steve: whether cruz, born in canada, is eligible to be president. but a democratic congressman, alan grayson of florida, is saying he will sue if cruz wins the nomination, thth cruz's mother may have given up u.s. citizenship. >> democrats love to see controversy among republicans, so they're just pouring gasoline on the fire, hoping the entire house burns down. steve: cruz, in iowa today, where he is polling ahead of trump, talked about his cuban-born father. >> and he and my mom went on to start a small business together. so i grew up in texas. steve: but cruz was born in canada, where his u.s.-born mom lived so long, she qualified for canadian citizenship. he says he's a natural-born u.s. citizen, eligible to be president. >> people will continue to make political noise about it, but as a legal matter, it is quite straightforward. steve: a law professor disagrees. >> it's not clear. i think the better argument is that he is qualified. but it's not clear. steve: and it's not clear if the questions are cutting into

i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. nigel: when it comes to voting in south carolina, certain people are more likely to vote than others. gabrielle: wyff news 4 investigates' tim waller has the numbers from the last two presidential elections. tim: if history is any indication, nigel, gabby, we can tell you which age groups and demographics in this state will wield the most influence in this year's elections. it's something politicians are keenly aware of, as well as groups who are trying to get out the vote. >> fighting for the freedom of all americans. tim: over the weekend, the reverend jesse jackson announced plans in greenville to register more african-american voters. >> they think voting does not matter, but it does matter. tim: his fear is, black voters may be underrepresented, as they were in the last two general elections, when white voters in south carolina outnumbered non-white voters more than 2-1. >> because i think people feel

say, my vote doesn't matter. well, of course, i always say, your vote doesn't matter if you don't use it. tim: regardless of race, the south carolina primaries create less interest among voters than the general elections. only 20% of voters, both democrat and republican, turned out for the last two presidential primaries. the largest segment were people 45 to 64 years old, casting 44% of all votes in the primaries. the least active age group? voters 18 to 24, casting fewer than 5% of all primary votes. >> if we don't seal the border, the rest of the stuff really doesn't matter. >> and it does require securing the border. >> of lying about benghazi, of lying about her email. tim: knowing the age and backgrounds of likely voters helps candidates target their political messages. >> you will notice that a lot of the issues that the candidates talk about are primarily aimed at middle-aged and older people.

issues of the people they think are going to go vote. tim: using voter turnout from previous elections as their guide. dr. vinson says candidates who fall behind in the polls will often target people who have a poor track record of voting, hoping to mobilize those voters on election day. nigel and gabby? nigel: now, we're taking a live look outside at greenville through the paris mountain sky cam. another thursday coming to an end. gabrielle: it was a milder day than what we have seen earlier this week. john cessarich joins us now. as we creep closer to the weekend, how is it looking? john: it is looking kind of a 50-50 weekend. i will talk more about that and explain that coming up later on. we warmed up nicely after it has been cold for most of the week. a nice warm-up after the cold start, as expected. clouds kept us not as cold last

we warmed up to around 60, low 60's in the upstate. 64 in elberton, everybody else cooling into the 50's, 44 in boone. high, thin cirrus clouds moving in quickly from the southwest. those clouds will lower and will arrive. this evening how many will be in good shape. seasonably cool across the area. gabrielle: take a look. chick-fil-a is getting in on the excitement for the championship game. the chick fil-a in clemson will serve tiger paw biscuits on january 11, the day of the title game. the restaurant tweeted this picture this morning. the biscuits will be available from 6:00-10:30 in the morning. nigel: yum. and speaking of clemson, our sports team is on their way to arizona, to bring you full coverage of the lead-up to the national championship game. and don't forget, we'll have our hour-long special for you monday night before the game, right here on wyff 4,

we'll be live from university of phoenix stadium, with everything you need to know before kickoff of the college fofoball playoff national championship between the clemson tigers and the alabama crimson tide. gabrielle: ahead in our consumer watch, it's that can never get lost. it is -- new luggage that can never get lost. nigel: plus, continuing coverage of the consumer electronics show. more on the latest high-tech gadgets, like a flying droid. first, tonight's primetime

