And its backed up from statesville. Down to troutman and on the other side i think theres another accident. A car did a 10 in the ice. 180 in the ice. Look at the black top, thats liquid. Other spots, a few feet up, its ice. So this is patchy. Its just those small patches where the ice really starts to form on the roads that you have some mayor danger spots. Meteorologist john ahrens, channel 9 Eyewitness News. All right john. And Statesville Police just tweeted out theyve worked 22 accidents since 7 49 this morning. Our storm camera is live on the roads to give you a look at the conditions out there now. I77 southbound in south charlotte looking like its wet. But it could be slick. You can see there arent many people on the roads today. I know there was not as much traffic as a normal monday. Some families found cms made the late closing school. Some parents were getting their kids ready for the bus stop when the decision was announced. Brittney johnson questioned the district leaders about why it took so long. Reporter well last night the district posted they would have school today and they would notify parents by 5 00 a. M. If anything changed. When parents hadnt heard anything at 5 00, they proceeded as normal. And then they learned schools were canceled and many were left unprepared. Im all ready up, dressed. Like many parents who saw posts like this from cms saying school will be open, she went about her normal routine until she got there. An email this morning telling me school was canceled. It sent her into a frenzy. I spent three hour this is morning calling trying to find someone to watch my daughter. I actually did not arrive to work until 10 00 today. We saw many posts from frustrated parents. Some wrote they received calls at 5 45 and even later. My oldest daughter, she had to catch the bus at 6 30. And she was up getting dressed because she didnt know there was no school. We asked about the delayed notice and learned that after looking at the forecast, they anticipated a wintery mix in the afternoon and the superintendent decided to close at 4 51 00 a. M. They sent a statement saying the district alerts roughly 150,000 households. Some with multiple phone contacts. This process does not alert all phones in one swipe process. Parents appreciate the concern for student safety but wish they had gotten the ball rolling sooner. Its a huge inconvenience. The district wants parent to know this is not a decision they take lightly at all. And coming up on Eyewitness News at 6 00, well explain what stopped them from choosing another option, including early release. Brittney johnson, channel 9 Eyewitness News. Im a cms parent. I got the call at 5 59 00 a. M. Which is late. My child has to catch the bus at 6 00 a. M. I was watching Eyewitness News daybreak this morning around 5 15, and thats when i learned that the school was closed. A full 45 minutes before the districts phone call notice. Now the roads certainly were dangerous. Dozens of crashes across the area. Coming up at 5 30, the slick roads that made drivers spin out, even when they were just traveling at about 15 miles per hour. Remember, you can always get the latest on the conditions, school closures, Severe Weather alerts as well for your neighborhood, and track whats moving into your area right now. All on wsoctv. Com. Its under the weather tab. All new tonight, a huge hit for families across the area, by the end of the week, more than a thousand employees in two counties will lose their jobs. Get answers from the company all day. And i understand you got an email about this. It was about 45 minutes ago. They said the its worse than people thought. 550 people will be laid off in this plant alone. The last day on the job will be later this week. And employees got the message this morning in what thehall meeting. I know that im one of the ones thats laid off and everything. Its going to effect me. Andre has been working at the plant here for a little less than two years. When he heard this morning that the plant would be laying off almost 500 workers this week, he figured hell be one of them. Right now, probably the biggest thing is trying to figure out whats the next step as far as trying to find a new job. Just some sad people this morning. Its just terrible right now. Jah mark griffin is probably safe. But it still hurts and the pain reaches past the company fence. She runs the register at the Convenience Store across the highway where most of their customers are plant workers. Everybody around here has been hurting. And its going to hurt even more. The timing of the layoffs couldnt be much worse. Coming just six weeks after they laid off almost 900 workers here last month. Nobody saw this coming. We did not. Know. Completely