Has done a good job with the main roads. But when it comes with that wind, it gets covered again with temperatures so low there are some dangerous windchills at the higher elevations. Earlier i was out when a group of soldiers were stuck in 15 inches of snow. Theyre here skiing as part of a single soldiers retreat. Pretty cold and the weather has been awful. The weather is pretty bad. When youre not used to driving in it, it adds to it. Reporter i promise you i did set my camera down, went over to the back of that suv and started shoving it myself. After about a few pushes there, we were able to get it unstuck from that ditch. And i think theyre over at the ski resort skiing right now. The ski resorts looking very much forward to this weekend. A big Holiday Weekend in the North Carolina high country. Very chilly weather though. The temperature has fallen back into the single digits. Were now getting a reading of reporting live from beach mountain, dave faherty, channel 9 eyewitness news. Try to stay warm, dave. Right now meteorologist john ahrens is digging into why the wind is fueling these bitter cold temperatures and why it wont likely die down any time soon. He joins us in less than ten minutes to explain. New at 6 00, a discrimination lawsuit against this south charlotte mega church is growing tonight. Six families have come forward after the story aired about the suit in january. Theyre claiming that Calvary Church dismissed their children because of medical or developmental disorders. John paul sat down with families and the attorney who says this shows a pattern. The amended suit was filed in mecklenburg county. Page after page of allegations that Calvary Church and Child Development director pat collins discriminated against kids with disabilities. Two families claim their sons were dismissed because of after that story air, six families came forward. It was the same thing all over again. Just a different child. A little different situation. Car man shaw says her five yearold son jax had developmental delays and was removed from the summer fun daycare because he was quote special and needed extra help the school didnt have. She claims the school expelled her son carter because they perceived he had adhd she says her son was devastated. He would cry and ask me mommy if im a good boy can i go back to my old school. Another family claims their blind daughter was told the school would not be able to accept a blind child into the program. The suit claims this child, noah faced discrimination, part of his left leg was amputated days after birth. The mom claims she was cold quote, calvary would not be a good fit for you and your son, we cant take on a liability. Because of the statute of noah and hayes arent listed as plaintiffs but their Attorney Says it shows a pattern by the school and the director. We think it suggests that pat collins was actually barring the doors for disabled children. We talked to attorneys in january when the suit was first filed. They told us then they had no comment. We reached out today and are waiting to hear back from them. As for a trial, no date has been set. In the news room, john paul, channel 9 eyewitness news. New tonight, at 6 00, a bank of America Stadium shareholder wants the companys top executives to be on the hook for future legal fines. In the new filing, the sec says it will allow shareholders to vote on where leaders pay should be differed at the banks next annual meeting. The charlotte based bank tried to block the proposal. Top executives would get their paid off. Were following two breaking news stories tonight at 6 00, first police want your say robbed a bank in ballantyne. Officers swarmed the First Citizens bank on jon jay delaney after this crime. Investigators spent a couple hours gathering evidence and talking with witnesses. Cmpd says they need help tracking down the suspect you saw in these photos. Tonight firefighters are rescuing a construction worker. We have new video here after this man fell into a twelve foot hole in downtown gastonia. You see him on a stretcher using a crane to get him out. We brought you live pictures from the scene at 4 00 this afternoon. The 59yearold worker has broken bones but is expected to be okay. With the New Hampshire primary in the past, the race for president is a little bit tighter tonight. Gop candidates Carlie Fiorina and Chris Christie suspended their campaigns in the past couple hours. For the candidates who remain, its on to South Carolina and the first in the south primary weve all ready seen candidates crisscrossing the palmetto state and that will now only ten days. Eyewitness News Reporter greg suskin is live at Winthrop University tonight where several candidates will be gathering tomorrow. And greg, this is about to be a very busy next week and a half. Extremely busy. And of course you might have heard it said that the road to the white house goes through South Carolina. But folks around here like to Winthrop University. National political spotlight and will be again tomorrow when two republican candidates are here. We need a president fresh off New Hampshire, jeb bush rolled into bluffton South Carolina this morning. President cruz in myrtle beach. And rubio in columbia. Drew johnson is an executive Committee Member from chester. Im excited about it. I know the Republican Party is excited about it. Gop primary. Political scientist scott huff man says expect the gloves to come off as super pack money rolls in for some candidates and the pressure to win grows. We have Political Consultants who are used to knives in the back, and weve seen very dirty politics here. Experts expect candidates to step up attacks on each other because South Carolina is a win or take all state and defeat her can spell the end for a campaign. Huff man says Hillary Clinton and jeb bush have the strongest local organizations but a win still means more travel than iowa or New Hampshire. You cant just hop in a car and hit the upstate, the lowcountry, the pd, the midlands all in one day. Huff man says clinton who holds a huge lead over Bernie Sanders will win the state but sanders can claim victory if he can close the gap. On the gop said, trump leads in all poles but crews can make a strong case with christian voters and capture an upset