those cases are also connected to lowe's. now, on the phone, a spokesperson with lowe's told us they're asking employees at the facility to check their personal vaccination records and make sure that they are up to date on their vaccines. they're also making them aware of places where they can get the vaccines. such as the health department here. they also sent two communications out to break and telling them to take extra care to protect themselves by exercising good hygiene. they are hoping that that will spreading. today officials here at the iredell county health department told us that they are also helping that company. we are in the place we've provided staff that are available to anyone. we're there working with them contained. >> the health department says that it will have a conference call with state leaders later on today.

several other counties on that conference call. and talk specifically about the mumps cases throughout the state. we hope to bring you much more information starting tonight at 5:00. reporting live from statesville, tina terry, channel 9 eyewitness news. we have more breaking news right now in gastonia, chopper 9 sky zoom live over the red carpet inn near 321 and i-85. right there you see some crime scene tape up and a couple particulars there. we know that gastonia police are telling us this is a homicide scene and they're actively searching for suspects. they think there's more than one suspect at this point. our news paper partners at the gaston gazette tell us it was a woman who was shot to death. eyewitness news reporter dave faherty is heading to that scene right now. we will keep you updated with any new information. at any moment now, federal officials are expected to get to the scene of a deadly plane crash in union county. pilot jim cook from lexington north carolina died in

he was returning home from florida when the plane crashed. the union county sheriff's office told us cook reported having engine trouble before going down near charlton mill road and salem road. just in the past half hour, the charlotte fire department spoke publicly about a rash of break-ins at fire stations while first responders were out on calls. channel 9 was the first in charlotte to tell you about those crimes this morning. eyewitness news anchor john paul learned thieves broke into more than a dozen firefighter's cars over the past week, john? >> reporter: this seems to be a really big problem. and it's growing. i can tell you right now, charlotte fire is not happy about it. they talked to us about 30 minutes ago. as you said, about a dozen firefighters have been hit. so far five charlotte fire stations have been targeted. including this one here in west charlotte. this is fire station number 18. they were hit on saturday. there were four other ones throughout the city hit. here's what's going on. someone is waiting until they

they're either jumping the fence or walking into the parking lot and breaking out windows of cars. we shot video from this morning of the two latest fire departments that were targeted. that brings to the total, eight in our area. because we know mooresville, china grove, kannapolis, they all had fire stations hit the same way. someone breaking out windows of first responders' vehicles while they're out of the car. rummaging through them. as for what was taken, we've asked police and fire about that. we looked through some of the reports. these are personal items including an ipad in one case. we're also learning firearms are being taken. and police stressing to make sure if you do have a firearm in your car that it's safely locked up, lock it away. they have different devices to do that so that they don't get stolen. but really firefighters are upset about this. because they say they feel vulnerable when they're going out to help people while they're on a call and then they're coming back to their cars being broken into. one charlotte firefighter telling me they think someone

traffic. you'll hear from them coming up tonight at 5:00. also some neighbors, they're not happy about these developments either. all that is coming up tonight. we're live in west charlotte, all right john. thank you so much. as john mentioned, channel 9 learned last week that someone broke into two vehicles at a fire station in china grove. they found their doors open and glass on the ground. police also worked a similar case in kannapolis on the 11th outside station three on florida avenue. that happened while several firefighters were responding to a call. police don't know if the cases are connected. right now a major west charlotte intersection is still shut down. tuckaseegee and little rock roads have been closed for eight hours as crews replace seven traffic signals that crashed to the ground during an early morning wreck. eyewitness news reporter angela hong obtained surveillance video that shows the moment of impact, angela? >> reporter: well, stephanie, right now take a look at some of the damage left behind.

came crashing on to the ground after this wreck. right now you see charlotte d.o.t. crews putting the finishing touches on replacing the ones that are damaged. they are up. we don't know if they're working yet. but they're out here trying to get this up and running. a drunk driver hit a pole. the impact brought down power lines and several traffic signals. take a look at the surveillance video we got from a nearby store. you can see a car speeding. it hits the pole, and the lights all around the intersection go out. smoke starts billowing from the car as police arrive on the scene. they arrested the driver who minor injuries. we were here all morning as the entire intersection was shut down, cars cut through parking lots to get around this mess. and many people were surprised that one accident could cause so much damage. >> i've never seen something take down every light at the intersection. you know. he had to hit the right pole at

