eric weisfeld joins us live with today's developments. eric. >> reporter: he jumped out of the race last month and now he's backing a presidential candidate in danger of falling out of contention himself. this morning, south carolina senator lindsey graham endorsing former florida governor jeb bush. at a news conference in charleston this morning, graham says he thinks bush is the only candidate ready to be president. >> i have concluded without any hesitation, without any doubt one to be a commander-in-chief worthy of the sacrifices of the 1% who have been fighting this war. >> reporter: jeb bush needs all the help he can get. according to the most recent polls, the brother and son of two former presidents is only polling at around 5%. donald trump taking no time to take to twitter to respond to senator graham's endorsement and, in true trump fashion, one tweet says, senator lindsey graham embarrassed himself with his failed run for president and now further embarrasses himself with endorsement of bush. in another tweet, donald trump says

eric weisfeld has the details. >> it is indeed a great day here in south carolina. more people are the calling the palmetto state home, more state has a budget surplus of $1,200 million so why have the number of state employees on the payroll gone down? some south carolina senators hope to reverse that trend. >> state employees are the backbone of state services and state government to the people of south carolina. they cannot be forgotten as we go forward. >> south carolina state employees have only received pay increases two of the last seven years. senator john courson will tell you that due to that budget surplus, a proposed 5% cost of living raise won't come at the hands of taxpayers. so he says there's no better time to give back to these workers for a job well done. >> i think it's time to thank those public employees and state employees to help the massive flood we had last fall and tell you thank you. >> next step, well, senator courson says the house will hopefully put the proposed pay raise into their appropriations if not, he says, he'll make every effor

here is eric weisfeld. >> good evening to you. it's a lesson we can all learn from, one of giving back and proving you're never too young to step up to the plate when the need is there. the efforts are so appreciated. the flood stories are still fresh in their young minds. >> we just looked out the window and the firefighters were trying to come but they were saving other people. and then at the last minute, my mom's friend came and opened the door and all the water splashed out and we got out. >> tyler learned an adult lesson at a very young age. imagine his surprise when students from another elementary school, one the all the way in to restock shelves for students at pine grove elementary, right here in columbia, all sorts of items. >> noodles, snacks, applesauce, fruit cups, different things. >> it's all part of river gate elementary snack pack program. leaders at the charlotte school had a great idea. teach the students hat both schools a valuable lesson and help out at the same time. >> in men cases, when we have students do

here is eric weisfeld. >> eric: business appears to be booming at shooter's choice in west columbia. while the store's manager doesn't want to speak, his tight-lipped. pete sour begs to differ with our commander-in-chief. >> my father told me many years ago during prohibition, it was illegal to own a machine gun and no outright good citizen owned a machine gun but every criminal owned a machine gun. i feel i'm entitled to my second amendment rights to own a gun i'm a legal person. they'v'v done background checks on me. but i think he's going way over and beyond. >> eric: this columbia resident who doesn't want to be identified says not so fast. president obama has a valid point, he says and is getting his vote for tighter control. >> i'm a gun owner and, um, i agree with the president. there should be some restrictions on how guns are traded and sold. second amendment does allow us to possess guns and i'm in full agreement with that. there are some situations in some instances where there are individuals who really shouldn't have weapons in their hands. and we've seen some of the var

i'm eric weisfeld. and i'm rochelle dean. we're live from main and >> eric: glad you are waking up with us. good morning, columbia. i'm eric weisfeld. >> rochelle: and i'm rochelle dean. we're live from main and gervais. the time's now 6:00. >> eric: good news is we know longer have a below zero temperature. >> rochelle: but don't get too >> jonathan: it will be cold, it not below freezing so it's some improvement. it's a small improvement. the small wind are here early this morning, but we are likely to see a lot of spots get close to freezing if not below freezing at some point this morning. 32 in sumter, 36 manning. bishopville as 36 as are we. a couple cool spots but in general everybody around 5 to 10 degrees warmer depending on where you are. couple cool spots, it will be cool throughout the day today and you pretty much plan to have the jacket on even this afternoon, highs top out in the mid to upper 40s. not expecting much precipitation until later, there is rain to the south, that should not bother us and stay to the

