Us on the campaign trail. Reporter the timing is terrible for ted cruz. Two weeks until the vote in iowa where he is fighting for the lead. On the day of the debate, in South Carolina, where the vote is in five weeks. The New York Times reports cruz used a half Million Dollar loan from Goldman Sachs where his wife worked, plus other loans, do help fund his 2012 Senate Campaign and failed to properly report that. Hes denying wrongdoing. It is an inadvertent filing question. The facts of the underlying matter have been disclosed for many, many years. Reporter but wall street based Goldman Sachs is seen by many as the villain in the 2008 crash. He has a financial relationship with Goldman Sachs. There is no worse brand name for the Republican Party than that. Reporter donald trump is playing born in the usa at his rallies to mock cruz being born in canada. He is calling the cruz finance story a very big thing. And i know nothing about it. But i hear it is a very big thing. I hope he solves it. Hope he gets it solved. Rears trump and cruz have played nice for months, but at the center of the debaters kthe texas senator stay nice, with trump using the birth issue and now finances. If there is a debate question and ted cruz sort of refuses to say anything critical about donald trump now, i think lit look kind of weak. Reporter and time is running out for damage control. Im steve handlesman, nbc news, charleston, South Carolina. And it is less than an hour before the main debate starts. News 4 is live at the Washoe CountyRepublican Watch Party at man wielding fire. What are folks hoping to hear tonight . Reporter well, shelby, with just three weeks until the iowa caucuses, the candidates are working really hard to sway those voters one way or the other, but when it comes to northern nevadans at this watch party here tonight, they say that they have their favorites, but i have havent given their vote to any one particular i met one woman who was undeclared before this president ial race, but she has since declared and registered as a republican. She says donald trump invigorated her and while some expect to see him attacking cruz tonight and some saying that he is dividing the Republican Party, she actually says that trump may be helping the party. Cruz needs to get this all squared away now. He needs to get it straightened out so that when the election does come, if he is a candidate, the democrats cant pull this stuff out, and so i think trump is actually helping cruz. Reporter a very interesting take right there. This debate starts at 6 00 and the watch party is happening here at men wielding fire in reno. The debate is in north charleston, South Carolina and it is not far from the church in charleston where nine were shot dead, so tonights debate, topics ranging from guns, isis, mass shootings, race and all of the above. It will be interesting to watch that tonight. Reporting live in reno, news 4. Thank you. The Reno City Council is giving the okay to a controversial Housing Development in veer die. This approval comes even though the nearby residents raised a lot of concerns about water and their wells possibly running dry. News 4s terri hendry joins bus a closer welcome at the plans. Were seeing this all the time where the residents turn out to voice their opposition and the projects seem to get approved despite the uproar. We do see that an awful lot. If you look at the comments on social media, many people feel like their elected officials simply arent listening. In there on your side report, we take a look behind the reasons of this decision and other controversial ones regarding development and what you need to know as a home and landowner. The city of renner assistant city manager bill thomas has a background in land use planning. To projects like this, 237lot Housing Development proposed in veer die. He shares with some some of the decisionmaking process by elected officials to explain why controversial projects like this one get approval. The common misperception, i think, in the Development Process is that because somebody doesnt like something, thats grounds to allow the council to say no. Reporter thomas says the development is a legal process, and for electeds, it includes a balancing act, weighing the rights of the residents versus the rights of the developer. In this project, among other things, residents worry about water and wells running dry. There are approximately 45 basins in the state of nevada that are over appropriated, meaning there are more water rights on paper than there is water in the ground. Reporter and you guessed it, the basin used by these residents among those 45 basins. Because that is a big concern. Again, one of the misperceptions that the council at the end of the day make as determination on whether or not there is water. We dont. The city of reno doesnt. Reporter if the city of reno is not responsible, then who is . We learned it is the state water engineer who relies on science and a complicated system of water rights laws to make the determination that there is enough water. Thomas has this advice for resident whose might find themselves opposed to the development project. Reporter most frustrating to people is i think lat of times they look at the documents and think theyre placed in stone, but theyre not. What is really placed in stone is the procedure by which they can be changed and amended. Reporter thomas says elected officials can change projects to address concerns, and they do. In this case, the developer lowered the density of the project by 30 lots. The developer also agreed to double the amount of money if promised to pay for School Improvements to the schools it may not be what everyone wanted, but thomas says, again, it is a balancing act. Shelby . Thank you so much. Well, the Reno Police Department is rolling out a new app today. It is calledmy r. P. D. The app aims to Better Connect police with people in the Reno Community using the convenience of their smart phones. You can use the app to do things like file a police report, view a map of crimes in the area, see missing persons or even find the nearest hospital. One of the officers who spearheaded making the app says he hopes it usuals people to communicate better with police. When we look at community policing, we feel like this is a gray area. We werent hitting. We