and how ininhe mountains it may be cold enough to see snow coming in. i'll have the estimate on the accumulations we expect for the high country. >> from jackknifed trailers to flipped cars and cars that simply slid off the icy roads. eyewitness news reporter dave faherty showed you multiple crashes all morning throughout the area. he spoke to one man who had to jump out of the way of a tractor trailer that lost control right in front of him. >> with the sun out and the temperature rising, conditions are rapidly improving here in catawba county. but it was a mess across the foothills earlier this morning. take a look at this video that we shot first thing this morning over in burke county. you can see firefighters scrambled to get to several areas of the county after reports of trees coming down. this because of a layer of about 1/8 to 1/4-inch of ice formed from the freezing rain. not only trees coming down. but we saw power outages as area. the biggest problem was interstate 40.

especially in the morganton area. i spotted this pickup truck over turned after crossing an icy bridge. then we got over to catawba county just south of hickory and saw this call hauler jackknifed in the roadway there. there were other vehicles involved in this icy crash. one man told me he had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. >> they came sliding at me. i had to jump over the guardrail. i thought they were going to hit me. but they just barely stopped right before they hit my truck. it was probably like less than five feet. >> all that ice we saw on the trees and up in the power lines, all that is gone now as the temperature continues to warm this midday, dave faherty, channel 9 eyewitness news. dozens of crashes force highway patrol to shut down portions of 485 and 77 last night. at 6:00 yesterday we brought you live pictures of the after a multicar crash there. some drivers say they sat in traffic for up to five hours.

wake up drivers after several crashes on i-77 just north of statesville. right now channel 9 is talking with highway patrol about the decision to shut down portions of the interstates. the full report is today on eyewitness news at 5:00. just into the news room, justice antonin skalia's funeral will be on saturday. a source close to the justice's family says he will lie in repose at the supreme court building friday. the justice died saturday at a ranch in texas. he was the longest serving on the high court and known as a conservative champion. new at noon, a meeting will be held later this month to decide whether a suspected bloods gang member should face the death penalty. malcolm heartily is the suspect in the case accused of shooting ask killing debbie and doug london in their lake wiley home. a motion filed by his defense says they want access to government evidence before a department of justice committee meets on february 29th.

we're going through them right now. we're going to have much more on eyewitness news starting at 5:00. all new at noon, cmpd officers in the central division are trying on a new method of community policing. eyewitness news reporter angela hong explains what the officers hope to accomplish by having role call outside on a street corner. >> here at south trion and kingston is where two communities converge. over here you can see the south end with new modern apartment buildings. then over here, the older homes and the transitioning will more neighborhood. cmpd held their first ever cops on the corner event here this morning. they told channel 9 that despite the growth in the area, issues like drug activity and loitering are still a problem. but having their regularly scheduled role call outside at a corner store shows their presence in the community and gives residents an opportunity to talk to the officers about their concern. >> i was just talking to the police department about the recent car break-ins.

to come ask a question they might not have asked if we were not out in the public. >> there will be a cops on the corner event at the transit center in uptown next week. on eyewitness news starting at 5:00. i'll explain how a redrawing of the police districts in this area actually made it easier for cmpd to fight crime here. angela hong, channel 9 eyewitness news. let's get back to the breaking news we brought you a few minutes ago out of university city. there was a crash involving a fire truck. mark becker just got to the scene. what can you tell us at this point? >> a couple things. let's start with this. we're told one person was taken to the hospital. we don't believe they had life- threatening injuries. but when you look at what's happened here that's surprising. we're told this fire truck, ladder 40 was on its way westbound on wt harris right here. when it was running emergency traffic. that's to say with lights and sirens going. it came up behind two cars that stopped in the left lane. that white pickup truck there

we're told that the driver of the pickup truck stopped at which time it was hit by ladder 40 here. the big fire truck. then the white pickup truck hit the brown suv that's up in front of the fire truck now and is in a little less severe shape than that pickup truck. we're told the driver of the pickup truck was take on the the hospital. they expect him to be okay. the fire department has their risk management people here evaluating what happened as well. but at this point, it doesn't look like the driver of the wrong. he was running emergency traffic. now we can take a look from chopper 9 sky zoom right now and see that wt harris boulevard going toward i-85 is still closed off and will be until we're told the fire department finishes their investigation here. no word on exactly how long that will be. but probably not too much longer. it's a mess on wt harris boulevard going westbound toward i-85.