>> reporter: at&t crews are also here fixing damages to their utility pole. and duke energy, they were out here earlier, they fixed there. the intersection of tuckaseegee and little rock could be closed for the next few hours, on eyewitness news at 5:30, i'll tell you what i learned when i asked charlotte d.o.t. and also duke, who's going to pay for all this damage? reporting live in west charlotte, angela hong, channel 9 eyewitness news. angela, thank you, new this midday, pulitzer prize winner author harper lee has died. she's best known for writing to kill a mocking bird. she divided her time between new york city and monroeville which inspired the book's fictional town. she was 89 years old. the body of supreme court justice antonin skalia is lying in repose at the supreme court. pallbearers brought his casket in this morning. jacqueline fell is in washington with more.

skalia is lying in repose at the supreme court. it was a very somber, serious, and powerful moment when he court. supreme court police officers casket. law clerks. hardly anyone was talking as this was going on. other clerks and employees of the court lined the steps and the plaza as skalia was being carried into the court and into the great hall. his family then held a private ceremony. and now the public is able to pay their final respects. he will lie in repose for most of the day. the president and first lady are expected here later this afternoon. skalia's funeral and burial will be tomorrow. reporting at the supreme court, jacqueline fell, channel 9 eyewitness news. things are heating up just one day before south carolina's republican primary. >> he's got an awfully big wall at the vatican.

taking at each other and even the pope. the bright weather continues out there today with degrees. the warm up continues through the weekend. that's not changing.

more cloud

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) hey candidates, answer the call already. answer the stocks are mixed this midday. the dow is down 57 points. and the nasdaq is up 13 points. right now in raleigh, lawmakers are racing to meet a deadline that will impact when and where you vote. the house will vote on changed maps for congressional districts and the senate will decide whether to move the primary. eyewitness news reporter jim bradley is in raleigh as

>> reporter: well not quite as much drama here in raleigh today as we saw yesterday. but today is still important. today is if day changes to congressional district maps and the primary election calendar are expected to get official and final approval from both the house and the senate here at the legislature. this morning house members have been debating the new maps which were redrawn on the order of federal judges who ruled them unconstitutional. the changes in the maps that were okayed by the senate yesterday cause a dramatic shift in the boundaries for the twelfth congressional district that will be compacted entirely into mecklenburg county. the senate will vote today on whether to move the congressional primary date from march 15th to june 7th. and eliminating primary run off elections completely in 2016. we'll follow the developments and check in on the impact this will have on voters and candidates. we'll have more today on eyewitness news at 5:00. eyewitness news. a local man accused of

the common appliances police say he tried to ship them in. then the race for president

the outh caro we are continuing to follow breaking news in gastonia where homicide. this is a live look over the 85. zoom. we've seen at least four police cars on the scene. a lot of investigators

police right now searching for suspects. but it's not clear at this point how many they are looking for. eyewitness news has a crew on the way to that scene. we are also making calls to get some more information about this. we'll update you on air and on our website, wsoctv.com. there's just one day left before south carolina voters head to the poles in the republican presidential primary. and things are heating up on the campaign trail. megan hughes reports candidates are taking shots at each other and one is even targeting the pope. >> reporter: donald trump on good morning america sticking to his stance. >> we have to have the wall. we have to stop the drugs from pouring in. >> reporter: this after a pope said a person who thinks about building whams -- walls and not bridges is not a christian. >> he's got an awfully big wall at the vatican. >> i thought it probably was

intervene in the height of a contested primary. >> reporter: rubio campaigning with a popular south carolina governor, nikki haley. while ted cruz appears with duck dynasty star phil robinson in myrtle beach. >> talk about a man who knows how to shoot a duck. >> reporter: a citizen is worried his canadian birth will be a problem. it looks like a dead heat in nevada. hillary clinton isn't going down without a fight. >> i'm not just making speeches. i'm not just promising free this and free that and free everything. >> here in south carolina, poles show the race is not as close. trump has a double digit lead with cruz and rubio following. many believing after tomorrow, this could be a three-man race. megan hughes, abc news, columbia south carolina. north carolina senator richard burr is now calling on apple to turn over phone data

apple is fighting a federal order that it claims would also anyone's iphone. burr wrote in u.s.a. today and said apple is not above the law. he says apple is choosing to prioritize its business model above a court order. action 9's jason stoogenke is sitting down with senator burr right now. watch eyewitness news starting at 5:00. new at noon, north carolina reported its first case of the zika virus. the state health department says the person did not contract it here and recently traveled outside the u.s. health officials expect to see more cases as people travel to the caribbean and latin america. but say it's not a threat to the state. new developments this midday, the mayor of long view is asking for state auditors to investigate after the town administrator was accused of padding his paycheck. town leaders fired david after learning of payroll irregularities. a confidential letter from the