i'm eric weisfeld. >> rochelle: and i'm rochelle dean. we're live from main and gervais. we're halfway through the week. >> eric: and halfway through the show. you definitely want a winter cold as it gets around here. >> rochelle: i know jonathan says it's warmer but it is still cold. let's turn things over to meteorologist jonathan kennedy. >> jonathan: it is warmer but still cold. temperatures below freezing and that will be the case for much of your morning. as you head out today, not expecting a lot of warmth and not seeing it here this morning. 26 downtown. we are splitting the highs and morning. 30 in newberry, 28 in windboro. clouds cover is coming in, that's why you see warmer temperatures to our neighbors to the north and west. you are looking at snow tour the north carolina border, not seeing any fall in south carolina as of yet but that could change as we move throughout the day. wind chill temperatures feels quite cold. 21 is what it feels like. 19 in sumter, other areas not wind chill not a widespread issue but a couple localized spots where the wind is blowin

i'm eric weisfeld. >> rochelle: and i'm rochelle dean. we're live from main and gervais. the time's now 6:00. >> eric: it's a cool start to your monday morning but i think you will like what we have as the day goes on. >> rochelle: you do have to bundle up this morning because we have freezing temperatures but things may be looking up. let's turn things over to jonathan kennedy. >> jonathan: it's monday and should be warmer today of the that will be good news. not much warmth out there this morning, 29 in downtown columbia. a couple spots cooler, around 27 for camden and bishopville. only a couple spots above freezing. winnsboro and saluda at 34. everybody else at or below freezing. cloud cover moved in sooner so those areas have been able to moderate temperatures more than we have. sticking with the cloud cover mixing in throughout the day, mix of sun and clouds throughout much of the morning due to the sheer expanse of the system moving in but not causing much of a disturbance but clouds. not seeing anything else outside, winds calm, nice quiet pattern for us. we will se

i'm eric weisfeld. >> rochelle: and i'm rochelle dean. we're live from main and gervais. the time's now 6:00. >> eric: if you are heading outside you want to grab a raincoat, maybe bundle up before >> rochelle: because there is cold weather and wet weather that will greet you as soon as you open the door and get the little ones on the bus. for more, let's turn things over to jonathan. >> jonathan: good morning. we are looking at a cold rain for us in the downtown area but areas to the north things getting a little dicier. we are watching the frozen line of precipitation making its way to the south. you can get a feel for what we are dealing with and why we are seeing the precipitation we are seeing. temperatures close to 40 in downtown, columbia, orangeburg all around 39, 40. but to the north 34 in winnsboro, you see the cold line kershaw county toward darlington seeing that freezing line rain move further to the south from north carolina. because of that wind right now we are seeing out of the north, that is pooling that cool air southward and that will change couple hour

i'm eric weisfeld. >>> rochelle: and i'm rochelle dean. we'rlive from main and gervais. your time 6:30. we are creeping upon the 7:00 hour. >> eric: time flies when you are having fun. chilly start this morning but good news it won't be as cold as the past week end and will heat up. >> rochelle: slowly but surely the temperatures go up. you need a coat as you head out and getting the little ones to the bus stop. here to know what to expect, let's turn things over to jonathan kennedy. >> jonathan: for our tuesday it is warmer, not necessarily warm outside but warmer. we will see a nice warm up with sunshine on the way. right now are allowing us to cool down and we are seeing a little variable cloud cover and winds light and variable as well. even that small amount of wind makes a difference what the temperatures eventually fall to, we are seeing some areas at or below freezing, some areas above freezing, depend where you wake up. 33 downtown, 32 st. matthews, sumter and manning. notice 30 for camden and bishopville. not too far off where we should be for january standard,

i'm eric weisfeld. >> rochelle: and i'm rochelle dean. we're live from main and gervais. the time's now 6:00. >> eric: it's a cool 6:00 a.m. >> rochelle: it will be a chiller. >> eric: dare we say that. jonathan says it's the coldest. >> rochelle: it makes you want to go find all the scarves and bank et cetera. >> eric: and get back in bed and cover up your head. >> rochelle: let's turn things over to jonathan kennedy. >> jonathan: this is one that you need all the motivation you can get, one thing is wrong, go back to wed bed, it's not worth it. it will be a very cold start for every one. temperatures at 23 right now downtown, elsewhere in the teens. teen numbers, you get the quarterback numbers on the temperature gauge it will be very warm on the thermometer this morning. wind are light but we are still seeing a wind chill with wind around 3 to 5 miles a hour, that does make a difference when it's that cold. that will make for a very cold start for a lot of locations this morning. 16 in camden, 18 columbia. 14 in newberry. 17 in st. matthews. the thermometer is below fre