city, mark becker, channel 9 eyewitness news. there. new developments this midday. a woman who was shot in the stomach in hickory died. we learned about the shooting on midday yesterday. police charged james thacker with assault. he shot tammy after a domestic dispute. they told channel 9 she died last night at the hospital. police plan to upgrade the charges against thacker. count on channel 9 to follow the developments. we'll break them down for you today at 5:00 on eyewitness news. the race for south carolina voters is heating up. >> labels are for soup cans. >> the role former presidents are now taking and the lawsuit donald trump is threatening. for the first time in 50 years, commercial flights are opening between the u.s. and cuba. how soon you can book a seat and the activities you're still banned from doing.

sunshine out there today and obviously much warmer but rain

i'll have the time line of the i'll have the a short trading week after being closed yesterday. stocks are booming this midday. a building on gains from last week. the dow up 169 points. the nasdaq up nearly 80 points. for the first time in more than 50 years the u.s. is restoring commercial flights to cuba. eyewitness news reporter jacqueline fell is in washington to tell us just how soon you can book a flight. >> the u.s. and cuba just signed an agreement authorizing as many as 100 flights a day between the two countries.

current 10 to 15 daily private charter flights from the u.s. starting to day, airlines have 15 days to submit proposals to the u.s. transportation department. scheduled flights could begin as early as fall. u.s. transportation secretary anthony foxx is in cuba today. he says this agreement provides new opportunities for u.s. carriers, shippers, and the traveling public. tourist travel is still barred under the trade embargo the u.s. hit cuba with in 1960. the obama administration is authorizing 12 categories as reasons to travel to cuba. they include family visits, business travel, even supporting the cuban people. in washington, jacqueline fell, channel 9 eyewitness news. republicans pushing to get right now. the reminder from the bush family and the lawsuit donald trump is threatening against a

plus the high-tech

health leaders are no health (phone ringing)you can't deal with something, by ignoring it. but that's how some presidential candidates seem to be dealing with social security. americans work hard, and pay into it. so our next president needs a real plan to keep it strong. (elephant noise) (donkey noise)

staying on top of breaking news now at university city, some big back-ups on university city boulevard at wt harris after a crash involving this fire truck right here. you can see the bumper has damage to it. one person was taken to the hospital. that person is expected to be okay. a couple other vehicles involved in this.

the broadcast and of course today starting at 5:00. there seems to be a lot of name calling going on. but i want to remind you what our good dad told me one time, labels are for soup cans. >> the race for south carolina now heating up with former presidents getting in on the action. that next test, just four days away for republicans. democratics now focused on the nevada caucuses. also just around the corner. lana zack breaks down the last minute shots and appeals candidates are making to voters. >> reporter: hillary clinton and bernie sanders are making their appeal to african american voters today. >> my campaign is really about breaking every barrier. >> when we come together, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. >> while two former presidents are on the stump for their families. both have something to say about the republican front runner, donald trump. >> in my experience, the strongest person usually isn't

>> reporter: president george w. bush pushing for jeb. >> i've been misunderestimated most of my life. >> on the democratic side, an animated hillary clinton had a the republicans. >> we need to get that dog and follow them around and every time they say these things, like oh, you know, the great recession was caused by too much regulation, bark, bark, bark, you know. >> while in florida, an equally animated trump supporter interrupted bill clinton. >> i took his money from my foundation where i use it to better than he's using it now. >> donations to clinton one of the reasons ted cruz say republicans can't trust credentials. >> if you live 50 years of your life and you've never said or done or written inning to prove your conservative, you ain't. >> donald trump is going hard against his republican opponents on good morning

cruz should lose his iowa win and that he is quote seriously considering suing cruz against what he's calling campaign lies. lana zack, abc news washington. trump is now threatening that lawsuit against ted cruz calling on the republican national committee to intervene. he says he's going to file that suit immediately if cruz doesn't retract the ads that trump calls false. new at noon, the world health organization says stopping the zika virus may take controversial methods like genetically modified mosquitoes. there are initial trials going on now in brazil for male mosquitoes could be radiation. they're also considering using a bacteria to prevent mosquito eggs from hatching. the agency is encouraging countries effected by the virus to use old and new approaches to controlling mosquito populations. environmentalists warn against