signature to get paid 400 hours of sick time. town leaders haven't decided whether or not to ask the district attorney to start a criminal investigation. meteorologist keith monday is tracking a warm up and a chance for rain for the weekend in severe weather center 9. keith? >> it's beautiful out there today. not a cloud to be found from the speed way camera. that's going to be the beautiful picture all afternoon. we're going to lose some of that sunshine through the weekend. and by sunday, we may be tracking at least a small rain chance approaching. look at the numbers. all ready around 50 degrees in charlotte. 52 in lancaster. mountains in the low 40s. we're running at about the same pace as yesterday when we hit 54. we may add a few degrees today. thanks to a breezy southwest wind kicking in this afternoon. 10 to 15 miles per hour winds in charlotte. gusting well over 20 in the mountains. that breeze will be moving in allowing temperatures to stay mild. and even into the night tonight, we're not going to see the numbers drop off nearly as fast. forecast into the friday evening, picture perfect. if you have outdoor plans, do

it'll be nice until 11:00, in the upper 40s. much. tomorrow morning. so we're off to a warm start getting ready for the weekend. it's a good sign that spring is around the corner when the 5ks and other races are becoming more prominent. the charlotte 10 miler in ballantyne, tomorrow morning at 7:30, 40s to begin. that's what we're forecasting for the high today. that's a good sign that things are moving up quickly for our weekend plans. 67 on sunday. notice the clouds. they begin to thicken up as we head into the weekend. now saturday, maybe a sprinkle in the mountains. everybody else will stay dry. just a mix of clouds and sunshine through 5:00. we'll see more low clouds filling in on sunday morning and look out here to the west, here comes the rain chance for sunday afternoon for the mountains. some of the sprinkles will work into charlotte late in the day. it'll become over cast by the

afternoon and then the better rain chances are working their way in next week. it may not be the heaviest rain on monday morning back to work. tuesday morning likely looks to be the bigger player here. keep on top of the weather pattern into the weekend as the forecasts begin to change for you on our wsoc-tv weather app. our five-day forecast looking ahead through the weekend, next week we keep the 60s into monday. that doesn't look like heavy rain comes in monday. but tuesday we may have heavier down pours to deal with. and if it rains all day on tuesday, we may not even hit 50 degrees. so bigger changes in regard to clouds, the rain, and of course the temperatures next week. >> and that's why we're going to appreciate this weekend why we have. >> that's why. everybody will be outside this weekend. it may sound like something from decades ago, but law enforcement officers say moonshining is still alive across the area. it's also still illegal. today at 5:00, eyewitness news tracks down moonshiners who refuse to quit even though the practice is still against the law.

made up here. yes, sir. >> the people behind those operations and why officers still go after them, today at 5:00 on channel 9 eyewitness news. next at noon, a local man accused of trying to smuggle guns into west africa. >> it's saying your son purchased 63 firearms. >> 63? >> the reason his father told channel 9 the suspect was

>> here's a look at the >> here's a local man is accused of trying to smuggle guns from charlotte to west africa.

firearms and 3500 rounds of ammunition. then traveled from charlotte to ghana. yesterday federal agents went to his father's home in north charlotte looking for him. the indictment says he hid more weapons and ammo inside a washer and dryer and tried to ship the machines to ghana. >> if it is true that he's been house. >> a manager at mount holly gun and pawn says he bought the guns online and they only handled the paper work. he says he found it odd he bought multiples of the same gun. his father said he thought his son went to ghana to visit his girlfriend and their child. south carolina leaders are clearing their schedules so crumbling roads. senate leaders canceled two other committee meetings planned for tuesday. they went home yesterday after two days of a filibuster by senator tom davis. increase. security experts are seeing

wear costing people tens of thousands of dollars. security experts say the ransom ware can spread through simple email messages. document. the second you click on it, you're infected. you'll get a message telling you your files are encrypted and get instructions on how to pay the ransom. back up all of your data to an unplugged. make sure your computer has updated antivirus software. a teen is in critical condition after a helicopter crashed into pearl harbor. bystanders jumped into the water to rescue the five people federal investigators will be at the scene today to figure out what caused that crash. this weekend, you won't be able to take the light rail to certain stops. the links blue line will only

sunday. there will be no service from i- 485 and arrowwood. the stations will have signs pointing you to the nearest bus stop. the cut is for construction on the blue line expansion project. fantastic weekend ahead. anxious to get outside. today. it's going to get warmer this mid 50s for now. but the mid 60s are still here for our weekend plans. today will be the most beautiful sunny day we'll see out of the next three days heading into the weekend. we'll lose a little bit of the sunshine. i don't see much of a rain chance sunday. different story. coming our way. today at 5:00, steve will have the updated time line for how quickly that rolls in as we get ready to head back to work and school next week. thanks for making channel 9 your choice for news this midday. join us for eyewitness news at

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