a flint mother ... who's responsible for exposing the dangerously high levels of lead in the town's water ... is in blacksburg .. telling her story. what motivated her ... to call on the virginia tech researchers for help. plus .. a rocky mount business damaged ... after a car crashes through the front windows. what police say may have caused the accident. and ... republican presidential hopefuls were busy this evening gaining last minute support ... ahead of next week's iowa caucus. highlights from tonight's g-o-p debate. good evening, and thanks for joining us for wsls 10 at eleven. i'm lindsey ward. john carlin has the night off. public safety is a major concern for a group of students who were in charge of testing flint, michigan's water supply. the group lead by marc edwards .. a civil engineering professor at virginia tech .. conducted a six month study and were the first to learn the water in flint michigan is contaminated with high levels of lead. wsls ten's duke carter spoke with the flint mother who first contacted the virginia tech research team with her concerns

"i just want to say thank to the students at virginia tech," leeanne walters is a mother who is proud to know that after months testing the tap water in flint michigan.... ...government leaders are now addressing the issue --- after she sent a sample to virginia tech back in august 2015. leeanne walters/lives in michigan "it's been a very long journey, and it wouldn't have been possible without all the efforts of everybody involved, walters asked doctor marc edwards a professor of civil engineering to test the water after she did some research online. he along with a group called the "flint water study" took samples over a six month period and learned there were major problems with the water supply. siddharta roy/virginia tech student "how could an entire population drink tainted water when you know the people who are paid to protect them are getting clean this is unfair," siddharta roy was one of many students who researched the water supply in flint. roy along with other studetns presented their findings tonight in front of hundreds of people. they learned the water supply in flint had 20 times higher levels of lead compared

water was filled with bacteria called "legionella" which causes legionnaires disease. a sickness similar to pneumonia roy told the crowd .. government agencies like michigan department of ennvironment quality tried to discredit the group's research and informed the public the water was safe to drink. roy "i can't wrap my head around the way these people think, the chosen few who did the exact opposite of doing their job," doctor marc edwards who is a civil engineer at tech led the group and he could not be more proud of exposing the contaminated water in flint. dr. marc edwards/civil engineer tech "i just want to note there is a symbiotic relationship between science and the public and if that is ignored and not nurtured we are going to enter a new dark age," the group's work isn't done yet. in fact they have been hired to be in charge of making sure the water supply in flint michigan is

meanwhile ... in the latest move to help flint with the water crisis ... michigan senators announce a plan to help families who have been exposed to lead poisoning. today on capital hill... the senators announced a proposal to provide emergency federal funding to fix lead contaminated pipes in flint. the bill requires the state to match federal spending dollar- for- dollar. the measure also calls for the center of excellence for lead poisoning to help the children who have been exposed to lead poisoning through the water. the senators are hoping for strong bipartisan support so flint can get relief quickly. the ground search for a missing and endangered blacksburg teenager will continue tomorrow. today ... more than a thousand police officers and members of virginia tech corps of cadets combed the area around the home of 13-year-old nicole lovell. she was last seen there around midnight tuesday. police say she is on liver medication that she must take twice a day.

lt. mike albert, blacksburg police department it's one of the darkest and worst things that you can deal with, but nicole also requires medication we know that we're going on 36 plus hours without her not having the medication. the blacksburg police department has set up some phone numbers for anyone with information to call. 540-552-2222... or call anonymously to 540-961-1819. the family of a man shot in lynchburg's centra hospital wants the city's police department off the case. attorney paul valois representing jonathan warner says .. the security guard who shot him, wes gillespie, used to work in the police department, and his son currently does. he says that by itself ... should be considered a conflict of interest, but he's also uncovered another connection. 15:05:14 "one of the senior prosecutors in the lynchburg commonwealth's attorney's office is married to a clinical