i'm eric weisfeld. >> rochelle: and i'm rochelle dean. we're live from main and gervais. he the time is 6:30. >> eric: it's been a lot nicer. >> rochelle: i came out with my big heavy coat, i call it bear. and then i thought i don't need it. let's turn things over to jonathan kennedy for your forecast. good morning. >> jonathan: i coat might be needed but light jacket, sweat shirt. temperatures in the upper 40s, low 50s. we are seeing the temperature manning the cool spot at 43. cloud cover moving in from the west, areas in the columbia spots. we have been in the 40s for much of the evening hours but i'd like to see temperatures to warm up a little bit as cloud cover moves in riding the wind from the west as of right now. we will look for temperatures to stay around 50 degrees through honestly a good portion of the day, highs around 55, not as warm as it has been. thankfully it's been warmer than it has been the last couple mornings. satellite and radar picking up showers in lexington county, not expecting a lot of these on the radar, very light green which means extremely

live in the studio i'm eric weisfeld, abc news. >> it is chilly out there tonight. >> john farley joins us tonight >> cooler tonight than last night. this evening temperatures will go down faster and they won't bottom out, but they will get there faster, and temperatures right now 40s and some low 50s in terms of whether it compares to last night. a little bit cooler, and what's going to happen this evening, temperatures will drop quicker, and by the time we get to midnight, not much in the way of wind, but temperatures already in the mid-30s. overnight it's going to be pretty cool, temperatures dropping down into the mid-20s. cold night, but it won't last all that long. sunrise tomorrow morning 7:29, bright and clear, no problems at all, and temperatures cool, but watch what happens as we go through the day. you will notice the temperatures will warm, 10 degrees warmer than what we had today, into the low 60s. this is an indication of where we are headed. it will continue to warm up, but we will get to that in just a second. >> governor nikki haley is being criticized by members of her

i'm eric weisfeld. >> and i'm rochelle dean. we're live from main and gervais. >> we begin this afternoon recognizing some of our most vulnerable citizens talking about children. >> that's right. it's national school choice work and to raise awareness about k through 12 school choice, supporters are rallying around our youth. abc columbia's beth rousseau is live right now with the very latest. good afternoon, beth? national schools choice week is about celebrating each and every form of education and that's exactly what this auditorium full of students is doing right now. if you look behind me, we're actually part of the largest south carolina selfie. that's happening right now. a little bit earlier, students heard from superintendent molly spearman and also from lieutenant governor henry mcmaster. actually, this is one rally of about 16,000, more than 16,000 actually happening across the country during this week celebrating all forms of national school choice week. i will have much more coming up tonight at 6:00. i'm going to s

i'm eric weisfeld. >> and i'm rochelle dean. we're live from main and gervais. the stage is set for tonight's republican presidential debate in north charleston. >> fox business network has confirmed now seven of the top polling candidates will take the main stage tonight. donald trump, ben carson, senators ted cruz and marco rubio, governors chris christie and john kasich and former governor jeb bush. the debate kicks off at 9:00 tonight at theeorth charleston coliseum and performing arts center. fiorina, former senator rick santorum and rand paul. paul says he will not participate in the debate and saying he will only participate in what he calls first tier debates. two republican presidential hopefuls will stop right here, though in the capital city. >> that's right. rick santorum and mike huckabee attended the palmetto seniors show down at the state fairgrounds this morning. santorum is going to be headed soon to the citadel in charleston to sit down with attorney general alan wilson as a part of his presidential forum series. and democratic presidential hop

my co-anchor eric weisfeld as the afternoon off. we begin this afternoon with the weather outside the window. we are winding down the weekend. will we dry out and hold up for your weekend plans? let's turn things over to meteorologist jonathan kennedy forecast. good afternoon, jonathan. >> good afternoon, rochelle. a little bit soggy for us today and cloudy skies. been a little cool as well. started out in the 40's. certainly a mild start certainly by january standards but we're still in the 40's this afternoon. no sign of the sunshine. we've seen a good deal of sun this week. temperatures have been up and down and we're kind of stuck in the middle here right now with mild temperatures not too far off from where we should be this time of year. certainly would love to see some sunshine back in the forecast soon but the rain came through. not a lot of rain for us in the hundredths here downtown. similar story by the airport. rain is moving on. don't expect to see any rain for the rest of the afternoon. maybe a light mist here and ther

