>> whitney: an interview you will only see here on abc 13. annie andersen sat down with nicole's friend to learn about the months before her murder. this is to the's top story. >> reporter: natasha bryant was nicole's best friend and the two were like sisters then best friends. when she found out lovell was talking to older guys on line, she got worried. she was talking to several men on line and talk to older man named david. the you uva student accused of kidnapping and murdering lovell. her friend got even more worried. >> i told her it was not safe and shouldn't talk to older guys because she might get hurt really, really, really bad. >> reporter: do you wish you would have done more? have stopped it. i really don't.

i mean, telling her is all you can do. you can't physically stop her from talking to them. >> reporter: according to a news release from "the dr. phil show" just before christmas lovell's father david found out that lovell was chatting online with older men and grounded her. he also took away her cell phonehe also took away her cell phone, though she did end up getting it back. noreen. >> noreen: all right, we will continue to stay on top of this story. thank you, annie. seems to be a struggle seating a jury in the ashley white case in pulaski county. jury selection is going on right now after starting a process yesterday morning. the 31-year-old is charged with abuse and neglect in her 5-year-old son noah thomas's death last march. it has been an arduous back and forth between prosecutors and defense council all day long as they went through jury selection and seem to be brewing a close. at issue is the defense's allegation that it is impossible

white's public defenderwhite's public defender has been able to strike more than several people from the jury pool based on their connection to white's family and their admissions that they had formed opinions about ashley white and or had ties to noah thomas himself. meanwhile, prosecutors have been frustrated with the process to see the a jury, but judge bradley finch just now he is moving in an abundance of caution to make sure that white receives a fair trial. he has granted the majority of the defense's motion. they have right now settled on 25 suitable jurors. we will continue to bring updates on this case as it moves forward. well, this is a live look from our v dot cameras tonight. we will show that in just a moment. light snow has fallen today in the new river valley and it is very cold out. chief meteorologist george flickinger has a first check on your forecast. >> george: whitney, we are still seeing some of that light snow falling. i don't think we will see any significant accumulation out of

new river valley. will cut down on your visibility. the snow from blacksburg to witt county. pulaski county. you can see the snow as well. anywhere in the heart of virginia that you could see a few snow flurries but the main story will be the cold weather as we are not expecting any significant accumulation of snow, but all of us will be very cold and breezy overnight by morning falling down 20 degreesmorning falling down 20 degrees. coming up a little later, we will let you know when to expect even colder weather across virginia. >> whitney: thank you, george. this just into our newsroom, a 12-year-old boy is in the hospital after being hit by a car in pennsylvania county in ringgold shortly after 4:00. state police tell us the driver saw the child about to cross the road on a scooter, blew her hornroad on a scooter, blew her horn, and that child kept going hitting the passenger side. they say the child was taken to danville regional center with nonlife-threatening injuries. the driver will not be charged. a pennsylvania county woman can spend up to 50 years in

today second-degree murder and arson in the death of 50-year-old diane hyatt lanier. 40-year-old christie beskin was supposed to go on trial last week but pled guilty today. she admitted to killing lanier and setting her house on fire after getting into a fight last month. lanier died from sharp injuries to her head. she admitted in court that the killing was not in self-defense. she will be sentenced in march. security was extra tight at danville community college today after an armed robbery near campus. danville police are investigating the robbery on kemper road. they say someone robbed a dcc student around 12:35 this afternoon. he is described as a white male, lightly bearded wear blue jeans, a white hoodie, brown boots and loves. no one -- and gloves. no one was injured. north carolina environmental regulators have slapped duke energy with a hefty fine for the

the dan river. the department of environmental quality has ordered the company to pay a $6.6 million fine. duke energy pleaded guilty to federal pollution crimes nine months ago. in a statement, duke energy said it is reviewing whether or notit is reviewing whether or not to challenge the fine. they say that water quality returned to normal quickly after of the spill. all eyes on new hampshire as the presidential candidates await the results of the primary there. the latest polls show donald trump and bernie sanders with double-digit leads on the republican and democratic side respectively. the candidates have been out trying to get every possible vote. hillary clinton says her campaign is going to keep working until the last vote is cast. those last votes should be cast in the next hour. most polls close there at 7. stay with abc 13 and wset.com for the results. and a heavily congested area and forest may soon get much-need red lease.

improvements to routes 8 11. the major corridor affectingthe major corridor affect. priscilla kaiser has more details on the potential project and what other features added for nondrivers. priscilla. >> reporter: whitney, no secret of those who need to take thomas jefferson road each morning and night that there is a traffic problem. working reducing the congestion says the county board of supervisors, the planning commission and residents have pushed for improvements. with the new housing developmentwith the new housing development, elementary school and fire department want first half mile of the corridor, officials are hoping to improve intersections, add turning lanes and even a couple of roundand even a couple of round-abouts to keep traffic moving. >> potential let improvements can help with the safety along the corridor, help with access, for example, to the -- to the elementary school in the corridor as well as other -- other locations.