win. Experts say that some of the other candidates are still question marks now. Bottom of the pack in this state could close down this field very quickly. Live in rock hill, greg suskin, channel 9 eyewitness news. This car carrying eight vehicles on i85 in Gaston County this afternoon causing major backups. This happened in the southbound lanes before rush hour. Look at the damage. Were told that the drivers could use edgewood road to get around this mess today. But traffic was backed up for six miles there on the highway. Troopers are investigating a deadly crash in york county. Investigators say one car rear ended another one on sutten springs road last night. Larry clinton of clover hit the other car, ran up the road and hit a tree and died at the scene. The other driver was okay. Blood centers are taking precautions as the zika virus continues to spread. There are now 66 confirmed cases in the united states. Community Blood Centers of the carolinas is now requiring anyone whos traveled to south the caribbean to wait a month before donating blood. The mosquito born virus has been linked to a birth defect that can cause babies to be born with an under developed head and brain. This is just a precaution necessary because as is this is spreading, we want to make sure that there arent any incidents of transfusion transmitted disease. If someone develops symptoms of zika virus after donating blood, they want to know so they can then destroy their donation. Our Team Coverage of the bitter cold continues now with meteorologist john ahrens up in blowing rock and john, youre tracking colder air pushing in that will keep temperatures down and the winds are howling too. Thats right, scott. Thats whats causing these winds. The snow has stopped. We have a park here in open space. With a wind gust which is whats happening now. Right now at 15 to 20. All that snow coming right into my face. And with that wind, if i took out here for 20 minutes, youd get frostbite. Itd be that fast with this kind of comb. Lets check out the forecast windchills later on tonight, temperatures will fall down to single digits. Below 0 as far as the windchill goes yet again. And with more arctic air coming this way, the winds wont slow down. Live in blowing rock, meteorologist john ahrens channel 9 eyewitness news. We only saw temperatures push into the upper 30s in the charlotte area. Well come back to show you how much we improved on that as we head into the weekend. Students trying to get ahead by attending local Community Colleges. I have six classes left. A 9 investigation reveals some of them just lost one big Financial Aid option leaving their futures in question. Students are losing out. How its effecting plans for force and a 9 investigation uncovered students struggling to pay for classes and books now that Many Community colleges wont offer a popular form of facial aid. Eyewitness news anchor Stephanie Maxwell learned how that change is all ready effecting students and could eventually effect the local work force. Reporter study time is precious for this student she works 30 to 40 hours a week as shes attended cpcc since 2012 working to get an associates in science degree to transfer to unc charlotte. Shes gotten Financial Aid grant money that she doesnt have to pay back. But it doesnt cover all of her tuition in bookings. She used to get whats known as a stafford loan, a federal student loan that covered the rest of her expenses but cpcc stopped offering them in the 201415 school year. The loan was helping me to also get my books. Because now sometimes i have to come out of pocket to pay for them because Financial Aid doesnt give me enough. Before 2010, North CarolinaCommunity Colleges werent required to offer stafford loans. The legislature allowed schools to opt out in 2012. Cpcc decided to do that. The program is bad for colleges because its punitive in nature. Jeff with cpcc says they stop offering stafford loans to protect itself. Punishes colleges when too many students default on the loans which is something he says colleges cant control. That punishment, the government takes away the schools ability to offer pell grants. Federal grant money students dont have to pay back. Before cpcc decided to opt out, its student default rate was 21. 5 . Well below the rate that would have put the school at risk of losing pell grants. The school did not want to take any chances. If you reach a certain default rate for three consecutive years, you then lose your ability to provide pell grants for your students. Debbie cochrane authored a report on the controversy. She says Community Colleges that do not offer federal loans put students at risk. When her report came out in 2014, 5 of the 12 Community Colleges in the area made federal Opportunity Loans available. Student loans available. The loans are essential for based on their income and not just the amount they borrowed. Not only students are suffering. Ultimately there are impacts on the work force, when students arent able to complete, the work force isnt as well educated as it could be or should be. She wants to be physical therapist but she doesnt know when that will happen. She has six classes to take before she can transer for with fewer loan options than before. Stephanie maxwell, channel 9 eyewitness news. For applies of local Community Colleges that still offer stafford loans go to wsoctv. Com. Click the 9 investigates tab and look for stephanies report. If you spent any time outside today, you felt the cold. Our chief meteorologist Steve Udelson is tracking the fall in temperatures. Now with the sun down, were going to see temperatures accelerate down. Were down to 33 in charlotte. Monroe, 32 in lancaster. 36 the warm spot in wanes borrow. 