north of highway 9. you'd see this, and you'd say, it's got to be heavy rain, let's show you the real deal. we can show you the difference. it can detect the difference between a rain drop and a snow flake. now we're seeing snow grains. north of lancaster. and plain old wet snow flakes on the highway 9 corridor. that changes to rain. don't worry, this is not a snow issue. one of the things we're dealing with, dry air, it's moistening up. as it does, it makes rain just about everywhere east of the hit and runs, -- mountains. 38 in salisbury and lancaster and hickory. in the high country, readings below freezing. there's the steady rain. more of it will be pushing out of the upstate. this is plain rain in the upstate. moving into chester and york county in the next 40 to 45 minutes. rock hill a little bit after.

band one moves out. the high country will see off and on snow all night long. it'll only wind down first thing tomorrow morning. that's good news. threat tracker for the high country, snow will fall leading to slick roads. if you're in dallas north carolina -- a viewer in dallas north carolina sent us this video. a brief snow shower quickly turned to rain. we have a resort cam in blowing rock tracking snow there. you can see a little bit building up on the grass there and next to the tree. the snow has been falling there lightly for two hours. i tracked the storm over night and on your apple and android phone with the wsoc-tv weather app and use the interactive street. for the last hour, eyewitness news has investigated the project to build toll lanes on i-77. we asked whether or not taxpayers will be on the hook if the project's parent company faces money trouble and look deeper at the growing political impact on the race for governor.

if the toll critics win and stop the project. transportation leaders could put toll lanes on the interstates. that could minimize the victory for anti toll groups like widen i-77. jenna deery is live along the interstate after speaking with local transportation experts. >> reporter: they told me they are sticking with the plan to go with toll lanes running through interstates through charlotte. that's whether the state goes through with a project linked to centra that has yet another project tonight going through bankruptcy. it came as no surprise to cornelius town commissioner dave gilroy when a subsidiary of spanish roads developer centra finalled for bankruptcy in texas yesterday. >> it just doesn't work. so it's bankrupt. >> he's been among several states city and county leaders investigating and tracking the company's movement. ever since signing a contract with ncdot to build toll lanes on i-77.

business model of centra to essentially bankrupt these infrastructure facilities after a certain amount of time. >> the governor called on ncdot to go to texas and reassess north carolina's contract. he wants legal and financial options reviewed when it comes to the project. but even if the state decides to cut ties with the developer, it has another bankrupt project in indian matthews mayor jim taylor says toll lanes are still coming. >> this was a possibility to get roads much quicker than having to wait 10-15-20 years. >> he heads the charlotte regional transportation planning organization. they set in motion a mandate to build toll lanes. he says who builds them is the state's responsibility. the board still believes toll lanes are the best way to manage traffic. while money for roads is limited. >> if there are issues with the contract, i say put pressure on ncdot.

authority is expected to run other toll lain projects on 74 and 485. i asked and ncdot can't tell me if that would be the case for i- 77 if the state backs out of this contract after this latest bankruptcy filing. reporting live in north charlotte, jenna deery, channel 9 eyewitness news. the tolls would run from uptown charlotte to mooresville and this has created a bitter divide between the city and communities up north in the lake norman region. davidson, cornelius, huntersville and mooresville asked the governor's office to stop the toll roads. our investigation into the centra contract and what the project means for drivers continues at wsoctv.com on the home page. all new tonight at 6:00, a man accused of murdering his newborn daughter walked out of the gaston county jail this afternoon a free man. this is a photo of jason moore leaving jail after 2.5 years behind bars.