i'm eric weisfeld. >> and i'm rochelle dean. gervais. how low can we go? that's the question. >> we don't want to test it. afternoon. many of us bundling up for midlands. >> absolutely. surprisingly, we're not as cold as we were yesterday we found out this morning. when you step outside, all you feel is that chill. it's cold out there. meteorologist jonathan kennedy with your first forecast. jonathan? yeah, it was a cold start for us this morning. many areas well below freezing, everybody below freezing. with the cloud cover today, we're seeing temperatures warm up a little bit. most of us in the upper 30's and low 40's for us this afternoon. we are still seeing cloudy conditions even as a few snow showers on the radar. none of that close to home. we're seeing that mainly north carolina and the mountains of tennessee and north carolina as well. for us satellite and radar, pretty quiet. but it is going to be cloudy throughout the afternoon. expecting mostly cloudy skies throughout the day. high of 45 degrees. not that much warmer than where we are right now

i'm eric weisfeld. >> and i'm rochelle dean. we're live from main and gervais and another chilly start to the day here across the midlands. you may still want to get outside and enjoy at least the dry conditions while you can. >> add insult to injury. by this time tomorrow, we could have a messy mix to add to the cold. let's turn things over now to meteorologist jonathan kennedy and first look at the forecast. tell us more, jonathan. >> good afternoon, guys. don't let the sunshine that we're seeing right now fool you. there are still a lot of actions still to come. we saw cloudy conditions throughout the morning. looked very much like the winterlike scenarios where you but obviously nice and dry for us as of now. temperatures warming into the mid 40's for us at this point. all and all, it could be a lot colder and a lot warmer for us but temperatures are on the trajectory to head towards 50 degrees today. i'm not sure a lot of us actually make it to 50 but we'll be seeing a much different setup as we head through the next 48 hou

. >> and i'm eric weisfeld. here live from main and gervais. what do you think we should talk about today at the top of the show? >> i think it has to be the weather. >> right behind us, right? very, very wet out there. a few showers greeting many of us this afternoon. but better days are actually coming. >> that's right. it seems like it's actually lightened up a bit outside. i don't know if we're completely out of the woods yet but for more, let's turn things over to meteorologist jonathan kennedy, the man with the plan. jonathan, what's the plan for the day? >> it's certainly been a rainy start to our friday. we saw rain throughout the morning. rain continuing to move through the midlands as we speak. and especially some very heavy rain out to the east of the midlands. those areas around the i-95 corridor having some extremely heavy rain. a little closer to home in the capital city, nice pocket of dry air. there's still rain back to the south and west and a lot of this rain is coming from the south and west so i do expect us to see more rain

. >> and i'm eric weisfeld. we're live from main and gervais on a wednesday. two familiar faces known for proposing new laws are on the afternoon. >> two richland county politicians are charged with not paying their taxes. richland county councilman kelvin washington is facing three counts of willful failure consecutive years. and former city councilman brian dequincey newman is cited with failure to pay taxes in 2012 and 2013. the charges resulteded from the investigation of the department penny tax program, newman's attorney says the investigation is not related to the current charges. >> i think the bottom line here is that he's not involved in the penny sales tax investigation. he pled straight up to two counts of failure to file taxes and what is telling is there's no plea agreement. if he was involved in some conspiracy that they were still investigating there would be a plea agreement that would have provided for him to cooperate. >> newman received two years of probation. that time will be reduced to six months after he pays nearly $11,000 in taxes owe

. >> i'm eric weisfeld. we are live from main and gervais and topping our news at 12:30, take a look behind us and you'll know it's the weather. you can see from our view here at main and gervais, it's been a dreary, cold and wet start to your day. >> mixed bag indeed pretty much lucked out dodging the blizzard of 2016. it's barrelling down the east coast. let's turn things over to meteorologist jonathan kennedy for a look at the first forecast. i don't know how much longer we'll stay out of the woods. hey, jonathan. how about it? >> so far today, guys, it's been a very cold rain and we've seen some freezing rain. we're starting to see a little bit more of that freezing rain actually come a little closer to home than it was earlier this morning. current conditions, though, notice the pink. blue being the snow and the green obviously just the plain old rain but notice the pink kind of creeping down to the south here as we get into parts of richland county right now and we are seeing much cooler air as well. l

. >> and i'm eric weisfeld. we're live from main and gervais. we begin this afternoon with a look at the forecast. things are a little dreary outside right now. good news is changes are on the way. >> and not too soon. it's been like this all morning. we were definitely looking for different scenery. things are looking up now. let's turn to jonathan kennedy with a look at the first forecast. hey, jonathan. >> good afternoon. rainy thursday for us. rain moving across the area and continue to see that throughout much of the afternoon as well. not overly rainy for us. temperatures not overly warm either. low 50's for a few spots. all and all, it's been an overall cool day for most of us to be much cooler than they have been the last couple of days. look at the 24-hour temperature change, most of us around five to 10 degrees colder than what we were seeing yesterday at this juncture. highs around 60 yesterday afternoon and 60's a few days ago. near 60 on monday as well. definitely the coolest day of the week and warmer tomorrow. good news is we'll s

