As you can see, people are still coming here at harmon tree farm. And we will be here throughout the night and well have updated coverage for you tonight at 11 00. From lexington, jennifer ready, abc columbia news. Thank you so much, jennifer. A newly scheduled democratic debate is in the works. Msnbc and the New Hampshire union leader are partnering to host the event. Now, it would be moderated by Rachel Maddow and chuck todd and held february 4th. Thats five days before the New Hampshire primary. The Democratic National committee has yet to give its approval, though, for the event. Education was at the forefront today. Students and supporters rallied for National School choice week. Abc columbias Beth Rousseau has more on the celebration and the rally today and the proposed law that the governor hopes will help people once they leave the classroom. Chanting. In celebration of each and every education option. Schools that are Getting Better and better all the time and the main reason, South CarolinaSchool Choice effort that has made an enormous difference and you are examples of that difference. While supporters see the auditorium of students as undeniable proof of School ChoiceSuccess Public School advocates argued that School Choice increases segregation and reduces funding for public schools. Still, many feel the choice allows for catering education to the individual needs of each student. Some may really need to consider going to a twoyear Technical College first because theres so many great jobs and careers here in South Carolina now where you need a special skill. Those South Carolina careers and the education needed to fulfill those jobs are the focus we have 124,000 people out of work. I have 60,000 jobs i cant fill. There is no reason we cant connect the dots. The bill would coordinate Work Force Development thats being done across state agencies allowing for better understanding of work force demands. We know what you need so we can prepare a Training Program for Technical Colleges to fulfill those obligations. The Career Pathways bill has passed in the house and its fate now lies in the hands of the senate. Reporting at the statehouse, Beth Rousseau, abc columbia news. Lawmakers say its time for South Carolina states board of trustees to get moving. Democratic representative gilda cobbhunter says it is time for the financially troubled university to find a permanent president. The suggestion came during the schools 128 million budget proposal. S. C. State currently has an interim president and an interim board. Board vice chairman james clarke search at the next meeting. Well, a measure moving through the statehouse would require refugees to register and be tracked by the state Law Enforcement division. The bill faces, though, an uphill battle. Democratic senator Kevin Johnson of manning placed a minority report on the bill that blocks a floor debate. Also, republican Katrina Shealy of lexington says she cannot support the measure unless a requirement to post the registry of refugees on the internet is removed. Exposing abusive priests, victims of childhood abuse or renewing their call for the Roman Catholic diocese of charleston to publish a list of priests accused of misconduct with minors, a spokesperson for the diocese says the release of dead priests names wont help protect children. Back in 2014, the diocese said 32 priests have been accused of abusing minors in its jurisdiction since 1950. An upstate mother and her son are charged with neglect after police say a woman in their care the warrants obtained by the Associated Press show carol and david howell were arrested last week. 82yearold barbara beam died january 2nd of last year. The paramedics say when they removed beam from the chair, her legs remained in the seated position. Volunteers are fanning out across the midlands in the state to document the number of Homeless People. The annual survey conducted by the South CarolinaHomeless Coalition begins this evening. According to groups 2015 count, there are more than 6,000 Homeless People in South Carolina. More than 1,000 of those are children. Tax season is here which means scam artists are ramping up their efforts to take your money. Officials with the South Carolina department of Consumer Affairs say theyve received more than 700 complaints of scammers calling in claims to be the i. R. S. And demanding unpaid taxes. The Department Offers these tips to keem you from becoming a victim. Personal information over the phone. Also, think before you act. Scammers will often try to pressure you into sending the money. And finally, hang up and follow up. If youre suspicious of getting a call from a scammer, get off the phone and call a number that you trust. Columbia firefighters responded to what was supposed to be an unoccupied home this afternoon. Firefighters are still working to figure out what caused a fire at this home on fiske street which is just off north main. A spokesperson for the Department Says they are working to determine what sparked