surprised. The local united way held a workshop and job fair for employees laid off last month and the director told us they may have to do it all over again. But the man who heads up Economic Development in rowan county says the bigger jobs picture here is still bright. We are starting to ify. And we do have a employers across sectors that are looking to add people. One other bit of good news, they will pay employees its laying off through the middle of april. That will come around very quickly. Reporting live in rowan county, mark becker, channel 9 Eyewitness News. Mark thank you. The other 700 layoffs impact workers in mount holly. This Morning Company officials told their third shift workers they all will be laid off. The plant will return to two shifts starting next week. Workers losing their jobs were hired after march 4th of last year. We have the full statement on wsoctv. Com. New developments tonight, Police Arrested a man accused of shooting a woman in the stomach. James thacker now faces Assault Charges in a shooting we first brought to you as breaking news at noon. We learned that Police Believe he shot tammy behind a house on 11th street northwest. She is expected to survive. Officers say a domestic dispute led to the shooting. Mean time, Police Caught a man accused in a rock hill robbery and shooting that forced an Elementary School officers arrested quadravius strong yesterday during a traffic stop. They say he was one of two people who robbed a man at an Elementary School this month. Someone fired a gun but didnt hit anyone. Officers are searching for the second suspect. Tonight u. S. Senator Lindsay Graham says hes reevaluating whether or not hed support donald trump as the gop president ial nominee. When you add up all the things hes said and done. Hes unfit to be president of the united states. He told Good Morning America he cant support comments trump made suggesting george w. Bush caused the 9 11 terror attacks. He previously said hed support whoever is nominated. Jeb bush canceled an event today in rock hill. His Campaign Said there was a scheduling conflict. Instead hell have a town hall at the magnolia room. The states primary is saturday. Candidates are trying to catch up to donald trump this week. A cbs news pole released yesterday shows 42 of Republican Voters in South Carolina said they would support him. Ted cruz was the next closest with 21 support. The 22 point lead is trumps biggest ever in a state. Marco rubio is in third place with 15 . Rubio spoke with channel 9 oday. Coming up at 6 00, what he says the South Carolina primary means for his campaign. Plus ben carson tells channel 9 the single factor hes counting on for his president ial run to succeed. Breaking news out of Catawba County. Two tractor trailers jackknifed on interstate 40 in the eastbound lanes. Eyewitness News Reporter dave faherty arrived at the scene within the past 30 minutes. What can you tell us . Reporter youre right, they jackknifed in the eastbound lanes. But they actually came right across into the westbound lanes. Im going to step over my camera real quick. We got here in the last few minutes. I just set up my equipment. Im going to push in. You can see the tractor trailer where it came across the median. About 100 feet or 200 feet of guardrail taken out here. Theres the tractor trailer off in the distance. It has the westbound lane shut down. They have brought in hazmat because weve been told that theres a gas leak. And as erica mentioned, theres a second wreck further down the interstate from here just about a half mile closer to the claremont exit. Again, westbound lanes shut downright now. What im going to do is im going to pick the camera up and try to show you that second accident that got the middle of the interstate blocked here. But im going to place the camera right here and try to push passed some of the equipment here and get a focus. And you can see there off in the distance, that second tractor trailer again, all that traffic backed up. This is interstate 40. The westbound lanes. Blocked right now from two tractor trailers that have jackknifed from the eastbound side over into the westbound side. County, dave faherty, channel 9 Eyewitness News. That rain is freezing on contact. Not the only issue tonight. Im tracking a band of powerful thunderstorms. Hard to believe. But ill show you whats left of that as it approaches the carolinas. Hundreds of thousands of north carolinians maybe dropped from their health insurance. If you cant get insurance, what do you do . She dies. Action 9 investigates whos at risk and what it would take to get new coverage. Plus celebrating the win of a lifetime while battling Breast Cancer. How this local Lottery Winner se her new foun we have freezing rain