throw of traffic, smooth -- a smoother commute for folks. >> reporter: also looking into by as to accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists. white couldn't say if expanding the road was an option but details could be unveiled at a public meeting at the forest recreation center. live in the newsroom, priscilla kaiser, abc 13 news. >> noreen: thank you, priscilla>> noreen: thank you, priscilla. budget issues surrounding a middle school are threatening to keep the school from opening in time for the 2018 school year. the bedford county board of supervisors reached a 5-2 consensus to authorize $44 million to construct a new school and the competition gym in the liberty high school -- at liberty high school, but center used a plea of order to block it from coming to vote. all when the designs put the school board over $38 million county supervisors had set asidecounty supervisors had set

school officials were hopeschool officials were hoping to move forward with the design this month and break ground in november. now supervisors are expected to vote on the budget again on february 22. .animal control is working hard to raise money for a pet disaster relief trailer. they still need thousands of dollars and are currently traveldollars and are currently travelling to veterinary clinics asking for support. the disaster relief trail lesh fully stocked to help animals during natural disasters. often pets are overlooked and can't be taken to human relief shelter so this trailer give them a safe place. if you would like to give, there is a link on our web site at wset.com. it has taken a couple of years, but redevelopment of a building that will offer medical services in danville now on track. we got a look inside to see how they are making it happen. and we have an update tonight on the sale of the river

new river valley. whitt our cameras are getting a

biggest projects in the making. >> noreen: the dan river research building downtown has been an eyesore for decades, but developers tell us it won't be long before it is back up and running. valerie bragg joins us live with this story. danville -- valerie rather. >> reporter: noreen, redevelop>> reporter: noreen, redeveloping this building is a $26 million project. the river district development lcc had to jump through a bunch of different funding hurdles over the past couple of years, but once it is complete, they tell me everyone in danville will benefit. in parts of downtown danville, the danville research building doesn't look like it has been touched from the outside, but inside tills a different story. construction workers have been on the job since october makeon the job since october making this building come back alive. >> and here is the floor of the restaurant. >> reporter: a coffee shop, pharmacy and more office space is also in the works for the

and it needs a lot more work, but it will soon look like this. then when finished, it will look something like this. >> this area is a nurse's station. >> reporter: danville regional medical center the second floor. danville orthopedic clinic will take the third and fourth floors. with the perfect view of the downtown and the river, another restaurant is planned on the upper levels as well. >> i am excited about it. >> reporter: city leader knts wait to see the building complete with 35 to 5 5 workers here every day, it won't be long. >> the plan is to open for business january 2017. will every single thing be done? no. could be actually. >> reporter: now is a four-story building. the top three floors are what is expected to be complete by next january. the first floor i am told should

live in danville, valerie bragg, abc 13 news. >> noreen: exciting news to hear. thanks, valerie. it appears river ridge mall has buyer but will be quite some time before we find out who. abc 13 has learned the mall is now under contract. when i contacted the listing agent today, he said he couldn't tell me anything more about it and to check back at the end of march. jerry falwell jr. told me before that lu has no interest in that property and wants it to remain retail so the students have some place convenient to shop. i am waiting for a reply as to whether that is stilt same. you are definitely going to want to bundle up if you are

to get worse as the week these lil' chickies and lil' doggies are small, -but they're intense. -oh, yeah. small but intense like my niece, hannah. oh, yeah. and you, uh, take karate? yeah she does. show him how intense you are, hannah. -yah! yah! ah! -(karate sounds) oh, my... hey!

-bow to her, peter. -i'm not gonna bow to a... bow to her, peter. (gong) big flavor in a little package. new lil' chickies and lil' doggies. and grab a burrito and drink for $3.00 delivered in two minutes-- -guaranteed. -(click) looks like it is time to get the ski the ski jackets back out of your closet and bundle up -- bundle up cadbury again. >> whitney: when you are bundled up ready to go out you need a coat for him, you, everybody. >> george: the pets need to stay warm and pull thought big ugly coat enough your closet. >> noreen: i don't have an ugly coat. >> george: it is like we all have one. >> whitney: and i will be happy to put it on. >> george: you will need that to keep yourself warm over the next couple of days. good news for the travel plans.

