>> for the whole period last year, we only voted 31,000. now we're up to 38,000. i still have today and tomorrow. we should hit 45,000 by the time we're done early voting. that'd be great. >> reporter: since we did that interview, i bet we've had another thousand people at the early voting site. voting is open tomorrow. it's only 10:00 i also requested the numbers of people who have switched voter affiliation. who changed their party affiliation before the primary election. i have the numbers. i'll show you what i've uncovered tonight at 5:00. live in elizabeth. john paul, channel 9 eyewitness news. funeral services will begin for nancy reagan. she passed away sunday from congestive heart failure. we look at the out pouring of love and support for the first

>> reporter: thousands pay respect to nancy reagan, the 94- year-old former first lady who passed away sunday in los angeles. >> she may not have been the president of the united states but ronald reagan couldn't have done what he did without her. >> reporter: the first lady's body arrived wednesday after a private family ceremony. >> the day started off very solemn as the cascat arrived. >> reporter: then lying in repose allowing visitors a last chance to say fair well. >> i think she was one of the best first ladies we've ever had. 94 years old. that's a long time to live. bless her heart. >> i know she's getting older. everybody has their time. she's lived a good long life. and i'm out to pay respects for her passing. >> reporter: 1,000 family members, friends, political dignitaries from all colors of the political spectrum are

>> starting in hollywood and then following reagan tothe governorship and the presidency. stay with channel 9 for coverage of nancy reagan's funeral. george stephanopoulos will have a special report at 2:00. channel 9 following breaking news in east charlotte. we have chopper 9 sky zoom over the scene of a crash on independence boulevard. you can see officers right there on the scene. you can see traffic going by very slowly at this point. this is backed up for about a mile and a half to east wade you can see as we're pulling out the camera. you can see a lot of folks are impacted by this as they're trying to get passed this accident. we're trying to find out the extent of injuries. but we see police on the scene. we'll have more information for you as soon as we get it right here on midday. this afternoon police are looking for the person who shot and carjacked a security guard in west charlotte early this morning.

as breaking news on eyewitness news daybreak. reporter mark becker is live in west charlotte. and mark, this is charlotte's sixth shooting in just a week. >> that has really had an impact on the community here, stephanie. but this incident happened about 3:00 this morning. in fact, it was about 3:30 that the victim in the case was walking up along roselyn avenue, knocking on doors, looking for help. he told police he had been driving on rozzelles ferry road when he was shot and carjacked and police are still looking for his car and that suspect. our camera was there early this morning as medics wheeled that victim who works as a security guard into a ambulance. he had been shot in the arm and the leg. and he's expected to be okay. he told police he was driving in the neighborhood along rozzelles ferry road when a man flagged him down claiming he needed help. then the security officer said the suspect shot him and took his car.

earlier this morning collecting evidence in this case. but so far they have no suspect. the key missing piece is that security guard's car. a silver toyota corolla. at last word, police were still looking for it. live in west charlotte, mark becker, channel 9 eyewitness news. right now a charlotte budget committee is discussing the impact that a plan to eliminate trash pick up would have on renters and condo oners. the city considered the move for the past four years. they say it's an opportunity for the city to save money by turning services over to contractors. but residents say they feel it will force them to pay more fees on top of tacks. could want count on channel 9 to bring you updates tonight on eyewitness news. channel 9 is continuing to pour through a 200 page report summarizing cms's student assignment survey. a majority of the 27,000 people who responded say it's

important -- their child to go to a school close to home. 75% said school environment is important, 67% said location and how close schools were to home. superintendent anne clark is encouraging board members to fast track a decision. south carolina governor nikki haley attended a ribbon cutting in indian land for a mortgage company that will create more than 600 jobs. movement mortgage built the 22 million-dollar headquarters on highway 160 in indian land. some of the 600 plus jobs will come from the company's ballantyne office. last year movement mortgage mortgages. eyewitness news reporter greg suskin is in indian trail right now. watch for his report on the company's impact in lancaster county tonight at 5:00. a crash where firefighters had to rescue a driver.

