Transcripts For WMUR News 9 At Five 20160214

Honoring the legacy of a beloved firefighter killed in the line of duty. Announcer no one covers New Hampshire like we do. Now, wmur news 9 at 5 00. Stephanie we begin with breaking news. The rescue of dozens of people stuck on board trams. Thanks for joining us. I m stephanie woods. Adam i am adam sexton. These are pictures sent exclusively into our newsroom. The resort says about 2 30 this afternoon, the Service Brake got stuck leaving two trams stranded. Stephanie 41 people were in the lower cab, seven in the top one print the rescue involved lowering people by rope about 40 feet to the ground. We spoke to greg keeler of Cannon Mountain about this breaking situation. Cars. It involves a rope and a sling. We lower people down. In the case of the top car, it took about half an hour to get everybody out and back inside. We were able to get blankets onto the car for them before we warm. Once we got them down, we restaurant and cafe. Then we will be bringing them down with snow cats. As far as the 41 people at the bottom, at the time i am talking to you, i think they were still in the process of being evacuated. We expect that to be wrapped up shortly. The same thing for them. We will bring them inside. We have food, hot drinks waiting for them. Vouchers for anybody that bought a ticket during the day today. Stephanie as we mentioned, paula tracy was on board one of the trams and joins us live on the phone. How are you . Paula thank you. I am safe on the ground. Everyone is down on the ground. There were no injuries. We had 41 in the car i got on, which left the docking station at about 2 00. It got out about 100 feet before there was a very abrupt jolt. Everybody was shaken around. There was a woman with an eightmonthold baby and her husband from connecticut among the first to be evacuated. We had to go through the bottom of the tram that had a cable. They would alternate between using a bag and harness. I chose the harness and did not look down because it was pretty far. There was no panic. There was a pretty good report it was 4 when we stopped. No one was injured and everybody got down safe. Stephanie thank you for that report. Adam we are glad you made it out safely and everyone else did too. Certainly scary moments. Pollack we have information on escapeoutside. Com. The skis are being pulled down. Everybody will be able to get home without injury. But it was pretty traumatic. Adam thank you for sharing your we appreciate it. Believed the cold weather has anything to do with this problem. He says the system had been running all day and it was warmer than it got stuck than morning. Bring you updates all evening. Coast woke up this valentine s day to cold temperatures flirting with record lows. , record was broken as temperatures hit 12 degrees below zero. Adam strong wind gusts left more than 1000 Granite Stater s without power this morning. Right now temperatures in most , areas across New Hampshire have entered into the Single Digits but it s going to be another cold night. Stephanie the big question when will this arctic air leave . Let s check in with meteorologist Hayley Lapoint. Hayley it is good those people are safe because temperatures there are back below zero. With the wind chill factored in across the state, it feels far colder. The wind. It had been howling last night. Diminish. Overnight tonight, it will calm. This is the actual air temperature. We are below zero. Single digits now in manchester and nashua. The wind gusts are substantially lower. You can see by the seacoast, we still have gusts near 20 miles an hour. Doubledigit wind chills in rochester, portsmouth it feels like nine below. 10 below in nashua. Clear skies tonight and very cold temperatures. Maybe even a degree or two colder than last night. As you see here, we have a storm to deal with after all of this as we get into the workweek. It won t be all snow. I will have the hourbyhour forecast ahead. Stephanie thank you so much. Right now, flags are at half staff as the nation mourns the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia. He died suddenly yesterday at the age of 79. This evening we learn about his , judicial legacy and the fight over who will take his seat on our coverage begins with abc elizabeth hurr. Bench has started. Delay. Reporter from fighting words in challenges issued this morning. Does that mean you will absolutely. This should be a decision for the people. Of course, i would send somebody. But the divisions are real. Let s wait for an election. Reporter the sudden death of Antonin Scalia adding another bitter divide in this election year. It is the job of the president to appoint, nominate members to the Supreme Court and the senate confirms. Barack obama is president of the United States until january 20, 2017. That is a fact, my friends, whether the republicans like it or not. Reporter scalia served on the high court for three decades. He died in his sleep saturday at a texas ranch during a quail hunting trip. What happens now . President obama has already pledged action. President obama i plan to fulfill my responsibilies to nominate a successor. Reporter Senate Republicans the shortlist considers the front loader frontrunner as someone republicans like. The court will continue to liberate and rule with a justices. The year, 18 months of 44 decisions by a divided court is impossible. Reporter the court is set to address major issues including abortion and unions. A divided decision means any Lower Court Ruling stands. Adam the political shockwaves