nigel: airlineratings.com has released its annual ranking of the world's safest airlines. topping the list for a third year is qantas. qantas is the flag carrier of australia, and the world's oldest continuously operating airline. those making the list also include alaska airlines, hawaiian airlines, and united airlines. airlineratings.com also ranked the top ten safest low-cost airlines, which included jetblue and virgin america. gabrielle: speaking of flying, a company called bluesmart is looking to help travelers keep track of their bag. thanks to a built-in gps travelers can track their bag at

it, and the bag will alert your phone if you leave it behind. there's also a sensor to tell you how much your bag weighs, and a usb port to charge your devices on the go. they debuted the bag this week at the consumer electronics -- electronics show. they will start taking orders in spring. nigel: apple rang in the new year on a high note. new year's day was a record-breaking day for its app store. apple says the first day of 2016 was the most popular day in app store history. customers spent more than $144 million on apps and in-app purchases. plus, apple says customers spent a whopping $1.1 billion within the app store over the holidays. overall, for the year of 2015, people spent more t tn $20 billion. gabrielle: macy's plans to close dozens of stores nationwide in the coming months. macy's says it will close 36 stores as part of a restructuring plan.

disappointing holiday season. the company also says it will eliminate more than 4,500 positions. sales in november and december fell nearly 5% last year. nigel: time warner cable is added to the list of companies with customers affected by data breaches. the company says up to 320,000 customers may have had their e-mail addresses and passwords stolen. time warner says there are no signs that the system was breached. they say the details were likely gathered malware or data breaches of other companies that store time warner's customer information. customers are encouraged to change their passwords as soon as possible. michael: here's what we have coming up on news 4 at 6:00. 34 years ago, he was there as the clemson football team won their first national championship. tonight, this 1981 tiger band member is sharing his memories. >> unable to contain yourself. so much excitement, jumping up

running across the field. just overjoyed. michael: how about running across the country? what does it take to get the tiger band to phoenix? that's next at 6:00, right here on wyff news 4. gabrielle: the search for this bank robber and the celebrity many say he looks like. nigel: plus, "star wars: the force awakens" continues to break box office records. john: a life shall looking down clemson boulevard in anderson, you can see the clouds streaming in from the west-southwest ahead of a storm system. 58 degrees in anderson.

days after the paris attacks, senators came together for a top-secret briefing on the terrorist threat... marco rubio was missing - fundraising in california instead. two weeks later, terrorists struck again in san bernardino... and where was marco? fundraising again in new orleans. over the last 3 years, rubio has missed important national security hearings and missed more total votes than any other senator. politics first: that's the rubio way. right to rise usa

gabrielle: police in dallas are looking for five man who tried to commit a smash-and-grab burglary. what's this security footage. the cameras were rolling is the man rammed a stolen pick-up into a convenience store. the group then tries to steal the store safe, but it was apparently too much to handle. the five take off after repeatedly trying to lift the safe, leaving it, and a big mess, behind. the stolen truck was later abandoned. nigel: a man who looks a like cnn personality and former "dirty jobs" host mike rowe

this week. police in medford posted an image of the man online. rowe himself heard that he had a law-breaking lookalike in the northwest, and commented on social media. he pointed out that he is much taller than the suspect, but he also said he could prove he wasn't in the state, if necessary. gabrielle: a huge wildfire threatened lives and properties near perth, australia, today. authorities have issued an emergency warning. they are urging people in the area to evacuate if the way is clear. some people left my boat -- by boat. people in the area say the smoke has been the biggest problem >> just a lot of smoke. a lot of smoke, a lot of ash coming over. and as we were leaving, actually couldn't see the shoreline at all. it was just all smoke. gabrielle: about 40 fire trucks, and numerous aerial water bombers, have been deployed to fight the blaze. nigel: new york becomes the latest state to allow medical marijuana. the empire state kicked off its medical marijuana program today.