people in charlotte can share thoughts on a plan to reassign thousands of students. at past meetings, some parents said they want them to attend school in their neighborhoods. but they want to break up concentrations of poverty. the forum starts at caramel baptist church on pineville matthews road in matthews. lots of sunshine out there. it's looking better. and meteorologist keith monday is keeping an eye on that for us. >> it was beautiful from the speed way camera. barely a cloud to be found. on the horizon, thin clouds. we'll see more of those moving in later on today. tomorrow will look just like this at this time. it's the in between time frame here. through tonight we're tracking another rain chance. it'll be in here quickly and out of here quickly. if you're out late tonight and early tomorrow morning, you'll want the umbrellas. look at these numbers. vast improvements. around 50 degrees east of the mountains. mid 50s south lancaster and chesterfield. the mountains are falling behind. close to freeing. but you're making some strides

that falls in the mountains later tonight. high temperatures, mid to upper 50s around charlotte. 57, staying close to 50 northbound. you see the mountains still in the 30s through this afternoon as we head into this evening. only the mountains will chill down to near freezing. we'll stay above freezing everywhere else up north, they had the ice problems late last night to this morning. as the moisture moves in, it'll bring rain in. the rain will roll in late tonight. coming in after sunset. the rain chances start to pick up late. it won't be the heavy down pours that we had to deal with from late last night. but it'll be damp out there. by 5:00, all still quiet. the rain approaching through asheville. this will start to roll in after 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 tonight passing showers roll through. the bulk of the moisture will ride to the north. keeping us down to maybe a few tenths of an inch of rain. nothing big. but the snow in the mountains continues into the wee early morning hours tomorrow. but before dawn, most of this moves out. we'll keep a shower chance

by 7:00, the clouds begin to thin out. faster than today. not a big rain or snow maker but spots in the mountains could see 1 to 3 inches of snowfall in the lower elevations, the higher ridge stops in avery county, could pick up 3 to 4 inches. that will cause travel issues out the door in the mountains again. for tomorrow morning. but that will be confined to the high country. there after, everybody warms up through the week. we're jumping into the mid 60s by saturday. we're looking at a huge jump in our numbers as we wind our way to the weekend. our five-day forecast, the weekend always in view, it looks great, lots of sun. after that one rain chance over night tonight, it's gone we're dry for the rest of the week and through the weekend, it looks beautiful. around 70 degrees on sunday. so great stretch of weather ahead. after really almost a week and cold weather. >> talk about a recovery there. time.

uncovered convicted sex offenders in mecklenburg county on facebook. we went to that offenders address for answers and asked law enforcement why they're not doing more to prevent it from happening. watch our investigation tonight at 5:00 on eyewitness news. a fort bragg soldier risked his life running into a burning building to save a family he didn't even know. what he saw when he got inside.

look at the listen to this story. a fayetteville family is thanking a fort bragg soldier who ran into a burning apartment complex to save their lives.

you can see the fire burning through the back of the building. firefighters say it started on a porch and spread from there. neighbors went door to door to make sure people got out safely. aaron miranda ran inside the apartment where it started. >> i went out to see if they were okay. there were two kids in there. >> no one was hurt. firefighters are still trying to determine what exactly started this. new developments this midday in a deadly head-on train crash in germany. prosecutors announced today they believe human error by the dispatcher is what caused last week's crash. eleven people died. dozens of others were hurt when two commuter trains slammed into each other. there's now a criminal investigation against that dispatcher. new at noon, scary moments on board an alaska airlines flight. they had to turn around when spoke poured into the cockpit. >> we're declaring an

>> pilots had to put on gas masks minutes into the flight from washington dc to seattle. you can see the first responders, they circled the plane, just after it landed about 30 miles away at dallas. the pilots think a mee tore may have leaked oil. today pope francis is visiting mexico's drug and smuggling heart land. the pontiff will meet with young people and share his vision for the future of the church in mexico. he has repeatedly criticized the church leadership there for not reprimanding the wealthy and powerful elite. you could notice a wider selection of healthy foods at stores that accept food stamps the agriculture department is announcing proposed rules today. people who use food stamps can buy junk food but they have more access to healthy foods. people can carry con seemed guns on shelby city property. they removed a ban on guns last night.

the police department. a state law prevents people from carrying concealed weapons in law enforcement and correctional facilities. the same storm that slammed north carolina is causing problems across the east coast. emergency responders responded to many crashes yesterday. drivers weren't the only people struggling to get some traction. >> i couldn't step at all. i just stepped out and slid to the curb. >> that's no fun. the storm also packed tornadoes with more than 17 reported from florida to louisiana. you can sigh roofs ripped off buildings. debris flying all over the place. what we had yesterday definitely was tough no matter where you are in the storms path. a big storm effecting the eastern half of the country. things quieting down today. there's one more disturbance

bring rain. glad to see the sun today though. >> thanks for making channel 9

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