eastbound lane of the interstate near the sharon school road exit. the driver of a work van slammed into a truck that it slowed for another accident west of statesville. the driver of the truck said the impact knocked his vehicle nearly 200 feet. >> it about knocked me out. i hurt my shoulder. i hurt my leg a little bit. i'll be all right. the other guy, they had to cut him out. >> firefighters cut off the door to get to the driver of the work van. the highway patrol says his life threatening. a calmer tone in the republican presidential debate instead. the topic that unified the field against trump and the one candidate with the most to lose police are looking for the suspect who robbed a popular plaza midwood restaurant and head. at 12:15, the surprising way the robber was able to sneak in and walk into the manager's

temperatures are warming up with highs near 80 degrees. i'll take you through the

if you're doing everything rightbut find it harder and harderto get by, you're not alone. while our people worklonger hours for lower wages, almost all new income goes to the top 1%. my plan -- make wall street banks and the ultrarich pay their fair share of taxes,

ensure equal pay for women. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message because together, we can make a political revolution and create an economyand democracy that works for all and not just the powerful few. stocks are rallying this midday. the nasdaq is up almost 65 points. channel 9 continuing to follow breaking news in east charlotte. chopper 9 sky zoom flying over the scene of a crash. inbound independence boulevard. we see that medic is on the scene. we're trying to find out if anyone is being transported. and what the extent of the injuries are. and trying to find out what caused this crash. as we're zooming out.

and a half to east way boulevard. if you can avoid that area, i would do so until this clears up. duke energy customers can expect lower prices by next year bills will drop on average $3.11 a month or around 3%. that's because the company is saving money on natural gas at their power plants. we asked duke about recouping costs after last month's wind storm. they have not ruled out asking for a rate increase down the line. right now channel 9 is checking with charlotte water to find out when service will be restored to people in one southwest charlotte neighborhood. charlotte water says a contractor hit a pipe at steal chase drive and sandy porter road this morning. crews are making repairs and handing out bottled water to anyone who needs it until the fix is complete. eyewitness news is always investigating issues that effect you and your safety. tonight in prime time, the suburbs.

and protecting your child from identyhe. it's a special tonht at 8:00 here on c9. the republican presidential candidates are making a big push for voters today after last night's debate in miami. ahead this hour, the dramatic difference in last night's tone that could bode well for donald trump. and caught on camera, a wild brawl at a golden corral in university city.

manager took immediately manager too is a letter from someonetwho's here. she has to take a brand name drug. been taking it since the early 1980's. at that time it cost approximately $180 for 10 shots. the latest refill was $14.700 for the same 10 vials and the company is calledvaleant pharmaceuticals. i'm going after them. this is predatory pricing andwe're going to make sure it is stopped.

new at noon, neighbors are getting ready to fight a massive hotel being planned in cornelius, a developer wants to put a 14 story hotel and convention center on west catawba avenue. it would be the first lake front hotel in lake norman complete with a manmade beach but would be placed on a busy intersection and in between two housing complexes. neighbors say they don't want it. this is not a big city. people take the bus here. they walk with their dogs. they jog. hotel. eyewitness news reporter joe bruno is asking cornelius leaders what the status of the project is and why it's being proposed. 5:00. this afternoon police are looking for a suspect they say robbed the mid wood smoke house at gunpoint. it happened after midnight yesterday in the plaza mid wood neighborhood. the restaurant owner tells us a dishwasher went to take out the trash and the robber followed

