>> reporter: charlotte's former mayor who admitted to taking bribes in office is halfway through his sentence. he pleaded guilty to a reduced victim charge today and was sentenced to a single day in jail to be served concurrently with his federal time. cannon said little in court but stood briefly to address the judge. >> i want to thank you for the student. i hate to come here under these circumstances. but i want to apologize to the court for doing so and thank the court for undialinging -- indulging me. >> reporter: pat smile and another conviction on his resume. now, admittedly, the state's voter fraud case may not be as sexy as the for the agents finding him taking bribes but they felt it was important to bring the case to court, and patrick cannon told me he is reflecting on his future. more on that at 10:00. jim bradley, channel 9 eyewitness news. >> we have been following the case since he was indict inside 2013 and a year later, he was sentenced to 44 months in prison after he pled guilt and is held at the correctional institute at morgantown, west virg virng. -- virginia. his release date is january 25, 2017. and jim was tweeting developments throughout the court today. president obama announced his pick for the supreme court. >> he chose appellate court judge merrick garland. at 63 he would be one of the oldest supreme court justices ever confirmed. gar sland considered a moderate not change their minds about refusing to confirm him. >> reporter: they are saying, the republicans, that the picked garland because they want to pressure them for a nominee. >> i am nominating merrick garland to the supreme court. >> reporter: it was an emotional moment for 63-year- old federal appellate judge merrick garland. his family stood nearby as he accepted the honor. >> the greatest gift i ever received, except, the caveat, the birth of our daughters. >> reporter: president obama pointed out that garland has a long history of bipartisan vote. >> to go down the path would be wrong. it would be a de betrayal of leaders are standing firm in opposition and they insist voters should decide the ideological balance of the court when they elect the next president. >> it's a president's constitutional right to nominate the supreme court justice and it's the senate's constitutional right to act as a check on a president and withhold its consent. >> reporter: democrats are pushing back, hoping the choice of a moderate judge will convince them to rethink their position. >> i hope president obama is nominating an exceptionally qualified nominee and will change the republicans to change course. >> reporter: even some who supported gar land in the past said this time will be different and they won't even bother to meet with him. scott? and donald trump and hillary clinton back on the campaign trail after wins in north carolina. trump came on top in florida forcing marco rubio to suspend his campaign last night. ohio governor john casein is going strong winning 66 gel debates, but is still a long way from the nomination. here is where the nominates stand. no -- nominations stand. and for democrats, 2383 is the magic number for the nomination. and in the charlotte area, some races were neck and neck between candidates. next at 5:30, stephanie maxwell took a closer look at the races and how the controversial i 77 toll lane project took a toll in the races. you can follow us on twitter and facebook to get updates new at 5:00, the state bar has suspended the license for an attorney who reportedly fell asleep during a trial. the former state representative cannot accept any new cases. the state bar tells channel 9 that the suspension was because he did not deplete the yearly 12 hours of continuing legal education. if he corrects the problem, he can have his license reinstated. last week, an appellate court overturned a case that mackey defended, accusing him of sleeping during the trial. a man accused of trying to kidnap a 12-year-old girl in gastonia told police they have the wrong man and pleaded with the go to lower his $500,000 bond but the judge refused. police say that he offered a girl money to get in the car with him and then tried to grab her and he is the suspect in two other attempts to lure a and new developments in a race of a rape. during a strike a break in the trial, one of the defendants were led away and could have given the appearance to the jury that he was guilty. police arrested three teens they say were behind a purse snatching in northwest charlotte this morning. jamel johnson was charged with larceny and resisting an officer. he has been arrested 15 times and police say that the other two suspects involved are just 15 years old and that the trio snatched a woman's purse at the quick shop at brookshire and oakdale. the woman was not hurt. troopers are rafghting a wreck at an intersection in caldwell county that is a they say that a teenager pulled out into the path of another car at taylorsville and oak hill school road. nobody was seriously injured. neighbors say they have seen a dozen crashes at this intersection, including one where two people died. >> i heard a big crash and