the main band of storms moves into the mountains. at 8:00 or so tomorrow morning. here's a look at the threat tracker tomorrow. rain chances ramp up. nothing terribly heavy yet. there will be gusty winds that's the main player. if you haven't all ready, download the app from the app store or google play store. interactive radar shows you where the weather is. and the severe weather alerts will let you know if anything is heading into your neighborhood. >> get the severe weather alerts and track what's heading into your neighborhood at wsoctv.com under the weather tab. in the last hour police released a clear surveillance picture of a man accuse of kidnapping a local delivery driver at gunpoint. it happened over night in charlotte's cherry neighborhood. the victim was driven counties away. >> they were driven to atms until they were finally let go 90 minutes away. mark becker has more on the frightening crime police are

>> it's frightening and bizarre in several ways. but here's what happened, the victim early this morning told police he was in this parking lot on baldwin avenue in the cherry neighborhood when two suspects, a man and a woman came up, threatened him with a gun, and forced him to get into another car and drove him a long way to get cash. >> the investigation began early this morning with a call from the papa johns on fourth street saying they hadn't heard from one of their delivery drivers. a 61-year-old man. fearing the worst, police called in homicide detectives and they found his car a little while later abandoned here on baldwin street just several blocks from the papa johns store. the driver was missing. two hours later, about 4:30 this morning, police in arch dale, 80 miles up 85, called to say a driver walked into their department off the interstate and told him he'd been kidnapped from charlotte over night. the victim told police he didn't know exactly where he

man and a woman had kidnapped him and driven him up i-85 and then stopped at three separate atms where they made him withdraw cash. late this afternoon, police released this surveillance picture from one of those atms showing one of the suspects wearing an under armor hoodie with his face in full view. they're hoping someone will help them identify him. at this point, they don't know if he and the other suspect are from charlotte. but people living in cherry where it all began this morning were truly stunned. >> a robbery, i hadn't heard of a robbery around here in a while. >> he's lived in cherry for 15 years and is kings -- is convinced no one he knew was

here's another look at the clear surveillance pictures. we've also posted them on wsoctv.com. and our facebook page. so you can help police in the search to find them. we're staying on top of a major story impacting people in charlotte tonight. the controversial passage of the lgbt nondiscrimination policy which allows people to use the bathroom of whichever sex they identify with. now some republican lawmakers say they will step in. house leaders said they're going to start working on legislation to stop this. new this hour, house speaker protim said city council members over stepped their bounds. one of the provisions is that in order to contract with the city of charlotte, you have to have the best product, and the lowest price and the bester is best service, you also have to agree to bow down to their

and adopt all their standards. >> house leaders say they'll take up the issue when the legislature convenes april 25th. governor pat mccrory is vowing to fight the ordinance. coming up tonight at 6:00, brittney johnson went to raleigh and spoke one on one with the governor about how far he's willing to go to get rid of it. new tonight, a jury in colorado convicted a woman of cutting a former app state student's baby from her woman. they found dynel lane guilty. she lured michelle wilkins to her home with a craigs list ad for maternity clothes. wilkins survived but her baby died. >> the son of a narcotics agent will spend the next 25 years in prison. a judge sentenced ryan tucker today for his role in transporting a ton of marijuana to the charlotte area and laundering $1.7 million if drug money.

charged with helping out his son. he was sentenced to more than three years in prison. after searching through hours of surveillance video, officers say they weren't able to gather clues in the latest fire station theft during the last two weeks, thieves have broken into cars at flint hill, kannapolis, china grove, mount morn, huntersville and cornelius fire departments. we have some new information on a fire at a south end apartment community. last week's fire at the building on will more drive off south trion street has been ruled accidental. an exact cause hasn't been determined. two rooms were damaged and cost about $15,000. no one was hurt. with the ciaa basketball tournament in full force in charlotte, the city declared this week a week long

tina terry found out police are focusing on specific areas to avoid issues this week. >> that extraordinary event status is designed to give officers more authority to keep the tournament safe. and also today, there were even extra officers outside of the arena giving some fans an extra sense of security. outside the time warner cable arena today as hundreds attended the ciaa, cmpd officers flocked to the corner of east trade and brevard, a location they say illegal activity happens everyday. >> robberies to drug sales, even prostitution around. >> so officers with the central division gathered to send a strong message to those involved. >> we're trying to take back the corner. some corners we've had trouble with throughout the district. they hope visitors would