in the studio tonight, i am eric weisfeld, abc columbia news. >> alicia: all right. our first day back for the new year. i think we came back to some pretty cool weather out there. >> ben: finally. we had to wait for it for a long time. it was like a tropical christmas. i know. you were in the tropics. >> john: tropical for her, right. a ton of rain and warm weather for christmas, john. feels good now. >> john: very unusual. we are back at it in terms of the winter weather. check it out. already, these are actual temperatures, we are in the upper 30s. bishopville, camden, winnsboro, newberry. what is going on, winds coming out of the north and pretty in fact, these are attend -- sustained, 16, somewhere in that range in the high end, gusting to 25. if you step outside in the next little bit and you don't have a coat, you will feel it in a second. this is what things are looking like for the next several hours. windy. as the night grows long, the wind dies off, quickly into the 30s even here in columbia. by the time we get to 11:00, we will be freezing and below. here

. >> and i'm eric weisfeld. we're live from main and gervais and a pretty main and gervais today. we begin this afternoon with more seasonable temperatures as we start our wednesday afternoon. winter temperatures for sure, though. we're feeling it. >> that's right. not as much wind as yesterday but a lot of sunshine and that's always good news. some changes could be headed this way by the end of the work week. let's turn things over to meteorologist jonathan kennedy. good afternoon, jonathan. >> good afternoon, guys. not a cloud in the skies. look at the capital city, we'll be looking at more cool temperatures today. it is january and we expect the air to be cool. it's been particularly cool over the last couple of mornings with temperatures in the 20's the last couple of days. now, clear skies for us this afternoon. absolutely nothing to worry about in the way of rainfall, precipitation, right now not even clouds to speak of. certainly no chance for rain today. look for temperatures to be a little cool here to start the afternoon hours. lot of spots in kind of the mid 40's. 47 fo

i'm eric weisfeld. >> rochelle: and i'm rochelle dean. we're live from main and gervais. the time's now 6:32. >> eric: and there's a little rain out there. >> rochelle: keep the umbrella close but it's shaping up to be mild. for what you can expect stepping out the door, here's jonathan kennedy. >> jonathan: light rain moving the mid-40s, temperatures not too bad but we won't see too much improvement through the day, either drying out or seeing warmer conditions. we're looking at a semi rainy set up for your thursday, rain moving in from the south and southwest. that will be much of the case throughout the day. light rain at the moment, notice the coloration, light green, no orange or yellow, temperatures not overly warm. you can see the cooler air starting to filter in, we have cooled off about 5 degrees since we joined you right at 5:00 a.m. cool air from the north coming in, temperatures likely to stay in the 40s for much of the rest of the day. we saw -- your high today is probably what you saw a few hours ago. not expecting a lot of variation throughout the day. low p

i'm eric weisfeld. fresh off their 37-17 orange bowl win against oklahoma, the clemson tigers are back home as they prepare to face off against alabama for the national college football championship. sports director tim hill has more on what's ahead for the tigers as they look forward to a date with alabama. >> tim: happy new year again, eric. a big contingent of clemson fans welcoming the tigers home this afternoon at death valley. the desert for next monday's national championship game in arizona. >> how about them tigers! >> tim: behind two 100 yard rushers and 500 yards in total offense for the tenth time in season, clemson runs it's way to a national championship just like dabo swinney had it planned. >> coach: seven years ago when i got this job, i knew that we would be here. it's just a matter of when. you know, this is year seven and we were able to kind of knock the roof off of it. >> it's just an awesome feeling. to see the things we've done in the past, how we've built up the program in the p

eric weisfeld has more. >> largest lottery jackpot and it continues to grow. strong powerball ticket sales now have the golden winnings at $1.5 billion and that could even increase. so as visions of dream homes and high-end cars float through your mind, let's fast forward and say you won. now what? >> all of the taxes and everything are taken out. i would donate to my church, my church. after that, i would help my family members. i have family members that need help. a nice vacation and relax. >> my cause would probably be single mothers. >> why? >> i would like to help them out. a lot of them would like to go back to school and it's hard to go back. it's hard to take care of your children and try to go to school as well. >> the $ $5 billion prize would be paid in 29 annual payments or you could opt for a lump sum payment for $939 million. >> i would take the lump sum. >> why is that? >> it probably would be better. i might not live 30 years. >> the big reveal? at 10:59 wednesday night and the big drawing. for now, continue to dream. >> been thinking about it.