here is robert k, kittle. >> reporter: -- robert kittle. she didn't know about her baby and so she got help from healthy start. >> they come to your house and everything. and they just give you information, resources. you know, so that way you can be a wonderful parent. >> we ever resource mothers who do educational parts of -- you know, what to expect whenever you are going to deliver and what to expect once baby is born. >> reporter: her daughter is now two. healthy and happy. governor nikki haley announced the state expanding a similar program for moms on medicaid. the nurse-family partnership. the state will add 3200 more moms with nurses who will visit them at home. more than 1200 families are in the program now. this expansion will help more mothers and their children and will help taxpayers. >> this will reduce medicaid costs. births, not as many admissions, we won't see as many injuries to children. when we go and give the guidance from the beginning. >> reporter: it should reduce er visits. >> it will help out a whole lot because i

in columbia, robert kittle, 7 news. senator peeler says it could take -weeks- to get to a final vote on the roads plan. even after the filibuster ends ...whenever that is ... there are more than 3-hundred amendments to the bill to work through. next on 7 news .... a frightening moment for people on board a chopper near a hawaii landmark... the latest on a helicopter crash near pearl harbor... and... a local man who's thankful...for quick- thinking co-workers... after he was a heart-beat away ... from death. how they helped ... save authorities in hawaii critical condition... after a civilian helicopter...made a hard landing in the water... near "pearl harbor." here's video...from that scene....this is a video from youtube...as the chopper crashed.. the coast guard says... 5-people were on board the helicopter... and at least -3- were hurt... when it went down this morning ... near the "arizona memorial" in oahu. they say all -5- people were transferred to land...and taken to a hospital. people who saw the crash... jumpe

but someone was in our system. >> reporter: robert kittle news 19 wltx. >> the program will also be a hub for research and development for new cyber security technology. >>> a columbia businessman has been sentenced for runnnng an illegal gambling operation. a judge gave him 15 months in prison and three years supervised released and has to pay restitution for the government -- to the government for failure to pay taxes. he ran an illegal video poker >>> a man is accused of a host of crimes and authorities need your help finding him. he is accused of robbery, assault and battery and ill treatment of animals and burglary and injury to personal property. if you know where he can be found tonight call crime stoppers at 1-888-crime-sc. >>> the fight against the gas tax bill continues tonight with a senator continuing his filibuster. he has been on the floor since last week, says the surplus of money should be enough to fix our roads. his focus is on restructuring the way money is spent. right now there is a commission that controls the roads projects. davis says the commission works off p

>>reporter: robert kittle, 7 news. >>> all right. well, we've had a soggy day, muggy temperatures as well and it looks like some rain and going to try to hold on in some areas, at least for another couple of hours. before we start to see that rain going away. of course, we had heavy thunderstorms and even some flooding to take place earlier today, now, that was with the main line of rain that pushing this is the main line of storms that got going in the midlands, once the daytime heating had a chance to kick in. we missed out on the severe weather, too much rain in some areas, we had to deal with flooding. so holding on to cloud cover, still looking at a few left over showers, we've had rainfall, in spartanburg county, still looking at a few patchess of rain there, near pauline. farther to the south towards simpsonville, light rain there and in the northern part of green wood county, southern section of laurens county, we've got light rain moving eastward, farther to the weshgs showers may have a chance to develop. now, in the midlan

in columbia, robert kittle, 7 news. >>> even though there are a lot fewer candidates in the democratic primary, turnout could be just as high. >> indications that that's the case, more than 22,000 absentee ballots for the democrats and that is more than they had in 2008. and remember, if you voted in the gop primary last weekend, you cannot vote in the democratic contest this saturday. everything you need to know about those polling locations, the candidates can find at wspa.com, look at the news tap. >>> poly wild animal park could soon close. the director says there will be a community meeting wednesday morning, at the spartanburg chamber of commerce, the animal park hopes to raise a half million dollars to stay open. leaders will give plans on how they'll move forward, and they want to hear your input. >> spartanburg city council is development at tonight's meeting, council will transfer some property on fulton avenue to a nonprofit group that is working to revitalize the area. it will also transfer land on raleigh street for transitional housing to help the homeless. >>> a georgia

robert kittle, 7 news. >> it's not just every day people who could be sued now for damages. first responders could be held liable for breaking a window too. >> act first and worry about the consequences later right now. the bill got final approval in the house yesterday with a unanimous vote. >>> next live at 5:00, they're the biggest football fans around. they are making picks for the game on sunday. who do they think will win super bowl 50. with people no interest in the super bowl. straight ahead, some local players who america's heroes have a message. if you've fought... you know picking a commander in chief is no small thing. you're looking for smarts... and guts. we looked at each candidate... we studied their record... we know... looked them over... we checked them out... and we chose one. there's only one. jeb bush. he's got a plan. he'll keep us safe. he's a president - a commander in chief. jeb bush. best prepared to be commander in chief. right to rise usa 7 news "live at 5" continues now with a breakdown of just how much americans will eat this >>> a break down o