life in prison for the death of this three-month-old. jurors found him not guilty after four weeks of testimony. doctors say addison waller had a fractured skull and signs of abuse. moore babysat while the child's mother was at work. breaking news, in the past ten minutes, charlotte's major responded for calls for state lawmakers to address and over turn the non-discrimination ordinance. discrimination is never right, shocked nsga is still considering hurting job growth and tourism in north carolina. hope cooler heads will prevail. the ordinance protects the rights of the lgbt community. lawmakers want to take action against the part of this that allows people to use whatever bathroom matches the gender they say they identify with. new details are coming up tonight about a deadly shooting outside a mcdonald's in hickory. the gunman previously dated the manager he's accused of shooting and killing at the restaurant. reporter dave faherty is in court as the suspect went

>> if you look behind me, you can see the mcdonald's along highway 321 is open after being shut down for hours after the shooting. the suspect in all of this, eric young showed little emotion as he appeared before a judge earlier today. >> the 22-year-old is charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. he's accused of killing rochelle and shooting cody watts in the parking lot of the mcdonald's in hickory. eric young and rochelle dated for years and had two small children together but the relationship unraveled recently. >> he cried for two days. but he didn't say he was going to kill her. he told us he was going to go kill himself. >> he learned they worked as managers at mcdonald's and were leaving when he pulled into the parking lot striking his pickup truck. watts was shot inside the truck. and the other one near the play area. >> it's bold.

you have to keep on your toes. >> his grandfather who helps watch the couple's young children says his grandson called him after the shooting where he admitted to being involved. >> he admitted to it. >> oh yeah. >> police recovered what they believe is possibly the murder weapon in this case. yunt remains locked up without bond at the catawba detention center. dave faherty channel 9 eyewitness news. today the charlotte mecklenburg school district took the first steps to finding a new superintendent. channel 9 was there when the board created a three person committee to search. board member rhonda lenon told us they'll skip the community engagement part and go right to the search. >> we are more than happy to hear from anybody that wants to share. but i don't think we need to spend the taxpayer dollars or time to reengage and ask the same questions we've asked for the last ten yearar >> father or motherrer school

as a consultant for the search. early primary voting started at poling locations across north carolina. in gaston county, we've seen people lining up throughout the day and voting officials say many of them are switching parties so they can vote for donald trump. overwhelmingly the people we talk to tell us they're here for donald trump. and they're not bothered by the negative attention he's getting. even from members of his own party. here he's getting attention and votes from traditional democratics. >> 64 coming up. >> the number of voters. >> you can be number 85. >> quickly stacked up this morning. many open about their decision. >> i'm for donald trump. don't mind telling you. >> charles burnett says he hasn't been so enthusiastic since he voted for kennedy. >> to many people over here illegally. >> even those who don't love him are voting for him.

the face of criticism. from former republican presidential candidate mitt romney. >> mitt romney needs to keep his mouth shut. >> gaston county election officials say some supporters are democratics who changed in time to vote in the primaries. they want to register where the most influence is. 156 democratics changed to become unaffiliated voters. 209 switched to become republicans. 104 republicans became unaffiliated. 30 became democratics. we found a lot of democratics here who say they will never vote for trump. >> everything about -- that donald trump says is absurd. >> he's voting for hillary clinton. >> early voting ends on the 12th. they expect a steady crowd on election day. ken lemon, channel 9 eyewitness news. you can find a list of the early voting locations across charlotte and surrounding communities by going to the website, wsoctv.com. you'll find it under our story

and keep it here right on channel 9 after eyewitness news at 6:00. the team at world news is breaking down mitt romney's comments, slamming donald trump, and how the gop candidate responded to that this afternoon. a catawba county woman stole $53,000 from her job, she'll go to prison for five years. she pled guilty on tuesday and admitted to being aha by chylify lon. -- aha by chyle store a key report will be monitored by the federal reserve as it considers future interest rate hikes. more than a thousand job

for jobs and meet potential employers at a career fair at central piedmont community college. it was open to cpcc students and the community. we're tracking the steady rain falling in the charlotte area and the snow across the high country and how much we'll see. a drug bust at an apartment complex right across the street from an elementary school. >> i think it was a huge dent in what they were trying to do. next at 6:00, the potent drug they uncovered and exclusive details on the cross