can offer web solutions. We can offer a walk in to the station. Here is this platform that we feel is really untapped locally, so we wanted to have a presence there. Reporter and the app is available to down load right now for both android and i known users. To learn more about how the Reno City Council plans to use the app, watch our full report nevada prison Officials Say theyre adding more guards and training officers how to use rubber bullets in an effort to end deadly shootings behind bars. They have defended the presence of shotguns in prisons during a meeting today. The state is currently facing lawsuits over prison shootings, including one at the high desert state prison take left an inmate dead. The prison Officials Say new tools reduce the need for lethal force, but it remain as valuable and potentially life saving last resort. The chart irhigh school may be shut down by the end of the month. The main reason . A lack of funding. We sat down with students and teachers to hear how this will affect them. Reporter rain h Shadow CommunityCharter High School will potentially be shut down by the Washoe CountySchool District due to a financial problem. The 113student school was given a year to turn things around, but unfortunately it hasnt turned it around enough. The administration doesnt want and the superintendent davis said it. You want to graduate from your home. Your want to graduate from your school. And for a lot of our seniors, this is their home. This is their school. Reporter the majority of the students that go to rain shadow felt that they didnt fit in at any other school, especiallily those who struggle with anxiety. I am on track to graduate this semester, but if the school closes, i dont know what i would do. I might try Online School just to finish it out, but that would be very difficult. I might have to move again just to make sure i can graduate. Reporter since the student population is so small at rain shadow, every teacher knows their class on a personal level. There are student whose cant have their needs met in a larger school setting, and thats why were here. And if we get closed down, when, if, whatever the case is, there will be students that dont want to go back to what they came from. When i come here, every teacher shows me like different and they say like things that im not really good at, and they go from improvement from there, you know. Reporter a big burden on the school is having the pay for the rent of the building on top of everything tar heels a school needs to provide. Theyre hoping that the district will give them a chance to finish out the school year so that their senior cans graduate. Ive learned that i can be myself and like really i just learn more about who i am really. It is a heart break really. My heart feels like it is breaking half the time. In reno, news 4. Timers understand that if a school stays open until graduation that they may not receive their june and july pay or benefits. They say that their main priority is their students. The next School Board Meeting to see where the school stands will be on january 26. Have you heard . The San Francisco 49ers picked autopsy new head coach, chip kelly today, who was just let go by the eagles. Kaepernicks career as a quarterback . Our sports team is weighing in on that tonight. Plus, with plenty of snow in the mountains mnorthern nevadans are breathing a sigh of relief that the drought might be over, but is that being too optimistic . Track welcome back, everyone. Driving around town, were seeing something we havent seen in the past few years. The mountain peeks peaks covered in white. It has certainly been a and at a critical time following four straight years of drought. Tonights news 4s bill frankmore covered the drought extensively this summer and we hope to turn the page to what we hope will be an extremely wet winter. Reporter you cannot only see this winters snow pack is off to a great start, you hear it. The first snow survey of the year at mount rose was in stark contrast to the sights and sounds of the final snow survey last spring. It was historically low that was the lowest snow pack we had seen in 100 years of measurements. Reporter the usda high control gist Jeff Anderson has been on both sides of the survey. Last springs pitiful measurement and this years encouraging one. Right now were at a sort of a turning point. If we can get through january with the average precipitation, that would be fantastic for our water supply. Reporter it has certainly been a fantastic start to the year for ski resorts after dismal seasons before this seem last year i hardly got to ski at all. The year before, very little. Reporter the bigger resorts made do with snow making equipment working overtime to provide what Mother Nature couldnt. But some of the smaller resorts like tahoe donner simply had to close down. Mother nature does drive some of our benefits, and also some of our hardship. Reporter after three tough year where is they had to close up shop early here at tahoe donner, they knew they had to do something, some type of an insurance policy, and youre looking at it. They purchased brandnew snow making equipment. They have tested it. It works, but fortunately they havent had to use it yet. It is like health insurance. We do have it, and in case we need to use it, well have it in our back pocket now. And hopefully in the pocket is where theyll stay. The downhill resort has already had record sale this is year thanks in large part to several photoof snow. And the Cross Country center was able to open before thanksgiving. Christmas season as well so it has been incredible snow, incredible facility and a lot of happy skiers. Reporter high control gist Jeff Anderson is optimistic the snow will keep falling, and at the same time he is hoping recent history doesnt repeat itself. You see, this above average start to the snow pack is almost identical to 2013. Everything was looking bright that year, too, but come january 1, the storm track just shut off, and there was hardly any precipitation for the rest of the winter and that year ended up way below average. Reporter everyone is hoping that is not the case this year, and el nino may help in a big way. But anderson says dont look at this winter as a drought buster. You just be happy with getting on the right track, i take