among leaves so green, beer and all. "just the spirit of the holidays, just to enjoy family and friends and hanging out." it's ... tradition. here at the back achers tree farm in raleigh, brad barick grows his own trees. firs are brought in from the high country of alleghany county. bryan: "so how does your crop compare to last year and years past?" barick: "it's fantastic. we just unbundle one tree and it keeps getting better than the one before." "most of our state's christmas trees are raised in the mountains -- and the darling of the crop is the fraser fir. but growers say the drought and dirty air have not cut into their harvest." revving up chainsaw at least, not yet. here at the state farmers

as thick as the black friday crowds. some of these fine firs come from the cole family's tree farm in ashe county, where aaron cole is a fourth generation grower. bryan: "how did they hold up?" aaron: "everything's doing good. that's why we use fraser firs. it's extremely hardy. it holds sap well. so we really don't have much to worry about here." but as he speaks, a wildfire burns in ashe county, fouling the sky for his frasers. "no, they like clear mountain air, and we're not getting it right now." som says, cut trees they weren't planning to cut this year. they were worried about the fires -- and how long this dry spell might drag on. bryan: "so if the drought persists for several more months, you could lose trees." cole: "it could be problematic. it'll put a standstill to everything." but everything is a go at the state farmers market. tromping noise and at back achers. traditions are compelled to go on. bryan mims, wral news, raleigh. north carolina has about 13-hundred christmas tree growers, most of

counties. the state produces about 20 percent of the nation's christmas trees. this holiday season is a reminder to some local businesses about what they have lost. c1 12:27:26 and we're still in cleanup mode so having to find one item might take us 15 minutes :35 next on rewind, we return to smithfield to check in with retailers hit hard by hurricane matthew. how they're handling this year's shopping experience. problem for drivers between durham and chapel hill. a new bridge and a light rail line will help, but they are years away. coming up....what officials are doing now to keep traffic moving. some retailers in our state won't be racking

hurricane matthew are still cleaning up from the devastating floods. oxbay wholesalers in smithfield makes most of its money from christmas decorations. but lost much of its supply during the flood.

already lost about 2-and-a-half million dollars, and the losses are still adding up. chad harris / co-owner, oxbay c1 12:25:44 its hurt us more than folks think :47 its hurt us its hurt our sales reps they're not making money its hurt our customers they're not making money off us :54 despite that, chad harris says they've worked out a financial plan and will stay in business. several weeks ago, they held a community sale, putting out many items that were unboxed or damaged . and earning some triangle residents are used to traffic delays on i-40. but getting to and from the interstate is also tough during the morning and evening commute. one major corridor between durham and chapel hill is getting more congested -- and officials say the fixes aren't coming quickly enough. wral's brian shrader looks at the effort to find some solutions sooner. track 1 it's 10 a-m and the morning rush should be over. but on 54 between durham and chapel

worries aaron nelson, who runs the chapel hill-carrboro chamber of commerce. 110112 54 is critical, not only to chapel hill, but also to durham and the region track 2 congestion is growing on this link between chapel hill and i-40. the dot is planning some big improvements -- like a bridge and changes at the intersections to help traffic flow better. a light rail line between durham and chapel hill also is in the works. but all of that is at least 10 years from happening. 105607 this corridor needs to be successful for the market to be successful track 3 joe milazzo with the regional transportation alliance is looking for answers the non-profit business coalition is working with officials from chapel hill, carrboro, durham -- and the dot -- to find solutions. 105726 some of the things they may do, they may look at simpler ways to improve signal timing here to help pedestrians get across the street. finding ways to let the buses to get a few-second jump track 4 buses are a big concern on this route. with no rail service planned to rdu, planners want to establish an express bus service with the airport. milazzo says keeping traffic moving on 54 is the only way it will work. he

problems take a long time to address. we're getting proactive, getting ahead of the curve track 5 nelson hopes they can come up with some solutions to ease the pressure -- and soon. 110143 ten years is too long to wait milazzo says another option could expand the bus on shoulder system that transit buses use to get around congestion on i-40. he expects the consultants to present some ideas by next spring. we have a link with details about the plans. look for it in our story on wral.com. came together to help those less fortunate this thanksgiving. next on rewind...how one local restaurant opened its doors to anyone who needed a hot meal. for many of us, getting ready for winter means pulling your coat out of the

john, we're giving you a raise. that's fantastic! but i'm gonna pass. are you ok? honey, you got another present. who says no to more? time warner cable internet gives you more of what you and those little data hoggers want. like ultra-fast speeds up to 300 megs. that's 50x faster than dsl. this internet speed is sick. get 50 meg internet starting at $39.99 a month. call now. and with home wifi, the whole family can be online at once. g reat for kids to stream scary shows while not cleaning their room. you'll also get our exclusive

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and new toys at participating jiffy lube locations through december 31st. or donate on wral.com by searching keyword coats - or text coats to 41444. thanksgiving is a holiday often spent with family and friends, but not everyone has that luxury. a number of organizations reach out to make sure people in our area have a solid meal on this day so focused on food. the durham rescue mission held its 42nd annual thanksgiving feast thursday. volunteers were up a getting the turkeys ready, carving the meat and prepping the vegetables. in addition to the meal, guests played games and went home with a bag of groceries and warm clothes for the winter. volunteers with the raleigh rescue mission helped deliver warm thanksgiving meals and groceries to those who rely on food assistance. the food comes in courtesy of donors large and small, from businesses to churches to book clubs. the raleigh rescue mission is holding an online fundraiser on giving tuesday. you can find more details on our

in garner, angie's restaurant opened its doors every year to those who can't pay for a big holiday meal. angie mikus and her volunteers expected to feed more than 1000 people this afternoon, many of them homeless. mikus has been sharing her good fortune for five years now. this time it was 42 turkeys, 36 hams, greens, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and a side of smiles. that's all the time we have for tonight....have a great evening. are e who the next governor of north carolina

i noticed you been eating a lot of oatmeal lately. yeah, it's nutritious, filling, and the extra fiber helps keep the intestinal train running on time. mmm. well, i hope today we're near a gas station when the mike biggs choo-choo comes clickety-clacking through town. squeezing into that construction site porta-potty would not have been my first choice either. i will say that's the fastest i've ever seen you go over a fence. 30 seconds later, you would've seen me go through a fence. if i cannot pay my rent, i will have no place to live! you are killing me! samuel? what?! could i get just a smidge more brown sugar for my oatmeal? abe has promised me a raise every month for two years. but do i ever see an extra dollar in my paycheck? no, i do not! that's rough. could you also grab me a handful of raisins? hang on, mike. i think we got a brother in distress here. i guess we know which one of you will be the first to make detective.