Viewed as a question. Theres no unwritten law that says that it can only be done on off years. That is not in the constitutional text. I am amused when i hear people who claim tore strict interpreters of the constitution suddenly reading into it a whole series of provisions that are not there. There is more than enough time for the senate to consider in a thoughtful way the record of a nominee that i present and to make a decision. That is president obama talking about the fight between he and republicans or the impending fight that republicans say they will they do not want the president to make a nomination for the vacant seat but the president saying he will do just that. More to come and stay tuned here. Blazing through the palmetto state and four days south carolinians will head to the polls to vote in the president ial primary and donald trump is still the frontrunner. In the new Public Policy poll trump commands a dominating lead with 35 of voters supporting him. To ted cruzs 18 . On the democratic side Hillary Clinton is on top with 55 . To 34 for Bernie Sanders. Wbtvs Pamela Escobar spoke with voters today as the nation focuses in on the key state of South Carolina. And she joins us from rock hill with more. Pamela . Maureen, well, polls show that trump is not only leading in the polls but he also has strong support. Today i did not run into any trump supporters. But i ran into voters grappling vote for on saturday. At reds grill they have been cooking sips 1948 and many customers have been ordering for years. I am a hillary fan. Martha pool. I have told people that if hillary does not get the nomination i might vote for trump. Really . Because i think just watching him for four years would be so entertaining. As a democrat she will not be voting saturday but she will vote in the republican primary. First year of voting. So it is a big decision for me altogether. Her husband says he does not like any of the choices especially donald trump. He is doing it for the title of being president he is not actually in it to be a president. I plan on voting and i hope i make the right decision but i do not think there is a right decision. In South Carolina. No. Not about him. Not at all. Pastor Charles Sanders apologizes for his language but similar to what we have seen from the candidates at debates and rallies. Reminds me of wild west movie sometimes you know, they go at it and then they shake hands and makeup and start all over again. Robinson is retired and leaning towards trump or cruz. He plans to watch the news to decide. Pastor sanders. When you are presented with choices how do you make a decision . Not what im going to do. Now, jeb bush was here in rock hill. The voters say its not necessary for them to meet the candidate or to go to a rally to decide who they will vote for on saturday. Reporting live in rock hill, Pamela Escobar wbtv on your side. Thank you. Republican primary is this saturday. The democratic primary will be held the following saturday its also important to note that the president ial primaries in South Carolina are open that means you do not have to register by party to vote. Several president ial hopefuls campaign stumped in South Carolina. Ted cruz was at the yorktown in mount pleasant. He unveiled a plan to rebuild the military and protect its National Security interests. And Bernie Sanders spoke to hundreds of college supports and students. Sanders told students the world has changed and he has changes he would like to make. And right now a debate in North Carolinas capitol that could affect you. Lawmakers in raleigh are battling whether to redraw the lines of two North Carolina congressional districts. One is district 12 including lawmakers decided not to consider race when drawing the new maps. Nick ochsner is on your side with more. The maps served as the backdrop for the Committee Meeting to discuss possible redistricting plans in the event that the Supreme Court does not issue a stay that two of the North Carolinas congressional districts are unconstitutional. The maps date back to 1992. And feature all of the approved redistricting plans passed over the congressional districts. The meeting lasted four hour and included lots of back and forth between republicans and democrats over the criteria that would be used to make the new districts in the event that the legislature is required to draw new maps by this coming friday. Now there was lots of disagreement over what the criteria to draw the maps will be but everyone seemed to think that they have just a short time to make the new maps. I mean it takes months to draw maps so weve got work to do. Another question from democrats during the meet something what extent republican lawmakers considered input from the hearings held around the state yesterday and the cochairs of the Committee Representative lewis and senator russo say the proposals including compact districts came out of feedback they got yesterday time to check the traffic here is tonya rivens. Your first alert traffic is sponsored by peoples bank. As we check in on i77 northbound i77 if anyone uses that for the commute south boulevard is a great alternate route. We have a lot of volume at woodlawn road northbound is moving slower than southbound. And 485 where we have problems. One problem south boulevard near 485 and park road is a great road an injury accident creating problems and an 18wheeler and in the the volume goes from rea road towards i77 and that is congestion. Back to you. Thank you. Right now, the state of mecklenberg county is strong that was the message during the state of the county address and a passionate speech county Board Chairman trevor fuller says unemployment dropped to 4. 