centra mental health services, and so again the family would prefer to avoid the appearance of any conflict of interest." the commonwealth's attorney disagrees saying ... gillespie worked in the department too long ago to matter, and he's worked on cases at centra hospital before without his assistant's marriage being an issue. he says the investigation could take several more months. valois says the family hasn't decide yet whether or not to take the issue to court. governor terry mcauliffe and republican lawmakers are set to announce a major deal on gun legislation. a spokesman says .. it will be announced tomorrow. the agreement aims to strengthen some gun control measures... while relaxing others. democrats will not revoke reciprocity agreements with 25 states for concealed handgun permits. republicans will include measures to keep those with permanent protective orders against them from getting concealed handgun permits. meanwhile ... state police will

checks. new tonight at 11 ... a car drives through a local dollar tree ... causing 20- thousand dollars in damages. it happened around 2:15 this afternoon in rocky mount off old franklin turnpike. police say .. a 71- year-old woman drove her 20-10 subaru forester through the front window of the store. they say it may have been caused by a medical emergency. the franklin county building inspector says the building is safe to be in ... dollar tree hopes to reopen tomorrow. also new ... five people were taken to the hospital following a multi-vehicle accident in danville. it happened just before 6 this evening in the 13- hundred block of south boston road. police say .. a 20- 14 nissan truck was driving on the wrong side of the road ... and hit a stopped car ... causing a chain reaction. 3 other cars were hit from the reaction. police charged the driver of the nissan -- 39-year- old steven mayhew -- with failure to drive on the right side of the highway ...

under control. a pulaski county judge says pictures of noah thomas' body will be allowed at his mother's upcoming trial. ashley white's defense team filed several motions.. asking pictures of noah's body in the septic tank.. and autopsy be excluded from trial. white's lawyer says the photographs are irrelevant to the charges.. and would only inflame the jury. the judge denied the motions. noah's father.. paul thomas.. is set for trial in march. his lawyer is requesting all references and evidence relating to the search for.. and death of noah be excluded from his trial. the judge has not yet ruled on this motion. dozens of people in alleghany county woke up to an arrest this morning. it's part of "operation deep freeze" ... a drug round up by the alleghany highlands drug task force. 55 officers were sent out in teams to arrest 67 people indicted on 188 charges. some investigations have been ongoing for

these kinds of round-ups happen a few times a year. alleghany county sheriff kevin hall says they're trying to catch these people off guard. kevin hall/alleghany county sheriff "the element of surprise ... get them and it could possibly lead to another case and not let them know that it's coming out so they can't leave the area or the state" agencies part of today's roundup include u-s marshals service, virginia state police, and bath county sheriff's office. a southwest virginia man is behind bars tonight after a meth lab was found in his house. washington county deputies were serving larry smith with an outstanding warrant when the lab was found. he was arrested on charges of possession with intent to manufacture. he was also served with an outstanding warrant for an assault on a family member. he's currently being held at the southwest regional jail on a 4-thousand dollar bond. a russell county family is demanding answers ... after they discover an unexpected

the long family bought two eye- level mausoleum crypts back in 19-93 for 25- hundred dollars each. but when the family visited the crypt late last year ... they found another name had been put up ... and a body buried in one. the cemetery says .. it accidentally sold one of the long family's crypts back in 2004 ... for nearly double the price. too fast to super - "i feel like they stole our property." / butted to / temple hill should have called us in 2004 and said 'hey we sold your mausoleum' the cemetery says it can move the body ... give the long family a different mausoleum ... or refund their money for the amount it was purchased. but the long's say ... its only fair to be paid the current going rate -- after losing something meaningful to the family. in iowa tonight, just days before the vote, there were dueling republican events. a debate with all the top candidates except the front runner, donald trump, who