of Justice Scalia s passing are being felt here in New Hampshire where the question of what to do next has suddenly become a central issue in the u. S. Senate race. They were already headed for a highstakes showdown but now the , looming contest between governor Maggie Hassan and senator kelly ayotte could end up deciding not just control of the senate but also the Supreme Court. It s raised the stakes tremendously. Adam and with Senate Republican leadership already saying the Supreme Court vacancy should not president , southern New Hampshire University Political scientist dean spiliotes says senator ayotte finds herself in a political bind. If she seems to waver at all on this issue of whether to give obama s nominee a hearing and a vote, she could end up with a primary challenge from the right. But she still wants to appeal to those independent voters, so she s in a tough position. Adam governor hassan is already on offense. Her campaign releasing a statement saying, it would be completely unacceptable, and a clear sign of washington s dysfunction, for the Supreme Court to be without a justice for a full year because of partisan politics. St. Anselm professor of politics Chris Galdieri says if the president brings forward a compromise nominee more acceptable to republicans senator ayotte could end up , being a swing vote. I think a lot of the resolution to this dispute is going to come down to those senators from blue and purple states who are up for reelection this year and might not want to look completely obstructionist on the campaign trail. back into its hyperpartisan habits i think we re set up for a big fight in congress over this one. Adam we reached out to senator kelly ayotte s office for an interview today but she was not available. In a Statement Released yesterday she honored scalia but did not comment on how or when he should be replaced on the court. Stephanie senator shaheen today released a statement regarding scalia s death. Within her condolences, she said, today, i join with Granite Staters in extending my thanks for almost three decades of service on the Supreme Court. Adam the community of dover came together for a fundraising event in honor of the firefighter who died in 2005. Now, his legacy is living on through a Scholarship Fund aimed at training a Younger Generation of firefighters. Wmur s Kristen Carosa joined the group today and joins us live with their story. Kristen adam, lt. Christopher dewolf was described to me today as someone who was a happy , caring person who had a passion for teaching others , now lives on through this Scholarship Fund. Christopher passed away while on duty in a car accident. Today, 11 years later, dozens of people gathered in dover for a golfing in the snow event. Over the years, volunteers have tried different types of events to raise money for the fund. The group tells me they have given away 20,000 to help kids from maine and New Hampshire get the training they need to be in the fire service. Christopher s son jonathan was there for the event today, he says the fund has helped their family find closure and they are always touched by the turnout to fundraising events. Even though it s 5 degrees and the wind chill is freezing, the legacy still lives on. Education was huge with him. And obviously with the increase in price for tuition it s not always easy, so being able to help people start that journey is nice. Kristen certainly a special family and group of people that support this Scholarship Fund. We will have much more about chris coming up at 6 00. Wmur news 9. Stephanie thank you. Last week, New Hampshire came out for Bernie Sanders and donald trump giving both landslide victories. Adam we will talk to one of donald trump s earliest supporters about how a billionaire connected with Granite Staters. Stephanie the monarchs played their only game of the weekend. Highlights in sports. Hayley a brutally cold night ahead of us and then tracking the next system with milder air. The next system with milder air. Forecast coming up. S day by the can you guess how much people are spending for that special someone . Breaking news at 5 00. Trams got stuck at Cannon Mountain. Paula tracy was on board one of those and says everyone is off safely and no one was hurt. We will keep you uptodate all the president s day sales event is on now at your new england ford dealers. Save big on americas bestselling trucks for 39 straight years. Now with additional president s day bonus cash. Get up to 7,050 total savings on the historymaking f150. The future of tough. And super duty, the rougher the going, the tougher the truck. Hurry in for up to 7,050 total or lease f150 for just 249 a month. Just 249. At your new england ford dealers adam the primary is history, but this weekend we re taking a look back at how the winners won. Yesterday sanders, today trump. Fred doucette of salem, who was one of the early adopters of the donald trump candidacy here. You signed on in june. What was the driving force behind the Trump Victory . Rep. Doucette i think people held him short of his ability. I think people shortchanged what he was is a candidate. I heard names being called early in the campaign. I was very surprised as to how quickly we picked up steam. And the base of his supporters were so widespread, then in graphics the demographics were spread out, it was amazing. Adam it was very unique. In different a different coalition than we have ever seen before in a primary. You were there when he launched the candidacy. Were you thinking primary you thinking this could be tough . In mr. Trump. I had been approached by other campaigns. I had been following him for i liked what he had to say. I believed him to be a man of his word. When corey spoke to me, my neighbor in windham, i am from salem, at length as to what his plan was going forward, i could not get on board quick enough quite frankly. Adam curious about things like imminent domain. It did not damage him at all. What was it about donald trump that made these things slide off . Things that might damage other candidates, he seemed to walk past them. Rep. Doucette people see the fact that he speaks his mind and speaks the truth. That seems to draw people to him. It drew me to him. I consider myself a good judge of character. The man, in my opinion, is there for the right reason. There is a movement afoot. People are sick of politics as usual. They are sick of the establishment. Candidates and establishment proper realize this guy is not going to be the polished or door debate, he s going to speak his mind and to his supporters. The sooner they realize that, the sooner they are going to candidate for president. Adam certainly, the people in New Hampshire realized that and handed him a victory on primary day. Continued luck on the campaign trail. For the latest on the race for the white house and a look back at all of our primary coverage, go to wmur. Com politics. Announcer now, meteorologist Hayley Lapoint and your stormwatch 9 forecast. Hayley good evening. It was one of the coldest days in a long time. Temperatures are already subzero in a few communities. In the north country, that is looking toward Cannon Mountain. It is two below already. At least we had bright sunshine. It was a cold start. These were some of the coldest readings i could find across the state. This is the actual air temperature, neglecting the wind. 25 below in franconia. 20 below in littleton. New london got to 19 degrees below zero. Remember with the wind, it felt more like 40 below in a lot of those spots. Here were the high temperatures today. We only reached 10 in manchester, only eight in concord, zero in whitefield and berlin. Compare that to the high we typically have this time in february of 35, and obviously this was cold stuff. Here is where we stand now. Single digits across much of the state and even some areas below zero up north. The good thing is the winds have started to diminish. We are not seeing guests upwards of 30 and 40 Miles Per Hour like 13 Miles Per Hour is the sustained wind at the airport in concord. Seven miles an hour in when manchester. You have to limit the pets time outdoors. Here is the situation. We have completely clear skies. Not a cloud in the sky. With that and diminished wind overnight, the air temperatures will dip. Than last night. Because the winds will be dead overnight, you won t have the brutal wind chills. But still, the actual air temperatures will be below zero, zero by tomorrow morning. Here is our game changer. The next storm system will save us from the cold air because it will bring in mild air. It will also bring in nasty weather. Let me show you what is going to happen on futurecast. Overnight. We will begin the day tomorrow with sunshine. By midday, clouds will invade. We will become overcast. Snow showers will start in southern New Hampshire by the evening commute. The heaviest bands of snow come through after 7 00 at night. By 2 00 a. M. , we have a band of snow and mixing and rain that fills in. Then it is rain for everybody with showers moving through on tuesday. A messy mix. A Winter Weather advisory has been posted for much of southern New Hampshire. That is where we expect to have the highest snow amounts. On top of it, we will get sleet to rain. At the seacoast, less than that. Look at those temperatures tonight. Double digits below zero. You see temperatures will be in the 20 s. A big recovery. Even into the 40 it might be messy travel for tuesday morning, and then it changes over to all rain. Kind of a messy thing. Crazy. Seven today and 40 the next couple of days. Stephanie berlin is 26 degrees for the real temperature. Adam jason king with sports. Jason nascar is back. The shortest off season in sports. Qualifying for next weekend announcer now, jason king and news 9 sports. Jason the bruins are in detroit today. The two teams combined for five goals in two periods. The monarchs were at home this afternoon facing the wheeling season. The londonderry marching band was also in the house. The band is massive, about 300 members. First. Former unh wildcat Matt Fornataro scores on his first shot with the team. Made it 10. Then darik angeli gets to the loose puck and fires it into the back of the net. 20. Still in the first, yan sauve snaps a wrister from the high slot. His fornataro got his second of seventh. The game in the second period. The monarchs win 62. Nascar is back. S daytona 500 took place today. 20yearold Chase Elliott becomes the youngest driver to start out front at the Great American race. Elliott took over for the retired jeff gordon behind the wheel of the number 24 and drove it to his first career pole position. His top speed was 196. 