8 and high on his agenda ensuring your child is properly educated. Brody oconnell was there for the speech and joins us now live with more. Good evening. Chairman fuller was particularly passionate when talking about improving Early Childhood education. Now, he said this is going to be no easy task but made a proposal, proposing universal prek for all families in mecklenberg county and that would be good for children 05. Could take three to five years to implement this over three different phases and he said there will be a lot of help needed along the way from lawmakers in raleigh all the way up to washington. He said while the payoff will be well worth it. We know that Early Childhood education is key to creating economic ons for people. And so we cant leave this stone upturned. And he mentioned the need to improve Early Childhood education 40 of children in the third grade read at the 24eurd grade level leaving 60 of the kids not where they need to be and that is one reason they need totep up things. And this is one facet of the address. There was debate over taxes whether they should be lowered next year and if you could see a decrease in your taxes. Live in uptown, Brody Oconnell wbtv on your side. We will see you at 6. The trial is underway for a man accused in a deadly shooting at a local Convenience Store. New and next. Compelling testimony in a rowan county courtroom is a man pleaded guilty to murder testifies against his former friend who is also charged in the same murder case. And im meteorologist eric thomas. Showers are moving back into the wbtv viewing area. Here we go introducing longhorns big, bold, steaks. The only way to make em better was to make em bigger. Our new center cut 10 ounce filet. Our perfectly seasoned 16 ounce tbone. And our fire grilled 18 ounce outlaw ribeye. Big, bold, steaks. Only at longhorn steakhouse. You cant fake steak. For lunch, try our steakhouse burger scal good day, mlady i am sircanalot, here to save you from another breakfast bore. Wake up those eggs with glorious spam see what spam can do. At spam. Com breaking news, new information of the murders of a alex giles has the details. We got our hands on the Court Documents that show new details in the case regarding one of the suspects and Death Penalty hearing. Shea show that a hearing will be held regarding the Death Penalty for malcolm hartley. His attorneys are looking for new information from the discovery to prepare for the hearing. Doug and debbie london were murdered in lake wylie in 2014. We are going to keepk traing the case. Back to you. And new i iormation a rowan county man charged for the 2012 robbery and murder of a Convenience Store owner is on trial and two accused are testifying against him. Those two have pleaded guilty and are serving prison terms. Robinson wanted to face a judge and jury. David whisenant is live and i understand it was compelling today at the end of the day . It was, paul within the last the trigger was on the stand and his testimony was emotional and graphic as he described what happened inside that store. The robbery happened at the z and h mart in salisbury. In december, 2012, the store owner was shot and killed. The crime caught on the surveillance camera. I did not mean to do it. I did not mean to shoot him. When he was arrested Christopher Watson told me he did not mean to kill the shop owner and today in court with his head in his hands watson testified that he met robinson when robinson supplied his crack cocaine habit and the robbery worked to pay drug debts that he owed robinson. Kevin who pleaded guilty testified that the robbery at z and h was robinsons idea and he said the three went to the store. They were here and went in and bought candy while watson waited robinson shouted chop it up and that was a signal to go in and rob the store. Watson fired a warning shot when he thought the owner was picking something up and shot him. Watson said he thought he was faking being shot when he fell to the floor. Watson reached over the Cash Register and noticed the blood and turned to run from the store. On the stand watson said he went along with the robbery because robinson threatened his family and said that robinson planned the robbery and provided the gun. The attorneys for robinson say there are a lot of inconsistencies in the testimony given by the two men who pleaded guilty. David whisenant wbtv on your side. Now, both Christopher Watson and kevin took plea agreements in 2014 and are serving prison sentences. Lets check the roads. I77 is a bit of a headache tonight. Tonya rivens is in the first your first alert traffic is sponsored by peoples bank. And yes, i77 by the john belk we see this volume and we are seeing a lot on i77 northbound that is not so common. And situations around center city we have and accident near park wood avenue. A lane closure due to construction and graham street and Martin Luther king, jr. Boulevard another accident creating activity around 277 and then on independence volume starting to build and one aditional accident on monroe road close to sardis road. Sardis road is a great alternate route. Thank you. There were a lot of people with pep in their step today. The sunshine was nice. In 12 hours we went from winter to spring u i was watching the temperatures overnight and in monroe, union county next to charlotte they at 2 30 in the morning. 