for business. the program comes 18 months after governor andrew cuomo signed the compassionate care act. it makes non-smokeable forms of medical marijuana available to new yorkers. and receive a prescription from a physician. 22 other states, including georgia, have similar programs. gabrielle: a 15-year-old in virginia got tired of waiting for winter to come to him, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. he's constructed his own homemade snow-maker. his parents were skeptical at first, and needed a little convincing, but the teenager worked it all out. >> i've developed a snow maker from plans i found online. i bought all the parts online, and i put it together, and now it's cold enough, i have been blowinin snow in my backyard for

gabrielle: he says since he started cranking up the snow he's been the most popular kid , in his neighborhood. >> now, your live super doppler 4 hd weather forecast. john: that is pretty cool. for us, no snow. all liquid precipitation. even in the mountains. i wouldn't be surprised, in the northern mountains, extreme high elevations, precipitation gets here late tonight. it may be cold enough on the high peaks where it may start off as light frereing rain and sleet, going over to a cold rain. we will watch that closely. that is for the extreme northern mountains of north carolina. clouds on the increase around our area. the rain will arrive, a chilly rain. he chilly day tomorrow. we had a warm up today. i will show you those temperatures in a moment. clouds spreading across lake hartwell, a live shot from anderson county. 58 degrees in anderson.

elberton, 56 in dillard, 55 in clarksville and cornelia, 56 in toccoa, 54 in livonia and carnesville. cool temperatures, but not as cold as recent days. this thursday has been nice. 42 degrees in boone right now, pretty chilly. the further north you go, 42 in raleigh, 45 in greensboro. 60 in columbia and augusta. upper 50's in atlanta. on the beaches, 52 in wilmington, but the further south you go into the south carolina coast and the georgia coast, you warm into the low 60's in charleston and hilton head. tracking the tropics, hurricane season is supposed and in november. this is the east coast. an impressive looking storm system here. it is huge. these are showers and gale force

especialal nor stand -- north and northeast of the system. this is bermuda. they are getting hammered right now. they have south winds sustained at 22 miles per hour with gusts over 30. overnight, they are getting rain showers and thunderstorms around the area. bermuda will experience powerful winds. this is not tropical, it does not have a name, it is not subtropical. over the next 3-4 days, going through the weekend, it will move northeast and gradually turn east-southeast and it may get some of the tropical characteristics as we get into early next week. it doesn't matter if it is a named stororor not, it will produce topical storm force winds in bermuda tonight and also tomorrow. showers and thunderstorms, south-southwest winds up to 40 miles per hour with higher gusts. tropical storm force winds are 39 miles per hour sustained.

as far as it developing into something tropical, a 10% chance through the weekend. 830% chance of it developing want to get -- once it gets passed bermuda. -- a 30% chance. rain likely for us after midnight, low 41. low 36 in the mountains. tomorrow, rain, drizzle and fog especially in the morning. chilly with a northeast wind in the upstate, highs in the upper 40's. mostly cloudy tomorrow afternoon in the mountains. the for-day plus, rain likely on saturday, tapering off late in the day. behind the front, a strong wind out of the northwest in the mountains on sunday with scattered showers, 40% chance. we will be lucky to hit 41 degrees. it will feel colder with the wind. breezy in the upstate on sunday. it will be partly sunny and dry with a high of 55 degrees. a nice week next week. nice and dry. now back to you.

a blue star sapphire, said to be the world's largest of its kind, has been discovered in sri lanka. that's it? wow. according to the gem's current owner, the sapphire is certified as weighing more than 1400 carats. nigel: that's it? gabrielle: the owner said the gem could sell for up to $175 million at auction. that's it? that's a lot. the sapphire has been named "the star of adam." the world's three largest blue star sapphires are from sri lanka. nigel: britain's prince george is growing up fast. the third in line to the british throne started school yesterday. prince william and his wife, kate, marked the occasion by releasing two photos. george is two and a half years old, and is seen here outside the school building. the royal couple announced he would be attending school in norfolk. that's close to where the family lives. the school has said prince george will receive the same treatment as the other kids. gabrielle: very cute.