he said the thief confronted a manager who was sitting in his office. >> put a gun to their head and asked them for money from our safe. we were in and out in like 15 or 20 seconds. the manager hit a silent panic button beforehanding over the cash. police arrived in minutes. a south carolina fugitive is behind bars in georgia after a string of crimes. police way zachary reeves escaped from prison in january and since that time he's been busy. he was seen here in an interrogation room. confessed to shooting a homeless man so he could sleep on his bench. out of all of his crimes, he told police he drew the line at shooting a cop. >> if a police officer were to try to stop me, that i was going to try to run, if i get caught, i was definitely not going to shoot a police officer. >> he faces 20 charges in georgia for his crime spree and he faces extradition to south

cmpd is investigating after this massive fight broke out between two employees at the golden corral in university city. >> golden corral is going down. >> the company hieldly fired both people involved -- immediately fired both people involved. they told us they'll think twice before coming back to eat there. we're asking what led up to the fight. right now no one is facing charges. a south african man says his son may have found a part of missing malaysia airlines flight 370 on a beach in mow sam beak. the man says his son found a curved piece with a five digit number on it. the part is being sent to australia to find out if it's connected to the missing flight. it's disappeared two years ago. today marks five years

tsunami devastated fukushima japan. people gathered to remember the 20,000 people who died in a day. the magnitude 9.0 quake shook the country for fearly six minutes and damaged hundreds of thousands of homes and the fukushima nuclear reactor causing a melt down. it was the worst nuclear disaster since the incident in 86. look at this shark caught in hilton head island. he got great whites before. but nothing like this 14-foot 2500-pound shark that he reeled in tuesday night. he says he chased the shark for four hours. he named the shark wildcat and he tagged it with an acoustic tracker and set it free. he can this allows them to learn from wildcat for years. meteorologist vicki graf's tracking when we're going to see rain and which neighborhoods will be impacted in severe severe severe weather center 9.

heading this way as we go into this weekend. right now clouds on live early warning doppler 9. breaks of sunshine warming us up to close to 80 degrees today. a cloudy afternoon under way from grandfather mountain. this is where we have the best chance for showers. if you're heading to the app state baseball games today, tomorrow, and sunday, keep an eye on the skies. and it's a good time to download our wsoc-tv weather app to track the showers. but at least it's going to stay warmer in the 60s through the weekend. right now, mid 70s across the carolinas. 60 degrees in boone. a warm afternoon getting under way. you can feel it's muggy as well. that's a sign of changes on the way. through future cast, throughout the afternoon, upper 70s here in charlotte. as you head toward chester, chesterfield, lancaster, and rockingham, we could see close to 80 degrees. temperatures today feeling more like the month of may rather than march. we'll take it. if you have plans this evening, we'll keep the clouds around.

back down on the rain chance. it doesn't look like we have enough moisture to work with tonight. if you're planning to head to uptown, keep an eye on the skies. we'll be in the upper 60s by 9:00. we've been telling you all week about this storm system across the deep south that continues to bring heavy rain across parts of louisiana, mississippi, and now moving into alabama. some of that moisture is going to head our way. but we're not going to see the flooding that they're seeing across the deep south. tomorrow morning for the color me green 5k at the white water center, we'll keep the clouds around. maybe an isolated shower or two. and we'll keep that threat through the afternoon if you're there. as we go through future cast. the best chance for showers early on is west of the charlotte area. west of 321 really. then as we head toward lunch time. you'll notice fairly quiet. mostly cloudy skies. a few sprinkles. then we'll see a batch of showers developing later in the afternoon. but they'll be few and far between.

this will be the better of the two days this weekend if you have outdoor plans. then by sunday, tracking a better chance for rain. this won't add up to a lot. but this will be the best chance we'll see in the pars the past several days. a lot of you are suffering from allergies. we need the rain. it's headed here this weekend. early in the morning, tracking showers in the mountains. by the afternoon, off and on showers. a rumble of thunder. but the over all severe weather threat stays low. as far as how much rain we'll see, possibly up to half an inch in the charlotte area. but this is through monday. this isn't going to be a big soaker. closer to an inch in the mountains through monday night. we need the rain. it's finally headed this way. the five-day forecast, it's going to be warmer today. we'll keep the unsettled weather around through the weekend. and we spring forward saturday night into early sunday. and keeping warmer temperatures through next week.