31, below freezing in in statesville. Climb up 321 toward lenoir. Its down to 27. Mid teens in boone and jefferson and banner elk. The highest spot on the map, the coldest spot at 5 degrees now. Windchill 5. Forecast this evening, bundle up, theres no excuse not to cover as much as you possibly can. Because thats what can get you into trouble. Temperatures in the upper 20s through 9 00. Tomorrow morning, forecasting a low of 19 in charlotte. Tomorrows record thankfully is safe. Its is it t degrees. Its 12 degrees. Set back in 1885. The average low this time of year is freezing. As i said, well be there in the next hour or so. Tomorrow morning for the wake up forecast, temperatures upper teens early on. Mid 20s by 9 00 a. M. If theres a good thing tomorrow, its a, the sun will shine. Nothing falling from the sky in our threat tracker. The winds wont be as strong, even in the mountains, especially in the charlotte area. That will take the edge off the wind speeds staying below 10 Miles Per Hour in the charlotte area. Thats good news. 10 to 20 Miles Per Hour in the mountains. Will still add chill. Sunshine from start to finish. Even in the high country where weve seen off and on snow showers the last two days. Itll finally come to an end. And well brighten things up. Neighborhood forecast in statesville, temperatures start in the mid teens. Well climb to the mid 30s tomorrow afternoon. Plenty of sunshine. That wont be the problem. Neighborhood forecast for gastonia, sunny, but still cold. Likely reaching 40 or so. And then as you work your way down toward fort mill, temperatures reach the low 40s before cooling by this time tomorrow evening. Meanwhile, christine graph and keith monday actually figured this out. The mountains have been below freezing since monday and they will stay below freezing until next week. Thats 165 straight hours. Not a record. But wow. That puts it into perspective. Just the extent of this cold blast. Another one arrives on sunday. After tomorrow, friday, and saturday, above 40 in the charlotte area. Were back down to the mid 30s for valentines day. And check out that morning low, 15 degrees. For valentines day itself, if youre out at lunch for brunch, temperatures in the upper 20s. Mid 20s at lunch time. If youre heading out for dinner, clouds increase, that holds temperatures up a little bit. And the clouds increase ahead of the next storm. And you might be thinking, uh oh, cold air in place this time. And here comes that moisture. In monday. Out on tuesday. For more on what we can expect and all the Different Things that are going into our forecast, lets head to vicki graf we are forecasting some precipitation on monday. But what were watching very closely is the timing of this storm system. That will make the big difference as to what will fall. If it moves through in the morning when were forecasting temperatures in the lower 20s, that means well see snow here in charlotte. However, if it slows down and move thus more in the afternoon afternoon, im forecasting temperatures in the upper 30s. That means well see the possibility of rain in charlotte. Or possibly more dangerous, freezing rain. Well be watching the timing of this very closely to fine tune what will fall in your neighborhood. Steve . I think were going to talk about the potential for the mix probably starting to snow in charlotte. And probably changing over. Its five days out. Were going to keep an eye on this with every computer run. Weather changes impacting ash county schools now reporting for a three hour delay tomorrow morning. So ash county schools on a three hour delay thursday morning. Better safe than sorry. Steve, thank you, at 10 00 and 11 00, new development in the trooper shortage weve been tracking across the carolinas, why the timing couldnt be more critical when it comes to tonight at 10 00 that feeling. You know the one. That grandslam, acedthepresentation feeling. Multiply that feeling. Its the deal of all deals. A moment worthy of celebration. Now multiply that. Youre everyones hero in the championship of all championships its that feeling. Multiplied. Introducing the new multiplier scratchoffs. A chance to win. And a chanceto multiply your winnings. Yea, as the panthers clean out their lockers for the off season to enjoy a small break panthers Gm Dave Gettleman will be hard at work figuring out how to improve an all ready deep roster. He was busy resigning thomas davis, greg olson, cam newton, and luke kuechly, carolina is a tad over 9 million under the salary cap. Gettleman says theyre in good shape. Its time to evaluate and assess the needs for the team. Roster building is a year round process. You cant sit here and say you went to the super bowl and so obviously youll go back again. Weve been working the whole time. Are we a little behind . We hit the ground running. Theres no rest for the wicked. Itll be interesting to see what they do when it comes to resigning josh norman. Gettleman didnt tip on whether or not carolina plans to ink the corner to a longterm deal. Its possible the panthers may use the franchise tag on the if thats the case, norman can see a salary around 13 million the last time gettleman used a franchise tag was in 2014 for greg hardy. The Charlotte Hornets quietly have climbed back to. 500 in the standings. Tonight the hornets look to extend their winning streak to three straight games. Charlotte is coming off a 17 point win at home over chicago. They won four of their last five and are on the road for six straight games tonight. Theyre at indiana. Well have highlights. Cold air again. Taking the edge off the chill. Three days in the low 40s before the next blast arrives in time for valentines day. Snuggle up with your loved one. Join us back here tonight the night. Of donkey sound elephant sound theres a big difference between making noise, tapping sound and making sense. elephant sound donkey sound when it comes to Social Security, we need more than lip service. Keep Social Security strong. elephant noise hey candidates. Enough talk. Give us a plan. Give u race for 2016. At this hour, two big names dropping out of the race. And can any republican stop donald trump . Hampshire. Also, the surprise in second place. Oneonone with marco rubio and his stunning admission. Plus, clinton versus sanders, and the brand new battle tonight for the south. Also breaking at this hour, from the justice department, a federal lawsuit against the police and the city, accused of outright discrimination. The new warning for airlines and passengers tonight. The explosion from batteries commonly carried in the cargo hold. The hospital horror. The doctor who operated on the wrong newborn. As we ask tonight, how does this happen . And, your credit cards this evening, and the fees you dont need to be paying. And the one simple step that good evening and its great