>> i would hope that seeing a group of officers on the corner, especially for people out of town, it has to be comforting to know that we're here. >> reporter: fans inside the arena also benefited from extra protections there. charlotte city manager declared the ciaa an extraordinary event giving offices the right to ban certain items from the arena and giving them more authority to conduct searches. it's good because people may take records in and you don't want that. >> reporter: we're told day one went spottily inside. outside during the operation officers say they were able to stop crimes by just being present. tina terry, channel 9 eyewitness news. laying off more workers at freight liner plants. 25 more workers will be laid off at the cleveland plant in

we learned about 550 other layoffs earlier this month. in mount holly, 15 will lose their jobs. that facility is also making 700 other cuts. a plaza mid wood bar will not face charges after a customer was accused of driving drunk and hitting and killing a woman. police say gregory wheeling hit kelly putnam with his car on south boulevard last month near mack's speed shop. alcohol and beverage control police say they conducted an over serving investigation at whiskey warehouse and the results are inconclusive. as this big storm pushes closer to charlotte, firefighters across the foothills and mountains are getting ready for the possibility of flash flooding tomorrow morning as steve said between 1 and 2 inches of rain has fallen in the past few days. reporter dave faherty is in hickory where preparations are under way. >> reporter: that storm is still hundreds of miles away. but we didn't get a break in the cloud cover today because

you can see whipple talking about behind me. this is bakers mountain south of hickory. you can't see the top of it tonight because of the clouds. >> the water don't run off. >> reporter: he showed us the problem up close next to his home where drenching rain turned his yard into a pond. many are concerned about the possibility of flash flooding over night. >> you better make sure the pantry is established. and the scotch bottle's full. because if it comes up, you're not going to get out. >> firefighters showed us their swift water rescue gear today. they tell us it will be ready if they see flash flooding tomorrow like they had just two weeks ago along the johns river. at the time the water rose more than two feet over the bridges sending some children home from school early.

flooding within an hour easily. very easily. >> there's road closure signs prepositioned on roads in flood prone areas. we could see the rainfall this morning along highway 321 in hickory. the ground is saturated. drivers we spoke with west of lenoir say they're keeping a close eye on the weather and will heed the warnings. >> safety. safety. turn around. don't drown. >> reporter: that's always good advice. the other piece of good advice is to get our wsoc-tv weather app. let me show you how easy it is. this is my phone right here. i'm going to punch it up right here. and there, you can see the radar on it. and those heavier pockets of showers. that's the storm approaching us right now. check it out. get this app. it's really good stuff to have. reporting live from catawba county, dave faherty, channel 9 eyewitness news. two big issues with this next storm. one the rain dave was talking about, the other, the wind. i have our future cast specifically looking at what to

coming up, 400,000-dollar home mortgages with just 3% down. the only qualification some

new information tonight shows drug incidents are down at many charlotte mecklenburg schools but not all. in some schools they're up significantly. and even students have complained. erica bryant went through years of reports uncovering which schools are seeing a spike and the new plan to deal with it. >> drug and drug paraphernalia was found and the students were arrested and taken off campus. >> this parent says more and more her daughter is sharing stories of drug activity at her high school in an affluent area of charlotte. >> there's a lot of kids there that have the means and resources to be able to purchase, you know, pretty much whatever they want. >> so, channel 9 investigated. obtaining numbers for drug activity at all high schools in