moving through cities across the area. Everywhere you see in pink, thats where freezing rain is falling now. Its caused a lot of accidents in the past hour and a half. Right now were asking if the crashes here involving two tractor trailers is because of that. This is breaking news were following in Catawba County where those two trucks jackknifed on interstate 40 in the eastbound lanes. Its completely shut down to all traffic. We spoke to reporter dave faherty a few minutes ago and he gave us a live report. Thats going to be closed for sometime. Storm cam is on 77 southbound in south charlotte. And it looks like the roads here are mostly just wet. But its hard to tell if thats freezing rain down there because its all shiny. Be careful if you have someone headed home in this tonight. It looks like people are taking it easy. Winning the lotly would be an amazing experience for anyone. But for one Mecklenburg County woman its really a Second Chance. Latos is joining us with her story. Reporter the news she won the lottery literally knocked her off her feet. Many would use the money on a vacation or a car, she has a bigger purpose, fighting cancer. [ cheering and applause ] the clapping, the cheers, the confetti, the balloons. All of it block her to the floor in total shock. She won the 1 milliondollar Second Chance prize. She was diagnosed with Breast Cancer six years ago. You can see her husband in the video help her to her feet. She credited him with supporting her through surgery and her treatments. The choice of taking a 1 milliondollar annuity. With 20 payments of 50,000 a year. Or a lump sum of 600,000. She chose the lump sum payment. Withholdings shes taking home 415,500. Congrats to her. Thats exciting. Thousands of you have been liking, sharing, and commenting on this story on our wsoctv facebook page. You can join in on the conversation,like our page and look for this top story. The carolinas are not the only place getting hit with Winter Weather today. Look at the ice covered roads and cars here in philadelphia. Yeah. Firefighters were putting out a fire at a building. All the cars outside are pretty much encased in ice now. In other places, a snow and wintery mix are coming down fast and furious. Its a pretty big system. Its whipping you in the back of your head. I dont like it. The icy conditions led to serious crashes from indiana to pennsylvania. And in boston, it was 9 degrees. The windchill, 36. Breaking news into the news room, were hearing that gold because of the weather. And steve, the roads are getting slick out there. And were waiting to see if the temperature gets above freezing. Thats what were waiting for. This is the first batch of precipitation. It doesnt take much to slicken the roads. Especially untreated roads. Thats the biggest concern. West of charlotte, well be out of this quickly. East of charlotte, highway 601 to highway 52. Im getting more concerned about more ice build up. Because while this is moving on to the east, the steadier rain clears huntersville in 15 minutes, uptown at 5 30, concord, monroe, a little before 6 00. The more you head toward highway 52, the longer it takes for this stuff to get out of here. Temperatures are below freezing everywhere or at freezing from charlotte to university city, harrisburg, mint hill, monroe. 31 in gastonia. And the more north you go, readings are in the 20s. Spot on the map is 3300 feet up in boone. Thats right. Just plain old rain in boone. Warm air rises. Eventually this warm air will win out as we head through tonight. The rain becomes more patchy in the next couple hours as temperatures start to rise in charlotte above freezing. Heres the future cast. You can see the freezing rain get squeezed by midnight. The last to see a change over will be in the mountains. You saw that steady batch of heavy rain. Its out of here by 7 00 tonight or tomorrow morning. A powerful band of storms, were not going to see thunderstorms here. But well see a brief period of a couple hours between 2 00 and 5 00 a. M. Or steadier, heavier rain, its gone tomorrow morning, just a memory, in fact, tomorrow, actually not a bad day. Late tomorrow afternoon, well see yet another batch of clouds increase. And maybe a few wet snow flakes for the mountains. A few rain drops for the charlotte area. Another another hit of weather heres a look at temperatures. Were talking about readings by morning, in the mid 40s. Well continue to rise. Above 50 through lunch time. And near the upper 50s tomorrow afternoon. Your neighborhood forecast in hickory, even here we warm up. Youll wake up to readings in the mid 40s. The sunshine comes back. Well be in the mid 50s tomorrow afternoon. And the neighborhood forecast for lancaster, temperatures close to 60 degrees