314 Miles Per Hour. Matt kenseth qualified second. The rest of the field will be set by thursday s twin qualifying races. So there you go. That is sports. We will have more at 6 00. Stephanie we re working on more for news 9 at 5 30, adam coming up chilling , conditions causing problems across the northeast. Why some passengers at logan faced flight delays ahead. Stephanie plus a rare diamond hayley now at 5 30, one before milder air moves back in. Then tracking a messy storm for early this week. How much snow and rain we ll get. Stephanie chilling temperatures causing problems across the northeast. How the extreme cold forced some passengers at Logan Airport to experience flight delays. Adam plus, a summit at Dartmouth College centering on an historic disaster. The conversation regarding the Nepal Earthquake happening this week. Stephanie a rare diamond on display in the Granite State this valentine s day. Just how much these precious jewels are worth . We will tell you ahead. Announcer no one covers New Hampshire like we do. Now, wmur news 9 at 5 30. Adam we continue to follow breaking news tonight on news 9. Exclusive photos from inside one of the stuck trams at Cannon Mountain. Tonight, all 48 people are safely on the ground with no one hurt. I m adam sexton. Stephanie i am stephanie woods. With the latest. Mike as you said, there were two cars involved, 48 people in all. 41 people in the first and seven in the other. I want to direct your attention to one of those cars. It is still suspended. All people are safe. They have been successfully rescued and brought to the ground. Many taken inside, given blankets and a hot meal after being suspended. Some people are saying they were up there for an hour and a half. Frightening moments. People say there was no panic. They knew people would come to get them. I want to bring in paula tracy who was one of the people on board. Talk to us about those moments. Paula it was harrowing, especially to be lowered from the floor of the tram on a cable. There were 41 of us onboard. There was an eightmonthold baby and her family that were most everybody else was in the car and dressed for a frigid cold day. It was 4 outside the car when it came to an abrupt stop. There was not panic. There was a bit of screaming. But everybody was very calm. We went for over an hour sitting there while they tried to find a backup system. They didn t. When they told us we were going to have to be evacuated, that led to some trepidation. But it all worked out. We are all down safely. It was quite an experience. Mike we are glad you are all safe. Thank you very much. The mountain says the cars stopped because of a Service Brake issue. They say a were running earlier when the cold when it was colder. They do not believe the cold is to blame. Adam thank you very much. Glad everyone is safe. Recordbreaking temperatures on top of mount washington. The observatory is reporting a and that s without the wind. That breaks the old record set in 1954. For a better look at the forecast and whether temperatures will remain low throughout the week, let s check in with meteorologist Hayley Lapoint. Hayley for those of you who do not like the bitter cold, we have relief coming our way quickly. This was a 24hour situation. Look at the temperatures now. Only seven in concord. Nine in manchester. Nashua below zero. Here is another good thing. The winds are starting to diminish. The gusts are still up there at 15, 20, maybe 30 miles an hour. Overnight, they will start to calm down. The wind chill is still brutal at this hour. It feels like 10 below in laconia. 14 below in whitefield. We have clear skies now. Storm system to the southwest is going to bring in snow and rain i will show you how much snow few moments. Stephanie thanks so much. Today, boston broke a record set in 1934. The city reached nine degrees below zero this morning. Breaking a record certainly didn t come as a celebration. The extreme cold temperatures causing multiple delays at logan flying jetblue. Rhondella richardson from our sister station wcvb has more. It burns your face. Reporter even the dogs are bundled up against the singledigit freeze. People are wearing all sorts of getups like this facemask. Are you warm enough . Everyone scribbling to get indoors. Imagine your home freezing cold. A frozen pipe that first forced the evacuation of three apartments in this building. The pipes had burst. They got it fixed quickly. Reporter residents share this video of boiling water filling the hallway. Cleanup is underway. It is School Vacation week and travel is high on the agenda for many. But jetblue had delays this morning. The extreme cold impacting the fueling operation. It had some fuming. The fluids in the planes were frozen. The planes were not getting out. They did not have enough room to get other planes in. It was unavoidable because it was so cold. I guess it was 9 this morning. They had trouble getting the airplanes going. There was trouble with water lines breaking or freezing. I felt like they took good care of us. Reporter frozen pipes are such a problem there is an advisory. If you let the faucets trip a little, it keeps the water moving and that could help. Adam Dartmouth College is hosting a summit this week to examine last year s deadly more than 8000 people were killed in the quake last april. The 3day summit begins thursday and will include representatives from the nepalese government and medical professionals. Researchers at the university of california have built an app to track earthquakes. It s called my shake and is free for android phones. The app uses sensors inside the phone to map earthquakes occurring near you. It runs silently in the background on your phone. Myshake provides information about recent earthquakes and significant historical earthquakes. The ultimate goal is to build a worldwide Seismic Network and use the data to reduce the effects of earthquakes. I celebrated valentine s day with a splash of pink. Stephanie they are featuring pink diamonds from a mine in australia. They are extremely rare and expensive. The showcase features jewelry of various designs and styles of all different price points. Million on display. 