knew there was a big accident. we had many accidents here before, and i ran out to see what happened. >> firefighters say they hoped the north d.o.t. will consider putting a caution light at that intersection to try and prevent future wrecks. new details on an unsolved double murder in catawba county. the parents of a 10-year-old girl were found shot in their home. dave faherty has more on the search warrant and the key piece of evidence found in the yard. >> reporter: i talked with family members at the murder and concerning the search warrant you mentioned, it says that the person responsible forced through the front door. feet away from the door, we could see where someplace left flowers for deidre ramseur and mark wilson. deputies found a shotgun in the bedroom and a loaded handgun under the mattress they believe belonged to the couple and recovered a found from the wall. a phone in the yard belongs to the couple and may have been get away. the sheriff said that the couple's 10-year-old was not home when someone killed her parents. >> right now, we have a mother and father who was murdered and parents. deputies seized yesterday. some of the items included tablets, cell phones, receipts from the couple and family planned on southside park in newton at 7:00. sheriffs deputies tell me they are trying to narrow the time of death from the items that were seized from the home and whether robbery was a possibility. dave faherty, channel 9, eyewitness news. the federal reserve will keep interest rates unchanged for now because the global pressures. but the u.s. economy is growing and most economists believe that the fed will raise rates twice this year, most likely beginning in june, and that helped to boost stocks on wall street. the dow gained 74 points and the nasdaq, 35 points. they save lives but some helicopters have put them tens of thousands in debt. >> if i knew them when i know now, i would have said no. we are not going for the ride. >> channel 9 investigates the aggressive tactics that one company is using to get patients to pay the bills. >> and boy, did the temperatures rise, shattering an all-time record of 86 degrees. it's more like midjune. i'll tell you when we'll cool right now, we continue to stay on top of the breaking news for you in the middle of uptown charlotte. just minutes ago, police took down the crime scene tape in the area at the scene of a shooting. medic and about a dozen officers are still on the scene along south brevard. officers found a man shot in the neck in the parking lot right next to the busy transit center. we know police are questioning 1 person, and at this point, no official charges have been filed. police are telling us that the shooting was not random. fire crews and medic raced to alexander graham middle school in myers park after concerns that the students may have been exposed to possibly deadly carbon monoxide gas on the bus. fortunately, there was no gas. >> eyewitness news reporter joe bruno talked to concerned parents about what launched that investigation. >> reporter: for more than bus and three ambulances were parked outside alexander graham middle school. after a school bus driver dropped off students, the driver had symptoms of being exposed to carbonon monoxide. there was a passive investigation with mecklenburg county ems, charlotte fire, and the charlotte-mecklenburg police department, and class continued as first responders checked out students leaving fellow class pate class -- classmates and parents wondering what was going on we spotted students walking right by the mass casualty bus. and officials tell channel 9 that all students were evaluated. a second bus parked nearby was checked out by charlotte fire. despite no like, family members we spoke with were happy to see cms officials taking precaution. i am not concerned. >> reporter: in myers park, joe bruno, channel 9, eyewitness news. a nationwide report shows two of the healthiest counties are in our area, union county in third for quality of life and length of life and healthy behaviors like low smoking. and in south carolina, york county was third healthiest and scored highest in social and economic factors and a decrease in violent crime and ranked highly for not smoking, low obesity rates and high physical activity. this is a neat story. at 5:00, president obama said that an 11-year-old girl from charlotte inspired his march madness playoff bracket. the little girl, amelia, sent she noticed this her brackets predict the winning teams better than his did. and she sent him a letter and the president wrote her back calling her a talented young lady with serious potential and this year, he called amelia to get her thoughts on how he should fill out his bracket. we have posted this to facebook, and when there, you can download the bracket and test your own skills against hers. she is just calling it like she sees it, a straight shooter. and it's a beautiful day out there, sun and i guess that's not helping the pollen. no, and that's the view from uptown. believe it or not, we have a cold front trying to push through. just a few clouds and no showers at all. warm for mid-march. 