steve handelsman has the story from des moines. sot: sen. marco rubio / r- presidential candidate:00 - :02 "he's an entertaining guy he's the greatest show on earth." donald trump was missing at tonight's debate on fox, but still mocked. sot: sen. ted cruz / r- presidential candidate :07 - :19 "i'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly and ben you are a terrible surgeon. now that we have gotten the donald trump portion out of the way laughter" nearby, trump held his own event sot: donald trump / r- presidential candidate :23 - :26 "look at all the cameras - this is like the academy awards!!! this is like the academy awards!!! applause" carried on several cable networks.. trump raised money...5 million he said... for wounded warriors inviting low polling rivals onstage no tough questions. his mic. his message: sot: donald trump / r- presidential candidate :38 - :46 "my whole life i've been greedy greedy greedy - i've grabbed all the money i can get - i'm so greedy, but now i want to be greedy for the united states. i want to grab all that money. applause" back at the debate, ted cruz was center stage... sot: sen. ted cruz / r- presidential candidate :50 - :54 "rebuilding our navy rebuilding our air force rebuilding our army."

trump, cruz was a target sot: sen. marco rubio / r- presidential candidate :57 - 1:02 "the only budget that ted has ever voted for is a budget that rand paul sponsored and it was about cutting defense spending." sot: sen. ted cruz / r- presidential candidate1:02 - 1:10 "marco please attack ted chris please attack ted, jeb please attack ted. -it is a debate sir." 4 days 'til the vote trump with a seven point lead the polls... over cruz ... with marco rubio polling 3rd in iowa. insert ends two second pause audio outcue: i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, des moines, iowa. new tonight at 11 ... the virginia board of education grants partial accreditation to several schools in our area. staunton river middle ... enderly heights elementary ... parry mccluer middle ... f-w king elementary ... rustburg middle ... paul laurence dunbar middle and heritage elementary schools all receive "partially accredited: reconstituted school" status. reconstitution is defined as a process to raise student achievement by restructuring a school's governance ... faculty and programs. the status is valid for three

are making progress toward full accreditation. hunger is a widespread issue ... affecting hundreds of families right here in southwest virginia. the upcoming event .. and how you can make make a difference

a northern virginia snowplow operator gets a much-deserved award ... after battling the historic winter weather last weekend. gerald fincham won 225-thousand dollars in the virginia lottery's pirate treasure scratch-off game. he picked up the winning ticket monday while taking a break from plowing the roads. he then went right back to work ... claiming his prize yesterday. hunger continues to be an issue across the

southwest virginia. each year - thousands of families in our area rely on food banks to feed their children. to help prevent another family from going hungry ... wsls 10 is once again teaming up with feeding america southwest virginia and kroger for the 10 cares food drive. feeding america supplies food pantries across the area with enough food to help those in need in each community. "we want to make sure that every food order is complete. because of feeding america we can go and get food from them and that allows us to stretch our budget so we can make sure that everybody has enough." our drive is next thursday february 4-th from 6 a-m to 7 p- m. we'll be at the kroger in bonsack... cave spring... lynchburg... martinsville and blacksburg colleting food. the sun was out in a more

being grazed by a storm system that was sliding off of the east coast. a very weak system will slide through friday bringing with it some wind and a few stray flurries. tonight: partly cloudy and cool with lows around 30. friday: mostly sunny and cool. windy with temperatures in the low to mid 40s. friday night: mostly clear and cold with lows in the mid 20s. saturday starts our january thaw as temperatures make a run for the mid 50s. we warm things up even further heading into the upcoming week as 60s, possibly low to mid 60s make an appearance on the seven day forecast. rain

arrives. that system will bring us back down to reality as 40s return for highs on thursday. filtered variety as we were being grazed by a storm system that was sliding off of the east coast. a very weak system will slide through friday bringing with it some wind and a few stray flurries. tonight: partly cloudy and cool with lows around 30. friday: mostly sunny and cool. windy with temperatures in the low to mid 40s. friday night: mostly clear and cold with lows in the mid 20s. saturday starts our january thaw as temperatures make a run for the mid 50s. we

heading into the upcoming week as 60s, possibly low to mid 60s make an appearance on the seven day forecast. rain becomes likely on wednesday as a stronger storm system arrives. that system will bring us back down to reality as 40s return for highs on thursday. 3 degree guarantee