in columbia, robert kittle, 7 news. >> and now, the d.o.t. secretary also says there are 300 bridges in south carolina on interstates and primary roads, that are considered structurally deficient, to replace all 300 would take 174 million dollars a year for ten years. >>> do you think south carolina's minimum wage is high enough? one lawmaker says it's not. and and she's now fighting to raise pay to $10-10 an hour, representative hunter. something workers deserve, especially those supporting families. >> let's show families that we hon sdmor respect them -- honor and represent them, by paying them a decent wage. children, it is hard for me to provide for them just basic necessities. >> hunter believes the raise won't increase the cost for business community because if the minimum wage increases, fewer families would rely on benefit asks programs paid for by taxpayers north carolina's social service offices are finally drug testing people who apply for and receive welfare. under a 2013 law, social services can test anyone it suspects is of usi

in columbia, robert kittle, 7 news. >> should college greek life be more transparent? the mother and father of clemson fraternity pledge who died say they should. tucker hipps died in 2014. fraternities to make the violations public, online. parents of students could access that information before signing up. >> if we had know t we know now, tucker would have never been on that bridge that morning. >> lawmakers will discuss that bill again at a meeting next week. >>> well, we had another windy day around the area today, thankfully, we didn't have the wind gusts we had yesterday. when we were seeing gusts of over 50 miles per hour. but still, windy enough to give us the wind blown look can we will keep a breeze through the evening hours, if you're out, it's not just the cold weather, but also the wind chill you're going to have to be concerned about. make sure you bundle up. overall, we expect a lot light freeze into tomorrow morning. in most locations. then it looks like we'll see less wind by tomorrow afternoon, overall, breaks of sun. the weekend is looking good and

"7 news" reporter robert kittle... most men... also love electronics. there's also sports equipment... or gear for whatever else ... he might be into ... like camping or fishing. flying is getting little easier on the pocketbook... why airline prices are falling...in a 7 news "consumer watch".... but first here's a look a 7 news "consumer watch".... some welcome news for those who fly the friendly skies... it seems air travelers are paying less... for airline tickets... the transportation department says domestic airfares have dropped to a six-year low. airline ticket prices fell by more than six-percent in the third quarter of 20-15. the average price is now about 372- dollars. expansion of low-cost airlines...and plunging jet fuel costs... are big drivers of the change. singer "bruce springsteen" is sharing some personal notes...in an autobiography... "simon will publish today will announced today will publish springsteen's book. according the publisher...the usually private singer began discreetly working on the book in 2009. it will be titled "born

robert kittle has more. >> reporter: she does everything she can to make sure her 13 month old son is safe. so she shops the governor will sign a bill that signs to be her desk. it sasa you cannot be sued for property damage if you break into a car to get a child or elderly. >> if i had a moment where i child in the car, i hope someone would bust the window or do whatever they could. >> reporter: representative bill sinaka sponsored the bill. he doesn't know of any cases where someone has been sued but it could happen. >> if i have to pay the windows later, i would rather pay for the window later and make sure the child is all right. and then worry about a law and not breaking the window and the child could die. >> south carolina has a good samaritan law that protect accident you if you help someone. this would just make it crystal clear. >> according to kids in cars.com since 1977 ten children in south carolina have died in hot cars. news 19, wltx. >>> right now as things stand, people with did sueded for damages. first responders can also be liable for breaking a window to >>> the s

robert kittle news 19 wltx. >> this bill would not apply to video taken by body cameras. that is under separate law. this applies only to dashcam video. >>> every public college in the state would go private under a bill filed at the state house. he says all the state money that goes to the schools would go to students as scholarships instead. they would compete for students to get the state money. >> this was the only way that i education system in south carolina. >> usc president says it is a bad idea and would force all colleges to take more out of state students because they pay higher tuition. a spokesperson for clemson did not have information on the bill. >>> usc women are in action tonight taking on kentucky as we speak. if carolina wins they will be taking on number one uconn monday night, both teams would be undefeated. in (phone ringing) you can't deal with something, by ignoring it. but that's how some presidential candidates seem to be dealing with social security. ericans work hard, d pay into it. so our next president needs a real plan to keep it strong. (e