the fire and that they also say no one was hurt in todays fire. With a few showers, what can we expect this very cloudy out there today with maybe a few showers here and there. And were wondering can we expect more rain this evening . Chief meteorologist john farley joins us live right now in our Weather Center with a look at the current conditions. John . All right, you two. What we saw today is what well expect this evening. Check it out behind me, theres the radar. Couple of showers passing by but if youre going out this evening, i wouldnt worry too much about my umbrella. As we go over the next several hours, well see the temperatures in the 50s and it will be not that cold really. Lets give you the forecast here for the evening. And whats going to happen here as the temperatures will slowly drop but not that far and again, not that much in the way of rain. Heres a look at the temperatures, mid 40s by the time we get to 11 00 tonight and a few showers mixed in. That said, by the time we get back to tomorrow morning, things will be a little more active. There will be more moisture in play and looking at rain at times moderate to even heavy here and there. So get ready for a wet commute and an off and on wet day through tomorrow. Check out these highs. Today, we were 60. Tomorrow, we wont get to 50. But if youre jonesing for 70ish, i got that for you. Thats in the seven day in a few minutes. Thanks, john. Dressed for success this afternoon, the columbia they didnt quite hit the catwalk but they were modelled by High School Baseball standouts from across the midlands. They also introduced their coaching staff. Team Officials Say theyre ready to take the field. We had our logo out there for a while but had a lot of questions as to what the team will look like on the field. It was great to be able to share that with the Community Today and especially to have some of the great local High School Talent around here helping us with that. And the fireflies first game will be april 7th the charleston and first home game will be april 14th against greenville. Very cool. I like them. Look sharp. Look sharp. Up next, if youve eaten at wendys lately, you may pay for more than a burger and fries. If youre looking to tie the knot for your dream, your free dream wedding. Yes, a free wedding might be right around the corner for you. But you have to apply first. That coming up. Wheres the beef, some people are asking, welcome back. Forget wheres the beef . Some people are asking wheres my money . Wendys Officials Say that its investigating reports of what it calls unusual activity on payment cards used at some of its restaurants. The Fast Food Restaurant says it has launched an investigation with the help of Cyber Security experts and Law Enforcement officials. U. S. C. Students are looking to give one very lucky couple the wedding of their dreams. And this is the best part. Its free of charge. Now, the requirements to qualify are that you must be affiliated with the university of south turn all decisions over to the class. And have your wedding march 21st. You must submit a photo and a 500 word essay or three minute video explaining why you should be selected. For more information on where you can submit your information for your big dream wedding, you can log on to our website at abccolumbia. Com. You never need an excuse to eat cake. But heres one. Today is National Chocolate cake day. According to the dover post in dover, delaware, chocolate cake was born in 1765 when a doctor and a chocolate maker teamed up in an old mill. The origins of the holiday, however, remain a mystery. All right. Never turn down a piece of chocolate cake. You dont turn down a piece of cake, then. I bought in carrot cake. You love strawberry. I did find that out. Coconut. All of it. Yeah. Up next, your seven day forecast. News at 6 00. Welcome back. To sum up the weather, its going to go like this, rainy tomorrow. It will clear out tomorrow night, well have plenty of sun in here by friday and ill tell you, by the time we get to especially the second half of the weekend, its going to feel a lot more like spring than the middle of winter. Lets show you whats going on out there right now. Heres a live look at gervais street and the vista. I want to bring you this to show you right now its dry. Nothing on the streets here. And theres not that much in the way of rain really anywhere at midlands. Heres the big view. There you see a few showers passing by. These are all light for now. That will change as we go into tomorrow. We zoom out. Theres still plenty of moisture down here in the gulf. Thats headed our way. So tomorrow, though we didnt get too much in the way of rain today. Tomorrow, well get some more. Certainly then what we saw out there today and this is how things are going to play out. 7 00 tomorrow morning, thats commute time. So it will be wet. Maybe not all of us but plan on a wet commute. And you know what that means. There will be some slowdowns there with some people going a little too fast probably. Here you go. Noon, again, showers on and off. And then its tomorrow afternoon, still showers. But watch what happens after, say, 44 00, 5 00 tomorrow, things relatively kick off to the east and behind it, were starting to see some clearing coming in from the west. Cooler, drier air gets in here and that sets us up for a sunny friday. As i say, temperatures will warm thereafter, so lets give you a look at tonight. There you go. 49 degrees. A few showers, not many. Im sorry, that should say 41 degrees. 