20 million worth of jewelry is something to see. Stephanie should i asked my husband to pick up one on his way home from work . As cold as it is, the birds are still flying. Adam thousands are participating in a National Bird count day. We will tell you more about it after the break. Stephanie some people are not getting flowers this valentine s day. Instead, they are getting potatoes. We will tell you more coming up. Hayley if they were french fries, i would say go for it. It will feel very cold tonight. Milder air comes in as well as a stephanie it s not too early escape outside and put your green thumb to use. A dozen workshops are being offered in the coming weeks to help gardeners prepare for the 2016 growing season. You ll learn everything from seeds, equipment, and harvesting. The classes are being held at beaver brook conservation center. The Great Backyard Bird Count is underway. It s an annual avian census. These are spectacular pictures sent in today from a New Hampshire participant. Bird watchers from all over the world are also participating. Count, you must sign up on last year, over 100,000 bird enthusiasts from more than 100 countries participated. You can find even more outdoors news on the escape outside section of our website, wmur. Com. Adam the New Hampshire primary may be over but there s one exhibit that is still standing. Coming up we ll take you inside the clocking is ticking. It s only available in the queen stormwatch 9 forecast. Hayley something we don t see every day. See that smoky looking air above the ocean . This was portsmouth at 6 30 this morning. You will see it moving around. That forms when you have the cold air on top of the water, which is warmer than the air. Pretty crazy to see that happening. Today, we had a lot of sunshine in portsmouth. It did not warmup much. Look at the temperatures now. In portsmouth, about nine degrees. Seven degrees in durham. Dover, about seven. Six in rochester. One below in new london. The lakes region in the Single Digits. You will be falling quickly easily below zero within the next hour or two. Already a few places double digits below zero at this hour. In pittsburgh, 13 below right now. Last night, it was howling. You could hear it whistling, maybe taking down branches. The good thing is finally we will get relief from the wind. It is still sustained near 30 miles an hour in concord, so you still have the wind chill factor in. It feels like nine below in concord. 11 blow in plymouth. Overnight, the winds will substantially diminish. With clear, that is the recipe for cold air tonight. Tonight may be colder, the air temperatures, but we won t have the wind chill to contend with. Probably a few degrees colder than this morning. Here s what is going to happen. River valley . This is grabbing onto milder air to our southwest. Start with accumulating snow. By the time we get to tuesday to rain. State. I know it is hard to believe after how cold it has been this about to happen. Here we go on futurecast. 10 00 tonight, Crystal Clear skies. Bear the cold. You will be able to see beautiful stars tonight. Tomorrow morning, bitterly cold. Probably dangerously cold again. For the kids at the bus stop, give them a couple of extra minutes inside. Bundle them up. Sunshine most of the day. Midday onwards, clouds invade. Snow showers develop around the evening commute in southern New Hampshire. By 2 00 a. M. Tomorrow night, still snowing heavily in central and northern New Hampshire. We start to get a band of mixing with freezing rain and sleet and even playing rain at the immediate coastline. It is very brief snow, especially at the coastline. I would be expecting a couple of inches manchester and west before the changeover happens. Almost everybody is over to reign as mild air surges in. We will continue to have showers, rain showers on tuesday. It could be upwards of a half inch of rainfall on top of the snow we receive. A Winter Weather advisory has been posted for the i. R. A. s in purple until 10 00 a. M. Tuesday for the areas in purple until 10 00 a. M. Tuesday. This is complicated. After the snow, we get sleet and rain on top. Two to four inches across much of the state. It will melt because of the rain coming down on top of it. Tonight, bitterly cold. Tomorrow, temperatures will be a little warmer. Up to 20. War with mixing on tuesday. Late in the week, sunnier weather and more average temperatures return. Stephanie is tuesday going to be the fun, wintry mix grab bag hayley kind of the horrible wintry mix in the morning and then all rain. Adam sounds like somebody that does not have to several a driveway. [laughter] stephanie thanks so much. The primary may be over, but New Hampshire s historical role as the first in the nation is a story that never gets old. Adam the Manchester Historic Association is doing its part to celebrate the role of the Granite State with a special primary exhibit. For 100 years, candidates have taken our state by storm to win over voters here in New Hampshire and across the nation. We think the New Hampshire president ial primary is important because it makes the candidates engage with real, informed voters. People in New Hampshire take pride in being able to challenge these people. The manchester historic Important Role New Hampshire and manchester play in the primary process. For a number of reasons, we believe manchester has a crucial