vicki, thanks so much. channel 9 following breaking news in south charlotte. chopper 9 sky zoom over the scene of another accident. i-77 southbound at remount road. look at that traffic there. we understand in the last two minutes crews pushed the crash to the side of the road. however this is still causing a back up all the way to i-85. again, you can see another vantage point, i-77 southbound at west boulevard. you can see how slow going it is. we are working to find out what caused that wreck there. but again, avoid this area, i- 77 southbound at remount road, causing back-ups all the way to 85 this midday. republican presidential candidates are pushing for votes ahead of what's expected to be a huge florida primary, next this midday, the change and tone at last night's debate and the candidate that must win to stay alive.

winning numbers from th in the last 2.5 hours, former presidential candidate ben carson put his support behind donald trump. the endorsement comes on the heels of last night's gop debate in miami. some are saying trump had his strongest showing yet and the candidates focused on the issues. eyewitness news reporter justin gray reports. at a lot of these debates the issues have been overwhelmed by the personalities. even the name calling. the debate was in florida with it large senior population. donald trump vowed not to touch social security. it needs a sweeping over haul. all the other candidates

not offering up specifics. they say for the math of his proposal, it's not adding up. trump also refused to walk back his controversial comments that muslims hate the u.s. >> last night you said islam hates us. did you mean all 1.6 billion muslims in. >> i mean a lot of them. >> tuesday's florida primary shaping up that it could be the most important election night so far. senator marco rubio could be his last stand. either win his home state or he could be forced out of the race. justin gray, channel 9 eyewitness news. democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders is rallying voters in raleigh. he just took the stage a few secs ago. this is live pictures from that rally at memorial stadium. he's expected to talk about college affordability immigration reform and the economy.

glen beck and retired lieutenant general jerry. at 2:00 p.m. today judges will hear arguments from both sides about north carolina's new congressional map. the judges ruled the old districts unconstitutional last month saying they were based on race. lawmakers redrew the lines but the ncaacp says they're still unfair. they want the judges to draw the lines instead. the judges will make a decision next week. still nice out there. but we've got some rain coming. >> we do have rain on the way. we need the rain. >> we do. saturday. but it looks like sunday will be the better of the two days for the rain. temperatures stay in the upper 60s to low 70s. and don't forget before you go to bed saturday night into sunday, we lose that hour, we spring forward for daylight saving time. >> don't be late all day. thanks for making channel 9 midday.

everyone. rnoon everyone (donkey sound) (elephant sound) there's a big difference between making noise, (tapping sound) and making sense. (elephant sound) (donkey sound) when it comes to social security, we need more than lip service. our next president needs a real plan to keep social security strong. (elephant noise) hey candidates. enough talk.

there are those who say we cannot defeat a corrupt political system and fix a rigged economy. but i believe we need to lift our vision above the obstacles in place and look to the american horizon. to a nation where every child can not only dream of goingto college, but attend one. where quality healthcare will bea birthright of every citizen. where a good job is not a wish, but a reality. where women receive equal pay and a living wage is paid to all. an americawhere after a lifetime of labor, there is timefor rest and grandchildren. a nation that defends our people and our values, but no longer carriesso much of that burden alone. i know we can create that america if we listen to our conscience and our hearts and not to the pundits and the naysayers. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message,

announcer: it's time to play "family feud." give it up for steve harvey. [captioning made possible by fremantle media] steve: thanks so much. how you guy doing? thank you, folks. thank you very much. hey, welcome to "family feud," everybody. i' another good one today because we got a family returning today for the fourth day with a total $21,645. from leicester, mass., it's the brown family. >> hah! hoo! let's go, browns >> hey! steve: they got a lot going on over there. from bristol, virginia, it's the cornell family. >> whoo! steve: everybody is here trying to win theyself a lot of cash and the possibility of driving