84 in charlotte and 88 is the local warm spot. harrisburg, 85, and ballantyne, 84 and gastonia, too, and we have 70s across the high country. the winds i talked about blowing at 10 to 15 miles per hour and blowing the warm air and pollen around, and you probably started to notice the yellow film on your car. that's oak tree pollen and that's kryptonite for a lot of people, and look at how dry it is, humidity in the teens to low 20s, the percent. and a nice night for a walk after dinner. 80degrees at 7:00 and heading for lows in the upper 40sin charlotte and a few notches above average and a few sprinkling of 30s in the high in the afternoon and early evening, a few more clouds prosecute south so from the metro to the midlands in south carolina, highway 74, richland county, clouds there, and also possibly across the countins. that won't keep us from warming up. and while not as warm as today, 10 degrees above average tomorrow and in the mid-70s. as we had been forecasting, the trend for cooler weather will get going. pineville neighborhood forecast tomorrow mid-70s, pretty nice. jefferson, the high country, readings in the 60s, and then comes the cool air headed into the weekend. friday, futurecast, and then the weekend, back to average. we have a chance of rain late saturday into early sunday, and that would help pollen but the chill is a short-lived blast but you'll moi it through the -- notice it through the weekend. >> cooler after the 80s? we'll notice it. thank you. and firefighters rescue an unconscious woman as fire engulfs her home. >> you have a responsibility. once you're there. you're the police. >> the 911 calls show why she refused to leave. >> and controversy over the i- 77 toll lanes are impacting the election. we are looking at the election rates that could be overturned. a huge surprise for two middle school students in mint hill when their dad came home from his deployment. >> tears of happiness. the sergeant's 12-year-old twins thought they were at an and careers at mint hill middle school but their dad walked right in and surprised him. he was gone for a year in bahrain helping to provide security. >> it's so hard because i had never been away from them. they mean everything. >> he means the whole world to me. >> sergeant grady said he was surprised to see how tall his children are now, and they plan to spend a lot of quality time together to make up for his time away. and we posted this heartwarming story to our facebook page so you can share it with your the construction of new homes is on the rise again. the commerce department said that new construction jumped 5.2% in february, the highest level in five months, and it fell in december and january. the winter weather is partly to blame for the drop. boosted a number of jobs in 39 states including north carolina from december 2015 to january this year, and 3800 jobs were added in north carolina. florida added the most, 7900. next. 9 investigates medical debt. is this a bill that you could >> no, ma'am. >> i investigate why patients and their families are on the hook for the massive bills even when they believe that the helicopter flight isn't necessary. and then, caught on surveillance, a local thief stealing huge trailers in the middle of the day. how he is getting away with it. >> he saved an elderly woman hear the call of help from ar all new tonight, a local police officer didn't think twice when he rescued an elderly woman from her burning home. >> i had never been in an active fire situation like this but you have a responsibility. >> that officer connected his found a woman unconscious on the floor. i'm allison latos. >> and i'm scott wickersham. ken lemon spoke to the officer and found out why the woman didn't get out sooner. >> reporter: sandra branham lived by herself but she loved her cats and that love for her cats left her in need of help from police. >> i had never been in an active fire situation. >> reporter: police officer john keizer pulled sandra out of a burning home on monday. >> you have the responsibility. once you're there, you are the police. you have to do something. >> reporter: the 70-year-old woman at one point could have gotten out of her own. she called 911 from needs the burning home but couldn't leave her cats. >> why don't you -- you need to get out and get into a safe place. >> reporter: but she doesn't when she decided to leave, she couldn't find her cane and the smoke was so thick, she couldn't see. >> it's engulfed. >> it's engulfed? ma'am? >> reporter: she fell down on the floor and the flames began to spread. >> please help me. >> help is on the way. help is on the way. okay? >> reporter: keizer arrived not long after she blacked out. he kick in the door and pulled her outside, and she was flown to a spartanburg hospital where she is in critical condition and getting treatment. keizer said other police officers and firefighters moved her away from the burning home and all of them together gave her a fighting chance. in gastonia, ken lemon, channel 9, eyewitness news. >> ken tweeted out that video

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