role in the primary including the media density, population density, the airport, the hotels. We think the real action happens in manchester. Our mission is to collect and share manchester history. This is a big part of it. It is the handshaking, the speeches, and the bus tours. All part of what makes special. Candidates will make him to New Hampshire because of that engagement with voters. When they leave here, it becomes a more mediabased campaign as opposed to the politicking we force these candidates into. I think we make them better candidates when they leave. The exhibit has extra special meaning. Her grandfather served as john f. Kennedy s New Hampshire Campaign Manager in 1960. Throughout his service, amassed a collection of memorabilia he hung on to through the years. It was discovered when he died in 2003. That is when they started talking. I said i have all of this j. F. K. Stuff for my grandfather when he was on the president ial campaign and ran the campaign in New Hampshire during the primary. He said i cannot believe you are having this conversation with me because i m going to be putting on an exhibit next year for the primary. This is perfect. I was just going to put an ask out for people to give us their primary pictures and memorabilia from the various candidates throughout the years. He said to have j. F. K. s stuff would be wonderful. It includes photos of j. F. K. Manchester and have not been seen for more than 60 years. There are personal artifacts and incorporated into the exhibit. We think it shines a light on one special moment in the primary campaign in manchester. I probably still don t know the value of what is in there because it doesn t really matter what the value is. It is really important to me it it is a piece New Hampshire hampshire get to see these critical at the time. Also on display, the actual podium j. F. K. Spoke at during his speech and Veterans Park in november 1960. Roger donated it to saint anselm college. The college let it be used for the exhibit. He said i just want you to know i also found there is a donated for j. F. K. To speak at during one of his speeches. I said, really . I never even knew it was there. She says that education has been part of the joy she has discovered through the experience. For me, it is really wonderful. It really is. It is more about my grandparents legacy and what they brought to New Hampshire. I learned things from john like, did you know your grandfather was the highest elected democrat of his time . I did not know that. This shot, john f. Kennedy is being escorted through the throng at victory park the night before the general election in 1960. In the foreground is Sergeant Thomas king who became the i can only imagine how proud he was at that moment. We are being shamelessly populist in that we wanted to include photos of real people from manchester interacting with candidates on the streets of the queen city. It could be at the legendary watering holes or something walking down elm street, the retail politicking we talk about really does take place in manchester. That is celebrated on these walls. That celebration can be seen throughout the images on display. The association is hoping the collection does not stop growing. We believe this is a living exhibit. We know there is a campaign now. We deliberately were sparse in our array of candidates for the 2016 primary because we want our visitors and your viewers to send us their photos interacting with the candidates. Selfies are fine. We want it to be a living history piece. And by getting your photos onto the wall, that s how we can do that. Stephanie you have just a few more days to catch the exhibit. Manchester the primary and the february 20 at the millyard museum. Adam cool stuff. Stephanie coming up, we ll tell you about a very unusual gift some people across the country s day. Adam why some people are sharing the potato. Stephanie we are following breaking news for 6 00. Dozens of people lowered to safety. A live report in minutes. Adam the first day of new adam love in is in the air in New Hampshire and across the country. Stephanie but apparently, it doesn t come cheap. According to the National Retail federation, americans are dropping nearly 20 billion to celebrate valentine s day. Adam the most popular items to buy . For men, candy or flowers. For women, candy or a greeting card. Here is a different type of valentine s day gift. People nationwide are ditching flowers. Instead, they are sending potatoes to that special someone. Stephanie apparently, nothing says i love you like receiving a potato in the mail. A business in Washington State called mystery potato will write a customized message on a tater and then send it off. At first, the company only sent out a few a day, but now the business is booming. Nothing says i love you like french fries in the mail. Are catching up to us. We will be right back with news adam breaking news out of the north country. A Cannon Mountain tram stuck 40 feet above the ground. Rescue crews repelling dozens of people off the tram. Repelling dozens of people to safety. Hayley another bitterly cold night ahead of us, at least with less wind. Then late monday, we re going to see snow which changes to a nasty mix. The timing of the snow and mix, coming up. Even though its 5 degrees and the wind chill is freezing, the legacy still lives on. Stephanie the cold weather isn t stopping a fundraiser in honor of a fallen firefighter tonight. Adam happening now new security procedures going into effect at Verizon Wireless arena. What you won