20degree rise overnight. The warm air came in. It did not get all the way to charlotte. We were at 40 dropped back to 36 at day break and from there, boy, did we rocket 59 the High Temperature today. Yeah, all good young must come to an end. What . We are back to the radar and here comes another swath of rain and snow and its flying off to the east at 35milesperhour. Leading edge. A lot is evaporating before it reaches the ground the air is dry. But well track near the beginning of it where maybe the rain has a chance to start reaching the ground. But you will see lenoir is basically on top of you. Again not to say its reaching the ground but the rain aloft is over your head. And newton coming in with and down to gastonia at quarter after 6 00 p. M. And 6 30 to 7 00 p. M. Would be charlotte. And again wait to see how long it takes that rain to get to the ground. Meanwhile you will see this is snow wallpapering avery county. And many ski resorts with beach and sugar mountain. And that is rolling on top of watauga county, too. Here it is. Avery, mitchell, yancy that advisory through the overnight tomorrow morning another one to three inches that way. Beech mountain you are down to freezing and everybody else in the mid30s. Above freezing no problems. And not much of a change here. Around the mountains but look at this. How about a 2530 warmup right now from this time yesterday in the last 24 hours . That is amazing what paul was mentioning winter to spring. And 50s 36 around boone and blowing rock. We talked about the rain approaching charlotte. Look how the clouds are already 55. Again the futurecast showing the snow during the late night hours and for us its going to be showers as you go forward we will take it to 46 at 9 00 p. M. And notice the chance of rain going up 80 by 11 00 p. M. 44. And rest of your first alert forecast once we get through the overnight rain quiet and we are going to stay mild we are going to surge it into the 60s and another significant system gets in here early next week. Look for the rain out of that and it might end as snow before its all over tuesday and wednesday. Back to the studio. Thank you. And next at 5 00. They go down over and [inaudible] are you smarter than a fouryearold . Im Kristen Hampton the good news is coming up. And all new next at 5 00 why throwing away your used boarding pass at the airport could be your ticket to becoming a victim of identity theft. Concerns about lead in Drinking Water how Utility Companies explain high levels of lead found in water near charlotte. On wbtv news is sponsored by. After an Airline Flight p. M. Of you toss your boarding pass in the trash can but a expert warns those boarding passes contain information. The bar code on your boarding pass reveals your frequent flyer number and thieves can use that number to steal from you. Later tonight on wbtv news primetime we are on your side explaining exact loy how thieves could cash in on that boarding pass. The search to find a cure for cancer next at 5 00. And also next at 5 00. The local school allow a mouth of a wrong announcer wbtv on your side. Wbtv news starts right now. Now, a possible breakthrough in the seaeah for a cure for cancer. And the ice is gone replaced with noticably warmer weather. You probably noticed it. And the current temperatures in charlotte we are sitting at 56. And now look here that is a huge difference in just 24 hours. Yesterday we were at 26. On the way. Im molly grantham. Im jamie boll. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate you being here. We want to start with the weather today because that is what everyone is talking about. Polar opposite from yesterday. And more rain is moving our way tonight. Meteorologist leigh brock is tracking it all in the first alert weather center. That is right. Most of it is going to fall when you are asleep. In the highest elevations more snow but lets check out the temperatures that is the best part of the day. 56 in charlotte. 58 in i wadesboro. 57 in gags yeah and 51 in statesville. Warmer than yesterday but again after we had the break we have more precipitation coming in. Already we have a couple showers. Here is where we have snow falling this is avery county and stretching up into watauga county. Newland, plum tree or banner elk and boone you have snow flurries that way. But this is what is pulling into the picture for the evening two inches of snow. Right now only one advisory a Winter Weather advisory for avery county. The rest of us are looking at this coming this way. For most of us it will be rain but for the overnight period that is heading inment and tomorrow heading out again and we have a warmup. Im talking a huge warmup coming this way. I have the forecast details in a little bit. A hickory man says he was standing up for his rights last night when owe shot an intruder. It happened at the back door of tonys home. Pits says he feels safer tonight and talked with Steve Ohnesorge about what happened. 71yearold tony pits says this to anyone who wants to break into his home. Dont try this house. Last night in the middle of the ice storm someone did break in. Smashing right through the sliding glass door. I got up with the gun and he was standing in the kitchen. And i started shooting
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