robert kittle 3 3 3 this is a public-private partnership.the state is putting in about 13-million dollars of medicaid money. lead levels found in the water of some homes in lexington county...and 28 other subdivisions across the state. one of those companies that tested their customers water under dhec standards.... was carolina water service. out of the 52 subdivisions tested, carolina water found 7 homes with elevated levels of lead. after going back and retesting those homes though, they say the results came back below the epa action level. although this was common in older homes with copper pipes, the water service says it's good practice for everyone to run their water for 15-30 seconds before use...to flush out the 3 after comparing water samples from home faucets to water from the source, c-w-s says that the source itself was not contaminated with lead. 3 3 if you drive cross some bridges in columbia, you may notice trash in and along the streams and creeks.but this trash isn't just an eyesore, it could be an ecological problem.bill stangler is the congaree riverkeeper he is concer

robert kittle has all the details tonight. >> reporter: usc precman is scared -- freshman is scared and her parents are upset. >> terrifying that that was going on. >> reporter: early saturday morning a usc student was sexually assaulted near her dorm. have victim was walking here. around 3:45 a.m. saturday morning a man said he had a weapon and took her someplace and sexually assaulted her. usc sent out an e-mail in the afternoon but did not send out an emergency alert after it happened. >> i feel like an alert that even if they don't know what is going on would have been nice. like a warning. but i know a lot of my friends were and that scares me that it could have been any of them. >> reporter: usc didn't send out an emergency notification because at the time of the report the wasn't enough information. the bulletin says the race is unknown, 5'5", 150 and between 20 and 30-years-old. >> any information is better than none. even like if there was a crime here and it was a high risk crimic i mean -- crime, i mean that would be beneficial. >> reporter: usc says text alerts are reserved

. >> reporter: and his house is a museum, and i could have been saying, in washington, robert kittle, 7 news. >> i did not know that. >> i didn't, either. >>> 7 news at 6:00 starts right now. >>> right now on 7 news at 6:00, candidates are trying to reel in the votes. >> and debating would should nominate the next supreme court justice following the sudden death of justice antonin scalia. >>> but first, the weather, and some schools are out early with early dismittal as early on- dismissals. >> tomorrow, mitchell county kids will be on a delay, and throughout the afternoon, we've had snow and sleet and freezing rain. there is a glaze forming outer there, and traffic is moving relatively smoothie on interstate o n -- smoothly on i-85. so be careful out there. >>> emergency officials tell us that they responded to more than two dozen accidents in henderson county. christy, when will it get better? >>> tom, it may be a while cause the cold air is stubborn and we have arrive rain to the west. and it's above freezing where the heavy rain is falling. the trend overall is for temperatures to

in columbia, robert kittle, seven news. >> the president says closing guantanamo would also save taxpayers $1.7 billion. >>> a bill to fund highway repairs remains at a road block. the chamber of commerce has been encouraging people to contact their senator to tell them to end the filibuster and vote on the bill this week. senator top davis started the debate on the senate floor. he blocked action on the bill last week in hopes of not raising taxes on gas. >> south carolina deserves to have us look at every single we assess what our road and bridge fees are before we go back and jack up their gas tax. >> the still has not come to a vote. there's an interactive link that we have for you on wspa.com under links. >>> we are going to be tracking a lot of rain over the next 24 hours. in fact, in some cases we may get too much. so we'll have an eye on the streams, creeks, rivers, and of course the roads that could get backed up with water. in addition to that we also have a severe weather threat going into tomorrow morning. but today with the cold temperatures we've had, it's weather. i think we

>>reporter: in columbia, robert kittle, 7 news. >> he says it could take weeks to get a final vote on the plan. >> there are more than 300 amendments to get through before the bill could be passed. yesterday we told you about an event being hosted by americans for prosperity. well, that was going to happen tomorrow, discussing the pitfalls of a higher gas tax, now, we're told that >>> ford says it's come up with new technology to protect your car from potholes. it's apparently already being used on the 2017 fusion v 6 sport sedan. the company says the shock absorber system automatically stiffens when sen source detect one of the potholes, that keeps the wheel elevated instead of dropping into the hole. something we could all use for sure. >>> nascar will step the rest of the field for the daytona 500 tonight, qualifying races, known as the can am duals, will tell us where the sprint cup drivers will start after the first row. chase elliott and matt kenseth will be at the front of the field sunday for nascar's super bowl. >>> and today, marks 15 years since the death of one of nascar's

robert kittle, standing live outside of the venue in chafin, he bring us the latest. >>reporter: we're outside of a business in chafin, and governor nikki haley will be here at about an hour, along with marco rubio, this was a campaign rally for him, any way. but it was going to get more attention than it would have otherwise because we've learned that governor nikki haley will endorse marco rubio. now, that was the conventional wisdom any way, that she would probably endorse him, but just yesterday, she told us she wasn't sure if she would endorse anybody and she did not say who. jeb bush has also been hoping to get her endorsement. those two have been close, he helped her when she was first running for governor and when she won, she called him to get advice on setting up her administration. and he helped her out that way. so he was hoping to get her endorse pt. and he even said, recently, that her endorsement is probably the most significant one in the state lt but he's not getting it, marco rubio is. we'll be here throughout the night and bring you more details >>