years. cmpd says school age drug offender arrests continue to decrease. but we discovered that's not the case at every high school. hopewell and north meck had the most juvenile arrests in the 2014-15 school year. each with 12 arrests on campus. schools. myers park in west meck tied for the most drugs seized on school property with 23 cases each. schools. >> these are generally very small amounts of marijuana. >> cms police chief randy says 99% of the cases, marijuana is students drug of choice. he told me the numbers fluctuate and don't tell the full story. >> i don't know that we can really draw a conclusion for this school or that school is this school better or worse. because at any time, we're liable to have a drug arrest at a school. >> but the chief admits that

from teens is that drugs are a problem. and they want it to stop. >> reporter: in direct response to student complaints, cms spent $8,000 to purchase the district's first drug k9. trained to alert on drugs like marijuana, cocaine, heroin, meth amphetamine, and ecstasy. the dogs should start work full timefection week. >> we're going to do random searches and go where our principles say we need to be. we're hoping that we can get to all the high schools pretty regularly. >> anonymous tips from students will also be key. >> campus crime stoppers is a wonderful place for these kids. they can call anonymously and report. they can text. >> those tips could trigger a campus visit from the drug dog. this mother says some parents might object to it but she thinks it's a good idea. >> i absolutely think there's a problem and that it needs to be done.

there's drug activity happening at your child's school by going to wsoctv.com. we've posted all the numbers there for drug seizures, drug arrests, as well as that campus crime stoppers number. it's all inside my story under the 9 investigates page. we're staying on top of breaking news tonight, continuing to get video in from louisiana where storms are hitting right now. you can see here the roof was ripped right down the middle of this home in livingston parish louisiana. this picture was taken from inside the home that shows more severe damage. you can see sunlight coming through. meteorologist steve udelson is tracking this storm now headed for charlotte. >> we were tracking, christine and i, that thunderstorm on live early warning doppler 9 a short time ago. a very defined rotation. we're hoping we don't see that in the charlotte area tomorrow. we are certainly going to see gusty winds. right now it's nothing more than clouds, drizzle, fog, light rain detected in southern

just east of earl. moving toward shelby. put a track on that through shelby in the next minute or two. gastonia about 6:15. belmont and lincolnton around 6:30, temperatures chilly in the high country, around 40 degrees. mid 40s the i-40 corridor. upper 40s in most of the charlotte area. a far cry from yesterday. but as i mentioned at 5:00. we're going to see something interesting over night tonight. temperatures will actually rise toward morning as this wedge of cool moist air breaks. lower 50s at 6:00 a.m. we're going to be close to 60 degrees by 8:00. however the price to pay, you'll need the rain gear, rain jacket for sure, and an umbrella. here's a look at the future cast, temperatures, upper 60s to near 70 at lunch time tomorrow. this will be around the peek of the thunderstorm event dragging warm air across the carolinas. even the mountains will get close to 60 for a time before late in the afternoon.

evening, we cool back down back to reality. at 8:00 a.m., there's the line, a broken line of showers and storms in the mountains, potentially damaging winds, it moves into the charlotte area, 10:00, 11:00 tomorrow morning. notice the line getting better defined. and as it moves to the east, especially toward central and eastern north carolina, the risk of severe weather, especially tornadoes ramps up east of the charlotte area from raleigh all the way to the coastline. ewe have friends out there. make sure they're aware of the weather situation. it'll change quickly there too. rapid improvement tomorrow afternoon. not bright and sunny. but at least we'll break clouds and get rid of showers. how about the wind speeds helping to fulgorsy showers and storms, 25 to 35 miles per hour winds in the charlotte area tomorrow before things calm down tomorrow night. future cast for thursday, a lot better in the charlotte area. how about snow showers up in the high country. 6:00, i'll take a look at how