eration investigators you can see on the radar, it's kind of a mess out there tonight. there's rain over charlotte and rock hill. heavy rain coming toward greenville. up in the mountains some people are getting some snow. we'll see how much of that could fall over night when we check in with steve in just a bit. york county drug agents say medical marijuana and high lipo tent hash oil from california was being shipped to york county. >> they say it ended up at an apartment next to an elementary school in clover. drug agents made the bust last night and gave a reporter exclusive details on how the operation worked. greg? drug agents arrested three young men who they say were involved in this drug ring that originated in california. but drugs are being sold on the streets here. we're told the three men were

the vilas in clover across from crowders creek on highway 274. officers raided an apartment here and found high grade marijuana but the surprise was there, more than 530 doses of hash oil. a honey like substance that's stronger. >> it could be twice as powerful as smoking marijuana. three times ? >> or four times. it's so potent and little is known scientifically about how dangerous it can be. >> 18-year-old and 19-year-old kids are using this stuff. >> eyewitness news previously investigated the rise in hash oil in the area and explore the dangers of how it's made. deputies say it was not being made at this apartment where two of the suspects live. we went by the apartment but no one came to the door. drug agents arrested adam harris who they say lives in california and works for red seal extracts which grows marijuana for medical use. police say harris would come to york county and use the apartment to sell drugs.

live at the apartment and also faced drug distribution charges. neighbors we talk to never knew what was going on. >> it's a bad influence on the kids that live around here. that's not right. you need to think about other people in the community. you can't do stuff like that. >> drug agents tell me as far as the hash oil is concerned, they are seeing that here in york county, but never so much in one place as they did during this drug bust. and at $20 an ounce, the suspects stood to make more than $10,000 selling these drugs on the streets. greg suskin, channel 9 eyewitness news. troopers say a lancaster county ambulance driver caused a crash that injured a 74-year- old man last night along highway 521. the ambulance ran through a red light near marvin road and hit robert buckner as he pulled out of a business. even though the ambulance driver was at fault, his lights and sirens were activated. so he won't be charged. we're covering the region county by county tonight.

hickory police are celebrating the second lowest crime rate for the city since 95. they had just over 2100 crimes in 2015. violent crime stayed the same. the police department said there was an increase in theft. hickory police say they noticed an over all trend of less crime since 2008. concord police are meeting with residents about the department's body camera program. the meeting at police headquarters started about 20 minutes ago. and officers are answering questions about when they use the cameras and how the footage is used. if you can't take part tonight, the department is having a similar public gathering tomorrow at 6:00. duke energy has announced plans to bring a large solar project to rowan county. the six mega watt solar facility will be in the town of woodlief northwest of salisbury. it will take up to 50-acres near the intersection of highway 801 and u.s. highway 70.

solar farm project bill built this year. rain and snow for some lucky or unlucky folks. >> this is the look on the radar. we detect a difference between a rain drop, a snow flake and sleet. we're focused in union and anson county along highway 74. where you see blue, monroe, through marshville, and wingot. this is where we'll see sleet if not wet snow flakes mixing in. that extends south toward page land. this is the way it looks on conventional radar. you see what appears to be heavy rain. some of it is. part of it is also snow. and also some sleet. it's all sliding on to the east. let's put a track on it as it works its way to the east at 25 to 30 miles per hour through indian trail matthews about 6:20. midland at 6:45.