battling a ranked hurricane team tonight and we will look back at the hokies blacksburg brawl with louisville

carl torbush.etsu head coach:".....what are historic day i mean to be able to play et su versus western carolina in the bristol motor speedway it's a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity it's a historic day probably the first time it's ever been done in fcs football i know for sure the socon. jerry caldwell/bms gm "this was a natural to turn to and say that's a great way to support ets you and it's a great way for the rest of the region if they may not be able to make it out to the battle at bristol this is another opportunity for them to come out and enjoy the venue." football news first tonight.. one week after the battle at bristol..between the hokies and the volunteers.. bristol will host an f-c-s battle..between east tennessee state and western carolina..that's the 17th of september. the virginia tech tennessee game

college hoopla now.. and virginia tech's women...much improved from a year ago..with another shot at a marque win over a ranked team..that made the tournament last year.. 17th ranked miami...was visiting blacksburg tonight. dennis wolfe's team...14-5, 2-4 in the rugged acc coming in.. and they were trailing #17 miami by 17 points...third quarter.. and then..this..regan mcgarrity...the catch and convert down low for 2 of her team leading 11... th lead is 11. early 4th quarter. vanessa panousis....the 3 ball....the game..is tied..at 40.. but miami..settles down and pulls away. it's jessica thomas..the penetrate..and the touch...for 2 of her 14 miami gets the win 57-45... virginia tech is 2-5 in conference play jestin lewis 22 mercer over vmi and cuse puts 4 in double figures to

buzz williams hokies--continue to register improvement, even if the wins..are less plentiful then the program would like.. despite a murderer's row of acc opponents..the hokies are in---very nearly every game..to the final possessions.. last night..no different.. with rick pitino's 16th ranked louisville team at cassell..the hokies did nearly everything they were asked to do..except win the game. the hokies fell 91-83-- scoring 83 points against the nation's best field goal percentage defense.. they were even in rebounding..and committed three fewer turnovers.. if not for the cardinals 12 of 18 shooting from 3..virginia tech...probably wins the game-- zach leday/hokies forward:"...i feel like we played really good offense we figured out what they were doing we just attacked went downhill and they just made a whole lot of threes it's hard to overcome that jalen hudson/hokies guard: "you know

just hoping to get stops when we needed him and and obviously they made a lot of shots obviously they're a good team so they scored more than us which is not the outcome we want it buzz williams/hokies head coach: ".i think as a teacher i don't know that i'm very good at it but i think if your teacher and you're asking your students this is what you need to learn and this is what you need to do and if they do those things then at some point it has to be the coaches fault." the 4-4 hokies are at pitt on sunday. louisville is 6-1 and just one game back of north carolina for the league lead. with speedweeks...fast approaching at the birthplace of speed...i wanted to show you this.. it's been a couple years since i've been at the complex.. watch..this time lapse..of the improvement project started in 2013...that has been completed leading up to this year's season opening daytona 500... it's the same place...but ...it is very very different in terms of a facility

there...even more fan friendly.. wow.. rainy wacky day of qualifying at daytona for the rolex 24.....this weekend. super bowl line has gone from 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 in the panthers favor.. and scott brown shot a -6 under to take a share of the lead at torrey pines, but he played the south course which is harder..so he's really your leader. lite o nite. calgary flames dennis wideman has been suspended pending a hearing ..after this cross check on an official.. he says his attention was elswhere..after taking a big hit...and he collided with the official unintentially... lite o nite.

face for trix cereal. general mills announced that a houston-based bunny named cinnabun, will appear on the new release of trix cereal boxes. the tiny fur ball beat out 75- hundred other rabbits in the company's nationwide search for a new mascot. the sun was out in a more filtered variety as we were being grazed by a storm system that was sliding off of the east coast. a very weak system will slide through friday is next. we'll see you back here