41 is where we head as we go overnight tonight. Tomorrow, send the kids out the door with the umbrella because at times during the day, youll need it. Theyll need it. There you go. Starting out tomorrow morning, its in the low 40s and watch what happens as we go through tomorrow. The temperatures just dont move very much. Weve got a healthy wind coming out of the northeast. Therefore, its cool. We may get a couple of low 50s but most of us, you know, mid to upper 40s is all were going to do. Again, rainy off and on. But after tomorrow, there is very little rain in the seven day and theres some pretty warm temperatures especially look at that, sunday, monday, tuesday, even wednesday, around 70. Also, youll notice the overnight lows coming up as well in the 40s by the time we get to early next week. It looks like well get some rain along about next wednesday but between now and then, well, at least after tomorrow, a lot of sunshine in your forecast. Thats a look at the weather. All right. Thank you so much, john farley. Coming up, Carolina Panthers quarterback cam newton says some people have a problem with him because theyve never seen anything like him. And Carolinas Michael of his career. See what coach frank martin has in sports. Back at home this is a good win for us. It makes us feel good again which is what we needed. Back at home and back in the win column, hi, im tim hill. Frank martin and gamecock basketball staying in contention in the sec. Much needed win for u. S. C. Last arena. Senior michael corera carrying carolina for most of the game against a mississippi states team that came in with only one sec win. 52 in conference play. Corera becoming the first gamecock since terry dozer to score 30 plus points and grabbed 10 plus rebounds. Career high 3414 making things very simple from a coaching perspective. If i didnt run plays for him, i think my assistants were going to fire me. Plan was to post him and get him inside. Was at the three and the four. Next up for carolina, the team that gave the gamecocks loss number one on the season a couple of weeks ago, alabama coming to the Colonial Life arena tomorrow at 6 00 looking for their first road win. Got a big comeback win last night against tennessee. Clemson basketball in action tonight for the first time in more than a week. Tigers tigers trying to start another win streak in the acc. Their last time out, virginia snapping a five game clemson win streak. Tonights game in greenville starts at 7 00. Well have highlights for you on the news tonight at 11 00. Carolina panthers basquing in the National Spotlight this week getting ready to head to San Francisco for super bowl 50. Lot more panthers fans in general these days. And a lot showing up to practice this afternoon. Cam newton causing strong opinions with his play and celebrations on the field this year. Strong opinions off the field at a press conference this afternoon. They talk about maturity with me. They talk about skill set with this team. Nobody has changed. Nothing has changed. Only thing thats changed is were winning, you know, and i said it since day one, im an africanamerican quarterback that may scare a lot of people because they havent seen nothing they can compare me to. Racing fans in mourning today after the death of long time radio voice of nascar, barney hall. He was 83 years old. Called his first daytona 500 in 1960. The city of columbia will sponsor hometown driver Jordan Anderson in the nascar truck series this year. The new design unveiled at the nascar hall of fame today in charlotte. Last year, anderson finishing 19th in his first full season in the truck series. And now youll see that famously hot logo. Hell be the Title Sponsor for anderson for the first half of sponsor for the rest of the way. Sponsored by forest acres for a long time, wasnt he . Now going big time with the city of columbia. Thats right. Big time. Love it. Thanks, tim hill. Columbia news at 6 00. Ok. Tomorrow is going to be rainy and raw. Well see highs only upper 40s with the healthy northeast winds. So kind of a cool one. But that will do it for the cooler weather for a while. As you see, by friday were at 60. By sunday, were almost at 70 and stay there for several days into early next week. Not feeling very much like the end of january certainly by the time we get to sunday, monday, tuesday. Yeah. Bum rush for the door outside. Yeah. Thanks for watching abc columbia news at 6 00. For local news, weather and sports. Stay tuned for world news tonight with david muir