rain showers toward shinville and just north of mooresville. just detecting rain. chilly rain but rain. up across the high country, not much going on but there's precipitation across the tennessee border that will slide into the north carolina mountains in the form of snow tonight. here's a look at the very latest future cast on snow accumulations from here on out. not exactly a blockbuster. most neighborhoods a half inch or less. some high peeks an inch or more. there are advisories for snow in the high country over night tonight. and rain chances in the charlotte area, quickly drop off. especially after midnight tonight. i'm convinced you won't see anything falling from the sky for the morning drive. temperatures cool off. still above freezing in the charlotte area i anticipate no road issues east of the high country tomorrow morning. close to freezing along the 40 corridor and below freezing over the mountains the wake up forecast, you'll still need a coat. temperatures in the 30s to 40s. tomorrow's future cast, after a cloudy start, we'll get

goes on, that's good news. don't look for much of a warm up. temperatures in the upper 40s at lunch time to near 50. and in the mid 50s tomorrow afternoon. everywhere east of the mountains. that's still below average, the neighborhoods forecast, up toward the epicenter uptown, temperatures in the mid 50s tomorrow. toward davidson. toward the lake, temperatures in the lower 50s tomorrow. clouds may linger longer and out toward wadesboro, a mix of clouds and sun and temperatures in the mid 50s. here's the good news, the trend, upward. back to 60 by sunday. and 70 degrees into next week. so with your weekend always in view, a mix of sun and a few clouds on saturday. sunday, brilliant sun. and highs right around 60 degrees. so hang in there. we get better quickly. welcome to march. quick weather changes. this one's on its way up as we head into next week. >> sounds great. we'll take it. tonight at 10:00 and 11:00. channel 9 pushes for answers about the i-77 toll lanes.

projects parent company could mean for charlotte area drivers. new tonight, we're there as opponents talk about their next steps and the toll's future. a look at the final numbers today on wall street. the dow gained 45. the nasdaq up 4.

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for the third straight year the panthers will part ways with a veteran fan favorite who had a cap hit too prohibitive for dave gettleman's plan. he was released today. he ranked second all time for the franchise but an injury riddled season last year limited his production. he had one sack and missed seven game with a hamstring injury. he had a sack in each of the panthers playoff games including a forced fumble in the super bowl. in the end, he was too expensive. it frees up $11 million in cap space relieving him.

the team released defensive tackle dejuan edwards. he racked up 14 sacks in his four years with the panthers. nate chandler was also released. his missed this past season with a fee injury. the charlotte hornets beat philadelphia by 20 on the road last night. but it wasn't that easy. the worst team in the nba held the lead in the third quarter. the hornets responded with a 13-0 run. turning a three-point deficit into a double digit advantage. their focus remains the same. win and get better each night. >> i don't know what's going to happen with the other teams. but i know that we can control our own record and our own situation. and that's just what we have to focus on. one game at a time. >> former panthers defensive end mike rutger is hitting the dance floor for a good cause saturday. he's one of several celebrities competing to raise money for the charlotte ballet and other charitable organizations.

harkins are raising money. >> i always call sara the head coach. >> ahead at 10:00 and 11:00. lawrence gilligan has more on how being part of this event changed him for the better and why he wishes he incorporated ballet into his work out routine during his playing days. >> i'm going to be the mc that night. i think i saw her do a dab. was that in the video? >> we're not supposed to give anything away. >> that's what it looked like. >> worth watching. we've got some rain rolling in. and it'll tend to roll out. this is the heaviest precipitation. this initial batch is going to push out in the next say hour or two. after that, we'll see much better weather by tomorrow and right through the weekend. >> thanks for making us your choice for news at 6:00. join us at 11:00 for all your

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the republican revolt under way. mitt romney taking aim with a blistering new attack on trump. >> donald trump is a phony. a fraud. >> trump tonight, firing back. >> mitt, drop to your knees. . >> and don't trump about to face someone else. fox host megyn kelly after a very public feud. breaking news tonight. a young police officerer charged with murder. authorities say he thought the suspect was holding a weapon. new developments. the urgent manhunt right now, after nearly a dozen men make off with ar-15-style rifles. where they're searching now. the billionaire ceo and the deadly crash. less than 24 hours after he was indicted. you'll hear them. was it an accident? and, the 11-year-old boy, tiger woods watching, as that boy sinks the hole in one.