, addition at illinois's brookfield zoo. lily, the zoo's 11-year-old grey seal, gave birth to a female pup on january 2nd. the pup weighs just over 30 pounds. staff there estimate that she will triple or quadruple her weight in the next month. mom and baby will remain out of public view to allow them some time to bond. nigel: matter of time, it was. gabrielle: it has been a while since we heard that. a couple weeks. nigel: "star wars: the force awakens" has become the highest-grossing domestic movie of all time. according to disney, the movie earned enough at the box office on wednesday to pass "avatar's" $760.5 million lifetime gross. the number one title comes after just 20 days. both "avatar" and "star wars" have earned some $1.6 billion globally. "star wars" could take the number one global title when it

gabrielle: i forgot, did you see that? nigel: twice. week. ok. now to china, where 30 teams of are competing in an ice the three-day contest has attracted some 60 participants, from more than ten countries. they have made every effort to carve their ice blocks into artistic pieces. the ice sculpture contest runs until tomorrow. nigel: coming up, electronics show, more of today's biggest and best

it is day two of the consumer nigel: it is day number two of the consumer electronics show in las vegas. it's the first look at technology and products that could be a part of our daily routine. gabrielle: do you see him talking like this? he gets so excited. nigel: i love tech. it's great. jay: it is high-tech heaven. the consumer electronics show this year will unveil more than 20,000 new ideas and products. many, reminders that cutting-edge,

jay: can also be kinda fun. intel is inside this mask, that provides real-time data and graphics during paintball battles. >> i have radar. i know where everything is. i know where i am on the field. i know which direction i'm going. it's great. jay: the fleye is a new drone, kind of. a sphere with all of the moving parts, including the blades, fully enclosed. designer becca mccharen is introducing this smart dress , which expands or collapses its form based on the adrenaline from the wearer. and underneath, you could find the ultimate training bra, wearable tech that provides real-time feedback and targeted workout advice. while fizzics promises to give you the pour and taste of a tap room at home, using your canned or bottled beer. >> the beauty of the product, its simplicity. but what you don't see, the science behind the product. jay: corning is using science to turn a pane of glass into a window on the future. >> a center for entertainment, audio, video, internet, streaming, also home management.

jay: possibilities, shifting to realities in vegas. jay gray, nbc news, las vegas nigel: thanks for joining us at 5:00. gabrielle: news 4 at 6:00 with michael and carol starts now. >> live, local, breaking news. this is wyff news 4 at 6:00 in high definition. carol: a building named after a controversial figure, vandalized again at clemson university. michael: and governor haley is talking about her plan to combat domestic violence in south carolina. carol: justin to the newsroom, reports out of florida say the brother of clemson head coach dabo swinney faces stalking charges. michael: 47-year-old henry swinney was arrested tuesday after a restraining order was filed against him for domestic violence. he is accused of harassing and cyber stalking his estranged wife. clemson's head coach is talking

we will have more on that as soon as the press conference ends in clemson. it's happening again, clemson university's tillman hall, once again smeared with graffiti. carol: the building is back in the spotlight after a year at the center of racial debate. wyff news 4's corey davis tells us how the university is hoping to move forward. corey: the police chief here at clemson university says he's disappointed by the vandalism here at tillman hall. right now, this is stirring up a lot of emotions on campus. we showed several students pictures of the damage before the graffiti was covered. these messages, "stop honoring tillman" and "rename tillman hall," were spotted by a staff member thursday morning. this building was also vandalized in july, the same week the confederate flag was removed from the statehouse grounds. ben tillman was a known white supremacist, and that has stirred up a lot of debate on campus. a student who helped organized rallies in support of changing the name says vandalizing the building wasn't the right way to spread a message. >> i suppose it's unfortunate that someone felt the need to take that particular course of action,