locally and live over 460 and the vine center in liberty. but a cold evening. it is just going to get worlder tampa we are at 31 and have a wind chill to deal with. feels like in the teens and 20s. actual temps right now get colder as you make your way to roanoke and the mountains. blacksburg, you are down to 23. 28 in roanoke. martinsville at 28. 34 for danville. and 36 for south boston. this is how cold it feels right now. current wind chill in lynchburg at 23. feels like 17 in roanoke. and wind chill is 13 in blacksburg. so certainly dress warmly if you are going to be headed out this evening. now some of you are seeing some areas of light snow. there are some snow flurries onthere are some snow flurries ongoing toward the new river valley looking toward i-81. doesn't show up very well in the radar. fairly light snow but snowing right now in blacksburg. you can see the light snow. if you were traveling i-81, use caution as the snow will reduce the visibilities. also light snow from parts of franklin county and you can see light snow that direction as well. it is possible that anywhere

this evening. now i want to show you a different looking map. this is a future cap. show you the temperatures just based on the colors. and what i want to you watch will be this area of pink. now this is what it looks like right now at 6 p.m. now by thursday, notice that thursday morning, this area of pink will be more located over virginia, so this is telling us that colder weather is going to be building into wednesday, and especially for thursday morning. on thursday morning, we will see widespread temperatures in the teens. then for the weekend, the valentine's weekend, we will see another surge of colder air up in canada make its way down into virginia, and what this means for us saturday and sunday, we are going to see even colder temperatures. thing saturday night and sunday morning will be the coldest of this cold spell. then looking into next week, getting more into the blues. we will see a warming trendwe will see a warming trend beginning for next week. first we have to get through several cold nights ahead.

amherst at 20. appomattox, 23. south boston, 23. altavista, 21. and teens toward the new river valley. we will be below freezing for most of the morning tomorrow and temps barely making it above freezing and we will be colder for wednesday than we had today and dropping back down to the 20s tomorrow evening. there is a chance for light snow in the mountains. around the rest of the area watching us from buckingham county, 38. russburg at 37. toward south side. highs upper 30s and 40s toward danville and in the mountains upper 20s to lower 30s for your wednesday. quick check ahead for your weather for your valentine's weekend. look at valentine's day, 11 at 8 a.m. and highs only in the upper 20s. the rest of your seven-day forecast look very cold and staying below freezing for the entire weekend. a chance for light rain and light snow on monday. now here is dave with sports. >> reporter: all right, george,

live in charlottesville. we are here because uva looking to prepare for a rematch over

dennis has more in a special hi, everybody. one month ago virginia tech pulled a shocker in blacksburg upsetting then number 4 uva 70upsetting then number 4 uva 70-68. they will try to full off again tonight in charlottesville, but the cavaliers are unbeaten at

dave walls is court side at john paul jones arena with a preview of to the's game. hey there, dave. >> reporter: hey there, dennis. you are right. before last night's game, we talked about both team's momentum. since that game both teams have gone in a completely different direction. uva following their 70-68 loss dropped next two out of three before getting their six-game winning streak. virginia tech won their next two out of three before losing five straight games. in order to get that magic back, they are going to hope -- to turn zack leday. 22 points. helps the hokies counter a 12-0 cavalier run. coach tony bennett is hot right now back to number 7 in the latest ap poll but with emotions running high tonights, says it is about playing the perfect game at the perfect time. >> oh, yeah, we are going to come out motivated. we are going to come out ready to play defense. play as hard as we can and get the w.

i know a little something about it. i am excited to get down there and get back to work on monday and tuesday >> the last two and three games we played at home or on the roadwe played at home or on the road, we played good basketball and that is what we hope to get to. i hope we are at a better level since we went down there. but it wasn't enough. hopefully we are more balanced and ready to play. >> reporter: now one thing that has improved since that last match-up is the cavs defense. each of the last three games their opponents have been held to 50 points or less in the uva win. complete highlights tonight of this game on abc 13 at 11:00. for now live at john paul jones arena in charlottesville, dave walls, abc 13 sports. back to you. thank you, dave. the bs honor one if not the best all-around athlete to come through the school. brookville baseball will retire logan thomas's you jersey during halftime of the varsity boys game.

miami dolphins was a basketball star at brookville as well. the second b's male player to top 1,000 career points. he did it on january 15, 2009. his stat line from that game, 18 points, 20 rebounds and 7 blockpoints, 20 rebounds and 7 blocked shots. thomas earned seminole player of the year honor in 2009. carolina panthers quarterback cam newton says he is a sor e loser and defended his one and two-word answers walking out of the interview and

talking to the president obama released a $4.1 trillion budget proposal this morning. tonight at 7:00, we will hear how tourists in our nation's capitol say they will divvy up that money. plus with the new hampshire results coming in shortlyresults coming in shortly, we