isnt it . I think to get out of a four yearlong drought, it is going to take more than one winter. If we can move in that direction this year, we have to be happy with that and just hope for another big winter next year. Reporter bill frankmore, news 4. And so what would it take anderson says a record snow pack measuring about 230 of normal. If that surprises you, keep in mind we basically lost more than an entire year of average precipitation during the four year drought. Well, at least we seem to be on the right track. And with that in mind, we check in with madison corney. We have a very wet pattern as we head toward the weekend. Madison . We definitely do, joe and shelby. This is snowfall totals from the latest system and mount rose ski. Nine to 11inches there. North star at 10 inches. Sugar bowl recording a foot of snow a little less at sierra with just five inches there. We are looking at another system making its way in tonight, and we really have active weather on the entire sevenday forecast. So on live doppler radar, we are still seeing snow hitting the sierra and then were also seeing storm systems through fallin and making their way towards austin. Renosparks area, kind of getting skipped over tonight. Spill into the foothills, but otherwise were looking pretty dry out there tonight. We do still have a chance to see those showers out there. We do have a winter tomorrow warning in effect until 10 00 a. M. Tomorrow for the western part of the sierra, and we could see anywhere from six to 12 inches of snow possible there, especially in the counties, and then as we head further east, were looking at one to four inches possible below 5,000 feet along the sierra and south of the reno area in that purple shaded area. And then weve got a wind advisory in effect. Were rooking at winds out of the southwest between 20 and 30 Miles Per Hour and gusts upwards of 65 Miles Per Hour. And the most wind prone areas, one of those places is the Washoe Valley area right now. In reno, were sitting at 38 degrees with cloudy skies and the winds out of the south at 25 Miles Per Hour and relative humidity at 68 . Around the area, we are below freezing around the lake, south lake tahoe, and truckee sitting at 30 degrees at this hour. As you can see, they are going snow through excuse me, overnight tonight and things not really clearing out until early tomorrow morning. And then the things really clearing up at that 10 00 hour when the weather advisories and warnings do expire. And then by 7 00 tomorrow night, we see the cloud cover making its way back in and then another system hitting us tomorrow night. For reno and sparks, were looking at 34 degrees. We have a 60 chance to see a mix of rain and snow between the hours of 10 00 p. M. And 4 00 a. M. Overnight tonight. Tomorrow were looking at mostly cloudy skies after about the 10 00 hour with winds dying down tomorrow also. Eastern nevada is going to see gusty conditions with day time highs in the 30s here. And then the overnight lows down into the 20s. Fallin at 33 degrees tonight and topping out at 45 degrees tomorrow so with these warmer day time highs, we are looking at more of a mix of rain and snow at the lower elevations, even around the lake with the warmer day time highs in the mid to upper 30s. Even the lower 40s in some areas. Susanville looking to see rain, valley floor tonight, we will dip down into the 30s, just above the freezing mark. Some places just below and then the winds tomorrow out of the southwest at about five to 10 Miles Per Hour. As i mentioned, there is a chance for rain or snow every single day on your extended forecast, so were really starting to see the next system pick up on saturday and then the system after that, monday and tuesday. Those chances really increasing for that storm. But as you can see, our day time highs are warmer than what we have seen over the last couple of weeks. As we hit the mid to upper 40s, at the lower elevations were definitely looking to see rain. At the higher elevations, their day time high is slightly above average as well so a mix of rain and snow possible thereupon. Back over to you guys. Madison, after weeks of rumors, it is official. The San Francisco 49ers have found their new head coach. The niners have hired the former Philadelphia Eagles and the university of oregon coach chip kelly. He comes after three seasons in philly where his teams went 26 and while in oregon, kelly was dominant. He wept 445, a National Title contender on an annual basis. He was let go by the eagle force the end of this season. What is really interesting about this is what does this do to the former nevada quarterback coul inkaepernick and his situation in San Francisco . Benched by the niners, and the coach who was fired, this happened back in november. And cap is exactly the type of quarterback that chip kelly wants to use in his spread offense system. It is an upbeat sort of offense, and really up tempo so do the niners keepcap . They do have some high draft picks. Or do they go another way . This could be really good news for him. I think it is great news for kaepernick. We did discover hints online today. The 49ers online apparel store, all kaepernick merchandise that was on clear answer . It is no longer on clearance. And take you what you want from that. And it seemed like he might be heading out the door and now all of a sudden this is a great and chip kelly mentioned he wanted to sign Colin Kaepernick stay with us. We unveil a bland new poll on the president ial race. It contain as big eye opener in the republican contest. Well tell you about a warning to some where i am travelers about a virus that could be a serious threat to unborn children. And amal clooney in her First Network tv interview when we see you back here tonight judgement and then tonight at 6 00, the gop debate is just minutes away. This is the last Republican Debate before the highly talked about iowa caucus. Well have a live report from charleston. And coming up tonight at 6 00, the carson city School District recently spent 12 million to install solar panels at five of its schools. So what happens now that the commission is cutting the net a viewer asked about that and that will be coming up in my ask joe segment tonight at 6 00. Thats all for news 4 at well see you tonight, the clash in carolina. Collide in tonights