in the mountains. the ciaa tournament as you heard is uptown and will brighten up after tomorrow. we'll get the sunshine back but temperatures back to where they should be. generally in the 50s. on the five-day forecast, wind driven showers and thunder showers tomorrow. mid 50s on thursday. a gusty breeze. sunshine's back, and cooler where's weather as we head into the weekend. eyewitness news one on one with the governor who's promising to take action against charlotte for its new nondiscrimination ordinance. >> how much of a priority is it for you to stop this. >> how far he's willing to go to strike it down. a local man accused of trying to ship guns and bullets

where prosecutors say he was ere protesters rallied at apple stores across the country today to support its fight against the fbi. a federal judge ordered apple to unlock the san bernardino shooter's iphone which could have critical evidence. apple argues governments could use the unlocking technology in future cases. microsoft cofound erbil gates doesn't see anything wrong with turning over specific information to the feds. >> you shouldn't call the access some special thing. it's in different than, you know, should has anybody ever been able to ask the phone company for information. channel 9 talked one on one with north carolina senator richard burr who cherished the u.s. senate's intelligence committee. he says he doesn't want the government to have unlimited access but if a court orders it, companies should retrieve data for investigators. south carolina businesses are getting involved in the

senators looked over a roads package last week that included a 12-cent gas tax increase. no action was taken because the bill was filibustered by state senator tom davis. the south carolina chamber of commerce is now encouraging members to contact state senators and tell them to end that filibuster. the long view police department says it's still investigating what led to a serious crash. we followed this as breaking news last night at 10:00 and eleven o'clock. the crash along highway 70 involved two cars. look at the photo. the front end smashed in. three people were taken to the hospital. tonight investigators say they don't belief weather was a factor. we're tracking this big storm heading toward charlotte. all ready pounding cities in the south with some damage. next at 6:00, new video of the damage and our team of meteorologists will map out when the storm arrives in your neighborhood.

need to be ready for. need to be ready now from the news team that's covering the carolinas, this is channel 9 eyewitness news at 6:00. tonight all eyes are on this huge storm tearing across the deep south. it's still 500 miles to the west. but its sights are set on the carolinas. for the last hour we've been bringing you these images of damages caused by storm's strong winds. there were reports of at least ten tornadoes touching down in louisiana and mississippi. the storm will bring a serious threat of severe weather when it enters the charlotte area tomorrow morning. i'm erica bryant. >> and i'm scott wickersham. steve udelson is pinpointing the potential dangers tomorrow.

this storm is vibrant. a ton of energy. a lot of moisture. and sights are seth on the carolinas for sure. right now it's over mississippi, alabama, louisiana, upwards of ten reports of confirmed tornadoes. a lot of damage here north of new orleans. and we're going to get caught in this warm moist whirlpool of air. temperatures won't fall tonight. they'll rise after 11:00. out of the 40s into the 50s. by the time you get up tomorrow morning, the future cast by 9:00 a.m., 60s along the highway 9 corridor, chester to chesterfield. here's the latest time line, for the mountains, 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. from the charlotte area east toward the highway 52 corridor between 9:00 and noon, we'll see rapid clearing tomorrow afternoon. this is a one and done event. we will see some very heavy rain, localized flooding, i'm most concerned about damaging

tornadoes. flood watches are in effect. the damaging winds we'll have the keep an eye on. now is the time to make sure cell phones are charged tomorrow. download the free app. stay on top of the rain and warnings issued for the area. download the free app for weather updates. live stream our news casts for the latest on the storm. it's free to download for apple or android. less than 24 hours after charlotte passed a controversial nondiscrimination ordinance, we're sitting down with governor pat mccrory who is vowing to use his power in raleigh to fight the measure. >> can you imagine a north carolina where every town and city has different standards for restrooms and locker rooms. >> eyewitness news anchor brittney johnson traveled to the governor's mansion to interview the governor one on one. >> he told you how far he's willing to go to stop charlotte from making its own rules on bathrooms. >> the governor told me in a there's all ready lobbying