robert kittle. >> this bill would not apply to video taken by the police body cameras, that's covered by a separate law written to address these concerns, this would apply only to dash cam video. >>> well, many of us got to see mild temperatures this afternoon. and i hope you're out for a little while, because probably the warmest day we're going to see in about a week. big dose of cold air coming in next week. and temperatures are already cooling off nicely in the now, in addition to that, we're also tracking the potential of a evening. clouds will get out of here and temperatures are going to have a chance to drop below freezing, across many areas going into tomorrow morning. so bundle up on your way to work and school tomorrow morning. in the afternoon, we'll be seasonably cool l and it looks like the weather will stay nice the weekend. off to the east today, we're tracking an area of low pressure that's moving along that front, that will get stronger later this evening, and that's what could help send a few showers our way. for now, mostly cloudy skies, across much of the upstates

. >> we're going to start with our capitol reporter robert kittle in lexington county, governor nikki haley is about to endorse a republican candidate for president. >>reporter: that's right, amy, we're in chafin, outside of a business, and marco rubio had scheduled a campaign event here any way, but it's gotten more attention. governor nikki haley is expected to endorse marco rubio. she said yesterday, that she was not sure if she would endorse anyone, and she didn't tell us who, if she did have that idea then went -- if she knew then she was going to endorse him, the conventional thinking was she was going to endorse rubio, but also thought that she might endorse jeb bush. because when she was running for governor, he helped her out with her campaign, then when she won, the governor ship, he helped her get her administration started up, she had some questions and she called him and got some advice if him. so he was hoping to get her endorsement and he had said yesterday, that out of all of the possible endorse pts in south carolina -- endorsements in south carolina, hearse would be

robert kittle tells us what it will do and how it will better protect you from cyber crime. tv show, but sc cyber is a new statewide cyber security effort to fight hackers and better protect your information. >> today there's about 15 billion connected dwoo iss -- devices, by 2025, it will be 40 billion devices. >>reporter: governor nikki haley says when the state department of revenue got hacked in 2012, it woke all of us up to how vulnerable we are. they got personal information off the tax returns of 4 million people and businesses. this new program, will try to keep the state ahead of hackers. >> what are the newest and latest ways that they're trying to hack? what are the vulnerabilitysa we need to be watching for? how can we educate the private sector so they know how to protect themselves? and are we training our newest students on what cyber security is and how they need to be thinking into this next era. >>reporter: the program is housed at usc and involves the sit dall l and the college of -- send their employees here to columbia to it -- for specialized training a

. >> our robert kittle tried to find out today and got ideas for you. >>reporter: candy is usually a safe bet for everyone, but when it comes to buying valentine's day gifts for men. >> i have no idea frnts we do have a lot of women coming in, wondering what am i going to get them. >>reporter: plenty of ideas, a bottle of wine boxes for some, maybe a monogrammed toiletry bag. this glass is a pint glass that has a bottle opener in the bottom. and then it has your pint glass on the front and then we can personalize these here. >>reporter: just like jewelry works for women, it can work for men, too, like these cuff link, a barbecue apron with a pocket cooler that holds a beverage and a built in bottle opener. >> my wife got my garth brooks ticketss. >>reporter: most men would love to have a sports car for outside of the realm of most people's finances. it's the thought that counts, right? and men, might not be so different after all. >> i think that they probably just want what everyone wants, that someone cares about them. >>reporter: 7 news. >> last woma

robert kittle tries to find out and have some ideas for you this morning. >>reporter:candy is usually a safe bet for just about everyone but when it comes to buying valentines gifts for men -- >> i have no idea. >> we have a lot of women coming on shopping for men and wondering what am i going to get him? >>reporter:gift shop owner, martha, has a few ideas, a bottle of wine works for some, maybe a monogrammed toiletry bag. >> this is a pint glass that bottom and your pint glass on the front and we can personalize this >>reporter:just like jewelry works for men -- women it can work for men, too. like these cufflinks. how about a barbecue apron with a pocket cooler that holds a beverage and has a built-in bottle opener. you can also give an experience. >> my wife got me tickets to garth brooks tomorrow. that was a nice surprise >>reporter:most memo by thomas sports car for valentine's day, but that is outside the realm of most people's finances. it's the thought that counts, right? men might not be so different after all. >> i think they probably just want wh

. >> reporter: and his house is a museum, and i could have been saying, in washington, robert kittle, 7 news. >> i did not know that.

other public collegee in south carolina >> he says it would save money for student asks taxpayers, robert kittle tells you how and what the schools think about it. >>reporter: carolina day at the state house, when usc staff and alumni thank lawmakers for their support and talk about the impact of the school. >> we have a great many schools

in columbia, robert kittle, 7 news.