tomorrow afternoon. What a difference a day makes. Our temperature trend continues with that mild weather for the rest of the week. In fact, by the weekend, were up into the series. Hanging in there friends. It gets better from here. Fiveday forecast, sunshines back. Upper 50s to near 60 degrees. Mid 50s on thursday and friday. And back in the 60s on saturday and sunday. Its really the next two hours were most concerned about in the charlotte area. Especially east of town. Cms letting us know they will have School Tomorrow. Theyll always have School Tomorrow morning is a safer bet. The rain will be gone, itll be just rain. Perfect. Thank you steve. Tonight some parents are standing behind a move that could move thousands of Charlotte Mecklenburg School Students to different schools. My Diverse Education was monumental in shaping who i am today. The problems some worry cms will face if it doesnt become more diverse. The unexpected death of the longest serving Supreme Court justice could have a direct impact on you. From your vote to prayer, im breaking down what could happen to the most controversial cases. Then paying for empty airline seats, the new move to stop wasting your tax dollars and the people that could impact. Stocks rallied for a second the did you know your tax dollars are helping to pay for empty flights at small airports the essential air Service Program is designed to help the nations smallest airport. So your tax dollars subsidize every seat on the plan filled or not one of the most expensive is the 80mile trip it would only take about an hour and 15 minutes to drive by car. But taxpayers are subsidizing each ticket by merely 1,000. Thats crazy. Thats a giant waste of money. Im guessing its not a two seater plane. This program had been cut from an aviation funding bill. But an alaska congressman out if to bring it back and won. The House Transportation Committee voted last week to keep it going. A flight heading from london to new york had to be turned around after somebody pointed a laser into the cockpit. Authorities say theyre trying to identify where that laser came from and find out who did it. The incident has the association calling for lasers to be classified as weapons. In the u. S. , if anyone is caught and convicted that person could face prison time and a fine of up to 250,000. Accidents went down significantly in 2015. Four accidental airline crashes were reported with 136 deaths. Thats a big drop from 2014 when more than 6 owe 0 people died. The numbers dont include two major plane crashes. The metro jet crash in egypt. The group says those were deliberate. Im allison latos. Were working on new stories at 5 30; hundreds of thousands of families maybe dropped from their health insurance. I dont know if i could afford my insulin. Action 9 investigates whos most at risk and the life threatening injuries theyd have to go to to get covered. Reporter some parents are supporting a plan that would move thousands of charlotte students across the district. It works and its amazing. And it just grows you as humans. The personal stories their concern about the districts diversity issue. Freezing rain still falling in some neighborhoods, next chief meteorologist steve conditout the condit heavy rain and freezing tonight creating dangerous conditionings on the roads. Like in Catawba County where i 40 eastbound is shut down after two tractor trailers jackknifed in the middle of the interstate. Our storm cam is also patrolling the roads to show you the conditions that were seeing out there tonight. Whats impacting the conditions neighborhoods are seeing tonight are the freezing temperatures. Right now were still below freezing. You can see the tour at the bottom of the screen. Im Alison Allison latos. And omaha scott wickersham. Its really changing neighborhood by neighborhood as the warm air is doing its best to change things over to plain rain. Check out live Early Warning doppler 9. Its falling as rain everywhere. But where you see the shades of pink, thats where its cold enough where its freezing on contact. Were not talking about a heavy down pour. Icing especially on secondary roads. Anything not treated by d. O. T. Will have issues for the next couple hours. South of charlotte, indian land. East along highway 52, ansonville, toward albemarle, its starting to taper off as you work your way to the west. But here the dug is dan. The future cast calls for steady mist or drizzle to come through tonight. Freezing rain early on in the charlotte area. Then it changes to all rain by 8 00 or 9 00 tonight. That helps roads tremendously. But through the foothills and the mountains, this rain eventually changes all rain. And troubles are being felt toward the foothills and the high country